First, let me make an apology for my prolonged absence. I have had a bit of a strange run of misfortune, due to a slight human error, that has left my mind elsewhere.
Anyhow, I just read an article about non-belief. Religion is undoubtedly good for the soul. It offers itself as a panacea to the problems the world throws at us, but does that mean the atheists among us are doomed? Are secular societies to be feared and avoided?
Religion, we are told, can prolong our lives and help keep our society in check. However, while people argue that godless societies devolve into a lawlessness and immorality, the best societies were some of the least religious countries in the world. Scandinavian countries, for instance, have the lowest church attendance rates, also the lowest rates in belief in God or Jesus or the Bible. If they did believe, that belief was weak.
Do secular societies descend into chaos and throw up nightmare states? Do drop me a line
Watch exclusive video of NATO jets following Russian Tupolev Tu-95 patrol planes, filmed from the cockpit of a Russian aircraft.
As you know, In August 2007, the Russian Air Force began flying long-range patrols through neutral international waters in the Atlantic Ocean. Vladimir Putin said that 15-years halt in long-range bombers’ patrols had affected Russia’s security as "other nations" had continued strategic aircraft missions. Vladimir Putin was presumably referring to the U.S. air patrols. Flights by strategic bombers were resumed by Russia, with many other close encounters and airspace disputes resulting near Alaska and Northern England.
This is the first time I watch such a demonstration. Taking into account current issues such as debates on Missile Defence Shield, will military conflicts be inevitable between NATO and Russia?
I was wondering what softwares Opera (as a distinct choice) fans use. What kind of Internet Security softwares (Antivirus, Firewall, etc.), Instant messenger, Internet utility, system utilities (to fix PC problems), video or sound editing software, Email provider and mobile brand do you have? You can any other sofware you like.
There are tons of online libraries that provide fiction, nonfiction and reference books at no charge. If you're seeking a book you can't find online or simply bored at don't know what to do, have a look at the following places to read free books online.
The Online Books Page The University of Pennsylvania's Online Books Page is one of the best places to read free books online. There are more than 30,000 English works available. All of them are formatted nicely and can be read right on your computer.
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg is the original producer of free electronic books. There are currently more than 25,000 books in the site's online catalog and 100,000 more titles available from Gutenberg's many partners and affiliates.
Questia Questia is probably best known as a resource for students and writers, but the site also hosts an outstanding library with more than 5,000 free books that can be read online. Offerings include classics and rare books.
Classic Book Library This free online library stocks the world's most treasured classics. Books are sorted by genre--children's literature, romance, mystery, science fiction and historical fiction--and include the writings of authors like L. Frank Baum and Jane Austen.
FullBooks.com FullBooks.com offers thousands of unabridged books that can be read for free online. All of the books are sorted by title. FullBooks.com also includes links to sites that have free reference books, science books and biographies.
Internet Public Library The Internet Public Library is a great place to access magazines, newspapers and reference works. Site visitors can also find nearly 100 links that will take them to websites offering free books online. Links are updated on a regular basis and include descriptions that make it easy to find what you are looking for.
I was really surprised to hear this news about an official request to Lithuanian government to provide a land lot to build an embassy for diplomats from space.
This is the first time I hear about UFO religion and Raëlian Movement. They believe human was 'engineered' by an intelligent civilization from the space. Well, I have studied Erich von Däniken's works (like Chariots of the Gods?) explaining life on Earth, including humans, was created scientifically by human-like extra terrestrials that are more scientifically advanced than us (and his books really make you think), but I didn't know a wide-spreading idelogy (a religion, as they call it) has been in practice recently.
Had you head about this? What's your interpretation and opinion about UFO religion and similar beliefs?
It's been quite a while I'm enjoying My Opera which let me find new friends and have good academic discussions with them - from philosophy to social phenomena. Thanks to everybody for the time you spent on my blog and on the topics.
I just started a Community group under the name Intellectual Discussions with the aim of bringing like-minded people as well as those of opposite and different ideas together, exchanging thoughts. You know what they say: if you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. Especially taking into account the fact that similar groups about these kinds of topics are all inactive in My Opera.
Right now, we have only 6 topics in group's forum. You can start the topic you're interested in right away.
I'm not advertising this group (although I may seem so) or seeking to increase my page's traffic and statistics. I'm just trying to discuss attentively and politely with friends on topics we all share interest on.
Please, take your time, look around and maybe you'll get inspired
The conflicting beliefs, that competition serves to drive the advancement of society thereby bringing wealth and happiness, and its counter, that competition acts by bring destruction and suffering are common place within society. The reality of competition is that it has both beneficial and detrimental manifestations; it comes in both constructive and destructive forms.
A common belief of those with a positive attitude towards competition is that competition acts as a significant force driving the individual towards competence and strength, however, this is only true in the case of constructive competition. But the problem with competition is that it only works if both competitors behave in this constructive fashion. If one competitor behaves constructively, while the other chooses to carry out destructive activities, since destruction is more effective than construction the constructive competitor would quickly lose. Therefore, no one can behave in a constructively competitive manner unless they can be assured that their competitor will behave likewise.
Unions
Competition is by far the most common strategy in nature. This occurs since constructive competition acts to make the members of a species stronger and hence more capable of out-competing other species which compete with them. Since other species are genetically different from each other, a given species can never trust another species to act constructively or non-competitively. Therefore, it is necessary for all such species to maximize the competitive power of their members in order to ensure that such members would be able to out-compete any competition from such other species. Any species failing to use constructive competition between its members would inevitably go extinct.
In a union, the members do not compete for “food”, they simply gather as much as they can and share what they gather. Because of this behavior, a union will more efficiently gather “food” than an equal number of individuals each working alone, and more over, the members of the union will be healthier since they do not have to deal with “starvation” if another member of the union gets to the “food supply” ahead of them. As such, a union of members will typically out-compete a large number of individuals.
The only time when constructive competition occurs within a union and individuals is during the union’s competition to be “the queen”. And so the individuals, by sacrificing the non-competitive advantage, maintain a greater individual competitive power, and so are able to survive despite the non-competitive strength of the union.
What makes this disadvantage of the union acceptable is the extremely close “genetic relationships” (personality, structure, as well as common characteristics I mean) between the members. Because of this close similarity in “genetics”, members of non-competitive structures gain relatively little by constructive competition between each other: with so little difference between the members, one member’s genes are generally equal to another’s in quality. Because of this, species (in which closely related individuals group together), will develop non-competitive behaviors within these groups, since doing so is of benefit; because such species can gain the advantage of non-competition for a minimal loss of individual competitive power.
Supporters as well as defiants of terms such as Union (locally or internationally) and even Globalization each make use of the concept competition and its different aspects to justify their ideas.
Most people believe in absolute laws and rules in this world: absolute moral laws or absolute thoughts about God, reality, existence, etc.
For man, to recognize reality is something relative. We human beings, in the position of living creatures and being dependent on fundamental living conditions, observe the truth from the life’s point of view - and whatever necessary and useful for it. Therefore, even from the most even-handed sight, every single truth is inferred unilateral and on our side.
Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the 2003 arrest of former Yukos executive Platon Lebedev was illegal on procedural grounds and must be annulled. The decision will have no impact on his imprisonment, however.
Russia has strengthened its borders with Georgia amid concerns that an armed squad might be sent from Georgian territory to commit terror acts in Russia.
Three-time Stanley Cup winner Sergey Fedorov, currently playing for Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the KHL, told RT that Canada are the favorites in the upcoming Winter Olympics.
Former colleagues at Bell Labs are now involved in a bitter row over who deserved this year’s Nobel Prize for inventing the CCD matrix, the heart of modern digital imaging.
While the Russian football season ended a few weeks ago, people are still talking about the debut of one youngster – Georgy Shchennikov from CSKA Moscow.
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