The only thing we could think of after hearing of Bedum 10 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
It's in Groningen actually, pretty much in the center. So in the Netherlands, but not in Holland.
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God has never been the problem 53 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
A FunSubstance comment thread is a claustrophobic environment for discussion. There are plenty of resources in which Guestt may be interested. For example http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/, where the bible is read with exactly the same amount of skepticism as is applied to other religions and supernatural claims from homeopaths. Imagine you're an alien coming on earth and discovering the bible, scribbling in the margin as you're trying to reconcile it with itself and the rest of what we know about the world.
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"google house view" 7 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
Check out "the googling" on YouTube. A few old but good videos. Here's the first one http://youtu.be/fPgV6-gnQaE
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God has never been the problem 53 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
Garlog already posted a list of contradictions. Let's talk about the unclear and confusing bits then. There are about 41000 Christian denominations. That is 41000 official interpretations of the same text. 41000 ways of disagreeing on the meaning of at least one passage. 41000 different understandings of what is supposed to be the word of a single god. That number keeps increasing with time, whenever groups inside a denomination start to disagree. If that is not enough to say, at least, that the bible is confusing, I don't know what is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations
God has never been the problem 53 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
I know that if I were to hand in an essay or a report to my teacher/boss, and that my work were as confusing, unclear, erroneous and inconsistent as the bible, I would not be taken seriously. Some people have incredibly low standards when it comes to judging the work of their gods.
What would happen? 15 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
There's a difference between lying and being wrong. To lie you need to need to misrepresent something you (think you) know. If Pinocchio's nose would grow whenever he was merely wrong he could solve any yes/no question by just reading it out loud: mathematics, health, crime, even know the future. I doubt that's what the author of Pinocchio intended. In this case Pinocchio isn't lying, he's just wrong, the nose doesn't grow.
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Edited 9 years ago
HON HON HON BAGUETTE POMME DE TERRE 20 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
Yeah I know, I'm French. "Apple" used to be a super generic term, as vague as "fruit". No pears, but "apples of the peartree". No banana but "apple of paradise". I just wanted to remind OP that his/her own language had remnants of what he/she thought to be ridiculous in French.
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God has never been the problem 53 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
I don't think religions deserve respect. Bullshit is bullshit, even if billions of people think it. You would not (or should not) respect my claims that pink glittery pixies live in my garden, why respect any other demonstratively-wrong statements?
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Edited 9 years ago
God has never been the problem 53 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
I'm the guy who wrote the long comment above. I think that the bible is a poorly written book, self-contradictory, and many of its claims are demonstrably false. Furthermore, its "morality" is dubious, if not utterly obscene, but it doesn't matter since it makes no sense to begin with. My point is: people should make sense, and cherry-picking the nice bits because it feels good is totally arbitrary. I'm an atheist, and I have more respect for the fundamentalists than for the moderate, because at least the fundies are trying their best to be consistent (even though they're bound to fail), while the moderate make no sense and should just stop pretending.
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Edited 9 years ago
God has never been the problem 53 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
When belief turns into action then it becomes other people's business, you're right. But as long as it stays in your head, or you share it with consenting adults, I see no problems.
God has never been the problem 53 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
This is something that puzzles me. Surely if a god exists, then it has properties, it performs actions and it has wishes (which are like commandments or at least suggestions). These are then facts, on which personal opinion has no bearing. In the same way I cannot choose/decide/vote on how much energy the sun produces, I cannot choose/decide/vote what a real god wants. How am I to know which bits of the bible are true and which ones aren't?
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Computer simulations that teach themselves to walk. 69 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
They can keep standing when there is stuff thrown at them. If I were to program that, I would model reflexes like the achilean reflex with a PID controller. Which is a mathematical formula with parameters that comes from their DNA, not a remote control operated by a human.
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Computer simulations that teach themselves to walk. 69 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
They probably used some PID controllers too. I made a very simple one for a computer game a few weeks ago (pretty much a self balancing segway, good enough for a FPS character). I should try giving it feet instead of a wheel, should be fun.
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Math. 9 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
I couldn't have fun without a little bit of calculus, trigonometry and linear algebra. I write computer games for fun. I can't play music or anything, programming is how I express myself and games are fun, so the maths that come with it are fun.
Also I'm doing a PhD in astrophysics, but that's less fun. The maths aren't considerably harder though.
Also I'm doing a PhD in astrophysics, but that's less fun. The maths aren't considerably harder though.
Foreign languages 3 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
How is that a foreign language? It's the language with which we can describe the actual reality of absolutely everything in and around us. Everything you can see, touch, feel or think, everything that happens, the very notion of "happening" itself can be written unambiguously with mathematics, which allows us to predict the future. Electronics, medicine, mental health, architecture, ecology, clothing, food, all of that relies on mathematics. Not even difficult mathematics, linear algebra and a bit of calculus is more than you need to design radiotelescope or write a 3D engine for a computer game. Also, a basic understanding of statistics helps tremendously in personal life and relationships, as it detects bullshit for you and prevents you from spreading bullshit.
Nothing makes more sense than mathematics. It's not the middle ages any more. Do yourself a favor, don't resist mathematics, invite them in.
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Edited 9 years ago
Nothing makes more sense than mathematics. It's not the middle ages any more. Do yourself a favor, don't resist mathematics, invite them in.
It's not 12-13-14 people 37 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
Year-month-day is also used in Hungary. I'm not Hungarian but that's what I use because 1) it's the international standard ISO 8601 therefore the only scientific way of writing dates (yeah, that and fractional Julian days), 2) followed by hour minute second, it's ordered from big to small, 3) sorting such dates alphabetically sorts them chronologically which is very convenient for file names.
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They don't align 29 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
Privacy laws are pretty strong in France. Anyone recognizable on a photo taken without permission can sue you. http://youtu.be/VYH87V6EHrk
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How a restaurant in Amsterdam deals with winter 9 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
Is it a recent pic? The temperature has barely reached 0 in Groningen. No snow, no ice, just boring cold.
Why my kid cried 13 comments
niriel
· 9 years ago
This is terrifying. I like peace and quiet at home, unless I choose to throw a party. No kids for me; I'm going to cuddle my silent and not crazy bunny rabbit instead.
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