My wife and I are in the middle of a nasty divorce, It's at the stage now that we are arguing about ...

brentan comments on Apr 7, 2020:

Here's an idea, if you like something different - Marquee.tv. It has operas, plays, ballet and music. You can try it out for a month, cancel if you don't like it.

I am in quarantine for 14 days in a hotel in Fremantle Western Australia because of the virus.

brentan comments on Apr 7, 2020:

Best wishes. I'm not having much luck with good movies but I think lots of the TV stuff is really good.

Why didn't anyone think of this before?

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

It's great fun to see the old values turned upside-down for a while.

The last Zoom meeting

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

Mute that fucker!

"If I have ventured wrongly, very well, life then helps me with its penalty.

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

Well then Soren, I think you're on your own.

Bible stories may not be factual - but they are nonetheless true

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

I think that the development of the story is getting more attention than the story itself. These stories have been made to fit together by writers who were trying to create a sense of identity for a people in exile who were in serious danger of becoming extinct as an ethnic group.

So what is your answer?...

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

My ex bit me on the shoulder once.

Why are we condoning our members wishing infection and death upon people for flaunting gathering ...

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

We can stop reading or block people we don't want to listen to. I would rather know how people think.

The difference

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

Uppity atheist!

What a great role model!

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

So long as he has enough toilet paper.

Constant Craving - K D Lang - [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

That's real quality!

I just turned 47.

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

I'm a failure too. But I'm happy. I can't control the standards society imposes. All I can do is control myself. Be happy.

Is there anything positive for me in this crisis?

brentan comments on Apr 6, 2020:

I'm the same. I'm not good at saying something unless I have something concrete to say. I saw a wonderful meme recently about a emo guy who is usually stuck at home saying "I've been ready my whole life for this". I don't know about you but I've had to find things in life to compensate for lack of social connection and these things - books, video games etc. - keep me going almost as if very little has changed.

If you really want to learn about religion without going to church or listening to a preacher then ...

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

I think it might help to read a book or two about what attracted people to Christianity back then. I think you're trying to understand a 1st century phenomenon with 21st century eyes.

Afterlife surprise!

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

Stephen is going to The Bad Place.

Church and church leaders, pastors, priests do help when looking for the truth, or not?

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

They don't understand their truth is just truth kindergarten. And they certainly don't think there is no final qualification. The search goes on forever.

Ace How Long [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

I've been watching him on the Marston (I think) charity show on YouTube. I was surprised to see Andy Fairweather-Low still at it too.

If you can survive it....

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

It's weird. It's a bit like living in a story.

What day is it today?

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

People are terrible for always wanting someone to do their thinking for them.

Religion, like science, does ask "Why", so all the bible basher's who get Covid-19 can say "Why me ...

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

Here's a nice Biblical meme to explain it to them:

When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

I'm not sure what he meant. I read his book and got the impression that the people who survived the most awful atrocities already had the character needed to face their challenges. These were the people who didn't need his logotherapy. They knew it already. In other words, they saw meaning in life and challenges were opportunities to act on such meaning. Perhaps he meant those who don't have it need to cultivate it quickly and who knows, maybe people in the concentration camps did change fast in the new circumstances and became masters of themselves and an example to others.

It’s amazing! Even quite (otherwise) smart educated people can get taken in by conspiracy ...

brentan comments on Apr 5, 2020:

I don't think there is an issue here. Religion has always asked why. Science used to be about that too and then changed to be about how.

[agnostic.com]

brentan comments on Apr 4, 2020:

Every morning, throw them at the bedroom wall. If they don't stick, they're good to go again.

For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been'.

brentan comments on Apr 4, 2020:

"It might have been me", he said, when he found out the plane he missed had crashed.

Hard Times - Tommy Fleming [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Apr 4, 2020:

Tommy - a fine singer only seen at Christmas.

Whatever your impression of Critical Thinking, especially if you're new to it or tend to ...

brentan comments on Apr 3, 2020:

Is it the type of thinking that gets you killed?

Hey everyone, I'd love to get your opinion here.

brentan comments on Apr 3, 2020:

I think none of us are 100% anything except human.

Amen......

brentan comments on Apr 3, 2020:

How else are these bastards gonna learn?

Apparently one of the symptoms of the virus is the loss of taste.

brentan comments on Apr 3, 2020:

I did the same thing a few days when I woke up sweating and forgot that it usually happens to me when I have a hangover.

“I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” - Maya Angelou

brentan comments on Apr 3, 2020:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.  So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love - 1 Corinthians 13:11-13.

Never claim as a right what you can ask as a favor. - John Churton Collins -

brentan comments on Apr 3, 2020:

There's a lot to be said for being polite so long as the other person understands what's going on.

He that would live in peace and at ease, must not speak all he knows nor judge all he sees.

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

"Talk less, smile more". Aaron Burr in the musical Hamilton to the eponymous hero. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6GFb7FIB0Y

With the post of My Boy Lollipop by Little Millie I couldn’t resist this.

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

Jesus help us! I mean....not Jesus, someone, anyone! HELP!!!

"Let it be considered that what is more wholesome than any particular belief is integrity of belief,...

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

That reminds me of Jordan Peterson saying that while he isn't sure that there is a god, he *behaves* as if there is one.

This is my one and only beloved rap song: Disposable Heroes of Hipphropcrisy Television the ...

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

The only rap band I listen to is The Roots, for the same reason.

I need info.

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

Don't waste the water. 1 Shower = lots of Hand Washes.

Well at least this year will be remembered for something other than incompetent handling of the ...

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

I don't need a warning. I saw The Human Centipede.

[sciencedaily.com] creativity originates where in the brain?

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

The right hemisphere - home of the intuition. I wonder if jazz is the exception in music. I've read that ordinarily, musicians rely on the left brain to focus on what they are learning and when they get experienced they play from the right brain. I think that applies to many things, like learning to drive car with the left brain and becoming an experienced driver using the right brain unless some problem crops up.

Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to...

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

Yes indeed! It's hardly spiritual progress. (Yes, I said it. Spiritual.)

There was a time in my earlier childhood when i risked life and limb to ascend to the status of ...

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

It helps us to realise that we are fragile creatures. The problem returns with more serious implications in early adulthood when we take to cars with the same sense of invulnerability.

"May the lights in the land of plenty shine on the truth some day." ---- Leonard Cohen

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

I think the light only shines in times of trouble. Maybe that's the crack.

Next time someone tells you god loves you

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

What! You mean even white, upper-middle class Christians can get it?

This is me....

brentan comments on Apr 2, 2020:

That should help.

Sea Murmurs composed by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968, Italy) Though superficially of a ...

brentan comments on Apr 1, 2020:

That was short and sweet! I hope you're recovered from your illness.

A digital Buddhism. A mathematics of perfect morality

brentan comments on Apr 1, 2020:

I think it's clever, expressing the relationship of happiness, sadness, influence, ideas, work and time. I didn't see a mathematical equation for Nirvana. All I got from it at first glance is that if you enjoy your work, time will pass quickly.

There is a quantum unit if matter.

brentan comments on Apr 1, 2020:

It is. It works well as a predictor but gives us no understanding of the reality. If Kant is right, it couldn't because we only see only appearances but cannot see things-in-themselves.

I couldn't decide on here or the coffee drinkers group, decided both

brentan comments on Apr 1, 2020:

This is really good. Vices becoming virtues. I believe this was a feature in the Middle Ages, when order was reversed for a day or two to let off steam. We should enjoy it while we can.

The best way to fall asleep!

brentan comments on Apr 1, 2020:

The dirty bitch.

🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 The ...

brentan comments on Apr 1, 2020:

That's not half as daft as I thought it might be. One problem with common prayer is that one person speaks subjectively and everyone is asked to give their amen.

Update for those that care

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

That should give us lots of inner piss!

Trump said the next 2 weeks will be dangerous

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

It's a difficult time to deal with addiction.

This says it all....

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

Clever!

An Important Health Advisory

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

Yes, ma'am.

Love French music. [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

The French are not like us. Vive la difference!

I'm curious what you all think about this position.

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

I don't think it's fair either.

Devoted To You - Carly Simon & James Taylor - 1977 [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

That's lovely! I never heard the song before.

For those that like to read books on the net FOC.

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

I'm really pleased with all the services to help us get through this. Imagine if it was all left to porn.

My Corona ..parody by Chris Mann. [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

That's very well done! I love the bit about stocking up on boxed wine. Well OK, I'd like that bit anyway.

“Solitude produces originality, bold & astonishing beauty, poetry.

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

I'm going to guess that Thomas Mann is speaking from experience. The one bad thing I know about solitude, apart from loneliness, is that you can get caught in constant reinforcement of your beliefs because there is no-one around to burst your bubble.

It's all just part of the plan he set in motion millions of years ago.

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

He better call his Friend!

Anak -David Muzio - [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

Lovely voices.

Thats right

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

Dark matter is probably one good reason not to trust science. I believe the 'discovery' of the Higgs Boson is another.

How dare you?

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

I think the virus has vindicated her. Climate change has contributed largely to this disaster.

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to ...

brentan comments on Mar 31, 2020:

That's a great, and I assume, tongue-in-cheek observation. It clarifies for me what was a somewhat obscure line in William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell: One law for the lion and ox is oppression.

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well. - René Descartes

brentan comments on Mar 30, 2020:

Darn!

Will common sense prevail after this crisis is over especially given the climate crisis?

brentan comments on Mar 30, 2020:

I think people will want to 'get back to normal', even though normal is way off nowadays.

The story of my life summed up in only one cartoon! How sad is that?

brentan comments on Mar 30, 2020:

I blame the genes.

Has anyone been following musicians and their webcast concerts?

brentan comments on Mar 30, 2020:

I watched Aurora do one yesterday. She said the platform is going to feature many more artists during this lockdown.

Your travel plan for April

brentan comments on Mar 30, 2020:

Thank goodness it's just an April Fool's joke!

If you want to keep something concealed from your enemy, do not disclose it to your friend.

brentan comments on Mar 30, 2020:

With friends like that.... I've had one or two.

Two old codgers are sitting on a wrap-around porch, rocking.

brentan comments on Mar 29, 2020:

Onery cusses.

Increasingly I see the concept of critical thinking, and in part this group, being used in a ...

brentan comments on Mar 29, 2020:

I just left that other conversation. I couldn't see how I could get my thinking across to anyone who only thinks of spirituality in the context of religion. I put it down to people having been hurt very badly by religion. I empathise but I don't want to deal with their bad feelings being projected towards me.

"All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the ...

brentan comments on Mar 29, 2020:

I've come across the word 'affordance' recently. It means the way your environment creates possibilities. Maybe that's what Einstein meant. I think one type of lack of affordance is actually a social construct to enable a small number of people live well off the abuse of the poor.

Opportunities like this only come once in a lifetime so let's not waste this pandemic! Together we ...

brentan comments on Mar 29, 2020:

Your dead right. Make changes were they matter.

If you've never watched this musical, use isolation as an excuse! [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Mar 29, 2020:

Yes indeed. That's a classic. And this is a great time to do the things that time wouldn't normally allow.

It has been brought to my attention that there are members in this group who are not 50+.

brentan comments on Mar 28, 2020:

That power must be awesome!

"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and...

brentan comments on Mar 28, 2020:

I think the problem is that the powers-that-be don't want to run an economy on educated citizens. So the society is constructed to have lots of ignorant people doing tough work for little remuneration. In the last few decades, they've done all they can to remove any form of expertise that would give an employee some clout in his job.Tech does the thinking; you're the human robot.

Would "the apocalypse of peter" have changed your mind about christianity?

brentan comments on Mar 28, 2020:

I could never relate to the idea that eternal punishment could be meted out to people for what they did in their short lives. "Not even Hitler?", I've heard some people ask. I think not even Hitler. So I wouldn't have been impressed to believe in this Hell-lite of Peter.

Something we should all remember in these times of crises.

brentan comments on Mar 27, 2020:

I think some switch in his brain never got turned on.

Ever stopped at a traffic light?

brentan comments on Mar 27, 2020:

And to think those reds used to be under the beds - now they're everywhere!

The Big Bounce has challenged the Big Bang! If correct, the universe is eternal-- it was never ...

brentan comments on Mar 27, 2020:

I think the universe came about as a result of turbulence from another universe - a cosmic fart, if you'll excuse the analogy, coming from a black hole in that early universe.

"Good memories are our second chance at happiness" - Elizabeth II

brentan comments on Mar 27, 2020:

I think she is right. It works for me, even though I have bad memories of stupid things I've done that make me cringe at times.

Hypocrisy at its best:::: "We have to get the US back to work.

brentan comments on Mar 27, 2020:

I guess Trump means we needs to get the world back on the same trajectory that has brought us to this calamity asap. This disaster is an opportunity to rethink what we're doing in this world. It's a chance to listen to the message of Greta Thunberg. It's an opportunity to stop murdering advocates for ecology. Trump, in his absolute ignorance of the significance of this virus, can only picture a return to the cause of the problem.

Religion in the 21st century from Humanist(uk) convention [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

Overall, it's interesting stuff. The only thing that jarred with me was the guy thinking Douglas Murray is a problem for minorities. Douglas comes across as a very reasonable person but a man who has little use for politically correct nonsense.

"It should be no wonder in why the poor are usually happy, they have less, of the less important ...

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwmyJAEnz4s

[youtube.com]

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

OMG. Human life is precious.

Tinariwen - "Iswegh Attay" [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

I don't know, but it didn't seem a world apart from my own folk music.

Oops shes pissed off

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

It's an abuse of power.

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from - Galileo Galilei -

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

I believe that too.

Hello everyone! Does anyone here use Duolingo?

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

I use it from time to time. Spanish too. I wonder is 'app' male or female.

Practice safe sax while in quarantine

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

From one tube to another, just like the real thing!

"Do not waste your time on Social Questions.

brentan comments on Mar 26, 2020:

So it's not that they don't talk right?

Isolde's Liebestod (Isolde's Love-Death) by Richard Wagner.

brentan comments on Mar 25, 2020:

Words fail me. He was a musical genius. That was a terrific version. The only other version I heard was by Jessye Norman, which is terrific too.

Posted with some trepidation: Bill Gates on the Spiritual opportunity given us by the coronavirus.

brentan comments on Mar 25, 2020:

I guess we can choose to understand spirituality as bound at the hip to religion or understand it as the human spirit, a power that can be harnesses for good and bad. Just as Jesus is supposed to have said: You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God - John 3:8. These days, we understand these things in paradigm shifts and I was just reading George Monbiot write about a possible complete change of perspective when you posted this one by Bill Gates. It will take a new shared spirit to reach the tipping point necessary to bring in a new world. It certainly sounds religious but that’s because all humans, religious or not, have a spirit that can aspire to a better way.

When I was a kid I used to visit Grandma all the time.

brentan comments on Mar 25, 2020:

Grandma must have been a very interesting person!

[youtu.be] DOOM Eternal. Alex Jones edition.. 😂

brentan comments on Mar 24, 2020:

I've heard nothing but good about this game. Nothing but bad about Alex Jones.

Just too good, had to share it. :)

brentan comments on Mar 24, 2020:

Long overdue.

I'd like to make an analogy to dead religions and the Jesus story.

brentan comments on Mar 24, 2020:

I think it was a great idea at the time. It brought the Jewish idea of man as made in the image of God and the Greek idea of the logos as the rational for life together in one package. It gave people a sense of independence from both mortal and immortal tyrants and a feeling that ultimately, they determined their own future. No need, I'm sure, to comment on how it all went bad.

He makes sense

brentan comments on Mar 24, 2020:

This is cool. It hasn't been about me since I was a child.

Ready to head out!

brentan comments on Mar 24, 2020:

Not a lot of people wear that stuff outside the house.