Gregg R Thomas

Finally some white smoke……I was so nervous.  Phew!! This guy has a Degree in Math!!

@_Robert_  Put you and her on an 8:30 AM train and it is a completely different picture…

I agree and it usually was. I had (have) no problem with anyone being a goth. I am all for people expressing their own individuality, especially with a subversive or non-conformist undertone towards “the system”.  I lived in a squat house with 12 people f…[Read more]

@Strega – Everyone else wrote “Individuality”, and she wrote “Conformity”.

I had a summer relationship with a goth girl in the mid 1980’s. My style at the time (if style is the word to use) was t-shirt, jeans, sneakers and a packet of Rizla. She was full goth, all the time. She was trying to persuade me to “change my lifestyle choices” or whateve…[Read more]

I went for an end of term dinner in an Elementary School in the USA for some relations who were probably about ages 910  at the time. I don’t recall the menu but I will always remember the notice at the front entrance over the flowerbeds. It read “No firearms beyond this point”.

The most common reply I get from ChatGPT is “Great catch”. Then I wait for the next reply and check it too……..

@strega – isn’t there a difference between individuality, and individualism?  Individualism can be a social situation, the opposite of communitarianism.  People rely on themselves and a small circle of people, while in communal societies, people rely on the whole community.  Community societies are “shame” cultures where the community governs th…[Read more]

An American friend once told me a story.
She was in a classroom around age twelve, and the class was required to  write the one word they felt typified Americans.  Everyone else wrote “Individuality”, and she wrote “Conformity” 🙂

This isn’t a country that celebrates individualism. We would be looking at the conformists to introduce new educati…[Read more]

What’s the difference between critical thinking skills and conspiracy theorising?  I guess it’s the quality of the evidence, and a willingness to have an open mind.  If you get all your evidence from Youtube, and won’t change your mind no matter what, that’s not critical thinking.

People can use their critical thinking skills to support their unconscious prejudices. Greyhound racing, for example, is quite wisely banned almost everywhere in America and yet horse racing, which is exactly the same thing applied to a different species, persists.

Go figure.

Channeling my anger and ChatGPT updating my rant.

The Benefits of a Society That Values Critical Thinking (Compared to Theocracies)

A society that places critical thinking at its core gains wide-reaching benefits that theocracies — societies ruled by religious authority — struggle to match. Critical thinking involves the systematic que…[Read more]

And would any government today really want critically thinking citizens?

I guess it would if it was a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”.

“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”

Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr.

I got my basilicas/cathedrals mixed up. Sorry. My limerick should read…

A PAPAL RHYME OF TRUMPIAN PROPORTIONS

Trump said from his Washington home,
I’d love to be the Bishop of Rome.
Because Pontiffs are fine
Just one Pope at a time
And St. Peter’s has one HELL of a dome.

Trump said from his Washington home,
“I’d love to be the Bishop of Rome.
Because Pontiffs are fine
One Pope at a time
And St. Paul’s has one HELL of a dome.

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:
the White House Faith Office

What’s that for?  The Office of Slippery Hypocrisy?  Can they think back to the exact day they lost their personal integrity?

Thanks, Reg!!!

Have a great week everyone!

Speaking on Thursday, Pastor Paula White, head of the White House Faith Office, said, “Prayer is not a religious act. It’s a national necessity,” while Trump claimed, “People of faith have never been allowed in the White House.”

That’s all fixed now, says White. During the first 100 days of the Trump Administrat…[Read more]