>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
I am not a big fan of Glen either, but I couldn't see a finer display of argumentum ad hominem above me.


The only way this could have been better illustrated would be to follow up with a similar chart showing value vs. inflation. Maybe start at 1900 or 1908 as 100% value and show how the value of each dollar decreases over time.

Anyone know what that might look like?

>> ^Arg:
I'd be amazed if this man is capable of tying his own shoelaces.


I meet him and he is an intelligent, funny and likable guy. Of course you can mock and spout something about a person that you don't know instead of dealing with what he says.
Ben Stein was considered one of the smart guys before he decided to make his movie about Evolution. Now (even though he is not a Christian) he is mocked in similar fashion.
I was under the impression that this is a country where people can speak their mind and challenge thought?! Isn't that, an open discusion and reasoning, what makes sience worthwhile and lead to something?
Funny how nobody wants to talk about the things that Darwin said would have to fall into place to prove his theory. Funny how many of the “proof” comes out forged or plain false? If it is so clear and logigal… why the need to forge things? Funny how these known forgeries are still used in school text books today?!

Just to name a few:

Piltdown man: Found in a gravel pit in Sussex England in 1912, this fossil was considered by some sources to be the second most important fossil proving the evolution of man—until it was found to be a complete forgery 41 years later. The skull was found to be of modern age. The fragments had been chemically stained to give the appearance of age, and the teeth had been filed down!


Nebraska Man from the Illustrated London NewsNebraska man: A single tooth, discovered in Nebraska in 1922 grew an entire evolutionary link between man and monkey, until another identical tooth was found which was protruding from the jawbone of a wild pig.


Java man: Initially discovered by Dutchman Eugene Dubois in 1891, all that was found of this claimed originator of humans was a skullcap, three teeth and a femur. The femur was found 50 feet away from the original skullcap a full year later. For almost 30 years Dubois downplayed the Wadjak skulls (two undoubtedly human skulls found very close to his "missing link"). (source: Hank Hanegraaff, The Face That Demonstrates The Farce Of Evolution, [Word Publishing, Nashville, 1998], pp.50-52)


Orce man: Found in the southern Spanish town of Orce in 1982, and hailed as the oldest fossilized human remains ever found in Europe. One year later officials admitted the skull fragment was not human but probably came from a 4 month old donkey. Scientists had said the skull belonged to a 17 year old man who lived 900,000 to 1.6 million years ago, and even had very detail drawings done to represent what he would have looked like. (source: "Skull fragment may not be human", Knoxville News-Sentinel, 1983)


Neanderthal: Still synonymous with brutishness, the first Neanderthal remains were found in France in 1908. Considered to be ignorant, ape-like, stooped and knuckle-dragging, much of the evidence now suggests that Neanderthal was just as human as us, and his stooped appearance was because of arthritis and rickets. Neanderthals are now recognized as skilled hunters, believers in an after-life, and even skilled surgeons, as seen in one skeleton whose withered right arm had been amputated above the elbow. (source: "Upgrading Neanderthal Man", Time Magazine, May 17, 1971, Vol. 97, No. 20)

The theory of embryonic recapitulation asserts that the human fetus goes through various stages of its evolutionary history as it develops. Ernst Haeckel proposed this theory in the late 1860’s, promoting Darwin’s theory of evolution in Germany. He made detailed drawings of the embryonic development of eight different embryos in three stages of development, to bolster his claim. His work was hailed as a great development in the understanding of human evolution. A few years later his drawings were shown to have been fabricated, and the data manufactured. He blamed the artist for the discrepancies, without admitting that he was the artist. (source: Russell Grigg, "Fraud Rediscovered", Creation, Vol. 20, No. 2, pp.49-51)

According to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_di_Lammermoor#Trivia, it's been used in;

The "Lucia Sextet" (Chi mi frena in tal momento?) was recorded in 1908 by Enrico Caruso, Marcella Sembrich, Antonio Scotti, Marcel Journet, Barbara Severina, and Francesco Daddi, (Victor single-sided 70036) and released at the price of $7.00, earning it the title of "The Seven-Dollar Sextet". The film The Great Caruso incorporates a scene featuring a performance of this sextet.

The "Lucia Sextet" melody is best known to some from its use by the American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges in their short films Micro-Phonies and Squareheads of the Round Table, sung in the latter with the lyrics "Oh, Elaine, can you come out tonight...." But the melody is used most dramatically in Howard Hawks' gangster classic "Scarface": Tony Camonte (Paul Muni) whistles "Chi mi frena?" in the film's opening sequence, as he guns down a ganglord boss he has been assigned to protect.

It has also been used in Warner Brothers cartoons: Long-Haired Hare, sung by the opera singer (Bugs Bunny's antagonist); Book Revue, sung by the wolf antagonist; and in Back Alley Oproar, sung by a choir full of Sylvesters, the cat.

The "Lucia Sextet" melody also figures in two scenes from the 2006 film The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese. In one scene, Jack Nicholson's character is shown at a performance of "Lucia di Lammermoor", and the music on the soundtrack is from the sextet. Later in the film, Nicholson's cell phone ringtone is the sextet melody.

The Sextet is also featured during a scene from the 1986 comedy film, The Money Pit.

In the children's book "The Cricket in Times Square," Chester Cricket chirps the tenor part to the "Lucia Sextet" as the encore to his farewell concert, literally stopping traffic in the process.

An aria from the "mad scene," "Il dolce suono" (from the 3rd Act), was re-popularized when it was featured in the film The Fifth Element in a performance by the alien diva Plavalaguna (voiced by Albanian soprano Inva Mula-Tchako and played onscreen by French actress Maïwenn Le Besco). A loose remake of this film version of the song was covered by Russian pop singer Vitas.

The "mad scene" was also used in the first episode of the anime series Gankutsuou (in place of L'Italiana in Algeri which was the opera used in that scene in The Count of Monte Cristo).

The "mad scene" aria, as sung by Inva Mula-Tchako, was used in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent involving the murder of a young violinist by her opera singer mother (who performs the song right after the murder).

The "mad scene" was released as a music video by Russian male soprano Vitas in 2006.

Among other selections from the opera, the "mad scene", "Verranno a te sull'aure", and "Che facesti?" feature prominently in the 1983 Paul Cox film Man of Flowers, especially "Verranno a te sull'aure," which accompanies a striptease in the film's opening scene.

The opera is mentioned in the novels The Count of Monte Cristo, Madame Bovary and Where Angels Fear to Tread and was reputedly one of Tolstoy's favorites.

"Regnava nel silenzio" accompanies the scene in Beetlejuice in which Lydia (Winona Ryder) composes a suicide note.

A portion of the opera is also used in a key scene of the film The Fifth Element, written and directed by Luc Besson.

1980, not 1908 =]

>> ^kulpims:
^@Pprt: "chinese are bleeding the richest continent in the world dry"...
man, you can't be serious and say those words at the same time, especialy if you are coming from europe or the states, as I assume you do. that's like a bunch of vampires feeding of a dying man and when one more joins in the rest of them shout "murder!"
sure, chinese approach to this neo-colonialism is more totalitarian and not so cleverly masqueraded under the guise of free trade, democracy and market capitalism as was that from their western rivals which I dare say have been systematically killing Africa for hundreds of years now. and don't even get me started on the weapons trade issue, we all know who's the biggest dealer on the block here...
and fuck peter hitchens and other such critics. where are they when american pharmaceutical companies are conducting experiments on african people or over charging them for drugs and vaccines they desperatly need. where are they when millions of people are being killed for some bullshit minerals used in our cellphones or oil or fucking diamonds or some other shit they might have that our corporations are willing and able to steal from them


I sense alot of sympathy (and some guilt) on your behalf. As Pooterius said, I also anxiously await the day Africans will put aside their petty tribalism and begin working instead of loafing about and conducting sporadic warfare. However, I am not so optimistic as to believe that Africans can accomplish this any time soon. And for goodness sakes, it is NOT our duty to fix their countries.

I detect a hint of thought that you believe that Westeners have somehow have taken it upon themselves to eradicate the African peoples with AIDS in order, I assume, to plunder their territory.

You may be interested to know that recent discoveries (last week, actually) suggest that AIDS is far older than previously thought (see here: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7213/abs/nature07390.html), dating from possibly 1908. Decades before bioengineering was even conceptualized.

The stark truth is that Africans have been around for longer than us, and have adapted to their environment accordingly in temperament and constitution. They have higher levels of sexual hormones, a lower gestation period a "thrifty" gene permitting greater retention of nutrients and as ethnomedicine evolves, drugs will further target their distinctive biology.

As for comparing Chinese to Western colonialism, it would be an interesting debate, although I can assure you that the way the Chinese go about in 2008 would never fly in a Western country. They have actually stated their intentions of offloading some of the large Chinese population in Africa. Their latest plan is to dump 10 million excess Chinese by 2050.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_light
http://www.louthleader.co.uk/news/More-earthquake-light-sightings-.3864580.jp
http://inamidst.com/lights/earthquake



"It is perfectly practicable to transmit electrical energy without wires and produce destructive effects at a distance. I have already constructed a wireless transmitter which makes this possible, and have described it in my technical publications, among which I may refer to my patent 1,119,732 recently granted."
- Tesla


"t's 7:17 AM on the morning of June 30, 1908, the exact moment when Nikoli Tesla is testing his "Death Ray" by aiming his beam towards the Arctic Cirle where he hopes Admiral Peary will see a visual display in the sky.

In the small Siberian village of Tunguska, herders of Reindeer are awoken by a huge ball of light, followed by an enormous explosion."
- http://www.viewzone.com/tesla.tunguska.html



"However, he did hear about the unexplainable event in Tunguska, and was thankful no one was killed, as it was clear to him that his death ray had overshot. He then dismantled his machine, as he felt it was too dangerous to keep it."
- New Scientist October 2002



"On 31 March, 1980, anomalous EM emissions were recorded thirty minutes before a deep-focus (depth = 480 km) magnitude 7 earthquake 250 km from an observatory near Tokyo. These emissions were widely-separated at 10 Hz and 81 kHz. Other similar emissions were recorded for a magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Iran, 1200 km from the epicentre, at 27 kHz and 1.63 MHz. Other examples of such emissions have also been reported."
- Chris A. Rutkowski "The Tectonic Strain Theory of Geophysical Luminosities"

I think "In God We Trust" was on money earlier than that, blankfist, but it became the official national motto in 1956 (what was E Pluribus Unum?). According to Wikipedia, it was first used in 1864 and wasn't mandated by Congress until 1908.

"In God We Trust" first appeared on our coins in 1864 in the midst of the Civil War. This was somehow supposed to show that we were a nation of honorable people despite the appearance of the time.

It first appeared on cash in 1957 after it became our national motto, in order to separate us from those godless commies.

It seems to me that the reasons for both adoptions should offend everyone. As an atheist, I'm not particularly offended; I just think it doesn't belong there. As a Christian, I'd be thoroughly offended that God has become a catchphrase synonymous with "we're not as evil as we seem."

The history of the motto as pertaining to money can be found here: http://www.treas.gov/education/fact-sheets/currency/in-god-we-trust.html

I think "In God We Trust" was on money earlier than that, blankfist, but it became the official national motto in 1956 (what was E Pluribus Unum?). According to Wikipedia, it was first used in 1864 and wasn't mandated by Congress until 1908. Interestingly, Teddy Roosevelt was against it.

"My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege ... it seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins, just as it would be to cheapen it by use on postage stamps, or in advertisements." - TR 1907

I agree with him. It's a strange idea that putting God's name on money does anything good.

"goal of the Fed is long term stability"

Pre-Fed
-------
Panic of 1819-1824(4/5 years)
Panic of 1837-1843(6/7 years)
Panic of 1857-1860(3/4 years)
Panic of 1873-1879(6/7 years)
Panic of 1893-1896(3/4 years)
Panic of 1907-1908(1/2 years)
1776 to 1914(137.4 years[July 4 founding]) Total = 23 to 29 years - 21% of our time(max) spent in economic turmoil
OR(if you want to be technical) 1819 to 1914(95 years) - 24%(min) to 30.5%(max)of our time spent in economic turmoil

Post-Fed
--------
Post WW1 Recession - 1918-1921(3/4 years)
Great Depression("The Great Contraction") - 1929-1937(8/9 years)
Post Korean War Recession - 1953-1954(1/2 years)
1973 Oil/Energy Crisis - 1979-1980(1/2 years)
1982 - 1983(1/2 years)
1988 - 1992(4/5 years)
2000 Recession - 2001 - 2003(3/4 years)
1914 to 2007(93 years) Total = 21 to 28 years - 22.5% of our time(min) spent in economic turmoil

How has the Fed helped us establish "long term stability?"

Sure, not ALL of them were CAUSED by the Fed, but they haven't exactly PREVENTED any of them, either.

As a matter of fact, the very fact that they purposely CAUSED at least one of them should be enough for our government to deny their charter and to repeal the Federal Reserve Act.

Yes and there was the rude betty, miss Mae Questel, 09/13/1908 to 01/04/1998...what a voice and dig those gams....

According to the captions, this isn't the first flight anyway. This is an altitude record set in 1908 in France. There are clearly two people in the cockpit, and the first flight was by Orville only.

I want my vote back.

The Thorn Birds is a 1977 best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, an Australian author. In 1983 it was adapted as a television mini-series that, during its television run became the United States' second highest rating mini-series of all time behind Roots; both series were produced by television veteran David L. Wolper.

The mini-series starred Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Christopher Plummer, Bryan Brown, Mare Winningham, Philip Anglim and Jean Simmons. It was directed by Daryl Duke.

Set primarily on Drogheda, a fictional sheep station in the Australian outback, the story focuses on the Cleary family and spans the years 1908 to 1962.

Song is from the self-titled "Heart" album, 1985

"To make this film, Cohl placed each drawing on an illuminated glass plate and then traced the next drawing-with variations-on top of it until he had some 700 drawings. In 1908, chalkboard caricaturists were common vaudeville attractions and the characters in the film look as though they've been drawn on a chalkboard, but it's an illusion. By filming black lines on paper and then printing in negative Cohl makes his animations appear to be chalk drawings."

This got me curious as to what the official definition of anime is. Typically defined when talking about Anime is a cartoon of Japanese style. So Anime is just a word referring to Japanese Cartoons. Although the first official cartoon on "film" was made by French in 1908. This still lends the question as to who made the first animation? Whoever flipped a book full of pictures making a person walk who knows!

Definition of Anime at these sites:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/anime
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anime
http://www.cyprinious.com/what_is_anime.htm

That's a really simplistic view, quantummushroom, that's akin to saying yeah well we screwed over a bunch of nations just to gain a foothold for ourselves, we're cool now so stop blaming us.

You don't realize that such activites by the goverment is actually holding you, the average citizen down. How exactly? Well think about the gap between the rich and the poor in America, it's so large now that there is a reduction in the number of people who are middle class.

Now let's think back about all the military incursions that America has been involved in and pick a few cases to look at. We'll look at Nicaragua, this starts back with Theodore Roosevelt who extends the existing Monroe Doctrine in 1904 allowing the US to interfe in a latin american state guilty of "chronic wrong doing" (I mean much more vague can this be). The Monroe doctrine comes to define america's policy in Latin America.

US Marines land in Nicaragua in 1909, after a similar pattern of interventions in Cuba (1898), Honduras (1905) and Panama (1908). Nicaragua becomes a US protectorate there after.

In 1926, Augusto Cesar Sandino lunaches a successful guerilla war against US marines and the Nicaraguan National Guard under Anastasio Somoza Garcia. The Sandinista rebels are a pro-liberal group that insists on a redistribution of land to the peasantry, which is violented opposed by Somoza. Sandino was murdered by the National Guard in 1934, Somoza who is a US ally then runs a brutual dictatorship until 1979 when the Somoza Dynasty is overthrown by Sandinista National Liberational Front. Jimmy Carter at the time tried desperately to prop up Somoza's regime until the bitter end. Nicaragua after years of oppressive rule lay in ruins with 40,000 to 50,0000 killed.

When the Sandinistas finally come into power, everything is done to demonize them with accusations of undemocratic policies, genocide, drug-trafficking. This is while US media remains silent on the documented facts of Sandinistas remarkable reforms. Oxfam, with it's experience of working in over 76 developing nations finds the Nicaraguan goverment to be exceptional in it's commitment to addressing inequities in land ownership, in extending health, educational and agricultural services to poor peasent families.

Until 1989, the US goverment pursues a policy of destabilization by suppyling an insurgent army of 'Contras' in Nicaragua.

The question is "Why would the US goverment feel threatened by socialism in a smaller, weaker country such as Nicaragua"?

This comes down to the Rotten Apple theory. If a tiny impoverished nation with miniuscle resources can begin to do something for it's own population others might ask "Why not us?". The weaker and less economically endowned the nation the greater the example that can be set. The rot could spread, threatening regions of real concern to the rulers of the world.

Same thing with Iran, which in the late 40s grew tired of it's resources being plucked by corporations. The CIA however interevened, a coup occured and the Shah of Iran came into power. This of course back fired a few years later with the extreme Islamic goverment emerging. The US goverment then makes links with Iraq, supporting Iraqi military operations into Iran, while selling arms to both sides. This of course back fires with the usage of Chemical and Biological weapons by Saddam. The US goverment distances itself.

1991, Iraq invades Kuwait. For a long time the international community does not do much other then decry the situation. However intelligence arrives saying that Saddam's forces are massing on the western border of Kuwait with Saudia Arabia. The american administration deems it too risky to allow Saddam to possbily enter Saudia Arabia. And the rest is history. But no wait. It's not all over yet. Suddenly only 100 KM away from Baghdad, coalition forces are pulled back, the regime in Iraq is unchanged, no pressure is placed on the regime to allow free elections to occur.