Japan in particular has a serious problem with population decline. It's because of all the cool gadgets! I'd expect the rate of decline to coincide heavily with occurences of the "slashdot effect":)
I thought for a moment that Japan was where you're only allowed one child per family, but after a quick google, that turns out to be China..
I didn't reply to this earlier but it's been gnawing away at me while out shopping that I didn't say anything about it:p
if you so much as eat bacon and eggs -- then you are a fucking hypocrite if you try to tell me that the Bible is the authority for your religion. You're again showing a complete lack of knowledge of the new testament, as well as the reasoning behind a lot of laws in the old testament (not eating certain stuff had health benefits back then, I don't know all the crap about that but I've heard people mention it before). Go look at Acts 10. I'm not going to start arguing about whether the bible is true or not with you, because I've not been in the best of moods the last few years (on and off antidepressants for various reasons), and I have no idea any more what I believe about life, the universe and everything (though I do basically still believe in God, I've sometimes wondered if I ever really was a Christian). I don't consider Christianity hypocritical. There are plenty of Christians who are hypocritical, but every argument someone has given for an 'inconsistency' between the old and new testament and suchlike, I have either heard explained reasonably, or I just know myself that the person who is claiming the inconsistency doesn't even know what they're talking about. In your case I think you need to make sure that you go find out what you're talking about before making wild accusations like Christians aren't allowed to eat what they like. That verse is about both food and Jews associating with gentiles of course.. there are a few things like that in the New Testament which supersede stuff in the Old Testament. There is also a lot of nasty stuff in the Old Testament, but that's just how things were back then (and still are in some parts of the world today). There is no way to prove one way or the other whether what the bible says is true, but I've seen plenty in life which just makes me think the bible is spot on with plenty of stuff. The lack of faith on my part is disturbing (teehee), sadly most likely when I next get a girlfriend, as it was my first gf that basically destroyed everything in my life at the start of last year, including what I thought a Christian could be (no she didn't exactly cheat on me or anything, but gave me plenty of reason to believe that she had for a couple of weeks after we split up).
I'm all too used to people on the internet getting all vitriolic against Christians, and I'm sorry if you feel that way. Do you feel the same about other religions? I get worked up too easily over this stuff even when I haven't been feeling strong in my beliefs, so I take the bait all too often and end up in a bad mood for a while - trying not to do that too much just now even though I feel you'll probably end up getting all pissy/high-and-mighty again:p
Whoah.. it was a joke *shrug* o_0 this is twitter I'm replying to..!
I use OS X for OSey stuff, and my PS3 for games these days, I'm pretty happy with that thanks:) I use XP at work, and have had to deal with Vista on slight occasion since I am the IT guy:p There is plenty of decent free stuff out there, but I don't want to get rid of the games industry or any other software industry that thrives on non-free software either.. well... maybe the antivirus industry
I even specifically said "You could say that that means that Jesus' sacrifice saved everyone, but that's not what the bible says. You can't just pick and choose parts of a religious system that you like, ignore the rest, and then claim to be a follower of that religion". It's pretty crazy that you managed to ignore that, but if you want to do quotes, then how about
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Yes I am a Christian, and funnily enough I do care about myself (well, sometimes), it's a natural instinct. I also care about others, but it is natural to be "self-centered", because you can't really get outside yourself *shrug*
Is it just me, or does the Biblical God encourage rape? I think that's just you. You're blatantly ignoring the fact that women weren't very respected back then, and that the bible says there must be penalties/amendments paid if someone does rape a woman, rather than just raping her and being done with it.
I'm not very surprised at any of your quotes, sorry to disappoint you. I've read the bible through completely at least two times (the New Testament far more than that, but I've only read through the Old Testament twice in its entirity).
I'm not trying to take away from the law, and technically speaking, believing in Jesus does exactly "get you off the hook". The law is still there, so you are still sinning when you break it. The difference being that if you believe in Jesus, those sins are forgiven. Just copying and pasting verses from the internet isn't really going to work if you don't know the context...
The thing with what you are saying is, that people do deserve to be stoned and such for rape, and even for 'worshipping other gods', but since everyone sins anyway, it is hypocritical to go about punishing others yourself. Jesus said "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" (and then the guy in Monty Python said "oh Jesus, you always want to go first!" hehe). I believe God is perfectly justified in killing people for their sins, but the whole point of the systems of sacrifice in the old testament were analogous to Jesus dying for sins in the New Testament. God *doesn't* kill everyone just for being a sinner (not in this world anyway). Of course you probably don't believe in a God anyway so I don't know why I'm bothering to say anything, I know the whole thing sounds silly when just rattled off like this, I'm just explaining to you what Christians believe. It's sad when people just take the most extreme verses they can find (especially from the Jewish law which was made in a day when people were altogether less 'civilised'.. well, in some ways) and think that will shock someone who actually has read the bible properly.
Maybe he included the install time of a larger HD plus Vista? Though I can say it definitely is slower on startup/shutdown after seeing our MDs Vista laptop. It has better specs than mine, but runs like a dog. I always noticed Mac OS and Windows felt more sluggish to use than my 30Mhz Amiga. Sure there is slightly more going on with the interface (though not much, especially not anything that >2000 extra Mhz and accelerated graphics shouldn't take care of), but it's a joke that all modern user interfaces aren't lightning quick (not talking about browsing files, just rendering displays). Windows XP windows also flicker when you move them around quickly.. they should use double buffering just to make the whole thing feel more 'solid'
I hate all those companies that sell non free crap. Why should I pay them for the decades of developer time that they pay for when creating their software? Grrrrrrr
Perhaps if they modded the GPL to require that you must charge $1000 to distribute any compiled apps, or $500 for the source, it would do better?
I have seen a lot of people who don't pay for software yep. They *know* that Windows isn't worth the money. They also know it's the only thing they can use if they want to play games.. one of my friends has been trying out OpenOffice at least, rather than just pirating MS Office! I gave one friend one of work's old desktops after I wiped it and installed Ubuntu. She tried XP, realised how slow it was, and flitted between Ubuntu/XP for a while. She then bought a Vista laptop and I think ended up installing XP on that too. I'm not sure what the moral of the story is, but we can all agree that Vista is not worth its weight in bird poo.
When your OS has greater requirements than the games you play, you know something has gone very very wrong.. unless perhaps you only play the built in Windows games:p Sometimes life really is stranger than fiction..
With the rate that technology is advancing these days, 14 years is enough to dominate the world! At least there's usually more than one method to accomplish the same objective, and licensing rates for others' technology is usually reasonable..
"'...You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anyone or anything.' 'But the plans were on display...' 'On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.' 'That's the display department.' 'With a torch.' 'Ah, well the lights had probably gone.' 'So had the stairs.' 'But look you found the notice didn't you?' 'Yes,' said Arthur, 'yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of The Leopard".'"
No, the internet is more like.. the real world, where people can go into shops and get dirty magazines if they want them. Sure, the internet is faster and anonymous, enabling minors to get access to the stuff very easily, but it's not *exactly* the same as just giving someone a dirty magazine. And parents can always install a content filter that can eliminate a lot of the rubbish. Letting the kids keep phones is stupid because of the price involved there compared to say using MSN (which you can also do on a lot of phones, and you can browse the net on even more phones..). Your idea is interesting, but again it's just an excuse to get out of parenting. It would be like the government making all speed limits everywhere 1mph so that nobody could ever ever ever die from a car crash. Total overkill (no pun intended).
I don't actually know what you're talking about - I think I've heard of a couple such cases, but the one I remember most was actually a girl that was kept locked in a cupboard for years.. she didn't even know how to talk:/
Anyone who thinks that having a 'good heart' gets you into heaven is saying that Jesus didn't need to die for our sins though. What then is the point of even being 'religious', let alone claim to be Christian? The whole point is that Jesus came to earth as a sacrifice, not just for a bit of a laugh and to teach people to be nice. You could say that that means that Jesus' sacrifice saved everyone, but that's not what the bible says. You can't just pick and choose parts of a religious system that you like, ignore the rest, and then claim to be a follower of that religion.. if that was true then basically I would be a Jew-Muslim-Christian because all those religions basically believe in the same God (if you go far enough back into history).
I'd think there's a major difference between being raped quickly as opposed to ongoing abuse. I've never experienced either so I couldn't say for sure. A short episode wouldn't be worth choosing death over (IMO), but if you knew you were going to be locked in a basement and regularly abused for a few years, would you make the same choice?
There probably is a stigma, possibly just because people have no idea how to relate to the victim? I know when friends have someone close to them die I have no idea what to do (even though my dad died a few years ago when I was 17 so I've been through it all myself). If someone has been the victim of rape then that's even more difficult to understand. And then for other people I'd expect that they just don't even want to entertain the idea that rape is 'real' so they don't want to spend time around the victim, that kind of thing. Personally I'd not consciously make any decisions to avoid the person, but I might feel awkward. Basically I guess you should be able just to treat someone the same even after something horrific like that happens, but it's difficult because you don't want to inadvertantly say something that might make them relive the memories. Personally I feel awkward talking to people after a death because I don't want someone to think that I'm just doing it out of pity or something.. I tend to worry too much about stuff like that and it cripples me socially:P
Similar idea to modern fuel efficient engines shutting down cylinders when you're idling as well (probably oversimplifying there but you know what I mean)
You could then make quite a bit more than 31 if you used the whammy bar..:) Either by having 2 extra octaves (holding it slightly down or all the way down for example), or using it for bends. Someone should do it.. but better than the guy in this video *shudder*
I'm not even thinking so much from a moral standpoint as from a practical standpoint. It wastes a lot less time on everyone's part (apart from maybe the guys) to wear a condom for example *shrug* If they take appropriate precautions and she still ends up pregnant then that's fine. But in the same way that I'd prefer my computer just not to get infected with a virus in the first place rather than have to clean it out at some point, it's surely better to be proactive than reactive when trying to avoid pregnancies too. That's not a moral judgement (though of course I do have an opinion on the 'morality' aspect too), just good sense. It doesn't seem likely that a lot of people are being stupid just in the knowledge that they can have an abortion, and there are more reasons to practice safe sex than just stopping pregnancy, but personally I'd prefer if it wasn't such an easy option. It's fine in the US where people pay for medical care, but over here we have the NHS, and if people were more sensible in the first place then it would free up some resources. It's obviously not going to happen though, people are people and will do what they do best (stupid things!)
Well, yep I think it's the mother's responsibility, though if I were a doctor I probably would still prefer not to be involved - certainly in situations where abortion is just seen as a get out clause for not practicing 'safe' sex.
Just as a random thought, my sister and bro-in-law are trying to have a baby right now, I can imagine that hearing of people having abortions at any stage would be pretty sickening to couples who are having that kind of problem.. not the fault of the person having the abortion of course, but it's just sad that some people are desperately wanting to have a baby and others are treating the whole thing almost like a game.
Slashdot Mirror
Quiet, 645989
The main problem being that if everyone in the world starts eating to 'US level', the earth will be crushed into a singularity..
I thought for a moment that Japan was where you're only allowed one child per family, but after a quick google, that turns out to be China..
When you consider all the 'overnourished' people in America, I find that pretty easy to believe..!
I'm all too used to people on the internet getting all vitriolic against Christians, and I'm sorry if you feel that way. Do you feel the same about other religions? I get worked up too easily over this stuff even when I haven't been feeling strong in my beliefs, so I take the bait all too often and end up in a bad mood for a while - trying not to do that too much just now even though I feel you'll probably end up getting all pissy/high-and-mighty again
Whoah.. it was a joke *shrug* o_0 this is twitter I'm replying to..!
:) I use XP at work, and have had to deal with Vista on slight occasion since I am the IT guy :p There is plenty of decent free stuff out there, but I don't want to get rid of the games industry or any other software industry that thrives on non-free software either.. well... maybe the antivirus industry
I use OS X for OSey stuff, and my PS3 for games these days, I'm pretty happy with that thanks
I'm not very surprised at any of your quotes, sorry to disappoint you. I've read the bible through completely at least two times (the New Testament far more than that, but I've only read through the Old Testament twice in its entirity).
I'm not trying to take away from the law, and technically speaking, believing in Jesus does exactly "get you off the hook". The law is still there, so you are still sinning when you break it. The difference being that if you believe in Jesus, those sins are forgiven. Just copying and pasting verses from the internet isn't really going to work if you don't know the context...
The thing with what you are saying is, that people do deserve to be stoned and such for rape, and even for 'worshipping other gods', but since everyone sins anyway, it is hypocritical to go about punishing others yourself. Jesus said "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" (and then the guy in Monty Python said "oh Jesus, you always want to go first!" hehe). I believe God is perfectly justified in killing people for their sins, but the whole point of the systems of sacrifice in the old testament were analogous to Jesus dying for sins in the New Testament. God *doesn't* kill everyone just for being a sinner (not in this world anyway). Of course you probably don't believe in a God anyway so I don't know why I'm bothering to say anything, I know the whole thing sounds silly when just rattled off like this, I'm just explaining to you what Christians believe. It's sad when people just take the most extreme verses they can find (especially from the Jewish law which was made in a day when people were altogether less 'civilised'.. well, in some ways) and think that will shock someone who actually has read the bible properly.
Maybe he included the install time of a larger HD plus Vista? Though I can say it definitely is slower on startup/shutdown after seeing our MDs Vista laptop. It has better specs than mine, but runs like a dog. I always noticed Mac OS and Windows felt more sluggish to use than my 30Mhz Amiga. Sure there is slightly more going on with the interface (though not much, especially not anything that >2000 extra Mhz and accelerated graphics shouldn't take care of), but it's a joke that all modern user interfaces aren't lightning quick (not talking about browsing files, just rendering displays). Windows XP windows also flicker when you move them around quickly.. they should use double buffering just to make the whole thing feel more 'solid'
I hate all those companies that sell non free crap. Why should I pay them for the decades of developer time that they pay for when creating their software? Grrrrrrr
Perhaps if they modded the GPL to require that you must charge $1000 to distribute any compiled apps, or $500 for the source, it would do better?
I have seen a lot of people who don't pay for software yep. They *know* that Windows isn't worth the money. They also know it's the only thing they can use if they want to play games.. one of my friends has been trying out OpenOffice at least, rather than just pirating MS Office! I gave one friend one of work's old desktops after I wiped it and installed Ubuntu. She tried XP, realised how slow it was, and flitted between Ubuntu/XP for a while. She then bought a Vista laptop and I think ended up installing XP on that too. I'm not sure what the moral of the story is, but we can all agree that Vista is not worth its weight in bird poo.
When your OS has greater requirements than the games you play, you know something has gone very very wrong.. unless perhaps you only play the built in Windows games :p Sometimes life really is stranger than fiction..
With the rate that technology is advancing these days, 14 years is enough to dominate the world! At least there's usually more than one method to accomplish the same objective, and licensing rates for others' technology is usually reasonable..
Obligatory ;)
"'...You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anyone or anything.'
'But the plans were on display...'
'On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.'
'That's the display department.'
'With a torch.'
'Ah, well the lights had probably gone.'
'So had the stairs.'
'But look you found the notice didn't you?'
'Yes,' said Arthur, 'yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying "Beware of The Leopard".'"
So what you're saying is, downloading music makes you turn homeless!! Why didn't the RIAA tell us before???
http://www.google.cn/search?hl=zh-CN&ie=GB2312&q=Tiananmen+square&btnG=Google+%CB%D1%CB%F7&meta=
Seems fine to me..
No, the internet is more like .. the real world, where people can go into shops and get dirty magazines if they want them. Sure, the internet is faster and anonymous, enabling minors to get access to the stuff very easily, but it's not *exactly* the same as just giving someone a dirty magazine. And parents can always install a content filter that can eliminate a lot of the rubbish. Letting the kids keep phones is stupid because of the price involved there compared to say using MSN (which you can also do on a lot of phones, and you can browse the net on even more phones..). Your idea is interesting, but again it's just an excuse to get out of parenting. It would be like the government making all speed limits everywhere 1mph so that nobody could ever ever ever die from a car crash. Total overkill (no pun intended).
I don't actually know what you're talking about - I think I've heard of a couple such cases, but the one I remember most was actually a girl that was kept locked in a cupboard for years.. she didn't even know how to talk :/
Anyone who thinks that having a 'good heart' gets you into heaven is saying that Jesus didn't need to die for our sins though. What then is the point of even being 'religious', let alone claim to be Christian? The whole point is that Jesus came to earth as a sacrifice, not just for a bit of a laugh and to teach people to be nice. You could say that that means that Jesus' sacrifice saved everyone, but that's not what the bible says. You can't just pick and choose parts of a religious system that you like, ignore the rest, and then claim to be a follower of that religion.. if that was true then basically I would be a Jew-Muslim-Christian because all those religions basically believe in the same God (if you go far enough back into history).
I'd think there's a major difference between being raped quickly as opposed to ongoing abuse. I've never experienced either so I couldn't say for sure. A short episode wouldn't be worth choosing death over (IMO), but if you knew you were going to be locked in a basement and regularly abused for a few years, would you make the same choice?
:P
There probably is a stigma, possibly just because people have no idea how to relate to the victim? I know when friends have someone close to them die I have no idea what to do (even though my dad died a few years ago when I was 17 so I've been through it all myself). If someone has been the victim of rape then that's even more difficult to understand. And then for other people I'd expect that they just don't even want to entertain the idea that rape is 'real' so they don't want to spend time around the victim, that kind of thing. Personally I'd not consciously make any decisions to avoid the person, but I might feel awkward. Basically I guess you should be able just to treat someone the same even after something horrific like that happens, but it's difficult because you don't want to inadvertantly say something that might make them relive the memories. Personally I feel awkward talking to people after a death because I don't want someone to think that I'm just doing it out of pity or something.. I tend to worry too much about stuff like that and it cripples me socially
Similar idea to modern fuel efficient engines shutting down cylinders when you're idling as well (probably oversimplifying there but you know what I mean)
You could then make quite a bit more than 31 if you used the whammy bar.. :) Either by having 2 extra octaves (holding it slightly down or all the way down for example), or using it for bends. Someone should do it .. but better than the guy in this video *shudder*
I'm not even thinking so much from a moral standpoint as from a practical standpoint. It wastes a lot less time on everyone's part (apart from maybe the guys) to wear a condom for example *shrug* If they take appropriate precautions and she still ends up pregnant then that's fine. But in the same way that I'd prefer my computer just not to get infected with a virus in the first place rather than have to clean it out at some point, it's surely better to be proactive than reactive when trying to avoid pregnancies too. That's not a moral judgement (though of course I do have an opinion on the 'morality' aspect too), just good sense. It doesn't seem likely that a lot of people are being stupid just in the knowledge that they can have an abortion, and there are more reasons to practice safe sex than just stopping pregnancy, but personally I'd prefer if it wasn't such an easy option. It's fine in the US where people pay for medical care, but over here we have the NHS, and if people were more sensible in the first place then it would free up some resources. It's obviously not going to happen though, people are people and will do what they do best (stupid things!)
Well, yep I think it's the mother's responsibility, though if I were a doctor I probably would still prefer not to be involved - certainly in situations where abortion is just seen as a get out clause for not practicing 'safe' sex.
Just as a random thought, my sister and bro-in-law are trying to have a baby right now, I can imagine that hearing of people having abortions at any stage would be pretty sickening to couples who are having that kind of problem.. not the fault of the person having the abortion of course, but it's just sad that some people are desperately wanting to have a baby and others are treating the whole thing almost like a game.