Secrets of the City

Why aren’t they in the BASEMENT. There is no way in hell I would be outside videotaping that. I would be in the basement, crying in the fetal position.

Oh man, I lived in that area (Spicer on Green Lake) for a summer and that area can get some crazy ass storms. But, yeah, get your ass in the basement.

Basement or back yard, ya gotta give ‘em some credit for shooting relatively stable & watchable amatuer video. 95% of folks aren’t fit to tape a kid’s birthday party.

You know what i often wondered? What did the indians think tornadoes were? I imagine they might have thought they were one of their gods or an evil spirit. Also what did they do to take shelter? A ditch or something.

How many gods do you have, wasichu?

One. His name is jesus christ.

that is some cool ass footage. that tornado is pretty far away, i would ave been filming that too.

Why does Jesus hate Willmar, Berfus?

That question is horribly insulting to the christians in willmar who bravely made it through this tragedy. You know how they say their are no atheists in fox holes? Same logic applies to this circumstance.

Although I understand why some would find the “Why does Jesus hate…” insulting, people also find the foxhole saying insulting.

The same logic meaning that they’re both insulting?

I don’t understand what is insulting about the saying ‘ there are no atheists in fox holes.’

Atheism is something that can be “cured” by a highly stressful situation, or near death experience?

I’d have to say yes it is. My brother didn’t in to church when he was here, but now he’s in iraq and he says he goes to chorag everyday.

I’m told by people in a position to know that there are plenty of atheists in foxholes.

It’s offensive because atheism is a belief system just like any other religion. It’s equivalent to saying there are no Muslims or Catholics in foxholes. Anecdotal evidence does not make a broad statement true. There are Iraq vets who have come back and are have switched support from the GOP to the Democratic party, yet it would be ridiculous to say there are no one returns from the war still a Republican.

If you’re an atheist than you should’t be offended because you don’t believe in anything anyways. Atheism is a non-belief system.

OMG, are we having this stupid conversation again? Fuck.

Sorry sir, ma’am i didn’t mean to start a debate i just had to respond to an insulting comment about jesus having the people of willmar

Atheism is a belief that there are no gods. I don’t know what the correct label is for someone who doesn’t believe in “anything anyways.” Solipsism is the closest term I can think of, but even that’s not quite right. Neither is Nihilism.

But I digress. There’s no logical connection between the nature of what atheists do or don’t believe and the ability to take umbrage over some trite maxim about the steeliness of their resolve to go on believing or not believing whatever it is they’ve chosen to believe or not believe in.

They believe there is no God. You believe in God and Jesus.

They believe that God and Jesus don’t exist. You believe they do.

Until one side can prove the other one wrong, I’d say that they are both belief systems. And I’m certain this thread is not going to be where definitive proof of the existence or non-existence of God and/or Jesus will be found.

I say that as a Christian. An open-minded Christian.

I reckon there are few solipsists in foxholes.

Indifferent?

I’m saying by definition not beleiving in god is not a system, it’s not believing in something. Is not beleiving in global warming a belief system no it’s just not believing in something

Not believing in global warming isn’t a system because it’s just one thing.

Being atheist is a system because they do have a set of beliefs that govern how they act. It just so happens that this belief is predicated on there being no God.

Well that sounds more like a political organization them a creed.

zippy

Few atheists will take offense if told they do not have a creed. I’m just not sure what that has to do with not believing in “anything, anyway,” or what THAT had to do with being in foxholes, or (come to think of it) what any of it has to do with the tornado in Willmar.

The lines between political organizations and religion are often blurred.

The only atheists that act insulted do it for a political agenda such as removing all religious displays

Kurtis is right. Back on topic, I agree with the first person who asked why they weren’t in the basement. The Willmar video is taken from a pretty good distance but iirc there was footage from Hugo where the tornado seemed to be a couple hundred yards away from the man filming from inside his home. I hope that no one ever gets hurt trying to be an amateur videojournalist but it seems inevitable.

I have come close to standing there and staring at a tornado. It is quite fascinating to see and you kind of “go tharn,” to borrow a phrase from Richard Adams. But the getting the video camera adds a level of preparation and alertness to the foolishness that I can’t quite grasp.

There is no god.

Only Zool.

My mom and dad were picked up by a tornado in their car on larpenteur by those cornfields a few years before i was born

What about the Church of the Sub-Genius?

Never heard of it. Sounds pretty ridiculous though.

Sounds pretty ridiculous though

Pot, meet kettle…

Pot meet kettle? Bwa?!

Berfus, what do you mean by “picked up by a tornado”? Was the car flipped over or airborne and carried some distance? Or were they just blown off the road. And approximately when did this occur?

According to my parents account they were picked about ten feet off the ground and immediately dropped. This occurred sometime in the late seventies.

On June 14, 1981 a tornado hits Roseville. The Sound of Music store responds with a “Tornado Sale” that eventually leads to the company becoming one of my biggest clients.

That sounds like the one that picked up my folks

Did the store sell musical instruments? What did/do you do and how did the “tornado sale” lead to a new client?

read this

and this

They are able to train their 100,000 store personnel via my magic.

With turnover, you’re actually facilitating boredome for about 200k employees per year, Maz

Also, whoever made that timeline page should be fired.

I wasn’t aware of Best Buy’s humble beginnings but I still don’t understand what connection you have to it and 100,000 employees.

It was also interesting to read about Best Buy being admired when I believe they made it into the late rounds of Consumerist.com’s “Worst Company” tournament.

Was it clearly a tornado or is there a chanxe it could have been straightline winds?

With turnover, you’re actually facilitating boredome for about 200k employees per year, Maz

Cha-ching! heh

I reckon there are few solipsists in foxholes.

Or else you could guess everyone is a solipsist in a foxhole. Two sides of the same coin, Kurtis?

Boredom. Blargh.

Sorry my dictionary is downstairs and it’s heavy and i’m lazy. Could someone define solipsist

You’re really too lazy to even use Google?

Yes

Yes

Well, it’s not MnSpeak’s job to provide you with remedial English education.

Overly simplistic answer: it means that everything is all in your head. Everything. This whole thread is in your head, including the definition of the word that you claim you don’t know.

Save the wise cracks egg heads. I looked it up and it seems pretty wacky. I guarantee they aren’t in fox holes.

Thanks mr stfu, but i already looked it up

Or else you could guess everyone is a solipsist in a foxhole. Two sides of the same coin, Kurtis?

How do you figure?

“The only atheists that act insulted do it for a political agenda such as removing all religious displays
»» Submitted by »»» Berfus at 9:04 PM on July 13“

Bravo, that is the most ignorant rant I’ve seen so far on this thread. But we all know you can do better.

I imagine some of it is political, but there are people who become very offended if something religious passes within their field of vision.

For example?

annnnnd….scene. That’s a wrap!

Explain how that rant is ignorant. I just calls em as i sees em.

Well, if the way you see it is not rooted in actual research, then it is, by definition, ignorant. “Calling it as you see it” does not equal “presenting a reasoned and educated opinion.”

There are no atheists in fox holes because usually the reason they are there is some sort of crusade, holy war, jihad or other spiritually manufactured foolishness.

So the bolsheviks, red chinese, castro, north vietnamese, and the koreans were all waging a holy was for atheism?

For example?

Merry Christmas, Kurtis.

Your calendar is broken, Rat. But one supposes you’re alluding to some case where somebody objected to a manger scene on a courthouse lawn. That is an example of somebody objecting to a religious display on public property. What you have failed to produce is an example of someone who is “very offended if something religious passes within their field of vision,” if that field of vision lands, for example, on private property.

What kind of sicko would want to remove a manger scene from anywhere?! That is just as bad as the taliban blowing up those buddha statues.

I don’t think the word “sicko” is the right word for people who want to remove a manger scene.

I also think it’s exponentially worse to blow up the statues because they cannot ever be replaced. The manger scene can at the very least be preserved for historical reasons in a garage or other storage unit. The historical significance of the manger scene is not lost because it cannot be displayed on public property – people are still free to display them in their front yards or in front of churches.

You make a valid point, but if you move a landmark from a well-known area it loses its significance. Like the ten commandments statue that used to be outside that courthouse in alabama. Where else but a courthouse would there be a better place for it.