Noah and the flood.

April 4, 2014 //
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I expect you all know the story of the flood.
For those who feel the need to refresh their memories here is the original version.

Lately people have given up reading so some guy felt the need to use another medium in order to convey the essence of this story. Or just saw a good opportunity to make a buck? Maybe both? Anyway…

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Reactions have started to flow: “Why our Youth Group won’t be going to see Noah!”
Make an effort and do read that post. It’s really worth it.

Then somebody put THE question: “Does anyone really believe there was an ark?”

Here is my answer:

Yes, I do believe there was an ark, only it wasn’t ‘made out of wood’.
In fact I see the entire Bible as a very powerful metaphor.
Coming back to this particular instance, for a considerable amount of time people thought that children come from God and that intercourse was just for fun.
By specifically asking Noah to bring animals in pairs the Bible makes it perfectly clear that even if God’s will might have something to do with the whole process for a child to appear two parents of opposite sex are a must. Besides ‘the Word being spoken’ some actual, ‘material’ conditions must be met for anything of substance to come into being.
Furthermore, the fact of the matter is that Noah basically saved himself. It was he who build the ark. God could have ‘miraculously’ saved him, alongside some animals but no, he had Noah do all the work.
I understand this passage of the Bible as a warning: don’t expect anyone to do your job for you and it is you who are the sole responsible for the well being of the world around you.

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Categories 1989 and the Global Financial Crisises., Psychology, The world as described in jokes

“We’ve moved from a cost culture to a customer culture,”

April 2, 2014 //
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“During the hearing, a lawmaker read out an internal company e-mail saying that a 90-cent per-piece increase that would have fixed the flawed part wasn’t justified by the offsetting 10 cents to 15 cents in warranty savings. Barra, 52, said the GM she inherited three months ago would never condone executives opposing fixes that might have saved lives because they’re too expensive.”

We all know were the ‘cost culture’ has taken the ‘old’ GM: into the ground.
I’ll be blunt on this one. In fact it is not about minimizing the costs. That is not only rational but also natural. The real problems arise from ‘maximizing profits’, sometimes at “all costs”. Non financial costs that is. I.e. lives. Human lives in this case.

And this will keep on happening until we’ll finally understand that profits are good – inexorable even – but only as long they are an indicator for being on the right track towards long time survival (sustainable growth if you want to call it that way).

Allowing for the customers to get killed just for the sake of some pennies shaved from the costs is an extreme but compelling symptom of the present confusion. Short time profits, made at the expense of the customers, can be extremely dangerous.

Eventually they’ll kill the business itself, not just the customers.

PS Click on the highlighted quote, or here, and read the entire Bloomberg article. It’s worth it.

 

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Categories 1989 and the Global Financial Crisises., Economy, Psychology

Innocence

April 1, 2014 //
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Some believe innocence is lost when becoming sexually active.

Some others understand, mostly the hard way, that being innocent means not being able to discern crooks from trustworthy people and that sometimes this condition cannot be cured.

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Categories 1989 and the Global Financial Crisises., Psychology, yes but

“The birds and the bees”

April 1, 2014 //
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“But what, you may ask, has the early and welcome arrival of bees and blossoms to do with food?”

 

PS the video starts in earnest only after 0:30.

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Categories Bancuri, Psychology, The world as described in jokes

One joke that covers all corners… of the world

March 31, 2014 //
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Little Akio

The teacher said “Let’s begin by reviewing some history. Who said: ‘Give me Liberty, or give me Death’?” She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Little Akio, a bright foreign exchange student from Japan, who had his hand up: “Patrick Henry, 1775 ” he said. “Very good!”

“Who said: ‘Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth’?” Again, no response except from Little Akio: “Abraham Lincoln, 1863”. “Excellent!” said the teacher continuing.

“Let’s try one a bit more difficult. Who said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’?” Once again, Akio’s was the only hand in the air and he said: “John F. Kennedy, 1961”.

The teacher snapped at the class “Class, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Little Akio isn’t from this country and he knows more about our history than you do”.

She heard a loud whisper: “Fuck the Japs”. “WHO SAID THAT? I want to know right now!” she angrily demanded. Little Akio put his hand up “General MacArthur, 1945”.

At that point, a student in the back said “I’m gonna puke”. The teacher glares around and asks “All right! Now who said that?” Again, Little Akio says “George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991”.

Now furious, another student yells “Oh yeah? Suck this!” Little Akio jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to the teacher “Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!”

Now with almost mob hysteria someone said “You little shit! If you say anything else, I’ll kill you!” Little Akio frantically yells at the top of his voice “Michael Jackson to the children testifying against him, 2004”.

The teacher fainted.

As the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone said “Oh shit, we’re screwed!” Little Akio said quietly:

– “Albertans, if Justin Trudeau gets elected PM”.

– “The people of Pakistan, when Zardari became President, 2008.”

– “The City of Toronto, if Rob Ford gets re-elected as mayor.”

– “The Egyptian people, 4 month after Moursi was elected.”

– “The Australian people, when Gillard was elected, August 2010.”

–  ‘The Bermudian people, November 9, 1998.’ …

.

.

.

“What’s the meaning of all this?”, you probably ask yourself right now!
Well…how about globalization going on so well that we all share the same problem?

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Categories politics, The world as described in jokes

‘Freedom’ according to Orson Scott Card

March 28, 2014 //
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“”There are people who do things for fear of the lash.

There are people who do things for fear they will lose their families or their lives. There are people bought and sold. Are they not slaves?”

“They are slaves to their passion. Their fear rules them. What power do you have over me if I am not afraid of your lash? Am I your slave, if I am not afraid to lose my family? I obey you, faithfully, completely, because I choose to; am I your slave? And when you come to hate me for my freedom, which is greater than yours, and you command me to do what I will not do, then I stand before you in disobedience. Punish me, then; I choose to be punished. And if the punishment is more than I am willing to accept, then I will use such force as is necessary to stop the punishment, and no more. But never, for a moment, have I done anything but what I choose to do.”

“Then no one is as strong as you.”

“Not so. I’ve given my obedience to God, and use my best judgment to carry out his purpose, when I have some understanding of it. But those who have chosen to give their obedience to their passion, or to their memory, they freely choose to obey. The glutton freely overfills his belly, the pederast feeds on innocence, and the fearful man obeys his fear-freely.”

“You make it sound as if our desires were separate from ourselves.”

“They are. And if you don’t know that, then you might well become Unwyrm’s slave after all.”

“I know something of the doctrine of the Vigilants.”

“I am not talking about a school of doctrine. I’m talking about the answer I gave Heffiji. The reason Unwyrm calls to me.””

 

This excerpt is from “Wyrms” by, of course, Orson Scott Card and the reason for which Unwyrm, the bad character, ‘called’ every individual with some  real understanding of the world was that Unwyrm was trying to institute the ultimate dictatorship upon the planet Imakulata: Imagine a place run by a species whose members share a common consciousness and know all that has been discovered about that place.

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Categories Culture, Psychology

History repeats itself

March 28, 2014 //
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students of history

 

Not that simple…
Those who have understood something from studying history already know that eventually people will learn to avoid repeating the same mistakes… or else…
It is true that new mistakes appear all the time!

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Categories 1989 and the Global Financial Crisises., Psychology, The world as described in jokes

‘NSA proof internet platform’?!?

March 28, 2014 //
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“MIT researchers built NSA proof internet platform.

Major online security and data hacks exposing sensitive user information have become commonplace in the digital age thanks to criminals and governments alike, but researchers at MIT think it’s time to change that….”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/26/mit-researchers-build-nsa-proof-internet-platform/#ixzz2xFiTNUjA

 

I have a strong hunch that if those guys at NSA weren’t so ‘aggressive’ at collecting all kind of data all from all over the world it is highly possible that people wouldn’t have gotten so pissed off about the whole thing as to invent this contraption…
Now, with this new tool at their disposal, conspirators have gotten a gulp of fresh air at the expense of the rest of us…

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Categories politics, yes but

Pe ce se bazeaza increderea

March 26, 2014 //
0

Pe timp si pe experienta lucrului facut asa cum trebuie:

 

“Surowiecki ne spune că un sistem fiscal eficient se bazează în primul rând pe încrederea contribuabililor: în primul rând în Guvern că foloseşte banii judicios şi, în al doilea rând, în faptul că toată lumea respectă regulile jocului şi nu încearcă să trişeze. Dacă această încredere este erodată, atunci întreg sistemul se clatină şi merge către colaps”, punctează Gabriel Sincu.”

http://www.money.ro/aletra-72prc–dintre-antreprenori-considera-ca-mediul-fiscal-s-a-deteriorat_1257701.html

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Categories aici sunt banii dumneavoastra, Culture, Economy, politics, Psychology, Tara din care traim

Nedumeriri conjugale…

March 24, 2014 //
4

“Cum se ceartă femeile cu bărbații.”

Cica ‘barbatii sunt de pe Marte iar femeile de pe Venus’ dar daca tot s-au hotarat sa traiasca impreuna pe Pamant de ce nu se adapteaza oare noilor conditii?

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Categories Lumea descrisa prin bancuri, Psychology
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