knapplc

How does pretending you're immortal make life meaningful? You would have to ask someone who thinks they're immortal. But you'd better do it quick, because if your head comes away from your neck, it's over! How does God make life meaningful? This is your presupposition. I don't contend that God(s) give life meaning. I contend God(s) give comfort, in much the same way that a security blanket or a cup of hot cocoa gives comfort. What is God's purpose? What is God's meaning? What's the point of him? Does he make one himself? I'd be a gazillionaire if I knew these answers. The most brilliant philosophers and theologians have been pondering this question for millennia and have no answer. If you know, by all means, out with it! All of #2 I hate to break this to you, but if God is a human creation, then these problems you're listing are human creations as well, meaning that they'll exist whether you have God(s) or not. Removing God/religion from this entire paragraph is simply word play. There are about a million different human ideas and ideals that can f#*k up your sh#t in the dreary present. You have a bug up your butt about God(s) so you focus on it, but it's just a talking point. It's as valid as waging wars over a stolen wife, or a presumed insult, or invading Iraq to avenge an attempt to assassinate your father, a former president. Removing God(s) from the world just means that humans will focus on some other reason to go all angsty on themselves. God(s) are not ONLY Linus' blanket, but used properly they are as harmless as Linus' blanket. Used improperly a teddy bear can be a murder weapon. People have been killed over the sports team they like. Welcome to humanity. Hell This is a great question. What is Hell? Why does it exist? Why would God create us, allow us to fall away/separate ourselves from him, then give us a tremendously narrow road back to him which we can ONLY travel if we believe in his son's death on the cross, and all the while the penalty for failing any of this is eternal roasting in Hell? I have no answer for this question. If you have one, I'd like to know. I'll tell you what the future of our species is - 500, 1,000 or 10,000 years from now, humans will still be living largely irrelevant lives. The common man will live a common life, do common things, die a common death, and be forgotten mere decades after he's gone. Or, if/when we solve the genetic puzzles that we're working on, we'll never die, yet remain irrelevant. Seven billion, 15 billion, 100 billion humans won't all be meaningful. In fact, none of them will have much of an impact on anything. This is the lot of man. Whether we have gods or no gods, none of it will change. That's what man is. Common and largely irrelevant. But even if your average man is driving a milk truck somewhere in Alpha Centauri and dying within a hundred miles of where he was born on some strange terraformed world, I wouldn't use the world meaningless to describe him. If falling in love, having a family, enjoying art, exploring science, facing philosophy, working, sweating, bleeding, crying, dancing, talking, arguing, debating, football, leisure, entertainment, film, literature, poetry, theater, nature, beer, and friendship are all meaningless, then I'll simply say that I prefer the meaningless a hell of a lot more than sucking my thumb, clutching my blanket, and pretending it's any different. If there is no god, then all of this paragraph is the same whether you believe in a nonexistent god or not. You believe in no god. A Christian believes in their god. A Muslim in theirs, a Hindu in theirs, etc. You all will live a life where there will be falling in love, having a family, enjoying art, exploring science, facing philosophy, working, sweating, bleeding, crying, dancing, talking, arguing, debating, football, leisure, entertainment, film, literature, poetry, theater, nature, beer, and friendship. There will be next to no difference in their lives whatsoever, or, not much difference in the life of a Deist compared to an Atheist as there is in the lives of a Packers fan compared to a Broncos fan. Or a Sports fan and a person who hates sports. What meaning do you see in life? In whatever context you wish to describe yourself, Theist, Atheist, Agnostic, whatever, what meaning will your life have had one million years from now? And how is that any different than the life of the average Christian who lives on your street? Finally, I have no idea why you would be insulted that Kate Beckinsale is, I believe, now single. But whatever. Enjoy your date.

It is possible that humanity could live on indefinitely, although I admit that this is unlikely. If there are an infinite amount of universes and humanity discovers how to warp space to travel between them then humanity could theoretically exist forever. But if we assume that the universe ends, then why do you assume that nothing matters? Do most people spend their time wondering whether or not the universe will exist in billions of years hence? How much effect does this idea really have on your life? Personally, I worry about the things that I can control. I don't worry about what is going to happen in the far future. As a matter of fact, I don't care about anything that happens after I die with a few obvious exceptions. To the bold - if it all ends/goes away, and in the aftermath there is nothing and no-one to notice, then it really truly does not matter who we are or what we do. It'll all be gone, even the concept of lamenting the loss will be gone. What better definition of "nothing matters" could there be? This is point I'm making. If nothing matters, then whatever we do, whether that be religion or philosophy or gardening or rocket science, all of it will be gone, and all are equally worthy/unworthy pursuits at any specific point in time. I like your philosophy of worrying about what you can control. That makes the most sense. It's easier said than done, though - I seem to spend a lot of time worrying about the poorly timed stoplights in this stupid town, and worrying about the general idiocy of other drivers. I'd have a lot less gray hair if I could stop worrying about those two things.

Acceptable to whom? To a philosopher, or a scientist? To a person making a living writing articles debunking religion? Maybe this question is important to those people, but to the common person who lives and dies within a 100-mile radius of the point of their birth, which is the vast majority of the masses, this question is irrelevant. Religion or no religion, they're going to largely live the same meaningless life. Their individual life is so irrelevant that 20 years after their death only a handful of people recall their name, and 100 years after their death they become a name on a family tree and a couple of sentences. "Allen drove a milk truck for 24 years and earned safe driving badges each year. He was survived by Norma, Sharon and Janice, and preceded in death by his son Steven." What matter to that person if there were no religion, short of having a little more time on Sunday morning? How would it change the impact of his life? As a species our very existence is almost entirely irrelevant. Unless we have time to discover some pretty aggressive technologies and move beyond our planet, we're going to live and die as a species having done little more than dig into our planet a bit. In a million years, celestially speaking half an eyeblink, the vast majority of our impact on this planet will be gone. Our most lasting impact could be as a fossil fuel for the next species to attain dominance. The impermanence of this existence makes the very nature of the question "Where else is that acceptable" irrelevant. As for you and Ms. Beckinsale (single again, I believe?), while I highly doubt the existence of your date tomorrow night, if it comforts you to think it's going to happen, what harm does it do me that you harbor such a belief? When tomorrow night comes and goes with no date, you'll be forced to address your belief and re-evaluate it, and perhaps you'll rationalize that she had to wash that beautiful, beautiful hair of hers, and she'll be dropping by tonight instead. Again, doesn't much matter to me. I'm not interested in dating her, and even if she showed up at my door for that date, I'm already married and unable to go. It's all the same to me no matter what happens. Regarding the second bolded sentence, isn't that what "it' is all about? You doing what makes you happy, me doing what makes me happy, Kate Beckinsale doing what makes her happy? Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die, indeed. What is god good for? He clearly provides comfort to millions upon millions. He's as good as a security blanket, an aspirin, or a Kate Beckinsale fascination. He's also as dangerous as an aspirin, or a Kate Beckinsale fascination, used improperly. So let's say you find out what's true. Let's say you're utterly honest and it somehow gets you the answers that have eluded philosophers and pundits throughout history. Do you envision some great awakening by man? How will the lot of the common man be any different than it is today? And how will it be better?

Herrian's break was in-game. Why do you think this wasn't related to practice? Speaking of carrying TVs. Long ago I had a delivery truck gig and I had to take a TV to Frankie London. Me and the other BWB (Big White Boy) on my truck carried this TV up to Frankie's apartment, and put it down where he told us he wanted it. He signed all the paperwork and then he decided he didn't like where he told us to put it, so he picked it up - by himself - and moved it to another part of the living room. Dude was thin and wiry and STRONG AS AN OX. I used to think I was strong when I was young. That day I knew better.

It's a good question, and the answer is probably as varied as each of the seven billion people on this planet. I can't define spirituality for you, because your life path makes it mean something different than what it means to me. We can sit down and drink the same beer, and you're going to like it or not like it individually from my tastes. Where we can probably all agree is that "spirituality" is dangerous when it takes on one of many forms, including but not limited to the mind control and rationalized oppression that manhattan brought up, or in deceit intended to gain power or exert undue influence on another. In its simplest form a belief in a god, meditation, a faith in some unknown "higher power" or whatever form your spirituality takes is not inherently damaging, just as a gun, no matter how powerful, is not inherently dangerous. It's when these things are wielded against another that they become dangerous. If there is no god(s) and this is all just an accident (I'm grooving on the "we're living inside a black hole" theory right now - it makes a lot of sense), then individual spirituality is errant, but not inherently dangerous. I see no harm in someone living a life praying to a nonexistent god, expecting to go to a nonexistent heaven at their death. It makes them happy, it comforts them, and it does nobody any harm. It's Linus' blanket. But I don't have to give examples of where religion (organized spirituality) goes wrong, and I think we can take it as a given that it's been responsible for many, many harms inflicted on the world. But if there is no god, this is all an accident, and we either fall back into the Big Crunch or we expand forever into the Big Rip, then nothing we do, whether we invent gods or live as innocents or dominate the Universe or never existed, none of it really matters anyway... so who cares? There's no point in the knowledge, and even though I want to know everything, knowing does me no good. If there is a god then I'd like to know where he's been, because if I behaved toward my child the way god has behaved toward his, I'd be cited for abandonment. It's a pretty crummy thing to have no proof, to have no way of having proof, and to know that if you had proof it would obviate your existence (or at least your freedom). Meh. I said I wouldn't get into this stuff. But whatever.

Considering Nebraska has a tenured law professor as it's Chancellor, I think they'll be fine haha Who is also the person who stated it would be inappropriate for us to pay a penalty, with everything that's gone on. It's possible we'll back down, pay a nominal fee, and walk away quietly. But I would so very dearly love for that steel that we all know is inside Osborne to show itself once again and drag this thing through the muddy courts. Because then there will be no place for the Dan Beebes and the Deloss Doddses of the world to hide their shenanigans - and that goes for several other schools in this soon-to-be-defunct conference. I get this mental image sometimes of our Chancellor staring down Beebe and Dodds, lawsuit in hand, biting off the words, "What you have to ask yourselves, punks, is, 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punks?" In that daydream I refer to him as Dirty Harvey.

I've been close enough to shake Alex's hand twice, and he looks pretty scrawny. It's amazing to me that he can generate that much force from that wiry body. But it doesn't really matter if he's 115 or 315 lbs as long as he can play his position. It's all in the physics. The physics, not the physiques?

This is basically the case that several people laid out for UNL to pay nothing in exit fees. I could search for the thread talking about it but I'm not going to. This is the hard copy of what we already knew had been said, I believe.

Median teacher salary for the nation or which region? You can't use national statistics when you're speaking about a specific region because COL differences make those numbers irrelevant.

You absolutely cannot blame this on the parents. The kid was old enough to make his own decisions. I can't believe that your children (presuming you have children) always make Roxy-pleasing decisions in everything they do. As a parent all you can do is instill all of your best intentions into the child, then hope for the best. They're still going to make mistakes, they're still going to do dumb things and some of them are going to do outrageously dumb and/or criminal things. We can't blame every set of parents for every dumb thing every kid does. Sometimes kids just choose a dumb path. My sister and I had the exact same upbringing. I've held steady jobs for 22 years; she's never held a job longer than six months in her life. I've raised a family with love and attention; she largely ignored her children and they had to be raised by our parents and Boys Town. There is NO WAY my parents are responsible for my idiot sister. You can't just blame these parents. It's possible they did everything right and the kid still made a very, very bad choice.

That lead in doesn't sound like what they read. I'm sure there are several that Dan B sent out. Did they say who did the FOIA request and/or which school it was from?

Next thing you'll tell me is the tooth fairy was just my mom leaving a quarter under my pillow. I don't believe your lies.

I don't know if this is the one USC is reading right now, but you can read the one he sent to member institutions to "save" them HERE.

Wow - what a huge gap in possibilities. From nothing at all to no longer on the team. That pretty much covers every outcome, doesn't it? Aren't those the only possibilities - either he will be a Husker or he won't? I'm just saying don't try to dismiss this as the kid taking a final or having problems unrelated to his position on the football team. The question is why wouldn't he be on the roster, and that runs a huge gamut of possibilities. If you have info, spill it. If not... That's what rumorville is for. Speaking of...

Wow - what a huge gap in possibilities. From nothing at all to no longer on the team. That pretty much covers every outcome, doesn't it?

Welcome to the last 40 years of Husker football.

Neither do cupcakes, but they still have their place in the world. Spirituality isn't a bad thing, used properly. Then again, neither is a gun. But cupcakes are not mind control and rationalized oppression for billions of people. Neither is spirituality. You may think so, but others don't.

I guess the next logical question is, does anyone know if TMart was enrolled in summer classes?

Yep, agree with this. Also with LaVonte David coming into the mix and a greater use of the Peso, I'd imagine there are going to be some names we're expecting to hear a lot but won't hear much about this year. We have a lot of good guys not starting this year.

As far as I know. A friend of mine just had a final on Tuesday. Well, there's a pretty plausible excuse right there. Is this a story because he's a quarterback? Prince missed Big 12 media days and didn't get this much concern. Weird.

That thing would scare the bejeeezus outta me. I'd probably have a full-blown conniption if I saw one that big. I kill crane flies that get in the house and scare the wife, but they're not even half that size - which is still quite big for a bug that looks like a mosquito.

Is class even in session right now? Willie - you got something to add, or would you like to remain cryptic for the moment?

I'll get worried when he shows us he's a star and then he's not around. At the moment he's just another freshman with a lot of potential. We seem to have quite a few of those guys right now. Say we lose TMart. We fall back on a Sr. and a Sophomore with quality game experience, and a true freshman who may just be the next Big Deal. Not to mention LaTravis Washington who I would love to see get a bunch of reps in a Wildcat, not to mention Kellogg and (if possibly healthy) Spano. We're not hurting at all at QB right now, and while I would hate to see the guy leave... the only person he'd be hurting is himself. That said, I think this is a pretty baseless rumor. Near as I can tell, a guy on another message board got a text from a friend, and that's how this all got started.