Robert R

The US Department of Veteran's Affairs is now using a stylized lithium atom for the grave markers of atheist soldiers and veterans.

Where did that come from, and who thought that a medication to treat bipolar disorder was a good symbol for atheism?

Navico, and its subsidiaries Lowrance and Simrad, are marketing FM continuous wave radars as "broadband" radars for small boats. I've never used one of these, but given what little I know about military FMCW radar I would expect that they'd work quite well for very short ranges, quite poorly for long ranges and have a lot of trouble with interference rejection. Am I close? Also, how well do they handle sea and rain clutter?

Jews too, do you have any special New Years traditions? We're interfaith, so in our house it's mostly about the food. L'shanah Tovah!

www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/may/19/ida-fossil-missing-link

The state rests.

This question was sparked by an earlier one. I'm curious to know how many Wiccans and other NeoPagans actually believe that their gods and goddesses are actual supernatural entities, rather than just metaphors and allegories for the forces of nature and the human psyche?

I'm a Wiccan high priest (Georgian and Alexandrian, if anyone cares), and I have never heard of any NeoPagans who actually believed in their deities as supernatural entities. But another NeoPagan here on this list said that she thought that most NeoPagans do think of their deities in this way. So, NeoPagans all, what do you believe your gods and goddesses are? Also, if you could state what flavor of NeoPagan you are, and what part of the world you live in, I'd appreciate that too. Long answers are fine, so are short ones, just really curious.

I have never seen so many hateful attacks directed toward Judaism on this site before. Are the Christians finally getting tired of bashing Muslims and gays?

I'm thinking about trying to convert an old 24" rooftop satellite dish into a small radiotelescope. Has anyone here tried this? Is there software available which converts received raw radio waves into useful imagery? Any information at all would be helpful!

I am planning on setting a mooring buoy for my Catalina 22 off of the beach in front of my house. The beach is a lee shore on Puget Sound, so I will only be using it for summer moorage (and keeping the boat on its trailer during the winter months). The boat drafts 3'6" with the swing-keel down. My beach slopes gently for about 180 yards from the Mean Lower Low Water mark to the 1 fathom curve, then in about the same distance shelfs down from the 1 fathom curve to the 10 fathom curve, and then from the 10 fathom curve continues to shelf down rapidly to the 100 fathom curve maybe half a mile off the beach (for the East Coasters on here, no, I'm not making this up, it really does get that deep that quickly here!). Oh, and our range of tide is about 16'maximum at a solstice spring tide.

So my question is, given the extreme drop-off, I'm wondering what my best option is for dropping a mooring buoy, and how much scope to use. My inclination is to drop it between the 1 and 2 fathom curve with a fairly long rode (7:1 maybe?), mostly chain except for maybe twice the MHHW depth in dacron. Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

This guy is claiming that heliocentrism (the radical notion that the earth orbits around the sun, instead of the other way around) is somehow heretical. The quote below is from his blog, it neglects to mention that Galileo recanted under, you know, torture.

"Look, people, even your Heliocentric hero Galileo recanted his idiotic notions about the Earth revolving around the Sun. If he’s your so-called reliable source on this, I think it does wonders to shatter the idea’s credibility that one of its main proponents backed away from it so abruptly."

Really, truly, do any Christians, even Creationist and ID types, actually believe this?

http://blogs4brownback.wordpress.com/2007/05/18/he...

I posted this earlier today, but I really wanted to get the opinions of more people, and more people are on-line at this time of night.

An earlier question got me thinking about this. What do Creationists believe about the nature of the Earth, and solar system? If you have specific scripture to justify your answer that's great, but not necessary. I'm really just curious to know where people are coming from. For the record, I'm not a Creationist, and tend believe number 6, but scientists and theologians alike have believed each of these models at various times in history. Thank you, in advance! And Evolutionists, please don't flame the Creationists for their answers; I really want to know what people's sincere beliefs are.

1) Do you believe it is a flat and immovable disk with a dome over it?

2) Do you believe that it is an immovable sphere with another sphere around it that has the sun and moon and stars on it?

3) Do you believe that the earth is the center of the solar system, and the sun, moon and planets orbit it, and the stars are an immovable sphere outside of this?

4) Do you believe in that the sun is the center of the solar system, the planets including earth orbit it, and the stars are an immovable sphere outside of this?

5) Do you believe that the sun is just one star in the Milky Way galaxy, and that all of the other observable galaxies are nebulae within the Milky Way?

6) Do you believe that the Milky Way galaxy is just one galaxy among billions of galaxies?

7) Do you believe something else entirely, or some combination of the above, and if so, what?

An earlier question got me thinking about this. What do Creationists believe about the nature of the Earth, and solar system? If you have specific scripture to justify your answer that's great, but not necessary. I'm really just curious to know where people are coming from. For the record, I'm not a Creationist, and tend believe number 6 (below), but scientists and theologians alike have believed each of these models at various times in history. Thank you, in advance! And Evolutionists, please don't flame the Creationists for their answers; I really want to know what people's sincere beliefs are. I'll post this again this evening when there are more people on line.

1) Do you believe it is a flat and immovable disk with a dome over it?

2) Do you believe that it is an immovable sphere with another sphere around it that has the sun and moon and stars on it?

3) Do you believe that the earth is the center of the solar system, and the sun, moon and planets orbit it, and the stars are an immovable sphere outside of this?

4) Do you believe in that the sun is the center of the solar system, the planets including earth orbit it, and the stars are an immovable sphere outside of this?

5) Do you believe that the sun is just one star in the Milky Way galaxy, and that all of the other observable galaxies are nebulae within the Milky Way?

6) Do you believe that the Milky Way galaxy is just one galaxy among billions of galaxies?

7) Do you believe something else entirely, or some combination of the above, and if so, what?

...would that be considered hypocritical?

given their history with the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the genocides committed against the Aztec and Mayan peoples?

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/11/17/nas...

It looks almost certain now that Barack Obama will be our next president. Over the past eight years, George W Bush has expanded the power of the executive branch far beyond that which is granted by the Constitution. If Bush is not impeached for this before Obama is inaugurated, then Obama will inherit an office of unprecedented and unfettered power and authority. Based on this, should the Democratically controlled House and Senate move to impeach Bush, or should they instead allow Barack Obama unlimited and unchecked power?

What part of Yahoo Answers will y'all be going back to?

I'm going back to Boats and Boating!