I have a short attention span and I'm very challenge-oriented, so when I approached graduation from college (20+ years ago) I decided to ditch a future career in advertising and marketing and instead apprentice to become a dog trainer.  It seemed much closer to "doing what you love" than ...

Does this call into question anything published in the "Permanent Supplement Regime"? Just wondering. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2639929/Think-antioxidants-make-live-longer-Think-We-spend-millions-researchers-say-supplements-make-bodies-age-FASTER.html This isn't is the fir...

Some musings on this beautiful Memorial Day: The book, "On Being a Theologian of the Cross" is a commentary on the Heidleberg Disputation of 1518 ... you may wish to read the 28 theses, they are short and pithy but very deep, or read the book: http://bookofconcord.org/heidelberg.php Book a...

Except that natural selection can't explain very much. [...] Good points regarding evolution vs. creation, kka. I don't know if this question has been posed yet in this thread, but is it possible for a Christian to believe in the idea that humans evolved from lower life forms through God's creative...

The first time I ever smoked a joint was in the town of Nha Be, just north of Saigon. I remember laying back and thinking to myself there really is a God in this hell-hole of a place and that I'd found a way that I can get through this after all. I will always have fond memories and if they ever ma...

I have tremendous respect for the collective wisdom of the people on this forum. However, an intelligent person likes to hear the opinions of as many smart people as possible to take into account ideas that were potentially overlooked. You don't have to agree with any or all of those other opinions...

ns3, I retired from my paid job a while ago.  I went through a lot of mental gymnastics and calculations to determine when to take SS (for both me and my wife who did not contribute the required 40 quarters - her SS benefit is dependent on mine).  At the end of the day, I decided to take SS as soon ...

Well, as a nihilist I don't believe in "gods plan" mostly cause I don't think nature has a plan. Natural selection (the process that created humans) is in fact the definition of "no plan"...it's a binary selection process of live/die/live/die repeated over and over again. I know...

I just read lately that a French foreign minister said we have only 500 days left to do something about global warming before it's too late (and that was over a week ago so we're down to less than 493 days and counting). Also, both John Kerry and Obama are making a lot of noise about the urgency to...

I just read lately that a French foreign minister said we have only 500 days left to do something about global warming before it's too late (and that was over a week ago so we're down to less than 493 days and counting). Also, both John Kerry and Obama are making a lot of noise about the urgency to...

... my wife is much younger but I'm no longer convinced that I will be able to stick it out. :o ... Mountaineer If I didn't know you were such a good Christian Mountaineer, I would think you were engaging in some "coarse jesting" (Ephesians 5:4). I was totally  focused on the whole contex...

ns3 wrote: ... my wife is much younger but I'm no longer convinced that I will be able to stick it out.

... Mountaineer

Great lyrics: "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" by Joseph Scriven, 1820-1886 1. What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Ev'rything to God in prayer! Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carr...

MT, Insightful, deep, introspective.  Thanks for sharing. PS, To me, your body and corporation description illustrates the sustainability of a well nourished physicalness and soul.  doodle, Hang in there buddy!  If you are anything at all like me, it is hard to come to grips with the fact some quest...

Not sure I understand the question....Anyways, there is no "use" to anything as far as I can tell. Sure things have an immediate use....my eyebrow for example is cleverly designed to keep sweat out of my eye....but what if you keep digging that question? What is the use of all these vibra...

Thanks for the numbers, Mountaineer. I had figured that it costs less per mile in the early stages of owning a vehicle (we got our 2008 model car in late 2010, so the drive-it-off-the-lot depreciation was already taken into account) simply because stuff hasn't started wearing out as much. I'm prett...

I too had misread the thread as "Careless Living." I thought PS was going to be boozing it up in Thailand. Confession is good for the soul!  So, I confess I also misread the thread as Careless Living the first time around.  :) I thought it might have a good debate going among PS, kshartle...

A couple things on the whole "we don't have a purpose" idea. But why do we need a purpose at all? I sometimes look at animals, dogs, cats, and wonder, are you thinking about "what is the purpose of my cat-life?" Ok, so maybe they can't really think. But maybe you get my point. I...

Mountaineer, can you clarify? Is that 50 cents total per mile or 75 cents total per mile? My wife and I have a 2008 Volvo XC-70 and I had read in Consumer Reports a while back that the per-mile cost was around 88 cents per mile. That always seemed high to me but not ridiculously so. Sorry for the c...

but wow, what a depressing view of life for the remainder.  A couple things on the whole "we don't have a purpose" idea. First off, I think it CAN be depressing if you let it envelope you, and that this is why religion and faith is so comfortable to people.  They allow our brains to avoid...

But if someone said this: I have a new term for those on the fringes of the Muslim faith who have used the Koran to perpetuate their own aspirations for power, control and oppression: Islamists. They are as anathema to true Islam as the crony capitalists are to true Capitalism. That is perhaps one ...

And this thread was supposed to be about peak oil and somehow it too has gotten wrapped up in religion like all the other threads lately  ::) Hmmm, somehow we morph into talking about the ultimate reality (maybe it is built into us).  All the rest is mere stuff and fluff, or fluff and stuff it you ...

I wouldn't consider myself very smart, but I am intensely curious and I'm not afraid to toss aside my security blanket and to try to deal with reality. In a world with no inherent purpose or meaning I don't see why you seem to suggest that one life path is preferable to the other. Until you can ans...

Cost of ownership over about 200,000 miles, car purchased new and driven approximately 10k to 12k miles/year;  Volvo 850 Turbo Sedan with most of the bells and whistles available at the time.  I keep very detailed records on a spreadsheet, literally every dollar spent on my vehicles.  All maintenanc...

What then is the relation of law to morality? Law cannot prescribe morality, it can prescribe only external actions and therefore it should prescribe only those actions whose mere fulfillment, from whatever motive, the state adjudges to be conducive to welfare. What actions are these? Obviously such...