Hook– a catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.
Most often when discussing the term "hook" in music it is to a catchy melodic part you remember. It might be a favorite song or those tapeworm-like parasites that won't leave you under threat of death. As I continue to explore the genre of progressive metal/dent/ambidjent, the concept of a rhythmic hook is forefront.
Two reasons for this; as a drummer, rhythmic hooks have been how I identify my favorite parts and players. The other is that the technical, detuned, heavy style of the genre depends on drones and simple octave patterns that lock rhythmically with the drums. Why is it so simple? Mainly because it sounds so heavy; but the style depends on a locked groove that communicates to the listener on a primitive level.
Groove– a pronounced, enjoyable rhythm.
Drums have been used for communication,worship,celebration, meditation and warfare. The open groove will cause a group to move in unison, clap, cheer. It's a heartbeat, a dance step , a call to arms. Even in these times of touchscreens and Twitter, the drum beat effects even the most stoic among us. What does this have to do with this rather small segment of the music making and listening public?
Almost all music is based on repetition. In rhythm, melody, lyric and form, you can recognize a part after it repeats a few times. Those catchy summer sing-a-longs would not be without it. A groove is extremely important in certain kinds of music, like funk and dance. Heavier music like metal, over its history, not so much. Yet a player like John Bonham of Led Zeppelin or John Stanier of Helmet groove like crazy. How can a genre both have or have not a groove? To me it is a matter of intent and syncopation on behalf of the drummer and the rest of the band. Head banging is a kind of groove but a real groove is deeper, pelvic, snake necking, sexual. For a form of music based on riffs, a groove should be a no brainier.
This kind of music is busy and heavy, with necessary ebbs and flows along the way. The rhythmic busyness almost demands harmonic simplicity, as there has to be some form of space as relief and release for the rhythmic intensity. The drums and guitars lock into a pattern, propelling the sound forward, octaves leaps synced with the kick drums, the movement in the feet, the pulse in the chest, the complexity not in harmonic movement but rhythmic. Being a progressive form, this is the starting point. It comes in many favors from the gloss of Periphery to the grit of the more growly bands.
The influence of Meshuggah is pretty strong in many bands, which can be a good thing. The focus on rhythmic complexity does not eliminate harmonic risk, as the 7 and 8 string guitars detuned offer this palette of notes that certainly exist now, menacing, microtonal bending and the wonderful tendency of the low strings to strike sharp before they settle into pitch. This is a different complexity, driven by the instruments nature, the delight for the player as intense for the listener. Chugging against the low open string, the one key center strangely reminding me of African vocal groups who only perform in one key.
As polyrhythmic and odd time as this music can be, some of these drummers really make the effort for the pulse to play through. There are those that no matter how complex the pattern is approach it as 4/4, making the pulse job one with the accents a close second. As much as I am describing this music in traditional terms there is a different kind of composition here, born of the nature of the instrument. As David Byrne stated in an amazing TED talk, the change in venues changed the music written. I suggest that for some, the 7 & 8 string guitar and computer recording & amp modeling technology has effected the way the music has evolved. Now as these acts move from the bedroom to practice rooms to clubs to arenas, it's going to change even more.
There are moments of traditional song form and counterpoint but this style draws the writer back to that open string again and again, leaping and poking between the drums, a linear attack that pushes forward. As with most heavy music, the need for release brings quieter pulse free sections and this is one of the places where the ambient properties shine through. Projects like Cloudkicker and Chimp Spanner create atmospheres that are rather cinematic. In fact much of the visual elements for these bands are futuristic, off world graphics and the melding of computer filters and clearly non-acoustic percussive elements make me feel that part of the Blade Runner future is already here. With due respect, I have to point to David Torn and his deconstructive computer mayhem of his guitar years ago with Splattercell.
I lean toward the more ambient offerings, either instrumental or the ones who howl less.
Last week I was truly fortunate to see Tesseract and Animals as Leaders, who are in heavy rotation on my iPod. They clearly can play their instruments and the intricate parts of their albums were clear and concise, maybe too much so. These are performances, the effort put into execution. I look forward to seeing one of these bands improvise a bit, as AAL hinted at.
Recently I began to really appreciate Uneven Structure, a French band who isn't afraid to slow tempos and sing in a normal register. Yeah, I know, I'm behind the curve. They are seen as being part of a Djent "Big 4" by some. I feel that, along with Tesseract, they stand apart vocally with better range and dynamics. The groove is there and melodically the ideas are more fleshed out than other bands. Another band, Monuments, (who are also from Milton Keynes like Tesseract) released an instrumental version of a song from their not yet released album Gnosis which shows the layering of groove, harmony and advancing composition quite clearly.
Add to that the release this week of Vildhjarta's first… This is a strong scene.
I have been fortunate to work with some pretty serious people over the years who are groove-by-trade types and the idea of heavy music that swings or grooves first has found its time. The rule rather than the exception; I can deal with that. Heres to another generation of players, not poseurs.


Entering my last semester of college has given me a wholly undeserved sense of entitlement. I figure my opinion is most valid regarding most things because I'm probably older than most any one who has their hand raised. I feel like I should be at the front of every line because I've been waiting in these lines for six years. I park in faculty parking because at this point I probably know just as much as they do (I recognize that these statements are neither rational nor accurate). I give freshmen condescending looks, although my condescending look just looks like I'm trying to connect eyebrows. I use the library computers to watch tv shows on hulu. I don't really have a justification for that one.
I don't want to be one of those commenters that says stuff like "LOL so true." and then expects a pat on the back for the support. Not that that's what you were soliciting.
You should always give freshmen condescending looks.
בית מלון [url=http://www.kfarbair.com]כפר בעיר[/url] - אינטימיות, [url=http://kfarbair.com/services.html]שקט[/url] . אנו מספקים שירותי אירוח מיוחדים גם ישנו במקום שירות חדרים הכולל [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/eng/index.html]ארוחות רומנטיות[/url] במחירים מיוחדים אשר יוגשו ישירות לחדרכם!


text:
Liverpool F.C. Partners With SkillCorner's AI Platform to Extract Data From Matches
By Andrew Cohen 10.10.2019
English soccer club Liverpool F.C. has entered a multi-year partnership with SkillCorner, a Paris-based startup that specializes in tracking ball and player movement from live video of soccer matches.
The artificial intelligence platform claims it can track a million data points per match. SkillCorner's AI can track players, referees and the ball during live broadcasts. Liverpool went through a test phase with company before announcing a long-term partnership. The Premier League club plans to use SkillCorner to assist in analyzing team and player performance.
"The way [Liverpool F.C.] have used data to their advantage over the past years is revolutionary and being chosen by them for the quality of our data makes us very proud," Hugo Bordigoni, CEO of SkillCorner, said in a press release.
SkillCorner also provides its data-collection services to French sports betting operator Winamax and Chinese media outlet PPTV. Founded in 2016, SkillCorner was selected to Sportradar's Acceleradar program in 2018.
"It also opens up for new in-play products and innovative statistics that fans can engage with. The key to success lies in offering a betting experience that keeps players coming back, and we believe our technology will help operators achieve this," Morgan Jacquin, SkillCorner's head of business development, said in an interview with SBC News in March.
PREVIOUS LaMelo Ball, Facebook Watch Give Australian Basketball League a Global Following NEXT Pittsburgh Penguins Star Evgeni Malkin Invests in Esports Franchise Pittsburgh Knights
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2019/10/10/Technology/liverpool-fc-skillcorner-ai-platform-soccer-data-sports-tech.aspx

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


On this episode I talk with my friend Jane about her breech birth.
Beautiful birth story! Thank you so much for sharing! Sounded just like my home birth story, just baby showed her bum first! Love it!!
You are not crazy, you are awesome! I had 3 unassisted pregnancy/births and never even considered those positions of the baby inside me. I always just trusted birth and my body.


Nobody really noticed that starting April 2010 the latest changes in the Federal Act on Data Protection (BDSG) has brought significant changes and limitations to collection issues. These changes mainly concern forwarding data to credit information services.
5. the contract has been extraordinarily terminated due arrearages and the debtor has been informed on the intended data transfer.
In practice, this means that collections can only start after the second reminder and two months. When seen in even more detail, you can only start to enforce payment three months after invoicing. This can result in interest loss and greater difficulties, when the claims are older.
The advantage for attorneys is this that they do not count as institutes collecting data to determine creditworthiness. The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection describes credit information services as private companies that collect personal details and sell such information to other companies. The company for credit industry and most known is SCHUFA (Schutzgemeinschaft für allgemeine Kreditsicherung) Following its own reports, this company has 440 million details on 65 million individuals. In other words, practically every German adult is registered in this company's database. There are also several other ones and the biggest in this industry are: Bürgel Wirtschaftsinformationen GmbH & Co. KG, CEG Creditreform Consumer GmbH, arvato infoscore GmbH, Deltavista GmbH and accumio finance services GmbH. Lawyers, are already per definition, not a credit information service. So what relevance does this have for you as a creditor? While you are waiting to be able to report the bad credit to such agency, you can already hire your lawyer to start collecting the open accounts. N.B. some of the credit information companies (especially Bürgel, Creditreform) are also collection agencies. In contrast to lawyers, they may not immediately start collecting.
When you want to keep a high credit score as long as possible just simply contest the claim and the transferring of data is temporarily prohibited.
What's the difference between a collection agency and a lawyer when it comes to collecting open accounts? Since collection issues are legal consultation, such company will need a special permission to so act. Legal consultation is the typical task of an attorney. When it comes to pursuing payment in court, collection agencies are typically a "toothless tiger" because they may not fight in court for claims of third persons. And when it does come to court, then your damages on account of default payment can either be counted from the "collection agency" or a "lawyer". Both are not possible because you have the responsibility to keep your damages as reasonably low as possible. (§254 BGB).


text:
The 2006 Ju-Jitsu World Championship were the 7th edition of the Ju-Jitsu World Championships, and were held in Rotterdam, Netherlands from November 17 to November 19, 2006.

Schedule
17.11.2006 – Men's and Women's Fighting System, Men's Duo System – Classic
18.11.2006 – Men's and Women's Fighting System, Women's Duo System – Classic
19.11.2006 – Men's and Women's Fighting System, Mixed Duo System – Classic

European Ju-Jitsu

Fighting System

Men's events

Women's events

Duo System

Duo Classic events

Links

References

External links
Live results
TOP6 results from JJIF site (PDF)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Why do you use Perl?
Perl is a powerful free interpreter.
Perl is portable, flexible and easy to learn.
How do I set environment variables in Perl programs?
Which of these is a difference between C++ and Perl?
How to open and read data files with Perl?
Data files are opened in Perl using the open() function. When you open a data file, all you have to do is specify (a) a file handle and (b) the name of the file you want to read from.
As an example, suppose you need to read some data from a file named "checkbook.txt". Here's a simple open statement that opens the checkbook file for read access: open (CHECKBOOK, "checkbook.txt"); In this example, the name "CHECKBOOK" is the file handle that you'll use later when reading from the checkbook.txt data file. Any time you want to read data from the checkbook file, just use the file handle named "CHECKBOOK".
After this statement is executed, the variable $record contains the contents of the first line of the checkbook file. The "<>" symbol is called the line reading operator.
How do I do fill_in_the_blank for each file in a directory?


text:
8 Monuments In Turkey That Are A Reminiscence Of The Turkish War Of Independence!
Bhawna Mittal
Turkey is a rich historical land that is appraised for its packed lanes, elaborate architecture, and balloon-filled skies. It is home to a number of world-famous monuments and mausoleums. Ottomans, Romans, and Byzantines all have left a mark in this country. If you want to look deep in the history of this place then you must visit the monuments in Turkey. These monuments speak of the independence war, sacrifices, and struggle that the citizens of Turkey have to go through. They have attracted thousands of tourists every year owing to which Turkey is fast becoming one of the top tourist destinations in the world.
8 Best Monuments In Turkey
Here is a tailor-made list of some of the famous monuments in Turkey that one must explore on their excursion. These spots are like a paradise for every history buff as they depict the historicity of this place.
1. Canakkale Martyrs Monument
This monument was built to honor about 253,000 Turkish soldiers who were martyred in the Battle of Gallipoli. The battle took place from April to December in 1915 which was during the First World War. The structure was designed by architects Ismail Utkular and Dogan Erginbas with the help of a civil engineer, Ertugrul Barla. The construction started in 1954 but was deterred due to some monetary issues but was completed by 1958. There is a museum under the monument that one can also visit after exploring the place.
Established On: 21 August 1960
Location: 17900 Seddülbahir/Eceabat/Çanakkale, Turkey
Timings: Open 24 hours
Must Read: Turkey Honeymoon: 10 Romantic Experiences To Let The Love Blossom In 2021
2. Anıtkabir
Anitkabir literally means a memorial tomb and it is one of the best ancient monuments in Turkey. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's body was buried in this mausoleum who was the leader of the famous Turkish War of Independence. It was designed by two architects – Professor Emin Onat and Assistant Professor Ahmet Orhan Arda. Due to the sacrifices of the leader, this place is visited by thousands of locals from the whole country on the death anniversary and also on the anniversary of the War.
Established On: 1 September 1953
Location: Yücetepe, Akdeniz Cd. No:31, 06570 Çankaya/Ankara, Turkey
Timings: 9 am – 5 pm
Suggested Read: Cruises From Turkey: 9 Liners That Will Set Your Luxury Records Straight
3. Victory Monument
Situated in Ulus Square of Ankara, Victory Monument is one of the most historical monuments in Turkey. It was created after the drive organized by Yunus Nadi, a journalist. It mainly highlights the bronze statue of Ataturk along with two statues of men and one figure of a woman. The monument has been recently restored in 2002.
Established On: 1927
Location: Kızılay, 06430 Çankaya/Ankara, Turkey
Suggested Read: 7 Lakes In Turkey: Meander Through The Astounding Banks Of These Natural Wonders
4. Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Paşa Monument
The monument is built to honor a great Ottoman admiral namely, Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha. He was well-known among the locals due to his pet which was a lion. He contributed his services in the Battle of Cesme and thus a statue of him and his lion has been erected in Cesme. It was designed by an academic in State College of Fine and Applied Arts, Haluk Tezonar, in 1974.
Location: Musalla, 1015. Sk. No:1, 35930 Çeşme/İzmir, Turkey
Suggested Read: Theme Parks In Turkey: 10 Places That Will Bring Out The Adrenaline Junkie In You
5. Mehmetçik Monument
The Mehmetcik Monument is a sculpture of a Turkish soldier that is erected on Kartaltepe of Poltatli in Ankara Province. During the Battle of Sakarya, the Greek army was able to advance till Kartaltepe hill. But the army fell back after the counterattack by Turkish forces. This monument denotes the turning point of the Turkish Independence War and this is considered one of the historical monuments in Turkey.
Established On: 8 August 2008
Location: ğciler, Kartaltepe Mehmetçik Anıtı, 06900 Polatlı/Ankara, Turkey
Suggested Read: 8 Popular Festivals In Turkey That Make It An Irresistible Holiday Destination!
6. Atatürk Monument
Atatürk Monument was built to commemorate Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. The sculpture is built by Pietri Canonica, an Italian sculptor and the base was the idea of Asim Komurcu, a Turkish architect. The statue is made with bronze whereas the base is constructed with red marble. Anyone visiting Turkey must not exclude this piece of historical art from their itinerary.
Established On: 27 July 1932
Location: İzmir, Turkey
Suggested Read: Snowboarding In Turkey: For An Ultimate Snowy Adventure Amidst The Serene Alpines
7. Aviation Martyrs' Monument
This monument was dedicated to the soldiers of the Ottoman Airforce who were killed in flight accidents during the war. Two monoplanes crashed in Palestine that killed three out of four military aviators in 1914. Just after the incident, work on constructing a monument started to honor the killed aviators. A ceremony is organized every year in front of the monument on Martyrs' Day.
Location: İskenderpaşa, Macar Kardeşler Cd., 34083 Fatih/İstanbul, Turkey
Suggested Read: 10 Intoxicating Things To Do In Turkey That Will Sink Deep Into Your Soul
8. Republic Monument
The Republic Monument, located in Taksim Square, was designed by Pietro Canonica, an Italian sculptor. The monument was built to commemorate the formation of the Turkish Republic and it also showcases the figures of the founders. A number of tourists come to explore this place and click a photo of the 11 meters tall monument.
Location: Şehit Muhtar, Cumhuriyet Anıtı, 34437 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Turkey
Further Read: Winters In Turkey: A Land That Turns Into Heaven
Turkey is all about history & culture and a holiday in this country will be interesting and full of historical information. If you are the kind of person who likes to explore the historical places in a country then you must include some of these monuments in Turkey in your itinerary. It is always better to know about a place's culture in detail. So, wait no more and plan your holiday to Turkey with TravelTriangle if you are looking for a trouble-free vacation. And do not forget to buy souvenirs while coming back from the transcontinental country.
Dubai Monuments Thailand Monuments Cambodia Monuments
Looking To Book An International Holiday?
Book memorable holidays on TravelTriangle with 650+ verified travel agents for 65+ domestic and international destinations.
Trip to Sri Lanka at Rs 13,500/-
Plan Your Vacation Today!
Trip to Singapore at Rs 20,499/-
Get Quotes From Local Experts
Mauritius Holiday Starting at Rs 65,000/-
Talk to Our Experts Today
Book Nowk
Maldives Honeymoon Trip at Rs 39,800/-
Pay with easy EMI Option
Europe Trip at Rs 89,999/-
Vacation in Dubai at Rs 27,499/-
Hong Kong Holiday at Rs 24,999/-
Thailand Holiday at Rs 7,999/-
See more at TRAVELTRIANGLE.COM
Books, travel, art, music, and dance define Bhawna perfectly. You might find her sitting on a vacant metro platform, engrossed in a book, scribbling something, sipping on some lemon soda or planning an itinerary for her next trip.
Category: Places To Visit, Turkey
Top 23 Tourist Places In Kanyakumari 2021: The Land Where The Oceans Meet
11 Fun-Tastic Picnic Spots Near Vadodara For Endless Joy And Glee In 2021
Street Food In Ahmedabad 2021: 19 Best Food Spots That You Need To Add To Your List!
Winter In Gujarat: Visit These 6 Astounding Cities In The Gujju Land
Europe In March: An Ultimate Guide For An Ultimate Destination To Visit In 2021!
Moorish Mosque: Why You Should Visit This Historic Gem In Punjab In 2021
Sri Lanka Tour Packages
International Tourism Guide
Thailand Tourism
Bali Tourism
Singapore Tourism
Mauritius Tourism
Europe Tourism
Top International Hotels


text:
Home News No new president in sight for Italy as parties at odds
No new president in sight for Italy as parties at odds
Italy's Parliament looked unlikely Friday to break a five-day stalemate over the election of a new president as political parties remained at odds over the crucial decision.
The center-right bloc was set to vote for Senate speaker Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, but they do not have a majority and center-left parties oppose the choice.
Casellati, 75, earned a reputation as a staunch loyalist of former premier Silvio Berlusconi when she defended him from accusations of soliciting sex from an underage prostitute in the "bunga bunga" affair, from which he was eventually acquitted.
"I have known Elisabetta Casellati for more than 30 years and I can guarantee she would be absolutely fit," Berlusconi wrote on Facebook.
If elected, Casellati would be Italy's first female president. The gambit would succeed if some center-left or independent lawmakers broke ranks and joined the center-right in supporting her, but it looks like a long shot.
The election is decided by 1,009 national and regional lawmakers, and the winning candidate needs a 505 majority. The center-right controls around 450 votes, the center-left a similar number, while the remaining lawmakers are unaffiliated or belong to smaller groups.
Growing bad blood
In a sign of growing bad blood between the two main camps, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta accused the center-right of trying to sow divisions, rather than work toward a consensus candidate.
"I want to express profound disappointment for this method. We trusted them until now, I hope we did not make a mistake," he said.
Antonio Tajani, the deputy leader of Berlusconi's conservative Forza Italia party, shot back: "We only got vetoes from the left, which however never makes proposals."
Former premier Matteo Renzi, a centrist, predicted the Casellati gamble would fail, forcing negotiations back toward a bipartisan deal. He called on the center-right to stop castings for unlikely presidential candidates.
Cross-party negotiations could intensify as Parliament decided Friday to move from one to two presidential votes per day. The first was scheduled for 11 am (1000GMT) and the second for 5 pm.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi and ex-parliamentary speaker Pier Ferdinando Casini have been tipped as top bipartisan candidates for the presidency. The re-election of outgoing President Sergio Mattarella is another option, though he has said he wants to retire.
Draghi, the ex-president of the European Central Bank, is highly-respected internationally, but there are concerns that moving him from his job would make it difficult to create a new government, possibly triggering early elections that most parties do not want.
In Italy, presidents are the cornerstone of the political system, serving a seven-year tenure, while prime ministers change almost yearly. Presidents name prime ministers, call elections, influence government policy discreetly and can veto laws or ministerial appointments.
Previous articleAsian markets post mixed figures at weekly close
Next articleAustralia pledges $700M to protect Great Barrier Reef
Pentagon: Iran, proxies may be planning more attacks
Iran: Health Ministry calls to cancel Friday prayers
UK reduces terrorism threat level from 'severe' to 'substantial'


text:
Q: when i build "gomobile bind" a go project with opencv4 ,error come ,how can i solve Gomobile bind error

The array mean what, Anybody ever had this problem?
go build -tags ios -buildmode=c-archive -o/var/folders/vp/3ztk4jzn3hq35qfmp3qwrfm80000gp/T/gomobile-work135205628/faceTest-arm.a gobind failed: exit status 2
# gocv.io/x/gocv
In file included from calib3d.cpp:1:
In file included from ../../../../../gocv.io/x/gocv/calib3d.h:5:
In file included from /usr/local/Cellar/opencv/4.0.0/include/opencv4/opencv2/opencv.hpp:52:
In file included from /usr/local/Cellar/opencv/4.0.0/include/opencv4/opencv2/core.hpp:52:
/usr/local/Cellar/opencv/4.0.0/include/opencv4/opencv2/core/cvdef.h:659:10:

fatal error: 'array' file not found

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


A holdall is a bag that is donned the name holdall for being able to hold a lot of items due to its construction. It is shaped very much like a gym bag but with a rectangular bottom and zipped fastening with two small handles and one removable shoulder strap or it may have added wheels for ease. A holdall is used for many different purposes and can be seen to explore different colours and design features. They have been an accessory used since the early 1900s, normally created in leather.


text:
Photo by Tony Lam Hoang (CC0 1.0)
Mindless Computation
Paul Fidalgo
The Morning Heresy
The Catholic dioceses in Illinois are accused by the state's attorney general of withholding the names of at least 500 priests accused of child sexual abuse. The dioceses had previously disclosed the names of only 185, which is mind-boggling to begin with.
Meanwhile, in Middletown, New York, Rev. Donald G. Timone is preaching and leading mass at St. Joseph's Church, despite the church having paid settlements to two victims alleging that Timone had sexually abused them as kids (one of whom committed suicide). The Times reports:
…the archdiocese is essentially allowing Father Timone to continue serving as a priest because of a bureaucratic technicality — a position that seems to fly in the face of the cardinal's pledge to aggressively handle sexual abuse accusations.
Emma Penrod at Newsweek explores the intersection of left-wing and right-wing science denial: the rejection of science-based medicine:
[A growing trend is] conservative Christians who reject modern medicine in favor of "holistic" or "natural" approaches historically associated with the political left. Medical experts report a rise in the number of patients from conservative Christian areas who are rejecting traditional medicine.The anti-vaccination movement is a case in point. The movement is well documented among liberal communities in California, Oregon and New Jersey. But evangelicals have also grown more skeptical of vaccines, health experts say. The language used in many anti-vaccination campaigns seem to be directed to the religious right…
Quartz reports on the significant reliance of "traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines" (fake medicine) in sub-Saharan Africa, with research on why it's been so widely adopted. See if you can spot which reason isn't there:
The researchers … found both general populations and major health subsets use complementary medicine due to its lower costs and accessibility, belief in their "natural" status, word of mouth recommendations, or because of the treatment's association with a patient's cultural or spiritual beliefs. Aggressive marketing drives also continue to hype herbal medicine presenting them as better options to manage diseases.
If you guessed this passage was missing some variation of "its effectiveness," you win.
Caleb Lack at the CFI blog exposes the methods of predatory open-access journals.
At Skeptical Inquirer online, Kenny Biddle investigates an allegedly spirit-infested Zak Bagans's The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas with other skeptics at CSICon 2018. You have to love this:
I expected to have time to view all the objects, read any descriptions posted alongside them, and to have better lighting in order to see what I was looking at. Instead, it was too dark (several guests tripped throughout the tour), and the guides actively discouraged any real examination of the featured items.
I bet they did.
Two U.S. airmen sue the Defense Department after they are booted from the Air Force for being HIV-positive. The Post reports:
Both active-duty airmen said they tested positive for HIV last year during Air Force screenings. After they started antiretroviral treatments, their doctors deemed them asymptomatic and physically fit to deploy, and their commanders backed their continued service. They intended to pursue lengthy Air Force careers after serving for more than half a decade in logistics and maintenance roles.
Deutsche Welle interviews Martin Hultman, author of a study on the ties between climate change denial and right-wing nationalism. Hultman says:
The increase of climate change denial has also contributed to the growth of right-wing nationalists, because there are some overlapping features. For example, not wanting to deal with global issues and only thinking in nationalist terms.
Another overlap is that both right-wing nationalists and climate change deniers are portraying the elites as the people who are lying. They describe the researchers and UN delegates as the elite that is against the people.
And then, I think very importantly, there is also an overlap in funding and financing which might not be as visible. But it is there.
Joseph P. Laycock at Rewire explains why a Nebraska principal banning candy canes in school for secularism is NOT HELPING:
[The principal's] memo explained that, "Historically, the shape is a 'J' for Jesus. The red is for the blood of Christ, and the white is a symbol of his resurrection. This would also include different colored candy canes." The memo drew the ire of the Liberty Counsel and may fuel claims of a "War on Christmas" for years to come.
Chai Feldblum is the first openly LGBTQ person on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission…or, maybe, was, as Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is blocking her reappointment because she has "radical views on marriage." Pretty sure it's Lee's view on marriage that is in the minority of public opinion, sooooo…..
Hey look an alien spacecraft on Google Maps Street View. Pay no attention to the fact that it's obviously a butterfly.
The European Court of Human Rights rules Greece in violation of anti-discrimination measures by applying Sharia law to a family inheritance dispute.
Big Think rounds up some atheist quotes that Derek Beres says will "make you question religion." Preaching to the choir here, but I did like this Daniel Dennett quote:
Comprehension, far from being a Godlike talent from which all design must flow, is an emergent effect of systems of uncomprehending competence: natural selection on the one hand, and mindless computation on the other.
Scientific American, meanwhile, rounds up the thoughts of some super-smart folks on the topic of utopias, and includes our own Richard Dawkins:
My utopia is a world in which beliefs are based on evidence and morality is based on intelligent design—design by intelligent humans (or robots!). Neither beliefs nor morals should be based on gut feelings, or on ancient books, private revelations or priestly traditions.
Industrious Iowan atheist Justin Scott says in the Des Moines Register that the state legislature needs to solidify its policy on prayer and invocations, writing, "To honor the Constitution's guarantee of equality, the Senate must allow atheists like me to deliver invocations, or it must do away with them altogether."
CFI is joining with other groups to protest a part of the new prison reform legislation that sends taxpayer dollars to faith-based programs.
Kelly Weill at The Daily Beast explores the rapid radicalization that is enabled by YouTube's algorithms, using as an example how one teenage guy went from watching Call of Duty clips to atheist videos to men's rights videos to Holocaust denial. I guess it's a good thing I don't play first-person shooters.
This sounds cool: The Revealer excerpts America and Other Fictions by Ed Simon, a book which looks at the concept of "America" as a kind of post-religion faith.
The Masterpiece Cakeshop guy will just not leave unwell enough alone, now complaining that Colorado is being hostile to him because of his religion. Sure they are. Man, you have to really hate gays for Jesus to keep this up.
Atheist sage Herb Silverman praises the Post and Courier for an op-ed on astronomy myths, and argues that the paper should also stop dabbling in pseudoscience by, for example, nixing its daily horoscope:
Please be part of the solution, not the problem, by educating your readers to distinguish real science from pseudoscience and mythology. Then again, perhaps I'm a skeptic because I was born a Gemini.
Linking to a story or webpage does not imply endorsement by Paul or CFI. Not every use of quotation marks is ironic or sarcastic, but it often is.
Paul Fidalgo has been communications director of the Center for Inquiry since 2012. He holds a master's degree in political management from George Washington University, and has worked previously for FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy and the Secular Coalition for America. Paul is also an actor and musician whose work includes five years performing with the American Shakespeare Center, and he currently directs productions for the University of New England Players. In 2017 he was the second Richard Kirschman Free Thought Fellow at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes, California. His work also appears in the 13th book of the Dark Mountain Project. He lives in Maine along with his two dangerous kids. His personal blog is Near-Earth Object, and he tweets at @paulfidalgo.
The Morning Heresy is your daily digest of news and links relevant to the secular and skeptic communities.
Shaking the Heavenlies
I Left My Heart in South Dakota
VIEW ALL FROM The Morning Heresy
Morning Heresy


INDIANAPOLIS (July 27, 2005) - Klipsch Audio Technologies, a leading global manufacturer of premium audio products, announced that Chris Lentz has joined the company as Western regional sales manager for the company's specialty retail and residential contracting division. He is responsible for providing strategic territory supervision, which includes penetrating new markets, account development and management, product forecasting, program distribution and attaining sales quota for the Western region of the United States.
With over 10 years of documented success in the consumer electronics industry, Lentz worked at Yamaha Electronics Corporation in Buena Park, Calif. as Western regional sales manager, Terk Technologies in Commack, N.Y. as Western regional sales manager and Bose Corporation in Framingham, Mass. where he held a variety of key management positions before joining Klipsch.
In addition to his extensive work experience, Lentz has participated in several professional development courses to bring a new level of proficiency to his skills, including Acclivus base and major account planning strategies, effective supervision, advanced business writing, better communication through effective listening, targeted strategic interviewing, total quality management, negotiating to win and building performance management systems.
Lentz grew up in San Jose, Calif. and graduated from San Jose State University in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in advertising and a minor in international business. He now lives in Oceanside, Calif. with his wife Janice.


text:
module:set_global();

local adns = require "net.adns";

local map_config = module:get_option("srvinjection") or {};
local map = module:shared "s2s_map"

for host, mapping in pairs(map_config) do
	if type(mapping) == "table" and type(mapping[1]) == "string" and (type(mapping[2]) == "number") then
		local connecthost, connectport = mapping[1], mapping[2] or 5269;
		map[host] = {{
			srv = {
				target = connecthost..".";
				port = connectport;
				priority = 1;
				weight = 0;
			};
		}};
	else
		module:log("warn", "Ignoring invalid SRV injection for host '%s'", host);
		map[host] = nil;
	end
end

local original_lookup = adns.lookup;
function adns.lookup(handler, qname, qtype, qclass)
	if qtype == "SRV" then
		local host = qname:match("^_xmpp%-server%._tcp%.(.*)%.$");
		local mapping = map[host] or map["*"];
		if mapping then
			handler(mapping);
			return;
		end
	elseif qtype == "A" then
		if (qname == "localhost." or qname == "127.0.0.1.") then
			handler({{ a = "127.0.0.1" }});
			return;
		end
		local ip = qname:match("^(%d+.%d+.%d+.%d+).$");
		if ip then
			handler({{ a = ip }});
			return;
		end
	end
	return original_lookup(handler, qname, qtype, qclass);
end

function module.unload()
	adns.lookup = original_lookup;
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Accidents can happen and that would often lead to the immobility of a person. It should not get worse since it will only give the person a small chance of healing. But, it can be treated with the aid of legit physical therapy in Wilmington. Therapists are skilled when it comes to this and there are reasons why there is a need to resort to this. But first, you should consult with a doctor to know your current state. If not, you might only be worsening your condition. Take note of the benefits you can get from it.
Keep in mind that professionals use steps for this. Those steps are necessary to ensure the safety of their patients. It means you can really trust them. They know what to do and would surely proceed as soon as they see your condition. They check you and you must cooperate so they would know it.
They do not rush this. They make sure everything is final so the therapy can begin. It does not cause any hassle at all since you do not need to think of possible ways to heal yourself. They take care of this and everything would surely go well. You should only leave the job to them for they are skilled.
It certainly takes away your pain and you should definitely take note of that. Pain is what people feel when they move after they have been caught in accidents. But, therapists have ways to ease that and make feel less bad. You just only listen to them so this would never go wrong. It can satisfy you.
This will even be relaxing. If you are in deep muscle pain, then you might have a problem resting or relaxing yourself. Thus, the least you can do is to take the advantage of this and must allow the experts to help you. That way, nothing would ever go wrong. It would surely offer the satisfaction.
It eventually allows you to walk. Walking or at least moving is your goal here but you cannot do that without the help of any professionals. There should be someone one who can and will help you with this so the result would definitely be satisfying. You have to be patient since the result is not instant.
Then, you get to move other parts of your body which is a good thing. You might not be able to move them due the pain you are feeling. But, that pain can go away if you only give this a try. It surely offers you the right advantage. So, just be patient and wait for the next instructions of experts.
It prevents surgeries. If it gets worse, your last option may be the operation and you do not want it to happen at all. Just make sure the whole is done earlier. That way, you are able to prevent it.
It gives you a much better life. Hire licensed and legit ones. If so, everything would go well and it does not cause more problems. Search for one and pick a trusted one.


An exotic duo - Autumn is just around the corner and yet with our recipe tip we bring back the summer for a few moments of enjoyment. Summer Rolls and Rosé Champagne - this duo takes you to exotic countries and reminds you of mild summer nights by the sea.
Serve the fresh, fruity Summer Rolls with an aromatic peanut dip or a fiery soy dip. A strong rosé champagne harmonizes wonderfully and completes this duo. Its intense bouquet is best developed in RIEDEL Performance Pinot Noir Glass.


text:
Overstock.com Partners with PBS KIDS to Serve the Unique Needs of Children Through Launch of Overstock Kid Zone
PBS KIDS will receive a portion of every sale from curated shop, which provides thousands of everyday essentials for children across multiple categories
ARLINGTON, VA/SALT LAKE CITY, UT, November 18, 2014 – Today, Overstock.com and PBS KIDS announced a new cause partnership and the launch of Overstock's new Kid Zone, a curated shop within Overstock that includes thousands of children's products. Overstock will give a portion of proceeds from every sale in the Kid Zone to support the mission of PBS KIDS, to open a world of possibilities for every child and ignite a passion for learning.
Products sold in the Overstock Kid Zone are designed to provide the necessities to help children thrive as well as spark creativity, fun and imagination. One hundred percent of the net proceeds PBS KIDS receives from sales in the shop will go towards supporting the mission of PBS KIDS.
The Kid Zone also provides links to PBS KIDS resources and fun family activities. PBS KIDS is the number one educational media brand for kids and is uniquely positioned to reach children everywhere with content that is rooted in academic frameworks, preparing young children for success in school and in life.
"Overstock believes in a bright future for all children, and to support our commitment to their education, health, happiness and well-being, we're honored to be a partner with PBS KIDS in children's educational media," said Stormy Simon, Overstock president. "We are excited to provide parents with an easy shopping experience that supports the mission of PBS KIDS with every sale from the new Overstock Kid Zone."
"PBS KIDS is committed to using the power of media to light a spark for learning and to help all kids reach their potential," said Lesli Rotenberg General Manager, Children's Programming, PBS. "The proceeds received by PBS KIDS through our partnership with Overstock.com will help support our mission and the development of innovative PBS KIDS educational programming and digital content."
About PBS KIDS
PBS KIDS, the number one educational media brand for kids, offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television, online, mobile and community-based programs. Kidscreen- and Webby-award winning pbskids.org provides engaging interactive content, including the PBS KIDS video player, now offering free streaming video accessible on computer- and mobile-device-based browsers. For more information on specific PBS KIDS content supporting literacy, science, math and more, visit pbs.org/pressroom or follow PBS KIDS on Twitter and Facebook.
About Overstock.com
Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) is a discount online shopping retailer based in Salt Lake City, Utah that sells a broad range of products including furniture, rugs, bedding, electronics, clothing, jewelry and cars. Worldstock.com, a fair trade department dedicated to selling artisan-crafted products from around the world offers additional unique items. Main Street Revolution supports small businesses across the United States by providing them a national customer base. The Nielsen State of the Media: Consumer Usage Report placed Overstock.com among the top five most visited mass merchandiser websites in 2011. The NRF Foundation/American Express 2011 Customer Choice Awards ranked Overstock.com #4 in customer service among all U.S. retailers. Overstock.com sells internationally under the name O.co. Overstock Shopping (http://www.overstock.com and http://www.o.co) regularly posts information about the company and other related matters under Investor Relations on its website.
Overstock.com®, O.co®, Worldstock Fair Trade® and Club O Rewards® are registered trademarks of Overstock.com, Inc. O.info™, Club O™, Club O Dollars™ and Your Savings Engine™ are trademarks of Overstock.com, Inc.
Atiya Frederick, PBS; 703.739.5147; anfrederick@pbs.org
Meredith Gandy, 360 PR; 415.216.3441; mgandy@360pr.com
Kirstie Burden, Overstock; 801.947.3116; kburden@overstock.com
PBS KIDS® Partners with CUTIES® for First National Digital Partnership
PBS Unveils New Titles as Part of Winter/Spring Season and ...


The detailed information about the airport of Djambala: air tickets from the airport, flight timetable, airfare and special offers.
Locoflights.com compares the prices for flights from Djambala to 2000 cities by 718 airlines and hundreds of world travel sites. We find the cheapest plane tickets to Djambala without the extra charge and commission.
Locoflights.com recommends buying air tickets to Djambala in advance so that you can choose the conditions of the flight, focusing on your wishes and financial possibilities.


text:
SaintCarnival
The Worthington Multi-Media Circus saintcarnival@gmail.com
Stuart Reads A Game of Thrones — Chapter 23
Stuart June 2, 2014 0
Chapter 23 — Daenerys
After a hell of a hiatus, we're breaking back in with a chapter from Dany's perspective. I want to say "it's about time," but frankly, I'm anxious about her chapters. The past two set my teeth on edge more than any other chapters in the book so far.
If I recall, last time we left Dany she had married the barbarian chieftain dude Khal Drogo, who turned out to be significantly less barbaric than expected, and she also got a Cool Horse. Let's roll.
Things start nicely enough with a description of someplace pretty:
The Dothraki sea," Ser Jorah Mormont said as he reined to a halt beside her on the top of the ridge.
Beneath them, the plain stretched out immense and empty, a vast flat expanse that reached to the distant horizon and beyond . . . no trees, nor cities nor roads, only the endless grasses, the tall blades rippling like waves when the winds blew.
Sounds like New Zealand.
Dany and Ser Jorah are just chillin' on horses, looking at the grass. Then he goes and ruins the mood, saying that when the field blooms, it turns as red as blood. And then he goes off on a strange tangent about some sort of hypothetical grass (called ghost grass) that eats other grass, is possessed by the spirits of the damned, and will eventually blanket the world in death and kill everyone.
Also, it glows in the dark.
Dany politely orders him to shut up.
It's been a while, but I seem to remember Ser Jorah may or may not be a spy for King Robert? Somehow? It was mentioned off-hand at some point way long ago, back in Chapter 5 or 6 something. Just trying to keep these characters straight in my head — there are a lot of them.
Dany and Ser Jorah are joined by just about everybody else — her handmaids, her bodyguards, her risible brother Viserys, and presumably Khal Drogo and the rest of the Dothraki. I gather they're all on some kind of road trip across this sea of grasses.
Viserys still struggled with the short stirrups and the flat saddle. [Dany's] brother was miserable out here.
Glad to hear Vissy is suffering. Carry on.
Dany's pretty stoked about riding around these fields and wants to get away from her brother, so she issues an order to make everyone stay behind while she scouts ahead.
[Ser Jorah] smiled . . . "You are learning to talk like a queen, Daenerys."
"Not a queen," said Dany. "A khaleesi."
Pretty sure that means chieftain's wife or something. Same thing, really. Anyway, I'm just as pleasantly surprised as Ser Jorah. In the last chapter from Dany's perspective she was a timid little thing, utterly horrified by the Dothraki lifestyle. I'm not sure how much time has passed since then, but she seems to have grown into her role of leadership pretty quickly. Admittedly, this doesn't bother me, since I didn't want to watch her suffer all the time.
Wait, I think we're getting some flashbacks while she rides around.
The long and short of it is that for a while, she hated being the khaleesi because riding on her horse gave her blisters, and then she had a freaky (yet inspiring) nightmare:
There was only her and the dragon . . . She opened her arms to the fire, embraced it, let it swallow her whole . . . And the next day, strangely, she did not seem to hurt quite so much.
Very fishy. I think this is the second time she's had this sort of dream? Probably important.
Plus, after her nightmare she checks on her three stone-cold dragon eggs and finds them warm. She chalks this up to the heat of the sun, but come on. One of the eggs is even described as possessing the same coloration as the dragon in her dreams. If this isn't foreshadowing, I'm a monkey.
Okay, out of the flashback, she stops riding to play in the grass and feel the dirt on her toes.
Viserys came upon her as sudden as a summer storm . . .
Oh joy, look who it is.
You dare?" he screamed at her. "You give commands to me? To me?" . . . He grabbed her, shook her. "Have you forgotten who you are? Look at you. Look at you! . . . You do not command the dragon. Do you understand?
Still my least favorite character, I see. Guy could use a punch in the jaw.
Dany shoved him away, hard.
Or that. Yeah, I like that. Awesome!
She had never defied him. Never fought back. Rage twisted his features. He would hurt her now, and badly, she knew that.
Not awesome. Doesn't she have bodyguards now, though?
The whip made a sound like thunder. The coil took Viserys around the throat and yanked him backward. He went sprawling in the grass, stunned and choking.
So, yeah, everyone crowds around and the bodyguards ask Dany if she wants her brother executed. (Yes!) She declines (aww), but she does decide to shame him, forcing him to give up his horse and walk the rest of the way.
He was a pitiful thing. He had always been a pitiful thing. Why had she never seen that before? There was a hollow place inside her where her fear had been.
Like, damn. Is this happening already? Vissy has no more power. Only three chapters and Dany is just done with his bullshit. She's in charge and he's douchebag, and she knows it.
A bit later, Dany starts to doubt her decision — after all, the only reason she even has all this power to begin with is because Vissy pimped her up and gave her to Khal Drogo, and all in an effort to take back the Iron Throne. Now that she's humiliated him in front of the Dothraki, that plan's looking unlikely. Fortunately, Ser Jorah eases her mind with a pretty obvious question.
Jorah pulled up his horse and looked at her. "Truth now. Would you want to see Viserys sit a throne?"
Dany thought about that. "He would not be a very good king, would he?"
And she gives an obvious answer. I mean, right? Really glad we're covering ground here and knocking Vissy out of the running — in fact, he's basically become a non-character. Now that Dany doesn't fear him anymore, he's no longer important to the plot, nor his plans, apparently.
I might've spoken too soon — Vissy's out, but I don't think Dany's shut down his plan, exactly.
[Viserys] could not lead an army even if my lord husband gave him one," Dany said. "He has no coin and the only knight who follows him reviles him as less than a snake. The Dothraki make mock of his weakness. He will never take us home.
Now, she doesn't state it outright, but it's implied that she will take up her brother's task. When Ser Jorah prompts her to consider where she truly belongs, she does not think of the Dothraki but of King's Landing, where she was born. Like I said, not explicit, but I'm willing to bet that she'll soon decide to go to Westeros. (To make war on them, maybe? Doesn't seem like her M.O., but things could change.)
The Dothraki eventually make camp and Dany relaxes in a bath, and she asks her handmaids what they know of dragons. Only one maid, Doreah, has anything interesting to say, suggesting to Dany that the moon is a giant dragon egg. Not sure if this is meant to be taken literally, but Dany starts to hang out with Doreah from now on and ask her more questions.
And then just as the chapter ends it takes me by the chin and drags me about three months into the future.
They were on the far side of the Dothraki sea when Jhiqui brushed the soft swell of Dany's stomach with her fingers and said, "Khaleesi, you are with child.
Holy timeskip, Batman! Seriously, the last three sentences of the chapter just —
I know," Dany told her.
It was her fourteenth name day.
— wait, Dany's only fourteen?
Summary Time: After a few weeks among the Dothraki, Daenerys becomes comfortable with her new life and disregards the dregs of her old one, starting with her loathsome brother Viserys. She makes some friends (sort of), connecting with Ser Jorah Mormont, an exile from Westeros who's pledged his sword to her service, and with her handmaid Doreah.
Then there's a bloody huge timeskip and Dany becomes pregnant with Khal Drogo's child.
The chapter wasn't long, but it really feels like a lot of stuff happened, so I'm gonna tackle the big points that stood out for me.
First of all, the scene with Vissy in the meadow was pretty badass, but also kind of deflating. I hate the guy, so I'm glad Dany has escaped his abusive treatment — treatment that she's had to live under her whole life, mind you — and the punishment she delivered was very satisfying. The dude's just a total worm, I'm glad he's not a problem anymore.
At the same time — he's not a problem anymore? Already? I was honestly expecting him to remain a threat for far longer than this. It's tricky, since I'm glad Dany got over him, but her character has really changed very quickly. Feels a little rushed.
In the same vein, Dany's pregnant now? Already? (I feel like I'm going to say that a lot.) It feels like G.R.R.M's got a grand epic and he's just offering me the important bits, cutting out the boring ones, which . . . granted, that's basically the most obvious writing advice you could give someone, isn't it? "Write a story, cut out the boring parts?"
So, again, I appreciate it, I just wasn't expecting it. I'm still fresh off reading trying to read Robert Jordan's Eye of the World, which moved at a snail's pace, akin to Tolkien's works. Clearly, G.R.R.M is not Tolkien — I think I've compared him to Stephen King before, and I stick by that. He's got a hell of a lot of characters, all drenched in atmosphere and constant turmoil, but he just fixes his eye on the pivotal moments, and skips over the walking and the waiting by switching between the myriad POVs.
Lastly (and uncomfortably), now that I know how young Dany is I'm feeling a tad queasy. Was her age specified before? I thought she was seventeen or something. There was a graphic sex scene in her last chapter, and she was only thirteen! Perhaps it sounds arbitrary — thirteen or seventeen, she's still underage, deal with it, etc. — but for me the difference between a person just starting to become a teenager and just leaving their teenage years is pretty significant.
Sorry, G.R.R.M, but a romantic sex scene between a thirteen-year-old and a twenty-something kinda kills me.
On that note, I'll be glad as ever to return to Westeros. As far as Dany's POV chapters go, I liked this one the most, but they really do leave a bit of sick in my mouth.
Still, it's good to be back. Thanks for reading.
Among other drawings, Ian illustrated Dany and Ser Jorah in this post.
Posted in Book Discussion, Stuart's posts
Tagged Game of Thrones, Stuart Reads
Previous Post: Ian Draws: A Game of Thrones (New stuff)
Next Post: Not a Disease Movie
Book Discussion
Eric's posts
Ian's posts
Kathleen's posts
Stuart's posts
The Fifth Husband
The Mermaid Boneyard
Tribe of Liars
Kathleen on And Now Let's Play The Walking Dead
Stuart on Aristotle among the Superheroes
Stuart on Garrus Vakarian: The Perfect Template
Copyright © 2022 SaintCarnival. Powered by WordPress and Stargazer.


Xiaomi is one of the leading smartphone manufacturers in China and India selling millions of smartphones in the mid-range segment. The company offers great specifications at an affordable price point. But Xiaomi tends to make up for the loss in Hardware by showing ads in their MIUI System Apps which in most cases is annoying. We are used to ads in websites or Videos etc but if the Apps show up in your System Apps like Settings etc it can be very annoying at times.
If you are irritated with the Ads in your in0built System Apps in your Xiaomi smartphones like MI 8, Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi Note 4, Redmi 6, Redmi 6 Pro, Redmi 5 etc. There is a simple trick which lets you Block the system ads without the need to Root your device. All you need to do is change some settings and you will be good to go.
Follow the steps mentioned below to stop Ads from showing up in your Xiaomi smartphone system ads.
Note: MSA stands for "MIUI System Ads" Xiaomi has cleverly hidden it with the short form.
By turning off the Toggle switch you will be stopping Ads from showing up in System Apps in Xiaomi smartphones which will be a very big relief. It is good that Xiaomi has included an option to turn off the Ads in System Ads under MIUI. Do share it with your friends who own a Xiaomi device to help them in fixing this problem.


I agree with Elton in a way. I also understand where GLAAD is comming from. I'm divided on this one. What does everyone think?
Doesn't it irritate u that there is only one female smurf?
I don't know all the details, but here are a few things of my opinion. Eminem is basically homophobic, in the few songs I've heard of his he definetly shows that he's not going to be marching in the next gay pride parade. I'm not too familiar with him, but, from what I can tell he's just not for gay people, which is all right - everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And, as far as I know he doesn't condone violence on gay people. He could be any other person disagreeing with something, but because he's famous everyone gets to hear his opinions.
I'm assuming that Elton John is gay? (is it that obvious that I don't get out enough? sheesh, that's what happens when you don't watch TV and you don't read magazines). I can see what GLAAD is saying, "hey Elton, it's uncool that you did this duet with a person who obviously has anti-gay feelings, you shouldn't put up with that." And I can see Elton saying "well, if he's cool with me and he wanted to do that, maybe it's his way of making a statement and I can do music stuff with whoever I want to, thankyouverymuch".
I think that it's okay to not agree with someone, for being a way that they are or for having certain opinions, but that doesn't mean that you can't peacefully coexist with them. So, maybe Eminem doesn't feel all bright and fuzzy when he sees two guys holding hands, that doesn't necessarily mean that he hates gay people or wishes death upon them. So...maybe that was his way of showing that it's okay to disagree with something, but that doesn't mean you can't get along with those people.
Given the miniscule subset of Eminem lyrics I've actually listened to/read (the real slim shady), I'm guessing he's just trying to annoy people. But given my sample size, I'm not drawing any real conclusions.
In reply to your signature, Hotbuttered, it annoys me more when people use u, r, and/or ur instead of you, are, and your. I bet all the replies like this take more bandwidth than those abbreviations save, anyway. So in conclusion, please follow the "post with care to grammar" bit in the guidelines.
I don't use the term "straight". It implies its opposite is "crooked".
Personally I have more problem with the people who run the grammy's for nominating him for awards than I do with M&M. He has his right to his opinions, but it doesn't mean that people should be honoring him because he holds them. The guy is a rapper, which means that the lyrics are the essence of what he does. Its not like he is pushing new frontiers in melody and harmony. Its one thing to honor a Richard Wagner for his music, even though his politics were abhorent, because it is pretty easy to seperate the music from the political ideas. With a rap musician, I just don't see how that is possible. Rap music is more like poetry. Is it possible to honor a Robert Frost or a Carl Sandberg without honoring the thoughts that they express in their poetry?
I'm sorry about my signature. It's been changed . I think I'm spending way too much time on the internet. I'm starting to write like that often...lol.
"No-one goes there anymore-it's too crowded."
I think everyone seems to miss the point that in fact Eminem is not homophobic at all! His rapping is intensely ironic when examined carefully and in fact contains subtle but important political messages. I will try and remember some next time I listen to it. He has sort of set himself up with this image so that he can then make fun of all those people who claim he is destroying youth. That is why he was willing to do the song with Elton John because that was his way of saying that all the stuff he says is not to be taken seriously, or rather should be taken seriously but not taken at face value.
The Guardian, a very liberal left wing newspaper, called Eminem the best poet since William Wordsworth! So either Eminem is in fact cleverly ironic in style, or he has very succesfully conned liberals into thinking he is!
I couldn't agree more with ConfusedBoy here. I was just listening to his Marshall Mathers CD today and it seems that a lot of the songs are about how he didn't expect to affect people. The stuff that's popular is his homophobic stuff because it's catchy.
well... eminem used to piss me off, to tell the truth, but now i've decided that he's a pretty good rapper. (almost typed "raper" there... lol!) i think he did the duet w/elton john to show there were no hard feelings, like "hey, i'm ok with you as long as you're ok with me". or something. i think elton john should be able to sing with whoever he wants to, and GLAAD needs to pull that large stick out of its *** .
Care to enlighten me as to what the irony is?
I am glad you asked that question because previously I had thought this particular song was merely a attention grabbing one. However, I have now taken the trouble to listen to the song more carefully and it seems to have many layers of meaning.
The song starts off with Slimshady saying that too many people take what he says in his records too seriously and he doesnt mean it at all. He then swiftly moves into the actual song saying that he will actually kill everyone. The irony being that he has already said he is talking rubbish before he starts.
His reason to kill? "I'm a criminal." This is a clever way to mock the way the right wingers (e.g. Republicans) attempt to dehumanise the "criminal". Slimshady is presenting himself as what a criminal is like to these unenlightened individuals: an out of control monster who will kill you any chance he gets and therefore does not deserve any rights. This hyperbole shows how utterly ridiculous this right wing propaganda is. Many criminals need help, not punishment.
The same people who support the state killing of criminals are also the people who hate Slimshady's songs and want them banned. This links not only back to the overall point of "dont take me too seriously" but also opens these people up for further mockery. He emphasises these people want to stop him from speaking his mind: a violation of one of those proud amendements.
"And please send me a brand new car and prostitute while my wife is sick in the hospital"
It is necessarily to realise that not only is Eminem not to be taken at face value (sometimes he just wants to break up the web of political correctness) but also sometimes takes on different persona that does not represent his own views.
His more general point is that society is leaving a significant proportion of people behind. They are becoming an underclass that will act just like himself (well how he acts for his songs) and are completely alienated from the high minded talk of politicians (Right and politically correct Liberal) transform into nothing to actually help them. This warning is ignored at everyone's peril.
Heh, Hotbuttered- when people tell me I'm going to hell, I just say "Well then! Too bad the position of God is all ready taken!" Off topic. Anyways, Elton and Eminem singing together confused me- seemed to go against everything Eminem standed for, and Elton was kinda betraying himself and gay people to sing with such an openly homophobic person... i dont know. I think it was probably just to make a controversy, which it has!
Its because Eminem isnt actually homophobic. I mean he is hardly religious! In some of his raps, it is highly suggested that he and his colleagues are engaging in homosexual activities. He is just a reaction against political correctness that attempts to change our language so that it is impossible to say certain feelings and the artificial nature of the pop world.
But even if his lyrics are meant to be ironic, if you have to listen to them that closely to catch the irony, does it...I don't know...count? You know what I mean? Most people are just going to hear the songs on the radio. They're not gonna examine the meaning in context. So regardless of what Eminem _really_ means, for them it's just a bunch of homophobic something.
What I think about Eminem is that everything he does is for publicity -- just to stir up attention. Heck, got us talking about him, hasn't he?
Okay, confused boy, I'll give you that Eminem is brilliant and ironic for the sake of argument.
The problem, however, is that his audience consists in no small part of teenaged (and less than teenaged) boys, who are still impressionable enough to not see the irony.
Unless one of these days he just says, "Gay people are all right. I have no problem with gay people. Oh, and women are pretty good too..." many of his fans are going to remain clueless to the hilarity that you say is there.
Well perhaps singing with Elton John is his way of saying that he is not at all serious about his homophobia. I also imagine that the opinions of his listeners are not directly affected by his music. For example, I know a few other people who listen to Eminem, most of which are perfectly happy with homosexuality (of course that is partly down to whom I am friendly with). But I would argue that it works the other way that homophobic Eminem listeners are ALREADY homophobic. So he is not exactly improving the opinions of people, but he isnt a particularly bad effect on it either.
What I'm saying though, is that Eminem's listeners (many of 'em, anyway) are still at an age where they're just beginning to form opinions about homosexuality, and a whole range of issues. Having an icon who voices violent fantasies (genuine or not) about homosexuals isn't helping the cause.
Hugging Elton John isn't going to change a thing in the minds of those kids (and actually, I think that blantantly stating that his whole persona is a joke wouldn't get through to some kids that age, either).
He's talking to a fan base that, sure, includes college students who've already thought this stuff through, but also includes 10-year old boys. He's being irresponsible with his fame.
Incidentally, the guy just paid 100,000 pounds to buy back every single copy of a British magazine called "The Face". Why did he do that you ask? Because on the cover he was shown wearing a pink (albeit digitally-altered) tank top. If he weren't so macho (or vain), he'd have had no problem being shown like that.
Woah and he is dressing up as Ossama Bin Laden in his next video! I'll have to think about that one to work out some clever point he must be getting across by doing that ...how about... attacking the way the media attemps to personify evil by concentrating on a few select people when in reality it is many nations with grievences that has produced such terrorists. Yeah that will do.
On the pink shirt front, that does seem a rather trivial reason to stop the publishing of a magazine. Though I would say that even though my own sexuality is somewhat mixed, I still like to stay with a fairly masculine image and so I suppose a man he is straight might want to keep that even more. A pink shirt isn't really a strong statement though. I think that might show that he is becoming obsessed with image, just like the popstars he so often mocked.
Eminem's show-stopping Grammy Awards performance with Elton John in 2000 was a joke, according to the rapper. The controversial hit maker told bosses at his record label Interscope he'd only play the Grammys with Elton John--thinking his demands would never be met and he wouldn't have to go to the ceremony.
He reveals, "I was just taking a stab in the dark. It was actually a cop out, so I didn't have to go to the Grammys. So when Jimmt Iovine at Interscope rang back and said, 'He'll do it,' I was lost for words."
But Eminem admits he's glad he stepped up on stage with Elton, adding, "Elton was sticking up a lot for me in the press and I respect any man who gets it."
Eminiem is an artist. He is an outspoken, callous, freeminded artist. And he speaks his mind. He also enjoys making jack***es out of the press when they write bad crap about him.
Eminem doesn't offend me in the least, ask anyone. I'll sit in class and just start singing his lyrics out loud. Some people just aren't mature enough to not take it at face value.
And as they aren't mature enough, parents should be monitering their music/tv/movies intake. But they don't. And then there goes half the population down the drainpipe of Doom. (^.^) I'm a girl, yet one of my favorite songs by him is "Kill you" which is probably one of his most female-"dissing" songs.
Homosexuals and Bisexuals, I have no problem with them, i find them to be the bravest and most real people I know, and I might even be one myself. I'm not sure still (^.^).
The thing IS is that Eminem has a WAY with words. His raps are GENIUS. The beat and etc. with the rhythm is amazing. He deserves any nd all he recieves. All of the crap in the press he's getting... well I'm glad SOMEONE is taking a stand against tabloids.
He is offenseive, yes, if you don't pay attention to him. I've read very fewe articles with him in them, yet out of these five or six... I've come to learn he isn't as bad as everyone seems to make him out to be. You need to have an open mind, and he is RIGHT on the First Ammendment issue on his song lyrics. Free Speach all the way!
Well, here are my thoughts on Eminem. I think that his songs are meant to be more ironic than serious, as if he was saying the things he says just because the media complains that he says them, and he wants to provoke reactions in people. And he has succeeded at that, probably beyond his wildest dreams. I mean, whenever his name is brought up in the media, I'm sure that helps just to put his name out there and more people end up buying his music. I for one, think he is very talented in the way he writes his music, and has some amazing songs, however he also has some songs that I just think are disgusting. My solution is to just listen to the ones that I like (most of his new CD), and not listen to the ones I don't (Criminal, Marshall Mathers). And what is weird is that when I first heard about the homophobia controversy, I thought he actually had the opposite views (as in his lyrics for "The Real Slim Shady": "There's no reason that a man and another man can't elope.") His critics seemed to just ignore that verse, while only pointing out ones with anti-gay epithets.
I think a lot of what he says is just for media attention - and this is basically my views on most things - but if you don't like him then just don't listen to him. It's like when people complain about violence on TV - just change the channel.


text:
Church that barred black wedding affirms commitment to equal treatment
By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor
(CNN) -A Mississippi church that wouldn't allow a black couple to marry in its sanctuary because of the couple's race appears to be trying to right a wrong, as officials with the church's denomination decried the incident.
Charles and Te' Andrea Wilson, regular attendees at First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, were forced to relocate their wedding this month at the last minute. Their pastor, Stan Weatherford, made the relocation request on behalf of some congregants who didn't want to see the couple married there, according to CNN affiliate WLBT.
Weatherford performed the ceremony at a nearby church.
At services on Sunday, the congregation's leadership addressed the controversy in a statement read to the church.
"Our many ministries here are open to everyone and have been for many years," the church deacons said in a statement read to the congregation, according to The Clarion Ledger. "We would never consider doing otherwise."
When contacted Monday evening, Weatherford said the church would have no comment on the situation.
CNN's Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the big stories
In an interview Monday, a local Baptist official said the church leadership was trying to address the controversy and to move past it with the statement from church deacons.
"The deacons made an affirmation that First Baptist Church would be available to minister to anybody in the church or the community. That went over real well," said Copiah County Baptist Association Director George Pat Bufkin, who attended the service. " They're now in the way of amends."
Bufkin portrayed the move to deny the black couple a chance to marry in the church as the work of a small minority whom he called "radicals" and who he said made mostly anonymous calls to their pastor to complain about the black couple's wedding. Bufkin said he did not know who exactly was behind the calls.
Bufkin, whose group is made up of 30 Baptist churches in the area, said First Baptist is among the largest in the county. The 150-year-old church has around 800 members, he said, and is in the midst of a building campaign.
"Anytime the church grows you always have the devil there, trying to stir up problems," Bufkin said. "That's what occurred here and the deacons have already nipped that in the bud."
Weatherford, the First Baptist pastor, told CNN affiliate WLBT last week about why he agreed to move the wedding.
"I didn't want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn't want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te' Andrea," he said. "I wanted to make sure their wedding day was a special day."
Calls, e-mails and text messages to the pastor by CNN were not returned on Monday. No one answered the telephone at the church office.
Jonathan Thompson, the 27-year-old community relations director for the city of Crystal Springs, was at First Baptist's Sunday service, and said the incident "didn't represent all the people of the church."
"I wanted to come as a voice of racial reconciliation and spiritual reconciliation," said Thompson, who is African-American, explaining his decision to go to the church on Sunday.
Thompson said he was welcomed at the service. "I was allowed to give the closing prayer," he said. He said he prayed God would forgive all of them for their sins and that they would be able to find reconciliation.
Thompson has organized a unity rally for Monday night for area churches to come together to meet, sing and pray.
"I think this is an opportunity to really get intentional about reconciling," he said.
First Baptist's move to deny a wedding venue has been blasted by local and national officials with the Southern Baptist Convention, whose 16 million members make up the largest Protestant denomination in the United States.
"Mississippi Baptists both reject racial discrimination and at the same time respect the autonomy of our local churches to deal with difficulties and disagreements under the lordship of Jesus," said Dr. Jim Futral, the executive director the Mississippi Baptist Convention.
"While there may be hurts, wrongs and mistakes that must be addressed, the context for this to happen is in a historical church with a genuine caring pastor and thoughtful leaders who are seeking to do right," Futral's statement continued. "We, along with our entire body of faith, pray for them and stand ready to do anything that we can to help that church and that community."
A spokesman for the Southern Baptist executive committee told CNN the group would defer to local and state organizations for comment.
"We're not a top down organization," said Roger Oldham. "We're a bottom up organization. The congregation is the governing body."
Oldham said the local church needs to take corrective measures and he said they appear to be doing that in this case.
"The SBC has taken a strong position that racism is a sin and Christians should always oppose it," he said, referring to the Southern Baptist Convention. "We're also grieved when a small group attempts to set policy for the entire congregation."
Richard Land, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, criticized First Baptist's action.
"There are valid as well as nonvalid reasons for not permitting a couple to get married with the blessing of that local congregation of believers," Land said. "The race or ethnicity of that couple is never a valid reason and any local body of believers who rejects a couple on those grounds should be reprimanded."
"Everyone should understand that in the SBC this decision resides with the local congregation for good or ill. If this couple was indeed rejected because of their race, as a Southern Baptist I'm embarrassed, frustrated, and I apologize to the couple on behalf of the Convention for the hurt and emotional pain they've experienced," Land's statement continued.
Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter
Charles Wilson, the groom at the center of the controversy, said on Sunday, "All we wanted to do in the eyes of God was to be man and wife in a church that we thought we felt loved. What was wrong with that?"
Te'Andrea Wilson said, "I had dreams of having my wedding the way I wanted it, and I also dreamed of having it at the church and unfortunately, it didn't happen."
Her husband said if there was a time to "step up and be Christ-like," it was before their wedding.
"If it was such a minority of people, why didn't the majority stand up and say, 'In God's house we don't do this'?" Charles Wilson asked.
On Sunday, some church members reacted to news of the wedding with surprise. Many hadn't known what happened to the Wilsons until they heard about it on the news, and offered apologies.
"I would say I'm sorry this happened and would you forgive the people who caused it? Because we're gonna try to," Bob Mack told CNN affiliate WLBT.
Eric Marrapodi - CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor
Filed under: Baptist • Christianity • Church
Next entry »Dutchman builds replica Noah's Ark after flood dream
« Previous entryChristian groups allege threats to religious freedom in anti-Chick-fil-A campaigns
I wanna tax exemption for all my income, so I can refuse Tea Party members access to my driveway on religious grounds.
Think Like a Floridian
Use "stand your ground" to keep them off your driveway. It takes too much paperwork to get a tax exemption; bullets are faster and cheaper.
albro
Speaking as one who's often tired of hearing about how poor and oppressed the black people in America are, some things are just WRONG!!! This how a church practices the word of God? By being racist? Wrong is wrong: it's that simple.
merridee
Oh honey, don't you know? The racists in this country have been given carte blanche to be just as out there, as abusive and oppressive as they can be! This... this was just a little thing that can be written off as an "isolated incident" until things really get cooking. My prediction is folks got about 2-5 years and then you're gonna see stuff that hasn't been seen since the 50s... and it'll be back with a vengeance.
JWR
This was a total failure on the part of the Pastor, deacons and the congregation. Don't they realize or understand that they represent God? They have done harm to the Christian community, and counterfeited the testimony of the Christian church as a whole. I doubt the sincerity and the doctrine of this particular church.
I agree, the minister was a coward and if they really wanted to "thwart the devil" he would have performed the ceremony at HIS church.
I don't question their sincerity at all, nor is my place to judge their sincerity – that's God's job. I agree that the pastor should have responded differently to the small group who annonymously called and bullied him, but the way the church is handling it – asking forgiveness and working as a body – it is the Biblical way of handling this. Christians are still humans and still stumble and hurt others, but forgiveness and repentance goes a long way.
Well said, JWR!
David & Susan Fletcher
The pastor should have the the moral backbone to have told the church members he would marry the couple or replace him.
Church of the dead god they worshipping
Prove there is not God or that God is dead.
ChristardMingle.com
kate, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. There is no proof of god. The burden of proof is on you and you have none.
The devil made me do it!......Yea right.
John Stone
Nah George W Bush made me do it !!
Weatherford is an unprincipled coward to have knuckled under to these hatemongering bigots in the first place.
Exactly. They let the petty, small-minded, bass-ackwards racists win. Sickening.
Engh. I'm black and I'll be the first to say that working for a church is very, very hard. The guy was scared for his job, I'm sure, and apparently afraid that the couple would have their wedding day ruined. Sometimes standing for what's right is the smart thing. Sometimes the smart thing is to just ignore what's wrong, which is what the pastor seems to have done. They couple had their wedding day, he performed the ceremony, and now the conversation is being had that needs to be had wihtin that church.
I think what he didn might have been a little bit of wisdom.
yannaes
Love to go to Chick fil A's now and I am not religious...
Alpa Chino
Wrong article, cray-cray.
Why was a black couple going to a white church in the first place? Those blacks knew they weren't wanted or liked and knew they weren't going to have a wedding there, this was simple provocation on their part and on CNN's part, everyone knows CNN is a left wing and black propaganda network.
So you know these folks personally, go to their church? No? Ass. Go sit your five dollar ass down before I make change.
They, and other black Christians in the community, with some of their relatives are members of the church. They didn't just wander in randomly seeking to start trouble. Please get the facts before accusing innocent Christians of seeking to obey God's word!
You clearly have a very LOW IQ. Please try to evolve mentally.
This is unbelievable that in 2012 this type of racism is taking place. That is the only thing it can be called. What does it matter what church u attend and what eh congregation is majorly made up of. God doesn't see color, when is everyone else going to open there eyes and see people like they should. I at first said I would never attend that church again if I was the couple, but you know what I would. God would want it that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
...sincerely hope you were trying to be funny or something.... if not, the comments posted are pretty offensive.
If you know the definition of church, you wouldn't ask your question because there would be NO question as to why anybody would go to any church. However, we all know churches are mostly social orgs and have not much to do with God or Jesus!
Dear God, please protect me from your followers– AMEN...
you should be ashamed of yourself
Brainless Chris: Your question ranks up there in senselessness with "what were those Pepsi drinkers doing going to a church that mostly drinks Coke anyway?" Skin color has nothing to do with religion, except it seems mostly whites like yourself do even use houses of worship to display your lack of a brain, a soul and anything resembling cohones. Were you born a troglodyte or did you have to work really hard to become one? It's beyond your pay grade to even question what house of worship another person chooses to join, perhaps you should just go back to charm school and work on dusting off all that you have clearly forgotten.
Because racism is wrong, regardless of where it takes place, idiot.
If you only knew the history of why there were black churches in the first place, then you wouldn't sound so ignorant.
God's church isn't ruled by skin color. The article says the majority of the church was white, not completely white. Also, a small group didn't like that this black couple was marrying in that church – they do not represent the whole congregation. How do you know this couple was not wanted – are you in the hearts and minds of every person who attends this church? Perhaps you're one of the cowardly annonymous callers who contacted the pastor of this church...
oops....my bad oh ignorant one. Didn't realize that in 2012 churches still had "color" *rolling my eyes*
skpfrmdc
That was an incredibly dumb thing to say. Are you one of the protesters? Opinions like yours are why things like this still occur today.
*jakewagin
Curious for Alan Dershowitz opinion on this.. He's supportive of chik fila discrimation against gay marriage. Assume his logic would support SBC's initial decision to not allow. Crazy I know but so is his comment today saying Mayors have no right to keep.hateful businesses out of their cities.
"we are sorry 'this' happened. would you forgive those (evil doing narrow minded racist) christians?"
Sure , we're sorry , lets forgive those fanatics. Won't you join please to forgive them a bit more?
No mention of the couple that was rejected....
WWJD?
WWJD = Protest the church the wedding took place in
sftommy
""The deacons made an affirmation that First Baptist Church would be available to minister to anybody in the church or the community"
The Devil won.
The Good Chiristians got married elsehere and the bad heathen-christians are still in he congregation and the deacons think they beat the devil and will continue to minister (avoiding the promsies of actually marrying).
The Devil beat the SBC this go around and still lingers in he church.
Great minds think alike!! I just left a comment like this on another site. devil -1, this so called church -0.
Idalis
Aren't all churches in MS black?
rainbow cadet
Just curious, whether you are white, black, Asian, Hispanic or other, if the couple getting married isn't a member of the church (or at least one of the couple) why would they even want to get married there anyway? Why not ask to be married in the church where you are member? If the couple's home church isn't big enough, then why not ask their pastor to refer them to a church that could accommodate them? If the couple doesn't belong to a church (or attend one even semi-regularly), why even bother to get married in at church at all?
I thought it was their church...
jojole
IDIOT! They DO belong to this church and had to be married ELSEWHERE. Can't you READ?
Didn't this story say they attend there regularly? The Pastor has the right to deny them if they're not members, but he clearly didn't agree since he married them in another church. All I have to say is hope they're reading the Bible correctly because I don't know what verses say be evil and hateful to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
A question from a closet bigot, for sure. Right, right, attack the victim. You're kind of like all the soulless monsters who attack the couple who brought their baby to the theater in Aurora, rather than blaming the shooter. You don't fool anyone. Completely irrelevant to the issue but a clever cover for someone who really approves of racism.
You could at least read the article and get some facts before making so many assumptions. They were members of the church. The pastor was just too cowardly to stand up to his KKK members. So much for the power of God's love to overcome evil! I wish christians would practice just 1% of what they preach because this world would be a much, much better, peaceful and loving place.
tnwoman
rainbow cadet:
You and Chris are not too bright from your silly comments. The now Wilsons WERE members of this church, and people join churches because they feel at home in a particular church, they believe the doctrines taught by that particular denomination, and other reasons, so evidently this couple felt at home in this church.
I blame "Pastor" Weatherford for this travesty. Someone on this discussion thread called him "feckless", and I completely AGREE. He gave into the evil doings of some of his members who were guided by motives other than God's. In other words, these members were influenced by the devil. In a perfect world (Heaven) color, culture shouldn't matter.
Hey genius......this was their church!
And folks thought that Gay marriage was the only sticking point in churches. Words of advice: Seek out a justice of the peace and have a reception afterwards. It will save you a ton of money and spare you the pain of dealing with religious dogma.
"I didn't want to have a controversy within the church, and I didn't want a controversy to affect the wedding of Charles and Te' Andrea,"
Mission not accomplished.
I am saddened by all those who cling to religion and continue to endorse it as reality and insist that it somehow should govern morality and law-making. One can lay out all the evidence and build (and have built) an airtight case against every single religion on Earth past and present, but still believers will not budge from their point of view, even when presented with the lies and contradictions in the very scriptures they base their beliefs on.
Understand, I am not talking about a belief in God. I do understand that. I am talking about religion. Every one of which has been empirically proven false but yet clings like moss to ancient rocks.
I believe the single most important factor in this inability to see through the foolishness of religion is fear. Children's stories of heaven and hell. The initial indoctrination for many, simply cannot be undone.
Secondly, there is a feeling of community that comes with any "club" Naturally this is not relegated to religion so it does not qualify as an excuse.
Lastly some minds are unable to think creatively enough to imagine the more plausible alternatives. What are those alternatives? Well we have to turn to science, but also we have to accept what we don't know and keep looking. And in truth, we don't really know anything about how the universe came to be, what came before and where it is going. If there are multiple universes and time lines through which we move, these would be marvelous discoveries. There is a wonderful article in Scientific American this month regarding a new spin on the Quantum theory. That being the quantum universe could have foamlike fluctuations that rule spacetime, not unlike the 0's and 1's that are the foundation of computing and storing information.
If we wish to believe in the supernatural, we have to make things up. Hence religion. It doesn't mean there is no god, or gods, or aliens, but it does mean that we don't have the answers and most likely never will.
Now we arrive back at fear. What will happen to me when I die? For me, I look forward to an eternity of nothing. Others fear this prospect and prefer to believe in fairies and fantasies and are not even ashamed that their mental description of an after life is akin to that of a 5-year-old's picture book.
I believe the Universe and the "everything" are FAR more bizarre than we could ever imagine with the faculties we have thus far obtained via evolution on this planet. And I wonder how many millions of civilizations across the vastness of space and time have pondered likewise.
Finally, the entire planet is affected by the irrational belief systems of the various mainstream religions. It affects the global economy, it affects world peace, it affects our secular life style in the United States. These ancient belief systems are based on superst.ition and mythology. One would think humans would have moved forward by now but instead we as a species behave in the same self-destructive manner now as we did thousands of years ago with more at stake then at any other time in history. It matters.
Religious nuts are dangerous fools. Religious leaders far more so.
Mono-Theistic belief systems are necessarily immoral. Tyrants are not to be worshipped.
Nicely said. I would say most individuals have moved on from fantasy land but theyre scared to death to admit it in public based on upbringing of us born before 1980. Broader society is programmmed to shun you for disrespecting religion that is theoretically perosnal. In another 50-75 years, we'll be dead and along with it will be all the nonsense. Same thing with gay rights. We dont really give a beep privately but god forbid we admit it for fear of being accused of being gay. Like supporting african americans was in the 70's and before.
"Church affirms commitment to equal treatment"
Yes, they will now openly treat blacks as equally poorly as they treat g ays.
amazing the level of censorship by cnn. too funny.
I would love to know exactly who the racist was in this church.
He/she should be forever barred from even claiming to be a Christian.
He/she should pay for the wedding ceremony of this couple
He/she should step up to the plate and take the blame for being the racist that is so obvious in this act.
He/she should publicly announce their hypocrisy.
ME, what is more Christian than being a racist bigot? That is the MO.
I'm pretty they all are. The orange streamers on the cross in the front lawn with the fans blowing up from below can only be interpreted so many ways. As a hate group, they'll hopefully get a little more attention from the IRS now.
Fr33th1nk3r
Why stop there? Lets have the names of ALL the bigots across the country that hide their bigotry inside of churches, like those who own, patronize, or support CHick-Fill-A?
He could have simply said, "I have no integrity".
ME II
rAmen.
TOP rAman.
@Ungodly Disciple,
Generally that is the intended play on words, correct.
The preacher is the leader of the church , along with the deacons – where was their backbone?? It was not right to deny their marriage and neither is it right to sue the church – (it sounds like that is their plan.) Two wrongs do not make it right !! Forgiveness is Gods answer – read your Bible !!!
« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Next »