And when science doesn't know the answer that is what science says: we don't know.
When religion doesn't know what the answer is it just makes stuff up. Then the truly faithful sticks to this made up stuff no matter what the evidence. Occasionally when there is overwhelming evidence religious views are modified, but it is a slow painful process.
Science does a better job of answering the big questions because it is seeking the truth, not making up its mind a priori. The scientific method is the best method we have for seeking true answers to questions about the actual universe as it really is, not how we wish it was. Religion is not as good at answering any question about the actual, real universe, because its conjectures are just stories made up by men who were woefully uneducated by our current standards. Science constantly seeks to test its theories, broaden its knowledge, and is quite happy to admit when it was wrong or partially right. Religion has none of these desirable features.
God is supposed to be omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent. Given the existence of a being with these attributes why do thousands of children die of starvation each day? why isn't God smiting the Somalia war lords that are gunning down innocents and stealing their food aid? why did my friend's 5 year old die of am inoperable brain cancer, then his wife the following year of the same disease?
Either god doesn't care, doesn't know, or lacks the power to stop these evils. Which ever it is he isn't a god worth praying to.
Sure, there is a small chance god exists, but NOT a benevolent god. I think the chance of god existing, given all the current evidence, is about the same as the Tooth Fairy existing.
The problem is a lack of rapid transit. Cars alone cannot deal with the traffic of a large, dense city.
But of course, American's would never do something as sensible as vote to build rapid, socialist, transit, when highly subsidised roads, gas, etc.. are so free market.
There is absolutely no good reason to pass a law forcing good people, even young ones, to stay home after a certain hour in a free country. AND this law only applies to kid under 13! Does Philly actually have troubles with kids that young committing violent crimes?
Curfews are an infringement of citizens rights. Young people are citizens. I'm a father of three grown kids, and had my share of trouble with my boys in their teenage years, but it is up to me, not the government to set my kids curfew.
I think the USA should stop bragging about being the land of the free until:
Repeal the Patriot Act
Treat teenagers like citizens at high-school and public
Stop trying to over turn economic treaties they signed if getting out competed
Stop searching cars over a 100 miles from the border as if the car is AT the border
As a moral human being I support using my taxes to provides entitlements to my fellow citizens. I support: universal education,universal health care, police, courts, basic infrastructure, fire department, and many other services.
Rights are things you can do, or try to do, and no one should stop from doing it.
It just bugs me when people confuse entitlements and rights.
newsflash - many schools no longer teach low level programming.
If you want to get good, truly good, you'll have to learn some of this on your own. And in the good old days all you had to do was count up clock cycles and you were done. Modern processors with multi-stage pipe-lines and out of order execution are much harder to hand optimise. When a pipe-line stall is very expensive you don't worry so much about clocks.
Governments can't make money in the west as local business will go crazy and demand the money making venture be privatized. The USA needs to raise taxes. The current tax rate is as low as it's been since the 1950's and a disproportionate is being collected from the middle class and poor due to numerous tax breaks for the rich.
You'd think allowing the bush era tax breaks for the super wealthy to lapse would be an obvious move, but not to the hard-core tea party fundamentalists.
No one claims that major evolutionary changes are as likely as small ones. Winning the lottery is less likely than getting heads on a coin toss, BUT people DO win the lottery because enough people play to make this very unlikely event happen. In much the same way, seemingly unlikely changes do happen via evolution because of the very large number of small changes over very large times.
There is no other theory that explains the diverse life on Earth. There is NO evidence that any other force other than evolution is at work. Evolution is tested, and is scientific.
Are you serious? The Army in China is one of the biggest businesses. The government still directly manages most of the economy.
Obama is not a socialist. A few hard-right Americans disagree with his policies, but most of the western world considers the Republicans hard right, and the Democrats very right. Only the USA still has a significant population who still believes that unfettered capitalism is the best policy. The recent melt down of the USA financial sector, directly caused by the deregulation of two Republican administrations shows that unfettered capitalism is often a disaster.
A free market, moderated by rational regulations, side by side with government programs that provide universal benefits is the best mix to prove the best life for the most people, given our current technology.
Where to draw the line for free speech? Most agree that "shouting fire" in a crowded theatre is not allowed. Many western nations also ban speech that incites violence, especially against an individual or an easily identified group. I believe that free speech is an important right, but I think that a credible call to kill someone crosses the line. I don't think a drunken online rant should be illegal, but it should be investigated.
Or the lightning is the new official story because they don't want to admit the train derailed due to shoddy construction caused by rampant corruption.
Society has a few purposes, one key purpose is to reign in outlandish and destructive behaviour. You should work, you should follow the law, you should get an education, you should not beat up children, etc...
The other key purpose is mutual support. I don't need to know 50 trades to live, just one. I trade for everything else the other trades provide. Society provides, police, fire-fighters, courts, and many other services paid for collectively.
A healthy society stops you from doing evil, asks you to refrain from doing bad, and encourages you to do good. An unhealthy society promotes hate, violence, and bigotry. An unhealthy society makes it very difficult to be happy.
My modern western society, while it can obviously be improved, is a pretty good society. I do not think that my society is preventing me from being happy, or rail-roading me down one narrow path. I look at most of my European "brothers" and I see good societies, in some ways better than my own. I look south and while I see a country that was once a beacon of freedom, I now see a scared, lazy, selfish behemoth slowly sliding into irrelevance.
Study after study has shown that material goods do not make you happy. Once you are fed, sheltered and clothed it is family, friends, and social interactions that make you happy.
Having a watch is handy when you are doing stuff outdoors and all, but why would you care what the time is at all? I can see wanting to check the time at the end of a long bike ride, but not during the ride. I can pull my cell phone out of my pack when I stop.
I lived watch and cell phone free for many years. Checked the time at home before leaving for appointments and did not worry about the time during time off. Bought a cheap watch when I went on a cruise with my kids. Thought it best not to miss the ship if ashore.
I don't care how sincerely you hold crazy religious beliefs, if those beliefs harm other people they should be illegal. Religion should not be a "get out of jail free" card. The reason you should be free to practise and believe whatever religions you want is NOT that religion deserves special protection, but that ALL beliefs should be protected as part of your right to freedom of expression and thought. No actions, no matter how they are motivated, that harm people should be legal.
It isn't the TSA that makes the conditions different, it is the passengers reaction to the hijacking. The TSA does in fact allow all manner of items aboard planes, and planes have numerous items already on board that can be used as improvised weapons. The current security theatre will not stop a determined group from hijacking a plane. What is going to stop them is hundreds of angry passengers fearing for their lives rising up and stopping them, as has been demonstrated .
Interviews conducted by experts, not groping and searching by minimum wage automatons, provide effective security. Bags do need to be searched, and passengers screened, but this searching does not need to be intrusive. Anything else is just theatre.
Whether the airport, the government, or the airline directly foots the bill, you still pay for it. You pay for directly in your airline ticket or via taxes which spreads out the cost more.
Some things are not done better by the private sector. Government is not universally incompetent, they actually do many things well. Changing to private security from government security will not magically improve security. If the airlines provide security it will just be done as cheap as possible without breaking any laws. Government regulations ARE required when it comes to health and safety issues. The free market simply does not give the average consumer the required information in a timely manner to prevent health and safety abuses.
9/11 certainly did motivate the USA to go to war. I'm a Canadian who is well aware that the USA has plans, carefully well thought out plans, to invade Canada. Does this make me think the USA is going to invade us? No. It is normal for a military, especially a vast one like the USA has, to have contingency plans for both likely and unlikely scenarios.
The fact the USA had plans ahead of time to attack Afghanistan just shows that it is running competent people.
Occasionally bombing your friends is normal in a war. The idea that you can have a perfectly civilized war is nonsense. It shouldn't shock anyone, but be part of the calculus of risk and gain when governments decide to wage war.
Yes, it is interesting how partisans of each side change their tune when the other side is in power. It isn't like the republicans didn't claim that Bush could do whatever he liked while he was in power, in favour of greatly expanding the executive powers etc... then changed their tune 180 degrees when Obama was in power.
Both sides are playing games with the law and tradition.
It was fraud. They robo-called predominantly black riding to say the election was over and there was no need to vote which was an out and out lie. Then they attempted to hide the evidence.
This has nothing to do with free speech, it is out and out fraud and is a criminal matter.
The people videoing the cops were not breaking any laws. The cops broke the law when they tried to confiscate the video at gun point and broke the phone. I don't know if the shooting that was videoed was justified or not, but either way f the cops want the video they should ask or get a court order, not put their guns in the face of innocent bystanders.
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And when science doesn't know the answer that is what science says: we don't know.
When religion doesn't know what the answer is it just makes stuff up. Then the truly faithful sticks to this made up stuff no matter what the evidence. Occasionally when there is overwhelming evidence religious views are modified, but it is a slow painful process.
Science does a better job of answering the big questions because it is seeking the truth, not making up its mind a priori. The scientific method is the best method we have for seeking true answers to questions about the actual universe as it really is, not how we wish it was. Religion is not as good at answering any question about the actual, real universe, because its conjectures are just stories made up by men who were woefully uneducated by our current standards. Science constantly seeks to test its theories, broaden its knowledge, and is quite happy to admit when it was wrong or partially right. Religion has none of these desirable features.
Foreign aid is less than 1% of the USA federal budget. That is about 25 cents per american per year.
Defence spending is about 20% of your budget, or nearly 700 billion a year which is more than the rest of the world combined.
God is supposed to be omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent. Given the existence of a being with these attributes why do thousands of children die of starvation each day? why isn't God smiting the Somalia war lords that are gunning down innocents and stealing their food aid? why did my friend's 5 year old die of am inoperable brain cancer, then his wife the following year of the same disease?
Either god doesn't care, doesn't know, or lacks the power to stop these evils. Which ever it is he isn't a god worth praying to.
Sure, there is a small chance god exists, but NOT a benevolent god. I think the chance of god existing, given all the current evidence, is about the same as the Tooth Fairy existing.
Actually there is lots of evidence against god. The "question of evil" is the number one evidence against the existence of god.
The problem is a lack of rapid transit. Cars alone cannot deal with the traffic of a large, dense city.
But of course, American's would never do something as sensible as vote to build rapid, socialist, transit, when highly subsidised roads, gas, etc.. are so free market.
The curfew is a symptom of the problem of a incompetent government. It is NOT a good way to curb violence in a free democracy.
There is absolutely no good reason to pass a law forcing good people, even young ones, to stay home after a certain hour in a free country. AND this law only applies to kid under 13! Does Philly actually have troubles with kids that young committing violent crimes?
Curfews are an infringement of citizens rights. Young people are citizens. I'm a father of three grown kids, and had my share of trouble with my boys in their teenage years, but it is up to me, not the government to set my kids curfew.
I think the USA should stop bragging about being the land of the free until:
Stop trying to over turn economic treaties they signed if getting out competed
That is enough for now.
Stuff and services are entitlements, not rights.
As a moral human being I support using my taxes to provides entitlements to my fellow citizens. I support: universal education,universal health care, police, courts, basic infrastructure, fire department, and many other services.
Rights are things you can do, or try to do, and no one should stop from doing it.
It just bugs me when people confuse entitlements and rights.
newsflash - many schools no longer teach low level programming.
If you want to get good, truly good, you'll have to learn some of this on your own. And in the good old days all you had to do was count up clock cycles and you were done. Modern processors with multi-stage pipe-lines and out of order execution are much harder to hand optimise. When a pipe-line stall is very expensive you don't worry so much about clocks.
Governments can't make money in the west as local business will go crazy and demand the money making venture be privatized. The USA needs to raise taxes. The current tax rate is as low as it's been since the 1950's and a disproportionate is being collected from the middle class and poor due to numerous tax breaks for the rich.
You'd think allowing the bush era tax breaks for the super wealthy to lapse would be an obvious move, but not to the hard-core tea party fundamentalists.
No one claims that major evolutionary changes are as likely as small ones. Winning the lottery is less likely than getting heads on a coin toss, BUT people DO win the lottery because enough people play to make this very unlikely event happen. In much the same way, seemingly unlikely changes do happen via evolution because of the very large number of small changes over very large times.
There is no other theory that explains the diverse life on Earth. There is NO evidence that any other force other than evolution is at work. Evolution is tested, and is scientific.
Are you serious? The Army in China is one of the biggest businesses. The government still directly manages most of the economy.
Obama is not a socialist. A few hard-right Americans disagree with his policies, but most of the western world considers the Republicans hard right, and the Democrats very right. Only the USA still has a significant population who still believes that unfettered capitalism is the best policy. The recent melt down of the USA financial sector, directly caused by the deregulation of two Republican administrations shows that unfettered capitalism is often a disaster.
A free market, moderated by rational regulations, side by side with government programs that provide universal benefits is the best mix to prove the best life for the most people, given our current technology.
why is this modded down?
Where to draw the line for free speech? Most agree that "shouting fire" in a crowded theatre is not allowed. Many western nations also ban speech that incites violence, especially against an individual or an easily identified group. I believe that free speech is an important right, but I think that a credible call to kill someone crosses the line. I don't think a drunken online rant should be illegal, but it should be investigated.
Or the lightning is the new official story because they don't want to admit the train derailed due to shoddy construction caused by rampant corruption.
Need some confirmation of what happened.
Society has a few purposes, one key purpose is to reign in outlandish and destructive behaviour. You should work, you should follow the law, you should get an education, you should not beat up children, etc...
The other key purpose is mutual support. I don't need to know 50 trades to live, just one. I trade for everything else the other trades provide. Society provides, police, fire-fighters, courts, and many other services paid for collectively.
A healthy society stops you from doing evil, asks you to refrain from doing bad, and encourages you to do good. An unhealthy society promotes hate, violence, and bigotry. An unhealthy society makes it very difficult to be happy.
My modern western society, while it can obviously be improved, is a pretty good society. I do not think that my society is preventing me from being happy, or rail-roading me down one narrow path. I look at most of my European "brothers" and I see good societies, in some ways better than my own. I look south and while I see a country that was once a beacon of freedom, I now see a scared, lazy, selfish behemoth slowly sliding into irrelevance.
Study after study has shown that material goods do not make you happy. Once you are fed, sheltered and clothed it is family, friends, and social interactions that make you happy.
Having a watch is handy when you are doing stuff outdoors and all, but why would you care what the time is at all? I can see wanting to check the time at the end of a long bike ride, but not during the ride. I can pull my cell phone out of my pack when I stop.
I lived watch and cell phone free for many years. Checked the time at home before leaving for appointments and did not worry about the time during time off. Bought a cheap watch when I went on a cruise with my kids. Thought it best not to miss the ship if ashore.
I don't care how sincerely you hold crazy religious beliefs, if those beliefs harm other people they should be illegal. Religion should not be a "get out of jail free" card. The reason you should be free to practise and believe whatever religions you want is NOT that religion deserves special protection, but that ALL beliefs should be protected as part of your right to freedom of expression and thought. No actions, no matter how they are motivated, that harm people should be legal.
It isn't the TSA that makes the conditions different, it is the passengers reaction to the hijacking. The TSA does in fact allow all manner of items aboard planes, and planes have numerous items already on board that can be used as improvised weapons. The current security theatre will not stop a determined group from hijacking a plane. What is going to stop them is hundreds of angry passengers fearing for their lives rising up and stopping them, as has been demonstrated .
Interviews conducted by experts, not groping and searching by minimum wage automatons, provide effective security. Bags do need to be searched, and passengers screened, but this searching does not need to be intrusive. Anything else is just theatre.
Whether the airport, the government, or the airline directly foots the bill, you still pay for it. You pay for directly in your airline ticket or via taxes which spreads out the cost more.
Some things are not done better by the private sector. Government is not universally incompetent, they actually do many things well. Changing to private security from government security will not magically improve security. If the airlines provide security it will just be done as cheap as possible without breaking any laws. Government regulations ARE required when it comes to health and safety issues. The free market simply does not give the average consumer the required information in a timely manner to prevent health and safety abuses.
9/11 certainly did motivate the USA to go to war. I'm a Canadian who is well aware that the USA has plans, carefully well thought out plans, to invade Canada. Does this make me think the USA is going to invade us? No. It is normal for a military, especially a vast one like the USA has, to have contingency plans for both likely and unlikely scenarios.
The fact the USA had plans ahead of time to attack Afghanistan just shows that it is running competent people.
Occasionally bombing your friends is normal in a war. The idea that you can have a perfectly civilized war is nonsense. It shouldn't shock anyone, but be part of the calculus of risk and gain when governments decide to wage war.
Yes, it is interesting how partisans of each side change their tune when the other side is in power. It isn't like the republicans didn't claim that Bush could do whatever he liked while he was in power, in favour of greatly expanding the executive powers etc... then changed their tune 180 degrees when Obama was in power.
Both sides are playing games with the law and tradition.
It was fraud. They robo-called predominantly black riding to say the election was over and there was no need to vote which was an out and out lie. Then they attempted to hide the evidence.
This has nothing to do with free speech, it is out and out fraud and is a criminal matter.
The people videoing the cops were not breaking any laws. The cops broke the law when they tried to confiscate the video at gun point and broke the phone. I don't know if the shooting that was videoed was justified or not, but either way f the cops want the video they should ask or get a court order, not put their guns in the face of innocent bystanders.