Joatmon

It has been suggested earlier in the thread that a family member who is unlikely to pass on their genes such as a homosexual person might have been of benefit to his/her family as a whole and in that way contribute to the gene pool. I see this as a similar argument concerning the long post menopause life of human females - particularly grandmothers. There is an argument that the extra care these older people can give the family increases the survival rate of the grandchildren (who will in turn carry genes for longevity). So perhaps an element of extra care is important enough to be of benefit to the family's gene pool. http://en.wikipedia....ther_hypothesis

Cancelled my choices as they have been covered by others - sorry.

I was just about to type in "looks like something drifting in the wind" then...................................Last few seconds changed my mind!

The thing that I notice, and what leads me to think this is not an object in the sky, is that although followed for almost a minute and apparently travelling at high speed it never seems to change its size or shape. Was it following a circular path around the observer? That would be quite a coincidence.

Also, thinking of the way a cathode ray tube(crt) works with magnetic deflection, made me wonder about the charge on an alpha particle. Apparently it is positive which means you could use the principles operating in the crt except the deflection would be in the opposite direction (electrons having a negative charge).(IMO).

An old saying I happen to agree with:- Never look a gift horse in the mouth A gift horse is a horse that was a gift, quite simply. When given a horse, it would be bad manners to inspect the horse's mouth to see if it has bad teeth. This can be applied as an analogy to any gift: Don't inspect it to make sure it matches some standard you have, just be grateful! http://english.stack...se-in-the-mouth

I sometimes wonder about the exact opposite. People with friends might easily come to some understanding on the "You pat my back and I'll pat yours" principle. The system being subjective will let personal prejudice have its opportunity to invade. I don't worry about that and must admit that whenever I get a +1 I get a little surge of pleasure. This is not a deliberate invitation asking you to give me pleasure (but please don't do the other thing either!)

Bare feet squeak on kitchen floor. Running tap roars out at me. The kettle seems it will explode As I prepare our pre-rise tea., I enter little private room, Intend to have a quiet pee. No matter how good is my aim The porcelain rings back at me. From today my world has changed. How have these changes all been made? Yesterday I went to get A brand new toy, a hearing aid.

Very valid point! "Why is there a reputation system?" Is very different to "What is wrong with the present reputation system?" or "How could the present reputation system be improved?" or "How do people misuse the present reputation system?" Any of the last three questions could be the subject of a new topic - except they seem to have had a good airing here!

I don't know if this is banal or profound but as far as I can see God exists for those that need Him to exist and doesn't exist for those who don't feel that need. Since whether God exists or not is an unanswered and at the present time an unanswerable question perhaps the kindest thing is for each camp to just feel sorry for the other camp and each leave the other peacefully "in their ignorance" until the matter can be proved.

Sorry, You cannot do this because of losses such as friction in any bearings and heat in the coil. These losses ensure that the electrical energy stored in the capacitor will be insufficient to maintain rotation of the coil. Your device will spin down. Like many others you have not invented a perpetual motion machine!

My Dear Old Mother said to me when I was a child "If you can't say something nice about someone then keep your mouth shut!". I believe with that thought somewhere at the back of my mind I am extremely reluctant to "neg rep". I can only remember doing it once and on that occasion I regretted doing it and so found another post by the person concerned and gave him a "+1" in an attempt to rectify matters! Looking at the way the rep score grows for people it would seem I'm not alone.

I'm basically in agreement with you. How can it be otherwise? Some people are VERY spiritual and others are VERY logical in their natures. Until someone actually proves or disproves the existence of God both sides surely have to agree that there must be some element of uncertainty. These questions have been aired for thousands of years and we are not going to wrap up the question in our lifetimes (IMO).

There have been several cases in the UK in recent times of Official Action preventing people being rescued for 'Elf and Safety reasons. Here is just one example:- "This was Walpole Park in Gosport, Hampshire, on an overcast lunchtime last March when no fewer than 25 members of the emergency services, including a press officer, descended on a 3½ft-deep model boating lake minutes after Simon Burgess, 41, fell into the water when he suffered a seizure. But as an inquest heard last week, he lay floating face-down for more than half an hour while firemen, police and paramedics watched and did nothing." http://www.dailymail...tand-watch.html

Thanks again Spyman, +1

There is seems to be a significant level of paranoia running through some of the posts. Surely there must be an element of authority being used in the running of the site. Another way of saying this, which some people might not like, is that the site needs policing. How can "authority" run and where necessary control what goes on without knowing what does go on? I notice that one member is called Spyman with the title "Prowler". I don't know (or actually care) whether he is an official. What I do know is that he certainly knows his way around the site and I have been surprised by what he could find out. This knowledge and ability has proved helpful to me in the past. We don't want the site to deteriorate into some sort of uncontrolled warlike shambles - do we?

It's very fortunate that we stopped using sails to move large ships and improved our chances of survival by moving onto coal burning steamships!

I have to report that once my wife and I reached a certain age we were both prescribed a daily mini aspirin. Sorry to disappoint you all but it really made no difference. Chocolate seemed rather better!

My wife and I we live alone, The nest is empty, children flown. Daughters with husbands live alone, Their nests are empty, children flown. Children's children not alone, Still in their nests and still at home. My wife and I never alone. Door ever open in our home. None of our family feel alone For them all our house a "home".

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, No escape from reality. Open your eyes, Look up to the skies and see," Surely either everything we can see, touch and feel is real or nothing is!

I would say that, as an undeniable fact, the universe exists. Since it does exist there must be a full explanation of that existence. This will include exactly how it came into existence. Not what existed a few milliseconds after its creation - the whole explanation from the very moment it all started, how it started, what existed just before that start and the initiating impetus for that start. As far as I can see at the present time it's a case of "You pays your money and you takes your choice". Until all the details are known nobody can claim they have the full answer.

This one is for fiery feisty Xittenn. I miss her lively contribution even though it has cost me a couple of neg reps!

Ooooops! My little joke misfired so I've deleted it! I got "aphrodisiac" confused with "contraceptive". I suppose we were lucky to only get the two children we planned for! If a Mod wants to delete this then please do so