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Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

March 6, 2009 09:34 PM Forum: Religion

"Jesus Interrupted"

Posted By Rod Mollise
John Agnew said:

Another scholar takes an interesting look at the Gospels:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101389895


Yep, interesting. As for the difference in the Gospels, I don't find that any more puzzling than I do the different versions of Orpheus and Eruydice. ;-)

March 6, 2009 10:57 PM Forum: Politics

The Curious Case of Ahmadullah Niazi

Posted By Rod Mollise
Rod Kaufman said:

For What sinister motives does the FBI have in doing so?
Vary curious, indeed!
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=2D157190-66F5-43C1-B5A9-17944E862CB6

The FBI do something SINISTER? Naw, never happen. wink

What the FBI is doing _can_ easily bleed over into something close to what the Nazis you refer to were so fond of. That is, a police state, with many of us (and not just THOSE PEOPLE) being spied on for _our own good_. Me? I'd rather take the chance of a hundred fools spreading their idiocy than live in a place like that. A place where pinheads decree their subjects need to "watch what they say, watch what they do." I mean, sending the secret police into churches to spy on the congregation just seems a trifle...oh...well...SOVIET to me. But what do I know LOL

Oh, I know...they will only spy on BADGUYS. LOL

March 8, 2009 03:38 PM Forum: Star Parties

Star Party Question ? just looking for input ....

Posted By Rod Mollise
Gary Cislak said:

Hello all,
I know Amatuer Astronomers, Telescope Makers, and Imaging technos are all unique individuals, with a wide variety of interests... My question to you all is " What kind of interest would you have in an Apollo Moonwalker as being a Keynote speaker at a Star Party ?" I know that a lot of us were Influenced by the Golden years of NASA... and that was a link to our astronomy interests and career choices ....

Im looking for some input to help me in deciding if this is a viable option ....
Thank You in advance for your input ....
Thanks !
Gary C

Me? I'd certainly go to hear an Apollo astronaut speak, but the connection with astronomy is tenuous at best.

March 8, 2009 03:47 PM Forum: Religion

Cultural Sensitivities and Honor Killings

Posted By Rod Mollise
Rod Kaufman said:

Are beheadings committed as action of an "honor killing", pursuant to one's religious beliefs, an act of domestic violence or explained and/or defended as an act of consciousness and religious conviction?

I'd be pleased as punch to see the ignorance and superstition engendered by ALL relgions to one extent or another die out. Luckily, believin' that a big daddy created the world in one piece 6k years ago does not (usually) lead to murder. That said, honor-killing is a cultural thing and is practiced/has been practiced by many religions, not just the Muslims.

I'd say the chance of a society practicing honor killing is more linked to the status of women in that society than it is to any particular religion. Certainly, though, there is no denyin' that women have low status in most (not all) Muslim countries. That's also the reason it ain't just a Muslim thing, no matter how much you (may) dislike that particular religion. ;-)

How should Muslim or Catholic or Hindu or Baptist murders be viewed? As murder.

March 11, 2009 11:56 AM Forum: Religion

A Religion of Peace

Posted By Rod Mollise
Rod Kaufman said:

Is Geert Wilders a case of "shooting the messenger" because you don't like the message?

On the face of it, he appears to be a nut-case obsessed with Islam. OTOH, he appears to know how to make that pay, so maybe he is not so nutty afterall. Nut-case or not, it's obvious he is being suppressed because of what _he says_, and I don't like that. OTOOH, it's hard to feel sorry for him since, while he's all in favor of his own free-speech rights, he is also in favor of banning Islamic books.

March 12, 2009 01:56 PM Forum: Audio

MP3 format becoming preferred by our youth?

Posted By Rod Mollise
Dan Newman said:

Remembering our MP3 discussion of last week, this news item caught my eye,

http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/03/the-sizzling-sound-of-music.html

Briefly, a music professor at Stanford has been testing the format preferences of his
incoming students over the past 6 years. Much to his frustration, the trend appears
to be towards more students preferring MP3 over other "higher quality" formats.

Dan

Why? Because that is the lingua franca of swapping music online (i.e. illegally)...

wink

March 12, 2009 01:58 PM Forum: Celestron

linking to Starry Night

Posted By Rod Mollise
Peter Guastella said:

I have a 9.25 CPC and I have been trying to link starry night to the telescope. I have loaded the ASCOM drivers for celestron into the Starry night folder but it is not recognized. Has anyone else had this problem?
Thanks
Pete

Assuming you have ASCOM (the program; not just the drivers) loaded and configured, you need to tell us a bit more. What is happening when you try to connect? Often these are problems with serial communications; usually telling the program the wrong serial port number...

wink

March 12, 2009 02:01 PM Forum: Politics

A New Day for Science

Posted By Rod Mollise

Can you direct me to where the gov't has censored science research on 'climate change'

Yep:

http://oig.nasa.gov/investigations/OI_STI_Summary.pdf

March 12, 2009 09:53 PM Forum: ASTRONOMY

Astro-Club Management

Posted By Rod Mollise
Alex McConahay said:

I've been asked to put together (for RTMC Astronomy Expo) a panel of local club officers to talk about issues, resources, programs.....common to all astro-clubs.

As moderator, I would like to be able to ask important questions that everybody wants to know the answers to.

What questions should be asked of this panel?

Alex

1. How do you keep your long time membership interested?

2. How do you attract new members?

3. How do you keep the new folks in the fold?

Repeat. LOL

March 17, 2009 11:31 AM Forum: Religion

Islamic Violence vs Judeo-Christian Violence

Posted By Rod Mollise
Rod Kaufman said:

From reading some of these threads as well as others in the popular press, it is often stated that there is no difference between violent action advocated in the Koran and in other Islamic texts as compared to what has been collectively called Judeo-Christian mediated violent action recorded throughout history.
After reading the following article, it appears the latter is not the case:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/025249.php

That's a reliable source, no doubt "Jihad Watch." LOL

I'm curious...you post a lot of articles about Muslims. Do you have any Muslim friends or know any Muslims?

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