Society

Happy to. If you're flushed and fancy having a book on your shelf that impresses visitors, then you can pick up his excellent "Good Natured" from amazon for a lot less than I paid for it:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...478535?ie=UTF8

De Waal is a serious academic, however and it can be a hard read if you're more used to professional writers.

If you don't feel like shelling out or you have an irrational phobia of paper, he has a few articles online:

http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i09/09b00701.htm
and
http://www.paulagordon.com/shows/waal/

Are a couple google threw up after a casual search. However, I really do suggest you buy yourself "Good Natured", or you might get lucky and find it wedged between a couple of Harry Potter books at your local library.

When it comes to philosophy, well, I have nothing against it. It's always just struck me as futile to debate. I have friends who describe themselves as "Kantian" or "Goetheist" and can argue their stances long into the night, but they never conclude anything or shift their positions because there's no evidence. Without proof or other strong evidence it becomes little more than debating preference for foods. That's not to say Philosophy doesn't have some worth; it can provide stunning glimpses behind the veil of reality and profound insights into the human mind, but give me neuroscience and economics anyday. They may not be perfect, but they're tangible.

Phew, at least my degree is worth something.


"If you are interested in professional or graduate school, be aware that philosophy majors on average perform remarkably well on the standard examinations required for admission.

•According to a 1991-96 study of scores on the GMAT, the exam used by business schools to assess candidates, philosophy majors, on average, outperformed business majors and ranked fourth or fifth among all majors during those years.

•According to a 1994 study of the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test), philosophy majors outperformed political science and pre-law majors, and were fifth among all humanities and social science majors.

•According to a 1998-91 study of the GRE, philosophy majors performed better than any other major on the verbal section, better than any humanities or social science major on the quantitative section, and had the second best of all majors on the analytic section.

Similar studies of these three exams have produced similar results. Now, as you will learn when you study philosophy, that philosophy majors score well on certain exams does not show that their study of philosophy causes their high scores. But it is at least plausible that the study of philosophy contributes to these good results because it emphasizes rigorous thinking, requires one to interpret complex texts and arguments, and may include training in areas tested on the exams in question."

Wow now I have a headache after reading that.....

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“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton

I just got a new one. The way Boy Scouts really does discriminate against atheists, agnostics and gays. Example with atheists: They don't care what you believe in. Whether it be God, gods or Mother Nature. But you have to believe in a higher power to be part of the organization. They say a citizen can't become the best they can be without a higher power.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

If google is incapable of gauging traffic, why do they have this?

Do you have any idea what that even does? Because I do: it retrieves search rankings. It's not a measure of traffic. You should probably read more about it.

Also, you still haven't answered this...

...or this...

Ok, so I was wrong about the mechanics of google, so what? I've already shown numerous usages of the phrase in the same context I used it in through the same google search you claimed turned up nothing.

I've therefore proved that, in fact, the phrase is in usage in precisely the context I used it in, which was the question originally raised. You've ignored the debunking of your 'nobody uses it' argument in favor of a 'well, you don't know google' argument.

It's not that you were simpy ignorant of the mechanics of Google; it's that you pretended you were not, and continued to do so even after you were confronted with evidence to the contrary.

Reading your posts, one notices several themes. One of which is a very strong tendency to speak as if you were an authority on the subject at hand. And while I've no doubt that in some cases you are, threads like this demonstrate that you're willing to pull things out of your a** in those instances in which you are not. This, and the fact that you don't seem to find this revelation relevant, indicate that you have a rather casual relationship with the truth.


I showed some skepticism towards the phrase, absolutely, but if you'll recall (and you can go back and verify this), my primary complaint was that you took a condescending, dismissive tone with Gol for not having heard of the phrase. And it's been quite easily demonstrated (both anecdotally and empirically) that it is not especially common, and certainly not to the degree that should earn Gol even an implication of scorn for being unfamiliar with it.

Regardless of how common (or not) 'sand religion' is, it's a phrase so self-explanatory that a reasonable person shouldn't need explication.

Yeah, but see, Golgot is a reasonable person by any standard. And reasonable people do not take shots in the dark about phrases they've never heard. He did the reasonable thing and simply asked you, and instead of receiving an answer, he was met with a bizarre mix of incredulity and condescension.

He asked a simple, reasonable question, and you decided to take a dig at him rather than answer. That's pretty ridiculous.

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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

People tend to think of Racism as a hatred to another race. That's Slander. Racism is the loyalty to your own race and there's not a damn thing wrong with that. There's a hell of a lot of racism in this country but can you blame them? This country was founded as a European colony and on European values and religion. It was this way up until the sixties when the Immigration arm of the Federal Government decided to stop letting in Europeans and start letting in a hell of a lot of third world hispanics. Today, America itself is a wash and it no longer means anything to be an american.

"How quickly we are to give away the nation we for so long sought, worked and died for." Paul Merring

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"You need people like me..."