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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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When I compare the list of beliefs side by side - modern Satanism versus Christianity - I'm solidly more on the Satanic side, WAY more,
How nice for you.
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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All one needs is a Bic lighter to take down your strawman army, Paul. I'm not sure who you're arguing with - since no one has espoused any of your perceived 'counterpoints'. Morality is complex? Um...yeah, we know. Is the story of Adam and Eve complex?
Nope. Not very. Obey God or pay, no questions asked. The Bible repeats this simple warning over and over. You've attempted to spread modern thinking over it - OF COURSE IT'S AN ECOLOGICAL ALLEGORY - but it's all so much bullsh#t, really. The story speaks for itself in simple terms.
FYI: That's not the first time you've offered up The Dude's most over-played quote. I think that stopped being funny right about the time Monty Python quotes started to be funny again.
When you don't have anything relevant to say but the itch must be scratched: Repetition, repetition, repetition.
Or maybe this is all just the Devil in me talkin
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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I'm not sure who you're arguing with - since no one has espoused any of your perceived 'counterpoints'. Morality is complex? Um...yeah, we know. Is the story of Adam and Eve complex?
You should read the posts... honestly, it really helps facilitate the discussion.
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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Yet another recycled reading comprehension comment...
You can probably do better.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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I remember reading once about, "the total number of elementary particles in the (known?) universe" and it was 10 to the 80th, or so. That may be a misleading statement, taken the wrong way by me the layperson to suggest a finite universe. The question of whether time divides into ever shorter intervals might still be pure metaphysics. . . . However, if the universe has a finite number of parts which change state in stepwise intervals, then we can write numbers large enough to enumerate all the possible universes (MH2)
Well, the division into smaller and smaller intervals ad infinitum is done all the time in Riemann integration, but in physical reality it is an open question as far as I know, although the meditators here might suggest that time, like the material world, is composed ultimately of chronological particles having no temporal extent.
The question of a finite number of particles in the universe (beyond the known universe) seems kind of metaphysical, also. But if you start at ten parts and bifurcate at each "step" at the Nth step you have 10X2^N paths and the counting is easy. This generalizes.
All this assumes the universe is "rational", hence countable. But of course on a computer there are no irrationals.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Okay. Maybe it is too metaphysical to talk about the universe and how it evolves from moment to moment. Let us simply look at one ball of matter in thermal equilibrium with its surroundings. What is the spectrum of the heat energy radiating from the ball of matter? What mathematics describes the spectrum?
Matter appears to us as lumpy. What about energy? Maybe we can, with a little trepidation, avoid considering time. It may not be what it seems to be, after all.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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'S Okay, the fever has abated.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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^^^heeYea!
do you think it has anything to do with balls of matter finding their thermal equilibrium?
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Last night I watched the first 2014 episode of "The Good Wife", which I had recorded several months ago. One of the subplots involves a CEO of a seed company who has spent 400 million dollars developing a seed impervious to all sorts of seed-threats and a farmer neighbor who broke the law by buying the seeds one season and using the seeds the second planting season without paying for them.
In court both sets of lawyers go at it using clever twists and accusations against each other until the CEO - a farmer himself - and his neighbor retire to the back of the courtroom and discuss the matter, deciding to shift arguments to a Christian mediation procedure.
So everyone assembles around a table the next day, with the mediator, a very pleasant and soft-spoken fellow who insists everyone call him "Dell." Once more the lawyers go at it, until Dell calms both sides and quotes a little scripture, allowing anyone, including the plaintiff and the defendant to speak, saying "We all want to get to the truth here, so anyone can say what is on their mind."
The following day the lawyers from both sides come well-prepared and begin quoting appropriate scripture themselves, which causes Dell to smile and gently admonish them with "I see you have all become scripture scholars overnight." But even with the easy-going direction of Dell the lawyers once more get feisty, at which time both farmers retreat to the other side of the room and calmly go about reaching an agreement in friendship with the CEO promising an easing of the price to his fellow Christian.
Then they return to the table and tell everyone it's all over - they have reached a peaceful gentlemen's agreement. Later, the lawyers grumble over the fact there is no settlement.
This reminded me of a time before turning seventy when I was called for jury duty. I sat in the audience while lawyers chose their jury, and in front of me sat an older couple, chatting quietly. I overheard them talk about the woman bringing civil charges against the man because he reached out and gently pushed her in an argument, she didn't fall and there were no injuries, but this couple - who seemed quite friendly - were plaintiff and defendant in the trial under discussion. I wasn't called upon, but had I been I would have vented my feelings about a legal system that has become absurd, bizarre even, when, as I was told by a lawyer friend: "Any one can sue anybody, anytime, anywhere" in this country.
Sharia law, anyone? The gentle guidance of Dell in the Christian mediation process in the show was actually refreshing. Our legal system needs a "reformation" like the Christian religions experienced.
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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that seed plot was based on an actual SCOTUS case
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Aren't most of those patented seeds hybrids which don't breed true in the next generation anyway?
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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the scotus involved GM Roundup Ready seeds. A farmer purchased bulk seeds, correctly figuring that some would statistically be RR. he planted, hit the field with Roundup, and used the RR surviving plants for hus own seed stock.
Clever, but he lost the case.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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In the book I just finished, a family moves to Alaska in 1946 and builds a cabin near Murder Cove.
After a few years learning how to fish for salmon they decide to build boats of their own. In between fishing, hunting, and trapping, they build a small sawmill, cut timber, and after four years have enough planks.
During the winter a Navy boat sends men ashore to hunt. One of the men gets separated from the others, panics, and goes a long way in the wrong direction. As it gets dark he comes to a cabin, finds no one there, goes in and makes a small fire. He wakes up to flames everywhere. The Navy now easily locates their lost man.
The captain of the boat inspects the ruins and rusting machinery. He writes in his report that an abandoned cabin was burned.
To the family that built the sawmill this was a major loss of time, effort, materials, and future income. When the Navy did not respond to a request for compensation they decided to sue. They learned that in order to sue the government, you must first get the government's permission.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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As Andy surmises it's about the legal system not the damn seeds.
;>/
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Jan 10, 2015 - 12:08pm PT
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Dead thread?
Active climbers glued to the Dawn Wall
The anti-religious ranters are otherwise occupied
The meditators are deep in Nirvana
The scientists are cleaning their test tubes
The mathematicians are calculating the value of the harmonic series . . .
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Ward Trotter
Trad climber
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Jan 10, 2015 - 12:33pm PT
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And Pro football fans are in Nirvana. Today's #winnerpicks:
Patriots over Ravens
Seahawks over Panthers
Time for some ...reeeeeeligion
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Tvash
climber
Seattle
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Jan 10, 2015 - 01:14pm PT
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they nailed a barge from orbit? After a major mechanical failure?
Impressive, to say the least.
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