Close

Results 1 to 13 of 13

Thread: This is...

  1. #1
    Moderator Mtnjim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    SAN DIEGO
    Posts
    2,481
    Rep Power
    8334

    Default This is...

    visit-red-300x50PNG
    a major

    BUMMER!
    Freedom begins when you tell Mrs. Grundy to go fly a kite.
    --Lazarus Long

  2. #2
    Moderator belgareth's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Lower Slovobia
    Posts
    7,961
    Rep Power
    8516

    Default

    Wow! no kidding!
    To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

    Thomas Jefferson

  3. #3
    Doctor of Scentology DrSmellThis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    6,233
    Rep Power
    8666

    Default

    It's bad, of course. But

    before we all panic, it's worth noting:

    * It's only one study.

    * Throat cancer is a very small percentage

    of all cancers, even though the vast majority of Americans engage in oral sex.

    * Most exposures to HPV are

    handled by the immune system, and infection never occurs.

    * For the same reason, most cases of HPV go away by

    themselves.

    * The most serious known strains of HPV -- the ones that are known to cause cancer -- are easily

    avoided; through taking the new vaccine, intended to be given to children before they become sexually active. This

    is good.

    * HPV caused cervical cancer claims 4000 women's lives every year; or at least that's what I read

    recently. Throat cancer is looking to be caused twenty times more often by HPV than by smoking, and affects both

    sexes. Yet religious conservatives have fought against the vaccine, on the grounds that it makes sex less dangerous,

    and therefore interferes with (useless) abstinence only "education programs". Morons.

    This wouldn't be a bad

    thing to write your representative about.
    DrSmellThis (creator of P H E R O S)

  4. #4
    Moderator belgareth's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Lower Slovobia
    Posts
    7,961
    Rep Power
    8516

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DrSmellThis View Post
    *

    HPV caused cervical cancer claims 4000 women's lives every year; or at least that's what I read recently. Throat

    cancer is looking to be caused twenty times more often by HPV than by smoking, and affects both sexes. Yet religious

    conservatives have fought against the vaccine, on the grounds that it makes sex less dangerous, and therefore

    interferes with (useless) abstinence only "education programs". Morons.

    This wouldn't be a bad thing to write

    your representative about.
    Good points, Doc. I'd say religious fruitcakes but otherwise agree.
    To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

    Thomas Jefferson

  5. #5
    Doctor of Scentology DrSmellThis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    6,233
    Rep Power
    8666

    Default

    Religious fruitcakes it is,

    then.
    DrSmellThis (creator of P H E R O S)

  6. #6
    Moderator belgareth's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Lower Slovobia
    Posts
    7,961
    Rep Power
    8516

    Default

    You'd be better to know about

    this than me but I'll share it. A few days ago several of us were talking. Remember that we are down here in the

    bible belt. One guy presented the argument that excessively strong religious beliefs are a form of mental

    illness-hysteria. I won't say I bought the whole argument but he made a pretty good argument. Remember that none of

    us are psychologists. Basically it was four old geeks sitting under a tree drinking beer and babbling at each other.

    He later extended the argument to include almost any belief system the involves irrationally following any system or

    group performing anti-social acts. Take things like the eco-terrorists, Jones Town, the Nazi party and so many

    others as examples.

    Again, more a fun argument than anything else.
    To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

    Thomas Jefferson

  7. #7
    Doctor of Scentology DrSmellThis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    6,233
    Rep Power
    8666

    Default

    I just finished typing a huge,

    multi-part, scholarly reply to your question, but Satan came along and caused a power outage just as I was posting

    it.
    DrSmellThis (creator of P H E R O S)

  8. #8
    Moderator belgareth's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Lower Slovobia
    Posts
    7,961
    Rep Power
    8516

    Default

    I guess who caused the power

    failure would depend on whether you supported religion or not. The evil demons of computerology have many times

    thwarted my attempts to address their tricks, even resorting to crashing my system once.
    To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

    Thomas Jefferson

  9. #9
    Doctor of Scentology DrSmellThis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    6,233
    Rep Power
    8666

    Default

    Hell, maybe God caused it, and

    I'm Satan for having written it.
    DrSmellThis (creator of P H E R O S)

  10. #10
    Moderator belgareth's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Lower Slovobia
    Posts
    7,961
    Rep Power
    8516

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DrSmellThis View Post
    Hell,

    maybe God caused it, and I'm Satan for having written it.
    That's always possible. While I don't support

    that notion we mustn't discount any possibility. Was it Sherlock Holmes that said "When you eliminate the

    impossible, what remains, no matter how improbable, is the answer." or something like that?
    To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

    Thomas Jefferson

  11. #11
    Doctor of Scentology DrSmellThis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    6,233
    Rep Power
    8666

    Default

    Whether Holmes is correct or

    not depends on our assumptions.

    Because of how unique everything is in the bigger picture, the statistical

    probability of any real (whole) event occuring is either zero or one divided by infinity, which means zero is

    the limit.

    Which is the case depends on whether you assume every event is the combination of known and knowable

    aspects of reality only, no matter how unique it is, which yields the latter, since there are infinite combinations

    of known and knowable aspects of reality.

    In other words, it is either mathematically true that every reality is

    either infinitely improbable; or else true by all knowable logic that every event is literally (by human concepts)

    impossible until the very moment it occurs, when only that is event is now possible.

    The latter state

    of affairs would be more humorous, go a step beyond Holmes, and be compatible with a certain theory of quantum

    physics. It also relies on fewer assumptions, and therefore gets my vote. So I guess I'm inclined to disagree with

    the Inspector, and to consider the "impossible" as well as the "possible" -- even before the possible, at times.



    Pragmatically speaking; too often the line between "impossible" and "merely unimaginable for me at the moment" is

    too blurred in human thinking, is it not?
    Last edited by DrSmellThis; 05-20-2007 at 03:06 PM.
    DrSmellThis (creator of P H E R O S)

  12. #12
    Moderator belgareth's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Lower Slovobia
    Posts
    7,961
    Rep Power
    8516

    Default

    For all practical purposes we

    can assume some events are so improbable as to be classed as impossible. We have to treat that varying grey area of

    what can actually be expected to occur versus what might, in some remote possibility to occur. For the intent of

    Holmes' statement we can assume certain events as impossible in our frame of reference. For example a person is

    unlikely in the extreme to be in two disparate locations simultaneously. We could safely eliminate that as

    impossible in our frame of reality. Under the theory of quantum mechanics it may well be possible. That's a

    theoretical problem that has many possible solutions. However, it is theory with little application to the day to da

    world we live in.

    Yes, the demarcation between impossible and unimaginable at the moment is far too blurred to

    even be considered a line. Rather, you should look at it as a cloud of variable possibilities if you want a better

    grasp of the universe around us. I didn't say it would be a good grasp, only better than one that deals with black

    and white or with dividing lines.

    That's an interesting thought about impossible and unimaginable. What was

    impossible 50 years ago was merely difficult or hard to imagine 25 years ago and is now commonplace. In the end, do

    the terms possible and impossible have any real meaning?

    Rather complex for a spin off of some tongue in cheek

    remarks made off the cuff on a Sunday, isn't it? Making my poor little brain hurt.
    To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

    Thomas Jefferson

  13. #13
    Stranger Kenoirorm's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    U.S.A.
    Posts
    2
    Rep Power
    0

    Default This is

    Shopper X wrote:Its

    wrong only if its also wrong to sit in front of the TV watching The Biggest Loser while eating ice cream out of the

    carton. Which may have happened to me once or twice in the past.

    i was just going to post something like this

    lol - i am ALWAY watching biggest loser while chowing down on the biggest meal possible. i feel so evil

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •