Mr Rayon

A while ago, I remember hearing somewhere that an estimated 1 in 5 divorces in the US were attributed to facebook usage somehow (found the link http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Facebook-Myspace-Divorce-Social-Network,news-5418.html). This could come about because of improper use of the social networking site, jealousy from spouse regarding who you are chatting with and from users to just blatantly say things that they don't necessarily mean or wouldn't ordinarily say in the normal social setting. A lot of people would regard this sort of behaviour as being rather childish in that it makes people behave more openly and feel less restricted between what they say to what they think due to the removal of social barriers when one converses normally in real life. Facebook creates an all to comforting social environment where one could easily say the most stupid of things without analyzing the severe long-term repercussions of doing so. This is a big problem for a lot of people. People are looking at pictures of friends/family/relatives and they are becoming jealous, envious of others who may appear to have a better life, a better more understanding boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband and a better career. It brings about Man's most primitive urges, makes him jealous, makes him laugh, makes him angry but it stops him from thinking, at least objectively as well as logically.

For those who are atheists, what is it that makes you believe there is no God? Scientifically, there has been no evidence to suggest that there is no God, so why don't these people believe in a Creator? If you are an atheist, what are your reasons for becoming one? Was it based on extensive studies of any religious texts or was it just through a sudden whim? Some people look for answers by analyzing this century's greatest scientific minds (e.g. Albert Einstein) and their beliefs and adopting their views without a single thought. Others think that morally every individual has the equal ability of distinguishing the difference between right and wrong and based on these understandings they can select a religion which best suits their own ideals/values. And if they are wrong, they go to Hell, get reincarnated or just die whatever the case may be. If atheism is wrong however, you'd be risking your whole after-life in the Hell-fire, according to some religions, so my question is why take the risk in not believing in God? The rewards for believing in a God in some religions are infinite happiness (and other positive feelings that we are unable to comprehend in this life) and the punishment is infinite pain (and other negative feelings that we are unable to comprehend in this life). If atheism is right, then we all just die. In either case, the atheist is in a lose-lose situation. I think it's also rather pessimistic to not believe in an after-life. So, my question stands, why do atheists choose not to believe in God/s? And are you an atheist?

Do you use facebook? Is it normal for academic/science-obsessed type people (mainly referring to SFN members) to use facebook?

Is it childish to use facebook? What does everyone think? Usually, is it considered normal for a fully-fledged adult to use this social networking site?

Which country has the lowest suicide rates in the world? What's the most happiest country out there?

I was a bit surprised to hear that Indonesia donated money. Just that it's a Third World country and all... ...but Queenland will get through it all I'm sure.

How does everyone usually plan their overseas holidays? What processes/activities does everyone actually do when they plan? How do you avoid disasters? Generally, is it difficult to plan your first and following overseas holidays? How much of your overseas holidays do you plan? Does everyone usually plan where they want to go each day that they spend and what they and their family do? How much time is a sufficient amount when it comes to planning holidays? If you go on holidays and you don't plan, is it likely that you will not enjoy your holidays? Is it essential to try to learn the native language of the country you're visiting? How good at the language must you be to become a tourist and survive living overseas? Do people normally enjoy their first overseas holidays? Do people usually get better at planning as they go on more holidays? Can planning overseas holidays be stressful? How often do you go on overseas holidays? Just curious and just incase I go on overseas holidays in the near future.

Poverty? So, jealousy towards the more properous countries? And do you think you could elaborate further on this? I've lived in Muslim countries in the past and looking at marriage differences from a psychological perspective, I don't think it would cause much hatred towards the US as well as the West. Generally it is accepted by many Islamic scholars that Muslim men are allowed to have one, two, three or even four wives if they can treat them all equally. But I think this is all in the interpretation of the Qu'ran and I'm not sure whether it actually endoreses such things as some of the passages are kryptic while others are simple and it's sometimes hard to distinguish which is which hence what a particular passage really means. I don't think Muslim men are allowed to have anymore wives than four but with increasing Western pressure it seems as though less and less Muslim men are having multiple wives. And I don't think arranged marriages by Muslims could make any people angry. Every culture/religion has their own sets of ideals/values who are we to say that these are wrong? How are we to say that in America it is immoral for them to have the death penalty? admrpeter, but why would these reasons you have stated cause hatred in the Islamic world to the rest of the world? It doesn't make sense.

What is the cause of low productivity in poor countries? For example, is it their cultures or because of biologically 'retarded' people living in these countries and not contributing (i.e. through a lack of education, food etc)? Or is it because some countries keep taking away resources from certain other countries, leaving them with nothing to export in exchange for money to the rest of the world? Or is it all these reasons? If it is, then what is the "root of the reason"? What caused all these reasons to form in the first place? Why is it that the US dollar is so strong while the currency in third world countries are weaker? What makes a particular country's currency "strong" and another's "weak"? Is the cause of "low productivity" because of negligent irresponsible corrupt goverments, which rule poor countries with an iron-fist? If so, what stops a nation from becoming less corrupt? How did the developed nations of the world become less corrupt than the current developing countries of the world? What's the psychological reasoning for why developed countries are more "productive" now? How did they become more "productive"? What gave these societies' an edge in forming more prosperous nations than the developing countries? And, hypothetically, if we were to create a new nation in Mars, what would we do to ensure that it becomes a financially wealthy and prosperous nation? What are the people in the poor countries of the world doing wrong at the moment? I really want to know how the world became how it is now, how both developed and poor nations were created.

Taking an informed and objective stance, why is there hatred in the Islamic world towards the US and the West? Also, when it comes to the Israeli/Palistinean conflicts, who exactly are the "bad guys"? I've heard conflicting reports from everywhere and just wanted to know what everyone here thinks. I've also heard from other sources saying that by certain actions taken by the US in past they have in effect supported global terror, but I don't really know what this means exactly or what war crimes (if any) the US and the West has done in order to make this happen. Anyway, I've recently gained a bit of interest in the matter and just wanted to get a better understanding of global problems such as this. It seems as though all these issues have been around since long before I was born and it's hard to keep up with what's going on and I guess to take an objective and informed stance.

Is it true that if you are sleeping and you have a dream and if you die in that dream that you die in real life?

Why can't SFN members delete their posts? I think that this would be a good feature to implement as it would lessen accidental double-posting and general bothersomeness towards SFN forum administrators.

I'm not sure whether anybody watches the news regularly but I've noticed that the President of the United States of America always has the same hair-style whenever I turn the TV on. It's always short, he doesn't let his hair grow long and free. I bet he'd need to have frequent hair-cuts to keep his hair short all the time, but why does he do this exactly? Is it a medical condition? Or does he keep it short because he doesn't want to look more 'foreign' and cause him to potentially lose votes in the US? Does anyone actually have the answer to this question? If not, what does everyone think? What's with his short hair?

Was the Middle-East a jungle full of trees and shrubs, like billions of years ago? I ask this because I know that Middle-Eastern countries usually have lots of oil reserves and many of them are major exporters to the rest of the world. I also know that oil is produced from the decomposition of plant material with time/pressure etc. If the Middle-East was a jungle once, what caused it to become a desert now?

In what ways has the world significantly changed in the last few decades? I've noticed where I come from we've had better and more entertaining advertisements and movies have better special effects but in my opinion the story telling has gotten worse. But in terms of the world's economy, health care, poverty and living standards has the world become a much properous and better place to live in the last few decades? What exactly has changed and what changes are going to be made as we head into the future?

What are likely to be the consequences in the Middle-East oil exporting countries when oil does run out (or to the point where alternative energy sources will become cheaper)? I think they rely on oil a little too much, but still a good source to combat poverty in the region.

Why do some people who have heart transplants also develop personality changes?

Is it true that you can die from a 'broken heart'? Has anyone ever died as a result of a broken heart? (e.g. after the death of a loved one)

Can meditation extend human life? If so, by how many years?

Does anyone know when the world's oil supply will run out? In what year will there be no more oil?

Does everyone think that it's wrong to try to convert people to a particular religion? For example, by going door-to-door and telling others of your religion, handing pamphlets and telling them how to convert etc. Generally in Western society, do people try to convert other people into their religions? Does this happen often in our current day and age? Also, is it more ethical to try to convert an atheist/agnostic into your religion than someone who has already adopted their own religion? What does everbody think?

What are the benefits of having citizenship in multiple nations? Is it in anyway a bad thing? Overall does everyone thing it's a good thing to have? Do you want to have multiple citizenships?

I think I heard somewhere that Jews/Muslims aren't allowed to touch or eat pig because they think it's dirty. However, is pig really that much more dirty than say beef or chicken? Have any objective scientists out there determined whether there is a big difference in the amount of bacteria living in the meat of pig compared to other forms of meat? Is eating pig as opposed to other meats really such a huge threat to human health?

I'm watching Apocalypto (directed by Mel Gibson) now and it seems pretty barbaric/violent/savage. At least with how its depicted, shown and portrayed. This has got me wondering, what exactly is the most barbaric society/civilisation which as ever lived/existed?

Of particular relevance, Emil Krebs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Krebs) managed to reach fluency in 68 languages. And I think he was already fluent in 12 when he started university. Pretty remarkable especially at a time when there was no internet or extensive migration between countries like we have now.