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The man that is LaVeyan Satanists	September 3, 2009, 7:34AM
by: Syn
On Walpurgisnacht of 1966, Anton Szandor LaVey began the Church of Satan. Beforehand, he had given lectures from his home, the infamous Black House, charging two dollars for admittance. He formed a "Magic Circle" with his closest associates, with ceremonial magic. It was suggested to LaVey that he had enough material to start an organized religion. The Church of Satan attracted a great deal of publicity. Its use of nude women as altars, and performances of a Satanic wedding and funeral service, brought it much attention. Anton LaVey shaved his head and wore a white clerical collar, sometimes even wearing horns to complete the image of the Devil incarnate. His flamboyant personality attracted many followers and admirers. In 1969, LaVey published The Satanic Bible, which, even to this day, remains the most authoritative literature on the subject of LaVeyan Satanism, outlining the basic concepts, philosophy and rituals of the religion. A companion book, The Satanic Rituals, published in 1972, presents an array of rituals associated with Satanism throughout the ages, but not necessarily central to the Church's belief system. LaVey also released other literature to further expand on the ideology, namely The Satanic Witch (previously published as The Compleat Witch), and 2 essay anthologies: The Devil's Notebook and Satan Speaks! Since its inception, many individuals sought to recreate LaVey's success by founding new organizations claiming the throne of "true" Satanism, but most were short-lived and ceased to exist altogether. Some, however, have gained remarkable success, allegedly due to the founders' previously strong relations with the Church of Satan. The reasons for the breakaway from LaVey's church were cited as being a difference in ideology, or commercialization of the institution, thus seeking to recreate its previous underground and elitist status. One notable example is the formation of the Temple of Set in 1975 by former Church of Satan member Michael Aquino, who cites disagreement over LaVey's atheism. Aquino believed in a living deity, whom he called Set. The other major organization affiliated with LaVeyan ideology is the First Satanic Church, founded in 1999 by Anton LaVey's daughter, Karla LaVey. She argues that, after her father's death, the church moved away from his original modus operandi, and shifted towards a commercial money making machine. Thus, the First Satanic Church is considered a re-founding of the original one. Today, the Church of Satan is still viewed as the de facto representation of LaVeyan Satanism in the public eye, and fresh publications are released, applying Satanic philosophies to topics of contemporary interest.
topic: Essays
[reply] [114 comments]

Free Prizes! A Cooking Contest and a Poetry Contest	August 30, 2009, 11:46PM
by: Sgath
Cooking Contest: As connected as we are, most people don't really get to experience foods outside of our own region. Sure, everyone has food network, but that's only one vision of what food is. I propose a contest. Show us a food near and dear to you. Redefine our idea of food. Challenge our preconceptions of what constitutes a sandwich. Now is your chance to rock someone's world. The winner will be chosen by popular vote, and will recieve 30 days of Andromeda time for their account, and their entry will be posted in the DS Cooking Show. The food section is running a contest ending Sunday, September 6th. Post a recipe and the method for making it Here. It can have pictures, or videos, or anything inbetween. All that i ask is that you take the opportunity to show me what you like, and how to make it. How you do that is up to you. Full rules and more can be found at the link above. Poetry Contest Do you dream of being a famous poet someday? Do you write tirelessly through the night attempting the convey a fleeting image of the beauty and ceaseless drama of life and our surroundings? The Dead Poets Society forum is having a poetry contest, so come and show off your skills as a poet! Prizes include 30 days of Andromeda time for your Darkstarlings account, and the runner up receives 10 days. Winners will have their poems featured on the forum as contest winners. To check out the details and to submit your poem, click here.
topic: Current Events
[reply] [7 comments]

Despite reports of liver failure I will contunue to use Alli	August 30, 2009, 5:34AM
by: my_little_pony
Do you use or know someone who uses Alli? Have you heard the reports of liver damage in connection to the drug? I use Alli. People won't leave me alone after it's been in the news that the FDA is currently researching the links to liver damage and the weight loss drug Orlistat (Alli). I understand when people are looking out for my health but since I learned about the connection with the liver damage I did a little research to see if I wanted to continue using Alli. "The FDA hasn't determined yet whether these liver problems are related to Orlistat since overweight individuals—who are most likely to use these drugs—tend to have a higher risk of developing liver failure because of a condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease." - US News Also, out of the 32 cases of liver damage reported in regards to Orlistat (spanning the past TEN YEARS, it averages out to three overweight or obese people a year who get liver damage and also happen to be some of the millions who use Alli) 30 of them occurred outside the US. Weird. "The agency is not putting a warning label on these drugs and hasn't advised doctors to change their prescribing practices. Still, the FDA is telling folks to see a doctor if they're experiencing signs of liver problems like jaundice (yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes), brown urine, weakness, or abdominal pain." - US NEWS I love Alli and it works for me. It's not just the drug, it's the whole program. It really helps your focus on eating right and being active. I'm going to continue using it and recommend it to others.
topic: Current Events
[reply] [0 comments]

New Site Theme	August 18, 2009, 1:38PM
by: eon
Thanks to a.better.kiss for our first original site theme, "Grey Deco". To try it out, go to 'Control Panel' and on the 'Edit Profile' page look under the 'Site Theme' selections for 'Grey Deco'. If you decide to use it, be sure and drop by a.better.kiss's profile and say thanks. If you'd like to design your own site theme, see the previous news post!
topic: Site News
[reply] [36 comments]

Remodel DS to Your Own Liking	July 16, 2009, 5:05PM
by: eon
I have added a utility which will allow you to completely re-write the site theme to your liking. This means that in addition to the default site themes located under Control Panel -> Edit Profile, it is now possible for you to code your very own site theme to give the entire site any look that you would like. To access the utility, go to Control Panel -> Look and Feel. If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you will find a new section titled, Site Theme. Please read the short instructions which appear there, they will help you in getting started. Everything should be pretty much self explanatory beyond that. If anyone comes up with site themes they're proud of, I'd like to hear about it. I'll be looking at the custom site themes submitted by our members in search of the best ones so that they can be added to the default theme choices for everyone to use. This way, maybe we'll all have some more interesting themes to choose from in the near future! Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions, and be sure to point any of your friends who are good at layout work in the direction of this article. Enjoy...
topic: Site News
[reply] [20 comments]

More Better Email.	July 3, 2009, 4:41PM
by: eon
Email service for Andromeda members has been migrated to a new platform and a couple of new email features are now available: 1. POP3 email access. It is now possible to check your @darkstarlings.com email account from any POP3 client, such as Outlook Express or Thunderbird. This also means that you can add your DS email account to another mail service such as GMail or Live so you can automatically check your DS email when you log into those services. To view your POP3 setup info, go to Control Panel -> Email. 2. New email notifications. You will now receive a notice when new email arrives in your DS email account. The notice will appear in the same place where you see notices for new comments, new picture comments, new blog comments, etc. The old email platform, located here will remain until July 20th. Sometime on or after that date, the old email service will be removed, so if you have any old important emails there, please make copies as soon as possible. If you don't have a DS email account but would like one, you'll need to sign up for Andromeda access, which includes an email account along with lots of other perks. Click here to find out more. Enjoy.
topic: Site News
[reply] [8 comments]

Peace and Love and Other Silly Things.	June 27, 2009, 2:31PM
by: Murph
So... It seems, increasingly in these modern times, that the youth of America is becoming increasingly "Hippie-ized." A throwback to the 1960's counter-culture, a bunch of peace, love, let's go and procreate needlessly... a crock of shite... im my opinion. I am very Apolitical. I don't care. I don't care what Bush did, don't care what Obama will do... just plain don't care. Recently reading an article on here about landmines leftover after wars... still killing people. What's the problem with that? I mean, shit, it's still serving it's purpose, it was designed to kill... that's what it does. I look on things like that as population control. If you are going to start ranting and raving about landmines, and war equipment killing kids, then why not rant about smog, and cigarettes and alcohol killing kids? Why not? Probably because you enjoy your big smog causing truck, or your Marlboro Reds, or a fifth of Jack, but you have no experience with landmines so you bastardize them. They are nifty little devices, go boom, and cause mayhem, very nifty. Most of the countries that these things are still active in, well most of the people who are going to detonate said device, are pretty useless anyhow. I look at these devices as a postbirth abortion device. It thins out the surplus population. If it's kids who happen to step on said things, well then so be it. These same "kids" in Afghanistan, Iraq, and parts of Africa are also the same shits who will have no problem blowing away American servicemembers with an AK-47 or hand grenade, so long as it makes there leader or God happy. So like I said, population control. I personally have no qualms about unloading a magazine on a small child, if I percieve the child as a threat. There is a mentality that goes with being in combat, one which very few of you on here will ever understand. It's called self-preservation, kill or be killed if you will. I love the people who will rant and rave on here about the horrors of war, without even having the balls to defend their country. It's simple, war is hell. It also means one's outlook on life changes, you stop giving a shit. If a landmine is going to take out some potential threat for me, excellent, that's more ammunition I don't have to waste. It's ridiculous the way people on here will be so opposed to something they have no idea or even an inkling about. Hey guys, here's some info for you... Fox lies, CNN lies, MSNBC lies... the media doesn't have a clue what's going on in the world, all they want are ratings. In conclusion, if you have no idea what's going on, shut your mouth, and if you feel the need to run your mouth... well, go step on a landmine.
topic: Life
[reply] [1 comment]

Loyalty	June 17, 2009, 1:46AM
by: Klarth
"Our loyalty depends upon the state of our stomachs; if they are empty, then so is our loyalty." The suggestion that whether or not we'll sell out depends on what is in it for us is enough to make the most apathetic, toughened little cunt of an asshole put forth a strong defense. The very idea that we might be anything less than a beautiful, virtuous hero/ine in the eyes of a revered or even reverent one may put us ill at ease. Is it a matter of true affection? That we wouldn't want to be seen as any less by our loved ones? Or is it a matter of self-delusion, an idea that however shitty we may be, if the ones who 'matter' see us as golden beings, then we are? Much of the time, we don't choose who we are loyal to. We are thrust into situations that make or break us, molding us irreparably to a point where loyalty is either a must or an impossibility. The unconditional love of the beaten dog holds true to one end of this spectrum; the wary repellent of a scathed individual stands at the other. Choosing where you stand on this scale takes time, and it will be different for everyone you meet. What matters is analysing the situation and choosing practical, measured decisions. The battered wife who stands by her abuser calls it love. The soldiers in the same company call it brotherhood. The heroin addict calls it a release, and the long-suffering whipping boy calls it karma. In the end, our loyalty is measured by two things-the first being the instinctual, the need to look after oneself, the unrefined, the edge which may turn on its companions for survival-but also compassion, which is a key ingredient for turning conditional symbiosis (or outright parasitism) into loyalty. Compassion gives us the ability to make sacrificial decisions, compromises, to take credit and give credit where it is due-but most of all, to be truly loyal in the face of adversity. I'm not sure what else to say here. These articles seem like they need a moral or a theme or SOMETHING to be worth their salt. But let me say this: Take a hard, dispassionate look at the connections in your life. See who may be a parasite, see where you yourself may be leeching, but make some changes. Loyalty is a strong bond, as strong as love when such intimate affection can't be bestowed. Happy trails, GAMErs.
topic: Philosophy
[reply] [8 comments]

The enemy of us all.	June 14, 2009, 11:35PM
by: 666JonathanVonLangkabel666
The horrors of war are often not over once the fighting has stopped. The terrible ordeal has already been recorded and imprinted into the minds of those who had to live through such terrors and those who had to endure other aspects of the war.Psychological damage and trauma as well as physical trauma are a common aspect of the atrocities of war but what of when the wars and battles are over and the soldiers have gone home? What of the people who are native inhabitants of the war torn lands that are now left to be tilled and lived upon again, not by massive armies and war machines but by the houses of villagers and peaceful farmers.The lands left in barren black ravages a calling card of the destructive forces that stationed themselves into the grounds and defeated the life and lively hood of all in oppostion. Not only are their home lands in a state of disaray and temporary defeat but they're also littered with the remains of war engines left by their creators, abanoned but not defective. I'm speaking of landmines, an anti-personal device that I'm sure most of you are familar with due to service in your own countries military or through media forms and video games.But in case there are some who are not familar with the design of a land mine it is a small explosive device often encased within wood,metal, or plastic and is detonated by the pressure of a foot step or a passing vehicle.Landmines are partial submered into the soil of a land only exsposing the trigger that is set off by your foot step or similar means and are often never recovered by the military force that employs their use.Leaving them still active and still effective for years to come and landmines unlike soldiers or other manned war machines are indiscrminate as to whom they maim or kill.To a landmine a childs footstep is just as effective for death enducing results as that of a soldiers. Landmines are an epidemic, a cancer eating away at innocent people in lands across the globe. They're a horror of war that lives on long after screams and gun fire have left the battle field.They're a very simple and effective killing design that can be as cheap as $3 a single mine to manufacture, making them a popular weapon in the arsenal of almost all military forces. However their indiscriminate manner of killing makes them as much a threat to their own creators as to that of the opposing force and as such they're rarely recovered and dismantled by those who choose to use them. Making them a threat to peaceful communities and villages everywhere.Landmines are affecting 82 countries world wide and more are sure to follow if more isnt done to stop the use of these indiscriminate weapons of war that kill and maim innocent civilians long after wars are over. Landmines can last potenitally effective for decades, many landmines laid in WWII are still effective and still cause civilian casualties to a war effort that has been over for 64 years. In the course of one years time from 2002 to 2003 landmine casualties were reported in 65 of the 82 landmine devestated countries, 41 of these countries were not actively at war and had civilians, innocent children, women, and men who were casualties of a war that was long over.In fact it's estimated that 30-40% of all landmine victims are children under the age of 15, mines are responsible for killing and mutilating eight to ten thousand children every year. Landmines are so adept at killing they even begin to actively kill the enviroment they're placed in causing soil degradation,pollution of water with heavy metals, and effecting entire animal species through changing their habitat and altering their food chain.As of now only five countries formerly infected with landmines have been declared safe and mine free. A small victory when portrayed against the number of countries that are still suffering casualties and injuries to innocent men,women, and children against landmines, but yet it is a victory and a triumph none the less. Landmines, though they may not be the most powerful or devestating weapon of war when compared to nuclear weapons they are one of the only weapons of war that is actively killing innocent victims in over 80 countries uncaring of their age, political party, or allegiances.While the outlook is pretty grim with the death toll still steadily building in these countries their future is the only thing we have the capablility of changing.Only we can prevent the further devastation caused by these horrific mines by means of raising the awareness of their role in causing casualties in the form of innocent children,women, and men. And only we can help aid the process of finding and eliminating abandoned and forgotten minefields that often lie hidden and unknown in areas frequented by those who live in mine affected countries. Thanks to the international mine ban treaty many mines have already been destroyed. The treaty which was started in 1997 has been signed and ratified by 156 differnt countries and of those 156 countries 82 have completely destroyed their stockpile of landmines with the other 74 countries are in the process of destroying their stockpile of landmines.Only 39 countries have yet to sign it and destroy their stockpiles of landmines. Interestingly China,Russia, and The United States who happen to have the three largest landmine stockpiles in the world have yet to sign the mine ban treaty and help to rid the world of a weapon of war that isnt just a weapon against enemy soldiers but a weapon of murder against innocent civilians, mostly children. If you'd like to do more to help erradicate this world of abandoned mine fields that are still actively mutliating and killing innocent people everyday around the world I reccomend you look into this orginzation that has already done so much to help clear the path to a safer world. http://www.landmines.org
topic: Current Events
[reply] [68 comments]

"My life went to hell when I fell in love with music"	June 9, 2009, 3:25PM
by: JV
Music, a wonderful thing, great outlet, great escape, though it has been argued before (but not recently) that music is the ticket to your life going straight to hell (metaphorically speaking), I am a musician and without music I feel I would slowly drift away....or climb a clock tower with an Uzi. Though music is my life I can see where some might see it as a grand way to ruin your life. Music brings out many emotions, you connect with it (when you find the right band or song) you get pulled in and it becomes a part of you, BUT... it makes all of your pain and misery known both to you and others, and can send you spiraling down into depression or bring out the hatred from within. (Sometimes liquor is the key ingredient to get the ball rolling) If I (and many others) hadn't found our passion we would be lost. But to actually know what would happen is impossible, for us to turn back the hands of time is only an idea the mind can contemplate but it can't create a direct and official result. Just a good hypothesis. Is music like the forbidden fruit in a way? Once you eat it there's no turning back? A sin even..Is it corrupting our minds or freeing it? I have left many arguments open for you guys to examine and think about, both sides have a decent point. Thank you JV
topic: Philosophy
[reply] [6 comments]

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