simay77

I'm here to learn from men and women who know more about the subjects that I'm interested in. And also to exchange ideas about the things we can't prove yet.

''False. I've been a gun owner and user since I was a teenager, 30+ years ago, and I've never murdered anybody with one. I've enjoyed hundreds and hundreds of hours of target practice and skeet shooting for sport. I've enjoyed hundreds of hours of hunting and many great meals from my guns. There are millions more like me. Why should we be punished because of the occasional psycho that abuses the tool?'' I'm sorry mate, but there is no way you can classify a gun - any kind of gun - (unless you're talking about a nail gun) as a 'tool'. Unless you mean to finish that with 'tool of death'. A gun is NOT a tool. It is a weapon. An instrument of death. Plain and simple. They fire projectiles designed for maximising injury to human bodies. Seriously, they are not hammers or spanners or wrenches. WEAPONS. And your argument that just because YOU haven't killed anyone wtih YOUR guns doesn't automatically imply that they should be free for people to purchase. I am usually against banning anything (alcohol/marijuana), but when you're talking about a 'tool'/weapon that is made to kill people (this is still the case weather you have used it for this purpose or not) I strongly disagree. I don't want to punish you or your kind, but surely the greater good is more important than your hours and hours of fun on a shooting range?

''I am not anti-gun but am pro gun control. Please do not assume that gun laws in all states are the same. It is very difficult to buy a handgun in MA. Welcome to the forum.'' So a short out of state drive is all thats needed then!!! Thanks for the welcome.

It depends. Tuesday to Saturday (my working week) it's water (with some dilute {cordial for Aussie's or Americans}) followed by coffee. Saturday evening to Sunday night its beer by a HUGE margin.

I don't really understand the question. Surely if we know that 'this is the wrong way' then it makes sense to say so??? Is it a system???

'However, I have always wanted to hunt without a gun sometime to make it more fair for both parties and a bit more adventuresome. Perhaps with a large knife or a bow and arrow' Well said, you can hardly consider yourself a 'Hunter' because you managed to blow a deers head off from 200 yards away. There's another word for that - sniper.

Thanks for the welcome, and I'll sort out that capital letters thing!

Never Say Never!!!

As A Man From An Almost Completely Non Gun Owning Society It Confounds Me That The Law Has Not Changed In Relation To The Ability To Buy Guns In The U.s. This Is A Law That Goes Back 200 Yrs. Surely It Makes Sense To Not Be Able To Buy Guns. I Know That Some People Will Say That You Can Kill People With Cars, But That Makes No Sense Whatsoever. Just Because It Is Possible To Kill Ourselves With Items Like Pens Or Hammers, Doesn't Meen It Should Be Possible To Purchase Products Which Have Been Manufactured For One Reason And One Reason Only - To Kill. What Is Everyones Opinion On Gun Laws???

Thanks for that dude, very interesting!!!

I just heard on the radio, that a new planet has been discovered and that it has oceans on the planet surface. Can anyone clarify this or did I hear wrong?

How can religion, being a creation of man, explain who or how or why we are here? Science, as we all know, is the pursuit of truth. Therefore, it is the ONLY way to understand our origins. Religion came about in a time when we didn't understand the motion of the planets or the 'rising' of the sun. Science shines a light on the ingorance that is glorified in religion. **THE GOD DELUSION by Richard Dawkins**

We don't know enough about dark energy/matter to say for certain , but I am a believer in cycles and to my mind it makes sense that the pull of gravity will eventually slow down the universe and bring it all back to a singularity which is in my head nothing more than -almost- infinite pure energy. Then it WILL bang again and we will be having this discussion (possibly) in a few trillion trillion years. We porobably already had this discussion a few treillion trillion years ago. Or maybe my parents never met the last time out!!!

I watched the protests in the UK and I was/am truly scared by the mentality of the people who place cartoons of their God as reason enough to kill. We have to remember that the people who decided to publish the cartoon are not Muslim. The rules of that Religion does not apply to people who do not suscribe to their beliefs. These exremists do NOT represent the majority of Islam, however they must understand that it is they who are putting up this wall and creating an Us Vs Them situation. TORMOD and ughaibu: it sounds like you guys need to relaaaax.

Surely all these events have done is shown us that ANY religion or personal belief needs to stay exactly that > personal. The people who have reacted in the way they did: several dead in Afghanistan, riots at many Danish embassies, signs proclaiming 'Europe will have its 9/11', 'Slay those who insult Islam' have 100% justified the cartoon. By all means take offence but by what moral code does it make sense to kill someone over an inult. I heard a Muslim say on tv 'Insult me, my children or my wife but do not insult my God'. Get your priorities sorted out. You place your God, of which there is no physical proof of ever existing more important than your own flesh and blood and your own wife. It is time to leave religion were it should always have been > at home.

My own theory in relation to black holes is that they exist for the sole purpose of transferring mass from one universe to another. At the moment ours is expanding and accelerating, therefore it must be gaining mass. Our universe is growing into the space left behind by other universes. The mass is transferred via black holes.

We cannot say for sure that we will never now, but at this moment in time with our knowledge of the universe and our own limited brain capacity who can say? To answer this and many other questions relating to the universe we will have to wait until we evolve far beyond the point we are at now. My own theory is that we are one of many universes and as ours grows and gains mass others are diminishing, the mass being transferred to/from each universe through black holes.

Please excuse my ignorance if the following is nonsense. I watched a program last night on the BBC (Horizon) that explained in lay mans terms the theories behind dark energy and dark matter. If I understood correctly neither have been seen by the most advanced telescopes on the planet. This means that they cannot be measured/quantified. Surely then it must be possible that both exist in our own atmosphere(?) and that their relationship with gravity varies depending on the surrounding elements. Also could a black hole not be explained as negative dark energy?