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Post by Bill Thompson on Oct 26, 2006 23:41:56 GMT -4
On the other hand having the equivalent of three cheerleaders right from the heart of Bush's homeland come out, go to another country (apparently so they can be safe to say what they feel) and cheer Al Qaeda on, is another story. "Cheer Al Queda on..." Please, by all means, quote for us an example of the Dixie Chicks (or members thereof) "Cheering Al Queda on." I made no such claim. If you read the whole paragraph without taking the last half out of context it would be clear I was talking about how Osama bin Laden and his fans might read these women's actions.
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Post by Bill Thompson on Oct 26, 2006 23:44:25 GMT -4
What do you mean? Whatever I say what? I mean that I find little pleasure in discussions with people that are so strident. Those that exhibit flexibility and a willingness to examine ideas are far more interesting. Walk a mile in my shoes before judging me like this. To me, it is you who is not listening.
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Post by gillianren on Oct 27, 2006 4:19:21 GMT -4
Walk a mile in my shoes before judging me like this. To me, it is you who is not listening. I'm listening. I just find what you say abhorrent and uninformed. You clearly don't know anything about Constitutional law, nor are you interested in learning. You've raised points on many occasions that are quite frankly indefensible--do you want me to start listing attractive Democrats? Because I can--yet you persist in them, no matter how much evidence is presented against you. As if your opinion were the only thing in the world that mattered. I'm here to tell you, Bill, it isn't. For one thing, I protest the war because I consider it unjustifiable. You'll note that, in the 2000 debates (I'm pretty sure), Bush only supported those US military actions that were engaged in by his father, no matter how many innocent people were being killed in, you know, Serbia. But then, they don't have oil in Serbia, so his special interest, big oil backers don't care about it. We're not interfering in Darfur, and I'm here to tell you, what's happening in Darfur is far worse than what's happening in Iraq now, much less before we stuck our noses in. You tar everyone with the same brush an awful lot. You say that all Democrats are liberal, no matter how often it's been pointed out to you that that isn't true. You say all Democrats are unattractive, based on one unappealing picture of Hillary Clinton. I know of at least one Sexiest Man Alive (I don't remember the year, though he cites it repeatedly because he thinks it's funny) who's a liberal Democrat. If I put a little time and thought into it, I could come up with quite a few others, even women. And certainly Rush Limbaugh's no prize, physical-attraction-wise. You make near constant errors in science, often based on what are clearly political reasons, given how seldom you're willing to accept other evidence. For gods' sake, Bill, how often do you have to be told that brain size and intelligence aren't directly correlated. Yes, whales have very large brains. But, you know, they have very large bodies to control, and the parts of the brain that are strongly developed in humans that relates to their intelligence simply isn't that strongly developed in whales. Or elephants. Or whatever other large mammal you care to name. In short, you're wrong a lot, and you never admit it. You are an arrogant prat.
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reynoldbot
Jupiter
A paper-white mask of evil.
Posts: 790
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Post by reynoldbot on Oct 27, 2006 6:36:54 GMT -4
And fortunately, the statement "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas" constitutes neither of the above. How do you interpret that? What does that mean to you? Bill, I'm sorry to say this but that statement has absolutely nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda, or any other ridiculous connections you are making. Nothing. It makes no mention of any of the things you ranted and raved about. It only talks about being ashamed of being from the same state as the president (which is actually not true, he was born in Connecticut. Being a true Native Texan, I know the specific pride connotated with being born in Texas). If the statement is so blatantly traitorous when why have they not been arrested? If that statement is traitorous, then is any other critical statement about the president also considered traitorous? That doesn't sound like democracy to me. It sounds like a warped fantasy of a severely immature conservative.
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Post by Apollo Gnomon on Oct 27, 2006 11:16:04 GMT -4
Neandertal cranial capacity was "on average" larger than ours. They were, however, deeply Conservative. ;D yeah, man! Good one. ;D Not meant as a compliment, but if you consider yourself a Conservative Neanderthal, that's fine with me. Like the Neandertals, American Conservatives are afraid of change, cllinging doggedly to an antiquated intellectual toolkit. Rather than applying "liberal" policies of intertribal cooperation, they stubbornly hide themselves in their "neanderthal only" caves and wait for the traitorous Cro-Magnons to leave and take those new-fangled bows with them. "Don't worry," the elder Neandertal said. "The Cro-Magnons can't kill all the mastadons. Our gods are awesome gods. Puny humans could never affect the world that much."
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Post by Apollo Gnomon on Oct 27, 2006 11:24:50 GMT -4
"So shut up and give me your children," the elder continued. "We're almost winning the War on Weather."
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Post by Data Cable on Oct 27, 2006 18:20:29 GMT -4
Protesting a war is fine. Not overseas. Er, why? And "overseas" is a rather large chunk of realestate. Where, specifically? In the UK? In Japan? In Iraq? Or maybe, just maybe, they were expressing an opinion of their own.
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Post by Apollo Gnomon on Oct 27, 2006 18:40:28 GMT -4
Hey Bill. Why can't you keep your sh!t in one bucket? Why do you have to smear all the threads with whatever flimflam comes into your head?
You started these threads, and then you threadjack 'em yourself. You're a very strange man.
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Post by Apollo Gnomon on Oct 28, 2006 1:14:02 GMT -4
Bill Thompson said:
This makes me think of Bob B. and STS60 responding with three shovel-fulls to every HB that comes along.
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Post by Bill Thompson on Nov 1, 2006 21:43:12 GMT -4
;D yeah, man! Good one. ;D Not meant as a compliment, but if you consider yourself a Conservative Neanderthal, that's fine with me. Like the Neanderthals, American Conservatives are afraid of change, clinging doggedly to an antiquated intellectual toolkit. Rather than applying "liberal" policies of intertribal cooperation, they stubbornly hide themselves in their "Neanderthal only" caves and wait for the traitorous Cro-Magnons to leave and take those new-fangled bows with them. "Don't worry," the elder Neandertal said. "The Cro-Magnons can't kill all the mastadons. Our gods are awesome gods. Puny humans could never affect the world that much." I did not think it was a compliment. But I can appreciate good humor. How would you define a liberal and how is it that they offer new and better ideas? I have the following problems with your analogy: If the left ideology and style of government is better, how can you explain the poverty of Vietnam and how they rely on the underground free market of the southern cities to prop them up. If the left ideology and style of government is better, how can you explain the fact that China is moving away from a centralized market and towards a more free market economy? Hey Bill. Why can't you keep your sh!t in one bucket? Why do you have to smear all the threads with whatever flimflam comes into your head? You started these threads, and then you threadjack 'em yourself. You're a very strange man. Flim Flam is a good book by Randi. Interesting how people are borrowing from him to try to make themselves look like him. But to answer your question, It is up to the admin to split off discussion threads that go off on tangents.
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Post by LunarOrbit on Nov 1, 2006 22:17:09 GMT -4
But to answer your question, It is up to the admin to split off discussion threads that go off on tangents. No, it is up to everyone to make sure threads stay on topic because I cannot split or merge topics with this forum software. That is why I specifically requested in the rules that people try not to take threads off topic. What I can do is delete posts that are not on topic, but I would rather not do that.
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Post by Bill Thompson on Nov 1, 2006 22:27:33 GMT -4
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Post by Bill Thompson on Nov 27, 2006 6:21:05 GMT -4
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reynoldbot
Jupiter
A paper-white mask of evil.
Posts: 790
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Post by reynoldbot on Nov 27, 2006 12:17:24 GMT -4
It has already been told to you that just because whales have large brains it doesn't make them intelligent. I have some questions for you. What parts of the brain deal with higher function, self-awareness, critical decision making, etc? Are those parts proportionally large or small in a whale's brain?
Whales have shown exceptional abilities to retain memory of the songs they make, which is amazing. But it does not mean they are anywhere near as intelligent as us.
If I was going to make a comment about technology being the result of ignorance I personally would have chosen guns, bombs, chemical weapons and electronic polling machines.
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Post by nomuse on Nov 28, 2006 15:42:05 GMT -4
Once you ask if technology is a sign of intelligence, you have opened up debate on what is, exactly, meant by intelligence. Even among primatologists "intelligence" is treated somewhat like a syndrome, with certain indicators; language use, tool use, problem-solving. (And as more and more candidates show up with some of the indicators, the syndrome is more and more narrowly defined so as to exclude them).
When you start discussing it in any detail, "Intelligence" is as difficult to nail down a definition for as is "Science Fiction." In the later, at least, there is a definition of convenience that suffices; "Science Fiction is a genre composed of those works that are racked in the 'Science Fiction' section at bookstores." For the moment our definitions of "intelligence" are similar; _we_ have something we call "intelligence," and other creatures or even machines have things that are similar but as yet undefined. What they have may be intriguing, valuable, and may even take part in even more slippery definitions such as "moral," but they are not, as far as we know, "intelligence" as it is defined for the human species.
(And to get on an even more slippery slope, there are degrees and kinds of intelligence within our species...when someone suffers through disease or accident destruction of part of the brain, are they still "intelligent" as we define it? Where exactly does "intelligence" rest? In the ability to form social networks? To be time-sensitive, able to remember the past and plan for the future? In consciousness itself?)
((And I should really have my morning coffee before going off on this kind of sophomoric babbling.))
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