Thanks for not flaming

[jimilee]

Bloody hippies everywhere!

Bwahahahaha we are many.


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[jkokura]

I think a big part of this is that, from the beginning, most of us here realized that we're all just doing a hobby. Nobody is changing the world here. We all have Dad bods because we're dads, doing a silly hobby that's lots of fun, creative, and an escape (in a sense) from the rat-race out there.

Aint nobody got time for the drama.

Jacob

[bluescage]

+1 Jacob. I subsribed also to other fora, but I keep coming back here because I like the atmosphere! ( That rhymes  )

[stringsthings]

Besides Mr. Bean setting the tone, I think one thing that makes this group unique, is that so many members understand what its like to not know some of this stuff.

Excellent point.  There's a lot of people here who are solder jockies and all of us started off in a similar place.   Which is the place of generally not knowing everything about what we're getting ourselves into.  A spirit of adventure and discovery. ( how elequent! )

But in a slightly more serious vein, anyone's who's dived into the DIY pedal pool has known the 'joy' of trouble-shooting a project.  This unique experience really brings one to a place of "I don't know everything, but I really wish I knew why my fuzzbox isn't working, and I want to find out more."  And one sets off on the quest to find out more.  And as we delve into the hobby, the more we learn about what's going on under the hood and our enjoyment of the hobby increases. 

Bean has set up a great place for learning and sharing.  This becomes contagious in a very positive way.  We now have a community that's built upon the enjoyment and the sharing of a common interest.  By offering projects that range from easy to complicated, Bean has also provided us with the opportunity to help out others.  And when one is helped, there is quite often a feeling of gratitude. 

To use myself as an example, with the help of fellow members, I have recently learned how to etch an enclosure.  Being able to do that has brought me a lot of enjoyment.  I'm very thankful for the tips and tricks that I've learned from fellow members.  I now am able to craft a really nice looking enclosure.  And when I was first getting into the DIY hobby, I didn't even know that etching an enclosure was possible. (I just wanted to make my own fuzzbox )  )

[peAk]

Is God real?

What about Trump, how is he doing his first month compared to Obama?

Why are PCs so much better than overpriced Macs?

Should humans eat meat?

Lets get this party started!! 

[jimilee]

Is God real?

What about Trump, how is he doing his first month compared to Obama?

Why are PCs so much better than overpriced Macs?

Should humans eat meat?

Lets get this party started!! 

Offensive foul, 10 yard penalty, first down.


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[playpunk]

Is God real?

What about Trump, how is he doing his first month compared to Obama?

Why are PCs so much better than overpriced Macs?

Should humans eat meat?

Lets get this party started!! 

10/10

[juansolo]

Not only will I take that bait, I'm gonna try and answer it in a relatively calm and reasoned manner without resorting to mud slinging.

Is God real?

By god I'm assuming you're referring to the Christian notion of god rather than Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh (you see where I'm going here), etc, etc. These are all relatively modern.

Before these we had Pagans, the Norse had a particularly awesome mythology with many gods, and let's not forget the birthplace of the modern world; Greek mythology. Plus many, many others.

When you accept that all these religions currently exist or have existed, all of which are based on stories / legend and many people following them. You must ask yourself; how do I know I'm worshipping the right god? Never mind is there one... Most religions do not allow for the worship of other gods (it's usually built into it in some way), but back that up with no reason that other gods are any less valid other than 'because it says so'.

The next part of the question is unanswerable. Any god, up to the point it interacts directly with a sentient species can only be regarded as a theory. When theories are proven, that is when they become fact and that is when the existence of gods can be globally accepted as truth. Up to that point all you have is an idea with nothing more concrete than mythology to back it up.

Logically speaking, with so many religions proporting to represent a one true god, it immediately creates a paradox as they can't all be correct. Indeed it makes the whole dealing with the subject a lot easier because of that impossibility. The logic surrounding them all saying the same thing means only one of them can be right and all the others are wasting their time. Now, everyone will believe that theirs is the one true god, but how do you come to that conclusion without any evidence whatsoever to back that up?

Faith.

The catch all explanation of any religion to it's followers. You just have to believe that your god is the real one. If you have it, you accept it as truth without evidence because of it. To people with it, god exists.

What about Trump, how is he doing his first month compared to Obama?

Around half of all Americans who could be arsed to vote, voted for him and he's your president for better or for worse. What I think of that, much like Brexit, is moot. Democracy, with all it's flaws and failings has done what it does and we're stuck with it whether we like it or not.

The one thing to bear in mind is that one in every two people you meet doesn't agree with your point of view on the matter. Which is a worrying situation to be in with someone and something as emotive as Trump/Brexit.

It's getting up there with religion in terms of taboo on forums who can't control themselves. Well it is politics I suppose. Though it's difficult to tell these days as it might be some twisted 'reality' TV event.

I'm surprised we haven't had a football* question in here, we may as well go for the trinity.

*That's soccer for anyone not American, and hockey for Canadians.

Why are PCs so much better than overpriced Macs?

Macs are PCs, have been since about 2005 architecturally speaking. You can run the Mac OS on PCs with a bit of creativity, likewise you can run Windows on a Mac.

Which is also ironically like arguing which is better: the PS4 or the Xbone. There's so little difference in them these days and there's so many cross-platform titles, it just doesn't matter.

I would have pulled you up on the 'overpriced' point as being leading. Much like referring to the galactic Empire as 'evil' in the opening crawl to Star Wars. They're only evil from the point of view of the rebels who in that universe are actually terrorists if you sit and think about it. But they are overpriced for what they are. They are also shiny, which is why they get away with it.

Should humans eat meat?

Hell I know I'm asking people to accept that evolution, a scientifically proven thing, is actually real, but here goes. We've evolved to eat pretty much everything and not die from it. It's a pretty cool trick really.

Watch any of Richard Attenborough's documentaries and you'll see many creatures of the planet eating both plants and one another, and indeed maintaining an ecological balance because of it.

Where we throw it all to cock is behaving more like a virus than any of these creatures. We've developed technology that allows us to reek untold destruction to this world and utterly fuck with the delicate balance of nature. We do so because we're greedy and selfish (human nature). But ultimately rather than living in harmony with the planet, we're hurting it, all the fucking time.

On a planetary scale, we're en route to eventually destroying it or probably making it uninhabitable. Eating meat is the least of our issues as human beings.

[Aleph Null]

and....thread locked! 

[juansolo]

If that doesn't do it, nothing will

It'll be the mac/pc thing that pushes people over the edge.

[alanp]

Faith.

The catch all explanation of any religion to it's followers. You just have to believe that your god is the real one. If you have it, you accept it as truth without evidence because of it. To people with it, god exists.

I'm being serious, and non-trolling in my response here. I'm not trying to start a flame war.

I'm a simple man, but from what I can tell, the alternative to faith in *something* is nihilism. We came from nothing, our actions in the greater scheme of things mean jack and shit, and we will return to nothing, having made no longterm impact (where longterm is geological and evolutionary longterm), our consciousness consigned to oblivion.

I find that too bleak.

[peAk]

Faith.

The catch all explanation of any religion to it's followers. You just have to believe that your god is the real one. If you have it, you accept it as truth without evidence because of it. To people with it, god exists.

I'm being serious, and non-trolling in my response here. I'm not trying to start a flame war.

I'm a simple man, but from what I can tell, the alternative to faith in *something* is nihilism. We came from nothing, our actions in the greater scheme of things mean jack and shit, and we will return to nothing, having made no longterm impact (where longterm is geological and evolutionary longterm), our consciousness consigned to oblivion.

I find that too bleak.

So is faith in a God more extreme than believing that this was all just a big accident?

Maybe it's our defense mechanism that doesn't allow most of us the thought of nothingness?

I am with you, there has to be more to this.

[juansolo]

All of it is a defence mechanism for us to try and wrap our heads around unknowable things or indeed, things we have trouble accepting.

For example it's hard to process that before I was born I did not exist, and when I die I will return to that state. Physically my body will degrade and (in theory) should fuel further life. But my consciousness will cease to be, and that can be a terrifying concept.

In order for people to come to terms with that various ideas of an after-life are offered by different beliefs. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all have versions of heaven and hell. Norse has Valhalla. Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs have re-incarnation. Ancient Greek mythology is a bit more vague, but they all revolve around reward or punishment for behaviour on this plane of existence.

As for nihilism being the opposite of faith. That I don't agree with. Life is not meaningless. But life does not need meaning to occur. Life (as we know it) mainly requires water. Without it, there is no life. It's why there's a big fuss about finding it on other planets/moons. Because if they do, it means there may be life there.

By life I mean organisms that have evolved to live in that environment. Think about the most hostile places for life to be on our planet, like the deep, deep ocean. Where there is no light and insane levels of pressure that is hard to comprehend. Yet there is life there. Then we have Australia, where the indigenous wildlife all want to kill you, yet they gave us Neighbours and INXS. It's inexplicable that they can exist in the same place, yet they do.

What I'm getting at is that given the right ingredients, life wants to happen. Like pie, and we all know how good pie is.

Survival, love, play, death, loss, aspiration, friendship, disappointment, pain, pleasure, etc, etc. Be alive in the brief time we know we have here. Very few people leave their mark on history (for better and for worse) on a global scale. But it doesn't stop you experiencing life, and for those people that you do interact with, you have an impact greater than you think.

Watch Blade Runner. It's a very poignant piece of cinema if you pay attention to it.

[jkokura]

So...

The Leafs look they're going to make the playoffs. That's awesome.

Jacob

[playpunk]

So...

The Leafs look they're going to make the playoffs. That's awesome.

Jacob

Eh. Laffs will find a way to choke out of it.