Phi for All

This is GD so I'm not going to give any warning points but LET'S LIGHTEN UP on the flaming. Newtonian is entitled to his opinion as long as he keeps it civil. And Hellbender might just take Mokele's place as Resident Biology Expert if he can keep his cool. Mokele is a great choice and he's going to find his perspective changed by being a Moderator. As a Mod it's not enough to just dismiss someone as an idiot, you have to explain to them why they're being an idiot. You may have had a problem with Mokele's often caustic approach in the past but he's going to be going out of his way to make sure this forum maintains high standards for posting. Newtonian, I'm sorry you feel the way you do. You seem to think Mokele's going to go ballistic and rampage through downtown Tokyo, knocking over buildings and killing people. No one can get away with a power trip on staff at SFN. Mokele's got the scientific knowledge we need on staff and if everyone will give him the chance to become an experienced Moderator, I think you're all going to like the improvements.

Arrr! Anyone who doesn't post gets keelhauled, and we ain't had a proper drydock in years, so the barnacles be nice and thick! Avast, ye scurvy dogs, or ye'll be swabbin' the poopdeck wit yer face! Arrrrrrrrrr!

I think his new job has to do with interrogating prisoners. Making them feel stupid and worthless and all that. Breaking their spirit through breathtaking feats of logic and reason, that sort of thing. He should do well.

Possibly because you are seated for 2-3 hours with no trash receptacle within easy reach. And people have become lazy because there is usually a phalanx of gloomy ushers wating by the door with brooms waiting to clean up before the next show (many people don't realize they also have a trash can on wheels with them--it usually makes them smile when you toss your garbage in it without them having to pick it up). To me, the height of arrogance and insensitivity is throwing fast food garbage out of moving vehicles. There should be a special prison for people who do that. With really filthy cells.

I do NOT subscribe to your friend's claim. It assumes the situation is completely under the control of the manager who operates the food court. There are many more influences, like customer response, higher costs (which you mention in part, but consider also higher insurance when someone slips on garbage and sues), and health risks from filth. I prefer the Broken Window Theory which states that even violent crime can be attributable to excess litter and broken windows. Lack of caring shows lack of respect and breeds more of the same geometrically. Your friend could be starting a chain of events that leads to someone being hurt or even killed.

3 days + 137 posts + no remotely challenging evidence or arguments = moved to pseudoscience. If this continues, I'd like to reiterate Dave's earlier advice for everyone to chill and keep their wits about them. I see frustration mounting.

A blond was sitting on a train reading the newspaper. The headlines blared, "12 Brazilian Soldiers Killed." "That's horrible," she muttered to herself. Then she turned to the stranger sitting next to her and asked, "How many is a Brazilian?"

Who's to judge the level of retardation that needs to be cleansed? Shall we let you play God, Sum Deus? Everyone from your brother down needs to go. Anyone with less retardation need to be exterminated? How much less? Will you set up some sort of test? I realize that I'm using a slippery slope fallacy here, but in this case I see validation.

You seem to be deliberately going out of your way to create strawmen for us to tilt at. It's been stated before that evolution and a belief in God are not mututally exclusive. More strawman fallacies will incur warning points. Don't be just another *IDiotTM. If you're going to post here credibly, listen to what is being said. Your arguments have been given so many times most members can refute them in their sleep. You are bringing up NOTHING that hasn't been brought up before. Your links to sites that have also been refuted ad nauseam also drags your credibility down. You seem much more likeable than most of the *IDiotsTM we usually get. You are visibly tring to be pleasant and I particularly appreciate your non-preaching attitude. But you've got to realize that you are now hearing the other side of the debate from people who have studied thousands of experiments and tests to back up what they know. And you have your fingers in your ears, dancing around a poorly constructed straw effigy singing "LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!" at the top of your lungs. * Many thanks to Skye Marketing & Australian Reasoning Terminology (SMART)

Many people are upset at the way money has been diverted away from practical, real concerns in favor of possible, so far imaginary concerns. Like the fact that NY state got a little over $1M from the federal government to fight heart disease, the leading killer in NY, yet they also received something like $34M for bioterrorism preparedness. Every state can tell the same story. Even when the far right hears about stuff like this they shake their heads and Bush's approval goes down. But then Michael Moore jumps in and starts ranting and the far right feels the need to defend the president, the same guy they were muttering about yesterday, possibly wondering about how much the Carlysle Group is into fighting bioterrorism, and how much of those federally allotted funds will end up in their coffers. But those suspicions disappear as soon as Mike grabs the mike and they leap to Bush's defense.

I respect Michael Moore for being willing to hang his butt out there on the edge, but I think he has lost his objectivity and that really hurts his credibility. Ideas, great ideas, world changing ideas, can come from the far left but it's necessary to avoid the "whacko" label, and to do that you need facts, not fiction. And when is someone going to tell Michael that Bush's approval rating goes up when Michael calls a press conference?

Frankly, I think most of why people are angry with Bush is that he waited too long coming off another month-long vacation to react to the crisis. They are grasping at any reason to blame, like racism, but it really comes down to the fact that he spends too much time away from where people think he should be.

You obviously haven't read a thing here in the Evolution section. You haven't read our sticky Welcome Creationists to SFN, which would have cleared up most of your silly arguments about what evolution is NOT. You haven't read our sticky about Common Human Ancestry, which would give you a fraction of the genetic evidence linking man and ape. You spend seven of your interview questions on the "fighter plane" strawman, trying to draw analogies about man-made designs to prop up your ID weaknesses. And you call this farce an interview with an evolutionist, and then blatantly make him "not an expert". Here there be experts. Read if you aren't an utter troll, read further and find your transitional fossils, read other threads and find out why the Big Bang and cosmological events like the earth crashing into the sun have nothing to do with evolution. At the moment your interview is just laughable, and it shows you haven't done your research. Every single point has been proven wrong here over and over and over. Read.

How would this be different from the Pseudosciences forum we already have?

You will note, upon rereading his post, that he does NOT equate you with OJ, but rather his level of surprise in both instances. A roundabout insult, I'll grant you, but deftly done and leaves the ad hominem fallacy questionable. We try to avoid direct insults here, as they lead to off-topic fighting. I may not approve of Hellbender's choice of tactics and his rancorous tone when dealing with creationist issues, but I must bow to his subtlety in this instance. I will say, Hellbender, that your impatience and frustration is showing, and you are allowing it to influence your posting. Please carry on and don't let this post derail the discussion.

No, we don't ban people for that. He gets a ban for the inappropriate and disgusting PM he sent me.

Emails or PMs from a SFN member? If anyone else ever gets a PM like this or any other form of con or advertising, please report it immediately to a staff member. mrsdainey has been permanently banned. Quite doubtful it would ever have posted, just PMd members about getting rich quick.

No, you're thinking of cold sores. vBulletin automated warnings are like creationists; illogical, persistant and more prolific than you thought possible.

With all the redundancy in modern aircraft controls, I find it hard to believe that a horn was the only thing warning the crew that the plane was not pressurized. Aside from the oxygen masks dropping down, wouldn't there be at least a light flashing to let them know they shouldn't climb any higher? I can see where a system that wouldn't allow the plane to reach higher altitudes if the plane wasn't pressurized could be dangerous, but a single horn system of warning for something that life-threatening seems ludicrous. There's not much time once they take off before they reach a lethal altitude. I've also heard of flights where the oxygen masks were deployed due to a malfunction that wasn't serious, so they may not have taken that warning seriously enough. Overlooking the fact that the horn sounds for improper flight controls only while on the ground was the big mistake here, imo. What a tragedy.

Dave will take care of it. You should have said something earlier, we thought you liked all the attention.

I am poised and ready if this is some sort of porno send up.

The warning is given by staff; the email regarding the warning is automated, as is keeping track of when the points mature and expire. We're working on a system which renders electrical shocks to those who abuse the system. There are some hardware problems involved. In the near future, make sure to check the YES box when asked if you'd like to order our new SFN headbands with USB cable attachments.

I think the automated system considers all flamers to be somewhat stupid and in need of several billion reminders. Perhaps if you reply back that you have a dispute it will start ignoring you.

Many conservative people, especially in the US, would view a more "heavy handed" approach as being long overdue. More discipline always seems to be the older generation's solution to the problems of the younger generation (throughout history, not just now). Diplomacy takes a back seat if people are prosperous and processes are well-ordered and firmly run. If effective global leadership comes through a more regimented approach, I think many people in the world would view it beneficially. Concessions would need to be made to unite the world in peace under one government. As long as it keeps the trains running on time, even a dictatorship can be efficient and win the public approval. Oppressiveness is in the eye of the beholder.