That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons bring us some web forums whereupon we can gather
http://octopusoverlords.com/forum/
My FB profile says "I worship Athe" and I'm sticking with that.Jeff V wrote:Then make up something better!Kraken wrote:Huh, apatheist describes me pretty well. I don't think I'm going to self-identify that way because it sounds like something they just made up.
The Air Force has rebuffed a civil liberties group that demanded a two-star general be court-martialed for making a speech in uniform crediting God for his career successes.
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Mikey Weinstein, CEO of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, wrote a May 13 letter to Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh demanding that Olson be court-martialed for violating an Air Force instruction prohibiting Air Force leaders from endorsing a particular belief. The letter included a link to Olson's speech, which was live-streamed by GOD TV.
Weinstein cited Air Force Instruction 1-1, which covers Air Force Standards.
"Leaders at all levels must balance constitutional protections for their own free exercise of religion, including individual expressions of religious beliefs, and the constitutional prohibition against governmental establishment of religion," the instruction says. "They must ensure their words and actions cannot reasonably be construed to be officially endorsing or disapproving of, or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief, or absence of belief."
But the Air Force has decided that Olson did not break Air Force Instruction 1-1 by speaking at the "congressionally-supported event," said service spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Hughes.
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That doesn't matter, said Chris Rodda, senior research director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Olson's remarks still violate Air Force Instruction 1-1.
"Olson was very clearly endorsing – in uniform – and extending preferential treatment to Christianity and the specific brand of Christianity promoted by the event," Rodda told Air Force Times on Thursday. "It makes no difference who it was sponsored by. Either way, that Air Force Instruction 1-1 applies."
Weinstein said the Air Force's decision that Olson was expressing his personal views at the event shows that the separation of church and state in the Air Force is now "nothing but smoke and debris," especially considering that Olson spoke on international television.
The mission of the National Day of Prayer Task Force is to mobilize prayer in America and to encourage personal repentance and righteousness in the culture.
“Some language used in the incident — and given where it was, in front of a church known to be accepting of our LGBT community — it led us to have concern that this is a hate crime,” Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said in an interview Tuesday....
...But Adams (the Church Reverend - spokesperson) was not aware of any activity at his church — a congregation of about 150 people — that that would attract anti-LGBT animus, nor did he have a particular reason to think the shooting was an anti-gay hate crime...
...Adams said that at his congregation, “we don’t like the [gay] lifestyle, but we like the people — the individuals. I think we are tolerant of the people. We are very caring of other people.”
So far, more than 600 members have paid amounts ranging from $4.20 to $1,000 to join the church, Mr. Levin said.
Nice that it starts at $4.20 not $4.10, not $4.15 but $4.20.Unagi wrote:So far, more than 600 members have paid amounts ranging from $4.20 to $1,000 to join the church, Mr. Levin said.
The dude who pledged $1000 is bummed out. "Man, I thought there was a decimal in there, it was supposed to be $10! There goes my weed budget for the whole month!"Rip wrote:Nice that it starts at $4.20 not $4.10, not $4.15 but $4.20.Unagi wrote:So far, more than 600 members have paid amounts ranging from $4.20 to $1,000 to join the church, Mr. Levin said.
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Apparently this mountain is a prude.Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan, of the eastern Sabah state, blamed the earthquake on the group that included the Canadians because they “showed disrespect to the sacred mountain” by stripping down to pose naked on the morning of May 30, at the 8 km mark of the two-day trek up Mount Kinabalu, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We haven't had to use that power in a long time. If Malaysia thinks things are bad now, imagine what would happen if we all activated our earthquake powers at once, huh? Think about that. So, yeah. You don't want that Malaysia.El Guapo wrote:Ugh, and worse still, they're reinforcing the tired old "Canadians cause earthquakes" stereotype.
Aroused by a naked Canadian?abr wrote:Are they sure the spirits were angered and not aroused?
This is encouraging.LordMortis wrote:American faith in "Nothing in Particular" is on the rise faster than any other group.
I am the son and the heir... of nothing in particular.Kraken wrote:This is encouraging.LordMortis wrote:American faith in "Nothing in Particular" is on the rise faster than any other group.
You shut your mouthTrent Steel wrote:I am the son and the heir... of nothing in particular.Kraken wrote:This is encouraging.LordMortis wrote:American faith in "Nothing in Particular" is on the rise faster than any other group.
But I've read well, and I've heard them said$iljanus wrote:You shut your mouthTrent Steel wrote:I am the son and the heir... of nothing in particular.Kraken wrote:This is encouraging.LordMortis wrote:American faith in "Nothing in Particular" is on the rise faster than any other group.
How can you say
I go about things the wrong way?
I am human and I need to be loved
Just like everybody else does
I only remember because I read it after I heard How Soon is Now about 200 times.LordMortis wrote:I am the father, the father of nothing in particular?
How in the world do you guys remember anything from Middlemarch? I had to read that. not once. but twice in college and both times I was assessed over what I ready and all I can tell you about the novel these years later is George Elliot was a she.
All I remember about that song is the guitar literally sounds like cat being murdered. Let just say I'm not a fan of the Smiths.LawBeefaroni wrote:I only remember because I read it after I heard How Soon is Now about 200 times.LordMortis wrote:I am the father, the father of nothing in particular?
How in the world do you guys remember anything from Middlemarch? I had to read that. not once. but twice in college and both times I was assessed over what I ready and all I can tell you about the novel these years later is George Elliot was a she.
So tying it to a book I wouldn't have remembered would have been about impossible... As close as I'll get is "Killing an Arab" which would have been played at the same clubs around the same time and that didn't really grab me either. I suck at both literary reference unless it comes from cartoons. I can remember and appreciate cartoons with the people who are somewhere around the same zip code at the best of them.It's the word "literally" in that sentence that is really disturbing.LordMortis wrote:
All I remember about that song is the guitar literally sounds like cat being murdered.
Don't get all high and mighty on us, Mr. "I've Never Strangled a Cat to Compare the Sound to a Song's Guitar Track."hepcat wrote:It's the word "literally" in that sentence that is really disturbing.LordMortis wrote:
All I remember about that song is the guitar literally sounds like cat being murdered.
Have you ever heard a cat suffering? You can hear it bellowing in the woods from over a quarter mile away and it sounds just like the guitar from that song.hepcat wrote:It's the word "literally" in that sentence that is really disturbing.
About 30 churches in the world in countries such as Indonesia, the US, Portugal, Africa and India are now using a facial recognition software called Churchix to track their congregants from a database of photographs that have been uploaded to the software.
The churches are able to track which congregants are attending services and which are missing events, by using CCTV cameras that scan people's faces as they walk into the building. The video footage is sent to a PC where the software is installed, and this then analyses the footage for recognisable faces.
The idea is that the church can then make contact with congregants to find out why they might not be attending, or even send out a call to action for donations to the congregants who are most fervent in their attendance of church events.
The church can also use the software as a security system, by uploading photos of people who have been banned from the church, local criminals or sex offenders. If someone on the black list enters the church, the administrator will receive an alert letting them know, so they can take action.
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The software was launched four months ago and is only a small part of Face-Six, which is based in Israel and the US. The firm focuses on high-end video surveillance for law enforcement and large public venues like airports and casinos, as well as facial recognition software that tracks how many unique visitors walk into shopping malls.
Well, it would be entirely fair to ban someone who has been harassing other congregants (say), or stealing from the collection basket, or whatnot.hepcat wrote:Churches blacklist? That seems counter to their stated purpose.
