Ben Stein - Expelled - Questioning Darwin

Ben Stein, in the new film EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed

His heroic and, at times, shocking journey confronting the world’s top scientists, educators and philosophers, regarding the persecution of the many by an elite few.

Coming to a theater near you on April 18,  2008

Ben travels the world on his quest, and learns an awe-inspiring truth…that bewilders him, then angers him…and then spurs him to action!

Ben realizes that he has been “Expelled,” and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the “crime” of merely believing that there might be evidence of “design” in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance. To which Ben Says: “Enough!” And then gets busy. NOBODY messes with Ben.

Movie Blog: http://expelledthemovie.com/blog/

Although I have no idea what the movie is “really” about, it sure sounds good.

jorge

Family Force 5 - You Probably Won’t Like Them

Man, I sure do. Family Force 5 music is such a mish-mash of styles. I’ll call it “Linkin Park meets Rob Zombie meets Marilyn Manson meets Flock of Seagulls. Crazy, right?

Truth is, it’s mostly hard, guitar heavy and screaming, but it’s sprinkled with breakdowns and segues reminiscent of Mr. Bungle, Queen and Fischerspooner.

I was actually looking for Christian Rock that a friend’s teenage son would like. I found stuff like Nevertheless, Kids In The Way, Skillet, Hawk Nelson and Family Force 5. My favorite from this group is FF5.

These guys are crazy, irreverent and look like they are having a great time. Their Wiki page says three of the members are brothers and call this type of music “crunk”. I guess it’s some sort of mix of rap and screaming…whatever.

As far as Christian content in their lyrics, you ‘re gonna have to listen with Christian ears. What I mean by that is that they are Christians, but it’s not worship music. Their worldview is a Christian one, so the lyrics are not going to be about sex and drugs and partying…well, maybe they do. P.O.D. is similar in this way…they don’t sing about Jesus, but they love Him.

Check out these lyrics from their song “Never Let Me Go”:

But time don’t phase me, not a bit
Cuz i give mine to you, all of it
Death can’t shake me, from ya hand
Me minus you equals, not a chance
It’s good to know that, when i go
You’ll never ever let me go

[chorus]
I want some face to face
Just gimme that full embrace
What did i hear you say?
That you will never ever let me go
When it’s my time to go
I know one thing fo’ sho’
That you will never ever let me go

Lyrics from “Face Down”:

I’m on my face again
It’s where i should have been
Brings me back to where i found you
Where i first fell for you
No more depending on myself
It’s you and me and no one else
You stretch out your hand
And now it feels like i am falling into
Love, love, love
Can’t get enough of love

[chorus]
Falling with my face down
Giving up me, myself, and i
A bitter sweet taste to swallow my pride now
Face down where i stay now
If you see me standing up again
Just knock me back down so i can live face down

Lyrics from “Love You To Death”:

I put my money where my mouth is
Sure i’d give it up, even the showbiz
Just to prove what you mean to me
Ur real to me, oww, oww, oww,
I love you to death

You know i’ll always love you the same
It’s true that’ll never change
Cause i’m ah a a a a a a a a allllll about ya
You know ill never live a second without ya

Lyrics from “Replace Me”:

Desperation
Needing U
Every last breath
I scream for you
Shatter me into a million pieces…Make me new

Crush me, tear me, break me, mold me
Make me what U want me to be
I am ur’s for U to use
Oh, Take and Replace me with U

Good stuff. Now, not all their lyrics are like these that I picked out, but the music is fun.

Maybe some day they’ll come to my town.

This video here is their music video for “Love Addict” which borders on secular, except it’s about “love” not “booty” or something crazy. It’s still cool music.

See ya.

jorge

Bobblehead Nativity Scene

I built a Bobblehead Nativity Scene!

I looked around everywhere and couldn’t find one, so I thought I’d build one.

Hope you have a wonderful December, leading up to a warm and cozy Christmas Season.

Bobblehead Nativity Scene

Enjoy

jorge

How to Tell if Your Psychic Friend is a Faker

Although I can’t recommend viewing stuff from “Post Secret” (a website that displays postcards sent in by people with their secrets on them) because of the often offensive material, here is a “secret” send in by someone that I thought was really interesting:

I know someone who worked at a Telemarketing Company, and one of their clients was a “Psychic Hotline”. This meant that there were non-psychics counseling people who thought they were talking to real psychics. I asked her to tell me a little about what her experience was:

The way this works is as follows:
• The caller sees an ad for a psychic reading and calls a number.
• That number went to our call center. The rep would thank them for calling, tell them that the psychic would be able to answer any questions they had (kind of pump them up a little), and that they would need to call another number to speak to the psychic. This number is a 900# on which they would receive a certain number of minutes free, the rest would be paid.
• Each script did say something like “for entertainment purposes” which we would try to downplay.
• We experimented with several scripts combining them with different offers to see which would get the most bang for the buck.
• The “psychics” all had their own operator id, so you could call back a specific psychic if you wanted to.
• Some of the people calling us would complain that they could hear the psychic vacuuming in the background or taking care of their kids.
• When we met the owner of the parent company, he really did not disclose much about the psychics themselves nor how they hired them. Basically, they hired people who were good listeners and conversationalists. I don’t know anything about how they are trained.
• The average PAID call length was 14 minutes with rates around $5-$7 per minute with an average day raking in about 30,000 paid minutes. Incredible amounts of money.

Here’s an excerpt from a script that is actually used by telemarketers:

OK, are you ready for your first card?

Well, as I look at the set I have placed down for you, Is ee some interesting things arasing. Some of it deals with love, money and changes. Hopefully they are going to be for the better.

Now, your first card represents your situation, maybe some problems you’re having, and maybe a little bit about yourself.

(BECOME MORE SINCERE NOW)

Your first card is the card of Sorrow, this is the 3 of Swords. This card is just letting us know that there is some type of disruption in your life. Something perhaps weighing on your mind?

There seems to be something confusing you. Not that it’s a big deal, but this card is giving off a strong vibe or anxiety. Which indicates something stressing you out. Actually, this card is warm in my hand.

What seems to be disturbing you Please?

THREE OF SWORDS

This card can indicate a loss of possessions or work, maybe health problems or a loss of good friendship.

(SAY THIS)

This is the time to try to sort out problems, and you must be prepared for delay and disappointments. What you are encountering is necessary for you to progress, but it may not be an easy time for you right now.

Is there someone you can think of that’s jealous of you in some way?

Someone who might be causing interferance, trying to block something good for you. Perhaps talking behind your back? Someone who to your face may appear to be OK, or maybe not.

This next card is the 8 of moons, which is the card of peace.

It says to keep your eyes open for someone who is threatened by you somehow.

By careful.

Can you think of who this can be?

You see, the issue here is that it’s all relative. Anyone can have any of these symptoms at any time, and the fact that the caller actually called the number means they already believe they have a need, and the person at the other end of the line has an answer.

Here’s an excerpt on cold reading from the Skeptics.com:

1. Remember that the key ingredient of a successful character reading is confidence.

If you look and act as if you believe in what you are doing, you will be able to sell even a bad reading to most subjects. One danger of playing the role of reader is that you may actually begin to believe that you really are divining your subject’s true character!

2. Make creative use of the latest statistical abstracts, polls and surveys.

These can provide you with much information about what various subclasses in our society believe, do, want , worry about etc. For example, if you can ascertain a subject’s place of origin, educational level, and his/her parents’ religion and vocations, you have gained information which should allow you to predict with high probability his/her voting preferences and attitudes to many subjects.

3. Set the stage for your reading.

Profess a modesty about your talents. Make no excessive claims. You will then catch your subject off guard. You are not challenging them to a battle of wits - You can read his/her character, whether he/she believes you or not.

4. Gain the subject’s cooperation in advance.

Emphasize that the success of the reading depends as much on the subject’s cooperation as on your efforts. (After all, you imply, you already have a successful career at character reading - You are not on trial, your subject is!) State that due to difficulties of language and communication, you may not always convey the meaning you intend. In these cases, the subject must strive to fit the reading to his/her own life. You accomplish two valuable ends with this dodge - Firstly, you have an alibi in case the reading doesn’t click; it’s the subject’s fault, not yours! Secondly, your subject will strive to fit your generalities to his/her specific life circumstances. Later, when the subject recalls the reading, you will be credited with much more detail than you actually provided! This is crucial. Your reading will only succeed to the degree that the subject is made an active participant in the reading. The good reader is the one who , deliberately or unwittingly, forces the subject to search his/her mind to make sense of your statements.

5. Use a gimmick, such as Tarot cards, crystal ball, palm reading etc.

Use of props serves two valuable purposes. Firstly, it lends atmosphere to the reading. Secondly, (and more importantly) it gives you time to formulate your next question/statement. Instead of just sitting there, thinking of something to say, you can be intently studying the cards /crystal ball etc. You may opt to hold hands with your subject - This will help you feel the subject’s reactions to your statements. If you are using , say, palmistry (the reading of hands) it will help if you have studied some manuals, and have learned the terminology. This will allow you to more quickly zero in on your subject’s chief concerns - “do you wish to concentrate on the heart line or the wealth line?”

6. Have a list of stock phrases at the tip of your tongue.

Even during a cold reading, a liberal sprinkling of stock phrases will add body to the reading and will help you fill in time while you formulate more precise characterizations. Use them to start your readings. Palmistry, tarot and other fortune telling manuals are a key source of good phrases.

7. Keep your eyes open!

Use your other senses as well. Size the subject up by observing his/her clothes, jewelery, mannerisms and speech. Even a crude classification based on these can provide the basis for a good reading. Also, watch carefully for your subject’s response to your statements - You will soon learn when you are hitting the mark!

8. Use the technique of fishing.

This is simply a device to get the subject to tell you about his/herself. Then you rephrase what you have been told and feed it back to the subject.

One way of fishing is to phrase each statement as question, then wait for the reply. If the reply or reaction is positive, then you turn the statement into a positive assertion. Often the subject will respond by answering the implied question and then some. Later, the subject will forget that he/she was the source of the information! By making your statements into questions, you also force the subject to search his/her memory to retrieve specific instances to fit your general statement.

9. Learn to be a good listener.

During the course of a reading your client will be bursting to talk about incidents that are brought up. The good reader allows the client to talk at will. On one occasion I observed a tea leaf reader. The client actually spent 75% of the time talking. Afterward when I questioned the client about the reading she vehemently insisted that she had not uttered a single word during the course of the reading. The client praised the reader for having astutely told her what in fact she herself had spoken.

Another value of listening is that most clients that seek the services of a reader actually want someone to listen to their problems. In addition, many clients have already made up their minds about what choices they are going to make. They merely want support to carry out their decision.

10. Dramatize your reading.

Give back what little information you do have or pick up a little bit at a time. Make it seem more than it is. Build word pictures around each divulgence. Don’t be afraid of hamming it up.

11. Always give the impression that you know more than you are saying.

The successful reader, like the family doctor, always acts as if he/she knows much more. Once you have persuaded the subject that you know one item of information that you couldn’t possibly have known (through normal channels) the subject will assume that you know all! At this point, the subject will open up and confide in you.

12. Don’t be afraid to flatter your subject at every opportunity.

An occasional subject will protest, but will still lap it up. In such cases, you can add, “You are always suspicious of those who flatter you. You just can’t believe that someone will say something good about you without an ulterior motive”.

13. Remember the Golden Rule - always tell the subject what he/she wants to hear!

—

Have a good day

Jorge

Who Will Fight For You

Song: Everything by Lifehouse: