zapatos

Yes, that comment was not intended to be an analysis of all the possible scenarios under which life could arise. Although in the case of earth that doesn't seem to be the case as there appear to by plenty of raw materials available. I cannot think of any substances in life forms that cannot come from readily available raw materials. Agreed. That is why I specified "as far as we know".

So if things are different then they won't be the same? I'm not sure what point you are trying to make.

It may truly be that rare. As far as we know the earth only managed to form life one time. An errant boulder rolling down a hill at just the right time, and the earth may have been as lifeless as any of the other planets in our solar system seem to be.

What happened? You used to make arguments to support your position. Lately you've resorted to the equivalent of asking someone to pull your finger.

Ignoring all the Strawmen in your post, I have no intention of spending the last year of my life in a Nursing home. To what end? Having my family suffer through my dementia, spending down a lifetime of earnings and putting my wife in a difficult financial position in her old age, getting my diaper changed twice a day by someone making minimum wage? I'm very happy with how my life has gone, and don't intend to go out with the indignity that is often found in the last stages of life. Suicide is not for everyone, and it may not turn out to be the option for me, but I agree with Gilga-flesh; suicide can be a good decision, and whether or not I do it is up to me, not someone else.

As far back as I can remember I've always loved milk. I'm 57 and still drink it daily. I go through a gallon about every six days or so. Unlike Moontanman I only drink non-fat milk. If milk is bad for people, I anticipate eventually being in BIG trouble.

No other animals except humans eat Chicken and Dumplings, either. Should we follow the example set by nature and stop eating chicken and dumplings? Many animals other than humans eat their young. Should we follow the example set by nature and start eating our young? My point being, I don't think that just because something is or is not done by other animals, that should determine what we do or don't do. On the other hand, if you've got an evidence based argument regarding adult consumption of milk I'd love to hear it.

That's an interesting approach to debate. I'll be sure to look at your posts with a different perspective from now on.

That sounds amazing to me. Do you have a citation?

Shouldn't we allow people to choose for themselves what questions they wish to ask?

Is there any tragedy that you won't exploit with your snide political comments?

One of my first concerts was Elvin Bishop opening for the Allman Brothers. Elvin came back out and played about the last five songs with the Allman Brothers. One of the best concerts I've ever been to. Ah, good times...

No, I'm not. I've made no statements about policing.

You are either being disingenuous or you have zero experience with the real world.

Again, you are not making any sense. It makes them safer. I don't see how you can deny this. Then why would you move? Isn't it so that you would be safer? Sounds hypocritical to suggest blacks not modify their behavior due to it making no difference, but then to modify your behavior to be safer.

Huh? Of course it is. Why do you think Black Lives Matter was formed? Because this thread is about what happened at a BLM protest. Who cares if it mirror's the UK, as long as they are safer? Now THAT was a distraction. But why should YOU have to modify your behavior? You should just keep doing things the same way.

That makes no sense. I cannot think of a single situation where telling someone to be careful in a risky situation is not useful. I'm sure I could come up with 10 ways in two minutes that would increase the likelihood of a black person getting home safe. You cannot ignore the reality of the situation just because you do not like it.

And I readily admit I could be wrong. I'm making that statement assuming the criminal to be a reasonable person, which they very well might not be.

Perhaps I was not clear in what I was trying to say. If a would-be thief is aware that there is a person and a gun in the house at the same time, that thief would be less likely to enter that home than he would be to enter a home that did not have a person and a gun in it. Your link does not seem to refute that. I believe all of the other scenarios it does address are likely true. It seems the homeowner is actually at less risk. In this instance I was was looking at it from the perspective of a would-be thief. The article did not state the frequency of injury to a perpetrator when encountering a homeowner with a gun versus without a gun. The article spoke of the success or lack thereof of the victim. In any case, I am not arguing that guns are any kind of panacea, only that guns are not a universally bad thing, and in the right circumstances can be a good thing. I also have a shotgun in my home that will only do me any good if I have enough warning, as I keep it locked in a safe. I bought it right after hurricane Katrina in New Orleans as I could potentially find myself in a situation where lawlessness is widespread. In that case I would keep my gun readily available. If possible, my plan would be to hide upstairs in the dark if someone entered my home and simply rack a shell into the chamber. I purposely bought a pump shotgun as I wanted to be able to make that sound. My guess is that it will make most people think twice about coming upstairs.

Agreed this is the most likely scenario. The last thing a burglar wants to encounter in a home is a homeowner, whether they are armed or not. They don't want to be harmed every bit as much as the homeowner doesn't want to be harmed. I doubt it, but play it out in your own mind. Given two different options being otherwise equal, are you more likely to take the option with more risk to your life or less risk?

Well, you and I don't know, so we leave it up to Moontanman to evaluate the risks and rewards himself. Just like we do with everything else in his life. Actually safer. Then we need to look at more granular data. Is the risk of having a gun in the house the same for a group of 20 year old suburban males as it is for a policeman living alone in a bad neighborhood? Depends on the circumstances. Agreed. But most people are not average. Most would have higher or lower risk depending on the circumstances.

The evidence does not say that Moontanman will not be safer. It says that the average person will not be safer. Having a gun in the house makes many people safer than they would be without one. I agree that most home invasions probably involve property and not the intent to do harm to the person. From my perspective though, I don't intend to wait to see what the intruder has in mind. I already know he is a bad guy, and I'm not minimizing the risk to the well being of the intruder over that of my family. I too will feel bad if I have to shoot someone, but it was he who decided to open that door, not me. EDIT: And the gun has nothing to do with it. If I have to whack him with a baseball bat I'll do that. I'm not going to first ask what his intentions are.

Your understanding of how pronouns work is fine. It is your interpretation that fails you. Saying that the crazy people in America are allowed to buy guns, and the crazy people's fellow citizens do defend their right to do so, is true. As is evidenced by the shootings in Dallas and the defense of people like him to buy guns. He made an accurate statement. You are being overly sensitive.

Yeah - those darned rights. It's so damned inconvenient when they apply to everyone. Oh - wait, that's why they're called rights, and not privileges. And actually, we don't let crazy people have firearms. But you have to prove they're crazy before you can strip them of that right. Because, you know, rights and stuff. Edit: Huh. Pointing out inconvenient truth is enough to get negative rep. But disparaging an entire nation because of the acts of a few is worthy of an up vote? Interesting. I fail to see how MigL disparaged an entire nation by stating that there are crazy people all over the world, and that Americans can buy guns.

I have no idea if this is valid data but I found it interesting. http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2014/10/02/study-shows-that-women-really-like-watching-gay-men-have-sex/