dutchroll

Not everyone can understand everything and our ability to observe things on either microscopic or interstellar scales is progressing exponentially. So it gets exponentially harder to understand some of it. The people who do understand it have been working in those fields of discovery for many years or even decades. Many ordinary folk are fearful of taking science on trust, which is quite natural. However it pays to remember that science is largely a self-correcting endeavour. Contrary to the occasional impression that science is full of all sorts of conspiracies among scientists, the reality is that there's nothing the average scientist enjoys more than proving one of their fellow scientists wrong. So to get a new discovery or theory to withstand scrutiny and become largely accepted in the scientific world is no easy endeavour. It's actually extremely hard. By the time most scientific knowledge or theories makes it into the mainstream, they've been well studied and supported by a convincing body of evidence - even if people object to some of them on principle.

Lincoln was shot at close range in the back of the head in Ford's Theatre at 10:20pm and was immediately paralysed with severe breathing difficulties. He was pronounced dead at 7:20am. I'm not sure wound infection had much to do with it.

Trivia: In the 1800s, Ignaz Semmelweiss was the first physician to notice a relationship between washing hands and patient health. However there was no understanding of how or why this could be the case and so his work was largely ignored until a french bloke by the name of Louis Pasteur came onto the scene and provided the first theoretical principles regarding germs and infection. English surgeon Joseph Lister who lived in the same era was the one who put all this together and pioneered the techniques and principles of antiseptic surgery, which were starting to become much more accepted in medicine around the turn of the century. But of course back then, news and medical or scientific breakthroughs didn't travel very fast. Of course, despite the existence and effects of these microscopic particles being proven beyond any doubt at all as technology and our ability to make observations improved, there are even today "Germ Theory denialists" who believe it's all a big con and there's no such thing. If someone has something set in their mind, you can put forward whatever evidence you like in whatever overwhelming volume you like, and they'll still find a way to deny it. Sound familiar?

It is rumoured that in Hell, which awaits atheists, there is unlimited free beer and strippers. Might as well try to guarantee you're going to get there........

We're still fairly scarred by what you sent over here with Leyland decades ago, so I don't know that we're really ready to trade either ideas or actual commodities with Britain again yet.

I've been thinking maybe I should take it (religion) up. Instead of sitting there in an argument trying to get someone to be reasonable, balanced, and understand that sometimes we need to make concessions to reality over idealism to actually achieve anything, I could just sit there and vigorously nod my head in agreement. I don't even need to understand why I agree. Sure sounds a heck of a lot less trouble!

That's a fairly lucrative fact.

"The blast instantly vaporised the entire multi-ton collimator....." "Being such a tough and massive object, most of it would have survived....." (the steel cap on the vaporised massive block of concrete). Well he can't have it both ways I'm afraid. He can't say the massive block of concrete was vaporised but the little steel cap on top of it survived!

Not really. But it depends on your personal circumstances. I use FB a lot but as others have explained, both my wife and I live a long way from our family members, and both being ex-military, most of our old friends are scattered all over Australia and overseas. FB is extremely useful for chatting and keeping up with these people - much more than picking up the phone which more often than not just ends up in me having to talk to an inanimate recorded message. At least on FB I can see when they're online and chat in real time. If I'm doing something I can just respond to them later when I get a chance. I can post photos (yeah I hate food shots and couldn't care what they ate for dinner, but it's not that common!) and see their family photos etc. Every interaction whether live chatting or commenting on their adventures is at your own convenience. The only disadvantage is you sometimes accept friend requests from people you knew a long time ago, then realise they've turned into bitter and angry nutters in their old age. The "unfollow" feature comes in handy so crap they re-post and spew out doesn't get in your News Feed and you're none the wiser. It's essentially an "ignore" feature. Having said that, I hate - despise - LinkedIn. I got so much spam crap from them that I also took myself off it. You get "invites" to connect with people you barely even know but the LinkedIn system seems to cross the "seven degrees of separation" with ease and tries to connect you up! I tried Twitter and just found it not at all to my liking so I deleted that account barely having used it. The other social media sites I've never bothered with. However I think it's pretty unreasonable for a business to insist or imply that you should have a social media account. Totally unnecessary for most types of employment except a Social Media Manager I would suggest!

Not making one. I've never seen a New Year's resolution kept by anyone. Ever!

Yeah we (down under generally) get quite a few dogs fall victim to snakebite. All the vets carry anti-venom which is quite effective but of course the dog often doesn't show signs it has been bitten until it's too late, stoic creatures as they are (nah I'm fine....honestly dad......just a minor altercation).

Rattlers? Pffft! A "wanna-be" snake! [ATTACH]47788._xfImport[/ATTACH]

Got attacked by a young-ish eastern brown when opening my garage PA door after 3 weeks holiday a couple of years ago. He had 3 attempts at me and missed each time as I performed ever larger leaps backwards and up a small set of garden steps (it was a difficult area to manoeuvre in). I surprised myself considerably at my gymnastic abilities while under duress. He then figured he'd opened up the escape route I had inadvertently blocked and slithered away into the bushland up the hill. We have plenty of red-bellied blacks in the area too, though with horses in the surrounding paddocks and resident outdoor dogs, the snakes tend to stay mostly away from the vicinity of the house.

Mate the reality at the moment is that of the known identities of all the Paris terrorists (and several are still not identified), each and every one is a resident European citizen. The "refugee passport" they found is already strongly suspected to be forged, which tells the authorities absolutely nothing about who he really was or where he really came from. Arms smuggling happens everywhere. Explosives are available pretty much everywhere, if you have the contacts. So let's let the dust settle before launching into the myriad of conspiracies and "facts" which aren't really facts at all, before deciding who they really were.

Jesus (yes that's blasphemy) this thread has suddenly jumped the shark.

Worked a treat in Rwanda. Over 3/4 of a million dead, mostly hacked to death. Men, women, children. I suppose you could pray for them. That would make it easier on the little girl getting her arms hacked off, for sure. I see. So Germany, one of those European States which has a strong social welfare system, has been running budget surpluses for a while now and posted a record one last fiscal year. How does that fit in with your theory? I think you've been listening to too many evangelicals describe how the apocalypse is "fast approaching" too (been fast approaching for several generations now).

Ah collective punishment. I love it. Punish the lot of them.......including the majority who are actually fleeing terror. I mean, what's their problem with family members being dragged into the town square by ISIS and executed? Serves 'em right for living there. If only they'd worked harder at school, eh? You seriously believe native white Europeans who have loved their social welfare for decades are just going to give it up with a click of the fingers, do you, on account of these terror attacks?

I don't recall ever reading anything about German soldiers marauding through English towns dragging out families or whomever they wanted and randomly shooting or beheading them during the Blitz. Perhaps they would've indeed made themselves scarce if that were the case.

Well Hitler for one example wasn't an atheist by any stretch, and he states that clearly in his own manifesto "Mein Kampf". But like the others, their actual politics, rather than their religion, was what led to the deaths of many people at their hands. And if you can't tell the difference between politics and religion, well the whole argument is a moot point.

North Korean dictators are not evil because they're atheistic. They're evil because they're ruthless powermongers who have no respect for their people. Augusto Pinochet was much the same, and he was a Catholic and a capitalist. Not all Muslims are evil and wish death and destruction on the non-Muslim world either, though in some Muslim countries (e.g. Iraq, Iran) it is much more of a problem than others who just want to keep going about their daily lives (e.g., Malaysia, the great majority of Indonesia). Conservapedia is a laughing stock.

The Old Testament of the Bible preaches and gives practical examples of just as much revenge and violence as some sections of the Koran (want me to start quoting?). Then Christians say "oh yeah but we don't live by that, we live by the good & kind bits in the New Testament (of which there are also equivalents in the Koran). Then each religion says "your book is worse than ours - ours only ever preaches love and kindness", which is wrong on both counts, for both religions. There's no doubt that Islam has the single biggest problem with radicalisation right at the moment and it must be addressed, but it has not always been that way. Any keen observer of world history knows that Muslim cultures several hundred years ago were actually centres of progress and enlightenment at a time when the Christian world was the exact opposite. Certainly not now, that's for sure. But what has happened to cause this reversal? Well a lot of things I won't go into or we'll be here all day. There's also this: the duplicity of ourselves in how we react to terrorism deaths. As Buddhists in Myanmar ethnically cleanse hundreds of Rohingya Muslims usually by beating them to death, no one gives a ****. It took several hundred thousand Rwandan civilians to be murdered in a cultural/religious slaughter before we in the west even started raising an eyebrow. Then there's ISIS itself, which has slaughtered Muslims left right & centre in huge numbers. A few days ago in Baghdad they murdered 17 guests at a wedding in a bomb blast. Care factor and empathy from us that the bride, groom, and relatives are all now in little bits and pieces? Zero. Usually for pointing all this out, I get called a bleeding heart leftie (which is weird, as there aren't many bleeding heart lefties who have Australian active service medals from their military service in the Middle East).

Yeah but we bought our Touareg before we knew they were crooks. We plead ignorance.

VW Touareg, V6 turbo diesel, 8 speed auto. Heavy duty towbar, 3.5T capacity. Yeah sure, it most likely spews out emissions when nobody's looking, but it's a great towing vehicle. Yes we own a 4.2TD Landcruiser too, but the VW is nicer for towing.

The Liberal Party cannot govern in its own right - that has been the case for a long time. The conservative vote is split between the über-right National Party and themselves. Turnbull had to sign another coalition deal (every Liberal leader has to do this) with the Nationals who are frothing at the mouth over Abbott's downfall whether anyone liked it or not, or have the "LNP" no longer be the "LNP" and no longer able to govern at all. Even if he took it to cabinet, it would be a case of "we do this, or die". They wouldn't have had a choice! And yes, the Nationals are that bloody-minded. There is nothing more ironic than having the far-right elements of the LNP scream and shout their bitter disgust about treachery, disloyalty, disunity, and betrayal, prior to commencing exactly that process with Turnbull! It's like: "WE'RE the only ones allowed to do that, DAMMIT!"

I didn't watch the Project last night, but apparently they had Andrew Bolt on (always good entertainment to see our version of Fox's Sean Hannity have a chat) and he actually seriously agreed with Waleed Aly's joking suggestion that they turn to Cory Bernadi as the leader of a new conservative party! Cory Bernadi was described by those his own party some years ago (well before Abbott was elected) as "a person without any intellect who should never have risen above branch president" and "deluded". Another said "In reality he’s like the kid in the playground who pulls his pants down so everyone will look at him, but he has no idea how he’s embarrassing himself in the process." Bernadi - our own male version of Sarah Palin.