The serious stuff. Debates and discussions on politics, religion, etc.
It seems like US schools have a zero tolerance policy for bullying these days. At the same time, one reads of very young bullied children committing suicide, so the zero-tolerance rule seems justified. On the other hand, part of me wants to say, "Oh...
A year after the Credit Crunch crisis and Investment Bank Goldman Sachs is ready to pay out several billion in bonuses to its workers. The Bank was given a $10bn bailout at the start of the crisis, which it said it did not need and has since...
Spun off from chat where I've been talking to Feirefiz about the friendliness (or lack thereof) in general in different cultures. In your experiences are some cultures friendlier than others? One problem with commenting on this is that we'll all...
The Sun newspaper has today come out in favour of the Tories and dropped its backing for Labour and in particular Gordon Brown. It is one of the bellweathers of political movement in the country, but is it as important as it says it is. A lot of...
This is a bit better coverage of yesterday's anti-Islam demonstration in Manchester than I was able to provide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hre3HO993tU&feature=email Those poor downtrodden fascists were complaining about being denied their...
Yeah, you heard me. Suppose someone were to announce a policy tomorrow to remove the genes of common illnesses from the population, and that the plan was workable, affordable and shown to be completely side effect free. Opposition to this plan...
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2009/s2707258.htm Reading this, it is like preaching to the choir for me. But I would like to get other people's opinion on this. The legalisation of drugs debate has been done before, but this guy is...
From CNN: It turns out that women's reasons for having sex range from love to pure pleasure to a sense of duty to curiosity to curing a headache. Some women just want to please their partners, and others want an ego boost. This struck me as...
In preperation for a Sino-US summit next month, it apepars that Barack Obama has turned down a meeting with the Dalai Lama as the Chinese objected to the meeting. This would be because China has laid claim to Tibet and the Tibetans would like it...
I don't know where to post this. It's somewhat sports-related but not so much directly about sports. Of course Olympic bids are always a divisive issue. They are supported by many for a variety of reasons including patriotic pride, hope for...
The top three leaders of the main political parties are slowly edging towards holding a TV debate in the style of the presidential debates in the US. Amusingly the head of the SNP, Alex Salmond, wants in as well, otherwise he will stop it being...
Or, if you like, other world leaders, if they'd happened to be the American president at the time. I saw this image on Cracked today for one of their contests and it got me thinking: So, what do you think? Would Teddy Roosevelt have kicked...
How should we resolve the West Lothian Question? Quoted from wiki: The West Lothian Question was first posed on 14 November 1977 by Tam Dalyell, Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for the Scottish constituency of West Lothian, during a British...
For the purposes of this discusson, assume that Earth-like life is common throughout the universe and intelligent life is also common. Just to exclude robots, sentient hydrogen clusters and other truly "alien" aliens. Could a herbivorous species...
Do you let your cats go outside or are they restricted to the indoors? People who let their cats out say it improves their quality of life immensely. People who have indoor cats point to statistics that the average lifespan of a free range cat is...
Dr. Anthony Atala is a name that will likely go down in history. This man is pioneering tissue engineering in ways that seem straight out of science-fiction. He developed a way to build bladders and arteries for transplants. Using ink jet...
(NSFW - GRAPHIC VIOLENCE DISPLAYED) For those too squeamish or sensitive to click on the link, the picture is of a killer's 'den' and one of his victims. Just a glance into this room is enough to convince me of the pure madness needed to carry...
About two and a half hours ago polls closed in our general elections. Chancellor Merkel and her Christian Democrats won. So far they had been in a so-called grand coaltion with the Social Democrats. Now Merkel will be able to form a coalition...
On sunday Germany will hold general elections. Once again the "Federal Center for Political Education" offers their so called Wahl-O-Mat, (roughly: Elect-O-Matic) an online quiz that compares your views to the official stances of 24 parties...
Dr. Ernest Madu Dr. Ernest Madu runs the Heart Institute of the Caribbean in Kingston, Jamaica, where he proves that -- with careful design, smart technical choices, and a true desire to serve -- it's possible to offer world-class healthcare in...
Well, it looks as though Iran has decided to come out and confess early on the grounds that the USA was going to tell everyone anyway. So despite having several UN Sanctions saying they should not have these kind of plants, they have built one...
Reflected on the net there seems to be a general "Give an inch the government will take 20 miles" attitude amongst gun enthusiasts with regard to gun control legislation. Are there many (any on here) gun owners and enthusiasts that would welcome...
I don't know if you have discussed Israel, the Palestinians, etc., or not. I was recently censured heavily on another site for repeating that "I'm on Israel's side" - this brought down dreadful wrath onto my head. I was told that automatically my...
How do you manage to keep the music business rolling around with music downloads. Illegal downloads means that no money goes directly back to the artist or the companies but they may get some indirectly through album sales, legal downloads,...
I've just been reading this wiki article on excommunication and a thought struck me - As an atheist should excommunication be a state that I should aim to achieve? It could be like a badge of honour and the ultimate affirmation of non-faith. ...
A local teen is facing weapons charges after a failed suicide attempt. The story is here. A brief synopsis: The teen took his father's .40 caliber pistol into a tool shed, after leaving a suicide note, with the intent of killing himself. The...
Wait, wait, wait. Don't get the torches and pitchforks yet. Hear me out first. Okay, so the zombie apocalypse has begun. Your family is dead as far as you know, you're roaming the countryside with a group of other survivors, and supplies are...
A call has come from ther Royal College of Psychiatrists for action against sites which promote eating disorders. It believes that such sites should be marked as harmful and is trying to raise awareness about the issue. More on the story here...
So, the TUC in Britain has voted that women should wear sensible shoes in the workplace on the grounds of safety and health problems. According to the Unions, several jobs require high heels as part of their professional dress code and as men are...
It seems like we should probably talk about this although I have no real opinion on the topic. I don't know, it's something to discuss? There don't seem to be any threads about it here so here goes. Anyhow Gordon Brown or someone like that...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/16/shipwreck-waste-mafia-italy Hey, they are the "go to" guys when you need a dirty job done, after all! What's the betting some bent Italian minister brokered this little deal?
Someone on the dope posted disparagingly of the difficulty of parenting and said that the hardest thing she had ever done was her current struggle with secondary infertility. She has a daughter, but wants more. My internal reaction to that was...
A new protection system has been put in place in the UK which will be the biggest vetting system in the world. It's purpose is to vet all adults who come into regular contact with children or OAPs within the country through either regular or...
I'm not sure whether this is more at home here, or in the Pit of Rage. Please feel free to move it where ever the mods feel it best fits. I have been thinking about how jarring I find this for some time, but what really coalesced it into...
So, tomorrow, everyone wakes up to find the world filled with, um, skysharks. These skysharks attack people with reasonable regularity but can be killed, though their population can't be drastically reduced. In other words, they are here to stay. ...
This is not the first study I've seen on this subject. Essentially, this study found that there is a correlation between first name desirability and scholastic aptitude. Others, like clinical psychologist C.R. Snyder, claim that strange and...
Sorry about the title, that's just how my professor sort of framed it. We've been discussing oddly enough, The Crucible and whether or not John Proctor was a good man. But that's kind of irrelevant because the question in my mind is more abstract....
On becoming POTUS, One of Obama's big schemes was to revitalise Healthcare in America. He has laid out in broad strokes what he plans to do with the finer detail to be set out through Congress. Now with his popularity starting to slump in the...
Cannibalism is such an odd thing. It is so widely practised amongst precivilised or barely civilised cultures, but is equally widely condemned amongst civilised cultures. But why? Without the social stigma of necrocannibalism (the consumption...
Spotted this on CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/05/georgia.killings.funerals/index.html?eref=onion A couple of questions I have regarding this story are, how could one person manage to overcome 8 adults in one trailer home, and not...
dread pirate jimbo and I were discussing this the other day; he doesn't think that it will ever happen, because people are not likely to accept the sanctity of your own home being breached by the government telling you what you can't do in it, but I...
What do you reckon about this story: http://www.insidescience.org/research/study_says_world_s_stocks_controlled_by_select_few Now, it is worth noting that this is yet to be peer reviewed. That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if the economies...
Oops.In a withering critique, a nationally known fire scientist has told a state commission on forensics that Texas fire investigators had no basis to rule a deadly house fire was an arson -- a finding that led to the murder conviction and execution...
In assorted debates in assorted places, people keep telling me 'well my friends from X country hate their national health care and hope the U.S. doesn't go the same way!' My personal experience goes the opposite way-the friends I have in other...
So releasing the Lockerbie Bomber - good idea/bad idea? Should it have been done for humanitarian reasons - he is allegedly dying of prostate cancer - or should he have remained in jail? Who thinks he will know make a miraculous recovery? Is...
I have this sneaking feeling that Chicago is going to be awarded the 2016 Olympics. It's sort of our moment in the sun right now, with the President being from here and all, and I could see the IOC trying to capitalize on all the feelgoodness of...
Okay, this is a serious thread, not a flamefest attempt, nor an attempt to insult anybody. It seems to me that the weirdest political myths are harboured by American Republicans. I'm not saying everyone who votes Republican or is a Republican is...
Apart from being a bit casual with where I flick my ash, I reckon I am a fairly considerate smoker on the whole. I would not smoke whilst in the queue at the bakery, nor would I light one up in the doctor's waiting room. If was sat on a bench in...
Last week Google was force by a court to reveal the name of an anonymous blogger as part of a legal case of defamation. In turn, the blogger is now suing Google for $15m over her right to anonymity. This follows a recent case in Britain where an...
I don't get this at all. Personally, I'm generally a conservative type and I'm generally against gun control...but if there was ever a situation where it is inappropriate to tote a gun along, IMO, it's a townhall meeting where voices are meant to...
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