Ten oz

I apologize if my last post seemed antagonizing. It wasn't my intention.

Imperical investigating requires a community. Peer reviewed research for example. To much orientation toward independent investigation is a bad thing. We are all bias observers.

I agree that religion will generally be brought up when discussing paranormal concepts.

I did not grow up religious. My exposure to it can from my peers and media. My family are not atheists they just didn't attend church or take time out of their busy days to talk about God. As an adult I was actually surprise to find that both of my parents believe in God. Because I did not grow up believing in or being taught religious parables I found them silly when I learned of them. I believe religion is something a person must be conditioned for. It is of no coincidence that God just so happened to make what ever religion you happen to be born into the true one.

In summary your link explains that religion may connect supernatural elements to a cultures history or to a belief system base beyond the natural world. I agree with that. I don't agree with,"We only need to know what the religions are and whether they have supernatural elements". Of course religions have supernatural elements. Doesn't mean that all supernatural things are religious in nature. People accept many things in this world without fully understand them. The average person has no idea how a microchip works yet they accept that microchips do in fact work. Some people believe in supernatural things yet hold no thoughts or beliefs about them. They (supernatural thing) are mysterious as a microchip to them. They go through life without ever giving it an ounce of thought.

@ Barfbag, I gave my interpretation in post #13 when I responded directly to the OP. The OP seems to be removing God from the conversation but then keeping many religious tenets. To your question of how can I not associate paranormal activity with religion; some people are superstitious with no belief or theory behind it. Like being afraid to sleep in a dark bedroom yet acknowledging there is no reason to be.

Research shows that colony insects like ants are able to collectively problem solve and make decisions much in the same many our minds do. The difference being the speed at which our minds can do it. Thought, in my humbe opinion, is a mechanism or program that allows us to mix stored information with immergrant information to problem solve in realtime.

@ Barfbag and Fred Champion, what does torturing the definition of religion have to do with the OP's question? Asking why "we usually associate" broadly acknowledges the generality of the question. There is not an absolute statement being made. In general terms most people would accept the definition of religion as any belief structure of an unobserved nature that links humans to an unknown or supernatural world/existence beyond our bodily senses. By that definition believing in ghosts alone isn't a religious act unless there is a belief structure behind. Simply believing you saw a ghost and having no held beliefs one way or another about how it was possible would make a person superstitious in my book. That isn't what the question in this thread is asking though.

I was implying you probably know more about the physics involved thanI do.

Very interesting. So there may be some validity to a blood type diet?

The nutrition our bodies get from fruits, herbs, and vegetables: fiber, vitamins, sugar, etc are not isolated to Africa. They are in abundance around the globe which is why mammals thrive all around the globe and humans were able to migrate.

Why would your blood type change your heart attack risk or be better at cooling bodies down? Nice response. You summarized all I really know about the issue. So I feel a little more comfortable knowing I am at least properly understand understanding blood types. Thank you for the links. One thing I am having trouble understand, as it relates to blood types, is the mating thing. Child are not a blood type combination of their parents. An O type mother who chooses to mate with an A type person may have an O type child and as such no gain anti-bodies? Gain is the wrong word. No difference in anti-bodies, as they relate to blood type?

I agree. From the link I provided in my initial post:"If two lineages of oak look quite different, but occasionally form hybrids with each other, should we count them as different species? There are lots of other places where the boundary of a species is blurred. Its not so surprising that these blurry places existafter all, the idea of a species is something that we humans invented for our own convenience!" http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/VADefiningSpecies.shtml @ the OP, all modern humans do not have DNA from Neanderthals and Denisovans. Only certian populations do. So it would appear that hybridization with Neanderthals and/or Denisovans did directly impact modern human evolution.

Recently a friend introduced me to the Blood Type diet. While the claims made in the book written by Peter J. D'Adamo, Eat Right 4 Your Type have not been clinically proven and seem rather speculative they did peek my curiosity. What is the purpose of blood times and should we adapt anything about or lifestyles (diets, sleep patterns, activity levels, etc) around them? I posted this in speculations because while the history of blood types is known from what I have read the purpose of blood types is not. So I am interested in both research and people's opinions.

Everyone is different. We have have different metabolisms, amount of fast twitch vs slow twitch muscles, and so on. http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/MuscleFiberType.htm In my opinion the easiest way to gain muscle mass is to work on your weaknesses to improve your muscalure symmetry. For example if your biceps are more conditioned than your lats they will try to take over during pull ups and you won't properly be targeting the right muscles in your back. If your forearms are too weak you will loose your grip during pull ups before you have properly fatigued your back. If your triceps fatigue too quickly doing push ups or bench press you want be able to proper work your chest.The examples are endless. Symmetry is critical to ensure you are getting the most out of every workout. So don't focus on the trophy muscles. Make sure your abs, lower back, forearms, calves, and so on are able to support the bigger movements. That is the easiest way to quickly improve. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark41.htm

Neanderthals and Denisovans DNA is not found in all modern humans. It is only found in groups of people originated in parts of Europe and Asia. I don't think it is completely accurate to imply modern humans today in general terms are hybrids. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/01/140129-neanderthal-genes-genetics-migration-africa-eurasian-science/ Furthermore Neanderthals and Denisovans were human. They did not evolve from a seperate species. They were exactly what we were only they migrated sooner. Isolation and time allowed from some different mutation. Ultimately our ability to mate implies we were all still the same species. Though the line can blur. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/VADefiningSpecies.shtml I agree that viewing evolution as linear often doesnt work. However in the case of Neanderthals and Denisovans they are dead on gone with only trace amounts of DNA existing in segments of modern people. Modern humans also haven't evolved in any major ways in the last 60,000 years which covers the time frame of interaction with Neanderthals and Denisovans. *I am not an expert. The above are merely my thoughts based on what little I know.

Not being able to understand but just accept on faith is a basic tenet of most religions. Importance is placed on believing above all. Belief above all is how one is closet to god in many religions.

I bet your guess would be better than mine. New physics.....I struggle enough with what we already got lol. It is a truly difficult question. We know matter in not destoryed. A black holes enormous gravity is evidence of their mass. So matter is there under going or being exposed to conditions beyond our calculation.

Stated goals regarding wars are almost always empty rhetoric. The United States, my home, has stated goals of ending terrorism via the war on terror and ending drugs via the war on drugs. Neither war seems to have even slightly diminished there targets. Stated goals are just campiagn slogans. To say "no matter what Israelis do" absolves Israel of any responsibility. While I agree Hamas are terrorists and many of it's members would rather die than find any resolution; I also believe that the stronger and more powerful force in any conflict generally has the greatest ability of ending that conflict. Israel has the greater military, economy, and world wide support. Israel more successfully kills and maintains their position. Absolving Israel of any role in peace places the full burden on the much weaker, less educated, less organized, and less capable party. It is also important to remember all Palestinians aren't Hamas members. Like everywhere else in the world people are born into thier societies.

Once matter enters a black hole how is it transformed? The heat and pressure particles would be under defy calculation. If a black hole did indeed go white and explode outward what would its contents be? Just as elements are made in stars what is made in a black hole?

People often assume that a bigger brain is a more intelligent brain. If that is true sperm whales are more intelligent than humans.

In typical American society religion is a constant. Whether it is political debates regarding abortion, gay rights, or foriegn policy the concept of the united states as a Christian nation is prominent. Outside of the political stuff everyone is expected to participate in things like Christmas and Easter. Not to do so makes a person abnormal. My post was not directed at that though. My point was that Athiests don't have a mission statement. There is not an agenda to Atheism. Atheism in not a theory, type of faith, or a discipline. One doesnt need to study it or learn how to be an athiest. When people find out I am an atheist they generally asked "why". Seems strange that I should need a reason. That I would need to explain myself. Seldom are religious people challenged as to why they believe. No one ever demands a politician who campaigns on faith to explain why they believe in god. No one questions athletes who thank god for good performances "why".

This topic is a hornets nest. It is impossible to cut to the heart of the matter without being steered into a multitude of side debates that deal with history, race, and religion. For example: Historically, is the story of the Exodus real? Race, are Israelis an ethnic group? Religion, will Jesus return to Jerusalem? Those are various issues that are involved with the western worlds pro-Israeli stance. A belief that it is their homeland, they are traditional a people, and that god wants them thier. It gets messier than that though. Even amongst agnostics and atheists there is an understanding that the past is the past. Israelis shouldn't have to get up their homes because of history. Hamas also behaves as a terrorist organization at times and that can not be tolerated. Yet, it is to be expected so what do you do? People say this has been going on for hundreds if not thousands of years but that is not completely accurate. The Zionist movement at the end of WWI empowered by the Britan and the league of nations started the process of placing Jewish people in Palestine. Hilters holocaust put the need and justification for an established Jewish state into hyperdrive and in 1948 Israel was born. The annexIng of the land during that time 1918-1948 is the crux of the fighting as it exists today.

@ Barfbag The definition of exercise is: physical activity that is done in order to become stronger and healthier; a particular movement or series of movements done to become stronger and healthier; something that is done or practiced to develop a particular skill. All movement is not exercise. When I walk from my bedroom to the kitchen in the morning to make Coffee that is not exercise. However it does increase my heartrate and put more oxygenated blood into my legs. Thus a warm up. Getting ones heart rate up and blood flowing is important to stretching. It can be achieved many different ways and a lot of it has to do with your fitness level. What a pro athlete may do to warm up might be exercise to either of us. http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/new-ideas-on-proper-stretching-techniques

Speaking as a united states citizen; Full recognition of Gay marriage with full and equal rights in all states would provide couples with more rights and protections which would help with the adoption process and be helpful to raising children.