190 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
190 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
______ ______ ______________
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\ / \ / ____ \ ______|
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| |________| | / \ | |____
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| ________ | ( {} ) | _____)
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/~~~~~~~~~~~ | | | | \____/ | |______ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
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| |~~~~~~~ / \ / \ / | ~~~~~~~~~| |
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| | |______| |______| /_____________| | |
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| | ...Hogs of Entropy Text Files Present... | |
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| | "Thou Shalt Not Think" | |
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| | By: Thalassocracy | |
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\ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ /
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Before I get bashed out off my soap box for this file, I'd like to say
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something in my defense. This is simply a "persuasive" article. The key
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word being "persuade." My goal, so to speak, is to convince you that my
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viewpoint is correct, even though I may agree with the flip-side slightly on
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some accounts. Yet, it would be incredibly stupid to mention them here, as
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this would turn into a rambling of massiveness, an argument with myself.
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Contrasting viewpoints are for just that - "contrast." I'll leave it up to
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other people to bring up them. I should probably carry a copy of this around
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with me so when someone asks me about religion I'll just hand it to them. I
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often try to get into religious discussions, but fail horribly because I talk
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before I think (that -is- one the of the main reasons for stuttering, you
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know) and end up sounding like a fool. This is simply a way to organize my
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ideas and get them across. In any case, what I'm trying to say is, don't
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hate me because I'm beautiful.
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What is the Bible? It depends on who you ask. If you ask your local
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English teacher (speaking as strictly an English teacher, that is) he'll say
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it's the one of the works that are the basis for Western literature. If you
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ask your local priest, he'll say it's the "word of God" and is how we should
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live our lives. Your local rabbi will give you the same answer as a priest
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would, except he would add a note to ignore that little thing called the "New
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Testament." And there are 47643745 Christian variations, as well. Catholic,
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Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, you get the idea.
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Taken word for word, the Bible is a well written piece of literature and
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is filled with countless moral and entertaining stories. I doubt anyone
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would be able to get through high school and college without studying the
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Bible, even in public school. In fact, probably more so in public school,
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since if you were to study the Bible, as a piece of literature, in a Catholic
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school, the conversation would get bogged down by the religious aspects of
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it. But, then again, what about the Greek and Roman myths? The stories of
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Native Americans? Hinduism? Buddhism? Islam? <caution : inside joke>
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Neavisism?! They are all comparable, if not superior to the Christian Bible,
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literally. How can we simply disregard their credibility and worship
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Christianity as the "right" religion. And, if so, -which- Christian flavor
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is best? What kind of egos do we have, especially religious authorities, to
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deny entire countries of any truthfulness to their entire religious
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existence?
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What is different, though, is the complexity of the religion as a whole.
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Christianity is "modern." It is the most popular religion in most (I would
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say "all," but I'm sure someone will come up with some third world country
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that has an Apple ][ in one of every five homes) "modern" countries. And
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don't tell me that Middle Eastern countries are "modern." Sure they have
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enough weapons to destroy downtown East Bumblefuck, but the common man still
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lives like shit. And the common man is what's important. It's the common
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man (er.. fuck.. I hope too many women don't get offended when I
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"accidentally" use the word "man" meaning "all men and women" or use the male
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pronoun when referring to both sexes... I care, really.) that matters here.
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He (did it again) is the one that makes the religion. It's what he (teehee)
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believes that matters.
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An undebatable fact is that all religions explain the unexplainable.
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Keeping this in mind, think about the ancient Greek myths. They had gods to
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control many aspects of the workings of the Earth. For example, there was a
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god of fire, a god of water, a god of warez, etc. These were all things that
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the common Greek person could not understand. They did not understand how
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man discovered fire, nor where water came from, nor how my warez m0ve so damn
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fast.. well.. bad example. So, stories began to be told, and people believed
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them.
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As scientific knowledge began to advance, the people of Greece, most
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notably Socrates and his followers, began to question the truth in these
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stories. Many of these unknowns had become known, but they did still not
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understand where the Universe came from, for example, so there had to be a
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God to have created the Earth on which they lived. The other gods, the ones
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that explained, like, how people learned how to use fire, became outdated.
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The singular God frame of mind did not gain mass appeal until much later,
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though.
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Another function of religion is to give morals. The morals in any
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religion are obvious. These morals were followed out of fear. Fear that
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they would be punished if the morals were broken. And many laws are still
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followed out of fear. That is why many people believe in the death penalty,
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as a deterrent. Punishment in the Bible holds the same purpose as punishment
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in the democratic countries of today. To avoid having crimes committed in
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the first place. It does no good to society to punish. Here comes a quote
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to which I forget who to credit. I think it's Plato. "In a society with
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crime, there is no justice." If that statement hit the tall person behind
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you, it means if there is crime not everyone is following the law (duh) and
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people are not getting justice. For example, if someone is murdered his (did
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it again, wowee zowee) right to live is taken away. There is no justice in a
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society with murdering.
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My point (yes, there is one) is that the laws of the Bible, and our laws
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of today are for the same purpose. They were laws to preserve justice
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(prevent crime, not punish those who commit them). The punishment is for
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those too stupid to follow the laws for the common good and must be made
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fearful of God (which was a majority of people). Oh, yeah, my point is that
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the laws were written by humans! Not some blasted god. These laws are not
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that complex. I'm sure the common man (ha ha ha ho!) understood that killing
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is "bad."
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It reminds me of the Simpsons episode in which Homer is in some kind of
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flashback just before the Ten Commandments were given. Homer's "job" was to
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steal, another's was to create idols (there were other people, but I forget
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and such). Once Moses comes they say to each other "uh-oh, it's Moses, look
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busy!" So, the one person starts to make idols, and Homer steals them as he
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makes them. As he hears "Thou shalt not make false idols," he stops making
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them, cartoon-cursing on the way. When Homer hears "Thou shalt not steal,"
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he obviously says "Doh!" and puts the idols back. In any case, this is a
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great comedic bashing of how the Bible portrayed people. As stupid idiots
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who will follow any law given to them, and this is how the religious
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authorities of today want -us- to act. They only followed those laws out of
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fear. Fear, I say, damnit.
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Not until people began to have democratic governments were laws openly
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known to have been created by humans. The twelve tablets of Roman code and
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the Constitution are good examples of this. People, today are more willing
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to follow the laws of the Constitution than the Ten Commandments of the Bible
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only because they fear life in prison more than damnation in hell. Except
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for those idiotic pro-lifers who kill abortion doctors in the "name of God."
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Give me a fucking break. I've got a motto for you (sure, I stole it from
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someone else, but I can't remember right now, sooo.. uh.. thanks.) "Life
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begins at conception and ends at birth." Oh, I crack myself up.
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Our modern scientists are the Socrates' of today. More and more the of
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unknowns explained in the Bible are being known by work in science. Yet,
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just as happened to Socrates, the masses will not convert to the religion of
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science any time soon. Even after the discovery of the actual origin of the
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Universe (and we are coming close) it will be years, decades, even centuries
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before Christianity is abolished. There is nothing inherently wrong with
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religion, as churches do many wonderful things. But, it is simply false. It
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hurts me when I hear people say things like "It was God's will," when someone
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is murdered. I assume it gives them comfort, but it is also showing their
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ignorance. People kill people. There is no uncontrollable, supernatural
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force that creates a murderer. Murderers are the result of bad parenting,
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insanity, etc.
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Money is also taken from people for the church. There is nothing wrong
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with this when used for a good cause (feeding the hungry, etc.), but it
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becomes a waste when used to build bigger churches or to pay church
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employees. Even worse is when it goes directly into a preacher's pocket like
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those guys on TV. Programs to feed the hungry could be easily organized
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without a physical church. If you really want to help people, do it
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efficiently.
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Another thing I heard/read the other day was someone say "If 1/10
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(referring to tithe) is good enough for God, why isn't it for government?"
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Well, lady (I'm sure it was a woman who said this) let's see God magically
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make schools, roads, public transportation, college funds, welfare, military
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with your fucking 10%! And, even more hilarious is that she says that it's
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"for God" and "for the government." Hahahah.. ow.. hah! It's for
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-you-you-you-, you fucking bitch. Where do you think your money goes when
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you pay taxes?! To some little pot that the President uses for prostitutes
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and plastic surgery!?!? NO! That's probably where it goes when you give it
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to the church, though. Now, go fuck yourself with a cross.
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"Do not bow down to any idol or worship it," is one of the Ten
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Commandments. The false god, the idol is "God." The democratic way is the
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true "God" to worship. And, I'll bet you do that every day. "I Pledge
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Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America." Point being that
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the government (science being part of the government. I mean, government
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being the moral half of religion, and science being the unknown part of it)
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is our "religion," today. The Constitution is our "Bible." Democratic
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government is simply another evolution in religion. It won't be the last,
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either. Standard religion and democratic government have co-existed for
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quite awhile now, but eventually, one will have to go. There are too many
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things that conflict. And, I'll bet it won't be the American government that
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we go without.
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|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
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| _____ Call Goat Blowers Anonymous for the LATEST HoE! _____ |
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| 6/ ^..^ (215) 750 - 0392 ^..^ \9 |
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| \_____(oo) This Issues Featured Support Board is: (oo)_____/ |
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| WW WW Dead Letter Office WW WW |
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| ...the kings of modern goofiness... |
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|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=|
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Copyright (c) 1995 HoE Publications and Thalassocracy. #84 -> 06/16/95
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All rights Reserved.
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