Religion and reason

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

I love paradox. (Tyson is ever the hypocrite. It's good that he displays how scientists so often lack hubris)

This seemed like a very busy schedule to me, I don't know where I would find the time to add all of ...

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

No rest for the wicked. Idle hands are the devil's plaything

I don't know about that

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

Is that Zhira or Cornelius? Or am I speciesist?

Can this help? Some people have been waiting forever

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

You can't miss what never was.

Close enough?

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

A lot of ugly stuff about Hefner has come out, but it's still no contest who is more depraved.

How to add up ignorance

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

Valid arguments can be made against the veracity of all of them.

Just sayin'.

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

There are numerous reasons for abortion: rape, incest, ectopic pregnancy among them. It's not just that a majority of people favor legal abortion. Those opposed to abortion base their view on their Christian religion. The Bible says nothing about forbidding abortion, and if anything, sanctions it. Abortion is a political gimmick intended to motivate Christians who were otherwise indifferent. Most critically, Christians have absolutely zero credibility nor standing in moral issues. Pro-life? Does the Holocaust ring a bell? (among a myriad of other atrocities).

Some are predisposed to believing in superstitions, blind faith and ignorance

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

Predisposed? How so? (You mean stupid?)

Super mumbo jumbo

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

Divine masturbation (after the Big Bang is long gone.)

I appreciate the responses to my latest blog concerning my promotion of my blog site at agnosic.

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

When I type in www.agnostiliberal.com address, the system returns with a search for related sites and a box saying the site is not secure.

Feds Decry Josh Duggar's 'Blame Tactics,' Say He's Likely to Reoffend

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

Sick. And vile.

Or Just for laughs. Pika sings. [facebook.com]

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

Very talented!

DEA officer stops at a ranch in Texas and talks with an old rancher.

racocn8 comments on May 22, 2022:

The continued fascism in service of the War on Drugs is entirely in keeping with the Christian Fascism that considers cannabis to be demonic and intrinsically evil (even as ever more medical applications are discovered.) It is long past time for Biden to pardon those incarcerated for nothing more than possession.

Anything for love

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

Probably had to get that for her pimp.

Jim Carrey on Fox.....

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

Too late for that, but better late then never.

Be prepared for anything

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

Where can I find someone to hang out with?

You knew about this?

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

Where's the meth?

Lemme know... Asking for a friend

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

On an RV trip, my dad had caught some fish and my Mom began to prepare dinner. However, as she put them on the grill, they flexed and flipped in reaction to the heat, and this so unnerved my Mom that she refused to continue the cooking and my Dad had to take over...

You can't make this sh!t up? [youtu.be]

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

American Christians are neither Christian nor American.

Why Europe has happy people

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

Whoever designed those bollards was an asshole.

It seems that an unfair ledger has been created by those who like to call themselves "progressives" ...

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

Examples?

Is nihilism not just a natural part of growing up and maturing anyway ?

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

Learning what we know about the universe is humbling. That universe is far removed from our day-to-day existence, so love, hope and sadness have no physical meaning, but become the basis for our behavior. We live in a culturally religious society, so our thinking and behaviors have become shaped by languages that are deeply corrupted by mythical nonsense. We can hardly stop thinking in religious terms. When one says that nothing in the universe carries significance, that is only the partial understanding. The very notion of significance implies the religious belief that a god might somehow imbue our existence with meaning. Why would a god's existence matter to us, or provide special relevance? It wouldn't nor shouldn't. (We have a lot of work to do).

Jesus is everywhere

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

... and nowhere...

Delia Gonzalez

racocn8 comments on May 21, 2022:

It so often seems like the left side is bit bigger. Probably everyone is asymmetric.

They persuaded but I did not go

racocn8 comments on May 20, 2022:

It doesn't look like it goes anywhere; just a dead end...

Got my first political solicitation of 2022 just now via text; oddly from the democrats.

racocn8 comments on May 20, 2022:

We've already seen ever-more degenerate behavior in a race to the bottom. But it's a bottom that has no bottom. So, the effort to out-do each other in their expression of extremism should provide ongoing provocations. As SCOTUS unveils it's plans to revoke basic rights, or end Church-State separation, expect more pyrotechnics.

Several years ago I read about Kurt Godel and his incompleteness theorems, which are the most ...

racocn8 comments on May 20, 2022:

Shouldn't mathematicians have the same attitude as (most?) scientific disciplines wherein all findings are tentative and subject to improvement in some manner? One shouldn't expect to have everything explained because whatever is known leads to more questions. That mathematical proofs have been developed should be exalted as one of the few bastions of (near?) certainty. How about fuzzy logic, programmed evolution of analytics, and programming quantum computers? A program can work most of the time, but for complex programs, bugs are almost inevitable. We have our work cut out for us.

To be clear, here is the law. Merrick Garland, are you listening?

racocn8 comments on May 20, 2022:

Yes, I'm Garland has his fingers in his ears and his head up his ass. Neat trick.

I wanna know who's buried here. Jason and Freddy?

racocn8 comments on May 20, 2022:

That would have been good for Jesus.

Monkeypox 101, unanswered questions, and the bigger picture

racocn8 comments on May 20, 2022:

Can we get this going before the election?

Which artist used this effect? Was it Dali and melting clocks or something? Could be worth millions.

racocn8 comments on May 20, 2022:

Riding bare backed?

5 megabyte hard drive being shipped out of IBM In 1956.

racocn8 comments on May 20, 2022:

My Vic 20 came with all of 5 kilobytes or RAM.

‘I mean Ukraine’: Former U.

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

Bush or Putin: Who has more innocent blood on their hands?

Republican-leaning areas continue to face more COVID deaths : NPR

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

Can't we get some new, more lethal strains here?

But we are now civilized

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

Micro-dick.

An atheist dies and goes to hell The devil welcomes him and says:"Let me show you around a little...

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

If only...

Here's a nice little portrait of Lika, a nude model from Ukraine.

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

Ultimately, it's the Pavlovian conditioning in response to the oxytocin bell. Ah, the simple pleasures....

Ns for Many of our National Crisies, Part I I am livid, deeply saddened, and deeply troubled bu ...

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

They were chosen for their RELIGIOUS ideology. Conservatism, what there was other than racism, is dead.

You can't begin to imagine...

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

As Christianity requires the accuracy of Genesis, yes, tell us how the Grand Canyon was carved in 6000 years, and why all the rocks appear to be millions (or billions) of years older than that?

I actually don't know where this is or if it is staged. I'm hoping it is real and Australia?

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

I visited Aitutaki and mynah birds were all over the place.

SpaceX Attendant Accused Elon Musk of Sexual Misconduct

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

Zero surprise for an entitled dick.

Say you have ten billion dollars you can do anything with, how would you cure hunger for the world, ...

racocn8 comments on May 19, 2022:

1. Strategically eliminate bad actors. 2. Fund research to facilitate abortion and birth control. 3. Fund research to figure out how to transition existing political systems into more equitable power structures, at all levels (using AI and game theory).

Covid vaccination possibility is influenced by party affiliation. [theconversation.com]

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

A million is not a small number, but many diseases have a much higher lethality. The anti-science crowd only received a light culling. Any other future pandemic will be much worse.

I am watching "Zombieland" just in case the religious right starts to take over, I think the rules ...

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

What level of damage was needed to dispatch the zombies? A head-shot, baseball bat, or more?

I just made a post about replacement theory.

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

Except that absolutely no replacement is involved. (And, as noted, the notions of race are obsolete)

now that's funny and yet I can totally see it

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

Hilarious. He gives transvestites a bad name. Would a make-over help?

NO, NO...Just NO! [youtube.com]

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

It has a big dog in it? On second thought, nahh.

Who owns Einstein ?

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

Everyone wants money.

Elon Musk Tweets He’ll Vote Republican—And Slams Democrats As ‘Party Of Division & Hate’

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

Proving that like so many GQP, he is a complete asshole, utterly undeserving of his obscene wealth.

House Probes UFOs Congressional lawmakers are holding a public hearing on UFOs today for the first ...

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with facts. There are no UFOs because the Pentagon has always said there weren't... (I don't want people to think I'm a nut, even if that was already obvious). And if you insist on saying you saw one, well, it's a big desert and no one will ever find what's left... And the Pentagon is so intent on protecting the country that Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn, the seditionist who withheld National Guard for four hours on Jan 6 was simply transferred to another job. And seeing how the Christian Nationalists have a chokehold on the country, admitting aliens are visiting might not be looked on favorably. We all know that aliens are demonic spirits Satan has sent to Earth to foster LGBTQ with their Jewish space lasers... Opinions are like assholes, and that phony hearing was as bad as seeing how utterly ignorant people will express their stupidity anyway.

Susan B. Anthony.

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

Except that such work includes fucking VOTING. Not voting is a guaranteed recipe for being forced back to being kept-women.

([washingtonpost.

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

What? I thought violence was a perfectly acceptable form of political discourse... That's what 74 million people believe...

Maybe Mr. money man is starting to see some light. [yahoo.com]

racocn8 comments on May 18, 2022:

Hopefully, it falls through. Musk has revealed himself to be a wing-nut fascist, in favor of free speech so long as it's speech he approves of.

Madison Cawthorn Loses His Primary, Squashed By Republicans

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

Um, no, he had already jumped off the cliff some time ago of his own volition. Whatever happens to him now is his own doing, or lack thereof.

I wrote "Don't blame women for men's bad behavior." Got blocked.

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

Unfair. Maybe he's especially frustrated today? Given the extremity of response, not someone you'd want to know anyway.

Did someone ask for Titty Tuesday?

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

Come give your blessing to the prodigal teat.

I’m thinking that if Space Aliens were actively visiting Earth from across the galaxy, we would ...

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

For someone who exhorts others to the wonders of the Universe, deGrasse Tyson is frighteningly incurious about this topic, or pathologically disingenuous. Neither is a good look for a scientist, unless he is bowing to the decades-long policy of intimidation initiated by Project Blue Book. And speaking of being pathologically disingenuous (and hopelessly ignorant of the topic), the Pentagon spokesmen displayed the dishonesty and obfuscation we know all too well. Yes, Why is the military so absolutely wacky about disparaging this topic? Why the asinine handsprings to reject extra-terrestrial origin. What we really need is an investigation into who the parties are (relying on a religious world-view) that classify UAPs as demonic, and how they have obstructed national security interests as a result. One Pentagon spokesperson said that none of our military had ever fired on these craft. Why the hell not? The military is tasked with protecting itself, and these vehicles violate norms (of contact, proximity and markings) all over the place. The answer is, yes, they have been fired on with negative consequences, and thus the covert policy is not to fire on them.

Do animals have morality?

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

"...litmus test for true moral behavior: so-called third-party punishment: When I witness someone violating a moral norm, I feel obligated to punish the evil-doer,..." So is it the sense of morality that is hijacked and reprogrammed by evil-doers to create immoral soldiers, soldiers who will harm or kill others to satisfy their *new morality*? If we see acts of cruelty perpetrated by soldiers (for Christ, as example), and feel revulsion, who is to say which morality is the true morality? If the soldiers effectively intimidate us against punishing the evil-doer, does that mean that fear and intimidation invalidates our morality?

Got my second booster yesterday. Arm is not even sore.

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

You got the placebo...

Any guess how no longer being able to take privacy rights for granted will affect liberal voter ...

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

The usual suspects will stay home in droves and then cry about being victims. Why ruin a good sob story? The republicans will have jury-rigged the election for nothing.

Rogues' gallery

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

Rogue has some positive connotations. These assholes are criminal seditionists and likely to be traitors as well: not even pond scum.

Auto repair for dummies...

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

It's called a "Woody"...

There you have it.....

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

And just as intelligent people can be proselytizing Christians, even scientists can be totally uncritical in their thinking if they think being a fellow MAGA will get them laid.

Hello heathens 🤪 I wanna ask something 😄 "Are you happy?" 😊

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

Once in a while.

Which is worse?

racocn8 comments on May 17, 2022:

Porn is much better. (And it has NOTHING to say).

And it happens way more than I ever thought it would.

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

No one tells you that the magically wonderful body you've enjoyed all your life will begin to explore a myriad of ways to express pain and incompetence.

Decided to just sit quietly on my front veranda yesterday afternoon and enjoy the bit of sun that ...

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

It's really a comment on Humanity that, if a horse goes lame, we put it out of it's misery. If a person goes lame, we just allow them to keep dumping on everyone else. How very pro-life of us...

My bet is from the looks of his background in the picture is he is living in his mommy's basement ...

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

(Gaydar beeping...) (Just your run-of-the-mill sexually repressed Christian) (If he weren't gay, he be extolling Incel)

Reminds me of the name game.

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

What an ennobling bit of pareidolia!!

Been true for a long time

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

Not voting to protect your own rights is bullshit (along with helping an utterly unfit, degenerate psychopath to become president).

'Buffalo shooting' reached the UK across the pond.

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

I am desensitized (somewhat) and resigned. I am not afraid of being a victim of a mass-shooting because the odds are against it. That's the best excuse I've got. My understanding is the US has about one multiple/mass murder per day, and two police murders per day. My estimate is the mass shooting rate has doubled in the last 5 years. But it may not be that bad. Shootings spiked and peaked during Trump's term, but sources seem to use different definitions. One source (Statista) lists 10 incidents in 2019 while CBS lists 417. Rand reports on this variation, but it's safe to bet that a higher number will be more accurate. https://www.statista.com/statistics/811487/number-of-mass-shootings-in-the-us/ https://everytownresearch.org/maps/mass-shootings-in-america/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_shootings_in_the_United_States https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mass-shootings-2019-more-than-days-365/

A client of mine posted this meme on social media this morning.

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

It'd be great if people would be like that. However, our capitalism motivates people to be assholes. They make money from being assholes. They make money from encouraging others to be assholes. Plus, a lot of people have fucked up wiring. They get a thrill from kicking down. They like yelling and lying. They want drama, and will be as obnoxious as they have to be until they get it. What we need is are ways to profoundly change these people's minds and behavior. We have to do it forcibly because they are not about to volunteer.

1 million deaths Remembering the lives lost to COVID-19 in America [axios.com]

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

250,000 died needlessly because of politicized vaccine resistance (per Fauci).

When homophobes say, "It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve"...

racocn8 comments on May 16, 2022:

WTF?

The ultimate Sunday snack!

racocn8 comments on May 15, 2022:

Blood and body to go...

I recently met with an old friend of the last 59 years.

racocn8 comments on May 15, 2022:

I think Fox is amping up its psy-ops and the Trumpers are literally going crazy now. They have completely lost it in the last two weeks.

There must be something in the water. [m.youtube.com]

racocn8 comments on May 15, 2022:

They have sold their brains to Fox. Shame on these assholes for continuing to pretend they're human. This is why democracy is a joke.

How should Putin the Putrid be made to suffer for all the pain, misery and death that he has ...

racocn8 comments on May 15, 2022:

It can't be done.

Julian Assange said this

racocn8 comments on May 15, 2022:

Acting by helping totalitarian dictators? Thanks for the help, asshole.

What Christian album made you come back to good ol' rock n ' Roll?

racocn8 comments on May 15, 2022:

While working in the garage of a business, one day I heard the sound of plastic stuff being smashed. I went outside and a guy from the carpet business next door was smashing CD's and cassettes with a hammer. I asked him what he was doing and he said that this was demonic music and needed to be destroyed. Then I asked why he didn't just pitch in the trash? He replied that he wanted to be sure no one fished it out. Psychotic. Religion makes you psychotic. Period.

Disconnect 😆✨

racocn8 comments on May 15, 2022:

I've had to say goodbye to a friend. I've known him more than 50 years, and we had many adventures. He has gone Trumpy, so much so that all he can do is scream Fox talking points into the phone. Maybe he's just acting out because he's close to passing. Even so, the friend I've known all these years has gone. Maybe I'm not who I used to be, but no, he's the one that changed. His fondness for guns drew him in. It's hard to say goodbye to someone you basically love. Motherfucking Trump and God damn Fox and Putin.

This is exactly what those bastards want to do.

racocn8 comments on May 14, 2022:

Instituting theocracy by abolishing the wall of separation is very early on.

It is not the same Where is Voice of America?

racocn8 comments on May 14, 2022:

I expect it's a lot worse than that.

If budgets are moral documents, what does the US budget say about ours?

racocn8 comments on May 14, 2022:

The ultra-wealthy could easily be taxed a few more percent and provide the needs of children. But, this is Murka and having more money than you can spend is sacred to the bribed politicians.

And yet, here WE are Again!!!

racocn8 comments on May 14, 2022:

Six years too late...

The Greatest Things Anyone Has Ever Achieved While On Drugs

racocn8 comments on May 13, 2022:

Except that while Moses didn't exist, maybe others in that time used mushrooms. I doubt the Old Testament would be as it is if much mushroom use was going on.

“You can choose to look the other way but never again can you say that you never knew.

racocn8 comments on May 13, 2022:

Martyred by her own people to interrupt the news cycle. SOP: Blame the Israelis.

Do you like looking at the clouds?

racocn8 comments on May 13, 2022:

I think those are bimbo cirrus...

Well the Christfool numb-nuts received my written costs estimate regarding repairing his wood-heater...

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

Don't do it.

The one on the right is, by far, the deadlier of the two. [who.int]

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

Can we recall that the Saudis control the price of oil, and this is the treatment we get after supporting their ugly war in Yemen. And we should have assassinated Maduro yesterday.

CALL TO ACTIVISM on Twitter: "Should Senate Majority Leader Schumer REMOVE Joe Manchin from his ...

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

They need to call his bluff and give him the stripped down version of a codified Roe. Or, they can limp along to the election thinking that this issue will finally bring women out to vote.

Free yourself from a fixed mindset.

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

Non-white races and ethnicities vary regarding their judgment of appearance, and may be less inclined to discard one based on appearance. Appearance is a major issues White women use for not accepting a man. Being with a different ethnicity presents other challenges for relationships.

Delaware Attorney General's Office call for investigation into alleged profiling of lacrosse team

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

Makes one wonder how often they plant it. Seriously, marijuana? Horrors!!!! Where the Fuck is Joe Biden?

Why should this guy get a "last meal"? [yahoo.com]

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

I hope they're absolutely certain they have the right guy, and not arranging a legal lynching. If he is guilty, I hope he chokes. Get it the hell over with already.

Awwwe..... Why was this omitted from the story?

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

I always wondered why they called her Snow White. (As if pallor was an feature)

How did it take me so long to figure out that the reason the grandfather on Ozark looks so familiar ...

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

Does he still have that giant mole?

Disturbing video shows Russian troops shooting unarmed civilians in the back.

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

Russian soldiers have been given orders to rape. Footage out of Bucha shows a pile of bodies in a basement, with an infant less than three with her hands tied behind her back, then shot in the head. The murder of civilians is genocide, which is especially ugly given most of the victims are ethnic Russians.

Thursday morning cuteness...All them beanie's

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

"Cats with extra toes have them because of a genetic mutation that often results in a dominant gene being shared down a family tree. If one parent is polydactyl, odds are good that at least some of their children will also be polydactyl."

Naomi Judd died of self-inflicted firearm wound, Ashley Judd reveals - CNN

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

I lost my aunt that way. The firearm was a shotgun, and what was left was discovered by her grandson. This shouldn't happen given the remedies available for depression, but the ideation of suicide is singularly distinct with some imbalances, i.e. coming off some SSRIs. I had a coworker who, even though religious, came off Prozac and felt compelled to kill his wife and then himself. Years later I saw my coworker describe it all on an anti-depressant propaganda video by Scientology.

When I use the word “purpose” please interpret it as a scientific function, not a philosophical ...

racocn8 comments on May 12, 2022:

Not enough people CAN understand Entropy to make it useful as a societal purpose. Thus, there can be no link between entropy and societal injunctions. Particles that travel backwards in time reduce entropy. Nothing is or can be blasphemous. One interesting area is how many phenomena develop harmonies while seeming to be otherwise unconnected. This may happen at lower levels using entanglement. Perhaps that also gives the appearance of decreasing entropy. Delta-G = Delta-H - T times delta-S (In my Nucleic Acids class, the prof asked us to explain that equation in a quiz before actually covering it in class, just to gage our level of understanding. )