Phi for All

I don't know about this. mike90 said the door was open. You think these quick-hitters took the time to put the door back on it's tracks, then just left it open? I think, since mike90 didn't mention pry marks, he just left it unlocked or it was easily broken. I feel for you, it's terrible to have your home violated like that, but try not to turn a micro incident into a macro "Life Sucks" scenario. When your life is about to take a big positive change it sometimes requires a little negative charge.

Remember that this thread is talking about a religion being bad, not religion itself. A religion that kidnaps, tortures and sacrifices baby miniature poodles in weekly rites would be defensible under many of the definitions listed here. Many attempts have been made to turn GD into the new Religion forum (I realize this thread was moved here), but this thread can run here as long as we're talking about parameters and definitions. It's my hope that we can transfer it somehow over to Theology Forums in the near future once we have it formatted and open for business. It's a good topic as long as we don't get into personal prejudices.

I could never get along with the idea that a few decades of being good on Earth got you eternity in Paradise. To me, if there is an afterlife then this life is more like preschool and there will be harder tests in the higher grades (dimensions? universes?). No learning is disposable and consciousness without a body (or at least THIS body) could be the ultimate in evolution. I think a religion is bad when it tries to give finite answers to infinite questions.

Responses:1. *snicker* 2. Way to go on the use of quote marks around the word theory. I could just see you using your fingers when you said it. 3. Says who? 4. You're probably wrong. 5. Some kinds it does. 6. Why is this in GD? 7. *burp* 8. Sun screen with SPF 0 will probably cost just as much. 9. Are you insane? 10. Statement ≠ theory

First, MJF is not exaggerating the effects of the disease, he is simply not taking the meds that mitigate the effects of the disease. We're seeing what happens to those who aren't medicated. It follows then that it's not an act at all since it's not an exaggeration. Second, you can't point to MJF's use of spin in this instance unless you also point to the politician whose ads show them in their military uniform, or kissing a baby or any one of thousands of small theatrics used to help sell the pitch. Third, if MJF had been caught before he admitted it this would be completely different. The fact that he admitted it when he didn't have to shows me he's not hiding it.

Mrs. Tilly hates soda but loves the fizz and the bubbles. Mrs. Tilly loves books but hates to read. Mrs. Tilly hates milk and cream but loves butter. I like this one because you can prove you get it without using the spoiler tags. Because Mrs. Tilly loves to peek but she hates to cheat.

My vision for the site is to keep the the spirit of what we had before but allow a more freestyle approach. Since we will not be courting young scientists and trying to keep away from "faith bashing" at all costs, there will be a more raw feel to the forum, "gloves off" if you will. Philosophy will most certainly come into play, along with a more in-depth look at specific faiths and belief systems. We will still require a logical approach to posting, since we will still be a part of Science Forums Network, but we'll be relying on the members to call out fallacious logic (which includes prejudice) so those who are only interested in preaching or bashing will soon gain a bad rep as a poster. I'd like to keep warnings and bannings to a minimum and make sure those with something intelligent to say have a voice. More info will be forthcoming.

I could be wrong but I believe ParanoiA was referring to the typical practice of mistaking lack of support for the war as lack of support for the troops involved. I see this a great deal from Iraq war supporters, who seem to be predominantly Republican.

Not that Pangloss' actions need to be justified, but Rebiu's post was soft-deleted because he changed what he'd originally posted and typed nonsense letters. The Peak Oil thread was closed due to it being five pages of redundant fanatical rant, followed by some abuses of the Private Message system. People, if you want someone to respond in a thread, post it in the thread and leave it at that. No need to hound the person in a PM. That's just all kinds of wrong.

Imo, we can't know if the goals of this war were achieved because we are not privy to all those goals. There were obviously many factors which led to the invasion of Iraq as opposed to the invasion of Sudan or Iran or North Korea. Perhaps a great deal of those factors were political ones which may have had a benefit the general population would not have agreed with in theory.

Q. What is the most verses of Vogon poetry any non-Vogon has ever endured before slipping into a drool-filled coma? A. 42, currently held by a species of rodent on Eroticon Four which has no ears.

Paris Hilton showed up... at the same hotel where the EDGE conference was being held. I'm sure if she knew smart people would be there she would have chosen someplace else. After all, the Italians have a saying: Veni, vidi, viduh (I came, I saw, I looked real dumb).

Italy is lucky there wasn't some sort of cataclysmic rift caused by the intellectual inversion between the two groups. It really would be interesting to have the paparazzi following around the brains instead of the beauties. More edifying diatribes on respect for personal space, less drunken empty-brained starlets giving the camera the finger.

Ah, Rubik! One of those "if only" stories for me. If only I would have invested in Ideal Toy Company in the 80's. Erno Rubik's cube saved them from bankruptcy and vaulted them back into prominence. You could have bought their stock for a song. Ideal literally had to borrow against their accounts receivable in order to market the cube.

Serious repercussions are not the sole jurisdiction of the police. While I would be grateful not to have my daughter's records on file with the National Crime Information Center, I would not be the parent who gets a head start on vacation and takes the teen with me. In fact, no family vacation would be the tip of the iceberg for serious repercussions. As I said before, while my job as a parent is not to lessen the severity of any consequences, if the school had chosen not to involve the police in my daughter's case, I would be grateful to them. I am fully capable of making sure my child understands the severity of drinking and driving. And if she had gone out anyway and took the risk, I've got to make sure she understands what would have happened if the police had been involved. It is a shame in the OP's instance that the parents didn't take the time to work up any concern.

As a parent, I want my kids to make little mistakes when they're little, to see the consequences of their actions as early as possible. Good parenting is all about letting your kids suffer for their actions and not trying to ameliorate the damage, in hopes that they'll learn and not be faced with big mistakes when they're big. As they get older their actions carry more weight and hopefully by then they have learned that some actions just aren't worth the potential damage. That said, while driving drunk is extremely serious, not involving the police could be beneficial in this instance. If even one of those girls gets the message without having to be dragged into the legal system and start a police record, it's worth it. Something tells me that if those girls don't get the message now then they will be destined to kill some people while driving intoxicated. Arresting them for this infraction may not make any difference, and it could actually limit their capacity to improve in the future. If it were my daughter and this was a first infraction for drunk driving, I would be grateful the police weren't involved. If it was the second or third infraction, I would probably be calling the police myself.

The other thing you need to decide is quantity vs quality. Do you want to see a lot of places for a little bit of time each, or a few places and spend more time getting to know the people and the culture?

Universe-2 has a completely different set of higher dimensions? I guess I always thought if alternate universes exist they'd share the same upper dimensions with this universe. Here's a bit more about Seth D8, the guy who "discovered" the pulse beam and the founder of Mission 1017: Do you think he really means to unite our "plant"? And notice how he started out designing hats? I think I can guess what material they were made from.

Sounds like there were lubricants involved. Many anatomically improbable things can happen if one is lubricated enough.

This sounds like the Law of Attraction, a pseudoscientific concept but one that can't really hurt. The idea is that you create your reality with your will and your actions. Every day you make a thousand things happen that wouldn't have happenend without your involvement. Your focus should be on creating what you want, and the Law of Attraction recognizes only your focus. If you think you're too fat, you should focus on a slimmer healthier you, rather than on you being fat. If you need more money you should concentrate on wealth coming your way instead of focusing on all the bills you have to pay. I don't know about this UV pulse beam from another universe, but the idea of focusing on the positive rather than the negative is not a bad practice. I like the idea of a worldwide experiment regarding this but it will probably be viewed as a crackpot idea. This UV beam isn't amplified by aluminum foil, is it?

Just to be clear, these two people who weren't you, were they both guys? Guy and a girl? I guess it shouldn't matter but it does. If it was two girls my sympathy drops to zero (while my envy, among other things, raises considerably). I'm not real big on letting people play the but-I-was-drunk card too often. Had the two of you talked about a monogamous relationship of was it a tacit kind of thing? I'm a big believer in vows and pledges, but not all boyfriend / girlfriend relationships have such strictures. Still, if you make a promise to someone, you let them down as well as yourself when you break it. The real issue here is trust. If you feel like the two of you had talked this issue out and agreed to be monogamous then she violated that trust. If you feel like she swore to be true to you then she not only doesn't consider you worth keeping her promise for, she also doesn't think too much of her own promises. If she doesn't respect herself then why should you?

Congratulations, that rocks! No more rent. Tell us a bit more. When's the party?

Never used it. I come in through the Forum Index (which was always Home for me) and I check New Posts every hour or so as I'm working, to give my eyes a break from staring at the computer so much for work.

You didn't buy that plot just off Rocky Flats did you? Living next to a Superfund site will make you glow, but don't confuse that with land owner satisfaction. Did you buy in Boulder? You must have a gob o' cash to afford even a townhome in Boulder.

I was responding to your caveat - "... unless of course it harms the person or property of another" - and in this case you are harming me. Saying it's the insurance company's fault is like arguing that it's OK for you to play loud music at 2AM because I don't *have* to sleep at that time, or that it's my boss's fault for insisting that I come to work on time instead of sleeping in because my you kept me up. Noise ordinances are there to make sure your rights don't infringe upon mine and that's the way I see this "no trans fat" ban. You are arguing for the right to keep a harmful, unnecessary chemical in our foods just because we used to be allowed to eat it. And not having insurance brings up the point that non-insured trans fat lovers raise my taxes - which is not an option. I don't get to tell the IRS I'm not paying for you if you're going to risk your health.