Posts by Eric Crippen 45 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Sep 2007
I'd think there would be more deaths from texting while driving (a larger concern) or cancer of the fingers in young people.
Shouldn't there be a verifiable mortality rate threshold, that must be reached, before the government is allowed to step in (maybe a slightly lower rate for special interest groups).
We allow tobacco and tobacco use and both of those are far beyond cell phone use in deaths per year.
The Picard facepalm would work, but I'd rather have a Kirk facepalm if one exists.
As far as actual face icons. They could be used for a year or two and then a fresh batch voted in. I'm for Paris being a permanent icon though. Maybe an Einstein or Betty White to balance it out.
A dead horse icon.
Cartoon baby face crying (squirtin' tears).
A ninja (in star wars p.j.'s if the res was good enough).
A picture of dog poo or Mr. Hanky.
Pink elephant.
A knight with no arms or legs.
Sheep icon.
Sheldon Cooper/Penny icons.
Skunk.
Not one split keyboard. While the two without a numeric pad would be fine, for as much money as the Apple is, there should be a separate one included. If these companies want to be innovative, then cut the price on them to something more reasonable. They haven't pushed any envelope in technology to justify the expensive plastic.
Suggestions:
1. Water or soda-pop proof (kids) and not look tacky.
2. Make it easier to clean dust (or cigarette ashes from the neighbor's) from under the keys.
3. Keyboard with an adjustable split.
4. Built in universal remote for the stereo equipment... just sayin'.
5. An occassional color other than silver/beige/black (for the parents).
6. Built in mic for voice commands.
7. M.S. could integrate their Kinect into one.
8. Numeric pad that can be attached to the left side of the keyboard.
9. Encrypted pairing between the keyboard and the dongle.
If a wife leaves her husband because she has the right to divorce and he kills her after warning her, then it's her fault???
It's a book. He's not the state, ergo the whole nazi-blow-a-load imagery doesn't apply. He's a babbling citizen exercising his right to be stupid. That doesn't mean he's responsible for someone going out and killing people because he burned a BOOK. Was the Dutch cartoonist responsible for the killings after the his toon was published or was it the editor, or maybe the shareholders who own the company, or how about the paperboy who delivered the paper?
I'm for gun rights in my country, indifferent to my other liberal beliefs. I'm not into hunting, but others in my family are. I'm more of the target shooting type of person because I don't like being out in the cold freezing my butt off when I could be sleeping. That said...
The problem with this guy getting a gun isn't because he's a law abiding citizen, it's because he isn't physcially capable of being socially responsible with a firearm. Hunting is not just shooting some animal. Not all shots are clean and it's the hunter's responsibility to go and track the animal to finish the job, which some people are cruel enough not to do. This individual can't hunt by himself. Being about to remotely fire a gun doesn't give you the right to be irresponsible with it. Even if he did hit it. Who's going to lug that deer through the woods to the vehicle. I feel sorry for the guy, but that doesn't mean he deserves to own a gun. This is about as dumb as my former state (Michigan) taking a bunch of blind people out to hunt.
Unfortunately, he doesn't represent everyone that lives in this state. We still have backward religious laws to prevent people from shopping during church hours, so respecting what two (or more) legal adults do in privacy is probably asking too much at this time.
I'd prefer that the state spends more time improving the schools and bringing better jobs into the area the worrying about someone giving money for sex. You can get it for free, but some idiot wants to pay for it and suddenly there's something wrong with it.
At least I'll know to avoid this dumb-ass like the plague if his name shows up on a ballot in my county.
As average as the original was, I can't imagine a remake being any better. Either way, I can wait until it hits the dollar bins at the video store.
Now, if they did a southpark version, I might go see that. They could have a scientology tangent with the whole alien thing... have a bit with Tom Cruise in a closet... maybe some Mormon or ginger people as a sub-plot...
Seems like they should just take the combined time from all the juveniles sentences, that was past the norm, and make them serve out the difference. Then, they should lose all property until the kickback money is paid back. Public beatings would be appropriate also.
After that, someone should be going after these private companies that paid the money in the first place.
"In fact many creationists do actually believe in evolution, but not in a single common ancestor. There can be plenty of evolution, but only within a "kind".
Then you really don't believe in evolution, just what supports your religious beliefs. Evolution isn't a buffet where you get to pick and choose what fits your particular beliefs.
That's the nice thing about science. It has to change to fit reality, even if it does take a while. Unless you worship the old gods, then they typically don't change or learn from mistakes. Seems to me that monotheism took a step back with this. That's why I never see it as a progression in religion when it's more like a simplistic regression.
Unfortunately, public funding does go to religious crackpot psuedoscience (in the U.S.) in the form of legal battles to show that it's not science (see Kitzmiller vs. Dover public schools).
Science is not pro/anti anything. It just is.
It's not a problem of science being incompatible with a god(s), it's a god(s) being incompatible with science.
I really haven't seen any science hypothesis or theory that states there isn't a god(s) in any of my math, chemistry or physics classes that I took while in college. Can you point some out for me (you know, people like Plank, Einstein, Curie...)?
As for schools teaching about god(s). That belongs in a religious studies or philosophy class, NOT A SCIENCE CLASS!
I may be an atheist, but the catholic church was the first christian cult to become a religion, mainly by wiping out the competition but also because intellectual christian pursuit didn't work with the masses. That would pretty much mean that the catholic church does have a say in what christians believe. You don't seem to approve of this version (given your comments), so which version of god(s) do you want in science and schools???
The big bang theory does not say matter came from nothing. It says that at a particular moment, matter occupied a particular volume and then expanded. The rest of your prattle falls under a poorly thought out philosophy, not science.
I too would prefer some fabricated story that we have some higher purpose and will still be around after our body dies. Simply no proof for it and it doesn't make any sense, no matter how comforting. If main-stream religious people realized that death was final, I think (my own opinion) that people (as a whole) would really have to make a better effort to get along with each other becuase it would be in everyone's best interest. My belief may be useless drivel also, but at least its grounded.
A bit excessive. Too bad that kind of effort wasn't put into something more worthy.
A woman I'd gone to school with (when we were 7 years old) remembered me hiding her boot. I really don't remember any of this, but she said I told her where it was so I could give her a peck on the cheek. The funny part was that she was more confused by why someone would take just one of her boots. I was more confused why I didn't remember giving a pretty girl a kiss on the cheek. She did enjoy telling this story at the night club I worked at.
If this had happened in this current culture, I'd have been expelled for sexual harrassment as well as punished for the boot hiding. This is also something I can picture my nephews doing and they're quite a bit older than this girl is. No one was hurt and the girl who hid them should have been talked to privately to not do it again. No wonder people don't know how to act around each other.
Most stories are re-hashes of something else. Even if this re-make is a close retelling, it doesn't mean that it's going to be garbage. I happen to like how the new BSG series went, so the same could happen with this. It may have a different take on the concept much like Carpenter's version had a different take. Same basic plot, humans find dangerous frozen E.T., but with different motivations, script, acting... and it turned out fine. And yes... the remake of 'The day the earth stood still' sucked. I put that up to poorly written, badly cast and mis-appropriated special effects money.
It's much better to spend some money on a small high-megapixel camera, remove the tiny little speaker (if you can't turn it off) and then use it. They're just about the same size as cell phones anyways.
I have a rather large digital camera at work with the sound turned off. It's damn annoying. Everytime some idiot borrows it, the sound is back on. I'd open the thing up and remove the little speaker if it wasn't for the fact that it's not mine (in which case it wouldn't get borrowed).
I can't see the point of this law in the states, since most camera phones are in the 1 megapixel range and usually suck. Like I really want to see some VGA pic when it's just as easy to go online and download some higher quality staged pic.
The odd movies suck and the even ones are usually decent.
The eye-candy looks good, but given the "Cloverfield" credentials (damn... that movie was piss poor in spite of the very limited monster effects) I doubt there will be a real story. I'll go see it for the effects/space battles, but I'll stick with the lower expectations on story.
Problems I seem to have from the trailer:
1. All the young people. It's fine for porn, but not on a military/science vessel.
2. Why would Kirk almost get himself killed driving a car off a cliff? I would think a stint in juvenile detention would dash his hopes of command later in life.
3. Why build a SPACESHIP on the ground. Is it that much easier to self launch the completed thing over the parts?
4. Sex with your staff. I thought Kirk was smart enough to have sex only with non-crew members.
5. Too many story lines seem to be present (there's only so much 'teen' angst you want to see in a movie... before getting to the bad guy).
Why not just make a two hour movie of space battles without any people being shown. Just a nice, CGI budgeted eye-candy fest of some famous Star Trek battle(s). Does the Trek franchise feel the need to pull a George Lucas!
The original series was a little hokey at times (with some questionable acting) but overall, it didn't rely on special effects to carry it through.
While I agree that animal suffering should be kept to a minimum/non-existent and that meat production is inefficient, I honestly can't stand eating vegatables (I like fruits, but I still need something with some kick to it). The taste is just gross and I'd eat bugs before I ate brocolli or cauliflower. peta fails to realize that even animals don't like to eat soy product. It has to be mixed with something else. Maybe it's the incredibly bland taste.
Reminds me of college when an ex lived in a vegan house. They had a cookout and someone was trying to convince me that the tofu/sprout burger tasted just like beef. Considering that I like to taste the blood, it amounted to eating tasteless and textureless grass. Lucky for me that one of the girl's father was visiting. He had cooked up some chili (spiced beef, no veggies... and this guy entered competitions) and my ex and I were the only two that would eat it. Worked out pretty well, since there was plenty to gorge myself.
Of course, there was a 'real world' episode where the girl accidently ate some pig meat and forced herself to throw it back up. I'd buy that if it ever came out on disc because it was so funny. She was fine until someone told her.
Being a native speaker of american english, I was under the impression that the message meant that the people (i.e. citizens of said country) were the masters and the government (i.e. elected officials) was the servant. I thought it was pretty amusing, though not as good as having Tina Fey impersonate a mental tart.
Require all manufacturers to place a "DRM Present" label on their products. Something bright, shiny and eye-catching... let 'em know their getting a well written piece of extra software. The installation should have the first screen inform them that this wonderful software is being installed to give them an advantage over some nasty pirate who'll be able to run the game without the extra feature.
Pressure all retailers to post on their web-sites that said software has DRM. If it's an added benefit to the consumer, it really needs to be promoted. Maybe in the first line of the description.
All notices should be in a readable sized font, not the "I need a microscope to read it" size generally found in medicine side effects columns.
Don't forget about the added memory, hdd and processor hits that'll make sure you're getting the full use out of your rig that would be wasted for want of some work.
For some reason, I thought installing software on a person's computer without their express permission wasn't legal.
Primates also gang up on primates from other groups. The only difference between then and more recent history is that no one is running around saying that they're committing the violence in the name of unbelief in a deity (i.e. atheism)... religion has and still does (hell... islam thinks killing young girls is o.k. if it preserves some guys honor)! That larger scale, from uniting those tribes, just made it that much easier to oppress larger groups of people. You don't seem to grasp that countries in which fundamentalism rules tend to be very discriminatory (China being the major exception in which atheism plays as much a role in the oppression of it's people, under said dictatorship, as much as believing in nuclear power does).
What I was refering to, and rather poorly, was natural events.
There is no book of atheism with rules on behavior, codes of conduct or laws to be followed. It doesn't exist because atheism has no connection to such stuff, just like the belief in santa claus or the east bunny has no connection. That means people have to realize that they're responsible for their behavior. Doesn't mean that they will, just that it would be nice if they would. Atheists as a whole really haven't congregated. We organize now, but it's more an issue of self-preservation.
Hate to burst your bubble, but no belief was around before belief. Someone had to come up with the idea of an outside force acting on them. I'd almost bet that since they didn't have the means/ability to LOGICALLY reason it out, they just made something up that made sense to themselves. Then they had to go about convincing others. I'd bet that someone in the group thought that it was a load of BS.
In addition:
You could remove every atheist on this planet and, within a generation, you'd end up with atheists again. You'd end up with them even if you removed every document that suggested a dis-belief in religion. Religion has CONSISTENTLY changed it's god(s) over time. Atheism is still the same... the lack of belief in a person's claim of a god(s).
Insulting someone or there beliefs is not the same as inciting hatred against a person/group. Followers of islam are allowed to incite hatred against women being treated as equals, but I don't see anyone clamoring to take care of that. As long as it's in that community, then the rest of the country (includes my good ol' U.S. of A) doesn't seem to care. What needs to occur, is that the followers of islam need to be told they don't get to violate the rights of those in their community, simply because they belong to a particular faith. It shouldn't be seen as an excuse anymore. No one in England is going to arrest an iman for telling his followers it's o.k. to remove the clitoris on a girl, they can beat their wives into submission, kill their daughter because their honor was tarnished or that women should have to wear a burka, even though it falls under the same category. There should already be laws on the books covering discrimination and violent acts against people. To start making laws against speech, and by extension thought, doesn't make a lot of sense. Aside from our Bill of Rights in the states protecting free speech, we've already started down this stupid road of punishing people just because they hurt someone's feelings.
I prefer that someone disprove that a flourescent orange cricket with a voracious appetite for gay sex and abortions created this universe before I waste my time dis-proving a god(s) created this universe. At least I feel better in the knowledge that they understand, on some level, how I feel about them. Evolution is much more grounded in reality.
Besides...
If all the atheists suddenly dis-appeared, it would only be a matter of time before they re-appeared. It's just the truth of the matter.
Maybe they should treat it like a murder case. Give the girl jail time for the conviction and force the record company to sue her in a civil court to re-coup the alleged losses. I would think that it would be more reasonable considering how much O.J. Simpson was required to pay out for someone's life.
I'm surprised that they treated her as a minor, since the state I used to live in tried a 12 year old as an adult for murder (convicting a kid of murder is one thing, but sending them to an adult prison, which is what the prosecution was trying to do, makes absolutely no sense).
@ Matt Caldwell
I haven't seen an electronic voting machine that gives a paper copy. Even though South Carolina is the most backwards place I've had the pleasure of living, we aren't the only ones using touch screens with no method to recount. It would be nice if there was a paper trail, but then, both candidates are so similar, that I'm guessing it really isn't going to matter.
The government (and by extension... we citizens) is responsible for this mess, as they've signed a contract that allows the software to remain proprietary and removed from public scrutiny.
I agree with Meiwes on this one. This wasn't a news story or biography written about him. It was a for-profit movie that the German govt. saw as using his persona without his permission. If he didn't feel like nailing Rammstein because he didn't object to that song, then that's his business (good song by the way).
I seem to remember that other people had answered his ads to be eaten (though not killed). Yes, I think they have mental problems, but at least it was consensual.
I admit I have an attitude, but it's more like offensive (why only partially commit with annoying). That has nothing to do with atheism, but more because I'm just a jerk. It brings me great joy to point out irony or display sarcasm to others. Nothing sad about that, unless someone beats me up, but then that's pain and reflection.
Appreciation of art and tolerance of others beliefs has nothing to do with the belief in something that doesn't exist (which is your responsibility to prove exists, not mine to disprove). I appreciate art, music, plays, movies and books. Just because some of them are fiction doesn't mean that I can't enjoy them. I accept that the characters don't exist and are a means to convey a story or concept.
My critical thinking is what led me away from belief, in spite of years of indoctrination as a child, threats and harassment (which is all that's really needed to keep most people in line).
I'm more likely to believe that there is a planet of wookies out there in the universe because the odds (however slim) are more likely.
Besides, I've always found it amazing that atheists don't need to congregate to remind themselves of what they believe (like any other group, protecting ones rights has forced atheists to start banding together). Atheism has survived longer than any religion and it's consistently present in even the most draconian theocracy.
I'm in agreement.
If something is to be a standard, then it must be freely available to replicate with no royalties paid out.
How you manage/process the standard determines whether your product is better than the competitions. Imagine if auto makers had to license the concept of a piston engine from it's original creator.
I don't have a problem with the minimum requirements for Vista, just benchmark it. You wouldn't expect a Yukon S.U.V. to run effectively with a small 4 cylinder that came from my old '89 Sunbird (a hamster would have had more power). Maybe M.S. should give the startup time on their minimum system (in seconds) from boot until the login screen appears and the time it takes to go from login until the o.s. has completely loaded itself. It would also need to be independently verified and they could remove the time caused by the hardware boot (to be fair).
I'm still wondering why my government is so concerned about drug use by baseball players instead of the two wars we're involved with in the Middle East. I don't care if some overpaid player is using growth hormone because it's only a GAME... War on, the other hand, causes DEATH and is a waste of RESOURCES.
Even the illegal wire-tapping litigation is more important than what Jane Fonda said. What I don't understand, is why these people have their t.v.'s on in the first place when it's a given that something offensive is eventually going to rear it's ugly head. Maybe they should just remove their t.v.'s from their homes OR hot-glue the channel changer to one of their religious stations, to be safe. Are they that detached from the role of parent that they can't tell their children, "No t.v.".
... but the part with those not owning a dedicated hd-dvd player being told to leave was funny. Blades of Glory!!! Glad I didn't have to have the sound up at work, although it may have covered up my laughing better.
This is a great movie to see on it's own, but this spoof was good.
Why not let the people in charge of this scheme wear them also. I mean, you wouldn't want paid employees to be showing up late to work or leaving early. You could also monitor them to see if they're possibly bantering with a group of others when they should be working. You can monitor how much time they spend in the loo. Think of how easy it would be to keep track of that one person you don't care for to make sure they don't slip up. It would be a great morale booster!
1. Which god would you be referring to? It would make just as much sense to attribute the frogs' qualities to the chihuahua that lives in the apt. upstairs from me. At least it exists.
2. You may want to discuss/pray about design flaws with your god. maybe it could resubmit a more robust design for any living creature out there. That leftover tail on humans really has no purpose for example.
3. You could just give up on the whole god fantasy and realize that things do just happen on their own. That would also mean taking responsibility for yourself.
4. You still don't believe in santa, the tooth fairy, the easter bunny or the great pumpkin also?
No need to post anonymously on this one.
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