chadwbaker

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Hmmm... well, seeing as how most of what I've heard is a bunch of whining cheating losers blaming everything they do wrong on something else, I'm not sure that applies. A person who fallows ACTUAL satanic belief MUST take acount for everything said person does. The only whinners I have heard call themselves satanists just think the devil is kewl and doen't know a lick about the beliefs they are professing. Satanism is not about doing what ever you wan

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I think you make some pretty good points but everyone seems to think of religion in the most common light in this thread. There is an increase in "alternative" religions going on right now with people taking up all kinds of things from witchcraft to Unitarian Churches and Taoism just in my little town. Some of these religions do teach things like live and let live and some sort of acountabilty and other people I have met are looking for a religion that is in line with

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

if you're referring specifically to the Hebrews taking over the previous Canaanites, there might also be reason to believe that the Hebrews, though previously nomadic, had aquired some metal technology through trade with an eastern-lying empire. of course, now i'm only vaguely recalling 5 minutes of a lecture I had 4 or 5 years ago, so my memory's not all that accurate. and i'm leaving work in 15 minutes, so i'm not about to dive into lots of research.

Reply to Sci-Fi Books - Shaped my perceptions in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

After all, he's a good guy, and youthful, and idealistic I d say he's closer to Machiavelli's ideal prince is. He will follow "good" most of the time but he also knows how to do "evil". Paul and his mother had an arguement on how to stop the coming Jihad and asked him to think of all the innocent people HE will kill doing it his way. he said something like: There are no innocents mother you and your order took that away from me. <div class="

Reply to Sci-Fi Books - Shaped my perceptions in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Speaking of Dune, have you ever noticed how Osama Bin Laden is actually like Paul Muad'dib. I can find many parallel, plus the fact that Dune was printed before OBL became a radical jihadist (inspiration?) i think it's more coincidence... I agree with dystopic mostly.... here my 2 cents 2. Jihad vs. a superpower: the United States or Soviet Union as

Reply to Updating freighters in Dark Avatar GalCiv2 Forums

Depending on where the trade route is I sometimes up grade frieghters to have more sensors. Its nice to see more of the space around my trade areas cause I use the minor races as trade partners and I want to keep tabs on them so I can make sure they stay alive.

Reply to the drinker's dive in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

i Lodi... should i apologize? one of my old roommates is from Lodi. I love Lodi nice place to live and if I want culture I can go to either San Francisco or Sacramento. if you ever see it (and haven't tried it), i'd recommend Tarantula Azul. I ll get around to it one of these days.... its a bit hard to come by here, without spending a bit more than I want to.

Reply to the drinker's dive in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

I like my beer imported! My wines local (Lodi CA). I like my scotch to be Glen Livit. My Tequila is either Herradora or Patron. I call my mixed drinks. My Cran takes Grey Goose.

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

right now i'm reading Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond. it's a really good argument in general (though it irks me that it's almost totally lacking in references), and he spends several chapters on domestication of plants and animals. While I agree with many of the ideas in that book I think he doesnt look at how people would take over better areas then they previously had. His arguments applied to ancient Mesip

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

indeed, and i didn't intend to imply otherwise. 'fully evolved' wasn't the best choice of words, i agree. how's "(the hunting skills of) anatomically modern humans" as alternate phrases? That works

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

And how do you think domesticated animals got here in the first place? You answered your own question; Man. Man does create and can influence nature in powerful ways. When the last time you saw an ape riding a horse excluding the "Planet of the Apes" films. Man have also learn to make hybrid species (selective breeding) but I believe this is called "artificial selection" not natural selection. Other species domesticate others too. L

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

domestic cows have shorter fur than did their anscetral aurochs (now extinct). I have to laugh at this part. I talk to a quite a few pagans who believe that druids serve nature or some line like that. I often talk about the extinction of the aurochs and the great cat of Europe and how the Celtic peoples were responsible for a great deal of those "losses", let alone how many trees they cut down! we killed off the na

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

argument against evolution................. there was a video i watched that had a whole bunch of facts on christianity and y it makes sense in the video was a section on y evlution wouldnt work..... there is this fish (cant remeber the name)in some river somewhere (cant remeber that either) that has a very very veeeeeery precise way of capturing smaller fish to eat. It literaly floats just a few inches above the riverbed for hours and ho

Reply to anyone cared enough to share the truth of heaven and hell in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

Hey, no fair! If Christians win then everyone goes to heaven, but if the athiests win then,,,, oh dear! ever herd the saying.... "never put all your eggs in one basket". I think it should read some people get to go to heaven! Us pagans don t have to do anthing in this drill! Both sides here are putting their eggs in one basket! To paraphrase Mel Brooks in History of the World part I, " We pagans are rich we got gods. We got ALOT

Reply to anyone cared enough to share the truth of heaven and hell in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

On the contrary, my friend, the devout would have a god on their side! Surely, that gives them an advantage over us, no? How could they possibly lose? Hmm I'd say if you want to be respectful to them that you d at least offer something that you d take if you were them. I do not think you would take such an offer if you were in their shoes.

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

"We can all hang together, or we can all hang seperately" -Thomas Jefferson I believe that this is a Ben Franklin quote. Yep it is and it goes "We all must hang together, or assuredly we shall hang seperately" The "cans" just ruins the flavor of the quote. Though mayhaps Jefferson was misquoting Franklin.

Reply to How can we all be athiests in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

"Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color." --Dan Hirschberg I d say Atheism is more like losing the pigmentation of the hair, and we call that color gray! Listen to songs like "Imagine" and you see just how religious they become.

Reply to The kidnapping of my fear in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

yes; i think my point was to say that your beliefs (or what i can make of them, anyway) weren't any more secular in their origin than mine. i'm not raising that point to suggest you should feel distressed about this; we're just conversing, right? No distress here the south went to war to keep their slaves (at least on many levels); were they 'right'? ...i suppose the point of the war was to fi

Reply to The kidnapping of my fear in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

beliefs: abolish private propety and inheritance, I would make war over this! no vote need just straight war. I am not trying to offend just saying what would happen if this was possible. end group identity based on ethinicity or nationality or religion, socially evolve to a point where we can govern ourselves... i can't deny it, these are cetainly beleifs. deep down, i'm a good little marxist.

Reply to The kidnapping of my fear in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

not to presume you're Christian or anything in particular for that matter; this is just as an example, but: isn't heaven a pretty utopic idea, too? also, i just wanted to say, it's always nice to have a civil exchange that doesn't resort to name calling. nope I don t believe in a "happy hunting ground". The other world that I believe in is like this world too. I am a brother to the wolf and a son of the bear!

Reply to The kidnapping of my fear in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

i'm 25, and i have less of a chance of seeing any social security. but it's a myth that social security is "breaking down" in the U.S.; yes, it requires a higher budget every year, but there's also a higher tax base every year to compensate (increasing population + a growing economy most of the time). the myth that it's going to crash is perpetuated indirectly by private investment firms who'll profit by skimming a bit of the interestment returns from you. <

Reply to The kidnapping of my fear in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

i'd be willing to agree to that, but only as long as i can opt out of paying your social security, your children's college educations, and all the other public works the government does. "the Left" (we're not all one monolithic entity) cannot do this because it lacks the monopoly of power to do so. as i just said, "the Left" can also try to raise public awareness and lobby congress to change laws. it's democracy in action, and if it threatens you, i'd recommen

Reply to The kidnapping of my fear in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

you will, and so will i. with less than 1% of this country's gross income reserved for such endeavors, we could see an end to extreme poverty, AIDS, and a laundry list of other global problems within our lifetimes or our children's (depends on how old you are). of course, in a democracy you're free to vote against such actions. but if the rest of us decide some of your taxes should go towards such noble goals, your only options will be doing it or prison. <br

Reply to The kidnapping of my fear in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

why are so many ppl so against any sort of social health I m against it cause who will pay for it!

Reply to anyone cared enough to share the truth of heaven and hell in Off-Topic GalCiv2 Forums

We should have a tournament -- Atheists vs. Devout. Best average score wins. If the atheists win, all the religios have to deny the existence of god, and if the religios win, well, we atheists will, err, say the Lord's Prayer aloud or something. mm I think this is a bit one sided! You Atheists get the final victory, but all the poor christians get is a Lord's Prayer! Funny!