Friday, July 29, 2016

We live in a police state: obey or die

https://news.vice.com/article/we-are-scared-of-the-police-community-reels-after-abdirahman-abdis-death

Over regulation is everywhere. One thing that the Boston Prison Experiment showed is we will put up with some over regulation, ego driven demands, but at some point we will revolt.

We, the public, are showing signs of near revolt. The first sight is blatant disregard of the laws. That is where we are today.    

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Muslims are still Savages

In the last post I made this point, or at least some Muslims are savages.  But is ISIL a religion or a political power grab using a weakness of Muslim non thinking/theology? Is it the theology that makes Muslims susceptible to radicalization?

Once one accepts that gods are at best concepts, and in fact do not exist, then one is forced to take responsibility for our own actions. This confidence and thinking for oneself removes the possibility of any group radicalization, but not of one tripping out on drugs, self produced or otherwise. Oh well, life goes on until it does not.

The simple solution is education into secular humanism type of philosophy, where evolution is understood for what it really is. The next step in evolution of humans is to remove religion and faith based learning and replace it with truth, evidence, and science based learning. Our sciences understand so much now, it is time to bring this learning to our youth, and to all youth in the public educational system. Those who want a private education could do so, but to enter college or trade school, a comprehensive testing would be required for all that have not done standardized testing.

Learning attitude and emotion control should be part of school at several times. Truth testing of myths should be taught. Something with the hall marks of creative writing should not be considered anything beyond story, even if it has some real feel to it or the odd fact thrown in.

Tribalism is a term for attachment to the familiar and close people around us. It is this attachment that makes up family and clan relationships. It is this same attachment that creates nationalism, and patriotism, which, from a world peace view, is not desirable, but has been necessary. It is this attachment that creates the us verse them concept, yet protectionism, self protection is essential for our survival in a real physical case. So what does all this mean? Well if the Muslims do not get control of there extremists, it will be all Muslims that suffer, for they will all be thems.

Branding one whole race is bad. Equally so is to brand one whole religion. But from a practical view, how does one protect ourselves from those cultures and religions who have different values than we hold. How does one protect ourselves from culture who do not value life? Just the way we protect ourselves from those who do not take responsibility for themselves. Race or religion can be used for profiling, and will be as long as the profile provides a "course screening" of behavior types. Most terrorists are Muslims, therefore we can ghettoize Muslims, as is the case in France, and leave them be, or they can integrate into the existing society. It is the choice of the immigrant. Those who integrate in are accepted and soon learn to think for themselves. Those who do not integrate continue to follow their "holy book", stand outside of our society, and are profiled. It is that simple.  It is their choice.   

Muslims are still Savages

Last post I made at this point, or at least some Muslims are savages.  But is ISIL a religion or a political power grab using a weakness of Muslim thinking/theology? Is it the theology that makes Muslims susceptible to radicalization?

Once one accepts that gods are at best concepts, and in fact do not exist, then one is forced to take responsibility for our own actions. This confidence and thinking for oneself removes the possibility of any group radicalization, but not of one tripping out on drugs, self produced or otherwise. Oh well, life goes on until it does not.

The simple solution is education into secular humanism type of philosophy, where evolution is understood for what it really is. The next step in evolution of humans is to remove religion and faith based learning and replace it with truth, evidence, and science based learning. Our sciences understand so much now, it is time to bring this learning to our youth, and to all youth in the public educational system. Those who want a private education could do so, but to enter college or trade school, a comprehensive testing would be required for all that have not done standardized testing.

Learning attitude and emotion control should be part of school at several times. Truth testing of myths should be taught. Something with the hall marks of creative writing should not be considered anything beyond story, even if it has some real feel to it or the odd fact thrown in.

Tribalism is a term for attachment to the familiar and close people around us. It is this attachment that makes up family and clan relationships. It is this same attachment that creates nationalism, and patriotism, which, from a world peace view, is not desirable, but has been necessary. It is this attachment that creates the us verse them concept, yet protectionism, self protection is essential for our survival in a real physical case. So what does all this mean? Well if the Muslims do not get control of there extremists, it will be all Muslims that suffer, for they will all be thems.

Branding one whole race is bad. Equally so is to brand one whole religion. But from a practical view, how does one protect ourselves from those cultures and religions who have different values than we hold. How does one protect ourselves from culture who do not value life? Just the way we protect ourselves from those who do not take responsibility for themselves. Race or religion can be used for profiling, and will be as long as the profile provides a "course screening" of behavior types. Most terrorists are Muslims, therefore we can ghettoize Muslims, as is the case in France, and leave them be, or they can integrate into the existing society. It is the choice of the immigrant. Those who integrate in are accepted and soon learn to think for themselves. Those who do not integrate continue to follow their "holy book", stand outside of our society, and are profiled. It is that simple.  It is their choice.   

Muslims are Savages.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36892785

ISIL are savages, as evidenced from there neck slashing of an 84 year old man. By extension Muslims are savages. I do believe this may be the turning point in the war, ISIL war, or the new crusades, or what ever this turns out to be called. This time the Moors have gone too far and shown there true colors. It is time to act, we have had enough senseless violence. 

In this age of reason, of science, where the only rational religion is secular humanism, a positive form of atheism, it is time to make a change or many will perish in the coming war. We atheists will not capitulate to savages of irrational adherence to a iron age belief system. It is time to call out the real problem - religion and belief in supernatural - old holy books, of all forms - and the like.

Now where do we go - well rational behavior to start with. All religions must be eliminated.

I am not alone in thinking ISIL (Muslims ? ) went from annoyance to something which must be eliminated.   https://www.rt.com/op-edge/353357-france-attack-church-priest/ 

Monday, July 25, 2016

Yes, we live in a Police State.

The city of Edmonton is trying to regulate the growing of trees on private property, and the removal of said trees. The City wants that you should pay for a permit to remove old trees, and have control. That is just government over reach for sure, with that will come a big ticket if you remove without permit. With that also come a bit of liability, I think.

Trees drag moisture from the soil, and that causes the soil to shrink, taking houses with it. Who caries the liability now?

Friday, July 22, 2016

And it's Friday again

This week has gone fast, but then I have been fixing again. The sociopath bitch which I had rented a house to moved out. When I rented it to her I did not realize she was a sociopath. Oh well, education costs money.

The third Thursday of the month is Secular Humanist meetup. A whole new bunch for me again, well only two that I recognized. There is a shortage of history as far as knowing how culture and religion developed. Sapiens. We evolved, and went through the cognitive revolution 70k years ago (tasted the fruit of knowledge). Each generation is a copy of the previous with small genetic changes and long epigenetic switches included. We went through the agricultural revolution, domestication of animals, development of transportation industry, trade systems, development of money and the bank systems, industrial revolution with coal and steam, and into the electrical era.  On to electronics, the communications to the information age. Now what?

Faith was needed for quick learning, the smart will learn understanding. Well now we are seeing the down side of faith based education, the reluctance, even fear, to apply reasoning, physics and mathematics to life. We need to return to reason based learning... scientific method... well sort of. Truth. there is what we know to be true by reason, what we believe to be true, what we are uncertain of, that which is likely false, and what we know to be false, even if it is impossible to prove false.

I am not going to allow myself to be drawn back into the religion myth and debate from there. I have abandoned those myths.  Others at the meetup have not yet abandoned the myth, but are struggling for footing within the myth. The foothold is just not there. To grow, we must abandon the myth, clean all the old myth thinking out, and rebuild from there. Each lurch forward, in a ratchet style, something like the under ice fish net dragger, is more like how we change our beliefs. Once we get set on a path, we may start moving quite quickly, on a line. It may be s struggle to not get drawn back into the old myths.

The Stoics claim virtue is the highest priority, the only good that is always good, by definition. It is those acts that we need to understand. The Stoics are the first positive thinker philosophy that there is a good record for. They had some useful and effective techniques for thought control, as well as reality checks and corrections. Oh well, in the end we die anyway.

Afraid of death; how did the world get along before we were born? 

Sunday, July 17, 2016

To Quote

George H. Smith
"It is not my purpose to convert people to atheism...but to demonstrate that the belief in God is irrational to the point of absurdity. If a person wishes to continue believing in a god, that is his prerogative, but he can no longer excuse his belief in the name of reason and moral necessity."


Lawrence Krauss
A belief in a god is just irrelevant to science. Science is how we understand reality.

Reality

Desire/instinct verse best rational behavior, like the eat/not eat of the epigenetic switched overeater, is a dilemma we face. It come down to choice. I no longer have the excuse of not understanding the real problem. To continue to eat as my instinct/desire demands is not rational behavior, yet the body wants what the body wants. I have studied this now, and understand, so I can no longer just eat until the desire leaves and claim to be rational.  Oh well.  Sugar and overeating sets the epigenetic switch, once in a lifetime.

We are driven forward at a cellular level. We do not have a choice but forward or die. The only meaning in life is what ever we paint on it; family, community, religion, business, education, knowledge, truth, what ever get you out of bed in the morning. We are just opportunistic organism living on a big rock. Meaning of/in life is a human construct. A concept, nothing more, and yet it gives satisfaction, contentment. Just because we can have a concept does not mean that it is real.  
 

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Teresa May tells it like it is

"That means fighting against the burning injustice that if you are born poor you will die, on average, nine years earlier than others. If you are black you are treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you are white. If you are a white working-class boy you are less likely than anybody else in Britain to go to university. If you are at a state school you are less likely to reach the top professions than if you are educated privately. If you are a woman you will earn less than a man. If you suffer from mental health problems, there is not enough help to hand. If you are young you will find it harder than ever before to own your own home.”

Class system has been around a long time. Hammurapi detailed the elite, the commoners, and the slaves, and then subclasses of females. The Romans captured and imprisoned, or converted to slaves all northers including the Slavs, where the word slaves is likely from.  The US had there black slaves, which were not considered human by the Catholic Church, hence suitable to enslave. The natives were not suitable for slaves for they would murder the owners when they got the chance.  They see nothing wrong with killing and suicide. Oh well. Now we live in the aftermath of all this. There need to be a plan, front and center, on what and how this is to work. There is none. We have depended on religion to teach people how to live, and the result has been; well, no classes except for the 1%, and the welfare poor.

We still have slaves, wage slaves, and sex slaves, and lack of opportunity slaves. Little has changed; we are led to slavery; we can leave and be poor... that is the choices. If we want anything, then we are slaves to the economy. Yet we claim to be free, it is our choice to work... or have less. But slavery is banned... in name only, oh well, in the end we all just die anyway.

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

We are culture driven

Consider what we learn from family and where those lessons come from. I was taught mostly fear of police, but also do what they say because they carry guns. Father was raised in the time of the Black and Tans in Ireland. Thugs with clubs and guns. Mother was raised in the west with RCMP before they took on traffic. There was one RCMP to serve an area of several thousand square miles. Not much contact with them until late in life, long after I was gone. In adult life, avoiding contact with police was preferred.

Now consider the increased police presence we see today. I doubt if I go a day without seeing at least a police car. They are everywhere, and with a egotistical aggressive attitude on most of them. What is this telling our youth about them? They have the same attitude as the guards in the Stanford Prison Experiment. 

Consider the black culture in the US. What are they teaching for an attitude to the cops, which likely have the same egotistical aggressive attitude, on of escalating force until they achieve compliance. Attitude on one side or the other must change before the issues can be resolved. There is no obvious way to change other that that of the citizens. Citizens must obey else the trouble will continue. But the real problem is the attitude of the police all over, that they are right, always. There are laws that even thy must follow, and those need to be a bit tighter.

Baiting, forcing bad situations in traffic and then ticketing those who do not handle the situation correctly is one of those bait situations. Sitting at stop signs when they have clearance to go is just baiting or is distracted driving, if they are fiddling equipment. That is there culture. Ours must deal with their baiting. We may all need car cams also for our own protection. Until a open citizens revolt happens nothing is going to change. They have gone beyond safety, law and order and become a revenue generating industry here in Canada.

“If you do it, they’ll do it,” David S. Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston, said. “Young children are like ducklings, they want to do what their mothers [and fathers?] do.”

and so it begins.   

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Idiots

Never argue with an idiot. They will just drag you down to there level and beat you up with there experience. Never point out the error or limit in the argument with an Idiot, There is no win possible.

The internet has given everyone the ability to be heard in public, and some of the loud have big platforms.

To change society, we need a method of getting the message out, and a message that is workable. To make a huge course correction violent over through of the government is the only way, and are the conditions that bad? No. It needs tweaking, likely but what should be the tweak? In the US, the cops are shooting anyone who does anything that the skittish cops can construe as threatening. Oh well, in the end we all die anyway. It is the cops point of view that must be considered as they are the one with the guns, at least some of the time.

There are always loose lip radicals that can scream and say nothing useful. Oh well, idiots also die. It does not matter. Unless someone comes up with practical small changes, nothing will change. What is needed is a public information campaign to teach the public how to deal with armed police in a safe manner. It is the public that is at risk, and the silence is not helping in the US especially. 

Police use the principal of escalating force until success can be expected. You offer anything that could be considered deadly force and you get shot. It is that simple. Cops do not back down, especially scared skittish cops. Calgary, this guy is lucky to be alive. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/07/10/calgary-police-video-arrest_n_10915586.html 

Skittish Nervous Cops

Nervous Cops are everywhere now. Canada and the US. Nervous cops are dangerous for everybody. Nervous people carrying guns is just not good. Anything that can be perceived as the least bit threatening to the cop will likely get oneself shot. It is dangerous time we live in. And the danger is from scaring a skittish cop.

When a senior citizen at a setup traffic stop can make a cop put his hand on his gun, that cop is too skittish. Oh well, we all die in the end. 

So now it is on we citizens to not scare cops. Become silent, slow moving, do nothing until asked.... Describe the required movement first... take your time .... waste time... etc...

Friday, July 8, 2016

And the short answer is

Headline:

If China Is So Committed To Renewable Energy, Why Are So Many New Coal Plants Being Built?



http://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/07/08/if-china-is-so-committed-to-renewable-energy-why-are-so-many-new-coal-plants-being-built/#700bd56665f7

And the short answer is we are selling them our old plants. In some cases even paying them to dismantle, and remove the old plant. What a deal, a whole plant that they can have for taking. Labor is cheap in china, it is material that is expensive. So the cheapest plant can be repaired and away we go.

So Notely's losing plants doe little for the world as a whole, but puts cleaner technology at considerable cost in Alberta, while contributing to total pollution in China, or what other third world country that bought a old second world plant. Oh well, we all die in the end.  

Those plants are going to there for the next fifty years. That is the value of China's commitment to green house gasses. Only the depletion of coal will stop them.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

On free will and diet

Some things are within our power, and some are not. Within our power is opinions, beliefs, values, the power of assent or rejection, some aversions and attachments, delusions and illusions. Most other things are only under our influence, nothing like control, and much is totally beyond the influence of anyone. So we can only have free will over those things that we have control over. Note that our body, at best we have some influence over but nothing like control. Our mind cannot influence our genetics, or our epigenetics much. Over extended time we can turn on or off some characteristics when we are young, before we have anything like mature reasoning ability. Those early decisions can screw us for life.

Epigenetics control our desires for food at a cellular level. When the demand is turned on through overeating, we are harnessed with that desire for life; it is no longer anything like free will. That is why sustained weight loss through diet is only successful long term in 5% of the population. We need to fight our very nature for the remainder of our lives or accept obesity. We do not have free will in this matter. We have a natural desire at a cellular level to eat. Anyone who says lifestyle knows less about this issue than I. Yes, I have confidence in this fact. The research is elsewhere.

AA, NA, OA, etc work by the creation, in the mind, of a divinity that is more powerful than the problem, submission to this divinity, and following the directions of this divinity and other "suggestions." It is not rational. When/if we are unable/unwilling to create this delusion in our mind, those programs are unable to provide any help other than "just do it because it works." So what is the rational approach to overcoming our nature? Well that is where things get really scarce. There are "tool systems" and education, and knowledge, but mostly it is unknown. We are exploring for the devil, as if there was one.

So what is stronger than our nature? One thing is obsessive compulsive behaviors. So is it possible to train in limited obsessive compulsive behavior in the self?

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Brexit: the only way to apply brakes on immigration into Britian.

Some say patriotism and nationalism is wrong; perhaps it is but we live in a overpopulated world. Survival means deciding who to save and who to let parish.  We will not tolerate other dictating to us what we "should" believe.  Why should we care if the brown religious hordes are reproducing like rabbits and killing each other off. The few flee in front of the insanity of religions. Why should we let them into our country, which is already overpopulated? Perhaps the government needs to answer that question first? Canada has the same problem but to a smaller extent. But we whites took this land from the brown people... but never eliminated them... nor enslaved them... because they made poor slaves. Oh well, that was then, and now is now. And now we are letting a new group of browns in to take over this land, and they will unless someone develops the political balls to stop them...

All religions are not rational. They are belief based. Science and evidence, truth, and reason, these are real. Science is seldom wrong, some people jump to erroneous or wrong conclusions, or theory's to justify the observations...and in the end the group that grows faster will have the most people...

Perhaps the first question we should ask is what religion are you? If it is anything beside atheist in some form, then they are not rational or have never given the question any deep thought more likely (Socrates unexamined life) , or are holding on to religion so as to not disappoint parents, for those who believe family has value... all not good way to live but... oh well in the end we all just die anyway.

It does not matter anyways for me, it will all come to a head in the next generations time. It will be interesting time they live in, just as we have seen the electronic age, computer, internet, cell phones, in our time. I grew up harnessing work horses, and now self driving cars are around, or so I am told. But do we trust them; there was one "failure to recognize" the side of a truck and that killed the operator, (not driver for he was not driving). Perhaps we are too eager to adopt new technology. Anyways, the next generations will have there own issues.  


We are on our own, there is no government help comming.

This summer we have seen wild fires in Alberta. There was the flood in the south last year. Early drought over much of Alberta this year. The rain came but too late for some. The government "help" was sparse, just like this years canola crops. Oh well, we all die in the end.

The government and aid groups talk a good story, but when it comes down to the actual on the ground benefits, well those seem to be lacking. When we see the non-profit reports and we see 25% of the income actually got to the people, we cheer, often it is much worse than that. Oh well, it is non of my concert. I know we are almost all on our own. As it was, as it is, as it will be.

The insurance industry is guaranteed a profit on average. If they have a poor year, the rates go up. They delay paying out, quibble ever claim, disallow everything they can possible avoid or the homeowner is unable/not worth fighting. Impose a rider to uninsured over land water flow, that is floods. and it is not just overland; if it comes from the sewer, due to high water table, and the water has no where to flow out to, it is not insurable any more.

Wild fire, where there is not sufficient buffer area is no longer covered. For those of us on acreages, this may mean no fire coverage is available, if the fire is related to a wild fire. Now what? and how about the neighbors dry bush? and the counties?  Oh well, in the end we just die anyway. Is the struggle worth the effort?