Posts Made By: John Hopkins

I agree with the others that the seller ought to do at least a little more in the form of how/when it was shipped, as well as be a little nicer. But also keep in mind the mail is always slower this time of year.

>>By your not giving the youth satisfying answers you have failed them<<

Now there's a load of dingo's kidneys.

Why in hell anyone requires 'answers' such as these just to function in completely unrelated matters is beyond me.

Answers are for people who can't handle questions -- which is quite an oversimplification, I know, but from experience it seems to have basis in fact. The Answers you're talking about come across to me as having been pulled out of a hat; and since my ability to live & work & get along with people has not been impeded by keeping origins & destiny as open questions, I'm baffled as to why people would be stymied by a lack of suspiciously convenient Answers.

If this reply seems heated, good. There was a strong implication here that those without spiritual beliefs can't possibly look after themselves or follow a strong system of morality. This is getting to the heart of why this kind of thing just can't be discussed rationally with fervent believers; since they have the Answers, thinking for yourself becomes utterly foolish.

Oh yeah. Being in tech support however lets me indulge a little bit as there are slow times, & also in some cases I'll be stuck on a call where I have little to do but hold the other person's hand, so to speak, and can browse the 'net to my heart's content.

The subject of this forum, though, makes its rather busy nature explainable. I've watched religious threads pop up in some usenet groups and there's usually an explosion of replies.

What does it eat? (Buildings?)

>>To look into the vast unending universe that has no limits and not believe in God is incomprehensible to me.<<

And the opposite holds for me. I find it incomprehensible that some people think that if no god was responsible for the universe, it then loses its power to awe.

>>Much of science is nothing more than theory.<<

And much is established fact.

>>So I find it silly that you would expect proof for something that is and has been answered countless times.<<

I hope the faithful won't take this as insulting, but there are times that I theorize that the inclination to faith has much to do with an inability to accept that sometimes you have to live with unanswered questions. Thus, to leave a Big Question such as "where's the Cause for all this Effect" hanging is apparently unthinkable.

(Shall we plow into the philosophical minefield that is the question of What is doing the causing? Does it think? Is it an 'it'? etc.)

Furthermore, I will repeat yet again that a nonbeliever is not required to furnish evidence that something doesn't exist. It's the person making the claim who has that duty.

At one point I attempted a drawing of those large scale filaments we see in those computer simulations of galaxy dispersal in the universe, with the aim of being able to stand back and see them form the shape of a human brain.

Then I wised up when realizing it would need to be one HUGE piece of paper...

I remember reading Loren Eiseley (highly recommended for a more 'spiritual' side of science, btw); he had fallen and gotten a rather bad wound, and in a daze he looked at the blood on the ground and apologized to the platelets that were now abandoned...as he thought of them winding their way through the veins, knowing nothing but the veins and never realizing the much larger vessel *they* were a part of...

Mesmerizing reading. I think it was called 'The Unexpected Universe.'

The 'philosophy' half of the forum title seems to be underrepresented as well.--

Sorry, those greedy Arizona people snapped 'em all up again.

>>Am I over reacting?<<

Very possibly. But then, despite incredibly weird assertions from some quarters, we're all, actually, different. I personally would base a scope-buying decision on price and quality, not whether the country of origin has a leader or two ticking me off, but that's just me.

All I can say is that I was pleased as punch with my LX90, then went to a star party and had a look through a couple of apos (TV101 and a Tak FSQ) and *had* to have one. But others have done the same and wondered why anyone made a big deal of it. You really do need to get out there and see for yourself because you won't know if you're a potential apo freak until you do.