Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!? Oh right, that would be me. Back to work.

Wash ,'Bushwhacked'


Natter 37: Oddly Enough, We've Had This Conversation Before.  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


§ ita § - Aug 02, 2005 12:06:41 pm PDT #5111 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

The question of whether prayer affects the outcome of football games, on the other hand, can be answered.

Prayer is a very big and vague word, but I haven't read the studies. If you say they cover all prayer, I have no evidence to offer that they do not.

It just seems unlikely.


Nutty - Aug 02, 2005 12:07:13 pm PDT #5112 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

The question of whether prayer affects the outcome of football games, on the other hand, can be answered.

There is a Red Sox joke in here somewhere, I know there is.


Sean K - Aug 02, 2005 12:09:45 pm PDT #5113 of 10002
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

The question of whether prayer affects the outcome of football games, on the other hand, can be answered.

"Yeah, we were in the game.... Until Jesus made me fumble."


JohnSweden - Aug 02, 2005 12:13:55 pm PDT #5114 of 10002
I can't even.

An Air France flight from Toronto to Paris has skidded off the runway and burst into flames. Sounds pretty dire.

That's gotta suck. I hope the casualties are way lower than expected.

Of course, in "I'm flying out of that airport tomorrow" news, I guess I'll try to get there a little early.


Jessica - Aug 02, 2005 12:15:32 pm PDT #5115 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

An Air France flight from Toronto to Paris has skidded off the runway and burst into flames. Sounds pretty dire.

Holy shit.


Rick - Aug 02, 2005 12:15:48 pm PDT #5116 of 10002

If you say they cover all prayer, I have no evidence to offer that they do not.

I would not make this claim. These studies were done in the same way that all studies of new treatments are done. As Madrigal noted some people (conservative Christians) claimed that prayer would result in medical improvements. Scientists set up the prayer intervention in the way that the proponents claimed it would work and used an appropriate study to see if it did work. It didn't.

We can always say that a different kind of prayer might work for a different problem, just as we can say that a debunked herbal remedy still might work in a different form for a different problem. But as the studies accumulate the argument gets weaker and weaker. That is the lovely thing about science.


tommyrot - Aug 02, 2005 12:16:53 pm PDT #5117 of 10002
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

An Air France flight from Toronto to Paris has skidded off the runway and burst into flames.

Yikes. An A340, which is almost as big as a 747 (comparable to a 777).


Sean K - Aug 02, 2005 12:17:45 pm PDT #5118 of 10002
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty

An A340, which is almost as big as a 747 (comparable to a 777).

Yep. Big trans-oceanic planes.


§ ita § - Aug 02, 2005 12:20:03 pm PDT #5119 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

So lovely it hurts.

I would not make this claim.

I extrapolated from your dismissal of prayer to the dismissal of all prayer. If this is not what you intended, I apologise and retract my objections.


erikaj - Aug 02, 2005 12:21:48 pm PDT #5120 of 10002
Always Anti-fascist!

One of my English teachers in HS offered Bible as lit, a few years before I got there, but he discontinued it because scary parents would buttonhole him during class and try to debate him doctrinally. Which was sad to me to think about as I considered him to be quite brilliant as well as committed.