Phi for All

How does this discrimination manifest itself? What exactly are they doing that you feel is discriminatory?

I like that they keep frogs as pets, or possibly housekeepers. Are there others in the tarantula family that exhibit possible "pack" behavior? I've never heard of this from web spinners before.

I heard that the "gasoline" in the truck was refined from oil that may have come from the Middle East so there's clearly an Al Qaeda link there somewhere. Will we ever know the truth?

I nominate Severian for Best Primate of the Year!

Probably not. Is there a disclaimer requesting something like, "you may not reproduce or store in or transmit to any other web site, newsgroup, mailing list, etc.?

People who join to lead us to a great site they've found are SPAMMERS. Your account will be left open temporarily on the off chance you come back to actually discuss something.

I don't care if you are a professional physicist, you get a mop and clean up that sarcasm, young man! Oh yeah, how's the night job lap-dancing working out, T? Still driving the ladies crazy?

Why would an education in natural science affect your supernatural beliefs? I hope you aren't going to try to use one to refute the other.

Man, I thought it would be easier to fool a bunch of primates! It did take you a while to count that high on your fingers though. Just don't tell Severian the carrot at the end of the stick is plastic.

This is your last posting of creationist garbage in our evolution forum. We waste too much time refuting it and people like you never listen. You are woefully misinformed and haven't bothered to take the time to learn about what you disagree with. Please go to http://www.talkorigins.org and read everything you can (no, don't make that face) and then come back if you have anything original or interesting to say.

Please don't post any more creationist put-downs of science. You are making a mistake by using religion to refute science. We will promise not to use science to refute religion. Thread closed, links disabled.

I think you get to be a Scientist at 2500 posts, you big ape.

When you request help you must cooperate to get it. You've been asked numerous questions, and you've only answered one, that you live in Israel. We are trying to be civil in order to find out more about you but you should have understood by now that what you're proposing to do has never been done by any small group. Furthermore, it's illegal in your country. Can you imagine the response of your neighboring countries if you were to shoot off a rocket that may violate their airspace? One more post requesting unspecified help with no further information and this thread is closed. It was funny when we thought you were 8 years old but now it's clear you aren't listening and that's just tedious.

You've mentioned this twice. Were you denied grant money for one of your conjectures? Do you feel this is necessary? Do you have an hypothesis you put more faith in?

We're done here. Thread closed.

Seriously, SkepticLance, you're talking about a phenomenon more related to an otherwise upstanding citizen who feels a need to be respected rather than true criminality. As ParanoiA suggest, criminals who use guns don't do it for feelings of power, they use them for greed and need.

Curb your disappointment a bit. He specified burglar, twice, not robber or mugger. A burglar is typically interested in theft by stealth, and usually isn't armed, at least that's the distinction I make. That's why I didn't jump on him with both feet.

What is your level of education? What are your current skills? What are your current resources? How long was the bus you rode to school? Have you ever done any model rocketry before? Where do you live? Would your government be willing to help with the diplomatic sanctions necessary for such a launch? Why is there a breast on the moon? Can you tell us what the "something" is you wish to send? Is it a red ball? Are there laws against this sort of thing in your country? If not, why not?

Well, we like having you here spending money, but don't expect us to change everything just for the few times you visit. That's not good fiscal planning. Now you're bordering on restriction of trade. Let's say I own a gun manufacturing company (we'll call it LM Corp). It's in my best interests to keep demand for LM's product high. My marketers tell me that tighter gun laws will make our sales suffer. Without sales of our guns my employees and I will also suffer. So I donate US$2.3M to the presidential campaign that respects my right to run my business without oppressive laws that restrict my trade. This is completely legal and has the benefit of gaining me first crack at some nice government contracts too (preferentially written so only LM Corp can fill them!). Better sales means I can now afford to pass along some savings to my customers as well. I reduce costs to my distributors and support a marketing campaign so they can run a sale on my .38 caliber snub-nose 6-shot revolver. This actually makes me more money because it's a crappy gun that makes people long for my sleek 15-shot semi-auto nines. Much more accurate and ammo sales go through the roof since the trigger practically pulls itself on a good 9mm. This is business, my friend, and I play by the rules. I can't help it if some of my customers use my product poorly. Are you going to put the auto manufacturers out of business because some people are bad drivers? But I employ 140,000 people worldwide. Put me out of business and a lot of people suffer. News Zealand, huh? Shame about those muggers and killers. You need some protection. It's just not right that you should walk around afraid. Do you know anybody in government there? Ever thought about running for office? If we could just get someone to relax a few of those restrictions we could all make more money.

Laptops are great if you travel except I can't stand the touchpads (too much time lost). I keep meaning to pop down and get a bluetooth mouse. Laptops will be using cellular networks more and more too, so you won't have to keep a map of wi-fi friendly coffee shops and libraries. I'll be outside on the back porch this summer making money with my cordless VOIP phone and my laptop while soaking up some rays. Sometimes the portability makes it tough to step away from the computer and realize the house needs a good clean or the body needs more exercise. Laptops make it easy to be a comp potato. Nothing beats a desktop computer for thrifty power computing though. The only thing that will make them obsolete for me is when the whole house is one big computer and I can access my files and programs from anywhere. Try to steal my comp then!

I love jokes (you should check out our Jokes Thread stickied in General Discussion) but I guess I'd have to know more about the context of this one. Hey, how about carving the tree if it's going to be taken down anyway?

He looks like he's having a ball! Or a recipe: "Take a half glass of root beer, add one scoop of ice cream and one famous physicist....

The Ben Franklin solution? Somehow induce a lightning strike? Not very covert but spectacular, natural and quite entertaining. You could even "charge" admission....

Thanks for the explanation. I hope you can see why it would be unwise for us to talk about killing trees without knowing your motivation. AFAIK, anything you could do to poison a tree would poison the rest of the surrounding area as well. Water tables in the area would have to be considered too. Also, a poisoned tree might weaken to the point where you never know when it might break and fall. I don't know much more than, "the tree is on [your] property", but if this tree was near anything it could harm as it fell I would think you would want more control in how it... died. Are you still looking for answers to this "test" with your friend?

Has there been any mention to the other side of this particularly nasty coin? One side is omerta (silence) and the other is vendetta (vengeance). Is the idea to keep the police out of it so you can hunt down the perpetrator yourself and make him pay? Is this a national vigilante movement?