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Saturday, July 19, 2014
"Sheer Madness" SS14 Collection Ordering Info
Thank you once again for joining me in celebrating doll couture madness. To bid for one or many of the ten looks presented, pretty much its the same drill as before. Email me at email@example.com. Written on the title is the look that you want (ex "Look 9")and in your email, write down you bid for the look you want starting at 200USD, that includes international shipping already, and your shipping details (name, address and one working phone number)
Ill get back to you as soon as ive read your emails for confirmation and we would all have to wait 24 hours before the offers stop and would email back if the offers won you the look or looks and should pay promptly. Payments through Paypal Only. Thank you once again for watching the show here's to anticipating the next collection for fall/ winter 2014, "Santita"
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Cho:lo Doll Couture Spring/ Summer Collection 2014: "Sheer Madness"
Im so excited to announce that the Spring Summer '14 Collection "Sheer Madness" will be out this July 19, 2014, Saturday 9:00PM, Philippine Standard Time. There will be ten looks up for silent bidding after the online presentation via my Flickr account (just click my flickr account icon on your right side) and further information regarding how to bid will be posted here on my blog also. Since we all come from different parts of the world, hence different times, there will be a 24 hour bidding time, so everyone gets a chance.
Sheer Madness came from this idea while I was competing for the Couture Doll Design Challenge, CDDC, Years back during one challenge. A famous fashion forward actress was so into herself and her fashion to the point of being admitted to a mental institution from too much fabulosity. Even in her lockdown, she imagined herself in sheer embellished straight jackets and gowns, her mind twisting and turning with the ideas of grandeur and opulence. I thought this year will be a great opportunity to do that idea and actually expand it into 10 looks. I made one single pattern for every look, but different treatments in terms of embellishments. all looks are made of layered tulle, corset back for versatile fit. Five looks are fitted on numina body, which could also fit Inamorata dolls, JS and Deva and similar size dolls, and the other five, fitted for sybs, which could also fit JS and RDG dolls. Embellishments are translation of the fashionista's crazy mind. its opulent, there's movement, intersecting, parallel lines of twinkling beads and finished off with textures of florets, tulles amd embossed fabric flowers. Instead of wigs, I opted for a lace headgear with a gag mask. The dolls are all barefoot this season though.
Hopefully ill see you all this Saturday for the show.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Siamese (Details and Ordering Information) -SOLD
Siamese is a concept I've been toying around for quite some time now and it is just now that i finally made it into fruition. Twin Gowns, merging into one. Ive selected Inro and Nnaji, both Inamorata Dolls by Emilia because of their distinct curves, very apt for this shape. Siamese Includes 2 couture gowns (top and skirt) of black and Lilac, and Black and Yellow, Both are made of antique lace, hand beaded with micro sequins, corset back for flexible fit for other similar sized dolls (good fit for Numina and Deva, Can fit Jamieshow dolls, but the skirt part wont close totally but tolerable, skirt part is made of antique lace and tiered pleated trim lace on the tulle part, overlayed with black tulle with hand applied micro spangled lace ornaments in tornasol. It also include matching ornate crystal neck pieces with matching brooches and hard cap wigs made of hand combed yarn and embellished with acrylic glass like flowers and crystals. Im also including a special base for the stand when the you opt to join the 2 gowns.
This sale is for both gowns together, not separate, so I'm expecting one bid on you email.
To bid, as with all of my previous sale, is through my email, firstname.lastname@example.com and the starting bid will be 450USD, and that includes international shipping already. Please do write "Siamese" on the title of you email for proper identification. please do include on your email too, your shipping details (name, address and a working phone number) Ill reply back if youve won the silent bidding or not after 24 hours from the unveiling.
Payments will be through Paypal only.
and dont forget too, the Spring Summer Collections will be up soon, so stay tuned. :)
Monday, March 3, 2014
EnTrance I & II Bidding Information---SOLD OUT
Hello once again friends! Im happy to announce that these two looks are available for private bidding starting now, and would end in 24 hours.I chose to just put the information here on my blog just to avoid any prying eyes on Flickr so here it goes. Email me at email@example.com, your bid of more than 200USD (with International shipping), with EnTrance I or EnTrance II as Subject. Please do Include your Shipping details too and your name. After 24 hours (ending March 4, 9pm standard Philippine Time) I'll email everyone if they won or not.
Thank you so much for the continued trust, see you once again for Spring Summer 2014!
Monday, December 16, 2013
Ethni:City F/W OOAK Collection Ordering Information
Thank you once again for joining me tonight and watching the unveiling of my Fall-Winter 2013 OOAK Collection, Ethni:City.
Same drill my dollies, as I don't want to have any attention from Flickr and selling my line there, I opt to just post this info on my blog. Here is how:
1. Email me at email@example.com
2. dont forget to write the "look" that you want to place an offer on, for ill be putting them on different folders after. ex "Look 1"
3. The content of the email should include your offer, all the pieces start at 200 usd, international shipping included, and your shipping details, including a phone number.
4. Ill allow 24 hours after the show for the offers to come and email the highest offers for confirmation ( so relax, you have time to think), and thank you emails for those who didnt get the pieces.
5. Payment via Paypal only, allowing 2-3 days to settle it, and after the shipping money reflects on my bank, ill ship promptly (3-5 days)
Thank you so much guys for making this another successful collection.
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Pastel Perfect 1.4 Ordering Information
Thank you everyone for viewing the show on Flickr and by this time i hope you have chosen the one you liked from the collection. As you know by now that the collection pieces starts at 160 USD with shipping, and you can offer me an amount higher than that. Whoever offered the highest gets the piece. Honestly im not really aiming for a high amount, i just wanted the pieces to go to the one who wants it most.
You can email me you offer, with the Look (letter) as your email title and i'll check everyone's emails after a good 24 hours, and i'll email back the winning offer ASAP after the time period. You can send your email through this address
Kisskiss Everyone and thank you!
Offers are now closed for tally, Thank You Everyone!
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Here's a much smaller-scale project that is also easy on the budget: Decorating a wood picture frame.
Anyway, here's my first frame. I added some decorative details to the frame in the way of puffy foam stickers, I kid you not. They are Pink Paislee Artisan Elements stickers ($4.99, but I already owned them. The ones I used are a few years old now, and hard to find even online, so hit me up if you want some, I have multiples).
To distress this frame, I used a dry-brush technique, and then sprayed some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (to darken the unpainted areas and make them stick out more, and to bring attention to the dimensional details in the stickers). I also have lots of Glimmer Mist in every color of the rainbow (you can find them online for about $6.99 a bottle though, or just be friends with me and borrow from my massive collection. Like I'm *ever* going to use it all)
Anyway, I hope I gave you some ideas on how many different possibilities there are with a basic wood frame.
Time for me to get back to my regularly-scheduled poverty.

subset: commoncrawl


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As Congress returns to work next week, one thing is clear: the immigration reform movement has never been stronger. And the movement gets stronger every day. We continue to build political power while our opponents continue to lose credibility. After the August recess, another thing is clear: we now have the votes to pass immigration reform with […]Learn More
America's Voice Research on Immigration Reform
What you need to know about the so-called "SAFE Act" that Bob Goodlatte and House Republicans will be pushing this fall: Summaries and Analysis: Top 5 Reasons to Oppose the SAFE Act (NILC) SAFE Act Summary (NILC) "Son of Sensenbrenner" Bill Would Make Our Communities Un-SAFE (NILC) Hearing on H.R. 2278, Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement (SAFE) Act (NILC) Positions […]Learn More
30 House Republicans and Counting Support Immigration Reform and Citizenship At America's Voice, we believe there are enough votes for a path to citizenship to pass in the House — if Speaker Boehner will allow a vote. We've been compiling supportive quotes from GOP House members. As former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill famously […]Learn More
August 2013 | Download PDF here Public opinion on immigration reform is nuanced, not complicated. Do Americans support secure borders? YES. Are they angry that our nation's immigration system is broken? YES. Do they think politicians have a responsibility to fix it? YES. Do they think immigrants who shoulder the same responsibilities as Americans should be […]Learn More
August 1, 2014 Office Hours: Advocates and DREAMers React to Legislative Developments and Discuss Expectations for Executive Action Ahead Speakers: Frank Sharry, America's Voice Marshall Fitz, Center for American Progress Action Fund Armando Ghinaglia, United We Dream Luis Aguilera, El Cambio Bishop Minerva Carcaño, United Methodist Church — July 25, 2014 Office Hours: Rep. Luis Gutierrez and […]Learn More
The following is a compilation of the top ten Republican members of the House that will influence and ultimately decide what immigration measures are brought to the House floor. This list includes members of leadership as well as those that must take on the issue from their key committee post or role as leader of […]Learn More
Since the 2012 election, leading Republican and conservative voices are calling for a new Republican approach to immigration, as evidenced by these quotes.Learn More
Memo to GOP: It's Time for Immigration Reform With Citizenship for Dreamers AND Their Families - July 2013
Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee meets for a hearing that will discuss the KIDS Act, a DREAM Act-lite proposal that some Republicans are considering taking up instead of immigration reform for the 11 million. As Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) recently said, "We've been there, we've done that, that's so yesterday. [That's] last century's conversation on immigration." […]Learn More


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Home Gallery
Gallery for home page
On behalf of the Martin County Bar Association ("MCBA") I welcome you to our website, the on-line portal for the MCBA. We are a Voluntary Bar Association dedicated to serving Martin County's legal community and legal needs. Our membership of more than 400 attorneys and legal industry professionals include residents of Martin, Indian River, Okeechobee, St. Lucie and Palm Beach Counties. Our goal is to foster the development of the Martin County legal community by providing high quality continuing legal education, information about our members to the general public, collegial social events and networking opportunities.
The MCBA delivers valuable opportunities to its members. We provide, from August to May, monthly luncheons with CLEs, and the cost of the CLE credit alone covers the cost of the membership. The monthly luncheons are free with your membership. We are excited to build on last year's successful programs. The luncheon speakers/programs so far confirmed for 2014-2015 include the President of the Florida Bar, a US Major General, a NASA Inspector General as well as our annual Bench-Bar program.
Our luncheons are just the beginning. The MCBA monthly newsletter, The SideBar, provides valuable legal information, and the opportunity to publish your articles as well as advertise your services. Our annual Judicial Reception, Canoe Trip, Tennis Tournament, Softball Tournament, and Installation Banquet will afford you the chance to build better social relationships with your peers. Our numerous committees, both substantive and social, offer more opportunities to better your practice, earn additional CLE credits and network with other MCBA members. Our directory of member attorneys, judges and court staff in Martin County is online and the FaceBook Directory of all in the legal community is scheduled for publication in early 2015 (note: only MCBA members will have full profiles with pictures).
Please join me, and our more than 400 members, and take advantage of all of the benefits the Martin County Bar Association has to offer.
Jennifer Alcorta Waters, 2014-2015 MCBA President
President: Jennifer Alcorta Waters
Fox, Wackeen, Dungey, Beard, Bush, Goldman, Kilbride & McCluskey, L.L. P.
3473 SE Willoughby Boulevard
Stuart, FL 34994
Tel: (772) 287-4444
Fax: (772) 220-1489
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Martin County Bar Association - PO Box 2197, Stuart, Florida 34995-2197
We do not have walk-in-service. Please contact us by telephone or via e-mail.
By phone: Monday through Friday, EST, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm at: 772-220-8018


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Ask a Question
FamousFootwear.com asked: Why did you choose this?
- Rick: "Want to try the memory foam"
- David: "Memory Foam Insoles which I hope helps my feet"
- Lisa: "Husband has a pair already and loves them"
- michael: "love skechers only shoe true to size"
- ted: "They fit well and have extra comfort feature in form of memory foam."
- Theresa M: "this is my second pair, I want to alternate wearing these because I have nerve damage to my feet and legs"
- S: "Because of size and width and brand"
- Carl: "Recommended by my son."
- Troy: "Looking for a comfortable shoe in an x-wide is always a challenge for me. I chose this shoe based on the positive reviews."
- LaCinda: "My friend bought a pair she really liked them so I tried a pair love them."
- Charlie: "Super price, Super product"
- Pamela: "Finally found a good looking shoe that comes in 4E."
- M: "My husband will only wear this brand to his feet. Loves these fit true to size""
- Sandy: "My husband needed a wider width shoe!"
- barb: "needed a large size only place i could get them"
- Kevin: "size"
- Dana: "Price, desire to try new brand"
- Anthony: "i liked the colors, and i have a black pair already which i like"


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Elie Tahari Iris SweaterSKU: #8273694
Product Information
- Elie Tahari Women's Size Guide
- Look and feel glamorous in this sweater by Elie Tahari™.
- Soft wool sweater features cascading sequins down the front for added glamor.
- Single hook and eye front closure.
- Long sleeves.
- Straight hemline.
- Dry clean only.
- 100% merino wool.
- Imported.
- Measurements:
- Length: 24 in
- Product measurements were taken using size SM (US 4). Please note that measurements may vary by size.


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When I was Mormon I thought I had a very strong, intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father. I talked to Him all of the time and I thought he spoke to me through impressions in my mind and feelings in my heart. The problem was those impressions in my mind and feelings in my heart had led me to believe the Book of Abraham was exactly what Joseph claimed it was. Well, it is crystal clear that the BoA is not what Joseph claimed it was. So, those impressions in my mind and feelings in my heart are at a minimum not a reliable way to find out what is true. It could be that those impressions and feelings are created by me entirely. If they were sometimes true and sometime false, I could not tell the difference because they felt exactly the same. Yet, through these impressions and feelings I experienced God and felt his love, etc, or so I thought. That started my questioning that maybe there was no god, maybe I had never experienced him, maybe he was nothing more than an imaginary friend. I reviewed my entire life history looking for anything definitive that I could cling to that would say, "here, here is something that strongly suggests there is a god". But, I could find nothing, not in my own life or the stories of what has happened in other's lives. I have read of near-death experiences, "miracles", "fulfilled prophecies", "answered prayers", etc. Of course, I have learned to think like a scientist and a skeptic, so stories that might be convincing to others aren't to me.
Then, I also started looking into the history of the Bible which makes much of it look made-up, too. I learned the logical issues that make it impossible for a god (if one exists) to be both all-powerful and all-loving. I learned about the problems with Pascal's Wager. And why the evidence really looks like no thinking entity intervened during the evolution of species or the creation of galaxies and planets. I really came to think that there is no need for the concept of god; it doesn't contribute anything to our understanding of how anything came to be. I came to believe that it is most likely that god is just a made-up concept like fairies and ghosts. I acknowledge that one cannot prove there is no god (or no fairies for that matter). So, there might be a god of some sort existing somewhere, but I highly doubt it.
Easy to be Entreated
For those who believe in remaining teachable and are receptive to lifetime learning. In particular, the topics of leaving Mormonism, public policy, genealogy, and psychology will be explored.
Saturday, June 07, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
God Cannot be Both All-Powerful and All-Loving (Reprise)
My thesis is if there is a god, it cannot be both all-loving and all-powerful. It can be one or the other or neither, but it cannot be both.
Let me begin by defining my terms: 1) "god" is a variable that can mean anything people mean when they say god; 2) "all-loving" can include a lot of things and perhaps everyone's definition might be a little different, but for my logical proof all-loving means at minimum god doesn't want us to needlessly suffer [God can still be considered all-loving while wanting us to suffer if he deems the suffering necessary]; 3) "all-powerful" means that he can do anything that is not logically contradictory. [A logical contradiction is the conjunction of a statement S and it's denial not-S. In logic, the law of non contradiction is that a statement and its denial can not both be true at the same time. That means that I would still consider him to be all-powerful even though he could not make us both able to experience pain and unable to experience pain, because that would be logically contradictory. (Now, some people are going to try to use that as a loop hole to pass mountains through, so let me be clear that when we talk about what god is able to do, we are not limited by the way things are now - just because there is a strong connection between two concepts (S & T) in the world where we currently reside that connection doesn't necessarily have to hold in all possible worlds god could create. So, my "logically consistent" language only refers to pairings such as S, not-S, and does not exclude pairings such as S, not-T, even though in our current world T might be part of S. My point is, if god is all-powerful, he can make S and not have T as part of it, and that is not a logical contradiction because S is not T, they just have a connection in our current world. If someone claims the relationship between S & T truly is inseparable, then there is a part of my logical argument that addresses that)]; 4) "needless suffering" is unnecessary suffering as opposed to suffering that is needed because it is the only or best way to accomplish some purpose as judged by god.
Now, you may disagree with those definitions and that is fine, but what I am trying to prove through my logical proof is what those definitions are all about. So, another way of saying god cannot be both all-powerful and all-loving would be god cannot be both able to do anything that is not logically contradictory and not want us to needlessly suffer.
1) Either god is capable of producing a world in which every single one of his goals, purposes and intentions can be met perfectly without us suffering, or he isn't. If he can, then proceed to step 2. If he cannot, then he is not all-powerful and in that case I would be correct in my assertion that god cannot be both all-powerful and all-loving.
2) So, an all-powerful god could create a world without human suffering in which all his goals are accomplished, and he could create a world with human suffering in which all of his goals are accomplished. If that were the case then all human suffering would be needless because god has an option available to him in which all of his goals could be accomplished without our suffering. We don't have to suffer if he can accomplish the same thing without our suffering. So, all human suffering is needless to an all-powerful god. Proceed to step 3.
3) By definition, if god is all-loving, he would not want us to suffer needlessly. Again, if god were all-powerful then all human suffering is needless. So, if god were all-loving and all-powerful we would live in a world without human suffering in which all of god's purposes are accomplished. Since we do suffer, we must conclude that if there is an all-powerful god, he cannot be all-loving, and if an all-loving god exists he cannot be all-powerful. If a god exists, it cannot be both all-loving and all-powerful.
And to take it one step further: A) If god is not all-powerful, then who or what was able to set up things such that not even god could change them to perfectly satisfy his purposes without human suffering? At that point, the theist who does not believe in an all-powerful god is in a similar position to the atheist - both wondering about the existence of universal laws that seem to exist without a creator.
B) If one maintains the belief in an all-powerful god, then one must accept that god created needless suffering when he did not have to, or perhaps suffering was the goal. There is only one goal or purpose that an all-powerful god could have that he could not meet in a world without human suffering: namely, the express purpose of having us suffer. But, if an all-powerful god has our suffering as a goal in and of itself, then not only would he not be all-loving, he would be worse than that, kind of a sadist, and I certainly would not want anything to do with it.
An all-powerful god can do anything that is logically consistent. I think many people's hang up is they limit god to only what is possible in the current set-up, but an all-powerful god is not limited to only what is possible in the current realm. A vast array of possibilities open up when you realize how much an all-powerful god can define and create. Attributes are no longer required to be only obtained through a narrow route, and it is still logical because all things are possible.
An all-powerful god could control all the variables. He can set up whatever rules for learning or growth or knowledge acquisition that he wants. There is no immutable relationship between concepts for him. He can create or modify every concept and every relationship between concepts. If you think suffering is necessary to learn to distinguish bad or harmful behavior from good or helpful behavior, an all-powerful god could set things up such that sunshine teaches people the difference between good and bad behavior.
If suffering has an inherent value, an all-powerful god either gave it that value or could change it, and he could have given something else that value and made the value inherent to it. An all-powerful god can accomplish the value of suffering without the suffering. He could train us solely with rewards and no punishments. He could do anything he wants, and I do mean anything.
If you truly believe that a person simply cannot learn something, say compassion, without suffering, then you do not believe in an all-powerful god, because apparently there are immutable laws that he can not modify or change. That begs the question, who or what created those immutable laws?
If you want to claim that god is all-powerful, then he could have designed or altered us and designed or altered life such that we could grow without hardships and injustices. And if he could do it (i.e., ensure our growth without suffering), he would not choose the path of suffering if he is all-loving. Remember his ability to accomplish the exact same ends, with or without suffering makes suffering unnecessary. If you can get the same results with or without, then you don't need the suffering. You cannot be all-loving and put people through unnecessary suffering.
Some say god doesn't cause the suffering, we do. But, we would not even have the ability to cause suffering if suffering did not exist. An all-powerful god could not create the concept or get rid of it if it already existed.
My proof works for every possible purpose god might have for our suffering. We don't have to know or even be able to conceive of his purposes, because the variable in the proof "His goals" can take on any value. The nice thing about logic is that it allows one to reach into all possibilities, even possibilities we are unaware of and could not comprehend.
I am not claiming that the Bible asserts god is all-powerful and all-loving (I don't know whether it does or not), I am simply saying if a god exists, and it doesn't matter who's god, one thing we can know for sure is that it cannot be both all-powerful and all-loving. Incidently, Mormonism solves this problem by essentially claiming god is not all-powerful. Now, they say the exact opposite - they say god is all-powerful, but if you read between the lines, you learn that they believe God is subject to law. If he were to lie he'd cease to be god, and he has a god and had to follow commandments and ordinances to become exalted, etc. So, there are things he can't change, thus he is not truly all-powerful at least in the way I am talking about it in my proof. He also seems to have no ability to change us and the way we learn and what we feel, etc.
When you love a child who is hurting, what do you want to do? Comfort them; help them feel better; reduce some of their discomfort; end their pain. If god is all-loving, he would want to end our unnecessary pain. One might argue that all pain is necessary and has a purpose even if we don't know what it is. That might be true in the way the current universe is constructed, but an all-powerful god could have constructed any possible universe. He could have constructed a universe in which every good thing that suffering accomplishes in this universe, could be accomplished without suffering. That makes suffering unnecessary because one could get all the same purposes and needs accomplished without it. So why have it? It is unneeded.
Let's use an example for illustration. A 3 year old girl through no fault of her own or that of her parents gets impaled by a tree branch that a strong wind gust threw into her. Her parents rush to her side, the girl is in excruciating pain minute after minute until she dies a few minutes before paramedics arrive. Let's suppose god has a purpose for her suffering. My point is that if he is all-powerful, he could have designed a world in which that exact purpose could have been accomplished without the girl suffering. If you claim that suffering was the only way, then you are saying that god is not all-powerful and you have conceded my point.
Parents can have a purpose for their child's suffering. Parents have learned over the years that in this world we live in, suffering can decrease the likelihood of people repeating the behavior that proceeded the suffering. So, if they want to decrease the likelihood of their child doing something they consider bad, they do something to make the child suffer, and it works to some extent.
Yes, God could have a similar purpose for our suffering. But, this is where the analogy between god and human parents breaks down. Parents can't control the universe, they can't rewire their children's brains to accomplish the same results (namely, a decrease in the likelihood of a behavior being repeated) when exposing the children to the color purple. Parents have no choice but to go with what works in the current world they live in; not so with God. Parents have to make the best choice from the options available to them. An all-powerful god can create whatever options he wants. He can't use the excuse that he wanted to spare us pain but he just couldn't and still have us turn out the way he wanted. He is all-powerful, he could spare us the pain and still have us come out the way he wanted. If god is all-powerful, he could create a world in which every benefit we/he now gets from suffering could be achieved through something other than suffering. So, we would not need suffering to learn not to do some behavior, because in this other world god could create he would have created/altered us and created that world such that parents could use a certain tone and it would work just as well to decrease the likelihood of a child repeating the behavior.
Yes, this presumes a reality that is not contradictory or illogical. If reality is logical and non-contradictory then a god cannot be both all-powerful and all-loving.
If one is willing to throw out everything and imagine a reality that is illogical and paradoxical, then one inhabits a reality that truly makes no sense. In that kind of reality, there is little point to talking about anything since nothing can be counted on in a reality that is illogical. In short, we'd have much bigger problems than the nature of god in a reality that is contradictory and paradoxical. Playing that trump card is akin to burning down the whole house just so you don't lose the card game. There would be no point for the scriptures or anyone else to talk about the attributes of god because they would be incomprehensible and unreliable if god and reality doesn't follow the laws of logic. Arguing that god can be illogical is a major concession that has huge ramifications on anything you think you may understand about god.
Some people say to just trust god. The fact that we have suffering means that god is not all-powerful, or he is not all-loving, or he is neither all-powerful nor all-loving, or that he doesn't exist. If god is all-powerful, but not all-loving, he is sadistic for putting us through pain when he did not have to, or he wanted us to, and thus is not someone I want to trust. If god is all-loving but not all-powerful, there are things beyond his control, and so he might be trustworthy, but only to a point, there may be some promises he can't deliver on and some fates he can't save us from. If god exists but is neither all-powerful nor all-loving, then I am not too inclined to trust him especially since he hasn't made himself that available to be known. And if he doesn't exist, then I wouldn't want to trust a figment of my imagination.
When we humans make decisions, there is always a cost and benefit to the alternatives. Choice 1 may have benefits A, B, and C, but negatives X, Y, and Z. Choice 2 may have some of the same benefits B and C, and maybe a unique benefit as well D, but it also has some of the same negatives X and Y, with the additional negative of Q. When weighing our options, we have to decide does benefit A with cost Z (Choice 1) outweigh benefit D with cost Q (Choice 2). We can't have our cake and eat it, too. This is because we are not all-powerful - we do not control all of the variables. We cannot uncouple benefit D from cost Q. We have to accept that they come in a package deal, because we are not all-powerful.
You seem to be implying the same is true for an all-powerful deity. That he could have reasons (i, ii, & iii) for choosing Choice 2, even though it contains cost Q, because he can't get benefit D without it, or he doesn't want to choose Choice 1 because he really doesn't want cost Z and benefit A, although very similar to benefit D, isn't exactly the same.
If god is all-powerful, he can create a design that gets him everything that he wants and none of what he doesn't want. If he is all-powerful, he is not limited like us to have to take some negative to get a benefit he wants. He controls all of the variables and all of the linkages between the variables. He doesn't have to settle. He doesn't have to choose the best of the alternatives presented to him because he has complete control over every aspect and implication of every alternative. He doesn't have to give himself a bad choice, cause he can have it all - exactly what he wants! There can be no reason to have to settle for a plan with suffering in it, because to an all-powerful god, he can create a design with every single thing he wants without suffering. If, in our current world, suffering is the best teacher and there is just no substitute as good as it, it is only because god made it that way. He could have made it that (blank) is the best teacher. There is nothing that suffering can offer us that an all-powerful god could not make something else offer us. So, there can be no unique advantage to suffering if god is all-powerful. So, there can be no reason (i, ii, or iii) for him to choose a design with suffering in it, when he could have all that he wanted, every purpose, every need, every reason accomplished equally well in a design with no suffering.
It simply does not matter that we cannot know what all of those reasons or purposes might be. All that matters is that god knew what purposes he had in mind and that if god is all-powerful, it logically follows that he could accomplish those purposes without suffering.
Some want to make a big deal that just because he could doesn't mean he should. Well, I've already shown that an all-powerful god could not have a reason to choose suffering that he could not overcome, because an all-powerful god does not have to settle as he can have exactly what he wants with no unwanted stuff. If god were all-loving, he would not choose for us to suffer when he doesn't have to, and he doesn't have to if he is all-powerful because there can be no advantage to a design with suffering in it that he cannot completely replicate in a design without suffering in it. If not, then he is not all-powerful.
Now, we live in a world with suffering. So, either god did not have the power to create a design in which he could accomplish all of his purposes without suffering (i.e., he was not all-powerful). Or, he is all-powerful and could have created a design in which he got everything that he wants with nothing he doesn't, but chose to include suffering anyway (i.e., he is not all-loving). But, he absolutely cannot be both all-loving and all-powerful, because we do have needless suffering in the world, and it is needless because if he were all powerful, he could have met ever need, purpose, and reason he has, in a world without suffering.
My point is if god were all-powerful, he would not be stuck with having to just accept the kind of universe we have now in which people can cause suffering, etc. He could have designed a universe in which suffering does not exist, period. If suffering did not exist, no one or thing could cause suffering. Now, the apologist usually tries to say here, "yeah, god could have created a universe with no suffering but he chose not to because he wanted us to be able to learn/develop love/compassion/ability to discern good from evil/make the right choice/strength/yada yada, and the only way we could get whatever is through suffering".
I say to those apologists, you are still thinking too small. If god were all-powerful, he could design a way for us to acquire/develop/learn love/compassion/ability to discern good from evil/make the right choice/strength/yada yada without us having to suffer. If he were all-powerful, he could. If you say, he could not, then you are saying he is not all-powerful, which proves my point.
If you acknowledge that he could do that, but chose not to, then you are admitting god is a prick, because he invented suffering for no good reason except for the sole purpose of having us suffer. Every good reason for suffering, god could have accomplished without suffering, yet he chose to enable us to suffer. Therefore, god cannot be all-loving.
Now, some people want to say _____ isn't ______ if there is no suffering. For example, they'll say compassion isn't compassion if there is no suffering, so god could not enable us to develop compassion in a universe without suffering and since he wanted us to have compassion, he had to create a world with suffering.
My response, if there is something god is unable to do, then god is not all-powerful. You are thinking too small, accepting these words and concepts like compassion as if they are givens, stuff that god has no choice but to work with. If these words "compassion" and "suffering" really are beyond god's ability to change or redefine, then who created those concepts in the first place. It as if god was born into a space in which these concepts already existed. Surely you don't believe that, right? God is supposed to be the beginning of everything, nothing existed before him right? So, then he created the concept of compassion and suffering and established the relationship between the two. Therefore, if god were all powerful, he could have created other concepts or created the concept of compassion, but declared compassion could only be developed through holding hands or whatever. The apologist says, "well, then it wouldn't be compassion". Who says? If god is inventing the concepts and their relationships, compassion is whatever god says it is.
Still not convinced? Well, let's talk about god's values. An all-powerful god can choose to value whatever he wants, right? So, he could choose to value a version of compassion that requires suffering or value a version of compassion that doesn't require suffering. If the universe he creates doesn't have suffering, what good is it for us to have the version of compassion that enables us to have empathy for the sufferer? No one is suffering, so there is no need to have the ability to empathize with the sufferer. If he simply wants us to love, be drawn to, have our heart swell, want to be with, another person, he could have easily built a universe in which we could develop that without suffering, and there would be no need for suffering, for every good thing he might accomplish through suffering could be accomplished without suffering if he were an all-powerful god.
If god is all powerful, he could do anything he darn well pleased. There would be no "have to" for him, such as if you are going to have compassion you "have to" also allow suffering.
Posted by Hüffenhardt at 4:06 PM 0 comments
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Problems with Pascal's Wager
Some of what follows comes from: Pascal's Wager Refuted (http://infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/wager.html ) And some of it comes from me.
"Pascal's Wager (call it "PW") may be formulated as follows:
(a) If God exists, then whoever doesn't believe in him will end up being eternally tormented.
(b) If God exists, then whoever believes in him will gain eternal life.
(c) If God doesn't exist, then whether or not people believe in him can't matter very much.
(d) Hence [from (a)-(c)], nontheists are running a grave risk. At the very least, the expected utility of their belief situation is infinitely worse than that of theists.
(e) But such people are able to self-induce theistic belief.
(f) Therefore [from (d) & (e)], all nontheists ought to change their beliefs and become theists.
Here are some objections to PW:"
(a) If God exists, then whoever doesn't believe in him will end up being eternally tormented.
(b) If God exists, then whoever believes in him will gain eternal life.
(c) If God doesn't exist, then whether or not people believe in him can't matter very much.
(d) Hence [from (a)-(c)], nontheists are running a grave risk. At the very least, the expected utility of their belief situation is infinitely worse than that of theists.
(e) But such people are able to self-induce theistic belief.
(f) Therefore [from (d) & (e)], all nontheists ought to change their beliefs and become theists.
Here are some objections to PW:"
* If God exists and he does eternally torment non-believers, then I don't want anything to do will him. He is evil and heartless, and I would rather be tormented than align with him. Let my pain stand as a testament to his evilness.
"* According to the Bible, more is required for salvation than mere belief in God. One also needs to believe in God's son (Mark 16:16; John 3:18,36, 8:21-25, 14:6; Acts 4:10-12; I John 5:12), repent (Luke 13:3,5), be born again (John 3:3), be born of the water and of the Spirit (John 3:5), believe everything in the gospel (Mark 16:16), eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood (John 6:53), be like a child (Mark 10:15), and do good deeds, esp. for needy people (Matt. 25:41-46; Rom. 2:5-10; John 5:28-29; James 2:14-26). Therefore, premise (b) of PW is not generally true, so far as the Bible is concerned. And, furthermore, apart from the Bible, there is no reason whatever to believe that premise. Thus, PW's premise (b) can reasonably be doubted.
* Many people who believe in God devote significant time to prayer and church activities. Such people presumably also contribute money, perhaps a tithe (10% of their income). Without that belief, most of them would not do such things. In addition, many such people go through life with inhibitions on both thought and behavior. (Consider, for example, inhibitions regarding sexual practices, marriage & divorce, birth control, abortion, reading material, and association with other people.) In many cases, those inhibitions are quite extreme and may have great effects on one's life and the lives of others. In some communities, women are oppressed on the basis of theistic belief. Also, some theists have persecuted and even killed others (as in inquisitions, religious wars, attacks on homosexuals, abortionists, etc.) because of their belief that that is what God wants them to do. Furthermore, some people (e.g., clergymen) devote their entire lives to God. For these various reasons, even if God does not exist, it would indeed matter a great deal whether or not one believes in God, at least for most such believers. It follows that premise (c) of PW is false.
* It may be that God does not exist and, instead, some other being rules the universe. That being may dislike intensely and may inflict infinite punishment on anyone who believes in God or who believes anything out of self-interest (as recommended in PW). But a person who comes to believe in God on the basis of PW would in that case be in "a heap of trouble," even though God does not exist. The expected utility of the theist's belief situation would be infinitely worse than that of the nontheist. It follows that premise (c) of PW is false."
* Stated in a slightly different way, if one picks Jehovah and you should have picked Zeus, then believers in Jehovah are in a heap of trouble. There are an infinite number of possible gods out there. If you pick one and I pick none, our odds are nearly the same given how many chances we have of being wrong. And if you believe in all gods, and there is only one, he may be jealous and torment you for it.
"* To believe in God, one must believe propositions that are, from the standpoint of most nontheists, impossible (or at least very hard) to believe. For that reason, PW's premise (e) can be rejected.
* Belief is not directly subject to the will. So, it is impossible (or at least very difficult) for nontheists to self-induce theistic belief. This also renders PW's premise (e) false.
For all of these reasons, PW ought to be rejected."
* PW offers a false dichotomy, that there are only these two possibilities. It might be that God does exist and doesn't care whether or not you believe in him, but rewards good behavior regardless, or rewards critical thinking and skepticism. Then it would be the non-skeptics that miss out on rewards.
The worst thing that can happen to a believer who is wrong is to find out he served the wrong god, and have the real god torture him forever because he is a jealous god and doesn't like you serving the wrong god.
* If a god exists and is any good at all, he will not condemn people who do not believe in him.
If there is a god that sends non-believers to hell, I want nothing to do with a god like that. I'd never worship a god that does that. So, if hell gets me away from that monster, to hell I'll go.
Posted by Hüffenhardt at 9:10 PM 0 comments
Saturday, November 03, 2012
USA "not founded on Christian principles" - John Adams
"The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of clergy."— George Washington
"The United States Constitutional Convention, except for three or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary."— Benjamin Franklin
"This nation of ours was not founded on Christian principles."— John Adams
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."— James Madison, letter to William Bradford, 1771
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;..." ~Treaty of Tripoli 1796
"The United States Constitutional Convention, except for three or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary."— Benjamin Franklin
"This nation of ours was not founded on Christian principles."— John Adams
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."— James Madison, letter to William Bradford, 1771
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;..." ~Treaty of Tripoli 1796
Posted by Hüffenhardt at 4:07 PM 0 comments
Friday, September 28, 2012
Book of Abraham Papyri Fragments
Posted by Hüffenhardt at 6:06 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
How atheism has helped me
In church on Sunday (oh, I should mention that I am talking about my UU church [I haven't been a Mormon for over 4 years]), the sermon got me thinking about how I don't need to be comforted so much anymore. It seems like when I was a believing Mormon, I was so often struggling (trying to feel closer to the Lord, trying to become more valiant and faithful, more assurance from God that he was pleased with me, trying to understand the meaning of my adversities, or understand why God was testing me in a certain way or what he was trying to teach me, wondering why God wasn't helping me more despite me doing all that I could to qualify for his help, struggling with being stretched so thin by all my callings and responsibilities, etc). Due to all my struggling, I was so often delving into the depths of my soul to find comfort (and answers). I prayed so sincerely and often to my Father in Heaven. Occasionally, I would feel close to Him, feel hope through Him and comforted by Him. But, those were but moments in a sea of struggling as outlined above.
When I first quit believing in god, I occasionally missed my "sky daddy", missed the illusion that someone was up there that cared about me and my life and was powerful enough to help, if he would. But, I would remind myself that it had always been just an illusion, that he had never been there even when I was a believer. I had found a way to make it through the hard times then without his help, so I could make it through now without his help as I always had, except this time believing he isn't there.
But, now, I find that I don't struggle very often at all anymore. I don't need to delve into the depths of my being that much anymore. I no longer struggle to feel closer to a Lord because I don't believe he exists anyway. I am no longer trying to become more valiant or faithful. I am no longer seeking the assurance that a god is pleased with me. I no longer try to understand the meaning or purpose of my tough times, because I don't believe there is any purpose or meaning to them. They just are what they are, and I just have to deal with them. Life makes so much more sense when one is no longer searching for divine meaning in them. And it is a relief. There is no lesson God wants me to learn because in all likelihood there is no god. I don't have to wonder why a loving god isn't helping me out. I am no longer stretched too thin by church callings and responsibilities because I am not automatically obligated to serve the church and magnify my priesthood. I get to choose how involved I want to be with no guilt for not being totally active and involved.
It is a huge relief to no longer bear the weight of all that stuff. I didn't even realize how heavy all that was to carry until I took it off. I feel a lot better because of it. I still enjoy feeling what I formerly called the "Spirit". I have gotten to the point where I can pretty much produce those feelings on demand whenever I want to, but I find I don't need to comfort myself that often anymore. Atheism has been good for me and my wife. I understand that it may not be for everyone, but it really works well for us.
I am not atheist because it works for me. I am atheist because I believe that it is very unlikely that a god exists. The fact that it works for me is just a pleasant side-effect.
When I first quit believing in god, I occasionally missed my "sky daddy", missed the illusion that someone was up there that cared about me and my life and was powerful enough to help, if he would. But, I would remind myself that it had always been just an illusion, that he had never been there even when I was a believer. I had found a way to make it through the hard times then without his help, so I could make it through now without his help as I always had, except this time believing he isn't there.
But, now, I find that I don't struggle very often at all anymore. I don't need to delve into the depths of my being that much anymore. I no longer struggle to feel closer to a Lord because I don't believe he exists anyway. I am no longer trying to become more valiant or faithful. I am no longer seeking the assurance that a god is pleased with me. I no longer try to understand the meaning or purpose of my tough times, because I don't believe there is any purpose or meaning to them. They just are what they are, and I just have to deal with them. Life makes so much more sense when one is no longer searching for divine meaning in them. And it is a relief. There is no lesson God wants me to learn because in all likelihood there is no god. I don't have to wonder why a loving god isn't helping me out. I am no longer stretched too thin by church callings and responsibilities because I am not automatically obligated to serve the church and magnify my priesthood. I get to choose how involved I want to be with no guilt for not being totally active and involved.
It is a huge relief to no longer bear the weight of all that stuff. I didn't even realize how heavy all that was to carry until I took it off. I feel a lot better because of it. I still enjoy feeling what I formerly called the "Spirit". I have gotten to the point where I can pretty much produce those feelings on demand whenever I want to, but I find I don't need to comfort myself that often anymore. Atheism has been good for me and my wife. I understand that it may not be for everyone, but it really works well for us.
I am not atheist because it works for me. I am atheist because I believe that it is very unlikely that a god exists. The fact that it works for me is just a pleasant side-effect.
Posted by Hüffenhardt at 5:05 PM 10 comments
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Where I am politically
I took a test to measure where I am politically. http://www.politicalcompass.org/
Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -3.88 (Left leaning on economic issues)
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.82 (Left leaning on social issues)
I line up with the Dali Lama and close to Ghandi.
Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -3.88 (Left leaning on economic issues)
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.82 (Left leaning on social issues)
I line up with the Dali Lama and close to Ghandi.
Posted by Hüffenhardt at 4:11 AM 1 comments
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text:
Block pinion.gg
Pinion.gg is a gaming advertising business that's probably best known for inserting annoying HTML ads into your favourite game.
I came across them on the GamersUN TF2 servers.
GamersUN runs a mod that forces you to have HTML MOTDs enabled if you want to play on their servers. If you disable HTML MOTDs the mod stops you from joining a team as well as generally being annoying by hijacking all your number keys. The reason they do this is because they run Pinion.gg's video ads in the HTML MOTD.
You can block this easily by simply adding the following to your Hosts file:
In Windows, edit C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (it's just a text file so you can use Notepad but make sure you run Notepad as Administrator otherwise you won't be able to save the file)
127.0.0.1 motd.pinion.gg
Note: Windows 8 users must exempt the Hosts file from Windows Defender; read this article for details.
On a Mac you can edit /etc/hosts adding the same entry above.
This is completely harmless as all it says is that if your PC tries to connect to motd.pinion.gg that the IP is 127.0.0.1 which is your PC's local address. So instead of loading ad HTML the connection will just fail.
I'll keep this blog updated with new hosts as Pinion updates their service.


text:
Give up the feeling of responsibility, let go your hold, resign the care of your destiny to higher powers, be genuinely indifferent as to what becomes of it all and you will find not only that you gain a perfect inward relief, but often also, in addition, the particular goods you sincerely thought you were renouncing.
This quote is about resignation.
Record how this quote makes you feel.
You can report quote corrections via the "Conversation" tab below
Search on Google Books to find citations of this quotation.
We don't have a biography.


text:
I've just discovered a gem on Netflix. For a limited time, the epic Ken Burns series "The Civil War" is streaming in its entirety—all nine "Ken Burns effect" episodes of daguerreotype goodness. Even "Orange is the New Black" will have to go on hiatus for me to soak in the uninterrupted hours of PBS history bliss. Read more...
Lindsay Grace from American University, Kunal Gupta of Babycastles and the Silent Barn, Colleen Macklin from Parsons The New School for Design, and Meghan Ventura of Games For Change discuss the need for and benefits of diversity in gamemaking.
Watch more from Media That Matters 2014 at http://bit.ly/MTMDC14
More Videos
Center for Media & Social Impact4400 Massachusetts Ave NWWashington, DC 20016-8017Phone: 202.885.3107cmsimpact [at] gmail [dot] com


text:
Vienna Design Week 2014: Bulgarian designer Valentin Vodev has launched a folding bike that can be wheeled when folded and uses a magnet to create the locking system that holds the frame together (+ slideshow). More »
Tag: bicycles
Valentin Vodev's Vello bike folds with
Philippe Starck launches MASS
cycling collection at Eurobike
French designer Philippe Starck has unveiled four electric bicycles and a collection of matching cycling accessories at the Eurobike event in Germany today, including a bike with a furry coat (+ slideshow). More »
EVO Urban Utility Bike lets cyclists
swap clip-on accessories
This bicycle by a team of Californian designers features a frame with two symmetrical connection points, allowing cyclists to customise accessories attached to the front and back (+ slideshow). More »
Flux bicycle kit by Offer Canfi wirelessly
charges electronic devices
Royal College of Art graduate Offer Canfi has envisioned a future for cycling in which inductive bicycle lanes could be used to wirelessly charge electric bikes and other devices on the go. More »
Kit Bike by Lucid Design
packs into a bag
Indian company Lucid Design has created a conceptual "bike in a bag" that would quickly dismantle into parts to fit into a backpack (+ movie). More »
Biomega launches KiBiSi-designed
NYC city bike
"Smart" bicycle by Vanhawks gives directions with
flashing lights and vibrating safety alerts
Watch the design evolution of the bicycle
in a one-minute animation
World's first 3D-printed bicycle
frame launched
News: British bicycle brand Empire Cycles has collaborated with additive manufacturing company Renishaw to build the world's first 3D-printed metal bike frame. More »
Sandwichbike flat-pack wooden bicycle
by PedalFactory goes into production
Ta đi Ôtô mini-skyscraper on a tricycle
by Bureau A
Concept 1865 electric bike
by Ding3000
Xkuty One electric bike by
The Electric Mobility Company
New York launches
bike-share scheme
4StrikeBike by
TSG Essempio
A bicycle that can be pedalled with hands and feet at the same time has been developed by Dutch studio TSG Essempio. More »
Pibal bicycle by Philippe Starck
and Peugeot
French designer Philippe Starck and car company Peugeot have unveiled a prototype bicycle crossed with a scooter, designed for a free cycle scheme in Bordeaux, France. More »
Clarity Bike
by Designaffairs
This conceptual see-through bike by German studio Designaffairs would be made from the same strong and lightweight plastic used in fighter jet canopies. More »
Alex Moulton
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text:
Estee Lauder Take it Away Makeup remover lotion
Average Rating 3.5/5
Review by MollieRT
If I could rate this crappy remover a negative 1 I would! It felt like I was washing my face in acid, as every piece of skin this horrid remover came into contact with immediately began burning horribly. I couldn't get it washed off fast enough & was left with the corners of my eyes extremely inflamed & beet red. I have no idea what happened as I used the sample I received from the sales associate multiple times with no problem. Once I used the actual product from the bottle I purchased, all heck broke loose!


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Your shopping basket : £0.00
Escape to our Thai haven for a luxurious overnight spa break like no other. Start your day the right way, in our unique award winning SenSpa facilities a serene sanctuary, designed to leave you feeling stress free and ready to face the world. Then, make your way to our AA Rosette Zen Garden restaurant, where your taste buds are sure to be in for a treat with a delicious, freshly prepared two course Thai lunch.
Once you have explored our expansive facilities for the rest of the afternoon, and perhaps treated yourself to one of our unique Thai treatments (available at an extra cost), be prepared for an evening of exquisite cuisine in one of our three restaurants, with an allowance of £40 per person to spend. Retreat to your cosy bedroom, guaranteed to provide you with a night of pure comfort and calm the perfect end to the perfect day.
So what are you waiting for? Authentic Thai tranquillity awaits you....
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The recent judgment of the General Court in case T-605/13 shows the obligation of the OHIM to state clear reasons in its decisions.
The 18 September 2014 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the "Tripp-Trapp" case, has added definition to the interpretation of specific three-dimensional shapes for registration as trademarks.
The rules of play as far as digitisation is concerned are a little clearer now thanks to the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of 11 September 2014 in Case C-117/13 TU Darmstadt, or are they?
Report about the participation of Associate Partner Miguel Ángel Medina, as MARQUES representative, at a Session of the WIPO Working Group on the Development of the Lisbon System (Geographical Indications) last June.
Geographical indications for non-agricultural products, next scheme of protection in the European Union?
The European Commission has published a green paper regarding a public consultation on a possible extension of geographical indication (GI) protection of the European Union to non-agricultural products.
The Spanish Community Trademark Court has upheld a complaint filed by well-known multi national company IKEA for infringement of its trademark against a company which operated under the marks IKEATELO and IKEVAMOS
International legal jurisdiction in matters of copyright infringement on the Internet. Judgment of the Court of Justice of 3 October 2013, Pinckney (C-170/12)
Commentary of the Pinckney case C-170/12 on the copyright infringement on the Internet.
System of fair compensation for private copying levied on intermediaries who sell recording media. Judgment of the Court of Justice of 11 July 2013, Amazon (C-521/11)
Commentary of the Amazon case C-521/11 on fair compensation for private copying.
Interpretation of the system of fair compensation for private copying pursuant to Article 5.2 of Directive 2001/29/EC. Judgment of the Court of Justice of 27 June 2013, VG Wort (C-457/11 to C-460/11)
Commentary of the VG Wort case C-457/11 to C-460/11 on fair compensation for private copying.
Live streaming of works via the Internet by an organization other than the original broadcaster. Judgment of the Court of Justice of 7 March 2013, TVCatchup (C-607/11)
Commentary of the TVCatchup case C-607/11 on communication to the public.


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cmore - Member Since: Oct 2008
Hi all, Im writing a circular on a admin cost cutting. Is there any tips that anyone can give me to do this on out going courier part - yogita
rajeswari Savithir - Member Since: Feb 2009
hi all. I am looking for openings in training coordinators job, plz help me on this regards raji 9840163513
mjrao - Member Since: Aug 2009
Hi I am looking for Esi and Pf Registration details ,my company comes under service provider,
rossysharma - Member Since: Jan 2010
Hi, I want to gain my knowledge in Payroll Dept. So if any suggest me from where i can gain or suggest me some institute name which is in delhi regarding the same.
Seenivasan07 - Member Since: Jul 2010
Hi, I like to do MBA from ISBM - Indian School of Business Management & Administration. We can write exams on line also - this is the advantage for choosing this institute for doing correspondence.
I don't know more about this institute - Value of MBA in this institute, placements, Quality of study material and support extended by institute etc. I need more clarity about these points in ISBM.
Please help me in selecting a better institute to do MBA with online exam facility
mannu sharma - Member Since: Oct 2009
i want to preparation new HR policy in our company kindly send me per forma & important point to add in HR policy in short'
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Fancy new appraisal systems are not necessary, but good supervisory skills are
When it comes to managing teleworkers, agencies might already have most of what they need, even if they don't realize it.
Making federal managers into successful teleworkers
Teleworkers stay in the loop
Telework Enhancement Act: Easing into a new mindset
Discussions of telework as a separate management enterprise suggest that supervisors will need to institute special review techniques to oversee remote workers and keep them productive and accountable. But some government telework pioneers say that isn't so, and they monitor their teleworkers the same way they manage on-site employees.
At the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, "performance expectations are the same for those working on the Alexandria campus and those working at home," said Danette Campbell, senior telework adviser at USPTO.
That approach seems to be the norm at many of the agencies that have already embraced telework. Now it's a matter of law for all agencies. Section 6503 of the Telework Enhancement Act, signed into law last year, states that teleworkers and nonteleworkers must be treated identically when it comes to job appraisals and work requirements.
Telework pros have discovered they don't need specialized tools or routines to track teleworkers' performance. USPTO, for example, has an application that tracks the quality and timeliness of work performed by patent and trademark examiners, but it uses the application to manage both teleworkers and in-office employees.
Elsewhere, the Defense Information Systems Agency uses an administrative support system for handling employees' requests to telework, but that application doesn't deal with how remote workers perform their jobs. That's part of supervisors' routine responsibilities, a DISA spokeswoman said.
Discovering that telework doesn't require special treatment sounds like good news for agencies. No one is hankering to create and operate a parallel set of management processes and systems. But managers whose employee appraisals are primarily based on attendance will have to rethink their approach.
"Managers need to focus on the value of the work output rather than the individual's physical presence in the office," said Cindy Auten, general manager at the Telework Exchange, a federal telework advocacy group.
Clear performance objectives and standards, while important in any work arrangement, are an absolute necessity in teleworking environments, said John Palguta, vice president of policy at the Partnership for Public Service.
"This doesn't make the management job easier," he said. "It actually makes the manager do the hard work of management."
Spreading influence?
Because the goal is to use uniform methods to evaluate all employees, telework could have the unintended effect of influencing the wider adoption of performance-based measures for workers of all kinds, said Scott Overmyer, a professor at Baker College who helped write a recent report on telework for the IBM Center for the Business of Government.
That approach links worker pay more closely to productivity, rather than seniority and attendance.
Performance management advocates in the federal government have been pursuing that cause for years independent of telework initiatives, but the need to manage remote workers could provide an additional boost, Overmyer said.
Meanwhile, Palguta said telework could have the valuable, though more modest, benefit of nudging managers to polish their supervisory skills.
"If you have a few managers not focusing on the right things, telework can force them to do that," he said. "That's one of the hidden benefits of telework."
Automating the administrative chores
Setting up a special system or routine to monitor teleworkers' productivity is not necessary. However, some agencies find that it is helpful to have an online application to handle the administrative aspects of telework, such as scheduling.
The Defense Information Systems Agency has such an application in its Open Source Corporate Management Information System. The tool lets employees apply to telework, create a schedule, complete the required agreement and safety checklist, and submit telework requests to their supervisors. The supervisors can then approve or reject applications or ask employees to modify them.
"The program manager can see the overall picture of how many applications are approved, disapproved or pending, and break it out by organization," said Aaron Glover, special assistant to DISA's director of manpower, personnel and security and the agency's telework expert.
OSCMIS is available to agencies outside the Defense Department through an open-source license.
About the Author
John Moore is a freelance writer based in Syracuse, N.Y.
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Slowly but surely, the agency's ability to handle cybersecurity has evolved -- but experts say key hurdles remain.
Department credits a fully deployed computer system with helping make a sizable dent in the department's disability claims backlog.
A key contributor to Clinger-Cohen argues that federal IT has failed to take advantage of the tools that law provided.
A new report surveys the many different approaches to launching a dedicated innovation shop in government.
Nominations for 2015 are being accepted now through Dec. 23.
The flip side of default data encryption on mobile devices is that a lost or stolen device won't yield up its secrets -- an important feature for many federal employees.
A decade after the 9/11 Commission identified agencies' reluctance to share information as a dangerous shortcoming, the government is moving in the right direction.
The latest offering is intended to help agencies speed the process of deploying authorized cloud solutions.
Cartoonist John Klossner on the telltale indicators that not everything is running through the CIO.
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Recover from a constantly restarting Finder loop
Another reason for Finder crahsing constantly is a another damaged .plist. Had this problem on several Macs before. If this hint doesn't work, try to remove
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An excellent international resource for the laboratory equipment industry.
Sensor Can Detect Early Distress in PlantsThe smell of freshly cut grass may stir memories of baseball parks, cookouts or lazy summer afternoons in the suburbs, but what we perceive as a sweet aroma is actually the plant equivalent of a distress call, one that the grass releases to signal that the lawn is under attack.Read more:http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/08/sensor-can-detect-early-distress-plants
m. night shyamalamdingdong get out
Wtf? That sounds terrible.
Just who or what are they signalling?
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Epicure bean mix - rustic six
£1.62 (£4.63 per kg)
Product Summary
Ready to eat. Ideal for casseroles, soups, stews and salads. 100% natural: no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Low fat. Rustic Six Bean Mix seasoned and drizzled in extra virgin olive oil. Feed your imagination. 'Creative Cooks' is a range of premium quality pre-prepared ingredients designed to help you skip straight to the creative jobs that make cooking (and eating) so enjoyable - more of the tasting, seasoning, stirring, drizzling, mixing and less of the peeling, chopping, soaking, boiling, steaming. 'Creative Cooks' is brought to you by Epicure, a brand that has based its philosophy on the pleasure of good food since 1891. For more great recipes, inspiration and tips visit: www.creativecooks.info
Borlotti Beans (23%), Cannellini Beans (23%), Haricot Beans (12.5%), Blackeye Beans (12.5%), Red Kidney Beans (12.5%), Black Beans (12.5%), Celery, Onion, Extra Virgin Olive Oil (0.4%), Salt, Water
Preparation & Storage
- Ready to use not only in casseroles, soups and stews but also great for salads.
Once opened transfer to a non-metallic container, refrigerate and consume within 3 days.
Please note that whilst we take every care to ensure the product information displayed on our website is correct, product recipes are regularly changed and this may affect nutrition and allergen information therefore you should always check product labels and not rely solely on the information presented here.If you require specific advice on any Waitrose branded product, please contact Customer Support on 0800 188884 or email email@example.com. For all other products, please contact the manufacturer.This information is supplied for personal use only. It may not be reproduced in any way whatsoever without the prior consent of Waitrose Limited nor without due acknowledgement.


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Security professionals as well as intelligence officers have had plenty to learn from the debacle over the search for Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, as a rare seminar given by two of the men closely involved in one of America's greatest intelligence failures showed.
John E. McLaughlin, a former top Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official, and Charles A. Duelfer, the former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, explained at a George Washington University seminar how and why the intelligence community went wrong in Iraq—and what it got right. Their accounts apply as much to sifting through secret intelligence as it does to solving business challenges. Business executives need to weigh information, assess risk, understand different cultures, and learn from their own errors and those of others.
McLaughlin says that success or failure in the intelligence world is never "black and white. Sometimes it is hard to characterize [them] clearly and it's easier to see [them] along a spectrum." Sometimes successes are easy to identify, such as the 2003 dismantling of a network set up by Pakistan's AQ Khan to supply nuclear technology to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. However, success in intelligence work rarely attracts as much attention as failure does. McLaughlin worked for 30 years at the CIA where he rose to become acting director in 2004. He says there are five broad types of failure.
There is a failure of "mind-set" in which analysts fail to understand events as they unfold, such as the 1979 fall of the Shah of Iran. Intelligence also fails when analysts are victims of deception, as when the Soviet Union fooled the CIA prior to its 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. Lack of resources or inattention also leads analysts to misunderstand events, such as the turmoil that led to the fall of Indonesian strongman Suharto in 1998.
Timing is all. Analysts who are able to forecast events correctly will still fail unless they get the exact timing right. Examples of this include India's atomic weapons test in 1998 and the 9-11 attacks. Both risks were identified correctly, but analysts were surprised when they happened. The final type of failure is what McLaughlin terms the failure to persuade. He said "the intelligence community clearly understood that the Soviet Union was about to collapse" in the 1990s but failed "to take people by [the] shoulder and shake them" in Washington. As a result, U.S. leaders were taken by surprise at the speed of Communist Russia's implosion in the early 1990s.
The CIA's record in Iraq contained elements of all five types of failure, but it also got many things right. McLaughlin said these include rejecting the existence of operational ties between Al Qaeda. The intelligence community also did "reasonably" in forecasting Iraqi conventional weapons. It was "eerily prescient" about the consequences of prolonged occupation and the scope and resiliency of the insurgency.
However, the intelligence community did very poorly in assessing Saddam's purported WMD stockpiles. McLaughlin says this was due to three factors.
To begin with, the intelligence community lost access to a wealth of raw data from the United Nations when Saddam threw its inspectors out of the country in 1998. The U.S. also suspended U2 overflights for fear that Iraq missiles could hit the spy planes. CIA leadership also diverted scarce resources away from Iraq to other parts of the world where information was even sketchier, and where risks were equally severe, such as North Korea. Nonetheless, assumptions remained in place about Iraq, and remained unchallenged even as intelligence became stale.
In fact, Saddam had dismantled his WMD stockpiles, but he deceived his archenemy Iran into believing that Iraq still retained a strategic weapons program. As a result, the conviction that Iraq's weapons program remained active was widely shared both in U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies and in the academic world. "Red teaming the data probably would not have helped," said McLaughlin.
A second problem concerned what McLaughlin calls "policymakers' passivity." Because the CIA's erroneous findings fit the expectations of government officials, they made little effort to probe or question the intelligence reports. "A healthy dialogue sometimes verging on argument is essential for the relationship" between government and the intelligence community, said McLaughlin. According to him, few people in government or Congress actually read the (admittedly incorrect) 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq. Although it was wrong about Saddam's chemical and nuclear weapons, it contained about ten pages of footnotes and dissents that provided "a lot of grist for argument," said McLaughlin. Officials, he said, "did not absorb it in all its texture."
Underlying this was a demand from intelligence consumers in the government that findings be cut and dry, stripped of nuance. Officials were too busy to assess reports carefully and demanded definitive "bottom line" findings on which to base their policies. Critics of the CIA and the Bush administration go further and accuse government officials of manipulating intelligence data to support decisions they had already reached. But the intelligence community's leadership was at the very least guilty of passivity.
Finally and most famously, the CIA was guilty of errors of analysis and tradecraft. McLaughlin said assumptions "formed in the 1990s were passed along and not questioned." These faulty assumptions gained a momentum of their own, affecting judgments throughout government. Furthermore, caveats "dropped off" reports after a time. The CIA did not vet its sources properly, its record keeping was inadequate, and staff failed to detect Saddam's deception of Iran and the West.
Once the extent of the WMD intelligence failure became clear in 2003, McLaughlin said, the CIA ordered its best staff to go over their work and they "tore the intel apart."
The new intelligence paradigm now favors extensive "red teaming," the use of devil's advocates to question assumptions, the avoidance of "bottom line" findings, an emphasis on nuance, and the inclusion of alternative hypotheses in reports.
Duelfer, a highly respected intelligence veteran who spent years working in Iraq with the UN, emphasized how cultural subtleties shape assumptions both in the West and in the Middle East. His years in Iraq taught him how our views of the world are shaped by "assumptions that we are not even aware of." He said: "We do cost-benefit analyses without realizing it." The West and Saddam were unable to understand each other clearly, since their worldviews were so distinct.
He gave an example of the rigidity of U.S. thinking on Iraq. He recalled that a top Saddam aide asked him why the U.S. would attack buildings suspected of being illegal weapons research and storage sites. "The assumption is that we equate buildings with the capability we are trying to degrade," said Duelfer. "We have a technically driven mind-set," he added, and "we assume that there is a single objective reality." Inspectors and intelligence officers would focus on locating objective evidence that Saddam's weapons program remained operational. But Duelfer said it "became abundantly clear that the way Saddam ran his government" relied on "implicit guidance" as much as on explicit written instructions. Definitive evidence confirming or denying the existence of a clandestine weapons program could not be found because it did not exist.
Duelfer said confirmation bias, the habit by which people discard evidence that conflicts with their established outlook, pervaded the West's approach to Saddam. "Everyone had this hypothesis that Saddam had WMDs and so you organize the data that you understand," he said. Saddam's history of deception deepened this erroneous belief. "It led to the view that Iraq was clearly hiding something and not telling the truth. But that did not prove they had WMD. That was the analytical leap that people were taking," said Duelfer.
As these cultural disconnects became clear to him, Duelfer said that he struggled to explain the apparent irrationality of Saddam's policies to Americans. "How do we convey something that is not in the lexicon of your consumer?" he said.
The outlook for the future is challenging. While the lessons learned in Iraq have probably improved the process of gathering and analyzing intelligence, the very public discussion about CIA methods has altered the environment in which it works. McLaughlin said, "So many of our intelligence methods have been exposed, so we are very vulnerable to deception." Targets now have a better understanding of how to trick U.S. satellites and manipulate electronic intercepts.
Perhaps the most difficult lesson from the WMD debacle concerns the very nature of intelligence. McLaughlin and Duelfer both emphasized that intelligence is never definitive. "It is mathematically certain that you will make mistakes," said McLaughlin. Suppliers and consumers of intelligence products both need to be aware of the fragility of the data and be prepared to "think all the time about why did [an error] happened and how can you learn from it."
See all the latest links and resources that supplement the current issue of Security Management magazine.


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Small Man or Big Guitar?
Too Much?
Chordchanger Guitar Blog turned 1 today!
Source: assets
Uke got to be kidding
A guitar with… uh… spirit?
Happy Valentine's Day
Too Much?
Would you play this?
Because I would.
Q:Hi there I am a TOTAL BEGINNER with guitar. I have just brought my 1st electric guitar Yamaha Pacifica112VCX I want to know which amp I should buy as a BRAND NEW BEGINNER? I am looking at the Fender Blues Junior III (Tube amp Fender Mustang I V2. I am not a 'fan' of solid state/modelling amps. I just want a no nonsense amp where I just dial in and get the tone! I know I want a CLEAN TONE!Can you advise me which to get? It's for home use only. Thanks Danny
So, it sounds like your leaning towards the Blues Junior. I have a Blues Junior NOS (first cousin of the one you mention) and it's a great amp. It's got that classic fender tone and in a home environment has plenty of head room to play clean (not overdriven). The one thing I'll mention is that a 15W tube amp is much louder than a 15W solid state. It's very difficult to dial in a great sound and stay night-time-kids-sleeping or apartment-living-thin-walls quiet.
The other drawback is that the stock spring reverb is a little weak. You can swap that part out for a replacement part fairly easily and cheaply though. That's what I did, and I was happy with the results.
If those aren't concerns, I can recommend the Blues Jr amp whole heartedly, though you may want to consider either the NOS version or the progutarshop.com custom versions they offer from time to time, as they have better speakers.
If you need quieter practice, but really want a tube amp, there are a number of 5W, 3W, etc tube amps out there. I don't have any first hand experience with them, so I can't recommend a specific model.
If it's possible, it's always helpful to check out the amp in person at the local guitar store, using a guitar similar to the one you have.
Good luck!
Too Much?
This bass has crunch.


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Triple six is my numba you can read it on my tumblr
How I feel about living in the Northwest while everyone on Facebook is bitching about the heat on the East Coast.
I don't normally blog things that are straight up ugly, but these busted ass Seattle tattoos made me LOL. Also, how much does the space needle in the top left look like its in Bespin cloud city?
Sure, there are better pictures of Lake Union and the Seattle skyline under the Seattle tag, but this one was taken by ME. Basically you'll be wanting to frame it.
I stopped to take this picture of the I-5 colonnade next to my house with my phone, and a fucking crow flew so close to my head that I felt its wing brush my hair. Abject terror is great cardio, right?
I want this because of reasons.
This is why I miss Seattle, because Washington state is basically Middle Earth. I took this on vacation in the Olympic Peninsula a couple years ago, it was pretty epic.