Doom Shepherd

Asahina, who is Gordon's former Girlfriend, Saw Gordon with his brother John, eating space brownies with headcrab zombie icing, and she

Sorry, but anything appearing on the "Alex Jones" channel automatically loses 87 kajillion credibility points due to loony infection.

But too freaking cold! There's a reason 75% of the population is all huddled up to the US border... for warmth! (And cross-border shopping to avoid paying GST, among other things.)

One day God gazed upon the people of Earth who were starting to play Civilization while eating popcorn. He gleefully said "DELETE THIS THREAD!" and then suddenly they did died.Their ghosts yelled all night long and that noise brought forth the Klingon Empire."DAMMIT GODZILLA'S FINGERING US" shouted the anthropomorphic mole people who were furries, but had a huge party in the house of Machinima, when Ross Scott shouted out loud "LEAVE ME ALONE!" His arms waving and hit the "Self Destruct" button. All of Machinima exploded in a thermonuclear explosion. Meanwhile coke ran free through the river, causing everyone to screw burning Machinima, meanwhile in Canada a television manufacturer ruled by Osama's son, a young fire breathing boy, who farted loudly that blew his brain. Suddenly the followers of Gordon Freeman began to sang very stupid songs about whales. Angered, he yelled "I'm Ishmael bitch", so everyone in the 'verse before this one made prostheletyzing illegal. Tacoman came by and dropped a - I woke up! Right after the tornado hit Minnesota, God said he just can not live without doughnuts

True, but I'm not in Boulder, I'm in Pueblo. (try inserting my 'location' coordinates into Google Earth, that's my apartment) I did. That's wierd, I could have sworn it said "Boulder" when I did ity yesterday.

In the case of Ukraine all I have to say is why didn't Stalin just go and marry hitler.... They're very alike. Sure, different moustaches, same evil shit. Pretty much. Honestly? No idea. It probably depends on how you define "optimal." Especially in terms of what kind of lifestyle we are willing to accept. If we all lived like Indians (from India, not the Americas), Earth might be able to hold around 15 billion of us. But if we all want to live like Americans, that number is going to be much, MUCH lower. Probably closer to BTGbulleye's numbers. Assuming, that is, no major paradigm shifts (I seem to be using that phrase a lot today) in the way we do things, like the development of new technologies. Groundbreaking innovations like fusion power and asteroid mining (so we no longer have to take resources from the Earth alone) or new developments in increasing crop yields, would have a great effect on our sustainability, and hence the number of people who could live comfortably.

None of the above. "Both" should be an option. For example: The US style of Republican Democracy exists today largely because of the attitudes that arose during a religious paradigm shift that began during the Renaissance, with the early Humanist thinkers (back when Humanism and religions were not considered incompatible.), who believed that worshipping God necessarily meant appreciating his creation, clebrating mankind... which began to slowly lead to the idea that despite class and race and other factors, all humans were actually equal and deserving of the same "natural rights." On the other hand, established religion also fought strongly against these very same ideas, and in many cases still does today.

Anyway, I'd pick Leichtenstein. It seems like a small country I could take over fairly easily. The US is just too damn big for conquest, at least by somone as lazy as I am.

One day God gazed upon the people of Earth who were starting to play Civilization while eating popcorn. He gleefully said "DELETE THIS THREAD!" and then suddenly they did died.Their ghosts yelled all night long and that noise brought forth the Klingon Empire."DAMMIT GODZILLA'S FINGERING US" shouted the anthropomorphic mole people who were furries, but had a huge party in the house of Machinima, when Ross Scott shouted out loud "LEAVE ME ALONE!" His arms waving and hit the "Self Destruct" button. All of Machinima exploded in a thermonuclear explosion. Meanwhile coke ran free through the river, causing everyone to screw burning Machinima, meanwhile in Canada a television manufacturer ruled by Osama's son, a young fire breathing boy, who farted loudly that blew his brain. Suddenly the followers of Gordon Freeman began to sang very stupid songs about whales. Angered, he yelled "I'm Ishmael bitch", so everyone in the 'verse before this one made prostheletyzing illegal.

Boulder isn't exactly the place to see that sort of thing.

I hear them every time I go anywhere near any "science" history anything... It's called "Evolution". No, you hear them because you're a denier, not a non-believer. The whole point of this discussion is that there's a difference between the two things. It's the same as the way in which if you don't believe that the Holocaust happened, but you don't tell anyone, you won't be attacked and it will have little or no effect on your daily life... ...but if you run around nosing your way into every historical discussion saying that the history of WWII and the Holocaust shoudl not be taught in schools (or that equal time should be given to the "Hitler had some good ideas" theory), people are going to call you out as a freaking nutball.

The Parental Units and I do not exchange mutual emotional sentimental communiques.

In the case of Technology V. Malthus, Technology is still winning. Except in places where crappy governments still run things. Most of our historically recent large-scale famines (China, Ethopia, the Ukraine) have been due at least as much to ideology as they have been to any other factor. As for terrorism... just you wait until we develop the meme-bomb. When the mere act of believing that intentionally targeting civilians is an acceptable strategy makes your head explode...

Last night, I dreamt that my family was being chased around my parents' house and yard by an angry rhinocerous that had escaped from the refrigerator that my younger brother had been it inside to "keep it sluggish." My mother and I eventually calmed it by feeding it oranges and ziploc bags of raisins that we stumbled across while running down a hillside.

Which is why when people get sick, and no one else can cure them, they get on a plane to Canada. Oh, wait, that's the US that they go to. Even Canadians who can, come here. (Like former Canadian Cabinet member Belinda Stronach) Wonder why that is? Americans have a higher survival rate than any other country on earth for 13 out of 16 of the most common cancers. Might have something to do with the fact that there are more MRI machines in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA than there are in all of Canada.

I'm just gonna chime in on this to say "it varies." Then I'm gonna admit to something just a tad squicky... When I was 19, I spent about 2 weeks in a "mutually flirtatious" relationship with a girl who was working at a summer camp that I was also a counselor at. She was the daughter of one of the camp leaders. She was also 14. But nobody (including her) bothered to TELL ME THAT! And I had no clue, because she was as tall as me, (6-foot girl, holy crap) built like an 18-20-year-old, and smart as f*** to boot. (In fact, her not telling me her age was apparently part of a devious plot to land an older guy, because she was bored with guys her own age... "too immature.") I had to hear this from her dad. I thought I was gonna die (or be murdered), but he was pretty understanding about the whole thing, thank goodness. And yeah, I stayed as far away as possible from her until the camp broke up. Fortunately, her part of the camp was only 3 weeks out of the 10 weeks the camp was open. And while the whole incident still weirds me out to this day, it did make me think about the rather arbitrary lines we draw around our morality. I'm much older now, and the woman I'm currently seeing is 8 years older than I am, and I've dated girls who were up to 8 years younger than me at the time (This WAS in my early 30's, though.) And that's a much bigger age difference than between this girl and me back then. Not that I'd date a 14 year old NOW. EWW!

We've tried that, but your beliefs seem curiously immune to reason.

Oh, forgot. I am currently multitasking: 1. Typing this. 2. At work, entering class data for the government-sponsored employee training program my university sponsors. 3. Fighting off a tension headache that started in my neck from sleeping crooked. 4. Watching the phones. 5. Proctoring a Final Exam in Business Ethics.

It's sort of a parody/homage. That's kinda Tarantino's thing. The "Scream" movies were the same kind of idea.

This statement is false. This statement is also false. A HUGE falsehood that can be easily disproved by using Google for 30 seconds. This statement is both nonsensical and false. I suspect that you are merely repeating things that you have been told by creationists or read on creationist websites, since you have a history of quoting unqualified creationist sources. But I tell you again, whoever is telling you these things is LYING to you, either deliberately or in an attempt to falsely justify their own beliefs.

Not necessarily so. The real God may not give a crap whether or not you believe in It. Or it may believe that doing good works and being a decent human being is better than -plain ol' belief. Especially given the large number of believers who really are absolute jackasses (Like Fred Phelps.) Yes, but they're not worshipped in the same way. The other fatal flaw in Pascal's wager is that most religions don't believe it's enough to JUST believe. You have to believe certain things and act in certain ways, and every sect of every religion believes if you don't do it THEIR way, you're still screwed. Muslims and Christians may believe in the same God, but each still believes that the followers of the other religion are worshipping incorrectly and ultimately doomed. That's why I don;t believe in any of these relligions. I believe that if God exists, there are three options: 1. It's indifferent, so it doesn't matter what I believe, or IF I believe. 2. It's just and good, so it doesn't matter what anyone believes, because those who are just and good see being just and good as more important, so the just and good are safe regardless of belief. (Except maybe I'm NOT just and good... but in that case I'll abide by the decision of the court.) 3. It's NOT just and good (hostile), in which case we're ALL screwed, and I'm joining the Opposition.

Honestly, I don't see where you're going with that. What was inappropriate about it? Putting a LOL smiley after a statement is generally taken to indicate that the preceding statement was humorous, made in jest, or at least tongue-in-cheek. It's supposed to point out to the oversensitive and thin-skinned that it isn't to be taken entirely seriously. It's basic netiquette. I love it. Love it to death, best job I've ever had. The perfect balance of money, job security, and responsibility (or lack thereof.) Although if I were rich, I'd go back to my old job in a public library. Because it would be SO nice to be able to interact with the same idiots I used to be faced with every day, and NOT have my livelihood dependent upon whether I treated them with respect, or with the scorn they deserved. Then I would feel better about treating the many decent people with actual respect, rather than the false smile that working with the public forces us to put on all the time.

Okay, I understand that. You wouldn't have believed some of the stuff I posted online around the time my girlfriend accidentally OD'd on her pain meds and almost died. (That was a few years ago, long before this. Everything's good now.) So in the spirit of international goodwill, hows about we declare peace?

I took enough Philosophy courses to suspect that it's impossible to "prove" anything "philosophically." You can't even conclusively prove, philosophically, that you EXIST. Or from your perspective, that _I_ exist. That's where that fun inductive reasoning comes in. If one does not (or refuses to) apply it, nothing can ever be proven to his satisfaction. And when it becomes apparent to others that he is not employing it, it will become impossible for him to prove anything else to them, or even converse with them. He will, behaviorally speaking, have become the monkey that painted himself green.* *This refers to an old behavioral study in which one monkey was taken from a group, painted green, and returned. The other monkeys, seeing the painted monkey as essentially an alien intruder, promptly tore him to pieces.

Wait, wait, wait... Canada has global influence?!? Oh, yes. Land mine treaty, you know. Ozone treaty too. elped defuse the Suez crisis. Also, pretty badass during WWII. Mr. Scott (Jimmy Doohan) lost a finger at Juno Beach, shot six times. (By a nervous Canadian sentry, but hey.) He was once labelled the "craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force." Still pretty badass in Afghanistan. People joke about the Canadian military, but they really shouldn't.