The serious stuff. Debates and discussions on politics, religion, etc.
President Obama has selected Judge Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee for Supreme Court Justice. Linky winky. Obviously the GOP is unhappy with the choice, apparently they didn't expect a liberal president nominating a liberal judge. However, she...
IOW, if all you have to say is how stupid religion is, please find another thread to say it in. I put this in The Crucible quite literally - so we can share ideas and perhaps distill them down into Truth. Smart Aleq's reply in this thread...
Please help me out. I'm not a big student of politics or law, and I'm confused. President Obama just gave a speech about detainees and how to deal with them, and he proposed some new stuff about keeping folks for a prolonged period of time when...
The total death toll in Vietnam is estimated to be over 4 million, all parties included. When compared with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which exacted a toll of perhaps a half million if long term disease is factored in, what would have...
Missing link fossil unveiled today. Is this as big a deal as the story makes it out to be? http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/ ... ssing-link
Against Annihilation of the Spirit: Let Us All Become Cowards I liked this blog. It echoed a lot of my own thoughts on mankinds ready acceptance of war as being a part of nature, and is a timely read for Memorial Day. It really does take courage...
I am, for the most part, an igtheist. Essentially, it seems to me that the concept of a "god" is so amorphous and ill-defined that there's no logical way to even argue about the existence of a god. The Abrahamic concept of a big G god only further...
So, the new winner of one of the most prestigious positions in poetry is stepping down. The new University of Oxford’s Professor of Poetry Ruth Padel is resigning after it came to light that she was behind the smears and accusations against Derek...
Everyone's "favorite pervy teacher.Mary Kay Letourneau and her former sixth-grade student - the father of her two youngest children - are hosting a "Hot for Teacher" night at a Seattle nightclub. Letourneau, now 47, served 7 1/2 years in prison...
As the title says. Are there actually any arguments out there that are against gay marriage that dony involve religion and actually make any sense? The only arguments i've read are "marriage is between a man and a woman!" and "marriage is about...
Hugh Hefner is shopping the PLayboy Empire. Market price is US$100M, he is asking for $300M. He owns 70% of the stock. OK, I will put $20,000 into the deal. Who's with me on this?
Liberty University has revoked its recognition of the campus Democratic Party club, saying “we are unable to lend support to a club whose parent organization stands against the moral principles held by” the university. ... According to the...
Many people outside Germany don't even know that Germany has a President. He is our largely ceremonial head of state while our head of government, the Chancellor, is much more visible. At any rate, today the incumbent Horst Köhler has been...
Despite her recent media activity on behalf of the Gurkhas being done with the best of intentions, I wonder if it has occurred to St. Joanna that the parliamentary announcement in favour of the Gurkhas will have probably ensured that the British...
CNN is reporting (19.00 middle east time) that five US soldiers have been killed in a fragging incident. Some reports are the shooter killed himself. Developing. May angles speed them to His rest.
Link C'mon, Air Force! Get your act together. I'm lost without the GPS on my phone.
This is sort of an odd question, since I'm Jewish. I was watching a History Channel documentary called Battles B.C. over the weekend, and it detailed how Moses militarized the Hebrews after fleeing from Egypt. According to the documentary,...
The National Archives lost a computer hard drive containing massive amounts of sensitive data from the Clinton administration, including Social Security numbers, addresses, and Secret Service and White House operating procedures, congressional...
Is the dream of a highway filled with electric cars essentially bunk? First, there needs to be some sort of charging infrastructure in place to get people to buy the cars, but this will only be built when people are actually buying them! Further,...
Brooke Shields is livid. According to her, her mother was removed from the nursing facility where she has been placed, by a reporter and photographer from the National Enquirer. According to the police, who were also involved when Kim Shields'...
Why would a state that claims to be secular choose an aggressively religious name like that? Was the name ordered by British Palestinian authorities and they never bothered to change it? Or do they secretly prefer people following the Jewish...
The Greenbrier Hotel, home to the sooper sekret Congressional bunker filed for bankruptcy this year.On March 20, 2009, the resort filed for bankruptcy, listing debt of up to $500 million and assets of $100 million. The resort lost $166 million in...
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/16/florida-officials-43-children-zapped-by-stun-gun-during-prison-tour/ At least, that's the story of Prison Officer Walter Schmidt. This happened during a "Bring Your Children to Work Day", so most of the...
I'm not sure if I titled this thread quite the right way, but my question refers to this story that ran in the Chicago Tribune today. The basic outline is this: Dad makes $110,000 a year, loses his job. The mom makes $20,000, all of which goes to...
There have been claims that Russia officially sanctions homophobia, but don't worry. The claims appear to be true. I hadn't paid attention to the Eurovision song contest or gay rights in Russia, but someone posted a link to this story on Twitter...
That is so cool! Luckily, when they cut the limestone, they made a nearly perfect cross section of the whale. Scientists are looking over the quarry now, to see if there are any other fossils there. I wonder what museum will get the fossil?
If Alexander the Great hadn't existed, how would the world today have been different? Would the Persian Empire have continued to expand west, consuming the majority of Europe? Was there anybody else in a position to stop them? Was Alexander's...
As much as I am somewhat dismayed by the complete meltdown of the Republican party, at the same time I can only say that they've made this bed for themselves and they have to live with it. But BOY HOWDY!, some of the comments I see on CNN.com...
Intel has just been find a lot of money by the EC for anti-competition practices in their battle with AMD to be the top chip processor. Story here It looks as though they have been paying certain manufacturers to take their chips instead of...
I've noticed this weird trend where autism is suddenly viewed by the public and various media outlets as some kind of disease that confers mystical powers onto the afflicted person. I do understand that some autistic people have certain talents, but...
Gordon Brown's had another awful week. He actually managed to get defeated in Parliament by a combination of Lib Dems, Tories and 27 Labour rebels over the Gurkhas' right of residence. It's the first time that's happened since 1978. He was...
So, it looks like the latest virus outbreak which is going to wipe out mankind is Swine Flu, following on from Ebola, Sars and Bird Flu. Story Here Of course, the next stories are that all Americans are being told to wear face masks if they...
This is more of a news piece, than an entertainment one, but mods can kick it around if they like. Dustin Hoffman: Lets put the science back into science fiction, dammit!Dustin Hoffman is so concerned about getting better science in...
As some of you may know, I have argued this position before as an aside in other threads, but I think it deserves its own topic. Increasingly, there have been calls for more "humane" farming and scientific research—calls to avoid causing animal...
This story from Dallas Texas has me scratching my head. To summarize things, a woman just got a dress code waiver for her daughter, based on 1 Timothy 2:9, so her daughter is not required to tuck in her shirt at school. For those of you, like...
First, for the poll question, read this scenario of a "Burglary in Europe" and answer it: A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in...
This link on a hitler youth bill (their term, not mine) just passed by the House is on the page linked in this post. Any opinions? I don't quite know which way to swing. It sounds like a good idea, but it could certainly get out of hand. ...
On the 23rd September 1987 Margaret Thatcher famously said "There's no such thing as society". Her actual quote is They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and...
Certain philosophers have written considerable bodies of work on aesthetics. Kant comes to mind. Hegel. Probably no one more than Schopenhauer, although his aesthetic sense was bizarre at best. Other than him, it seems to me that aesthetics have...
Say it was discovered that our planet had been visited by beings with a vastly superior intellect that were considering inviting us into a Galactic Federation, but only if we stopped eating meat - Would that be enough to make you give up your...
There's a massive dust-up taking place in many states as a result of the ICC (International Code Council) final action hearings which took place in Minneapolis, MN last September. The most hotly contested issues were those of fire sprinklers for 1...
There's a lot of people here. Let's do this: Report every case of Swine Flu you have first-hand knowledge of. It has to be someone you know personally. No second-hand reports. Should this person die, you should mention that, too. Wlecome...
Georgia's just put down an army mutiny and stopped a suspected plot to kill the Prime Minister, which they initially claimed was being funded by Russia. Nato's currently on a series of exercises in Georgia. Two Russian diplomats have been expelled...
His latest gaffe is a big one even by his standards. First here is the GoogleNews link to 1480 or more articles on yesterday's not-so-harmless gaffe. Here are some quotes from yesterday: "If you're out in the middle of a field and someone...
George Will, I have a secret to tell you. Lean in a little closer. Ready? Okay. You dress like a dork. So, judging me by my jeans is particularly goofy, coming from you. I mean damn! That's like getting housekeeping tips from Jeffrey Dahmer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/0 ... ation-iraq Or at least, they're preparing to leave. 4,000 will ship out by the end of May. I don't believe you ever should have been sent there, but thank you for going. And my condolences to the...
"Sexting" is the stupid word du jour I just discovered in this NPR report. It means young teens sending each other nekkid photos of themselves on their cell phones. These photos may or may not be intended to be sexually arousing; in this story, it...
Christopher Poole aka moot who founded 4chan. It looks like the 4chan users didn't just rig the poll in his favour, they precision hacked the top places to spell out a message as well. Tech Comment here followed by a more in depth look here
Amateur video here (possibly NSFW). Somebody drive a car at high speed through a crowd of onlookers attending a Royal parade in the Netherlands. Five confirmed deaths, with twelve injured (four critical).
An ignoble end to a once great company.General Motors Corp. is readying plans to shed its Pontiac brand, shutter more factories and launch a bond exchange aimed at eliminating billions in debt, people familiar with the matter said Friday. The...
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