Hear, hear!
In the last 6 months I've acquired a M1 Garand (s/n 2xxxxxx, but re-barreled in '55) and an M1 Carbine, Rockola, good stock, good condition, no bayonet lug and early "flip-style" rear sight. My eyes are open for a WW2-era 1911, Thompson, and BAR to round out the collection...
So fun to own a piece of American history, no?
Priced authentic 1911s. Ouch. I'll probably go with a replica.
Cheers,
Dave
M-2 (Dream big)
Cheers,
Dave
Violence is the refuge of people who don't think.
Gun violence is for cowards.
Couldn't agree more. That's why I only use my guns for non-violent things like target shooting, destroying old hard drives (there is a certain satisfaction in this application), etc. I will not initiate violence with my guns but the nature of these weapons means that I am in a position to reply very violently to someone who initiates violence against me.
BTW, I live in Colorado, USA and we have what has become known as the "Make my day" law. This law here says that I can legally use any and all means including lethal weapons to defend my household against unauthorized entry. I consider breaking into my house to be a violent act and would respond accordingly.
Cheers,
Dave
Guns. Specifically, WWII era U.S. infantry weapons. Good for making old hard drives unreadable; good for defending the household. I can probably find other uses should the need arise.
Cheers,
Dave
Coffee?
Make a significant difference here.
Cheers,
Dave
Don't give yourself a heart attack just to get a first post.
Cheers,
Dave
The BBC is reporting about the same result. Well except for the "fancy a shag" minority.
Cheers,
Dave
That's harsh I remember when a 3 day weather forecast was crazy talk, not they do 10 day with reasonable accuracy.
Of course, the suffer from pedantics in they if they say it's going to be 93, and it's actually 94, people are like see, wrong again!
They do OK here in Colorado during the top of summer and the bottom of winter. Spring and fall they might get the current conditions right if they looked out the door... but it would probably change before they could report it. But they still try to do a 7 or 10 day forecast. Once in a while they get it right but don't plan on it.
Cheers,
Dave
Two very different things: why does the universe exist and how did the universe come to exist. There is no why for the universe. It is. Looking for a why is what theists do.
Clarifying the clarification: I was only attempting to answer the question, "Why do atheists flock to science?" My answer was simply that, rather than arguing something vacuous, they simply say, "Meh, the scientific explanation will do for me." That is hardly flocking but just throwing a "good enough" explanation back at the theist that they will hopefully leave us alone.
Cheers,
Dave
Last year's winter was not fun in PA. We had basically no summer, with very few hot days. I suspect this winter will be a little worse.
Same here in Colorado. We had a cool, wet summer. I think we only had one day that broke 100F. Saved a bunch on the water bill though. Barely had to water the lawn.
Cheers,
Dave
...
There, now I'm a weather man!
No. You have a better chance of being right.
Cheers,
Dave
What's wrong with saying 'I don't know?' Demanding that atheists know how the Universe came to be seems just as wrong as demanding that you explain how God came to be. Except that the atheists can at least claim to have at least some evidence that the Universe exists (even if it could all be false), so they can at least start their search for an answer with relatively solid footing.
If you are in a normal discussion as to how something knowable works but of which you have no knowledge, saying "I don't know," would be quite reasonable. Unfortunately, quite a few of the "true believers" seem to take someone saying, "I don't know," in this context as an invitation to be "educated" with their particular mystical explanation. So, unless you want to hear the current mystical explanation, just say the scientific explanation works well enough for you and let them expend their energies attacking that. It's usually much more entertaining than the lesson you get with "I don't know."
Maybe, "I'm OK with not knowing," would work better than "I don't know." Trying to convey that you're more comfortable with a blank slate than one that is filled with mystical gobbledy-gook is hard to get across to those who embrace the mystical gobbledy-gook.
Cheers,
Dave
Seems silly to point out but, if you don't believe some god created the universe, life, etc. then you need some explanation for the universe around us and us as observers of that universe. The flying spaghetti monster is one alternative but it sort of makes sense that quite a few atheists will just say that the scientific explanation of the universe works for them; no more, no less. It's not something to be carried on your sleeve. I'd hardly call that "flocking to science." I haven't heard of too many militant atheists picketing some religious get together with signs saying, "Believe in string theory!" or "Quantum Gravity has the Answer!"
Cheers,
Dave
Many atheist have a belief that god does not exist. They want others to join them in their belief.
Sounds like a religion to me.
Believing that there isn't a god is a belief: the acceptance of an assertion without sufficient evidence. Accepting that there probably isn't a god due to the total lack of objective evidence isn't a belief. It's just accepting observable, objective reality. Still, a good atheist maintains a scientific doubt about atheism.
Cheers,
Dave
Exactly. I get so tired of being asked "Then what *do* you believe?"
I usually go with the W.C. Fields line, "Everyone should believe in something. I believe I'll have another drink."
Cheers,
Dave
Our business in life is not to succeed but to continue to fail in high spirits. -- Robert Louis Stevenson
