metalslug

To quote from a popular movie: "Are you going to tell me to stay away from your girl ?" "Well, if I had to do that then she wouldn't be my girl." I think it's usualy best to discuss the problem with the 'significant other', but to let him/her handle it themselves unless they specificaly asked/agreed that you intercede. Either the S.O. is happy in their relationship with you or not. The flirting stranger, or someone else like them, will either succeed or fail based on that factor alone. It's just a matter of time.

It appears that "clouding the issue" is rife in this thread. Where, pray tell, did I suggest that I have, and/or am entitled to have, a power unique to me that solely determines the life and death of other people ?" My posts have expressed an attitude of apathy more than divinity. I'm more inclined to let fate take its course and let the dice fall where they may. Taz, apparently, seems to advocate the principle of persistently educating even those that dont heed the education, of somehow changing the entire culture of a developing nation so that even the poor may one day be capable of abstinence or eventualy put freely distributed condoms to proper use long after their purpose had been explained to a reluctant community. Taz wishes to teach the unteachable, prevent the inevitable, and intercede against fate. So.. which one of us is really 'playing God' ?

Not at all. Assuming she acquired the condition through her own fault or negligence, then she would have failed herself a person, and I would have failed her as a father.. and it will be our fate, our consequence, to deal with it as a family as best we could without crying out at the world to deal with it for us. The responsibilities towards one own family cannot be compared to the reponsibilities towards a global community.

Granted, I concede I have possibly taken the original Darwinian definition out of its original context.. although I'm very tempted to suggest that a creature's intelligence is "...the natural selection of small, inherited variations..." If a person chooses to engage in a lifestyle that is hazardous, having being informed as such, and then bitching at the world when harmed, then that is foolish, possibly even stupid. We dont see many skydivers blaming anyone other than themselves when they hook in and femur themselves. True, many AIDS sufferers acquired the condition through no fault or negligence of their own and for these people I do have genuine sympathy.. but they are the exception, not the norm. Granted too; I'm thrilled that medical technology exists to save me from potentialy fatal conditions that I may foolishly inflict on myself in a lifetime, but I very much doubt that I would die feeling bitter towards mankind for not doing enough to save me if existing medical science did not allow for it. And do you believe in God, ma'am ? What if these four passengers were left to fight it out for the parachute ? Chances are the businessman would win.. and it would be God's will, not so ? ..or does God not play God either ? --Edited for spelling.

I'm inclined to agree with Skyrad on this, which makes me wonder why I should feel less apathetic towards those that appear unwilling to help themselves. The sufferers in the above category aren't looking for a prevention to AIDS, they are looking for a cure.. so as to be able to continue with a promiscuous (and fundamentaly unhealthy) lifestyle and simply not suffer from it. It's a form of Darwinism. The weaker people, whether intellectualy or physicaly, will die.. and this has been nature's way since the dawn of time. And if HIV/AIDS were eradicated tomorrow ? It would fascilitate a breeding ground of... breeding more humans. Increased longevity, accelerated overpopulation and all the problems that go with that.. until nature is able to spawn the next epidemic to balance itself. Which is the lesser of the two evils ?

Ah Pia, I love it when you talk dirty to me.

What would you have us do ? Vote out the current government? (yeah, riiiight) ..or have DZ.commers send letters of protest that actualy get read ? There are 7 billion humans on an overpopulated planet and South Africa has a healthy quota of those. Darwinism takes its toll. Please have exact change.

There is a difference between apathy and ignorance. Which one do you think Reagan was guilty of ?

This story relates to a program screened on South African television last night. I'm sure some folks here will smirk at some of the more 'whuffo' comments made by the presenter, such as "..Felix pulls the rip cord..". I wish it were possible for me to post the video aswell because there was some interesting video of the channel crossing included.

What about deism ? The available options dont make allowance for the deist viewpoint.

Can you spell... gullible ? OK, so I'm no engineer, and I'm not suggesting that you are a liar.. but that just cant be possible, unless its been designed as a handgrenade. The steel for the firing chamber alone has got to weigh more than 1 pound. Anything less and you'll have a shrapnel bomb. Assuming you could create the firing chamber from titanium, tungsten carbide or some suitably miraculous material that weighs less than a pound, the recoil of such a lightweight 'sidearm' without an adequate muzzle brake (add another pound or so of weight there) would surely seriously damage the shooters hand. To quote Sir Newton's third law; Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. At one pound, a person may as well shoot themselves in the hand to get a feel for the predicted recoil.

Noice rifle. Was the rifle a gift ? Did you pay a really good bargain price for it ? If not, I am a little surprised you didnt pick the M99. It's cheaper and more accurate than the M82A1. (see here). It lacks the semi-auto ability, but for recreational use a cheaper, more accurate single-shot would definitely be my preference. Enjoy, I'm jealous.

Ready to sleep more like it, it's nearly 2AM in my world.

"Are they made from real Girl Scouts ?" - Wednesday Addams.

I do believe in a form of fate, but that the parameters and circumstances surrounding all the thousands or millions of events leading to the inevitable outcome, make it impossible to predict at our current level of technology and understanding. Take weather for example; to an extent tomorrow's weather is fate, and can be fairly accurately predicted using the science of the weather in the present. It cant be 100% guaranteed though because there are still a small number of unpredictable (currently unknown) variables that can alter the final weather effect. An engineer, testing a worn tyre in a controlled environment, can make predictions about when it may rupture and potentialy result in an accident on the car that would have been attached to it under very exact conditions. I think life is similar; that there is a predefined quantity and order of brain synapses and chemicals that drive us to think and do things in a semi-predictable pattern, but that a huge number of other circumstances, and actions of others in our lives, can alter the final outcome, so that the fate of one person can often be the collective fate of a group of people, and vice-versa. To predict the future and understand fate, a person would need perfect and complete understanding of the present. Because the present, in all its complexity, still ultimately determines the inevitable chain of events leading to the future. Edited for spelling.

I'm no logistics expert, but I figure that the shuttle would be used to transport and assemble the new parts of the James Webb Telescope when the time comes. I wonder if it has been considered to build the new telescope right alongside the Hubble, even attached to the Hubble during construction. The shuttle may launch with James Webb parts and return with Hubble parts, building and dismantling the respective telescopes in a dual operation that wouldn't even require a secondary docking procedure.

Lisa, Is that fucker © giving you trouble ?

It doesn't contain the letter E ? I've seen this in an email somewhere.

More powerful than God, more evil than Satan. Poor people have it and rich people need it. If you eat it, you'll die. What is it ?

Apparently, I've been thinking way too simply then, but I'm really curious why the message would be a text message at all. Is the 'message' a publicity stunt to raise public interest in the Rover project so as to improve NASA's chances of getting funding for similar future projects ? I have always assumed that a message of any kind contained in or on a remote NASA probe or vehicle would be for the purpose of indicating the intelligent nature of the species that created it. If it should ever happen that intelligent extra-terrestrial life finds one of the vehicles or probes of ours, we would be optimistic to think that they would understand English text and/or have ASCII charts tucked under their arms. It is for this reason that such messages should be universaly mathematical rather than linguistic or even alphanumeric. For example; binary code corresponding to pixels or plotted coordinates that make up an image or a constant mathematical sequence such as prime numbers. So, why is there a message at all on the Rover and who is the message intended for ? Perhaps, if an alien life does ever find the Rover, they may not be more intelligent than the average DZ.commer (no disrespect intended), and would be struggling just as we are to decipher the message. Is that NASA's intention, to exclude comprehension by any creature with less than genius intelligence ?

My feeling is that the 'code' is very likely to be mathematical in nature rather than linguistic. I thought it may be a map of some kind indicating binary values that correspond to astronomical distances between planets. 3 rings of code around a disk, 3 closest planets around the sun, of which the third is earth. I converted the | to 1 and the • to 0 and almost got hopeful too, but my theory soon fell flat: |•|••|||•••||||||••||•••| •||•••||||•|||•••|•|••|•• ||••••|•••||••||••||••••| If assumed to be binary would be: 1010011100011111100110001 0110001111011100010100100 1100001000110011001100001 which, according to my trusty Windoze calculator is: 21905201 13088932 25454177 Now, taking planetary separation distances: Sun to Mercury 35991000 miles (approx.) Mercury to Venus 31248000 miles (approx.) Venus to Earth 25761000 miles (approx.) The Venus to Earth distance comes close to the third binary value, but not really close enough, and the other two values are way out. Pity, I thought I was on to something.

I recently learned that St. Michael is regarded as the patron saint of parachutists, some references mention military parachutists in particular. One reference mentions that St. Michael refers to the Archangel Michael who lead a host of winged angels to drive demons from heaven. Can anyone confirm this connection and/or elaborate on how it came to be associated with parachuting ? I have found a link on the internet to a "Venezuelan Prayer to St. Michael, Patron of Parachutists". My understanding of Spanish is non-existent; I'd be happy if someone can translate it for me, I'm quite interested to know the words.

This one ?

I'm a little curious about this kind of thing. How difficult is it for the average male to use non-lethal force against a single dog, even a ferocious breed ? Perhaps I'm being naive, but I'm optimistic about my chances one-on-one with the average rottweiler,doberman etc. and I'm not a particularly tough person. Of course I'd suffer minor injuries too.. but I think I would "win".. and possibly even claim damages from it's owner. Has anyone here defended themselves against an attacking dog unarmed ? Was it a big deal ?

The Queen's English ? Much of english was put together from Latin, French and more other sources than I'm qualified to know about. To word this another way... "English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary." Pick your favourite definition of English here.