if you have to add the word "science" it probably isn't. Biology? Science. Chemistry? Science. Physics? Science. Political science? Not so much.
The Newton/Leibniz invention of integral and differential calculus rates as one of the very greatest achievements of all time. It ranks as high as any work of literature or art. I don't know if someone could not be considered educated if they haven't studied it, let alone pass algebra.
If you are going to mention the coastal survey, why not also mention the Lewis and Clark expedition? The "Corps of Discovery" was a huge cartographic, biological, geological, and sociological enterprise. They took the best scientific equipment they could, charted rivers and mountains, kept daily records, and brought back samples. They didn't know what was in the Rocky Mountains, and Jefferson told them to find Mastodons.
Lewis was Jefferson's personal secretary, and Jefferson made sure that Lewis had all the scientific training possible at the time. I'd say that pushing through the funding and planning of the mapping of the the Rocky Mountains, Missouri River and Columbia River ranks up there with the dumb waiter.
That's because you started at the wrong end of the equation when trying to solve the problem. Teachers are forced to teach from a schools defined curriculum, deviation from it results in problems for them, even if they are actually doing better at teaching. . ..You need to convince the school board, and bring enough other parents (voters) along to get attention. School Boards only fear losing an election; actually doing things to help educate their students is a secondary consideration at best. Even better, get some support and run for the school board.
Yes, I know. I had a two hour debate in the principal's office with the principal and the elementary math education supervisor. It was intensely frustrating to have on hand peer reviewed research, quotes from math, physics, chem and engineering professors, Nobel prize winners, along with my experience (physics) and my wife's (math major) yet to be blown off. A dear friend received a Math bachelor and masters from the same state college that the elementary math education supervisor went to, and when I told him of my experience he sighed and said that the teaching majors always took simplified versions of all the technical classes they offered. So it wasn't really math, but instead was math for teachers or physics for teachers. So arguing from logic and evidence didn't work. She just said, well, these studies don't really mean what they say. It is all just politics. I'm not changing them. Therefore it is easy to see why kids don't like science - it is because teachers don't understand it and bureaucrats fear it.
The funniest part was when the principal indignantly said, "Well, I've taken advanced mathematics!!" I then said, "what class?" She proudly said, "Calculus!" I told her, "Calculus is not advanced mathematics."
I talked to my wife about running for school board and really making up a stink. As an ardent republican (please note the little 'r' as opposed to the large 'R' of the American political party of the same name) and believer in the United States I wanted to fight. Ultimately my wife convinced me that it would be better for my son for me to tutor him as opposed to spending all of my energy in political efforts.
My son's elementary school uses "Math Investigations" which is part of that "new math". You know, the type that believes that it isn't necessary to learn multiplication tables, or that your really only need to learn a few fractions: 1/2 1/3 1/4 and that is it. Oh yeah, and you shouldn't "stack" numbers while adding. He doesn't have a text book. He only brings home photocopied worksheets.
I complained to the teacher. They referred me to the principal who referred me to the district's elementary math education supervisor. Long story short, when schools say they want parents involved, they are lying. That is the last thing that they want. They want you to chaperone field trips. They want you to help fund raise. But when you want to actually input on the fundamentals of education, they shut you out. Even though you might have been a physics major and tutor, and brought peer reviewed research sponsored by the Department of Education pointing out that their particular math curricula has students score lower on standardized tests they imply that you don't know what you are talking about.
don't take too much offense. ..whacked out . . . idiots
Interesting, an anonymous coward who says that I should not take offense, and then follows up by calling both members of my faith and me an idiot.
I believe that God lives and that He speaks to men and women today. I don't believe that a 19 year old with a third grade education whose main employment was plowing fields could write a 270,000 word book with no training in semitic languages.
In fact, he is a smart guy, which probably means, he actually thinks your religion and social beliefs are as foolish and non-nonsensical as I do.
Clearly, because only smart people think like you, and foolish people don't think like you.
Your understanding of the auto bailouts is pretty convenient and ideologically slanted.
It is also the truth. Please tell me how my statement is wrong, or slanted. In a bankruptcy, the group with the first dibs on the assets are the Bondholders. The word "Bond" means that you enter in an agreement to borrow money, and your bond to pay it back is some asset. Money, equipment, factories, intellectual property, some asset is supposed to go to the bondholder, as is the legal agreement called a contract. That is the way it has always been. Obama short circuited that process by giving those assets that should have belonged to the bondholders to the unions. The unions donated to his campaign and engaged in get out the vote activities. If that isn't quid pro quo, I don't know what is. Please let me know if left out any inconvenient facts.
Perhaps you are intelligent enough to question some of this foolish story,
I have. Many more times than you would ever think. In fact for a time I probably was an atheist. That is why I don't denigrate the beliefs regarding spirituality that others might have. Probably because I see how they could arrive at that conclusion, because I almost came to that same conclusion. Why I stayed a Mormon though has to do with prayer. Being a Mormon is hard. People like you make all sorts of insults (whacked out, idiot, socially irresponsible, not a reliable citizen), and you miss out on some social things, and lots is asked of you. I really stuck out on my mission in South America, and at times it was dangerous. But I know that God answers prayers.
So, you say the word "more man" as opposed to "more mun"? The "mon" has the same sound the beginning of the the day "Monday".
You would be scared if your kids looked up to him? He got accepted into Stanford, got a student job to earn more money, served a 30 month mission without pay, learned a foreign language, graduated valedictorian at BYU, got an MBA and Law Degree from Harvard, served probably thousands of unpaid hours counseling, teaching, comforting, visiting, and helping the poor. In his business he probably he to lay off thousands, but also hired tens of thousands of people. He is still married to the girl he fell in love with as a teen. You don't want your children to admire that?
Five is a "ton" of kids? Are my parents villains because they had seven? Should I be put to death because I was number six? Among my siblings we have four bachelors degrees, one masters degree, four or five languages, and (to my knowledge) not one of us have spent a night in jail. We pay our taxes, serve in our community and church, and try to be kind, compassionate, honest and respectful.
"never said it was evil" Um, yeah, you did. "villain" "uncle moneybags" "bribe" - you were using synonyms. You do realize that over 99% of the positions in the LDS church are voluntary? We don't get paid. We certainly don't "bribe" people to become members. The church's money goes to building churches, temples, domestic and foreign poverty relief, education, books, and missionary work. As a member of the LDS church and having held a position where I was responsible for the financial records of the local church (called "Ward Clerk") I saw where the money came in and how it was spent. We paid for a lot of people's rent, electricity bills, water bills, medication, and other stuff like that. People lacking food could go to the "Bishop's Storehouse" and get fruit, vegetables, bread, cans of chili, peanut butter, flour, beans, rice, brooms, soap, razors. . . The church also runs a second hand store called "Deseret Industries" where people can become employed, or get very lost cost donated clothing, furniture, appliances etc.
The church is very careful on how money is spent, as we feel it is the Lord's, and represents sacrifice by members. Most of the time travelling General Authorities stay at members homes when giving talks. Two apostles stayed two nights with my older sister's familiy when she lived in Asia. I heard one sister at a local meeting talk about how the Prophet Gordon B. Hinkley stayed in her teen aged son's room and how embarrassed she was because it was a mess. One friend had a question for one of the apostles after a meeting and walked with him and two others after the meeting to their car, a Ford Taurus. So the apostles (one a retired cardiologist, one a former state supreme court justice, another former mayor of Palm Springs) carpooled in a Ford Taurus. Money is not misspent because it is intended to further God's plan and relieve the poor.
By the way, if you don't think that Obama didn't financially reward his supporters, then you did not fully understand the Auto bailouts. He circumvented what is supposed to happen when a company goes into bankruptcy. Basically he took what was supposed to be the bondholder's resources and gave it to the union. Same thing with the "stimulus" and the "shovel ready jobs".
Um, I don't think you understood the reason why your professor did that. He wasn't just trying to keep you from using the "high school formula sheet", rather he was trying to help you to understand physics at a deeper level. There is a difference between algebra-based (or high school) physics and calculus based (or university) physics. The difference is subtle, but very significant. He was trying to present one of the applications of calculus, one of the great achievements of human thought.
You know who you remind me of? The character Jeff from the TV show "Chuck".
I AM married to my best friend. The other day she told me that "You are the best thing that ever happened to me." We've been married well over a decade with a bright, polite fourth grader as a son. We live together, laugh together, shop together, talk together. I have two paid off cars and a home that is on its way to being paid off. I have a garden and have eaten asian pears, grapes and blueberries from plants that my wife and I planted. I graduated from a good university and have a good job. My wife and son shout exuberantly "Daddy's home!" when I come home from work. It is hard, my job isn't always easy, but I couldn't imagine changing places with anyone else. Although my wife is a European, we chose to live here. I live in America.
If you are content with your life, (such as it is) go for it. If you want to troll bars and hit up and then string along desperate women who are eager for any sort of relationship, I guess you can do that too. If you want to live in a shabby studio apartment for the rest of your life, go for it. But you should know that when women talk about "not finding any good men" or "all the good men are not available" you do realize they are talking about you, don't you?
You know, Stalin wasn't a great guy either, but we put FDR's face on the dime anyway. You know, common enemy and we sent "Uncle Joe" boots, ammo, trucks and planes, and he "purged" people. Nice friends we had then, huh? Or should we have plugged our ears and told Stalin to shove off because he purged his army? What would that have gotten us?
Most of our allies are freedom respecting representative democracies and some are not. Sometimes you have to ally yourself with unsavory people to protect American lives. Because President Obama's primary job is to protect innocent American lives. Please let me know with your military/geopolitical cunning a realistic plan how the US could have affected a bloodless arrest where al-Awliki peacefully surrendered to US or Yemeni law enforcement. On this planet, in 2011. The guy declared war on the US, so the US reciprocated.
It is not my preference to have the current Yemeni president to be the leader of Yemen. But it is not my place as a citizen of the US to tell them how to run their government. UNLESS they start to advocate killing Americans and subjecting them to Sharia. In this case the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I don't like it, but it is better to have that then an al-Qaeda controlled country, again.
The president of Yemen is a US ally. The country itself just re-formed after being split and then reunited in a civil war. It's not like say Canada where the US embassy can make a request to extradite a criminal in say Calgary and the Prime Minister or Justice Minister calls the chief of police in Calgary to just go arrest the guy. Hence the statement US forces "occupy" because the president of Yemen isn't in control of the whole country.
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger
Whether this applies to just soldiers or sailors I don't know, but the guy was calling for the destruction of the US Constitution and the implementation of Sharia law. I guess it would have been nice to pull him in and extradite and put him on trial. But that would have probably required a fourth war to occupy Yemen. Besides, with his internet videos he incriminated himself many, many times.
Somehow I don't think Washington, Madison, or Jefferson (or Lincoln or FDR) are spinning in their graves over this. I know Oliver Wendell Holmes wouldn't.
I knew a couple of SCO developers in Utah County, Utah (yeah, the state is actually named after the county, to show how weird this universe can really get)
You mean, kind of like New York (City) located in New York (County) located in New York (State)?
I was going to get snarky but then I saw your name and thought, oh it's ok. Although I didn't grow up in Utah, and don't live there now, I did go to school and got married in Utah County so I'm a little protective. (Plus I have to teach some teenagers early tomorrow morning, so I should be behaving anyway. : )
Even worse, don't forget that it takes ten pounds of crude oil to deliver a pound of food to a plate, when everything is added together.
Look, you need to be careful when you use statistics from sources that don't spell out exactly how the figure is generated. A quick google http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_one_gallon_of_crude_oil_weigh search of how much oil weighs per gallon comes up with about 7 pounds per gallon for light sweet crude. Now, today's oil price for West Texas Intermediate is $85 per barrel http://www.oil-price.net/. There are 42 gallons per barrel so the cost per pound is
42 gallons * 7 pounds per gallon = 294 pounds for a barrel
$85 / 294 pounds =.29 cents per pound
So according to your statement above, food requires 10 pounds of oil per pound of food, SO the average pound of food should cost at least $2.90 because that is how much it would take to cover just the cost of oil. It ignores cost of land, labor, equipment, seed, or processing and profit to farmer and retailer. Sorry, that doesn't sound right. Staples (corn, rice, wheat, potatoes) certainly don't cost that much per pound. Legumes don't. Most fresh fruit doesn't. Milk doesn't. Cheese will, but some cheeses on sale won't. Vegetable oil doesn't. Olive oil might. Most meat will cost at least that much. Maybe the figure you quoted was just referring to meat or processed foods.
In any case, before you use figures, just make sure that number makes sense. (I am reminded of the time in college when as a grader in a physics class, the students were asked to find how high a pressurized leak on a water tank would shoot into the air. Two student's answers had the water at escape velocity speeds, sending them into orbit the earth.)
I've always wondered about this. I garden at home, and in the fall I gather the bags of leaves that neighbors set out to put in my compost pile. Why they would just throw away perfectly good biodegradable material and then turn around and buy bags of gardening soil is beyond me. The symbol of Lebanon is the Cedar tree. Do we associate forests with Lebanon or just a dried-out desert? They lost their soil's fertility and can't get it back.
I think that just about the only "bio" fuel that would work without ruining soil would be algae as we are already putting in too much nitrogen into rivers from farm run off.
I lived in Argentina for two years in the early 90's. From what I understand cattle in South America (at least at that time) were grass fed and not aged after being slaughtered like beef in the USA. Although the taste was "weird" the first or two that I tried it, I soon grew to love grass-fed beef. Now I kind of laugh when I hear "corn-fed beef" as if that were a good thing.
No one would ever confuse me with a hippie, and I understand that it may be cheaper to do so, but I think the corn fed/feed lots/antibiotics cattle market is a bad idea. I know that I am partially guilty because I buy the beef, but feeding antibiotics to cows justs seems like a waste of a wonderdrug. The bacteria are gaining resistance to them, and soon we may find ourselves without a way to treat infections. Still, I like my steak and beef brisket, as vegetables are what food eats.
Yeah, I have to agree with you. The retail prices for new books in general are too high for me. I would love to buy more from Barnes and Nobles because I do like the store, but I just can't bring myself to pay the prices. It seems like my wife is always asking me to go to the used book chain Half Price Books (we have been to two different Half Price Books stores already the past seven days), but she almost never wants to go to B&N because of the prices. My miserliness usually wins out over my enthusiasm, and I find that I can wait for something for a couple of years, and then it will appear at Half Price Books or some other used book place. If I can't wait (which is rare), then I'll go to Amazon. It just doesn't make sense to me to pay $20-30 for something that I know will be available to me for $2-7 in two or three years.
I know that is probably cutting into B&N's bottom line, and probably publishing in general, but I have other ways to part with my scarce resources.
Now that I think about it, I did buy a book from B&N about four weeks ago. It was originally marked at $37, and I paid $5 on clearance. So yeah, I'm a cheapskate.
1) Jesus Christ (then known as Jehovah) under the direction of his father created the earth. 2) Jesus Christ (then known as Jehovah) spoke to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah and other prophets in the Old Testament and gave those men His authority to act and speak in His name. 3) Jesus Christ was born to a virgin named Mary in Bethlehem around 1 AD. 4) Jesus lived a perfect life and taught his disciples through both word and deed to live a life of love and charity. 5) Jesus was baptized by immersion by someone with the authority to do so as a symbol of his mission, and that we would also do so. He gave His apostles this same authority. 6) Jesus took upon Himself the cumulative guilt of all people in this world in the garden of Gethsemane. He was then killed on a cross, but arose to live again the third day. 7) We believe that through His sacrifice our sins and guilt can be taken away. All I need to do is follow Him. 8) We believe that Christ continues to speak to prophets today and that someday He will return to earth.
That is a very basic summation of what Mormons believe about Christ. But while doctrine is interesting, the true proof of a Christian is conduct - how well the person lives the precepts that are taught.
I'm an expert on Mormonism. I've been one all my life.
If I may, it really depends on whom you ask. You will probably get a whole range of opinions. I would probably phrase the opinion, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." I graduated from BYU, and we were taught taught evolution in Biology. Any modern study of biology without evolution would be incomplete at best and shoddy and fraudulent at worst.
As a Mormon when we study the different accounts of the creation, we come away with three fundamental main points:
1) Jesus Christ was the creator 2) The creation was planned, and was effected by "organizing" pre-existing materials, not "ex-nihlo" 3) Man was created in the image of God
There are some things that could be interpreted as contradictions between religious belief and scientific fact. I do think about them, but I don't let myself get carried away. My current understanding of both the mind of God and science as it truly is is unfortunately flawed.
Regardless I don't "throw out the baby with the bathwater" just because I don't understand some facet of science or religion.
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if you have to add the word "science" it probably isn't. Biology? Science. Chemistry? Science. Physics? Science. Political science? Not so much.
The Newton/Leibniz invention of integral and differential calculus rates as one of the very greatest achievements of all time. It ranks as high as any work of literature or art. I don't know if someone could not be considered educated if they haven't studied it, let alone pass algebra.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints = Mormons.
Just thought you'd like to know.
If you are going to mention the coastal survey, why not also mention the Lewis and Clark expedition? The "Corps of Discovery" was a huge cartographic, biological, geological, and sociological enterprise. They took the best scientific equipment they could, charted rivers and mountains, kept daily records, and brought back samples. They didn't know what was in the Rocky Mountains, and Jefferson told them to find Mastodons.
Lewis was Jefferson's personal secretary, and Jefferson made sure that Lewis had all the scientific training possible at the time. I'd say that pushing through the funding and planning of the mapping of the the Rocky Mountains, Missouri River and Columbia River ranks up there with the dumb waiter.
This comment doesn't deserve a 5 funny rating; it deserves a 6.
That's because you started at the wrong end of the equation when trying to solve the problem. Teachers are forced to teach from a schools defined curriculum, deviation from it results in problems for them, even if they are actually doing better at teaching. . . .You need to convince the school board, and bring enough other parents (voters) along to get attention. School Boards only fear losing an election; actually doing things to help educate their students is a secondary consideration at best. Even better, get some support and run for the school board.
Yes, I know. I had a two hour debate in the principal's office with the principal and the elementary math education supervisor. It was intensely frustrating to have on hand peer reviewed research, quotes from math, physics, chem and engineering professors, Nobel prize winners, along with my experience (physics) and my wife's (math major) yet to be blown off. A dear friend received a Math bachelor and masters from the same state college that the elementary math education supervisor went to, and when I told him of my experience he sighed and said that the teaching majors always took simplified versions of all the technical classes they offered. So it wasn't really math, but instead was math for teachers or physics for teachers. So arguing from logic and evidence didn't work. She just said, well, these studies don't really mean what they say. It is all just politics. I'm not changing them. Therefore it is easy to see why kids don't like science - it is because teachers don't understand it and bureaucrats fear it.
The funniest part was when the principal indignantly said, "Well, I've taken advanced mathematics!!" I then said, "what class?" She proudly said, "Calculus!" I told her, "Calculus is not advanced mathematics."
I talked to my wife about running for school board and really making up a stink. As an ardent republican (please note the little 'r' as opposed to the large 'R' of the American political party of the same name) and believer in the United States I wanted to fight. Ultimately my wife convinced me that it would be better for my son for me to tutor him as opposed to spending all of my energy in political efforts.
My son's elementary school uses "Math Investigations" which is part of that "new math". You know, the type that believes that it isn't necessary to learn multiplication tables, or that your really only need to learn a few fractions: 1/2 1/3 1/4 and that is it. Oh yeah, and you shouldn't "stack" numbers while adding. He doesn't have a text book. He only brings home photocopied worksheets.
I complained to the teacher. They referred me to the principal who referred me to the district's elementary math education supervisor. Long story short, when schools say they want parents involved, they are lying. That is the last thing that they want. They want you to chaperone field trips. They want you to help fund raise. But when you want to actually input on the fundamentals of education, they shut you out. Even though you might have been a physics major and tutor, and brought peer reviewed research sponsored by the Department of Education pointing out that their particular math curricula has students score lower on standardized tests they imply that you don't know what you are talking about.
don't take too much offense. . .whacked out . . . idiots
Interesting, an anonymous coward who says that I should not take offense, and then follows up by calling both members of my faith and me an idiot.
I believe that God lives and that He speaks to men and women today. I don't believe that a 19 year old with a third grade education whose main employment was plowing fields could write a 270,000 word book with no training in semitic languages.
In fact, he is a smart guy, which probably means, he actually thinks your religion and social beliefs are as foolish and non-nonsensical as I do.
Clearly, because only smart people think like you, and foolish people don't think like you.
Your understanding of the auto bailouts is pretty convenient and ideologically slanted.
It is also the truth. Please tell me how my statement is wrong, or slanted. In a bankruptcy, the group with the first dibs on the assets are the Bondholders. The word "Bond" means that you enter in an agreement to borrow money, and your bond to pay it back is some asset. Money, equipment, factories, intellectual property, some asset is supposed to go to the bondholder, as is the legal agreement called a contract. That is the way it has always been. Obama short circuited that process by giving those assets that should have belonged to the bondholders to the unions. The unions donated to his campaign and engaged in get out the vote activities. If that isn't quid pro quo, I don't know what is. Please let me know if left out any inconvenient facts.
Perhaps you are intelligent enough to question some of this foolish story,
I have. Many more times than you would ever think. In fact for a time I probably was an atheist. That is why I don't denigrate the beliefs regarding spirituality that others might have. Probably because I see how they could arrive at that conclusion, because I almost came to that same conclusion. Why I stayed a Mormon though has to do with prayer. Being a Mormon is hard. People like you make all sorts of insults (whacked out, idiot, socially irresponsible, not a reliable citizen), and you miss out on some social things, and lots is asked of you. I really stuck out on my mission in South America, and at times it was dangerous. But I know that God answers prayers.
So, you say the word "more man" as opposed to "more mun"? The "mon" has the same sound the beginning of the the day "Monday".
You would be scared if your kids looked up to him? He got accepted into Stanford, got a student job to earn more money, served a 30 month mission without pay, learned a foreign language, graduated valedictorian at BYU, got an MBA and Law Degree from Harvard, served probably thousands of unpaid hours counseling, teaching, comforting, visiting, and helping the poor. In his business he probably he to lay off thousands, but also hired tens of thousands of people. He is still married to the girl he fell in love with as a teen. You don't want your children to admire that?
Five is a "ton" of kids? Are my parents villains because they had seven? Should I be put to death because I was number six? Among my siblings we have four bachelors degrees, one masters degree, four or five languages, and (to my knowledge) not one of us have spent a night in jail. We pay our taxes, serve in our community and church, and try to be kind, compassionate, honest and respectful.
"never said it was evil" Um, yeah, you did. "villain" "uncle moneybags" "bribe" - you were using synonyms. You do realize that over 99% of the positions in the LDS church are voluntary? We don't get paid. We certainly don't "bribe" people to become members. The church's money goes to building churches, temples, domestic and foreign poverty relief, education, books, and missionary work. As a member of the LDS church and having held a position where I was responsible for the financial records of the local church (called "Ward Clerk") I saw where the money came in and how it was spent. We paid for a lot of people's rent, electricity bills, water bills, medication, and other stuff like that. People lacking food could go to the "Bishop's Storehouse" and get fruit, vegetables, bread, cans of chili, peanut butter, flour, beans, rice, brooms, soap, razors. . . The church also runs a second hand store called "Deseret Industries" where people can become employed, or get very lost cost donated clothing, furniture, appliances etc.
The church is very careful on how money is spent, as we feel it is the Lord's, and represents sacrifice by members. Most of the time travelling General Authorities stay at members homes when giving talks. Two apostles stayed two nights with my older sister's familiy when she lived in Asia. I heard one sister at a local meeting talk about how the Prophet Gordon B. Hinkley stayed in her teen aged son's room and how embarrassed she was because it was a mess. One friend had a question for one of the apostles after a meeting and walked with him and two others after the meeting to their car, a Ford Taurus. So the apostles (one a retired cardiologist, one a former state supreme court justice, another former mayor of Palm Springs) carpooled in a Ford Taurus. Money is not misspent because it is intended to further God's plan and relieve the poor.
By the way, if you don't think that Obama didn't financially reward his supporters, then you did not fully understand the Auto bailouts. He circumvented what is supposed to happen when a company goes into bankruptcy. Basically he took what was supposed to be the bondholder's resources and gave it to the union. Same thing with the "stimulus" and the "shovel ready jobs".
Um, I don't think you understood the reason why your professor did that. He wasn't just trying to keep you from using the "high school formula sheet", rather he was trying to help you to understand physics at a deeper level. There is a difference between algebra-based (or high school) physics and calculus based (or university) physics. The difference is subtle, but very significant. He was trying to present one of the applications of calculus, one of the great achievements of human thought.
You know who you remind me of? The character Jeff from the TV show "Chuck".
I AM married to my best friend. The other day she told me that "You are the best thing that ever happened to me." We've been married well over a decade with a bright, polite fourth grader as a son. We live together, laugh together, shop together, talk together. I have two paid off cars and a home that is on its way to being paid off. I have a garden and have eaten asian pears, grapes and blueberries from plants that my wife and I planted. I graduated from a good university and have a good job. My wife and son shout exuberantly "Daddy's home!" when I come home from work. It is hard, my job isn't always easy, but I couldn't imagine changing places with anyone else. Although my wife is a European, we chose to live here. I live in America.
If you are content with your life, (such as it is) go for it. If you want to troll bars and hit up and then string along desperate women who are eager for any sort of relationship, I guess you can do that too. If you want to live in a shabby studio apartment for the rest of your life, go for it. But you should know that when women talk about "not finding any good men" or "all the good men are not available" you do realize they are talking about you, don't you?
You know, Stalin wasn't a great guy either, but we put FDR's face on the dime anyway. You know, common enemy and we sent "Uncle Joe" boots, ammo, trucks and planes, and he "purged" people. Nice friends we had then, huh? Or should we have plugged our ears and told Stalin to shove off because he purged his army? What would that have gotten us?
Most of our allies are freedom respecting representative democracies and some are not. Sometimes you have to ally yourself with unsavory people to protect American lives. Because President Obama's primary job is to protect innocent American lives. Please let me know with your military/geopolitical cunning a realistic plan how the US could have affected a bloodless arrest where al-Awliki peacefully surrendered to US or Yemeni law enforcement. On this planet, in 2011. The guy declared war on the US, so the US reciprocated.
It is not my preference to have the current Yemeni president to be the leader of Yemen. But it is not my place as a citizen of the US to tell them how to run their government. UNLESS they start to advocate killing Americans and subjecting them to Sharia. In this case the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I don't like it, but it is better to have that then an al-Qaeda controlled country, again.
The president of Yemen is a US ally. The country itself just re-formed after being split and then reunited in a civil war. It's not like say Canada where the US embassy can make a request to extradite a criminal in say Calgary and the Prime Minister or Justice Minister calls the chief of police in Calgary to just go arrest the guy. Hence the statement US forces "occupy" because the president of Yemen isn't in control of the whole country.
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger
Whether this applies to just soldiers or sailors I don't know, but the guy was calling for the destruction of the US Constitution and the implementation of Sharia law. I guess it would have been nice to pull him in and extradite and put him on trial. But that would have probably required a fourth war to occupy Yemen. Besides, with his internet videos he incriminated himself many, many times.
Somehow I don't think Washington, Madison, or Jefferson (or Lincoln or FDR) are spinning in their graves over this. I know Oliver Wendell Holmes wouldn't.
I knew a couple of SCO developers in Utah County, Utah (yeah, the state is actually named after the county, to show how weird this universe can really get)
You mean, kind of like New York (City) located in New York (County) located in New York (State)?
I was going to get snarky but then I saw your name and thought, oh it's ok. Although I didn't grow up in Utah, and don't live there now, I did go to school and got married in Utah County so I'm a little protective. (Plus I have to teach some teenagers early tomorrow morning, so I should be behaving anyway. : )
Even worse, don't forget that it takes ten pounds of crude oil to deliver a pound of food to a plate, when everything is added together.
Look, you need to be careful when you use statistics from sources that don't spell out exactly how the figure is generated. A quick google http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_one_gallon_of_crude_oil_weigh search of how much oil weighs per gallon comes up with about 7 pounds per gallon for light sweet crude. Now, today's oil price for West Texas Intermediate is $85 per barrel http://www.oil-price.net/. There are 42 gallons per barrel so the cost per pound is
42 gallons * 7 pounds per gallon = 294 pounds for a barrel
$85 / 294 pounds = .29 cents per pound
So according to your statement above, food requires 10 pounds of oil per pound of food, SO the average pound of food should cost at least $2.90 because that is how much it would take to cover just the cost of oil. It ignores cost of land, labor, equipment, seed, or processing and profit to farmer and retailer. Sorry, that doesn't sound right. Staples (corn, rice, wheat, potatoes) certainly don't cost that much per pound. Legumes don't. Most fresh fruit doesn't. Milk doesn't. Cheese will, but some cheeses on sale won't. Vegetable oil doesn't. Olive oil might. Most meat will cost at least that much. Maybe the figure you quoted was just referring to meat or processed foods.
In any case, before you use figures, just make sure that number makes sense. (I am reminded of the time in college when as a grader in a physics class, the students were asked to find how high a pressurized leak on a water tank would shoot into the air. Two student's answers had the water at escape velocity speeds, sending them into orbit the earth.)
I've always wondered about this. I garden at home, and in the fall I gather the bags of leaves that neighbors set out to put in my compost pile. Why they would just throw away perfectly good biodegradable material and then turn around and buy bags of gardening soil is beyond me. The symbol of Lebanon is the Cedar tree. Do we associate forests with Lebanon or just a dried-out desert? They lost their soil's fertility and can't get it back.
I think that just about the only "bio" fuel that would work without ruining soil would be algae as we are already putting in too much nitrogen into rivers from farm run off.
I lived in Argentina for two years in the early 90's. From what I understand cattle in South America (at least at that time) were grass fed and not aged after being slaughtered like beef in the USA. Although the taste was "weird" the first or two that I tried it, I soon grew to love grass-fed beef. Now I kind of laugh when I hear "corn-fed beef" as if that were a good thing.
No one would ever confuse me with a hippie, and I understand that it may be cheaper to do so, but I think the corn fed/feed lots/antibiotics cattle market is a bad idea. I know that I am partially guilty because I buy the beef, but feeding antibiotics to cows justs seems like a waste of a wonderdrug. The bacteria are gaining resistance to them, and soon we may find ourselves without a way to treat infections. Still, I like my steak and beef brisket, as vegetables are what food eats.
Yeah, I have to agree with you. The retail prices for new books in general are too high for me. I would love to buy more from Barnes and Nobles because I do like the store, but I just can't bring myself to pay the prices. It seems like my wife is always asking me to go to the used book chain Half Price Books (we have been to two different Half Price Books stores already the past seven days), but she almost never wants to go to B&N because of the prices. My miserliness usually wins out over my enthusiasm, and I find that I can wait for something for a couple of years, and then it will appear at Half Price Books or some other used book place. If I can't wait (which is rare), then I'll go to Amazon. It just doesn't make sense to me to pay $20-30 for something that I know will be available to me for $2-7 in two or three years.
I know that is probably cutting into B&N's bottom line, and probably publishing in general, but I have other ways to part with my scarce resources.
Now that I think about it, I did buy a book from B&N about four weeks ago. It was originally marked at $37, and I paid $5 on clearance. So yeah, I'm a cheapskate.
No. That would be the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Utah State University is located in Logan.
Oh, that was FUNNY! If I wore a hat, I would remove it in respect.
As a Mormon I believe that:
1) Jesus Christ (then known as Jehovah) under the direction of his father created the earth.
2) Jesus Christ (then known as Jehovah) spoke to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah and other prophets in the Old Testament and gave those men His authority to act and speak in His name.
3) Jesus Christ was born to a virgin named Mary in Bethlehem around 1 AD.
4) Jesus lived a perfect life and taught his disciples through both word and deed to live a life of love and charity.
5) Jesus was baptized by immersion by someone with the authority to do so as a symbol of his mission, and that we would also do so. He gave His apostles this same authority.
6) Jesus took upon Himself the cumulative guilt of all people in this world in the garden of Gethsemane. He was then killed on a cross, but arose to live again the third day.
7) We believe that through His sacrifice our sins and guilt can be taken away. All I need to do is follow Him.
8) We believe that Christ continues to speak to prophets today and that someday He will return to earth.
That is a very basic summation of what Mormons believe about Christ. But while doctrine is interesting, the true proof of a Christian is conduct - how well the person lives the precepts that are taught.
I'm an expert on Mormonism. I've been one all my life.
If I may, it really depends on whom you ask. You will probably get a whole range of opinions. I would probably phrase the opinion, "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." I graduated from BYU, and we were taught taught evolution in Biology. Any modern study of biology without evolution would be incomplete at best and shoddy and fraudulent at worst.
As a Mormon when we study the different accounts of the creation, we come away with three fundamental main points:
1) Jesus Christ was the creator
2) The creation was planned, and was effected by "organizing" pre-existing materials, not "ex-nihlo"
3) Man was created in the image of God
There are some things that could be interpreted as contradictions between religious belief and scientific fact. I do think about them, but I don't let myself get carried away. My current understanding of both the mind of God and science as it truly is is unfortunately flawed.
Regardless I don't "throw out the baby with the bathwater" just because I don't understand some facet of science or religion.
but I know it my heart it should be "Colbert."
Vanuatu? Amazing. Do you know of anybody who believes in "John From"?
Anyway, I don't think that Nobel prices should be given for patented work.
Um, winners of the prize in Literature don't all of the sudden have to turn their works over to the Public Domain. Why is this different?