Scruit

"No atheists in a foxhole". Sure, fear and desperation will make you do funny things. Not necessarily *smart* things, though. Same thing happens when people in crushing debt become desperate and reach out to any company that will offer a solution even if it goes against their better judgement. Same thing happens when people run from the cops. The become more desperate as they run out of options.

Todd: "You can praise God all you like, but it was MY hands on the defibrillator."

When it comes to God healing... Why do the authorities take custody of children with life-threatening conditions when the parents rely on prayer alone? And jail parents if the child dies before the state can intervene? If god has ultimate jurisdiction over life, death and healing then why punish the parents when "god's plan" plays out?

Any divine being that we would call god.

I believe that although bodies heal themselves for the most part, doctors are sometimes needed to help when the body can't manage alone. Praying does nothing.

I believe that god is irrelevant to people's healing, and that praying to him is the religious equivalent of saying you'll start working out next week - it gives you the feeling that you are doing the right thing, without actually having any effect. I think praying for healing, like attending funerals, is irrelevant to the affected person and is really just to make everyon else feel better about it. Open to having my mind changed, though...

As long as people talk about what THEY believe and not what OTHER folks should believe, I think this group is mature enough to have a proper conversation. Right? Right? Bueller?

I am a Weak Agnostic. I don't have enough information for know if god exists or not, but I am have no problem with the fact that other people either believe or don't believe. Versus either believing god exists, Athiest (no god) or being a Strong/Strict Agnostic (There's not enough information to know if god exists, therefore nobody should either believe or not believe) I'm not going to be offended hearing whether other people believe or not.

Real questions. What role does god play in healing, and why do we still need doctors? Does prayer really convince god to save someone that he's already decided to allow to die?

Was in a big backup on the freeway this morning. Waaaay in the distance I could see cars ducking out of the slow lane. Started to wonder if there was a little girl sitting in the lane ahead that the cars were having to go around slowly, but everyone knew that she was actually a soul reaper that would feed on the soul of anyone who got out of their car to help. Because she was a ghost she could not be made to go away but everyone in their cars knew she was a reaper so they just left here there. Some poor sap who didn't know woudl stop, get out of the car and BAM, soul gets stuffed in a basket in the underworld and the lane clears up again. And I don't do drugs. Seriously.

A church attended by a friend of mine does missionary work at an orphanage in Africa. They visit regulalryly to bring donations, supervise the orphanage/school, etc. A member of the congregation recently came down with malaria and was flown home and is in the ICU. I've been following the updates on FB and after some time he is finally responding to dialysis and is doing better. The problem I have is that all the folks on the FB thread keep talking about is how god is healing him. Over and over, dozens of messages a day, all chanting that god is healing him and that only prayer will heal him. Seems to me that it's the doctors that are healing him, right? No? The dialysis? The other treatments that the doctors are administering? I'm familiar with asking for prayers but the thread had become very kool-aidy. If people think that god is healing him them shouldn't they discontinue dialysis so that they can let god do his work without interferance? Do people actually believe that there is a god that is taking time out from his day to heal him through some direct intervention? By working through the doctors? Like as in some kind of posession? Or letting the doctors toil knowing their ministrations are useless and they snappign his fingers and making him well? Does that mean that god chooses to watch other people die becuase not enough prayers were said? I did not pray at my brother's bedside when he was at death's door, and the surgeons saved his life. Was that god ignoring my failure to pray? I did not pray at my mother's bedside when she was at death's door, and the surgeons did not save her. Was that god punishing my failure to pray? Did he let my mother die because of me?

Friend of mine has a drone she uses as part of her wedding photography business. Works well for low aerial shots. And those Japanese pranks are brutal. Imagine that was your daughter or wife (that you like).

Yup, throat cut for sure.

I will be edging & cutting control joints. I'll post before and after pics.

Really bad taste to make jokes about it.

Cool. Figured it was overkill, even for my fat ass.

I'm replacing a short walkway at the back of my house (2' x 20') that was previously just paving stones on dirt. I'm going to dig it out and replace it with 4" limestone gravel and 4" of concrete. Is it worth using the reinforcing mesh on a walkway this short? Will only ever see foot traffic, no vehicle traffic.

BTD: That video is a tough one to watch. The guy did nothing wrong at all. I always tell a cop before reaching for something, but that is a courtosey I extend hoping that the more compfortable the cop feels the better the outcome will be (only had one ticket from 5 traffic stops in the last 15 years). I don't believe that is a requirement for me to stay alive. The officer asked for his wallet, and he complied by reaching for his wallet. I can see how the cop is put in a difficult position of not knowing if the guy is reaching for a wallet or a gun... But it's the cop's responsibility to manage that scene. Perhaps a better way in the future is to ask; "Where is you wallet?" or clearly state; "Do not reach for anything without letting me know first. I don't think this is a 20-year prison sentence thing... I think the cop was too jittery and made a horrible, horrible mistake. I think this is a case of a judgement call that cannot be risked again, so his career as a LEO is clearly over (Or at least working the street.. Maybe he can do a desk job?) When I look at this video I ask myself if the cop acted in bad faith, or made a mistake. If he acted in bad faith (shot the guy despite knowing he was not in danger) then that's an attempted murder in my book and 20 years in prison is appropriate. However if this was a good faith mistake (he honestly thought he was in danger, even though a different officer would not have thought that) then his punishment should be based upon negligence, not premeditation. Is there such a thing as negligent felonious assault? I think an appropriate punishment for him would be a short jail sentence (2-5 years), suspended for 10 years so it's hanging over his head for a long time.. If this is a felony conviction that results in loss of firearms rights then so be it. My own personal philosophy on judicial punishment is that it should fit the intent more than the result. I feel this case is very similar to the one where the officer shot the elderly driver when he mistook the driver's black walking stick for a long gun. His career was over but I don't believe he was jailed as it was not his intent to hurt someone he know was benign - it was simply an example of decision-making that is nowhere near the standard we expect from our LEOs. Also, I don't care about the emotion of the issue. If someone dies then that is tragic, but it does not change the intent behind the person pulling the trigger. If he pulled the trigger in bad faith then he should be punished for that and not get off easy simply because the victim had the audacity to not die. Similarly, if the shot was in good faith then that should be recognized regardless of if the victim dies.

Oh, and remember this story? http://www.wired.com/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/

the inability to drive a disabled car to school/doctor etc is not a valid complaint if the car was disabled in accordance with the agreed contract. They would be unable to drive a repossessed car, no? If the contract says 1 day late = disabled car then don't complain when you are a day late and they turn it off. Disabling a car in traffic is clearly ridiculously dangerous and I'd like to see proof that it actually happened before getting annoyed. If true, then that company should be fined and have to pay back any towing charge. Be careful what you wish for - Better to be disabled than repo'd. Just like people who complain about tazer use - would you prefer they used bullets?

You can leave it running but you will come back to a dead car battery if you leave it too long. How long does yours last? This one has a composite out that I have hooked to a screen in my dashboard. That way I can tuck the camera behind the rear view mirror and have nothing blocking my view. HDMI too. The videos can be played back from the camera but the screen is tiny so only the gross details are visible. Direction of travel, direction of impact etc. maybe traffic light status, maybe lane position. Can also be played back via composite/hdmi out on your dashboard screen. In-camera playback is a pain, though. You don't get good fw/rwd controls do you basically select your video file and play it through. Hopefully your accident is not at the tail end of a 5 min video file. I carry a microsd to sd adapter and a sd to sub adapter. I can put the card in any pic with a USB port. I almost always have a laptop with me. If I could plug it into my iPhone that would rock.

How do you know they were breaking into cars?

In other news, I came up with this concept 6 years ago. http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=92008&sid=50041c2073dc0f66ed667a983c026fd4#p92008

The issue will be resolution at the horizon. They are de-warping a fisheye lens and they still only have a set resolution to play with. That 1080p (for example) has to be shared across the entire 360fov, which is going to result in a much lower resolution at any given viewing angle.

Otterbox on iP5. Not a scratch. I don't drop it either, so...?