Neanderthals and early humans mated way more often than we thought! [sciencealert.com]

brentan comments on Nov 29, 2018:

Fascinating! I had thought of it as humans v Neanderthals and we wiped them out because they were like animals.

MARTINET.

brentan comments on Nov 29, 2018:

We had them for years in Irish schools. We called them the Christian Brothers.

Some of our best known pieces of music were composed for either Opera or Ballet, and this is one of ...

brentan comments on Nov 29, 2018:

For me, it's tragedy underlying the swirl of life. Darkness and light, and all the moods of life. Quite beautiful!

This site is distracting.

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

I try not to be but I just can't help it!

Hi guys I am Steve and totally new to all this dating and internet stuff I’ve really recently ...

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

Welcome to the forum. I wouldn't have thought it likely that anyone would separate after such a long time until it happened to me after 25 years.

It's too late Baby --- [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

I love that album but I'm emotionally drained after it.

The thing is, its 13 days UNTIL we get to the shortest day of the year. Dang.

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

I wish I was in a pagan group that celebrated the solstice.

Noooooo. The creator of Spongebob SquarePants died

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

I loved Sponge Bob's endless optimism and Patrick's ridiculous stupidity. A friend of mine, when we were both Jehovah's Witnesses, told me Sponge Bob and Patrick were not good entertainment for children because there was a homosexual substrate to their conversations. Has anyone ever noticed this in the shows?

What if an advanced civilization existed before us [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

I'm intrigued by Granham Hancock's theory that there was a civilisation wiped out by flood around 12,000 B.C. These might be the ones called 'divine beings' and 'the men of renown' in the Bible: The Nephilim were on the earth at that time (and also immediately afterward), when those divine beings were having sexual relations with those human women, who gave birth to children for them. These children became the heroes and legendary figures of ancient times. 

[youtu.be]

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

But, but, but..... he wrote lots of really nice songs!

She was still a schoolgirl when she topped the charts in 1962 with this song, but what a voice! ...

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

For some reason, I'm reminded of Amy Winehouse. I haven't seen a picture of Ena Sharples in many years. A wonderful memory!

Should we accept all speech, no matter what is said? [reuters.com]

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

I think we should allow all free speech except slander.

So I'm always checking out meetup.

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

Bummer. I have no success with Meetup either. Still, I keep trying.

Rainy days

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

He could be raining in Ireland.

Starbucks

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

That's a truly awful joke!

Silly teacher

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

What in tarnation?

9....9...9

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

Lol. I feel her pain!

Welcome to Mars!!!

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

It's manifest destiny to possess Mars. Put these weird dudes on reservations.

Old but still funny

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

Excellent!

What a difference 2 years makes..

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

I've heard of voting with your feet, now it's fists!

Outpacing birthrates of other religions and birthing an army for God has always been the true intent...

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

That was a curious article. Making babies to become Republicans who will be Christians, or vice-versa. It gives new meaning to 'fucking Christians'.

G.

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

See. Religion ain't all bad!

Fire up the plane!

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

They're worried about losing their lives because of white man's diseases. Don't they understand they're going to lose their eternal salvation.

Make someone's day... SMILE! ?

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

Bah. Humbug. Snarl.

Speak for themselves...

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

It's a good point and it makes me think how nothing has been claimed as God talking for 2000 years in Christianity and 1400 years in Islam.

I have mixed feelings about non-targeted altruistic giving (I'm not a fan of altruism) but there are...

brentan comments on Nov 28, 2018:

Is it an Ayn Rand way of thinking?

AN ALICE AND HER RELATIONSHIP WITH MANKIND I'm sitting in my space, and in that place in my head ...

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

For the moment I'm just going to delight in your articulation of the human condition. It is as poetic as it is psychological.

The Existentialists Reluctant Guide to Life - Quartzy

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

'The reluctant have to make meaning up. We do things even when most of what humans do seems pretty pointless and stupid given how many of us there are, how briefly we live, and how hard it is to make a difference on this crowded planet'. I do it as an atheist. I make meaning for myself. I also agree with Jordon Peterson that adopting responsibility gives meaning to life too.

Is anyone else right-leaning to anarchistic that is an unbeliever?

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

If it was possible, I would head to New York. That sounds unbearable.

This meme took the words right out of my mouth. Why are these people demonized not understood?

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

The problem is America feels it cannot take on all the world's problems anymore.

Something to think about

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

So true. It's all relative.

If you are man don't be afraid.

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

OK.

What's a "male stereotype" that you don't get why people hate?

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

I don't get why women hate the stereotype where the man goes down to confront the burglar instead of promoting the woman's equal rights.

I work in a recycling warehouse remanufacturing printer cartridges.

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

Oh well, it could have been worse. It might have been the Watchtower magazine!

The very first transgender woman (Angela Ponce, Miss Spain 2018 ) to compete at Miss Universe ...

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

It's good to see mostly everyone so well-trained in what to say. Years ago we might have had a lot of disagreement.

As promised, evidence of a Neanderthal/Denisovan . [nature.]

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

I wonder are these the offspring that the ancients in the Bible were afraid of - descendents of the first parents mixing with offspring of the people outside the Garden of Eden.

This above all; to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as night follows day, thou canst then...

brentan comments on Nov 27, 2018:

What a peculiar character he was - a contradiction of politics and platitudes that destroyed himself and his family in the end.

DO NOT BUY COMPUTER WITH 32 GIG DRIVE:::: It is mostly impossible to update a windows computer ...

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I don't get it. A hard drive the size of about 20 films? PCs with much bigger HDs sell for next to nothing these days.

Aja Monet is talking about Palestine, but her argument certainly has much wider applications.

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

It's a case of two peoples behaving like murderous assholes, and one of them has the force of the U.S. behind them.

Anyone in this group had to look for a new job lately?

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

You might end up much more depressed if you got one. I'll bet living under someone else's roof sucks. The only thing I know is to find things I love. I crave peace too, but have only found it at the cost of loneliness. So I think it's a balancing act, hoping to tip the scales my way.

How have we let scientific study become hate speech? - UnHerd

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I always thought education helped us to hate each other better so I'm not surprised.

When did you “come out?”

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

The tricky part for me was leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses, wondering would it destroy my marriage. As it happened, my wife had more issues with me than religion. So the marriage lasted a few more years and I went from generic Christian to atheist to agnostic, that last step mostly thanks to Rupert Sheldrake, a British scientist who believes in God.

ATM Malfunction In My City!!

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

Darn people showing about as much responsibility as bank managers.

Not a very active group, but I joined anyway, just in case I learn something. ?

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I think a guy called Pedro started this group but he doesn't seem to actively run it, so to speak. Maybe he wanted to do it but life got in the way.

[yahoo.com] Christine Blasey Ford is Still Being Threatened.

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

She should come forward when it happened, not when the guy was applying for a political position. But that's no excuse for harassment. It's like sociopathy has broken out out on the grand scale and people have become tokens of hatred instead of human beings.

Hello, Group Members! I need your input again.

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I really must read The Coddling Of The American Mind by Jonathan Haidt. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/

Time for a meal. What are you going to have?

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

Potatoes, yam, carrots, peas and fish.

One day, some guy is going to see me eating a whole rotisserie chicken with my bare hands inside my ...

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I'm salivating already! I love chicken!

In the absence of any empirical rules that apply to everyone, each person is free to form her or his...

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

One person's human rights stop where they encroach on the rights of another. Preaching might be the act of telling someone to back off. That's as old as the Ten Commandments. If you ask someone to share your values, what is your goal? There was another post about the Dalai Lama's notion of global ethics which seems the right idea.

This girl is funny. Jessa Reed - Meth Piss [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I really enjoyed that. Very dark humour. I wonder might that do more to deter someone than the regular approach?

Antonin Dvorak.

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

Very nice! I only have the 4th (who doesn't, I suppose) but I know it really well by now and love it.

ETHNOCENTRISM.

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I think it might be the most natural thing in the world if it starts with a baby thinking the world revolves around it. I learned a new term recently called 'theory of mind'. It's the ability to recognise and understand another's separate being. They say this usually happens by the age of 4. America has a very bad name for not recognising the values of other cultures and I think it's down to an education that sings its own praises to compensate for its sense of inferiority.

@Admin Thanks agnostic.

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

Bah. Humbug. Jealous.

ANFRACTUOUS: (adjective) characterized by windings and turnings; sinuous; circuitous: an anfractuous...

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

That's a powerful word but it would have really messed up 'The Long And Winding Road'

RAPE It’s the will of god in republican Oklahoma apparently. [churchandstate.org.uk]

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I hope they will consider it God's will that you go to prison for it too.

“Keep love in your heart.

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

Gosh, that could give a Spanish name a run for it's money! I suppose he means a hateful life would be colourless, unattractive. I was sure I sensed this problem in the combination of hate and ugly council estates. Perhaps it's because the hate there is manifested more physically.

Just a little reality

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

I had forgotten about those two. Darn!

[latimes.

brentan comments on Nov 26, 2018:

A global ethic. It would take a long time but it's a great concept.

The Homework Helpers Group is now active. Do you have school age children?

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

That's a very good idea! I might have answers to math problems and English literature.

Anal Sex: For You Men.

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

I hoped this thread would be educational but it was like talking to Christians, all defensiveness and nastiness.

Does anyone have any views about Brexit?

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

I think it will be extremely bad for Britain, not so much because of the lack of access to the union but because the political leaders at the moment have been showing no sign of leadership or competence. They will really need professional, busy individuals, committed to start making new relationships and new deals. I got a certain pleasure watching the Conservative party implode (for no adult reason) but I can't say how disappointed I have become with Labour, who have nothing to offer and sit smugly in parliament waiting for the baton to be passed to them.

Get It On. - Marc Bolan and T-Rex [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

I watched a documentary about him just recently. Cut off in his prime, poor man!

I take it a lot of you heard about the recent slaying of a illegally trespassing missionary off the ...

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

It's really hard to know if a vocation is truly altruistic or ego-driven. My experience as a Christian makes me think it's the latter. It's so sad the man died but how could anyone save him from himself?

Conflicted and Curious

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

I think monogamy lasted as long as it did because it proved to be the best method of survival for members of a tribe. My guess is that it later became classed as morally proper and a virtue instead of just successful. The jury is still out on whether it is still a necessary tool for survival.

Thoughts? [theintercept.]

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

I'm thinking about principles. What price do we put on them and what does it say about our values. I'm depressed about the West's reluctance to help Asia Bibi too. Trump won't justify placing the value of the life of one man above the relationship with Saudi Arabia. He's quite right from a pragmatic perspective. I would risk it but that might just be the evidence of how ignorant I am about politics.

Been reading this one every day trying to remember how it feels.

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

It's a powerful act. Really cheap too. I think that feeling people have some essential good in them is a prerequisite.

Do you know how long it has taken me to go from level 7 to 7.1?

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

It's character-forming, teaching us several virtues.

Here was a great reminder for me.

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

I'm reading a book about this very thing right now. It's called The Master And His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist. It's about how the two sides of the brain work with each other and lots of the knowledge about brains has been gleaned from brain damage and illness so it's a real education about how these problems manifest themselves.

"Be yourself, everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

I watched the film The Happy Prince with Rupert Everett as Oscar in his time after prison to his death. It's an excellent film, sad of course but beautifully performed and directed too, I think , by Everett.

“Pray all you want, heaven can’t hear you.

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

I saw one way during my time as a Jehovah's witness that religion could influence life for the better. This, of course, wasn't the result of divine intervention but rather the education people got about sensible living. As you can imagine, many people never applied the teachings and lost out. I appreciated the way the teaching helped me and because they are wise instructions rather than divine, I've taken them with me into agnosticism.

I am a very fast and voracious reader, I have read just about any classic you can think of, I have ...

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

Dostoevsky would keep you going for a long time. He's free on YouTube. You probably already know. And Tolstoy. I listened to The Master and Margharita on YT too. That's a curious story! I must be thinking Russian today.

I really like the 'Pickin' On Series' - instrumental covers of many great groups and songs.

brentan comments on Nov 25, 2018:

That's really good. There must be more than one instrument, I think. Guitar, banjo, maybe more.

IMagination gone to far . . .

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

That takes me back so many years to a time when it used to matter. For some odd reason, the memory warms my heart.

Merry Christmas. LOL

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

God meant well. How was he to know how sophisticated we were going to be over time.

Its not the RCC only.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

It seems to be a feature of all religions. It's galling for me to hear such JW expressions as 'we live in a spiritual paradise' because I was there and know what it was like. My guess is that the problem is just another manifestation of 'power corrupts'.

I joined this site in June and want to let you all know that I have never done anything I have ...

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

I think it's about aspiration. Reaching for something higher, better. She thinks in terms of Allah and the music of Ah-Ha. I have my own references, psychological and musical. I sure do relate, though, to people who aspire to something better even if they go about it a different way. I'm very pleased that you are enjoying your time here and I'm grateful for the effort you put in to contribute to topics on the forum.

Forward moving...

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Do we care? Why do we care? I do. I'm not sure why. It seems the right thing to do. Maybe it's my religious upbringing.

Did I just do a thing....omg

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

omg....i hope it will be ok

What you're getting wrong about your pursuit of happiness

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

I'm not familiar with Lickerman. I really like Jordon Peterson's notion that responsibility gives meaning to life, not happiness. Does Lickerman propose something different?

Do you know how long it has taken me to go from level 7 to 7.1?

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

We should mount a protest. Maybe get Antifa involved. I blame the patriarchy. Boo, agnostic admin! T-shirts for victims of oppression! Death to....sorry, I got carried away.

"It was thirty years ago today, the duopoly shooed democracy away..." [lwv.org]

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

I thought the post was going to be a parody of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.

What can we do about this Barnum & Bailey government we have in our country?

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Time to view the egress?

“I like video games, but they're really violent.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

I love the fun of beating the enemy. That just means you beat the challenge. I have no notion of murdering anyone while I'm playing. Especially at my age, it is a very enjoyable way of keeping the 'little grey cells' active. That said, my absolute favourite game is The Last Of Us because of its novel-like story of the young girl and old man bonding as they fight the odds to survive in a harsh world. I hope game developers recognise the power of games with a strong human element to them and create more.

“There is actually no such thing as atheism.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

But, but, but.............

Why is the left lacking the personality mouthpieces to offset the right mouthpieces?

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

The left don't want to talk. They want to chant and demand silence from the other side. They have nothing positive to add.

Have you read The Generation of Sociopaths How the baby boomers betrayed America?

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

All I know is that I lived over there for a few years in the 90s. I was about forty at the time. I found the older generation delightful, kind and so helpful I couldn't believe it. The younger generation were caught up in the dog-eat-dog mentality and completely absorbed with themselves. That said, there were always people who broke the mould. For all of these good people, I am grateful for their good hearts in a society that I found very harsh.

New communication device. ?

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Why not....if you think it's going to be that good!

.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

That was very nice but there was no words!

To L.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

In the shoes of the master. What a gift that man was! Nice poem!

I see a lot of political posts regarding the dumbold trumpet.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

I hate how undemocratic the E.U. is. Then again, democracy is already suffering from lack of choice with all these just one bit to the side of centre political parties. I would love to nations as the primary political units again, even with the risk of wars happening again.

Is it against site rules to have two accounts?

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

To be sure, to be sure!

Any day can be hard, but I know especially during the holidays.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Gosh, I hope that's enough numbers!

Queen. - Killer Queen (Top of the Pops 1974) [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Poor Freddie. He was sold out by two of his bandmates in the film according to one review.

Those who consider themselves to smart to take part in government will find themselves governed by ...

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

We had the intelligentsia in Ireland come on TV and tell everyone they knew what was wrong and how to fix the aftermath of the banking collapse. They were so confident that they were asked to take the reins in government and steer us out of our mess. Not one of them applied for the job.

So, here I am.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Go for it, Sidney!

“A person is never great alone.. Greatness, is more than one” - by me Nicholas K. Harris

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Hooray! I was right!

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Eleanor Roosevelt

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

I wish!

Sitting in my empty but peaceful house on a lazy, rainy Saturday.

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

It's still the afternoon here. I'm listening to Classic FM and working my way through these posts. I've got a good book, Red Dead Redemption 2 game and a bottle of red wine for later. A bit of company would be nice but it's a pleasant enough prospect.

The last of my week of daily quotes by Dorothy Parker, I have left the best, and most controversial ...

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

It's not just a witticism but it's cruel. I wonder had she a touch of autism?

The new Missionary Position

brentan comments on Nov 24, 2018:

Are we being a little on the sociopathic side or am I too serious about it?