I just saw "Bill Hicks: American" the other night. I love this guy and wish he were still here.

RIP to a good person.

We're still here because we like it here and see what this country could be. Besides, we don't want to leave it in the hands of people like you. We're here to push back when idiocy and ignorance tries to wrest control... struggling through we may be to do that with the widespread ignorance in this country from the conservatives, religious and the gullible.

Sounds like you'd prefer somewhere where everyone believes the same thing (or else). I invite you to leave and go to North Korea where they embrace (read: have no choice but to) dictatorship and limited to almost non-existent civil rights.

Oh, and may some illness which your medical coverage doesn't cover be visited upon you. Sure, not the most mature thing to end with, but I think I would be entertained by seeing how long it took before you b*tched and moaned about your insurance company doing nothing.

>> ^quantumushroom:

You don't even see Paul get to answer the question.
As for our hypothetical sick man, a "caring" society that hangs the millstone around Taxpayer's neck for everything else--including Juan Illegal's sex-change op--won't let it happen.
So, why do you Americans lefties STAY here? There are whole socialist progressive countries out there with "free" everything for their citizens, why struggle here in America? You're free to leave or stay; were I you I'd take the path of least resistance and move to Norway.

God is a American.>> ^TheGenk:

There is no civilization that that has openly empraced homosexuality and has survived...
waves at Pat Robertson
Oh, hello there! This is Europe, we even gone so far and turned away from god, too. Then we have legal prostitution, even some countries where pot is legal or assisted suicide. But what really pisses off Jesus is our affordable health-care for all, how dare we get treatment from doctors instead of the traditional way of praying and sacrificing animals?! And guess what, we're still here.

What a douche...
(edit: more fun facts about europe for comical effect)

Sorry, my head's still here.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

In addition to 'teaching', an educator also needs to be a leader, a negotiator, a salesman, a disciplinarian, a politician, an administrator, a motivator, a receptionist, an advocate, a librarian, a manager, a public relations agent, a psychologist, an entertainer, an accountant, and for some students, a parent. If you are a music teacher, you get even more hats - arranger, copyist, bus scheduler, event planner, fund raiser, critic, graphic designer, contractor etc. (Running a high school band is like running a business, complete with a board, fundraiser income, expenses, employees, audits, etc.)


And yet I wonder why these super geniuses settle for teaching instead of using just some of the myriad of skills you listed and become the next big inventor, or the next great physicist, or the next big whatever. Yet instead, even with those over-qualifications (if we're to take your word for it), they choose to work so much harder for fewer rewards (again if we're to take your word).

Sounds totally legit.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

I know you grew up in a region of the country that does not have high educational standards (and cruel stereotypes that reinforce these low standards), so I don't doubt that you've had more than your fair share of bad teachers.


Emphasis mine. Trolololo. Actually this is classic elitism. To you my geographical location, specifically that I grew up in the South, makes me inferior in every respect to people like you who grew up near richer Metropolitan areas. I know you're trying to goad me, but I also think you really believe some of that. It's the priggish nature of the elitist.

You can try to disassociate yourself from the Southern school system because of how people like you look down on them, but at the end of the day that system is still a product of your ideal one-size-fits-all Prussian school model no matter the location. To mock any part of it is to mock all of it.

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

I grew up in middle class Southern California, with teachers that were paid fairly, schools that were well funded and parents that involved themselves in the academic lives of their children. (3 of the biggest factors in student achievement). Out of the 40+ teachers I had from K-12, I can think of two that were bad.


Still, here in Los Angeles the charter schools and/or private schools tend to perform the best. Even with all the unions and heavy spending that goes on, the public schools just cannot outperform the charters/private schools. That's got to sting a bit for those in support of public schools and teacher unions.

Due to entropy, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, etc, we know that there isn't such a thing as a perpetual motion machine. Everything which begins to exist does appear to end, including the Universe. For instance, the expansion of the Universe into heat death. A record player will wear out, a DVD player will break down. I believe that the temporal is temporary because it was created with a specific purpose which will end. After that, only that which is perfected and can co-exist with God eternally will remain.

Yes, talk of the eternal is intelligible. It doesn't mean we can't grasp a few concepts about it. One, it lasts forever, always has been, always will be. It never began to exist and it will never end. Two, it is essentially perfect, because it doesn't break down. It has no real flaw or weakness. It is self-contained and nothing could be added to it to make it better than it is in this sense.

Yes, you can doubt anything, but reality is orderly. It has a way which works and makes sense. I'm not sure why you believe time is only in the mind, because we can do very precise experiments on forces which show time as an emergent conception. What we perceive of time may be faulty, but clearly everything isn't happening at once; there is a logical progression to events which suggests time is more than in our minds.

As far as astronomical history you're talking about a history which is completely speculative and not based on observation, ie the origin of the moon, dinosaurs etc. If you doubt so much, why do you accept the secular narrative as truth? There are certain things such as the existence of the short period comets that proves a young earth. IE, if they're still here it means the Earth can't be that old. The secular narrative inserts the illusive and unobservable "Oort cloud" which supposedly replenishes all the comets.

Yes, I believe knowledge is certain and true, but I think you must see how limited beings with limited perceptions and knowledge take quite a bit on faith. Just in your normal life, you must see past your senses to navigate and interact with reality. You don't know everything that is going to happen, or even what you do know is even reliable, but you make the best of it. I don't see how anything could pass the "certainty" test.

I said what is spiritual couldn't be empircally proven, but I believe God has material evidence because He is a part of history. Where the rubber meets the road is the resurrection of Christ. God did interact with this world; He redeemed it. God isn't beholden to the world though, as if He needs anything..it is by Grace that He interacts with us. I will also tell you that God proves Himself. He promised to reveal Himself to those who come to Him in repentance of sin, who believe in Him and His resurrection and confess Him as Lord. To those He reveals Himself and grants eternal life. God can change a skeptic to a believer in a nanosecond, but He isn't going to show Himself to the world until the right time. What He wants is a heart willing to change, a broken and contrite heart coming to Him in total humility.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
@shinyblurry
There is no logical necessity for time to have an ending only because it had a beginning. A record player spinning with no end comes to mind. There is no reason to assume the end is necessarily destruction. A comparable analogy would be would be when a DVD is over; the fact that it has ended has nothing to do with its eradication. Either is plausible. There is also no reason to assume that something eternal will arise from temporal. It isn't impossible either, mind you, just not necessarily or shown to be the case.
I don't think it is possible to think about what is more plausible about eternity. We have no idea how to predicate eternity. We don't know "Being" is a consistent idea with "Eternal". Any type of talk about eternal is unintelligible. I don't mean that in a rude way, what I mean is I have no reason to believe anything that is said. If 2 things are logically possible, and I have no understanding of what it means to be eternal, then any talk about what is the more "likely" mode of an eternal metaphysics is a fruitless debate, rife with personal bias and little else.
And once again, this whole line of thought revolves around the very subjective idea of time. I have had no compelling argument to show time to be anything more than an experience of minds any more than the color blue. I have no reason to accept time as anything more than the way in which minds alter the information of the universe to make us more successful creatures.
I don't understand, beyond bias, why you would accept data about a young earth vs an old one with any less skepticism. Assuming they are using the same dating methods, why trust 10k year old earth and not 13 billion? The detective work that goes into the methods of age aren't perfect, prone to mis-calibration, and lack true modes to calibrate with, but it never claimed to be exact, just a rough cut. When they talk about the ages of dinosaurs, it usually has 50ish million year give or takes. Even our own solar history, and the history of our moon, and of Mars speak far more about a much older universe than a 10k year old one. I also can't see the Grand Canyon being made in 10k years. But isn't is a debate on the Christion bible, but on a more basic idea.
I am not an empiricist. I believe my classification is either a existential phenomenologist, or perhaps an transcendental idealist...most likely a combination of the two great schools of rationalism and empiricism. For me, knowledge is the same as Descartes put it. It is certain, and it is true. By certain, that means it passes Cartesian doubt. More to the point, it means that it has the right stuff to have an answer to every criticism. It is the opposite of doubt, it is certain. In that, religious evidence fails the certainty test, as the main element of all the great religions isn't knowledge, but faith. So to your point, prove that it can be known, with certainty and without any doubt any of the claims you have made, you would be the first in history to do so, to my knowledge. And to say that God can not be empirically proven seems rather lonely, for it means that God does not interact with this world; as empirical study is the world as it is beholden to man. If God is not beholden to the world which man exists, then he isn't really our God.

Fine, my android won't upload/email the video, or it'll take forever. Still, here's my darling puppy helping me make another entry using another device

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtjAb3IcTEI

There is no civilization that that has openly empraced homosexuality and has survived...

*waves at Pat Robertson*
Oh, hello there! This is Europe, we even gone so far and turned away from god, too. Then we have legal prostitution, even some countries where pot is legal or assisted suicide. But what really pisses off Jesus is our affordable health-care for all, how dare we get treatment from doctors instead of the traditional way of praying and sacrificing animals?! And guess what, we're still here.


What a douche...
(edit: more fun facts about europe for comical effect)

>> ^Truckchase:

Screw voicemails. Visual voicemails are decent, but the standard "enter your pin... you have xx messages... press this key to .... message left at.... zzzzzz... oh are you still here?"
So yeah, I don't check messages.


Me neither, River City Ransom. I just saw you called, and I call you back. Don't bother leaving a message. It's a waste of time for the both of us...well actually just for you since I won't be checking it. The problem with a voicemail is that its either something you can quickly say in a text, or its something that needs to be discussed. In either case, the voicemail is not the most effective way of communicating.

Screw voicemails. Visual voicemails are decent, but the standard "enter your pin... you have xx messages... press this key to .... message left at.... zzzzzz... oh are you still here?"

So yeah, I don't check messages.

I called my mom on Saturday and when she answered I said, "Oh, you're still here" then hung up. I was about to inherit quite a bit of real estate... darn.

It's 03:35 may 21st 2011 in Denmark right now and I'm still here. But I guess, if the rapture happened I'd be here anyway, so yeah.

A couple of things:

First of all, I wish that reporter would have done a half decent job and asked two things:
-"And how will you explain your absolute certainty if we're all still here on May 23rd?"

and

-"If you truly believe it's happening, you surely must have given away all of your possessions?"


And secondly, I hope some reporters will go back to these morons on the 23rd and ask:

-"So...... kinda awkward, but could you please come up with another stupid, inane bullshit reasoning for your failure?"

ok.
i have stated this previously and in multiple posts.
lets define "god" for a moment.
and lets accomplish this without any religious influence or overtures...none.
because lets be honest,religion acts like it has the secret key to the hidden doorway.
which i find not only repulsive but dishonest.

lets see if we can agree on a few things.i shall use the monotheistic religions as example because using all 4500 would be..tedious:
1.god implies masculine.this is obviously a falsehood.why would god need sexual organs?
2.we are all made in gods image.again a falsehood.having never seen god how can we know?
3.the bible/q'ran is the written word of god.(i wont include the torah because jews do not make that pronouncement).again this is false,some basic research will reveal this statement to be an utter fallacy.unless of course you are a fundamentalist,and in that case..carry on with your wars of attrition /looking at you fundmantalist christians and muslims).
4.god loves you.unless you break these rules and in that case he has built a special place for you to burn for eternity (varying degrees of understanding here,even fundamentalists struggle with this obvious hypocrisy).conclusion=bullshit.


ok.i am going to stop because i could do this all day.
my basic point is that it is RELIGION that makes the claim that it is THEY who hold the keys to the gate.that only through THEIR understanding could any of lowly humans ever think to have salvation.
religion is man-made with tangible texts,doctrine and dogma and in being so is subject to criticism.as it SHOULD be.
these institutions define god and then attempt to compel through fear and..well..fear..to get people to comply.
in my opinion it is these very institutions which hinder the growth and development of us all as a species.
fundamentalism is the stunting of the spirit and the stagnation of the mind.
none of what i am saying here takes away from the poetry,literature and wisdom from the bible..it is RELIGION which perpetrates that crime.

everybody still with me?
am i making sense?
ok..now lets define god and lets do it in a way that religion will never do because it will make those institutions irrelevant.
(which ironically was the EXACT thing jesus was attempting to do..but i digress)
lets consider "god" an entity with immense consciousness.
let us for a moment imagine this consciousness giving birth to the universe from itself.
what is the first thing to come in to existence besides energy?
time.
and when that happened what else became evident?
everything became relative due to this added dimension.
let that sink in a bit because it has huge implications.
ok..
now if we continue on this thread of thought.this would mean that the universe is literally god.
every molecule.
every atom.
god.
and what if this creator put out only one simple edict for his construct?
create.
thats all.he sets the rules and puts only one line of code=create.
and everything his creations creates is part of him and he..it.
good..evil..arbitrary terms used to relate subjective realities focused from a singular perspective.
the creator does not notice them because all of it is the same to the creator.
WE make those very human definitions.
lets imagine for a second that the universe has a consciousness.one that we may be aware or unaware of,but we know we are an individual.
we have consciousness.
we do NOT know if a plant has a consciousness that we can measure but we may some day.
now if we are a part of this incredible creation called the universe and we have consciousness.this means we are aware of not only ourselves but the universe around us.
this means we experience creation on a daily basis.manifesting in so many dynamic ways:love,loss,anger,violence,wonder,imagination,making love,cheeseburgers with a cold beer etc etc
and in that light would not the creator experience its own creation subjectively through our experiencing his creation?

now this is not a new idea,in fact it is quite old but it does have the quality of not needing any religion,nor doctrine or dogma.
why not?
because in essence YOU are god and god is YOU.
if i had postulated something like this as early as 100 yrs ago i would be burned at the stake.
why? religion.
but this is the basic definition i use when i use the term "god".
it is also the reason why i have no urge to preach or proselytize.
the only thing i try to do is recognize that i do not hold the key nor the answers but i seek them and that is my path.
yours is your own and the only thing i can do is recognize that you are a spiritual being (whether you believe that or not) and respect your choices on how you wish to live.
because..in the end..they are YOUR choices.

now please understand i share this with you not to convince or to invite ridicule but rather to offer a different definition.
to me life is amazing in the very simple act of breathing.
of loving..
and arguing..ah..many thanks for those in my life for the glorious arguments.
this life is precious if only for those simple things.
is there an afterlife?
i believe so,what it looks like i have no idea but i know it wont be THIS life.
so cherish those who you care about because this is one helluva ride,and i am glad you all are here to enjoy it with me.

for those of you still here.
thanks for coming to the show!
dont forget to tip your bartenders and waitresses!
and thank YOU BRM for taking the time to discuss things of this nature with me.

Thanks Matthu. It has been a rough year. Sorry for all your losses.

Give someone a hug for me.

In reply to this comment by Matthu:
Donno how old you guys are, I'm 26 and people have been dropping like fucking flies lately. It sucks.

Luckily we'll all make it to the singularity and be able to live forever on the Internet!!

Be strong bare and keep your loved ones close.

>> ^gwiz665:

Just stumbled on this. I'm sorry for your losses and my heart breaks for your uncle.
In reply to this comment by bareboards2:
By the way, my Aunt Gene died on Friday. It's a blessing, really.
Now I worry about her husband. They had the heartache of burying all three of their childen -- my cousin Gaylan, age 57, died in his sleep last fall. And now my uncle has buried his wife. He does have grandkids, but he hasn't lived alone in over 50 years. I don't think he'll be with us by Christmas. He has a bad heart, and this is just too much, you know?
A generation is leaving us. My family has been lucky to keep so many for so long -- but now they are going, and going quick. We've lost five in the last two years. Plus Gaylan.
My dad is still here. In good shape mentally. He likes where he is, a VA Center in Oklahoma. It has a fishing pond out back. He is in charge of the fishing tackle closet, keeps everything in good order. When one of the guys has trouble with his reel, he goes to my dad. When some of the simple medical equipment jams, he fixes it for the nurses. He's 87. Amazing.