The Town of Odyssey

I think Brian means the McCain rally at the Nutter Center in Cincinnati, where he is scheduled (barring a change of plans) to first appear with his VP choice, not the day of the convention where the vice presidential nomination is formally conferred. Note to Republican media consultants: when unveil...

It's a pick almost certainly driven by expediency, not personal preference, and politically, it's a gamble, but in the most important sense, it's a good one: Biden passes the governing test. That Obama chose someone who had been sharply critical of his lack of experience and foreign policy naivete d...

There's a big difference between presenting a rational argument against a particular religion and making unfounded allegations about it, and that was the issue here.

look, i don't care what any of you say, Obama is a liar and an idiot! he always says one thing and then flips around and says something else. the guy can't be trusted. he is not a Christian. he is pro-abortion. he is racist. he was born a Muslim (the most hateful religion there is), and he has no m...

Sherlock's list is almost perfect. The only thing I'm a little confused by is the slight impression that it was intended as satire, or perhaps as actual "deal-breakers," which surely cannot be. 1. A terrible, misanthropic personality, not at all suitable for polite company Most of the list...

J-man wrote:A shovel comes in handy in times like this. :-

I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one to be aware of this innovation in tool construction...

"The Lives of Others," shown (free) in the basement lounge of a local cafe the other night. Well worth seeing, in my opinion.

On the first day of school, I always review channel-flipping techniques and proper popcorn popping procedure. But if I forget to do all that, it's okay, since I still have 14 school days left. Your education prepared you far better than did mine. Having never learned "proper popcorn popping pr...

Deaths do occur in whitewater rafting on occasion, unfortunately, and it's actually not a good indicator of rapid strength. With the right rock overhang, you can find yourself trapped on a Class IV rapid about as easily as you can on a Class V. The Upper Yough usually has a couple of deaths each yea...

I consider that ImprovEverywhere's second best effort. This one still takes first.

That was the upper stretch, I presume, Taq? I've done the Upper Gauley four times, and, needless to say, highly recommend it, though you'll find an even better river a little farther north. If you enjoyed the Gauley, you'd really like the Upper Yaughiogheny.

To my eternal embarrassment, it was mid-afternoon of the first day before we completed a critical study of the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, supplemented with the original Treatise of Human Nature.

I love being homeschooled!!!!! Days off whenever!!!!!!! Well, whenever Mom lets us.... Being homeschooled is great! My favorite class is "Movies and TV shows". I also like "Eating" and "ToO class" It's good to know that everything the folks at the HSLDA say about homes...

A good reason? Can you come up with a good reason for not marrying someone of another race or ethnicity? I'm sorry, but opposition to a relationship on those grounds is called racism, it is despicable, and any advice, parental or otherwise, predicated on those grounds should be summarily rejected.

The plural of anecdote, of course, is not evidence. Homeschoolers do very well when compared, generically, to those enrolled in public school, but that's an extraordinarily flawed metric, since homeschoolers tend to come from intact middle class families, and generally (logically) have parents very ...

Sadly, I don't even see myself as particularly adept at cleaning toilets. What is left for me?

I did not say that geniuses can't be wrong. For instance, while I believe that most of the science behind The Selfish Gene still holds, there have been a number of thoughtful criticisms that deserve to be taken seriously. None of these critics are as well-known as Dawkins, and they probably don't ha...

I agree that faith would be nothing of the kind if there wasn't an element of transcending what can be rationally demonstrated, but the sort of faith you're describing sounds like little more than a blind guess. More importantly, this appears to limit faith to the realm of emotion and feeling; I bel...

Perhaps a more fruitful way of posing the question would be this: if you did not believe, what would convince you? Were I an unbeliever confronted with the two responses provided thus far, I do not think I would respond very favorably to the message. I&L's first argument is insufficient. As a be...

nick mullugan wrote:really i found him the most interesting because he was a stupid hick who didnt understand a thing of science and they put him on camera just so people could see his ignorance

A Guggenheim Fellow doesn't know a thing about his field. Glad you cleared that up for us.