Let me guess, you haven't spent much time in the states, have you?
My ex was from North Carolina, so yeah I have spent a fair amount of time in the states. Admittedly each state is difference (same as Europe).
It's funny, you speak of "no meaning" as if you have a scientific basis for this. Unless you do, your opinion is no more valid than the guy strapping a bomb on himself to get 72 virgins, and no less dogmatic. Not everyone defines "meaning" is as narrow a manner as you.
For starters, deism isn't a religion, which makes the rest of the comment not worth bothering with.
as an atheist, I can't imagine dating a theist. How could I respect someone who believes obvious nonsense?
My ex-wife was Mormon. You learn to get over it. I'll still invite missionaries into my house if they knock; they're usually very nice and interesting people and there's no need for me to be an ass.
Like hell there isn't! To belong to any atheist community, you need to align with their dogma, have read and agree with their favorite authors, and "other thingamajigs" or you'll be ousted as a troll or worse.
Can I make a guess? You're American, aren't you?
Can I just point out that American Atheists are, uh, weird? They are not representative of 99% of the worlds Atheists.
I once met a nice girl, who had just moved to the UK from America. She told me that on her first few weeks here she wondered where all the atheists were, and it took her to little while to figure out that unlike the states, atheists did not seek out other atheists, congregate into groups, and spend all their free time discussing atheism. In fact it was quite a relief to her when she realised that atheists were everywhere but as nobody a) gave a shit b) talked about religion or lack thereof, she could just relax and go about her day without interference or having to form Atheist Defence Leagues.
For the record. Myself, personally, as a life long atheist, have never read Dawkins (because that's who you meant, isn't it?) and think he's actually a gigantic cock. I've never knowingly been a member of an "atheist community" (do they build Yurts?) and I really don't care if other atheists can agree on anything, or even if they're having pitched battles in the fucking streets. The only "dogma" I'm aware of is the rather good Kevin Smith film.
You are right about one thing: as an atheist it's not just "lack of belief in God". It's also a lack of giving a shit what you or other people think, or caring when you project your own biases and religious frameworks in a desperate attempt to make sense of it. You're wrong and I simply don't care.
I've been deistic for decades. It discounts the idea that god is an old man on the mountain, but maintains the idea that there is purpose and meaning to everything, not just man.
As you point out, not all birds of a feather stick together. I'm not a Tea Party guy. I'm just not closed minded enough to judge a friend by their politics. If you only have friends that agree with your politics, you are probably narrow minded or take politics too seriously.
Buy a good switch and a low power PC with some ram. Virtualize it all.
Smoothwall is a good choice, there are lots out there.
Makes it easy to do other things like IDS as well later.
Has the United States of America become a member of The Totalitarian Club ?
Yes. Each President has been moving in this direction more and more, but Obama has managed to overreach even more than those before him. Take the IRS, for instance. I personally know of people who have been getting involved with Tea Party politics and now are getting audited. Like their politics or not (it doesn't matter), that is totalitarianism, which means the next time a GOP'er gets in, he can do the same thing. It isn't a good time to be an American.
However, it takes a really fast car to stay on the other side of the planet.
Obviously you've never met a Finn.
Talking isn't part of their vocabulary
Slingshots (ie: wrist rockets) are better for squirrel, faster projectile. You need perfectly round projectiles, like marbles, so they don't wobble in flight. And yes, I've eaten squirrel, usually "Squirrel and dumplings". Not bad if the squirrels aren't too gamey, it just takes a lot of squirrels to make a pot. We ate normal food most of the time, but my parents made sure all 7 of us tasted squirrel, turtle, rabbit and lots of deer, dove, quail, duck, lake fish, wild turkey and other game. Most parents don't teach self-sufficiency and basic survival skills, except those that the majority snidely call "rednecks".
And the "wrist rocket" IS technology: the taking of an old concept, and updating it with the most modern materials. You can do some serious damage with one of those.
Number crunching is stupid.
Math students should be using computers to visualize and manipulate math, and help them understand what it is they're solving for.
This is best done with modern, kick ass graphics, and on any modern tablet, can be done in real-time.
It's an embarrassment to the entire teaching profession that calculators are needed on any exam, but more over, it is doing a serious disservice to students to not use them for what they should be used for - math visualizing machines. The TI calculators are used by and large to hand-hold lazy teachers and provide them with busywork for students.
Grrrr.
Also, HP48GX forever.. but I didn't need it until engineering school. I completed all of the math courses for my EE without a calculator - they weren't allowed by the math department, and rightly so.
That is a Foundation issue, not something we at WER can do much about. I think they have spent a great deal of money and resources on the issue, but I've yet to see anything come of it, to be honest. Child rearing is probably to blame in part, if we are honest and accept that our culture still has a divide between the genders. Men tend to have a bit more free time, and perhaps that is the threshold: free time. I notice a lot of unemployed people editing, for example.
Real Programmers don't eat quiche. They eat Twinkies and Szechwan food.
