[aish.

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

I think they are 2 things Jews would lose through assimilation: 1. the pleasure in believing they are God's special people 2. the drive and ingenuity that resulted from persecution through the centuries Perhaps many Jewish people feel those two things just aren't worth it.

I've been raking my yard. So I don't have...you know....a forest fire.

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

I read some time ago that forest land needs to have fires to burn off the topsoil so not to die. I have no idea if this is true or not but if it is, that might mean that fires need to be managed, not stopped.

Make a change.

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

We must be careful not to wreck the economy.

Right Wingers and Ayn Rand.

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

I've heard nothing but bad about her from today's public intellectuals. I watched a YouTube video of a show she did with Phil Donahue and I thought she defended her views very well. That said, I'm a big fan of social democracy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u8Jjth81_Q

Preachers and televangelists are stating that the fires in California are god's punishment because ...

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

From what I know about the Bible, God is more put out by pride and arrogance than he is about gay people. Here's what he said about Sodom: Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy. In their arrogance, they committed detestable practices in my presence, so when I saw it, I removed them - Ezekiel 16:49, 50.  Looked at from Ezekiel's perspective, there's a lot more going on there than gay sex.

Seems a member this group here blocked me so I can't view her post.

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

The shutters are coming down on discussion.

persiflage -- light and slightly contemptuous mockery or banter “Ziegenhalss, at any rate, ...

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

That's a good one! We used the term slagging each other when friends would tease each other.

Absolute power corrupts always has and always will.

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

I wonder has anyone ever spelled out the dynamics of the process.

Another one from Dorothy Parker.

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

It's a delightful part of being a child. Perhaps it was never intended to be confined to childhood but to be a permanent characteristic of being human. I think I see that 'childish' curiosity in the facial features of Albert Einstein and other very bright people. It's a crying shame that it disappears for so many people who must get caught up in a wonderless, repetitive world just to pay their bills.

If man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve the man, but degrade the cat.

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

Ne'er the twain should mix.

At 60, I still feel "uncomfortable" with younger people calling me "sir".

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

I feel there's still hope for society when I hear sir being used.

What are your favorite words for the love of words, language, books, semantics, etc.?

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

Logophile is very uncommon, i think, for loving words. Then there is bibliophile for books. There is a Japanese word too (I can't remember it) for someone who loves books so much, they are always buying them and never get to read the half of them.

I love Leah Remini. She exposed scientology and now she’s going after jehovah’s witnesses!

brentan comments on Nov 19, 2018:

I'm an ex-JW so I would love to see these shows. Can I see them online?

Check it out...

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

I guess he can breathe and that's enough!

Maya angelou - beacon of strength

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Kindness is a nice virtue. It seems easier to do than love everybody. I would love to see someone with clout advocate a Global Kindness day.

I love Jim Jefferies [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Harsh, and very funny!

Always liked this one by the Beach Boys...Help Me Rhonda. [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

When I heard this song as a boy, The Beach Boys songs were like they came from a different planet and the name Rhonda was so foreign to me. The world gets smaller little by little and would you know, I ended marrying a woman named Rhonda!

AC/DC - Highway To Hell [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Gosh, that song has a lot going for it!

Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives; great Ted Talk! a little under 19 minutes long ...

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

"Good people can disagree" - Jesus in The Walking Dead. Then there's the idea attributed to Hegel that truth is the sum of different opinions. I think the problems arise, not so much theoretically (in the abstract), but in how yin/yang can be applied to real-world problems. I think Jordon Peterson would argue that the right's compulsion towards order is a basic social necessity while the left's propensity towards change should be effected only within the right's hierarchical order.

The thing I like the most about country music is the stories.

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

It is a wonderful sentimental but not very realistic.

Need changing...

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

It's true but what to do with these left of centre and right of centre parties. It's like same shit, different diaper.

Is there anybody out there. [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

I think I would like it even more if I was completely sure what it is about. I don't just like it. I respect it. My guess is it's about childhood trauma and the effect it has on our adult life. There is another song somewhat like it by Supertramp. It's called Hide In Your Shell and I love it too.

Wanted to highlight a small but excellent youtube channel that not many seem to know about called ...

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

I guess this bad god is the Jehovah god of the Kabbalah and 'the ultimate good god' is the Ein-Sof.

Chicago.

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

They were different. I can't quite put my finger on why. The lead singer has a very pleasant, vulnerable voice. Maybe that's what I like about them.

The Doors - When the Music's Over [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Is it very heretical to think The Doors are very over-rated?

razzle-dazzle showiness, brilliance, or virtuosity in technique or effect, often without ...

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Nonetheless, I think superficiality has its place. I'm thinking of those wonderful shows like the Ziegfield Follies.

I'm not good in English.

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

I like the idea of 'live and let live'. I'm familiar with the Western attraction to Christianity but I have no idea what attracts Muslims to Islam in such a big way. BTW, welcome to the forum!

What's the one thing you hated eating as a kid but now love? For me that's celery.

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Broccoli.

I was being friendly the other day with a young woman on twitter when she called me pops.

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

Yes, it's not ideal but think of all the worse things we could be called.

Strong Women (And Men) Lift Each Other Up.

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

That's a world of back pain.

“Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those ...

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

I didn't read it as a criticism of religious people. I thought it was more akin to Socrates idea that 'the unexamined life is not worth living'.

FINAGLE.

brentan comments on Nov 18, 2018:

There but for the grace of God....I mean..

‘God will not bless America’: Texas pastor curses nation after 'Godless' Democrats win midterms...

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

It must be some kind of functional insanity. I just don't get it.

[aish.

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

While I'm appalled by the treatment of Palestinians in 'Israel', it seems outrageous that the women's movement would not include the rights of Jewish women in its ranks. But I wonder have I got it wrong? Is the complaint really about criticisms of Jews in Israel and nothing to do with Jews in the women's movement? Sure, Jewish women can be upset that not all women agree with Israeli policy but they can hardly feel that everyone should agree with their politics.

Religious hypocrisy 673

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

... and a helicopter out back.

Kindness...

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

Sometime while I was a Christian, it occurred to me that kindness was more important, or perhaps more pragmatic than love, even though they say God is love and we should try to be like him. This might be true if perhaps principled (agape to Christians) love is akin to kindness by the way it is expressed to other people.

Not surprising that the "alt-right", aka fascists have misappropriated Nietzsche as one of their ...

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

That's an interesting article.There's always someone feeling hard done by and looking for someone to blame.

Teen sings her way through brain surgery, so doctors can preserve her talent

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

Let's hope she stays well.They might have used this technology: A brain positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test that allows doctors to see how your brain is functioning. The scan captures images of the activity of the brain after radioactive “tracers” have been absorbed into the bloodstream. These tracers are “attached” to compounds like glucose (sugar). Glucose is the principal fuel of the brain.

CONSTELLATE: (verb) to gather together in a cluster or group

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

So that's what all these electronic companies do in California.

Whats the differance in "exotic" and "kinky"?

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

I think kinky has the quality of perverseness attached to it.

I'm new to this site! Looking forward to meeting new people and sharing some ideas! ?

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

Welcome! Pull up a floorboard.

linguaphile .... a language and word lover.

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

That's me too - not just a lover of what the words say, but also of the words that can be used to say it.

Why must it be Us and Them? [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

That's because them are bastards and we hate them.

susurrous.

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

It's a pleasant word, deal for poetry or prose, I guess. A bit onomatopaeic.

Keeping on the British theme from last week, here is Frederick Delius.

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

That was a very pleasant surprise. I never thought that guy was English.

"For most of life, nothing wonderful happens.

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

A good breakfast is very important. I was very sad to hear how he was abused a lot in his old age.

I firmly believe there are three main reasons why trump got in.

brentan comments on Nov 17, 2018:

Lots of the American public were sick of the same old thing in politics. Well, they got something different. I thought they might have concluded that this was a lot more different than they expected and shown this in a blue wave. But I was wrong.

[aish.com] 10 Ideas Judaism Gave the World: Court System, Monotheism, The Weekend, Among Others

brentan comments on Nov 16, 2018:

You mean being Jewish isn't all bad?

PROVENDER - noun (dated) 1.

brentan comments on Nov 15, 2018:

It's a whole new world to a city boy.

This is all the truth in everything

brentan comments on Nov 15, 2018:

I think that's true.

ANGLOPHILE /ˈaNGɡləˌfīl/ A person who loves or admires the country, culture or people of ...

brentan comments on Nov 15, 2018:

I thought it was a carpenter's tool.

As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the ...

brentan comments on Nov 15, 2018:

I think the general population is too busy playing its part in this dog-eat-world to want to change anything. It would be hypocritical to criticise the rich and powerful just because they play the game better than you.

More depth for Jordan Peterson.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

I thought it was a great discussion, very lively and even funny at times when they were very severe with each other.

As an Engineer, I have faith that everything will be ok after I die.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

DICK. The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. - Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2

Okay, I joined because, well, I'm in my 50s. When did THIS happen?

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

We should contribute to society. after all, Soylent Green is people.

Indupitably: meaning something that cannot be objected to as it is totally correct.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

I think that was a word used a lot by Stephen Fry's Colonel Melchert in Blackadder. The lower class response to that was 'bollocks'.

The Doors - Riders on the Storm [youtu.be]

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

OMG. I thought it was the song L.A. Woman. But Riders On The Storm is a fine song.

It's time for a different economic system:

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Q. What about the workers? A. What about the workers?

Answering the previous post I came to realize being raised as a Reform Jew I was looked down upon by...

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

I have a feeling you're better off as a cultural Jew than a religious one (well I would, because I'm an agnostic), but how do you justify it to the religious Jews, especially the extreme ones? How do you validate your own Jewishness to yourself if you are a secular Jew?

The strategic adversary is fascism.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

It's a pity it's too late to set Jordon Peterson on him.

Impact crater 19 miles wide found beneath Greenland glacier (and may be only 12,000 years old, ...

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Gosh, it really looks like Graham Hancock was completely right!

I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Here's the idea from the Bible that I think is around 1000 B.C. (KJV)  Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. (ISV)  Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens a friend's character.

Sirrah noun, archaic a term of address for a man or boy, often though not necessarily one either ...

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

This word crops up a lot in Shakespeare. It always implies an inferior status in his plays. I must keep an eye out for other meanings.

She Is a Brave Survivor

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Believe people who come across as sincere, definitely, but rely on the justice system to process allegations.

Valise noun va·​lise | \və-ˈlēs \ Definition of valise : suitcase 1615, in the ...

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Suitcase sounds very specific compared to valise, I guess.

What proportion of "White Privilege" is due to a white majority?

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

I think it has more to do with powerful minority groups nowadays, like the rich and powerful. Sure, they come from a long tradition of WASP monopoly but things have changed over time.

What's the weather like where you are today?

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Dull and cloudy, and I fear it will stay that way til spring. So S.A.D.

Take that......

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Oh, that's mean!

Just to put this group to an use, let me ask you all a question.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

I love Paris but you've got to be careful there nowadays.

Anxiety is like when video game combat music is playing but you can't find any enemies.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Sweaty buttons!

We're stepping out! [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Yes indeed, all work and no play...

blackguard /ˈblaɡərd/ noun a person, particularly a man, who behaves in a dishonorable or ...

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

My Dad used to favour words like that when he was very annoyed. Cur was another one.

Ralph Vaughan Williams.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

That was really nice. It's always great to get something new. Thank you very much.

Happy thoughts

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

For the rest of my blinking life.

???????

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

It sounds a bit like 'don't throw your pearls before swine'. I guess Shaw didn't want to come across biblical.

Under attack...

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

A dreadful thing to have hanging over you.

This is so important!!!

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

Said the prisoner to his torturer. "Don't get caught" said the torturer to his prisoner.

I was just going to post a comment/question, but then realized I could include a vocabulary word.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

I'm like the big guy who becomes the gentle giant to negate ideas of him being a bully. I try to hide the fact that I read a lot and have picked up a lot of words along the way.

Death is not the greatest loss in life.

brentan comments on Nov 14, 2018:

To be honest, I think death is a bummer. No more notions of eternal life. But to lose the zest for life during the few years we are lucky to get, that is a tragedy.

My father was Jewish (both his parents were); my mom is of Mexican descent.

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

I wonder does what they know about genes and DNA agree with this Jewish belief that the mother's blood is the only true determination of blood relationship, or am I even asking the right question??

Feminism is a Woman's Right to Choose

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

It's a woman's prerogative.

"The more complex the programs of an organism, the greater is the danger of insanity.

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

That's interesting that he thinks of god in terms of an organism. Most people think god is a spirit.

Nationalism is a silly cock crowing on his own dunghill.

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

Well now! You're full of piss and vinegar today!

Forever Afternoon. [youtube.com]

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

Absolutely beautiful!

NO is a complete sentence.

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

Or, to put it more eloquently:

Greece’s culture ministry says archaeologists have located the first tangible remains of a lost ...

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

This could be interesting. I wonder how it will harmonise with the Aeneid.

Want to go for a walk?

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

I'm not sure how far you would get with your heart in your hands.

Cat collecting.

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

They only need to fear health and safety inspectors nowadays. It used to be the witchfinder.

I have posted this one before.

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

Ah yes, this is my favourite English composer. However, I only have one CD, the one with the interpretation on the Thomas Tallis theme, Greensleeves, Dives and whatshisname and this tune.

PILFER: verb: especially : to steal stealthily in small amounts and often again and again I ...

brentan comments on Nov 13, 2018:

The bastard! I hope you weren't affected too badly. I read somewhere in the past about a guy in a bank who stole all the amounts of customers after the first two decimal points, as in a customer has $3,547. 54789 so he takes the $0.00789 and all these little pilfers, if that's the right noun, added up to a huge amount of money. Maybe you could call them 'micro-pilfers'.

Beto O'Rourke Has 'Star Quality' Republican Strategist Says, As Calls for 2020 Presidential Run ...

brentan comments on Nov 12, 2018:

Irish-American, Texas, President......brave man!

A Woman is Willing to Fall Because She Has Learned to Rise

brentan comments on Nov 12, 2018:

I remember when being a fallen woman wasn't a virtue.

Yanni - The Rain Must Fall [youtube.

brentan comments on Nov 12, 2018:

The bass sure can do a lot more than just punctuate drumbeats. This guy is great. There are two other bass players that I really like - Chris Squire and Leland Sklar.

My new prescription.

brentan comments on Nov 12, 2018:

Ah for the good old days when all you needed was an apple.

ESCHATOLOGY: es-cha-tol-o-gy.

brentan comments on Nov 12, 2018:

A new world coming in as soon as the Third Temple gets built! ?

Hi I’m robert from galway

brentan comments on Nov 11, 2018:

Welcome to the forum!

"It’s time to dispense with the myth of American sisterhood.

brentan comments on Nov 11, 2018:

That's crazy. That would mean some women are wrong.

You will be ok!

brentan comments on Nov 11, 2018:

Oh yeah? Shit happens.

If you could only save one book...

brentan comments on Nov 11, 2018:

Finnegans Wake.

Just for us old farts

brentan comments on Nov 10, 2018:

I haven't the energy to go mad. I could implode, I think, if I set my mind to it.