landrew wrote:How much of that CO₂ was released from the ocean and the tundra by atmospheric warming itself? Perhaps the cart is leading the horse, just a bit.

Gord wrote:How do we know that we don't have many separate consciousnesses within our mind? That would explain several things, such as where ideas come from, and how I can juggle without even watching the balls (but I can't juggle with my eyes closed).

Gord wrote:How do we know that we don't have many separate consciousnesses within our mind? That would explain several things, such as where ideas come from, and how I can juggle without even watching the balls (but I can't juggle with my eyes closed).

Squishua wrote:What is it that experiences the thoughts and events of perception in the brain?

Squishua wrote:What is it that experiences the thoughts and events of perception in the brain?

Gord wrote:

Squishua wrote:What is it that experiences the thoughts and events of perception in the brain?

It's the brain.

Gord wrote:

Squishua wrote:What is it that experiences the thoughts and events of perception in the brain?

It's the brain.

Lance Kennedy wrote:I agree landrew.

Do you know if that fruit fly immunity is to most pyrethroids, or just a few?

The 'natural' one is pyrethrum, extracted from chrysanthemums. It is not actually terribly potent, and acts more as an insect repellent than insecticide. Synthetic pyrethoids are modified and synthesized versions, which are much more potent and probably safer. Note that pyrethrum is listed by the EPA as a suspected carcinogen at high doses.

landrew wrote:As the timeline clearly shows, many early leads that could have led to an antibiotic cure weren't pursued. You can look at it as an eventual success, or as a long-running error. Simply put, such a basic cure should have been discovered decades ago, but was prevented by orthodoxy which was in error.

landrew wrote:As the timeline clearly shows, many early leads that could have led to an antibiotic cure weren't pursued. You can look at it as an eventual success, or as a long-running error. Simply put, such a basic cure should have been discovered decades ago, but was prevented by orthodoxy which was in error.

Furthermore, dogma and the intellectual chorus were in harmony advocating that gastric acid was critical in ulcer disease. The consideration of a role for a pathogen or pepsin was regarded as whimsical in the context of mucosal ulceration. Indeed, the effects of acid inhibitory agents were held as gospel truth whilst the use of antibiotics or metallic ions were deemd to be quackery or at least ill judged.

landrew wrote:I should have stipulated "intelligent life."

eden wrote:Now the Bible said God did...Wow that just as hard to believe, seem very crazy to believe that. And if Genesis was the only book, I'd probably throw that book away. But there is other books and when I read something in O.T. that call out a even that will happen in the N.T. you start seeing that some people of O.T. had knowledge of future events...quite often too. That's really just as hard to believe too, yet its has been written and recorded. I don't think the O.T. people invented an awesome crystal ball. So, Well, if the bible called out future events and that seems to be true then maybe the whole "God did it" think might be true. The book got a impress batting avarge so far.

So I have to try and logicly to think and research this, what I've seem to notice is science seem to come up with many theories and many points and ways to prove there theories, but at the same time there are people who believe in creation that have come up with their own theories and point and counter points. I've read a research allot on both sides of this, I think creationist have many good points and theories yet they're not took serouly cause the rest of academa has got on the evolution bandwagon and don't care or want to hear or will ignore the creations point of view just cause of what it repersents. Lets face it, both side of this is pretty hard headed. Both Evolution and Creation people have came up with some great theories on the way the world works, but I can say I think creationist gets a bum deal with their theories not taken serouly.

The president called it a ''stunt.''

''If he's listening, I hope he understands that what he's proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans,'' Obama said. ''That this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance.''

''And as a very practical matter, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women who are in uniform,'' the president added.

Said Obama: ''Look, this is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaida. You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.'' The president also said Jones' plan, if carried out, could serve as an incentive for terrorist-minded individuals ''to blow themselves up'' to kill others.

It is about whether or not he can publish his cartoons, yes or no. . . . Whether they are necessary or helpful or tasteful or not doesn't matter. Is he allowed to do it? Yes, he is. . . . Europe is a place where a cartoonist can draw cartoons. That is not to contradict that Europe is also a place of freedom of belief and religion. The respect for belief and religion is a highly valued good.

The lesson of that incident [Myers throwing a Communion Host, pierced with a rusty nail, into the trash along with torn pages from a copy of a secular book] wasn't that you can find some jerk somewhere who will disrespect what some group finds holy — that was trivial and uninteresting, and I actually had to ignore many of the elaborate suggestions for cracker disposal sent my way to emphasize the absolute triviality of tossing a cracker/piece of Jesus in the trash. No, the real lesson was that mobs of people will react with irrational freakish hysteria to the idea that other people don't believe as they do.

The problem isn't the desecrators. The problem is the people who have an unwarranted sense of privilege, that their beliefs will not be questioned or criticized, ever, by anyone. What I was saying was that it was crazy to believe a cracker turns into Jesus, and what all the outraged Catholics were doing is confirming to an awesome degree just how mad their beliefs were, with their prolonged and excessive outrage.

So I'm looking at this recent episode with Terry Jones — a fellow I don't like at all, and I think he's a fanatical goofball — and I see that the serious problem here isn't Jones at all…it's all the lunatics who are insisting that burning the Koran is a major international catastrophe.

It's just a frackin' book, people.

Squishua wrote:Leave it to a Hawaiian to teach a Californian about these things.

ruben lopez wrote:I have had guns pulled on me. Been in car wrecks. Stabbed. Not one of those times did I ever pray or even think of gods, before, during or after. But the next time I am in a life-or-death situation, I will be sure to pray to Bigfoot to get me out of it.

Gord wrote:The only one of those things that has ever saved me was the self-shitting. Bigfoot doesn't like shooting people after they've done that.

vanderpoel wrote:Experience and reason is available to us only after we have grown from a simple sperm into a complex being.

landrew wrote:Atheism can have several causes. Unanswered prayers, rebellion against religious authority or simple scientific understanding. Not much of a system, I can identify.

Matthew Ellard wrote:

landrew wrote:Atheism can have several causes. Unanswered prayers, rebellion against religious authority or simple scientific understanding. Not much of a system, I can identify.

I agree there are many causes for atheism, however in some cases people are atheist simply because they never got introduced to any religion...the blank canvas mode.

NeroXIV wrote:Let's have a Bible burning.