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| Laughing at the Darkness: The Seriousness in Comedic Dissent | February 25, 2012, 11:11PM |
 by: Satchell |
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"Comedy, we have to admit, was never one of the most honoured of the Muses. She was in her origin, short of slaughter, the loudest expression of the little civilization of men" (15). So says Victorian-era English poet and novelist George Meredith. Comedy acts as a cultural indicator, as an elevation from stress, a dissenting force from authority, a method of ridicule, a way to highlight an issue and a vulgar expression of personal urges. Comedy, while having very many applications, can be used to incite important change during very dire and trying circumstances. It is because we exist in a world that is filed with strife and hardship that we need a seriously comedic response. All life ends in death- that is to say that there are no lasting actions in this world for a living being and that all struggle is just that, struggle. It is to this challenge that the true comic tries to address through the meeting of polar opposites as seen by the mixture of the always-laughing playboy and the never-laughing killjoy. Howard Jacobson, comic novelist and winner of the prestigious Man Booker prize explains during an interview called "The Return of the Wry" that the birth of comedy is the very same as the birth of tragedy. He explains that we enjoy things because they are invariably linked to their demise. If we (mortal men and women) were locked in a state of constant suspension from suffering, there would be nothing to rejoice and that would be an intolerable experience, somewhat akin to limbo. Therefore, to be successful in meeting these challenges, we must employ a kind of serious comedy that both aims to accomplish a goal and simultaneously ridicules itself and the situation with a dissenting merriment. As mentioned before, it is because we deal with difficult problems that we must laugh at them. In "Laughing All the Way to Freedom?: Contemporary Stand-Up Comedy and Democracy in South Africa", author Julia Katherine Seirlis tells a narrative of the struggles of South Africa during a period of racial separation known as apartheid, and the effects on stand-up comedians. Under apartheid, a comedian or any person critical of the government was jailed and/or beaten. Nelson Mandela, a comedian in his own right that laughs in the face of adversity, was part of "the struggle" which ended apartheid and started a new era of democracy in South Africa. Even in a democratic South Africa, it is still a very dangerous place to live. It is from this danger that South African comedians feel they have a right and an obligation to laugh about their situations. Comedian John Vlismas mocks the total lack of danger in Australia: "Australians have no natural predators. Nothing. I went to a game park and said, 'Show me a vicious beast. In my country, we have savage monsters: rhinos, buffalos, PAGAD. Vicious. Dangerous. I want to see a flatulent fanged foaming at the mouth'- and he showed me a wombat. This isn't a beast. I've got Nigerian friends. A wombat is not a beast. It looks like a Care Bear came home drunk and pomped a slipper." It's a point to note that PAGAD stands for People Against Guns And Drugs- a popular satiric reference to gangsters who use guns and drugs. This kind of humor is a total deviation from the seriousness of tragedy. During the interview with Howard Jacobson, he explains that when God casts Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, it symbolizes the basic tragic plot line, which is a fall from grace. Just as in many Greek tragedies a person or number of people aspire to rise above the toils and suffering of their low lives and end up having quite horrific things happen to them. In Howard's example, Adam and Eve are tempted by the fruit of Knowledge and because of this, they are cast out of the perfect garden. Comedy, contrastingly, is an acceptance of the world as it is and comedy often expresses this acceptance in it's vulgarity and body humor. Harry Levin is an emeritus professor of literature at Harvard University. In his essay "Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay on the Theory and Practice of Comedy" he asserts that the character of the killjoy is "the figure who seeks to block sex, youth, ... in general to arrest life's self-renewing autonomies. He is the potentially frightening but, in comedy, always futile agent of repressive authority, sterile formalism and legalism" (51). The playboy, the antithesis to the killjoy, is youthful, highly sexual (with emphasis on recreation over procreation), and celebrates folly, bodily functions and other sorts of "pointless" recreation. Levin and Jacobson simultaneously point out that neither by themselves are capable of understanding true comedy. It follows then, based on Jacobson's argument that comedy shares a source with tragedy, that neither the playboy or the killjoy could properly understand tragedy either. As Jacobson draws the comparison between living in the Garden of Eden and an intolerable life (similar to limbo without anything positive or negative about the world they live in), it would seem that a true comic must temper comedy with tragedy. Levin makes an important note that "The propensity towards ridicule seems to have been at it's strongest among the satirists in the Age of Reason" (50). This seems to be a strong support for the need of balance between reason and absurdity, that when one becomes prevalent, the other naturally rises to suppress it, to seek a natural harmony and to correct the system. Often, when the ruling favor is tipped towards rationality and structure, the laws that are enacted actually give power to dissent. A prime example of this is in "On the Uses of Obscenity in Live Stand-Up Comedy" by Susan Seizer. She asserts that the ban of foul language by the FCC changes certain language into a transgressive act, giving it power "in direct proportion to the extent to which they are cordoned off as taboo" (210). True and proper comedians, as outlined in this essay, must use both forces in balance while retaining both within themselves. Levin explains this balance where one side "generates satire, the latter alliance tends towards romance. Comedy is compounded of the interaction of the two, varying in its emphasis from one mode to the other" (96). We see, then, that comedy, proper comedy and not the playboy lightheartedness, as it's explained previously, doesn't aim to merely entertain or make light of the situation. Quite contrary, it seeks to address the dire and possibly life threatening circumstance with a balance of spritely wit and hard-nosed determinism. George Meredith sums up this balance by saying that "Genuine humor and true wit, require a sound and capacious mind, which is always a grave one" (15). It is with both of these tools that we, each of us true comedians, have the possibility to laugh at death and overcome overwhelming adversity. For without both, you have neither and are destitute in an unbearable world. Simply, to utilize merely foolishness or merely sternness would mean unsuccessful attempts towards one's aspirations. Levin highlights true comedy further with "The most protean aspect of comedy is its potentiality for transcending itself, for responding to the conditions of tragedy by laughing in the darkness" (132). The transcending properties of comedy are due to the "gestalten" nature of utilizing polar opposites towards a single goal. Gestalt is a German word that basically means the shape or figure of the whole with the important note that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The representation of the playboy mixed with the killjoy produces something that is beyond either of them individually. This is because individually neither is functional while both together are the near-definition of what it means to be functional. All things said and considered, in order to face off any great challenge of overwhelming proportions, we must meet, within ourselves, a balance of these two factors. Harry Levin called the combination the "Comic Spirit", which could almost be read as Cosmic Spirit because in the world of Nature as well as the work of man, there must be a balance of polar opposites. Cold and warm, up and down, black and white: none of these properties are capable of existing by themselves- none are functional alone and that would be the larger significance. This is a concept that is followed much farther than that of the South African comedian or the 17th Century English page. Without one, we can't have the other because each opposite is part of the same balance that all other life is held in, and that is truly something to laugh about in the dark. Jacobson, Howard. "Return of the Wry" Sydney Writers Festival 2011: Web, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Levin, Harry. "Playboys and Killjoys: An Essay to the Theory and Practice of Comedy." New York: Oxford UP 1987. Print. Meredith, George. "An Essay on Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit." The Pennsylvania State University 2003. Web. Seirlis, Julia Katherine. "Laughing All The Way To Freedom?: Contemporary Stand-Up Comedy And Democracy In South Africa." Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 24.4 (2011): 513-530. Academic Search Premier. Web. Seizer, Susan. "On the Uses of Obscenity in Live Stand-Up Comedy." Anthropological Quarterly 84.1 2011. 209-234. Academic Search Premier. web. | |
topic: Essays | |
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| America and the rest of the world (founded on the interwebbys) Not my work. | February 19, 2012, 4:17PM |
 by: dark_crow |
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Let me clarify that when I say America, I mean the United States of America, as a majority of people often do. Most people overlook the fact that America is actually a continent with a large number of interesting and varied countries that are not in the least bit as horrible as the USA. My complaints are exclusively targeted at the USA. Well, I complain about the Americans continually, and as far as I am concerned, with plenty of reason. I often say that I hate Americans, which is a bit of a heavy-handed statement and not entirely meant. In reality, there are plenty of nice and plenty of horrible people in every country. The difference is that American society and culture frustrates and annoys me immensely. So… The list: - Obsessive pride. This really irritates me. I’m British, and a major component of the British sense of humour is insulting yourself. It doesn’t really matter if you mean it or not (and often I do, we have lots of problems of our own (New fucking Labour, for example)) but it’s the actual act of mocking oneself. I just can’t see Americans being able to find the modesty. There are bloody flags everywhere. Let me just explain that in stark comparison, I can’t think of anywhere I know of within 10 miles where I can see the flag of my country being flown. It’s not because we don’t like our country or are not proud of it. We don’t need to demonstrate that pride continually. I almost applaud the sense of national pride that Americans have, but I don’t. It’s over the top and besides, I don’t think they have much to be proud of. - History. I realise that Americans try to make the most of what history they have, which is very minute. There are pubs in my home town that are older than the USA. Most of the buildings in the town centre are probably older than the USA. The Grammar school that I went to was founded in 700AD, that’s 1300 years ago. And that’s nothing. Nothing at all. The Great Pyramid, 4000 years old. Ancient Roman and Greek structures ranging from around 2000 years old (the Colosseum) to things like the Parthenon which is around 2500 years old and even neolithic structures in places like Scotland that can be around 6000 years old. The USA is a very VERY new country, and it needs to realise that fact. There is no history in the USA. So stop banging on about the founding fathers and whatever else you think is history. Anything in the USA absolutely pales in comparison to places elsewhere that absolutely ooze history. Jericho is over ten thousand years old, Istanbul is over five thousand years old, Athens, 5000, Jerusalem, 4000 and so on. - Culture and Society. American Culture is spreading across the globe like a virulent plague and Americanisation and Commercialisation are gradually destroying many places. American culture is cheap and nasty, American products are cheap and nasty, I like to use the xbox 360 as a relevant example. It feels cheap and shoddy, it looks cheap and shoddy, it breaks easily, its ugly, and it is designed and made with the express intent of making money for rich white men. It’s shit. The same can be said for American cars, electronic products, the whole bloody lot. American society is also very violent, America has had a very very gentle and calm history. List the number of times the USA has been invaded. List the number of empires that have conquered it, subjugated the local population and slaughtered dissidents. From every perspective, the USA has had a very sheltered and relaxed history. You can cry and whine about nasty Muslims blowing themselves up all you want, but it is nothing compared to, say, Africa which is ravaged by wars and massacres. Why, then, are there so many murders? Why do people need bloody guns? Carrying a gun around annoys me more than anything else. A gun is designed for the express purpose of killing. Some people carry them for “self defence”, perhaps of the opinion that it will deter another attacker. Ultimately though, you don’t address violent crime by allowing everyone to carry around a potential murder weapon. Lets remember that the murderer can buy guns too. - The illusion of benefiting the world. I will admit that there are a number of things invented by Americans that have benefited the world, but that list is very insignificant. Perhaps the only truly significant invention is artificial flight. The Wright brothers are the fathers of air travel, and air travel truly changed the world we live in. You can argue about various electronic technologies and the Internet, but these things are not exclusive to the USA. If you compare this to, say, the inventions of agriculture, music, metalworking, language and writing, maps, philosophy, gunpowder, sailing, government, steam power, steel, wheels and axles, sanitation, medicine, currency, printing, clocks, telephones and computers. All of these are important and critical inventions that drastically effect our lives and the world we live in. None of them have anything significant to do with the USA. Just to clarify again. I don’t hate America(ns) as such, but I do get very irritated by the country as a whole. Oh, and everyone is too bloody religious, but I’m an evil Atheist, so I’d obviously say that… | |
topic: Rants | |
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| Chrome Blue Screens and Other Strange Things | February 19, 2012, 1:25PM |
 by: eon |
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Some of you using the Google Chrome browser may have noticed your entire browser page turning blue when the new "alert" sound is played. This was because of some weird bug with Chrome and 'embed' tags. Long story short, it's fixed. I've tested the alert sound with FireFox, Chrome, IE and Safari. All seem to operate without issue now. The only one I can't seem to get to work right is Opera. (Sorry, Opera fans, I've given up on that one for now. There isn't any glitchy behavior, the sound just won't play!) I wasn't sure how many people might have disabled sound notifications because of Chrome "blue screening," so I toggled alert sound notices back on for all accounts. If you don't want to hear the alert sound, you'll need to disable it again through your Control Panel. (Sorry. Anyway, there were only 18 people who had disabled the sound!) In the future, I'll set up the ability to upload your own alert sound. Until then, report any bugs here! | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [16 comments] |
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| Happy Singles Awareness, its an article about love. | February 9, 2012, 1:48PM |
 by: lilithgothgirl |
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When you hear the word "Love" what do you think? Commitment? Myth? What is real love? Well, technically love is no more than a mere chemical cocktail in the brain. Love is a simple chemical reaction, but what an impact it makes on our lives! Love is life changing, mind boggling, and very easy to mistake for intense loathing. Before I really get into what I think real love is, I first want to cover the difference between love and lust. The desire to screw something isn't the same as loving it. The desire to mate is a human's primal instinct, but if no relationship has been established before two people "mate" they usually part ways shortly afterward. This is the difference between love and lust. Lust is for the moment, and love has longevity. Neither is more or less than the other, it just depends on what you want. The two aren't meant to be confused with each other. People who do confuse the two find themselves in disastrous relationships that end very badly. Chemically speaking, when you first meet that "special" person, dopamine (the pleasure chemical) is released in the brain. This chemical causes you to feel giddy, and euphoric. Norepinephrine is the chemical guilty for your racing heart, and adrenaline rush. Helen Fisher, an anthropologist and well-know love researcher from Rutgers University says that these two chemicals produce elation, intense energy, sleeplessness, craving, loss of appetite, and focused attention. She also says, "The human body releases the cocktail of love rapture only when certain conditions are met and men more readily produce it than women, because of their visual nature."(howstuffworks.com) Philosophically speaking, "Love is a many splendored thing."(frank sinatra) "It lifts us up where we belong."(Jack Nitzsche) "All you need is love."(beatles) I believe true love takes time and understanding. You cannot have real love without both. Love takes time because time brings a knowledge of the person that you wouldn't have otherwise. Time helps you learn what pleases them and what angers them. Time turns enemies into friends and separates the true friends, from the two faced liars. Time also brings an understanding of that person. If a couple has an understanding of each other, than the other smaller things like respect and communication come naturally. The secret to meeting an ideal someone is to not have a "type". If you look for the same kind of person, you will get the same results. That's why it's best to just have an open mind and "play the field". Selecting that ideal someone takes time and usually happens in unexpected places. The best thing to do is not commit yourself to one person until you are absolutely sold on them. While its best to not have a "type" it is great to have a "standard". Standards are personal boundaries that cannot be crossed. A good standard is not dating people who do drugs. These are really just rules of thumb to keep you away from the players and the bums. This truth goes for boys and girls. The secret to longevity in love is simply being stubborn. Short of abuse or neglect, you don't quit over the little things. You don't even quit over the "not so little" things. Some examples of little things would be meeting their ex, or they eat all the cookies. Some examples of the "not so little" things would be that they lost your debit card in walmart parking lot, or they embarrassed you in front of your friends. The secret to a clean break up is being direct. "I'm leaving, good bye" usually works. Say "no" when they ask if they can still be friends. While that may seem cold, saying "yes" is a lie, because, you don't want to be friends with that person, you just want to make them feel better. After the initial break up spend awhile away from that person to allow any remaining hurt feelings or general feelings to die off. Post breakup friendship is possible, there just needs to be a good set of boundaries in place for both parties. Friendship may seem awkward at first, mostly due to intimacy and sex. Confine yourselves to only hugging ,talking about your healths, and talking about the weather. This will help everyone recover from the break up with dignity while still allowing for a good friendship. Whether your relationship lasts forever or not, the lesson love teaches us is to have fun, and be spontaneous. Life is meant to be lived, so keep your mind and heart open. After a few heart breaks, it is hard to keep yourself open to new love. We must learn to quit living in the past, and live for the moment. When it comes to love, there are no rules and no limits, so have FUN! | |
topic: Advice | |
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| Network Outage | February 9, 2012, 10:05AM |
by: eon |
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Last night, around 10:30 PM EST, the datacenter where our site is hosted experienced some kind of serious network failure that lasted all night long. I'm still waiting for details as to the cause, but I'm being told that everything should now be stable. Sorry for all the downtime! | |
topic: Site News | |
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| Attempting to intersect Science and Psi.. | February 7, 2012, 1:52AM |
 by: Jareth |
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To the Editor: If I could request this go directly to my Articles listing and forgo a headline or advertisement. I submit this for open review by the curious and invited. Let me open by stating that this article is a work in progress, essentially a draft. It's been in production for a few years and only recently have I began to place it to written word. A question has been posed to my awareness: What is the relationship between frequency and a persons general state of being? This was brought on by a curiosity as to why people in various "new age" and "occult" circles and beliefs will constantly say to "raise your vibration" to improve a state of being. This document will not be in regards to the origin of this belief. Instead it will be focused on the more realistic effects of vibrational state and physical/spiritual existence from the viewpoint of an electrician who has dabbled in occult, electronics, and physics theories. So then, what is the causal relationship between energy frequency, or vibration, and physical existence? Answering this question would require us to have some idea of the true nature of our existence. However THAT requires a confidence in the nature of reality. Most things that exist in our awareness are three dimensional in construction and exist within the confines of a 4th, time. For these to manifest in truth there must be a supporting framework, or structural mechanism. A reality. This is what traditional temporal mechanics leads me to believe. The nature of that reality dictates the parameters of the possibilities available to exist in. Reality can be conjectured upon by extrapolation from the analysis of the world in our awareness. So; to discern if this, our existence and thus our reality, is “real”or illusion, it would seem necessary to have multiple points of view. Assuming that what we exist in is real and not a willful illusion, that then leaves the proverbial doors wide open as to the possibilities in regards the previous questions. Even from our limited point of view on this existence, a wide number of modes of existing seem mathematically possible when considering the theoretical nature of reality. Our existence, as far as any scientific endeavor has been able to determine, has an ordered electromagnetic basis. Meaning the base creative elements herein are a seemingly structured chaos of electromagnetic energy of increasingly, and seemingly endless simplistic depth. The continuing layers are incompletely, but quite well described by Quantum Mechanics; which also describes very coherently the possibility, even the necessity for parallel or alternate realities with similar laws of existence as we follow and observe here, as well as the means for observing and travelling to them. Electromagnetism by its very nature allows for numerous modes of energetic existence. Which is basically reality in general as we now know it, since matter is only modulated energy as described by Einstien's theory of relativity. The “Ordered Chaos” comes into play when you analyse the base constituents of sub-atomic particles such as quarks, muons, buons, and the even smaller items of whose names elude me. The effects and existence of these are generally known and repeatable (order) though their actions and reasons for existence are not even close to being fully understood or explainable (chaos), else this would not be a theory, but a fact. To review this from a slightly different angle, look at junior and high school science education. This shows that all matter is composed of atoms. These atoms are composed of what are called Sub Atomic particles, proton, neutron, electron. When you alter the electron or proton count of an atom, it becomes an Ion which then alters its Electromagnetic properties. Electricity is electron flow. Electrons either flow from point A to point B (DC current, like a battery) or oscillate, or vibrate, between points (AC, like the wall outlet). Frequency, or vibrational rate is then, of course, the speed with which an electron goes back and forth. There is a couple of different relations between frequency and physical reality. The most easily seen is in Harmonics. Some fairly detailed studies have shown a very strong reaction in physical objects to certain frequencies. Of course you will note the vibration of your surroundings to a beat of a pounding stereo. Then there is the more classical shattering of glass to very high frequencies. Other studies have shown a wide range of effects on animate objects by frequencies of various types, either accoustic or electromagnetic. These range from plants growing voraciously to insects being put to miserable, twitching death. The effects on humans are strangely, not widely disseminated. Volunteers are wanted! As for the non-physical effects, obliquely one needs only look to your everyday magnet, speaker, tube TV, or somesuch. Not the gross physically observed effect, what causes it. The electromagnetic field itself. First of all, seeing these effects proves definitively there can be cause and effect without direct physical action. Secondly, it proves that a field can effect physicality. Now, what does vibration have to do with this? Lets delve deeper into that. To begin this part, I'll say that the intended effect typically sought by increasing vibration can be had also just by increasing the strength of vibration, which is also stated as an increased amplitude, or switching to a harmonic of your vibration. Most resistence to a state of being can be classified as the result of a Standing Wave (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_wave). As the referenced link can point out, a standing wave is in essence a cancellation, or attenuation of a frequency by introduction of a matching frequency at a matching amplitude from an opposing direction, or point of origin. To whit: a 120Hz wave at 32 dB amplitude (strength) travelling from point A to point B along a wire will cease to transfer energy if a wave of the same specifications is introduced from point B to point A. This effect is used quite extensively in everyday electronics, as a matter of fact. Computer network cabling is constructed using UTP wiring, or Unshielded Twisted Pair. Which means that there is no electromagnetic shielding, such as foil or wire braid, outside of the actual network wiring. An example of a shielded wire is your TV cable. The actual conductor is the thick copper wire at the center, the shield is surrounding that. The twisted pair part describes how each wiring set, or pair are associated. Typical LAN cable has 8 wires paired off, 2 a piece. Each two are twisted together and carry the signal for that circuit. Like any electrical circuit, there has to be a supply and a return or + and -, hence the pair. By twisting each pair together any possible electromagnetic interference to other devices is reduced or eleminated. This is by the same principal as a standing wave. As current travels through a wire it produces a magnetic field around it. If of the proper frequency and strength it will interrupt your stereo or TV reception. By twisting the + and – wires around eachother the magnetic fields produced counteract eachother. This also has the added benefit of reducing the amount of noise permitted in the wiring by outside induced magnetic fields. To hit on the concept of Harmonics a little more since it is essential portion of this discussion. Harmonics can have more of an effect on the frequency compnents of a waveform than the actual power delivery of it. Lets definte a harmonic. "A harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, i.e. if the fundamental frequency is F, the harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, . . . etc." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic February 5, 2012) A more strictly electrical discussion of harmonics is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonics_(electrical_power) More simply put, you have a 100Hz frequency, that is the 1st harmonic. The 2nd harmonic would be 200Hz, 3rd would be 300Hz, etc etc. Each percentage increase is based on the Fundamental and not the previous harmonic. As is illustrated here: http://www.rense.com/products/AboutFreque-08.pdf Harmonics that are complimentary or otherwise not opposed and out of phase do not essentially effect power delivery, or the amount of energy in question. What they CAN do, depending on the phase orientation of the frequencies injected into a stream, and the amount, or percentage of the harmonic being introduced, is something that is also referred to as wave shaping. This causes the frequency wave to alter shapes from say, a sinusoid, to a triangle wave. Or will introduce more peaks into an existing trangle wave. Or any number of shape changes. I would imagine this to not have an all together pleasing effect on whoever is experiencing this. | |
topic: Essays | |
[reply] [4 comments] |
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| Updated Alerts Functionality | February 4, 2012, 4:28AM |
by: eon |
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The alerts you receive at the top of your screen--for new profile comments, picture comments, notices, etc.--have some new functionality. First, it's no longer necessary to refresh the page to check for new alerts, as they will now refresh on their own. This is nice if you like to switch around on a few different browser tabs and occasionally peek in on your DS; you won't have to keep hitting refresh to see if you have new comments. Secondly, when new alerts arrive, a soft chime is played. Again, this is helpful if you tab around a lot and want some kind of notice when you're on another tab. If you decide you don't like the new sound notice, just visit your Control Panel and look at Edit Profile -> Sound Notices. Enjoy . . . | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [17 comments] |
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| Information on our rights and our country and government | December 29, 2011, 5:09PM |
by: Jareth |
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For your use and dissemination. Maybe someone else can see where I am not looking at this properly. As written in the references below, all it will take is interpretation a specific way by the courts, and we can witness one of the worst legal catastrophes in our history as a nation. The references below are current law. Reference HR 1540: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr1540enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr1540enr.pdf Section 1021 - p.265 (subtitle D - Counterterrorism) pp.(a) - (e) Section 1022 - p.266 - pp(a)-(b) (these paragraphs and subparagraphs are quite vague in a legal sense as to WHO qualifies, and paragraph (b) does indeed only remove the REQUIREMENT and does nothing to PROHIBIT these actions on citizens or legal residents. Reference S.J. Res 23 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ40/pdf/PLAW-107publ40.pdf This broadly defines the powers of the President in a loosely defined war against countries, organizations, and individuals deemed a threat, without any real criteria. There is no provision in this to protect American citizens or legal residents. Reference H.J. Res. 55 Which by the opening statement, is a complete revision of the original War Powers Resolution of 1973 Provided for references made in Resolution 23 above. http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hjres55ih/pdf/BILLS-112hjres55ih.pdf | |
topic: Various | |
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| It's that time again, ain't it? | December 19, 2011, 12:18PM |
by: eon |
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Well kids, I hope you've all finished with your finals and are ready to cozy up next to a nice fire for the cold days ahead. You wouldn't guess it snows much in Texas, but we happen to be getting quite a lot of it this year. (Would have been nice, all this precipitation, back in July when we were, you know, in the throws of a drought!) So for me, at least, it's looking like a snowy holiday. A hot apple cider sounds great, doesn't it? Spiked, of course. May your holidays be safe, merry and bright. | |
topic: Site News | |
[reply] [16 comments] |
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| The DS Keyring: You Need One. | December 19, 2011, 12:18PM |
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by: eon |
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topic: Various | |||
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