Darksavior69

To people saying that even if praying doesn't work it can't hurt: it can. http://www.slate.com/id/2139373/

This is a great article by The New Yorker that everyone interested in the state of health care in America should read. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009 ... ct_gawande

This is misleading/wrong. An insurance company can't discriminate against someone if they have say a gene which gives them a much higher chance of getting prostate cancer, but they can discriminate against people who have actual diseases/problems caused by genetics. I think calling that discrimination is implying the wrong thing. The point of an insurance company is to make money. If they are forced to insure people with conditions that will always cause a loss, then they won't make money. Of course, insurance companies shouldn't be able to scan your genes and deny you based upon slight risk genes; but if someone is already affected by a disease the company can't profit and as such won't insure them. It would be like making the insurance company give you fire insurance after your house is torched. That's a fundamental problem with our health care system in America. Born with a disease that will cost you and your family a large amount of money over a life time, well sucks for you. The other problem is that insurance companies should not be out there to make huge profits. Insurance exists for the purpose to spread risk among a large group of people. If you can afford health insurance you could just as well afford checkups and minor health issues which arise from time to time, but you likely can't afford a catastrophic health issue, which is what insurance exists to protect you from. Insurance companies should not have to take an overall loss, but there is no reason health insurance should be run as a for profit business.

This is misleading/wrong. An insurance company can't discriminate against someone if they have say a gene which gives them a much higher chance of getting prostate cancer, but they can discriminate against people who have actual diseases/problems caused by genetics.

People who are against the idea of universal health care should consider reading these two links. An article discussing a study of the role of medical bills in bankruptcy. http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2 ... study.html The study referenced in the article. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/co ... .w5.63/DC1

In certain parts of the American media (conservative media) the fact that a foreign government has a certain policy passes as a valid argument against that policy.

At your weight and height you're almost certainly better off gaining muscle than you are trying to cut down your body fat. You're also for the most part better off using free weights at home than you are using machines at the gym. Since you're a beginner and don't have access to a gym I would suggest this weight lifting routine http://newbie-fitness.blogspot.com/2007 ... d-5x5.html. The only problem is that without access to a squat rack you won't be able to squat any serious amounts of weight.

Factories are largely a product of the Industrial Revolution. And it's not as if many people in the world aren't stuck working in factories making clothes and doing other menial labor tasks. This is a pretty complex and fertile topic which I won't get much into, but I would like people in this thread to think of the results of the Industrial Revolution not just from their own perspective but also from that of the majority of the people in the world who have a life drastically different from that of the average American/European/Australian/etc...

If you're someone who really has bad acne you shouldn't waste your time with anything other than prescription drugs such as minocycline or accutane. Pretty much all the over the counter products out there are a complete crapshoot.

Shin knows whats up. I've only really got two pairs of jeans right now, Julian Red California Drowned I snagged on sale for something like $85 (http://www.denimbaronline.com/store/ite ... MENT_ID=38). They're unbelievably comfortable, have an amazing dye/color and look a lot better on me than they do on the guy in that picture. My other pair is some black/really dark blue boot cut pair I got from Old Navy for around $30. I really would like to get a pair of APC new standards but because of how much they stretch/vanity sizing I'm very hesitant to drop $130+ online for a pair that could fit badly.

Fitness advice for men and women is almost entirely the same.

There is pretty much nothing in that post which is true. First off, lifting weights and eating enough calories/protein will get you in shape muscle wise. It won't help things like VO2 max and cardiovascular health but you need aerobic exercise for that which you don't mention. If you don't put your muscles to use, you'll lose the muscles. If you eat more calories than your body can turn into muscle and use for the rest of your daily activities you'll gain fat. You can't just lift weights, get muscle and stop exercising and keep that kind of physique no matter what you do. It's also impossible for muscle to turn into fat. Metabolism doesn't work like that. Also assuming you're doing the same exercises, your muscles will look exactly the same in the end no matter how fast you gain it. One path is just a whole lot less effective.

This makes any claim of such an argument completely worthless. If something cannot be observed, cannot be tested and cannot be disproved the whole basis of the claim is just baseless speculation and say-so.

The problem is that you are trying to bring faith to a logical argument. If I have faith there is no god, who's faith is the superior faith? You're free to suppose your own ideas with a lack of logical/rational basis about unexplained phenomena, but to hold them up to be as good or superior to scientific and rational arguments disingenuous and just wrong.

thats why there called paranormal experiences. there is no or very little explanation. You're confusing the lack of knowing an explanation with the lack of there actually being an explanation.