Thnx for posting it. Its a good argument, and exposes the stupidity of christian ratbags., in which group I include our former LOVELESS brothers.
fulltimestudent
JoinedPosts by fulltimestudent
-
50
King David's Three Choices
by Jehalapeno ineditor's note: found this on reddit...thought the meat of the post would be a good post for discussion here as well.. consider the three choices god forced upon david for taking a census.
these three choices were forced on king david, not for murdering people, not for raping women, not for lying, stealing, or any crime we can think of in our modern world that is repugnant, but simply for taking a census or in other words, counting people.. for counting people, jehovah forced a decision on david that involved the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.. the choices all dealt with the “way” jehovah would kill thousands of unsuspecting loyal worshipers.. 1 chronicles 21.
“these are the choices the lord has given you.
-
-
-
10
WHY ARE BAT VIRUSES SO DEADLY?- Science Daily.
by fulltimestudent inuseful information for students of history - why are bat viruses so deadly.. a bat virus may be responsible for the highly infectious coronavirus respiratory illness in wuhan china.. long ago, when i was growing up in a tiny fishing village on the far south coast of new south wales, some people still ate flying foxes, which were a type of bat.
they were kept in cages "to fatten them up," then killed and cooked.
i do not recall any specific sicknesses that may have swept that village.. other wild creatures were also eaten.
-
-
fulltimestudent
And National Geographic brings us more bat-eaters:
-
10
WHY ARE BAT VIRUSES SO DEADLY?- Science Daily.
by fulltimestudent inuseful information for students of history - why are bat viruses so deadly.. a bat virus may be responsible for the highly infectious coronavirus respiratory illness in wuhan china.. long ago, when i was growing up in a tiny fishing village on the far south coast of new south wales, some people still ate flying foxes, which were a type of bat.
they were kept in cages "to fatten them up," then killed and cooked.
i do not recall any specific sicknesses that may have swept that village.. other wild creatures were also eaten.
-
-
fulltimestudent
Useful Information for Students of History - WHY ARE BAT VIRUSES SO DEADLY.
A bat virus may be responsible for the highly infectious coronavirus respiratory illness in Wuhan China.
Long ago, when I was growing up in a tiny fishing village on the far south coast of New South Wales, some people still ate flying foxes, which were a type of bat. They were kept in cages "to fatten them up," then killed and cooked. I do not recall any specific sicknesses that may have swept that village.
Other wild creatures were also eaten. I used to trap rabbits, as did other kids, and I could dry the skins and sell them to a travelling buyer and make some pocket money. as well as often eating wild rabbit stew. Other wild creatures were also eaten, some ate wallabies, and I recall my father catching a black swan, caging it (to fatten it) and it was eaten one sunday in lieu of the usual roast chook (tasted somewhat fishy). Eating wild animals is not that far behind us in contemporary western history.
And, I should add, indigenous Australians, still have the right to hunt native animals for eating.
But what can make a bat virus that becomes a human virus so difficult to deal with?
This Science Daily coverage gives a likely reason:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200210144854.htm
The summary reads: "A study of cultured bat cells shows that their strong immune responses, constantly primed to respond to viruses, can drive viruses to greater virulence. Modelling bat immune systems on a computer, the researchers showed that when bat cells quickly release interferon upon infection, other cells quickly wall themselves off. This drives viruses to faster reproduction. The increased virulence and infectivity wreak havoc when these viruses infect animals with tamer immune systems, like humans."
-
10
When China sneezes ..... !!!!!!
by fulltimestudent ini'm being a smartarse with that title.
its a play on an old saying in ozland (australia) which was, "when the usa sneezes, australia gets pneumonia" which was meant to describe the economic clout of the usa on the economic life of australia.. but first, a (hopefully) quick personal story.
two weeks ago, i went with some chinese friends to a house auction in hurstville (a suburb in sydney, which is now a popular suburb for cantonese speaking chinese).
-
-
fulltimestudent
Half Banana: "Were all Spanish people "shits" because a strain of deadly flu originated there?"
It is not clear where the so-called 'Spanish Flu' originated, but it is considered most likely that the first infections were in Kansas, USA. in an army camp. The USA had now joined in the insane European desire to slaughter each other, and a contingent of American troops carried the disease to Europe - and to the rest of the world.
It was called 'Spanish flu,' according to the following video from Cambridge University, who still have a research team, following the history of that disease, because Spain was neutral in WW1.
The other interesting point from that Cambridge University team, is that they calculate the real toll from that "American" flu to be closer to 100 million deaths rather than the usual 50 million deaths.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x1aLAw_xkY
The other flu strain to have an American run was the 2009 H1N1 infection. The Wikipedia entry summarises the resulting infections and deaths.
"The 2009 flu pandemic in the United States was a novel strain of the Influenza A/H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as "swine flu", that began in the spring of 2009. The virus had spread to the US from an outbreak in Mexico.
As of mid-March 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that about 59 million Americans contracted the H1N1 virus, 265,000 were hospitalized as a result, and 12,000 died."
Note: Wikipedia has attached a note that the data may need upgrading.
-
10
When China sneezes ..... !!!!!!
by fulltimestudent ini'm being a smartarse with that title.
its a play on an old saying in ozland (australia) which was, "when the usa sneezes, australia gets pneumonia" which was meant to describe the economic clout of the usa on the economic life of australia.. but first, a (hopefully) quick personal story.
two weeks ago, i went with some chinese friends to a house auction in hurstville (a suburb in sydney, which is now a popular suburb for cantonese speaking chinese).
-
-
fulltimestudent
Listener:
"We didn't understand why this was happening until we saw a TV documentary which explained that the Uni's were accepting Chinese students with very little English and putting them in groups with English speaking students so that they could learn English without any effort required by the Uni's".
Yup! I'd agree that some University's have not acted responsibly in connection with their Chinese students.
I'd also agree that some Chinese students (likely coming from wealthy families) have acted like spoilt brats - not attending classes etc.
My funny story here: Danny Kane (A former Australian diplomatic service veteran, and a Chinese language scholar) then head of the Chinese Department at Macquarie Uni. taught the Chinese language courses. Many Chinese students, seeing some easy marks, enrolled. Some worked hard, some did not. One particularly lazy student did not pass a lot of grammatical tests, so Danny failed him. The boy's father called from China, "My son speaks Chinese, how can you fail him?" Danny replied, "Because he does not speak Chinese correctly," and hung up.
Since my degree topics were essentially historical, there were few Chinese in them. And the only time I was teamed with a Chinese student in a tutorial class it went well,
I do not think this money making sausage machine will last much longer, anyway.
Why? First China now has about 1200 universities etc. Some very good.
Second, more and more Chinese unis are creeping into the global top 100 universities in the world.
Third, since many top-class global universities now have a campus in China, why should the typical middle class family in China send their kids overseas at a high cost, when its much cheaper to attend the Chinese campus of a top American or UK university.
-
10
When China sneezes ..... !!!!!!
by fulltimestudent ini'm being a smartarse with that title.
its a play on an old saying in ozland (australia) which was, "when the usa sneezes, australia gets pneumonia" which was meant to describe the economic clout of the usa on the economic life of australia.. but first, a (hopefully) quick personal story.
two weeks ago, i went with some chinese friends to a house auction in hurstville (a suburb in sydney, which is now a popular suburb for cantonese speaking chinese).
-
-
fulltimestudent
So if China sneezes can Australia catch pneumonia? Sadly yes (and I;m not talking about the illness caused by the Corv19 virus)
Australian Universities are highly dependent financially on the Chinese student market. In the past, some Aussie academics have expressed their opinion to me, that if there were no Chinese students, they would have to cut their post-graduate courses way down.
And, in the current crisis, in which the Australian government has banned all travel from China, a lecturer who teaches an accounting course, told me that he may start the new semester (starting soon) with only 3-4 students in his class.
The University of Wollongong (which seems to have a lot of Chinese students, who congregate in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville and travel down to Wollongong) seems to be the first to officially cut all expenditure as a result of Chinese students being unable to come to Australia.
Quote: "Staff at the University of Wollongong (UOW) have been ordered to slash spending after "a significant downturn in enrolments" of Chinese students due to the coronavirus outbreak.
In an email to senior staff last week, UOW chief operating officer Damien Israel ordered a clampdown on international travel, hiring consultants, equipment purchases and attending conferences.
He said it was due to a "worsening financial outlook" because of a "significant downturn in enrolments of Chinese students.""
ABC report: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-14/coronavirus-causes-sydney-uni-spending-reduction/11962812
But the 'economic' pneumonia could get even worse in Australia.
-
10
When China sneezes ..... !!!!!!
by fulltimestudent ini'm being a smartarse with that title.
its a play on an old saying in ozland (australia) which was, "when the usa sneezes, australia gets pneumonia" which was meant to describe the economic clout of the usa on the economic life of australia.. but first, a (hopefully) quick personal story.
two weeks ago, i went with some chinese friends to a house auction in hurstville (a suburb in sydney, which is now a popular suburb for cantonese speaking chinese).
-
-
fulltimestudent
I'm being a smartarse with that title. Its a play on an old saying in OZland (Australia) which was, "When the USA sneezes, Australia gets pneumonia" Which was meant to describe the economic clout of the USA on the economic life of Australia.
But first, a (hopefully) quick personal story. Two weeks ago, I went with some Chinese friends to a house auction in Hurstville (A suburb in Sydney, which is now a popular suburb for Cantonese speaking Chinese). It was a very nice villa style property, close to a rail station and shops, and similar style properties had been selling for around A$900,000 - 950,000. My friend (a University lecturer) was prepared to go a bit over A$1,000,000. The bidding went up and up, until two bidders were left slugging it out. Both were ethnic Chinese. I asked my friends- Where do you think they're from? All three friends answered, the accent is Hongkong. The final successful price was A$1,233,000. I asked again, Why so high? The consensus was, Honkeys (Hongkongers) getting their money out of Hongkong.
I'm sure the vendors were thrilled with that price, but any Aussie wanting to buy a house will be unhappy with that outcome, as it just pushes house prices to impossible levels.
Its well-known that wealthier Hongkong people are getting their money out of HK, much of it going to Singapore. These people no longer see a future there. Of course, Hongkong still has a very busy port (It was in 2019 still one of the top 10 ports in the world - Actually 6 other Chinese ports are in the top 10- the busiest port of all is Shanghai). But the riots in 2019 convinced many HK residents that it was time to leave HK).
Adding to those fears, is an announcement by the Chinese government in 2018, that they would build a completely new port on the island of Hainan in south China. It will be a new style of a designated Free Trade Area, and is planned to be one of the largest ports in China and the world and likely to become the Chinese terminus of the Maritime Silk Road. It likely means that HK will become less and less important as an access point to China.
See American Shipper - https://www.freightwaves.com/news/copy-of-port-report-chinas-hawaii-is-coscos-newest-port-of-call
-
6
Outlaw temple
by Fadeaway1962 inancient 'outlaw temple' discovered in israel.
the famous first temple was not alone.. a bird's-eye view of the temple, taken at the end of the 2013 excavation season.. (image: © p. partouche/skyview).
image 1 of 6. one of the two human-shaped figurines.
-
-
fulltimestudent
These artifacts that were discovered (as below) also raise questions. The official line seems to be that they were some kind of 'mediators,' that transmitted the worshipper's pleas to the supreme deity (assumed to be YHWH). If that is true, it opens up a very controversial line of thinking.
Below is Archaeology Magazine's description of the artifacts.
Artifact
Ceramic figurines were part of a cache of objects found at an Iron Age temple uncovered at the site of Tel Motza outside JerusalemMay/June 2013
(Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)What is it?Figurines
Dateca. 9th century B.C.
MaterialPottery
FoundTel Motza, 3 miles west of Jerusalem, Israel
DimensionsShown approximately twice actual sizeSometimes it is the smallest artifacts that surprise archaeologists the most. Inside the recently uncovered remains of a massive Iron Age building at Tel Motza in Israel, archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) uncovered a cache of pottery, and this particular assemblage surprised and intrigued them. The collection included decorated chalices and pedestals, as well as a number of tiny figurines in both animal and human form. These artifacts resembled similar objects found previously that were known to have been used in domestic rituals. But the structure at Tel Motza was clearly much too large to be a house. Instead, they believed, it was actually a temple with an east-facing entrance typical of the ancient Near East, and an altar in the courtyard, next to which they found the pottery cache. According to the IAA archaeologists, the discovery of the temple itself was striking. “There are hardly any remains of ritual buildings in Judea from this period,” they said. But the discovery of the sacred objects inside the temple was especially surprising because there is scant evidence for ritual practices, particularly so close to Jerusalem, at this time. At some point during the later Iron Age, ritual sites outside of Jerusalem were abolished and religious practices were concentrated solely at the temple in the capital city.
-
6
Outlaw temple
by Fadeaway1962 inancient 'outlaw temple' discovered in israel.
the famous first temple was not alone.. a bird's-eye view of the temple, taken at the end of the 2013 excavation season.. (image: © p. partouche/skyview).
image 1 of 6. one of the two human-shaped figurines.
-
-
fulltimestudent
Archaeology Magazine's account of this discovery says that the archaeologists involved actually found two temple.
Here's that account.
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL—According to a statement released by Tel Aviv University, researchers including Shua Kisilevitz and Oded Lipschits of the university’s Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology and Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists have found traces of two temples about four miles from Jerusalem, in the ancient city of Motza, which has been identified as an Iron Age administrative center where grain was stored and redistributed. The first temple on the site has been tentatively dated to the tenth century B.C., while the monumental temple complex built on top of it has been dated to the late tenth century to early ninth century B.C. Kisilevitz said the temple complex at Motza conformed to religious conventions in the Kingdom of Judah at the time, but according to biblical texts, King Hezekiah and King Josiah restricted worship to the structure known as Jerusalem’s First Temple. The presence of the temple complex in Motza, she added, therefore suggests that other temples continued to operate outside of Jerusalem. Motza’s local leaders may have built the temple complex to increase their control over the region and bolster the success of the growing grain distribution business, she explained. Cultic artifacts including human-shaped and horse figurines, a cult stand decorated with lions or sphinxes, a stone altar, a stone offering table, and a pit filled with ash and bones have been uncovered at the site. To read about ceramic figurines unearthed in Motza's temple complex, go to "Artifact."
Wednesday, February 12, 2020 -
6
Outlaw temple
by Fadeaway1962 inancient 'outlaw temple' discovered in israel.
the famous first temple was not alone.. a bird's-eye view of the temple, taken at the end of the 2013 excavation season.. (image: © p. partouche/skyview).
image 1 of 6. one of the two human-shaped figurines.
-
-
fulltimestudent
Its an interesting discovery that leads to more questions. Many reports of this discovery state that its believed that this 'new' temple must have been 'sanctioned' (approved) by the religious elite associated with the kingship in Jerusalem. But an alternative view, is that rather than being "authorised" by the religious elite in Jerusalem, the religious elite did not have the authority (power) to prevent people worshiping in that temple.
Another interesting side point, is that both that temple and the Jerusalem temple were laid out in a pattern that existed in other non-Jewish areas. And, another question arises, who designed and built this newly discovered temple? Were the designers/builders from outside Israel? If they were Israelites then why did Solomon need to get designers/builders from non-Israelites?
