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Thanks. It does have a nice feel to it. I've still got a major problem with something on this forum – I'm having a hard time getting the site indexed. I don't know if it's an SMF problem or what. I'm trying to figure it out so more people can find this place.
Donnie, that was a free version I installed (I think). I'm not sure why that one is free yet they charge on their site. Perhaps the one I'm using is an older version. I don't know. And I see what you mean with the date. I'm not able to control it via the admin panel. Perhaps I'd have to go into the files themselvs and change some configuration around.
Why are you going to buy auction software? I thought you said you were going to use phpauction. That's free.
I am about half way between the two ends of the spectrum you mention. I am in no way a “coder” (the term for a php whiz who can program his own code), but I have more knowledge than just moving images and such around in code. Why, is there some particular thing you are looking to have done?
Actually it should be the logo.jpg file that I deleted because the default one was one that I didn't want on my site. I'll just need to upload a created one of my choosing. Problem is that I can't really do much coding or graphics work during the week – only on the weekends, and my weekends are usually busy with other things to do.
Thanks for the input. Your point is taken number one. 😆Changing the template seems to have reduced the load on bandwidtch that was occurring with my old theme. I still have to spruce the place up with graphics and fix an error. I just need to schedule it in somewhere. Ironic - a forum about civilizations throughout time, and yet I can find no time!
I was sort of wondering about raising that issue beforehand. Now that you bring it up, I'll address it a bit.I think that the freedom to choose one's religion is different from the Hinduistic (as you say) belief in compatibility among all religions. The difference is that the Christian notion of freedom places the conscience at the forefront, even if that conscience is sometimes wrong. Indeed, Christianity does not believe that all religions are equally valid; this would be relativism. Rather, if man is going to arrive at the Christian faith, he must do so based on his conscience, rather than the sword. I realize that history seems to contradict this, but just to take the Spanish Inquisition as an example - those were different times. The State and Church acted in sync with one another, and in troubled times one's religion determined one's allegience to the state. Religion was therefore used as a way of determining who was loyal the Spanish crown and who was a spy or infiltrator. Christianity has also developed doctrinally, so that now individual conscience is that which man uses to determine which faith he should have; it really doesn't do any good to put a sword to someone's throat and say "convert!", because then the faith is not really "faith" after all. Likewise, Christianity has developed in its value of the human person (e.g. lessening of the death penalty). I don't think that the principle of freedom of conscience in the Constitution can be separated from the developing Christian ideals of Europe. As we know from atheistic USSR, modern China, etc., nations that do not know God do not respect freedom of conscience.
Usually when I think of “Old Towns”, I think of cities more on the East Coast. However, I suppose that other parts of the country, such as towns in California, were settled pretty early in our nation's history as well. After all, Spanish towns in Mexico must date to the mid-1500s, and at the time I imagine that Spanish control extended into modern-day Cali. So when does Old Town San Diego date to? Is it authentically old, or is it more of a revamped yuppy-esque part of the city made to look like it has a dated feel?
Alright, I just read this story, Flying robot attack “unstoppable”: experts, which says that UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are becoming a real threat, particularly if they are used by terrorists:
It may sound like science fiction, but the prospect that suicide bombers and hijackers could be made redundant by flying robots is a real one, according to experts. The technology for remote-controlled light aircraft is now highly advanced, widely available -- and, experts say, virtually unstoppable.
Too small for radar detections, they can sneak in and destroy before anyone knows what's going on.? This is where I say Tesla's Death Ray ought to be revived; if it could take out planes for hundreds of miles, it should be able to take out a few UAVs.? Put a few around the White House, tweak them for range (wouldn't want to overshoot your target and take out any plane within 200 miles!), and you've got yourself a winning defense.? What do you all think?
Problem with Heron is that he existed in a time before science existed. He built things that were innovative - but they were not foundational, in the way that a microscope was when the science of microbiology was beginning....Or Tesla, who developed AC that began modern technology [i[per se[/i].
Well I guess it's two sides of a coin, then. Whereas you see this as a detraction, I see it as an addition. Since Heron arguably didn't have much "science" to rely upon, he was all that much more of a trailblazer since he did it on his own. However, I do think that he had to understand some of the basic principles of science in order to accomplish what he did. I don't think it's any less of a feat to accomplish something without understanding the entirety of the science; I don't think that the Wright brothers understood all of the physics involved with aero-engineering when they built their first plane, but we don't think any less of them for it.
There is one thing in particular that I would like to know about Islam: does this religious system contain the belief in freedom of religious conscience? That should be one of the most important issues brought up in any debate about the Muslim world. Christianity has, at its core, this belief of freedom of conscience; that is, people are free to choose one religion over the other. Whether people like it or not, America is a Christian-based nation, and holds true to this belief. This tenet is not protected in atheist nations (look to Communist China for an example where freedom of religion is not guaranteed), and I'm not sure this exists in Islam, either. Although I realize that there are certain sects of Christianity that are alive in, say, Iraq, we only need to look to the Christian convert in Afghanistan who was almost executed for an example of how this belief does not exist. And I believe that no Christian churches exist in Saudia Arabia because they are not permitted to exist.This is a serious question because as the forces of political correctness and relativism fight their battles in the United States and in Europe, we need to ask ourselves what kind of beliefs will be protected if these places lose their fundamentally Christian base.
I don't think there will be any more fundamental shifts after nuclear weapons. The whole arc of military history has been the race to win faster and more completely against your enemy, in short to be more destructive of him than he is of you, and nothing that I can conceive of is potentially more destructive than nukes.
I'm actually being fairly serious when I suggest this: the death star (or something like that...you know what I mean). Nuclear weapons are still only so powerful. Although we're a far way off from colonizing other worlds, I think that is where mankind is headed. Technology progresses rapidly, so we must consider what the next step will be and where civilization will go. What happens when an effective nuclear difuser is invented? Surely, something will be developed somewhere along the line that makes ICBMs unuseable. They'll become like the bow and arrow is for us today; yeah it can still inflict damage, but it's really pointless to use in most any large scale war in the modern age.
