plasmid

Away from me three limbs extend Just two are seen beneath a grin To Atlas I might be akin To fail would be a sin The one fanged serpent did me in Now shunned by man to my chagrin I'll never break but simply bend And pray return again Alas from now til then I dwell among the men Of ghostly whitened skin

Heh. I was brought up as a Jehovah's Witness and was taught by them not to pledge allegiance to the flag. Even after leaving, I've got to admit that I think they were right on this one. They were right for the wrong reasons of course, but right nonetheless. @Medji: Even though I agree that the United States is a shining example of how allowing individual freedom under a democratic government can lead to a society greater than any the world has previously seen, I still think that having little kids pledge their allegiance to a nation they barely comprehend is a bit silly. Let them do it as adults, when they can appreciate the magnitude of the words they're saying. I'd be willing to do it now whereas I wasn't back then. (Well, except for that "under God" part anyway.)

I agree with a point phillip made earlier. I'm a firm believer in quantum mechanics, however I have no experimental data to back up this belief aside from the fact that I heard it from people who I trust because they're scientists. That's arguably just as fallacious as if I were to believe in fortune telling because a bunch of my friends told me that it's legit. As another example, I've never formally proven that a triangle with two sides of equal length must have their two opposing angles be of equal size, but I can sort of intuitively tell that it's true, and I've relied entirely on intuition rather than a formal proof to be convinced that it's true. I'd say it remains to be proven that what typically falls under the banner of "reason" has much more basis in experiments or logical deductions performed by the believers in such facts than does any superstition. So, what really is the difference between a belief based on reason and a belief based on intuition? A very difficult question to answer if you believe that reason itself should be somewhat intuitive, which is something that I suspect many scientists would assert. Of course this is a bit of a straw man argument, I really do believe in quantum mechanics but not in fortune telling, and I also believe that there should be some sort of way of establishing that one of these beliefs is based on reason while the other is not. But drawing the line between what's supported by reason and what isn't may become much more difficult when you're dealing with less trivial examples. The question of how many boxes you should open might be the simplest of such nontrivial examples. Even murkier: is string theory based on reason? And since the OP talks about not only facts and theories but about forming opinions: Are aspects of morality based on reason? How about asking which specific moral issues are and are not supportable by reason: Is the immorality of murder supported by reason, or the immorality of stem cell research? How about the compulsion to be submissive to your parents, or the compulsion to be a contributing member of society? At some point, the distinction between what beliefs are based on reason and what aren't seems to become impossible to make. And off topic, but now that I'm finally going to be free for a couple of weeks, it's about time to see what RD.net will think of Phronism.

Afraid I don't have tons of time to spend on message boards and probably won't be around to follow up on this (otherwise I'd have posted about Phronism on dawkins.net by now... should be much freer in early Dec tho...). But to cut to the point of your argument, you seem to be asserting that you have a scientific proof that the Torah must be valid. As unreality and octopuppy have already pointed out, arguing that there must be a creator does not prove that the creator was described accurately by one particular bunch of people a long time ago but not by other bunches of people who lived even longer ago, or by other bunches of people who lived more recently. But there's one other thing that I can't help but wonder since I happen to be a biologist (sort of): Why you are trying to use a scientific argument to assert the validity of a book that speaks of demonic possession as the underlying cause of human disease?

Seems like many of the responses haven't been making much of the "widow" clue so far...

First the easy one: the middle phrase seems like

Indeed it is when you solve it in style, and so the thin lady with one of these tucked under her shirt sings. Edit: just adding some commentary More important than the number of guesses, THAT's what I think of as a sign of a good riddle.

For those unfamiliar with my style: my riddles are titled "I'm not a ____", and I make it appear like I'm describing what's in the title when actually the description is meant to fit something else entirely. So no snowballs, snow forts, or the like. You throw cookies around in fights?! I'm gonna have to pick a fight with you and open my mouth wide! A water balloon fits the first stanza well, but I'm looking for something that fits all four. They sting like hell though Nice rhyming, but like the water balloon, that seems to focus on the first stanza but not pick up on clues later on. That could work for the first three stanzas, but I don't see any way to make it fit the fourth.

A call to arms! A war's begun! But shun the sword and the bow I'm weapon wielded by the young Adults unlikely to throw The snow that falls from heaven's height Amass and do it with haste If not your ammo for a fight I'll form your citadel's gates Protect the king at any cost Don't fail him should he fall down For if you do then all is lost That's why I'm guarding the crown The thin man shakes, his belly sways But this will not make him sick I'm all a part of his displays If he should dress as St. Nick

but I can't make the "red capes" fit, so no rhyming on this guess Then maybe it's...

Many of the clues (silver crown, beheading, queen could drown you) make me think of a but I can't make the "red capes" fit, so no rhyming on this guess

Welcome back, dancer. Looks like you've seen that you've become famous: multiple-part riddles have become known as dancer riddles, although this particular one doesn't seem to be of that variety. This guess feels like it might be on track enough for a rhyme.

Close to what I had in mind. The responses to the answers really make this tough... something similar to a solder, yet also a little obscure, and fitting all the clues in the riddle as well... plus the title But Framm 18's guess drew a "not necessarily", which seems to rule this out

Wilson has this one - my tailless cousin. I thought that my pic might be a giveaway, but decided not to change it for this riddle because doing so would in itself draw suspicion from everyone who already knows that I'm a cat.

Near the mark; there was one more detail I was getting at with the last line.

Some of the clues would be a tough fit, like the part about being self-cleaning. If any of them come with a collection of blades, then I'm glad I've never used them Creative answer, although not it - the shutter wouldn't ever need to be sharpened. The "two halves of a cone" clue could be problematic; I'd imagine that most of those are controlled with buttons instead of knobs. One of my favorite creatures on the sand with half-cone blades, but they're supported by eight legs. That could fit much of the riddle. The part about "sharpening on sand" would have to refer to whiskers I guess, and I'll grant that whiskers can feel a lot like sandpaper. But I don't see what the four abutments would refer to. Edit: bizarre, had to fix some of the quoted answers' spoilers that weren't working... they don't seem to work for me if they start with a capital "S".

Two halves of a cone both protrude into space Reach outward and call for a hand If tickled correctly they'll cause me to race If fare lies ahead, understand Invariably, I'm supported by four Abutments upon which I stand I give satisfaction to users galore Who love when I hum in their hand Collection of blades to dissever my prey Won't slice unless called on demand My maintenance entails that most everyday They'll have to be sharpened on sand Self cleaning, you won't have to wash me at all To shimmer and sparkle and shine And never you'll find me plugged into a wall Indeed, I'm a cordless design

Truly amazed that this guess hasn't been made on BrainDen yet

This is a topic I might really be interested in if I had more time. It's much like the one earlier where we asked how you might design a useful religion. The beauty of this is that although there are no perfect answers, there are almost certainly answers that are pretty good and likely better than what we have in place right now. Unfortunately I have very little time to contemplate such things nowadays (or else I would be testing the waters with Phronism that was developed in the religion thread). One question that might help steer the discussion, though: do you mean to say "What if you were a sort of immortal power who could run the world like in the game Civilization or something?", or more like "What if you were the founding father of a new nation, or had tons of money and could flat-out buy someplace like Bangladesh and set up whatever governmental system you want?"

"Solved" heading didn't show up

dD (dyalDragon, not to be confused with DD DudleyDude) has this one with the second guess above. Not any of the animal guesses: I intended to rule those out with the whole bit about "no cruelty to animals with your answers" combined with the lines about "snagging my butt by the tail and making me rest in peace".

Not a fly; that would have six legs and no tail. A mobile table would have legs that move, but no tail. As for a cat, since you can see by my avatar that I AM a cat, I highly disapprove of any grabbing of our tails (part of what the "no cruelty to animals in your answers" bit was to exclude), or any notion that we would change our behavior based on the actions of any mere human.

I have four legs (for I'm a mouse) They're moving fast as the wind If keen on staying in your house On them I'll have to depend Whenever you should say good-bye I'll lounge about through the day But once you're back, I just might fly And hope my route doesn't sway I'll nibble at your food, discrete (Though this you've certainly known) But don't you fret, I will not eat You out of house and of home If you should see me misbehave And snag my butt by the tail I'll rest in peace without a grave And hope you burn in your hell (Of course, that last part must be read with a Southern accent to rhyme, but that's not important for getting the answer. And please, no cruelty to animals in your answers.)