Weird...just Weird...

Okay, I was apartment hunting last week, and came across this, and I had to post it here.

It's the web page for Pleasant Street Apartments, who do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, sexual preference, familial status, or national origin...but don't mind discriminating on the basis of political affiliation *_* To illustrate:

"However republicans, racists, alcoholics and party animals need not apply. If you don't feel comfortable and confident about these issues call College Park Apartments and ask for Nathan Collier." [emphasis mine]

Now, please don't get me wrong. They're a business, and can rent out to whomever the heck they want.

But they're requirements are just so...unusual. I've never heard of any rentors renting out places on the basis of political affiliation, AND saying so outright.

I love this part:

"We like to receive applications from people who have progressive lifestyles. Progressive as in someone that bicycles or walks before they will hop in a automobile. Someone that stays up on political issues and usually is sympathetic to the Peoples, Environmental, Social movements not the Conglomerate and Conservative movements. People that think W. Bush is a kinda' alright guy should apply elsewhere...We also prefer applicants that abstain from eating dead animals and who like to feed the maintenace personnel." [emphasis mine]

Man, with all the chicken I eat, they'd slaughter me.

Anyone else think this is really friggin' odd? Not to make light of anyone's beliefs...but this is kinda funny to me...

--David

Survival Of Religion And God Of The Gaps

Sorry if this seems like a silly thing to post a new topic on, but I wanted to respond to some posts on the Religion thread, but didn't want to post them there. If that's a problem, feel free to delete this post. I'm going to save it on my comp. just in case.

John82,

"Perhaps it was after religion was established that rulers used the 'fear of God' to impose their rule. Still, I think that had rulers not used God as a means of controlling people, then religion may not have lasted as long as it has. Religion would not have taken such a significant position in the structure of society."

Except that religion in pre-state cultures is just as important to those cultures as religion in State-level cultures. Religion appears to have existed since Homo neanderthalensis, definitely since early Homo sapiens. Religion exists in every society now on Earth, including the pre-state ones. And in every society, it plays a very, very important role. It may not be as pervasive in some pre-state societies as it is in some state level ones (many tribal societies, especially those in the Amazon, have a clear distinction between religious and secular leadership--each leadership has different qualifications that aren't found in the other). Nonetheless, religion has played a very significant role in all modern human (and perhaps part of pre-modern Homo) existence.

pqrmdave,

"However, if you do not believe in any outside forces, how can you explain the creation of the universe?"

I haven't read physics in a long time, so I'm going to tentatively say the Big Bang, but don't hold me to that (I really don't know much about physics yet, and feel kind of hypocritical saying anything conclusive about things I don't know).

However, I will point out that your question essentially boils down to an argument from ignorance. Assuming we can't explain how things were created totally through non-outside forces (by outside, I'm assuming you're referring to supernatural), there's no reason to believe that outside forces were involved. The lack of evidence for one thing doth not compose evidence for another.

I say "assuming" because, again, I know little of physics, and thus there could very well be a good naturalistic explanation.

And a further note on God of the Gaps,

I think what Mata's saying is that "God" (parentheses because Mata's not talking about the traditional Western/Islamic concept of God) is a god of the gap of "Why?" IE, science fills in the how, but not the why. To which, of course, I must respond "Why must there be an external why?" ^_~

trunks_girl26,

"I think that's what makes not believing in outside forces much more difficult than believing in God. To believe that creation had no outside help means that the only real way you can believe in the creation of the universe, life, everything, is if all of it amounts to random chance. Everything just 'happened' to happen, because no one started it all."

Indeed! Personally, I find it so much more exciting that way

Sincerely and Respectfully,

David Carlson

Interesting

From another forum I visit:

"What is your favorite word?
What is your least favorite word?
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
What turns you off?
What is your favorite curse word?
What sound or noise do you love?
What sound or noise do you hate?
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
What profession would you not like to do?
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?"

[This is originally from an interview-based TV show, from what I'm told, where the host asks these questions to his guests at the end of the show.]

What is your favorite word?
Yar! (You must add the exclamation point)

"What is your least favorite word?"
Like (as in "That's, like, sooo cool.")

"What turns you on, creatively, spiritually, or emotionally?"
Creatively--Knowledge, anything philosophical
Spiritually and emotionally (I don't personally differentiate b/t the two)--Knowledge and science, nature, a nice starry sky, the act of myself or another person suddenly understanding something

"What turns you off?"
Willful ignorance. Extreme fundamentalism.

"What is your favorite curse word?"
Damnhell*ss. Think of Bart from the Simpsons ^_~

"What noise or sound do you love?"
Rain, various types of music

"What noise or sound do you hate?"
The sound of a diamond-tipped drill on your teeth

"What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?"
Teach AP, undergrade, or even better, graduate school

"What profession would you not like to do?"
Teaching anything other than the above.

"If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?"
Cluck-cluck-cluck! (Sorry, I just think it would be hilarious if God turned out to be a chicken. I'd be soooo screwed--I love chicken)

David

Cheesy Movies

I did a search for "movies," and there seemed to be no topic devoted specifically to cheesy movies. So...

What are your favorite cheesy movies? If you would like to say so, why?

And to make posts a bit longer, what's your favorite movie or movies, and why?

As for me:

Favorite cheesy movies:

Dog Soldiers. It's soldiers...versus werewolves...that just strikes me as awesome. Plus, there's a really bad Matrix joke in here that just gets me every time.

Shaolin vs. Ninja. I love ninja, and more generally martial arts, movies. Shaolin vs. Ninja is not only great because it's monks versus ninja, but also because the translators couldn't translate the Chinese in the latter part of the movie. So, they made up the translation as they went along. At least, they did so in the version I had.

Starship Troopers. Good special effects, and the soldiers are so silly it makes me laugh. Plus, I have a strange fascination with mass deaths in cheesy movies (I love disaster flicks). Unfortunately, from what I hear, the book is really good, which will probably take away from the enjoyment of hte movie once I read it.

Reign of Fire. British survivers and half-crazy American soldiers versus large, fire-breathing dragons in the future. Once again, just strikes me as awesome.

There's probably more, but this is the best I can think of right now.

Favorite Movies

The Road Warrior. I almost put this in cheesy movies, but I just can't. It's just too good...

Braveheart. I like the battle scenes, the action, the story, and the actors. And it's a great movie to watch late at night for background noise while I read.

Band of Brothers. Yes, not a real movie, but if it were to be shown in a movie theater straight, I would definitely go see it. Perhaps the best modern WWII "film" I've ever seen.

12 Angry Men. Excellent movie about a jury deliberating over a murder case. The character interactions are dynamic, but not over the top.

Frailty. It's a really good movie that most people I talk to don't know of. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you do so. The gist of it is this: A boy's father receives a vision, supposedly from God, telling him that the end is coming and that he and his two sons have been chosen to rid the world of demons Lucifer has set forth in preparation for the end of times. These demons are in the guise of humans. There's so much more to the movie (it's a suspense), but the part that seals the deal for me is the interaction between the boy (who is trying to convince his father not to go through with this) and the father (who is trying to convince his boy to do what he views as the right thing). Both characters are really, really well done, and their interaction just pulls at me.

So, that's it. Anyone else?

David