p.5, WHO POSTED THIS?

I met the Wolfomeister a couple of years back when I was trying to decide whether to apply to PhD programs in medieval history, or to switch fields and do international relations. Since I was doing my MA in the area, I visited the DC area schools, i.e Georgetown( I felt like a peasant!), American ( I really, really, really...really liked American!), GW (Ditto, almost as freindly and welcoming as American, but no funding. ),and Hopkins' Nitze SAIS, of which Wolfy was dean. I met with him , and over the course of an hour or so's discussion, the man scared the living daylights out of me. it wasn't any particular statement that he made, it was rather his manner. He is eerily calm and serene,and has the madman's certainty that he is absolutely right in anything he says. Needless to say this helped scare me back into the past! Those that deal with the present are nutters!

The Geneva Convention forbids the taking of hostages, yet:

Col. David Hogg, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division, said tougher methods are being used to gather the intelligence. On Wednesday night, he said, his troops picked up the wife and daughter of an Iraqi lieutenant general. They left a note: "If you want your family released, turn yourself in." Such tactics are justified, he said, because, "It's an intelligence operation with detainees, and these people have info." They would have been released in due course, he added later.

What about the ancient Persians? I'm not saying they were the greatest of all civilizations, but they shure did contribute.

2500 years ago, the great Persian king wrote the first charter of human rights. After capturing Babylon he also allowed the return of jews to Israel.

The first Charter of Human Rights written 2500 years ago I am Kourosh (Cyrus), great king,…Now that I put the crown of the kingdom of Iran, Babylon, and the nations of the four directions on the head with the help of Ahura, I announce that I will respect the traditions, customs and religions of the nations of my empire and never let any of my governors and subordinates look down on or insult them while I am alive. …I will impose my monarchy on no nation. Each is free to accept it, and if any one of them rejects it, I never resolve on war to reign. While I am the king…I will never let anyone oppress others,… I will never let anyone take possession of movable and landed properties of the others by force or without compensation. While I am alive, I will prevent unpaid, forced labour. Today, I announce that everyone is free to choose a religion.…No one could be penalised for his or her relatives' faults…

That's pretty incredible for being a 2500 year-old charter.

Well, being brought up in Scandinavia, I've sadly forgotten how to write in Persian (or Arabic), and I now only speak Persian.

If I communicate with other Persians over the net, I do so with the Latin alphabet.

I do know this, that the Persian, striving to differ from the Arabs, adopted new letters into the Arabic alphabet, and then called it the Persian alphabet.

Many Persian nationalists want to return to the ancient Persian alphabets, which I do agree with. I think you might have a point fbaezer. But it might not be out of grammatical inconvinience it is troublesome to read Persian in Arabic alphabet, it's rather the fact that the alphabet is Arabic rather than Persian.

Lessee... most of my books are fiction, so those are alphabetized by author. I also have a few nonfiction books, though, and those are organized by size. Strange, it doesn't really seem like I have many books, but when I counted, I had over a hundred!

Alright, I'm reading Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe... that is, if I can find it. Somehow, within the past two days it's gone missing. I'm absolutely going mad without it. Anyway, happy reading to you all!

My favorite book is... okay, I know it's a children's book, but I haven't found one I like better, so here goes. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. It is so much better than the movie, and when I was finished with it, I cried (not because of a sad ending, but because... there was no more to read).

Hmm... what is there to say? I love to read and write (fantasy mostly). I am going to be a Junior at YHS next fall. I've got lots of friends. The picture that is my "avatar" is Illusen from Neopets.com...

There is indeed much that politicians take credit for, or have blame imposed for, that they have little to do with.
A facet of politics is that a person must convince an electorate (at least a fair percentage of) that his is the best remedy for social ills. After years of telling people this, and acting as if it were true, he begins to believe it himself.
This little phenomenon may well account for the excesses of many legitimate governments. The Versailles court in France, Henry VIII of Britain, House of Saud, and Franklin Delano Rooseveldt of the U.S. come rather quickly to mind.
A government rules only with the consent of the governed. I didn't notice that the consent had to be freely given.
The necessity of having sufficient power on the side of the government is what makes politicians necessary.
Stalinist Russia made do with only about six% firmly on the governments side.

You have just announced three things as facts which are theories or beliefs. "An inexplicable event" (singularity) may never have happened. The singularity depends upon a view of time and space that may not agree with observation.

"The Big Bang- Expanding Universe" theories also have serious difficulties in the observation department. In reading some 50 books on the subject I have never found anybody that actually did the math.

" The "Creator-Creation" theory also has serious difficulties on the observation department. I have never found anyone who knew a "God" outside of his dreams and imaginations. ( I knew Dolly Parton in that manner but I try not to confuse facts with wishes and dreams) It's very easy to do, believe me!

Well, who made that concept, I suppose you, but why did you made it.

It serves a purpose, to get an easier life, mainly because you want to believe, but you don't due to the lack of evidence, evidence that will never be found of a god. What you can find is, through philosophy & psychology the terms of how gods are created & the purpuses they serve.

I've got no real concept of a god, since they are all man-made & they serve a purpose, however wicked that purpuse may be.

As ironically as it may sound, we created gods, they didn't create us. Since we create them they are man-made, they are false, If I had a personal concept of god then it'll be false cause I made it.

Later I'll post some concepts they serve that I've writtena fter tons of hours reflexing about it, unfortunately it's late & I'm exhausted of reflexing about dreams, since I'm still reading Freud.

Have a nice night

Hope may be(just a guess from, nothing else, it ain't a fact or what so ever) just the lack of security to accomplish a goal, though you still look it with an optimistic point of view. Security helps us survive, since it makes us trust more, but also insecurity makes us stay alert, so hope may also be a biological function, kind of in the middle of those to.

PS.- While the subject of hope, it comes to mind something regarding the subject, the myth of pandora's box, & it also comes to my mind the interpretation Nietzsche gave to it, that hope was even worse than all the other diseases, etc, so that's why it stayed on the box while the other ones escaped. I like more the interpretation that after everything bad comes hope. What do you guys think about it?