Posts by drwtsn32

nature is existencethe sum of that which is.. it is usually called nature when we think of it as a system of interconnected, interacting entities governed by law.. so nature really means the universe of entities acting and interacting in accordance with their identities.. what, then, is super-nature?.

drwtsn32

Supernatural is just a label people apply to things that are imaginary to make themselves feel less foolish. There is no objective difference between the imaginary and the supernatural.

62

For Perry: the most distant known object in the Universe.

by BurnTheShips in

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4274187/.

this object is 13 billion light-years away.. light travels 300,000 kilometers per second.. it took 13 billion years for us to receive the light that was recorded as the image in the article:.

buy a cheap telescope at a department store, and you can see the andromeda galaxy easily.

drwtsn32

It's interesting that in some respects reasonable Christians like BTS are closer on the "reality" spectrum to atheists than they are to fundies.

62

For Perry: the most distant known object in the Universe.

by BurnTheShips in

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4274187/.

this object is 13 billion light-years away.. light travels 300,000 kilometers per second.. it took 13 billion years for us to receive the light that was recorded as the image in the article:.

buy a cheap telescope at a department store, and you can see the andromeda galaxy easily.

drwtsn32

How can you argue with someone who just makes up crap on the fly?

You can't. Once miracles or other supernatural mumbo jumbo is invoked, the argument is over. It has left the realm of objective debate.

71

Is Darwinism True?

by Perry in

a scientific dissent from darwinism2 www.dissentfromdarwin.org .

a scientific dissent from darwinism3 www.dissentfromdarwin.org .

a scientific dissent from darwinism4 www.dissentfromdarwin.org .

drwtsn32

"Darwinism" is a negative label, and opposers to evolutionary theory know it. That's why they use it.

In any case, this petition (?) is weak and ultimately meaningless.

First, many of the scientists do not hold degrees in fields even remotely related to evolutionary biology. Engineering? Geology? Physics? The ones that actually have degrees in biology carry more weight, but even that doesn't mean they are knowledgable in the subfield of evolutionary biology.

Second, several of these scientists are clearly biased as they are from Christian universities. Their religious beliefs may in fact prohibit them from accepting evolution.

Third, even if all of these people were to have PhDs in evolutionary biology, it is still a small fraction of the total number of evolutionary biologists that accept evolution.

Logical fallacies include an attempted argumentum ad populum and appeal to authority.

Science does not work on consensus. Evolutionary theory stands as valid based on the evidence we have discovered.

35

I miss my Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer 2

by garyneal in

was reminiscing with a friend on facebook about our past and the thread concerning windows 7 got me thinking about the hours i spent writing programs for my trash 80 computer.

any other nerds like me who miss the old hardware?.

or does anyone miss anything from their younger days (not necessarily computers)?.

drwtsn32

My first was the Timex Sinclair 1000 (ZX81). Nice, McDonald's register-style keyboard.

Then I upgraded to a Commodore VIC-20 w/ tape drive. I still have that in the garage somewhere. I hooked it up to my 60" HDTV for kicks a few years back. 3583 bytes free for BASIC programs when you booted it up. Insane.

18

Anyone using Windows 7

by MsDucky in

jw
friends

if so, is it better than vista?

and did you have to buy a new upgraded microsoft office with it?.

drwtsn32

Getting rid of all the junk the OEM version loads on the system makes an amazing difference

If you mean an OEM version bastardized by some system manufacturer, then yes. But a normal OEM version does not load anything extra. The only difference between OEM and retail is the licensing.

18

Anyone using Windows 7

by MsDucky in

jw
friends

if so, is it better than vista?

and did you have to buy a new upgraded microsoft office with it?.

drwtsn32

We would try to print, and get an error message that the print spooler service was not running.

Printer driver bug. There are no issues with the Win7 printing subsystem itself (nor any other Windows version I can recall). Sounds like the printer manufacturer had a crappy Win7 64-bit driver. You probably could have used an alternate/more generic driver or waited for the mfr to release a better driver.

18

Anyone using Windows 7

by MsDucky in

jw
friends

if so, is it better than vista?

and did you have to buy a new upgraded microsoft office with it?.

drwtsn32

Yes, it's the best Windows yet. However, it may not be worth upgrading an existing computer. Are you having problems with Vista?

Generally people just get a new Windows version when they purchase a new computer. Now if you are reformatting your system, you might decide to take that opportunity to upgrade.