Most common/ridicuous argumento pro religion?

racocn8 comments on Nov 26, 2019:

(Paraphrasing:) "I went away to Bible camp and the others prayed for me. When I went to my cabin, I met Jesus... He's real... We talked together... He's really real... " That was the most rediculous argument, which I viewed as part lying for Jesus, part delusion. The most common? "That's what my family believes." (peer pressure/argument by authority).

With the recent death of my dog I've been thinking about death more than usual and something ...

racocn8 comments on Nov 26, 2019:

Different philosophies cleave reality to reveal a picture. That picture can be insensible death, cosmic consciousness, reincarnation, heaven, valhalla, and so many others. You can visit these different worlds in your mind as you choose to seek them. Each conveys beauty and a chance to glimpse wisdom. But, we should always be humbled by the ignominious picture as projected by a universe of incomprehensible numbers and dimensions, of which we are the tiniest slivers. Perhaps the uniqueness of our existence is its own dimension. With the hundreds of billions of galaxies and hundreds of billions of stars and planets, are we unique? Do we have doppelgangers in the multiverse? You have the freedom to choose your reality, and to change that choice. In a very real way, you can imagine the world you live in. To be sure, your consciousness is an imaginary construct, albeit a dynamic one. We do well to contemplate the endearment we achieve with our pets. What is love? Interspecies relationships speaks to the heart of what we are, and who we are.

What made you change from believer to non-believer?

racocn8 comments on Nov 25, 2019:

My Mother was a slightly observant Jew, and I was packed off to temple on weekend mornings. I resented having my valuable weekend time wasted on weird/dopey holidays and Bar Mitzvahs (I did like the wine in paper cups...) Also, my classmates seemed far from being the bright kids their parents believed them to be. I just didn't like their company; I couldn't form friendships with people I only saw on weekends. The instructional material felt bogus. If it were valid, it would be taught in real school. A small part of it might have been the disenfranchisement of both Judaism and Christianity from the Holocaust. Neither religion could be valid, given it was Christians who enacted the Holocaust and the Jews who were murdered by it. Some Chosen People! Bull shit! After protesting, I was released from this torture. I did respect how the Jewish community seemed to be progressive. Only later did I find out that only the Reform Jews aligned with Humanist values, all the rest were closer to the Republican mind-set. Later, I rejected Judaism for a couple of reasons: One was how it disrespected women. The other was the dishonest claim to seek truth. As one devoted to learning science, I couldn't understand how scientific discoveries (especially the very profound ones) received no recognition within the religion. While Judaism was at odds with Christianity, Christianity was also actively attacking science. I was shocked at some of the vitriol I heard on the radio as I crossed the US. While Judaism endorsed the academic side of studying science, Judaism had no comment on Creationism. Maybe that's because some Jewish sects believe their own form of Creationism. So, I rejected Judaism out of a desire to gain control of my free time. Then, acquired knowledge and reason revealed the contrast between reality and religious PR.

Why do conservatives refuse to acknowledge Trumps Crimes?

racocn8 comments on Nov 19, 2019:

It's a personality cult. Read Eric Hoffer's True Believer. One major finding is that its easier to switch from one true belief to another, than to lose that belief. The Christians have switched from Jesus personality cult to Trump personality cult. Both characters are liars, charlatans, and essentially fictitious compared to their public persona. It keeps their gullibility intact and there's no expectation of actual thinking; Perfect.

Impeachment republican style!!!

racocn8 comments on Nov 19, 2019:

Can you imagine what the GOP would do if a Democrat president tried that shit?

Chris Hedges: Why the Deep State Is Trying To Take Trump Out + Why School Shootings Are No Longer ...

racocn8 comments on Nov 19, 2019:

Figures. A Russian Television commentator. Ingrate. The Deep State is what put Putin in the White House.

Just goes to show that the democratic leadership doesn't care about it's constituents.

racocn8 comments on Nov 19, 2019:

40M is cheap, cheap, cheap if it reveals what an MFer the GOP worship. Impeachment will be priceless if it gives Trump a heart attack. Dying that way would be his last Obstruction of Justice. (If you think that's mean, just remember all the dead or orphaned children and the dead Kurds, and how, except for impeachment, Trump will skate).

Feel alone?

racocn8 comments on Nov 17, 2019:

We are one-eyed kings in the land of the blind. And they are SO blind. For your situation, you could, with a tone of curiosity, ask them to explain what they mean, and look for an opportunity to put them in their place. But chances are, they cannot be educated (because they have chosen to block such truth. That keeps them safely ignorant). Religion is like a sexual disease where they know they're sick, but talking about it just isn't done in polite company. I think they become comfortable with their cognitive dissonance and think of it as suffering that is done 'in service to Christ." Alternately, you can mention how foolish religious people are for thinking the Earth is one millionth as old as it is, or any in the long list of other idiocies.

Americans ‘convinced’ God exists are fastest-fading faith group | Rick Snedeker

racocn8 comments on Nov 17, 2019:

We don't have any evidence for God, much less a way to say which one... However, science reveals the certainty of our extinction, and utter meaninglessness of our existence. Whatever lies we tell each other to try to feel better are easily seen as dishonest. God is a human construct, but we don't do any better in coming up with a purpose of life or a reason anything matters. We can have no real goals or aspirations. Death makes everything absurd. The Truth is that, even if God did exist, God's existence cannot claim to give us purpose, or anything else. The dispelling of delusion still feels like eating sand.

I am trying very hard to resist knee-jerk reactions to categorizing people, but I am failing.

racocn8 comments on Nov 17, 2019:

It's almost the same question as asking how a rational (etc) person can believe in Christianity. Actual Truth? It goes all the way to our biology and evolution. It has to do with how organisms identify as self and not-self. Not-self is recognized as 'other' which is either indifferent or a threat. Humans are borderline colonial organisms and as such, willingly give hypnotic allegiance to a leader. This occurs to people who are indoctrinated to identify with a particular group. See how GOP disregard Putin's control if it means not giving in to Democrats. Trump wants to be the King Bee. The problem is, for those not hypnotized into his personality cult, his faults are many and varied. Those who gladly swear fealty turn a blind eye to all of it. Democrats have always been the target of their hatred; Communism was only an evil with which to tar those Democrats. There is also some major psychopathic schizophrenia where loyalty erects a wall between ordinary practice of ethical behavior versus applying those values to the King-Bee (or Church leader). There is significant fear of rejection by ones cohort if even the slightest question is raised against republican (or Christian) dogma. True Believers play the Liar's Club game: who can tell the biggest fib. It's the Emperor's New Clothes writ large, and we are all forced to watch Donald's junk bounce and sway. Even now we see on a daily basis GOP politicians spitting out the most idiotic excuses for Ukraine. The moderators can only stifle their cringe and change the subject. Few people have the courage to question or object to the values held by their friends and family, even when those values are easily seen to be corrupt. Thus, to object to the leader means a rejection of ones own identity. The singular ant is on it own, and woe to it if it ever runs into its former fellow ants. Humans pride themselves on having free will and consciousness, but that is sheer hubris. People readily abandon their lives to shallow programmed behaviors, and are far from having the horsepower to meaningfully contemplate themselves, others, or anything at all. The real problem is the same one created by the election. We have a certifiable psychopath with his finger on the button.

HOW CAN WE PUT A MORE POSITIVE SPIN ON OUR BRANDING??

racocn8 comments on Nov 13, 2019:

Sounds speciesist.

This study makes me think I've been a bit too hard on people afflicted with religion.

racocn8 comments on Nov 7, 2019:

Nah, just be yourself. It is my experience that people are fully capable of listening to and being instructed in mental discipline. However, 99% of the time, they just slip back into their lazy coma. People are weak and they like being weak. Thinking requires actual effort and that effort is NOT a practice they're willing to practice regularly. It's sad, but true. Encountering or hearing a genuinely high performing person is a startling and all too rare experience, but genuinely refreshing and humbling. Perhaps we will discover some nootropics that perform on the comfortably lazy among us.

The universe may be conscious, say prominent scientists - Big Think

racocn8 comments on Nov 7, 2019:

I remain highly skeptical of any and all psychic phenomena. None of these can be reproducibly demonstrated under controlled conditions. That being said, many stories of non-reproducible events have been recorded, the best example being remote viewing. The CIA and Army have engaged in developing training to perform remote viewing and some people seem to be better at it than others. However, again, it's non-reproducible. At best, it is an intriguing riddle, but more likely, if it exists, practical application is probably beyond our current physical state. Strong arguments against the reality is that psychic savants do not present themselves with abilities good enough to test positive. The sorts of electromagnetic fields generated by our brains appear to be far, far too weak to be picked up at any distance. One appears to be obliged to imagine a whole different realm of reality to account for psychic phenomena. Perhaps consciousness is another dimension of reality like time, spin, or the Higgs Field. Until we have a testable phenomenon, we're just BS'ing each other.

The question of the so-called "fine-tuning" of the universe and its basic constants is one of the ...

racocn8 comments on Nov 6, 2019:

No. 1 defers the question to an extremely improbable god, so that isn't an explanation No. 2 begs the question of the universe being extremely improbable, so it isn't an explanation. No. 3 is possible, but really defers the question by inventing a multiverse that is otherwise lacking any evidence. No. 4 gets my vote. Why is the speed of light constant at it's value? The finely tuned constants are derived from a level of physics that is still severely defective in not being able to account for a slew of phenomena. Many, many measurements are seen to be precisely off from otherwise precise predictions based on theory. That means the theory is incomplete and missing one or more terms. These elusive missing terms may well dictate the supposedly fine-tuned constants to be what they are. We are still profoundly handicapped in our understanding of physics. And some of it may well be suppressed because of the implications.

Why is it that if you argue or defend a topic/issue passionately, you must be directly effected by ...

racocn8 comments on Nov 5, 2019:

I believe you have spotted an interesting generalization. The generalization might be rephrased to say: Conservatives seeking to denounce a rhetorical opponent will accuse that opponent of being vested in the issue, and thus the opponent is either biased or self-serving. However, the claim of bias or being self-serving does not address the issue at hand. This can be construed as a type of Red Herring Fallacy, which is defined as using irrelevant issues for distraction. The use of a fallacy may well reflect the lack of a comparable or valid counter-argument. As for apathy and lack of empathy, both are related to laziness, and signify someone who is undisciplined and possibly emotionally handicapped. That could be a result of trauma or from psycho-biochemical imbalance.

Criticizing the doctrine of Islam does not mean the person doing so is a xenophobe,Islamophobe, or ...

racocn8 comments on Nov 5, 2019:

You are challenging the CLAIM that criticizing Islam is racist, or comparably immoral. I suspect that this claim is being marketed by Saudi Arabia and by similar Islamic entities. Religions do act on their own behalf. Distributing a false claim like this seeks to disarm opponents of the religion. Two examples of successful silencing of critics were the dis-inviting of Dawkins and Maher to lecture at Berkeley. Indeed, other atheist and scientific speakers have often received their sharpest criticism when they criticized Islam. The shouting down of critics of Islam has effective reduced the volume of outrage over Islam-inspired atrocities as they have occurred around the world. Indeed, certain Christian-inspired critics have used false testimony and innuendo of scandals to bring down atheists, as I believe is the case for both Lawrence Krauss and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Fortunately, Tyson has been mostly unscathed so far. Christopher Hitchens recorded a number of YouTube videos discussing the demerits of Islam. Hitchens attacks are interesting, clear and unambiguous, and he often makes the distinction defining precisely why criticizing Islam isn't racist, but rather that Islam deserves all the criticism it gets.

I always love how ultra religious people will quote Leviticus and claim that the bible is gods word.

racocn8 comments on Nov 2, 2019:

The Bible Jesus mentions Adam, Eve and Noah in Matthew. Matthew 19:4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ ...... Matthew 24:37 But as the days of Noah [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. The Bible also has this: Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. The passages demonstrate that the Bible Jesus believed both the Adam and Eve myth and the Noah myth. By mentioning Adam and Moses, it is clear that all these figures are thought to have been real people, and not allegories or symbolic stories. Thus, the Bible authors did not know that all these characters were stories plagiarized from other myths. The problem is that Christian dogma is utterly dependent on the Creation story being a real event, and NOT allegorical (That is a modern-day dodge). By disproving that an Adam was the progenitor of humanity, evolution proves Christianity is a lie, a big fucking lie. Evolution proves Christianity is a lie, not out of malice, nor of envy. The disproof of Christianity is an accidental corollary, an incidental conclusion!

Ilhan Omar refuses to vote yay on bill condemning Armenian genocide Rep.

racocn8 comments on Oct 30, 2019:

A religious bigot showing characteristically bad judgment? What a surprise! I'm supposed to give her a pass because of her diversity? No way. Seriously, if any of her supporters can show me quotes from her that show some wisdom, I'm all ears.

Desperate For Liberal Support, Democratic Nominee Tulsi Gabbard Meets With Wall Street Money Men At ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 30, 2019:

I was mostly impressed with Tulsi Gabbard's performance in the debates. That said, if she is a Putin asset as Hillary infers, she would only be one of many. Seeing Trump's behavior regarding Russia, and the numerous connections revealed in the Mueller Report, it's pretty clear that government politicians have been severely infiltrated or fully co-opted by Putin. The real question is whether the GOP has the spine to care about the traitors in their ranks, and same for the Dems. If no, basically, Putin has won without firing a shot. What shall we do when we have an authentic Red Scare? In the meantime, if Gabbard has a Kremlin connection, it should be exposed, made clear and probably investigated further.

Suppose you were to try to convince someone of your non-belief in the existence of God, what (in ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 29, 2019:

"There is nothing you or anyone else can say about God with certainty. There is no proof, nor a shred of evidence. In this case, the absence of evidence IS evidence of absence; claiming God hides for the sake of faith is absurd or worse. Close examination of the devout demonstrates that they are either hopelessly ignorant and/or delusional and otherwise psychotic. Good and true values exist (searching for Truth and understanding the derived wisdom). However, you do not find truly good/humane values, nor the reverence for Truth among the religious. You can readily observe the absence of good values in religious people, and will usually find the embrace of ignorance and hatred there instead.

No gods/no kings?

racocn8 comments on Oct 29, 2019:

The problem is that a major share of the population are eager for a God/King and will gladly create their own delusions to support that goal. Look at the dynamic of Trump. He would love to be a king for life and probably a God too; he craves adulation and will do anything to get it. And, his fans are genuine fanatics who will kill to keep him on his throne. Truly, in a society of fools (which the US surely qualifies), the dangers of lunatics gaining power remains poorly addressed. Look what a great job the Electoral College did with its singular mandate to keep a known psychotic from ascending.

How do you deal with unwanted advances?

racocn8 comments on Oct 29, 2019:

Tell them you're an ardent NRA member and you'd love an excuse to try out your newest derringer. or, "Fuck off or I'll start screaming." then take your chair somewhere else, and report the pervert. It's the YMCA and you shouldn't have to put up with that if you are paying their excessive dues. Having a robe may be better than jogging shorts. You shouldn't have to, but it's that or a sidearm if you really need to improve your safety. A YMCA is likely to have a higher share of sexually deprived/depraved men; Christian attitudes foster sexual extremes (aggressiveness on account of hating and devaluing women, excessive female submissiveness and its corollary, misandry, and a really long list of other perversions). Think where you are: YMCA is a corporate embodiment of a wacko cult. I remember how they used to require members to sign cards swearing allegiance to Jesus Christ, regardless of their actual faith. And I'm sure it was even worse it earlier times, simply excluding non-Whites and Jews.

Thieves, despicable thieves and murderers.

racocn8 comments on Oct 26, 2019:

Which just goes to show that Judaism is just as much bullshit as Islam is if it means getting assholes like these to mind their own business. Shame on them, Shame, Shame, Shame! MFers.

White Christian Nationalism — Not Secularism — Is Destroying America | Sojourners

racocn8 comments on Oct 26, 2019:

Instead of excoriating the Christians who have ditched Love Thy Neighbor for BUILD THE WALL, it's so much better to junk Christianity altogether. You STILL have to cherry-pick out the positive values from distant parts of the Bible. Overall, the Bible falls far, far, far behind the values that progressive non-believers live by. It's not Good News, it is the origninal FAKE NEWS. Nearly all of it is a lie and it's a waste of time trying to figure out what truth remains. If you think it's inspired by a god, you're an idiot.

if god were a natural part of reality and a spontaneous always, how could there not be multiples.

racocn8 comments on Oct 23, 2019:

How could God be a natural part of reality? If God intervened, he'd be interfering with his own plan. Thus, whatever God did would be UNNATURAL, or supernatural if you prefer. Even if God created the universe, nothing except the universe remains as evidence. The problem is that the universe does not provide evidence of a creating God, or any other kind of God. Evidence for God would be something unnatural or supernatural. The absence of evidence IS evidence of absence, unless one invokes the Loki Hypothesis.

Who is this idiot! I have heard less offensive comments from the religious peanut brains! I ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 22, 2019:

Most of this relates to Cyrus's poor communication skills. The side note that is omitted is Cyrus's misandry. This is supposed to be taken as a given for a young woman.

it seems to me like to be "all-knowing" would require a rather thorough and intimate knowledge of ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 21, 2019:

Universal Consciousness is much less than a spiritual attribute, but, rather, is a mundane dimension of matter, akin to mass or space-time. People can, with training, tap into this dimension, i.e. remote viewing. Maybe... Sin is the application of our brain's logic circuit as it pertains to fairness, equity, and the visceral reaction to disorder, even horror... We react to unfairness and may or may not be aware of the logic we bring to it.

A discussion on another forum tonight got me wondering how Christians might deal with irrefutable ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 17, 2019:

The crucifixion was a HUMAN sacrifice meant to atone for Original Sin which could not be expunged by animal sacrifices. The notion that atonement for sins could be addressed by ritual sacrifice, human or animal, is such a throwback to primitive superstition, no one has the guts to even mention it any more. Add in the absurdity of God incarnate being sacrificed to himself..., hell, temporal paradoxes make more sense.

Should the Supreme Court Be Reformed?

racocn8 comments on Oct 15, 2019:

Start with impeaching Kavenaugh and Thomas. Replace them with ultra progressive 20 year olds.

Ralph Reed: Christians Have a “Moral Obligation” to Support Donald Trump in 2020 | Sarahbeth ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

The doctrine of supporting Pro-Life politics bests all other moral issues. This is the height of irony!!! First, the Pro-Life view is completely fictitious and unsupported by the Bible. The Pro-Life view comes from the Catholics, who the Evangelicals hate almost as much as the Jews. And, the New Testament denounces political intrigue, while Trump demonstrates the lowest it can go.

Sound familiar another fairytale

racocn8 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

Fairy tales, can come true, it can happen to you...

hello darkness

racocn8 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

You need to work on your cardio...

I was called liberal scum on agnostic.com. Seriously!

racocn8 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

Fake Americans are everywhere.

I think there's a face in my bacon 🙂

racocn8 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

Not buyin' it...

Is there any point in religious belief?

racocn8 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

Control of human sheep.

Trump has allowed for the release of about ten thousand ISIS prisoners.

racocn8 comments on Oct 13, 2019:

It is all part of Putin's plan to sow chaos and division in the West.

Hunter Biden is a reminder: Democrats are morally corrupt, too | Hamilton Nolan | Opinion | The ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 12, 2019:

If you check into the history of that oil company and what had been going on with it, you might understand why putting Biden on the Board was useful for that company. Otherwise, you're just parroting GOP innuendo that works as a sound bite, but it actually bullshit. This is more absurd false equivalence from the wing-nut slime machine.

Can I convert anyone to Andrew Yang as my thinking is that he has the ability to change our world ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 12, 2019:

As bizarre as it may be, the country is probably closer to allowing a gay to be president before an Asian. Either way, beating Trump has to be the priority. I'd certainly vote for Yang if he somehow got the nomination. Also, I'd vote for Yang over Buttigieg, who is plainly unelectable. And yet, I'd wager real money that Trump slept with Roy Cohn when they were friends. Greta Thunberg (4 per Trump's scale) may not have been Trump's *type*, but Trump was Cohn's type. If anyone could prove that, the Dems might have a shot.

The Last Problem We Need To Fix - Christopher Titus [youtube.com]

racocn8 comments on Oct 12, 2019:

I have to disagree. Fixing that problem should be a priority

Being raised with Liberal progressive thinking parents, both of them advocate for the Legalization ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 12, 2019:

Cannabis was made illegal by a coalition of racists and corporations whose products compete poorly against hemp. Prohibition was also used to disenfranchise blacks who often used illegal stills to raise money. Measures that were effective in keeping Blacks down were embraced by Evangelicals and other White churches, until anti-cannabis attitudes became part of the Christian liturgy, along with the attitudes of anti-Semitism, anti-Women, anti-LBGT, anti-science, etc. Mainly, the term *demon-weed* was taken seriously by those nit-wits.

Corrupt Democrat Beats Progressive For Caucus Chair - YouTube

racocn8 comments on Oct 11, 2019:

More asinine false equivalence. GOProbots love their propaganda. Hate, don't negotiate...

Carbon Negative SpaceX Starship Possible Elon Musk suggested that SpaceX can make methane fuel ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 11, 2019:

You don't need air, just water and solar energy to perform electrolysis on the water (water which is abundant on the moon and elsewhere). Trying to pull CO2 out of the air and then convert it to methane is doing a lot of work for little benefit. Unless one is trying to cleanse the CO2 out of the atmosphere. That would be a worthy goal. Maybe a catalytic nano-aerosol that converts CO2 to pure carbon (and O2) ?

Everything about MARIJUANA, but you are AFRAID to ASK.

racocn8 comments on Oct 11, 2019:

How is it that this plant should just happen to produce two cannabinoids that activate the two main endocannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2?

So... would I get in trouble for writing something like this?

racocn8 comments on Oct 10, 2019:

It's not that you're off base. It would be nice if we could treat everyone the same. At the same time, we are far, far from being the same. When it comes to a relationship, people expect to spend a LOT of time with their prospective partner. The truth is that people do develop an affinity for certain cultural behaviors and activities. One could generalize about what behaviors and activities go with what culture, and people take heat for those generalizations. Still, generalizations are useful for descriptive purposes, and if one withholds judgment long enough to convey an association between race/ethnicity and behavior, one will make a statement like what you posted. A man who has experience in understanding behavior and activities associated with a Western Black woman is more likely not to be put off-balance when they are in the midst of unfamiliar behavior and activity. Some men are more adaptable in that way than others. The lady may be seeking to give insight into her fondness for her own culture.

[newyorker.com] Why Trump, facing impeachment,warns of civil war?

racocn8 comments on Oct 9, 2019:

We are already in the midst of Civil War 2.0. The GOP Evangelicals have been fighting it for a several decades in the form of the "Culture War". Progressives, being the mental giants that they are, only now start to catch on that the GOP Evangelicals are more than a political problem to be overtaken by education and integration. At some point, the Democrats will need a new and effective strategy, lest actual combat be necessary. Alternatives to combat? Sequestration, disenfranchisement, forcible (biological) re-education, or numerical reduction by biology. These may not be pretty, but neither is wholesale extinction of the species.

Apparently cancer was not enough.

racocn8 comments on Oct 9, 2019:

When my wife and I separated, my daughter was 6. I did all I could to support them, but at 13, my daughter began to shun me, and my ex refused to do anything, or more likely, encouraged it. She's 20 now and I haven't heard from her in more than a year. I don't wish that kind of disrespect on anyone, but I feel a little better to know I'm not alone. I don't advise anyone to date or marry a bipolar; really, they should be sterilized. And that even includes my daughter.

Can Trump be removed from office by following the rules?

racocn8 comments on Oct 9, 2019:

Trump still has enough loyal GOP senators to stop impeachment. The possibility is that enough abuse can be unearthed to flip those loyalists. However, the GOP have already shown willingness to disregard the abuses so far, so probably worse actions are needed. His numerous actions on Putin's behalf certainly show a significant likelihood that he is, indeed, a Putin asset. Proving it could happen, and that would be worse. But for the GOP, would it be worse enough? The GOP are really, themselves, traitors for even considering Trump to be qualified.(In the sense that the GOP would elect a Trump to achieve their own personal goals, and thus placing self ahead of the country).

The Center of the Milky Way Exploded 3.

racocn8 comments on Oct 8, 2019:

Quite a few galaxies can be seen to be emitting these gigantic jets of radiation, presumed to be the reaction of the accretion disk to entering the event horizon or simply being spun up to relativistic velocities. As galaxies eat each other, on rare occasions, super-massive black holes collide, but they likely orbit each other for some time. I recall seeing one galaxy that had two of these gigantic radiation jets spewing in opposite directions, and on both sides, the jets slightly coiled around each other signifying a stable gravitational orbit. It's notable that the jets could even attain the level of parallel alignment. Or would it be inevitable?

It's pay back time!!

racocn8 comments on Oct 8, 2019:

They look good. But seriously, not a good idea. I remember when I was 10 I wrapped up dead grasshoppers to give as candy. Also, a non-white friend of mine complained that he got a candy that burned his mouth. Shit happens. It's probably not a good idea to spread it around unless you're totally sure it can't be traced back.

Online dating, now the most common way for couples to meet, is desegregating America

racocn8 comments on Oct 6, 2019:

Could it be that a significant percent of white people take on airs and privilege to the point where only the stupidly desperate of their race would consider them? Then, after divorcing the lying, grasping, manipulative fool, try someone from another race. Find that the new partner doesn't lay in the bed like a dead fish, but actually participates? And even better, isn't psychotically bipolar? It's really just another consequence of the same Disney Princess pathology that degrades our culture.

Arnold got it right

racocn8 comments on Oct 3, 2019:

Sorry, but if he was doing his duty to his country, he'd have sworn off the GOP. The GOP and their lack of values paved the way for Trump.

A good choice for the Nobel. What do you think? Not to mention newsmaker of the year.

racocn8 comments on Oct 3, 2019:

Given how she has energized the environmental movement, she is a good candidate. Certainly far better than Trump, who doesn't have any qualifications.

Christian Activist: When They Attack White Supremacy, They Attack Christianity | Michael Stone

racocn8 comments on Oct 3, 2019:

Rios is a shameless egomaniac and moron, just like her idol, Trump.

What if Jesus was really black?

racocn8 comments on Oct 3, 2019:

1. The Bible condones slavery among a host of other barbaric behaviors. 2. European Whites adopted an especially vicious practice of slavery to pursue their colonial expansion, this in spite of being intensely theocratic and guided by Christianity. And as reiterated in WWII, Christianity does not instill ethics/morality in its believers, and actually compels them to great evil.

I often find it extremely mind-boggling just how many "Christians" have never read the Bible.

racocn8 comments on Oct 2, 2019:

The tragedy is that we do have transcendental knowledge and profound wisdom. However, because religion teaches believers to ignore everything else, they are blocked from becoming better people.

LBJ's words...

racocn8 comments on Oct 2, 2019:

Power speaking to truth. There's a switch. LBJ was just mostly an a-hole. Still so much better than any in column b. LBJ was in on it, but I lean more to Bush Sr. as the originator. Last I checked, the assassination papers have still not been released (have they?).

When you discover your version of reality is in complete conflict with everyone else's version of ...

racocn8 comments on Oct 2, 2019:

That's getting personal... Actually, I consider myself as transiting through different realities, whether atheist, superstitious, synthetic, or others. My fellow travelers also seem to occupy different realities that only partially intersect mine. I certainly don't see what they're seeing, and they don't, or won't, see what I see. Even though atheist, I regard this massively multidimensional intersecting to be, itself, miraculous. But rather than worship, I'm content to regard and contemplate the insanity of it. Add all that to the crowd of voices in my head, time to turn on the TV and slip into the oblivion of passivity.

Two self serving leaders, only interested in themselves, not caring for anyone else, scratching each...

racocn8 comments on Oct 2, 2019:

Discrediting Mueller's Report is only coming from Trump, it doesn't have any real evidence basis, and it has been deemed by the IC as based on discredited theories itself. The efforts to discredit the Mueller Report is therefore entirely political in furtherance of Trump's 2020 campaign. Thus, As Trump shapes international policy to further his own fortunes, he places himself ahead of the nation's true interests. More than that, he is subverting the nation's true interests for his own self-aggrandizement.

Depression

racocn8 comments on Oct 2, 2019:

SOP: At least consider trying CBD; full spectrum is also advised.

Day 3 of being a roommate for the first time in my life.

racocn8 comments on Oct 2, 2019:

Keep looking for commonalities, focus on them and drill down...

What do you think?

racocn8 comments on Sep 30, 2019:

Just what is it that you think is going on behind the veil? (I'll let you know if you're close) (Isn't what's going on in front of your eyes bad enough?)

If we were actually accomplishing anything other than rearranging rubble and killing non-combatants,...

racocn8 comments on Sep 30, 2019:

We'd be so much more effective if we dropped depo provera into their water supply.

I don’t watch RT America With Rick Sanchez a lot but did view it today.

racocn8 comments on Sep 30, 2019:

Trump's taxation changes has only enlarged the wealth disparity, which is extremely unhealthy for the country, fomenting economic unfairness and anger. A small amount of money may have returned from off-shore, but it only boosted share prices as companies bought back shares, a totally artificial and temporary price increase. We're probably already in a recession or its economic equivalent. The market has been kept afloat by Trump supporters on Wall Street, but how long can that last? The moves by the Fed suggest they are also working to keep things going, without overreacting. Only time will tell if it will be enough. The existing system is sick, sick, sick, and only severe counter-measures similar to those voiced by Warren, Sanders and the like, have any chance of keeping things going, but good luck getting those through Congress. We could finally be fucked for good this time. Could progress be made in the ensuing chaos?

Republican lawmaker denounces Trump’s tweet predicting ‘civil war’ if he’s impeached

racocn8 comments on Sep 30, 2019:

Where is the Pied Piper to rid us of our rats, piping them to a watery grave... (I love Grieg's music so much...)

"linking population control to climate was a topic "poisonous for politicians, but it's crucial to ...

racocn8 comments on Sep 30, 2019:

It's true, discussing population control is a non-starter. It's also too late to bring it up. Our population will have to be largely decimated (by a poisoned water supply?) before we'll admit the need to limit reproduction. And it will be too late then, too. The questions I pose are: 1. What would it take to save ourselves? 2. How close are we to being able to enact those changes? The answers are: 1. Severely limit reproduction and learn how to live in something like harmony with the environment. 2. We are nowhere close to the mindset needed to live in harmony, and no path is evident (Except via apocalypse, and that only pushes use back 5000 years, not forward).

Trump Calls Greta Thunberg ‘a 4’ | Andrew Hall

racocn8 comments on Sep 29, 2019:

Yeah, she's not his type at all. Especially with that flat chest. I'd like to hear Trump's rating of his friend, Roy Cohn. A tight ass for a tiny dick.

Here's my problem with liberals.

racocn8 comments on Sep 28, 2019:

Some small amounts of truth may be present, but they are overwhelmed by naive GOP-like bias. You write reasonably well, so you may not be the usual GOP idiot, you're still in the grip of their brainwashing propaganda. Do you watch a lot of Fox? You probably come from a GOP environment, and are still there. The claim that your demonizing isn't from a right wing view simply isn't credible. The GOP is all about the same hate you show. You think Liberal ideology is myopic and unimaginative? That's pure projection.

Rough couple of days Wednesday evening my back was spasmodic.

racocn8 comments on Sep 28, 2019:

CBD is a viable option, but you may need a fair amount and it could get pricey. You should also consider cannabis oil. Yes, the THC will get you high, but if the problem is serious enough, you could take the oil for a week. Once you build up a tolerance to the psychoactive effect, the pain-relief and the anti-inflammatory effects are apparent. The cannabis may also help your appetite. If you're interested, I can help you get it.

For the upcoming fight

racocn8 comments on Sep 28, 2019:

Lemmings come from lemmings, which is to say, the GOP lemming Senators were elected by evangelical lemmings. As all said lemmings are religiously delusional, they are incapable of distinguishing the so-called *right thing*. One cannot distinguish lies after a lifetime of lying to oneself. All this contemplation can be interrupted if these nitwits are brought down a rung or two on Maslow's pyramid. We need to allow the red states to opt out of the ACA, or to be kicked out. If they hate socialism so much, take it away from them. Stop sending them money collected from the blue states, and maybe we'll see how fond they really are of capitalism.

Does anyone agree with Richard downkins?

racocn8 comments on Sep 27, 2019:

Tell us what you don't agree with

Caption this

racocn8 comments on Sep 27, 2019:

Four walls for a spy is three too many.

Putin Angrily Resigns from Trump’s Reëlection Campaign [newyorker.com]

racocn8 comments on Sep 27, 2019:

Perhaps you're aware that Trump is using Putin's claim that Ukraine was responsible for the 2016 election meddling rather than Putin. That's part of the absurd line advanced by Trump and Stone in their defense. Both of them are actually foreign agents. That Trump calls the whistleblower a spy is the height of irony.

True or False: No One Can Make You Feel Anything?

racocn8 comments on Sep 27, 2019:

You have been given a grossly simplistic sentiment. In order to understand its real meaning, it has to be greatly unpacked. As noted below, one invests one's feelings in any relationship, and thus become vulnerable. A lot of people are insecure and the one way they imagine they can gain security is by exerting power over others. Using threats of revealing secrets, or abusing in any way is a hurtful way of exerting control. Quite a few people will allow this abusive behavior because they are also insecure and fear losing the relationship. The notion that one can disregard abusive behavior is naive. The idea is to tell the victim that they do have some control over themselves and to devalue the other person, and in due course, the relationship. The stupidly simplistic sentiment really is a call to break off abusive relationships. This is so much easier said than done, and there will be pain. Still, it is a choice to go on tolerating hurtful behavior, or to find some way to move on, and leave the abuser behind.

So I guess he's saying that Repub senators are a bunch of pussies "12:30 p.

racocn8 comments on Sep 27, 2019:

Trump has dirt on most of them via the Enquirer, and he's been blackmailing them from the outset.

As Biden falters, Hillary attacks Trump and positions herself to enter presidential race

racocn8 comments on Sep 27, 2019:

Wingnut insanity. Figures.

BREAKING NEWS MSNBC AT 3:00 pm - Adam Schiff, head of House Intelligence Committee announces the ...

racocn8 comments on Sep 25, 2019:

Either the Acting DNI Director turns over the complaint or he is turned over to the DC Jail for violating the law and his oath of office. And he should be the first of many.

Hidden History.

racocn8 comments on Sep 24, 2019:

That figures...

Similar one can hope

racocn8 comments on Sep 24, 2019:

Guantanamo is the place for enemy spies to be water-boarded for the fun of it. Maybe we could make a reality TV show out of it? I'd watch...

[youtu.be]

racocn8 comments on Sep 24, 2019:

First, with the rarest of exceptions, the many Economics schools have become wholly owned propaganda farms of right-wing ideologues. Consequently, virtually no meaningful research into economics gets done. Almost the whole of the discipline fiddles around the edges of a larger whole picture, and intentionally omits those aspects which argue against the right-wing notions and values of Capitalism. Chief among those values is anti-intellectualism and the denigration of individual invention and technological creativity. Our lifestyle and economic growth are far more directly derived from the utilization of useful technology than from any sort of Capitalism. But shhhhh, that is an obvious truth you'll never hear in Business Schools. The US culture of underemployment and diversion of creative genius is what is slowing the economy to a standstill. That along with the saturation of corruption in the political and financial spheres. A big part of what is keeping the economy afloat is back-engineering alien technology. That and some of our own creations, but who wants to be a technologist when they can make so much more as a lawyer or banker?

Federal judge rules an anti-LGBTQ church can legally be called a ‘hate group’ / LGBTQ Nation

racocn8 comments on Sep 24, 2019:

Sorry, but as near as I can tell, religion is all about hate. It is asking members to worship lies that define a fake US and THEM, THEM becoming objects of hatred. What church or religion doesn't do this?

Trump says it doesn't matter if the US has a recession because the trade war is more important

racocn8 comments on Sep 24, 2019:

As long as the trade war mainly impacts Trump's red states, let's hope he believes his own lies. And increases his chances of being defeated in 2020.

Greta Thunberg To World Leaders: "How Dare You Continue To Look Away" - News & Guts Media

racocn8 comments on Sep 24, 2019:

All these young people protesting climate change? Good for them! But I wonder if they realize what a load of happy horseshit it all is. Let's see a show of hands of all the kids who will swear off having children, and undertake, today, being sterilized. What? No takers? What happened to all that youthful enthusiasm and outrage? Short of eliminating the bulk of humanity, the Earth is fucked.

US Navy confirms UFO videos are the real deal - YouTube

racocn8 comments on Sep 23, 2019:

Per UFO lore, the variety of craft, flight characteristics, inhabitants, etc. indicate a variety of species conducting 'scientific' studies, making Earth comparable to a sort of wildlife sanctuary. Quite the opposite of seeking to make contact, ET's are indifferent or reclusive, and contact is generally avoided except to take samples, to conduct tests, or to send a message. The biggest surprise is that for all the physical evidence left behind, no extraterrestrial biological species have been noted or have become established. Given the history of how humans have unintentionally spread assorted pathogens or other species, it's hard to imagine the number and variety of extraterrestrials coming and going without accidentally contaminating the biosphere, now or in the past. Perhaps we are all made of exactly the same stuff, DNA, RNA, etc because it gets spread around? Or, the visitors have perfected the prevention of contamination? It is hard to reconcile the uniform genetics of Earth life with the notion that multiple species are visiting. On the other hand, UFO lore contains various mentions of those who encounter crashes or ET as perishing from illness shortly thereafter (Sverlovsk Midget, Coyame Mexico, and Varginha) The US Navy and other services know these are not 'phenomena' but are structured machines. The pilots note that they exhibit performance characteristics that are significantly beyond the capabilities of known aircraft and contemporary nation-states. Here's another video from Homeland Security which travels at a sustained velocity above 70 mph and is capable of underwater travel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnUM3x3GvaU And one from the Chilean Navy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEK3YC_BKTI While the Prime Directive is mostly in effect, the exceptions are notable: interference with ICBM electronics systems in the US and purportedly in Russia. Sustained surveillance of nuclear research and nuclear weapons storage sites is also notable. A leaked letter from the estate of a Canadian envoy revealed that the US classified the subject higher than the hydrogen bomb. Recently, emails recovered (from the estate of Neil Armstrong) validate the existence of ongoing deeply classified programs to study the issue. However, neither we nor our elected officials are deemed to have a 'need to know' qualifying them for briefing. It would be nice to get the other videos and reports generated by AATIP declassified, as the were the three videos released by DeLonge. Recovered materials held by Bigelow Aerospace are being studied and also indicate unknown technological fabrication techniques. Debunkers wear their own foil hats with their mantra: Don't confuse me with facts, my mind is made up.

Help please, can somebody tell me what this is and what it's used for?

racocn8 comments on Sep 23, 2019:

Just a guess: The blades at the bottom puncture a flat metal surface on the top of a drum. The lever pushes in the wedge-shaped flaps to make a proper hole. Then, the drum contents can be poured out.

Is einstein's e=mc2 even possible?

racocn8 comments on Sep 22, 2019:

At the atomic and sub-atomic level, physicists measure the mass of nuclei or individual particles, and back-calculate the hypothetical rest mass of said particles. When one looks at the rest mass of hydrogen and deuterium and compare them to helium 3, you see a very tiny difference, and that difference in mass correlates precisely with the amount of energy that is generated when the hydrogen and deuterium fuse together. The calculation of the change in rest mass is multiplied by c-squared to calculate the emitted energy. The same thing happens in fission, the rest masses of the daughter nuclei, etc are compared to the original nucleus, and the difference in mass multiplied by C^2 is the energy generated by the fission. When a positron (positively charged electron) annihilates with an electron, the energy released is twice the rest mass of an electron times C^2, or twice 511 kiloelectron Volts (keV). The E=MC^2 is actually fallout from reconciling the Maxwell Equations. It was Einstein's insight to have been the first to derive that relationship. What is interesting is that technology enables these calculations to be checked to many places, and the relationship holds up with impressive precision (more than 10 decimal places), but, NOT EXACTLY. If the equations are right, the numbers should agree exactly, but they don't. Apparently, the equations are missing one or more terms, which are insignificant except for these super-precise experiments. The real question then becomes, what are these missing terms? The implication is that they become important under the right conditions, that they have been elucidated, and that they are a highly classified state secret, too critical to be taught in public schools.

US university racism workshop returns, just NINE students come to learn about white privilege — RT...

racocn8 comments on Sep 22, 2019:

Fuck Russia

Internaționala Panteistă-Protectivă a Familiei Terra/The International Pantheist-Protective of ...

racocn8 comments on Sep 20, 2019:

Off your meds?

Conspiracy?

racocn8 comments on Sep 20, 2019:

As the damage was minimal, I'd say this was a warning to Saudi Arabia to back off from Yemen or a real strike would shut them down for real. Sadly, these two have been at each other for decades. The US wants them to stay peaceful so we can keep selling weapons systems.

[vice.com] The US Navy says the UFOs in Tom Delonges videos are unidentified aerial phenomena.

racocn8 comments on Sep 19, 2019:

Per UFO lore, the variety of craft, flight characteristics, inhabitants, etc. indicate a variety of species conducting 'scientific' studies, making Earth comparable to a sort of wildlife sanctuary. Quite the opposite of seeking to make contact, ET's are indifferent or reclusive, and contact is generally avoided except to take samples, to conduct tests, or to send a message. The biggest surprise is that for all the physical evidence left behind, no extraterrestrial biological species have been noted or have become established. Given the history of how humans have unintentionally spread assorted pathogens or other species, it's hard to imagine the number and variety of extraterrestrials coming and going without accidentally contaminating the biosphere, now or in the past. Perhaps we are all made of exactly the same stuff, DNA, RNA, etc because it gets spread around? Or, the visitors have perfected the prevention of contamination? It is hard to reconcile the uniform genetics of Earth life with the notion that multiple species are visiting. On the other hand, UFO lore contains various mentions of those who encounter crashes or ET as perishing from illness shortly thereafter (Sverlovsk Midget, Coyame Mexico, and Varginha)

[vice.com] The US Navy says the UFOs in Tom Delonges videos are unidentified aerial phenomena.

racocn8 comments on Sep 17, 2019:

The US Navy and other services know these are not 'phenomena' but are structured machines. The pilots note that they exhibit performance characteristics that are significantly beyond the capabilities of known aircraft and contemporary nation-states. Here's another video from Homeland Security which travels at a sustained velocity above 70 mph and is capable of underwater travel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnUM3x3GvaU And one from the Chilean Navy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEK3YC_BKTI While the Prime Directive is mostly in effect, the exceptions are notable: interference with ICBM electronics systems in the US and purportedly in Russia. Sustained surveillance of nuclear research and nuclear weapons storage sites is also notable. A leaked letter from the estate of a Canadian envoy revealed that the US classified the subject higher than the hydrogen bomb. Recently, emails recovered (from the estate of Neil Armstrong) validate the existence of ongoing deeply classified programs to study the issue. However, neither we nor our elected officials are deemed to have a 'need to know' qualifying them for briefing. It would be nice to get the other videos and reports generated by AATIP declassified, as the were the three videos released by DeLonge. Recovered materials held by Bigelow Aerospace are being studied and also indicate unknown technological fabrication techniques.

[dailykos.

racocn8 comments on Sep 16, 2019:

It is a violation of the UN Genocide Convention and should be prosecuted as such.

Why does the beauty of the world, the order (and chaos) we discovered that underlies the universe, ...

racocn8 comments on Sep 16, 2019:

Supernatural explanations are provided by those who seek to provide authority and exert control. It's all about power and control.

What's the most outrageous thing one of your parents ever said to you?

racocn8 comments on Sep 15, 2019:

Your Mom's response sounds both accurate and clever; nothing ghoulish about it. When I was 3, my Grandfather pointed to the big can transformer on a nearby telephone poll and told me that bad boys would be put in there on time-outs. I was horrified, but couldn't quite grasp how children would fit inside; it didn't look big enough...

Trump To Rally Crowd: I'm Never Leaving Office - YouTube

racocn8 comments on Sep 12, 2019:

Trump at North Carolina Rally: "The Left hates America."

Look it up, how you/we are being lied to curtesy of the American tax payer.

racocn8 comments on Sep 12, 2019:

It wasn't New Jersey; it was the Palestinians who cheered 9/11.

Interplanetary relations

racocn8 comments on Sep 12, 2019:

Yes. So, what do you suggest?

Does free will exist?

racocn8 comments on Sep 11, 2019:

First, Free Will is a cultural misnomer. (Promulgated by religious BS) Second, If you're like me, you've got a committee of personalities knocking around up there, arguing and debating. Much of the time, I just stand back and let them hash it out. Does actually intervening count? Do all these voices have 'free will'. My suspicion is that they are programs, albeit chaotic programs, rifling through the memory RNA. Third, What people might count as 'free will' assumes there's some ongoing and persistent personality or self that is inside expressing that free will. That self is a lot less reliable as an ongoing entity. It's easily influenced by pain, diet, sunlight, electrical charge, electromagnetic fields, antigens, etc. Where's the continuity? If anything, that personality is just another logic program that compares the values and timing of the various committee members and evaluates the decision making processes against the matrix of circumstances. That evaluation is often too ephemeral to put into words, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It's like you know you had a dream, but you forget what it was about.

Does anyone have a good recipe for holy water?

racocn8 comments on Sep 11, 2019:

Holy Water? --> Batman

Anti-stalking... I've done this....

racocn8 comments on Sep 9, 2019:

Yeah, but they caught me anyway...

Do you agree with Chris Hedges and think the capitalists are afraid? [truthdig.com]

racocn8 comments on Sep 9, 2019:

This seems to be the mirror image of Ayn Rand's excoriating Communism. The problem with propaganda is that if one has some breadth of experience, it is not convincing and not worth the time to pick apart to demonstrate all the fallacies. The real bottom line is that Humanity wasn't ready to have modern medicine unleash it's fecundity. The political arena does not have anything like feed-back controls, much less feed-forward, to stop corruption. The US Constitution is altogether blind and lame in this regard, and the US is an utter joke because of it. We are just about to go extinct because of our hubris. We simply are not worthy to survive.