LeviF

No link here. I'm just trying to pin down the exact date and time at which the most important thing you could possibly do in your life became making known that you've been hurt in some way. Or, better yet, that your distant relatives/relatives two or more generations older than you were hurt in some way, and it's automatically highly relevant to whatever argument you happen to be making, on the internet or in real life. Just look at the comment section of any article about Israel/Jews/whatever; someone is bound to use the fact that their great uncle thrice removed was at Auschwitz to justify some silly argument they're making which has nothing to do with the holocaust. Or the real-life example that I witnessed today, a young black woman telling us how her great-great-grandpappy was a slave and therefore the criminal justice system has no real justification for felony murder statutes. Or when I tell a fat white kid to get a lap band and he tells me that he's a loser because Obama's affirmative action nation is holding him down. I mean really, when the !@#$ did this happen? How did we become a nation full of crybabies? I see things every day that make me think of LA's avatar and it's disgusting. How can it be fixed?

Well I guess I've now officially quit. It was too cold to smoke last week, and I forgot to buy cigarettes this weekend. Woohoo. Smoke-free for six days (counting today).

Oy vey, it's like shoah all ovah again!

On this front, it's been so cold today and the previous two days here in upstate NY that I haven't had a smoke at all (I never smoke in my apartment) since Tuesday afternoon. I just can't imagine standing idle outside for 10 minutes with at least some of my fingers exposed, but I still see people doing it outside here at work.

That's a great story. I've heard of artists doing that loop thing but haven't ever seen it. Mr. Bad Example was just a great album all around. The title track is hilarious, "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead" is excellent (and referenced on ESPN once in a while ), "Searching for a Heart" is a great final track, though my favorite from it is probably "Suzie Lightning." Pure beauty expressed in song. Fantastic melody. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BScHmYlLle4

From your article: Regardless, I'm only buying 1-2 packs per month now. When I said cutting down more would mean quitting, I meant it

So I've been told. In any case, I've cut down on my smoking quite a bit, to the point where cutting down more will, for all practical purposes, mean quitting.

My father was at that show (or one in the same place around that time), though he doesn't remember most of the 70's or early 80's Easily one of the greatest musicians and lyricists of all time. Absolutely magnificent all around

Hope I die before I get old.

Well !@#$ you, buddy. In all seriousness, buy the 501 shrink-to-fit. I'm a skinny little ****, so I just buy the 511's and they still hang off my ass, but a lot of my friends buy the 501 STFs and love them. As far as lighters go, you're largely right. Although you can still get high quality zippos that have a big, windproof flame. And I largely agree with gringo regarding popular music. While the pop music of the 80's and 90's wasn't much better than it is today, at least they tried. Others: Pots and pans Dishes Lightbulbs Toilets (those low-flow things are crap [no pun intended])

As far as I'm aware, they didn't do so well because of massive climate change and our ancestors breeding like rabbits. I could be wrong though. Do we have a resident anthropologist?

The 1820's - 1830's. Mill towns on the rise, industrialism expanding rapidly, the Methodist church couldn't keep up with its own growth, the Monroe, Adams, and Jackson presidencies. Hot damn those were good times.

This. And Merry Christmas to you believers. http://www.theonion.com/articles/undecided-voter-pretty-sure-hes-some-kind-of-idiot,30229/

Are Christmas threads the new gun threads? Are we going to have 5 of them?

Absolutely as a literary work. Religious texts are rather interesting, and the Christian theology is unique. I'm not so sure. If there is a God and if he stands outside of time, seeing past, present, and future, as the creator of all, I don't think it's a stretch to say he would know everything. Or at least know every possibility (which is another definition of omniscience I've been toying with, which would be the most compatible with things like prophecy and free will; but it would pose problems with God's supposed omnipotence). I'll take a look today. Got the day off from work! Honestly, I've never really seen much value in abstractions such as free will and omniscience, but they're still fun to talk about. Ha! Make your kids read it and write summaries. Or read it to them as their bedtime story (I have no clue how old your kid are).

The Bible, while limited in a philosophical sense to what it contains, is rather quite interesting as its own topic. I enjoy it thoroughly. This idea actually ties in quite nicely with the Christian theology. I've heard of the experiments, but I'll have to read that later (gotta run to work). I suspect that our disagreement on that small point is a hard-line philosophical stance that neither of us are qualified to explain fully, much less change someone's mind on I might try later, though. Yeah, it's weird to try and think about. Then you get into thinking about how your thinking about it is predetermined, and so on, until you get a migraine. I avoid existential crises nowadays. Waste of my !@#$ing time. There's a unique stance on this that J.L. Mackie took up. He argues that God could have created a universe where we have free will and still always choose good (making the free will defense toothless). He caught some flak for it in the apologetics world, but it's worth looking up. The Miracle of Theism is an awesome read.

Is that what they're calling heroin now?

Geez, BFBF, not even on your wedding night?

Isaiah is Old Testament, a major prophet. And most don't. Unless you got some serious biblical scholarship going on, there's not much for people to latch on to and criticize (everything that can be criticized has to do with the writers and language, really, not so much the content itself, i.e. how the Resurrection story is told in the different gospels and how Matthew is a bit more, ah, inclusive with his writing). Some of the dumber ones try, but miss the point entirely and make themselves sound stupid.

This is why the Bible is an objectively awesome book.

I know, it just reminded me of that for some warped reason

Hell if I know. I see two ways around it (mind you, I'm not a believer). First option is that "omniscience" means knowing all possible outcomes. That one is ****ty, because omniscience means something else entirely, especially from the Christian perspective. The second is that a being with omniscience does not affect one's free will. Let's say you are suddenly gifted with omniscience. Does your foreknowledge of my typing out this post mean that I didn't choose to type it? Is my choice less real simply because you know the outcome? I happen to not think so, personally. But hey, that's me. I can tell you were raised Catholic. There's some guy out there. Led a pretty big movement. I think his name was Martin Luther. Look him up. Oh, there's another one too, his name was Yeshua or something like that. He had something to say about that too See the above. TYTT wasn't trying to convince you of anything, he was trying to show you the biblical Christian perspective, which is in opposition to the idolatrous Roman one I like this one better: Matthew 7:21-23 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Note that God's will, from the Christian perspective, is not works, Gene.

NSFW

The problem with this terribly simplistic version of the "problem of evil" is that it is extremely vulnerable to the free will defense. It also assumes that there is a meaningful relationship between God and evil. I know several jews who would have issues with that.

Huckster needs a Christian reality check. This. What Huckabee said is not based in Christian reality.