Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

An Irish bishop recommends that he should keep seeing his own psychiatrist.

An atheist charity is suing over its tax exemption status.

This school in Virginia is fucked up. These teenagers were educated to believe they can communicate with the Creator of the Universe by straining their faces.

This weeks’ Woo: Stop taking Vitamin D supplements.

Climate Change: Victims of Hurricane Michael are represented by climate deniers. The red tide is not from Russia this time. I often spend Thanksgiving in Panama City Beach. What will it be like in 12 years’ time?

A long history of sidelining women has made us less likely to believe their experiences.

If you missed this article earlier you can now go back in time to read it but just remember how we fill in the gaps in our everyday experiences.

Things to do in Kalamazoo before going to Indiana.

The Trump Prophecy and democracy.

The 10 worst things about human nature.

During the week be sure to look up at the night sky…and in case you spot an alien up there…

This is the next big thing already – CRISPR cures inherited disorder in mice.

I think we should wave goodbye to the idea that reality is not weird.

This week I am reading this book: Randomistas.

Some photographs taken last week

We pause to remember: Elsa Koditschek.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil…..

Coffee Break Video:  This is a long but worthwhile debate between Dan Dennett and Keith Ward. How quackademia avoids criticism. How to build an authoritarian regime.

• This topic was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Strega.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Have a great week everyone!!

Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.

Henry L. Mencken.

[Strega]

Thanks, Reg!

[Simon Paynton]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

sidelining women

Did Kavanaugh take a lie detector test?  I didn’t hear that he did.

I appreciate the concern of Elizabeth Winkler about Donna Strickland not being accepted into Wikipedia until she had received a Nobel prize, but we’re not told about men in a similar position to Strickland, so I can’t make the comparison.

If Kavanaugh’s accuser had been a man, he would still have been sidelined.  But I take the general overall point.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Simon Paynton.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Hmmm…why have I never included the “Lie Detector Test” as a Woo article? The FBI and maybe even the CIA use it as part of the  entrance test and it is complete pseudoscience. My job here is not done yet!! 🙂

[Davis]

Very nice Sunday school Reg

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

Thanks very much Davis. There is a weeks’ worth of reading there! I think the photographs are superb this week.

[tom sarbeck]

Another candidate for the ten worst things about human nature:

Our ancestral cyanobacteria (aka blue-green algae & pond scum) had no empathy for their smaller and weaker prey.

Some current research says psycho/sociopathy result from damaged grey/white matter respectively, so the DSM’s antisocial personality disorder has a genetic link.

Depending on the source, from one to a four percent of males not in prisons are afflicted and from 20 to 25 percent of males in prisons are afflicted. The

I have no info on how many we elect to public office.

 

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

I wonder if there is a correlation exists between how full our bellies are and our levels of empathy for others.

[Simon Paynton]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

I wonder if there is a correlation exists between how full our bellies are and our levels of empathy for others.

I think there’s definitely a link between experience (especially of pain and need) and levels of empathy (knowledge and empathic concern) for others.

Young people are notoriously unempathic, and this may be simply because they haven’t had as much experience as older people.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

While levels of empathy are related to positive (or negative) emotional experiences I don’t think it is correct to say that “Young people are notoriously unemphatic”. It develops from infancy and is well developed and common to almost all children from age 5 or 6.

[Simon Paynton]

Yes, but kids can be cruel and heartless compared with adults.  Think of the school playground.  In my experience, adults have learned more empathy (concern for others).

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

but kids can be cruel and heartless compared with adults….

I wonder where kids learn such behavior from.

[Simon Paynton]

where kids learn such behavior from

– they say “the fish rots from the head”.  I put it down to bullying, narcissistic parents.

[Reg the Fronkey Farmer]

I put it down to bullying, narcissistic parents.

So how do adults have more empathy than children?

[Author]

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