Everythingape

What's a gabion? Something military, no? I assume you saw the black cloth on the slope. It's there to keep the dirt earth mass from sliding down and making a mess before we fill it all up with rocks and whatnot. @chieftang, thanks for your concern mate, but a kitchen on the ground floor? ..never. I'm gonna sit eating my Fruit Brute looking at the sun rise from me second floor kitchen table.

"..yeah, I'd like an iguana with soft lips and no gag reflex, please.."

I don't know how many of you follow cross country skiing, but this clip shows one of the most amazing finishes of a 4x10km relay race ever! The guy's name is Petter Northug Jr, 21 years old. Anchorman on Norway's relay team in this year's world championships, beating Russia and sweden after racing close for 10kms. He hung on, letting the others do the dirty work of pulling up front. The power and explosivity it takes to pull this off is nothing short of fantastic.

I'll make sure to snap a few of the sunset come summer, Kenberg! I've thought about moving to the city, but I just couldn't let go of the horizon and the coast.. I chose a lot a bit on the outskirts of the village as I'll never have people build close to me. I'd be a hermit if I could. See the lighter spot of yellow grass on the headland in the top middle of the pic? There's a small lake up there, with some of the best rainbow trout fishin' in norway! Regular 2kg, occasional 8kg fish. I go flyfishing there a lot.

This week I've been busy building the foundation wall.. A lot of hard work, but we've been really effective and it's all gone smooth. Hiring a masonry expert really paid off, as he makes everything easier knowing all the tricks. (photo taken with phone)

So.. How can I be without faith and still not be prideful? Is it possible at all?

..so choosing to do good for others makes me a selfish person.. I can live with that. People can't choose religion with an acceptance of everything implicated?

You're being very narrow minded. You make it sound like it's a thesis atheists have to live by. I can do good for others without believing I will be rewarded for it in this life or the next.. I can do it just to be nice. I serve the people around me who need help or assistance. I don't need to believe in a god to do that. So I am not my ONLY purpose. I am here, and I am making the best of it.

Well.. that has nothing to do with his quote, and how you put it. He is saying in plain text that he does not feel like he is a speck of dust in the universe. That's why I questioned the quote. Atheists don't go around thinking they are part of their own plan.. I think being an atheist includes accepting that you're not part of a 'plan' at all.

Another one of the man, setting a world record! World Record

I think we interpret his quote quite differently, you and I.. "I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God." He's saying that now, before his death, he feels like he's part of a big thing, someone who was planned.. Not just a speck of dust, a product of chance.

Well.. I don't really know what you are trying to say with it, but I think your Sartre quote looks more like pride than atheism ever did. (yes, I know he was an existentialist) I'd say atheism is a more humble view of oneself.. That you're not part of a great big scheme, you are a coincidence of events.. You're not planned by some great big creator. ..'cept if your father is TT's size. I have never boasted about my atheism, it's simply nothing to boast about at all.. It would be like standing outside the asylum shouting that I am sane. ..and being a sailor I learned my lesson about pissing into the wind. "I read about an Eskimo hunter who asked the local missionary priest, 'If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?' 'No,' said the priest, 'not if you did not know.' 'Then why,' asked the Eskimo earnestly, 'did you tell me?' " -Annie Dillard- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1974

I just want to say thank you for your consideration, but PLEASE, do not pity me. ..I am sure there are other people who need it. -TG-

I am an atheist, still I use church as a tradition. I will marry in a church, my daughter is christened and taught christian children's songs. You can call it hypocritical, but there are some wholesome values in religion. I would love for some 'supreme' being to be able to intervene.. Would that make me an atheistic agnostic? I think Johan Cruyff said it well: "Ik geloof niet. In Spanje slaan alle 22 spelers een kruisje voordat ze het veld opkomen, als het werkt, zal het dus altijd een gelijkspel worden." (I'm not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it worked, it would always be a draw.)

..but then again.. We don't have laws against drinking chlorine either.. I guess they just trust you to have some kind of common sense over here.

Bets tip you'll ever get: If you want to LOOK like you have really strong arms: Focus on your triceps! Most people who want to look big only focus on their biceps, but it's the tricep that makes your arms look massive.

Good going changing your ways, dutchy! I started my no-snack policy today, to lose 8kgs before football season starts. I am lifting more weights though, so that might slow my weight loss down a bit.. BTW: I put on a pedometer (step counter) just for fun before training football.. This was low intensity exercises, just playing ball. The result after 90 minutes: 12.000 paces! I was amazed! Of course, it's not that accurate playing football.. but still! I play up front as a striker/forward, and I might not be the most mobile guy on the pitch. But all in all, a training session is a good workout. I wonder how many I'd get out of a league match.

In Norway and sweden, bestiality is not illegal.

awww Happy endings! -sniff- There might be a lesson deep in this somewhere..

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?autocom=links This is from "links" up on top of this page.

That's a shame V.. We have a saying here in norway: "Utakk er verdens lønn" Roughly; (Ingratitude is the world's reward) We all hope you will reconsider when you have shaken it off. Helpful and nice people often find it hard to completely stop helping people. -TG-

Florence, Italy -summer 2006: A norwegian 12 year old on a school trip is fined 1000 euros for wearing a fake 18 euro Rolex. He had bought it a day or two before, and happened to be on the St.Lorenzo market (a well known rep market) when the police raided it. He was arrested along with 5 other 12 year olds. The article states the maximum fine for buying a replica watch in Italy is 10000 euros.. This kid attended a swiss school btw.. -shrug-

hehe No.. I mean you pick out what people say about their countries and edit it into your first post in the thread.. One paragraph for each country. Like FRANCE: Illegal, strict laws and they enforce them. Import: Illegal, penalized with a marzipan root canal Export: Illegal, penalized with a marzipan root canal ..and so on.

Pugwash, how about setting the first post up with short essentials for each country? Would that make sense? Selling, buying, Import, export and wearing one on your wrist? This would make a great reference post for people throwing around assumptions.

When I go there I feel like I am in the basement.. It's that feeling of bad lighting and not knowing where you put [censored].. Stuff you threw away and didn't care about, then you might need it, and you're lost.. It's all a mess really. And there's rot and organisms you don't want to know about.. Things you wish you didn't have in your house. You know what I mean?