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Trial balloon? ER November 27, 2024 9:17 pm (CurrentEvents)

NASA prepares tiny robotic swimmers for deep space ocean exploration! BuckGalaxy November 23, 2024 4:25 pm (Space/Science)

Trump stated he could end the Ukraine war in 24 hrs. RobVG November 22, 2024 1:49 pm (Flame)

♫ Bluesky smiling at me ♫ BuckGalaxy November 25, 2024 1:11 pm (Off-Topic)

I couldn't stand it any longer. I bought a new laptop. RobVG November 23, 2024 5:21 pm (GeekSpeak)

Keeling me softly... ER November 21, 2024 11:13 am (Space/Science)

The cabinet of Doctor Caligula ER November 19, 2024 8:28 am (CurrentEvents)

Elric of Melnibone, with an accent on the last 'e'. ER March 24, 2023 6:20 pm (Science Fiction)

The Onion Buys Infowars podrock November 14, 2024 7:37 am (CurrentEvents)

RFK, Gabbard, Gaetz? ER November 15, 2024 4:32 am (CurrentEvents)

Is writing an addiction? RobVG November 18, 2024 11:05 am (Off-Topic)

Shutting it out BuckGalaxy November 7, 2024 3:21 pm (Flame)

More Pointless Philosophizing by ER January 6, 2012 6:02 pm

Where is Marcus Aurelius when you need him? by FrankC 2012-01-07 19:11:05
- Perhaps the "good emperor" is an outmoded concept. by Robert 2012-01-07 23:15:22
  - Why stop there? by ER 2012-01-08 11:11:13
    - I noticed the gentle merging of "GOP" and "corporals of industry" again. by TB 2012-01-09 10:24:10
      - Tom, as you yourself love to point out, "no one put a gun to their heads." You can't blame the regulators ... by ER 2012-01-09 12:50:14
      - You've got a point. The Democrats can't win without corporate support, and the suits in the suites aren't shy ... by ER 2012-01-09 12:41:55
        
        My philosophy says that you aren't going to get rid of human failings, such as greed, corruption, and power-lust, so ... by TB 2012-01-09 13:29:01
        
        Your view of history may be very realistic, but your expectations for it are adolescent fantasy. Businessmen do not want ... by ER 2012-01-09 14:49:25
        
        Polar bears in the South Pacific again. by TB 2012-01-09 16:55:04
        
        I stop in the mid 1800s because things only got worse between then and the beginning of the 20th century. ... by ER 2012-01-09 17:19:08
        
        Most of what you know about the "Gilded Age" is mythology. by TB 2012-01-09 20:36:39
        
        Like most Americans, you're provincial and apparently unaware of developments in the rest of the world. Those people ... by ER 2012-01-09 21:55:32
        
        Your first theory fell flat, so you came up with a different one. by TB 2012-01-09 22:58:25
        
        Post withdrawn. by ER 2012-01-10 06:06:56
    - Did you read my condemnation of party politics by FrankC 2012-01-09 00:30:07
      - I can't attribute the quote, it's not mine, but I can't remember who said it. "The Democrats don't have any ideas, ... by ER 2012-01-09 07:18:56
        
        Oh, the Democrats have ideas. Very specific ones. So does their opposition. by TB 2012-01-09 10:02:23
        
        Its like team sports. The teams are different, and they play very hard for the prize, but it really ... by ER 2012-01-09 12:34:41
Well we all know something... by RobVG 2012-01-06 20:37:58
- I'm surprised it hasn't hit yet. Here's my reasoning. Inflation destroys the value of cash, so people with savings ... by ER 2012-01-06 22:11:59
  - Usually the first thing that comes to mind is TARP and the stimulus by RobVG 2012-01-07 12:02:13
    - Most of that stuff is out of my pay grade. Whether or not 'tis better to let a business, ... by ER 2012-01-07 13:05:47
      - "A lot of problems just go away on their own”. by RobVG 2012-01-07 15:06:21
        
        I never had any illusions of ever using my house as a cash cow. If there is an economic crash, ... by visitor 2012-01-07 15:44:42
        
        Take heart.. by RobVG 2012-01-07 15:55:39
      - An analogy by RobVG 2012-01-07 13:56:21
        
        I don't dispute your figures, but I do have a question. Just who is all that money owed to? ... by ER 2012-01-07 14:23:22
        
        Last time I checked, the majority of US debt is held by US corporations and individuals. It'd be interesting to ... by RobVG 2012-01-07 15:12:01
        
        You can find ownership of Federal Securities in this PDF document, page 51 (internal document numbering). by TB 2012-01-07 19:50:13
        
        Look it up? by ER 2012-01-07 16:08:21
      - Corrected for inflation, the Federal government is spending more than the amount of the entire WWII debt every single year. by TB 2012-01-07 13:21:49
        
        That was my point too. If you borrow money or sell stock to build a factory, that factory will ... by ER 2012-01-07 14:01:36
        
        I'm well aware of how the mortgage industry created pretend money. It was aided and abetted by people who ... by TB 2012-01-07 14:48:22
        
        Shorter version: by TB 2012-01-07 14:49:28
        
        If you want to keep skunks honest, throw them in jail. by ER 2012-01-07 15:02:26
        
        They didn't do that either, did they? by TB 2012-01-07 18:12:53
        
        Start with this by RobVG 2012-01-07 18:59:24
        
        So what you're saying is they knew this crash was coming as early as June, 2008? by ER 2012-01-08 06:14:27
        
        I'm just saying that someone should have gone to jail. by RobVG 2012-01-08 11:04:05
        
        Information is power. Even if you don't illegally profit yourself from insider trading, you can use your inside knowledge, ... by ER 2012-01-08 11:38:52
        
        The struggles are what seem to get the publicity. n/t by RobVG 2012-01-08 12:34:07
        
        √ by RobVG 2012-01-07 15:23:37
Bowser's Rule: Things will never be better than they are right now. by bowser 2012-01-06 18:32:11
- "We are, by definition, at the center of the observable region." Or, we are suspended precisely at the intersection of past ... by ER 2012-01-06 18:53:24

Now this is a BIG surprise! by BuckGalaxy December 22, 2011 8:13 pm

skeptical update (and bounce test) by podrock 2012-01-08 17:02:57
- damn local news redirect to their home page....arrgggg...you'll have to cut and paste the url... by podrock 2012-01-08 17:04:38
  - Testing this link. by TB 2012-01-08 17:39:24
DeSoto's map of his journey in the southeast United States contains place name that sound as if they could be ... by podrock 2011-12-23 11:49:34
- The Spanish transliterated Indian languages so they sounded Spanish. Indian names for geographical entities are very common in Latin ... by ER 2011-12-23 12:39:18
- PS: There are some nice little gold deposits in that region of Georgia. by podrock 2011-12-23 12:11:21
When you think about it, with a huge Mayan civilization in Mexico, it is more surprising to me that there ... by TB 2011-12-22 22:13:58
- When I toured the Southwest, we visited some "Pueblo" ruins that contained features peculiar to Maya cities, specifically, a court ... by ER 2011-12-23 06:18:11
  - Have you read "1491"? by podrock 2011-12-23 12:12:05
    - I had heard of it, but knew little about it. I suspected it was either a do-gooder lament about how ... by ER 2011-12-23 12:54:41
- No respect for the border even then. At least the neo-moderne variety comes by it honestly. by bowser 2011-12-22 22:17:39

Rock stars and brown M&Ms. by TB January 7, 2012 10:55 am

Rock promoters are notorious scumbags. Ted Nugent once related that he had an aerial photographer overfly one of his ... by ER 2012-01-07 14:19:31

On a Philosophical Note by ER January 4, 2012 12:04 pm

Science, knowledge and technology are indeed cumulative. Wisdom has to be learned by each individual, and usually isn't. Therefore the ... by bowser 2012-01-04 12:44:46
- Taking a slightly different tangent. Let's assume for the moment that "science" can and does establish that homosexuality is ... by bowser 2012-01-04 15:20:08
  - Hubble actually brings up that same point, immediately after the quote I presented. Nevertheless, the atmosphere of scientific research--the disinterested curiosity, ... by ER 2012-01-04 16:30:42
    - Solidly Buddhist. The Universe "is", neither right nor wrong, not in the realm of that determination. Science is ... by bowser 2012-01-05 17:55:18
      - Heavy, dude. by ER 2012-01-05 19:04:20
        
        And another one. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. by bowser 2012-01-06 00:57:22
        
        And Odysseus had his men lash him to the mast so he could hear for himself the Sirens sweetly singing. It ... by ER 2012-01-06 04:41:28
        
        Well done. One further thought. The concept of "God" is an attempt by Man's ego to extend Man's ... by bowser 2012-01-05 20:10:08
        
        Hey Bowser, your thoughts about God are a lot different than mine. Your question of, “(One is left to ... by johannes 2012-01-06 20:52:06
        
        What you are really saying is that Western Man would rather be a slave to god than free in an ... by ER 2012-01-06 06:51:15
        
        Exactly. It's human nature. As an example, consider the current state of affairs in the US. The ... by bowser 2012-01-06 14:15:23
        
        Consider the connotation if we had used the word *Universe* all along, instead of the word *God* by Jody 2012-01-06 07:44:17
        
        At first blush that sounds just fine. There may be more to the matter, however. What is "God"? A ... by bowser 2012-01-06 12:30:32
        
        Consider this: I am God. You are God. We are God. We make God whatever we choose. Freewill. by Jody 2012-01-06 13:23:36
        
        We discussed that above. That is exactly what Man has done, define "God" in whatever way meets Man's needs. However, ... by bowser 2012-01-06 14:07:23
        
        Predictability is in the religion Man creates to explain God. Collectivism. If every man and woman defined God according to our ... by Jody 2012-01-06 14:20:56
        
        Frankly, I'm not smart enough to follow your train of thought. Going back a ways, the "Universe" was defined ... by bowser 2012-01-06 14:58:11
        
        What will the preachers do when the Devil is saved? by ER 2012-01-06 15:29:33
        
        They are very, very versatile, much like neutrinos. Remember the Inquisition? Where the Roman Catholic Church was indistinguishable ... by bowser 2012-01-06 17:02:28
        
        Good point. My idea of god IS the universe, nature, the world, reality, the Laws of Physics, whatever you ... by ER 2012-01-06 09:32:05
        
        I agree with you ER...and as of late I have come to appreciate even *more*, the intricacies of the Universe, ... by Jody 2012-01-06 11:34:12
- You may very well be right, Bowser, (or at least, you may have little trouble getting others to agree with ... by ER 2012-01-04 14:21:38

One of your better soccer saves by TB January 5, 2012 1:01 pm

Wow. And one of the worst, too. by bowser 2012-01-06 17:16:50

Hell hath no fury, dept. by ER January 6, 2012 5:05 am

Good Lord! by bowser 2012-01-06 17:15:47

Lost DaVinci sketch to be tested in Milan. by Jody January 5, 2012 7:57 am

Tiz True by RobVG January 3, 2012 7:18 pm

"15 faith-based predictions for 2012" by bowser January 1, 2012 2:53 pm

I get the impression America is a highly religious country. In most western nations, religion plays a much smaller ... by ER 2012-01-01 22:56:59
- I've become aware of an interesting aspect of religion. I assume this is more or less universal. In the hospice ... by bowser 2012-01-02 18:59:17
- Noam Chomsky calls it "religiosity". by bowser 2012-01-02 02:26:40
  - Maybe this explains the strong negative correlation between church attendance and welfare spending. by ER 2012-01-02 07:54:30
    - "Welfare spending" and "charity" are not synonyms. P.S. Here's the source of the chart. by TB 2012-01-02 10:12:00
      - That's right. by ER 2012-01-02 10:21:16

"Gunsmoke", and some memories. by bowser December 27, 2011 11:22 pm

I found myself in a lot of fights early in my life. In my mind I never started them but ... by FrankC 2011-12-28 18:49:29
- That puts you in my class, or a bit better. I didn't have the killer instinct. After the ... by bowser 2011-12-29 01:21:51

Answers by johannes December 26, 2011 3:38 pm

Ahh... ... by VelociraptorBlade 2011-12-27 01:12:26
- Thingamabobs I think that if there are “thingamabob” (Higgs bosons) they still must be composed of “something” and I suppose that ... by johannes 2011-12-27 15:24:47
That question is used as the ultimate proof of God by evangelicals. How that leads to the Old Testament ... by bowser 2011-12-26 20:45:40
- Quantum Electro Dynamics, yes Bowser that leads directly to the Old Testament, if the following translation is used as a ... by johannes 2012-01-01 21:32:15
- "Nonetheless, the greatest carnages this world has seen have been in the name of religion. And oil, or oil and ... by TB 2011-12-26 21:53:26
  - Cause of war: I suspect that there are many reasons that people will start a fight with each other. Some reasons ... by johannes 2011-12-27 15:27:34
  - Well, TB, I'd say they were. Here's a little factoid about WWII in the Pacific, which I'll bet you ... by bowser 2011-12-27 01:59:23
    - Plus, y'know, Pearl Harbor was a major strategic naval base in the Pacific. They probably thought that by taking ... by VelociraptorBlade 2011-12-28 12:34:38
    - One data point hardly makes your argument for you, particularly if you're tallying "carnage." by TB 2011-12-27 10:10:39
      - One data point serves very well as an example of my point, which is all I was trying to do. ... by bowser 2011-12-27 12:23:58
        
        You made a broad statement that was patently false, by any method of counting. by TB 2011-12-27 12:38:36
        
        "Patently false", eh. "Patently"! "Any method of counting". "Any". Well, last I looked there was no demonstration I ... by bowser 2011-12-27 18:22:23
        
        Yeah, I made a pretty broad statement myself. by TB 2011-12-27 18:55:06
    - So what you're saying is that Japan was determned to promote her commercial interests by securing her sources of raw ... by ER 2011-12-27 08:05:06
      - Well done. Exactly. I would only add that Japan regarded the Asian colonies of the Nazi occupied countries ... by bowser 2011-12-27 11:56:29

If you spend Christmas with the British Queen, here is where to go. by bowser December 24, 2011 8:14 am

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