True Cures

So, it's been a while since I updated this blog. Some serious stuff has gone down... I'm seriously hating college, I've made plans to go skydiving, and I've stopped sucking so horribly at Modern Warfare 2.
So I've come here to post a little bit about David Flowers, creator of True Cures. Mister Flowers has recently taken it upon himself to join the JREF forums and start a thread about his ideas. I don't join in the conversation for a few pages (I'm Pure_Argent), but whatever.
Flowers is under the impression, like most alternative medicine peddlers, that Big Pharma is a lie. He goes a little further than most, though, and says that not only is Big Pharma a lie, but all treatments are lies - except his. Homeopathy and other "natural" medicines are just as much bunk as actual medicine. It's just that homeopathy and the like is slightly better than Big Pharma, because it uses True Cures.

True Cures' underlying principles are:
- there is no such thing as an incurable disease
- there are no genetic diseases, only pathogens passed on from parent to child
- the human immune system can defeat any disease by utilizing the 95% of the brain that is not used

Basically, True Cures consists of you saying certain words which subconsciously activate the "sleeping" parts of your immune system, thereby allowing it to destroy any invading pathogens and curing all disease. Besides the obvious fact that all of this is bullshit, Flowers himself is unable to explain how this is supposed to work.

So I've attempted to get Flowers to tell me how to cure myself of asthma, but nothing doing: he keeps dancing around the issue and focusing on tangential issues, like where the medicine farmers use comes from. If you're interested, go ahead and read the thread.

Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!

THAT WAFFLE I JUST ATE

WAS AS BIG AS MY HEAD

Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!

The Vatican

So there's a big debate going on right now about what should be done about the Pope. Apparently, he was involved in covering up the sexual abuse of children. The Roman Catholic church has been jumping through hoops of all kinds to try and throw blame at anyone but themselves.
Actually, their mental gymnastics are pretty entertaining to watch, especially this bit. Apparently, everyone who doesn't approve of the Vatican condoning child abuse is secretly a pro-abortion homosexual.
Anyway, there's a huge debate going on in one of the forums I frequent about whether or not the Pope should be arrested for being an accessory to/aiding and abetting child abuse. I, personally, think that he should. He's no different than any other head of state, and he blatantly covered up hundreds of cases of child sexual abuse.
And yet there are those who defend him. Why? No other head of state would have gotten away with this, short of iron-fisted dictators, and they would probably be attacked by various military personnel before long anyway. A city-state's government - at least, one which doesn't ascribe to the aforementioned dictatorial policies - is expected to hold itself responsible for its actions. The Vatican has done the exact opposite. And the head man himself was behind it all.
If this were, say, the United States, the President would be impeached within minutes. There wouldn't even be need for a formal vote. Everyone in the country would just scream "Yo! Obama! GTFO!" and he'd be like "Fo sho rly" and get gone. Pretty much the same thing would be expected in any other decent country.
But the Vatican expects special treatment. They expect the Pope to come out of this, if not pristine, then at least only bloodied - still alive, and definitely still in office.
They aren't even prosecuting him under Vatican law, which is the least that should be expected under the circumstances. He should be taken to trial and placed before a jury. But he won't be. The Vatican is a theocracy, and the Pope is its high priest. He is the law, as far as they are concerned.
But this is clear abuse of the law to further a political agenda. The Vatican's policy was never meant to defend child molesters, and the Pope is making a mockery of that intent. If he has any decency, he will allow himself to be removed from the office - or, at the very least, placed on trial.
Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!

David Mabus

He stalks me, I swear it. No matter where I go, it seems that he finds me and begins his spam campaign anew. First it was the JREF forums, then it moved to the Facebook group "Reason-Based Atheism", then to the Atheism fan page, then to NationStates Forums, then to DiscussTheParanormal, then to The Thinking Atheist forums... Seriously, after a while it just gets creepy. Is he monitoring my internet activity or something?
...If so, he'll probably start blackmailing me soon.

>_>

Then again, I'm probably just suffering from confirmation bias. Mabus is famous for spamming pretty much every site on the internet, and I visit a lot of different discussion forums. Odds are that I'll run into him a lot.
What's funny, though, is that he actually bothers to come up with different usernames for all these sites. On places like Facebook, it's understandable, as he gets banned fairly quickly and has to keep inventing sock puppets. But on sites like TTAF, he doesn't even start out as David Mabus. He's calling himself "lambyjones22". I mean, what's the point? He never makes an attempt to pretend that he's doing anything more than spamming his usual bull.
It might be understandable if he was actually talking - I myself use a lot of different usernames all around the internet - but he's not even varying his stuff a little bit. He copy-pastes the same thing, verbatim, all over the net. Why not keep your username the same, too? It must get confusing, trying to remember the names and passwords of all your socks.
Anyway, there's a link to this blog in my signature over on TTAF. If he ever bothers to look at anything, he might be reading this. So... HAI MABUS! WAZZUP?

Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!

Fear of Failure

I think that's my problem, honestly. I keep promising myself that I'll do better in my classes, that I'll get my work done on time and make sure it's quality stuff... and I do, for a while.
Then something goes wrong.
Whether it's my fault or not, something happens, and everything goes to hell. I miss a homework assignment, I get sick and miss a quiz, I realize that I slept through a class... whatever it is, it throws me off, and my grades tank. Not just in the class that I screwed up (or got unlucky) in, but all of them.
I hate it, but I don't know what to do about it. The only thing I can think of is to take a trip to the counselor's office here on campus and hope that they have some tips. At this point, though, this semester is probably unsalvageable.
Thanks to everyone at the JREF chat room for all your support. It's reached the point where I just can't talk to my parents about it any more, because I can't stand their reactions. Your combination of sympathy and tough love has helped a lot.
I'm going to try to raise my grades as much as possible in what little time there is left in the semester, but I don't think that there will be much change. All I can do is visit my counselor, try to get over this and hope that I'll be able to suppress it next semester.

Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!

What the World Needs Right Now

Better science fiction and fantasy. No, scratch that. Better books in general. There simply aren't enough good authors around.
But science fiction and fantasy are the two genres being hit the hardest. There seems to have been an influx of authors who write science fiction and fantasy because they like the flash rather than the substance. They don't understand that truly great fiction is not about the magic, or the technology, or the creatures you can dream up. It is about the story and its content.
No one cares how epic the robot's design is or how specific you make its blueprints' descriptions. We care about the story itself, and good stories are not made by flash. I hate picking up a novel and finding out that it is the literary equivalent of Transformers 2. What's even worse is when that book has rave reviews plastered all over the inside of the jacket cover.
Because what this says to me is that people enjoy this crap. That depresses me. To know that there are people out there who enjoyed Transformers 2 was bad enough, but to know that there are professional critics, who are employed professionally to separate the good from the bad when it comes to entertainment, who enjoyed it as well is simply soul-crushing.
Unfortunately, the trend towards stories focusing on robots and wizards rather than actual story seems to be continuing. Until a new author comes forth - one with some actual talent - I'll stick with Simmons, Clarke and Heinlein, and, of course, Pratchett.

Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!

RLing on MyLo

It's a bad idea, mmkay?

WARNING: HUGE AMOUNTS OF MAFIA JARGON AHEAD

When you're down to a two-person difference between town and Mafia, you don't random Lynch. It is not a good idea. Under any circumstances. The only time that it's okay to Lynch on MyLo is when you have a cleared investigative role and no roles that could screw up their reports. You know why? Because it's MyLo. You do not Lynch on MyLo. You Lynch when you have a mis-Lynch, or when it's LyLo, but never when it's MyLo.
There's a reason it's called MyLo, remember? MyLo is mis-Lynch-and-Lose. You don't Lynch a random person on MyLo without good reason. You especially don't attempt to do so, then claim that the guy telling you what a moron you are is a noob.

Yeah, I'm a little ticked right now. Lookin' at you, RICHARD.

Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!

Facebook Philosophers

Well, I had already made my opening blog post for today, but I feel the need to make another.

If you've ever been on a Facebook group or fan page that deals with a serious subject - science, religion, politics, or something along those lines - odds are that you've dealt with a Facebook Philosopher at some point. You may not have called them that, but you probably recognized them for what they were: smarmy, arrogant jerks with a rudimentary understanding of philosophy and the idea that they occupy the intellectual high ground, despite all evidence to the contrary. They often drop names like Descartes, Nietzsche and Kant, and compare themselves favorably to Einstein, Newton and Hawking. They often challenge the existence of things such as causality and claim that they have falsified both Einsteinian and Newtonian theories of gravity.

They are, quite possibly, the most annoying people in the world.

Fortunately, you have me. I can show you how to spot one and to deal with one. However, before we begin, be warned: they are not harmless. While they are definitely wrong on the vast majority of things they post, they have the perfect mixture of condescending arrogance and lofty knowledge to pull it off - and to make you look very, very silly if you are not careful. Approach them with extreme caution. When it comes to trolls, these are the equivalent of a Very Ancient Red Dragon. They are best dealt with when you have backup.

HOW TO SPOT A FACEBOOK PHILOSOPHER

- They often attempt to establish their intellectual dominance through name-dropping, commonly referencing prominent philosophers and criticizing you for not being immediately familiar with their works. Most commonly, they reference Kant and Descartes.
- Constant claims of "You cannot prove anything. All your ideas are based on faith. Everything in the universe is subjective. Descartes proved it."
- Claims of being the most intelligent person on the board.
- Often says that they have falsified General Relativity and Newtonian mechanics, that they are members of prominent physics forums and/or that everyone they know is absolutely floored by their staggering intellect.
- Constant use of terms such as "epistemology" and "ontology".

HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM

This is difficult to do, but not impossible. Just follow a few simple rules:

1) Use the Buddy System.
Facebook Philosophers are difficult to tackle alone. The sheer volume of bullshit that they generate will confuse even the best debaters eventually. You will slip up, but having friends around helps to mitigate this. They can point out holes in your arguments and give you a chance to fix them before the Philosopher takes the opportunity to dodge the issue entirely, claiming that your mistake is an excuse to ignore you forevermore.

2) Don't be intimidated.
The use of obscure philosophical terms and references to prominent thinkers of bygone eras is common amongst Facebook Philosophers. This often gives them the appearance of being much too smart to even attempt to debate. In reality, they most likely do not understand the philosophy themselves. They have probably taken one or two philosophy courses in college and decided that they are now smarter than everyone else. Their understanding of the topics is likely to be shallow and easily exposed if you can get past the basics. If you don't have the time to learn the philosophy yourself, see if anyone you know can refute it.

3) Ignore name-dropping.
As I've said above, Descartes, Einstein and Kant are all commonly referenced by Facebook Philosophers. When they aren't regurgitating bastardized versions of their philosophy and/or theories, Facebook Philosophers will respond to your posts with a response along the lines of "Read some Kant. Then you'll understand how stupid that was." While they may be correct and you are misunderstanding the subject, odds are that you have simply pressed them farther than they can carry the argument. Do some research to confirm that your position is correct. If you can't spot any obvious flaws, then the Philosopher is running for cover because they can't defend their position, and the name is simply a smoke bomb to cover their hasty retreat.

4) Use logic.
This is something that a lot of people forget to do, not because they are stupid, but because the Facebook Philosopher has become a master at confusing people. For example, a common claim is that the entirety of mathematics is based on assumptions rather than actual data. If you do not accept 1 + 1 = 2, they claim, the entirety of mathematics falls apart, but 1 + 1 = 2 has no empirical evidence for its truth.
This is total bullshit, of course, but most people will become wrapped up in a debate about the nature of reality rather than simply pointing out the simple fact that math is not based on assumptions. For evidence of one plus one equaling two, all you have to do is hold up a finger. Then hold up another finger. How many fingers are you holding up?
Voila. Experimental confirmation of the basis of mathematics. You can repeat that experiment as many times as you want: you'll always get evidence that 1 + 1 = 2.

So there you go. Hopefully this will help you the next time you run across one of these supremely annoying trolls.

Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond
- Translation of troll pictograms
Terry Pratchett, Thud!

Cash Flow, Social Lives, and Majors... and Introductions

Well, this is strange. I have a problem, but it's not something that most would consider a problem.

I have too much money.

Yeah, I know. I said it was weird.

Anyway, it makes sense in this situation. See, I'm a college student, and one of the requirements for living on-campus is that you pay a certain amount for food. This is put into an account that you can withdraw funds for to pay for food.
Pretty straightforward, right?
Not really. See, it's use-or-lose. But I haven't been using much, so it looks like I stand to lose. Specifically, I stand to lose $1,202.70. That is, unless I can find some way to spend it before the end of the semester.
So I'm basically buying everyone food. And by "everyone", I mean "random people". I buy Goldfish and give them to random strangers. I figure, hey, I can't use this stuff, but I'll be damned if I'm giving this university over a thousand dollars for free.

There is an upside to this, though. My social life is getting a huge boost. I'm making friends all over the place. You'd be surprised how much people like you when you walk up to them in the street and push some Oreos into their hands. I'm getting a reputation as "the Food Guy", on top of my previous reputation of "that one atheist who got into a shouting match with the sidewalk preacher" (I was totally justified - no, really, I was - but that's another story). Perhaps I'll finally be able to meet some girls.
HEY. I saw that look.
Well, no, I didn't.

Anyway. It's not my fault that I can't meet any women. Seriously. I'm an engineering major. Do you have any idea how few female engineers there are in the first place, let alone in computer engineering? Let me give you a hint: not many.
Okay, there's two. One is married, though, so she doesn't count, and the other is a rather militant young-Earth creationist. Neither prospect really appeals to me. One would cause constant friction because of religious differences, while the other would result in my shattered carcass being found in an alleyway after her husband found out.
So my only options right now are elective courses. And the elective courses won't help me meet chicks either. I did meet one girl who was funny, smart and pretty in one class, and we hit it off, but it turned out that I was attending the wrong course.
How was I supposed to know? I mean, the two classes were taking place at the same time, had the same syllabus, had identical rooms and were literally right next to each other. Funny, and an entertaining story, but not really that fun to be the subject of.

There's a slight chance of change in the future, though. I'm considering switching majors. Biology seems like it would be a much better fit for me. The classes I'm taking simply... bore me. Animals, on the other hand, don't, so Bio looks like the best option for me. And there are many more girls in Bio courses than CECS.

...Oh, yeah. I forgot to introduce myself (not that anyone will read this blog). I'm Mister Shine, variously known as Unbeliever, Pure_Argent, and TheWildMagic around the internet. I am a skeptic, an atheist, a gamer, and a geek. I'm also very fond of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which is where I got my username: in Thud!, "Mister Shine - Him Diamond!" is a message found scrawled on walls by various members of the troll community. It turns out that Mister Shine is their code name for Diamond, King of Trolls, who has come to the city where the book takes place in order to avert a war between dwarves and trolls. The title of my blog comes from the same book. The full thing is a troll legend about the coming of Mister Shine:

Him who mountain crush him no
Him who sun him stop him no
Him who hammer him break him no
Him who fire him fear him no
Him who raise him head above him heart
Him diamond