651. Iowa county board gives initial OK for ghost hunters to investigate asylum

Comment #151664 by Frankus1122 on March 29, 2008 at 6:44 am

Joe Nickell at the Center for Inquiry does this kind of thing all the time.
In one Point of Inquiry interview he said that he is skeptical of ghosts and other paranormal activity. He was willing to be convinced that such things are real if the evidence presented itself.
However, after 30 (?) years of investigating paranormal claims and NEVER finding ANY evidence, he tends toward the belief that ghosts and the like do not exist.
I love the understatement.

652. Beware the Believers

Comment #151661 by Frankus1122 on March 29, 2008 at 6:37 am

I think it's a good thing.

but the way "we" are presented is as supremely arrogant know-it-alls.

You should be able to laugh at yourself.

653. I always aim to misbehave

Comment #151656 by Frankus1122 on March 29, 2008 at 6:26 am

Barry Pearson, I love that video.

the bit where Dennett jumps up from the bottom of the screen goin' Yeah! is good

Yeah!

I feel it's important to be able to laugh at yourself. I think it is a sign of confidence and maturity.

Steve Zara

However, it seems that PZ has got reporters involved, and can reveal to them the lies and factual errors in the film. This is a useful step forward, and will, hopefully, raise the media profile of the discussion above the appearance of two sides each accusing each other.

I do hope you're right. But let's just wait and see how the media handle all this.
Apparently sometimes even journalists have an "agenda"

Thus the importance of 'critical thinking skills' being taught in our schools. (I'm weaving threads).

654. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151642 by Frankus1122 on March 29, 2008 at 5:58 am

The children were asked to prepare a report based on their own views, and they would then be asked to discuss their report and defend their point of view. They learned how to prepare arguments, how to defend them, how to evaluate evidence and so on.

This is good.

I'll provide an example from my class.
We watched "An Inconvenient Truth". The class was convinced that climate change was real and posed an immanent danger. We then watched "The Great Global Warming Swindle". The class was convinced that Global Warming was a hoax.

What were we to make of these two opposing viewpoints?
We did a little research. Nothing really in depth. We Googled and Wikipediaed both movies.
We found that there was some controversy around TGGWS. Some of the scientist felt they were taken out of context.
We then looked at the names of the other scientists in the movie. We randomly chose one and looked up his credintials. We discovered that he worked for a think-tank called the (?) Something(can't remember) Group. We looked up this organization and found that a portion of their funding came from Exxon.

This brought up the question of bias.

What was Al Gore's purpose?

We also had to consider the validity of the sources of our information. Who wrote the Wikipedia article? Is Wikipedia a reliable source of information? (This is a whole other topic but an interesting one: How often do you see disclaimers such as 'The neutrality of this article may be in question" in a textbook?)

When looking at issues such as this one needs to consider a number of points.
Who is producing the message and why?
Who is the intended audience?
What production methods/ persuasion techniques are being utilised?

If you do this in a class you are teaching critical thinking skills.
If you follow this up with some metacognitive reflection you reinforce those skills and make it more likely that the critical thinking will be transfered to other areas.

Education is a complicated and multifaceted issue. There is a lot of good stuff and a lot of bad stuff. Educators learn all the time - or at least they should.

655. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151496 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 9:06 pm

There certainly is a lot to be said for letting kids be kids. I read a book a while ago that advocated more freedom for kids. I can't find the book right now but I remember it asking how natural was it for children to sit in rows in rooms for 6 hours a day while someone talked to them. I was at a conference last month where one of the speakers said we are housed in 19th century buildings using 19th century technology and methodology to teach 21st century students.

656. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151488 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 8:32 pm

Comment #151468 by Bonzai

Do you have any evidence that formal education corresponds to originality of thought, capacity for critical thinking

http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/6/cu11.html

657. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151484 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 8:24 pm

A brief snippet taken from the Ontario Curriculum:

Media Studies explores the impact and influence of mass media and popular culture by examining texts such as films, songs, video games, action figures, advertisements, CD covers, clothing, billboards, television shows, magazines, newspapers, photographs, and Web sites. These texts abound in our electronic information age, and the messages they convey, both overt and implied, can have a significant influence on students' lives. For this reason, critical thinking as it applies to media products and messages assumes a special significance. Understanding how media texts are constructed and why they are produced enables students to respond to them intelligently and responsibly. Students must be able to differentiate between fact and opinion; evaluate the credibility of sources; recognize bias; be attuned to discriminatory portrayals of individuals and groups, such as religious or sexual minorities, people with disabilities, or seniors; and question depictions of violence and crime.

What could the teachers have taught us anyway? They were all burnt out, comfortable with their habits and conventions. We were only too happy to be left alone. I would have hated it if we had to take courses on "critical thinking" and by people who weren't that good in that themselves!

As I said earlier a lot depends on the student and a lot depends on the teacher. I take pride in making my students feel uncomfortable. They become uncomfortable when they are forced out of the 'easy route' box. I do not provide answers. I may show them methods to find answers, but what is more important to me are the questions they ask. 'So what?' is a favourite of mine.
Whenever a student goes outside the box in terms of thinking about an assignment they are celebrated.

Quote from a student's journal: Our teacher keeps telling us to think outside the box but he won't tell us how to do this.

That made me smile.

658. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151477 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 8:04 pm

Comment #151473 by dragonfirematrix

I sort of have the same feeling. I have friends who go to church, not because they particularly believe, but because they want the sense of community the church provides.

enjoy the groups company, maybe enjoy food and drink together, and engage in intelligent conversations.

Isn't this what happens here? (But without the food and drink -although there have been discussions about these things - it's really not the same).

659. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151472 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 7:56 pm

Do you have any evidence that formal education corresponds to originality of thought, capacity for critical thinking , independence of the mind and intellectual curiosity? If you do I would like to see it because it is quite at odd with my anecdotal experience.

I am a teacher. I can say that my anecdotal experience suggests otherwise. In some situations. It depends on the student to some extent.
Intellectual curiosity and critical thinking skills are certainly capacities that can be fostered and developed in some students.

660. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151469 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 7:51 pm

Comment #151462 by Richard Morgan

That's funny.
You can, of course, teach critical thinking skills but whether or not what is provided 'takes' is another matter.
Is there not a parable about sowing seed and its ability to grow depending on the type of soil it lands in?

661. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151364 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 2:53 pm

I personally agree with Daniel Dennets proposition about teaching children *the facts* about all the worlds religions ie history, teachings etc...

Perhaps this should be the focus of any new "Humanist" church.
Here is what the Roman Catholics believe...Next week we will have a guest speaker talk to us about Islam followed by a group discussion.

662. Fleabytes

Comment #151336 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 2:13 pm

Reverend Shayne Dark
I am sorry for your loss.
When we buried my father my mother could not control herself.
I thought she was breaking down because of grief. I found out later that she was trying to control herself from laughing at the priest who was going a bit overboard with sprinkling the 'holy water' over the grave.
She thought my dad would have thought the situation rather funny.
The scrabble bag made me smile.
It is truly better to have real memories of the past rather than false hopes for the future.

663. Fleabytes

Comment #151263 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 10:48 am

People who argue for the perfection of God are mounting a defence for not thinking through their beliefs.

This concept and the one of God's omniscience - where do these ideas come from? I don't think these ideas are Biblical are they?
The idea that god wants us to work on finding the truth of Him so that we appreciate Him all the more is another extra-Biblical idea.

So, as i see it, we have made up Bible stuff and we have made up stuff to explain the made up stuff of the Bible.

I hope this is not too technical for anyone.

664. Fleabytes

Comment #151185 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 8:46 am

kaiser:

I was joking.

As a born Canadian of German parents

I thought you would of got at least half the joke then.


Just in case... I'm joking again.
I can't BELIEVE some people can be so insensitive as to not appreciate the differences in cultural humour.

665. Fleabytes

Comment #151123 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 7:23 am

What about German wine?

Ahh, yes. Right up there with the great German comedy.

666. Fleabytes

Comment #151091 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 6:35 am

So now you're an a-beer-ist as well?! Does that mean you no longer seriously "worship" beer daily? Do you just pay lip service and "worship" on the weekends, like most people?

Yes, that pretty much sums it up.

Off to Germany next week (via five days in Paris first). So I'll be imbibing some of the finest brews on the planet. Cheers.

Oh, the god of envy rears its ugly head.
Wine in France; beer in Germany.
I seem to recall each German city had its own unique weiner or sausage.
(Now, now Richard Morgan, behave yourself.)

667. Fleabytes

Comment #151083 by Frankus1122 on March 28, 2008 at 6:15 am

In my youth beer was our god. I had friends who owned a large old farmhouse. They / we loved drinking beer. Bill fancied himself a connoisseur. Besides brewing his own tasty concoctions he saved beer bottles and displayed them on a railing he built high on the walls of the entire house. (We were young). One night I counted over 1500 different bottles of beer. I'll have to check with Bill as to his favourite. He kept a beer journal.
I'm sticking with Creemore. Although I will obviously drink anything. Most Canadian beers have an alcohol content of 5%. Fin du Monde and Maudite and a few others are higher.
When I was in Germany I was extremely impressed by the local brews of each city and village I visited. The freshness of the beer is extremely important.
Enough on beer.

668. Fleabytes

Comment #150859 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 1:29 pm

Dr. Benway:
La Fin du Monde
Thank you. I forgot aboot that beer. Semi-sweet, wickedly powerful.
Memories of Montreal.

669. Fleabytes

Comment #150823 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 12:56 pm

As for culture being watered down... Now that we have taken hockey, what exactly does Canada have?

It may be more of a case of what we don't have:
Oprah,Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer, etc.; bizarrely high gun death rate (I like to push buttons); crappy health care; semi-retarded presidents....

670. Fleabytes

Comment #150799 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 12:33 pm

Personally, I love Creemore. It is a micro brewed beer from Creemore of all places.
Mill Street brewery in Toronto is another small place that makes some good beer. They have a coffee porter that sounds gross but is excellent in small doses.
Molsons and Moosehead are mega-corp beers.

"Keep it down, down there, eh"
"It's aboot time my neighbors shut up, eh"

That was American humour (note the spelling), right?
Kind of weak and watered down like your beer.
For true biting humour you need only refer to the caustic wit of our own Rev. Dark.

671. Fleabytes

Comment #150784 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 12:19 pm

Apparently you haven't experienced some of the better American beers.

No, I'm Canadian. Why would I drink American beer?

I don't know about British culture but it can be bland-ish here.

672. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #150779 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 12:16 pm

Richard Dawkins:

Mathis invited you to participate in the film in good faith. He did not deceive you about the circumstances under which you were interviewed.
You and P Z turned on him and claimed that you were duped. After that you became persona non grata.

I don't believe this but it could be a spin.

673. Fleabytes

Comment #150773 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 12:07 pm

Comment #150761 by al-rawandi

And what the hell is the deal with the watered down beer.

(For Richard Morgan):

Isn't describing any beer in the USA as "watered down" a bit redundant?

674. Fleabytes

Comment #150730 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 10:28 am

And new ones... don't forget the new ones.

I just wikipediaed the 10 commandments and I got this:

The commandments passage in Exodus contains more than ten imperative statements, totalling fourteen or fifteen in all. However, the Bible itself assigns the count of "ten" to the list, using the Hebrew phrase aseret had'varim.[3] Various religions divide these statements among the Commandments in different ways, and may also translate the Commandments differently.

So I recind my previous statement about admiring the clarity of the 10 Commandmants. I obviously don't know what I am talking about anymore than God himself does.
I hope that is clear.

"As clear as God."

Hey! I like that. It will be a new catch-phrase for me whenever I encounter the obscure and muddled.

675. Fleabytes

Comment #150718 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 9:58 am

clod

Because god wants us to work to know him and to find out for ourselves what he wants of us. A meal laid out on a plate will keep the body going but food I have grown and cooked for myself is way more satisfying.

I'll weigh in again. The sex talk was not for me. I have been married 8 years. (sigh)

How do we know God wants us to know him and find out for ourselves? Again, this is just made up to justify the obscurity of the 'word'.

I kind of respect the clarity of the 10 Commandments.
But wait a minute, are there not a couple of different versions of them? Doh!

676. Fleabytes

Comment #150631 by Frankus1122 on March 27, 2008 at 7:37 am

I am going to weigh in again with my observation that it is an awful lot of bother to figure all this out. Which to me, points to the inauthenticity of the book(s).
These parts are literally true and these parts are metaphorical and we can tell this from the context on the second Tuesday after the first full moon of spring.
{sarcastically} Thanks God!

Who wrote the last part of Mark and what is the Greek translation of "young woman" and why does the OT god different from the NT god.etc., etc.

What is the theist response, not to specific questions, but the fact that there are so many questions?

I read some Hans Kung - trying to explain his belief in Christianity. Holy backflips Batman! It was like trying to make sense out of modern physics. But there is a difference: physics doesn't love us and want us to know It.

Again there is a simpler solution.

677. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150323 by Frankus1122 on March 26, 2008 at 5:41 pm

I posted this on the 66th birthday thread earlier today; I'll repost it here. (I was not alone in the misposting -following the herd I suppose).
Anyway:

On the Easter weekend I was walking by a church with my family. My six year old son asked why we didin't go to church. Opposite the church was a huge snow bank that was melting in the sun. There was an intricate pattern of icicles that was breath-takingly beautiful. I explained that the wonders of nature was church enough for me. We proceeded with our walk and I did my best to explain some of what we saw around us. I thought about Richard Dawkins and his feelings of awe at the world that surrounds us and the joy that comes from trying to figure it all out.
Happy 67th Birthday Richard Dawkins!

678. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Comment #149835 by Frankus1122 on March 26, 2008 at 9:35 am

Just this morning a friend asked why it bothers me so much that people believe in nonsense.
I am emailing him the link to this page.

679. Fleabytes

Comment #149831 by Frankus1122 on March 26, 2008 at 9:30 am

did you notice that Job seems to have two different authors with two different answers to the question of suffering?

I seem to remember in Catholic high school being taught that the end portions of Job were added on much later.

not me that determines what is a 'metaphor' - rules of interpretation and context says that.

This seems all very difficult. I have other stuff to do. Does it not seem odd that God would make it so difficult for us to figure out what He was trying to say?
How am I, a semi-literate sugar cane plantation worker living in Cuba, supposed to figure out all this stuff?
And what about me; I live in Sudan and I have never even heard of the Bible. How am I supposed to get saved?
There are so many problems I need to overcome in order for this whole Bible-is-the-word-of-God thing to work.
Isn't there a simpler explanation?

680. Fleabytes

Comment #149690 by Frankus1122 on March 26, 2008 at 6:04 am

Happy Birthday Steve Zara!
Oddly, I had a dream in which you appeared last night.
I don't know what this means.
Should I worry? Should Steve worry?
Maybe I should not visit this site just before going to bed.


Also Happy Birthday to Mr. Benway. Sorry, no dreams about him :(

681. Happy 66th Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #149688 by Frankus1122 on March 26, 2008 at 5:57 am

On the Easter weekend I was walking by a church with my family. My six year old son asked why we didin't go to church. Opposite the church was a huge snow bank that was melting in the sun. There was an intricate pattern of icicles that was breath-takingly beautiful. I explained that the wonders of nature was church enough for me. We proceeded with our walk and I did my best to explain some of what we saw around us. I thought about Richard Dawkins and his feelings of awe at the world that surrounds us and the joy that comes from trying to figure it all out.
Happy Birthday Richard Dawkins!

682. Expelled Overview

Comment #149490 by Frankus1122 on March 25, 2008 at 6:00 pm

Comment #149479 by Styrer

But I do give very many more hoots about permitting as global and public a crushing and decimation of creationist/ID irrationality as possible, which will ensue following this - I would argue - welcome crystallization of ID bullshit.

The more who see it, the more the fucking merrier.

Yes and no.
I would love intelligent people to see this film and realize the thinness of the ID position. However, I don't know how many people would be able to see through the veil of poorly constructed distortions. Look at how many people in the USA believe in a 'young earth' already. I don't think they are prepared to look at ANYTHING critically. People generally believe what they are told.
Perhaps a strong movie in the opposite direction would be better.

683. Fleabytes

Comment #149184 by Frankus1122 on March 25, 2008 at 8:33 am

Where are the rules for public discussion on the Interweb? Could someone please direct me to the Biblical/Koranic verse that proscribes behaviour in this circumstance.

Or do we need to determine for ourselves how we should conduct such discussions? Is this current back and forth of opinion determining what is the 'right' way to discuss controversial issues online?

I like the Golden Rule. I wouldn't mind being called an idiot if I said something idiotic repeatedly. However, I would probably not continue in error if once (twice, thrice) pointed out.


Dr. Benway:

Remember Nurse Ratchet from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? Never a harsh word from her mouth. A woman who might kill you with her kindness.

I aspire to be like her. Except I might try to kill with insistent logic.

684. EXPELLED!

Comment #147675 by Frankus1122 on March 21, 2008 at 5:38 am

<<<<
My avatar speaks for me.




Hopefully this generates its own publicity. I think it is important that a strong effort of rebuttal is produced in reaction to this movie.
Too many people get only one side of the story.
There could be irony in that last statement only it is not true for most people who know evolution as a fact.
I am very familiar with ID arguments. I know the 'controversy' and there is none.
ID/creationists often only hear distorted nonsense from their preachers as to the process of natural selection. They actually don't hear about natural selection. They get 'random chance' causes species to evolve.

When Richard Dawkins was on the Fox radio show, the callers all had 'arguments' that were easily shown to be false. (There are no transitionary fossils).
The problem is that they do not know how wrong they are.
While this movie reinforces the errors in thinking, it may, hopefully generate a backlash of sensible sober thought.

685. Fleabytes

Comment #147501 by Frankus1122 on March 20, 2008 at 6:00 pm

or the 4 meters plus of snow we have had in Ontario this winter.

I have a cool photo of my son climbing onto the roof from a snow drift that is about 12 feet high.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21921825@N00/2338204836/in/set-72157603497754351/

The whole prayer works thing is just so not on. It is really just an example of sloppy thinking. I am surprised that anyone of modest intelligence would not realize this.

Thanks SRWB and Paul for saying what I have been trying to say all along.

Of course this could be more 'evidence' of groupthink - all part of the 'atheist creed'.

686. Fleabytes

Comment #147499 by Frankus1122 on March 20, 2008 at 5:47 pm

I promised some quotes from George Eliot earlier today.
I am not a very good typer so I found this on line. (I can cut and paste rather well).


Given, a man with moderate intellect, a moral standard not higher than the average, some rhetorical affluence and great glibness of speech, what is the career in which, without aid of birth or money, he may most easily attain power and reputation...?
...in which a smattering of science and learning will pass for profound instruction, where platitudes will be accepted as wisdom, bigoted narrowness as holy zeal, unctuous egoism as God-given piety? Let such a man become an evangelical preacher; he will then find it possible to reconcile small ability with great ambition, superficial knowledge with the prestige of erudition, a middling morale with a high reputation of sanctity.

She was talking about a Dr. Cummings. Oddly, this reminds me of someone else.

687. Fleabytes

Comment #147483 by Frankus1122 on March 20, 2008 at 3:18 pm

Regarding the whole single sock and socks and sandals discussion:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21921825@N00/2348614644/

688. Fleabytes

Comment #147481 by Frankus1122 on March 20, 2008 at 3:13 pm

Akiane

Okay, the fact that she says she went to heaven does it for me.
A student asked me yesterday if she could do her art history project on Akiane.
I said, "No."
"Why?"
"Her art is crappy."
"No, it's good."
"No, it's not."
The student really wanted to do her project on Akiane but I told her there was not enough information about her to do a decent job on the assignment.
I may change my mind after watching the news piece on her. But then it would not be so much an art history assignment as an investigation of fraud.

689. Fleabytes

Comment #147356 by Frankus1122 on March 20, 2008 at 8:03 am

some accusations are difficult to let stand, as no response might appear to a naive reader as no disagreement.

I am reminded of the caller on a Fox radio program with Prof. Dawkins who said there are no transitionary fossils.
He believed this because it was what he was told at his church (I suppose).
Dawkins responded with, "Bullshit!"
He then went on to explain that there were, in fact, many transitionary fossils and provided an example.
I don't think he convinced the man but he may have caused someone listening to go out and investigate him/herself.

690. Fleabytes

Comment #147351 by Frankus1122 on March 20, 2008 at 7:51 am

Comment #147337 by Dr Benway:

We've been over this with Robertson countless times. He's been asked to list the propositions that make up the atheist creed or atheist myths or fundamentalist atheism. He's not done this.

But Dr. Cumming has. I was reading The Portable Atheist last night. The entry by George Eliot was astonishingly familiar. I do not have the book with me now but when I get home I will provide some illuminating quotes.
Or you can read it yourself if you have the book.

691. Fleabytes

Comment #147336 by Frankus1122 on March 20, 2008 at 7:25 am

clearthinker:

If you disagree with me or do not accept my evidence of God - it is a lie. Then yes - by those standards I am a liar - but then so is every theist. Although in the normal use of the English language I would only be a liar if I presented things that I knew were false. Could you not at least allow for the possibility that I might be genuine but mistaken?

Okay, thanks.
You say you genuinely believe in answered prayer. I believe you.

You gave 3 options for acquiring the specific amount of money you needed.
1) coincidence
2) you lied
3) God did it

You chose option 3. I choose option 1.

I gave another possiblity for your belief in answered prayer, i.e. you are not very smart.
I may want to ammend that: you do not base your life on any set standards of evidence. To me this is not very sound thinking. There is just no way to judge the validity of your claims. It is only true because you believe it to be true.

You can shape anything into 'evidence' by your 'standards'.
If you are in need of food and you pray for something to eat and someone offers you a sandwhich, it can be seen as evidence of God's intervention.
If you are in need of food and you pray for something to eat and you remain hungry, it is evidence of God's greater plan for you. He wanted to teach you a lesson on the needy of this world and thereby make you a better person.
If I pray to Zues for matching socks and find a drawer full of singles I have evidence that my god is false.
If I pray to Zues for matching socks and find a brand new package of them in the back of the drawer I have evidence that Zues has intervened in the world and provided me with socks.

If I have a headache and eat an orange and the headache goes away, it does not mean that the orange caused the headache to go away. If it did it should be repeatable.
If I have a headache and chew on some willow bark and my headache goes away, and every time I chew willow bark my headache goes away, there may be something to the belief that willow bark helps cure headaches.
I could test the hypothesis and see what the mechanism at work is.
Although it has been tested in this way, there has never been any proof that intercessory prayer works.

I'll say it again: your evidence is not evidence.
This is not just because I do not believe it but because it does not prove anything by any standards. What you experienced is an example of coincidence.

692. God's cure for gays lost in sin

Comment #147086 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 7:10 pm

After all there are homosexuals in every culture weather approved of or not.

Not only in every culture but in many species; again suggesting a genetic link.

The wkipedia article I just perused looks interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_animals

693. Fleabytes

Comment #147065 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 6:24 pm

I am going for The Hulk. He was always one of my favourites.
But apart from this I once owned The Marvel Universe (I think that is what it was called). It had a profile on ALL the characters in the Marvel universe. The strength rating of The Hulk was 10 (of course). But they went on to say that the madder The Hulk gets the stronger The Hulk gets. Really his strength was unlimited. For this reason they said that although The Thing (Ben Grimm - Fantastic Four) could probably outwit The Hulk in a fight, the anger/strength thing might give the ultimate advantage to The Hulk.


Wow! What a nerdy nerd nerd I am.

694. Report: 32% Of Prayers Deflected Off Passing Satellites

Comment #147059 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 6:10 pm

So there's almost no chance (well, maybe one in 170 million) that any prayer I utter will reach the ear of God.

Only if you are one of the first 3 or 4 for that day.

I posted this link before because I find it very funny so I will do it again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaZDcS-rMf4

695. Fleabytes

Comment #147037 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 5:39 pm

The different socks thing is interesting in that I just decided to wear different (non-matching) socks this past weekend. I have so many singles and I really don't care about what people see on my ankles.
The fact that this came up on this thread must mean God exists.

696. Fleabytes

Comment #147031 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 5:35 pm

I suggest an Elf in Mithril v Wolverine no rules fight to decide the issue.

A good suggestion but that would not necessarily determine the strength of the metals.

Wolverine would rip pointy-ears to shreds.

697. Fleabytes

Comment #147027 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 5:31 pm

You can tell her that Frankus says it's admanitium.
(appeal to authority - self proclaimed)


Or you could suggest an experiment to determine which one is stronger.

698. God's cure for gays lost in sin

Comment #147014 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 5:03 pm

We are the way we are because of our genes and how those genes are expressed and to some extent because of the environment in which those genes develop.

Therefore if you are homosexual there is, I think, at least in part, a genetic basis for that.
You don't simply move into the big city and become gay.

699. God's cure for gays lost in sin

Comment #146998 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 4:29 pm

I have not said or implied that gays can't, shouldn't or be prohibited from having children.

I am not suggesting that "gay genes" cannot be passed on. I am wondering why they are there.

I am thinking this through here.
If there are genes that express themselves only in that they cause the organism to be homosexual then I cannot see how they would be passed on. (I realize gay people can reproduce; they normally do not).
Therefore the genes that express themselves in some people as homosexuality may have some other adaptive features if expressed differently (because of environmental factors or the presence of other genes or whatever - I don't know) in another person.

700. God's cure for gays lost in sin

Comment #146985 by Frankus1122 on March 19, 2008 at 4:07 pm

I am sure that he meant "homosexual sex" does not yield children. Meaning two men or two women.

That's what I meant.
I am sometimes dim but not that unintelligent.

Comment #146894 by Teratornis:

Does it also seem curious that Down Syndrome would continue to be present in a population when there does not seem to be much way that the trisomy of chromosome 21 would be passed to the next generation?

Good point.
However, it does seem a bit curious or interesting or worthy of investigation as well. I do not know why Down's Syndrome occurs as often as it does.
Is there a reason as there is for sickle cell?

I have indicated that there is research being conducted to find out exactly what the adaptive advantage is for the 'gay gene(s)'.

Or perhaps I should say for those genes(s) that can also express themselves in ways that lead to the organism being gay. Or gay-ish.