iNow

Let's not lose the context of this discussion, people. Here's what I said that prompted the ridiculousness contained in this thread which has been split off: This is pretty much my take. I don't believe in god for the same reason I don't believe in the tooth fairy. Seriously... how do people still buy into this nonsense? Whoa... I should be ashamed of myself, shouldn't I? How dare I go to such a dark and offensive place.

You are sorely mistaken, and let me explain why. These discussions inevitably boil down to the issue of existence. When all of these lofty and heady discussions get distilled, that is the central issue to which we ALWAYS return... claims of the existence of whatever god these people believe in. The claim of existence is NOT an opinion, it is an assertion. It is a statement presented as fact without any acknowledgment of uncertainty, and those claims are subject to the same scrutiny, criticism, and evisceration as are ALL OTHER CLAIMS and assertions made on this board and also in our everyday lives. Those claims of existence are being presented not as opinions, but as facts... as truths representative of this reality in which we exist, and are therefore legitimate targets for criticism. Unfortunately, any and all criticism is deemed "offensive" and those presenting them castigated for lacking "tact," but nobody has a right not to be offended, nor do they have a right to put forth assertions without backing them up with evidence and expect to be taken seriously. Again, all of these discussions distill down to that central premise... that central question of existence. In all of these discussions, those putting forth the existence claim in an affirmative manner have NOTHING other than personal faith in support, and therefore their assertion is rightly dismissed as nonsense. If they are offended by their faith being called nonsense, then that's really too bad. Their offense or sensitivity to criticism makes the label no less valid or true. I say this because we would EQUALLY reject as nonsense someone arguing for the existence of Thor or Zeus based on faith alone. I say this because we would EQUALLY reject as nonsense someone arguing for the existence of unicorns, leprechauns, alien abduction, or magical butt fairies based on their personal faith alone. I say this because we would EQUALLY reject as nonsense someone arguing for perpetual motion machines, that relativity is wrong, or that evolution fails to explain the world around us based on their personal faith alone. In short... In all of these other arenas where claims and assertions are being made we would dismiss their claims and assertions in the absence of objective evidence as nonsense, and rightly so. For you to suggest that religion and theist belief be treated differently... to be held to alternative standard than the one to which we hold EVERYTHING ELSE IN OUR WORLD stinks of special pleading, shows that you wish to apply a double standard, and evidences the fact that you are truly not comfortable having open and visceral dialog on these issues here at your site. That's fine, but make up your mind... You can't have it both ways. You either have a P&R forum where people shred nonsense for what it is, or you realize that you're not comfortable with that happening at your site and you close it down altogether like you did previously. Your attempts to reside in this middle area are only going to fail, and they are going to fail hard (mostly because this site is populated with a membership who are reasonable, rational, and who require evidence in support of claims... people with an interest and often a background in science, where objective, verifiable, repeatable evidence is king). That's my take, anyway. It's not about calling people idiots. The subject of the nonsense label is the belief itself, not the person holding it. Despite that, there is no level of tact which will allow you to avoid the bad feelings which accompany discussions of this nature, as all of these discussions will ultimately become offensive to someone somewhere since all they have is their faith and that faith is being challenged.

In much the same way, nobody would take issue if we were arguing with a birther about Obama being born in the US/Hawaii and if we called their arguments that he was not, in fact, born in the US "nonsense," or if somebody claimed that failure to bail out the banking industry last year would not have resulted in complete economic collapse and we called that "nonsense," but suddenly when religious belief is involved that word is off-limits? We tell people in the forums all the time that their ideas are nonsense. Just look at people who think they have perpetual motion machines or that plate tectonics is a failed theory. Now, here in the P&R forum, the argument is being made that we need to invoke special pleading and double standards? Come on, really?

So basically you want us to all lie to each other... to be insincere, inauthentic, and to mask our true thoughts because we can't handle the fact that some truths hurt peoples feelings? Yeah... Good luck with that. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/universal-morality/ We should not feel constrained to assert what we think is an objective truth — that such behavior is wrong — for fear that it will be taken as subjective meddling or demagoguery, Harris argued. There is a moral imperative not to hold one’s tongue but rather to speak out. “Who are we not to say [that it’s wrong]?” he asked. “Who are we to pretend that we know so little about human well being that we have to be nonjudgmental about a practice like this?” We can no longer respect and tolerate vast differences of opinion of what constitutes basic humanity any more than we can take seriously different opinions about how disease spreads or what it takes to make buildings and airplanes safe.

This is supposed to be really good. The author was on Charlie Rose last month (they re-aired it the other night, too). He impressed me quite a lot. Let us know what you think. Note: You can watch the interview here: http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/125

Hello Robert, Welcome. What are your interests?

This just made me chuckle.

Via PZ

That's ridiculous. Are you sure they weren't just out of stock?

Welcome to everyone who has joined. Fresh people bring fresh ideas, and I thank each of you for it. Jump right in. The water's great.

It would be incorrect to assume it is just a "group of clouds." We really don't yet know what the feature is. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/media/cassini-20070327.html The new images taken in thermal-infrared light show the hexagon extends much deeper down into the atmosphere than previously expected, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) below the cloud tops. A system of clouds lies within the hexagon.

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Yes, I agree completely.

This video made me laugh so hard that I thought this would make a nice home for it. Enjoy. TfS6cE7VXM0

I'm not sure... You may need to be from Texas to appreciate this one. Enjoy. Texas summertime... * Dear Diary June 1 : Just moved to Texas ! Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. It is beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here. June 14th : Really heating up. Got to 100 today . Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper. June 30th : Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today . Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today , but I love it here. July 10th : The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least, it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected. July 15th : Fell asleep by the community pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this. July 20th : I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. The car now smells like Kibbles and Shits. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again. July 25th : The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's hot as fire.* The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts. July 30th : Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can't even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here? Aug. 4th: It's 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today . It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state. Aug. 8th: If another wise ass cracks, 'Hot enough for you today ?' I'm going to strangle him. Lots of heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!! Aug. 9th: Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when sat on the seats in the car, I thought I was on fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and a. . . Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried a, and baked cat. Aug 10th : The weather report might as well be a recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do anything for 2 long months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can't live in this heat. Aug. 14th: Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today . Cactus are dead. Forgot to crack the window and blew the windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? "Hot enough for you today ?" My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas . What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here?? Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.

Out of curiosity, have you run a google search along these lines: online math curriculum I mean, one would presume that something there is gonna be useful to you.

Via a friend on another board:

So, President Obama has found a way to quickly close Guantanamo Bay. Yeah, he's just going to turn it into a Pontiac dealership. (Jay Leno)

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The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically. This virus is called Weekly Overload Recreational Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues or anyone else via any means whatsoever - DO NOT TOUCH IT!!! This virus will wipe out your private life entirely. If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises. Take two good friends to the nearest liquor store and purchase one or both of the antidotes - Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system. You should immediately forward this medical alert to five friends. If you do not have five friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

Not really true. The female generally takes the males head off DURING or AFTER the mating process, not to initiate it. The mating process itself tends to be initiated by a dance (also known as the courtship display) by the male. Further, another fun fact is that the female eating the males head does not happen every time. Although the praying mantis is known for its cannibalistic mating process, in actuality, it only occurs 5-31% of the time. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1801 Actually, it's closer to a month, but depends on which species of cockroach it is (there are roughly 3,500 species falling into six different families), and it's not always starvation that causes the death to occur. http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel/cockroach_faq.html#Q13 Also, not true. The number of shark pups born to a mother depends greatly on the species of shark. http://www.amcs.org.au/printed.asp?active_page_id=196 The number of shark pups born to a single mother varies considerably between species. Some have only two large pups, while others, like the blue shark, may have 40 to 80 much smaller young. Try to remember... It's not a "Cool Fact" if it's not true, which is why we ask for references.

Charlie walks into his bedroom with a sheep under his arm and says: "Darling, this is the pig I have sex with when you have a headache." His wife is lying in bed and replies: "I think you'll find It's a sheep, you idiot." The man says: "I think you'll find I wasn't talking to you."

You made a point with which I fully agree. It is not always necessary to supply a source. However, if someone specifically asks you to supply one, it shouldn't take 200 posts to finally obtain... It should be provided immediately without the need of continued requests, and feeling like you are pulling teeth. That seems to be another avoidance tactic... Arguing about why someone is asking you to provide a reference instead of just supplying said reference and moving on with the conversation.

Welcome aboard, Durro.