I like the fact that despite all of the comments about cats and kittens, no one has linked to onr of those overly-sweet pictures of one.
And no, I’m not coming back in here to see if anyone does.
There are three kinds of people, Larry. Those who can count, and those who can’t.
I’m a confirmed cannibal with a penchant for shrinking human heads.
Ayn Rand, simplistic, self-righteous and hidebound though she was, was still a good deal more intelligent and insightful than most of her detractors. Her estimate of the average so-called intellectual was spot on.
Similarly, most atheists aren’t nearly as intellectually sophisticated as they imagine themselves to be. Atheists who say things like, “You can’t prove a negative,” or “Prove that there’s no invisible pink unicorn!” or “I don’t disbelieve in God, I just don’t believe in God,” and actually think they’ve delivered some kind of devastating blow to theism are every bit as annoying as religious fundamentalists.
Darwin and Mendel won’t have the last word on evolution any more than Newton had the last word on physics.
Anyone who insists all gays are “born that way” has a concept of human nature so absurdly simplistic as to be asinine. I don’t doubt many gays are hard-wired to be gay. But to insist that each and every person who has ever taken up a gay lifestyle and remained in it must be “born that way,” while anyone who has been gay for a while and went straight “wasn’t really gay” is the no-true-Scotsman fallacy on a grand scale.
The possibility that there are important genetically determined behavioral differences between the races is very real. No, it hasn’t been scientifically proven beyond reasonable doubt; but then, neither can it definitely be ruled out from the available evidence. It’s an open question. To insist that the genetic differences between the races are trivial and meaningless is a political dogma, not a scientific fact. (Though, of course, the fact that it’s a dogma doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s untrue.)
Err, I just want to step in and say that’s hardly ever an attack on theism but a clarification of a common misconception. There is a difference.
Shit. Couldn’t resist. You really can’t say that on the dope without someone getting their panties in a twist 
(shrug) Okay, you’re right, that example wasn’t really relevant to my point.
I really dislike how folks use the word Og for God. C’mon, it won’t hurt you to write G-O-D, writing the word doesn’t mean you have to believe or disbelieve in a deity.
/runs for cover
I don’t think communism is an entirely bad idea.
I gotta tell you, I went to Nana to see this stuff but was pretty disappointed. I didn’t want any ‘personal’ attention, but I did want a wild sick show just for the story and I didn’t see anything you wouldn’t find in your run-of-the-mill strip club . I was told later I should have gone to Pattaya.
As for my thing, I think spoiler blackout boxes are stupid.
Am I the only one who sees the striking contrast between these two paragraphs, which are right next to each other?
Well, I for one do that, and it’s part of my process to weed the word “God” out of my non-theological vernacular. I came to the realization recently that I felt it disrespectful to True Believers to pepper my speech with God’s name “in vain”; not to mention that it only contributes to the “God = ultimate power” meme. That very meme, I believe, is responsible for the lack of atheists in foxholes, as defined by the cliche “When you’re under fire, you’ll ask for God’s help”–IMO we ask for God’s help because it’s part of our social programming that “Oh God” or “Help me God” etc. is just something you’re supposed to say when you’re in a sticky situation, not because the Spirit of Jehovah suddenly possesses us at those moments.
That might be something else not to admit on the SDMB, there.
Ah SHIT MA PANTS!
It… it’s… It’s YOU!!!
It depends on when you went there. Nana Plaza has been going downhill for a few years now. I never go there at all now. But about 1994 to 1997 or 1998, it had THE hottest shows. But if you went there, say, this decade, then yes, you would have been disappointed. Right now, Soi Cowboy has the best live lesbian shows, some really great ones. But these things run in cycles. Back in the 1980s, Patpong had the best shows, including the infamous sex-on-the-flying-motorcycle act. While the shows are still not good there now, there’s a movement to gravitate back there, because the beer is cheapest. Better shows cannot be far behind.
I don’t care much for Pattaya and never go there, so I can’t vouch for the quality of the shows.
It’s not something you’d expect from a right-wing, gun toting, liberal hatin’, [accused] homophobic white boy. 
I drive a car with a big friggin’ V-8…
and I drive to work alone!
My other three accounts here were banned who should I complain to?
Was that my '76 Chevy Nova, by any chance? I drove it for 20 years and I swear it got about five miles to the gallon. I sold it but I don’t think it had much life left in it.
I still drive to work alone.
This one is probably fairly safe to admit on the SDMB, but quite possibly lynchmob material on the wider internet.
I think Master Chief (Protagonist of the Halo series of video games) is a bloody stupid name. To me, it sounds hopelessly juvenile and silly - like Mr Chuffy the train driver or something.
Mangetout, are you aware that’s an official rank in the Navy/Coast Guard? And etiquette there is that it’s accepted to call a Master Chief by his or her rank. I’ve not played HALO (AIUI it’s a game that requires something I don’t have - reflexes.) but with a name taken from a covert insertion technique, often used by SEALs, I’d always thought that the game was following the adventures of someone in a SEAL-like set up.
I doubt it makes it sound any better to you, but it’s not as pointlessly silly as Mr. Chuffy the train driver.
I was aware that it refers to a meaningful real-world title. It still sounds silly to me
because it sounds redundant (‘master’ and ‘chief’ are essentially synonymous) at the same time as sounding truncated (in a way that Master Chief Jones would not), and it sounds grandiose and overblown at the same time as vacantly anonymous.
I realise those aren’t valid criticisms of the actual, real-world title - it’s just the way the name washes over me.
I wonder if there are actually any train drivers out there with the surname Chuffy…