I think, technically, you're playing God's advocate on this one;)
To address your advocate's position, though: The very attributes of omnipotence and omniscience automatically preclude needing to ever create anything. Regardless of whether we puny humans could understand God's purpose in making Creation, purpose itself is something no omnipotent, omniscient being would ever have. Purpose implies the intent to cause change to some effect, no matter what the reason, and if you're omniscient, you already have all possible information that any change could bring about, so the change is redundant and pointless -- and if you're omnipotent AND omniscient, you're always where you want to be, and change is contraindicated. If God existed as Christianity claims, Creation would not.
The other half of it is that every single time I've ever had someone tell me that God's purpose is unknowable and we puny humans can't understand a thing about him, they in every case have either already said, or proceed to say, that they know what God wants (for us to love him and be happy), even though they just told me God's will is unknowable. It really pisses me off. (I don't think you're one of those people, I just wanted to shoehorn that in here.)
I'm frequently asked: "Do you believe in evolution?"
Heh, I just realized that that question makes about as much sense as "Do you believe that the Earth revolves around the Sun?" Neither one has anything to do with belief, of course.
I, like most of society, have the luxury of not needing to know how things started to function.
Geesh -- you're so proud that you "don't believe in Evolution" (why did you capitalize it? evolutionary biologists don't), and yet the quoted sentence here indicates that you don't even know what it is. The various theories surrounding natural evolution say nothing about the origin of life. Evolution is about how one species turns into another, not about how the first lifeform(s) arose. That's called abiogenesis, and is a completely separate field.
While I approve of not being required to carry ID in the U.S., I have to ask, without providing ID when you vote, how are they supposed to know that you're eligible to vote in the precinct you're at, and that you haven't voted already?
Next we turn to the "cost of the child" beyond babysitting. Let us start with diapering...
Now we turn to the other high cost of young children: formula. Again, by taking the natural route you can save thousands. In addition the children are healthier and happier (by not being as cranky and irritable)... And while on this subject news flash: a separate nursery for the new baby with beds, changing tables, etc. is also entirely unnecessary. Another several thousand dollars you don't need to spend. Baby should sleep with mom and dad for the first year or so...
Amen -- we used cloth diapers (though we had a diaper service, as we lived in an apartment and washing dirty diapers would have been unfeasible and almost as expensive, at a buck-seventy five a laundry load), although we also used elimination communication, so our boy was in training pants at 9 months (would have been earlier but we found out then he was allergic to wheat) and underwear full-time by 14 months. We did get a second bed (a twin, for cheap, like $200 for mattress + box spring + frame) to give us more room on the bed, but it was in our room, and he slept next to us (still does, in fact, at almost 3 years old). And he's nursed since birth. (Still does. Turns out humans evolved to nurse until age 6-7; the worldwide mean for weaning is about age 4 right now, but only because it's so low in "industrialized" nations.)
Why is it the government's job to make sure people can still watch TV when the television converts to a new standard, but it wasn't the government's job to buy a new CD player for everybody when the CD took over from Vinyl records?
Because when CDs came out, the government didn't force music companies to stop producing records and cassettes. They *are* going to force broadcasters to stop using the current TV spectrum, which would prevent anyone still using an old TV from seeing broadcasts.
The source reason is that they know they'll get an unholy bitch-fest from those old-TV-watchin' folks unless they upgrade them for free.
I was under the impression that copyright confers rights regarding copying and distribution, not use. If I buy a book that has, printed on the cover, a copyright license saying that I'm not allowed to read the book, as far as I know that's legally unenforcable -- once you sold it to me, I'm legally free to do whatever I want with it except distribute copies. (And, of course, anything it would be illegal to do with any object, like beat someone to death with it.)
I like dupes on Slashdot -- I sometimes go entire days without checking the site and it's nice to get another chance to participate in a discussion I may have missed out on. And when I do see the same story twice, oh well. Sometimes I ignore the second one, sometimes I read the discussion to see how it might have evolved from the first one.
So it rusts. So what? Do the math. Say it rusts in 1 year. You buy another one for $10, and it rusts another year later. At this rate, it'll take you 2,000 years to cost as much the $20k version, which I can guarantee you won't last 2,000 years;)
The U.S. imports about 19% of its crude oil from Canada The next runner up is Saudi Arabia with 15.4%
Hold on -- is that 19% of the crude oil that we import or 19% of the crude oil that we consume?
In fact, does anyone have a link to some good solid information about how much crude and refined oil the U.S. produces, imports, exports, and consumes? Because I hear a lot about how we shouldn't depend on foreign oil, and then I hear about how the oil we use is actually mostly produced here, and so on and so (confusing) forth.
Slashdot Mirror
I think, technically, you're playing God's advocate on this one
To address your advocate's position, though: The very attributes of omnipotence and omniscience automatically preclude needing to ever create anything. Regardless of whether we puny humans could understand God's purpose in making Creation, purpose itself is something no omnipotent, omniscient being would ever have. Purpose implies the intent to cause change to some effect, no matter what the reason, and if you're omniscient, you already have all possible information that any change could bring about, so the change is redundant and pointless -- and if you're omnipotent AND omniscient, you're always where you want to be, and change is contraindicated. If God existed as Christianity claims, Creation would not.
The other half of it is that every single time I've ever had someone tell me that God's purpose is unknowable and we puny humans can't understand a thing about him, they in every case have either already said, or proceed to say, that they know what God wants (for us to love him and be happy), even though they just told me God's will is unknowable. It really pisses me off. (I don't think you're one of those people, I just wanted to shoehorn that in here.)
Heh, I just realized that that question makes about as much sense as "Do you believe that the Earth revolves around the Sun?" Neither one has anything to do with belief, of course.
Geesh -- you're so proud that you "don't believe in Evolution" (why did you capitalize it? evolutionary biologists don't), and yet the quoted sentence here indicates that you don't even know what it is. The various theories surrounding natural evolution say nothing about the origin of life. Evolution is about how one species turns into another, not about how the first lifeform(s) arose. That's called abiogenesis, and is a completely separate field.
s/ask for/buy
You forgot Awards Season, TV Season, and Riot Season.
While I approve of not being required to carry ID in the U.S., I have to ask, without providing ID when you vote, how are they supposed to know that you're eligible to vote in the precinct you're at, and that you haven't voted already?
Personally, I think you should get a refund for the extra premiums you pay for being under 25, if you make it to 25 without any accidents. :)
Of course, I only think that because I didn't have any accidents before I was 25. (Or since.)
Nice demagoguery. Care to back that up with some solid evidence?
This is baaaaad news for sheep.
Bravery is doing something even though you're afraid to do it.
Amen -- we used cloth diapers (though we had a diaper service, as we lived in an apartment and washing dirty diapers would have been unfeasible and almost as expensive, at a buck-seventy five a laundry load), although we also used elimination communication, so our boy was in training pants at 9 months (would have been earlier but we found out then he was allergic to wheat) and underwear full-time by 14 months. We did get a second bed (a twin, for cheap, like $200 for mattress + box spring + frame) to give us more room on the bed, but it was in our room, and he slept next to us (still does, in fact, at almost 3 years old). And he's nursed since birth. (Still does. Turns out humans evolved to nurse until age 6-7; the worldwide mean for weaning is about age 4 right now, but only because it's so low in "industrialized" nations.)
"About time"? Like this is the first time a court has ever ruled that a law was in violation of the First Amendment?
You work for Cameron Frye?
Since you missed the reference: lyrics
That's a hefty fuckin' fee.
No, he just thinks Carlos Mencia is a genius.
Because when CDs came out, the government didn't force music companies to stop producing records and cassettes. They *are* going to force broadcasters to stop using the current TV spectrum, which would prevent anyone still using an old TV from seeing broadcasts.
The source reason is that they know they'll get an unholy bitch-fest from those old-TV-watchin' folks unless they upgrade them for free.
...he was delicious.
I was under the impression that copyright confers rights regarding copying and distribution, not use. If I buy a book that has, printed on the cover, a copyright license saying that I'm not allowed to read the book, as far as I know that's legally unenforcable -- once you sold it to me, I'm legally free to do whatever I want with it except distribute copies. (And, of course, anything it would be illegal to do with any object, like beat someone to death with it.)
Do they mean, uh, darkness?
Yes, but what he didn't say is that he left it running on every computer on earth.
I like dupes on Slashdot -- I sometimes go entire days without checking the site and it's nice to get another chance to participate in a discussion I may have missed out on. And when I do see the same story twice, oh well. Sometimes I ignore the second one, sometimes I read the discussion to see how it might have evolved from the first one.
So it rusts. So what? Do the math. Say it rusts in 1 year. You buy another one for $10, and it rusts another year later. At this rate, it'll take you 2,000 years to cost as much the $20k version, which I can guarantee you won't last 2,000 years ;)
"Transnats"? Been reading Red Mars lately? :)
Hold on -- is that 19% of the crude oil that we import or 19% of the crude oil that we consume?
In fact, does anyone have a link to some good solid information about how much crude and refined oil the U.S. produces, imports, exports, and consumes? Because I hear a lot about how we shouldn't depend on foreign oil, and then I hear about how the oil we use is actually mostly produced here, and so on and so (confusing) forth.