Ugh, everyone who wants to hang out is religious. Why do I live in such a back woods area?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 21, 2018:

For the godless there are bastions of sanity to be found, even in the USofA. https://www.bustle.com/articles/13516-atheists-in-america-rejoice-here-are-the-least-religious-cities

Most definitely. ?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 20, 2018:

I like openness and those old Victorians were very chopped up inside, there's some settlement of the foundation out front but so long as that was the worst of it then yes but the money better be unlimited because that is a money pit if ever I saw one.

Is there anything more stressful than leaving one kid to sort out another kid to get ready for ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 20, 2018:

I'm sure your parents didn't call you on your mobile or text you when you had to sort or be sorted by a sibling, they would just patiently wait until you got home after school to determine if further sorting was required. Trust a little and realize that you can sort it later if you need to.

When people think about traveling to the past, they worry about radically changing the future by ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 20, 2018:

I think it is a good thing that people don't realize how much their future can be changed by doing something small because most people resist any change, even if they aren't happy with their present they resist changes to their situation and wouldn't make even the small changes they need to grow, let alone the large changes.

Daughter knows best.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 20, 2018:

If he would stop sending his daughter dick pics then she wouldn't know.

Do other people have tiny little frogs sticking to their windows at night or is it just me? Lol...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 20, 2018:

Those peepers are peeping in your windows. When we first moved to Bermuda we found their peeping so loud we could barely get to sleep at night.

Has anyone else had a religious friend ask where your sense of morality comes from?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 20, 2018:

I would ask them where they find morality in a bible that is so full of immoral actions justified and sanctioned by an immoral god.

Micro Rant I just did that really French thing where I ranted (outloud) at my computer screen - ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 19, 2018:

When my wife swears at me in French then I know she is Really pissed off. ;)

Not being able to read this because your book's batteries died is a pretty hilarious first world ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 18, 2018:

There is something very tactile about reading a bound book, even the books bound in the old way where you have to cut each page open as you read, E books don't compare.

Don't know if this has been posted in here before or if maybe it's not news, but Trump's issue about...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 18, 2018:

I'm guessing that with Rocky, Boris and Natasha involved that Trump must be Bullwinkle, the dumb and horny one.

What a difference an hour makes, these are the open moonflowers an hour later

Surfpirate comments on Sep 18, 2018:

I remember them from Ecuador, very fragrant.

“As I’ve always said, a new day has dawned in Ontario.” drugged ford [thestar.com]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 17, 2018:

Personally, I am wondering where Ford is going next if he gets his way with Toronto City Council, once that's out of the way then the question that comes to mind is 'Who's Next?' The last time the Tories were in power in Ontario they amalgamated and downloaded services to the municipal level of government, 20 years later and some townships and counties are still reeling from that blow. Out here in the hinterland that is Kingston and the Thousand Islands, we are wondering how long it will take before Ford's evil eye turns on us and what we can do to fight it.

Ontario has contracted Trumpism. We could bee seeing the beginning of the end of Confederation.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 17, 2018:

Don't worry, Ford doesn't want Ontario to separate from Canada, just Toronto from Ontario. ;)

I started a new group since I lost my old one.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 17, 2018:

If people want to own guns to provide for the national defense and serve as guardians of freedom against the take over of the nation by an evil despot, they should think again. Guns are no longer the defense they once were against government oppression, it would be like bringing a pea shooter to a gun fight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CO6M2HsoIA

Reading a Jarod Diamond book, always enjoy his work.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 17, 2018:

The same applies in Haiti, just in case you find yourself travelling closer to home.

And Drumpf doesn't care about normal people

Surfpirate comments on Sep 17, 2018:

Throughout human history every time that the majority of the wealth has become focused in the hands of the few where it lay idle and the majority of people therefore suffered economic hardship, there have been uprisings and revolutions. The super rich are always the ones who lose their heads although there are millions of poor that die too, the difference is that the super rich could change the outcome but they never do.

I have a hard time controlling my reply fingers as well. Ah well, they'll get past it.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 17, 2018:

The first two always seem to lead to the last one. :D People decide to lob a verbal hand grenade at me and before I even think about it I have completed a drone strike on them with hell fire missiles, out of the smoking ruins comes some butt hurt remark about how mean I am. OOPS! (don't lob hand grenades, my defenses are set on automatic and I have no restrictions on using lethal force)

Tomatoes anyone????

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

Or the deer will be very well fed on tomatoes if they get to them first. :D

We finished the Natchez Trace this afternoon, a true American treasure.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

It's a beautiful drive, did it in our motor home a few years back, interesting history too. It was in the 90's with 90% humidity here in Canada today but it's not like that all the time. ;)

Seriously?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

Dinner tonight was a spicy, yellow fin tuna poke bowl over a bed of sushi rice, the house is almost finished from design to construction, except for the plumbing because I really hate plumbing.

Seriously?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

I thought it particularly funny because I am a retired master builder and my favourite hobby is gourmet cooking. My wife cooks a little now but for the first decade I did all of the cooking because I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to food - my wife says kitchen Nazi just because I stabbed a dinner guest in the hand who wouldn't stop reaching in and grabbing bits of sashimi off my cutting board, he barely bled at all - the big baby. ;)

The name is Bates

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

I actually knew a Mike Baten and yes we did call him MasterBaten.

Manafort's cooperation agreement [axios.com]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

This reminds me of that scene in the movie Deliverance where in this case, Manafort is about to squeal like a pig.

This involves guns and many of you may be against anything I say after guns, that is fine.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

You could take the .22 into the police station and ask them to destroy it, guns that have been seized or used in a felony are often destroyed after they are no longer required as evidence and you would get a certificate proving that it had been destroyed. If she wants the remains of the gun she can petition the police.

Sept. 16: Dream Diary

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

A construction dream last night, something I haven't had in a while. I was back in Toronto in the neighbourhood I grew up in on Lake Ontario and I had a large job on the go which was bogged down in the usual day to day issues that are part of a large construction project probably a couple million in the hole and I was running for election and that was a headache as well, so I was a bit stressed in my dream. I'm worried about what I will do to fix these issues and I'm thinking to myself about where I will come up with the extra money when one of my campaign workers asked me if I bought a house down the street from my campaign headquarters, he points and say 'You know, #50'. So I look and it is an older brick row house from the 1920's, very nicely maintained in a good neighbourhood and even though I don't like living in cities anymore I think this is a very nice property and I would like to have it but I am still worrying about the money I need for the major project which I think is a grocery store. I decide to go look at #50 but then change my mind when I remember I have a similar property at the end of the street which is right beside a steep bluff that overlooks the lake but the ground is unstable there and is constantly being eroded, I get to this other property and I can see it is an up and down duplex conversion of a nice older two storey, brick house like #50 but with a better view although and more questionable position because of the bluff. I had forgotten that I had even bought this property for a good price because the inside was run down and I had asked my mechanical project manager's wife to fix it up but don't spend too much money on it because of the unstable ground beside it. I see when I pull up that the side lane which separates the duplex from the bluff is in bad shape but I also know it won't be too big of a job to fix it if I bring in a bulldozer for a day, then I go inside the building. Lorna (the wife of my Mechanical PM Jimmy) has a whole crew of guys working away inside, they have torn out a few walls and are repairing the plaster, the kitchen needs to be refurbished as well and Lorna is all excited about the work but I am concerned because instead of giving it a coat of paint and a few touch ups this is a full scale renovation and I can tell it is at least $100k already spent and this new crew is a subcontractor that I don't know but he's looking at me with that 'I hope you can pay for all of this look in his eye'. I can see I am committed to do the rest of the work as well as pay for the work already done so it's probably going to cost me a quarter million by the time I am done and I don't have any idea where I will be getting that money. Lorna takes me upstairs to show me the 2nd unit and it has an amazing ...

Where's my fing coffee?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 16, 2018:

Stop, take a couple of deep breathes and then close your eyes and visualize the can of coffee and where you put it when you got home that day a week ago, probably some place different than the usual. You should be making coffee in no time, like I am right now, kettle is boiling and the french press is ready to go.

I'm going to post something here because I'm tired and I was really hoping for a weekend where ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 15, 2018:

I can smell the aroma of a burning dumpster from here, I think it must have been from a seafood restaurant, smells like day old sea food that has been torched.

Going back a ways for this one. [youtube.com]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 15, 2018:

Let me try this again, for the American viewers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-P2qL3qkzk

Nena ‎- 99 Luftballons German version [youtu.be]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 15, 2018:

Love that song.

Please don't accidentally mispost in the Memes edited - Offenders group as they might report you ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 15, 2018:

Silver or Gold Tequila? Cointreau or Triple Sec?

Okay! I have to stop walking away from my cooking as I get bored waiting for something to heat up.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 15, 2018:

I see you went to the same cooking school that my wife went to, she walks away from the stove all the time, sets the timer because that's what the fucking recipe says it will take to cook. I keep telling her that recipes are bullshit and cooking is an art as much as a science, she just keeps burning shit and then she gets in a funk like it is my fault, worse if I have the audacity to tell her that her dish is burning just by the sound of it, she waits until the smoke detector goes off - it drives me fucking crazy. Rant Over, have fun scraping off the crusty bits. :)

Hahaha! Check out our new member @ledgersquad 's profile picture! It's great!!!

Surfpirate comments on Sep 15, 2018:

I know this guy, I'm sure he was in my Organic Chemistry class.

Wooooow. Let the lord fill your mouth! [me.me]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

How does one be kind to people like this?

This made me really LOL

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

I wonder what will be coming down the pipe for Doug Ford's campaign manager in the next year or so?

I'm drinking. What do we want to talk or argue about this evening?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

Drinking is not drunk but I accept that some people can't control their impulses and use alcohol for its intended purpose, mellowing the body and the mind. Some people need to take it too extremes but not any of us here. :)

Boy Scouts?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

The opinions on Scouting will be positive or negative based on the experience of the poster. I was in Cub Scouts even though I grew up as a JW and being a member of Scouts was banned but my buddies were all in cubs so my mother relented and let me go on the sly, it was a good experience. I didn't go to Scouts because of the hazing requirements and even at 11 I valued my freedom enough to not give into that peer pressure. I came back for Rovers in my teens because camping with girls was too good a thing to pass up, we did a lot of crazy stuff and it was a safe environment to mature in compared to some of my other peer groups that included punk rockers, nerds, bikers, mods and some other groups that didn't groove on camping. I became a Scout Leader when the local troop was falling apart, in the worst part of town the Scout Troop had been reduced to a couple of kids from under privileged families in a church basement with a couple of old church matrons having them work on badge work. I changed the program back to the Scouting I remembered, got the kids outside, tripled the enrollment in a year and took them all camping and taught them woodcraft. I left the troop when I took on overseas projects but I am still in touch with some of the kids who now have kids of their own. There were sexual predators in the Scouting movement but I made it clear what would happen to them if I caught them doing anything harmful to the kids, they behaved themselves as far as I know. The Scout Leader will make all the difference to your child's experience, if the kids express any concerns then get them out, otherwise you should let them have a lot of fun learning a lot of valuable life lessons. And yes, the holy roller idiots asked me if I believed in a higher power and I said I did because hey who knows but I don't believe and god and haven't since I was a Boy Scout, it is still a requirement that they ask this question. I also received a Distinguished Conduct Medal from the Chief Scout of Canada who represents the Queen, the only Scouter to receive such an award in my region, so much for immoral atheists. ;)

More Christian "love" in action.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

Oh please, it's a Xstian college for fuck sake so most of these people have either had their dick sucked, sucked a dick or both. They need to get over themselves and their tight assed morality, it's supposed to be about education not sexuality.

Okay boys and girls, Aunt Mary is back home in West Virginia.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

Forewarned is forearmed. ;)

Hopefully we can now get back to our regularly scheduled FUN.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

I didn't realize you were elected, I thought you were appointed.

Dumbing Down of America

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

Why confuse the issues with facts? ;)

Take a wild guess what I will be doing this weekend. Lol

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

If you have a neighbour with a backhoe or even a tractor, I'd call them up and ask them if they can spare an hour of their time.

September 14: Dream Diary

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

I am still going through some adjustments to my sleep patterns as a result of the new muscle relaxant I am using for my spinal cord injury, it means better sleep but it is harder to remember my dreams. All I remember from last night was that my wife and I were driving to see some people at a place on Mary Bridges Rd. and it was dark so we made a wrong turn and had to double back to get back on the right track and we were using Map Quest to do it. I don't recall who we were going to see but I do recall remembering which was the right route to take and I was looking forward to seeing this couple again.

Chinese Colinisation [dailymaverick.co.za]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 14, 2018:

I worked for several years with a Chinese firm around the time of the repatriation of Hong Kong to the PRC and I can tell you that their perspective is general speaking a very different one from the West. They still see themselves as the only civilized culture on the planet, the Caucasians are merely a bunch of hairy barbarians that broke into their house while they were napping but who will soon be put back in their place. Where the West sends in legions of troops when they colonize an area, the Chinese sends in legions of merchants and seize all of a country's resources through trade. They get you to give them your resources at a very cheap price whereas the Westerns prefer to rob you at gunpoint.

This is the famous - I hope !- Mr Marcello ♥️ Lounging on the back patio , yet keeping an eye ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 13, 2018:

Life is short and death is forever, one of the great things about being an atheist is not having to put off until the afterlife what you should be enjoying today because there is no heaven or hell.

And the republicans are still sticking with him... Amazing.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 13, 2018:

You just described a Sociopath to a T.

At store two days ago : The lady in front of me on line is chatting w cashier girl : " ain't no ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 13, 2018:

Jesus is drunk, all the time, he needs a designated driver and that would be a real person.

So what do you want on your tombstone? (Headstone or Pizza)

Surfpirate comments on Sep 13, 2018:

Cremation is fine with me, dump my ashes in the garden to help make the flowers bloom - or dump my empty husk in the landfill, use an old fridge box if a container is mandated by law.

Just imagine!

Surfpirate comments on Sep 13, 2018:

It's insane, completely nuts.

Hmm, wonder if they tasted like chicken? [sciencenews.org]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 13, 2018:

That's one really big Ostrich and I don't think I would want to hunt even a modern day ostrich with a sharpened stick, let alone one that stood 14 feet tall.

So.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 13, 2018:

The most important meal of the day. (y)

So I bought an oil painting at a night market in Hong Kong for $25.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 13, 2018:

My wife used to own a private art gallery and she did much of her own framing, it's really not as difficult as most people think. Check out Youtube for tips on how to frame it yourself, it's a nice painting but not really what most people would call art but better than a black velvet Elvis.

I have an inferiority complex... but it's not a very good one.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

Don't be so negative, it could always get worse.

The Jewish By Culture Group is growing in membership and has been revived by Sassygirl3869.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

Well done, give that girl a reserved parking space.

This needs to be heavily advertised.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

No chance of rain, thoughts and prayers will cause it to change direction and go back out to see, Lord Trump commands it.

ever noticed that there's a unicorn on your Canadian passport? [narcity.com]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

As a Canadian I've always wanted to be a unicorn, especially when I am talking to Trump supporters. :D

Who's an anxious vegetable?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

To be correct, adult humans are around 60% water but the sign was in Traverse City, MI so that's pretty close. ;)

Ever wondered.....

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

Doug Ford and Rob Ford as well for that matter.

September 11: Dream Diary

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

No dreams that I can recall for the past several days since my spinal cord injury has flared up again, barely able to sleep let alone dream and I do miss them.

Question: What Is The Best Candidate In Our Solar System (Apart from Earth) As An Abode For ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

When you consider that humans have only just scratched the surface when it comes to exploring our solar system over the past century it seems unlikely that even if there were other life forms living on the other planets in our solar system that they would be in sync with humans technologically. Even if the life forms, should they exist, were within the technological window we are in now, give or take a thousand years, that would be extremely unlikely and they would either be unable to communicate with us or be uninterested in communicating with us, particularly if they shared no common interests with us due to cultural, anatomical and ethical interests.

Seems about right

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

Ruination of Canada, good luck with that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVC677-YmfM

Sept.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

So where are you going on that jet plane?

Wtf really invisible shield and like storm from the x-men just command it go the other way.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

This is what happens in a society that fails to provide medical treatment to it's members who are mentally retarded or have delusional mental illnesses.

19,800 points to Level 9.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

Sharknado, reality imitating art. :D

Sounds about right.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

The people of North Carolina who will be abandoned by their government in the wake of this deadly storm will respond in the same way that Republican Rednecks who were abandoned after Katrina responded - Obama Did It!

Men's equality vs machismo.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

I can understand why you would like opera or a good romantic comedy but why in the hell would anyone like sports enough to cry over the outcome of a silly game played by grown men? Cry if something touches your heart directly, something that has meaning to it but not over whether or not some guy was able to kick a ball between to posts.

Hello peeps.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 12, 2018:

It is hard to be a feminist and an ally for women's rights when you receive the level of hatred that some militant feminists spew at male feminists. I expect that sort of behavior from the misogynists and the chauvinists because they are fearful idiots but it is surprising to see it in women who are enlightened enough to be feminists in the first place.

Never forget that on this day, we, as a nation, let our president use this tragedy as an excuse to ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

Well they couldn't really bomb Israel and Saudi Arabia could they? Somebody had to pay for it and the real culprits had to get off the hook so Bomb Iraq.

Spoiled brat with a participation trophy...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

He thinks that the US government should file for Chapter 11 protection the way he always did when he got in over his head. It doesn't work that way for countries, especially the country that has the world's reserve currency. Total Fucktard.

Trump said the government is prepared for Hurricane Florence | McClatchy Washington Bureau

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

What can I say, those people are screwed if they don't evacuate immediately. I wouldn't expect any aid after the storm if Puerto Rico is any example of how the POTUS responds to disaster victims.

I grew up with friends in Little Italy in Toronto and this reminds me of some of their grandmas.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

I should mention that I'm a mange cake, so food in my mother's kitchen was boiled or burnt, sometimes both. ;)

Little has changed with Hurricane Florence.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

Remember to watch for these indicators as the storm approaches. Cats are reliable indicators of natural disasters. ;)

These people claim to be loving, godfearing christians. Have they ever READ anything Jesus said?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

Jesus loves you, that's why he's coming back to kill everyone.

MASA -Make America Sane Again

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

Yes Masa, I sa vote for you, Yessuh.

Here is an example of my Weird dreams Ok so this is just part of the dream but gives you an idea of...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

I like the imagery, particularly the wombats that live among us but go unnoticed and the double helix of dreamers. To me it indicates that you are sensing a coming together of a universal consciousness that is represented by the dreamers and that this will lead to a reversal of priorities for humanity.

All men are animals… just some of us make better pets than others.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 11, 2018:

Don't pet the sweaty things and don't sweat the petty things. :)

Are we free?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 10, 2018:

Like crabs in a bucket, they just have to try and draw you back down into their despair when you reach the rim of the bucket and turn back to offer them a hand up, they haul you back down. Live free and at least you can say that you lived before you died, that you didn't just shuffle around in a crowded bucket waiting for your turn in the pot of boiling water.

What Working-class and Poor White People Need to Understand About Rich White People

Surfpirate comments on Sep 10, 2018:

I have always found it odd when people feel they should suck up to people who are rich as if the rich guy will be passing out free cash to his favourite people at the end of the day, never fucking happens, that's why the rich guy has all the money.

In honor of dumpster fires.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 10, 2018:

In this topsy turvy world even cats have to watch their backs. :D

yay Canada for being second, wait, what?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 10, 2018:

So you really just have to survive until the winter and then they become zombie popsicles to brain at your leisure.

So you want one of these as a pet !!! HeraldLIVE: Elderly man survives deadly crocodile attack.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 10, 2018:

So monkey boy steps on a croc's back and gets a near death experience for his trouble, I don't go poking polar bears with a stick because I realize they see me as part of their food chain. Nice pic of an alligator in the article btw.

This group has been a good place to vent.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 9, 2018:

I don't talk on the phone with mother very often, she can't speak freely because her new husband hovers near her and wants to listen in on the conversation so there's no point, ditto if he sees an email from any of her kids. Fortunately, my mother and I play scrabble together online so we use the chat function to stay in touch, so I chat with her in the morning when I play my turn and at night when I play again. She says I must be busy and tired lately because she is kicking my ass lately, did I mention I was raised by Scrabble Nazis. ;)

I have extremely vivid and detailed dreams : Nuts, bolts , rivets, colour, peoples faces that I have...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 9, 2018:

That's an active dream cycle and it's terrific that you can remember most of them, that seems to be the big hurdle for most people in this group. Welcome to the group, I hope you will share some of your dream experiences with the rest of us. Some people find it easier to understand their dreams by learning from the experiences of other dreamers.

I am currently reading "Flight or Fright" - it is a book of short horror stories about flying.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 9, 2018:

I love flying and have flown in everything from ultralight aircraft to airliners to small passenger prop planes. I know what the odds are and that it is a lot safer on average than driving a car but I did find the flight into the island of Mustique, which I made regularly because I was build there, to be a bit hair raising. The island is only 1.5 miles by 3 miles so the airstrip is partly on the side of the hill and the twin otter prop plane that services the island from Barbados has to actually do a controlled stall as it reaches the start of the runway, then you fall out of the sky onto the air strip and immediately start hitting the brakes or you will go off the end of the runway. A bit dodgy the first time because the klaxon horn indicating a stall start going off in the cramped cabin but after that first time it doesn't surprise you anymore. I love to fly in my dreams as well, so much better than being in a plane.

Since we're the fortunate ones who can sleep in on Sunday and not attend church services.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 9, 2018:

I got up, had breakfast, played a couple of crossword puzzles to get my mind going and then I fired up my backhoe and helped a neighbour by moving a bunch of pallets full of heavy landscaping blocks from his front yard where they were delivered to his back yard where he needs them.

Life after death. Yes or no?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 9, 2018:

Considering the basis of wanting to believe in life after death is the need of the ego to believe that it will never die, it is surprising that no one has ever been able to prove within a reasonable doubt that they have lived before and that persona is remembered by them in accurate detail. It seems highly unlikely in light of that fact.

Russian navy has permanent presence in Mediterranean as US influence diminishes. [m.dailykos.com]

Surfpirate comments on Sep 9, 2018:

Why is the US always shocked and concerned whenever anyone but the US has military assets overseas? Does it ever occur to Americans that their decades of hegemony and gunboat diplomacy has caused other nations to try to secure their own borders from American aggression? US military might has never been stronger and yet Americans are still paranoid that foreign powers will be a threat to their dominion over the planet. Take care of your veterans, feed your hungry and house your homeless first, then engage in these useless wars for profit if you have any money left over.

What are you grateful for?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 9, 2018:

I'm not comfortable with being thankful or grateful in a generic way, who would I be thankful or grateful too? An indifferent Universe? I do appreciate that I have had good luck in being able to pursue my dreams and make most of them a reality but grateful? I think not.

What is this group all ABOOT?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 8, 2018:

An American in Spain?

Are we living in Chaos and just deluding ourselves into believing that there is an overriding Law ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 8, 2018:

Of course there is order in the universe, there are fundamental rules that determine how matter and energy work, gravity produces a sort of order in the orbits of planets and stars, tides make their regular progression but there is also chaos in the universe too because things happen in seemingly random ways, the defining factor is human perspective. Humans want to feel that there is a human order to the universe, one we can understand and therefore potentially control, chaos is unacceptable to our little human brains so we attempt to create order on our scale when that just doesn't exist for the most part. I think this is why humans created religions and why the idea of an all powerful and all knowing sky daddy who created us in his own image is so attractive to so many people. The sky daddy has control over everything and it follows his order, as creations in his likeness that would make it a logical conclusion that we should have similar but lesser powers of control. All chaos that occurs can be explained away by our fall from grace with the big daddy in the sky. It's like having a night light to chase away the monsters in the closet but the monsters are definitely there because the universe is not a macrocosm of our microcosm, it just is and we inhabit only a tiny fraction of a fraction of it. Just my thoughts on the matter.

I took a break from this group for a week because the constant Trump retarded rhetoric was getting ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 8, 2018:

In the same vein.

So...This weekend we have a fair. What's offensive about this?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 8, 2018:

Aww, it's so cute and nostalgic. <3

Saw this today. For those not in the know, this was proto-Red Bull. Ah, memories.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 8, 2018:

I knew a guy who worked for that company, one of the original shareholders he did very well.

Sept. 8th: Dream Diary

Surfpirate comments on Sep 8, 2018:

I woke up looking for a scrap with my hands balled into fists. Last night's dream had me at a small cottage that was right at the edge of the water with an elevated deck cantilevered over the water on stilts. I pull up to this little box of a cottage and I am with my wife and my electrical project manager from Bermuda, Brian and his wife, we met there and are still friends. Blink! and we are up on the deck of the cottage, we have settled in, bags stowed and we are having a cocktail up on the deck and Brian is smoking as he always is, the ladies are chatting, it's nice even if the cottage isn't much to look at. Suddenly there is the sound of a tractor engine and kids hooting and hollering, so we all look over and driving through the water is a redneck on a full size tractor with a couple of floating raft docks being pulled behind him with a couple of kids on board, they drive right past the cottage in the lake which has a sandy bottom and is fairly shallow but the tractor is still up over the front tires in the water. The two rafts are banging together wildly which makes for a thrill ride but I am concerned that one of the kids will get caught in the bite between the two rafts and get crushed, there is a bit of a chop coming in off the lake and as the redneck in the tractor keeps going deeper it is getting worse and the rafts are really smashing together hard now and some of the kids seems genuinely scared. So we are yelling at the guy driving the tractor to turn back and he's waving at us like an idiot and he appears to be drunk. Finally the rafts are smashing together so hard that the redneck realizes he needs to turn back but he turns out into deeper water instead of in towards the shore and now the water is up to the cowling for the engine and it is chugging hard as the water is trying to flood the engine. I run downstairs and fire up my little blue Ford tractor which is half the size of the tractor the red neck is driving and drive down to the beach to see if I can help, then I go back inside the cottage to get some rope so I can use it to drag the tractor and the rafts to shore using my tractor. When I come back with the ropes the redneck is backing out of the water and right into my tractor which is still on the beach, I yell at him to stop but he keeps backing up so I jump up on the running board of the tractor and I am screaming at him stop but he is just waving me off, definitely drunk and not even aware of my tractor which he now backs right into and smashes the bucket off of. Now the drunk redneck realizes my tractor is behind him because he can't back up anymore although he continues to try and is gunning the engine, so I yell again to 'STOP!' but he just looks at me through his bleary eyes and says 'Why didn't you get out of ...

I’ve just had my very first conversation with a stranger who is an atheist.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 8, 2018:

Do you think that the person was a jerk because they were an atheist or do you think they were a jerk who was also an atheist, sometimes we may make the wrong connection.

Well, this was a weird one.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 7, 2018:

That's terrific, you don't get those double perspective dreams very often but they are usually surreal or vivid dreams. I thought your gig was pretty funny btw.

My sedum.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 7, 2018:

Those are amazing, ours are just starting to bloom.

How true is this ?

Surfpirate comments on Sep 7, 2018:

If she would quit interrupting me as I am trying to finish her sentence for her then I would have a chance to listen.

I see we have gotten quite a few new members in the last couple of weeks so I wanted to send out a ...

Surfpirate comments on Sep 7, 2018:

If you have questions then just throw them out there, nobody can answer them if they aren't asked. Share what you got, it can't be any weirder than being an Ant or floating in the void and being attacked by giant metallic spiders? or maybe it can be and we'd love to hear your dream experiences, old or new.

September 7: Dream Diary

Surfpirate comments on Sep 7, 2018:

Had one but it wasn't important enough for me to remember but once again a white background dream.

There's something incredibly scary and yet incredibly liberating about owning your own life.

Surfpirate comments on Sep 7, 2018:

I find most people are quite happy to relinquish this freedom because of the responsibility that goes with it.