Atheist Discussion forum

By the Powers invested in me by the almighty Void and the inexorable march of entropy, I hereby declare Mediocharist to be of Admin status. Like all admins before him he is expected to wear a suitably pompous hat while carrying out his duties.

Happy Birthday Rizen... all the best to you

Florida yesterday executed its 14th prisoner this year, driving a surge in capital punishment that drove more executions last year than any year since 2009. In the US last year, 47 people were executed last year, 19 in Florida. Twenty four people have been executed this year, with 10 more scheduled. Even as fewer courts sentence defendants to death and more than half of US states have banned or at the least temporarily halted the practice, the Trump administration has overtly cheered on the death penalty. I guess God is on the Orange Buffoon's side? The countries with the highest number of executions last year were China (1000s), Iran (2,159+), Saudi Arabia (356+), Yemen (51+), USA (47) —in that order. By contrast, the last execution in Australia took place in 1967.

Florida yesterday executed its 14th prisoner this year, driving a surge in capital punishment that drove more executions last year than any year since 2009. In the US last year, 47 people were executed last year, 19 in Florida. Twenty four people have been executed this year, with 10 more scheduled. Even as fewer courts sentence defendants to death and more than half of US states have banned or at the least temporarily halted the practice, the Trump administration has overtly cheered on the death penalty. I guess God is on the Orange Buffoon's side? The countries with the highest number of executions last year were China (1000s), Iran (2,159+), Saudi Arabia (356+), Yemen (51+), USA (47) —in that order. By contrast, the last execution in Australia took place in 1967.

Just happened now. I'd just cobbled together another of my long-winded posts, and got distracted looking at some shit on another couple of sites. I dunno how long I was away from AD... maybe 45 minutes? When I came back to the site, I'd been logged out, presumably from a lack of activity, and of course when logged back in, my posting had disappeared into cyberspace. I must remember in future to copy long posts on to my clipboard. Is this auto logging off a new thing?

Just happened now. I'd just cobbled together another of my long-winded posts, and got distracted looking at some shit on another couple of sites. I dunno how long I was away from AD... maybe 45 minutes? When I came back to the site, I'd been logged out, presumably from a lack of activity, and of course when logged back in, my posting had disappeared into cyberspace. I must remember in future to copy long posts on to my clipboard. Is this auto logging off a new thing?

More than 150 people have died, and hundreds of tourists and hikers are missing after a flash flood hit the Tibet-Nepal border. The torrent of water swept through the Himalayan border region on Wednesday morning, local time, killing at least 157 people in Nepal and three in Tibet, according to local authorities. China's state broadcaster CCTV reported 265 were missing in the Tibet region's Gyirong County near the border, while state news agency Xinhua reported significant casualties. Officials at Nepal's tourism ministry told media outlets that more than 400 tourists were missing, about 340 of whom were foreigners. Currently, 34 Australian tourists have been reported as missing.

More than 150 people have died, and hundreds of tourists and hikers are missing after a flash flood hit the Tibet-Nepal border. The torrent of water swept through the Himalayan border region on Wednesday morning, local time, killing at least 157 people in Nepal and three in Tibet, according to local authorities. China's state broadcaster CCTV reported 265 were missing in the Tibet region's Gyirong County near the border, while state news agency Xinhua reported significant casualties. Officials at Nepal's tourism ministry told media outlets that more than 400 tourists were missing, about 340 of whom were foreigners. Currently, 34 Australian tourists have been reported as missing.

Assuming that abortion itself is moral, what's the difference between aborting a fetus because of its gender (which is widely viewed as immoral) and aborting a fetus because of something like down syndrome? You could argue that being born with down syndrome will make the babies life much harder, but being born a girl also has challenges that boys don't have to face. It seems arbitrary to say this amount of hardship is worth aborting, but this other amount isn't. It could be argued that aborting all girls would lead to an imbalance in society. But consider an interracial couple who decides to abort their baby with dark skin because they want to try again for a baby with light skin, since that baby will have to go through less hardship all things being equal. Then, there is the other issue of people with disabilities choosing an embryo with disabilities to have. For example, there have been cases of deaf parents who choose to have deaf children when they didn't have to. How moral is this, considering that the child will have to go through unnecessary hardship? I don't really see a difference between this and circumcision: both things that the parents do that objectively harm the child because of social or cultural reasons

Assuming that abortion itself is moral, what's the difference between aborting a fetus because of its gender (which is widely viewed as immoral) and aborting a fetus because of something like down syndrome? You could argue that being born with down syndrome will make the babies life much harder, but being born a girl also has challenges that boys don't have to face. It seems arbitrary to say this amount of hardship is worth aborting, but this other amount isn't. It could be argued that aborting all girls would lead to an imbalance in society. But consider an interracial couple who decides to abort their baby with dark skin because they want to try again for a baby with light skin, since that baby will have to go through less hardship all things being equal. Then, there is the other issue of people with disabilities choosing an embryo with disabilities to have. For example, there have been cases of deaf parents who choose to have deaf children when they didn't have to. How moral is this, considering that the child will have to go through unnecessary hardship? I don't really see a difference between this and circumcision: both things that the parents do that objectively harm the child because of social or cultural reasons

Happy Birthday Min! (I wish I could write so minimalistically... sorry about all the walls of text )

It's been said that among Trump and the alt-right, one maxim is to never apologize / admit a mistake. A second is never play defense, always be on the offensive. These seem to be effective tactics in practice, but are they ultimately good ones? Are they good strategies? Are they good tactically? Are they ethical? What do you think about them?