ChairmanAgnostic
ChairmanAgnostic's JournalNuance products suck
Sure, they have a couple of Mac based, dedicated programs. Dragon and some PDF converters.
Most companies that cater to Mac users send updates, sales pitches, and news about new products. It is easy to presume that Nuance would, too.
Unfortunately, they send their ads to all registered clients, regardless of the platform. For example, they offered $400 off their Omnipage Pro program, that offers to make your scanning and paper free environment easy as pie. Cake? whatever. NOT UNTIL YOU BUY THE PROGRAM and BEGIN TO DOWN LOAD does their website or literature tell you it can only be used on Windows 8. So, I spent 20 minutes on the call cancelling my purchase, gnashing my teeth. I asked why they don't put a head's up on their ads? No answer. I asked have any other Mac users also called and cancelled and complained? "Oh, yes. I received several just this morning! I cannot imagine why!"
Grr.
fascinating article by Juan Cole
what a joy it is to read a historian write about something he/she knows. Especially when the topic is christianity - muslim religions (and how their early days were so murky).
Here's a sample:
First of all, we know very little about the lives of Jesus (d. circa 30-33 CE) or Muhammad (d. 632 CE). As a historian, I’m looking for early sources and diverse sources. The earliest manuscripts of the New Testament are second century, and in Greek rather than in the original Aramaic (some ideas may have changed radically with the translation– the Aramaic almost certainly did not have the phrase ‘son of God.’) There are many variants among the manuscripts and among the Gospels. Did Mark even know about a resurrection? There are even questions about what sources early Christians accepted (is the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas a Gospel?) All of the extant accounts of Jesus obviously come from a small number of early Christian communities. There is no early outside source. We historians want accounts coming from several different sources.
Amazingly, 600+ years later, there were outside sources discussing Muhammed, something the christians sorely lack.
Here's the cite. http://www.juancole.com/
A very interesting read. Especially how growing numbers of ".....istan" peoples are doing without religion.
I just hope his conclusion, that 200 yrs from now both those religions will be dead. They've caused enough pain and suffering by now, haven't they?
At what point does Congress reach its "USE BY" date?
The incredible show of spine by yesterday's Congress was probably the greatest display of what goes on in DC that we have ever witnessed. In the face of almost unheard of uniformity within the American Public, 80% or more, Congress sat, laid down, rolled over, and on command, fetched the NRA from potential doom.
Doom? you may ask? Doom, indeed!
Teh Horrors! The idea that we may want to have background checks for anyone who wants to buy a gun is so revolting, so unconstitutional, so against our American Values, that our congress is will to stand up, take a difficult position, stand up to the mere masses, the angry plebes, the mourning know nothings. No, Congress was extraordinarily brave in protecting a small group of gun manufacturers against the vast majority of the people.
What courage. What moral fortitude. What an ethical, honorable stance Congress took.
So how did we come to this? At what point did Congress feel brave enough to drop even the pretense of honest governing?
Ever shop at a sneaky grocer, who would pack beautiful looking fruit or veggies in a plastic wrap, go home to cook, only find that he hid all the rotting parts inside? Yeah, me too. But that is what this Congress reminds me of.
They no longer govern for us. They do not represent us (despite their chest-pounding public statements to the contrary). They do not lead us, except astray.
This is a Congress that is part and parcel owned by lobbyists, by a few incredibly rich benefactors, and by those who do not you and my best interests at heart. They were bought, paid for, and are totally beholden to a limited few, precisely the opposite of what our founding fathers intended.
Now that I think about it, (as much as it pains me to say it) some of the ideas that drove folks to Tea Parties begin to make sense. I do not agree with LESS GOVERNMENT and NO TAXES, which crowd out their other messages. But, every Tea Bagger I have talked to wants medical marijuana. Now. Every one I spoke with thinks that lobbyists have too much control. And except for one, who is with the sheriff's police, every one of them thinks that the military budget is too big.
For many months I have poured scorn on the Tea Baggers, denouncing them, their ideas, and gleefully laughing at their idiotic hats and signs. Now, I may have to reconsider my tactics. Perhaps working with them would offer something good. So long as they leave Michelle and Sarah at home.
I suspect another thing they would accept? Removal of today's congress. They are so ripe that their "USE BY" has expired.
The Boston Feeding Frenzy Begins
Without a hint of regret, concern for accuracy, or substantive research, the nation's least substantive paper, the USaToday, announced that an article published by Al Qaida two years ago was entitled, "HOw to make a bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom." It included shrapnel and an explosive substance. "Would be bombers, the article said, should use gloves to prevent their fingerprints from being found on the bomb fragments. . ."
Gee, USA, nice job. Convict a group, make people worry about a threat that probably does not exist, and ignore any research into WHY those folks may not like us very much. They hate us for our freedoms? Hardly. After Patriot, most of our rights are now MIA.
But, it gets worse. I have collected a odd group of books in my studies for writing a novel. One of them came from the US Army, circa 1963. In the section on how to create improvised explosives, it also recommends using a pressure cooker, "where lethality can be maximized by gluing ball bearings, sharp metal, and similar objects to the side, before adding" the explosive.
1963
US Army
Pressure cooker
Improvised explosives
Let's review the public facts as to who, why, how:
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Except for the how - a kitchen pressure cooker.
Ergo,
It HAS to be Al Qaida!
it may be. It may NOT be. Let's rely on our experts, on investigators, and on the need for people to brag after a successful criminal event. Then, we can talk about who did what and why.
As most of society seems to be getting saner, are the loonies
growing more strident, more obscene, in their religious based demands?
North Carolina wants to pass some official religion. They have pending legislation to ban sharia law, while they are fully willing to accept the more crazy parts of christian law and punishment.
Kansas? Too much to list here.
Texas? Let's just say that Perry is the sane and smart one from that state's roll of pols.
Michigan? 3 days for abortion after conception? The mind boggles.
Actually, the list is growing day by day. Does anyone else detect a note of fear underlying the recent growth of crazy legislative ideas from the ultra-right?
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Name: RakGender: Do not display
Hometown: Illinois
Home country: USA
Member since: Wed Jul 13, 2005, 07:56 PM
Number of posts: 28,017
