Order of KAI Official Hang Out; Part Deux - It's Enrico Palazzo!

[dishcore]

I've been driving too long. I want someone to drive me around...the lady likes it when I drive everywhere so it's nice when she takes the wheel every now and then. When my face isn't plastered to the passenger side window from the G's she's pulling through the turns, I get to nap a little.

 

[KnottyEagle]

I've been driving too long. I want someone to drive me around...the lady likes it when I drive everywhere so it's nice when she takes the wheel every now and then. When my face isn't plastered to the passenger side window from the G's she's pulling through the turns, I get to nap a little.

I may have gone through a corner a little to fast a couple times.

 

[freewheeling]

I've been driving too long. I want someone to drive me around...the lady likes it when I drive everywhere so it's nice when she takes the wheel every now and then. When my face isn't plastered to the passenger side window from the G's she's pulling through the turns, I get to nap a little.

I bought a Datsun 240Z with extra-wide tires by mistake once. Man, was *that* fun!

 

[JuJu-]

3 kids under 10 in the backseat sucks! I don't look forward to roadtrips!

Freewheeling, I'm not getting too excited about that stuff until manufacturers start to talk about using it themselves. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be awesome! I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Reminds me of the 50's and 60's when everyone talked about the near future and how we'd have flying cars to automated everything, and look where we are today. Call me cautiously pessimistic

 

[sticktodrum]

Freewheeling, greenie, niner etc... a little religion talk here and there is ok but lets not get into it here. There is a subforum for that and I ask any further discussion gets taken there. Thanks for your understanding gents.

Sorry Justin, but I need to address something. I hope you can forgive me.

Actually although the argument about the date of Creation being 6,000 years ago based on the notion that water consumed is water destroyed is silly that isn't the interpretation of Genesis that makes sense anyway. Ironically 7,000 years and 2,000,000,000 years are *both* correct. Think about it. Relativity says that there has to be some point of view in the universe where only 7 days passed between the Big Bang and the development of agriculture by man, because time passage is entirely relative to speed and point of view. We also don't know where that point of view would be, because the universe expands symmetrically so we can't run the machine in reverse and scope it out. So the point about the passage of time since Genesis is moot. Moses Maimonides solved this riddle about 800 years ago in *A Guide for the Perplexed* and current astrophysics has contributed very little that is unique to his argument. He even describes the Big Bang fairly accurately.

I'm sorry, but that really shows at best a lack of understanding of what the theory of relativity actually explains, and at worst a pretty malicious misinterpretation and misrepresentation of it. They are not "both correct." Those two numbers are both incorrect, and unfortunately the notion of the beginning of the known universe is more complex than most people will let on, especially from the side of Creationists. The simple use of "think about it" is a big red flag. It means that it requires you to take a conclusion and then work your way backward to come to incorrect justifications. Your explanation of there being a point in the universe where only 7 days has passed since the Big Bang is not correct, it simply isn't. Static points within our observable universe don't work that way.

I've read Guide for the Perplexed, unfortunately, and if you think that current astrophysics has actually contributed very little to our understanding of the universe as compared to the words of the Rambam, then I have nothing really to say. That would be trying to use reason and evidence to convince someone who doesn't value reason and evidence, that reason and evidence are important. You're clearly welcome to believe whatever you want, but you're the one with all your work still ahead of you. Personally, I'm more distracted by the Rambam's assertion that God will physically resurrect the dead. Again, you're welcome to believe it all, but Maimon isn't what I (nor any physicist that I know, and I know several) would consider a foremost authority on the workings of our universe.

Dawkins, on the other hand, isn't worth the price of ink. See Gerald R. Schroeder for the resolution between modern physics and Genesis. And Schroeder tears Dawkins' arguments to ribbons all while dismissing conventional Creationism as fairly obviously naive.

Just sayin'.

Schroeder is a crackpot, and does exactly what I described above. He takes a desired conclusion, and works backwards to make pieces of things fit where they don't really. It's not uncommon for quack theologians to take scientific discoveries and then use them to say "Ah, see how clever God was all along?" That's not scholarship, and that's not faith. Using something like what he perceives as "scientific evidence" (which it isn't) to "prove" (which he doesn't) events narrated in biblical texts is not faith, it instead removes the idea of faith from the religious conviction.

Dawkins isn't my favorite person in the world, I personally can't listen to him speak or debate. It's not his forte. However, to say he's not worth whatever it is, is not correct. His books explaining the evidence and mechanics of evolutionary biology are accurate, well-written, and decently presented. His piece Climbing Mt. Improbable" is a great chapter on the evolution of the eye that answers a lot of questions, and illustrates his effectively method for not only explaining theory, but citing evidence and pointing to it. He's not an astrophysicist, and it wouldn't be wise to expect him to show real expertise in that field. There are much more qualified people to talk to about astrophysical ideas, namely Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku. I'm fortunate enough to speak with Dr. Kaku on a decently regular basis, as he still teaches at the Graduate center, and has had classes at CUNY while I was an undergrad. Granted, I've only had a good talk with Tyson once, but from what I've read of his works, he's a great person to read if you're interested in astrophysics.

I'm not a physicist myself, however I have one in the family, and a good number of my academic friends study those sciences. Apart from content area classes and school breaks, I'm usually around them, listening to them talk about this sort of material, and asking them questions myself. I've always made it a habit to make friends who have expertise that I don't, and I've learned quite a bit from taking arguments that I can't answer and bringing them to the people that can. However, my area of study involves quite heavily the study of biblical literature, so one could understand my interest in its overlap with the sciences.

Whaddup Chuck.
Name's Manny and I work in demolition. 31 years old and from the good ol' borough of Brooklyn in NYC where locking folding knives are illegal...and so is just about everything else.

Not everything... violating the term limits and staying Mayor for another term is apparently legal.

 

[KnottyEagle]

3 kids under 10 in the backseat sucks! I don't look forward to roadtrips!

If I can, I try to avoid driving with my 3 and 4 year-old brothers. It's horrible.

 

[9blades]

I may have gone through a corner a little to fast a couple times.

Haha...

3 kids under 10 in the backseat sucks! I don't look forward to roadtrips!

Freewheeling, I'm not getting too excited about that stuff until manufacturers start to talk about using it themselves. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be awesome! I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Reminds me of the 50's and 60's when everyone talked about the near future and how we'd have flying cars to automated everything, and look where we are today. Call me cautiously pessimistic

I love road trips...we go and visit my grandparents once a year (Georgia to Minnesota) and it's about 2000 thousand miles round trip. I've done that 6 something time since I was 5. Along with a couple more 1000 mile road trips.

 

[northend816]

Wanted to stop in and say hello to Chuck...welcome your find the guys here very helpful and kind. Im also a new Order member and ive really enjoyed my time here so far.
On another note i just ordered my 0801 from Dave and im super excited!!!i

 

[dishcore]

Wanted to stop in and say hello to Chuck...welcome your find the guys here very helpful and kind. Im also a new Order member and ive really enjoyed my time here so far.
On another note i just ordered my 0801 from Dave and im super excited!!!i

Thanks for the welcome! And congrats on your inbound 801, its next on my list!

 

[KnottyEagle]

People and their Apple products . I don't have anything against the products themselves, but some of the people that own them are ridiculous. It also gets annoying to go to a place and all you see are iPhones on people. Or, when you go to something like a sporting event and everyone's taking pictures with iPhones.

 

[dishcore]

People and their Apple products . I don't have anything against the products themselves, but some of the people that own them are ridiculous. It also gets annoying to go to a place and all you see are iPhones on people. Or, when you go to something like a sporting event and everyone's taking pictures with iPhones.

My iPhone is the first ive ever had, and only because it was given to me. I agree entirely with your stance on the sporting events. Watching the Olympics this year was a bit embarassing, a large number of the USA athletes were walking out during the opening ceremony holding their phones out taking pictures / video. Not very classy, just walk with the flag and be proud - remember the moment for what it is!

 

[freewheeling]

3 kids under 10 in the backseat sucks! I don't look forward to roadtrips!

Freewheeling, I'm not getting too excited about that stuff until manufacturers start to talk about using it themselves. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be awesome! I just don't see it happening anytime soon. Reminds me of the 50's and 60's when everyone talked about the near future and how we'd have flying cars to automated everything, and look where we are today. Call me cautiously pessimistic

Yeah, I know it's coming but it's so weird I have no idea when. Maybe 10 years, maybe 100.

 

[sticktodrum]

People and their Apple products . I don't have anything against the products themselves, but some of the people that own them are ridiculous. It also gets annoying to go to a place and all you see are iPhones on people. Or, when you go to something like a sporting event and everyone's taking pictures with iPhones.

Well worry not, Android phones have taken the market lead in sales for the last couple months. Perhaps a trend that will continue.

 

[JuJu-]

I'm with ya knotty. I understand why they market it the way they do, they'd be stupid not to. But I can't stand it when you go anywhere and want to listen to music or whatever and a person goes" hey can I see your ipod?" or the "hey let me borrow your ipad" Its a damn mp3 player and its a tablet these are not interchangeable in my opinion and those who do it are schmucks. I hate "I" anything at this point.The only "I" that I care about is me. I also hate the itunes crap and the fact that there are all of these "i" whatever specific pieces of electronics like docks, speakers, ipod hookups on electronics. When things get like that I tend to buck whatever it is and will on purpose not use whatever it is. I'd rather write a letter and send it pony express than type a letter on a ipad. I'd rather have two cans with a string attached to it than call someone on a iphone. Sorry but that crap drives me nuts (chest bumps knaughty, and chugs beer).

You know it reminds me of those smug pricks who drive around in Priuses, nose in the air and think their crap don't smell.

 

[9blades]

People and their Apple products . I don't have anything against the products themselves, but some of the people that own them are ridiculous. It also gets annoying to go to a place and all you see are iPhones on people. Or, when you go to something like a sporting event and everyone's taking pictures with iPhones.

Well worry not, Android phones have taken the market lead in sales for the last couple months. Perhaps a trend that will continue.

I'm not a fan of apple snobs myself. That being said, apple puts out an excellent product in my opinion (sent from 3rd gen iPad lol)

 

[dishcore]

Im with you fellas. Im stuck here in iphone land - its my work phone. I had Androids for 4 years prior to this.

 

[KnottyEagle]

The iPhone 5 fails in comparison to an HTC One or a Samsung Galaxy S4 IMO. I'm not very knowledgeable with certain technological things, but I'm not stupid either. With a little research, I can pretty much make my mind up on what the "better" (It's subjective) product is. You get people that will buy an Apple product without doing ANY research on what they're buying. They buy it purely for the name and immediately assume that because It's an Apple design, that they're holding the best product on the market. All they do is rave and rave on how awesome their iPhone is, but I guarantee 90% of those people have never held, let alone owned another competitor's product (Galaxy S4 or HTC One). Just pisses me off the way people will talk about things and they know NOTHING about what they own.

 

[sticktodrum]

I don't run into that much, but when I do I don't bother getting upset by it. It seems that most people who jump into the smartphone experience and just get an iPhone do so exactly because of what you said Damon. Name, reputation, etc. They're usually not very tech savvy people, and if they are, it's that they prefer the UI of iOS. iOS is a bit more people-friendly than Android is, even now I think. It's gotten much better, but Apple's thing is a device that anyone can use, and use effectively. It's why my wife tried the Android platform and couldn't deal with it, and why my mother in-law has an iPhone now.

I hear from them, and other friends, how awesome their phone is when they find out it does something or they download a new app. I think it's great, because I'd rather them think their phone is amazing while embracing technology than hear what my boss says every day about how a phone should be a phone, and he doesn't need all his fancy computer crap and how a smartphone isn't even a good phone because it does a million things like crap instead of one thing well. That's all of course nonsense, and I find that a bit more annoying than some non-techie person getting wet over their iDevice.

Do I think iPhones are better? Not at all, I think Android offers more in terms of capability and integration with services, and it does things more cleanly than I've seen iOS devices do. However, I'd rather my mother in-law tell me how she found out that she can FaceTime with her former students than see her pull out a flip phone from 2001.

Progress of a sort, no?

Besides, there are a lot of people who tout that their Android phone is the hottest thing ever and will rattle off specs, without knowing how much Android phones sucked back in the days of 1.5 and 1.6, let alone 1.0. It's wise to know more than just how great one's phone is, since iPhones were substantially better, for a long long time, than Android phones. Too hipster? Maybe...

 

[9blades]

I don't run into that much, but when I do I don't bother getting upset by it. It seems that most people who jump into the smartphone experience and just get an iPhone do so exactly because of what you said Damon. Name, reputation, etc. They're usually not very tech savvy people, and if they are, it's that they prefer the UI of iOS. iOS is a bit more people-friendly than Android is, even now I think. It's gotten much better, but Apple's thing is a device that anyone can use, and use effectively. It's why my wife tried the Android platform and couldn't deal with it, and why my mother in-law has an iPhone now.

I hear from them, and other friends, how awesome their phone is when they find out it does something or they download a new app. I think it's great, because I'd rather them think their phone is amazing while embracing technology than hear what my boss says every day about how a phone should be a phone, and he doesn't need all his fancy computer crap and how a smartphone isn't even a good phone because it does a million things like crap instead of one thing well. That's all of course nonsense, and I find that a bit more annoying than some non-techie person getting wet over their iDevice.

Do I think iPhones are better? Not at all, I think Android offers more in terms of capability and integration with services, and it does things more cleanly than I've seen iOS devices do. However, I'd rather my mother in-law tell me how she found out that she can FaceTime with her former students than see her pull out a flip phone from 2001.

Progress of a sort, no?

Besides, there are a lot of people who tout that their Android phone is the hottest thing ever and will rattle off specs, without knowing how much Android phones sucked back in the days of 1.5 and 1.6, let alone 1.0. It's wise to know more than just how great one's phone is, since iPhones were substantially better, for a long long time, than Android phones. Too hipster? Maybe...

I can't really add anything. This pretty much sums up my opinion on the subject.

 

[JuJu-]

So I just heard from my P.O. lady that there will now be a free $50 insurance on priority mail starting today.