Sources of Inspiration

[PopeBeanieModerator]

Most of this may be old hat to most of us, so I’m thinking mostly of what young people might be interested in looking into, perhaps even for the first time. Like how science reliably comes up with truly universal facts and explanations that are provable, experimentally reproducible, and aren’t just statements dependent on faith.

14 minutes long

14-1/2 minutes long

 

[UnseenParticipant]

But it is also sometimes wrong and, unlike religion, is willing to say so:

 

[jakelafortParticipant]

Our regard for nonhuman animals is shameful.

If they’re pets they are beloved. But if they are not they’re hunnert pahcent exploitable.
I think the following study and corroborating video establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that they
have attained a level of intelligence rivaling any Muslim or ideologue of any stripe..

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241108113209.htm

[jakelafortParticipant]

[_Robert_Participant]

jakelafort wrote:

Our regard for nonhuman animals is shameful. If they’re pets they are beloved.

Irresponsibly loved.  Each year, approximately 2.7 million pets are euthanized (1.2 million dogs and 1.4 million cats) worldwide.

[PopeBeanieModerator]

I should add more context to what I’m aiming for.

There’s a guy in Oklahoma who has set some specific requirements regarding how Christianity should be taught in the OK school system. He has pretended to offer options in reading materials, while the only material that can possibly pass his minimum requirements is the Trump Bible.

I’m imagining collecting here some kind of pushback against that and any other similar movement that seems more likely to happen in other states, in the current political and populist climate. If middle and high school kids, and teachers had an alternative point of view they could point to, or alternative “source of inspiration”, what might it look like?

10-1/2 minutes

15 minutes… Although I might remove this later, as I prefer to avoid hyperbolic titles, and strident monologues.

[UnseenParticipant]

_Robert_ wrote:

jakelafort wrote:

Our regard for nonhuman animals is shameful. If they’re pets they are beloved.

Irresponsibly loved. Each year, approximately 2.7 million pets are euthanized (1.2 million dogs and 1.4 million cats) worldwide.

Unexpectedly, perhaps, PETA runs a so-called “shelter” with an unusually high kill rate.

[jakelafortParticipant]

That is fucking horrifying.

[UnseenParticipant]

jakelafort wrote:

Our regard for nonhuman animals is shameful.

But apparently that doesn’t include the “sport” of horse racing, which regularly breaks horse’s legs as they are forced to run harder and faster than their legs can safely bear. But, unlike a human with a broken leg, it’s not a matter of putting the leg in a cast and enduring weeks and months of recovery. For a horse, a broken leg means death.

It’s Time for the Tragedy of Horse Racing to End

 

• This reply was modified 6 months ago by  Unseen.

[jakelafortParticipant]

Wow, what a zinger!

Horse racing is to evil practices what Israel is to Iran and its proxies. Your focus is once again as sharp as Magoo. Oh Magoo, you’ve done it again. (If you get that reference you are probably kinda old.)

[UnseenParticipant]

@ Jake

Horses. You’re “defense” is to change the subject.

 

 

 

[PopeBeanieModerator]

Unseen wrote:

Unexpectedly, perhaps, PETA runs a so-called “shelter” with an unusually high kill rate.

jakelafort wrote:

Horse racing is to evil practices what Israel is to Iran and its proxies. Your focus is once again as sharp as Magoo.

Unseen wrote:

@ Jake Horses. You’re “defense” is to change the subject.

Oooookay, what have I done to deserve this? You know you can easily start your own topics, right?

[jakelafortParticipant]

How about props too Pope?

Did you know that about elephants? Did you read the short article? Do you realize how much depth there is in those magnificent elephant brains? It is not simply tool use like a clever chimp sticking a reed into a termite mound and monkey see, monkey do.

Were you aware how many pets are euthanized? I knew it was a great many but not as many as cited by Robert.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

 

When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous-not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance. . . . That pure chance could be so generous and so kind. . . . That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time. . . . That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful. . . . The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don’t think I’ll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”

Ann Druyan.

[jakelafortParticipant]

I have heard that and read that more’n a few times. Sagan such a cool customer and popularizer of science.
A thinker who shakes head at march of folly.

Another great Jewish contributor in history of thought. Tiny percentage of humans. Outsized impact and recipients of unending hatred. If Sagan was standard fare among humans there would be no wars and we’d be working on feeding everybody, insuring clean drinking water, combatting diseases & climate change, extending lives etc. But it is only a coterie and tiny minority of humans who do not get swept up by the current.

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