but if I'm in a restaurant or something, it needs to be in my back pocket. My front pockets are already taken and I'm not putting it on the table etc.
You shouldn't make a habit of putting your wallet in your back pocket when you are sitting, it's bad for your back and can lead to long-term musculoskeletal problems. If you've no room in your front pockets from all the devices you carry, you should consider carrying a manpurse. Or just simplify your device load.
the solution that works for you does not work for everyone. just accept this, and move on.
The problems you face are not everyone's; just accept this, and move on.
Except for that pesky little pledge to uphold the Constitution.
I think we've all learned not to believe the words of politicians.
Then, yes, I know, it's all made better by plausible deniability--but that leads to conspiracy theory, doesn't it?
Not conspiracy theory. Just the theory that our Congresspeople's primary motivation is to do what is best for themselves or their party, not what is best for the nation. Conspiracy implies planned and organized deceit; I'm not sure it doesn't accidentally arise over and over.
I've got one of these for international banking. The case is about 5 mm thick, could easily thinner except for usability concerns for something designed to be a keychain. Solar powered, but could just as easily be mechanically recharged a la some of the watches on the market. It generates an 8-digit password from some time-based algorithm; when submitted to the bank, the bank server checks the password against all possible passwords possible for the previous short period of time.
I'm not so certain. The Bush administration uses biblical end-times phrases all the time in public speeches to pander to the Left-Behind-reading fundies.
Sorry, conflated them, since they are technically catholic-with-a-small-c (but not according to modern usage) as far as I've been able to determine.
It's the North American fundamentalist protestants that worry me, for reasons stated previously. Also, note that the NA fundies evangelize & proselytize widely all over the world, and their Churches are growing much faster than other Christian churches in Asia an in Africa.
You're asserting that Congress has no duty to stay within its defined boundaries and that it is the Supreme Court's job to strike down illegitimate legislation.
No. He's asserting that the Constitution does not prevent Congress from passing laws that violate it, which is true -- just as establishing a curfew for your kids doesn't prevent them from staying out late. Congress, like a kid, will break the rules. It's up to the Court to decide if curfew has been broken. It's up to voters to punish Congress.
Perhaps the lip-reading cameras and the shouting cameras will find something to talk about."
Sure, as soon as camera manufacturers start putting realistic mechanical lips[1] on their shouting cameras.
And as soon as that is possible, I'd like to license the technology for a venture of my own, involving about 40 lbs of latex and a metal skeleton. It'll be the best prom evar!11!
Christ, man, we're talking theoreticals about how the French could have resisted the Blitz. Without as line of defense extending Alps to North Sea, it would have been impossible.
I re-read what you wrote, if there is a satire in your argument, then it is very subtle and I have missed it.
I thought maybe the "pshaw" would tip people off that it was tongue-in-cheek. I was trying to point out the futility of challenging fundamentalists based on reason.
I get annoyed too, when people apply sterotypes to me. While it's true that Catholics tend to be less fundamentalist (the church hierarchy allows them to interpret the Bible less literally than other Christian sects), the portion of the world's Christians who are not Catholic are extremely worrying. First, they are growing faster than other sects. Second, they wield disproportionate influence in the US, currently the world's most powerful military and economy. Third, they have infiltrated the less-fundamentalist Christian sects, and are making those sects more fundamentalist.
I don't want to downplay the fact that the fundie crazies are currently a minority... however, they are very close to being a majority in the US.
At any rate,
I don't know what it is with the culture that promotes such backward ideas.
Read American Theocracy (by Kevin Phillips, 2006) and The Closing of the Western Mind (by Charles Freeman, 2004) to understand both the short-term and long-term reasons for the US's Christian backwardness. I highly recommend both books.
Right ther eis the problem... the word "sounds". Sure, it sounds just as irrational... but when you look into it further, it is plausible. That's the whole point of science.
The only argument atheists have against the "miracles" in scripture is that miracles are impossible, which is a circular argument.
Err, no. The argument atheists have is that no miracle is reproducible, and yet they contravene all the scientific principles that have been tested for ages. Furthermore, there is a much more likely explanation, which is that they were made up. In the face of overwhelming evidence that miracles could not occur, and with a very likely explanation that supports this, most rational scientists would acknowledge that there is some miniscule possibility that miracles occurred -- but the overwhelming evidence, to the point of being established fact, is that they could not and did not. Blind faith in the existence of miracles precludes the infinitely more likely explanation, which is the piece of the puzzle you're choosing to ignore.
The stories of miracles should be interpreted as allegory only.
How do you know that? Any negative evidence to prove that? Saying it didn't happen because it was a miracle is a circular argument.
Why is it a circular argument to say that it would violate everything we know about the laws of nature? That the best evidence available supports almost unequivocally the fact that no water was alacazammed into wine, and that we didn't have a zombie Jesus.
You can't answer that question if you don't even believe that the man existed in the first case.
Well, first, I believe JC existed, just that he was a regular man and nothing more. Second, one could very well argue that if Jesus never existed, then there is no way he could have died for our sins. As a matter of fact, it's the strongest argument that he didn't die for our sins, since a nonexistent being couldn't very well die, could he?
One, Apple is not a software company, they are a hardware company. Saying Apple has 2-3% of the cell phone market (hardware+software) compared to MS's 60 to 70% (software) is ridiculous -- especially since Apple doesn't even compete in the low-end space. Apples to oranges, which is the biggest problem with the original misinformation you translated.
Two, the aging market IS a big deal for music, relatively untapped in the personal player space. Are you completely out of touch with the baby boomer generation?
That said,
But my 85-year-old uncle probably will never own an iPod, and I hope we'll get him to own a Zune.
Well, duh, he's family. In the Ballmer family, iPods are verboten. And if you can't convince your elderly uncle to buy your personal music player or girl scout cookies or what have you, then you have no business being in business.
I think the American attitude comes from the John Wayne complex we have. The perception is that only cowards and women need people to do their fighting for them (which was the perception of the insulated Americans at home during WWII). Americans at home had no idea of what the French faced; a lot of Americans overseas were just bitter with their lot in the war.
There are even quite a few movies made about the French Resistance. Perhaps some of them are considered beyond the pale to some Americans, because of the
I'll cut that off right there, since the reasons they are beyond the pale to Americans are because they don't glorify America, and because they aren't about Americans. We're so self-centered that even movies about Britain need to be about Americans in Britain.
Not speaking for all Americans, hell, I'm not even speaking of my own views, but mainstream American culture disgusts me.
RIAA Tracks: prices just went up, and customers aren't happy with that
Indy Tracks: 25 - 99, we'll make it up in volume!:D
Doesn't matter if the indie tracks never get radio and tv play. Songs are not commodity goods, you can't simply replace a RIAA Top 40 track with an indie track.
But the Iraqi rebels aren't rebelling against the Axis of Evil (tm)... they are the Axis of Evil (tm). Why would Americans cheer on the hordes of Satan?
Only half-joking, too many Americans view the Iraqi war in a biblical end-times context.
especially in a culture that is moving toward cocooning at home in front of the TV and computer.
Please don't use the word cocooning in that context. It makes me think that American couch potatoes are somehow preparing to metamorphasize into giant corpulent moths that seek out patrons of fast food establishments and chain restaurants in which to lay their eggs.
...hmm, this intrigues me, off to write a screenplay...
Of course I wouldn't as I believe it is harmless fun. But if my 8-year-old asks me if Jesus really turned water into wine, I'll tell him no. If he asks me if Jesus really died for our sins, I'll tell him no -- but it makes a lot of people feel better to believe so.
Oh wait, you're making a joke. In that case, instead of telling him no, I'd serve Hossenpfeffer stew Easter morning, and explain the *real* reason the Easter Bunny isn't showing up this year.
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The problems you face are not everyone's; just accept this, and move on.
Or you just implement a differential test to determine which lip movement set to use for a given speaker.
Bigger library, slightly more complex... but would still work.
Not conspiracy theory. Just the theory that our Congresspeople's primary motivation is to do what is best for themselves or their party, not what is best for the nation. Conspiracy implies planned and organized deceit; I'm not sure it doesn't accidentally arise over and over.
I've got one of these for international banking. The case is about 5 mm thick, could easily thinner except for usability concerns for something designed to be a keychain. Solar powered, but could just as easily be mechanically recharged a la some of the watches on the market. It generates an 8-digit password from some time-based algorithm; when submitted to the bank, the bank server checks the password against all possible passwords possible for the previous short period of time.
I'm not so certain. The Bush administration uses biblical end-times phrases all the time in public speeches to pander to the Left-Behind-reading fundies.
Worsened by the complexity and scope of those laws -- riders, ridiculous clauses, etc.
Sorry, conflated them, since they are technically catholic-with-a-small-c (but not according to modern usage) as far as I've been able to determine.
It's the North American fundamentalist protestants that worry me, for reasons stated previously. Also, note that the NA fundies evangelize & proselytize widely all over the world, and their Churches are growing much faster than other Christian churches in Asia an in Africa.
Several stations in the NY area have changed to an all-music all-the-time format. Sure, they still have ads, but ZERO talk. Woohoo!
And as soon as that is possible, I'd like to license the technology for a venture of my own, involving about 40 lbs of latex and a metal skeleton. It'll be the best prom evar!11!
Alliance with the low countries, maybe?
Christ, man, we're talking theoreticals about how the French could have resisted the Blitz. Without as line of defense extending Alps to North Sea, it would have been impossible.
I don't want to downplay the fact that the fundie crazies are currently a minority... however, they are very close to being a majority in the US.
At any rate,Read American Theocracy (by Kevin Phillips, 2006) and The Closing of the Western Mind (by Charles Freeman, 2004) to understand both the short-term and long-term reasons for the US's Christian backwardness. I highly recommend both books.
Err, no. The argument atheists have is that no miracle is reproducible, and yet they contravene all the scientific principles that have been tested for ages. Furthermore, there is a much more likely explanation, which is that they were made up. In the face of overwhelming evidence that miracles could not occur, and with a very likely explanation that supports this, most rational scientists would acknowledge that there is some miniscule possibility that miracles occurred -- but the overwhelming evidence, to the point of being established fact, is that they could not and did not. Blind faith in the existence of miracles precludes the infinitely more likely explanation, which is the piece of the puzzle you're choosing to ignore.
The stories of miracles should be interpreted as allegory only.
Well, first, I believe JC existed, just that he was a regular man and nothing more. Second, one could very well argue that if Jesus never existed, then there is no way he could have died for our sins. As a matter of fact, it's the strongest argument that he didn't die for our sins, since a nonexistent being couldn't very well die, could he?
One, Apple is not a software company, they are a hardware company. Saying Apple has 2-3% of the cell phone market (hardware+software) compared to MS's 60 to 70% (software) is ridiculous -- especially since Apple doesn't even compete in the low-end space. Apples to oranges, which is the biggest problem with the original misinformation you translated.
Two, the aging market IS a big deal for music, relatively untapped in the personal player space. Are you completely out of touch with the baby boomer generation?
That said,Well, duh, he's family. In the Ballmer family, iPods are verboten. And if you can't convince your elderly uncle to buy your personal music player or girl scout cookies or what have you, then you have no business being in business.
Doh, sorry. Mistook North for South again; should have said 'if the Maginot line extended to the North Sea'.
:)
Just goes to show the wonders of the American educational system
I'll cut that off right there, since the reasons they are beyond the pale to Americans are because they don't glorify America, and because they aren't about Americans. We're so self-centered that even movies about Britain need to be about Americans in Britain.
Not speaking for all Americans, hell, I'm not even speaking of my own views, but mainstream American culture disgusts me.
But the Iraqi rebels aren't rebelling against the Axis of Evil (tm)... they are the Axis of Evil (tm). Why would Americans cheer on the hordes of Satan?
Only half-joking, too many Americans view the Iraqi war in a biblical end-times context.
...hmm, this intrigues me, off to write a screenplay...
Of course I wouldn't as I believe it is harmless fun. But if my 8-year-old asks me if Jesus really turned water into wine, I'll tell him no. If he asks me if Jesus really died for our sins, I'll tell him no -- but it makes a lot of people feel better to believe so.
Oh wait, you're making a joke. In that case, instead of telling him no, I'd serve Hossenpfeffer stew Easter morning, and explain the *real* reason the Easter Bunny isn't showing up this year.