Jason Henderson wrote: We seek an escape from this world. Running away never solved anything.:) Jason Henderson wrote: How would you prefer that I think? Critically? I'd like to see some controlled experiments. How about group 1 prays for X and group 2 doesn't, then we see if there's a difference. Religion seems to be built on anecdote, slective memory, etc. A hundred soldiers start off across a mine field, all praying not to die. One makes it across and he claims that prayer saved him. Survivorship (really!) bias. Someone prays for something and it happens. Great, God granted my desire. Someone prays for something and it doesn't happen. That's ok, it wasn't God's will. It's like heads I win, tails I win.

The Harry Potter books and the Bible are both filled with supernatural fantasy. The kids reading the Potter books treat it as light-hearted escapism. The adult Christians also seek an escape in their world. The difference is that they can't differentiate between fantasy and reality.

Evidence is mounting to suggest that between 5,000 and 10,000 Iraqi civilians may have died during the recent war, according to researchers involved in independent surveys of the country. http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0522/p01s02-woiq.html

Why not let women in if they can make it? It's the PGA, not the MPGA. Of course, the LPGA exists, at least in part, because the women can't compete with the men on the existing courses. Same with tennis. An open competition would find the top players to be the same top men with the best woman well down in the draw. What have the LPGA members had to say about this?

John Theal wrote: One question I do have concerns the maps. If each entry is indexed by 2 nodes (as above) how would a map of the form map help here? Is this not basically an STL vector style implementation? // 0 <= row < numberOfRows // 0 <= col < numberOfCols int mapIndex = row*numberOfColumns + col; // row = mapIndex/numberOfCols // col = mapIndex%numberOfCols

Illegal Mexicans? I thought the post was going to be about the Southernization of America. Big trucks with #3 stickers (with wings!) and blaring moronic mainstream country music are coming to a neighborhood near you.

Rewind to 1996. Oh, and BTW, GWB Clinton is Satan! And anyone that doesn't see that is a moron. I mean, who cares if more people think he's doing all right. He's still Satan because he and I do not think alike. Now, I will continue to rant and bitch because it's what I do best. This is not meant to be pro-Clinton. I was just struck by the similarities.

Bon voyage! He always struck me as the brown noser in the front row that the rest of the class hated.

Ray Cassick wrote: If this person gets a raise of 1000 a year, this now places them at 21,000 a year and into the 30% bracket. They are now responsible for a tax burden of 6300, leaving them with 14,700 after taxes. :wtf: I know the tax code is a mess, but it ain't this bad! Tax brackets are marginal. A given rate applies only to the portion of income that falls in its bracket. In your example, tax before = 20,000*0.2 = 4000.00 tax after = 20,999*0.2 + 1*0.3 = 4200.10

Oh, so I would actually be running Excel and then grabbing the data from its spreadsheet. Thanks.

Is the import wizard from Excel accessible for use in my own programs? Alternatively, can anyone recommend a similar component? Thanks.

Roger Wright wrote: ... the resultant expansion of breeding opportunities has not diminished the size of the herd appreciably. 1 sometimes disparaging : a white member of the Southern rural laboring class 2 often disparaging : a person whose behavior and opinions are similar to those attributed to rednecks. Quite the opposite. Consider the rise in popularity of NASCAR, country music, Bible-thumping, absolutist politics, etc. It's the Southernization of America. Is there a social equivalent of Gresham's law (bad money drives out good)?

This administration is widely regarded - from both sides of the aisle - as being overly secretive. The highlights in the media have been Cheney's energy task force and, to a lesser extent, their refusal to release Reagan's papers. Those of us with cynical natures assume the latter is to protect George H. W. "Hey, I was out of the loop" Bush, among others.

Doug Goulden wrote: Are you suprised? That this administration wants to hide it? No. That an American administration wants to hide it? Yes. Doug Goulden wrote: Yeah the Democrats need something to try to help their election ..... From the article: Graham’s stand may not be terribly surprising, given that the Florida Democrat is running for president and is seeking to use the issue himself politically. But he has found a strong ally in House Intelligence Committee Chairman Goss, a staunch Republican (and former CIA officer) who in the past has consistently defended the administration’s handling of 9-11 issues and is considered especially close to Cheney. “I find this process horrendously frustrating,” Goss said in an interview. He was particularly piqued that the administration was refusing to declassify material that top intelligence officials had already testified about. “Senior intelligence officials said things in public hearings that they [administration officials] don’t want us to put in the report,” said Goss. “That’s not something I can rationally accept without further public explanation.”

Stan Shannon wrote: The real question is : Why is this such a big deal to you? "There is a concern that the Internet could be used to commit crimes and that advanced encryption could disguise such activity. However, we do not provide the government with phone jacks outside our homes for unlimited wiretaps. Why, then, should we grant government the Orwellian capability to listen at will and in real time to our communications across the Web? "The protections of the Fourth Amendment are clear. The right to protection from unlawful searches is an indivisible American value. Two hundred years of court decisions have stood in defense of this fundamental right. The state's interest in effective crime-fighting should never vitiate the citizens' Bill of Rights." John Ashcroft

:laugh: Do your own homework, Overfiend. Member since Wednesday 9th April, 2003 8:32 10 Apr '03 Counting characters in a buffer - Overfiend Visual C++ (Programming Forums) 6:31 10 Apr '03 Counting characters in a buffer - Overfiend C# (Programming Forums) 10:42 9 Apr '03 Counting characters from a text file - Overfiend Visual C++ (Programming Forums)

A variation on rice Christians.:)

The previous thread about God and the war brought to mind the question of battlefield conversions. Examples of people "getting religion" during war or any stressful situation (GWB's drinking) are common. These conversions are applauded by people of faith, but would they recommend making any other life-changing decision during such times? More likely the advice would be to sleep on it until one is thinking clearly again. "Gosh Dad, I almost had an accident driving home from the job I hate while I was thinking about my husband leaving me so I've decided to sell everything and take the kids with me to Guyana to follow this guy named Jim Jones."

Michael A. Barnhart wrote: My answer was false not because God could not have done so originally, but because to alter this now would have forced God to change God's mind about the laws of physics and since God did not make an error, God would not choose to do so now. Why does a change of mind (from your point of view) imply an error? Maybe it was all part of the Master Plan!

KaЯl wrote: It is possible to demonstrate someone is in love or not? Perhaps a not-yet-devised lab test?