Posts by Fadeout

A particularly intriguing and creepy UFO event was the Colares incident in 1977. Over a period of months, dozens of people were allegedly attacked by particularly brazen UFOs; two died. The wounds were documented by a doctor, and the military investigated to no avail, many women and children evacuated the area, the case was never solved.

51

"This system just cannot get any worse"

by JimmyPage in

that's what my dad has said at various times over many years.

i think it helps encourage him that the end must be very near and the paradise will be here soon.

my thought has always been "oh yes it can get a lot worse.

Fadeout

Anytime a dub remarks about how bad things are, or how bad things are getting, I always contradict them. "yeah, too bad we can't go back to the days when we would get smallpox and die at 35."

Or if there is some tragedy or murder that precipitates the comment about how bad this system is: "Yeah, because in the old days barbarians would just burn your village and kill you with swords."

47

High IQ turns academics into atheists

by darth frosty in

jw
friends

just something else to throw onto the atheist v theist debate.. .

high iq turns academics into atheists .

12 june 2008. by rebecca attwood.

Fadeout

For a number of years, off and on, I've visited more debate-oriented discussion forums. At some point the argument inevitably devolves into a questioning of the intelligence of the other side, at which point IQs are whipped out to prove whose is bigger.

Funny how, apparently, every single person with internet access has an IQ of at least 125 or so, and the average is well into the 150s.

There's no way to get people to be honest about such a thing... why would anyone admit to an IQ of "only" 110 and cast doubt on their intelligence and therefore the value of anything they have to say?

The first two IQ tests I took came up with values, I believe, of 120 and 135. If someone asked me what my IQ is, which do you think I'd admit to? Yeah.

Outside a controlled study, it's just a worthless measurement.

97

Convictions or Reasons - which come first?

by nicolaou in

it's obvious right?

your convictions are supported by and dependant upon your reasoning and evidence.

what kind of person would choose a conviction first and then hunt around for evidence to support it, all the time ignoring any sound refutation and evidence which countered their cherished belief?.

Fadeout

The question has been asked in this thread-- repeatedly-- and no answer has been offered...

'Why believe the Bible? Since you're just picking a man-made religious text apart from provability, why not view the Koran or the Book of Mormon in the same light?'

Sylvia admitted that the Bible contains errors, yet she still views it as something worthy of placing one's eternal hope in. I find this confusing and contradictory. I know she's no dummy; she's a worthy trivia opponent. I have no problem with the concept of a God character or even with the idea that he'd have people write a book for him... but you'd better believe I am going to examine the evidence carefully before devoting my life to what these supposed "prophets" have written down.

77

Well, It Didn't Take Long for Obama to Play the Race Card...

by owenfieldreams in

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-politics/20080421/politics-usa-politics-obama-race-dc/.

wow...who didn't see this coming?

lol....and keep in mind, this is coming from a guy that claims to be different and a uniter.

Fadeout

Gopher: Did Obama "play" the race card, or did he merely say that the Republicans would?

Of course that's playing the race card.

Accuse someone of a race-related offense, and the label sticks. More beautifully, the accuser walks away scot-free, and moreover, can usually count on thousands of screaming zealots for immediate support.

It's the same basic theory behind accusing someone of hate. Why do you have such a hateful attitude? Why are you being a hater?

It's a smear absolutely free of consequences for the accuser. The bigot, the hater-- these our the modern day witches, and the desire to root them out and destroy them makes us forget that accusing someone of these things is a serious charge that brings responsibility on the part of the accuser.

The economics of mob mentality. House prices, corn prices, oil prices, they change with the seasons, with the trends. Buy low, sell high. Fifty years ago it was communism. It was a cheap smear. Today it's "insensitivity" in any of its forms. Most effective bang for your buck. I am rubber, you are glue.

Sure, it's the low road, but if you believe Obama-- or any valid presidential candidate-- is a different kind of politician who would not take the low road, you probably... well, I don't want to be needlessly insulting to you haters, so I'll leave it at that.

97

Convictions or Reasons - which come first?

by nicolaou in

it's obvious right?

your convictions are supported by and dependant upon your reasoning and evidence.

what kind of person would choose a conviction first and then hunt around for evidence to support it, all the time ignoring any sound refutation and evidence which countered their cherished belief?.

Fadeout

Your convictions are supported by and dependant upon your reasoning and evidence.

Wouldn't it be great if that were the case? That's certainly the ideal behind the scientific method.

In reality, though, history and our own experiences show that humans arrive at convictions more through emotional intuition than through logic.

I don't know if this trend can be reversed... perhaps in the future, as society and humanity continues to evolve. The apparently growing amount of atheism and agnosticism is encouraging.

What kind of person would choose a conviction first and then hunt around for evidence to support it, all the time ignoring any sound refutation and evidence which countered their cherished belief?

What kind of person? Anyone. I was a JW, and I used false and shoddy reasoning to defend my convictions. It is simply a twisted way of thinking, and philospohers and scientists have taken thousands of years to realize that convictions should follow evidence and not the other way around.

We take that for granted now, but if you think about it, there is little reason to automatically suppose that is the correct method, other than the fact that it has proven more effective time and again in real-life applications.

If you are trapped in a burning building, you can pray to Jesus to save you. And if he doesn't save you, the onlookers can justify what happened by adding a new dimension to their belief, e.g., 'His faith wasn't strong enough,' 'God needed another angel,' etc. Ockham's razor obviously is not the principle being applied, as the convoluted web of beliefs must become ever more complex as it attempts to explain the world around us while remaining unwilling to examine its initial assumptions.

If you are trapped in a burning building, you can also put a damp cloth over your face, stay low to the ground, and try to find the exit. This will give you a better chance of surviving. Thus, the real-life experiment shows that this course of action based on reason is preferable to that based on faith. Still, the faithful onlookers tack on yet more addendums to their faith to make it compatible with reality... 'God makes the sun shine on the righteous and unrighteous,' 'He's in league with the Devil,' 'He's still going to hell.'

51

What Global Warming?

by metatron in

jw
friends

see:.

http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/january-2008-4-sources-say-globally-cooler-in-the-past-12-months/.

metatron.

Fadeout

I'm no scientist, but I'll throw this out there for others who might have a clue:

If the average temperature of the earth increases, this would lead to less ice, more liquid water, and higher humidity, would it not?

Higher humidity would increase average rainfall, would it not? Increased rainfall would mean fewer and less severe droughts, and greater availability of fresh water, right?

46

Is California Burning?

by compound complex in

jw
friends

it's bad here.

the air is thick, gray and burnt.

my lungs ache.

Fadeout

It's really bad... I've barely gone outside for the last two days. It's like Krakatoa all over again.

Today's looking a little better.

11

The article that says you can't even internally question the borg

by B_Deserter in

it was from the eighties, and basically it said that even questioning the organization in your mind and not telling another soul about it is still apostasy.

i'm working on a blog entry about the new stance on college and elders' kids and i want to cite it.

thanks.

Fadeout

Pg 341 of Crisis of Conscience, 2002 edition:

Letter dated Sept 1, 1980,

"TO ALL CIRCUIT AND DISTRICT OVERSEERS

Keep in mind that to be disfellowshipped, an apostate does not have to be a promoter of apostate views... if a baptized Christian abandons the teachings of Jehovah, as presented by the faithful and discreet slave, and persists in believing other doctrine despite Scriptural reproof, then he is apostasizing. Extended kindly efforts should be put forth to readjust his thinking. However, if, after such extended efforts have been put forth to readjust his thinking, he continues to believe the apostate ideas and rejects what he has been provided through the 'slave class,', then appropriate judicial action should be taken."