So this is my first post and I will see how it goes.

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 30, 2018:

Perhaps not all that relevant ..but I found this site from an ad on a dating site that is dominated by Filipinas 85% of which request men who have "fear of god". Back one step ... I was born an atheist but it took me a while to figure it out. I was baptised and my grandmother dragged me to church each Sunday I was staying with her. So my little bottom had early exposure to the holy planks that I had to share with old widows. Oh ... I also had to attend a church run scholl because the state didn't provide schools despite the fact the attendance was compulsory. Totally fucked up system. So I got early exposure to all the labels and terminology ... but ... Nobody around me ever seriously indoctrinated me. Later I realised the religious stuff was just like set in a theatre. Now reading stories like your's made me rethink. I had no idea that it would take courage to extract oneself from the fangs of these poor wretched believers who themselves were inocculated with the holy crap at an early age. I hope you find some likeminded people with whom you can share your thoughts and anxieties. I am currently in China where the political climate is changing rapidly and drastically, where everyone has to swear loyalty to the motherland and the "core value of socialism" while witnessing how the country is wrecked and ruined by the most savage capitalism.

If you had to choose between keeping 30 grand or bailing a loved one out of prison with the money, ...

PontifexMarximus comments on May 28, 2018:

This would have to be tested in real life

This is about right some mornings

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 21, 2019:

I just can't see it … but I can smell it!

What makes you happy?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 21, 2018:

I really don't know whether sex makes me, but without it i am unhappier.

How do you like it?

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 31, 2019:

I remember a French movie in which a guy orders a coffee in a luxury restaurant. The waiter rattles down a list of all sorts of fancy caffeinated beverages. "And you don't have just *coffee*?"

Asian girl. Who like Asians?

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 19, 2018:

I never thought of myself as a rascist, but Chinese women taught me otherwise. Since my first contact with a woman from South China i have developed a preference. They can enjoy sex without the occidental heaviness, both the mental and the physical Somehow they seem to have a more natural approach to fully engaging while taking a role that gives some importance to the male partner involved. One more thing the hail damage gene seems to be extremely rare. After living for three dacades in Australia where nature's savage treatment on females' bodies is all too evident Being a dwarflike creature the exposure to much smaller frames had a healing effect on my soul.

I'll put this here.

PontifexMarximus comments on May 6, 2018:

I guess good dictators, and mean good as in being good at being dictators, are just good manipulators and psychopath. I don't think that Hilter would have been able to kill someone with his own hands, but he knew how to manipulate people. I think we often tend to forget that a dictator without henchmen is nothing. The goals are good by their standards and the fact that it might cost millions of lives doesn't deter them, probably quite in the contrary. Being able to take large numbers of lives promotes them to god status. Fundamentally good people don't even become foremen.

Might have been covered already, but after decades of filter machines, for the past year have ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 25, 2018:

"French Press" ... do you mean you run your *cafe* through a copy of *Le Monde*?

Extract quoted by the BBC from Trump's words to survivors in Dayton's Miami Valley Hospital.

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 8, 2019:

Perhaps the others were democrats

Are you kidding me?

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 11, 2019:

Reminds me of what once happened to me. I am a real shorty: 5'4" … I was the tailor in a advertising shoot … The male model arrives: 6'3" … I could hardly reach his should with my arm fully extended. I had to stand on several rolls of fabric.

So, my religious neighbour asked me out to lunch last week and I went, with the stipulation that we ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Jun 18, 2018:

How important is it to feel needed by her? ... I remember once a guy called me an asshole, not on religious but on ideological grounds. I asked him whether would rescind from this insult. **"NO"** he said emphatically. "Great," I replied, so I don't have to pretend to respect you. Why don't you challenge her on the specifics of hell? Temperatures range, fuel type and consumption etc. and what materials are being used to insulate ***Heaven*** from ***Hell***.

First cup, first post in the group.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jan 30, 2019:

Interesting contraption ….

@rolandsmartin: We have a mass shooting in Jacksonville.

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 31, 2018:

Is anyone really still surprised?

It is long overdue and elections are ahead

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 24, 2018:

How about a true revolution?

Wanted to gather advice on the following dilemma: I have a problem with men and their facial hair...

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 18, 2019:

There are physical phenomena that have that effect. My facial hair has invaded my entire body to the point that I was frequently branded monkey when I went swimming in China. I was afraid that women might have the same reaction as you have. There is really not much you can do about it. Certain synthetic fabrics have the same effect on me … but the advantage is they can usually be removed fairly easily. I am sure there are many charming men with soft facial skin. Enjoy the exploration process!

Here's an argument you can use on your religious friends. God is perfect?

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 29, 2019:

Much easier to say that a perfect god can talk to you directly without a go-between

Its beginning to happen while we live in our self induced coma as a country.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 16, 2019:

We are a very strange primate: gullible and suspicious at the same time. Many governments have terrorised their citizens for millennia with the threat of insecurity. Why does so much money have to be invested into military shit? There was an absolute need for nuclear weapons. Now it turns out that they are of limited use against "terror" attacks. Now we need mass surveillance ... to protect us from what?

Well at least dad and a Chinese artist are visiting Assange in prison. [sbs.com.au]

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 3, 2019:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice#Jurisdiction The UN's legal arm aka ICJ should protect Assange and not allow the British authorities to extradite Julian Assange to the USA which is basically a rogue state.

I like my coffee the way I like my women; cold, dark, weak, and bitter. 😉

PontifexMarximus comments on Dec 7, 2019:

reminds me on old legionnaire's joke: Women's eye must be mike legionnaires' feet: large, dark and moist.

I'm thinking of opening a new business.

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 1, 2019:

Excellent Idea; but perhaps you also accept women.

Why should it matter to a Christian what an atheist thinks?

PontifexMarximus comments on May 5, 2018:

I guess for many of the staunch believers it's like having sex with an unprotected soul. Perhaps it is not really so much about their god/s but their divine insurance policy. I remember once living with a born again Christian who even wanted a child with me. I was very skeptical about her religious zeal, but totally flummoxed by her contradictions. She had a bible in very corner of every room in her cottage and a stash of dope behind every bible. She did all sorts of things that seems utterly incompatible with her "belief" including having 2 abortions.

I guess I’m trying to find a common thread with people on here that’s not necessarily faith ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Oct 21, 2018:

I think that it is rather normal that you don't give it much thought. Most people are like you even those who belong to a religion hence the frequent rituals prescribed by some religions. If the believer had the inner voice telling them several times per minute or per hour that they belong to a certain religion, there wouldn't exist the necessity to remind the **believers** with calls by the muezzin from the minaret or will the noise of bells from the belfry immitating the voice of gods. I remember when my elder daughter asked me for permission to become a christian and her mother backing her request by saying "I believe in god too (god 2.0)" ... I could only reply "holy shit" ... At that time I had been in a relationship with my daughter's mother for 25 years and the question of any alligeance to any deity had never come up.

Why should it matter to a Christian what an atheist thinks?

PontifexMarximus comments on May 5, 2018:

I guess for many of the staunch believers it's like having sex with an unprotected soul. Perhaps it is not really so much about their god/s but their divine insurance policy. I remember once living with a born again Christian who even wanted a child with me. I was very skeptical about her religious zeal, but totally flummoxed by her contradictions. She had a bible in very corner of every room in her cottage and a stash of dope behind every bible. She did all sorts of things that seemed utterly incompatible with her "belief" including having 2 abortions.

South Africa is truelly fucked ! [dailymaverick.co.za]

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 5, 2019:

The author is correct: "Across the world, a contagion has spread. It has attacked parliaments and legislatures and senates and congresses, wiping out centuries of democratic precedent."

How did many of you first realize that a life free from religion was right for you?

PontifexMarximus comments on May 4, 2018:

Well as a result of centuries of inbreeding I am short and I was even shorter during my childhood. So my growing up was slow and rather unsuccessful. However, when I was 10 I had reached my grandmother's, my mother's adoptive mother, level and could talk to her eye-2-eye. I think it was on a Saturday when I realised. I planted myself in front of her and said, obviously very convincingly, that I was big, big as in adult. She just nodded and said in a rather hesitant voice: "So?" Me: "Well, from now on I don't have to accompany you on your dominical procession to the church, grantherfather's tomb and Frau Kurt." Her answer was as prompt as it was short: "Fine!" The next morning I was for the first time all alone in a big house, a treasure cove of mysteries. BTW this newly acquired status also allowed me to move into another bedroom. For years I had to sleep in my granfather's bed in which he had died. So it was the first time in my life, excluding baby years about which I remember precious little, that I had slept in a room all alone. When I woke up I just heard how granny shut the door behind her. I rushed to the window to check whether she was really leaving or just pretending and waiting behind the door. She wasn't. I saw her already crossing the road. At that moment I really loved that little plump oversized soft toy. Just then I felt really emotionally attached and I realised that I had never appreciated an aerial view of her. After this first surprising moment of discovering my feelings for that strange being I thought it was time to get into action. No bothering too much about hygiene I just slipped into my clothes and into the lounge room which must have been my grandfather's officeMy head felt like a carousel, some thoughts seemed to drift away by centrifugal force only to bounce off my meninges. My opened the door large bookcase/cupboard. On the lower shelf was a pile of magazine pages very neatly piled up. Almost instantly I realised that this was the result of granny's meticulous execution of her censorship task. I don't even wether I had ever realised that the magazines she had always passed on to my mother had been subject to rigorous censorship. I only remember my father correcting her crossword mistakes. Here I was standing in amazement. I imagine the people seeing the Berlin Wall come down couldn't have been more amazed. I was looking at a piles hundred or even thousands of photos of naked women whose shapes had nothing in common nor with my granny's nor with my mother's. Somewhat timidly I took a few. I realised they were in chronological order. So thought it was safer to extract a few from within the pile. I felt a little shaky as I lifted a pile of several hundred pages and carefully set it down. Then I grabbed several ...

Who am I kidding

PontifexMarximus comments on Nov 8, 2019:

I tried that too but stopped when I realised that it became a sado-masochistic exercise.

I remember my parents had one but not this color. Do you know of anybody that still has one?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 16, 2018:

Just looking at them makes me feel dusty and moldy ... and feel hairy caterpillars crawling ...

How do you motivate yourself to exercise?

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 22, 2019:

Well … when I am hungry and need to buy food, I mount my bicycle and ride to the shops or if my neighbour needs exercise we walk together. Having a small or no fridge helps. So when people tell me that they want to lose weight I tell them to sell or donate their fridge. I am about 10% overweight (70kg/162cm) despite regular walks (probably about 20km/week) and cycling (3-10 km/day) [https://www.metric-conversions.org/conversion-calculators.htm].

The last time? ???

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 23, 2018:

Until i moved Anglo-Saxo-Celtic bastion down under I thought i knew what fun was. Then I learnt that having fun could either mean having a root or getting pissed; in either case alcoholic beverages were part of it. No booze = no fun. Strange ...

The last time? ???

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 23, 2018:

Until i moved Anglo-Saxo-Celtic bastion down under I thought i knew what fun was. Then I learnt that having fun could either mean having a root or getting pissed; in either case alcoholic beverages were part of it. No booze = no fun. Strange ...

Baby it's cold outside! 33 degrees.

PontifexMarximus comments on Nov 8, 2019:

It's 33 degrees here too ... oh ... we are using a different scale!

So do we atheists, agnostics, own the privilege to examine others negatively, own the privilege to...

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 14, 2019:

So do we ... own the privilege to disdain others? What exactly to you mean?

I may have teared up a bit this morning....??

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 24, 2018:

**Oh Fuck!**

why is it aways 'ride off into the sunset,' and not sunrise?

PontifexMarximus comments on Oct 22, 2018:

Why seemingly ends have only beginnings but no ends?

I guess I’m trying to find a common thread with people on here that’s not necessarily faith ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Oct 21, 2018:

I am not entirely certain that I really grasped the essence of your question, but it certainly gave me a good idea.

French Catholics increasingly asking to be de-baptised - France - RFI

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 20, 2019:

This raises an interesting question. A French court refused the right of a person to have their name taken of the register because "it was an historic act". A bit like deflowering. Once it's done … it's done. The French catholic church says the only ways out are the renunciation of faith or apostacy. I like the French wording: «... les personnes ayant décidé de faire une croix sur leur baptême, l’Eglise explique, en préalable, réfuter le terme de «débaptisation», lui préférant celui de «renonciation à la foi catholique», ou d'«apostasie» au sens juridique.» People having decided *to put a cross on the baptism* ... The church refutes the term **debaptisement/debaptisation"**

Agnostic vs Atheist Sorry to rake up this seemingly old one up again but there have been so many ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 13, 2019:

I am perfectly happy to be a staunch atheist who knows that there is no divine authority as alluded to by all sorts of religions. Religious people are true agnostics because they just believe rather than know.

Is it acceptable in this site to call your political opponents "mentally deranged"?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 7, 2018:

I guess leaders agree with this assessment about the connection between mental illness and political opposition

laundromats should have their own time zone.

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 9, 2019:

It's always ***SET*** (sock evaporation time) in them.

So do we atheists, agnostics, own the privilege to examine others negatively, own the privilege to...

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 14, 2019:

I have come across a few not so desirable comments, but I think that most contributors here try to be fair and reasonable.

World peace?

PontifexMarximus comments on Jun 12, 2018:

Recently a German federal court upheld a conviction of a driver who had adorned his bumper bar with a sticker ***Soldiers are killers***. It didn't even say ***Fuck the armies***

oh happy day....the coffee is hot and the sun is rising.....

PontifexMarximus comments on Jan 16, 2019:

Energy=milk coffee^2

Lawsuit: Oregon construction worker fired for refusing to attend Bible study | OregonLive.com

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 3, 2018:

It will be very interesting to see the outcome. What can an employer ask an employee to do?

Should Atheist be tolerant of religion or should it be treated as unacceptable social behavior?

PontifexMarximus comments on May 2, 2018:

Atheist should not start a "holy" war against religion, but they should not shy away from voicing their position. CAVEAT: perhaps you should abstain from doing so in Saudi Arabia!

VOTE!!!!!!!

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 17, 2019:

Good Luck !

Can love last for ever?

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 20, 2018:

What is it we call love? All too often love is fused and cinfused with lust. Cultural constraints coerce people to use the term love. Religions relentlessly exploit this phenomenon and reinforce the concept of "live" as a sort of "clean" version of affection between people. The term "love life" is a euphemism for sex life. Most cultures have a somewhat perverted relationship with sex. When will there be an ISO standard for love? Love could be dispensed in special clinic that would not be tarnished in the way brothels are.

Who else enjoys owning a hole in the water into which one throws money.

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 6, 2018:

Check out the story of the schooner "Lord Jim" and Holger Kreuzhage!

Its beginning to happen while we live in our self induced coma as a country.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 16, 2019:

Three years ago I arrived at Brisbane international airport … As I was waiting to be "processed" by customs or AQIS a customs officer walked past accompanying a couple. Just at that moment one of their mates walked past and asked: "Are they giving you the shits because of the guns?" The customs officer then asked him: "Do you also have a gun on you?" None of the three gun carriers were in any way restricted. The customs officer was unarmed. I am sure, they wouldn't have been handcuffed if they had belonged to an different ethnic group.

Jews Vs Trump - I Love It

PontifexMarximus comments on Nov 4, 2018:

Perhaps it should be "*Humans versus Trump!**

How do religions really develop? They are not something that is spontaneous they must be created.

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 30, 2018:

If we take a look at our mind ... and try to look rationally ... We realise that the mind is a converter. It converts perceptions and tries to store them. Unfortunately, there is no neutral little, conscientious, neutral librarian sitting inside the mind who organises the converted perceptions by labelling them properly and storing them systematically for easy storage and subsequent retrieval. I see the mind as a sort of dump where all sorts of data are mixed and mingled. Just like a library in the process of being demolished with all the shelves pulled down and the books, and tapes and other information support materials thrown together. We cannot store facts. Our mind decides what is fact and what is fiction. However, we seem to feel urge to label what we have in our mind as reality. Some early humans recognised this and imagined a business model. If we can free the people’s mind from the discomfort of confusion ... and BINGO Politics and religion were born. Freelance shamans were to be replaced with religions structured like any good criminal organisation. Now that the human era of religions seems to be coming to an end we see the last convulsions of Rambo fan clubs. Many of these idiots have been trained over the years by spending countless hours staring at screens and fighting some “enemy”. It is fascinating to see the parallels between religious and military organisations: lots of symbols and a strict hierarchy. Unfortunately, the criticism that has diminished the role of religions has not extended to the executive branch of religions: the killing machines: armies, navies and all the shit.

Create a caption....

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 16, 2019:

I know you like them. But do you realise that I have to carry them all the time?

Lentil soup: lentils, potatoes, carrots, leek, celery, onion, capsicum (probably called bell peppers...

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 22, 2018:

Well: lentils, potatoes, carrots, leek, celery, onion, capsicum ...

Describe your love life in one word.

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 24, 2018:

Do you use "love life" as a euphemism for "sex life"?

why is it aways 'ride off into the sunset,' and not sunrise?

PontifexMarximus comments on Oct 22, 2018:

Most people don't challenge conventions. As a matter of fact I have never seen anyone ride off into either: neither sunset nor sunrise.

Books Better the 2nd Time?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 15, 2018:

*To Kill a Mockingbird* ... The first time I didn't even get the story because I didn't understand the context.

Scott Morrison's claim to be 'on God's side' is fraught with danger | Geoff Thompson ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 16, 2018:

well ... he is on the losing side ...

Worth a visit when in Jena

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 29, 2019:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Haeckel Ernst Haeckel a contemporary of Darwin and an ardent promoter of Darwin's work.

Which are your favourite cities/towns to visit?

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 28, 2018:

Stadt Blankenberg ... Why? I am biased. This was one of the first places I visited on my own. I was a about 10 or 11 and had a new bicycle with 3 gears that allowed me to extend my radius of exploration significantly. This place was elevated to the *rank* of town in 1245. It was stripped of this privilege in 1805. The "Stadt" bit was introduced in 1953 almost 150 years after the place had lost it special privileges.

Lazy Sunday Feel free to say hello!

PontifexMarximus comments on Jan 24, 2019:

Cucumber or aubergine?

Do you fear people at your kid's school, neighbors, coworkers will find out that you don't believe ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Jun 10, 2018:

It sounds as if you were surrounded by Torquemadas.

Lawsuit: Oregon construction worker fired for refusing to attend Bible study | OregonLive.com

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 3, 2018:

Perhaps the employer will claim that it would increase workplace health and safety. If the judge is a fucking reigious freak ... Brothers and sisters let's pray for the construction worker!!!

Spain’s New Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, is an Atheist – Friendly Atheist

PontifexMarximus comments on Jun 15, 2018:

Interesting contradiction

One of the good things about Autumn:

PontifexMarximus comments on Oct 15, 2018:

I was just thinking that ... the only beings waiting for me when I get home are the mosquitoes.

83.

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 1, 2020:

The "Australian solution" is unreal. This country's democracy was already dysfunctional ... but with this idiotic approach to the "pandemic" it has totally evaporated. I never thought that Aussies were so easily intimidated. We are just a bunch of sheep. Just compare the number of Corona death to the number of road fatalities!

I was supposed to have a lunch date tomorrow.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jan 7, 2019:

Lust is a feeeling!!!

@PontifexMarximus -- Hello, and welcome to the group.

PontifexMarximus comments on May 4, 2018:

Thank you for your kind reception ...

Touring a little of South Dakota on my way back to Nee Jersey.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 3, 2019:

Very cool photos …

As it is Saturday morning, the sky is blue and the sun shining I thought something different for you...

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 16, 2019:

Blow it away!

I have heard of speed dating.

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 6, 2018:

the USA wasn't speed dating DJ TRUMP ... good match?

Would you ride o on the back of an elephant in the jungle of Africa?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 16, 2018:

why not combine at least some? Cook a gourmet meal on Ouvea and go for a dive after your digestive nap?

Best of wishes to our USA women of soccer.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 7, 2019:

How much are they worth?

New here! I’m kind of a closeted atheist with some family and friends.

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 18, 2018:

You raise an interesting point. You are a closet atheist Just imagine how many like you are out there and think: "Why do I have to pretend?" I am convinced that many "believers“ are just ***believers of convenience***. A few years back I had to think about secret ballots. Since my first vote I was suspicious of the practice. Unless there is really danger for one's life etc. they should be open. And the principle applied to more facets of life. Nowadays we are told about privacy and even friends would be reluctant to give out other friends' phone numbers. Yet I still remember time when phone numbers were listed in public phone books. Sorry ... going off on a tangent. I hope you can become brave enough to liberate yourself without too much drama. Good luck!

Lentil soup: lentils, potatoes, carrots, leek, celery, onion, capsicum (probably called bell peppers...

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 22, 2018:

Well ... it is probably in the late 90s here too ... 34 deg C

Why do those buttons draw your eyes to her sweet spot? 😍🔥

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 4, 2019:

these buttons are more like an obstacle course … they require two hands …

Who polices whom in Australia?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 17, 2019:

http://aquisaustralia.com/ About 7 years ago all the suckers in the *deep north* of Sunshine State were kowtowing to Tony. At first he was labelled a gaming magnet from Macau and shortly thereafter he was transmogrified by the local press into a real estate tycoon. He became the Messiah of Cairns and surroundings. Not just tens of millions, not even hundreds of millions but anywhere between 4 and 8 billion of dollars were to be pumped into the swamp near *Yorkey's Knob*. Tony Fung set up shop in Cairns and called it AQUIS. His plans would have been grandios in real cities but on Cape York... Tony promised not just one or or two or three or four or five ... But 9 (nine) luxury hotels around a casino in the cane fields. Politicians bent over backwards and forwards to have environmental restrictions removed. There was even talk about FNQ becoming it's own state. All the corrupt Chinese politicians were going to spent all there money in Yorkey's Knob. A few exhausted gambler would be carted up the range to Kuranda and then straight back to the high rollers' gambling tables. Black money laundered by Black Jack... Then Tony said in a interview that the Chinese government was spoiling the glorious future of Cairns because of their anti-corruption initiatives. The Fungs left Cairns but promised to reconsider...

Canada.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 10, 2019:

well ... if a personality collapses in the absence of such symbols they should seek psychological treatment and abstain from joining the public service. I am certainly not a friend of authority, but public servants should be as neutral as humanly possible.

Why do you reject the idea of religion?

PontifexMarximus comments on Jun 10, 2018:

The older I grow the more I am convinced that only children and mentally challenged people can believe in religions. But over the years I also realised that for too many people seem to be defending other ideas with religious zeal and fervor. Fanaticism is the ugliest expression of submission and it exists amongst sports fans and nationalities. Often there are phenomena that are sacred: religions, sports and matters military.

Happy accident.

PontifexMarximus comments on Nov 22, 2019:

it's the world upside down

There are some that want to remove the Capt Cook statues now.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jun 13, 2020:

The world needs a "Truth and Reconciliation" forum. We have to stop teaching patriotism and such bs ... If one accepts patriotism one cannot condenm the same phenomenon when it occurs on the "opposing" side.

So. Went to the grocery store for the first time since February. This is my receipt, lol.

PontifexMarximus comments on May 4, 2018:

Interesting picture ... You tried to align your docket with the runner but the runner seems to be a rebel

Supermarket Shenanigans Part II Unbeknownst to me it was my cart being ogled tonight.

PontifexMarximus comments on Nov 13, 2018:

You seem to be very fragile ...

Wen your customers ask what ya makin'...

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 14, 2019:

They nailed it!

Number 1, 2 and 4 are painted on wood with acrylic, the others are acrylic on canvas.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jun 30, 2019:

You might feel inspired by the works of Clovis Trouille

Very thoughtful sketch

PontifexMarximus comments on Aug 20, 2019:

Result of the *one child policy* ???

For the red fans

PontifexMarximus comments on Jan 24, 2019:

looks all organically grown

While in your teens did you see your current age as old?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 18, 2018:

Well ... I am 64 ... so my teens ended long ago. My parents became grandparents in their mid 40s,; which was the norm. Some people at my current age were already great-grandparents. My own grandparents were my current age when I was a teen. People above the age of 60 were not just old, they were very old indeed.

Would you ride o on the back of an elephant in the jungle of Africa?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 16, 2018:

I am not sure that many elephants have joined.the Tourism industry yet.

Why do men think that they should be with younger women?

PontifexMarximus comments on May 14, 2018:

It really depends on the moment or the phase in one's life. When I was in my late teens and early twenties I likes mature women in their early to mid-thirties. Now I am 63 and I sitll like them. Several years ago I had two female visitors, both menopausal women. One was about 48 and Japanese and the other about 53 and Taiwanese. Somehow the conversation deviated into the rapids of precisely the question of *preferred age range by men* . The Taiwanese said: "I cannot understand why men prefer younger women ..." To which the Japanese very calmly replied: "L. fresh fruit - dried fruit ... Which ones do you prefer?" I was very amused by this conversation and immediately thought od dried prunes so popular as laxatives. Sometimes later when I had the rare opportunity to take look into the Taiwanese lady's vagina, I almost felt compelled to raise the issue. If sex is not an issue, age really doesn't matter.

Why it is imperative to think for yourself ....

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 21, 2019:

When I was in my teens my father, who had been a forced professional soldier in the *Wehrmacht* for 5 years, once told me: "If you ever get sucked into an armed conflict, DO NOT touch a weapon! Armed people get shot at first." He continued with his advice: "Get yourself a useful defence tool that fits in your pocket!" And then he told me how he tackled and survived a war in which he had no particular interest. Very early in his *career* in the army he came to the conclusion that zeal is far too dangerous. So each time he was lined up for promotion he stated that he wasn't ready. He explained that if a soldier just remains cannon fodder nobody cares. He was also fortunate enough to catch an officer stealing chocolate. The officer then traded his life for a seal, a truly magic seal, which became my father's escape tool. … He explained that every railways station was controlled and travelling soldiers had to justify their travel. Even spot checks on the trains were not uncommon. My father always carried a signed and sealed marching order away from trouble. My father admitted to have fired a couple of shots but he missed the cow that he had earmarked for *osso bucco*. Perhaps it was the cow that became the heroine of ***La vache et le prisonier*** My father married my mother in 1944 and finished the war in peaceful Bavaria where he waited for the Americans to make him a prisoner of war. My eldest brother was born in November 1945. Daddy applied the hippie slogan ***Make Love not War*** well in advance.

I had a conversation with a coworker.

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 17, 2019:

Just go with the flow!

I really try to promote an alternative view of sexy from the typical media image.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 28, 2019:

I was probably about 4 or 5 when something minor, yet rather unusual but significant happened. Even now 60 years later I speculate about the impact of this event on my development. My godfather, yes I was christened, gave me a doll. This in itself was already a rather strange act. Offering a *typical girls toy* to a boy. What I found also interesting, in hindsight, that my parents didn't take it away from me. What was almost revolutionary was the fact that in the heart of Germany, where negroes had only ventured very briefly when they came disguised as GIs to liberate the Germans from themselves, the doll was the colour of 75% chocolate. Perhaps it was a conspiracy. My father wanted us to move to South Africa. It never happened because my mother found out about apartheid. Nevertheless for many years there after I dreamt about having cafe-au-lait babies: 13 ... or 12. Was this just an experiment of a twisted professor of paedagogy? Or was the rubbery toy just a better option after I had spent time in hospital and my fully toys had to be destroyed. My craving for black skin lingered in my mind ... but my body never experienced the reality ... well ... until I was about 60 ... This creature had the potential to convert me into a believer. This was truly the product of a divine creator, a male, a horny divine creator. I imagined the sculpture who had compacted the irresistible carnal attraction in about 50 kg of chocolate (80%) coloured perfectly proportioned flesh ... the nipples were close to 95% pure dark cholocate yet without the bitterness. Even just looking at her was an amazing event. Her face was the cherry on top of the icing on the chocolate cake. And all this without taking in any carbohydrates.

Catching feelings for a JW?

PontifexMarximus comments on May 10, 2018:

Though I was a nominal Christian growing up in a household where nobody believed in the stuff I was never really indoctrinated. At 19 I thought it was ridiculous to carry a misleading label, also I had no desire to finance the churches I never used through my tax contribution. I the part of the world where I grew up the two dominant *faith providers* (namely Catholics and Lutherans) had a deal with the state which compelled the state to collect a *churchtax*. I was already paying additional taxes on my coffee, but at least I was drinking it. When I met my charming wife, a semi-nominal Catholic practicing on the family occasions, she asked me wether we should marry in a church. I refused and we just signed a papers in a pompous wedding hall in townhall. My second wife told me after having lived together for 25 years that she believed in *god*. The only answer I could utter was *Holy Shit* Now to the fundamental issue of getting into cahoots with a religious critter. I had a 2 year relationship with a *born again Christian*. For a psycho drama/thriller it would have been a fantastic script. It was not just her but the brain amputees she was hanging out with. The slimy shady old men who would come and visit her after dark. These people somehow know that it is bullshit. This woman was quite smart. In private she was a tiger with a ferocious appetite for good sex. But ultimate the sect seize her by the short and curly, me too at the lower end. I had witness dramatic scenes between JWs and former JWs. Compared jihad is a picnic on a lovely Sabath afternoon in a fragrant ambience of a lovely park. My elder daughter joined the numb nuts and we have no contact. They even convinced her that I was an abusive father because I deprived her of the delights of the *scriptures*. Luckily she's got a younger sister who would be my defence witness. JWs only lucky kind when they zoom around with their mobile churches filled with pamphlets. Enjoy the sex with him while it lasts, but if he gets back into it *Hallelujah* & *hosanna*. Once I helped one JW to start his cleaning business. He ran away when he discovered that the owner of the carpet he was cleaning was homosexual because of an erotic picture above the toilets. This JW just left a totally soaked carpet behind. Sorry .. Too long.

Can you not foresee the onslaught of discrimination againt Agnostics and Atheists that will occurr ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 22, 2019:

It is really quite frightening ...

Born and raised in a socialist country I may state that the government ownership of the means of ...

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 10, 2018:

Work liberates the capitalist from pain and suffering when carried out by the ***WORKFORCE*** 。。。 Even the capitalist vocabulary is denigrating.

Good morning Agnostics! Happy Hump Day!

PontifexMarximus comments on Nov 7, 2018:

Good morning and good humping!

Boundaries.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 3, 2019:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil

What caused you to not believe in god?

PontifexMarximus comments on Sep 15, 2018:

I was about 4.6 when I tried ... I even tried praying secretely because my brothers would have laughed at me. So I went into hiding under my parents' bed. The prayers were probably deflected by the wire in the frame and the mattresses. So I gave up when I was 5.2. Never looked back.

So do we atheists, agnostics, own the privilege to examine others negatively, own the privilege to...

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 14, 2019:

https://www.advocate.com/religion/2017/12/08/salvation-army-we-meet-human-need-without-discrimination The Salvation Army and the LGBT Community: A Complicated Relationship

Would you allow your child to attend a catholic college on a full scholarship with no concerns?

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 26, 2019:

I think the wording of your question is clumsy.

I am not an atheist.

PontifexMarximus comments on Jul 21, 2019:

Some people claim that the difference is that agnostics state that they don't know whether a god or gods exist. Atheist just deny the existence of any god as described by humans.