In the News

[Tomas]

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Why we're going nuts over allergies

-snip-

A waiter, for example, may not grasp the seriousness behind Noah's endless questions about the menu. (see photo)

-Click URL for complete article-

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 85,00.html

[BMcGilly07]

The Catholic Church strikes again:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7926694.stm

I mean, jeez, come on guys, she's younger than when a certain spirit had its way with the alleged 12 year old Mary. Give her a break.

[brokenhead]

The Catholic Church strikes again:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7926694.stm

I mean, jeez, come on guys, she's younger than when a certain spirit had its way with the alleged 12 year old Mary. Give her a break.

This is precisely why I despise organized religions. Why would anyone want to be a member of a group such as this? I excommunicated the church from my life over 35 years ago. Cases like this should be trumpeted to the ends of the earth so that people can see the hardened hypocrisy of Catholicism. The Church is supposed to be about community. They can stand up to decent people trying to help a raped child, but they couldn't stand up to fascism. They even have an ex-SS prison guard as pope. He's never been excommunicated, I'll bet. Church officials are all effete clowns, that's why they dress like clowns. They will shelter known pedophiles doggedly for years; I guess it is no wonder why they do not want as a member of their "community" someone who actually doesn't prey upon children, but instead tries to help a child who has been preyed upon.

[Tomas]

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Hey, groovy guys and groovy girls...

Buddy Miles Biography sites

http://www.buddymiles.com/gallery1.htm

http://music.yahoo.com/ar-257903-bio--BuddyMiles

http://www.starpulse.com/Music/Miles,_Buddy/Biography

[Tomas]

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Amazon selling rape simulation game

A game that involves the player stalking victims and then raping them
in a virtual world is being offered by online retailer Amazon.com

http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Internat ... nGame.html

[Tomas]

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Work on "veiled reality" earns French physicist $1.4 million award

Prestigious Templeton Prize recognizes his theory that a new
reality lurks behind matter and other observable phenomena.

Last year, he published "Candide and the Physicist," a book for
the lay reader answering 50 essential questions posed by the
physician and philosopher Claude Saliceti on time, space,
objects, and objectivity. (see photo)

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0317/p02s04-usgn.html

[Robert]

Bernard d'Espagnat could be a good interview candidate for the Reasoning Show...

[DHodges]

Amazon selling rape simulation game

A game that involves the player stalking victims and then raping them
in a virtual world is being offered by online retailer Amazon.com

http://www.peacewomen.org/news/Internat ... nGame.html

There was some discussion of this over on Something Awful. It's kind of interesting that there are an enormous number of games that involve killing people. (In particular, Postal comes to mind, because the people you killed would sometimes beg for mercy. And of course Grand Theft Auto.)

However, when you put in rape, the response is kind of different. This is a taboo area, it seems, that murder is not.

[Foreigner]

Ok finally some encouraging news related to usa economic woes and political action.
The government is coming down hard on insurance giant AIG, for paying out some 200 million dollars in executive bonuses which was possible because taxpayers gave the company some 100 plus BILLION dollars -- the first BAIL OUT installment. May have actually been $170 Billion but you get the point.

Well now government officials have put their foot (feet?) down, no more irresponsible use of the American people's hard-earned money. This time, before the president and his friends "OK" the second installment of some 30 BILLION DOLLARS, AIG will have to (now get this)..."promise to pay the $200million back" to the people!

Now Im no math expert but isnt there a shit-load of million dollars in every BILLION? Specifically one thousand of them? And in $30 BILLION wouldnt that be thirty thousand MILLION DOLLAR BILLS?

So the deal our politicians propose to make with the greedy unwise criminals at AIG is --
"We'll give you 30,000 more of the people's MILLION DOLLARS so long as you promise to return 200 of them back!

humm....what a deal, eh. AIG gets twenty nine thousand eight hundred MORE million dollar notes, and all is forgiven!

Thank you, dear government.

(do point out any errors in numbers, if..)

[Tomas]

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-Foreigner-
(do point out any errors in numbers, if..)

-tomas-
Okay, Senator Chris Dodd, received over $100,000 in campaign monies in his reelection bids for senate, from A.I.G.

Then-Senator Barack Obama, received over $100,000 from A.I.G. for his runs..

Senator Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, is under investigation for his taking special favors from CountryWide.

It is in all of the above interests for this to blow over. A.I.G. will pony up the bonuses but then turn around and give raises instead. Old news equals business as usual.

PS - Meet the new Boss .. Same as the old Boss.

[DHodges]

Now Im no math expert but isnt there a shit-load of million dollars in every BILLION? Specifically one thousand of them? And in $30 BILLION wouldnt that be thirty thousand MILLION DOLLAR BILLS?

Yes, getting upset about the AIG bonuses doesn't really make sense economically, it's more a reflection of different class interests - its THOSE RICH PEOPLE that are screwing us over.

Also, I don't think there is such a thing as a million dollar bill (in the US). I think $10,000 is the highest denomination printed, and you don't see those in general circulation.

[DHodges]

Then-Senator Barack Obama, received over $100,000 from A.I.G. for his runs.

But so did McCain, didn't he?

PS - Meet the new Boss .. Same as the old Boss.

Hey, you got to vote for which guy would give your money to the banks and insurance companies.

[Carl G]

President Barack Obama guaranteed Americans on Thursday that the nation's economy will recover, though he asked them for patience.

I didn't know the President had the power to personally guarantee such a thing for an entire nation. Oh wait, he doesn't. And cleverly doesn't say when, but just that eventually it will recover. Might be 20 years. Might require another world war. Although maybe it will not recover. Who can say.

"We will come out on the other side stronger and a more prosperous nation,"

Than what? Than we are right now? Than we were before this economic mess started?

that I can guarantee you.

No he cannot. He cannot guarantee anything. Therefore he is a liar.

"I can't tell you how long it will take, what obstacles we'll face along the way, but I promise you this: There will be brighter days ahead."

The promise is a lie, in the same way telling kids about Santa is a lie. Kids, your President just lied to you. What was the crowd's response?

The comments brought another roar of approval from about 1,000 people at a town hall forum in Los Angeles, where questions were more fawning than pressing. "I'm very glad and thankful that you are our president," the first questioner began. The second said, "thank God for you."

And Santa, please remember, I've been very good this year.

[DHodges]

The promise is a lie, in the same way telling kids about Santa is a lie. Kids, your President just lied to you. What was the crowd's response?

Well, yes, of course he was lying. It is his job to lie. This is like objecting to the guy at the mall dressed up as Santa.

A large part of the economy (especially the US economy) is based on confidence and expectations of the future. The words of the president, and the words of the head of the Fed, can have immediate impact on Wall Street. Part of his job is to instill confidence.

In the long term, of course, his words will carry more weight if he follows up on what he promised and can deliver it. But it's pretty easy to get people to believe something that they really want to believe.

[Tomas]

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Superstrong Artificial Muscles and More from New Nanotube Material

The material, described in the 20 March issue of Science, is an aerogel-a porous, low-density solid-made from carbon nanotubes, and it has an eye-popping list of special properties. (see video)

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/mar09/8313

[Tomas]

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Recent Human Variation Is Not Evolution

Discover magazine recently asked, "Are We Still Evolving?" The same-titled article noted that "for decades theories about human evolution had proliferated despite the absence of much, if any, hard evidence." It then presented research showing that human DNA is definitely changing-but not as Darwinism predicted.

http://www.icr.org/article/4528

[DHodges]

Recent Human Variation Is Not Evolution

Yes, the "Institute for Creation Research" is certainly going to be an unbiased source for credible articles about evolution.

[Iolaus]

Maybe so, Hodges, but has it occurred to you that the other institutes wherein Darwinian evolution is not to be questioned might also not be a source of unbiased information?

There are fairly unbiased books and websites. Telic Thoughts is one. Uncommon Descent is run by some fundies, and yet is an excellent source of quick information on why evolution as currently understood is absurd.

I recommend Michael Denton.

Anyway, the basic point Tomas was making, that there isn't evidence beyond micro changes within a species, is true.

[Tomas]

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A Manly Man's Guide to Bromance Films

From 'Brian's Song' to 'I Love You, Man,' we trace the lineage of the dudes' chick flick: the bromance

It's easy to dismiss "bromance" as just another way to describe male bonding, but there's more to it than that.

photos

http://movies.msn.com/galleryfeature/br ... fid=100055

[DHodges]

There are fairly unbiased books and websites. Telic Thoughts is one. Uncommon Descent is run by some fundies, and yet is an excellent source of quick information on why evolution as currently understood is absurd.

Objections to evolution (in general, not the details of it) are on the same level as objections to the theory that the Earth is round (or objections to relativity or quantum mechanics). They can not be taken seriously by anyone who is well-informed, objective, and has put some thought into the issue.

[Tomas]

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Goodbye Farmers Markets, CSAs, and Roadside Stands

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/cohen-co ... ar09.shtml

[Carl G]

Good riddance to that quaint old shit. There's no place for it in the New World Order.

[Iolaus]

DHodges,

Objections to evolution (in general, not the details of it) are on the same level as objections to the theory that the Earth is round (or objections to relativity or quantum mechanics). They can not be taken seriously by anyone who is well-informed, objective, and has put some thought into the issue.

This is just bluster. It's a canned phrase that you didn't make up (not the gist of it, that it). We have good reason to know the earth is round, but there is no real evidence for evolution as understood by, say, Dawkins. I don't say there was not an unfolding of life, but not by accidental, random mutations and natural selection.

There are also good objections to relativity, but I can't say how well I understand the arguments. My bet is Einstein will be proved wrong.

As to evolution, I do understand the arguments, and for you to say what you did indicates to me that you know precious little about what the arguments are. Very little indeed. The more I study it, the more doubt I have.

[Tomas]

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Cosmic Hand Reaches for the Light

In a new image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, high-energy X-rays emanating
from the nebula around PSR B1509-58 have been colored blue to reveal a structure
resembling a hand reaching for some eternal red cosmic light.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20090405/ ... orthelight

[Diebert van Rhijn]

Britain's gloomy weather may not be good for the soul but it's great for the mind, claim scientists in sunny Australia.

People performed much better on our memory test when the weather was unpleasant and they were in a slightly negative mood.

"On bright sunny days, when they were more likely to be happy and carefree, they flunked it."

"A mild negative mood, in turn, tends to increase attention to our surroundings and produce a more careful, thorough thinking style.

Would this only be a factor in countries with a lot of gloomy weather? Sunlight is known to have many biochemical effects via the skin and retina. Also I question the term 'negative mood'. They mean the subject "misses" the excited state of before?