A long time favorite of mine: Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade [youtube.com]

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

I'm conducting along with the music, like the classical version of air guitar. I don't know if it's a common enough thing, so far I've only seen Kevin Kline do it in Sophie's Choice.

The Key to Active Aging: "exercise is so good for you that its benefits almost always outweigh its ...

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

I think so. You just have to cut your cloth to your measure.

You level 8 people are quite up there and hard to please but thanks for the posts, It warms my heart...

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

Surely our higher level just came from starting to post before you did. Is there a pissy attitude to newer people?

Starting the day on your knees

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

Nothing should come before coffee (yes, I said come).

Leviticus 26:22 (NRSV): I will let loose wild animals against you, and they shall bereave you of ...

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

He can be very testy at times.

True Grit.

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

A wonderful film. I remember being horrified at the time by the scene in the cabin with the two brothers.

Having a party.

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

That pictures the need so well!

How does that work? Lol

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

The story goes he gave people free will but knew what they would decide in advance.

Too much logic for the religious people. Lol

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

Pagan bastards! Serves 'em right!

Man, spring is finally here! I can finally let my dawgs breath 😂

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

It's a new lease on life. I've been deliberately walking on grass.

Somethings to enjoy, share and remind others of where we stand and an old meme to show the ignorance...

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

Whatever was he thinking: That his anti-abortion stance is right for the little people? That it's a good bandwagon to promote yourself? Both?

People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don't know is...

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

Sacre bleu! Un tongue-tweester.

1967 - Janis Joplin Live! - Concert Poster-love colors!

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

Wo, wo-u-wo-u-wo-u-wo!

nympholepsy ( noun ): A man's lust and passion for young girls.

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

Yes, indeed and time has made a big difference too.

The secret🤗😊❤

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

That's a lot of responsibility!

The “Bible Belt” is the Porn Belt: Surprised? | Frank Schaeffer

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

They will comfort themselves thinking Satan only tempts good people. But if Satan has won.....

I have been thinking about getting married again after so many years of being a widower.

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

For me, the question is am I too long living life exactly as I please to be capable of sharing my time and my interests, and investing in someone else's. I believe love can make the transaction a no-brainer but otherwise I'm not sure it would work.

The Bible was made up over a number of centuries by many different editors using multiple sources.

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

One meaning of literature is writing worthy of being remembered. Another is 'writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays'. I think that means well-written. I see this combination of style and content throughout the Bible from the psalms, Solomon's temple inauguration speech (2 Chronicles Chapter 6) and some letters of Paul, among other things. I don't know what the criteria is to differentiate between high and low literature.

Might as well

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

You mean she wouldn't think 'why make things worse?'

Happy 971st Birthday, Omar. Logic and Reason over Superstition and Belief are not a new concept.

brentan comments on May 18, 2019:

I'm amazed guys like him survived Islam.

Nothing is divine but what is agreeable to reason. - Immanuel Kant

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

I guess divinity is a concept. I think it's a reasonable concept. Kant probably meant divinity as a real thing should be reasonable. I can't make up my mind about that.

a more enlightened and logical perspective though still a Christian (Methodist) one - [dailykos.com]

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

The reply button seems to be dead again. Here's the untrue statement: It can be said with absolute certainty that ancient scripture does not consider a zygote or a fetus even to be alive, because it has not yet drawn breath. Your eyes saw my embryo, and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me, before any one of them had yet happened. Psalm 139:16. I'll get some scriptures to place doubt on the 'life is associated with breathing' tomorrow.

a more enlightened and logical perspective though still a Christian (Methodist) one - [dailykos.com]

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

To be honest, though, I thought the writer was being very selective in the choice of verses and made at least one very untrue statement.

Who will come?

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

Give me your poor, your down-trodden, your... Oh, no..the other...person.

We all hold some assumptions to be true and they lie too deep to be proved; one could call them ...

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

I’m going to suggest, from stuff I’ve read, that the right hemisphere of the brain is conditioned by genetic and epigenetic factors. This side of the brain decides what it will turn its attention to out of many choices. The left brain hemisphere focusses on what it needs to evaluate from what the right side presents. So we are, in a sense, twice limited in out thinking – once because of what the right brain is disposed to pay attention to and again by the focus of the left brain which emphasises features of the situation presented to it. Nonetheless, while many people don't change their views over the years, I think the brain is plastic enough to change its views and for people to then pass them on to their offspring.

I just changed the name of this group to Me Too-Women's Rights and Men's Rights.

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

Good idea and maybe expand it to all sorts of abuse.

E does equal MC squared, since I was 50 time has passed much faster than before, anybody else ...

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

I'm not sure what the equation has to do with it but time for me has speeded up rapidly. I'm in my 60s.

There were two Catholic boys, Timothy Murphy and Antonio Secola, whose lives paralleled each other ...

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

A 'brand' new pope!

Hi.

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

Well now!

borborygmus (N) the sound of rumbling in one's intestines.

brentan comments on May 17, 2019:

I'm glad it was nothing worse.

[abcnews.

brentan comments on May 16, 2019:

The religious and the politicians never cease to disgust the public.

True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and ...

brentan comments on May 16, 2019:

Good old Socrates! You don't hear a lot about virtue anymore.

Pope Francis Guilty of “Heresy,” Catholic Scholars Claim in “Historic” Letter | David Gee | ...

brentan comments on May 16, 2019:

I agree with them. He's a fake Catholic.

Equality for all.

brentan comments on May 16, 2019:

I guess it isn't about us.

When you’ve overheard bits of the story but never seen the video you’re bound to get some of the...

brentan comments on May 16, 2019:

Features badly needing a schema.

Banshee (N); An attractive female ghost who announces a death in the family by screaming moans and ...

brentan comments on May 16, 2019:

Oh, my lovely dead language! Ban: woman Sí: fairy It's usually translated as queen of the fairies.

Some people think that science has all the answers that matter, and that things that cannot be ...

brentan comments on May 16, 2019:

People need meaning in their lives. Religion used to provide it. Science doesn't do it. So now almost nobody is providing answers except for a few writers and intellectuals.

"We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out - - and we ...

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

That sounds very like god.

Poor Tigger!

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

I'm not surprised. His father treated him very badly.

LOL.

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

The gay community are a scapegoat to make Christians feel good about missing the mark.

A balding man went into a barber’s shop and asked how much it would be for a haircut.

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

I get the zero skinhead cuts. He doesn't have to look, just cover ground.

If you're lucky enough.....

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

Yes indeed! So many people die young.

How do you m ake time go faster?

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

Music A walk Mindfulness

I have a read that pertains to such things.

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

I think the gospel of love survived by changing early on to a gospel of power and oppression.

Fort for the gato.

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

May the fort be with you!

Time to get out!

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

Is your little brother's name Damien?

Need to run this past Snopes....seems legit.

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

Less than the price of five café mocha ventis at Starbucks!

I keep myself out of arguments.🤗

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

I'll say something if I'm feeling strong enough.

Since my husband died in February, I can see why believers are hooked on an afterlife where one is ...

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

That's a very tough decision, a balance of truth and/or kindness. I hope you guys are coping well.

indite The verb indite, rarely used today, means "compose" or "put down in writing," like when ...

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

I went looking for the word recently, spelling it indite, indight, tried the thesaurus too and then found it googling the word in different contexts. That was a very sneaky 'c'.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s ...

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

So many family relationships are not like The Waltons.

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the ...

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

He probably never imagined that could be applied to the presidency.

Left these two in a box, ended up with a box full of baby carrots…

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

So that's what happened to rabbits!

An oldie but goodie.

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

That's cold, man.

[washingtonpost.

brentan comments on May 15, 2019:

While I'm happy that fairness and equality are good and proper things, I suspect an agenda to create a new society that will be quite the opposite of fair and equal.

Oops. Don't forget to pay your bill.

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

We sign up for direct debit to get a small discount so we have to make sure the money is in the account when they draw on it.

Here is another utterly horrifying example of the erosion of state and church.

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

I wouldn't be surprised if the congregation blamed his daughter.

True. True. Truth.

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

They told me back in the 70s that the days of stigma were over. Not that I believed them.

RIDDLE ME THIS! why do we look up?

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

Having our eyes in our head probably has an effect too. The Bible has a thing with north being good and south bad, as in coming up out of Egypt which was south and bad.

Causality argument is invalid because time is relative and stops in singularities.

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

OK.

Quaintrelle

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

It's not the leader of the Civil War renegades then.

The shame of it

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

Jesus H!

...in my best Samual L. Jackson voice.

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

Ezekiel for president!

After ten years enjoying the life of a retiree, I was asked to tutor -local library-for a group of ...

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

I think we come at learning with enthusiasm and motivation and get to be out and about with people while we're at it.

No terrorist numerals

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

They're too squiggly.

Happy belated mom day

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

That's my mum.

Interesting shirt.

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

And she looks like such a respectable young woman.

I LOOOOOVE me some Alexandria Cortez. ;0)

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

Ocasionally.

The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

What did he mean?

Just wait till you try our endless alternative pleasure, you’re going to alternatively love it…

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

The mind is its own place....

Don't do it...

brentan comments on May 14, 2019:

He's a gas man!

"The meek shall inherit the earth".

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

There's a lot to be said for showing people there's a monster inside you. That way, you don't have to wake it so often. I took the route of meekness for many years as a Christian and it was astonishing how much hatred was born from that attitude. I shouldn't have been astonished because it was in the Bible that it was bound to happen. There is a natural animosity towards it. Maybe the Christ figure didn't care because he might have thought it was part of 'bringing the sword instead of peace'. But it's time now to accept there is no second coming and we need to look out for ourselves.

Don't know if this has been posted here, but....

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

I think if I was born a dumb kid into an extremely wealthy family I would probably have learned to bullshit my way through life as best I could.

Innovative Notre-Dame Concept Balances Past and Present

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

I must admit I would like them to use the best quality faux replacement materials for the destroyed parts of the cathedral rather than change the structure.

Oh yes, this says so much!

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

Is it intuitive, counterintuitive or counter-intuitive?

“There is no Shakespeare, there is no Beethoven; certainly and emphatically there is no God; we ...

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

The cheek! She dissed James Joyce's Finnegans Wake too.

Putin had a fall on a rug during a soccer game. So, Putin did Nazi the rug?

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

This is what happens when you don't cure puns in their early stages.

Morning Fellow Hippies.

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

Get back to work, hippies, your day ain't over yet!

Damn, hell hath no fury like Daenerys Targaryen scorned!

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

She's turning out to be a bit of a bitch!

This gave me a good laugh this morning.

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

.... or not.

Life lessons

brentan comments on May 13, 2019:

And don't forget the guy who taught children never to let the water run.

recently returned from there, and this is a bit of an understatement.

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Where does the tax money go?

The gay agenda?

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

I think there is a gay agenda. I don't know how it works politically - probably through pressure put on social institutions to promote their aims and discourage dissent. I'm not aware of any particular gay lobby that petitions at government level, maybe its done at local level.

Several states, including Missouri, considering push for "bible literacy" classes

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

If only it really was Bible literacy! A good study of the book would be a great help to get people out of the religious mindset.

Hate to kick a city, but...

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Maybe they're used like training bikes.

Not sure I want to know what it smells like

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

For fuckers of distinction.

Just wondering what he meant: I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - this is a somewhat new kind of ...

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

LOL. I exercise my atheism religiously.

Pedagogical Terrorism and Hope in the age of Fascist Politics

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

What about the other side of the coin where minorities are used to bring about the end of a culture that has reached far further in terms of human progress than the world the minorities come from. And who, in funding and/or supporting this ideological stance, will gain from it?

The New Testament is just a sequel to the Old Testament, and the Quran is just a really bad spinoff...

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

That sounds right. But not 'just a sequel', its impact has been enormous.

TEDTalks are so informative.

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

They were great. And we had philosophers too, like Paulie Shore.

Revelations 12:7-9 (NRSV): And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the ...

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Martin Luther didn't think it belonged in the Bible. I think it smacks too much of mythology. The curious thing about is that the Bible starts off with a changed interpretation of dragon (Tiamat, the dragon transformed as chaos) and then ends with another dragon, this time being the forces of evil.

Very dark.

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

There's a market for it:

Alexander said, "I assure you I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than ...

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

He might have meant it in the sense of arete but I can't help thinking arete for Alexander would include power and dominion.

“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Did he expand on that? Maybe he means it somewhat in the sense of Socrates' 'unexamined life'. I get the feeling he thinks life must be understood as being part of a continuum and not having that understanding is immature. But is he right or is it just his understanding of the meaning of life? And is Socrates right? I just don't know.

This is therapy.

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Yes. It's a great release valve for frustration.

Whoops too bad

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Faust gets a second chance.

What idiot called it a baby monitor and not just a listening device for crying out loud?

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Maybe it's about power/control. You can only do it with vulnerable people. Anyone else, you'll be arrested if you're caught.

Sounds pretty fulfilling to me.....

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Yes indeed, and time is short.

It’s far worse for critical thinkers, being better informed, more aware and able to spot it by the...

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Lying is for manipulating people who anchor reality in truth. Bullshit is to divert people's attention away from truth. This is what I think John Vervaeke is saying in one of his YT videos.

I'm not fat, I'm big boned

brentan comments on May 12, 2019:

Pot kettle black.