This was posted on an S&M dating website. Don't ask me how I got it. ;)
"As a submissive, i do not get much email from other submissives or many submissives viewing my page. However, if you are a submissive and you come across this, read on, because there are some things to beware of in the S&M scene that have recently come to my attention.
"BDSM is supposed to be Safe, Sane, and Consensual. That means first and foremost, no matter HOW BADLY you want your punishment, whatever it may be, it must NOT do things to you that CANNOT BE REPEATED because they CANNOT BE HEALED. ANY situation that requires medical expertise to carry out, for instance, MUST only be carried out by licensed medical personnel. That includes any kind of amputation, castration, surgery, or other forms of extreme injurious procedure with PERMANENT results. Other examples of extremely dangerous play you should not entrust to ANYONE without knowing them, knowing they have expertise, and having an ongoing and established Safe Sane Consensual relationship with them first include: Asphyxiation, Hanging, Branding, Burning, Knife play, Crucifixion, Ice Bath, Starvation, Cattle Prods, or any other play that obviously draws blood, stops breathing for over 30 seconds, or subjects the body to extreme temperature, extreme trauma or a current of electricity. These things are DANGEROUS and can END YOUR LIFE if done improperly or by persons with MALICE towards you!!!
Remember it is up to you first to save your own life. If you entrust your life to some person you met in a bar because you were horny and itching to play, you can wind up DEAD or WORSE. Remember your rights as a person -- you ALWAYS have the RIGHT to say no, and at the first sign that someone you don't know won't respect your rights, GET AWAY FROM THAT PERSON. You do not want to wind up in a situation where you will have to be rescued by your friends or the police from some black hole where they can't even find you. IT DOES HAPPEN. Play it safe!!!
Remember, Safe means Play with concern for and preservation of your Well-Being, Sane means Play that is Reasonable and within tolerances and Limits of the Submissive as well as the Dominant, and Consensual means both Submissive and Dominant are in a CONTINUAL state of mutual agreement AND understanding about the play scene and the relationship. Remember also that the less you know the other person, the less likely you will have a Safe, Sane, Consensual or even Pleasurable Scene."
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Evidence Validating the Gospels: An Overview of Sources
I was asked the following question by "Noor," who commented on my Mark 9:1 post:
"I really want to know why you believe that God had become a man and died for our sins ...every time I've asked this question ..people explain how it's supposed to work..saying 'God is pure and we are sinners so someone has to die for our sins.' They fail to understand that this is an explanation and not a proof. I understand how it's supposed to work but what I want to know is why do you believe that God has to die for our sins ..the question is Why and not How..if you know what I mean."
The best I can do if I understand the question correctly is refer to those authors who have established the case for the resurrection of Christ, which is the culmination of His saving mission on Earth and the verification of his own stated claims that he is the son of God, son of man and Messiah. (If I blog about the Resurrection myself, I would only be duplicating their work.)
The book I'm most familiar with that proves this was written by Dr. Gene Scott, "Jesus Christ, Super Nut or Super Natural!" There is a condensed version of his case for the Resurrection and Godhood of Jesus, preached as a sermon on an Easter Sunday, at http://www.gospeloutreach.net/resurrection.html. Other classics in this vein include "Who Moved the Stone" by Frank Morrison, Fairbain's "Christ in Modern Theology," D.W. Forrest's studies on Christ, Sherlock's "Trial of the Witnesses," Paley's "Evidences for the Christian Faith," Nathaniel Lardner's studies of ancient history linking verifying evidence to the Gospels, and C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity." And no, I haven't read all of them, Dr. Scott's persuasion was adequate for me, even though I did read "Mere Christianity."
I'm told there is an author named Lee Strobel who wrote a book called "The Case for Christ." I've never read it, but it's one of the latest in a panoply of books that have been written that prove that Jesus Christ said things about himself impossible to believe or credit unless he backed it up with miracles only God could work, and then further prove that he did those works (including being raised from a death by Roman crucifixion after 3 days dead in a guarded sepulcher and ascending into a cloud 40 days later) and thereby proved he is God in the flesh.
There is also an article in the New Advent Encyclopedia that outlines the pagan and Jewish sources that confirm the validity of the Gospel sources for the life of Christ, found at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08375a.htm. And not to be forgotten, as background evidence to support the antiquity and authenticity of the New Testament, there is F.F. Bruce's classic study "The New Testament Documents: Are They Genuine?" And I'm sure there are many others that one can find out there.
My only point here is that I believe in Jesus Christ because he was proven to me to be the Lord God, not because of a feeling or a rhetoric laden, emotionally evocative Sunday morning harangue, but because there really is findable historical evidence that logically validates the Gospels' story about him. You don't have to cut the top of your head off or suspend belief in science or good scholarship to be a Christian, and at least some of these authors, including Gene Scott, started out as skeptics and were convinced along the way by the evidence.
"I really want to know why you believe that God had become a man and died for our sins ...every time I've asked this question ..people explain how it's supposed to work..saying 'God is pure and we are sinners so someone has to die for our sins.' They fail to understand that this is an explanation and not a proof. I understand how it's supposed to work but what I want to know is why do you believe that God has to die for our sins ..the question is Why and not How..if you know what I mean."
The best I can do if I understand the question correctly is refer to those authors who have established the case for the resurrection of Christ, which is the culmination of His saving mission on Earth and the verification of his own stated claims that he is the son of God, son of man and Messiah. (If I blog about the Resurrection myself, I would only be duplicating their work.)
The book I'm most familiar with that proves this was written by Dr. Gene Scott, "Jesus Christ, Super Nut or Super Natural!" There is a condensed version of his case for the Resurrection and Godhood of Jesus, preached as a sermon on an Easter Sunday, at http://www.gospeloutreach.net/resurrection.html. Other classics in this vein include "Who Moved the Stone" by Frank Morrison, Fairbain's "Christ in Modern Theology," D.W. Forrest's studies on Christ, Sherlock's "Trial of the Witnesses," Paley's "Evidences for the Christian Faith," Nathaniel Lardner's studies of ancient history linking verifying evidence to the Gospels, and C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity." And no, I haven't read all of them, Dr. Scott's persuasion was adequate for me, even though I did read "Mere Christianity."
I'm told there is an author named Lee Strobel who wrote a book called "The Case for Christ." I've never read it, but it's one of the latest in a panoply of books that have been written that prove that Jesus Christ said things about himself impossible to believe or credit unless he backed it up with miracles only God could work, and then further prove that he did those works (including being raised from a death by Roman crucifixion after 3 days dead in a guarded sepulcher and ascending into a cloud 40 days later) and thereby proved he is God in the flesh.
There is also an article in the New Advent Encyclopedia that outlines the pagan and Jewish sources that confirm the validity of the Gospel sources for the life of Christ, found at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08375a.htm. And not to be forgotten, as background evidence to support the antiquity and authenticity of the New Testament, there is F.F. Bruce's classic study "The New Testament Documents: Are They Genuine?" And I'm sure there are many others that one can find out there.
My only point here is that I believe in Jesus Christ because he was proven to me to be the Lord God, not because of a feeling or a rhetoric laden, emotionally evocative Sunday morning harangue, but because there really is findable historical evidence that logically validates the Gospels' story about him. You don't have to cut the top of your head off or suspend belief in science or good scholarship to be a Christian, and at least some of these authors, including Gene Scott, started out as skeptics and were convinced along the way by the evidence.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
British school puts tracking chips in school uniforms
This is copied and reposted here from http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/devlin/17027 just in case someone gets a notion to delete this story in the future:
RFID Chips in School Uniforms Track Students
Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:16AM EDT
See Comments (1043)
How would feel about this: Tracking chips in kids' school clothing so that school officials can know their whereabouts during the school day?
Oh, it's happening. Ten students in a secondary school in the United Kingdom are being tracked through RFID implants in their school uniforms in a pilot program. Information Week reports that the kids attend Hungerhill School for ages 11-16 in Edenthorpe, England.
Add the RFID chips to increased video surveillance and fingerprinting of kids, and this is a heavily tracked generation—for safety's sake.
That extra peace of mind for adults comes with a heavy loss of privacy for kids. Do you agree with David Clouter, a parent and founder of the children's advocacy group Leave Them Kids Alone, who says taking all these precautions has the effect of treating kids like criminals? Or do you agree with the parents who have OKed the pilot program who do not find it egregiously intrusive?
One possible side effect: Uniform sales may pick up as kids try to procure extra non-RFID-tagged clothing. As security expert Bruce Schneier writes on his blog: "So now it's easy to cut class; just ask someone to carry your shirt around the building while you're elsewhere."
LINK: U.K. Kids Get RFID Chips in School Uniforms [Information Week]
See the story and comment on it on its original page at http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/devlin/17027.
RFID Chips in School Uniforms Track Students
Fri Oct 26, 2007 8:16AM EDT
See Comments (1043)
How would feel about this: Tracking chips in kids' school clothing so that school officials can know their whereabouts during the school day?
Oh, it's happening. Ten students in a secondary school in the United Kingdom are being tracked through RFID implants in their school uniforms in a pilot program. Information Week reports that the kids attend Hungerhill School for ages 11-16 in Edenthorpe, England.
Add the RFID chips to increased video surveillance and fingerprinting of kids, and this is a heavily tracked generation—for safety's sake.
That extra peace of mind for adults comes with a heavy loss of privacy for kids. Do you agree with David Clouter, a parent and founder of the children's advocacy group Leave Them Kids Alone, who says taking all these precautions has the effect of treating kids like criminals? Or do you agree with the parents who have OKed the pilot program who do not find it egregiously intrusive?
One possible side effect: Uniform sales may pick up as kids try to procure extra non-RFID-tagged clothing. As security expert Bruce Schneier writes on his blog: "So now it's easy to cut class; just ask someone to carry your shirt around the building while you're elsewhere."
LINK: U.K. Kids Get RFID Chips in School Uniforms [Information Week]
See the story and comment on it on its original page at http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/devlin/17027.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Ice age weather? See how much ice buried the high altitude tropical city of Bogota, Colombia today on November 4, 2007. Paste this into your browser to view: javascript:void(window.open('http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/ynews;_ylt=Ahl_gFTDChF4ETCJ5Z5_HdD9xg8F?ch=4226714&cl=4854979&lang=en','playerWindow','width=793,height=608,scrollbars=no'));
A Simpler Solution to the Energy Crunch
First, Double Nickels.
We need to institute what was done by Congress under President Nixon: impose a national speed limit that maximizes highway mileage, which is 55 miles per hour. This measure, when it was adopted the first time, not only cut consumption of gasoline and diesel fuel by several percentage points, adding 2 to 3 miles per gallon to the nation's average highway fuel economy, but also saved thousands of lives per year by reducing highway traffic accidents, and the best part of it was that no one hadto retool car manufacturing, revamp gasoline formulations, spend money on alternative energy schemes, some of which remain dubious in cost recovery, or impose punitive taxation to limit consumption at the pump to achieve the same benefits. Even a 1 or 2 percent reduction of gasoline consumption would add many thousands of barrels of fuel a day, in effect, to the nation's fuel supply.
Second, Sixty-Eight/Seventy-Five.
We need to pass a law requiring business establishments and government offices nationwide to set their heating thermostats no higher than 68 degrees Fahrenheit during colder weather, and air conditioning no lower than 75 degrees for summer weather. This should include EVERY business, no exceptions. In addition to this, advertising should be funded strongly encouraging private homeowners and renters to conserve energy by setting their thermostats to the same limits, 68 degrees maximum for heat, 75 degrees minimum for air conditioning. Besides conserving energy this would also encourage healthier living, because heat that is set too high fosters the multiplication of viruses and bacteria indoors, and A/C set too low tends to encourage the spread of mold and mildew, as well as impacting the immune system through excessive exposure to chill in the warm season. These factors are probably responsible for literally millions of respiratory illnesses every year that take enormous amounts of man-hours out of the economy and seriously impact our already beleaguered health care system.Let's do this now, since they would be easy to implement (compared to other measures) and with oil prices nearing $100 a barrel, both measures would be very timely and would put downward pressure on the price spiral that has been taking place.
We need to institute what was done by Congress under President Nixon: impose a national speed limit that maximizes highway mileage, which is 55 miles per hour. This measure, when it was adopted the first time, not only cut consumption of gasoline and diesel fuel by several percentage points, adding 2 to 3 miles per gallon to the nation's average highway fuel economy, but also saved thousands of lives per year by reducing highway traffic accidents, and the best part of it was that no one hadto retool car manufacturing, revamp gasoline formulations, spend money on alternative energy schemes, some of which remain dubious in cost recovery, or impose punitive taxation to limit consumption at the pump to achieve the same benefits. Even a 1 or 2 percent reduction of gasoline consumption would add many thousands of barrels of fuel a day, in effect, to the nation's fuel supply.
Second, Sixty-Eight/Seventy-Five.
We need to pass a law requiring business establishments and government offices nationwide to set their heating thermostats no higher than 68 degrees Fahrenheit during colder weather, and air conditioning no lower than 75 degrees for summer weather. This should include EVERY business, no exceptions. In addition to this, advertising should be funded strongly encouraging private homeowners and renters to conserve energy by setting their thermostats to the same limits, 68 degrees maximum for heat, 75 degrees minimum for air conditioning. Besides conserving energy this would also encourage healthier living, because heat that is set too high fosters the multiplication of viruses and bacteria indoors, and A/C set too low tends to encourage the spread of mold and mildew, as well as impacting the immune system through excessive exposure to chill in the warm season. These factors are probably responsible for literally millions of respiratory illnesses every year that take enormous amounts of man-hours out of the economy and seriously impact our already beleaguered health care system.Let's do this now, since they would be easy to implement (compared to other measures) and with oil prices nearing $100 a barrel, both measures would be very timely and would put downward pressure on the price spiral that has been taking place.
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