tagged w/ Delusion
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Excerpt:
That’s not to say Romney completely ignores Bush, either. On the March day when he was endorsed by Jeb Bush, Romney credited the former president with averting another Depression in 2008. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, endorsed Romney little more than a week later.
“I keep hearing the president say that he’s responsible for keeping America from going into a Great Depression,” Romney said of Obama. “No, no, no. That was President George W. Bush and (Treasury Secretary) Hank Paulson that stepped in and kept that from happening.”
(click on the link for the full article)Excerpt:
That’s not to say Romney completely ignores Bush, either. On the... more
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I had something that felt like an epiphany today. I believe the future of all mankind is the present ways of mankind.
I know that the Scientology assholes are quick with a lawsuit if you say anything disparaging against their "religion," cause their pussies, but this isn't really disparaging. A church I irregularly attend did a sermon about "real" Angels. I was aghast at how much like Scientology that sounded. I'm a sermon on the mount, pragmatist type of church goer, not a miracles and magic type.
If I take a cursory look at Hubbard's life, the early parts seem common, reasonable, and show no indications that Scientology would be a result. I know many people who are reasonable about many things but absolutely batty in their head about a few other things. So generally I assumed Hubbard was batty about a lot of things, but now in light of the linked interview I thought, maybe he wasn't crazy on his own, maybe he got swept up into the psychological zephyr that society has which can form a religion out of thin air.
Here's the NPR interview with Ian Bogost about his rationale for inventing the game Cow Clicker that will give you a similar epiphany. http://www.npr.org/2011/11/18/142518949/cow-clicker-founder-if-you-cant-ruin-it-destroy-it
Now suppose that between the 30's and 1950 when Hubbard published Dianetics, that he saw the horrible methods and theories of treating mental health with the same disdain that Bogost had for the mindless Facebook games. Suppose that Hubbard wanted to do some PhD work and would have tried to publish Dianetics for his doctorate. Suppose that after he publishes it (for whatever reason), that the content of the book takes on a life of it's own, just like the parody game of Cow Clicker did. Suppose that movement of people changed Hubbard just like the Cow Clicker community changed Bogost; "There was one point when I realized that I was now attached to in a compulsive way."
What the hell has happened? Is this how all religions were formed? Is this how FOX News changed from a right leaning outlet for the Republican Party message to a WTF!? radical right wing brainwashing organization?
In Monty Python's Life of Brian, it seemed comical that Brian could not use reason to stop his followers from following him, but apparently it's funny because it's true. It's so ubiquitous that we don't even noticing it happening. It happens in the corporate office, it happens in your church, it happens at a town hall meeting, it happens at the family dinner table.
It makes me melancholy to think that mankind is tethered to the worst crippling bullshit parts of society because too many people are the follower type that will play Cow Clicker.I had something that felt like an epiphany today. I believe the future of all mankind... more
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On the head analogy. The Tea Party is far from what the Founding Fathers were: forward thinking, intelligent, tolerant of all religion, and men who read books.On the head analogy. The Tea Party is far from what the Founding Fathers were: forward... more
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(CNN) -- The facts: On August 27, 1891, a passenger train jumped the tracks on a tall bridge near Statesville, North Carolina, sending seven rail cars below and about 30 people to their deaths.
The legend: On the wreck's anniversary, the sounds of screeching wheels, screaming passengers and a horrific crash might still be heard. You might also see a uniformed man with a gold watch.
Shortly before 3 a.m. Friday, on the 119th anniversary of the Bostian Bridge train tragedy and at about the same time, between 10 and 12 ghost hunters were on that approximately 300-foot long span.
They were hoping to hear the sounds of the crash, and perhaps see something.
Instead, a real Norfolk-Southern train -- three engines and one car -- turned the corner as it headed east to Statesville, about 35 miles north of Charlotte, authorities said.
The terrified "amateur ghost watchers" ran away, back toward Statesville, trying to cover the nearly 150 feet to safety, said Iredell County Sheriff's Office Capt. Darren Campbell.
All but two made it.
Christopher Kaiser, 29, of Charlotte, was struck and killed, said Campbell.
A woman who witnesses say Kaiser pushed to safety fell about 30 to 40 feet from the trestle and was injured. Her name and condition were not known Friday night. She was being treated at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
"There was no way out, said Campbell. "They almost made it."
The engineer of the train, which was traveling at its customary 35 to 40 mph, hit the horn and "stopped as fast as he could," Campbell said.
Campbell, 38, is from the area and has heard all the stories, although he said he knows of no one who has ever seen or heard the "ghost train."
On the 50th anniversary of the Bostian Bridge incident, a woman said she witnessed it all again. In 1991, hawkers sold T-shirts and other memorabilia, and there were an estimated 150 people waiting for the train, according to the Charlotte Observer.
There are occasional reports of railroad crossing arms dropping without cause, Campbell said.
The ghost trip on the anniversary has become an annual tradition of sorts.
A woman who did not want to be identified, but who was part of the group of onlookers, told CNN affiliate WCNC, "We were there looking for what people say happened. You hear the train wreck or hear people screaming. We were just watching."
Kaiser's mother said the family was too distraught to talk about the incident, WCNC said.
Campbell said most of the ghost hunters, who were from out of town, have been interviewed. Many fled because they were trespassing on railroad property, he said. Campbell said there were no patrols near the bridge early Friday.
Although the investigation is continuing, Campbell said the incident appears to be an accident.
At least two blogs that cover the phenomena, N.C. Ghost Guide and CreepyNC.com, detail the 1891 wreck's legend. While accounts vary somewhat, the man with the gold watch reportedly was first seen on the first anniversary.
According to CreepyNC.com, Hugh K. Linster was a baggage master for the Asheville-bound train that crashed into Third Creek that August of 1891.
"Hugh Linster never made it to retirement," the blog reads. "His body was found in the wreck having been killed immediately upon impact with a broken neck."
One year later, a group of people at the bridge said they saw a man in a railroad uniform, holding a watch.
He vanished before their eyes, legend has it.(CNN) -- The facts: On August 27, 1891, a passenger train jumped the tracks on a tall... more
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You hate for your brain to turn you on this horrific way without warning. Even though you’re physically healthy, you never know that this mental illness or mental disorder can mess your life up in a terrifying way and can later drive you mad.You hate for your brain to turn you on this horrific way without warning. Even though... more
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Mental illnesses or mental disorders are taking big toll on the daily life of human beings thereby causing countless hours of depression, stress, delusion, anxiety and unwanted medical condition. You’ve to accept the facts that a person with a mental phenomenon stated herein can be just mentally ill enough to be marked by episodes of bizarre behaviors and strange expressions.Mental illnesses or mental disorders are taking big toll on the daily life of human... more
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These mental disorders may sound strange, bizarre and unbelievable to you. Perhaps, very few people know their existence. The worst things about these diseases are that they can put sufferers under downright weird and chronic medical conditions if treatment is not prompted. Here is a compilation of some of the incredibly awful conditions of the human brain.These mental disorders may sound strange, bizarre and unbelievable to you. Perhaps,... more
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"Most scientists dismiss the vast majority of ghost sightings as hoaxes. But researchers in Canada, England and elsewhere are exploring what happens in the brain to create the illusion that something is "haunted." So far, they have found evidence that some apparitions may be brain benders caused by spiking EMFs (electromagnetic fields), and possibly even extremely low-–frequency sound waves (known as infrasound) so subtle that the ear does not register them as noise.
EMFs emitted by power lines and towers, clock radios and other electrical sources may help debunk myths that people or things are haunted, says Michael Persinger, a neuroscientist at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, who has conducted research on the topic. One such study, published in 2001 in Perceptual And Motor Skills chronicles the experiences of a teenager who in 1996 claimed to be receiving nocturnal visits—one sexual—from the Holy Spirit. The 17-year-old girl, who had sustained mild brain damage at birth, said she also felt the presence of an invisible baby perched on her left shoulder.
When Persinger and his colleagues investigated (at the behest of the girl's mother), they found an electric clock next to the bed that was about 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) from where she placed her head when she slept. Tests showed that the clock generated electromagnetic pulses with waveforms similar to those found to trigger epileptic seizures in rats and humans. When the clock was removed, the visions stopped. Persinger determined that the clock, in combination with the girl's brain injury, were highly likely to have been contributing factors to the perceived nocturnal visits.
Although Persinger believes this case and others to offer compelling evidence that EMFs contribute to a person's perception that something is haunted, experiments intended to prove this theory leave room for doubt.
"There's a continuum, and this kind of framework is useful when you're talking about hallucinatory experiences," French says. "People are mistaking their attribution, feeling a product of their own mental processes as something that's taking place in the real world. Anything that can lead to making your mental events more similar to events that take place—a vivid imagination, for example—will make it more difficult to distinguish between the two."
Of course, believers say French cannot see or hear ghosts because he is a "horrible skeptic," which he readily admits. "I wish it was a bit more spooky," he says of his time waiting for apparitions to appear in dank, musty castles. "I'm sitting in the dark, in the cold. I wish something more would happen."
Persinger commends French's team on its "splendid experiment," even if it didn't validate his ideas. Still, he contends, EMFs do affect the body in many ways—from the brain to individual cells, to enzymes, and even DNA. The key to testing their effects on brain activity, he says, is to make sure that the fields are neither too strong nor too weak, and that they come in the right pattern. So he is not willing to give up on finding a way to prove scientifically that EMFs are behind at least some ghost sightings. "I'm a scientist," Persinger says. "I don't believe in anything."
"Most scientists dismiss the vast majority of ghost sightings as hoaxes. But... more
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22-year-old James Chester has been jailed for 30 months after posing as a 16-year-old boy and having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl. Chester also enrolled at a secondary school (though the girl isn't from the school), with fake papers to pose as a Year 10 student. He lied to the girl's parents, claiming he was 16 and the alarm was only raised when he took her on a trip to Northern Ireland and her parents reported her missing.
Chester is said to be disturbed and confused, wishing to be 16 again after a violent childhood. He has been banned from entering into relationships with children under 16, going within 50 metres of secondary schools, playgrounds or children's events, wearing schools uniforms or trying to enrol in schools. He was also banned from working with children and ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years.
I think all the tabloids screaming about him being a pervert is a little overdone - he's obviously a very disturbed guy, possibly with peter pan syndrome and wishing he could reclaim his lost childhood. Sure, that doesn't make his actions right, but it gives more background to it.22-year-old James Chester has been jailed for 30 months after posing as a 16-year-old... more
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