Agreed. There were two moments that sealed Eccleston for me: the first when he's sealed up with the Dalek and then goes through the battle of wits with it, and the second when he's having dinner with the Slitheen and counters her pleas for mercy. Those two sealed it for me. Eccleston to me captured that perfect blend of fun, antics, and seriousness that the Doctor is.
Agreed. I just started my Dr. Who experience with the 2005 revamp, and both my wife and I are now hooked. Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor ROCKED!!!!!
You're both right. What I'm trying to do first, is understand InsaneProcessor's viewpoint. I cannot educate, refute, discuss, or otherwise have an enlightening conversation with someone I may personally disagree with if I do not make an effort to listen to and understand their point of view.
So if I may ask (and I do so honestly without sarcasm or intent to malign), what in your mind differentiates you, with your professed inherent disgust for what you perceive to be sexual/cultural deviancy, from the bigots and homophobes that are out there.
You state your position very well, and you make a good point about moral absolutes and intolerance. Your statement gives credence to your position that you're not a bigot or homophobe. The problem is that your stated beliefs are close enough to what actual bigots and homophobes state, that you get tarred by the "No True Scotsman" fallacy. So I'd like to understand how you view yourself as being different from them.
To the average American Citizen with an average education, Science IS a religion, with it's priests (scientists), it's laypeople (science journalists), and it's churches (universities and research labs). Your average citizen of the world (doesn't matter what country or culture) tends to treat scientists and the theory of science they espouse with the same credibility that they reserve for priests and religion. Finar is making the point that Science is suffering a loss of credibility with the average public, which helps give credence by default to the religious fundamentalists who are pushing this type of bill.
The Fundamentalist Protestant Christians (we'll call them FPCs for brevity), in this regard, are gaining credence with the general American public because of three reasons. One, there's been no change in their argument for the last two hundred years. The FPCs have been broadcasting their beliefs loudly and strongly, and without change. Whereas scientists routinely create, alter, or discard theories every generation. To your average American with a functional 10th grade education and dismal grades in high school science, it appears as if scientists are idiots who can't get anything right.Two, we supporters of evolution do actively discriminate against Creationists, which is flat-out morally wrong. If we're so convinced of the superiority of Evolution, then why do we fear having Creationism taught alongside Evolution in any course. If the data in favor of Evolution is that strong, then people will come to their own conclusions about it. This leads to my third point: Three- the Creationists are fighting for their cultural survival. Whomever controls the curriculum, controls the future. Texas is the largest education market in the United States, and home-schooled children (most of which are so for religious reasons) as well as FPC children whose parents can't afford to send them to private or home schooling, have to make do with official textbooks approved by the Texas State Board of Education. Those books instill cultural norms and values counter to those that FPC parents want to promote to their children. To us, it's nothing. To FPC parents, well, we are attempting to eradicate everything they believe in, and destroy their way of life by way of indoctrinating their children.
So, I say, let them teach Creationism alongside of Evolution. There is no data to support Creationism. Let them have this, because ultimately they have to admit that Evolution is correct and then they can come to terms with that on their own. What do we seriously have to fear? The abandonment of Evolution as a whole from biology class? That'll never happen: too many Christian and FPC parents want their kids taught proper science and math skills to keep up with the heathen hordes of other countries. There is nothing to fear here, except ourselves. We secular types are embarking on a crusade against religion because it offends our sensibilities and beliefs. We're undertaking the exact same purge against Christians/Muslims/FSM'ers that they did against us.
Also, you will hate Karsa, but then you will witness.
And you will stand at attention when you witness! And you will cheer. And then you'll need a cigarette afterwards, because it's just that goddamn awesome.
Sorry for the all caps, but yes, Malazan Book of the Fallen is far superior to Song of Ice and Fire. It's dark, it's gritty, and yet it's redeeming, portrays all the characters as more than one dimensional stock, and manages to include philosophical critiques of the world, religion, philosophy, economics, emotion, and fanaticism of all stripes without breaking stride or tone. It's the only series that has made me care about a couple of villains as well as the heroes. It is simply amazing. Just be warned: to start the series you're going to have to slog through approximately half of "Gardens of the Moon" before you start getting it. Once you do though, you'll be hooked.
Her in New Mexcico, they are insanely aggressive and simply BAD at the art of driving. Here, you NEVER use your signals, as people will close ranks to prevent you from getting in if you signal first. Everyone here is looking to screw everyone else on the road, driving around in a perpetual state of road rage, their machismo threatened by every driver ahead of or beside them on the road. If you are not rapidly receding in their rear view mirror, you are an enemy who must be destroyed.
In Las Vegas, we called that Sunday driving! During rush hour in Sin City, you'd get curbstomped by Mormon bushwhackers just for daring the onramps! Once on the freeway you were allowed forty feet of acceleration, and then required to come to a dead stop and go nowhere for the next two hours-in 127 degree feet (in Kelvin no less, there is no Celsius or Fahrenheit on the concrete... only Kelvin). Then there were the unlicensed illegals who would purposely try to insert themselves AND their cars up your tailpipe (your choice of entrance) for the sole purpose of trying to hide from the State Patrol - who'd just ram you off the road and sodomize you anyway for kicks (the troopers left the tourists alone, it's the natives they're after). And if you dared to take the normal streets, then it'd take you four times as long to get your destination (minimum 20 minutes, even if it's the next block) and you risked death by: a) doddering senior citizen off his alzheimer's meds, b) ricers, c) unlicensed illegals, or d) worst of all, mini-van moms (who think nothing of cutting you off, stomping on the brake right there in traffic to stop you, leaping out of their car, and lunging through your driver side window to kill you-glass or no glass).
Now get back in your pit, Old One, and tend to yer infernal lawn.
I remember when I tried to hook up to my local BBS using PFS First Choice on a 286! There was no luxury then! There were only murmured prayers and the corpses of freshly-sacrificed male virgins by the amber glow of my CRT to guide me! To uninstall anything required a complete reformat of the hard drive, and bashing my daddy's head in with a guitar!
Did you ever read Rational Mysticism ? Because I did, and I found it to be very fascinating, written from a skeptic's viewpoint (as opposed to a cynical skeptic) and he came away with a lot of interpretations that I found intriguing.
I was too busy reading your various insults to notice any links or factual proofs you may have offered to bolster your rebuttal to the prior poster. What was your point again?
Facebook will NEVER put porn on their site-thus they will not become "The Portal".
Porn is the great equalizer, the guarantor and canary-in-coal-mine of free speech, and the last bastion of privacy. As long as there are porn sites (and 4chan/ED for the trolls and squick-junkies), the internet will continue to be free.
If they're working at 11 PM on Saturday night while I'm enjoying one of my *rare* wankering session, then gawddamn right I want my connection unmanaged and full streaming enabled! I pay a high price for being married already, I better damn well have FULL streaming capability when I finally get some lonely monkey time.
On the other hand, during the daytime I could see a valid argument... nah, anyone who works from home one or two days a week on VPN is a douche and deserves throttling. More pr0n for everyone!
Can someone with Free Will invalidate Free Will? I'm asking this because of the observed belief by many behavioralists (starting with that bastard Watson) that there is no such thing as Free Will and everything is deterministic.
Or, can a successful proof for Hard Determinism be made?
Woo-woo that can alter the course of mankind for better or worse with a few well-aimed (or worse, intentionally obfuscated) words (see Greenspan, Alan)
Slashdot Mirror
Because we as a species treat a radiation outbreak the same way we treat a potential outbreak of the plague.
Simple as that. We need definitive proof of sentient, space-faring extraterrestrial life. Get that, and you'll have your visceral response in a hurry.
Agreed. There were two moments that sealed Eccleston for me: the first when he's sealed up with the Dalek and then goes through the battle of wits with it, and the second when he's having dinner with the Slitheen and counters her pleas for mercy. Those two sealed it for me. Eccleston to me captured that perfect blend of fun, antics, and seriousness that the Doctor is.
Agreed. I just started my Dr. Who experience with the 2005 revamp, and both my wife and I are now hooked. Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor ROCKED!!!!!
You're both right. What I'm trying to do first, is understand InsaneProcessor's viewpoint. I cannot educate, refute, discuss, or otherwise have an enlightening conversation with someone I may personally disagree with if I do not make an effort to listen to and understand their point of view.
So if I may ask (and I do so honestly without sarcasm or intent to malign), what in your mind differentiates you, with your professed inherent disgust for what you perceive to be sexual/cultural deviancy, from the bigots and homophobes that are out there.
You state your position very well, and you make a good point about moral absolutes and intolerance. Your statement gives credence to your position that you're not a bigot or homophobe. The problem is that your stated beliefs are close enough to what actual bigots and homophobes state, that you get tarred by the "No True Scotsman" fallacy. So I'd like to understand how you view yourself as being different from them.
Good point.
Now BE QUIET! Or you'll lose your head.
Good point. I'd forgotten that Darwin, Newton, and Kelvin were Creationists.
To the average American Citizen with an average education, Science IS a religion, with it's priests (scientists), it's laypeople (science journalists), and it's churches (universities and research labs). Your average citizen of the world (doesn't matter what country or culture) tends to treat scientists and the theory of science they espouse with the same credibility that they reserve for priests and religion. Finar is making the point that Science is suffering a loss of credibility with the average public, which helps give credence by default to the religious fundamentalists who are pushing this type of bill.
The Fundamentalist Protestant Christians (we'll call them FPCs for brevity), in this regard, are gaining credence with the general American public because of three reasons. One, there's been no change in their argument for the last two hundred years. The FPCs have been broadcasting their beliefs loudly and strongly, and without change. Whereas scientists routinely create, alter, or discard theories every generation. To your average American with a functional 10th grade education and dismal grades in high school science, it appears as if scientists are idiots who can't get anything right.Two, we supporters of evolution do actively discriminate against Creationists, which is flat-out morally wrong. If we're so convinced of the superiority of Evolution, then why do we fear having Creationism taught alongside Evolution in any course. If the data in favor of Evolution is that strong, then people will come to their own conclusions about it. This leads to my third point: Three- the Creationists are fighting for their cultural survival. Whomever controls the curriculum, controls the future. Texas is the largest education market in the United States, and home-schooled children (most of which are so for religious reasons) as well as FPC children whose parents can't afford to send them to private or home schooling, have to make do with official textbooks approved by the Texas State Board of Education. Those books instill cultural norms and values counter to those that FPC parents want to promote to their children. To us, it's nothing. To FPC parents, well, we are attempting to eradicate everything they believe in, and destroy their way of life by way of indoctrinating their children.
So, I say, let them teach Creationism alongside of Evolution. There is no data to support Creationism. Let them have this, because ultimately they have to admit that Evolution is correct and then they can come to terms with that on their own. What do we seriously have to fear? The abandonment of Evolution as a whole from biology class? That'll never happen: too many Christian and FPC parents want their kids taught proper science and math skills to keep up with the heathen hordes of other countries. There is nothing to fear here, except ourselves. We secular types are embarking on a crusade against religion because it offends our sensibilities and beliefs. We're undertaking the exact same purge against Christians/Muslims/FSM'ers that they did against us.
Also, you will hate Karsa, but then you will witness.
And you will stand at attention when you witness! And you will cheer. And then you'll need a cigarette afterwards, because it's just that goddamn awesome.
Sorry for the all caps, but yes, Malazan Book of the Fallen is far superior to Song of Ice and Fire. It's dark, it's gritty, and yet it's redeeming, portrays all the characters as more than one dimensional stock, and manages to include philosophical critiques of the world, religion, philosophy, economics, emotion, and fanaticism of all stripes without breaking stride or tone. It's the only series that has made me care about a couple of villains as well as the heroes. It is simply amazing. Just be warned: to start the series you're going to have to slog through approximately half of "Gardens of the Moon" before you start getting it. Once you do though, you'll be hooked.
Yeurrrrrgh... you may indeed have the win there.
Her in New Mexcico, they are insanely aggressive and simply BAD at the art of driving. Here, you NEVER use your signals, as people will close ranks to prevent you from getting in if you signal first. Everyone here is looking to screw everyone else on the road, driving around in a perpetual state of road rage, their machismo threatened by every driver ahead of or beside them on the road. If you are not rapidly receding in their rear view mirror, you are an enemy who must be destroyed.
In Las Vegas, we called that Sunday driving! During rush hour in Sin City, you'd get curbstomped by Mormon bushwhackers just for daring the onramps! Once on the freeway you were allowed forty feet of acceleration, and then required to come to a dead stop and go nowhere for the next two hours-in 127 degree feet (in Kelvin no less, there is no Celsius or Fahrenheit on the concrete... only Kelvin). Then there were the unlicensed illegals who would purposely try to insert themselves AND their cars up your tailpipe (your choice of entrance) for the sole purpose of trying to hide from the State Patrol - who'd just ram you off the road and sodomize you anyway for kicks (the troopers left the tourists alone, it's the natives they're after). And if you dared to take the normal streets, then it'd take you four times as long to get your destination (minimum 20 minutes, even if it's the next block) and you risked death by: a) doddering senior citizen off his alzheimer's meds, b) ricers, c) unlicensed illegals, or d) worst of all, mini-van moms (who think nothing of cutting you off, stomping on the brake right there in traffic to stop you, leaping out of their car, and lunging through your driver side window to kill you-glass or no glass).
Now get back in your pit, Old One, and tend to yer infernal lawn.
And I can put the stains back in your underwear...
I remember when I tried to hook up to my local BBS using PFS First Choice on a 286! There was no luxury then! There were only murmured prayers and the corpses of freshly-sacrificed male virgins by the amber glow of my CRT to guide me! To uninstall anything required a complete reformat of the hard drive, and bashing my daddy's head in with a guitar!
Did you ever read Rational Mysticism ? Because I did, and I found it to be very fascinating, written from a skeptic's viewpoint (as opposed to a cynical skeptic) and he came away with a lot of interpretations that I found intriguing.
I was too busy reading your various insults to notice any links or factual proofs you may have offered to bolster your rebuttal to the prior poster. What was your point again?
Facebook will NEVER put porn on their site-thus they will not become "The Portal".
Porn is the great equalizer, the guarantor and canary-in-coal-mine of free speech, and the last bastion of privacy. As long as there are porn sites (and 4chan/ED for the trolls and squick-junkies), the internet will continue to be free.
Any political and/or economic ideology is perfect and will work as planned... until humans get involved.
Goldman is welcome to that data, and everything that comes with it.
How DID the congregation react?
If they're working at 11 PM on Saturday night while I'm enjoying one of my *rare* wankering session, then gawddamn right I want my connection unmanaged and full streaming enabled! I pay a high price for being married already, I better damn well have FULL streaming capability when I finally get some lonely monkey time.
On the other hand, during the daytime I could see a valid argument... nah, anyone who works from home one or two days a week on VPN is a douche and deserves throttling. More pr0n for everyone!
Can someone with Free Will invalidate Free Will? I'm asking this because of the observed belief by many behavioralists (starting with that bastard Watson) that there is no such thing as Free Will and everything is deterministic.
Or, can a successful proof for Hard Determinism be made?
Woo-woo that can alter the course of mankind for better or worse with a few well-aimed (or worse, intentionally obfuscated) words (see Greenspan, Alan)
Damn You DAMN YOU DAMN YOU!!!!! I'm so dium tired of this!!! Back to the hole with you!