Phi for All

I don't think our present system is a deterrent for violent criminals. A lot of these guys say the worst thing about prison is the embarassment of having the toilet sit in the middle of the cell. Public flogging would probably be the worst thing you could do to these guys. I don't know why this would be a good alternative. I believe in consequences and taking responsibility for your actions. I just don't like the idea that death can be atoned for by more death. A man in prison for life has a better chance of affecting others and giving some meaning to the death of his victim. Kill him and he is forgotten, and the victim's family may feel like justice was done, but there was only more death done and society is pushing them to feel good about it, to feel justified, to feel like all the victim would have wanted was revenge on his killer. It's necessary to remove a murderer from society so he has no chance to kill again. This isn't unnecessarily cruel. Life itself is cruel since people can take the lives of others and feel no remorse. For those of us who would feel remorse, why should the state pull the switch? I would feel remorse even if I killed someone in a justifiable situation, like protecting my family from someone intent on killing us. I would not mourn the person I killed forever, but I would be diminished for taking ANY life. I would be glad I saved my family, and they would take precedence in that situation, but I would not smile and say the killer deserved it. No human deserves death at the hand of another human. Punishing isn't killing. Forgiving the crime doesn't mean allowing the criminal to go unpunished. You're confusing forgiving with forgetting. Part of the way I feel about the DP is that it allows society to forget too easily. We need to be reminded that killers are out there, that we make them with unkindness, that some can't be redeemed, that some can be redeemed, that only time will tell, that life isn't fair and just, that you can affect people positively, that there will still be Underwoods, that life is still precious anyway.

I forget which movie it was, but there is an alleged tribe in Africa that ties up murderers and puts them in the middle of the river to drown. If the family of the victim lets the murderer drown, they will have justice but will mourn the victim forever. If the victim's family swims out to save the murderer, it's an admission that life isn't fair and the idea of a life for a life is absurd. The family gets to mourn a decent interval and then move on with their lives. I suppose I think of the death penalty from the perspective of me as the victim. Do I want my family to mourn me forever? Do I want them to feel good about justice by death? Or do I want them to realize that tragedy has no answer, and death penalty justice is an illusion. Certainly take the murderer away from society so they can't harm others, but don't let the finality of his death continue to harm my family.

Barney Rubble wasn't a dinosaur. I'm talking BARNEY here!

Only after having a Velcro-weed vindaloo.

Drawing doesn't have to be literal, either. Ancient man could have drawn what they imagined.

Barney.

Congratulations, YT, you big post whore! j/k Seriously, thanks for your committment, I know you've taught me a great deal (injury-free explosions, creative cell phone usage, what chemicals are OK to sprinkle on corn flakes, to name a few) and I really appreciate it. You're a rare mix of smarts and patience and we're lucky to have you here. Here's a big pint of what's good for ya for all your time and effort, and an across-the-pond pat on the back (after you take a taste, so it doesn't spill). I'm proud of you, my friend!

The only way to prosper in a society is to establish parameters for functioning within that society and focus your efforts on controlling those parameters. In other words, figure out what you like to do and acquire the skills to do it. But you're setting yourself up in a situation beyond your control. You're fixing "life on earth for what it really is" as a bleak, terrible prison with no escape. You are giving up what little control you have over your own fate and choosing to set the parameters at a presently unreachable level. Figure out how you can work towards what you want and then try to make it happen. Are you afraid of hard work? Do you want your perfect life handed to you? It really doesn't work that way. Some things are beyond you; work with what isn't.

I think this is the true way to improve as a species, not just bio-enhancement. If we pared away the waste in our society and worked cooperatively to remove redundancy and wasted efforts we could truly afford to pioneer some startling achievements. I know I've harped on this before, but in the US we spend untold billions of dollars laying down asphalt roads and then letting people drive on them the day they're finished for "convenience". If those roads could cure for three months before letting people drive on them they would last for ten years or more before a pothole even showed up. Billions of dollars saved, now you have workers who can be put to tasks that aren't redundant, and you also save wear and tear on vehicles and everyone's stress levels go down because driving on smooth roads is a pleasure instead of a hassle. More cooperation as a species and less emphasis on the individual would help us be more than human, or rather redefine humanity in a better image.

It's not. But in discussing this with YT2095, I pointed out that it was too tempting a number to let it slide by on just any ordinary post. I more or less forced this thread on him in the hopes he would be able to post his 10,000th here as opposed to wasting it explaining to some creationist about why we still have monkeys if man evolved from them. His 10,000th may end up in Chemistry if the timing is right. I just wanted to provide a stage. It's an event, we're having a virtual party, you're all invited!

I just wanted to speculate a bit on the kind of dedication it takes to make 10,000 posts on an internet science forum. That kind of loyalty to the site and interest in the subject is pretty rare. And we're not talking about spammy kind of LOL=type posts. We're talking informative, knowledgeable, well-founded posts that have helped a great many people. I think that would be quite an accomplishment, don't you?

We suddenly had two posters starting threads in GD asking for a collection of quotes, which we've already started here. I've merged TimbaLanD's thread to this one, and removed GrandMasterK's thread which had no responses. I like my buddies from west Texas. I liked them when I was young, I liked them then I was middle-age, I liked them before I was president, and I like them during president, and I like them after president.

I make this prophesy:When the child of why? is being stubborn and prideful and rejects good advice for no earthly reason, why? will look up at the sky and beseech the heavens, "Why?" And why? will remember the time pride and stubbornness against his mother almost made his finger fall off.

Well, thanks for sharing... (cough) Erm, and maybe when you're done with that, you could do a spoof video substituting a cucumber for the banana in the above video (but, use a different cucumber, OK?).

The tanker is what would kill it. You'd have to be insured to the gills to drive around a volatile substance to each of your client's homes. It would be easier to offer a service where you get bonded and offer to take your client's cars out for a fill up, a quick polish or wash and vacuum out the interior every couple of days. Target the wealthy, appeal to their vanity and stress the convenience, offer to keep mileage records, the whole bit.

My family traces it's roots back to Renaissance French nobility. One ancestor, after an indiscretion no one has been able to ascertain, was given the fantastic opportunity to either travel outside of France on a permanent basis or leave his head with his political adversaries. His scions, landless and penniless, moved from France to England, and thence to Scotland and Ireland. The earliest member of my family that showed up in the US was around 1850 in Missouri. I've written to France about trying to get some of our land back but they were rather rude about it.

You're confusing us with the creationists. That's one of their main tactics. It goes like this: Scientist: "... and that's the theory of evolution." Creationist : "So you admit that it's only a theory?" Scientist: "Well, of course. But a scientific theory is as close as we'll ever get to saying that something is true. This allows us to maintain a certain amount of skepticism that keeps us challenging our own evidence and constantly refining the process." Creationist: "So your 'theory' isn't 100% certain?" Scientist: "No. No theory is 100% certain. It's constantly being observed and tested." Creationist: (turns to camera) "There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. When it comes to the so called 'theory' of evolution, science doesn't really know for sure. They admit they don't have all the evidence to support it. It's just some 'theory' that they've cooked up to deny God, who, as everyone knows, is infallible, omnipotent and omniscient, and in fact created the world in six days some 6000 years ago, because the Bible says so." The problem is, the creationists have been told the truth about their lack of understanding. If they refuse to study the theory, or science in general, they'll never change their minds because the people they trust to tell them the truth are also not studying evolution and science.

I've definitely had this happen, and I've also pinched or scratched somewhere only to make it tingle or itch somewhere else. I wonder if that ties in with how accupuncture and accupressure use one point in the body to affect another point.

I thought so. Don't you think my idea and yours dovetail together beautifully? The average person doesn't want to mess with hooking up their video/sound systems and that same person doesn't have the time or savvy to do it right. A team of three IT/Engineer-types with a retail marketer to be the front man could blanket whole housing developments with this much-needed service. And to protect their investment in home theatre? Ta-DAH! The latest in inexpensive home security, using proprietary technology and insuring that the client will tell others about this great combo service. I can see every home with at least three of your devices to protect obvious points of entry and specialized areas (I still think guarding your liquor cabinet from your teenagers would be a priority for some parents).

Hand in hand with YT's idea (I'm pretty sure I know what he's talking about), I always thought it would be a great business to set up home theatres for people, hooking up TVs, DVDs, VCRs and stereos so they all talk nice to each other. You could even set people up with universal remotes to control everything and instructions on how to use them. You could set their VCR clock so it stops flashing "12:00 AM" for free! This, coupled with YT's idea, could make for a great little business, and keep four people busy in a medium sized metro area.

If you keep using the "beginnings" strawman in the Evolution forum, you'll be getting warning points for it. EVOLUTION IS NOT ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF LIFE. Print this out and tape it to your forehead. Evolution is also not based on eye-witness accounts of pre-history. It is based on what can be observed and tested today, right now. Every minute of every day every creature is functioning as part of the evolutionary process. The only assumptions which you could say are even remotely faith-based is that it's always been this way, and for that we have the fossil record, not faith. This is the part where I point to the Catholic church and their acceptance of evolution, and you tell me that they aren't true Christians. Then you can throw out more misinformation where you misunderstand evolution because you haven't studied it, you just know that you don't "believe" in it. Then we can continue the dance until I come back around and remind you that science doesn't govern that which is unobservable by definition, like God. At which point you'll probably mention that since God created the universe, evolution can't be an explanation for the origins of life. EDIT: Sorry, I started this half an hour ago but had to leave to take my daughter to public school, where I take her for a well-rounded secular education, as opposed to church, where we go on Sunday for a religious education. Swansont said what I wanted to say, only better, and like the scientist he is, more objectively and patiently than I did.

That's what I've been reading around the web, stories like yours where people were carrying too many groceries in plastic bags and either pinched or trapped a nerve in their finger. Most say it goes away in 3 days to 3 weeks. I didn't find anyone who went to a doctor to seek relief but a doctor may be abole to do something. I really think you should see one if you are worried about recovering the lost feeling. At the least I would make a call and ask if their is anything your doctor can do for a pinched nerve.

You do understand that most people here are willing to simply remain scientifically skeptical about God and whether or not He created the universe, don't you? When we object to creationism, it's Young Earth Creationism that takes the Bible literally about the earth and all it's life being formed in six days. We object to the idea that the earth is only 6010 years old, because evidence suggests it is much, much older. We object when creationists try to lump the theories of abiogenesis, the big bang and evolution into one big ball called science, then say that evolution is against the teachings of the Bible and call it a controversy that should be taught to all public schoolchildren. Science simply isn't designed to analyze matters of faith.

I don't think it's a circulation thing entirely. It's probably a pinched nerve but you should go to the doctor if it bothers you. Don't let anyone talk you into amputation. That would be painful, costly and completely unneccesary. Give it a couple of days and it will probably just fall off by itself *. * Absolutely NOT a medical opinion, merely a joke using the remedy that laughter is the best medicine **. ** Laughter is absolutely NOT the best medicine.