Richard Dawkins- The Root of all evil

[Greatchickenman]

nope. you lose.

The city was named after the Ukrainian word for mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), which is "chornobyl". The word is a combination of chornyi (чорний, black) and byllia (билля, grass blades or stalks); hence it literally means black grass or black stalks -- though no parts of mugwort or wormwood are black. The plants are pale green, and wormwood has a whitish tinge from a fine fuzz on the bottom of its leaves.

On occasion, Chornobyl has been translated controversially to mean simply "wormwood" (which most commonly refers to Artemisia absinthium), with consequent apocalyptic associations, that spread as far as Poland before Serge Schmemann of the New York Times published "Chernobyl Fallout: Apocalyptic Tale", July 26, 1986. The article quoted an unnamed "prominent Russian writer" as claiming the Ukrainian word for wormwood was chernobyl.

In fact, there are over 160 kinds of Artemisia, and the terminology is not generally accepted. Some sources refer to Artemisia vulgaris as "common wormwood", while others claim that "common wormwood" is Artemisia absinthium.

Wormwood is a different (but related) plant, Artemisia absinthium, Полин (Polyn). "Polyn" has no English equivalent, but corresponds to the botanical genus Artemisia. Botanically, mugwort is "Common Polyn" (Ukr. Полин звичайний); while wormwood is "Bitter Polyn" (Ukr. Полин гіркий).

Still more confusion comes from the fact that the word "wormwood" is used in the English text of the Apocalypse, whose usage as the name of a plant does not necessarily match that of the original Greek.

[Sling]

Fair enough. I wasn't 100% sure about that part. But Wikipedia can be changed by anyone and so the information is only 99.9% Reliable 99.9% of the time but 70% of the time, it's reliable all the time or .. I don't know.
There is some guy near where I live who has just moved over from Russia and he knows Ukraine as well as Russian, so he should know.
EDIT: I also said it was a possibility not that it was 100% right.

groundless religious beliefs that say (for example) a fetus is more important that a living and grown human being.

What if a fetus was going to grow up to be the next Einstein or Mozart? And anyway, how is moral's a bad thing? Obviously there are people who take things way too far, but if there were no morals at all and we followed your beliefs we'd have all murdered each other by now (even though without killing we'd have a population crisis). That's minus 8 respect point for you.

Oh, and you know this, huh?

Yes, becuase I spent countless hours calculating and thinking about in a number of different perspectives.

groundless prophecy or opinion

So I'm a prophet now?

That's minus 8 respect point for you.

Better make that Minus 7.

And nuclear power has great potential, and even more likely so if we manage fusion reactions.

Yes, but people are too lazy and won't deal with all the nuclear waste appropriately.

I just think taht there are too many humans around, not to be mean but that's just what i think.
Especially when so many humans want equal rights.
If we all ha equal amounts of, say money. Nobody would have anything really.

So true, so true.

[Sarcasm]

I am russian, Mind you, And chornobyl can either mean black grass, Or black past/legend

[Telephalsion]

I listened to a speach about alternate fuel sources, like bio ethanol and stuff today. It was interesting.

Basically we're fucked if we don't buy ethanol cars.
We'll still be in trouble but not as much.

Aren't you killing millions everytime you masterbate (assuming you're male), and everytime a woman has her period she's wasting a potential life.

The whole pro-life is jsut crazy, we don't need more people, we're too many as it is, let people abort if they want to, populations will still rise.

[Sling]

The whole pro-life is jsut crazy, we don't need more people, we're too many as it is, let people abort if they want to, populations will still rise.

My theory is that everytime the population rises too much some disease, (or some freak incident/accident and/or natural disaster) comes along and starts killing people until their is a stable population, so you get the jist of it. I call it the population-equilibrium theory, even though other people have most likely come up with the same idea.

[Telephalsion]

yeah ,the largeness of our population and the frequence of which we travel pretty much garuantees that if an epidemic starts it'll turn into a pandemic quickly

[Fitz Tayo]

What is the point of overpopulating with people, who will undoubtedly have a negative effect on the world due to our horrible societies, just to have them, and the good people, die off?

On the other hand advances in medicine could still leave us with more people than we can feasably support. The way it's meant to work is whoever becomes seriously sick actually dies and the living carry on. However we all decide to defy natural selection.

[Telephalsion]

that's why we love darwinawards.

[ReaperGal]

What if a fetus was going to grow up to be the next Einstein or Mozart? That's minus 8 respect point for you.

Fate is completely within the realm of opinion, so 'the next mozart' argument is flawed and useless. The last time I had my period, that could have been the next mozart, but nobody was outside the mall protesting when I bought my tampax.

And anyway, how is moral's a bad thing?

Morals dictated by religion are a very bad thing. Do this, or spend eternity in pain. Using fear to sway people to your opinion. That's terrorism.

Obviously there are people who take things way too far, but if there were no morals at all and we followed your beliefs we'd have all murdered each other by now (even though without killing we'd have a population crisis).

No, if we all followed my beliefs, there would be no war, no hate, no poverty. We would be kind to each other not for the sake of getting ourselves into heaven, but only to help each other. Religion is hateful. More people have died in Christ's name than any other, even Stalin's. Not even Buddhism is free from bloodshed. It's your beliefs that propogate violence.

Minus eight respect points? Okay, kid, first of all, I'm more respected on these boards than you will ever be. Second, what makes you think I care how much you respect me? I don't respect you at all, and I never have, so your little 'respect count' means exactly nothing to me.

Yes, becuase I spent countless hours calculating and thinking about in a number of different perspectives.

Calculating what? There's no math involved here.

So I'm a prophet now?

No. You were spouting a future written by someone thousands of years ago who didn't know shit about social science. Therefore, it's crap.

That's minus 8 respect point for you.
Better make that Minus 7.

I refer you to my earlier statement. Your opinion of me is a drop in the ocean.

Yes, but people are too lazy and won't deal with all the nuclear waste appropriately.

It's that sort of defeatist attitude about human nature that religion uses to keep us under their control. Congratulations. You're the one of the sheep hell-bent on keeping humanity from reaching its greatest potential. You make me sick.

[Sage Of The Wise]

that's why we love darwinawards.

Heh, I was just reading those.

[Greatchickenman]

Believe me, the people that are getting aborted are NOT gonna grow up to be Einsteins or Mozarts.


And on any level, basically you're saying, "Lets overpopulate the Earth so everyone starves to death, after all there aren't enough starving people right now that we don't do shit to help," or you're saying, "Its much better for a baby to be found dead in a trash can or torn up by dogs after a 15 year old girl gives birth."

[Squiggy]

Morals dictated by religion are a very bad thing. Do this, or spend eternity in pain. Using fear to sway people to your opinion. That's terrorism.

Morals arn't dictated by religion, religion merely suggests an acceptable code of conduct, regardless of if you follow that religion or not.

[Fitz Tayo]

Morals dictated by religion are a very bad thing. Do this, or spend eternity in pain. Using fear to sway people to your opinion. That's terrorism.

Morals arn't dictated by religion, religion merely suggests an acceptable code of conduct, regardless of if you follow that religion or not.

While this is true. Following morals "because God says so" or because you're going to have eternal damnation or some such afterwards is just generally wrong. While the morals themselves are perfectly acceptable, it's the reasoning that makes them bad.

People need to be nice for the sake of being nice, not to avoid going to hell. Heck the Bible even says this at some point through one of those queer little stories.

I think it went that some guy who was rich spoke to God and asked if he was to get into heaven. God replied with something along the lines of "What have you done to get into heaven". So basically the guy gave away lots of monies to the poor and spoke to God again and God replied "But you did that to get into heaven, not for the good of others". Some other stuff happens I think. I dunno, I can't remember that well. I think he gets into heaven by giving some homeless guy his last clothes or only food or something.

It was also had the moral of giving something of worth to you away. If the rich guy gave him a couple of bucks then it wouldn't matter to the rich guy, but if the previously rich, poor guy gave him a couple of bucks it'd be worth more. But that's sorta going on a tangent.

Long story short, you need to be nice because you want to help others and stuff, not because your encouraged to. Though some people (Actually lots of people) constantly threaten "You'll go to hell if you do this and that" which is completely the wrong message to be conveyed. Using hell as persuasion piece is wrong.

[Forerunner]

People need to be nice for the sake of being nice, not to avoid going to hell. Heck the Bible even says this at some point through one of those queer little stories.

I agree entirely. Do good things because it feels good. Which is why I think religion is a good thing in some ways, I don't actually believe in any of it, but I do believe in the good morals and behaviour and stuff it teaches.
If more people could do that then the world would be a better place.

[Telephalsion]

I don't do it often but sometimes I find myself being a wonderful person. I let old people cut ahead of me in line, "please, you can go ahead of me"
I open doors to people, I pick up stuff people drop. Those kind of things, they're totally impuslive too, thne afterwards i feel all good about myself and walk around happy.

Also, I think the bible, although much can have roots in truth, is a bit fictionized. I also think that the bible is more of a book of tips than a book of commandments.

Seafood and pork have been considered bad meat by some religions. Why? Cause it's stated in their religious litterature.
But why? Becauso those meats degenerate and grow bacteria faster than other means and were thus hazardous if not eaten fresh. So to protect the people they said god hates this meat eating it is going to hell. Or something like that.