Nothing in the world can take the place of PERSISTENCE.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press On," has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
Calvin Coolidge -- 1932
If chess teaches anything, it's that success and mastery don't "Just Happen!"
Rael wrote: p.s. I find your lack of faith disturbing.
p.s. I find your lack of faith disturbing.
Such comments are offensive. Please, in the future, refrain from saying them.
BenjaminGDelaCruz wrote: Rael wrote: p.s. I find your lack of faith disturbing. Such comments are offensive. Please, in the future, refrain from saying them.
I was offended by you being offended by the comment. Please, in the future, refrain from being offended.
Geesh people! Take a break! Relax! Smile a bit! Enjoy life! Don't take yourself so seriously! (Seriously...)
BirdBrain wrote: Luke, if I say you don't exist, you do after all. Hard to lie about the truth. If you don't want to believe, fine, you can deny the truth. But telling others God doesn't exist won't change the truth.
Luke, if I say you don't exist, you do after all. Hard to lie about the truth. If you don't want to believe, fine, you can deny the truth. But telling others God doesn't exist won't change the truth.
Don't confuse "truth" with "belief", and "knowledge" with "faith". Just because you say something exists, doesn't make it so. You need to prove it first.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
wow, that was an extremely entertaining thread to read, considering the fact that half the posts weren't even about chess!
Mr. DelaCruz
Sheesh.
a) it was a Star Wars reference. I was talking to Luke_Skywalker.b) what're you offended by out of curiosity... the word "faith"?c) I'm not sure if I should say "Welcome to the internet" here, and ask you how it's been working out for you to go around asking people to politely refrain from offending you, or to say Welcome to the planet Earth.
If the sentence "I find your lack of faith disturbing" really offends you, please do not leave your house. Ever. There's a real danger that you might see and/or hear things slightly worse, and requesting that these offenses politely refrain from offending you will not be 100% effective in all instances.
Here is an article written by a doctor in Darfur about a time the Janjaweed Arab militia raped school girls in a village in Sudan I read this morning, so you actually have something real to be offended about:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article4362968.ece
p.s. I find your mental fragility disturbing
Rael wrote: Mr. DelaCruz Sheesh. a) it was a Star Wars reference. I was talking to Luke_Skywalker.b) what're you offended by out of curiosity... the word "faith"?c) I'm not sure if I should say "Welcome to the internet" here, and ask you how it's been working out for you to go around asking people to politely refrain from offending you, or to say Welcome to the planet Earth. If the sentence "I find your lack of faith disturbing" really offends you, please do not leave your house. Ever. There's a real danger that you might see and/or hear things slightly worse, and requesting that these offenses politely refrain from offending you will not be 100% effective in all instances. Here is an article written by a doctor in Darfur about a time the Janjaweed Arab militia raped school girls in a village in Sudan I read this morning, so you actually have something real to be offended about: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article4362968.ece p.s. I find your mental fragility disturbing
Thank you for the article Rael.
I have a friend working in Darfur who told me this story and more but what is happening there never fails to lose its impact. Puts our comfortable easy lives in perspective. Sadly, it won't stop people complaining about trivial matters.
I work at a juvenile detention center and we have a pretty serious gang problem. Our day is divided into various forms of time (rec time, free time, constructive time). I pushed to get chess added as a "constructive time" activity. It was already a free time activity. I then instituted the crudest ranking system you've ever seen based on the only free thing I could find on-line to keep track - a crappy Excel spreadsheet that's more work than it's worth.
That was about three months ago.
Today I have 18th Street, MS-13, Bloods and Crips sitting across the table from each other. They talk about the game. They congratulate each other on good moves. They've gone from trying to sharpen toothbrushes to stab each other to sharpening their openings to show the other guy up. In the last three months, I haven't had to restrain a single juvenile on my unit. That's well below the other units' average.
I'd say chess definitely has a purpose other than a simple past-time.
Nice post neospooky. Encouraging results. Thank you for your work.
Wow, neospooky, that is really commendable. I just found out about MS-13 this week due to that incident with the AK-47 in California.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/ROAD_RAGE_KILLING?SITE=AP
Did you hear about this?
other than meeting people, having fun, and giving your brain a workout, no... it most deffinently is not...
Rael wrote: Mr. DelaCruz Sheesh. a) it was a Star Wars reference. I was talking to Luke_Skywalker.b) what're you offended by out of curiosity... the word "faith"?c) I'm not sure if I should say "Welcome to the internet" here, and ask you how it's been working out for you to go around asking people to politely refrain from offending you, or to say Welcome to the planet Earth.
For the record, my name is seperated at the middle. About your points b and c:
b) No, it was your implication that people lacking "faith" are in some way pathetic or "disturbing".
c) Your insulting attitude is unnecessary. All I did was ask for you to refrain from posting offensive comments, just as I'd expect yo uto say the same to me if I wrote "I find your faith disturbing". Apparently, instead of responding politely you decided to lash out with venom which hasn't been seen since the days of the Old Testament god.
"If the sentence "I find your lack of faith disturbing" really offends you, please do not leave your house. Ever. There's a real danger that you might see and/or hear things slightly worse, and requesting that these offenses politely refrain from offending you will not be 100% effective in all instances."
So if, for example, you are offended by somebody saying "I find your faith disturbing"; you should "never leave your house"? Quite frankly, your double-standard ridden, condescending, hypocritical attitude is what I've come to expect from "Christians" like you. I suppose you are right, it was too much of me to ask that you refrain from posting abusive comments.
No, if you wrote "I find your faith disturbing" I wouldn't care. It's a sentence. Yikes.
"...lash out with venom which hasn't been seen since the days of the Old Testament god"
That's a touch over the top wouldn't you say? Gosh you're sensitive.
"posting abusive comments."
Report Abuse
Here's the link to report abusive comments. Go ahead, maybe erik is bored and needs a chuckle.
No, if you wrote "I find your faith disturbing" I wouldn't care. It's a sentence.
Riiight. Because we all know that if something is "just a sentence" it can't possibly be offensive...
Over the top? What do you mean? It's just a sentence. Anyway, I find it to be perfectly on par with your arrogant response.
Here's the link to report abusive comments. Go ahead, make erik is bored and needs a chuckle.
Whether Erik finds your comment to be offensive or not is irrelevant to whether it actually was. Besides, I'm not in the habit of "reporting" on people.
eternal21 wrote: BirdBrain wrote: Luke, if I say you don't exist, you do after all. Hard to lie about the truth. If you don't want to believe, fine, you can deny the truth. But telling others God doesn't exist won't change the truth. Don't confuse "truth" with "belief", and "knowledge" with "faith". Just because you say something exists, doesn't make it so. You need to prove it first. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
You can't teach truth to people who adamantly refuse to believe in it. Anything beyond this would require personal conversation outside of the forum, which I am all for, and I will write you personally and discuss this (hopefully in a more friendly manner than Luke, who did nothing more than send cheap shots at me when I tried to talk to him outside of this forum).
You know, I enjoy the occasional internet fight. But really, guy, this is the most ridiculous "argument" I've ever had with someone.
I made a comment about "Oh God, I've wasted my life", to which Luke_Skywalker said "There is no God".
I wasn't offended. The sentence came to my mind because Vader says it.
I find it hard to believe that anyone could be offended by this:
"I find your lack of faith disturbing".
I honestly can't believe it.
But hey - le'ts not ruin this thread and space on the recent topics post with our private, petty, "argument" over nothing, alright?
Rael, that is why I took my discussion outside of this forum. It is in fact an invitation if anyone wants to discuss outside of the forum. They can discuss personally - but please keep it clean. I saw eternal's response and decided to talk to him personally.
In one regards, we can see that our love of chess has brought us together, and has sparked conversation. We can light upon other aspects of life outside of chess as well. And this brings light to this very forum that we have decided to "waste our time on" lol. Chess inspires inquisitive minds to come together, minds that enjoy good nature, logic, etc. and can speak about things outside of 64 squares and 32 pieces.
And, as you can see, I put my discussion to a dead-end here, both times. I think that is definetely fair. Shouldn't put any damper upon this forum post.
Rael, sorry - I saw that your comment referred to Benjamin, not to me. Apologies to you kind sir!
Oh yeah, for sure BirdBrain.
You know I wish someone had told me as I was getting out of bed this morning:
"Rael, I must warn you. Today you will greatly offend someone.
By quoting Star Wars. On the internet."
Rael wrote: Oh yeah, for sure BirdBrain. You know I wish someone had told me as I was getting out of bed this morning: "Rael, I must warn you. Today you will greatly offend someone. By quoting Star Wars. On the internet."
What a riot! :-) By the way, that was offensive.... MUWAHAHAHAHA! :-)
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