Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Charter schools are public and, therefore, must remain secular. Simple!

Police in Bangladesh arrest the victim of a crazed mob of religious zealots.

Poland confirms detention of Indian rationalist wanted on Interpol red notice.

Qur’an burning case ‘threatens back-door blasphemy law’ in England.

Do churchgoers want to hear more politics from the pews?

Are you Christian enough to work at the State Dept?

SCOTUS: the Robed Religious Junta.

You think it’s a bit crazy now? Wait until J.D. Vance is in charge.

World of Woo:  Want to take a Misinformation Susceptibility Test? (About 5 mins).

Environment:  Deep Change Theory could lead to a sustainable future.

RFK. Jr. praises 2 quacks after attending the funeral of another child in West Texas whose death was preventable. His touting of Vitamin A is leading to toxic levels of it being reported in other victims of parental ignorance. People with autism do not view their existence as a cataclysm as RFK Jr. called it on Faux News.  Anyway, caring about medical errors and patient safety risks is such an inefficient use of money!

For years I have asked this question of Christians.

Scientists who helped make America great are considering leaving and also considering new offers! See also first long read article.

Long Reads:

The Future is not America.

Religion in 2024: The plateau is real.

At the dawn of life, did metabolism come first?

Our 4,576 orbits around Earth?

A ‘US-Made iPhone’ is pure fantasy.

Annaka Harris: Consciousness is fundamental (Myself and Pope Beanie disagree!)

These delivery drones operate where I live.

Finding solace in the company of bees.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 50 years later.

Sunday Book Club: On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization.

Some odd photographs taken last week.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Videos:  Tax the Churches. One of Creationism’s favorite lies. Our crisis of Antisemitism & Islamism with Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

 

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

“Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence.” – Christopher Hitchens, born April 13th.

[_Robert_Participant]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

“Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence.” – Christopher Hitchens, born April 13th.

Love this quote, however as I advance towards my end with the realization that the median person is mentally and morally very limited, do I even care about the future of homo sapiens anymore? We all know it ends with extinction, so it is just a matter of time.

So, for a materialist like me, there is only the sum amount of joy and happiness versus the summation of all pain and suffering. If the joy that life provides is less than all the pain and suffering, extinction is the better solution for our species.

However, there is always hope, right? Huge technical breakthroughs in energy and space travel. Life and health extending advances in medicine. Wise leaders, smart democracy and total acceptance of all living things. Helpful machines that end the daily slog for everybody. Shining cities and beautiful natural pristine regions full of life.

Ahh yes, but we have these ape brains. Not gonna happen, is it?

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!!

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@_Robert_ I understand the sentiment. I find it increasing difficult to keep friendships with religiously minded people. It is not their faith that is the problem. I can generally ignore it. But it is how the magical thinking entwines itself into their view of the world.  Once they have fallen for the “Great Overarching Delusion” (GOD)* they end up reading horoscopes with a pink crystal in their hand while facing East. Yes, I probably sound belligerent but I refuse to entertain irrational people for more than a few minutes unless they have lapsed back into rationality for a while. If you are a grown adult and still cling to such forms of nonsense then I don’t have the time.  I am fortunate that my family are all atheists, as are all my circle of friends. We seldom talk about our lack of beliefs in gods or ghosts or anything else in this demon haunted world so many people live in. We just get on with living our best lives together because we all “get” that this is the only life we will have. I understand the “pointlessness” of it all in the long run but we still strive to make the world a better place for as many people as we can, no matter what they believe. Some of my group run charities, others teach in various fields of academia, and those in business work ethically.

Having said that, I will debate with people suffering from any form of “GOD syndrome” at anytime. Atheism is a more mature position to hold. It is more intellectually demanding and it is more authentic and ethically robust because it does not rely on external authority. “Faith allows an evasion of those responsibilities which the atheist has to accept“**, like coming to terms with our own mortality. When I discover that someone is an atheist, I think to myself “Great, we don’t have to go through all the usually crap in order to have a conversation worth having”. I can see that thought reciprocated in them and neither of us needs to say it out loud.  I know you know what I mean by that 🙂

* My term. I find that most gullible people almost always believe a god exists. This is the big one. So belief in any other type of Woo is easy as they lack strong critical thinking skills.

**Simone de Beauvoir

• This reply was modified 4 days ago by  Reg the Fronkey Farmer. Reason: fixed a few typos

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Some “rules” to be happy as you age.  All suggestions welcome!!

[UnseenParticipant]

@Reg

Wear sunscreen.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

I tested 20/20 correct out of 20 headlines on the Misinformation Susceptibility Test..but probably because I’m a good tester who could identify baloney and was sufficiently media saavy. I also think I could sense the direction of the test’s drift.

Perhaps if the test was solely on logical fallacies or scientific method, it could more accurately test people who don’t soak in media constantly.

• This reply was modified 4 days, 1 hour ago by  TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spelling

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

I got 19/20. I made up an excuse for myself that I did it too quickly!

Re the Sunscreen tip….yes, that is good advice. I put a layer of it on at the weekend as summer in Ireland was on a Saturday this year….40F at the moment

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Here is an interesting opinion on the objective value of what we do in life.

[jakelafortParticipant]

Yeah Reg that is an interesting case.

I don’t think many who are doing as well as he apparently was would take their lives. Love his humility too. That perspective he expressed is dope.

And in that vein i think it is important none of us lionize or place on a pedestal anyone just cuz we fancy they are super intelligent. We all make mistakes. Einstein had some blech essays on history. Newton was a mystic. My own dad who is 91 and was truly the most analytical person i have seen before his brain tumors clings to life and continues to exercise like a nut in spite of paying for it each time. He had a brother who was also afflicted with extreme intelligence and had an incredibly miserable life never fitting in and as his health care proxy wanted me acting in his stead to always maintain life support. Bottom line is we ought to support those who are of right mind and want to get off the merry go round.

[_Robert_Participant]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

I got 19/20. I made up an excuse for myself that I did it too quickly! Re the Sunscreen tip….yes, that is good advice. I put a layer of it on at the weekend as summer in Ireland was on a Saturday this year….40F at the moment

Oh, I am a bit too skeptical. Impossible, these days. Didn’t have any sunscreen questions, but a lot of them seemed a bit weird to be news stories.

📈 Your MIST-20 results: 19/20

👉 Your ability to recognize real and fake news is great! You might be a bit skeptical when it comes to the news.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Bottom line is we ought to support those who are of right mind and want to get off the merry go round.

Yes, I fully agree. If somebody is compos mentis when they make a legal declaration that clearly shows they wish to end their life if certain conditions are met or at a predetermined date, then so be it.

It often happens that once they have the legal choice signed off on that their quality of life improves. They become less stressed out about their future. Knowing that their partner or whomever it is that will assist them at the time will not be charged with a crime also helps them. In fact people who have the legal choice sometimes times don’t carry through with it. Just knowing they have the option is enough.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@jakelafort – From the earlier article…. One more for your list…..

[jakelafortParticipant]

Reg,

Thanks.

[Author]

Posts