Phi for All

I guess that's why I suspect there is more to Islamic terrorist tactics than meets the eye. They have no conventional army, the actual terrorists are comparatively few in number and they work from compartmented cells. They have no chance of removing western influence with their tactics but they continue anyway. I think the Islamic terrorists are seen as folk heroes and freedom fighters by their own and evil alien villains by their western enemies. I think these images are exploited by profiteers. It's cheap marketing to provide some weapons to fanatics who can spend $100 to produce a video tape that causes millions in troop redeployment and heightened security measures. If I were an arms dealer, keeping the terrorists fired up would be my cheapest marketing, and spending hundreds of thousands to make hundreds of billions is a good return on investment.

If fear alone was their goal they couldn't gain as much support as they do. The 9/11 assault on the World Trade Center was supposed to bring western business to it's knees (I think relaxing regulations to allow housing lenders to sell sub-prime loans has done more to hurt western business). They believe they will win or be martyred trying and that should be a very hard pitch to sell considering how ineffective it's been. One of al-Qa'ida's goals is to remove western influence in their territory, and they aren't EVER going to achieve that in the foreseeable future, imo.

Titles are pretty sacrosanct in forums. Can't let people post about one thing then have a title change make them look goofy. I see perceptions meddled with on all sides, mainly by each side's media. Information is presented differently depending on whether the country-specific media is driven by political, religious, or corporate agendas. Regardless of the reality, views and opinions are altered by these agendas no matter where you look. And I believe there is meddling from those who profit more directly from armed aggression. Supplying wars is extremely profitable and it would seem to be very easy for those with the skill to spin a very persuasive pitch on why defense by terrorism is a great solution. The terrorists are probably told they can win with these tactics, despite their history of failure. The true goals of terrorism seem to be fear and bleeding the victim country's economy, making them spend billions to your hundreds of thousands. Terrorism is money in some people's pockets, money on a scale that can buy the best spin available.

Assuming the terrorists you're talking about are fundamentalist Islamics, I think the closest answer is because of our presence and meddling. And I think their perceptions of our meddling are heightened by many factors, such as their leadership and clergy naming us enemies of their whole religion, arms dealers looking to grow their businesses by fomenting aggressive reactions, and the inability of both sides to understand each other's strange economic and cultural differences.

This is also known as a whisper campaign. One person poses the problem and the other one provides the solution. The best of them join forums and actually contribute so that they are taken more seriously when they begin to promote their agenda. The worst are people like these, who join and start spamming right away.

Since Tyra and sarah.jennif both joined to comment on this, one to pose the question and the other to supply the answer, AND they both have the same ISP from India, I checked around some other forums and found this is a marketing scam. They are promoting this "Institute" and have no intention of discussing anything. I will leave this up for the rest of today and then remove it formally so we don't help their Google rankings.

Doesn't your title give away the fact that you're working for the Institute?

I truly believe this. I think a few real questions get spun into a mass of... erm, questionable questions and then the whole thing gets labeled a conspiracy theory. It should be a logical fallacy unto itself.

Let's avoid the ad hominem arguments, please. Calling people quacks and inept in order to conclude that their ideas are wrong is extremely weak. Let's do better.

These are persistent Hasty Generalizations. The conclusions you are drawing are based on fallacious logic. Please stop attributing the actions of some Americans to all Americans.

15 billion really wise people or <1 billion short-sighted ones. Since it's likely there will always be a mix, at 6.5Bn I'd say we could use more wisdom and less short-sightedness. It isn't an easy fix but this would be a good start.

On a plane flight recently a guy in the seat directly ahead of me seemed to be having trouble with his reading light. He reached overhead and turned it on, then a minute later reached up and turned it off, and repeated this a few times. I could see the top of his head and he wasn't looking down like he was reading, he was looking around for a flight attendant, getting angrier when they didn't respond. He's jumping to conclusions and losing his cool because he's being stupid and unobservant. This tickles me and I decide I'm not going to tell him he's got the wrong button. A few minutes later he stops a flight attendant and he's obviously angry. He goes on and on about how he just wanted a blanket and has been signaling for for the last ten minutes and why don't they fix their buttons? The attendant reaches up and pushes the proper call button (big, orange, picture of an attendant on it instead of a light bulb) and one of the other attendants starts to come back till the first one waves her off. I hear the guy say, "Oh" as he realizes his mistake. I figured he'd apologize but he instead chooses profound stupidity by continuing to be angry and demanding a blanket and a pillow NOW. The attendant puts up with it but gets in one last subtle shot. Once he's settled with pillow and blanket she asks, "If you're going to sleep shall I turn the reading light off?" He saved himself from total profound stupidity at this point by finally saying thank you.

I started a new sales job working for one of those "everything-under-one-roof" department stores. After my first day the manager asks me how many customers I waited on and I told him one. He tells me most of the salespeople wait on 20-30 people a day. Then he asked me how much I sold to this one customer and I told him $121,447.65. He asked me what I sold the guy and I told him at first it was a small fishhook, then a larger fishhook, then a new rod & reel. The customer mentioned he knew a place off the coast so I told him he should get a boat. After Sporting Goods set him up with a Boston Whaler we realized his Honda Civic wouldn't pull the boat so I took him to Automotive and sold him a 4x4 Expedition. My boss says, "A guy comes in to buy a fishhook and you sell him a boat and an SUV?!" and I tell him no, the guy came in to buy tampons for his wife and I said to him, "Dude, your weekend's shot, you should go fishing!"

Oooooh, what a cute girl!! And you have a cute daughter too! And there's a turtle to support the veracity of the claim. You can't lie with a turtle around. I think it's a female turtle too.

Oh right, both you and thatbiologyg have little ones around. Mine's 8.5 so I sometimes forget about those days. Oh, that's just great, more female members flooding my PM box with scandalous photos. *sigh* All right, if it will help out I guess I can put up with it. Video format is OK too, I guess, if you *have* to.

"... and may I take this opportunity of emphasizing that there is no cannibalism in the British Navy. Absolutely none' date=' and when I say none, I mean there is a certain amount, more than we are prepared to admit...." -Monty Python Then answer this question: If you've just used a pair of scissors and you're going to use them again sometime soon, isn't it more efficient to leave them laying out where they're easy to grab rather than put them back in the drawer?

*You* can call him by first name but you're talking about a public function. Absolutely ask him beforehand if he would prefer that you refer to him as "doctor" for this event. He'll appreciate that you want to get it right.

The lady doth protest too much methinks. Tell them what the "C" stands for, Clara Darwin!

Excellent idea. And it verifies my hypothesis that *all* the women members are extremely bright, whereas you can't say that about all the guys here... [/schmoozing]

The handle off of which the OP flies so dramatically seems to have been precipitated by those distracting bullets in the definition. They do tend to draw the eye and make us skip the explanatory bits. Let's back off a bit, I smell a mea culpa in the offing. Let's not make it more difficult.

Warning given. If this is directed at the other posters you are trolling. If it's directed at Wikipedia you are drawing fallacious conclusions. A different approach is suggested, one which protects your face from getting egg all over it.

I've heard many RC plane enthusiasts say how much more difficult an RC helicopter is to fly. I know it seems like it would be easier but apparently that's not the case. Making one from scratch could only make it worse, imo. And without the equipment to perform the proper workshop customizing you will most certainly need, I think you will most likely end up with an RC fan. If your summer has been as hot as mine has, that might not be a bad thing.

And I'm sure insane_alien is just bursting with pride about that *now*.

Maybe his little brother, ih8sppeling, posted on his account.

Now we know why guy geeks outnumber girl geeks. Cluelessism.