Macy's is a secular institution, participating in a secular ritual (gift-giving) that is linked with the winter holidays of a number of different religions. "Happy Holidays" seems to fit the bill better than "Merry Christmas" to me.
Well, I'm bisexual, so it would probably be reasonable for my spouse to assume that a sex change would be OK with me. In general, though, I think when one partner makes a decision that has a significant, long-term, negative impact on the other's sex life, without compromising or coming to an...
It's very vague. It would be informative to know if there are specific types of learning that are probably impossible without consciousness, how much "a lot" of learning is, and what other mental functions besides learning are suspected to be affected by consciousness.
The brain is so complex...
This sums up my perspective well. The most disturbing part of this to me is not the compulsory submission or the lack of gratitude for the basic rights women have gained. It's the fact that, first, they want to convince other Christians that they're not dedicated enough to their religion if...
Someone smart, driven, energetic, optimistic and affectionate, with a good sense of humor, who is sexually compatible with me and doesn't have a ton of weird neuroses.
Also, it's pretty important to me for a partner to have a strong knowledge of something that I don't know much about, because I...
Intuition is just experience with a shortcut. We're wired for certain assumptions because our ancestors were repeatedly exposed to an environment that favored the ones who made those assumptions.
Of course, it's possible that believing certain untrue things carries a survival advantage...
I like porn, but I've never gotten into hardcore porn made primarily for men. I enjoy lesbian porn produced by actual lesbians for a female audience, *occasionally* gay male porn, and pinups made for anyone.
I did like Pirates (the original, haven't seen the sequel), but mostly for the humor...
My credit union has an excellent service where if I overdraft from my checking, it automatically transfers enough money from my savings to checking to cover the transaction, then charges a fee that is significantly smaller than the regular overdraft fee. It would be nice if more banks did this...
I did, sorry, I just hadn't originally intended to get into an extended one-on-one and have been busy with other things. So, I'm leaving things at that for this thread. While I'm still not convinced, you do have some interesting ideas.
I learned that Good Earth Original Flavor Tea, caffeine free version, tastes just like the little cinnamon drop candies I had as a kid. It's very comforting. Might have a cup now!
Yes, I think that someone who is terminally ill and in pain should be able to not only choose to end their life if they think it best, but do it in a respectful and peaceful environment, surrounded with family and friends if they want.
If I was in that situation I could see myself wanting to...
Don't have anything to add to the science discussion, but one of the cutest things I've ever seen was a girl of about four singing Happy Birthday in her sleep.
What better reason does someone need to follow a particular religious path than "because they think it's good?" I would have no problem with someone following one religion for that reason (or none), so I don't see why following multiples should be treated any differently.
I think there is a...
I was wondering about a definition of knowledge not using warrant because we'd previously defined warrant in terms of knowledge. So far what we're going on is [belief] + [warrant] + [truth] = [knowledge], with no definitions for warrant and knowledge beyond this formula. (Well, no definitions...
Assuming by "necessary truth" you mean something that is true in all possible worlds, i.e. cannot possibly be false, I don't think they exist, which may be the real divider here. I would say that the things we normally think of as necessary truths are accidental truths that are extremely...
From the perspective of a former church kid, Sunday schools, Vacation Bible Schools (cross between Sunday school and summer camp sorta), and youth groups are a nice place for parents to drop their kids off for a morning or afternoon and know that they're probably enjoying themselves with people...
Sheri Tepper's The Family Tree is a great soft-sci-fi novel with a religious bent, but I don't want to say exactly when the religious part shows up because it'd give some things away.
Grass, by the same author, is one of my favorites - I probably enjoyed it even more than The Family Tree, but I...
Yes, but what produces that feeling? Ultimately, evidence. If we or our ancestors had not been affected by repeated exposure to the real world, in which the law of non-contradiction holds true, we would not have a "sense" that it is true. In fact, we would have no a priori knowledge at all...