Good morning everyone.

wordywalt comments on Mar 25, 2018:

All mediums are frauds.

The Problem of Prolonging Life - The Atlantic

wordywalt comments on Mar 25, 2018:

I am 91 years old. I had a pacemaker installed almost 12 ywars ago, and unlike the case cited, that pacemaker has enabled me to stay active -- taking care of my yeard, gardening, working out regularly with heavy weights. The comination of the pacemaker and the workout regimen has actually strengthend my heart so muchy that my heart function is well agove average. Still, I do not want any procedure or device which may prolong my life, but leave me with a life without quality. I will NOT authorize or accept any such procedure or device. I will ask the tough questions and demand straight answers. It is I who has the choice -- and NO ONE else. I also have a living will. I empathiize with the family, but their cvase will not be the same as mine.

The good old days or the present?

wordywalt comments on Mar 25, 2018:

There are aspects of both the past and present that I would prefer.

How biased is your news source? You probably won’t agree with this chart - MarketWatch

wordywalt comments on Mar 25, 2018:

My favorite news sources are NPRm PBS, followed distantly by MSNBC.

Have you ever had a frenemy?

wordywalt comments on Mar 25, 2018:

Oh, yes. In my profession, I fougt many battles against her, vigorously. When her control freak tendencies got her in trouble in her job, I was conciliatory. Some time later she showed an interest in dating. I did not repond, as I was already married to a mean-spirited control freak and did not want more of the same.

May the tide roll in this year & in 2020!

wordywalt comments on Mar 25, 2018:

Love it!!! Let's go get 'um!! Charge!!

Why do we simply group emotions as positive or negative?

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

Good emotions are those which enable or energize us to face reality and respond in a way which enables us to grow. Sometimes anger, grief, revulsion, sorrow, provide the impetus for growth.Negative emotions are those which distort our contact with reality, which limit or restrict us, or cause us to act in entirely egocentric manner. The "goodness" or "badness" is not in the emotion, but in in the effect.

I can't keep quiet

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

We should never keep quiet in the face of injustice, repression, exploitation, or corruption.

How old were you when you got married for the first time?

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

I was 25 when I married for the first time, in 1962.

50 & Up

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

Only if they decrease their physical actvity and increase their food intake. It really should be the time to get in shape and stay in shape for the rest of their lives. Enough things are goind to strat to dysfunction physically as you age. You don't need to add to it and increase your lifespan.

News of the march

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

Let's hope that these young peopple can provide the emotional and moral spark to merge with the "me, too" movement and us progreswsives to create a new and productive political climate in our country!!

Trump's rally cry, "I need allies!" YA THINK? [cnn.com]

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

Let's hope that he can find fewer and fewer allies.

Ways in which we resit our creative sides using "healing.

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

Healing is simply the overcoming tragedy or emotional trauma, learning from the experience without emotional scarring that would lead one to withdraw from much of life. It is sometimes hard won, but prevents us from wasting energy in protecting instaed of moving ahead positively.

What defines a good person to you?

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

A good person is one who treats all others with full dignity and prespect, who is positve and truthful, and who is not self-serving and egocentric.

What is the most painful thing you’ve endured?

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

I had a sinus infetion which formed a block and put pressure on the trigeminal nerve (a cranial nerve). The pain was intense and put me into a fetal position elmost every evening for about 2 weeks. Pain-killers did not help. It took an unpleasant procedure called a sinus wash to relieve the pressure and pain. I understand that people with persisting trigeminal neuralgia often commit suicide to escape the pain.

Do you 'wear your heart on your sleeve'?

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

No. That is not wise.

How do you make friends? Do you randomly talk to anyone, or are you selective?

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

I would like to read your post, but it is a long rambling single paragrahp. Form your paragraphs around a single theme and link all senstences directly. Form a new paragraph for each new chain of thought. If you do that, your writing will improve, as will your own clarity of thought.

Getting back in running.

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

Getting and staying in shape is simply a matter of will. You force yourself to do it regularly, without exception, until it becomes a welcome habit.

Present

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

It is simple. Why get philosophical about it?

"I ain't as good once was, But I'm as good once, as I ever was.

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

I can't re-llive any part of my life , so I do not speculate on impossibilities.

Ethics verses family

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

File criminal charges against him. I doubt that your mother will expose herself to perjury charges.

Message to the objective realist: I know people who think the world is 6000 years old, and they ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

No. Not everyone claims to be objective and retional. Those not cliaming to be objective and rational simply cliam to be right -- based on intense belief.

The subtext of texting....

wordywalt comments on Mar 24, 2018:

Totally agree!

Do you believe Atheism is a religion?

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

Any assertion that atheism is a religion is UTTER NONSENSE!!

Do you believe that life is mostly about luck?

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

No. Part ofit is being at the right place at the right time, but part of our "fate" is due to what we think, do, and create.

Do humans have a innate affinity for drugs & is this natural behaviour for humans?

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

Humans have an innate curiosity and sample things to see what happens. Since the beginning of the speciies, humans have always sought things that they an smoke, snort, eat, chew, or drink which might produce an altered state.

Would you try to overcome a categorical refusal?

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

No.

"Cognitive bias occurs when we make subjective assumptions about people or situations based on our ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

Of course that is a natural occurrence. That is why living in one or more different cultures is so enlightening and clarifying.

Feeling a bit lost in many ways.

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

Is it that Oregon has changed, or that you have changed due to your time abroad -- or both? Years ago, after several years in West Berlin and the German culture, I saw north Florida (my home region) very differently.

Get ready for another war, probably our last, McMaster is out John Bolton the war hawk is in ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

John Bolton is a man unencumbered by wisdom, civility, and morality.

My Sister is probably indifferently agnostic.

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

They ae agnostic. They have decided that religion has no meaning.

My Sister is probably indifferently agnostic.

wordywalt comments on Mar 23, 2018:

They ae agnostic. They have decided that religion has no meaning.

My spouse is a gambeling addict.

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

You give him a choice. Make him choose between gambling and the marriage. If he needs additonal therapy, get it for him. My wife gave me a similar choice as a smoking addict. I chose the marriage and quit smoking for the first time in my adult life. I have not smoked in well over 20 years.

'Christianity as default is gone': the rise of a non-Christian Europe | World news | The Guardian

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

In 1972, French journalist Jean Jacques Revel wrote WITHOUT MARX OR JESUS. In that book, he pointed out that throuhghout the world, but particularly in Eruope people were coming to the realization that we, as individuals and as cultures do not need total system ideologies -- political or religious -- at all. Rather, they were realizing that such ideologies are unproductive traps benefitting only the ideology itself and its leaders. He was right in Europe. Let's hope that more Americans wise up, too.

Have you ever been asked, "What Church do you go too?' by your boss?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

As a retired, independent person, when someone asks me what church I go to, I simply answer, "I don't go to church." If they ask for further explanation, I repeat the statement.

Get ready for another war, probably our last, McMaster is out John Bolton the war hawk is in ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

Congress must reject Bolton? He is one of the most uncivil, aggressive people I have ever seen.

Is it bad that I can cook?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

I saeldom cooked until retirement. Now I have a pretty good reportoire of recipes and cuisines and cook more than half the time in our household. I enjoy cooking today.

If you were from another country what would your opinion of the US be?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

That would depend entirely on the cultural context in which the person had lived.

I'm usually happy, but have encountered a nemesis and need some ideas.

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

Exact;u what is the person doing that troubles you so much, and in what context?

Do you as an atheist feel more intelligent than believers?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

Not necessarily more intelligent, but definitely more volitional amd intellectually independent.

Does meaning matter

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

There is no inherent meaning in life, except that which we give to it by our decisions and actions.

It's the weekend, and there was a $500 bonus in your last paycheck. What will you do?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

Book a day's fishing in Tampa Bay or the Gulf. If the bonus were $5,000 I'd go for a fishing trip in Alaska for Salmon and halibut.

Any gardeners want to show off their plants and share knowledge?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

I don't have any pictures, but I have heirloom black tpmato p[;amts grpwoinmg now that are 7 feet tall and loaded with small tomatoes. My green beans are loaded and the first picking will be within a week. I"ll have new potatoes before the end of April. I grow 3 gardens a year.

Do you care about what level you have achieved on this site?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

Forget about the levels. Just enjoy the menaingful dialogue you have on the site and the sense of lcomraderie you find with some of us. That is all that really matters.

Take a moment to think about the context in which your next decision will occur: You did not pick ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

You are becoming a real existentialist. I chose a similar pathalmost 60 years ago and do not regret it.

Do you feel that religion robs people of living life to the fullest?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

It depemds largely on whether they see their religion provding "gloort" or "Ceiling: values. A p[erson who see his or her religion as providing floor values, see their religgion as provding a base from which to gor. Those who see their religion as providing ceiling values,see it as giving absolute limits -- the "thou shalt not" focus. Thsat view is stulifying.

Doubts about reason and atheism.

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

The only alliances we should make are those forming a common pursuoit of democracy, justice, protection of hukman rights, and the treatment of all people with full dignity and respect.

Are you optimistic about the future of the US & do you think conditions will improve?

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

Yes, I am cautiously olptomistic, but our country's future is going to depend on an active and vocal coalition of young people, women, minorities, middleclass people with a truly moral and democratic core. It ain't gonna happen unless we MAKE it happen!!!

Losing Faith in Humanity

wordywalt comments on Mar 22, 2018:

Justice, morality, and democracy do not simply occur. They are hard won! We must fight for them constantly, or we will lose them. If you give up, you are enabling those who would prevent those standards from being maintained.

To my fellow vets: I know many of you may have served before you deconverted, and even if you were ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

I can't remember what was on my dog tags. One thing I can remember was the "character guidance sessions" we had in my unit at the US Army Hospital Berlin every Teusday afternoon that every enlisted man had to attend. Some chaplain would ask some sterotypical religious/ patriotic question and expect stock responses.Several of us (all bright, iconoclastic and verbal) would give anwers that were not expected and support each other in building a chain of logic. We would tie the chplain and several of the NCOs in knots until they would start yelling and screaming. When they did, we would just grin and get quiet, knowing that we had won.

What is your favorite response when people say "god bless you", "have a blessed day", and/or "I will...

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

Mu response to such staements is always to simply ignore them -- not respond at all (As if I did not hear them).

I am a member of the Marine Corps League.

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

I think the word you wanted to use was "precedent", not president.

Has the US lost the 'moral high ground' to criticize other countries?

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

The country has not fully lost the high ground, but the Trump administration has.

Something interesting.

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

Simply put, social darwinism is the belief that Darwin's ideas about natural selection and survivial of the fittest applies to cultures and societies. Supposedly the competion between societies and cultures will lead to the best of socieities, cultures and people rising to the top and dominating. Simpy pub, social darwinism is a false set of premises used to provide a basis for ethnocentirm and racism.

Will you be changing your FB account?

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

I'm considering dropping facebook.

Is everyone ok after the storms yesterday?? Things here are blown around but good.

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

We had no damage in Carrollwood . The little rain was not enough.

I lived in jacksonville for close to 3 years.

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

I also hate the desert. It is so arid, treeless and brown.

Can you live without meat?

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

I probably could live without meat, but I choose not to. By nature human beings are omnivors. and there is no reason to apologize for that.

Atheists are nicer to Christians compared to the other way around if their religious identity is ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

True. Many Christians are unchristain to atheists.

When I told my mother I as an Atheist she just laughed and said she had known a long time.

wordywalt comments on Mar 21, 2018:

My parents were religious, but tjheu were doing what theythought was right. I have no reason to be angry abour that.

What type of area and housing do you prefer to live in?

wordywalt comments on Mar 20, 2018:

I would pefer wilderness within 30 miles of a moderately sized (50,000 -- 200,000) city.I could live on my own terms most of the time, but go to the city when I feel the need for intellectual and cultural enrichment opportunities.

What is your take on claims that thought, emotions or intention can affect the physical world?

wordywalt comments on Mar 20, 2018:

No, thoguhts and emotions do not directly affect the physical world. They can lead us to ACT in ways which impact aspects of the physical world.

Today's atheists are bullies -- and they are doing their best to intimidate the rest of us into ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 20, 2018:

The real intimidatorS -- are Fox "News" and the racist right.

Do we ever really, "settle down"?

wordywalt comments on Mar 20, 2018:

Our bodies are constantly changing as we age.As we experience and learn, our minds and their cognitive structures are changing. The environments in which we live are also changing. Either we accomodate and adapt, or we become helpless victims of change itself. That is the dilemma of conservatives. They want the world to stand still or revert back to an earlier state so that they do not have to cope with change. By trying to make time stand still, they victimize themselves and try to impose their battle with change on the rest of us.

I have noticed that theists seem to more readily accept "I'm a nonbeliever" than "I'm an atheist.

wordywalt comments on Mar 20, 2018:

We should always avoid using labels to desribe ourselves, as more than a few people will react to the label and forget about you as a person.

I have come to believe that morality develops in four broad stages across one’s life, each with a ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

Read Erisksons stages of developmen and Kohlberg's stages of moral development.t. Their work is much more thorough than yours.

Taken from Friendly Atheist, couldn't find a way to share it but found it hilarious!

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

If you are not aware, be informed tha the Estboro Baptist Church was established by a family of former lawyers disbarred in Kansas for unethical conduct. That says a lot about their lack of character.

Ok, this might get long, so buckle up! I am a "woman of a certain age", or in blunt terms, I am ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

Yes, a loving relationship is very possib le without sex, especially when both are past middle age.

Regarding Personality Type

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

It depends entirely on what one wants in another person.

Does freethought require a free society

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

A free socieity certrainly enhances free thought, but free thought can occur in all circumstances. It depends on the strength of will and intelligence of the person.

Why Men Send Dick Pics

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

I canniot comprehend why men would snend such picrtures. he reasons that they do just ring hollow and/or sick to me.

Moral obligation.

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

I aalaud your ethics. We need more people in medical fields who act similarly!

What was your favorite thing to do when you were a child?

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

Two things -- reading for fun and fishing.

If the government picked up the slack, would America become less religious?

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

Please explain what you mean by "picked up the slack."

Being a Male feminist

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

I guess that I have been a male feminist for a long time -- probably since the mid 1970s..

What would it take for you to be a 'whistle blower'?

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

If I knew of a truly illegal or unethical behavior and also knew that it was probable, I would be a whistleblower, readily. I have done it before -- without harm to my career.

John O.

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

Damned right!!

Baseball fans?

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

One of my favorite memories was in 1950, when I was 13. Knowing that the National League playoff game between the Dodger and the Giants was on, as soon as school was out, I rushed home , hoping to catch some of the game. i arrived at home just in time to hear the 9th inning on the radio, when the Giants completed a fantastic comeback when Bobby Thompson hit a 2=run home off Ralph Branca with 2 out in the 9th. Being a Yankee fan at the time, I rooted for anybody to beat the Dodgers.

If we were all forced to wear a warning label, what would yours say?

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

Incivility not tolerated!

So I'm trying to cut expenses and went looking in a retirement community for a cheaper home since ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

I am 81 years old, and I will NEVER go into a retirement community. It constitutes a total loss of independence and real stimulation. It has No appeal to me whatsoever. My sister, who is a year older, decided that she wanted to go into an assisted living facility to make life easer. Just this past week, she is extremely depressed and suffering panic attacks, realizing that she is probably stuck there for the rest of her life.

Someg you might find amusing.

wordywalt comments on Mar 19, 2018:

I call him the anus. His mouth has the same ugly pucker as an asshole and pours out loads of crap.

Should psychics and fortune tellers be handled like con-artists and thieves?

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

At best, they are entertainers. At worst, they are con-artist charlatans who would take advantage of people.

If you could improve one of the following areas of your life: Love, Social Network, Career and Sense...

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

At my age, it would be health. With better health, I could take care of the rest for myself.

Monogamy

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

Monagamy is a cultural practice in our society and in many others. Even if it were not, I believe that I would prefer monogamy. I think that it would be too difficult to sustain tryly loving and caring relationships between myself and more than one woman.

So all you fellow post readers out there that were religious before 'seeing the atheist light', are ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

No. Never.

Allow me to vent a bit.

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

I agree. I would never abandon animals.

Do theists understand the historical context of their ancient texts?

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

Mpst dp mpt/

Should you ask a date for his/her credit score? Why/why Not?

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

Not a casual date. If it were someone I was considering for a deeper and continuing relationship, I might.

If you could be safely frozen for 500 years and then thawed out - would you?

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

No. Why would I? I would know no one, have no connections to the current state and would be deeply lacking in the knowledge gained in the interventing time.

I would be interested in hearing what what the group thinks about this question: Is there a ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

A fact is an evidence=based data point. Truth is the match between assertion and reality.

Do you judge people base on how they look, talk, act, and how much money they make? If so why

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

Yes, I do judge people on whether they make an effort to look presentable, on the intelligence and morality of their behavior, and on the intelligence and morality of what they say. As for the rest -- NO. It is garbage.

I notice that a lot of non-religious folks absolutely love animals.

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

I have a sweet little part Siamese cat. She adds a lot of joy to my life.

What is the common cause of your anxiety and how do you feel when it attacks?

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

In 81 years, I have never experienced an anxiety attack.

Do you like to go fishing?

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

Like you, I have fond memeroeies of leartning to fish with my father. Just being on a stream, lake or on salt water is a joy in itsself. But, the experiencing of a big fish on the line, sensing iuts actions, dealing with its varied attempts to escape, and landing it successfully is simply magnificent. I also greatly greatly enjoy cllking and eating fish I have caught -- particularly in the format of a southern style fish fry, with hushpuppies, cole slaw, and grits.

Do you have anyone who you can rely on to be completely wrong, so that no matter what that person ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

Try Donald Trump.

Here's a little thought experiment I came up with when writing a science fiction story: Lt's say ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

It would become a sterile, totalitarian society which would eventually crumble. Your idea reminds me of the image of "the communist utopia" which Marx and later communist intelledtuals predicated. All total system idelogies-- religious or political -- fail if they of their total system ideologies come into power.

Birth order as a predictor or personality and behavior 1 High academic achievers 2.

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

I was the younger of two children, and by far the highest academic achiever. My sister has always been more likely to uphold the status quo.I did smoke, rebel, take risks, and challenge the status quo. So, 2 of the 3 conclusions are confirmed in my case.

Several of us have spoken about some way the atheists could be seen in a positive manner.

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

Avoid labels which could allow others to stagmatize you. Adopt a label which most people could possibily identify with.

As a progressive liberal I just want to point out that we should not permit anyone who has opposing ...

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

I do not believe that universities should ever allow a person from an extremist point of view -- left or right -- speak, except in the framework of a real debate in which a person of equal or greater stature and intellect also provides an opposing point of view. Otherwise, it is license to engage in demagogery.

If you were raised religious, how much did you dread prayer?

wordywalt comments on Mar 18, 2018:

I tolerated prayer in church, but always felt uncomfortable when called upon to lead prayer. I never prayed on my own, even as a child -- except for night-time prayers as a small child.