rehmwa

I work with engineers - I am one. I do find, though, that the glib response is usually all that's needed to get the best progress from over half the problems presented. The other half, I'm very grateful that they do dig into the nitty gritty - more matter how tediuous those items are. but you have to admit - the typical (stereotypical anyway) Engineers do have trouble sorting out those questions that require in depth focus vs getting the lead out and doing something now. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

"How do you feel about going" ???? what kind of engineers do you hang with? (however, "which moon".....that's a pretty good question.) ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

Al Gore came off as someone who THINKS he's too smart, but was much dumber and just ignorant of that fact. Smart people with no humility are to be guarded against. Dumb people with little humility are to be humored, but not voted into office. In other words, he came across as a clueless arrogant idiot. Not an intelligent arrogant asshole. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

I'd prefer that the merging lane stays full and everybody just zippers when it ends - and keep traffic flowing - rather than idiots that merge early and hold the others back, and then honk and try to block out those that are using all the available road space..... and car pool lanes - what an idiotic idea ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

maybe not trite or dogmatic, but certainly cliche and formulaic. I'd have no issue with personal decisions being the norm after a certain maturing time - and that's a lot more than a couple hundred jumps or a couple years of active jumping. prior to that, a set of rules makes a lot of sense - time in tier, currency, etc. enforcement is the tricky bit ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

yeah, this never happens in, say, eastern Europe, or in any other regions..... ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

You sure do post in a lot of these religious threads for someone who doesn't care. I think it is just your belief that you do not care. {{she's on to me}} I find religion to be a funny topic, like politics, it's a big deal to so many people. It allow subjective nonsense to have big impacts on everybody. It's true tragic comedy. and I'm really bored lately and these don't seemed to be hijacked so badly/rudely as the political threads ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

When my daughter was about 2 or 3, her mom took her to the mall to see Santa. As soon as she saw the guy, she takes off running for him yelling "SATAN!!, SATAN!!" it cause quite a few chuckles ......to this day, I still don't understand how this temporary form of dyslexia manifested verbally....... ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

As for the thread title, I thought just the opposite. The presence of the parentheses around dis semed to me to imply both questions (e.g., "why don't you believe" AND "why don't you disbelieve") were included. As neutral as you can make it, IMHO. You're both wrong - the single title "Why don't you believe?" is adequate - the "(dis)" part is unneeded since both positions - atheism and deism - are beliefs 1 - do you believe is a deity? who cares 2 - do you believe in atheism? who cares the 'dis' is absolutely unnecessary ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

ok, that was funny and nicely executed ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

seriously, how far do you expect to get with THAT statement in Speaker's Corner? ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

and we come full circle to the point so, how seriously, on a scale of 1 to 100, do you have to be for the Metaphor to transform to a belief in someone's mind? Is it 61? I'd argue that whatever number you pick, someone will argue that it's a slightly lower number and you are evil for putting your number out there. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

Sure, he's just acknowledging the balance of nature as something special. again, so what - you also have people that 'worship' nature, etc - you still have people that believe in a spiritual aspect of "karma" it's still a faith, it's still just as silly, and it's still just as harmless and doesn't matter once you get past the goofy belief bit - some people are better people because of it, some aren't. So it's a non-starter Take "karma" - atheists throw that term out a lot. It's just as silly. The idea that actions have effect is just fine, to apply some silly spiritual term to it is a form deification - even as dilute as that is. And I say - so what? just be consistent. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

How is he leeching off the government and college students? A professor who makes their money from the government and college students making statements about the greed and corruption of the banking and medical industries while college prices are up again ... should take a look in the mirror. So, to be clear - even teaching in a private institution one still would suck off of the benefits of government intervention artificially driving up the price of providing education in the entire market. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

so what? how an individual chooses to view or personify the metaphor is silly since it's up to the individual My agnosticism is pretty much based on not really caring enough to enter the realm of idiocy involved when atheists and religious types debate such an empty issue. Except for personal entertainment, anyway. I don't want anyone to think I'm an 'atheist' any more than I'd want anyone to think I'm a fundamentalist. You get the exact same look - "oh crap, will I have to listen to their little speech then?" ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

absolutely perfect ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

Anger at a political (i.e., subjective) position/demonstration is a childish response. That's pretty basic. the appropriate response is always to try to understand their position and then determine your own. though it seems no one cares to try to understand the other viewpoint at all - too many simpletons think "understand = agree" which is completely a false/weakminded position However, aren't people that are driven to 'demonstrate' typically expressing some form of anger as well? So we have childish responses to childish demonstrations - it's quite a puzzle but I think it's true - look at the reaction to the Wall Street protesters - look at the reaction to the Tea Party demonstrations. plenty of childishness to go around I wonder what 'mild amusement' to these people indicate? probably something bad too..... ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

yup - 'some people' just might be better off - at the cost of everyone else in the spirit of following up two failed 'stimulus' programs with a third, we now introduce: "the thing that got us into this mess" round two...... forcing banks to give out bad loans - the sequel ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

Really? I know a lot of people who I would consider to be truly faithful, many in my own family. And most of them seem to be very good people. I don't know how most of them feel about my beliefs, because it's rarely come up. Though I have talked about my beliefs with several of my religious friends, and we've always managed to be respectful of each other's beliefs. I think you and I are using two different definitions of "rationalize." I was talking about looking at things from a rational point of view; I thought that was what the OP meant, but maybe he meant the "making excuses" definition? 1 - for the first part - I'm pretty cynical about people. You do have a better outlook on people than I do. Don't change. 2 - I think we are using the same version of "rationalize". You are simply more forgiving in allowing someone of "faith" to have their justifications and not call it a contradiction. I just really believe that being faithful, by definition, absolutely cannot have any aspect of rationality. It's pure belief in the absence of any type of proof either way. To me, it means flip a coin, since it doesn't matter either way. For the faithful - it means they believe it, and it doesn't have to 'explain' anything, it's just their's and it's personal and no one else's business. They always flip heads on that coin. They pretty much shouldn't be able to 'explain' themselves and why they believe - no proof - no need for proof - it's who they are - it's not a crutch - etc. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

another thing, I think I can count on one hand, in my entire life where I felt I met someone that completely and sincerely actually seemed to be truly faithful - at least to how I'd visualize it. They just quietly and with dignity had their belief and didn't make a big deal out of it in any way at all, nor did they need to prove it to themselves or others, nor did they much care if others felt differently. they were very nice people - about as decent as one can be but it's very rare (I suspect there are more, but they'd be stealthy by definition - especially around an agnostic-apathetic like me) - IMO I also suspect that someone of faith that could be near that point in their beliefs could be very easily tipped one way or the other (insecure-has-to-rationalize-it, vs the gotta-convert-everyone, vs the in-your-face types) ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

gotcha ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

if you read my post - I made that point explicitly I was talking in general about how we need to be aware of those newbies asking what seems like innocent questions to make sure they get the right info - ----- - but don't misuse it. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

Yet several people have stated on here how they rationalize their beliefs. I think most adults have rationalized their religious beliefs one way or another. For some, it might be as simple as deciding that it's wrong to even question what they were taught growing up, and for others it might involve questioning to the point of changing beliefs. But I suspect that most adults have at least had a moment of looking at their religion (or lack of religion) and asking themselves if it is "right," and I would call that rationalizing one's beliefs. (I'm using the positive/neutral definition of "rationalize" here, not the negative definition. Not sure if that is what the OP intended.) sure, but I'd say a need to rationalize it is counter productive to the real end game - in other words, they have to rationalize it because they are not really fully committed. and, by definition, that would just be an exercise in futility. But I hope it makes them feel better - that's all they can achieve. so they are really rationalizing 'away' their lack of faith - This isn't bad or good, if an individual 'needs' some kind of faith in their life, then finding a way to shore that up is healthy. If they don't need it, then rationalizing it would be unhealthy. What I find mostly unhealthy is one person's need to piss all over someone else's belief - like it's really their business. I wish it were more direct and people just ask - "is it right for me" and stop pissing on each other when they make alternate choices - I find it very instructive to see how an atheist responds to being told "I'll pray for you" (given sincerely, like in terms of a sickness or a loss). Do they blow up and tell the other person they are deluded? or do they just say thanks, since the intent is well wishes. I've seen both. I've also seen a religious person get really upset when an atheist refuses to pray for someone, but says they'll "keep them in their thoughts" or equivalent. people are weird ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

Find a new instructor, this one isn't giving you good advice. It's more like dangerously bad advice. One thing, before trashing the instructor in all these threads.... People have conversations around the bonfire all the time, discussions about jumping and canopies and flying. As instructors, we have to be open to honestly answering questions, but then listening to what might be the intentions of the newbies and making sure we address THAT as well. Answering questions can be (purposely) misinterpreted as 'advice' and/or 'encouragement' to someone willing to hear what they want to hear. Are they curious? Or are they really just looking for rationalization. (however, for this specific quote - if the instructor actually "ORDERED AN ELLIPTICAL DEMO CANOPY" for this student, then he's really out to lunch and does need to be called out) I really worry about a newbie who is posting these things and exaggerating/boasting beyond the 'truth' of it and then our super safety nazi's going out and trashing decent DZ's and instructors just because the newbie posted a DZ on his personal info. ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

seriously, find someone to talk to ... Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants