assassin_696

Sorry that this isn't as well written as it should be. You asked a lot of very deep questions to a man who didn't have a great deal of sleep last night, but I wanted to answer this before I went to bed. I might elaborate on some of my responses tomorrow. [hide=]Forum Username: assassin_696 Age: 18 State (US only, do not give a city): N/A Nation (do not give a city): United Kingdom Educational level: Finished A-levels, about to go to university -If at a university/college, what level and what is your major/minor course of study? About to enter university, reading Natural Sciences at Cambridge (with a probable specialisation in physics) 1. Have you ever attended a worship of any religion? Yes -by choice? Yes -What kind of worship? Went to an Easter service once at a church on holiday I have a particular fondness for. -Did you regularly attend this worship, by choice or parental guidance? No, I have never regularly attended any religious service. 2. Do you consider yourself religious? -Please explain in two or three sentences. No, being of a scientific bent I'm very much an empiricist. For me religion is redundant/dishonest if a God does not exist, and since I see no evidence of God I see no reason to be religious. 3. Is there a god, gods, or a supreme deity? I don't know, and probably never will. But I think it's unlikely and unnecessary for our existence. -Did said god, gods, or supreme being create the Universe, according to your belief? No 4. Is there an afterlife? I highly doubt it, but it can't be disproven. 5. How do you believe that existence came about? (in a nutshell) A slightly loaded question, because it implies that non-existence is the default state and that existence would spring from this. Since I see no logical reason why non-existence should be favoured over existence I don't think existence has to "come about", it just is. Indeed we see no evidence of "non-existence" (whatever that means) in the natural world so it might not be a physical reality. The human brain is just used to opposites. 6. Have you ever attended a worship of any religion that you do not consider yourself a part of? Yes -What? Several Bar-Mitzvahs of friends. -Your thoughts on the experience. I was too young to pay particular attention but it's essentially a harmless ritual and good source of money for the Jewish boys. 7. What are your thoughts on non Judeo-Christian Western religions? Remember that religion is a broad term so please be specific. I don't really have any particular thoughts on many non Judeo-Christian Western individual religions to share. 8. What are your thoughts on Judeo-Christian religions? Remember that religion is a broad term and that both of these groups have many subdivisions that have radically different beliefs and practices. I have a problem with the Vatican but otherwise think that these religions are fairly benign. 9. What are your thoughts on Asian religions? Remember that religion is a broad term so please be specific. I think Islam is a breeding ground for extremism and is poorly understood by most of its practitioners. I think that elements of it threaten western civilization, but other elements are perfectly charming. 10. What are your thoughts on African religions? Remember that religion is a broad term, so please be specific. None, forgive my ignorance. 11. What are your thoughts on South American religions? Remember that religion is a broad term, so please be specific. None 12. What are your thoughts on Aboriginal religions (any native group that was displaced, such as Native Americans, Maori, Aborigines, etc)? Remember that religion is a broad term, so please be specific. None 13. What are your thoughts on pagan religions (Wiccan, alternative, Satanic, and other non-traditional forms of worship)? Remember that religion is a broad term, so please be specific. Also note that many alternative and pagan practices are not affiliated with Satanic worship. None 14. What are your thoughts on atheism, the belief that there is no supreme being(s)? Please remember that there are degrees to this belief, and that not all share the same thoughts. It's the philosophy I would identify myself with, but it's hard to have particular thoughts on a philosophy that simply describes being without something (belief). It's too broad a term to have thoughts on. 15. What are your thoughts on agnosticism, the belief that a supreme being(s) exists, but the individual chooses not to worship it/them (or if one is unsure if a supreme being exists, but does not outright deny its existence)? I think when pushed most atheists are essentially agnostic and vice versa. Very few atheists have an absolute conviction that God does not exist that is utterly unshakeable. Personally I've never been interested in sitting on fences, so I came down on the side of atheism for the simple reason that the absence of evidence of something does not mean we give the possibility of its existence equal precedence as its non-existence. With a lack of evidence the default position should be skepticism of existence and hence "weak" atheism. But if someone is agnostic simply because they haven't finished weighing up the evidence for existence then that's fine as a stop-holder. But to declare yourself an kind of 50/50 agnostic and remain so for a long period of time is intellectually weak. 16. Have you ever publicly chastised someone who believes in a religion/school of thought different than yours? Yes -elaborate. Chastise might be too strong a word, but if I disagree with someone's principles that are based in religion (say on abortion, the death penalty etc.) I will politely question them. -what group were they? what group were you? Too many examples to name, but I've publicly called Christians, Muslims and Jews out for claims they've publicly made in my prescence which I believed to be erroneous. But I would never chastise someone for their belief alone, that is a personal matter. 17. If you belong to a religion or non-religion, please identify. I would call myself a humanist. -Did you consciously choose to follow this belief? Yes -Did you belong to another belief, by choice or force, before following this belief? No. -Did you personally research (as in personally in the first person) options before coming to this belief? It depends what you mean by options, since I don't believe I didn't really have many beliefs to go to and humanism is a fairly broad term which fit with my personal philosophies. 18. Is intelligence (not IQ, but actual intelligence) correlated to one's belief in a religion or non-religion? Keep in mind that intelligence can not be measured by any science, this is simply your judgment call. Some highly intelligent people have belief and some highly intelligent people don't. I think it's less correlated with intelligence and more with education in the sciences, i.e. the more educated you are in science the less likely you are to believe. But whether or not this correlation implies causation I don't know. To be short I think there maybe is a relationship between intelligence and non-belief, but it's much much more complicated than a simple straight line graph and has several other factors deeply rooted in. 19. Does religion, in your observation, do good in the world? Please cite specific groups or denominations. I think in the modern western world, yes. Teaching morality, giving people hope and a sense of community probably does good on the whole. It certainly hasn't throughout history (the church was always overly powerful), and I don't think it's doing much good in less developed countries (i.e. people in Africa being taught religion in precedence to science and more useful knowledge bases). This is a huge question and I don't have the time to do it justice. 20. Does non-religion, in your observation, do good in the world? Please cite specific groups or denominations. Yes, but again I don't have the time to do this question justice. I think a lot of atheists are of a scientifically minded bent and are likely to have an interest in the natural world and hence a concern for it's wellbeing. 21. Does religion, in your observation, do bad in the world? Please cite specific groups or denominations. Yes, in particular when used by governments/regimes to oppress a group in society with backing from religious scripts, i.e. women in Saudia Arabia. 22. Does non-religion, in your observation, do bad in the world? Please cite specific groups or denominations. I genuinely believe atheism/agnosticism does a lot less harm than religion. 23. Please list your experience with sexual education, including but not limited to: lectures by parents, schools, religion, or non-education. Please do not list your sexual experiences. Never been lectured by parents, but had quite a few talks at school at various ages. I think my first was at age 10 with another at maybe age 14. 24. Have you engaged in sexual intercourse of any kind? Please do not list your sexual experiences. A yes or no will suffice. Personal question. 25. What, in your opinion, defines "love?" Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 is probably the best I've seen, but still isn't entirely satisfactory. Defining love in written form is beyond me, but there's no doubt that it's the highest of all emotions. 26. Have you ever been in, or are now in, a relationship? Yes, currently in a relationship. -Is sex involved? Personal question 27. Are you single/committed relationship/married? Committed relationship. 28. What, in your opinion, is sex's place in a relationship (or lack of relationship)? For me it should be the expression of your committment and love for your partner, a way to express your passions and utterly lay yourself bare (excuse the pun) to your partner. But if other people want to have one night stands then I won't judge them, I just don't have that kind of sex drive. 29. Have you ever partaken in an illicit substance (excluding alcohol or marijuana)? No -if so, what? -Have you ever lost control of your actions while under the influence of an illicit substance? 30. Have you ever partaken in marijuana? No -Do you habitually use this substance? -Have you ever been "stoned?" -Have you ever lost control of your actions while under the influence of marijuana? 31. Have you ever partaken in the consumption of alcohol? Yes -Do you drink socially or alone? Or both? Both, but would never get drunk alone, only because I like the taste of the drinks. -Have you ever been drunk? Yes -Have you ever lost control of your actions while under the influence of alcohol? Yes. 32. Have you ever regretted a sexual encounter? Personal question. 33. Have you ever regretted using an illicit substance? (excluding hangovers) N/A. 34. Have you ever regretted using alcohol? (excluding hangovers) No. 35. Have you ever given serious thought (longer than 30 minutes in a year) to the existence of a supreme being(s)? Yes[/hide]

Yeah, gotta be honest, not my genre, but nice list nonetheless.

Yeah, fair enough. The program I'm currently on only has bench in it for chest work so I'm not doing anywhere near as much as most gym goers seem to do for their chest, but it's really not suffering.

I'd disagree, I think incline dumbell flyes are superior to the bench for chest development. I mean this is talking about it from a purely aesthetic point of view, bench is probably the best exercise for building strength in your chest but if you want to bodybuild I'd say supplement dumbell presses with incline dumbell flyes. The bench is more of a compound movement which uses the shoulders a lot as well, which is why I like it, but if you just want a big chest...

Out of interest, does anyone know of a cover of one of The Beatles' songs which is better than the original? A couple of weeks ago I read something from a music journalist who didn't think so because of George Harrison's guitar work (which I disagree with but hey) but it got me thinking, and so far I haven't been able to think of one.

I know the question is phrased slightly differently but How2PK has already linked to an existing thread for the same thing. Locked.

I agree so strongly with you about Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, David Ford and many others on this that I'm going to have to check out some of this other stuff. Really good list man.

The McLaren was absolutely brutal off the line but the Bugatti obviously has it over longer distances. As incredible as it was, the race between the Lambo and the Mercedes SLR was a little more exciting because I didn't have a clue who'd win. And is it just me or does the McLaren not sound very exciting? God bless Top Gear.

Nah I was at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park for the Saturday and Sunday (Killers were headlining Friday). Apparently quite a similar line up to Glasto though, we just got to stay in a posh hotel in the evening instead of a tent. :P

Okay, so I have a bit of time before I go out tonight to tell you about the music I saw last weekend. Saturday: First guy we saw was Seasick Steve, I've watched a lot of his videos live (he definitely works better live than on record) and he didn't disappoint. The inclusion of a drummer just to give his songs a thumping bass really works and thickens the sound up a bit. It's a shame he couldn't play a little longer because his storytelling is superb but he played some great music and was on good form. Ben Harper and Relentless7 played after him, I like their album and they played well but I can't say much more. Ben Harper isn't a particularly charismatic frontman but the music picked up towards the end. It then poured it down for about half an hour but it was nice to cool down a bit then the Fleet Foxes came on. Daan I have to disagree, I thought they played a very tight set when I saw them. Your Protector was simply stunning, and when Robin Pecknold did a couple of solo acoustic numbers he really seemed to lose himself in the music which was great to watch. I'd definitely go see them again. Then, Neil Young. God he was good, I mean really, really good. I always considered The White Stripes to be the best live act I've ever seen and I thought they'd take a lot of beating but I think he did it. The combination of utterly brutal guitars in songs like Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) and walls of distortion versus acoustic songs like Heart of Gold (on which the harmonica was just inspiring) was incredible. He rocked as hard as anyone I've ever seen but just showed glimmers of that completely fragile and tender youth. He closed with Rockin' In The Free World which was pretty epic, but then came back on for the encore with A Day In The Life. At about the middle 8 some random guy walked on who we thought was just an eager fan but it turned out to be Paul McCartney. Yeah, pretty special. Sunday: Barely made it in time to see The Gaslight Anthem but we did. They were great, their lead singer is very charismatic and definitely got the crowd going. Springsteen is one of their heroes and he came on to sing The '59 Sound with them which was pretty cool of him. James Morrison played next but I wandered off to find my girlfriend and her brother near the entrance so missed the first half of his set. My the time we'd battled our way back to where my friend was at the front he didn't have much left. His music's pretty middle of the road but I thought he put a good show on live. Dave Matthews Band played next, I'd been meaning to listen to their stuff since I knew they were played but didn't get round to it so it was all new to me. I thought they were fantastic, they have some very talented musicians and worked well together live. I'll definitely be checking out more of them. Finally, and slightly late, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Whatever your opinions of the man's music you can't deny that he's a force of nature live. He opened with a cover of London Calling, which was appropriate then launched into Badlands and the rest of the three hour set. More than anyone else I've seen live he has an incredible desire to reach out to every single person in the audience and get them swaying, dancing or singing. His music and sound work so well live, in terms of albums I prefer stripped down Nebraska to the pomp of Burn To Run but I was unashamedly singing my heart out to the latter. If you ever get chance to see him just do it, he doesn't disappoint. There were so many special moments in that gig, Racing In The Streets, Bobby Jean (both requests from the crowd taken on large pieces of card) Jungeland, Dancing In The Dark... I could go on.

Since when? Eddie's talked about doing that solo extensively, it's well documented.

The guy was incredible, RIP.

Okay I don't mind a few people joking around but if you do post any pictures here i'll remove them. By ranting here you're effectively asking to be judged, and 5 weeks really isn't a long time to get to know someone.

Please use the sticky for asking about relationship advice. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=751428

She's not showing you a lack of respect, she's finding it damn hard to assimilate into her new life and you're not making it any easier. No matter how she copes with it, by being annoying at times or whatever, it fundamentally cannot have been easy for her moving over here and trying to start a new life with an already established family. What would she have to do to make you like her? Because if it's do everything you want her to do then that's unreasonable. If you have issues with some of her actions then talk to her, calmly and respectfully like a man. If you start some petty [bleep] for tat thing when she does something you don't like then this clearly won't work. It doesn't take a genius to see that this is hard for you, and some issues like you've described are perfectly understandable. But try to see it from her point of view, and if she's being petty then rise above it. The way you're portraying yourself here is as some spoilt brat around the house who wants to have a [bleep] to try and get some sympathy. That's no way for a man to behave.

Yeah, makes sense. And for the record here's the original thread with some links and stuff in it. Another thing I've remembered is that when the forums went down we lost some of the posts, or at least I had trouble finding them.

I'm hoping so, and he's probably scheduled to do so, although i'll let you know when I get back. And I've only ever heard good things about Springsteen live.

It was me, although The Floyd is my last.fm username...spooky. Anyway that idea kind of died a death when we (sort of) ran out people who wanted to do it and the stickies weren't getting that much attention. If you want to write it up though and post it feel free, and depending on my mood I might sticky it if it's good ;) The aim was just to encourage high quality threads about artists, and those are always welcome.

So, the final list of who I'm looking forward to seeing this weekend in Hyde Park is... Seasick Steve, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Fleet Foxes and Neil Young on Saturday. And Low Anthem, The Gaslight Anthem, Dave Matthews and Bruce Springsteen on Sunday. :thumbup:

No it's just the box set that got released last week or so. Which I'm going to have to admit I didn't buy because I don't have that kind of money. The version of Dance Dance Dance I was listening to was an unreleased studio recording from one of the Topanga discs (chronicalling his time there). It's got a few live discs in the release, one of them is Massey Hall and one is from the Riverboat which sounds a lot like the Sugar Mountain era live stuff. Damn the man can talk at his shows! Anyway it's a good release, and for someone like me who can't really place Neil Young in much context finding his music retrospectively it's nice to see the evolution. Seeing him this Saturday as well :)

For reasons I won't go into I play that game once a year with family and family friends. We always play a tournament so I normally get paired with an old lady or 8 year old girl so I never get very far, but I quite enjoy it. Not something I thought I'd be admitting to any time soon though.

Dance Dance Dance - Neil Young From the new Archives release, which is great by the way.

Here we go with the stereotyping of all rap again...

You really do sound incredibly selfish and spoilt. Grow up, and learn to accept compromise and respect your dad's new wife, it's not all about you.

Well, personally I don't lift a weight more than 8 times and most of the time it's just 5 times. But I'll do that for 5 sets. So effectively you're doing 25 reps, but you make the weight such that you couldn't do that in one set. You keep the intensity high, for strength training at least. I guess whatever you're happy with, we're just saying it's quite an inefficient way to go about it.