Reading these comments, how can believers chalk up something tragic to being part of "God's Plan", if mankind having free will means the deity doesn't necessarily know what is going to happen?

Maybe on my deathbed I will grasp at straws and wish for everlasting life but in my daily life it just sounds like a Hallmark sentiment that people use to comfort themselves and others. There’s not enough pixie dust in the universe for me to snort to get me to believe in everlasting anything, much less shout it from the rooftops. (my essence/soul/personality/memories will be around long after our sun collapses, just because I accepted a deity "into my heart"?).

Some child rapist/murderer repents on his deathbed with seconds to go, and St Peter throws the switch on his soul train to where he now has eternal life instead of eternal damnation. Again, not enough pixie dust.

Yes, it's like the sidewalk-chalk illustrations that are amazing technical feats from the right angle, but look nearly indecipherable from any other.

I prefer it this way, in a lesser-of-two-evils sense. It's an attraction to a specific location for the people entering the room from a specific direction. The alternative would ultimately be to unnerve the players playing, and understanding that casinos are already sucker-traps I wouldn't be able to see it as anything other than a psychological toy to screw your customers up further.

You are partially correct, I listed the rank of a top submarine officer incorrectly, but not his position, I'm not in the Navy. He was Executive Officer of the first nuclear sub, but only First Lieutenant of the diesel. EDIT: He "qualified for command" of the nuclear sub...probably why I thought "commander" but properly should have said "was in command". Shortly after being assigned to lead the nuclear sub trials, after helping design and build it, he led the American shut down of the Chalk River reactor, lest you continue to insinuate he was an 'armchair warrior' that never held command.
(record below)

◾17? DEC 1948 - 01 FEB 1951 -- Duty aboard USS Pomfret (SS-391) Billets Held: Communications Officer, Electronics Officer, Sonar Officer, Gunnery Officer, First Lieutenant, Electrical Officer, Supply Officer Qualifications: 4 Feb 1950 Qualified in Submarine


◾05 JUNE 1949 -- Promoted to Lieutenant (j.g.)


◾01 FEB 1951 - 10 NOV 1951 -- Duty with Shipbuilding and Naval Inspector of Ordnance, Groton, CT as prospective Engineering Officer of the USS K-1 during precommissioning fitting out of the submarine.


◾10 NOV 1951 - 16 OCT 1952 -- Duty aboard USS K-1(SSK-1) Billets Held: Executive Officer, Engineering Officer, Operations Officer, Gunnery Officer, Electronics Repair Officer Qualifications: Qualified for Command of Submarine Remarks: Submarine was new construction, first vessel of its class


◾01 JUNE 1952 -- Promoted to Lieutenant


◾16 OCT 1952 - 08 OCT 1953 -- Duty with US Atomic Energy Commission (Division of Reactor Development, Schenectady Operations Office) From 3 NOV 1952 to 1 MAR 1953 he served on temporary duty with Naval Reactors Branch, US Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C. "assisting in the design and development of nuclear propulsion plants for naval vessels." From 1 MAR 1953 to 8 OCT 1953 he was under instruction to become an engineering officer for a nuclear power plant. He also assisted in setting up on-the-job training for the enlisted men being instructed in nuclear propulsion for the USS Seawolf (SSN575).


On December 12, 1952, an accident with the experimental NRX reactor at Atomic Energy of Canada's Chalk River Laboratories caused a partial meltdown. The resulting explosion caused millions of liters of radioactive water to flood the reactor building's basement, and the reactor's core was no longer usable.[7] Carter was ordered to Chalk River, joining other American and Canadian service personnel. He was the officer in charge of the U.S. team assisting in the shutdown of the Chalk River Nuclear Reactor.[8] The painstaking process required each team member, including Carter, to don protective gear, and be lowered individually into the reactor to disassemble it for minutes at a time. During and after his presidency, Carter indicated that his experience at Chalk River shaped his views on nuclear power and nuclear weapons, including his decision not to pursue completion of the neutron bomb.[9]

How the F@ck?! Oh never mind, I'll just chalk it up to "Russia"

We already have had a case of it. American and British television are like chalk and cheese - we don't have televised spelling bees (and they would seem crazy to us), we don't have angry talking heads telling us what to think like bill oreilly.. we're actually pretty good when it comes to this sort of thing. Might be because we're a relatively old nation, we've absorbed a bunch of different invasions into our populace, wars, fires, famines and plagues.. there's something called the spirit of the blitz; brits don't like to panic, we're not good at outrage and yelling. Keep calm and carry on!

...So the Kirk Cameron series based off the same books wasn't enough they had to remake it? What, because Tim LaHaye, one of the original authors of the books, didn't make enough off the original series? The studio decides to remake it so he can get a better cut?

Of course when the movie is panned for Cage's bad acting or anything else, the Christian right will just point out it is the "liberal media" trying to put down the Christian message and not be an actual review of the film's merits.

I'm surrounded daily by people who believe this stuff. Who believe the election of Obama is a sign of the end of times. When climate change gets to the point even they can't deny it anymore, they'll still deny it is human activity and chalk it up to more proof that we're in the end times and it's just like the Bible said. That this nation (somehow the US is special) is being judged for abortion and homosexuality, the last just like Sodom... of course if you point out that the Bible says that the specific sin of Sodom was being a land of plenty and doing nothing to help the needy and the poor, they just change subjects.

We've been on a bunch of dates
I weigh debates that this creates
And hate that state of forced introspection
We traded wit, we swapped some spit,
You fingered me a little bit
But we never really had a connection

You did nothing wrong, I have no excuse
Just my intuition telling me we shouldn't reproduce

I know I have to end it
But pretend to just suspend it
By contending that I'm busy all week
I let the foregone linger on
Text back with an emoticon
Withdraw from you by being oblique

Inside I know my tactics just delay it
But I'd do anything so I don't have to say it

I'll draw this out forever like it's Vietnam
Then one day I'll be gone like Bambi's mom Awww

Cause there's the right thing to do
Then there's what I'm gonna do
There's so much I should say
But instead... I do the fade away

Now I'm fading like chalk on a sidewalk
Or the polio virus after Jonas Salk
Like a Jewish guy at Sizzler on Yom Kippur
The Whig party post Millard Fillmore

The erection of a man on antidepressants
The cast of Diff'rent Strokes after adolescence
Reproductive rights below the Mason Dixon
Native Americans after the barter systems
Your thyroid gland after Hashimoto
The family in the Back to the Future photo
Yeah I fade away

We say that men are asshole who don't communicate
We revel in our victimhood and amplify our hate
We find ways to be indignant like it's a sport
Then dissect their malignance with the views we distort

The way men break up may be sloppy and terse
What they do is bad, but what we do is worse

We pretend to ourselves it's the nice thing to do
To let you down gently by just not ever telling you
And deep down we know it's the worst way to play it
But we are what we have... huge pussies

And women are hypocrites
Especially ones in comedy bands
We see your faults but not our own
Then we wonder why we're all alone

We fill you up with maybe's, excuses and stalls
But like a baby in China... it's better to have balls

Not the Good Wife type like Christine Baranski
So I'll pull out and leave like I'm Roman Polanski

Cause there's the right thing to do
Then there's what I'm gonna do
There's so much I should say
But instead... I do the fade away

Like Verbal Kint fading into Kaiser Soze
The rights in Arizona for a guy named Jose
Opportunities for a college grad
The love between your mom and dad
Gonna Peter out like a gay Cetera
Iranian relations since the Regan era
Black Nike sales after Heaven's Gate
Summer Camp attendance at Penn State
The name Adolph after World War Two
Like Debbie Gibson's pop career, Out of the Blue
Yeah I fade away

Cause I don't wanna get to know you
I just want to blow you... off

First, regarding your statement and this video, it's not a matter of "that cop should act perfectly." It's more that the officer had no reason to handcuff a guy who is not a threat has already been searched and is sitting there doing nothing.

But in general, the bigger problem is not with this specific cop's actions; it's that this kind of behavior is indicative of a systematic problem in law enforcement and society's lack of concern for how their abuse of power is not being kept in check. It's becoming more and more acceptable for police to separate individuals from their civil rights and with less and less reason, motivation, or consequences.

The explanation is really not just that "Hey, cops are human, bro. They totally make mistakes. They can't all negotiate perfectly. They can't all have compassion. They aren't all like super-patient. They can't all only shoot guilty people." That's quite a bit of a naive opinion.

The issue is that cops are no longer just making mistakes and bad judgement calls. At least that kind of thing could be chalked up to human error or inadequate training.

They're now intentionally deciding to do things to people they know they really have no legal explanation for and that they will face no consequences for.

If you're really defending that, then what you're really saying is cops should be able to do whatever they want, to whomever they want, whenever they want, just because they want to, and everyone else should shut up and take it because everything any cop does is acceptable because of the very fact that they're a cop. And besides, it's not going to happen to "the vast majority of people," so who cares, right?

Bullshit. Maybe in communist Russia or China, but not in the land of the "free."

I'm pretty sure he meant to say that the temperatures on Mars are *raising* exactly as they are here. That's an incredibly common argument against man made global warming. He left out one incredibly important word, but I can chalk that up to simply misspeaking rather than being completely oblivious about science.

He could still be wrong, of course, but let's not take things out of context and attack him for stumbling a bit over words (assuming that's what this is). If we do that, then only people who are excellent with words will ever be elected. I would like to see more scientists and engineers elected, and in my experience they stumble over words more often than most.

Chalk and carabiners??? Pfffffft

If anybody else is having as hard of a time reading this as I did, try using Glenn Becks voice, maybe with a chalk board in the background or something. Works pretty good....

I would admit that it depends on what day this happens. Sometimes I am hyper aware of my surroundings, other times I am completely oblivious. I'm certain though that even if I saw my dad in some filth I would chalk it up to someone that just looks similar. Lots of people look alike, I probably wouldn't even break stride.

Chalk Warfare 3.0 has been added as a related post - related requested by ant on that post.

Chalk Warfare 3.0 has been added as a related post - related requested by ant on that post.

Chalk Warfare has been added as a related post - related requested by ant.

Chalk Warfare 2.0 has been added as a related post - related requested by ant.