tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post581806386586493958..comments2024-03-18T21:33:35.309-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Religious Humanism vs. Darwinist AnimalismGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-32960238582035012352008-06-19T11:18:00.001-07:002008-06-19T11:18:00.001-07:00Smoov:I'd appreciate it if you'd stop making comme...Smoov:<BR/><BR/>I'd appreciate it if you'd stop making comments that are irrelevant to the discussion. If you need to discuss your problems, just email someone directly.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-79435693066390662122008-06-19T11:18:00.000-07:002008-06-19T11:18:00.000-07:00Bob,I 'm afriad that Lisa has dumped me.Bob,<BR/>I 'm afriad that Lisa has dumped me.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-77929554550747310092008-06-19T11:16:00.000-07:002008-06-19T11:16:00.000-07:00Smoov,I sent you an e-mail, let's talk.Smoov,<BR/>I sent you an e-mail, let's talk.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-62721527782947339392008-06-19T11:13:00.000-07:002008-06-19T11:13:00.000-07:00Not only have I not heard from my girefriend over ...Not only have I not heard from my girefriend over the past 24 hours, I have not heard from the mother of the 23 year old sniper in Afghanistan.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-50501900637912908742008-06-19T11:03:00.000-07:002008-06-19T11:03:00.000-07:00thanks for that, BobThe ultimate slap in the face....thanks for that, Bob<BR/><BR/>The ultimate slap in the face.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-42357049215174227982008-06-19T10:59:00.001-07:002008-06-19T10:59:00.001-07:00Yes, he said they were "reprehensible." Now leave ...Yes, he said they were "reprehensible." Now leave him alone and stop acting like you're insane, because that's what it sounds like.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-29178252498415938752008-06-19T10:54:00.000-07:002008-06-19T10:54:00.000-07:00Bob:The moment this man mentioned NAMBLA, it fired...Bob:<BR/><BR/>The moment this man mentioned NAMBLA, it fired red flares across FBI, RCMP, etc.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-41164766823786420262008-06-19T10:29:00.000-07:002008-06-19T10:29:00.000-07:00Smoov:I'm going to have to delete some of your thr...Smoov:<BR/><BR/>I'm going to have to delete some of your threatening comments. I don't know what your problem is, but they're out of line.Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-47296593539348135582008-06-19T10:27:00.000-07:002008-06-19T10:27:00.000-07:00Smoov-I sent you an e-mail, man.Check it out.Smoov-<BR/>I sent you an e-mail, man.<BR/>Check it out.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-73365638875915602122008-06-19T10:03:00.000-07:002008-06-19T10:03:00.000-07:00Cuz,You are right of course, and I apologize. Sorr...Cuz,<BR/>You are right of course, and I apologize. <BR/>Sorry about lettin' my emotions get the better of me.<BR/><BR/>Smoov, some things are better left unsaid because you know dirtbags would use this against us. <BR/>Let's take a clue from Cuz and change the subject...and read Bob's new post.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-82908185904636895892008-06-19T09:58:00.000-07:002008-06-19T09:58:00.000-07:00Boys, could we please settle down? Even I don't w...Boys, could we please settle down? Even I don't want to get involved.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-79708073984555943272008-06-19T09:24:00.000-07:002008-06-19T09:24:00.000-07:00By all means, Smoov!You can give Anton my e-mail a...By all means, Smoov!<BR/>You can give Anton my e-mail addy too if you want. <BR/>And please tell him I salute him and his friends and I thank them for their service!USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-20379630431282264472008-06-19T09:15:00.000-07:002008-06-19T09:15:00.000-07:00Ben,You old salt!I only know a small amount (a Rus...Ben,<BR/><BR/>You old salt!<BR/><BR/>I only know a small amount (a Russian-born Canadian squad leader is over there now)<BR/><BR/>I will sure as hell be telling Anton about my friend Ben online -- if you give me leave...Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-2891003631059220792008-06-19T09:14:00.000-07:002008-06-19T09:14:00.000-07:00Magnus - That's just it. I believe in such a world...Magnus - That's just it. I believe in such a world. I just don't think it's constructed the way and of the materials you think it is.<BR/><BR/>Bob talked a while back about phase spaces, strange attractors, and such. Simple phenomena on one level that display or develop - in many senses literally - <I>infinitely</I> complex structures when looked at in a different way.<BR/><BR/>Being human is like that, and because people are human they will experience and understand things in a common way. Religious tradition <I>does</I> have profound insights on how to life a fulfilling life, on how to make sense of life. But that doesn't mean that it's right about everything, or even about some very central, important things.<BR/><BR/>People have been fundamentally wrong - just plain <I>wrong</I> - about how their <I>own bodies</I> work. For most of human history, in fact. (Bleeding as therapy? The brain is a cooling system for the heart? Female 'circumcision'?) Doubtless we're <I>still</I> wrong about a lot of it. Having intimate lifelong experience with something is not a foolproof guard against error.<BR/><BR/> Then there's being right for the wrong reason. Storing cheese with meat is a <I>really bad idea</I> absent pasteurization and refrigeration. A rule that has the effect of mandating separate storage of cheese and meat (like, say, the Jewish dietary laws) will have good effects regardless of the rationale. The same for a rule that encourages cleanliness, even if nobody knows about germs. Why can't there be <I>psychological</I> rules like that, too?<BR/><BR/>Mathematics is an example of "an imaginary persistent world that has lasted for thousands of years without any central server or any power supply," too. That doesn't mean one <I>has</I> to be a Platonist about it.<BR/><BR/>(And yes, evolution can produce extravagances that are even, overall, counterproductive, like the peacock's tail. Arms races can do that - and there's a certain amount of evidence that a cooperative, social species develops cognitive faculties to cope with remembering alliances and policing betrayals, and then more brainpower evolves to get around that, and then... I'm not claiming that religion <I>is</I> like that, just that it's not <I>a priori</I> impossible.)Ray Ingleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16290483120987779339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-14529584176641753442008-06-19T09:10:00.000-07:002008-06-19T09:10:00.000-07:00I hear ya Smoov. If I could, I would take the plac...I hear ya Smoov. <BR/>If I could, I would take the place of those young men, or at least be fightin' beside them.<BR/>And I know my good friend Jim (JimmyJ.) would do the same, and he's in his 70's.<BR/><BR/>But we have a different mission now, and CDR Jim, Bob, and all you Raccoons have helped me to learn to accept that. <BR/><BR/>I won't say it ain't hard, 'cause it is damn hard!<BR/>But those young Heroes over there need us to cover there backs here at home, all according to our particular gifts and talents and means.<BR/>So that's what we are gonna do!USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-79788823205361475372008-06-19T09:02:00.000-07:002008-06-19T09:02:00.000-07:00Drunks have salty language too, it's not that.We s...Drunks have salty language too, it's not that.<BR/><BR/>We say in AA that it is one place on the planet you can say God and f*ck in the same sentence.<BR/><BR/>"Don't come back" is the outrageous part.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-63274725984220997902008-06-19T09:00:00.000-07:002008-06-19T09:00:00.000-07:00Ben:The Canadian side of me -- in Newfoundland it ...Ben:<BR/><BR/>The Canadian side of me -- in Newfoundland it was <I>necessary</I> to take down a 1600 lb moose at a mile away -- beacause otherwise your family would starve.<BR/><BR/>Those skills persist. <BR/><BR/>So I know 5 or so youngsters who are deployed in Afghanistan -- mostly following orders to -- well, you know the rest.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-14675943614329161612008-06-19T08:51:00.000-07:002008-06-19T08:51:00.000-07:00Hey Smoov, I was enlisted, so you don't hafta call...Hey Smoov, I was enlisted, so you don't hafta call me sir. :^)<BR/><BR/>Your Dad was a Navy Doc? Cool! <BR/><BR/>You do serve, Smoov, as all Raccoons do, just in a different way than I did.<BR/>Now we fight a spiritual battle, and it's just as real as the battles our Military fight.<BR/><BR/>Don't have regrets or guilt about not serving in the Military, because you are a Patriot!<BR/><BR/>Look at it like this, Benjamin Franklin didn't serve in the Military during the Revolution, but he still fought with his pen, and thank God he did!<BR/><BR/>You are crucial in this war on terrorism with your job so don't sell yourself short okay? <BR/>As a Marine Major I know says:<BR/>"One team, one fight!"<BR/>And he's talkin' about the Military and civilian Patriots in every aspect of life fightin' evil.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-88659662308648655332008-06-19T08:47:00.000-07:002008-06-19T08:47:00.000-07:00Ben:Thanks for that.It makes me feel better to kno...Ben:<BR/><BR/>Thanks for that.<BR/><BR/>It makes me feel better to know that old guys like you are out there.<BR/><BR/>In Halifax harbor they still have docked examples of the sub hunters that were hastily built in 1943-44.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-40952367109288980572008-06-19T08:43:00.000-07:002008-06-19T08:43:00.000-07:00" Smoov said... Ray Ingles:"I've already linked to..." Smoov said... <BR/>Ray Ingles:<BR/><BR/>"I've already linked to this before. In the case of something as twisted as NAMBLA (sometimes I wonder if their main reason for existence is to allow people to circumvent Godwin's Law)"<BR/><BR/><BR/>Get the fuck out of here. I mean it.<BR/><BR/>Do not return."<BR/><BR/>How rude! Outrageous.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-31977675752353160172008-06-19T08:42:00.001-07:002008-06-19T08:42:00.001-07:00My thoughts and prayers go out to your sister, Smo...My thoughts and prayers go out to your sister, Smoov, and her children.<BR/>I hope the docs are able to put her cancer in remission, and hey, I'm not offended by salty language, my friend. I was and still am (at heart) a sailor.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-89300205542964529042008-06-19T08:42:00.000-07:002008-06-19T08:42:00.000-07:00Ben - There can be things that are absolutely true...Ben - There can be things that are absolutely true, which humans have only an imperfect grasp of, correct?<BR/><BR/>Science doesn't progress by finding truth - it progresses by testing and discarding falsehood. Like the progression from the flat Earth to the spherical Earth to the slightly oblate (pear-shaped) spheroid Earth.<BR/><BR/>I'll take the laws of nature as absolute until we find, say, a flying carpet. Those effective absolutes do have implications for how humans should behave - given what humans are and what humans want. As noted a few days back, "all things are permitted, but not all things are beneficial".<BR/><BR/>Some things are worse than before, but some things are better, too. Kids these days are vastly less race-conscious than they were even a couple decades back, for example. Not nearly so many race riots now. Not a solved problem of course, but, well, progress has been made.<BR/><BR/>Oh, and if you think I'm a fan of the Democratic party (or the Republican party), or communism - think again.Ray Ingleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16290483120987779339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-10186123608106323332008-06-19T08:40:00.000-07:002008-06-19T08:40:00.000-07:00Ben, SirI do get to call you Sir, right, because y...Ben, Sir<BR/><BR/>I do get to call you Sir, right, because you served in the USN.<BR/><BR/>My Dad served in 1960 as a ship's doc.<BR/><BR/>I have not served, and besides everything else, it eats me up.<BR/><BR/>A man should serve.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-53233148299113962362008-06-19T08:36:00.000-07:002008-06-19T08:36:00.000-07:00Ben:Yours was a flood, right?A storm came close to...Ben:<BR/><BR/>Yours was a flood, right?<BR/><BR/>A storm came close to wiping you out?Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-3737970065331978752008-06-19T08:35:00.000-07:002008-06-19T08:35:00.000-07:00Smoov,She's a chocolate lab. Great for his kids, b...Smoov,<BR/>She's a chocolate lab. Great for his kids, but useless as a huntin' dog.<BR/>He hunts pretty much everything.<BR/>And he has an impressive assortment of rifles and a hunting bow.<BR/>If I were younger (and had more energy) I would go with him when he goes deer or elk huntin' (love venison and elk). <BR/><BR/>That must've been great, huntin' with your Dad and the dogs.<BR/>Bein' a surgeon I reckon he spent a lot of time workin'. <BR/>That's a hard and demanding job!USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.com