chrisuk_sw

One thing that I think that everyone speaking up for poker here needs to take into account is that poker is a zero-sum game, and is therefore a zero-sum occupation. Your fictional friend involved in the fast food business is not involved in a zero-sum occupation because his/her activity adds to the overall net wealth of humanity. In playing poker, you are not creating anything or adding anything to the world, just extracting wealth from those that have created it elsewhere.

I've been thinking about this since my tournament exit yesterday (naturally, I pushed with 55 and ran into AA. gg me), and the maths tends to support that its a push, but doing it from UTG still scares me. 30% of the time* we'll be crushed by an overpair, and the rest of the time it's likely that we'll be in a race situation.If we reason that there's an 80% chance that we'll be called with overcards...30% of the time, we are up against 66-AA: win 6%56% of the time, we're in a race: win 28%14% of the time, we don't get called: win 14%so 52% of the time, we're out, 34% of the time, we double up,

- there's no ante- there are two other short stacks, three medium stacks, three big stacks- the final table has only just started, there has only been one hand so far - it went: raise 'em, take 'em. we have a reasonably tight image and can safely assume that the other players won't CDU, they'll only call with a hand.- the payout structure is: $750, $400, $250, $150, $100, $75, $50

Situation:It's a live B&M MTT. There are 320000 chips in play and there are 9 players left. 7 places pay.You have 10000, the blinds are 1000/2000. You are UTG, and your hand is 55.Push or fold?If its a push, do you push with 22, 33, 44?It its a fold, do you fold 66, 77, 88, 99?

Christopher Hitchens on Falwell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkAPaEMwyKUand Tinky Winky's view: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/...html?source=rss

Karl Marx: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."I disagree with the analogy.

Hello Jayray, thanks for the time and thoughts. I feel the place where you are coming from, despite not being a believer. How about this: imagine that the 60 guys in your scenario were around today, having access to all that we had learned and discovered in the 2000 years since their times. Would they write exactly the same bible? I don't think they would. The only thing I know for sure is that I don't know everything. For that reason, I can't bring myself to believe anyone or anything that says that they definitely do know everything. Aren't they're lying? either to me, or to themselves?

I brought up the bible because that's what we were discussing - whether Christian belief makes a people act more morally than a lack of Christian belief. The white man had Christianity. The white man successfully ethnically cleansed America. I am arguing that this was an immoral act, in support of my view that religion makes no difference one way or the other to the morality of the actions of a people.Also - at no point in this discussion did I insult anyone. What's with the personal insults?

I must have missed the bit in the bible that outlines the "They asked for it" defence.

I see what you mean about Japan - after all, their genocide and theft of a country failed.Not like the USA - that's how to successfully achieve a genocide. Ask some native Americans whether they were glad that their conquerers had Christianity for a moral guide.

Your "reminding me of history" consisted of "oh so you know about this secret CIA plot that has no evidence?" (which I then pointed out was common knowledge, then gave references) and "no God bad, God good".... You're a little light on actual facts in your postings to be able to claim victory. I like to think that maybe the mass of Americans are not as ignorant of the rest of the world and history as it appears, but I doubt it.Oh and.... modern day Japan seems to do fine without God.

No, I found out about it because I read. Check out the wikipedia link for the FRAPH and the Human Rights Watch report (second one) about the documents. None of this stuff is particularly hidden, except by your media organisations. This is common knowledge the world over, published by respected sources and in the public domain. Don't you ever wonder why there is anti-Americanism in the world? It isn't because "they hate your freedom". It's because your country actively supports murderers and steals from other countries, all the time with God on your side.And as for Haiti having no God - wasn't

What happens to children who die before they get to grow up? Do they get damned, or a free pass?

Interesting choice of examples. You do know that the Haitian paramilitary FRAPH- responsible for extra-judicial executions, torture and rapes- was founded with CIA assistance and received CIA money, don't you? (wikipedia) You also know that this echoes the US-sponsored creation of the Haitian National Guard of the 1930s that went on to commit countless atrocities against the Haitian people, don't you? You also know that after the US invasion in 1994, masses of documents were ceased by the USA and not returned until they had been cleansed of US involvement in the atrocities (source: Human Right

You lose your $10.Here's what I will say though. Your Christian country, the United States of America, barely 6 generations ago completed the world's best example of how to successfully achieve the genocide of an indigenous people and the ethnic cleansing of a country.My point is that the religious belief held by a nation makes pretty no difference when it comes to the morality of the actions of that nation.

I don't know where you got your figure of 500,000,000 from? You are mostly talking about communism (yet I know someone who was taught at school by communist Catholic Nuns), yet you say nothing about fascism that was generally not atheistic.According to your assertion that: religion = more good, lack of religion = more bad.... who acted worst in the Vietnam War? Theistic America or atheistic North Vietnam?

You could just as easily say that the absence of baseball resulted in the atrocities of the 20th century. The political systems in themselves are concerned with human power structures, not faith (or sport). Religion is largely an irrelevance, just as it is to the political system that triumphed, democratic capitalism.I am not lumping Christianity in with radical Islam as a threat, I am lumping radical Christianity in with radical Islam as a threat. The moderate versions of Christianity and Islam are also a threat in that, once you have made the leap and have abandoned reason for faith, you can

Well, there's been a whole topic on this one point, but it does seem to contradict other parts of the Bible where it says that all sins are forgiveable. There were 3 other apparent contradictions I gave - about fearing God/not fearing God, about thieves going to heaven/not going to heaven, about Revelation saying only 144,000 would be saved/all who believe will be saved.I deny the Holy Spirit. I do not care whether I have committed the unforgiveable sin. Therefore, I think you're saying that I have committed this sin.To threadcross, Loismustdie asked what would happen if we found that aliens h

So don't discuss it. Simple as that.I gave serious consideration to this, but it is my belief that it would be immoral not to challenge people's religious belief.In most of the 20th century, the driving engines of strife were political worldviews, revolutionary communism and fascism, evils that led to mass starvations, wars, gulags and people being burned in ovens.Now we have different driving engines of strife - the religious worldviews of fundamentalist Islam and Christianity. Blind faith can lead people to fly planes into buildings. Blind faith can lead people to believe that rape victims d

You claimed the bible has no contradictions in doctrine. I pointed out four apparent contradictions that are known to me. Believe me, I never expected anything other than one of your 4 catch-all irrefutable anti-logic opposing arguments (I was careful to only use the NT to avoid number 5: "that's the old testament so it doesn't count")1. The quotes are taken out of context2. The meaning of the quotes are different from the meaning given by the actual words3. It only makes sense if you take the bible as a whole4. I just don't "get it"But I had to challenge your assertion that "doctrinal differe

Do you have to abide by a set of doctrines if you believe in God?What about if you use the word God in a broader sense, as distinct from the God Of The Christian Bible. I like to look at it in meme terms, where memes are replicators in the landscape of human communication. The God Of The Christian Bible and its companions in the super-meme Christianity, is a virus using our reproductive facilities for their own selfish purposes.In other words, instead of us humans talking to each other about things that help us to survive in our lives, we end up talking about religion in order to help religion

A couple of differences in doctrine in the New Testament....Fear God, or do not fear God?Luke 124: I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.5: But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.(Matthew 10:24-28 has pretty much the same passage)1 John 416: And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.17: In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confi

Loismustdie - how many birds did God ask Noah to take onto the ark?

Lois, How many birds did God ask Noah to take onto the ark?You've been pwned many times on this forum, and this thread has shown what a desolate black place your heart is.

Ugh. I just wanted to add my voice to the disgust felt at this and other postings of a similar vein.