Barihawk

What a contradiction. Someone clearly does not know what competition is. And firing someone for a ridiculous reason like that does not reflect a "Christlike and honorable approach to administration", does it? What is competition, in your views? Friendly sport, or a game that must be won at all costs? Having actually COACHED a high school team, and having beat several teams where they didn't show up at all, I would do my best to give them a fair shot. My superiors liked this, too. Competition does not have to be about winning, at least in the sense of KIDS playing a game. This isn't pro football, this is not college athletics. Budgets are not determined by who wins or loses. It's about the students playing the game. Some of those kids get no respect off the court, and the game is their life. Whether they are good at it or not doesn't matter. And I explained the likely reasoning behind the firing in my last post. When the parents of your students are actually paying the school to go there, your faculty is expected to be professional at all times. You are not an athlete, you are not a coach, you are not a teacher. You understand very little about the forces that worked in this decision. Gathering from a lot of the posts in this thread, a lot of you guys don't even have all the facts. If I had boasted about running up the score, my [wagon] would be reprimanded at the very least. At least given the "one more screwup and you are gone" speech. Competition without sportsmanship is meaningless. Might as well throw the kids some swords and helmets if you don't give about fair play.

I would not say that hundreds of millions of people know who Maddox is. More likely barely more than a million, mostly geeks. No offense. The internet is not as much a universal community as you think.

What "lack of ability"? Everyone has the ability to express whatever opinion they want, no matter how wrong the majority of people see it. So what if there's a popular view on many topics? That's almost inevitable. To tell you the truth I'm sick of the victim mentality I hear wherever an opinion is put down (it mightn't necessarily be you, but I've definitely seen it with others). I'll disagree strongly with Lep1423 saying "scientists are all morons", but I'm not going to go on a tirade pretending I'm being victimised. I'm going to call that a stupid statement and move on with my life. There's a difference between being able to say something and the reaction you will receive. There's also a difference between shrugging off a blatantly moronic claim and injury to your core beliefs. EDIT: I'm being neutral in this topic but I feel I need to add this in. My last sentence in the proper post can go either to your "victim mentality" sufferers or homosexuals in this thread. Further proof that rational analysis before you post is necessary. Everyone has feelings, everyone has differing beliefs.

In regards to your fact, I actually can imagine equality coming in the next 10-20 years followed by a reversal with women becoming the dominant force in the household. It's a trend that's been happening for hundreds of years. Women hold power, especially after marriage. Women have the ability to completely emasculate a man with speech alone, rendering the mightiest warrior a shameful mess on the floor. In regards to feminism, I think if we want equality we should strive to treat each other as equals instead of "making up for lost time" as people seem to be doing for this issue and racism. By elevating a group over another, you simply cause more animosity and resentment from the group that is now in the hole.

Get the [bleep] off TIF. What's wrong with people expressing there thoughts? I though that is one of the reason why this thread was made, to see different people opinions and debate on it. But alas, this is the internet! There's only one bandwagon and if you fall behind you get shot. Seriously, I am sick of the lack of ability to express one's opinions on certain subjects on the internet. People are free to discuss their pornography viewing habits, use of illegal substances, or any number of subjects but if someone has a differing opinion to the above or another "popular" view they are instantly labelled as "wrong," "backwards," or ridiculed. The entire forum needs an education in being open minded. To have an open mind, you need to rationally look at anything without allowing your emotions or personal opinions to get in the way. To put yourselves in that person's shoes before you speak. EDIT: And by rational I mean the actual word, not what it seems to have come to mean today. Rational as in excluding your own opinions for just a moment for careful analysis.

Thats all I was looking for. Dude, I miss you Jackalope! :P It's been forever. Especially the Christmas Tifa avatar. I'd get a stern lecture if I'd of let my athletes do that. But remember that it *is* a Christian school and they have higher standards in their educators than most public schools. If you are going to have people directly paying you for education you need to set the bar and emphasize that all of your staff are professional.

Before you say "people do it in real life," a good bit of the people who do this in real life get 15-30 years in Leavenworth. Runescape needs a Securities and Exchange Commission. Also, as Artie mentioned many of these groups exist for the point of scamming money out of others, even their own members. Looking at Carl Dublin's signature, this is only reinforced, ironically.

That was the argument 50 years before it happened. There were a multitude of other factors but slavery definitely helped. It also spilled into other issues like labor and the rapid industrialization of the North causing the South to bleed to death.

American revolution=philosophy not religion. Gf The Crusades. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, YOU PEOPLE HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT HISTORY! For crying out loud, religion is often used as an EXCUSE or JUSTIFICATION for a war, they generally do not CAUSE them. In this case, Pope Urban was having difficulty keeping absolute control over the nobility in the various kingdoms that pledged loyalty to Rome. He used the war to keep those nobles and their armies somewhere else where they would not be in a position to attack Rome. Keep in mind that the Protestant Reformation and subsequent reforms in the Catholic Church have made the corruption inherent in the medieval church GONE. The Pope no longer has any form of political control. We can thank Napoleon for that, actually.

Which is why it's a really bad label. It makes you sound snobbish and arrogant, which is like the last thing that particular group needs (although some of the "elites" in that group might think of themselves that way.)

I think the author was stretching a bit, though. While I wouldn't doubt a non-religious person on the council, I really don't think that message was inherent in his quotations. It also doesn't help that the author himself refers to his position as "bright."

I'd just call that appeasement, magekllr, but I'll keep my eye on it. Thanks for informing me.

Caning is an asian version of spanking but they use bamboo cane.

I contribute gravestones to one of the major improvements in player attitude. We went from having people running over and waiting for you to die to people blessing your gravestones to make life better for you. It was a good thing. I never want to get back, even if it means losing out on the opportunity to get millions in gear off a corpse. The tradeoff is well worth it.

He and the staff had issues and he left. End of story. He was a veritable nobody in Runescape and did not play long. He was a very popular person here at TIF, however.

The digital TV switch is for the common good of the nation. It will open up a huge chunk of the airwaves and air transmissions from military broadcasts to cell phones to AM radio will be better off for it. I find it shocking in this economy that they are wasting hundreds of millions of dollars that were spent preparing people for February's deadline, now to spend even more. This has been advertised on every news broadcast, in commercials, on TV shows, even in the freaking Wheel of Fortune for over a year now. The only reason someone does not know about this is if they haven't turned on a TV in the past year. I don't see why they can't go without TV for a few days while their FREE reciever comes in the mail at this stage. It's a complete waste for this bill. A complete waste. EDIT: Just noticed it got voted down. Thank God. I agree, it's basically forcing everyone to upgrade their technology, going against what the market stands for. It was FREE. The government and various cable companies went out of their way to provide anyone who asked a free converter box.

Great example. The problem is that a lot of these arguments have people that seem to ignore the possibility that anything beyond empiric study exists.

I completely understand and agree, although I am beginning to learn in graduate school that empiricism isn't everything. For instance, history. History was practiced empirically as a social science from it's first appearances in the Enlightenment, but in the past 50 years we have started to move away from empiricism because barring the use of a time machine, we can't gather empirical data about the past, truly. Even primary documents might be riddled with bias or simple mistakes. Thus secondary sources began to be used more and it came down to a multi-approach science that could provide for amazing results. Empiricism gives a sense of order and control, but it can not be simply used for everything. It can only prove what can be tested. That's where faith (secular sense of the word) comes in. If you can gather enough information from sources, you can put your faith in educated opinion, although it will never have the absolutist approach of empirical study. Although it's simply the best we can do.

Agreed, but they are still wise words. I like them, especially as a historian, as it is difficult to understand something without approaching it from multiple angles. To simply rely on your own feelings, beliefs, or dogma (whether religious or scientific) is not going to have much success when it comes to understanding the world around you. That, and I think that religion and science can coexist to a degree, at least in the eye of the beholder. Like many things, the extremes are never good.

Here's the difference. I'm not telling people that their ideologies are wrong. I'm simply stating that their notions of other people's beliefs are.

You know, I never really noticed when you stopped politely asking me what I believed in and started a debate. Which is the whole damned reason I stay out of these threads. You are closed minded in the sense that it bothers you that someone else believes in something different. That's what I meant by my original comment. That's why these threads turn into page after page of insult, mockery, and turmoil. Because it ceases to be an informational thread and a battle of "my beliefs are better than your beliefs." I'm sorry I even fell into that trap and made my preceding post.

Empiricism can not be applied to everything. Biblical matters are historical and unless you have a time machine, empirical study can not be applied. As for "absolutely no proof" that's an extremely shallow statement. If you say that, than you must also state that there is "no proof for the non-existence of God." I choose what I believe because there is no evidence to the contrary. But much more for what I believe. I base my opinions and beliefs on the facts that are present, rather than the fallacy of "lack of fact." There is significant historical and archeological basis to lead that the events of the Bible happened. Whether or not you believe that God guided these historical events or that they were documented in the Bible ex post facto is up to you. I choose to believe the former. As for evolution, I believe in it, but not to explain the existence of man. There is no smooth evolution of man. Forty thousand years ago man simply appeared out of nowhere in essentially the very form we exist in today. That is documented, archeologically. It's a sharp contrast from the other "missing link" manlike creatures that we have found. Whether you believe that man was created or that the fossil record is incomplete is inconsequential, those are the facts. I still fail to see your insinuation that there is "evidence" against a Creator like being. Because there is none.

If you mean how open am I to discussing my faith, by all means.

Why are you a Christian? (i am not asking why you are religious, but why you have chosen christianity) I was raised on Christian morals and when I was twelve my pastor sat me down like all the other children and said "You are growing up and it's time you started to decide for yourself what you believe in." And thus began an intensive study into other religions and cultures, reasonings and ideas and I found that I explain the Universe around me with the teachings of the Bible. To me, it's logical that a divine being created the Universe, and that the Universe echoes with his creation. However, I also approached my conclusion through years of study and research. I'm a Christian because I choose to be. And here I am. There are so many answers and radical thoughts in the Bible that you will understand if you actually take the time to sit down and read. It's not a book you can simply skim through. Literally every verse flows like a poem and must be taken as a singular part of a whole. In the end, it's what I believe that matters to me. And what should it matter to you? That's the problem I have with most of these threads is the complete closed-minded hypocrisy that comes from, ironically, the very people who claim to have open minds.

Yes, and they are used by true terrorists as generals, but they are even still manipulated by those who seek gain. There are three kinds of people in the world. Sheep, Shepards, and Wolves. Guess which one's the most dangerous, people have written essays upon essays stating that each one is the most dangerous.