Welcome back (I hope). Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 17, 2011, at 12:10, Billy wrote: > Ernie / David > In the switchover of my data to the new ( reconditioned ) computer my address > book > was decimated and for now I cannot use the radicalcentrism.org address > because > AOL insists on adding " @ AOL.com " and then not recognizing the URL > Once I receive any e-mail from radicalcentrism.org to reply to this should > re-establish the address as per usual. Your two addresses were the only ones > I could get to for now. > > Maybe someone can send to the group for me. > Thanks > Billy > > ================================================================== > > > > Centroids : > Back from cyber purgatory . Two months of no computer. Still not sure if the > more-or-less new system is fully functional. Still cannot get USB ports to > work > and that makes it impossible to use my "pet mouse," which is far better than > the substitute mouse I'm compelled to make do with for now, which screws up > my inadequate typing skills. Some other problems too. but to give you an > idea. > > Question : Why does the Web allow idiots to produce debilitating viruses > without > severe punishment for the hackers who create such things ? This has already > cost me > a small fortune. not even counting the significant help that Barry extended > to me that > allows computer access again. And not counting the in-person help given me > by another friend, Valdas, who spent several hours in person helping me get > the new > system up and running as much as it is. > > Whomever put together the virus that caught me flat footed deserves, IMHO, to > be > burned at the stake, after, that is, I am allowed to punch him out for a full > 60 minutes > with brass knuckles on my fists. Plus a few well placed kicks to the groin > with > steel toe work boots. > > Not to worry about that virus any more, it has been confined in the old > computer tower-- > all data, as much as could be transferred, now in the new system. It will be > weeks before > I am able to replace all the programs ( icons ) that were part of my > repertoire previously. > > Still, there were real advantages to being off line for 2 months, such as > seriously catching up > on deferred reading. I plowed through about 25 books in that time, including > Jonah Goldberg's > "Liberal Fascism." Very good read, but based on false premises first devised > by Hayek. > More about this later if anyone is interested. > > Lots or reading about the Paleolithic origins of religion, roughly 50,000 BC, > all of which > makes mince meat of the views of religious origins in each and every Big > Religion on Earth, > both East and West. Why bother ? Well, for starters, because claims about > religious origins > are fundamental to Christianity, Judaism, Islam. etc. and the rather solid > stuff that is now > documented in spades --as usual, unknown to the great unwashed-- really > creates major > theological problems for just about everyone. And it does no favors at all to > Atheists who > have their own religious origins mythology which says that in a state of > nature humans are > naturally virtuous, irreligious, and are de facto "liberal Democrats" but who > happened to > live in caves which they painted with artwork worthy of the Guggenheim. > > Actually, and alas for all, our remote Cro-Magnon ancestors were Shamanists > who believed > in a world filled with spirits of various kinds who were religious fanatics > who seemed to > have made use of a wide range of beliefs around which to organize their lives > from cradle > to the grave. They were also mostly rather blood thirsty as far as evidence > allows us to say, > and in all likelihood killed off the Neanderthals plus sub populations of > each other. > This is NOT the Noble Savage of yore, to say the least, even if , yes, some > groups > were mostly hunter gatherers / fisherfolk. who weren't all that keen on > killing > other humans. > > Anyway, all the data are there to be looked at and all it is necessary to do > is actually > read the stuff and learn the facts --which was accessible to me but which I > had put off > reading for far too many years for my own good. > > Also read Ann Coulter's "Godless, The Church of Liberalism," and was aghast. > Sure, the > book is filled with useful insights and witty criticisms of the Left, much of > which I appreciated > greatly,but what a mess. Coulter knows next to nothing that can be called > serious knowledge > about religion and she concluded the book with 3 chapters attacking > evolution. WTH ? > > It isn't just the femi-Nazi Left that is anti-science ( especially > anti-sociobiology ) it seems > as if elements of the Right have not gotten the news that the decision in the > Scopes Trial > is now widely regarded as not in the best interests of political > Conservatives. > > Also in this vein is Dinesh D'Souza's "What's So Great About Christianity ?" > Another very good > read, but also a compendium of errors on one level , with so many mistakes in > the realm of > philosophy, on which D'Souza rests much of his case, that I was rather > surprised. > > I do think he pretty much seriously injures the case of Atheists, his primary > objective, > which is all well and good, but there are many problems he is simply blind > to, in > no small part because of his ignorance of Mesopotamian history and > --inexplicably-- > basic ignorance of Hindu and Buddhist traditions beyond a really elementary > level > which, in the kind of book he was writing, is mostly useless given the fact > that > the arguments he was making lead in very different directions once you > actually > know about the philosophical traditions of India and South Asia generally. > D'Souza doesn't seem to know that such traditions even exist. > > Lots more to tell everyone about, but for openers this ought to be sufficient. > > What's been happening at RC.org these past 2 months ? > > Ciao > Billy > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
