Suppose you are a prison guard. 

Your commanding officer orders you to torture someone. 

You won't get in trouble if you did it.

Would you do it?

Suppose your family is suspected of something by the government. 

You happen to be an informant. 

Would you betray them?

-------------------------------

In an experiment done with volunteers, people were asked to ask questions to another person. If the asker got an incorrect answer, the answerer gets an electric shock. 

The test is repeated, with higher and higher voltages. 

At 150 volts,  70% of people were still willing to administer shocks to the other person.

This is quite a shocking result. 70%? That's 7 out of 10 people. 

And I guess if you people were threatened to do so, then 100% of you will willingly administer shocks. 

Even if the people you were shocking were people you care about.

Of course, people are free to control their actions. But why so prone to obedience?

Suppose we did the experiment at school with ordinary students, and a teacher was conducting the experiment. What would the results be?

Also, I believe that in East Germany, many people were willing to spy on their families and friends.

Personally, I am extremely disappointed at such results. It goes to show that people just will not stand up for anything at all when up against authority. They won't even stand up for reason and values, or more generally, principles.

Why do a standard of right or wrong exist? They exist to enhance the interactions, relationships and deals in a society or group of people. 

They exist so that the maximum number of people would be happy in the long term. 

They are meant to reduce the amount of arguments, or fights. 

The code is agreed on by the people and they uphold it.

The thing about values is that they can evoke emotions or the interests of people.  So, you can say that my disappointment at the results is an emotion response. And indeed it is. But there are also reasons for it, and these are backed by practical consequences of actions.

There are many standards and different societies hold different ones to be true. 

I know that there are some values that, if we abide to, makes everyone better off. Hence, the people in a society have an interest in following these values. Their interests are often fairness and prosperity.

morals

Society's code for individual survival.

ethics

An individual's code for society's survival.

The New Lantau Trip planning/gear post

Gear:
just got a lantern. Not larger than your average flashlight.
Interestingly, it uses the same type of LED as my headlight.
We have something to light up our cooking stuff and for someone to lead the way up Lantau Peak.

I am not getting a liner, unless it's so good it can be my sleeping bag. The worst case scenario is I put on everything I see, from the plastic bag to the emergency blanket.
Or, I can make my own...

Lantau trip HKAYP

I though the Lantau trip was in January 11-13... but apparently it gets put forwards.

So no more Bronze AYP practice trip...

Who carries what?

1 tent guy

1 tent guy

1 trangia, fuel guy

1 food, snack guy

I guess if the tents aren't actually that heavy, the food load and fuel load can be shared out.

Also, make sure we all bring hats and hiking sticks. Hiking sticks are good for long marches, because they make walking less boring and shares out some load. Hats are good because you don't want a freezing head. I'm thinking about some reflective cloth belts, so that it will be good for identification at night.

My headlight is marginally powerful, and someone should bring a more powerful flashlight, because it's much better for path-finding at night. If we missed a ribbon in some very nasty bush-wack, we may have to camp out for the night. Which I think would be ideal, but the rest of the group and teachers would find annoying.

Walking 50km in three days is not easy, and especially when we have less people than the other groups. Also take into account of getting lost or taking the wrong paths. 

Be prepared to walk from 0800 am to 2000 pm, because we must cover AT LEAST 17 kilometers everyday. 12 hours should be sufficient, given that we climb the tallest hills, instead of trying to traverse them. Traversing an overgrown/non-existent path is more dangerous than going up an established path.

I wander if we'll be more independent this time. I prefer no teacher, unless they are only shadowing us or good navigators. 

I'm not using matches this time (but maybe as backup), because they aren't windproof nor reliable enough. Lighters are better. I insist on getting the lighter Trangia, because we only have 4 people and it appears to be faster. 2 fuels should be marginally enough for 4 meals and drinking needs.

UV sterilization of water and active carbon filtration would be available, but it depends on how trusting you are to it. Active carbon filtration is necessary to remove any organic toxins that cannot be killed, and particles that may block UV. I am also thinking about double treatments just for safety. You may even choose to add iodine, but that is unnecessary, because iodine is milder than many other treatments. 

This is going to be pretty hard, so group cohesion is necessary, even when we are tired. We can't let members trail behind or get bored or too tired. Fatigue also contributes to errors.

Abortion

Abortion is an interesting topic, because there are conflicting interests. 

Babies have the inherent right to life, as given to them by a creator.

Some men and women, under certain conditions, want to get rid of the baby, because delivering it will have major financial consequences.

My solution is not to make abortions illegal, but to make it so that people make their own decisions, at their own cost, with their own minds and money, and the conditions defined. The conditions should be limited to sound medical reasons, substantial risk to lives or sexual assault. The abortion should also take place within the first 3 months. This should make people more aware of the consequences of their actions, which should be a positive outcome for both the mother, family and the child. Finally, this should also compromise a variety of views and interests.

Are babies alive and have human rights? YES! If someone pulled the fetus out of the mother and destroyed it, the person can be sued and put in jail for life for MURDER. The only time it is not, is when the fetus dies or is hurt, has a defect or the mother's life is endangered.

So the fetus/baby has a LEGAL human rights unless it is a danger to others or itself, where other rules overrides it.

Now, to the mother's rights. The baby is in the mother's body, but whether it is part of her body or a sovereign body is up for lots of debate, just as the issue of whether life begins at contraception. For the sake of covering the worst case scenario of this dilemma, I will assume that it is part of the mother's body. This means that the mother has the power to decide the fate of the child. But only if it affects her in a way that can be proven to be endangering or as a result of rape

Abortions as a result of rape can be prevented, should a person choose to do so. Humans have since had the ability to control their own fertility, and it's called birth-control pills. 

Feminists like to think and argue that women are special and helpless. They try to single out issues that concern to women and use those as bases to work outwards. Yet, if you look at women as nothing more than human beings, you realize that feminism was built on a huge mound of logical fallacies and hypocrisy. I hope women would think about this from a human, rather than female point of view and see through the sad, self-pitying crap before it engulfs the world.

One thing I hope everyone can agree on is that government should not, using taxpayer money, help abort fetuses. This is because, no one gets to control what their tax dollars are used for directly, and there are always some who won't agree with abortion.  

If one wants an abortion, people will have to fund it from some feminist charity, insurance or out of their own pockets. 

Suppose someone stole something from a victim. The victim goes over to the police. The thief is caught and charged with theft. But the item stolen was never found. Is it possible to get the police to buy you back the thing that was stolen? No. The police, courts and government don't do that. Why should they bail a woman/human out of a rape case? 

The government is not a savior designed to help everyone at everything. It just never works, unless government is able to create new resources infinitely and indefinitely. But that's never possible, so feminism would fail too.

So, I have arrived at the optimum method for defeating feminism. It is very simple. You leave them alone. Eventually, it would just collapse under its own weight or be overthrown by its once faithful followers, like the Soviet Union. In the meantime, one can speed up the process by getting others to challenge their own opinions.

Proof of God

Suppose before you were born, nothing existed. Nothing at all. The system itself didn't exist either.

Then how did it occur that there is now stuff in the system? 

Science has yet to explain how it is possible to create anything out of a complete void. Therefore, something bigger must have existed before the system. Maybe god.

How do we decide who carries what?

I think this question is better solved by looking at what hiking ability we have. 

Some people may have more skills to offer, but are less physically capable than the others. 

Some may be very fit and active, so can carry more and still keep up with the pace. 

The idea is that everyone is able to do their best and enjoy the trip in their own way. To do that, we must make sure that everyone can keep up and we move as a team.

In the FINAL...

- 2 Trangias

- 2 Tents (poles, covers, pegs)

- 3 bottles of alcohol fuel.

- Food for 5 guys (expendable)

- extra water.

I say that 30 to 40 pounds per pack is good.

The thing we can always do with more is water. If we have more water, we may be able to get away with boiling less water and saving fuel. Food is not an immediate necessity. One or two power bar in between meals is enough, and I didn't even eat any of my own. 

2 tents guys

2 trangia and fuel 

1 food and fuel, and any extra stuff.

We may even be able to rotate, so that people take turns carrying tents. By the second day, the food would be cut down by half, so he should take some of the tent stuff. 

The strategy is to cut down on the "variable weight" - the stuff that is increased in amount as a result of staying for longer time. That's food, snacks and clothes(and dirty clothes) and fuel.

Poisonous milk-powder and Lehman Brothers and AIG and BAILOUTS!

Ok, this is interesting.

Poisonous milk-powder.... have those women on TV considered using their mammaries(aka boobs) instead of formula milk powder? That stuff is considered clean compared to that milk powder. Why buy when you could make your own? 

Of course, you could argue that breast milk is contaminated. But the fact is, a child is exposed to all sorts of pollution THE MOMENT THEY ARE BORN. If you use formula, then there's the polluted water that you'll need to use. On the other hand, the milk glands make fluids that are pretty much sterile and osmosis-filtered water. Unless, of course, you have some disease.

Convenience.... not a problem. Use those pumps.

There are only a few things that humans ever make. Milk, semen, saliva, mucus, blood and other humans. These are pretty much free on their own. I think we have forgotten about this.

The artificialization of human life from the moment a baby is born starting to create some disadvantages, which can be fixed.

-------------

Lehman Brothers. AIG. 

Very interesting. I think soon, other big companies may start to shrink, because consumers are consistently spending less and are worried about the economy. Also, investors are getting a little touchy and sensitive to every little scrap of trend. It is weak and could fail quite dramatically as a result of little sparks.

I would really prefer if the Federal Reserve Bank would stop pumping out cash. I think more waves of inflation would hit as a result of massive money supply increases. It's only going to torture the economy and its occupants for longer. Why can't we just let those die on their own? Hell, the economy and investors and everyone else involved would eventually see it logical and reasonable to dump stocks.

Of course, you could say that this is irrational. And yes, market rumors aren't good in a touchy time when everyone is on survival instincts. But people who say this have always had something to lose, or are those government interference people. My advice to them is simply that while such situations are clearly bad for the economy as a whole, it is eventually the people in it that matter. They are in it for themselves and they do have a right to pursue happiness. They don't have a responsibility to prop up the market for you. If they did, it would be a free-market anymore.

 

Investor confidence is probably not robust anymore, and people are looking more and more short-term - surviving the week. The US dollar is only getting propped up by the Federal Reserve bailing out foreign investment and keeping confidence high enough for a stable dollar. However, the debt will take its toll eventually on the value of the dollar. Maybe it won't be too bad after all, but nothing is completely predictable. 

Who would have expected AIG and others to fall like that so fast?

Someone do something about this air pollution

This air pollution is horrifying.

Right now, I can hardly see Lamma Island and everything else is blurry. Outlaying islands are invisible. 

I can go outside and smell industrial waste, which I last encountered in mainland China. The weather is so hot. The only good thing is the low humidity - 55%. 

We all need to go sue all the electrical companies for creating so much particle pollution that has been proven to cause heart attacks in elderly people. Combine that with those mooncakes and restaurant dinners we are going to have today or tomorrow, and maybe people will start dying.

The SIS computer club blog

Here it is. You will receive an invitation.

You may want to post your presentation here.

LINK:

http://siscomptechclub.blogspot.com/

And have fun twitch with all the settings and stuff. It doesn't look techy yet.

All posts concerning Computer Club, please use "comp-tech club" label.

Wow...

You know the time when I was trying to criticize the IB "Learner's Profile"?

I came up with a little argument, with the help of some definitions from several sources (will list later), against the toughest and thought to be the best things about IB...

Open-Mind

They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and
are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and
communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points
of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.

ok... above is the IB description.

Now, if you think of open-mindedness as a exact virtue... you would have to think in a fairly unbiased way. You would have to see everything about a certain object or subject you want know about, in an unbiased fashion and treat them equally and fairly.

Kind of Communist, especially when you force people to do it, to get their diploma.

Ok, does an opinion affect the way you see things? YES! So does them saying that you need an open-mind mean saying you can't have an opinion? Quite so. Opinions lead to people judging things. So it isn't compatible.

So maybe the profile isn't as good as it looks?

"That's not change we can believe in"

McCain is forced to differentiate himself and his party from Obama. He is now trying to attack Obama's "change" scheme and sounding a bit more like a Republican. But that's just another example of flip-flopping from him and to make it worse...

He is a pretty bad speaker. He is no match for Obama's bullshitting and Ron Paul's evidence and reasons. His awkward smile and undramatic tone is annoying and repulsive. The reactions from the audiences are very dull and non-existent. Other Republicans are booing at him everytime he gives a speech.

Now there are THREE. Barrack Obama, John McCain and Ron Paul. Ron Paul would never have thought he would ever make it that far. And since Ron Paul does not have "drop out" in mind and there are still conventions being held and delegates being gained, this would continue.

Meanwhile, RP supporters are considering their next steps. Should they support the Libertarian Candidate, who is polling about 5% without help nor coverage?

SiChuan earthquake...

It's been a while since anyone posted anything new on this blog.... so I'll put something up.

I thought that the rescue efforts were pretty large scale, with the mobilization of so many troops and personnel and equipment. I suppose they are trying pretty hard, but they were way too slow. Most of the victims have been waiting way past 3 days, and still, there are places that rescue workers have not gone to. 

Did you notice that the Black-hawk helicopters in service with the PLA? Apparently, those helicopters are probably the few that are more capable in mountainous areas. The other one is the dolphin type "Eurocopters", but I haven't seen any of those yet. In short, China lacks a decent helicopter force.

One thing that was interesting though - the airborne paratroopers. They were doing two strange things, that I haven't the US Army or any other force do. The paratroopers were using the mattress-canopy type parachutes, as opposed to the standard round parachutes that most standard Airborne forces employ. They must really trust their troops, as the mattress type are much harder to handle, and the landing speed is generally faster(so more people break their legs!). The second thing is that they are jumping out of the back of a transport plane. This is unusual, as most airborne are not taught to jump that way. (They jump out of the side door behind the wing.) The only ones who do jump out of the back is special forces.

They should really send us over to SiChuan to do some rebuilding. But this time, they should stop using bricks and use reinforced concrete instead. Of Course, it won't be so easy anymore.

Hiking boots vs the average sneaker

Right now, I am debating whether it is necessary to wear hiking boots for hiking.  I have not hiked in one ever since the last AYP expedition.

- Hiking boots, even the gore-tex ones, don't prevent water from getting through. (Remember me pouring water out of my boot after the second expedition? Completely soaked.)

- Hiking boots grip sucks (at least mine does) - I'd love to slide down hills with it, but that sounds dangerous, especially on HKAYP "expeditions"

- Hiking boots are really heavy - I prefer my running shoes 100 times more than old stinking boots.

- Hiking boots tire my legs way faster - because they are so heavy and immobile (at least mine are). They don't allow me to run in them, and I think I consume way more energy lobbing them around.

- Hiking boots are way too protective - too much rubber and padding and stuff around the shoe   making it hard to feel the ground. 

- Hiking boots are expensive compared to other types of footware that can be used for hiking. I can use the money to go get a new rucksack!

- Hiking boots give a false sense of security - most snakes can sink their fangs deep enough anyway - no point.

- Hiking boots get hot real fast - the breathability of the running shoe cannot be beaten. Not yet.

- I am not sure when was the last time I saw a terrorist go around wearing boots. Are boots necessary?

- Eric Lam, the guy in our group for AYP, didn't wear boots for the first two (the last one I'm not sure). 

- The two boys in the Balzac and the little seamstress didn't wear hiking boots, but their foot still survived!

- Same goes for riding boots - my instructor keeps bugging me to get those. Until now, I insist on wearing the minimal footwear.

A question - What part of your foot do you walk on?

Ok, some of these reasons can be solved by getting another boot. 

What? Ron Paul not on the Time 100 most influential people?

What's so special about Barack Obama anyway? Apart from the media frenzy around him, there's really nothing special about that guy. He's just one of those conformists who will just be president and then start wars and interfere in other people's business.

Ron Paul should be at the top, if people ever got their way. 

Very disappointing "Main stream Media"

It 's time that a conscious legion of Ron Paul supporters take over not just the national and state conventions for the elections, but also the Main stream media. 

Just look at what happens when Ron Paul supporters infiltrated the Nevada convention, while others rose up the convention ranks to hold vital positions - an unorganized McPain group was completely obliterated. The party officials became angry and closed down the convention without choosing national delegates. This just goes to show how corrupt the system has become - if a small minority don't get what they want, they just close down the system and secretly choose their own delegates. 

This just goes to show that a conscious bunch of individuals can do a lot. And Ron Paul isn't trying to take over the government, he just wants to help the country by getting it back to its constitutional roots. So please don't compare us to those demented neo-cons.

And stop calling the movement an anarchist movement, because restraining government so that it doesn't take away your liberties or overspend is not anarchy. 

Your silent resistance will not do much, unless you gather up a decent number of people to join you. 

Virus hunting

There is this annoying hypothetical virus living in my computer right now. It just messed up my accounts and reset my desktop. It is also taking up to one hour just to boot up and shut down, so I've decided not to boot up in Windows until I get this problem fixed.

I've been using xubuntu as my rescue cd and evacuating all the data in the hard-drive. Then, they go to my macbook, which has norton antivirus and some spy/ad-ware sweeper to get rid of any virus in the way.

This situation is just plain strange. I can't find any virus and I've tried Norton, NOD32, AVG and Kaspersky.

So does the virus exists? Either way, I am going to have to delete everything and start over. 

Snakes, cops, scouts and Airsoft

Yesterday, I decided to do some solo hump (not sexual intercourse - it's the Marines' word for "hiking", or walking up steep slopes) at around 16:30. Except for the air quality, everything was perfect. The view wasn't too bad, I could still look down and see a bunch of apartment blocks. I wasn't really that tired and it wasn't too dark yet.(I could still see the path in front)

Up the hill, I passed a bunch of scouts which look like they haven't been moving for a long time. They were being taught how to use a compass and map and all this bearing stuff. BORING....

When I reached a map-stop, I saw these posters warning people about "Scrub Typhus", this evil disease spread by mites in heavy vegetation. Laughing at the typing error, I moved on. (It actually exists)

Getting up to the most beautiful part of my walk, I saw a "Danger - Road Closed" sign in front of a big bushy scrub. Perfect.

I decided to get into the bush and walk the shortcut, which would save me 10 minutes of stupid stair-walking and get my feet back on natural soil. The path is quite steep and very bushy - something that you would expect in an AYP trip gone bad. On the slope side, you can actually see the reservoir far below. Loved it.

On the final stretch, I am back on a proper path. THis one is actually a horse-riding track. The smell of horse sweat is strong in the air and hoof marks are all over the place. I walked slowly, enjoying the smell that would have driven many people to trespass into the HKU dormitory area to avoid (the Riding School is just nearby). It was getting dark now, and every minute is closer to sunset. 

Suddenly, I saw this silver streak slither out of a bush about 4 meters away and towards me. It took me a split second to realize it was a snake. Surprised and freaked out, I quickly backed off, all the while trying to pull out my BB gun. I fired 3 shots. 2 smacked straight into its body, knocking it off track. But it kept moving, this time knowing where I was. 

Knowing that you have to get the head to control it, I took a precious second to take aim at its scary face. It bounced back and I fired at least 3 more shots at it. It bounced back some more and seemed to be disoriented and stopped going in my direction. Thinking I could actually finish it off with the rest of my pellets, I decided to play lethal this time. I put an empty pen ink tube down the barrel. It was going so fast that in the dark, I couldn't see it flying. The metal tip went straight into the snake and I saw something spurt out. I backed off, half expecting it to lunge at me, because it was still moving. I shot many more times to be sure. I think I cracked some bones or teeth, because I heard it crack, as the BB bounced off. The tongue didn't stick out anymore. 

Then, I thought it would be really interesting to feel snake skin. I lunged for the head and squeezed it very hard. Even though I dared pick it up, I didn't have the guts to stare down its open mouth.

I doubt it was dead, because when I threw it off the path and into the trees, it still seemed to be moving. I did see blood, however.

Then, I heard footsteps. This part of the path is not walked by many hikers, so I wandered who they were. The footsteps were coming from the path ahead of me and they sounded like boots. The chink of some gear was quite loud. I think there were two of them But I couldn't see them.

Then, two policemen in camouflage uniforms and "boonie covers" (those rimmed soft hats) came up the path. Instinctually, I looked at their holsters. It didn't look like the standard black revolvers - It looked like some Glock 17 pistol. They weren't the usual street cop who walked leisurely or like those ones that looked obese and unfit. These guys looked very lean and tough. They had their sleeves rolled up and were carrying patrol packs loaded with a whole bunch of black pockets. Not good.

I think they heard the loud bang of my airsoft pistol go off. They scanned me while I tried hard to look normal and pretended to look at "the view", when there was no view but trees. One of them made eye contact, which I promptly returned for a split second. He looked away before I did and I knew I had passed their test of being normal. I was also expecting a "ID please" scenario, but that never happened. Maybe I didn't look like a guy who would shoot snakes.

Almost immediately after the badass police were out of sight, I started thinking what would it be like of I looked suspicious and they actually started doing that search thing. I wonder what those police would have thought of the puny airsoft "firearm". Or the rest of my "defensive" weaponry. Would I be placed under arrest at gunpoint or would they just laugh at it and leave? I'm also wandering what they could actually charge me with if all that went loose.

But I walked down the hill, unscathed and back to civilization and comfort. But not for Sid the snake.

More Marines sent to Afghanistan...

More than 2300 US Marines have arrived in Afghanistan to reinforce the NATO forces there, to help stabilize the country in response to a Annual Spring Offensive by the Taliban.

It would be interesting to see whether the Marines can actually stabilize the situation there. Currently, most of the US forces over there are mostly special operations qualified personnel like Army Rangers and SEALs. And there's a reason why they are that way.

- The mountainous regions call for very specialized warfare tactics, especially to deal with the many uncertainties in such operations. The regular army soldier and their equipment would not survive very long there.

- The ways in which troops are sent into the fight and extracted are unconventional. They often involve the use of helicopters and parachute jumps. The army infantry are not capable at this.

- Often, fights break out of nowhere and troops are often surrounded and outnumbered, because the enemy knows the terrain very well. Are Marines capable of this?

I tend to see this as a test of the way Marines fight and whether their training is actually enough to handle such situations.

More to come...

Breaking News: Congress House has gone rampant! Only one survivor.

Dr. Ron Paul is the only one who voted against the "Friendly Tibet Bill", 413 - 1.

The bill says that China needs to stop cracking down on Tibet and release Tibetan prisoner arrested during riots.

Why he did this is still under speculation. I tend to think that it is because of his non-interventionist and constitutional beliefs, and that the bill will simply be useless in doing anything, other than to show how arrogant the US government is to thinks that it can do as it pleases to China. 

On a similar case concerning the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, the House came up with a similar bill, expressing concern on Russian involvement in the murder. When he was asked to speak about this on the House floor, he states that

- there is no evidence to show Russian government involvement.

- it is arrogant for the US to pass judgement on crimes committed overseas.

- Don't kid yourselves. The real purpose of the bill is to attack the Russian government.

- There is no benefit to the US to pass such provocative resolutions about any other country.

Could this be the same about Tibet.

This is consistent with the rest of his voting record, when it comes to criticizing other countries for their internal policies. However, it did come to the surprise of many people, who immediately began saying that he was ridiculous and insane for doing so and that he voted against Human Rights and freedom. Some go further to say that he is a hypocrite.

This vote, and many others have shown that he is probably the only Congressman to actually vote according to what he believes and thinks. I would like to see his reasons for voting against this bill.

Vote on whowouldtheworldelect.com

go to whowouldtheworldelect.com and see for yourself...

Ron Paul is the winner so far, with almost three times the amount of votes than Barrack Obama.

And Ron Paul is the winner for most countries(also for Hong Kong).

And no one is making it up. You can't vote twice, and even if you do, it won't be counted in the final total.

Go vote too! (Warning: Try to avoid those non-constitutionalists. America is an important country, and its government's policies could affect you.)

The Constitution

Just to get everything clear - 

The constitution, like any law, can be changed. 

If you don't like it, legally change it.

If you think it's unfair, change it.

But the problem is not people bending the constitution around, it's IGNORING it.

Is it Law? Yup, it is. And if you wanted to legalize murder or manslaughter, you need to 

go through the law changing process. To ignore it is cheating. In the eyes of the law, ignoring

the law and doing as you please is the same as breaking it deliberately. 

Imagine playing soccer/football. If you ignore the rules so that you could pick up the ball and 

run to the goal to win, guess what would happen? 

You would be beaten up and/or kicked out by everyone else. 

"WO WO WAIT..... slow down"- then why are they doing it now? Why doesn't someone higher

up, or the Congress start kicking them out?

That's my point: Everyone in the current US government, or at least those who have the power

and authority are doing it. And if the majority are doing it, the minority are either not going

to keep up, or will pose a threat to the people who aren't following the rules. 

Ignoring the rules requires strength in numbers, and power and authority. 

Should I say "Conspiracy"?

What the heck...

Watch this!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5RQrxkGgCM

This is bad. You could say this has nothing to do with us. But it does, because no one has ever set the rules on this thing called "net neutrality". Hence, it can happen ANYWHERE, at 

ANYTIME, unless we as internet users start setting the rules of the game. Or, if we invent 

something to get around this. 

"Let it not be said said that we did nothing" Rep. Ron Paul.

You have been warned...

And about your comment "you really do think the Constitution like a bible".

I consider that as mocking. It is not blind respect to this document.

They really do have practical reasons, behind everything they put down.

They learnt many lessons in the process of getting the British imperialists out of

their homeland. And with the war on the people of the US, limiting government power

is nothing less than imperative.

And these founders knew that everything they wanted for their newborn country had

a dependent factor, a supporting block that could not be taken away.

For democracy, they need freedom of speech

For a working capitalist economy, you need money that cannot be photocopiable.

To overthrow a dictatorship or rampant government that is abusing its people and not

protecting their rights, you need firearms.

They have their reasons, and it is unlikely any politician would have had as many 

first-hand experiences of oppression and rampant government. Therefore, many 

politicians have much to learn from it.

I always wished that the founders put a footnote on their document, stating that

"should this document be ignored and infringed without the approval of the American 

people, the people must take action - through peaceful or radical means, to restore 

this document."

I bet they thought their future generations knew that already. Sadly, not yet.

What's wrong with John McCain?

There has been a long debate on whether McLame is eligible for president.

John McCain was born August 29, 1936 in the Panama Canal Zone, to two U.S. citizens. It’s a common misunderstanding that the zone was a U.S. territory - in fact, the U.S. had lease rights, but not territorial rights.

The US Constitution states, “No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.”

I suppose by now, you've got to be thinking, "Is this a bunch of nonsense Ron Paul Supporters are putting out just to get John McCain kicked out?"

Yes, that is the intention. If John McCain is out, Ron Paul will be the only standing candidate left in the Republican Party. However, it is also about the constitution. Would the US Government choose to follow the constitution, or would they just bend the rules and let him be president?

The constitution was not written in a time when the US had so many military bases and embassies in so many countries. So, you could argue that it isn't applicable here.
However,
The status of the U. S. Navy Hospital in the Panama
Canal Zone is described by the U. S. Department of State in its Foreign Affairs Manual (7FAM1116.1-4(c)):
“Despite widespread popular belief, U. S. military installations abroad and U. S. diplomatic or consular facilities are not part of the United States within the meaning of the 14^th Amendment. A child born on the premises of such a
facility is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and does not acquire U. S. citizenship by reason of birth.”

So, the law says that...but will the government officials, who swore to defend the constitution when they took the oath to office, do what they promised the American People?

Let's hope so.

what's wrong with the picture?

McLame will bring no change to America!

SHOCKING NEWS:

Prakash endorses McPain? We were debating about the issues today at IC. Much better than sitting around playing games... He was on the wrong side, obviously.

He tried to convince me that McCain was the real conservative. LOL!!!

He tried to justify McCain's statement of staying in Iraq for 100 years!

(He was actually winning at this point, but then...)

He argued that McCain was the real deal, not any democrat or Ron Paul. This prompted Timothy, Brian and Martin to come crashing down on him. (They support Obama)

Now, you know why I believe there are real advantages in imposing my "Rules for a fair and productive arguement", which has a statement on that neither party should use any form of ridiculing or superior psycho-persuasion technique on the other party"

Please note that I'm not against psychology, but instead disappointed at the way such techniques are being used against people who have no knowledge that they are being persuaded sub-consciously.

And this is in no way a witch-hunt thing, because there is clear evidence and effects that are scientifically existent.

Animal Rights Groups appalled by US Marine puppy-throwing incident.

The video so far....

- watch it...here 

(warning: may hurt you and your family's feelings)

- what are you emotions?

(At first, I was like lol, then a few minutes after this, I started feeling sorry.)

- Do you think it is REAL or HOAX? Marines can be mean but they are also highly creative.

- What do you think they should do with him?

- There have been many who have managed to track down the Marine's internet social website account, and are in the process of flaming it. Some have tracked down his family and they are being harassed. They have received death threats.

- Incidents like this happen regularly, just depends on how shocking it is. 

Past incidents...

- Recent Rape on Okinawa, Japan by Marine (February,2008)

-  Alleged Rape and Killing of female Marine at US Marine Base. (January,2008)

- But why is it always negative news that gets most coverage?

Good news HERE (Marine saves canine in Iraq)

This is quite cruel, but I mean, Iraqi civilians, personnel, Marines and soldiers are being killed every day in way more brutal ways. Why not all sent death threats to iraqi insurgents? These activists and bloggers have gone too far.

And just to say that apparantly, most people don't know the difference between a Marine and a soldier. I laugh everytime I see the mix-up!

More than just ignorance

Ignorance isn't the only enemy. OK, you might read down the page and say "Hey, this IS ignorance... Strictly, it's not"

By shoving polls in the public's faces, you make them support the frontrunners. 

I'll explain that in detail...

the media tells you that Obama/Clinton/McCrazy are at the top of the polls, and mentions no one else. (yes, Huckabee less now..)

You interpret that as "only these people have a decent chance of winning", or for a surprising amount of people "only these candidates are in the race", if I choose anyone else, I'll be wasting my vote. 

This turns voting into a betting game. The force of the "majority" leads the sociable individual to take that as peer pressure, to believe in the same things and people.

At this point, it leads to a breakdown of what you need for democracy.

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Conspiracy theories cannot be rated as true or false. It isn't the normal type of theory that scientists come up with. Conspiracy theories can only be counted as "plausible but inconclusive" or "low plausibility". 

And even if they do happen, conspiracy theories can be easily dismissed, as being a co-incidence because conspiracy theories don't have much solid evidence. 

Finally, conspiracies can act like opinions - they are like vectors generated by logical thinking linking many correlative points of evidence together (like a line of best fit). Projecting it ahead, conspiracies point to an event, or a range of events that it predicts will happen in the future. 

If these above are so, then what's the difference between a conspiracy theory and any other theory in politics or even science?

A very long response

Is Ron Paul that bad?

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates
Mitt Romney	22,649	51.10%	18
Ron Paul	6,087	13.73%	4
John McCain	5,651	12.75%	4
Mike Huckabee	3,616	8.16%	2
Fred Thompson	3,521	7.94%	2
Rudy Giuliani	1,910	4.31%	1
Duncan Hunter	890	2.01%	0
Total	44,324	100%	31

Above are the results for the Nevada Caucus.

This is a ray of hope. As predicted, the Republican voters have become annoyed with most of the candidates, and have gone to vote Democratic....

I have convinced at least two relatives to consider Ron Paul. They seemingly agree, knowing just how awful the US Economy has become first-hand. Indeed, they have decided to invest in Hong Kong, just to put some distance between their investments and the US stock markets.

Murderous Neighbors...

Last night, just as I was about to go to bed, I heard a frightening sound - a sound that sends me diving for cover (yes, I did jump behind a wall). 

. .......  .. |   O

. .... ... .. |  -|-

      |  /\ (S***, CR*P)

An Electric BB gun was pointed at the wall I was behind from this window one floor up from a neighboring block. I didn't get to see who it was because all his lights were off, but he had this stupid laser put on his BB gun. And he was having fun spraying at me. 

The bullets came in like a hose, so I suppose he saved me $50 dollars to go and buy ammo. 

Anyway. The annoying thing was that there was no one within range to shoot at other than me. The worse thing was that he was marking the position of my desk, so I couldn't play CS anymore.

Thinking the only way to do this is to shoot him back, I tried to get my pistol, which happened to be within the area he was marking. * S*** *.

I had to make a run for it. Luckily, I didn't get hit, because he was too occupied at shooting stuff in my room. 

I loaded my match grade BB gun and taught him a lesson that shooting like there was no tomorrow doesn't work. Two aimed shots in less than 2 seconds hit him with instant "Diu! and "Ding lei go fai" sound effects. But after a pause to check on his rosy bruised cheeks, he resumed fire. 

But that was too late, because I had closed my window and laughed at his feeble BB pellets bounce off my window. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

In the morning, I actually discovered a mass of cracked plastic BBs on the pavement outside my block. They looked identical to the pellets that filled my desk. 

Let's hope the Block Management don't come up here and complain today...