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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 05/06/2008 : 03:57:51
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I think they've been reading too much Harry Potter and it's warped their perspective. But then again, this is Florida we're talking about, a state that has been trying to take the coveted Land of Fruits & Nuts title away from CA for decades. Land 'O Lakes, Florida -- The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming. There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student.
Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher's job is on the line, but this time it's because of a magic trick.
The charge from the school district — Wizardry! |
Go figger.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Risendemonx
New Member
USA
48 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 06:55:04 [Permalink]
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I didn't believe this when I first read it. It's just hard to keep your faith in humanity when you hear things like this. Honestly, does he think that everybody who makes a quarter or other small object "disappear" and "reappear" are conjuring up Satan with rituals of the dark arts? It's just hard to believe that some people are that stupid.
Then again... We must think about how dumb the average person is, and then realize that half of the population is dumber than that.
but really though... "wizardry"? I bet this guy would have burned people at the stake if he was born a couple hundred years ago... |
"In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move."
--
Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 07:49:30 [Permalink]
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And Bngbuck is asking me why I think USA is a lost cause...
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 05/06/2008 : 08:05:37 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Risendemonx
I didn't believe this when I first read it. It's just hard to keep your faith in humanity when you hear things like this. Honestly, does he think that everybody who makes a quarter or other small object "disappear" and "reappear" are conjuring up Satan with rituals of the dark arts? It's just hard to believe that some people are that stupid.
Then again... We must think about how dumb the average person is, and then realize that half of the population is dumber than that.
but really though... "wizardry"? I bet this guy would have burned people at the stake if he was born a couple hundred years ago...
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Heh, it reinforces my faith in humanity. Even the most casual reading of the history shows this sort of nonsense to be the norm and it doesn't seem to have changed much over the millina. Even much of the violence remains, as witness the 'witch' persecutions in Africa and elsewhere, and the 'exorcisms' done even here that sometimes prove debilitating and often even fatal to the exorcisee but, evidently, not the demon. And this last is good; no demon, no excuse to rough up someone else.
I fear, that as long as there is a dominant, sapient species on this planet there will be some sort of crappy religion. Thus there will always be fantastical bullshit to the detriment of that species.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 08:33:24 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
And Bngbuck is asking me why I think USA is a lost cause...
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While this is a silly take on a magicians trick, no doubt motivated by a religious viewpoint, I doubt that the USA is unique in having a portion of the population drawing wrong conclusions based on a false premise.
Magical thinking can be found all over the world. Hell, religion itself is magical thinking and religion is pervasive and pretty much global.
My guess is that if I actually looked, I could find more than a few examples of people in this century being accused of witchcraft, especially in countries that are theocratic, or with a population that is just more superstitious, again, often, but not necessarily based in religion.
I think that you, Mab, are sometimes guilty of the hasty generalization fallacy...
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 13:36:31 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Kil
I think that you, Mab, are sometimes guilty of the hasty generalization fallacy...
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You have a point of course. I suppose it's confirmation bias, and moments like these that feeds the cynic in me.
Anyway, I'm still an optimist.
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 16:43:13 [Permalink]
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Mabuse.....
| And Bngbuck is asking me why I think USA is a lost cause... |
After reading many of your rancid remarks about the United States and what a hell-hole of a country we are, I thought I had better find a better place for me and my family (and maybe some of the real malcontents in SFN!) So I started looking countries up in the Wikipedia, and when I came to Sweden, I made a stop!
I didn't transcribe all of the information, because I wanted to adopt your style of focusing on strictly the negative aspects of the nation. I cherry-picked the whole damn long piece! And it shows that anything can be shown to be one-sided!
Nobody here is dumb enough to take this seriously as a fair presentation of Sweden! Nor are Mabuse's views of the USA a fair look at the USA! I urge all readers to absorb the entire article!
However, I believe, on balance, that I am going to cancel my one-way tickets for me and my family to your frigid little paradise, and just continue to slog along in the lousy, crappy, old USA!
| Sweden was under German influence for most of the war, as ties to the rest of the world were cut off through blockades. The Swedish government felt that it was in no position to openly contest Germany, and therefore collaborated with Hitler. Sweden also supplied steel and machined parts to Germany throughout the war. internal and external critics have argued that Sweden could have done more to resist the Nazi war effort, even if risking occupation. |
Did you have a Gestapo?
| Sweden was part of the Marshall Plan. |
No problem taking American dough, eh?
| Prime Minister Olof Palme was murdered in 1986. |
Got to work a little harder on that terrorist control thing!
| A bursting real estate bubble caused by inadequate controls on lending combined with an international recession and a policy switch from anti-unemployment policies to anti-inflationary policies resulted in a fiscal crisis in the early 1990s. |
Jeez, economic trouble in Paradise?
| Swedish companies export weapons that are used by the American military in Iraq. |
Thanks for helping George and Dick out with their oil war!
| The country is slightly larger than the U.S. state of California, with a population in 2006 of 9.1 million people. |
Which, of course, makes for a fair comparison with a country of over 300 million!
| About 15% of Sweden lies north of the Arctic Circle. |
Brrrrrr! That explains the condition of your anal sphincter!
| North of the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets for part of each summer, and in the winter, night is similarly unending. |
I would think that would get old after a few months!
| Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, in which King Carl XVI Gustaf is head of state. |
That's progressive, al |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 16:55:32 [Permalink]
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| (I guess I need to make more frequent use of the tounge-in-cheek smilies when attempting humour) |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 17:17:09 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
(I guess I need to make more frequent use of the tounge-in-cheek smilies when attempting humour)
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I was enjoyin' the conversation.....
I would like to spend a few seasons in Sweden, where resides a population of the European Adder (Vipera berus), the only serpent living above the Artic Circle.
Pretty li'l gal isn't she?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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| Edited by - filthy on 05/06/2008 17:22:11 |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 17:45:05 [Permalink]
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I can't dislike a country that produced Greta Garbo and later Ingrid Bergman and then later Harriet Andersson and then Britt Ekland... |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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moakley
SFN Regular
USA
1888 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 17:52:11 [Permalink]
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Land 'O Lakes, Florida -- The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming. There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student.
Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher's job is on the line, but this time it's because of a magic trick.
The charge from the school district — Wizardry!
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I use to live in Land O' Lakes, Fl. from 1989 -1992. After we moved my wife, who really enjoyed Florida, asked me multiple times if I missed Florida. My pat answer became, "Of course. Usually by at least 300 miles." Personally, there's not much there for me. Vacationed there, lived there, that's enough.
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Life is good
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. -Anonymous |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 19:10:43 [Permalink]
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I live here.... and yes, its really this retarded.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 20:33:30 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
(I guess I need to make more frequent use of the tounge-in-cheek smilies when attempting humour)
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I was enjoyin' the conversation.....
I would like to spend a few seasons in Sweden, where resides a population of the European Adder (Vipera berus), the only serpent living above the Artic Circle.
Pretty li'l gal isn't she?
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Does it have a dazzling white winter coat?
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 20:59:40 [Permalink]
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Dr.Mabuse.....
| (I guess I need to make more frequent use of the tounge-in-cheek smilies when attempting humour) |
Yeah, but there is....<sarcasm>Wow, something Americans can be proud of...</sarcasm>
Ok, I know practically all members of SFN are against the death penalty. I see death penalty as a symptom that there is something wrong with the mindset of the general population. |
...and this....| When barely half of the population bothers to vote, and half of those can't be bothered to keep informed of what they are voting for, you're fast sinking ship not entitled to call itself the greatest democracy in the world (just the thought of it makes me giggle, and every time I actually hear an American say it out loud, I'm on the verge of hysterical laughter). |
...and there is more, no reason to dig them out! I mean, Mabuse, enough is enough! I've visited your lovely country several times, and it is beautiful and the folks were very receptive. I have a high, positive view of Sweden and have no inclination to put it down for any reason other than to contrast your apparent hatred of our country; which I can't say I love; but I sure as hell like it a lot, and I know it pretty well! God (metaphor) knows I am extremely aware of our nation's shortcomings, particularly in the last eight years! I think most folks here are! |
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bngbuck
SFN Addict
USA
2437 Posts |
Posted - 05/06/2008 : 22:29:00 [Permalink]
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Sent this to Randi today......
James Randi.....
My SFN Forum just picked up on this Tuesday news from Land 'O Lakes Florida:
Land 'O Lakes, Florida -- The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming. There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student.
Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher's job is on the line, but this time it's because of a magic trick.
The charge from the school district — Wizardry!
Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.
But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.
"I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue, you can't take any more assignments you need to come in right away,'" he said.
When Piculas went in, he learned his little magic trick cast a spell and went much farther than he'd hoped.
"I said, 'Well Pat, can you explain this to me?' 'You've been accused of wizardry,' [he said]. Wizardry?" he asked.
They fired him!
I thought I might warn you, being a Florida resident, that there may be a state-wide purge and pogrom at any time, and you certainly would be on the "A" list of known Floridian Wizards!
Maybe you better go to the mattresses for a while 'til this thing blows over, James!
You've got a bed up here in Idaho if it get's too rough down there below the Mason- Dixon line, James! Most of the woo-woo up here involves Republican Religion and Politics, so if you kept your mouth shut you probably could stay out of witch-hunt trouble!
Cordially,
William Buck
Coeur D'Alene Idaho
bngbuck@roadrunner.com |
Randi's answer......
William..
Yes, we're in touch …
James Randi. |
JR tends to be brief!
Look for the Friday SWIFT!
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Florida surges into the 21th Century!
