Thought Crime (Vol. 6)

"Life Is A Constant Journey Of Repairs. If It's Not Your Car, It's Your Roof.
If It's Not Your House, It's Your Heart." --- Alison GoldFrapp

My SPACE MUSIC

LOOSE LIPS

loose lips might sink ships but loose gooses take trips
to san francisco, double dutch disco,
tech tv hottie, do it for scotty
do it for the living and do it for the dead
do it for the monsters under your bed
do it for the teenagers and do it for your mom
broken hearts hurt but they make us strong and
we won't stop until somebody calls the cops
and even then we'll start again and just pretend that
nothing ever happened
we won't stop until somebody calls the cops
and even then we'll start again and just pretend that
nothing ever happened
we're just dancing, we're just hugging,
singing, screaming, kissing, tugging
on the sleeve of how it used to be
how's it gonna be?
i'll drop kick russell stover, move into the starting over house
and know matt rouse and jest are watching me achieve my dreams
and we'll pray, all damn day, every day,
that all this shit our president has got us in will go away
while we strive to figure out a way we can survive
these trying times without losing our minds
so if you wanna burn yourself remember that I LOVE YOU
and if you wanna cut yourself remember that I LOVE YOU
and if you wanna kill yourself remember that I LOVE YOU
call me up before your dead, we can make some plans instead
send me an IM, i'll be your friend
shysters live from scheme to scheme and my 4th quarter pipe dreams
are seeming more and more worth fighting for
so i'll curate some situations, make my job a big vacation
and i'll say FUCK BUSH AND FUCK THIS WAR
my war paint is sharpie ink and i'll show you how much my shit stinks
and ask you what you think because your thoughts and words are powerful
they think we're disposable, well both my thumbs opposable
are spelled out on a double word and triple letter score
we won't stop until somebody calls the cops
and even then we'll start again and just pretend that
nothing ever happened
we won't stop until somebody calls the cops
and even then we'll start again and just pretend that
nothing ever happened
we're just dancing, we're just hugging,
singing, screaming, kissing, tugging
on the sleeve of how it used to be

QYCE XADEN AND THE PAPA-RAZZI

CLIP0286.ASF

ASTROCREEP 2008

Pick your birthday month and read it, then repost with whatever you are...

♥ JANUARY = GORGEOUS
Loyal and generous. Patriotic. Competitive
in everything. Active in games and interactions.
Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in
organizations. Fun to be with. Easy to talk to,
though hard to understand.An awesome kisser. Thinks far with vision,yet complicated to know.A very good girlfriend/boyfriend Easily influenced by kindness. Polite and soft-spoken. Having lots of ideas. Sensitive. Active mind. Hesitating, tends to
delay.sexiest out of everyone. Choosy and always wants the best. repost this in 5 mins & you will find true love at 11:00 a.m.

♥ FEBRUARY = ATTITUDE
Abstract thoughts. Outgoing.Loves reality and abstract.
Intelligent and clever. Changing personality.
Attractive.Fun to be around with.A real speed demon.
Has more than one best friend. Able to cheer anyone up and make them laugh. Amazing smile. An awesome kisser.
Temperamental. Honest. A very good girlfriend/boyfriend
and loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves
freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves
aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt.
Gets angry really easily but does not show it.
Dislikes unnecessary things. Loves making friends
Daring and stubborn.
Ambitious. Realizing dreams and hopes. Sharp.
Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the
inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous.
Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.
Repost this in 5 mins and you will talk to someone
new and realize that you are a perfect match.

♥ MARCH = FLIRTATIOUS SLUT
You've got the best personality and are an
absolute pleasure to be around. You love to make
new friends and be outgoing. You are a great flirt
and more than likely have a very attractive
partner, a wicked hottie. Like somebody with an
August brithday. It is also more than likely
that you have a massive record collection. When it
comes to films, you know how to pick them and may one day
become a famous actor/actress yourself - heck,
you've got the looks for it!!! IN the next 6 days you
will meet someone that may possibly become
one of your closest friends, if you repost this in 5
minutes.

♥ APRIL = PIMP
APRIL means that your really good looking.
Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and
highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered.
Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings.
Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm Standpoint.
Needs no motivation. Shy towards opposite sex.
Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to
dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding.
Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good
imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves
literature and the arts. Loves travelling. Dislike
being at home. Restless. having many children.
Hardworking. High spirited. If you repost this in the
next 5 minutes, you will become close to someone
you do not speak to much in the next 4 days.

♥MAY = SEXY♥
Suave and compromising. Funny and humorous.
Stubborn. Sweet talkative. Calm and cool. Kind and
sympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal. Does
work well with others. Very confident. An awesome kisser. Sensitive. A very good girlfriend/boyfriend. Amazing Smile.
Positive Attitude. Thinking generous. Good
memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look
for information. Able to cheer everyone up and/or
make them laugh. Able to motivate oneself and
others. Understanding. Fun to be around.
Outgoing. Hyper. Has All The Characteristics of John Carrico
Bubbly personality. Suductive.
Boy/girl crazy. Loves sports, music, leisure and
traveling. Super sexy. Extremley hot but has brains.
If you repost this in 5 mins, a cutie that's caught your eye
will introduce themselves and you will realize that
you are very much alike in the next 2 days.

♥ JUNE = PORN STAR
Loves to chat. Loves those who love them. Loves
to takes things at the center. Inner and physical
beauty. Lies but doesn't pretend. Gets angry
often. Treats friends importantly. Brave and
fearless. Always making friends. Very easily hurt but
recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does
not care to control emotions. Unpredictable. Understanding. Fun to be around. Nympho-and an awesome lover too....makes u happy so that makes them happy...
Outgoing. Hyper. Bubbly personality. Secretive.
Boy/girl crazy. Loves sports, music, leisure and
travelling. Systematic. Hot but has brains. If you
repost this in 5 mins, a cutie that's caught your eye
will introduce themselves and you will realize that
you are very much alike in the next 2 days.

♥ JULY = BIG WHORE
outgoing personality. takes risks. feeds on
attention. no self control. kind hearted. self
confident. loud and boisterous. VERY revengeful.
easy to get along with and talk to. has an "every
thing's peachy" attitude. likes talking and singing.
loves music. daydreamer. easily distracted. Hates
not being trusted. BIG imagination. loves to be
loved. hates studying. in need of "that someone".
longs for freedom. rebellious when withheld or
restricted. lives by "no pain no gain" caring.
always a suspect. playful. mysterious. "charming"
or "beautiful" to everyone. stubborn. curious.
independent. strong willed. a fighter. repost in 5
mins and you will meet the love of your life
sometime next month.

♥ AUGUST = THUG
You a strait up "Geek" Attractive personality.Very! sexy.Affectionate & Secretive. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic.Chatterbox! Loves to talk alot! Loves to get their way! . Unbelievable kisser! Easily angered. Very stubborn in the most way possible! Loves to get noticed! Willing to take risks for others. Makes good choices. Has a great fashion sense! Maybe a little too popular with others * wink wink*. Outgoing and crazy at times! Intelligent. Can sometimes be a heartbreaker! Can love as much as possible! Hates insults. Loves compliments! A very big flirt! Trustworthy. Appreciative and returns kindness. The best in bed out of ANY of these months!! Hardly shows emotions. Tends to bottle up feelings. Observant and assesses others.If you repost this in the next 5 mins, you will meet your
new love in 8 days.


♥ SEPTEMBER = LOSER
Active and dynamic. Decisive and haste but tends
to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself.
Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic.
Consoling, friendly and solves people's problems.
Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and
caring. Suave and generous. Usually you have
many friends. Emotional. Stubborn. Hasty. Good memory. Moving, motivates
oneself and others. Loves to travel and explore.
Sometimes sexy in a way that only their lover can
understand.
if you do not repost this in the next 5
mins. someone very close to you will become mad
at you in the next 8 days.

♥ OCTOBER = 12'' CONDOM
Trustworthy and loyal. Very passionate and
dangerous. Wild at times. Knows how to have fun.
Sexy and mysterious. Everyone is drawn towards
your inner and outer beauty and independent
personality. Playful, but secretive. Very emotional
and temperamental sometimes. Meets new people
easily and very social in a group. Fearless and
independent. Can hold their own. Stands out in a
crowd. Essentially very smart. If you ever
begin a relationship with someone from this month,
hold on to them because their one of a kind. repost
in 5 mins & you will excel in a major event coming
up sometime this month.

♥ NOVEMBER = HOTTIE
Fun to be with. Loves to try new things. Boy/girls LOVE you.
You are very hott. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to
be understood. Quiet unless excited or tensed.
Takes pride in oneself. Has reputation. Easily
consoled. Honest. Concerned about people's
feelings. Tactful. Friendly. Approachable.
Emotional temperamental and unpredictable.
Moody and easily hurt. Witty and sparkly.
spazzy at times.Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets.
dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things.
Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive
and forms impressions carefully. Caring and
loving. Treats others equally. Strong sense of
sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people
through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties
in studying. Always broods about the past and the old friends. Waits for friends. Never looks for friends. Not aggressive
unless provoked. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt
but takes long to recover. Great kisser. Repost this in the next 5
mins and your reputation will boost someway in
the next 12 days

♥DECEMBER = FREAK IN BED
Loves to chat. Loves those who love them. Loves
to takes things at the center. Great in bed. Inner
and physical beauty. Doesn't pretend. Gets angry
often. A meaningful love life partner.
Treats friends importantly. Brave and
fearless. Always making friends.
It is all about love and fairness. Easily hurt but
recovers easily. Daydreamer. Horny but does fullfill.
Opinionated. Does not care to control emotions.
Knows what to do to have fun. Unpredictable. Someone to have close to you.Extremely smart, but definitely the hottest AND
sexiest of them all.

Thought Crime. (vol.5)

A Dig led by Sam Harris

Sam Harris argues against irrational faith and its adherents

Update: (2/08/2006 1:35 p.m. EST) Read Sam Harris’ additional arguments about The Reality of Islam

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Editor’s Note: At a time when fundamentalist religion has an unparalleled influence in the highest government levels in the United States, and religion-based terror dominates the world stage, Sam Harris argues that progressive tolerance of faith-based unreason is as great a menace as religion itself. Harris, a philosophy graduate of Stanford who has studied eastern and western religions, won the 2005 PEN Award for nonfiction for The End of Faith, which powerfully examines and explodes the absurdities of organized religion. Truthdig asked Harris to write a charter document for his thesis that belief in God, and appeasement of religious extremists of all faiths by moderates, has been and continues to be the greatest threat to world peace and a sustained assault on reason.

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An Atheist Manifesto

Somewhere in the world a man has abducted a little girl. Soon he will rape, torture and kill her. If an atrocity of this kind is not occurring at precisely this moment, it will happen in a few hours, or days at most. Such is the confidence we can draw from the statistical laws that govern the lives of 6 billion human beings. The same statistics also suggest that this girl s parents believe at this very moment that an all-powerful and all-loving God is watching over them and their family. Are they right to believe this? Is it good that they believe this?

No.

The entirety of atheism is contained in this response. Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which the obvious is overlooked as a matter of principle. The obvious must be observed and re-observed and argued for. This is a thankless job. It carries with it an aura of petulance and insensitivity. It is, moreover, a job that the atheist does not want.

It is worth noting that no one ever needs to identify himself as a non-astrologer or a non-alchemist. Consequently, we do not have words for people who deny the validity of these pseudo-disciplines. Likewise, atheism is a term that should not even exist. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. The atheist is merely a person who believes that the 260 million Americans (87% of the population) who claim to never doubt the existence of God should be obliged to present evidence for his existence and, indeed, for his benevolence, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day. Only the atheist appreciates just how uncanny our situation is: Most of us believe in a God that is every bit as specious as the gods of Mount Olympus; no person, whatever his or her qualifications, can seek public office in the United States without pretending to be certain that such a God exists; and much of what passes for public policy in our country conforms to religious taboos and superstitions appropriate to a medieval theocracy. Our circumstance is abject, indefensible and terrifying. It would be hilarious if the stakes were not so high.

We live in a world where all things, good and bad, are finally destroyed by change. Parents lose their children and children their parents. Husbands and wives are separated in an instant, never to meet again. Friends part company in haste, without knowing that it will be for the last time. This life, when surveyed with a broad glance, presents little more than a vast spectacle of loss. Most people in this world, however, imagine that there is a cure for this. If we live rightly—not necessarily ethically, but within the framework of certain ancient beliefs and stereotyped behaviors—we will get everything we want after we die. When our bodies finally fail us, we just shed our corporeal ballast and travel to a land where we are reunited with everyone we loved while alive. Of course, overly rational people and other rabble will be kept out of this happy place, and those who suspended their disbelief while alive will be free to enjoy themselves for all eternity.

We live in a world of unimaginable surprises--from the fusion energy that lights the sun to the genetic and evolutionary consequences of this lights dancing for eons upon the Earth--and yet Paradise conforms to our most superficial concerns with all the fidelity of a Caribbean cruise. This is wondrously strange. If one didn’t know better, one would think that man, in his fear of losing all that he loves, had created heaven, along with its gatekeeper God, in his own image.

Consider the destruction that Hurricane Katrina leveled on New Orleans. More than a thousand people died, tens of thousands lost all their earthly possessions, and nearly a million were displaced. It is safe to say that almost every person living in New Orleans at the moment Katrina struck believed in an omnipotent, omniscient and compassionate God. But what was God doing while a hurricane laid waste to their city? Surely he heard the prayers of those elderly men and women who fled the rising waters for the safety of their attics, only to be slowly drowned there. These were people of faith. These were good men and women who had prayed throughout their lives. Only the atheist has the courage to admit the obvious: These poor people died talking to an imaginary friend.

Of course, there had been ample warning that a storm of biblical proportions would strike New Orleans, and the human response to the ensuing disaster was tragically inept. But it was inept only by the light of science. Advance warning of Katrina’s path was wrested from mute Nature by meteorological calculations and satellite imagery. God told no one of his plans. Had the residents of New Orleans been content to rely on the beneficence of the Lord, they wouldn’t have known that a killer hurricane was bearing down upon them until they felt the first gusts of wind on their faces. Nevertheless, a poll conducted by The Washington Post found that 80% of Katrina’s survivors claim that the event has only strengthened their faith in God.

As Hurricane Katrina was devouring New Orleans, nearly a thousand Shiite pilgrims were trampled to death on a bridge in Iraq. There can be no doubt that these pilgrims believed mightily in the God of the Koran: Their lives were organized around the indisputable fact of his existence; their women walked veiled before him; their men regularly murdered one another over rival interpretations of his word. It would be remarkable if a single survivor of this tragedy lost his faith. More likely, the survivors imagine that they were spared through God’s grace.

Only the atheist recognizes the boundless narcissism and self-deceit of the saved. Only the atheist realizes how morally objectionable it is for survivors of a catastrophe to believe themselves spared by a loving God while this same God drowned infants in their cribs. Because he refuses to cloak the reality of the world’s suffering in a cloying fantasy of eternal life, the atheist feels in his bones just how precious life is--and, indeed, how unfortunate it is that millions of human beings suffer the most harrowing abridgements of their happiness for no good reason at all.

One wonders just how vast and gratuitous a catastrophe would have to be to shake the world’s faith. The Holocaust did not do it. Neither did the genocide in Rwanda, even with machete-wielding priests among the perpetrators. Five hundred million people died of smallpox in the 20th Century, many of them infants. God’s ways are, indeed, inscrutable. It seems that any fact, no matter how infelicitous, can be rendered compatible with religious faith. In matters of faith, we have kicked ourselves loose of the Earth.

Of course, people of faith regularly assure one another that God is not responsible for human suffering. But how else can we understand the claim that God is both omniscient and omnipotent? There is no other way, and it is time for sane human beings to own up to this. This is the age-old problem of theodicy, of course, and we should consider it solved. If God exists, either he can do nothing to stop the most egregious calamities or he does not care to. God, therefore, is either impotent or evil. Pious readers will now execute the following pirouette: God cannot be judged by merely human standards of morality. But, of course, human standards of morality are precisely what the faithful use to establish God’s goodness in the first place. And any God who could concern himself with something as trivial as gay marriage, or the name by which he is addressed in prayer, is not as inscrutable as all that. If he exists, the God of Abraham is not merely unworthy of the immensity of creation; he is unworthy even of man.

There is another possibility, of course, and it is both the most reasonable and least odious: The biblical God is a fiction. As Richard Dawkins has observed, we are all atheists with respect to Zeus and Thor. Only the atheist has realized that the biblical god is no different. Consequently, only the atheist is compassionate enough to take the profundity of the world’s suffering at face value. It is terrible that we all die and lose everything we love; it is doubly terrible that so many human beings suffer needlessly while alive. That so much of this suffering can be directly attributed to religion--to religious hatreds, religious wars, religious delusions and religious diversions of scarce resources--is what makes atheism a moral and intellectual necessity. It is a necessity, however, that places the atheist at the margins of society. The atheist, by merely being in touch with reality, appears shamefully out of touch with the fantasy life of his neighbors.

Thought Crime. (vol.4)

The 3 Senseless Sins

Dogmatism
Through some twist of fate, western society has come to regard dogmatic faith as a virtue. To hold an idea as true despite all evidence to the contrary is an abdication of reason. Convictions are the end of knowledge, not the beginning; they are the enemy of truth more than lies.

Apathy
There can be no logical argument against apathy. If you don't care about anything then that is pretty much the end of the story. If you don't care about leading a meaningless life, then surely apathy is the key.

Hypocrisy
Our beliefs are expressed through our behaviour, most explicitly through speech acts (e.g. "It's going to rain tomorrow."), but they also underlay every action we commit. When our actions reflect inconsistent beliefs we are guilty of hypocrisy. Although unavoidable to some extent (there is simply not enough time to consciously check each action and its consequences against every belief before executing it), every effort should be made to avoid major inconsistencies because they undermine our values, goals and plans. Often hypocrisy goes unnoticed because the connections between beliefs and actions are subtle. How many of us would denounce animal testing yet at the same time not think twice about taking medicine? That is why we must constantly examine and re-evaluate our behaviour and the beliefs it reflects.

The 3 Virian Virtues

Reason
No other system of thought in history has proven more effective. If truth is the goal, rationality is the way. A good Virion will endeavor to hold a consistent set of beliefs and act in accordance with those beliefs. Think critically, act rationally.

Empathy
If anything, the ability to see from another's perspective is what sets humans apart from the rest of the animals. It is the basis of many of the qualities that we hold in highest regard: kindness, charity, mercy, welfare, forgiveness. Far from being irrational, empathy confers a distinct advantage in any social situation. It provides a foundation for promises, contracts, and deals. To a large extent it is the glue that binds society.

Vision
Vision is the name I give to the quality of possessing a perspective that goes well beyond the individual in terms of space and time. All too often people make perfectly rational decisions which turn out to be bad because they were framed with too limited a scope. They fail to consider the real consequences (meaning) of their actions.

Thought Crime. (vol.3)

Secrets to Success & Happiness

1. Regrets last forever.. think before you do it!
2. Tolerate, but never accept.
3. Don't kiss ass, or you'll acquire a taste for shit.
4. If you're right, you fight. If your wrong, move along.
5. (Self-sufficiency) Always bite the hand that feeds you. It's probably just gonna give you yesterday's stale leftovers anyhow.
6. Sometimes you gotta fight with your fist, sometimes with your mind, but either way go for the kill!
7. Don't take shit. Flush it down the toilet.
8. As the bible says, turn the other cheek. But first, hit the mother*cker so hard that when he finally comes to, he'll seriously think twice about it.
9. Laugh in the face of adversity and never back down from a challenge because it's better to be crazy than to be a loser.
10. Hate can be a good thing if you let it. (Hate is to motivation what gasoline is to the engine.)

Last thoughts

To quote Lou Holtz: "There isn't anything wrong with winning ugly. As a matter of fact, there isn't anything wrong with being ugly-- as long as you're successful."

Thought Crime. (vol.2)

What am I working on? Is it a computer? Is it an illegal substance? Is it
a comfortable chair? Is it planet Earth? Is it a degree? Is it my
self-image? Do you care? Do you believe me? Do you think this is a boring
file? Do you have the first idea who I am? Do I have the first idea who
you are? Why haven't you told me? Do I have the first idea who I am? Why
hasn't anyone told me? Is there anyone out there who cares? Is there
anyone out there at all? Is this getting to you yet? Why have you read
this far? What are you doing this evening? Why are we here (Eschatology)?
Why am I a Maoist? Who was Mao, anyway? Why, when Kiang Kai-Chek was able in 1939 to govern the country, did the Communists need so short a time to take it from him? Trace the role of organised revolution in Eurasia from 1848 to the present. Why did that question not need a question mark? Should question mark be spelled question mark? Or should it be ?? Will I ever get round to finishing this question? Why have I come back to it now?
Why am I not working on anything? Why, when I have Mods so soon? Why do I
have Mods so soon? Have you ever noticed that a simple ladder passes
MOD-MAD-MAO? Do you know any good laddergrams? Have you ever read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley? Eh? State a theorem on the multiplication of power series. Do you see the connection? Is there a connection? Are connections possible? What makes two things connected? Is there a map, the inverse of which is openness-preserving, to {0,1}? How often have you used curly brackets on these machines? What is the proper name for {s?
"What" is the proper name for {s. If ""What"" means "What", does "what"
mean what? What does what mean? Does "Does "what" mean what?" mean, and if so, what? What is the mean of {What, what, what, what}? what=4.what/4. If what is the mean of {what, what}, what what is that, and what does it mean? Well, I mean to say, what? Are you still reading? Did you read the beginning of this file? Have you got the point yet? Do you want the
complete Message Email which has more on what "mean" means? Do you
understand Russell's ramified theory of types? Or Ramsey's rustled theory
of types? Or any of the philosophy behind Mao at all? Have you read Mao?
Have you read Nieztche? Don't bother. Have I got time to sit here typing
rubbish?.

Thought Crime. (vol.1)

In order not to despair and feel disgust in the midst of weak and hopeless idlers, surrounded by apparently active, but really only agitated and fidgeting companions, the active man looks behind him and interrupts the path to his goal to take a momentary deep breath. His purpose is some happiness or other, perhaps not his own, often that of a people or of humanity collectively. He runs back away from resignation and uses history as a way of fighting resignation. For the most part, no reward beckons him on, other than fame, that is, becoming a candidate for an honoured place in the temple of history, where he himself can be, in his turn, a teacher, consoler, and advisor for those who come later.