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yea, i think chi is the unknown mechanism.
And i would say that if chi is shorthand for 'idunno' then it would be accurate to say 'doing X gets you Y because of chi'

Hooray! my first WOMPing!
now i must WOMP elseone.

I bought gas for 1.94 the other day, here in the Dallas area.
also, i would mention that within a 15 minute drive, the gas price ranges from 1.94 to 2.55....
that, i don't understand.

as an exercise in MF yourself, i suggest that you use this thread to argue in favor of ID, using your video as your resource to fend off debate from the rest of us.

I'm not sure anyone is that good of a debater.  From the reviews I've read there is no There There.  The movie basically has three arguments:

1) Ooh, everything is complicated.
2) ZOMG, CONSPIRACY!!! 
3) LOL, HITLER!

They never do get around to showing any evidence for ID.

Really?
huh.  from debates i've had with ID proponents, they have a huge treasure chest of misused scientistic frubble that they pull things from.  It suprises me that they wouldn't pull out any of this stuff to legitimize themselves to the unknowledgable masses that will watch this movie....
hm.... you don't think is a 'poison the well' attack on ID, actually, do you?

as an exercise in MF yourself, i suggest that you use this thread to argue in favor of ID, using your video as your resource to fend off debate from the rest of us.

[reeeek]

Well, obviously theres some internal healing technique for yourself, but I was talking about more Chi Gung Tui Na, and other techniques that are claimed to be able to heal other people through your manipulation of chi. You've probably all heard of Reiki, or something like that.

I don't know if it works. I've had personal experience with something similar to each of those (projecting energy from the hands into my body) and I could feel it, and as anyone here knows I'm a huge sceptic, but there was something going on, whether it was energy or a psychosomatic response. I don't know what it was.

Ah yes, Reiki is one of the disciplines that my wife has studied.....
she told me the story about how the original Reiki guy was instructed by some entity to climb a mountain and meditate and then magical glowing glyphs flew into his head and BAM he knew Reiki and taught it to others (for a fee)..... (i think that's how it went)
That was totally a mistake for her to tell me that, but i gotta admit.... there is something there, even if it does reeeek of superstitious scam to me when i walk into the room and shes sitting there in lotus praying this prayer to the original Reiki guy.....'Om nammo, zhivago, blah blah....."
so easy to laugh at.....
so hard to dismiss...

The healing brings up a good point.
As i mentioned earlier, my wife is a massage therapist that has studied under a master over in Thailand and various mentors here in the US.  She will refer to the energy work that she does (which i have an unfortunate propensity of needling).  Although it bugs me that she cannot describe any mechanisms in terms palatable to my western science outlook, the end results are not deniable.  She has diagnosed called serious illnesses in people (that you cant really tell by palpating or such). and has generally amazing recuperative skills.  So she talks about the 'energy work' not just as something simply such as blood flow, or proper breathing, or something else entirely internal.  its something that is detectable and alterable from one person to another.....

that was awesome!

A most excellent lie, EoC!
that is to be commended.   and a pigeon turd upon your family for ruining the fun!

I like christmas. It's already crazy and convoluted.  Plus I like the orgy of consumerism.  It's like the energy drink of holidays.
I do, however, advocate mashing any and all strangeness that you like into it.  You can institute bizarre rituals in your family unit, and since the holiday, in general, is universally celebrated the children will accept as normal anything you do in what is ultimately a private family occasion.  Haven't you ever been to someone elses Xmas day and they're doing something that makes you say 'WTF?' but they view as the epitome of normalcy?  that's totally awesome.
I was pretty old before i realized that not every family has a giant spaghetti dinner every christmas eve, since my family always made a big freaking deal out of it.
Now i have my own family unit that i can institute bizzare rituals on.  For instance, i recieved as a gift years ago a (supposedly) traditional german christmas tree decoration that is a life size glass pickle.  It obviously blends in with the tree, and the ritual is that it is hung on the tree the night before christmas, and in the morning, the kid who locates the glass pickle first gets some extra gift or candy or something.  That's awesome.  I'm going to do that.  and someday when my kids are like 12 or thirteen they'll mention it to their friends that they were cool cause they finally found the glass pickle this year and there will be confusion between them.
Christmas is already a fantastic opportunity for high weirdness.  don't fight it.  coopt it.

Simply put:  It's a cop out.

people that say 'Simply put: X' in regards to complex social interactions make me sick!.....
.
.
.
(i'm just ribbin' ya....)

Also: "I don't want to sound X, and I'm not X, but..." -> people who talk like that make me sick

Why?  It's a defensive posture one is supposed to take if one is to say something that anyone overly sensitive to X is going to label one X for saying.  If one says that, one is merely labeled X in muttered antagonism rather than if one doesn't, in which case one would be loudly called out for being rabidly X.

In theory what you say is true, but in practice many people who do use it are exactly the sort of people who are trying to use it to escape responsibility for their statements.  I used to work in a Chinese takeaway, in a very white, rural small town, and you would not believe the amount of blatantly racist shit I heard prefaced by "I'm not racist, but..."

If you don't want people to think you're a racist, don't say the sort of things racists say.  Its pretty simple.

That is often the case that people will use this defensive posture in a lame attempt to shield themselves while hurling blatant racism, but simply stating that this preface makes one sick ignores the fact that people who could generally be considered innocent of X are forced to use it by overly sensitive people (often with understandable reasons for being overly sensitive) and the PC nazi crowd that act as enforcers.

This case, for instance.  They were having a discussion group with a broad demographic regarding fears and concerns around this election, and this lady had a fear about retaliation from a historically oppressed group in society when they achieve a landmark accomplishment of having one of their own as the leader of the society.  That is not entirely without precedent.  I don't happen to be as worried as she is, and i don't think it will be as widespread as she may think is possible, but she's not off her rocker.  And i certainly wouldn't say that she is racist for having those concerns.  But she knew damn well that she would get labeled that for expressing her fears.  The very next person they took a response from was a black guy, who they pointed out was listening to her response with his arms 'tightly folded across his chest' and a disapproving look on his face.  This backs up her need to take a defensive posture.  (i would also point out that that fellows response to her statement is perfectly natural and expected, and not without merit.  some would label him as 'reverse-racist' or some such nonsense...)

Also: "I don't want to sound X, and I'm not X, but..." -> people who talk like that make me sick

Why?  It's a defensive posture one is supposed to take if one is to say something that anyone overly sensitive to X is going to label one X for saying.  If one says that, one is merely labeled X in muttered antagonism rather than if one doesn't, in which case one would be loudly called out for being rabidly X.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean the manipulators are also eternal beings of light and love with limitless potential blady blady blah?  Maybe this is tough love.  I mean, they know this, after all.

I would guess that the 'We' is as opposed to 'Them', which the manipulators fall into.
Icke is the reptile alien conspiracy guy, no?  are the 'manipulators' the aliens?

Heh, this made me think of something I heard on NPR the other day. Some Republican lady was asked what she thought would happen if Obama were elected president. After an "Um" and the most hilariously awkward 7 seconds of silence I have ever listened to, she said... waitwaitwait, I want you to guess. Guess what she said!
...
Think you got it? Here's what she said:
"I don't want to sound racist, and I'm not racist, but..."
The rest is a blur. The gist of it was that she believed that black people would take Obama's inauguration as a reason to celebrate by pushing white people off the sidewalk.

I heard that same piece on NPR.   I believe it was the same one that they were following the 'Democrats for McCain' and pointed out that some of them are black.
Re: the sidewalk thing.... I'm sure some will.  Most won't, but some will.
Another person in the discussion group pointed out that if the election went the other way, we would probably have more to worry about as far as racial tension goes.  I tend to agree.