The Machinatons of "HearMeRoar"

Ted.com - HMR's picks.

2009-04-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

For those that have somehow bypassed the website I'm about to mention, on their travels through the electric ether, you're missing a great deal.

Ted.com is a collection of entirely free informative talks by experts in various fields from the organisation's annual conference, who are are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

As they put it:

"This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted."

Since finding the site for myself I've become an avid viewer and I'd like to share with you a few of the presentations that have piqued my interest.

This is an intriguing vision of the future of medicine, as presented by Gregory Stock and details the predicted trends regarding our own controlled evolution.

Ray Kurzweil's presentation serves as an introduction to the Law of Accelerating Returns, the law which governs how our technology advances and, as a result, how we will begin to evolve. For more information, you can buy his book, or visit this free, compact, printable version.

Juan Enriquez is next with his talk about the future beyond the current financial crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis.

Thomas Barnett offers an interesting talk on the future of war (primarily from the perspective of the United States)by splitting their military force in two. It's a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. It's worth a look.

Physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi presents a controversial new model of the universe that -- just maybe -- answers all the big questions. If nothing else, it's the most beautiful 8-dimensional model of elementary particles and forces you've ever seen. It's a little slow in the beginning but well worth sticking with. Oh, and it gets pretty mind blowing with the introduction of eight-dimensional thinking...so don't watch it stoned.

Michael Milken talks about using your own particular set of skills to make real change in the world. In his case, the energetic mind that once created exotic bonds is now driving the "Manhattan Project of cancer" -- with lifesaving results.

Any advice from the Hikikomoris in the room?

2009-02-16T17:49:00.000-08:00

私は最近すればいいのかずっと何を熟考している。
私はおよび同時に創造的な何かをすることを学ぶ必要があることを起こされて私が決定したあるすべてを使って、もうかる。私はずっとひきこもりの現象で読んでいる。
私は自分自身1つのように行動し始めている。しかしそれらとは違って、それらは在庫の専門家でありがちで、私がaの間、証券取引は学生を壊した。
それをする方法をそれでもやはり、私は自分自身学ぶことを望む。だれでも私を手助けしたいと思うか。

ひどい翻訳ものための謝罪。
私はだれでも私が学ぶのを助けたいと思えば日本語を学ぶことを望む。

I have been pondering what to do lately. With all that has happened I have decided that I need to learn to do something creative and at the same time, lucrative.

I have been reading up on the phenomenon of Hikikomoris. I turns out that I'm beginning to act like one, myself.

Unlike them though, they tend to be experts in stocks and the securities exchange while I am a broke student.

Having said that, I would like to learn how to do it myself. Advice from my brethren, anyone?

Dissertation - The Future of Technology in Film

2009-01-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

Being in my last year of university I have to produce a twenty thousand word essay on a subject of my choice.

Quite a tall order, some might say but I've found just the subject matter to keep me interested for those twenty thousand words and I'm eager to be getting on with it.

To keep me going, I've decidd that I'll be posting my work for anyone interested in my findings thus far and it will hopefully enable to me to not only keep the overal work in perspective, but provide a means of proof-reading (without me having to send it to people - I'm a student afterall and I have a tradition of laziness to keep up).

In any case, this dissertation will be an investigative piece studying the history and evolution of the technologies used in the film industry and will be used to predict the most likely possible futures in the industry of film production.

As well as posting the updated versions of the paper on my website (ww.machinationsworld.com - yes, you read those two "w"s right) I'll be posting musings and ideas here (that wouldn't be included without some fine tuning and research).

On a side note, I have to produce a feature length film to accompany this paper (which I'm also looking forward to) but I'm divulge more on that at a later date.

Oh well, tally ho!

HMR

I got bored and did some naff poetry...

2009-01-12T11:23:00.000-08:00

...Go me.

The passively aggressive huff of the boredom faerie.
By Paul Caulfield/HearMeRoar

Tired and dull you'll find me,
Sat inside my disordered fort,
It's amalgamous and untidy,
And a notepad file's my only sport.

Terrible gobshite my fingers tap,
Goaded on by wrapping dullness,
Boredom made me type this crap,
Beating on me with it's sternness.

The crate of beer is almost done,
Likely because I drank it,
This boredom really is no fun,
My concentration so loosely knit.

At least I can have a smoke or two,
Though I didn't avoid addiction,
But my will is naught and my wants are few,
So I'm held by the smoke's conviction.

Although it could be worse perhaps,
It's only wistful melancholy,
Save for the worst mis-haps,
I'm happy with my folly.

I really wish I wasn't bored,
Or that it was time for sleep,
I think I'll lie on the keyboard,
Fgkdikiksdikdjkmeep.

Sharpe Lyrics - "Johnny is gone for a soldier."

2008-12-29T22:13:00.000-08:00

I'm something of a fan of folk music and I'm fortunate enough to have the soundtrack to a series called Sharpe. One song in particular which I love is "Johhny is gone for a soldier," so much so that I went looking for the lyrics.

As with msot folk songs though, there are many variations and it seemed impossible to find the ones that corresponded to the version I was listening to.

Still, there were enough different versions to put the lyrics together, along with my own powers of observation and so to save folks the hassle of figuring out the lyrics (as I did) I present the lyrics.

Aren't I nice? ^_^

---

Here I sit on Butternut Hill,
Who would blame me cry my fill ?
And ev'ry tear would turn a mill;
Johnny is gone for a soldier.

Chorus:
Shule, shule, shule agra.
His nets and creel are laid away.
'Til he comes back, I'll rue the day.
Johnny is gone for a soldier.

With pipes and drums he marched away.
The others came, he couldn't stay.
'Til he comes back, I'll rue the day.
Johnny is gone for a soldier.

Chorus:
Shule, shule, shule agra.
His nets and creel are laid away.
'Til he comes back, I'll rue the day.
Johnny is gone for a soldier.

[Instrumental]

I'll sell me' rook. I'll sell me' reel.
I'll even sell my spinning wheel.
To buy my love a coat of steel.
Johnny is gone for a soldier.

Chorus:
Shule, shule, shule agra.
His nets and creel are laid away.
'Til he comes back, I'll rue the day.
Johnny is gone for a soldier.
---

I'll do a youtube video later with the tune and said lyrics later, once I'm home from my christmas holiday.

For those that are interested, it was sang by the wonderful John Tams.

Have fun kids.

A new meme perhaps?

2008-11-07T07:14:00.001-08:00

I've been struggling with work so I've taken up photoshopping to distract myself.

It was then that I caught the new Windows ads on the television and felt like "contributing."

I might do more of these methinks.

I'm curious to see if this catches on. If you have your own, by all means send them to me and I'll stick them up here.

We Run This

2008-09-12T03:13:00.000-07:00

The next protest occurs tomorrow. Check out this link for more information.

I'll not be there, sadly. I've managed to (finally) get another job and it's only my second shift so I'd be best working it. I'm going to have to work my arse off just to get back in to my overdraft and once I've done that I need to keep it high enough to cover the bank charges that will be coming out.

*Sigh* At least the student loan will help once that comes through. That wont be until early October-ish though, I think.

Back to the relevant stuff though, I intend on attending either the October protest or the November one (depending on funds and whatnot). I also intend on filming it.

This will hopefully lead in to a documentary so I'm going to have to get in touch with people for interviews but that's for a later time, methinks.

In the meantime though, I've got housework to do, so that will all have to wait.

Have fun kids and kidders,

HMR

Fair Game in use and the new Support Forum

2008-09-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

For those that require further proof of Fair Game in use, I'd like to refer you to the following video.

As you can see, the policy is still alive and well.

On a related note, I've recently started work on a forum to support victims of Fair Game and to help people trade information on Scientology, including information on protests and the like.

It's up and running so keep checking back as more information is added. As I go, I'll be mirroring articles from here on the forum too.

Click Here for the Forum

HMR

Sarah Palin's racist comments.

2008-09-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

"So Sambo beat the bitch!" - Sarah Palin on Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton
Category: News and Politics

[Found on the interwebs. I was going to interject with my own comments but I found I didn't really have anything constructive to add. Brought to you, with many thanks, from "Paradise"]

http://thepoliticalcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is "Racist, Sexist, Vindictive And Mean."

"So Sambo beat the bitch!"

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama's win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat's primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

"It was kind of disgusting," Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the "lower 48" about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, "But that's just Alaska."

Racial and ethnic slurs may be "just Alaska" and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N'-Fetch-It, "darkie musical" swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska's aboriginal people as "Artic Arabs" – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful "mukluks" along with the totally unimaginative "fucking Eskimo's," according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We're talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.

No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it's in their genetic code. So much for McCain's pledge of a "high road" campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.

< –––– >

It's not easy getting people in the 49th state to speak critically about Palin – especially people in Wasilla, where she was mayor. For one thing, with every journalist in the world calling, phone lines into Alaska have been mostly jammed since Friday; as often as not, a recording told me that "all circuits are busy" or numbers just wouldn't ring. I should think a state that's been made richer than God by oil could afford telephone lines and cell towers for everyone.

On a more practical level, many people in Alaska, and particularly Wasilla, are reluctant to speak or be quoted by name because they're afraid of her as well as the state Republican Party machine. Apparently, the power elite are as mean as the winters.

"The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here," an insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. "It's corrupt and arrogant. They're all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to.

"Once Palin became mayor," he continued, "She became part of that inner circle."

Like most other people interviewed, he didn't want his name used out of fear of retribution. Maybe it's the long winter nights where you don't see the sun for months that makes people feel as if they're under constant danger from "the authorities." As I interviewed residents it began sounding as if living in Alaska controlled by the state Republican Party is like living in the old Soviet Union: See nothing that's happening, say nothing offensive, and the political commissars leave you alone. But speak out and you get disappeared into a gulag north of the Arctic Circle for who-knows-how-long.

Alright, that's an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article. But there's ample evidence of Palin's vindictive willingness to destroy people she sees as opponents. Just ask the Wasilla town administrator she hired before firing him because he rebelled against the way Palin demanded he do his job, or the town librarian who refused to hold the book burning Walpurgisnach Mayor Palin demanded.

Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poo-bah's who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign.

"People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day," states Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla resident and one of the few Alaskans willing to speak on-the-record, for attribution, about Palin. In fact, Kilkenny actually circulated an e-mail letter about Palin that was verified and printed by The Nation.

For good measure, Palin booted the Wasilla police chief from office because, she told a local newspaper, he "intimidated" her.

< –––– >

Sarah Palin drew early attention from state GOP apparatchiks when, during her first mayoral campaign, she ran on an anti-abortion platform. Normally, political parties do not get involved in Alaskan municipal elections because they are non-partisan. But once word of her extreme fringe evangelical views made its way to Juneau, the state capitol, state Republicans tossed some money behind her campaign.

Once in office, Palin set out to build a machine that chewed up anyone who got in her way. The good, Godly Christian turns out to be anything but.

"She's doesn't like different opinions and she refuses to compromise," Kilkenny notes. "When she was Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't hers. Worse, ideas weren't evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them."

Sound familiar? Palin may well be Dick Cheney's reincarnate.

Something else has a familiar Republican ring to it: Her tax policies, and a "refund surpluses but borrow for the future" attitude.

According to Kilkenny and others in Wasilla as well as Juneau, Palin reduced progressive property taxes for businesses while mayor and increased a regressive sales tax which even hits necessities such as food. The tax cuts she promoted in her St. Paul speech actually benefited large corporate property owners far more than they benefited residents. Indeed, Kilkenny insists that many Wasilla home owners actually saw their tax bill skyrocket to make up for the shortfall. Two other Wasillian's with whom I spoke said property taxes on their modest, three bedroom homes rose during the Palin regime.

To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inaugurated mayor was left saddled with $22-million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor – especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city's infrastructure or building a much-needed sewage treatment plant. So what did Mayor Palin spend the taxpayer's money on, if not fixing streets and scrubbing sewage?

For starters, she modelled her office. Several times over, as a matter of fact.

Then Palin spent $1-million on an unnecessary, new park that no one other than the contractors and Palin seemed to want. Next, Sarah doled out more than $15-million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be close to at least half of the original estimated price of the facility.

She also worked hard to get voters approval of a $5.5-million bond proposal for roads that could have been built without borrowing. Anchorage may not be the center of the financial universe but, like good Republicans everywhere, Sarah Palin knows how to please Alaskan bankers and bond dealers.

For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots.

< –––– >

En route to the governor's igloo, Palin managed to land what Anne Kilkenny says is the plumb political appointment in the state: Chair of Alaska's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), a $122,400 per year patronage slot with no real authority to do anything other than hold meetings. She took the job despite having no background in energy issues and, as it turned out, not liking the work.

"She hated the job," an OGCC staff member who is not authorized to speak with the news media told me. "She hated the hours and she hated what little work there was to do. But she couldn't figure out a way to get out of the thing without offending Gov. Murkowski" and the state Republican Party regulars, some of whom were pissed off they didn't get appointed.

But ever the opportunist, Palin quickly concocted a way. First, she waged a campaign with the local news media claiming that the position was overpaid and should be abolished – despite the fact that she lobbied Murkowski hard to get it. Then, mounting what she saw as a white horse, Palin raised a cloud of dust by resigning from the OGCC and riding away with an undeserved reputation as a "reformer."

But when a local reporter dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes, Palin tried to get her fired.

"She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids," said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. "I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak but it's nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you."

Not surprising since some of her high school classmates still openly call her "Sarah Barracuda," Kilkenny insists.

Still, as a Republican Party hack Palin managed to get herself elected running under the false flag of a "reformer."

And what did she bring to the job? No legislative experience other than a city council of a village of 5,000 people, which is smaller than some high schools in Chicago. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; after all, she needed to hire a city administrator to run Wasilla. No executive experience, except for almost being recalled as mayor. A philosophy of setting public policy based on one word: No.

And what has she done since winning the job?

According to Kilkenny, nothing. Well, nothing other than suggesting the state's multi-multi-million dollar, oil-generated surplus be distributed to residents and finance future state needs by borrowing money. Gee, doesn't that sound precisely what George Bush did with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton in 2001 and we all know in what great shape Bush's economic policies left the nation.

It may explain why, when asked by reporters including me what she thought about Palin being picked to be McCain's running mate, her mother-in-law replied with a sardonic, "What has Sarah done to qualify her to be vice president?" Of course, when the woman – said by many I spoke with to be well-respected in Wasilla – was running to succeed Palin as mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her so that may explain the family tension.

As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines, according to the chair of a legislative committee. But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork. "They were restored because of public outcry and legislative action," the aide said. "She vetoed them mostly because she had no idea what they were or why they were important."

But it was enough to get the McCain, who is mostly unobservant of the world around him anyway, to think Palin has a reputation as being "anti-pork".

In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it, these same insiders assert. Then, Palin fell back on her old habits and publicly humiliated him for pork-barrel politics.

As for being "ready on day one" to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she's made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, "she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs."

< –––– >

"Palin is a conniving, manipulative, asshole," someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin's tenure in Alaska state and local politics.

"She's a bigot, a racist and a liar," is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.

"Juneau is a small town, everybody knows everyone else," he adds. "These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain's rheumy eyes. Why do I know they're true? Because everyone who isn't aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way."

"Sambo beat the bitch" may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it – and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public – should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.

--
Paradise Gray
One Hood
Http://www.1hood.org
Http://www.myspace.com/paradisegray

An informative video on scientology.

2008-09-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hey kids, I've got another video for you.

This one's pretty informative, a talk given by an ex-scientologist pulling back the curtain on what they're like.

It's worth a watch, methinks. Now...I shall leave you to you video ^_^

Have fun kids,

HMR

Advice for protesters of Scientology - How to protect yourself.

2008-08-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

For those that protest Scientology, it can be a frightening experience. They tend to have a lot of muscle on hand, both muscularly and litigiously.

Confronting these people can seem confusing and frightening and this post aims to help as a reference to what you can do.

At the point where I hit "publish post" for the first time, this will not be a complete entry. I will be adding to this entry over time as an ever-evolving reference.

Hopefully, with this in hand, you will be better prepared for what they'll try and do to you.

The Contents of this article include: -

1 - Common Arguments against Protester's Activities.
2 - General Advice
3 - Pamphlets for handing out

Note - Where I have referenced news articles, I have opted to mirror them as over time they tend to be taken down from the original source.

1 - OK, first the basics. Expected confrontation types...

This will be a list of expected objections which will likely be perpetrated by Scientologists at your protest. They come in no particular order, being added as I find I need to.

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

Calling Scientology a "Cult." - News Article Here
In May 2008, a young boy faced prosecution for calling Scientology a cult. He had taken part in a peaceful protest, made no threads and had been brought up on that charge alone.

The officer told him that it was down to Section 5 of the Public Order Act; which I have duplicated below.

5 Harassment, alarm or distress

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he—

(a)

uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or

(b)

displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting,

within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.

(2) An offence under this section may be committed in a public or a private place, except that no offence is committed where the words or behaviour are used, or the writing, sign or other visible representation is displayed, by a person inside a dwelling and the other person is also inside that or another dwelling.

(3) It is a defence for the accused to prove—

(a)

that he had no reason to believe that there was any person within hearing or sight who was likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress, or

(b)

that he was inside a dwelling and had no reason to believe that the words or behaviour used, or the writing, sign or other visible representation displayed, would be heard or seen by a person outside that or any other dwelling, or

(c)

that his conduct was reasonable.

(4) A constable may arrest a person without warrant if—

(a)

he engages in offensive conduct which [a] constable warns him to stop, and

(b)

he engages in further offensive conduct immediately or shortly after the warning.

(5) In subsection (4) “offensive conduct” means conduct the constable reasonably suspects to constitute an offence under this section, and the conduct mentioned in paragraph (a) and the further conduct need not be of the same nature.

(6) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

NOTES

Initial Commencement

To be appointed
To be appointed: see s 41(1).

Appointment

Appointment: 1 April 1987: see SI 1987/198, art 2, Schedule.

Amendment

Sub-s (4): word in square brackets in para (a) substituted by the Public Order (Amendment) Act 1996, s 1.

Now, pay attention to the part where it says that it is a defence if: "his conduct was reasonable."

It was. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary lists five different definitions of the word "cult."[13]

1. Formal religious veneration
2. A system of religious beliefs and ritual; also: its body of adherents;
3. A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also: its body of adherents;
4. A system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator;
5. Great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book).

Scientology qualifies as all five of these definitions.

Which means that any person has reasonable grounds to call Scientology a Cult. It's official...it IS one.

The youth's case was dropped and he was declared innocent. The boy won by citing 1984 judgment given by Mr. Justice Latey in the Family Division of the High Court of Justice of Her Majesty's Courts of Justice of England and Wales, in which Latey called Scientology a "cult" and said it was "corrupt, sinister and dangerous". In the actual 1984 judgment made by Judge Latey, he stated: "Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious. [...] In my judgement it is corrupt, sinister and dangerous. [...] It is dangerous because it is out to capture people, especially children and impressionable young people, and indoctrinate and brainwash them so that they become the unquestioning captives and tools of the cult, withdrawn from ordinary thought, living and relationships with others."

Damning words and this provides you all with a precedent. Cite the result of the May 2008 court case and the 1984 ruling of Justice Latey.

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

"You don't have permission to protest/film here!"

In the US and in the UK, you usually have to give notice of a public demonstration. So long as you've done that, you're good to go. As long as you remain on public property, you're safe. You're also granted Freedom of Expression under human rights laws.

As for filming? You're allowed to film anything in public so long as you are on public property and it is in the public interest. What is public interest and where does this fit in to the law?

In general under the law of the United Kingdom one cannot prevent photography of private property from a public place, and in general the right to take photographs on private land upon which permission has been obtained is similarly unrestricted. However a landowner is permitted to impose any conditions they wish upon entry to a property, such as forbidding or restricting photography. Two public locations in the UK, Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square have a specific provision against photography for commercial purposes, as do Royal Parks (as private land).

Photography of individuals is unrestricted where the subject has a reasonable expectation of being photographed, such as on the street or at a tourist attraction. Photography without consent of someone in a place where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, could be considered to be against the European convention on human rights, however in general there is no right to privacy under UK law, and photograph of individuals may be used for any purposes. In addition persistent or aggressive photography of a single individual may come under the legal definition of harassment.

OFCOM have also weighed in with this ruling on the actual broadcasting of such footage: -

The Ofcom broadcasting code requires any infringement of privacy to be 'warranted'. Public interest is one justification, where it outweighs the right to privacy. Surreptitious filming is warranted if:

* there is prima facie evidence of a story in the public interest;
* there are reasonable grounds to suspect that further evidence could be obtained; and
* it is necessary to the credibility and authenticity of the programme.

If footage involves 'vulnerable people' then consent must be obtained unless 'it is warranted to proceed without consent' and an 'appropriate and timely' opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing or incompetence is offered.

So what counts as "Public Interest" exactly? Well, there have been two definitions by teo different organisations.

Definition of the Public Interest (1)

Resolution 129 at the 2001 Annual Delegate Meeting of the National Union of Journalists

1. The Public interest includes
a) Detecting or exposing crime or a serious misdemeanor.
b) Protecting public health and safety.
c) Preventing the public from being misled by some statement or action of an individual or organisation.
d) Exposing misuse of public funds or other forms of corruption by public bodies.
e) Revealing potential conflicts of interest by those in positions of power and influence.
f) Exposing corporate greed.
g) Exposing hypocritical behaviour by those holding high office.
2. There is a public interest in the freedom of expression itself.
3. In cases involving children, journalists must demonstrate an exceptional public interest to over-ride the normally paramount interests of the child.

Definition of the Public Interest (2)

Editors' Code of Practice, 2004 - framed by the newspaper and periodical industry and ratified by the Press Complaints Commission on 28 April 2004

1. The public interest includes, but is not confined to:
i) Detecting or exposing crime or serious impropriety.
ii) Protecting public health and safety.
iii) Preventing the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation.
2. There is a public interest in freedom of expression itself.
3. Whenever the public interest is invoked, the PCC will require editors to demonstrate fully how the public interest was served.
4. The PCC will consider the extent to which material is already in the public domain, or will become so.
5. In cases involving children under 16, editors must demonstrate an exceptional public interest to override the normally paramount interest of the child.

The full Editors code can be found on the PCC website http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/cop.asp

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

"You're in contravention of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act of 2006!"

So long as you do not use threatening behaviour and language, you're not. According to the original law, anything which protesting any kind of religion could come under this law, but in an amendment by the House of Lords the legislation was limited to "A person who uses threatening words or behaviour, or displays any written material which is threatening... if he intends thereby to stir up religious hatred".

This removed the abusive and insulting concept, and required the intention - and not just the possibility - of stirring up religious hatred.

So as long as you're peaceful about it, you're OK.

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

2 - General Advice

If you have written permission to protest at a particular location, why not get it blown up to the same size as your other placards? That way your right and permission to protest is as clear cut as your "OMGWTF a Cult!" cards
It may also be good practise to do the same for any legal precedent citations so that everything is nice and clear. And nothing is clearer than text the size of your own head...

Another good idea is to have pamphlets ready with your rights and all of the above on it.

Also, have a separate set of pamphlets or fliers with information on about the very thing you're protesting. It's no good simply shouting things at a protest. You need to win hearts and minds and you have to do that through informed debate. If anyone asks for information, have it on hand. If you don't you simply look ignorant and it harms the case.

On a related note...know your stuff.

If you look stupid, we all look stupid.

Be well behaved. If you do anything to make yourself look bad, it makes us all look bad and that ultimately harms our case.
I know the Scientologists use muscle to harm, harass and frighten us. Sadly they get away with it because they're stealthy and influential. You can't fight on their level so just keep it peaceful.

Don't mention Xenu to Scientologists!
I say this because lower level members don't actually believe in Xenu and the alien malarkey.
You may already know this but I will reiterate. Lower level members aren't told about Xenu until they've proven themselves and paid enough to get to the highest OT level. This is also because up until this point they will still have enough wits to doubt it when confronted with this story.
Only people who have become naive enough to "handle" it are told it and by this point they're willing to lie and do anything for the "church."

So either way members will deny it, some because they genuinely don't believe and others for more cynical reasons. Because the information is withheld from lower level members by higher ones, they can't openly admit the story. It's an unfortunate and ridiculous rut they've got themselves in to but trust me, you will not benefit from mentioning Xenu.

Besides, with their human rights violations and what-not you shouldn't need to. The Xenu thing makes them look funny...which makes them look harmless to the uninformed.

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

3 - Pamphlets

I've prepared a rudimentary flier which spells out the harshest facts about Scientology to be handed out at protests. They're designed to spell out the immediate danger to people that otherwise don't take Scientology seriously or don't care and it doesn't even need to mention their religious beliefs...and so dosn't.

I hope they help.

Flier 1 - .pub format.
Flier 1 - .png format.

This one is formatted as two A5 fliers on an A4 sheet. Cutting will be involved ^_^

---------

That's all I've got for the moment. If I've missed anything I urge you to let me know. I don't just want corrections, we all need them. We need this information to be accurate so feel free to weigh in and tell me when I screw up and I'll change or add stuff pronto.

I'm sorry if this so far seems a little UK centric. I'm researching and uncovering laws and citations as I go but I come across the UK-based stuff more, at the moment.

Well, that's all from me so far. See you on the other side.

HMR

The flaw in the usage of Godwin's law.

2008-08-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

For those that don't know what Godwin's law is As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

Whether this is true or not, it has led to overuse of the law's reference. This is because there are many corollaries to Godwin's law, some considered more canonical (by being adopted by Godwin himself) than others invented later.

For example, the most often used reference to the law is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress.

There is a flaw in this however.

What happens when such a comparison is justified? History does have a habit of repeating itself and if circumstances warrant such a comparison then surely we should take it seriously, instead of scoffing at it because of some inappropriate made-up law?

An organisation like those Germans who must not be named coming back is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility. In fact it's pretty easy.

After all, we live in a world where we'd prefer to go about our daily lives than listen to conspiracy theories and whatnot. Admit it, me simply saying "conspiracy theory" fills you with disbelief and the urge to say something sarcastic to me.

Well I wont try to convince you of any such conspiracies, I promise.

Consider this though. Governments and other organisations of various kinds plan things all the time. Some are good and some are criminal. This is an everyday fact. Some people with resources will try and get away with whatever they can to accomplish whatever goals they have in mind.

It's a fact, some people are that heartless and conniving. This applies from the bitch that works in your office, planning to steal your promotion; to plans on a grander scale. We have proof of this having happened throughout history and that brings me back to Godwins law and it's something I'd like you to remember.

The Nazis and everything they did happened. It happened in front of clever folks, just like you and me. The reason it happened is because people are afraid to face up to bad things.

It's a part of who we are.

I know I do it. When that bank statement comes, telling me I'm a lot over my overdraft..I don't want to read it. I simply can't face it.

You've all probably experienced a feeling like that.

Now apply it on a grander scale. I'll make up something instead of referencing a "conspiracy theory." Imagine if a wealthy organisation had made a school ill so that they could provide the antidote and look like heroes? It's never happened (as far as I'm aware).

The truth is, some people are bastards and it's possible that someone cruel enough can come along, amass that kind of influence and power and do it.

You wouldn't want to believe it. It'd be unthinkable. Imagine the dread and fear of knowing that it actually happened? Wouldn't you rather chalk it down to crazy people, call it a "conspiracy" theory and go about with your lives?

Coming back to my point, I wont say that all conspiracy theories are true or false. Each one could be or couldn't be and I'll not even bother trying to tell you which are which.

But bad things do happen, even on large worldly scales, by bad people. If there's even the slightest chance something big and bad could happen, we should listen...carefully.

Take care kids.

HMR

The ever present danger...Why is scientology allowed to continue to exist?

2008-08-26T09:31:00.000-07:00

It's a reasonable enough question, all things considered. I've learned some disturbing things about this group, things that make me wonder why they are allowed to continue to function.

The crux of it is (in case you're not inclined to read all of this) is that the "church" of Scientology is a manipulative, mobster-like organisation solely interested in money which encourages it's members to hurt, kill, and deprive of property those people who disagree with them.

Don't believe me? Read on.

The founder, first of all is a known liar. He invented an honourable and noble past for himself and lied about having been a war hero. He has shown racist attitudes, his diaries telling of china:

"As a Chinaman can not live up to a thing, he always drags it down." and "They smell of all the baths they didnt take. The trouble with China is, there are too many chinks here."

And that was before writing in official Scientology reading:

"Unlike the yellow and brown people, the white does not usually believe he can get attention from matter or objects. The yellow and brown believe for the most part ... that rocks, trees, walls, etc., can give them attention" and "...so we see the African tribesman, with his complete contempt for the truth, and his emphasis on brutality and savagery... ."

Though in the interest of fairness, text was later changed to refer to Africans as "primitives."

He claimed to have been made a lama and that he had travelled throughout the eastern world learning of Eastern Philosophy. His own diaries contradict this.

As for his own claims of being a "war hero?" (Pulled from wikipedia)

From the summer of 1941 to late 1945, during World War II, Hubbard served in the United States Navy. Based on the representations of his experience overseas and as a writer, he was able to skip the initial officer rank of Ensign and was commissioned a Lieutenant, Junior Grade for service in the Office of Naval Intelligence. He was unsuccessful there, and after some difficulty with other assignments found himself in charge of a 173-foot (53 m) submarine chaser. In May 1943, while taking the USS PC-815 on her shakedown cruise to San Diego, Hubbard attacked what he believed to be two enemy submarines, ten miles (16 km) off the coast of Oregon. The "battle" took two days and involved at least four other US vessels plus two blimps, summoned for reinforcements and resupply. After reviewing instrument data, battle reports, interviews with the various captains and taking into account the fact that Japanese submarines didn't regularly operate there, Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, Commander Northwest Sea Frontier concluded; "An analysis of all reports convinces me that there was no submarine in the area. ... The Commanding Officers of all ships except the PC-815 state they had no evidence of a submarine and do not think a submarine was in the area." In June 1943, Hubbard was relieved of command after anchoring PC-815 off the Coronado Islands, which is Mexican territory. He further erred by conducting gunnery practice there. An official complaint from Mexican authorities, coupled with his failure to return to base as ordered, led to a Board of Investigation. It determined that Hubbard had disregarded orders, admonished him by letter to include in his records and transferred him to other duties. Since this was the third leadership position Hubbard had lost during his tenure, he was not given command authority on his next assignment. His service ended with an honorable discharge after resigning his commission in 1950. In all he had one promotion and six decorations to show for his service, however he would claim to have accomplished much more than that in the decades which followed. It would also come out that he was relieved of command twice, and was also the subject of negative reports from his superiors on several occasions.

This disgraced navy officer, having disregarded orders and been proven to be incompetent, later went on to form the self-help principle of Dienetics.

This system, of course has no basis in scientific fact, the American Psychological Association passing a resolution in 1950 calling "attention to the fact that these claims are not supported by empirical evidence of the sort required for the establishment of scientific generalizations."

However, what is clear of the practise is that a euphoric sensation does follow the procedure involved, known as "auditing."

I've elected to allow this Youtube video explain in further detail.

Auditing and Dianetics became the core of Scientology, a religious cult mean to gather support, influence and wealth. What Hubbard wound up creating was not a religion, but something closer to a Mobster-style family, build on these euphoric procedures, playing on the inadequacies of it's members and in the end becomes a potent bullying force.

In their own doctrine, members are encouraged to harass, threaten, injure and harm those that disagree with scientology, or investigate scientology. This doctrine is known as "Fair Game." Scientologists may injure, deprive of property and person who they call a "Suppressor." These people are anyone who disagrees with scientology.

The following video demonstrates the darker leanings of Scientology.

Please note, this scientology-related video contains disturbing images...

As you have seen, these vicious monsters are nothing more than a rich, influential, delusional gang.

I'd like to pause for a moment to ask you to let me know if these videos disappear from Youtube. I've made backups and will restore them if needed.

So, what are government's stances and opinions towards this movement?

Well, firstly in its ads and writings, the Scientology organization claims it is internationally recognized as a religion, except in Germany.

This is false.

Among the countries that do not consider Scientology a religion are Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, and Spain, as well as Israel and Mexico.

Thankfully, here in the UK the Scientology organization has been rebuffed repeatedly by the Charity Commission which insisted as recently as 1995 that the organization could not be considered a religion under British law and could, therefore, not enjoy any tax-exempt status.

However in the US the Scientology organization did in fact receive tax-exempt status as a religious congregation in 1993 after a decades-long, contentious battle with the IRS.

...Shame.

Personally I'm rather fond of Germany's example. Because of its experiences during the Nazi regime, Germany feels a special responsibility to monitor the development of any extreme group within its borders. German society is particularly alert towards radicalism of any kind and has set stiff standards for itself when dealing with aggressive, extreme groups; even when the groups are small in number.

This concern has prompted social institutions; churches, political parties; to make the public aware of the dangers of Scientology.

Their Federal Government has not taken any legislative action against the Scientology organization. However, some of the German states feel that steps are necessary to protect their citizens against Scientology and have taken it upon themselves to act in the following cases:

As of November 1, 1996, all applicants for admission to Bavarian public service and Bavarian public service employees must indicate whether they belong to the Scientology organization. Membership in Scientology alone does not automatically exclude individuals from public service.
The state of Baden-Württemberg has instructed its internal investigations agency (Verfassungsschutz) to monitor the Scientology organization's activities in the state beginning in 1997.

Well done Germany.

ON a grander scale, it's surprising that more work isn't being done to put down scientology. After all, they have shown a complete disregard for human rights.

The following is reproduced (with many thanks) from Scientology lies: -

A Challenge to Scientology: Show Respect for Human Rights

On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . The Declaration (minus its preamble) is reproduced below, interspersed with information about Scientology's disregard, per policy and past actions, for the human rights they claim to embrace.

In the summer of 1998, a contingent of Scientologists rallied through Europe to commemorate the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to counter the German government's critical stance on Scientology.

It is my feeling that the German government's criticism of Scientology reflects Germany's willingness to confront the truth about Scientology - its history of blatant disregard for the law and for the rights of the world's citizens. Scientology policy denies the human rights of both Scientologists and non-Scientologists, and Scientologists who have carried out those policies have caused untold harm to individuals all over the world.

I applaud Scientology and individual Scientologists for helping to draw attention to the tenets of this most important of human documents, and I urge them to actually embrace these principles immediately.

Actions speak louder than words.

In this document, text from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is in blue , quotes from Scientology policy are in red , and my own comments are in green .

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

proclaims

THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Scientology literature states a belief that all people are basically good, not unlike stating that all are endowed with conscience. However, Scientology also believes that all people are at the mercy of their "reactive mind", which acts unreasoningly, so Scientology does not wholly embrace this article.

In Science of Survival , Hubbard describes people who place lower on the "Tone Scale" he invented, and says that the lower-ranking individuals do not have reason. He states:

The reasonable man quite ordinarily overlooks the fact that people from 2.0 down have no traffic with reason and cannot be reasoned with as one would reason with a 3.0.

Scientology policy states that some of us are more irrational and prone to evil acts than others. According to this excerpt from The Scientology Handbook at Scientology's web site:

There are certain characteristics and mental attitudes which cause about 20 percent of a race to oppose violently any betterment activity or group. ... if society were to recognize this personality type as a sick being as they now isolate people with smallpox, both social and economic recoveries could occur.

Here we can see that Scientology recommends quarantining 20 % of the world population. The same page says,

But the bulk of such people exhibit no outward signs of insanity. They appear quite rational. They can be very convincing.

As we see here, Scientology believes that this 20 % only appear rational.

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

According to Scientology policy ( HCOPL 1 March 1965 HCO Ethics ):

A truly Suppressive Person or group has no rights of any kind and actions taken against them are not punishable.

While Scientology policy does not, to my knowledge, deny rights to individuals based on distinctions such as race, colour, or sex, it clearly DOES deny rights based on an equally frightening distinction: criticism of, disagreement with, or departure from Scientology. In other words, it denies those rights based on opinion, in direct conflict with Article 2.

Scientology's Fair Game policy specifically states that "Suppressive Persons" may be injured or destroyed. Scientologists have been applying this policy for decades, resulting in harassment, assault , and ruthlessly destructive litigation against critics.

As you read the remaining rights enumerated in this document, keep in mind that Scientology policy states that many people have, and deserve, NO rights at all.

Article 3.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

In Science of Survival , a key Scientology text, Hubbard wrote:

The reasonable man quite ordinarily overlooks the fact that people from 2.0 down have no traffic with reason and cannot be reasoned with as one would reason with a 3.0. There are only two answers for the handling of people from 2.0 down on the tone scale, neither one of which has anything to do with reasoning with them or listening to their justification of their acts. The first is to raise them on the tone scale by un-enturbulating some of their theta by any one of the three valid processes. The other is to dispose of them quietly and without sorrow.

Thus, individuals who fall below 2.0 on Hubbard's "Tone Scale" may be eliminated - destroyed - killed. Without sorrow. This is diametrically opposed to Article 3's insistence on the right to life.

Scientology also denies Scientologists the right of liberty. Two Scientology policies , the "Introspection Rundown" and the "RPF" (Rehabilitation Projects Force), call for individuals to be confined, and application of those policies has resulted in several cases of false imprisonment and at least one death .

And, again, Scientology's Fair Game policy conflicts with Article 3, stating instead that "Suppressive Persons" may be injured or destroyed.

Article 4.

No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.

According to a political dictionary's definition of "servitude", "It can also mean compulsory service or labor, such as a prisoner may undergo as punishment. " Scientology policy requires unpaid labor from Scientologists, both under the RPF and as part of "amends" projects for "lower ethics conditions" (which can include having a slow work week).

Although I don't believe Scientology policy endorses slavery, the many requirements for compulsory labor in Scientology are clearly at odds with Article 4.

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Many former Scientologists describe horrifically cruel and degrading treatment meted out to them by Scientology executives (the one that turns my stomach is the peanut race ), but I am not aware of any Scientology policies calling for torture per se. However, the RPF is clearly designed, per policy, to be degrading. Scientologists assigned to the RPF must wear a dirty rag on their arms and are not allowed to speak to others.

Many people also consider the frequent and mandatory "sec checks" (security checks) to be degrading, as they contain questions of a highly personal nature (such as questions about one's sexual history).

Finally, a common Scientology practice, " bullbaiting ," involves having racial and sexual epithets and other derogatory comments yelled at the participant, who is required to endure it without any reaction whatsoever.

Article 6.

Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.

I am not aware of any Scientology policy that contradicts this article, unless you include the previously noted policy (HCOPL 1 March 1965 HCO Ethics):

A truly Suppressive Person or group has no rights of any kind and actions taken against them are not punishable.

Article 7.

All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.

Once again, Scientology's Fair Game policy places it in conflict with this Universal Declaration:

May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.

As seen here, Scientology policy states that some people (those who are subject to this Fair Game policy) are NOT entitled to equal protection of the law.

Another Scientology policy states that those who are "upstat" - who have been doing well, or making a lot of money - should never be punished, while those who are "downstat" should be investigated. This policy may have been a factor in a decision by Scientology management that a Scientologist who had molested two young girls, Tony Strawn, should NOT be turned over to the authorities, because he was "upstat". The following quote is from HCOPL 1 September 1965, "Ethics Protection":

In short a staff member can get away with murder so long as his statistic is up and can't sneeze without a chop if it's down. ... When people do start reporting a staff member with a high statistic, what you investigate is the person who turned in the report.

Article 8.

Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.

Scientology policy conflicts with Article 8 in two ways. First, Scientology requires Scientologists to waive their rights to pursue justice through the civil courts; instead, Scientologists are required to pursue justice (such as it is) through Scientology's internal justice system.

Second, in order to receive Scientology training or services, Scientologists are required to waive their right to sue Scientology itself. Although this waiver is probably not enforceable, many of those who sign it believe that it is, and are thereby prevented from seeking justice through the competent national tribunals.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Many of those who have suffered Scientology's RPF program testify that their assignment to it was clearly arbitrary and involved detention under the watch of (sometimes armed) guards.

Article 10.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

Scientology policy conflicts with Article 10 in two ways. First, it requires Scientologists to waive their rights to pursue justice through the civil courts; instead, Scientologists are required to pursue justice (such as it is) through Scientology's internal justice system.

Within Scientology, those accused of crimes are subject to a Scientology "Committee of Evidence," which lacks safeguards ensuring that it is independent or impartial. In addition, these procedings are not public, which further conflicts with Article 10.

Article 11.

(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.

Although I have heard that Scientology committees of evidence do not have any such presumption of innocence, I cannot find any policies referring to it at the moment, and in the spirit of this article, I will presume that Scientology is innocent of conflict with this provision until I see evidence to the contrary.

(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies which contradict this section of this article, either.

Article 12.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Scientology does especially badly with Article 12.

Scientology "sec checks" (security checks), which are mandatory and frequent, constitute an extreme invasion of privacy. Scientologists are required to reveal their thoughts and opinions, their past sexual experiences, and any crimes or embarassing acts in their past.

Scientology policy grossly interferes with the family life of its "Sea Org" staff members, separating children from parents and forbidding ordinary communication and discipline, as shown in policy statement CMO ED 411:

The following are some Consultant Advices which are for the Cadet Org and which are to be known and followed by all staff:

No order to a child or about a child must be permitted to go off lines. Parents must pass any order not to the child but through the CO Cadets who may alter or cut it if off pgm." (Consultant)
Any discipline goes through the Cadet Org HAS and MAA. Any Comm Ev is committee’d only by children.

Even more egregious are Scientology policies for RPF members, who are forbidden from even talking about certain things with their families and are not allowed to enjoy the ordinary luxuries of life (such as music or games) during the infrequent visits they are allowed with family members, as seen in FLAG ORDER 3434RB:

PERSONAL RESTRICTIONS AND PENALTIES

6. ... Some contact with a spouse or child is permitted during the RPFer's meal time or securing time once daily if the RPFer is upstat. All the above is providing no discussion of case or condition occurs and providing there is NO enturbulation whatsoever from or between either. In the case of a pre-school child contact is allowed more than-once daily during mealtimes and the schedule is to be worked out with the RPF MAA.

20. May not have with them in the RPF ANY drugs or alcoholic beverages, radios, TV, taped music, musical instruments, chess games or any such entertainment or luxury, or consume such when on authorized visits to spouse or child.

Scientology policy mandates interference with incoming personal mail addressed to staff members and both incoming and outgoing mail for members of the RPF, as specified in HCO PL of Oct 7, 1970:

MAIL LINE

The mail opener opens all mail, whether personal or otherwise and no matter how marked on the cover, which is addressed to the organization or its personnel --- excepting only mail for students and/or preclears, and packages. Example: Any letter addressed personally to a staff member and received at the HASI, even though marked personal, would be opened.

According to former Scientologist Robert Vaughn Young , his incoming and outgoing mail was read, per policy, while he was on the RPF.

Finally, although I have not found a policy mandating the defamation of people who criticize Scientology, it happens regularly enough to be noted. Many public critics of Scientology have found themselves publicly defamed. I personally was libelled in a Scientology flier.

Article 13.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

As previously noted, two Scientology policies , the "Introspection Rundown" and the "RPF" (Rehabilitation Projects Force), mandate false imprisonment .

Article 14.

(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with Article 14.

Article 15.

(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with Article 15.

Article 16.

(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.

(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with these sections of Article 16, although Scientology policy prohibits certain employees from having children and at least three people have reported several cases of coerced abortions.

(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

Although Scientology pays lip service to this principle, in practice Scientology splits up families by placing Sea Org members' children in the Cadet Org, and by requiring Scientologists in many cases to disconnect from family members who are critical of Scientology.

Article 17.

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.

(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

Once again, Scientology's Fair Game policy places it in conflict with this Universal Declaration:

May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.

Article 18.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Scientology policy conflicts with Article 18. As we see in "Introduction to Scientology Ethics", Scientology considers the following to be "Suppressive Acts" (the most serious wrongdoing in Scientology, worse than "High Crimes"):

Continued membership in a divergent group;
Organizing a splinter group to use Scientology data or any part of it to distract people from standard Scientology;
Organizing splinter groups to diverge from Scientology practices, still calling it Scientology or calling it something else;
Calling meetings of staffs or field auditors or the public to deliver Scientology into the hands of unauthorized persons or (persons) who will suppress it or alter it or who have no reputation for following standard lines and procedures;

Scientology defines itself (in some locations, but not others) as a religion, but by policy, the organization denies the fundamental rites of Scientology to those who wish to practice or follow Scientology outside the official organization. Scientology has attempted to deny others the right to practice Scientology through trade secret litigation; however, that attempt has largely failed, as the "trade secrets" have become public knowledge.

Article 19.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

Again, Scientology policy conflicts with Article 19. As we see in "Introduction to Scientology Ethics", Scientology considers the following types of expression to be "Suppressive Acts" (the most serious wrongdoing in Scientology, worse than "High Crimes"):

Public disavowal of Scientology or Scientologists in good standing with Scientology organizations;
Public statements against Scientology or Scientologists but not to Committees of Evidence duly convened;
Proposing, advising or voting for legislation or ordinances, rules or laws directed toward the suppression of Scientology;
Testifying hostilely before state or public inquiries into Scientology to suppress it;
Reporting or threatening to report Scientology or Scientologists to civil authorities in an effort to suppress Scientology or Scientologists from practicing or receiving standard Scientology;
Writing anti-Scientology letters to the press or giving anti-Scientology or anti-Scientologist evidence to the press;
Testifying as a hostile witness against Scientology in public;

In addition, Scientology's mandatory "sec checks" (security checks) delve into the individual's private thoughts while the individual is connected to a primitive lie-detector device. Among the questions:

Have you ever had unkind thoughts about L. Ron Hubbard?

Article 20.

(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Scientology policy conflicts with Article 20. As we see in "Introduction to Scientology Ethics", Scientology considers the following types of peaceful assembly and association to be "Suppressive Acts" (the most serious wrongdoing in Scientology, worse than "High Crimes"):

Continued membership in a divergent group;
Continued adherence to a person or group pronounced a Suppressive Person or Group by HCO;
Being at the hire of anti-Scientology groups or persons;
Organizing a splinter group to use Scientology data or any part of it to distract people from standard Scientology;
Organizing splinter groups to diverge from Scientology practices, still calling it Scientology or calling it something else;
Calling meetings of staffs or field auditors or the public to deliver Scientology into the hands of unauthorized persons or (persons) who will suppress it or alter it or who have no reputation for following standard lines and procedures;

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

I am not aware of any Scientology policy that conflicts with this section of Article 20.

Article 21.

(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.

(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Excepting for the moment that Scientology denies the right to practice Scientology to those who work for law enforcement agencies and those with family members working for law enforcement agencies (which seems to conflict with section 2 of this article), I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with Article 21.

Article 22.

Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with Article 22.

Article 23.

(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with these two sections of Article 23.

(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.

(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Scientology policy conflicts with this principle, as seen in HCOPL 29 Apr 65, Ethics: PETITION", which states:

No two persons or more may simultaneously petition on the same matter, and if so the petition must at once be refused by the person petitioned. Collective petition is a crime under Ethics ...

Article 24.

Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Although I am not aware of any Scientology policy that conflicts with this principle, there are numerous policies that mandate loss of "libs" (liberty, or free time) and many stories of Scientology employees working inhumane work weeks, especially (but not only) on the RPF.

Article 25.

(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

Scientology denies this right to its employees. In accordance with Scientology policy , Scientology offices routinely ignore minimum wage and other labor laws, as confirmed by multiple reports of ex-staffers who received a pittance in salary for overlong work weeks. Furthermore, Scientology makes no provision for pensions for its workers, and several stories indicate that ill or aging Scientology employees are "off-loaded" and left to fend for themselves after a lifetime of service to Scientology.

(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.

I am not aware of any Scientology policy conflicting with special care for mothers (indeed, Scientology policy is to keep silent around a pregnant woman who has been hurt, a policy that may be well-intentioned but which may increase risk to the mother and unborn child). However, it is Scientology policy that children are NOT special or different from adults; instead, they are "thetans" (souls) in small bodies. As a result, children are subjected to the RPF and the physically dangerous "Purification Rundown", and are often worked long, hard hours , just like their parents.

Article 26.

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with this principle.

(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

To the extent that Scientologists and children pursue studies based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard, their education may result in a decrease in respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Several statements in Hubbard's writings show that he was no proponent of human rights. Study and application of Scientology ethics, as laid out in "Introduction to Scientology Ethics", would, in my opinion, tend to produce a reduced respect for human rights and freedoms.

(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with this principle.

Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with Article 27.

Article 28.

Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.

As noted above, according to Scientology policy (HCOPL 1 March 1965 HCO Ethics):

A truly Suppressive Person or group has no rights of any kind and actions taken against them are not punishable.

Since approximately 2 1/2 percent of the population is suppressive (according to Scientology), Scientology would deny these rights and freedoms to several million people.

Article 29.

(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with this principle.

(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

As noted throughout this document, Scientology seeks to curtail the rights and freedoms of both Scientologists and non-Scientologists, in contradiction of this principle.

(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.

I am not aware of any Scientology policies that conflict with this principle.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

This makes it clear that none of these rights may be used to deny or destroy the rights of others. Thus, for example, Article 18's statement of the right to religious freedom does not grant any individual or religious group the right to deny the rights of others. Scientology has argued in court that its Fair Game policy is a central tenet of the Scientology religion and therefore deserves protection as an expression of religious practice. That assertion is in conflict with this article and this declaration.

Our human rights are by no means secure or guaranteed. We must all do our part to ensure that everyone enjoys these rights, everywhere in the world.

You can help protect human rights in your community, your country, and your own life. Here are a few suggestions:

Support Amnesty International . AI was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for its worldwide work for human rights. Two excellent ways to help are to contribute a donation or write a letter expressing support for a political prisoner.
Write your elected representatives . Let them know that human rights issues are important to you. Let them know about a human rights issue that needs their attention, such as a case from the AI page or Scientology's human rights abuses listed above.
Write to Scientology . Tell them, politely, that you appreciate their support for human rights, and urge them to address human rights violations within their own organization.

------

In closing...

The evidence is available for anyone that is willing to see it. These people must be stopped, and soon.

If you would like to see more evidence for yourself, please check out the following links.

Scientology Controversies.

Fair Game in Action.

Scientology at Wikipedia.

Uncovered information on Scientology's prison system.

A collection of Scientology internal documents.

Internal document codifying recruitment techniques.

My final thought...

We are growing up in an age of inaction and (being the age that I am) I am at the core of the generation behind it along with millions of other teens to twenty-somethings. Our parents and their parents had causes and believes. Yet nowadays, when presented with evidence of such horrific events, we continue to do nothing. We're both the victims and the purveyors of horrific apathy.

It's time that more people stood up to these vicious, bullying, delusional organisations.

Spread what you now know;
Stand up to these people whenever you get the chance;
Don't let yourself be passive to what's going on.

Be careful kids,

HMR.

Resist Scientology T-shirts: #1, #2, #3.

---

PS - With their "Fair Game" policy in mind, I'd like to address my friends and family.
If anything happens to me, get them. Don't let these people hurt anyone anymore. Naturally, the danger exists that "fair game" will be visited on me and this, naturally, scares the hell out of me.
I'll continue to voice what I know and to spread the word though.
If something does happen, do whatever you have to. Whatever they do to me, give it back to them. I can sleep easy knowing that at least.

I'll also soon be setting up a forum for victims of "Fair Game" so that we can track Scientology attacks and compare notes.

Filming in a field...

2008-07-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I was lucky enough to be working on a music video for a band called "No Redemption."

It was a simple enough affair, a four camera setup, shooting as-live as the band played in a field in front of a roaring drum-fire.

It went pretty well over-all. I was doing my usual thing with the camera and I got some wonderful shots in the process (which I hope to post some screencaps of in a later entry.) The fire gave us some wonderful lighting effects and I was pleasantly surprised by how well it came out.

I ended up helping out the sound guy too as I was the most qualified for it there, apparently. We have to go back though and do pick-ups next week as the first few audio tracks were somehow lost. That being said, after looking at the awful software he was using, it wouldn't have surprised me if I'd done something similar, had I been doing it instead of him. I may have to badger PC world to get my laptop back to me sharpish. Maybe then we can run the sound through mine, something I know to be wholly reliable.

Anyhow, the crew I was with was a good one and was a vast improvement on the folks I've worked with in the past.

I spoke to a few of the members of the band too and they seemed keen on working with me again...which means organising some business cards.
I may commission Caz to do those for me. I could do them myself but she's a professional in that particular field and I'm just a Photoshop junkie.

It also means that I'm going to have to get my website sorted. At the moment it looks awful, so I'm going to have to get my finger out and make another attempt to learn Dreamweaver or something.

Oh well, I'll do all of that when I don't feel so tired.
The shoot went on until late last night and I slept like a baby...without the betwetting and crying. So really I slept like a heavily sedated baby.

In somewhat related news I'm still waiting on details of the last music video I did. I worked with a guy called Ben to shoot this Gig somewhere in Shrewsbury. The thing is the guy's entirely unreliable and an utter primadonna, meaning that at the rate he seems to be going there wont be much point putting the gig on my CV as it'll be a miracle if it gets done.
I should have been the one to author it. It would have been done by now. The gig in question was two monthes ago and by all accounts it should have been finished long before now...or at least it would have if I'd been doing it.

Still, there's no sense getting too annoyed over it. I'll ring him and badger him for details.
Also, with this new crew I've hooked up with I should have more work heading my way and the crew in question are reliable, professional and generally good guys. I certainly hope I get more work with them.

Speaking of which, I'd better go. The director is popping by today to drop equipment off and I need to make myself decent.

Have fun kids,

HMR

Another way to make easy money

2008-07-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

At the moment I'm currently looking for work. I live in a house where I'm afraid to use the boiler too much, the food's rapidly depleting and I'm dreading my next bill.

So naturally I've been looking for ways to supplement my income, no matter how much or by how little.

I've found a few good ways and I'm going to share one with you. It's ludicrously easy and it works on a simple principle:
They pay you for doing things that you would ordinarily do, that it would ordinarily cost them money to go out and ask you to do.

The cost-cutting and laziness of big business is a good enabler to those who want to earn a little extra revenue from home and this method is a fairly good one.

It's a search engine that pays you to use it and it uses yahoo as it's engine (which is a competitive and reliable engine). Up until now I used google, but for some extra income I'm happy to switch.

Before I give you the link to it, I'll explain what happens;

You are given a homepage with a search bar. This search bar can be used from this page to generate revenue and it can also be added to any toolbars that you usually use for searching.

In addition, on this homepage (which you don't really have to use) you can add free gadgets. I've added a facebook one, a wikipedia one, a translater and a currency converter. With that as my homepage, I've made things simpler for myself. There are many more gadgets which can be added but I'll let you discover them on your own.

After this is setup (and it literally takes less than a minute), you're good to go.

In addition, you also get some revenue for others who join up from a referral you give out. (Naturally I'd appreciate it if you would sign up using my own referral but below you will find non-referred means of signing up also.)

Firstly, for those who are eager to give this a try (it's dead easy and there's no obligation to use it and it requires no effort at all to use or to get rid of either) please click this link and stick in your details.

This link will take you to the homepage that I set up (clicking that generates no revenue but you should be able to sign up from there without generating referral revenue for me).

It's pretty simple and using the search box on that page will generate me income (go on, give it a go. Search for anything) You don't have to actually click on any search results. Simply having searched is enough.

Naturally there is a great deal of temptation to cheat at this. The idea had occurred to me to use GhostMouse (an amazing application that saves you doing many tedious repetitive tasks) to do it. All I would need to do is to record it to open up a random word generator, copy the test, put it in to the search box and repeat the process...but I thought better of it. As to what you do, I'll leave that to your conscience. (Although I did experiment with it. Leaving it overnight, I got it to do 121 searches for me, but there was some kind of problem and the mouse-loop got interrupted so it could have really been any number higher than that. I wont be doing it anymore though.)

Anyhow, on to the gadgets.

(Many apologies, but do to blogger's interface, the right side of this has been cut off). You can find the full image here:

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

Screenshot of gadgets

The above are the gadgets that I've installed, although there are many more. You can get feeds from news stations, play mp3 playlists (one of which I might put together for you all later, as it uses the same system as the mp3 player to the left of this blog) and other clobber.

They're all rather useful, methinks. I'll certainly be making use of the free texting. I suggest you try it, just for that feature.

Lastly, there is the subject of referrals.

It's easy to do, firstly. You an send referrals by email or by giving people a link (such as I have above).
Doing so is worth your time as the amount of revenue you can generate from doing so is quite impressive.

For example, if you refer just 10 friends to use a search box for themselves, they will earn funds from their searches as you do from yours. They share the funds raised 50/50 with you and your friends. Also, they will pay you some of their 50% from your friends searches in return for you referring them to the program. You can refer as many friends, family or colleagues as you want.

As you can imagine, your friends will want to refer their friends and you can benefit from that too. They will reward you for three 'levels' of friends. The same will apply to your friends. Everyone wins, which is nice. Though you should remember that the funds you earn from your friends searches do not come from yours or your friends 50%, but from the site's 50% in reward for your referrals.

I'd originally...borrowed...the code for the example that they give on their page, but I'm afraid it didn't work. Here is a link to it with a nice graphical representation of of much you could make from it.

Conclusion.

In short, this is easy and lucrative. It will make you money and require no effort whatsoever. Even if it somehow doesn't work, there's nothing to lose whatsoever.

If you already use Yahoo as your search engine (If you use BT Internet, their default is Yahoo) then you should definitely use this, as it will not change your search engine.

If you're using Firefox (a much better browser than internet explorer or yahoo explorer) then you can ad this search engine along with your others, meaning you still have google (and some such).

So give it a go. It's easy, free and with no catches...all because of corporate laziness.

If you found this useful, would you kindly please use my referral link.

That's this link here ----> http://www.myhpf.co.uk/apply001.asp?Friend=156268

However, you can sign up from the site's main page (and it will not refer you through me.)

If you do sign up using my referral however, please let me know and I'll see if I can do something to make it up to you.

Have fun kids and Good Luck,

HMR

The world is ending? Surely not...

2008-07-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

I was slightly distracted today by an advertisement on the left side of this blog (it may even still be there) and I was intrigued by it's promise that the world would be ending.

In case it's gone, here is a copy of the advert: -

An intriguing notion it puts forward and I was compelled to follow it.

So, here is what happened...

Well first I was met with the inspiring:

"The Prophesied End-Time Revealed"

So far, so good...

Apparently many prophecies are about to be fulfilled "especially the Seven Thunders of the Book of Revelation, which the apostle John saw but was restricted from recording."

Hmm, curious.

This site gives a grim surmise of the impending third and "last" world war, as well as the fall of America.

The fall of America? At least it's not all bad then...(I kid)

According to the site Ronald Weinland (the author of the book being flogged) has been "sent by God" to "the people of the three major religions of the world (Islam, Judaism and Christianity), whose roots are in the God of Abraham."

The website has a link to download the book for free, which I've done and I'll be reviewing it later.

The image above links to the site where you can get a hold of it yourself, but if you don't particularly want to endure Ronald Weinland's ramblings, stay tuned and I'll review it's contents for you.

Until then...

HMR

A nice way to make cash from doing very little

2008-07-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Making money is difficult sometimes. Sometimes there just isn't enough to go around and even a couple of pounds/dollars/yen/lira/etc would be nice to cover some bread, a little milk...or maybe if you're really desperate for some, some beer, some cigarettes...

Well I've been taking part in a method of making cash with little to no effort. This naturally sounds too good to be true but it's simple as to how it works.

Well I'm a member of a survey website which pays for opinions. If I do one survey a day, in my spare time I get some spare cash collecting up. Do an hour's worth and you've got a couple of pounds/dollars to play with.

I'm doing something that ordinarily companies send people out to do. They get to sit back and let me do their work for them and I have free time which I'd otherwise spent bored.

So overall it's a nice trade methinks. The surveys are rather quick (I've done surveys labelled as 20 minutes long in half of that time) and they're dead easy. If you find yourself having spare time and you jsut need something to do then sign up. There's no loss to doing it. you simply make some cash in exchange for having something to do...answering easy questions.

Anyhow, click here to find the site.

You can also make a few pennies more by inviting other people, but you can get by without doing that. The above link is a referral from me and I would be grateful if you could use that link to sign up please.

This link is without the referall, in case you don't want to earn me a few pennies ^_^
That link will take you to the home page of the company.

A Note - This isn't by any means a good way to be your sole income. It's just something nice to spend time and make a handful of cash. I certainly recommend giving it a go.

Have fun kids.

HMR

An idea to benefit Deaf/Blind people

2008-07-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

It's just a though that occurred to me but I get the feeling that it's a doable one.

Below is an idea that will allow deaf and blind people to interact with their surroundings (or at the very least be more aware of them).

What I'm proposing is a kind of Braille-suit. (Bear with me on this...)

What I'm proposing is a lightweight suit which covers the person's skin. In the skin of this suit is a collection of blunt pins. Also mounted on to the suit is a system of sonar. In response to the local environment pins in the suit prod the skin of the person wearing it, thereby giving them an idea of the surroundings.

To speak, a speaker connects to microbuttons in the fingers of the gloves of the suit. Using their thumb, the person taps various parts of their fingers, in which the buttons are. As a result, the speaker speaks for them, rather like the system Stephen Hawking uses for his chair.

Naturally, it isn't ideal...but surely it's a step up from what deaf/blind people live like now?

If only I had the technical knowledge to develop this. If someone much smarter than me feels like helping me out with this, let me know.

Come to think of it, I imagine the army would be interested in this...for covert operations and whatnot...If they funded it, I'm sure it'd be finished in no time...

A conversion to Atheism - Video

2008-07-11T07:58:00.001-07:00

I recently found this video on the Atheist Blogger's website. It's a rather interesting and compelling video detailing the rational thinking that leads many people to convert from theism to atheism.

See below: -

I thoroughly recommend visiting his site. It's informative and interesting.

HMR

A quiz for Atheists

2008-07-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

HMR

Store Archive

2008-07-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

This post is an archive of all of the things on sale in my various Cafepress Stores.

If you've been directed here, it's likely from my Store link on the left.

The following images are only examples of how the designs available can be implemented. For the most part, these designs are available on dark (as well as light) fabrics, with many sizes. Not only this, but such things as clocks, mugs, tiles, mouse mats and other stuff is available. Clicking on the image will take you to the shop front, not the item in particular.

I'll update this as I add more things.

More to come...eventually...

New clobber up for grabs

2008-07-10T07:26:00.000-07:00

Boredom and poverty can inspire many people to do many things and Photoshop and Cafepress are nothing but scheming enablers, methinks.

As a result, I've got several new stores open, hopefully so that I can make some cash to pay my way through uni...or at least help towards it.

Anyhow, see here for the available clobber. Clicking on the images will take you to the store. I've done versions of each of the images for black clothing also.

...Aren't I lovely?

Now...BEHOLD!

There are many types of clothing and merchandise available and it's pretty good quality methinks (I've bought from them before). I've set the prices to reasonable too (and if you're not american, their slump in their economy makes for ludicrously good exchange rates at the moment)

Right, I'm off for now. The next time I post should be from Stoke. I've got to go for a job interview there next week so I'm heading home this weekend ^_^

Have fun folks

HMR

They're not even paying attention...

2008-07-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

You know, it's hard to taunt fundamentalist christians when they don't listen to what you say and assume you're complimenting them.

Behold, Seymour's latest offering...(Remember, he's "crazeedood916." I'll make his entry and the response to it bold)

trust in jesus!!!
jesus777 (276) ranked 92 out of 764 in christian
1 day ago
trust in the lord and lean not unto your own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path when you allow jesus to lead you cant go wrong trust in him lean on his word and allow him to be god in your lin your life he says that he will be your very present time of trouble so whatever you as facing whatever you are going through remember god is god he doesnt change people change things change but god id still god him and his word dont change just continue to be strong in the lord and in the power of his might saints of god!!!!farther god in the name of jesus i lift up your children today your believers in the lord jesus christ lord those eho have lost faith those who have lost hope give them the strength too stand and allow them too trust in you in spite of what they are facing and going through move by your power and your might in jesus name i pray i pray amen. bless these people of god today and show them your love your peace and your joy today lord help them to remember that is only through you that they can make it so help them too trust in you at all times no matter what it looks like in jesus name i pray amen and amen!!!!!!! bless them bless them bless them in jesus name!!!!! increase there faith increase them in every part of there body lord if they need a healing today i ask that you touch them today if they need finaces i pray that you bless them too meet to meet there needs in jesus name i pray amen!!!!
+ - !
bible verse in psalms

christian
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1. hopejordan (1877)
1 day ago
hi there jesus777 i know that i have been away from the lord for 5 months and i have done something wrong god knows about i became a born again christain 6 years ago one of them is gambling and something else i won't mention only god knows i have not been reading the word and i am in Australia i have 2 children and i have hashmotoes diease and other things begun happening take care god bless you and i have not been in church for 5 months
+ - !
jesus777 (276) ranked 92 out of 764 in christian
1 day ago
farther god in the name i lift up this person before you lord you know were they have been and were they are going jesus you are healer i ask that you touch there body i know you are able too relomve all sickness and disease so i ask that you touch then from head too toe that your healing virtue will flow through them now in jesus name father god i pray that you draw them close to you have your way in there lives even now move by your holy spirit in and through them even though they strayed i pray that they will come back you because you are the only way that they can live move and breath and have there being have your way right now in jesus name i pray amen!!!!!!
+ - !
hopejordan (1877)
23 hours ago
something happened to me the other morning early a man was outside my window i did not know he was there and i opened the curtain a little and he was standing outside my window i was so scared was god trying to warn me that someone was outside it was at 1.30am and i am still scared a bit not like yesterday and i know he can't hide from god thanks again for the prayer
+ - !
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2. Reyah23 (110) ranked 385 out of 764 in christian
23 hours ago
I agree with jesus777, the Lord is our strong anchor in the middle of the storm. He will never let us down. A strong foundation. And no one can destroy or break its wall. Trusting God always, and walk with faith in our heart this is what we are suppose to do.
+ - !
hopejordan (1877)
12 hours ago
hi there Reyah23 and i know jesus is strong nothing can bring him down not even the enemy i know satan has a short time here and he is trying anything to bring god's people down i know god is stronger then satan i am scared that i am going to hell i hope i don't but god knows already where i am going you knew before the beginning of time take care god bless you
+ - !
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3. crazeedood916 (5)
22 hours ago
Truer of all, the Lord hath said: "Seek in all things proper punctuation. Do this and you shall be understood." The heard this and understood. Then the Lord did say: "I am infinite, but in this truth it must be understood. Start at the beginning and end at the end, with capital letters and full stops. Do this and you will be understood." The people understood and saw that it was good. The Lord finally said unto the people, "I am infinite in all things. I know all and see all. I both know and am infinite truth and love. In this I knew my children would stray from the path and I knew that only in that can you find the path. Do not be mindless and trust in your own heart, for only then will you be truly my children and not cattle." The people were disturbed by being asked to think for themselves and declared him a heretic. Amen.
hopejordan (1877) [The response]
12 hours ago
hi there crazeedood916 yes i need to trust in the lord i have back slidden this is my second time now that i have back slidden its scary when it happens i was saved 6 years ago take care and god bless you

What do you have to do, exactly? And what does it mean to have "back slidden?"

Arrgghh...lunatics, the lot of them!

More awful poetry

2008-07-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

In my efforts to fully explore the encapsulating world of "Seymour Stúf," I had a go at more poetry; this time just making it up as I went along and seeing what happened.

...I'm glad I'm using a fake identity. I post this only in the name of science...

A curious infraction in plight of jest,
When woe betide at her behest,
In grim staccato in turn I find,
Her silky touch has made me blind.

Raptured by her sly beguile,
And led astray all through the while,
By the collar I was led,
And all because she gave good head.

The scheming fiend has come and gone,
Into the night she went anon,
And folk will ask "Where did she go?"
Buried, as she is, under the patio...

Methinks I'll try some more. As usual, if you want to see more click the link, join up (and earn me $0.00000001 or something) and help me antagonise lunatics and morons.

Have fun kids,

HMR

The plight of morons

2008-07-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

...and they're apparently breeding...or at least engaging in foreplay.

The following is from "Seymour's" myLot profile, from one of his discussions... Remember, my fake account is "crazeedood916."

how often you do "Cunninglingus"

harsha04 (58) ranked 1,138 out of 5,627 in sex

8 hours ago

Will it be fine if anyone involves in "Cunninglingus" and how often you do it. Some doctors have told that it has some side effects and would surely affect our mouth.So it is of no use to claim that it is veryu healthy ang hygenic and to the extent we shall be affected by some diseases. Do you relaly enjoy and whether your life partner would allow you for that to go or else do y ou like to compel them to do like that and which one you like either you want to do or you want them top do or eithe rof that and would want to do for .longer time or shorter period of time.

+ - !

do you like me or somehting

sex

User has not selected a best response.

respond to this discussion

tags:

mature content, sex, lick me, trenchfoot, sexual partner

1. gabrifvg (76)

8 hours ago

i try doing it as often as i can... i really enjoy it, and i'm sure there are no negative effects for health, that just sounds stupid

+ - !

add comment

2. graceandowen (937) ranked 275 out of 5,627 in sex

8 hours ago

i dont think there are any side effects any worse than actually having intercorse.
A s a female i enjoy recieving it.
its a mutal enjoyment in our realtionship, we both enjoy reciving oral stimulation.

+ - !

add comment

3. crazeedood916 (4)

3 hours ago

I tried it with a partner once and I developed trenchfoot on my tongue.

I'm never doing it again.

MizzRandi39 (24) ranked 4,074 out of 5,627 in sex

3 hours ago

I don't think u should completely stop doing that just because of one illness u got from it, or one bad experience... PPle don't stop having sex because they might get some sort of STD or infection. It's not really all that diff than catching a cold or the flu from someone, just like those, most STD's are cureable, and if not, just be more careful, but don't just throw in the towel forever.

+ - !

add comment

4. Mainframeguy (137)

3 hours ago

You are nut sto think it will affect your oral health. You'll suffer more from eating a bar of chocolate! HMMMMmmm reminds me of Marian Faithful and the Mars Bar! You sound like an Indian guy with hang ups and a lack of information - visit your sex therapist with these questions.... or Google Marian Faithful and MArs Bars!

+ - !

add comment

5. myahw20 (489) ranked 2,181 out of 5,627 in sex

1 hour ago

I think it's safe as long as you two are clean haha.

+ - !

tigertang (1245) ranked 1,802 out of 5,627 in sex

46 minutes ago

Ah, hear lies the rub. Oral sex is fantastic. I love going down on a woman. It's probably the most enjoyable part about the whole act of sex when you can actually feel her body go through some changes as she gets more and more aroused.

However, an unwashed vagina, particularly one that smells bad is a horrible place to be. Yech! OK, I've not caught anything nasty from going down to that department but I've actually experienced a girl who smelt very bad in that department and I think put me off even thinking about sex for quite a while.

I know its the same for girls when they go down on guys. I mean our body is unfortunately built in such a way where it disposes of filthy water through the instruments that give us the most pleasure. However, that's simply a fact of biology and I guess we just got to live with that fact of life.

I think showering or having a bath should be a key element of foreplay. Both parties can enjoy a good fondle in water and more importantly, you know that the other party has made it an effort to clean themselves in a part of their body that is unfortunately exposed to something unclean on a fairly regular basis. I think if that were to happen, you'll find couples more willing to go down on each other and thus improve their sex lives.

I love the idea that someone believed that I could get trenchfoot on my tongue from oral.

What a terrible terrible world that would be to live in...

Web Review - "myLot"

2008-07-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

Hello all. Once again I'm going to make myself useful and do some reviewing for you.

Today's offering is a website I found promising to make me "piles of money."

Actually, I made that last bit up, but it did offer to make me money by doing very little.

Naturally this was too good to be true so I jumped at the chance to figure out how I could have some fun with it.

Well first I'll break down how it works: -

The website is a collection of discussions, not unlike a forum...except with badly spelt topics and adverts everywhere...so exactly like a forum.

The idea is that you respond to topics and create your own "discussions" and in the process earn money.

So I signed up and input my interests as asked, and what a pile there were.

I was first asked to specify what "roles I play in life." A curious question, but I obliged.

It's immediately obvious that users input these options themselves, being as they are mispelled and repeated frequently. There is a benefit to this however. You see, I've discovered something and that is that the internet is full of lunatics...

...Lunatics who believe they're vampires, for example.

Now there's a role in life I like the sound of. Then it occurs to me. I shouldn't be putting in my real interests, not when there is such a variety of fun to be had with the crackpots that undoubtedly use this site.

Cue my alternate identity,

Seymour Stúf.

So I gave up on this folly and set up a new account...

Firstly I refer myself so I can make that whole twelfth of a penny...or whatever it is.

Once done, I need to think of a nickname to go by. Obviously I can't use HearMeRoar. It's taken...and simply not "l33t" enough so I go with the ultra cool crazeedood916.

Obviously this name signifies that I am in fact "crazee," and a "dood." There's no way people wont like this guy.

Once that's taken care of, I get given the chance to invite my friends, which I skip.

Ahh, now the fun bit. I get to pick my interests.

So, who is Seymour Stúf?

Obviously he can't be too much like me.

So, he's a crazy, friendly Christian, as well as being and avid gamer and interested in Sisters.
He's an optimistic american from Canada who likes to flirt and describes himself as a "child of god..."whatever that is...which must make him the Messiah.
He's a motivator and a concerned human (being the Messiah and all). He is a self-confessed weirdo and philosopher.
He likes stay-at-home mothers (for some reason), sitting on babies and "encouraging others to be more open-minded in life." Yes, that's an interest.

He's keen on grandmothers, sexual partners and smoking. Whether they're all the same or seperate, I'll leave to future to decide. He hopes one day to be a bi-sexual witch.

He also describes himself as a dumb-blond and as a sexy, catholic, feminist, dorky, psychic, vampire laundry-maid.
He's also a "sewer.crocheter," whatever that is and he researches the paranormal on the side.

...Sounds like a lovely bloke.

This great effort was only step one of the site's helpful wizard. Now on to step two.

Products I use...

Well Seymour loves his make-up, shoes, scented candles and flip-flops and would be lost without ariel detergent.

Step three; hobbies.

Other than sleeping and writing (sometimes both at once), he can be found engaging in religion. He likes cuddling new people and helping others (apparently signified by a symbol depicting a dancing duckling).

He's a poet (almost as good as me, in fact) and likes free stuff, along with thunder storms and manga.

He likes "chillin," chilling being far too uncool for Seymour to engage in. He likes marijuana and vampires and "think about life."

Next step *groan* is "foods," which I rush through. After that is "pets." Incidentally, he has a pet tiger and a ferret.

After this is "Music."

Well he loves Justin Timberlake and Fallout Boy...No proper music for him, it's filth all the way!

The sections get less interesting at this point so I'll omit them, moving on to the meat and bones of the site...the discussions.

In this section of the website, the user is presented with several options including "Top discussions" and "Discussions based on interests."

Some clicking later and I'm presented with an array of topics apparently suited to things I'm interested in: -

discussions from my interests

christian
(81)

trust in jesus!!!

trust in the lord and lean not unto your own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your path when you allow jesus to lead you cant go wrong trust in him lean on his word...

Started by jesus777 (275) in christian • 1 response • Last response by jesus777 (275) • 13 minutes ago
Tags: i need to trust jesus, trust in the lord jesus christ

sleeping
(600)

do you sleep with your blanket on or not?

i always sleep with my blanket on because if my mom founds out that i'm sleeping with my blanket's off, she would be mad about it and would put some blanket on me lol but i prefer to sleep without...

Started by rhane7315 (3981) in sleeping • 8 responses • Last response by mialei23 (1000) • 19 minutes ago
Tags: blanket, angry, comfortable, mom, sleep

human
(160)

Whats the most difficult decision you've had to make?

We all have to make decisions everyday-big and small.But sometimes decision making creates a conflict and it becomes very difficult to make choices or decide.Sometimes the smallest decisions prove to...

Started by shilpa_p (143) in human • 2 responses • Last response by ifglan (217) • 1 hour ago
Tags: big choose, care, decisions, difficult, home

paranormal
(264)

What's your favorite 'ghost story?'

We've all hear ghost stories and legends. What I'm interested in is not the ones made up to scare kids, but the ones that are passed on from personal experience. Mine would have to be an experience...

Started by Lavender_Breeze (125) in paranormal • 1 response • Last response by Lavender_Breeze (125) • 52 minutes ago
Tags: ghost, paranormal experience, spirit

sex
(281)

how often you do "Cunninglingus"

Started by harsha04 (58) in sex • 2 responses • Last response by graceandowen (924) • 3 hours ago
Tags: lick me, mature content, sex

internet
(101)

If the internet had to be shut down for a month what would you do

I think I would be completely lost. There would be no other way of contacting my 100+ friends on mylot as well as all my relatives and friends all over the globe. I just today realized that other...

Started by mayka123 (469) in internet • 13 responses • Last response by ifglan (217) • 6 minutes ago
Tags: internet, no internet, books, contact, crazy

religion
(53)

Lord Jagganath Puri -RATH-YATRA

Hello everybody Ji, Today starts famous 'RATH-YATRA' of Lord jagganth-Puri (Orrisa-India) Puri: Although a religious festival, the Puri Rath Yatra stands out from other such celebrations due to the...

Started by chintoo07 (1680) in religion • 3 hours ago • 0 responses
Tags: 'rath-yatra' of lord jagganth-puri

rihanna
(21)

who's more famous now? Rihanna or Beyonce?

I like them both actually, they're both sexy and good at dancing, vocal quality wise? I think they're both good too! hmm..how about you?

Started by aendzie (32) in rihanna • 2 responses • Last response by aendzie (32) • 8 hours ago
Tags: a choice between rihanna or beyonce, beyonce', rihanna, tag this disussion

shoes
(24)

Do you wash your shoes?

Am i kidding? But, i have seen people washing their shoes once a month or so! I don't know whether it is okay or not? what's your opinion? Do you wash?

Started by snakequeen (536) in shoes • 5 responses • Last response by kylie_quistis (292) • 6 hours ago
Tags: shoes, monthly, wash

blogging
(411)

Celebrate Indepence Day on 4th july.

Hi guys happy independance day to all of you on the eve of 4th july.I want to know everybody's view and feelings,what are you thinking now? Come and comments on 4th july,Happy Independance...

Started by raj9433327675 (580) in blogging • 9 hours ago • 0 responses
Tags: 4th july

Clearly this is a selection of the internet's finest minds and I owe it to myself to learn more from these wise folk. So I decide to get involved in a really meaty and important discussion, a true challenge of one's beliefs, "who's more famous now? Rihanna or Beyonce?"

Of course, Seymour has no idea who these two people are so he's going to have to fake it. So he uses a collection of quotes about other people from wikipedia.

And so...

3. crazeedood916 (1)

18 seconds ago

I like that Beyonce is conservative but not a conservative, in that she leans towards conservative positions but isn't anchored by the philosophical tenets of Modern American conservatism.

On the other hand, I like that Rihanna speaks out against government indifference to growing economic class divisions.

that being said though, I'd totally do them both...

Now Seymour knows about Beyonce and stuff.

If you want to join in or hear more of Seymour's "opinions," please click here. You'll earn him a billionth of a penny in the process. ^_^

Have fun kids,

HMR

A new project is underway!

2008-06-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Those following my D&D blog will be aware of a project I'm spearheading involving a new set of D20 rules.

I wanted to start a project by fans for fans, to make a better system than the ones out there at the moment. It would not only be a n improved system for current D&D 3.5 fans, but a basis for many fandom-based D20 games.

And so, a little time later; I have a shiny new forum and the member count is steadily increasing. Not only that, but I've been checking up on the legality of the project and so long as everything is declared as Open Content, with a copy of the license, we can make profit from it (if we need to). I doubt that we'd try to. How would you divide profit by so many people?

Still, knowing that we could is nice. The thing is, other publishers would be able to sell our stuff too, with it being Open Game Content. so prhaps we should attempt to sell a few anyway...maybe at conventions or something...

Oh well, it's not that important. What I'm more pleased with is the idea that this could be a good way to get in to proffesional writing. Not only that, but I'm taking my brother on as his agent. (Although he still needs some convincing, but I'll bring him round. Talking to people is something I'm good at.)

In the meantime though, I'm thoroughly skint.

I'm back up at my parent's place for a few weeks. I have a resit exam in august and I have to resit a few of my worse modules. This was mostly what I wanted, after all. Without going in to too much detail, last year was a rough time for me so things took a few turns for the worse.

The resits are certainly copable but they'll be pricey. so I have to find sufficient work to pay for going part time with my course...but I have to have enough time to actually do the course...which will be tricky.

I may see if I can churn out a radio play or two. There's always a demand for those.

I also need to badger the woman who's meant to be building my website for me. She took on the project before christmas. It's a good thing she didn't want me to pay her until it was finished...or maybe this is why. Perhaps she always knew she'd goof off or lose interest, or something.

Oh well. If anybody fancies designing a website for practically nothing, you let me know *sigh*.

Actually, since I'll be using it to host parts of the 3.S system, you'll be credited in the books as Web Designer...so that should get your name out there if you're after some exposure.

I'm looking forward to being back home, in Stoke; especially with my -one-time housemate coming back to live with me. It's been a bad year and it was hard to not feel alone about it.

One issue concerned feelings for a lass, which in hindsight I was bloody foolish for having. I also happened to be suffering from depression at the time so the chemicals in my head were thoroughly against me.

One of my housemates at the time doesn't particularly like me (or that's the impression I get) and he wasn't particularly forgiving, so it was hard to talk to him. He got on with the lass in question better so he's living with her.

The other, I got on well with and he was supportive and thoughtful. He's moved away too and I'm going to miss him thoroughly. Lol, and he was kind enough to at least feign interest in some of my interests. Hee hee, bless him.

Still, I get my old-time housemate back. I've missed him terribly and he's always somehow been a pillar of chipperness and stability. We've got a new entry too, a lad we were with in halls. He was a very quiet lad when we knew him but he seems more confident. In either case, he's a sound bloke so I'm looking forward to living with him.

In even happier news, my landlord and I met and he's happy with me living there indefinetely. Which is just as well, because I adore that house (not to mention my sofa and bed).

Well, that's about all for this update kids. Tomorrow, I'll be sharing my thoughts on why Slugs are unnatural and clearly some kind of monster...

HMR

Three poems I wrote a while ago...

2008-06-15T13:53:00.001-07:00

Saved here solely for the sake of posterity: -

---

Gather round all, and attend the tale,
of a creature called Rob, a man made of fail.
He'd prod us and bug us, in infantile bliss,
"Go away Rob! You're taking the piss!"

So off he would go, in a miserable skulk,
in to his room, for a bit of a sulk.
Though a bit later on, this he'd forget,
he'd baffle and bug us, regardless of threat.

So on it would go, his crap we'd endure.
He could go on forever, of that I am sure.
There'd be something wrong, with whatever he said.
Myself I'm convinced, he's wrong in the head.

For ages he'd waffle, though I'd stifle a yawn,
About transformers or his masses of porn.
"To be honest Rob, I don't really care,"
"I'm sick of your face, and your long girly hair."

It may be appear obvious, that I might have a grudge,
But Rob is a menace, on this I wont budge.
This opinion too, I know you would keep,
if he'd threatened to kill you, as well in your sleep.

And now that you know, about this odd man,
You may stay away, or run if you can.
Whether you dislike him, or think I'm not fair.
I've just one thing to say: Saying that, chair...

I'd explain that last last line, but I don't want to. It's something of an in-joke...

---

a poem for Phoeni ^_^

(Apologies for it's suckiness...I was rather sleepy when i started it)

Our forumspace is filled;
with a multitude of class;
But beyond them all there happens to be;
a certain type of lass.

A prettyful case of lithe and grace;
to which we all adore;
And she's cute, to add to the list;
of charm and so much more.

And if, by chance, you meet this girl;
myself I'd know you'd find;
A radiant glow about her smile;
(and a rather cute behind).

Propertied with nymphian wile;
a sparkling wit and keen in guile;
And if you saw I know you'd smile;
Enraptured, held in lost beguile.

Held in gaze of gentility;
In awe of favoured kin;
Our Phoeni, whom we love so much;
Is undoubtedly made of win.

---

W00t.

With hopefully some birthday cheer;
And may it last until next year;
Resplendant now, with cake and booze;
The celebration now ensues.

So quaff your fill and then be merry;
'Til sense and action be contrary;
And hopefully you'll find a lass;
And gleefully the night shall pass.

And when you wake, dry and wappened;
And quite unsure of just what happened;
A roynish romage upon the floor;
We wish you well for ever more.

---------

That's about the extent of my poetry attempts thus far, although I must admit that I enjoy it somewhat. I may have to give it another go sometime ^_^

Have fun kids.

HMR

I MUST know more about this game!

2008-06-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

I've recently stumbled upon the trailer of what appears to be an amazing-looking new game.

I urge you to check out the website and sign up to the newsletter. If anybody knows anything about this game, I'd love for you to get in touch with me.

Have fun kids.

HMR

Resist Bush!

2008-06-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

I got bored and I was on a half-life 2 high, so I got photoshopping.

Truth to tell, it's awful and I got bored once I'd started and settled with this. Never mind.

However, it's still a potent message and I've done a set of t-shirts (one of which I'll be buying for myself later on).

If you want, you can find it here although I imagine there are better ones out there.

I will however, award a prize to the first person to send me a photo of them wearing or holding one of them. Another prize for the best one too, methinks.

Oh well, back to what I was doing, anyway...

HMR.

Ridiculous fundamentalist quotes...

2008-06-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take a moment to offer you all a link which was brought to my attention.

The attached link is a collection of the most bigoted and ridiculous quotes perpetrated by the fundamentalists of the world.
These range from the ridiculum of: -

No, everyone is born Christian. Only later in life do people choose to stray from Jesus and worship satan instead. Atheists have the greatest "cover" of all, they insist they believe in no god yet most polls done and the latest research indicates that they are actually a different sect of Muslims.

(Who knew I was a muslim? I'd better get to work on that beard.)

To the downright insulting: -

Athiests as a Majority

This is what it would be like, if the majority of people were athiests.
ATHIEST KID: Mom, I'm going to go fuck a hooker.
ATHIEST MOM: Okay, son.
ATHIEST KID: Afterwards, I'm going to go smoke pot with my friends, since it's "not addictive."
ATHIEST MOM: Okay, come home soon!

The athiest kid leaves the room. The father comes home from work several minutes later.

ATHIEST DAD: Hey!
ATHIEST MOM: Hi, honey! I'm pregnant again. I guess I'll just get another abortion, since "fetuses don't count as human life."
ATHIEST DAD: Okay, get as many abortions as you want!
ATHIEST MOM: Oh, and don't go in the bedroom.
ATHIEST DAD: Why not?
ATHIEST MOM: There are two gay men fucking eachother in there.
ATHIEST DAD: Why are they here?
ATHIEST MOM: I wanted to watch them do it for awhile. They just aren't finished yet.
ATHIEST DAD: Okay, that's fine with me!

Suddenly, their neighbor runs into the house.

ATHIEST NEIGHBOR: Come quick, there's a Christian outside!
ATHIEST MOM: We'll be right there!

The athiest couple quickly put on a pair of black robes and hoods. They then exit the house, and run into the street, where a Christian is nailed to a large, wooden X. He is being burned alive. A crowd of athiests stand around him, all wearing black robes and hoods.

RANDOM ATHIEST: Damn you, Christian! We hate you! We claim to be tolerant of all religions. But we really hate your's! That's because we athiests are hypocritical like that! Die, Christian!

THE END

Scary, isn't it?

You can find that particular douchebag here.

It made me wonder just what kind of riduclous quotes I could find attributed to atheists.

Guess how many I found...

Yup, none. Although maybe my googling skills are just rusty.

Oh, I'm going to be looking in to the allegation that myspace.com has been deleting atheist groups because it was "offending religious groups."

However, my laptop is on the fritz (well, the power supply) so it may take a while. Hmm, maybe it's a punishment from god for being such a heathen...perhaps not.

In closing, I'll leave you with a wonderful quote I found that only the most unreasonable of people couldn't see the point of: -

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." --Stephen Roberts.

Have fun kids,

HMR.

The things I get myself into...

2008-06-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

I was lamenting today about the amount of attention cute lasses get for the sheer virtue of being cute, sparked by facebook (of course). Complete strangers seem to think they are allowed (or even supposed) to post shameless flirtations to complete strangers, just because they're attractive.

I was also lamenting the fact that cute women on the Owned application (an absorbing and addictive game) seem to win effortlessly...so I proposed myself a race.

And so...

Meet Mozouhin Komusume: The completely made-up japanese woman. The name actually translates to "ficticious girl" (or at least roughly) and I set myself a challenge. Could I create a fake account with this woman and get to a net worth of 2,000,000 before my main account, without trying?

The answer is a resounding and definite "probably" (hee hee) but I figured that in the interests of science that I would do it anyway.

Within hours of setting all of this up, I get three messages in my inbox and I cannot help but laugh...

Cody Brelsford Today at 10:11pm	just to say ur pretty -dc if its weird just thought i tell ya	You Own Cody
Cody Brelsford Today at 10:11pm	Reply \| Conversation \| Hide	Own Cody Give To A Friend Give A Human Gift Block Cody

New!

Shane Stone Today at 10:09pm	wow you have an amazing body gorgeous smile and eyes and a nice set of breasts. would like to nibble on them. YUMMY!!!!view more hide	You Own Shane
Shane Stone Today at 10:09pm	Reply \| Conversation \| Hide	Own Shane Give To A Friend Give A Human Gift Block Shane

Cody Brelsford Today at 10:03pm	ty for buying me lol tis diff	You Own Cody
Cody Brelsford Today at 10:03pm	Reply \| Conversation \| Hide	Own Cody Give To A Friend Give A Human Gift Block Cody

Stoker Macintosh Today at 10:02pm	thank you..i love your sexy body ;)...wow..	You Own Stoker
Stoker Macintosh Today at 10:02pm	Reply

Wow...and that is after less than an hour of this woman existing. I never get messages like that *sniffle*. Doesn't anybody want to nibble on my nipples?

...Anybody?

Ok, perhaps not but I'm beginning to find this rather educational. Naturally, I'll be replying in Engrish, thanks to the trusty Babelfish.

Heh heh heh...

EDIT: -

Less than ten minutes later...

From Andy Clark: -

"wow! i would happily be your pet for the rest of my life! please own me!Ã£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂªÃ£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂ®Ã£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂ«Ã£ÂÂªÃ£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂÃ¯Â¼ÂÃ£ÂÂÃ©Â¡ÂÃ£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂÃ£ÂÂ¾Ã£"

I'm not joking...

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

EDIT THE SECOND!

A matter of moments later, I get a chat dialogue on the bottom of my screen. I realised in horror that I had forgotten to disable it.

And so, determined to play this through, I began talking back...

3:54amKristopher

hey

3:55amMozouhin

3:55amKristopher

how ar u

do u got a yahoo id

3:55amMozouhin

No.

3:55amKristopher

aim

3:55amMozouhin

No.

3:55amKristopher

any messager u use

3:56amMozouhin

I am use IRC

3:56amKristopher

wat your id on there

3:57amMozouhin

立ち去りなさい [This translates to "Go away"]

3:59amKristopher

u gota webcam

3:59amMozouhin

Iie, There was one in me, but when he moved, the companion of my room took that

4:00amKristopher

That seemed to shut him up ^_^
I love Engrish. I can only imagine where he was imagining that camera to be now...

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

[EDIT 4: - I just wanted to further remark upon the fact that nobody has seemed to notice that all of the pictures used are of different women...]

The thing about hardline Christians is...

2008-06-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

I've been exploring facebook (because I'm supposed to be packing and I'm determined to procrastinate) when I stumbled upon an atheist group.

Being an athiest (or as Calum calls me, a reasonist) I decided to have a look and came across the following question: -

"I only joined a moment ago, and the first three discussion board topics are headed by religious people!
Why is this so? Are they even allowed to be in the group?"

It was a good question. I went looking and noticed that Christians (and I've noticed it's only Christians...no Muslims, no Bhuddists, no Sikhs...just Christians) had been joining atheist groups to troll.

Of course, I must stress that this does not neccessarily represent the views of the majority of Christians. I know a fair few and they are peaceful, kind and mature folks. The kind of people who troll like this are in the minority.

However, despite the fact that they are the minorty, they're still shouting the loudest and they are the ones with the most influence and charisma to put forward their hardline views.

With that in mind, this is really about a minority of Christians who feel the need to attack atheists, who believe that homosexuality is evil, who believe that a book compiled centuries ago (and then edited and censored by a vatican who chose what went in based on the message they wanted to give out) for a literal account of the past despite the many contradictions.

It is these minds that trolled and went on the attack, as is what won't to do...

Anyhow, back to the question: -

"I only joined a moment ago, and the first three discussion board topics are headed by religious people!
Why is this so? Are they even allowed to be in the group?"

Well, I'll simply share my response, word for word...

"Personally, I think that evidence and scientific method are threatening to their beliefs and that scares the hell out of them, even if they're not conscious of it.

As a result they get angry and feel a overwhelming need to "defend" their faith.

Realising that their faith has been wasted and that, overall, organised-religion is dangerous is a big and frightening step and whilst I think that reason must win out in the end, I understand their fear and reluctance to accept this outcome.

It takes some convincing to get them to realise that right and wrong still applies if you're atheist, that being a good person is still a worthwhile thing to be, etc...So many times, I've had responses from Christians asking "How would you now right and wrong if you're not Christian?"

In short, it's hard not to pity religious folk sometimes and hardliners (such as the Westborough baptist church *See picketting the funerals of homosexuals*) are bloody infuriating...in the end we must be patient.

I'm confident that reason will eventually win out in the end. We're approaching our cultural and technological singularity, so hopefully we'll know within our lifetimes."

So there you have it.

If you don't know what I mean about the singularity, then click here. It's well worth reading.

That being said, it is my opinion that if anything could halt the curve of accelerating return, it'll be religion, greed and fear...greed and fear being the two main reasons for organised religion anyway.

Fear of death and hopelessness hooks the followers, whilst fear of non-conformity and hell is encouraged to them and the greed of those in charge keeps everything moving as these organisations get richer and gain more power and influence...all done through fear.

Anyway, I should really be packing so I'll be off now.

Have fun kids ^_^

HMR

Facebook: Spam and Applications

2008-06-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Through an array of circumstances I came to the decision to create a new facebook account.

This happened through my guilt at having to forward applications and wondering how many of these things there were.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1301982370

In any case, we now have a pretendy person, intended to take some of the spammish flak (so that you don't have to bother at least one-less person with it) and to see just how many I'd have if I didn't deny any.

As we go I'll be reviewing applications, so by all means add this profile and see me your crap.

Keep up with the mess that will no doubt ensue by checking out the link above.

Have fun spamming facebook-kids ^_^

HMR

"Yuwie" - Website review

2008-06-02T18:14:00.001-07:00

I'm making myself useful this evening in having a quick look at a website I've been offered to join.

I say "offered," it as an advertisment in the midst of a forum for a facebook application. Which application isn't important (although I'll be getting to those some other time), just that I found this advertisement: -

$GET PAID BY DOING WHAT YOU DO ON FACEBOOK$ !

1) Facebook makes over $8 million a MONTH from advertising alone.
2) Myspace makes almost $25 million

WE, the users, don't get any of this, even though WE are the ones making the pages, writing the blogs and uploading the pictures!

There's a brand new networking site which actually pays its members just to use it!
The site has all of the features of facebook, but here's the best bit, the more you use it, the more you get paid!

You think Facebook has everything you need- That's fine! I love facebook, Just give it a try by simply joining with this link:
http://f6l.com/social

Obviously, I was somewhat sceptical but feeling in a playful enough mood to give it a go.

As soon as I've clicked the link, I'm presented with a video of a casual-yet-smartly-dresed man who seems chipper enough to tel me what a wonderful opportunity this is, citing how unfair it is that I don't get paid for the advertisements facebook and myspace use.

So I figure that there's no harm and click register and stick in my details. for a start, this is clearly a new site because i got to have the personal URL I wanted. I end to go by "HearMeRoar" on the interwebs and usually it's already taken when I encounter bigger or older forums and websites.

So already I'm questioning how profitable a community it's going to be. Afterall, that's what I'm here for, right?

Firstly, I'm offered some deal for a holiday home which I just glossed over. I've seen these too many times to bother reading anymore. Though in the interests of fairness, it was offered by the folks at *checks* seasonsholidays.com.

Thankfully, I had the option to skip this and so I did.

And now the registry is complete. I'm presented with what appears to be a fairly intuitive screen, with a change to modify my profile...which I'll do in a moment. First though, it wants me to upload a picture. I pick a fairly recent one, of me looking (or attempting to) edgy with a cigarette hanging from my mouth. [Although I've just noticed that the flash banner at the top is somewhat annoying]

Now that that's done, it asks me if I want to invite any friends.

Methinks I'll skip that one unil I've decided if this is any good.

It asks me if I'm sure that I want to skip that step...

It's nice that they're so concerned about me losing out...isn't it?

They then present me with the following statement: -

Yuwie.com is registered through Go Daddy, Inc. Due to large amounts of spam complaints against Yuwie.com, we have agreed to be bound by GoDaddy.com's anti-spam policy.

A WARNING TO POTENTIAL SPAMMERS

Go Daddy does not tolerate the transmission of spam. We define spam as the sending of Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) or Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE), which is email sent to recipients as an advertisement or otherwise, without first obtaining prior confirmed consent to receive these communications from the sender. This can include, but is not limited to, the following:

- Email Messages
- Newsgroup postings
- Windows system messages
- Pop-up messages (aka "adware" or "spyware" messages)
- Instant messages (using AOL, MSN, Yahoo or other instant messenger programs)
- Online chat room advertisements
- Guestbook or Website Forum postings

Upon receipt of complaints, Go Daddy will investigate the situation. Once Go Daddy determines there is a problem with spam, Go Daddy will take the appropriate action to resolve the situation.

We will not allow our servers and services to be used for such purposes. In order to use our products and services, you must not only abide by all applicable laws and regulations, which include the Can-Spam Act of 2003, but you must also abide by Go Daddy's no spam policies.

Commercial advertising and/or bulk emails may only be sent to recipients who have already "opted-in" to receive messages from the sender specifically. They must include a legitimate return address and reply-to address, the sender's physical address, and an opt-out method in the footer of the email. Upon request by Go Daddy, conclusive proof of opt-in may be required for an email address.

If Go Daddy reports your account to Yuwie for violating any of these rules,
WE ARE REQUIRED TO DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT.
Yuwie, Inc. has agreed to these terms from Go Daddy so that we can keep Yuwie.com online for all the users who are not spamming.

*Sigh* Isn't this what the original mandatory terms and conditions page said?

I click on...

And at last it's over. I now have the whole of this website at my fingertips. Now is the time to try and find out if this is the social networking website the advertisement promised it would be.

First I take a quick look at my profile, which you can find here.

At first glance, there isn't much to do. I go loknig and find various categories at te top of the screen, offering me such things as groups, blogs, videos, etc.

I select groups and I'm presented with a list of groups on this site, ordered by newest to oldest. Immediatly I notice that all of these groups seem only interested in getting more friends, promising more cash by joining.

Is there anybody here who isn't just in it for the money? It doesn't appear so. However, there are varieties of groups to be found to the right and so I look under "fangroups."

This is what first appears: -

Hmmm...slim pickings it would seem, but I'll go with some of these. So I join up with a variety of clubs including "Sci fi club" "I want to be friend" "Naruto Fan" and "The boys in Red."

Once theseare all joined, I now have a groups screen populated with groups. It's not the most extravegant of pages but it's concise and simple, at least.

After looking at some the groups I find myself relieved to find that thre are some genuine groups in there...They're just not the first thing you see. I'm treated to some interesting messages on the Naruto group forum and I see a cool video about a real-life Sharingan.

So I'm a little happy. But what is there for me here that I can't get at facebook or myspace (not that I really use my myspace page anymore)?

Some searching may be required.

"Browse" allows me to look at the profiles of any person joined, as you'd expect. What's unlike facbook and more like a dating site, is that you can browse and filter by age, body type, waist, height, and marital status.

So have I misunderstood this site? Is it not as innocent as facebook is meant to be?

Let's find my perfect lass then and see what happens. Remember, this is in the interests of science...

The result was a depressing "No matches found." I even try more permeatations, becomming less and less picky each time...with no luck.

There's nobody home.

Oh well, the Browse feature was an abysmal failure. Let's try "Videos."

This time I get a variety of things. I've got some things which sound suspiciously like porn, full anime episodes and music videos, as well as articles on time travel, mind-numbing drivel from Britain's got talent and ahost of other gobshite. I doubt I'll be watching much of this...

Except for the anime...and the porn...

Moving on, we come to the "blogs" section.

Unlike the blogs section on myspace, this section show you a link to the blogs of everybody. They aren't sorted by category, only by when they were updated and the number of posts. You get the title of the blog next to a picture of the owner. It's a little voyeristic methinks.

A lot of these seem to be advertisements anyway, or promised ays to again "get more page views."

However, I became concerned when I found this entry.

Taboo maybe?? Does Yuwie Work?		add to favorites
Has anyone been paid yet? Anyone reading this is mainly here for that, but has anyone already financially benefited? We're encouraged to refer people to make profit, but "word is bond" and credibility is important to me, I imagine a lot of you too. So if you could help, I would really like genuine "testimonials" that this works. By this I mean people who have already benefited. Before I go telling all my friends about this I want to make sure I'm not lying... Thanks, Juan L.A.

A good question Juan. It then occured to me that I had not once yet been asked to provide details of where my promisedcash would go. I needed to check this.

After a few minutes I easily find the required tab on my contro lpanel and I have the whole thing set up to paypal me my money, which is rather useful. It means I don't have to worry over giving out my address.

Sadly though, that seemed to be all there was to this site. It's worth it for free animes, especally whilst the society remains so small (and likely will because folks are scepticle as to the "generosity" of this site) so there's a chance it wont be removed for a while.

There are some good groups and joining really doesn't take any hassle from you.

My verdict: -

It's worth a look and joining up if you've got some time and nothing better to do, but you probably wont find yourself visiting much.
And once it gets bigger though, it'll probably sink so this probably isn't something you should take seriously.
s for the money thing, I can't see it working but I'll let you know how I get on.

Anyway, I'll put my referall up in case any of you feel like signing up. If you do, drop me a line and say hello or something. You never know, I might actually read it.

http://www.yuwie.com/r/9879/

Hav fun kids,

HMR

An introduction and what-not

2008-05-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

Well I suppose I'll have to, wont I?

I'm [at the time of writing] a student of Film at Staffordshire University in the UK. Of course, that probably has nothing to do with any of this but at least when I mention films I can appear to have a professional opinion...

...In any case.

Methinks it's important to chronicle thoughts and ideas and as such I decided to set up this little dohickey.

And without much further ado, the blog!

*tumbleweed*