warri0r45

Maudlin of the Well is pretty mixed up genre-wise. Definitely an awesome band.

The nerves in the eye are put in backwards. In other words, they extend from light sensitive cells towards the incoming light and then converge to puncture the retina, forming the optic nerve and causing a blindspot in our vision. An adaptation to this mis-wiring has made the nerve cells transparent. A nerve that targets the larynx in our necks starts from the brainstem, extends into the chest, wraps around the aorta and goes back up the neck to its target. This circuitous route is even more incredible in giraffes, where the extra nerve fiber is many feet long.

Personally, I couldn't care less about what Tiger Woods does in his private life or what a politician smoked when they were a naive teenager. Having said that, you're right to say the media can be abused for political/financial reasons, which can be pretty dispicable at times. Where do you draw the line though? How would you legislate againt the abuse of media power?

Wow, what an incredible day of cricket! One of the best wins for the Aussies I've seen in some time.

Process of a New Decline by Gorod. I ordered it in the mail along with a shirt. You can't buy it in any record store that I'm aware of, but getting my hands on their music to support them is worth the effort.

We really don't need another thread like this. It's just a bunch of people trying to outsmart each other in the most stupid and pointless way imaginable.

What's wrong with Mike Portnoy?

It's a pretty crappy song to be honest. You get good music when people have chemistry as musicians. Just randomly forming supergroups kind of flies in the face of that. It's probably just to build hype and sell albums.

I don't think so. Racial profiling is essentially picking out people based on statistical likelihood. There is a reason to discriminate so it's not just based on the fact that you're a different race. It's the same thing as saying blacks are more likely to commit a crime in America. Statistically, it's true, and there doesn't have to be any racist undertones to that. Having said that, I'm not surprised that people would look though the logic of that argument and feel (emotionally) that it's racist anyway. And to make myself clear, I'm not saying that racial profiling is an accurate and appropriate method of airport security. It's a very blunt way of doing things, to say the least.

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. Either you're unlucky enough to be searched (if they do random searches) or you're part of a racial profile that the airport security follows. Even in the second case, it doesn't necessarily mean they're picking on you because they think you're inferior - they just think you're statistically more likely to be a terrorist. It's unfortunate it has to be this way, but they're not exactly picking on you for no reason.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRb0C2imsT0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zJpPAhGheA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5XsyKIk07Q There's a whole bunch of other examples like this in extreme metal.

Because it's just unnecessary and makes flying that much more annoying. I know that a lot of guys on TIF would bend over backwards for that feeling that they are "protected" but come on, there is a limit you know. Would you rather be dead, or slightly annoyed? Sue it's annoying, and eventually there will probably be a more efficient alternative, but until then this is nothing more than an inconvenience. These extra measures aren't going to safe my life. It's statistically improbable that they will. Really nothing is more annoying then thinking that anything in the name of security is fine. Yes, we do need security in the Airports. Yes, it would be good after this incident to have airports review their security standards and try and improve. However it is not ok to add on more rules that are going to do nothing in the way of stopping the real criminals.The one hour limit rule, for example. Sure this will stop an average joe from listening to his iPod or playing his DS but is someone who has somehow managed to sneak a bomb onto an airplane really going to listen to it? This rule means nothing because if someone is going to take out a dangerous device they are going to do it despite the rules. Extra patting down just simply isn't necessary either. You already take off your shoes, everything out of your pockets and step through a metal detector (and some airports will now have you go through an x-ray type of machine now). There really isn't any reason for anything beyond these measures. At any rate though this "Would you rather be dead" argument needs to stop. Stop pretending like these extra changes are actually going to save your life, ok? You get my vote for post of the thread. Really guys, it's not quite as black and white as "enact these measures or people will die"... as Nadril argued, they're not going to be that effective and there are better alternatives. I'm 100% for airport security, but there is a smart way to do it and a dumb way to do it.

The Torah, Qu'ran, basically the other religious books. Lol, I meant bible in a broad sense, so as to include those books. I guess it should have been phrased: If there is not greater power or diety, nor any works or religions that can be trusted as "correct", then how do we determine right from wrong? Naturally http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BThmL-Td-IE Interesting, but it seems to me that idea picks and chooses certain facts. I'm not expert on animals and nature, but aren't there spiders who eat their babies? If you check out a few of the comments, you'll see that the guy is basically getting critisized - In other words, that idea is far from proven. Picking and choosing? He states clearly that harsh competition is part of natural selection as well. In any case, it's good to get the other side of the story and counter anyone who incorrectly things natural selection = everyone for themselves. If you think about it, he makes a good point - we can get further as a species if we cooperate, so naturally that's what we'll tend towards through evolution. Also, this isn't his idea, it's an area of scientific research. A few people disputing it in youtube comments is hardly foolproof scientific criticism. As for the topic, I'm still not 100% sure about determinism. It seems perfectly sensible, but I read an article about the philosophical criticisms of it, and it largely went over my head. I'll have to go over it again before I can wrap my head around it fully. For the sake of the argument, though, let's assume that determinism is true. In that case, I agree with the OP - any god who judges our actions and punishes/rewards accordingly is basically punishing/rewarding rocks for falling and water for flowing down a stream.

Some of my favourite bands released their best stuff in the 90's. Any true death metal fan knows the late 80's and early 90's were the peak of the genre. I can't say there was anything inherently superior about the decade music-wise, though. I love heaps of music from this decade as well. Some classics from the 60's and 70's are great too.

We don't have to create a clone in order to get organs. We can now use stem cell technology to grow stem cells into, say, bladder cells on a solid, biodegradable 3D support. In this way, we can basically fashion organs from stem cells from the ground up. Here's a real life example: http://www.stemcellnews.com/articles/stem-cells-to-replace-organs.htm It's definitely an exciting area of science, and something I support wholeheartedly.

Well, for starters I would rather more people donated their organs, but unfortunately that's not going to happen any time soon. This article looks at both sides of the issue rather well: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v1n2/kidneys.html I'm leaning towards support based on the fact that thousands of people die on organ donation waiting lists, but I need more information. If organ selling is ever legalised, however, I would want there to be significant regulation to help make sure the poor aren't taken advantage of.

This is why it's so important and has such a high impact on how humans live. And yet on this very thread, people deny the science. Maybe they'll accept the science of ocean acidification if they ignore global warming. Both are going to affect our food supply deeply. Not to mention tourism revenue. The Great Barrier Reef is a major tourist destination in Australia, and unfortunately coral bleaching is destroying it.

It's honestly surprising how the anti-religious members of these forums don't realize that they're just as prejudiced as the ones they hate... :???: What prejudice, exactly? Well, the whole blaming the entirety of religion (there are more faiths than Christianity out there) for the world's problems thing when it's a minority that actually deserves the blame. Not just this thread, but it gets annoying after a while. But then, it's also a minority that does that. I rarely see people explicity blame the entirety of religion for things like this. Obviously it's an extreme example. Sure, some people will make statements like "who said that religon never hurt anybody?", but that doesn't mean they think all religion hurts people. What I do tend to see a lot are comments such as yours where people feel they're being persecuted because they're religious. To be honest, it gets annoying. It's quite easy to say to yourself "well, that doesn't apply to me because..." I do it all the time whenever someone makes a stupid comment about atheism or some other opinion I hold. Some people have such thin skin these days. And it seems like ALG just broke through yours. ;) Not at all. I'm just making a point I think needs to be made. I'm quite fine with people questioning my beliefs without feeling persecuted or victimised for it.

It's honestly surprising how the anti-religious members of these forums don't realize that they're just as prejudiced as the ones they hate... :???: What prejudice, exactly? Well, the whole blaming the entirety of religion (there are more faiths than Christianity out there) for the world's problems thing when it's a minority that actually deserves the blame. Not just this thread, but it gets annoying after a while. But then, it's also a minority that does that. I rarely see people explicity blame the entirety of religion for things like this. Obviously it's an extreme example. Sure, some people will make statements like "who said that religon never hurt anybody?", but that doesn't mean they think all religion hurts people. What I do tend to see a lot are comments such as yours where people feel they're being persecuted because they're religious. To be honest, it gets annoying. It's quite easy to say to yourself "well, that doesn't apply to me because..." I do it all the time whenever someone makes a stupid comment about atheism or some other opinion I hold. Some people have such thin skin these days.

It's honestly surprising how the anti-religious members of these forums don't realize that they're just as prejudiced as the ones they hate... :???: What prejudice, exactly?

Right.. Even lazy people eat food. This woman is just plain nuts and I feel sorry for her children.

People in clinical trials risk their bodies (well, it's a calculated risk) to help advance our way of life. They're not protecting it from a threat like soldiers are. I'd argue that the threat of terrorism justifies our presence in Afghanistan, at least, and this would mean that soldiers there are risking their lives to protect our way of life. Personally, I'm comfortable calling them, and soldiers in any other theatre of war, heroes. I'd like to make it clear that I think people who participate in clinical trials are very noble for what they do, I just wouldn't go so far as to call them heroes.

Forgot this one - this is on my 2009 list as well.

Would you mind explaining that a bit more?

2009: Brand New Eyes by Paramore Sound Awake by Karnivool The Incident by Porcupine Tree I'd have to seriously think about the best of the decade. Edit: http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=243352 I'm only 2 songs into it, but so far it's as good as their incredible debut album. I could easly see this being one of my favourites of 2009.