JackC

Actually Calvin19, I'm with you. The last thing this planet needs is another human. And given the state of the world and it's dwindling resources you could argue that bringing a kid into the world is actually an act of cruelty and selfishness. On topic thoughh, I've recently heard of a technique where they plug the relevant tubes intead of snipping them, so it's reversible. It's a brand new technique though and probably not available just anywhere but you might ask about it. Edit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1891798,00.html

America has less than 5% of the worlds population, 30% of the worlds economy and produces 24% of the worlds CO2, and you want Guatemala to curb their CO2 emmisions first? Why can't someone just start off unilaterally? Why do people insist that they shouldn't bother to do anything to solve the problem because the other fella isn't doing anything. It's stupid.

That'll be the excuse we use when the planet is completely fucked.

Until the lack of resources directly affects them, I doubt anything will happen. People just aren't motivated to curb their consumerism unless they have the proverbial gun to their head. An H5N1 pandemic would probably sort the problem out though. Drastic though it is.

A WWF study says that we have been living beyond the environment's means for two decades THE Earth?s natural resources are being used 25 per cent faster than the planet can renew them, analysis by WWF indicates. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2418083,00.html The full report can be found here

Well, IMO (as a teacher for 35 years) your problem is right there. If you treat mathematics as memorizing formulae you will never get very far because there's just too much to memorize. If you try instead to understand the basic principles, everything builds on them in a logical fashion and you don't have to remember so much. I agree. As Feynman said, there is a difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

Gradshteyn and Ryzhik

Um.. reigious descrimination?

As far as I can tell, he objected to Israels bombing of Palestine (his wife is apparently palestinian). That sounds political to me, god knows how that got spun as a welfare issue.

Should exemptions to the law be made because of political affiliations? No. Should exemptions to the law be made because of social or professional standing? No. Should exemptions to the law be made because of ethnic origin? No. Likewise, religious beliefs are not special. People are not deserving of any extra consideration because of them. They should be subject the same shit rules as everyone else.

Yep, with teathered flight you're not much more than a glorified kite. Worth it though.

If it's petrol fuel injected the ECU will cut the fuel on the over-run to give better gas mileage and then switch it on again when the revs get below a certain level. It sounds to me like the fuel isn't getting into the engine after the ECU turns the fuel on again. This is usually caused by the throttle body/air door getting gummed up and sticking. Clean the air door out with carb cleaner and see if this fixes the problem. There is also a stepper motor on the idle screw that will turn the idle up if the ECU thinks it's too slow and this sometimes gums up and sticks. Clean this while you're at it. And check for vacuum leaks. With the engine off, pump the brakes a few times until the pedal feels harder, then with you foot on the brake, start the engine, the pedal should get sucked down a bit. If it doesn't, you've got an air leak into the brake servo. Forget the torque converter.

I think he's already got his legacy. Several of them. 1. increasing the UK tax burden to the highest in history. 2. Incompetently trying to mend the NHS to a point that it is now beyond repair. 3. Conducting a foreign policy that has made us more hated than ever before (and that takes some doing) 4. Destroying our international reputation by being Bush's poodle and getting nothing in return. 5. Failing to even comprehend the level of illegal immigration let alone do anything about it. 6. Giving away our EU rebate in return for absolutely nothing 7. Over-stretching the armed forces to a point where we are no longer able to defend our borders. 8. Championing faith schools where our children get brainwashed into thinking creationism is science 9. Creating a bottomless money pit out of ID cards that will have no benefit whatsoever; and making them compulsory by the back door. 10. Introducing legislation that severely curbs freedom of speech, the right to silence and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. And that's just from the top of my head. Tony Blair and his cronies should be tried for treason.

I always liked this one. We must repsect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children are smart. ~ Henry Mencken

Yeah I know why the Tigers are pissed off, but for some reason Billvon keeps citing them as an atheist terrorist organisation when atheism (or religion) seems to be a total non-issue for them. Fuctifino.

What, the Tigers use it as an excuse or other people use it as an excuse for what the tigers are doing? In everything I've read, the subject is never even mentioned. Are you sure you didn't just make this up?

Exactly - that's the point I was making above. He's basically the clerical equivalent of a nerdy little college professor, sans the mid-life crisis. This pope really is less of an heirarchical politician than many other popes have been; he's been more of an apparatchik. I think this is a classic example of an executive who was let down by his senior staff, and stepped in it as a result. He really should take them back to the woodshed for a good ass-kicking. I'm not so sure. The Pope has been around long enough to know how his comments might get taken. He isn't stupid. In fact god's rottwieler has got a history of pissing off anyone he doesn't agree with. He pissed the Jews off when he visited Auschwitz and forgot to mention anti-semitism, or offer any apology on behalf of Germany or the Church. He pissed off Buddhists when he said Buddhism was no more than mental masturbation. He pissed off gays calling homosexuality an intrinsic moral evil. He excommunicated seven women priests just for being women preists, he calls rock music the anti-thesis of the christian faith. Now he's pissed off the muslims and the best he can do is say that he's sorry they took offence. I think he knew very well what he was doing.

Are the Tamil Tigers primarily motivated by atheism then? I searched tamiltigers.net and the other articles and didn't find one mention of their atheist or religious stance, it doesn't seem to be a particularly significant issue for them. I think you made that up.

You'd get this pop up every 40 jumps.

No seriously, WTF are you talking about?

Are you listening to yourself? You basically just said "religion isn't the main factor in religion". You folks honestly baffle the fuck out of me.

Fuck. It seems GWB is determined to turn the war on terror into a crusade. If any of this end times shit actually happens it will be because religious nut jobs like this make it happen. A self-fulfilling prophecy. All these religious types, rapture ready and misty eyed at the thought of armageddon scare the crap out of me. And they say religion is a good thing, WTF?

Here's how H. L. Mencken puts it: "There is nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend to be noticeably silly." People do seem to get disproportionately pissed when their faith is questioned. But really, if the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits. That doesn't seem worthy of any significant amount of respect to me. You obviously disagree and I'd like to know why you think believers of religion X should automatically get respect simply for believing, that's all.

Easy. The whole Biblical story, all the inconsistencies, all the redefining words, all the different interpretations, all the problems with literal and metaphorical readings, all the logical falacies, all the infinities, the problem of evil, the whole shebang, all of it makes complete, logical sense if you include this one tiny thing: god is a fictional character. Emphasis added. Yep, my mistake although it works for the scripture of every religion I'm aware of.

Your astronomy needs a refresher course I think. Follow the link and read the very first definition of universe.