>Whenever the Sun and its planets have visited regions of enhanced star formation in the Milky Way Galaxy, where exploding stars are most common, life has prospered.
Nothing like repeated blasts of high-energy gamma radiation to stir things up.
>How do the intelligent people here on Slashdot keep their bullshit meter from flying off the handle?
This is a site for technically minded people, many of whom are seriously into having the latest and greatest gadgets, preferably with open-source software enhancements. Many of us are running the Acme Mark IV Series 80 Bullshit Multimeter with custom enhancements. Before connecting to/. it is important to make sure that it is set to register on the logarithmic scale and that it is securely connected to a two meter solid copper grounding rod. In addition, I strongly recommend that you set this up in series with the Acme Bogon Flux Detector and Filter unit. I prefer the Model 42 with emergency disconnect feature that severs your internet connection if the bogon flux reaches 250 microLenats.
Wow. You Brits still have rights? Can I move there? Newcastle seemed nice when I was there a couple of years ago. Do they have webcams in the WC like London?
The Member States have the power to mandate insurance, but the central Congress does not.
I thought the Congress had power to require insurance for vehicles operated on "post roads".
Congress controls the purse strings. They do not mandate that the various states require auto insurance. They do say that if you want federal highway money, it will be available if, and only if, you mandate auto insurance. See, not a mandate at all.
Yes, I have heard them say this repeatedly. It is the core of the creationist dispute with evolution. For example look here.
The statement isn't there, unless you meant "somewhere on this site is something like that". I was expecting an actual valid backing of your claim, actually. Typically, the effort would be to harmonize the understanding of scripture with science, rather than simply state "it cannot be", especially since the next step would be to consider various interpretations among theists themselves. I again submit you have never in your life heard this presented, and presented as sufficient consideration of the matter.
It's pretty much the entire basis for that site, but you obviously didn't look very hard. Try this. Members of the Creation Research Society swear that nothing they "discover" will contradict a literal interpretation of Genesis.
All members must subscribe to the following statement of belief:
1. The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths.
2. All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis. Whatever biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have accomplished only changes within the original created kinds.
3. The great flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the Noachian Flood, was an historic event worldwide in its extent and effect.
4. We are an organization of Christian men and women of science who accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The account of the special creation of Adam and Eve as one man and one woman and their subsequent fall into sin is the basis for our belief in the necessity of a Savior for all mankind. Therefore, salvation can come only through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.
>I understand you've heard this repeated a thousand times before, and will repeat it yourself a thousand times more, but throughout that time it will persistently remain false. A test for ID would be, "enumerate the mutations required for all biological structures, eliminate those which require transitions which would not be survivable, calculate the probability given the population over that time". We are not yet able to do this fully as a matter of technology, but we'll inevitably get there.
False dichotomy. That would be a way to falsify evolution by means of natural selection, but it would in now way prove the reality of intelligent design.
>And... so what? This is textbook Genetic Fallacy. The truth or falsehood of an idea has nothing to do with its origination.
You're the one who cited Behe as an authority. I merely pointed out his obviously fallacious reasoning. You chose to use argument from authority. Don't whine when your choice of authority turns out not to be wearing any clothes.
>Really? Have you actually ever heard one say this, or is this just the Straw Man that came most quickly to mind?
Yes, I have heard them say this repeatedly. It is the core of the creationist dispute with evolution. For example look here.
>There is controversy among scientists. When you deny this, reality will remain precisely the same, that there is controversy among scientists.
I see you're trotting out one of the vintage creationist canards. Intelligent design is not science, since it offers no testable hypotheses. Even the US Supreme Court has ruled that ID is religion, not science. Panspermia is an interesting hypothesis about the origin of life, but has nothing to do with evolution.
>Behe, as usual, is a good place to start on the biological level.
Trolling for sure. Quoting from the court decision in the Dover School case, where Behe testified for the plaintiffs,"Consider, to illustrate, that Professor Behe remarkably and unmistakably claims that the plausibility of the argument for ID depends upon the extent to which one believes in the existence of God."
In general, though, the statement that "there's no evidence that would lead anyone to even suspect that anything else occurs" is directly factually false. We -know- design occurs, if for no other reason than biology exists that we ourselves have designed. We are arguing about the possible scope of "when" design is a factor, not "if". That it -is- a factor when talking about "existence in general", is now established fact.
Please provide some of this evidence that "design occurs." Everything I have read about "design theory" boils down to various restatements of the argument from personal incredulity. I have yet to see any testable evidence, or even testable hypothesis, that design occurs.
It's probably time to come up with a new Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award or some such for unintentionally causing mass panic and hysteria in "trained professionals" with common household objects. Clearly the 2007 winner would be Turner Broadcasting for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Lite Brite fiasco in Boston. I emphasize "unintentional," because what was seen as a harmless joke when I was a kid can certainly get you 10 to 30 now. We also made our own Thermite and played with it too. That'll probably get you life.
>If, on the other hand, they just never put them back up and don't refund the people who purchased these games.....then there's a problem.
You fail to understand the Sony mindset. You have given them money. That is proper. Your expectation that this creates some obligation on their part is not proper. You should feel deep shame. You should attempt to alleviate this shame by sending them more money together with all your bank passwords.
I agree with everything you said except that. There is much in the Bible that has been proven correct after being doubted for decades, if not hundreds of years.
Actually doubting ANYTHING about the Bible got you a ticket as guest of honor at the auto da fe for centuries. It's only in the last few decades that it has been reasonably safe to publicly express doubts about the Bible, and there are plenty of places in the US where it is still not safe to do so.
Evolution is still a theory. And a fact. The terms aren't exclusive.
Evolution is as much a fact as Santa having workshop in the north pole is a fact.
Evolution is a widely believed theory but a fact it is not!
You are quite wrong. That evolution occurs is an observed fact. It has been observed to occur both in nature and in the laboratory. By evolution here I mean that speciation has occurred. This is not new news, and literally thousands of citations are available in the literature. How evolution occurs is described by a number of theories, Darwinian natural selection, Lamarckian natural selection, modern synthesis, punctuated equilibrium, etc. Some of these theories are supported by more evidence than others. However, it is a fact that evolution occurs.
>Do they also refute the existence of non-beneficial mutations?
Yes. They will refute the existence of anything, if they think it will support creationism. This includes denying the existence of things that obviously exist including things that they cited as supporting creationism in the previous paragraph.
>I don't have much knowledge on the subject and I'm probably wrong, but can't the existence of mutations can be proved through experimentation?
Yes their existence can be observed. Creationists will deny all sorts of things in the face of blindingly obvious evidence. This is because they know they are right, therefore anything that might disprove their belief in creationism is, by definition, wrong at best and most likely satanic.
Agreed on all counts. I have not personally done this, but I have several friends who have. They all have several things in common. They live in rural areas where they are on well and/or spring water supply and septic tank system for sewage. When you live with this kind of water and sewer system, which I have, you are already pretty careful of what and how much goes down the drain. For example, very few people with a septic tank use a garbage disposal at all; you compost. Most people who use greywater for irrigation are also selective about which greywater gets routed around the septic tank. High volume flows like shower, bathtub, washing machine are ideal. Kitchen sink goes to blackwater, because of cooking oils and grease. My friends who have done this are all pretty committed to taking good care of themselves and their property.
After the plumber and building inspector leave, you can reroute the greywater to irrigate you lawn, vegetable garden or whatever. Just be sure to use eco-friendly soaps, etc.
According to Space News, "SkyTerra 1 is insured for about $268 million, a policy for which LightSquared paid a $37.5 million premium." You can't talk about actual coverage for a loss without having the policy in front of you. Solar flares are a pretty obvious risk for which you would want coverage, although the obvious big risk is total loss on launch.
And we wonder why people see scientists as evil, soulless bastards out to destroy the very fabric of society? Doesn't this university have an ethics committee?
Oh God, let me guess, you're the office official whacky guy? Do you have a "you don't have to be mad to work here - but it helps!" plaque on your desk?
Nope, I'm the boss (CEO). No plaque, but if you are not happy and successful here, I will help you go be happy and successful somewhere else. Besides, who doesn't like pie?
Slashdot Mirror
>Whenever the Sun and its planets have visited regions of enhanced star formation in the Milky Way Galaxy, where exploding stars are most common, life has prospered.
Nothing like repeated blasts of high-energy gamma radiation to stir things up.
>How do the intelligent people here on Slashdot keep their bullshit meter from flying off the handle?
This is a site for technically minded people, many of whom are seriously into having the latest and greatest gadgets, preferably with open-source software enhancements. Many of us are running the Acme Mark IV Series 80 Bullshit Multimeter with custom enhancements. Before connecting to /. it is important to make sure that it is set to register on the logarithmic scale and that it is securely connected to a two meter solid copper grounding rod. In addition, I strongly recommend that you set this up in series with the Acme Bogon Flux Detector and Filter unit. I prefer the Model 42 with emergency disconnect feature that severs your internet connection if the bogon flux reaches 250 microLenats.
And scientifically, it went around 750 miles in 3 minutes. In an atmosphere. That's a pretty damn awesome piece of engineering.
Meteors do that every day. And, they have the same end result.
Wow. You Brits still have rights? Can I move there? Newcastle seemed nice when I was there a couple of years ago. Do they have webcams in the WC like London?
The Member States have the power to mandate insurance, but the central Congress does not.
I thought the Congress had power to require insurance for vehicles operated on "post roads".
Congress controls the purse strings. They do not mandate that the various states require auto insurance. They do say that if you want federal highway money, it will be available if, and only if, you mandate auto insurance. See, not a mandate at all.
>and one divorce later
Who could have seen this coming?
Data collected in 2000. Paper published in 2006. Reported in /. in 2012. The pace of good science is slow and deliberate.
Yes, I have heard them say this repeatedly. It is the core of the creationist dispute with evolution. For example look here. The statement isn't there, unless you meant "somewhere on this site is something like that". I was expecting an actual valid backing of your claim, actually. Typically, the effort would be to harmonize the understanding of scripture with science, rather than simply state "it cannot be", especially since the next step would be to consider various interpretations among theists themselves. I again submit you have never in your life heard this presented, and presented as sufficient consideration of the matter.
It's pretty much the entire basis for that site, but you obviously didn't look very hard. Try this. Members of the Creation Research Society swear that nothing they "discover" will contradict a literal interpretation of Genesis.
All members must subscribe to the following statement of belief:
1. The Bible is the written Word of God, and because it is inspired throughout, all its assertions are historically and scientifically true in the original autographs. To the student of nature this means that the account of origins in Genesis is a factual presentation of simple historical truths.
2. All basic types of living things, including man, were made by direct creative acts of God during the Creation Week described in Genesis. Whatever biological changes have occurred since Creation Week have accomplished only changes within the original created kinds.
3. The great flood described in Genesis, commonly referred to as the Noachian Flood, was an historic event worldwide in its extent and effect.
4. We are an organization of Christian men and women of science who accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The account of the special creation of Adam and Eve as one man and one woman and their subsequent fall into sin is the basis for our belief in the necessity of a Savior for all mankind. Therefore, salvation can come only through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.
>I understand you've heard this repeated a thousand times before, and will repeat it yourself a thousand times more, but throughout that time it will persistently remain false. A test for ID would be, "enumerate the mutations required for all biological structures, eliminate those which require transitions which would not be survivable, calculate the probability given the population over that time". We are not yet able to do this fully as a matter of technology, but we'll inevitably get there.
False dichotomy. That would be a way to falsify evolution by means of natural selection, but it would in now way prove the reality of intelligent design.
>And... so what? This is textbook Genetic Fallacy. The truth or falsehood of an idea has nothing to do with its origination.
You're the one who cited Behe as an authority. I merely pointed out his obviously fallacious reasoning. You chose to use argument from authority. Don't whine when your choice of authority turns out not to be wearing any clothes.
>Really? Have you actually ever heard one say this, or is this just the Straw Man that came most quickly to mind?
Yes, I have heard them say this repeatedly. It is the core of the creationist dispute with evolution. For example look here.
>There is controversy among scientists. When you deny this, reality will remain precisely the same, that there is controversy among scientists.
I see you're trotting out one of the vintage creationist canards. Intelligent design is not science, since it offers no testable hypotheses. Even the US Supreme Court has ruled that ID is religion, not science. Panspermia is an interesting hypothesis about the origin of life, but has nothing to do with evolution.
>Behe, as usual, is a good place to start on the biological level.
Trolling for sure. Quoting from the court decision in the Dover School case, where Behe testified for the plaintiffs,"Consider, to illustrate, that Professor Behe remarkably and unmistakably claims that the plausibility of the argument for ID depends upon the extent to which one believes in the existence of God."
Thank you for playing.
In general, though, the statement that "there's no evidence that would lead anyone to even suspect that anything else occurs" is directly factually false. We -know- design occurs, if for no other reason than biology exists that we ourselves have designed. We are arguing about the possible scope of "when" design is a factor, not "if". That it -is- a factor when talking about "existence in general", is now established fact.
Please provide some of this evidence that "design occurs." Everything I have read about "design theory" boils down to various restatements of the argument from personal incredulity. I have yet to see any testable evidence, or even testable hypothesis, that design occurs.
This post is my way of resisting the temptation to mod you -1 Troll. It will also keep you from being arrested in Arizona. You should thank me.
It's probably time to come up with a new Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award or some such for unintentionally causing mass panic and hysteria in "trained professionals" with common household objects. Clearly the 2007 winner would be Turner Broadcasting for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Lite Brite fiasco in Boston. I emphasize "unintentional," because what was seen as a harmless joke when I was a kid can certainly get you 10 to 30 now. We also made our own Thermite and played with it too. That'll probably get you life.
"This is liquid."
>If, on the other hand, they just never put them back up and don't refund the people who purchased these games.....then there's a problem.
You fail to understand the Sony mindset. You have given them money. That is proper. Your expectation that this creates some obligation on their part is not proper. You should feel deep shame. You should attempt to alleviate this shame by sending them more money together with all your bank passwords.
one book that's proven to be mostly fiction
I agree with everything you said except that. There is much in the Bible that has been proven correct after being doubted for decades, if not hundreds of years.
Actually doubting ANYTHING about the Bible got you a ticket as guest of honor at the auto da fe for centuries. It's only in the last few decades that it has been reasonably safe to publicly express doubts about the Bible, and there are plenty of places in the US where it is still not safe to do so.
Evolution is still a theory. And a fact. The terms aren't exclusive.
Evolution is as much a fact as Santa having workshop in the north pole is a fact.
Evolution is a widely believed theory but a fact it is not!
You are quite wrong. That evolution occurs is an observed fact. It has been observed to occur both in nature and in the laboratory. By evolution here I mean that speciation has occurred. This is not new news, and literally thousands of citations are available in the literature. How evolution occurs is described by a number of theories, Darwinian natural selection, Lamarckian natural selection, modern synthesis, punctuated equilibrium, etc. Some of these theories are supported by more evidence than others. However, it is a fact that evolution occurs.
>Do they also refute the existence of non-beneficial mutations?
Yes. They will refute the existence of anything, if they think it will support creationism. This includes denying the existence of things that obviously exist including things that they cited as supporting creationism in the previous paragraph.
>I don't have much knowledge on the subject and I'm probably wrong, but can't the existence of mutations can be proved through experimentation?
Yes their existence can be observed. Creationists will deny all sorts of things in the face of blindingly obvious evidence. This is because they know they are right, therefore anything that might disprove their belief in creationism is, by definition, wrong at best and most likely satanic.
This means that they will now be making PCs with RAM that needs to be replaced every month and can only be bought from HP.
Agreed on all counts. I have not personally done this, but I have several friends who have. They all have several things in common. They live in rural areas where they are on well and/or spring water supply and septic tank system for sewage. When you live with this kind of water and sewer system, which I have, you are already pretty careful of what and how much goes down the drain. For example, very few people with a septic tank use a garbage disposal at all; you compost. Most people who use greywater for irrigation are also selective about which greywater gets routed around the septic tank. High volume flows like shower, bathtub, washing machine are ideal. Kitchen sink goes to blackwater, because of cooking oils and grease. My friends who have done this are all pretty committed to taking good care of themselves and their property.
After the plumber and building inspector leave, you can reroute the greywater to irrigate you lawn, vegetable garden or whatever. Just be sure to use eco-friendly soaps, etc.
You do those four things, and you won't need to cut off their banks to get them to the table. They'll be *running* to get to the table.
Fixing banks with less regulation is like fixing Lindsay Lohan with more cocaine.
Fixing Iran with goodwill gestures is like fixing Lindsay Lohan with more cocaine.
According to Space News, "SkyTerra 1 is insured for about $268 million, a policy for which LightSquared paid a $37.5 million premium." You can't talk about actual coverage for a loss without having the policy in front of you. Solar flares are a pretty obvious risk for which you would want coverage, although the obvious big risk is total loss on launch.
And we wonder why people see scientists as evil, soulless bastards out to destroy the very fabric of society? Doesn't this university have an ethics committee?
I'm the chief promoter of Pi Day at my workplace
Oh God, let me guess, you're the office official whacky guy? Do you have a "you don't have to be mad to work here - but it helps!" plaque on your desk?
Nope, I'm the boss (CEO). No plaque, but if you are not happy and successful here, I will help you go be happy and successful somewhere else. Besides, who doesn't like pie?
>Wow, is your secretary some kind of frustrated geek or something?
Yes. Nice voice though.
>I didn't even know there were Pi carols.
Google is your friend, or not. You may not want to know. For starters: try this.