I think the people who live close to the ozone hole might think that human impact on the environment is a more serious issue. That said I agree that we need to invest far more capitol in all phases of the space program, including comet/realy big space rock detection.
Of course, the point can be made that our best defense, as a species, is to get off this rock. To that end support Mars Direct and the Arctic Research Station.
While the war in Europe started in 1939, and Japan had invaded China before that, the US entered in Dec 1941. Since US war casualties could only accumulate after that, that is our start date, even though millions were dead by then.
Speaking personally, I try not to believe anything that is wholly dependant on the observation a single witness or group of related witnesses. If you have some sort of proof that there are demons, show me. If not, it's still your belief system against objective reality.
And yes, I do accept that there is an objective, Newtonian, reality. But that is only the overlay. Quantum effects form the most basic interactions. We don't fully understand them and I have even less understanding than that, but at least the observations are verifyable. That is what most disturbs me about the demon-angel-grey business. We unbelievers are expected to accept your word that all this exists. Why should I? You have no proof, other than the word of people who too often have a comercial motive to their sightings.
As to your author, I doubt he has any objective proof. All I ask is that if this is more than delusion and willful belief, present the evidence. If a shill sells the market on the great future of his imaginary company, we toss him in jail when nothing materializes save stock action. Here we have people selling a large number of books and angelic healing and exorcisms on the basis of plainly rediculous claims. I suspect that if the subject was 'My extraterestrial healing secrects' or 'A thirty-thousand year old spirit channels market secrets' you would be quick to demand real proof. All that I am asking is that will apply the same standard to traditional bellief.
Re:What do you think Littleton WAS?
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Bootlegging Buffy
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Other than in the minds of believers, in what way do demons verifiably exist?
Straight out front: I am, by most religious systems, an athiest and have been since 15, about 17 years in total.
The reply:
This sounds so much like the great UFO debates. Just because YOU haven't seen the greys doesn't mean a thing because I have made contact (no, not really, I don't believe in this either). Demons and Angels are the same, people who believe shake their heads and consign the rest of us to the Lower Plane for the Morally Defective. What is wrong with insisting on objective evidence? If your demons, or greys, exist, show me a real picture or better still hand the critter an invite to Charlie Rose or Nightline. Do some reasonable people believe that these things exist? Of course, even without the vagries of the human mind, we have to take our early conditioning into account. Most of us, even Einstein, are raised in cultures that loudly insist that the supernatural is real. It takes years to think otherwise, and even then there are lingering points. I don't eat much meat to begin with, but on Fridays in Lent, I simply cannot consume any flesh. Too much baggage and deep conditioning.
As for life-long experiments, these are started with the idea that they will lead to the divine, not as test to see if there is a divine. I am certain that if I spent four hours a day for the next thirty years telling myself that Atlantis exists and the Queen of the Island is in telepathic communion with the good people of the world, that soon enough I would hear her voice. This proves nothing except that the human mind can be conditioned and is subject to suggestion. We are quite aware of that fact and Madison Avenue and the media try to use it daily.
If you want to discuss any of the crushingly real problem in the school system, good. The system certainly needs to be changed. Just don't try to use this as a backdoor to introduce your belief system.
One last thing, I believe that Quantum Mechanics fairly well demolished objectivity a while back.
Most people who play the game for fun do just that. Walk in on most casual games and count the number of basic lands that have been 'redesigned' into expensive cards. As with most things in this country we're dividing into two groups: those who like to play for the enjoyment and those who see it all as a status quest.
Actually, I never sugested making guns illegal, just large capacity magazines and assault weapons. Will this solve the problem? Of course not, we have to change our culture of 'violence is so cool I just have to buy a Kalishnakov even though I don't know how to shoot, won't take lessons and will keep the thing, loaded, in the hall closet'. Stupidity will always present chances to the desperate, or the desperatly ill. If you want to own a firearm fine, just know how to use and store it, safely. It is absurd that you have to pass a test to drive a motorcycle, but not to own a lethal weapon. I am, once again for emphasis, not advocating the, frankly impossible, total ban on all firearms in this country. I just want us to start treating weapons as weapons and stop pretending that all Americans are born with the native sense to know how and when to shoot a firearm.
The most lethal weapon of mass killing in American history was a gas can and a match
Actually, I think the most lethal weapon was a truck, some fertilizer and fuel oil. Same point though: If someone wants to do damage, they will. Of course, having said that I still believe that ready access to tools designed for the sole purpose of killing large numbers of people (assault rifles, huge capacity magazines) only makes the situation worse by 'lowering' the threshold of violence. Remember, in the rash of school murders that has occured recently, the weapon of chioce has been firearms. This is the only instance I can think of where other methods were also employed. Perhaps this is only the first case in a new pattern. I hope not, but the future is often so much bleaker than we wish.
Games will be blamed because they are an easy target for a simple minded media. So long as we encourage the isolation that some people endure, this will continue. The internet is not the same as face-to-face, but it is a connection for many people. The rabid name-calling that we 'all left behind' in high school will continue, and geeks, because we are the outsiders will bear the brunt. Nothing much changes.
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Of course, the point can be made that our best defense, as a species, is to get off this rock. To that end support Mars Direct and the Arctic Research Station.
Check this article in Scientific American. Great overview.
While the war in Europe started in 1939, and Japan had invaded China before that, the US entered in Dec 1941. Since US war casualties could only accumulate after that, that is our start date, even though millions were dead by then.
Speaking personally, I try not to believe anything that is wholly dependant on the observation a single witness or group of related witnesses. If you have some sort of proof that there are demons, show me. If not, it's still your belief system against objective reality.
And yes, I do accept that there is an objective, Newtonian, reality. But that is only the overlay. Quantum effects form the most basic interactions. We don't fully understand them and I have even less understanding than that, but at least the observations are verifyable. That is what most disturbs me about the demon-angel-grey business. We unbelievers are expected to accept your word that all this exists. Why should I? You have no proof, other than the word of people who too often have a comercial motive to their sightings.
As to your author, I doubt he has any objective proof. All I ask is that if this is more than delusion and willful belief, present the evidence. If a shill sells the market on the great future of his imaginary company, we toss him in jail when nothing materializes save stock action. Here we have people selling a large number of books and angelic healing and exorcisms on the basis of plainly rediculous claims. I suspect that if the subject was 'My extraterestrial healing secrects' or 'A thirty-thousand year old spirit channels market secrets' you would be quick to demand real proof. All that I am asking is that will apply the same standard to traditional bellief.
Other than in the minds of believers, in what way do demons verifiably exist?
Straight out front: I am, by most religious systems, an athiest and have been since 15, about 17 years in total.
The reply:
This sounds so much like the great UFO debates. Just because YOU haven't seen the greys doesn't mean a thing because I have made contact (no, not really, I don't believe in this either). Demons and Angels are the same, people who believe shake their heads and consign the rest of us to the Lower Plane for the Morally Defective. What is wrong with insisting on objective evidence? If your demons, or greys, exist, show me a real picture or better still hand the critter an invite to Charlie Rose or Nightline. Do some reasonable people believe that these things exist? Of course, even without the vagries of the human mind, we have to take our early conditioning into account. Most of us, even Einstein, are raised in cultures that loudly insist that the supernatural is real. It takes years to think otherwise, and even then there are lingering points. I don't eat much meat to begin with, but on Fridays in Lent, I simply cannot consume any flesh. Too much baggage and deep conditioning.
As for life-long experiments, these are started with the idea that they will lead to the divine, not as test to see if there is a divine. I am certain that if I spent four hours a day for the next thirty years telling myself that Atlantis exists and the Queen of the Island is in telepathic communion with the good people of the world, that soon enough I would hear her voice. This proves nothing except that the human mind can be conditioned and is subject to suggestion. We are quite aware of that fact and Madison Avenue and the media try to use it daily.
If you want to discuss any of the crushingly real problem in the school system, good. The system certainly needs to be changed. Just don't try to use this as a backdoor to introduce your belief system.
One last thing, I believe that Quantum Mechanics fairly well demolished objectivity a while back.
If I played cards...then I'd just make my own.
Most people who play the game for fun do just that. Walk in on most casual games and count the number of basic lands that have been 'redesigned' into expensive cards. As with most things in this country we're dividing into two groups: those who like to play for the enjoyment and those who see it all as a status quest.
Actually, I never sugested making guns illegal, just large capacity magazines and assault weapons. Will this solve the problem? Of course not, we have to change our culture of 'violence is so cool I just have to buy a Kalishnakov even though I don't know how to shoot, won't take lessons and will keep the thing, loaded, in the hall closet'. Stupidity will always present chances to the desperate, or the desperatly ill. If you want to own a firearm fine, just know how to use and store it, safely. It is absurd that you have to pass a test to drive a motorcycle, but not to own a lethal weapon. I am, once again for emphasis, not advocating the, frankly impossible, total ban on all firearms in this country. I just want us to start treating weapons as weapons and stop pretending that all Americans are born with the native sense to know how and when to shoot a firearm.
The most lethal weapon of mass killing in American history was a gas can and a match
Actually, I think the most lethal weapon was a truck, some fertilizer and fuel oil. Same point though: If someone wants to do damage, they will. Of course, having said that I still believe that ready access to tools designed for the sole purpose of killing large numbers of people (assault rifles, huge capacity magazines) only makes the situation worse by 'lowering' the threshold of violence. Remember, in the rash of school murders that has occured recently, the weapon of chioce has been firearms. This is the only instance I can think of where other methods were also employed. Perhaps this is only the first case in a new pattern. I hope not, but the future is often so much bleaker than we wish.
I think it was Scotland, but still in the UK.
Games will be blamed because they are an easy target for a simple minded media. So long as we encourage the isolation that some people endure, this will continue. The internet is not the same as face-to-face, but it is a connection for many people. The rabid name-calling that we 'all left behind' in high school will continue, and geeks, because we are the outsiders will bear the brunt. Nothing much changes.