>> ^Payback:

Am I correct in my assuption that throwing beans in a pot is an accepted way to brew coffee in some areas?


No idea, but I couldn't think of what else it could be.

Am I correct in my assuption that throwing beans in a pot is an accepted way to brew coffee in some areas?

First paragraph is interesting, and has 2 good questions in it. One, how can you trust something that comes from something that can't be trusted. Second is the issue of what rationality even is. And is it even possible to bring it into question, ever. These 2 questions are the prime questions in my own person philosophy, and mirror some of the greater minds of history, I am, after all, only a single man in the long history of human thought.

I too am but a man, limited and small, but hopefully I can bring some godly wisdom into this. Between the two of us, maybe we can reduce this down to size.

I think the first question is actually very easy to answer, not to say that I didn't struggle for an answer for a long time. It is hard to think of things like this completely unclouded. But, the answer remains very easy, for me that is. There is a famous logical fallacy called "Guilt by association" , or, the Hitler Card, or various other things *Reductio ad Hitlerum when being MR. Smarty Pants *. For me to have a problem with its emergent nature from nature; I would need to be able to make an argument against it based on its own lack of integrity, not its associations with nature. One shouldn't be to troubled making this failed comparison, I do it more often than I care to admit!

Yes, I believe it is commonly referred to as the genetic fallacy. That the conclusion is inferred based on a defect of origins rather than the current meaning. I would not condemn rationality on that basis alone, but I use it to show that necessarily in the secular worldview, rationality is not the invincible and eternal God it is made out to be; that it had very humble origins inside a petri dish. This is just to crack open the door of introspection.

To say the same thing over, an objects creation doesn't mean it is still only consistent of the properties that made it. One can see this in ourselves, we are made from inorganic material, and thusly, it isn't proper to say we aren't organic because we came from the inorganic. Also, when I combine things of 2 different chemical properties, it is likely that I will arrive with something with completely different properties from the other two. So both in the logical base, and the higher abstraction, we fail to condemn rationality, we must attack its merits if we hope to win!

You're right, not much is to be gained by this particular argument about rationality. We must go deeper and suss out what it actually is.

The way you went about trying to condemn rationality from my own starting point of naturalistic existence was, however, the correct way to go about it. What I mean to say is you didn't try to use reason to undercut reason, like the postmodernists do, but tried to show that the foundations, at is concerns my own world view, are unfounded at the base. Proper technique, but a flawed argument, IMO. Leaps ahead of some European thinkers though

Thanks. I am happy that you understand that this is about worldviews and their foundations, because that is really the heart of the matter. Many people don't seem to realize that their belief system is a lens through which they perceive reality. Jesus said this is the pivotal issue:

Matthew 7:24-27

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

The second issue of the first statement is that of rationality itself. What is it that we even mean! For myself, I have divided the term into several sub-terms to help me both think about it, and talk about specific properties of rationality. The 2 terms that I an other continental philosophers have used are Logic and Reason. Reason being the so call a posteriori method of thinking, which fall to the realms of science, and Logic; being the dubed A priori, or statements that are a necessarily true...or true without need for examination. You might of read many of my rants on how I do not trust A posteriori as a method for finding truth. It leaves itself to all the problems of induction that for my part, have never been resolved.

I agree that we can reduce rationality into those two sub-terms, Logic and Reason. So let's examine..

For logic, we have the laws of logic, which are absolute, immaterial and unchanging. Yet the Universe is material and always changing. There is nowhere in nature to point to the laws of logic, yet they clearly exist. I account for these because God is a logical being who is absolute, immaterial and unchanging. So where does logic come from and how is it absolute? I don't see how they can be accounted for in a secular view.

To analyse reason, I'll just ask a simple question. How do you know your reasoning is valid?

As far as "TRUTH" with a capital T, I hold that science and all inductive methods have ZERO claim to it, and because of the way I define knowledge (as true, certain, belief) also does not expand human knowledge. So, as an element of rationality, I don't not hold it to any great merit of truth. It is GREAT at understanding the universe as humans can experience reality, but only so far, and only so much, and never in the fullest nature as to be consistent with the word "Truth". ( Turns out, I don't explain that I believe in truth only as far as A priori methods can show them, I think any attempt to say A priori isn't a good way to think about things results in you using A priori logical statements to show it isn't true, thus thwarting the objection)

Now here is the elusive question, and the one that plagued me as an agnostic. As pontius pilate asked Jesus, what is truth? Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life, and He meant this in a literal sense. The way, is in, the only true path for all human beings. The truth, because He is the Creator and Logos. The life, because He is the source of life. Bold claims, to be sure. He claimed to be the foundation of all foundations.

Is there is a truth? Well, it is true that I typed those words "is there a truth?". It is absolutely true even though only you and I know about it (and anyone else reading this). If the record were destroyed and the witnesses were gone it would still be true. If the Universe were destroyed it would still be true. Nothing can ever change that I wrote those words; the truth is the truth. Even if someone went back in time and stopped me from doing it, it still definitely happened. So, absolute truth exists.

The question is, how can you know what it is? You can know the things you have done, and seen, to a limited extent, but beyond that it gets progressively vague. Senses deceive, and so do people. How do you know anything for sure? Well there are really only two alternatives.

To know the absolute truth beyond a doubt you would either need to be omnipotent, or, you would need to receive revelation from an omnipotent being. So you would either need to be God, or God would need to tell you directly what is going on. Everything else is just speculation. It is like a person living in a pitch black room, who goes round and round inside of it, and thinks it is the whole Universe, until God opens the door from the outside.

Side question..what do you think of this statement?: God is perfect.

I don't know that I have ever heard a good explanation about free will. I should point out, that even in my Christianity, I was a 5 point Calvinist. I never have accepted that this quazi-random thing called free will exists in any way, shape or form. In the end, it doesn't even matter, either.

I agree that this is outside our control, of course. My assertion is that it is impossible unless it is something that is given to us. There is no meaningful free will in a determinalistic Universe, which I think is the inevitable conclusion of materialism. Personally, I believe that God controls everything, but in regards to love, we have the choice to love Him or not.

Let me expand why I think that. For me, I don't have the Theological problem you do. I don't have to explain goodness or evil in terms of human choices.

It is pretty simple theologically. Only God is good. Therefore, everything God tells us to do is good. Everything God tells us not to do is evil. The only way to know goodness is to obey God, because we canot obtain to it on our own.

I don't even have to believe in good or evil, or even if I do think it is a "something that exists", I HAVE to remain agnostic about it in the same way I do God, reason being is there isn't really a reasonable way to go about forming the groups "Good" and "Evil". Is it good to tie my shoe laces, or to just slip my feet right inside that shoe! It seems that most of life would either be impossible to show its good or evil value, but even more problematic, why and how!?

You may not define it but I submit that in your conscience you know what good and evil is, and that you live as if they do in fact absolutely exist. It is an intellectual quagmire if there is no moral lawgiver; it is all relative and meaningless. Yet, the whole world acts as if there is an absolute moral standard, and our conscience tells us that, before our intellect kicks in, that some things are right and others wrong. That isn't just wrong to murder someone, it is absolutely wrong. The guilt we have from past misdeeds tells us that we have trangsressed a moral law. So if there is no good and evil, how strange is it that we live as though there is? It makes no sense unless there is an absolute moral law, and in turn, a moral lawgiver.

We can see this problem in Christendom itself, there is no "one way" to be a christian! That was ALWAYS problematic for me. If truth was as easy as being in the bible, then everyone, and I mean everyone would be the same type of Christian. It would be the logical outcome of such a perfect and holy notion of good and evil. So either Christendom is in my same problematic position of not knowing the difference between good or evil, or if that even exists at all; if it wasn't some problem we created to increase the suffering of the world (like good ol Man Schopenhauer though!)

It isn't as black and white as all of that. Remember in the bible that God did non-stop miracles in front of the Israelites and they rebelled against Him anyway. Remember that Jesus did even more miracles and they ended up crucifying Him. So, the problem isn't with God, or His Word, it is with human beings. If you put God on the right and Satan on the left, and you lined up all of the Christians in the world between them, their placement in the line would be determined by what percentage of their heart they had given to God. Whatever percentage they haven't given to God is run by the world and their desires, and the more true this is, the less able they are to interpret the holy scriptures. It is the reality of sin that has created all of these different interpretations and denominations. There is one truth, and billions of Christians imperfectly interpreting it. The fact is, only Jesus was able to lead the perfect life of obedience to the Father. We all have a teacher, the Holy Spirit, to guide us into all truth, but only if we listen to Him.

So in other words, being the result of atoms bouncing around off each other degrading the absolute randomness of choices I make isn't something I have a problem with personally. As it is, my own existence, even if planned by nature or God or even myself, still remains so far beyond my ability to grasp at even day to day instances of any particular situation that even that; planned or random I have no real guess as to the goings on of that day. Perhaps if I was an all powerful God, with absolute knowledge of all factors of existence and all properties of existence I might find reality a little tedious.

It is much bigger than our limited awareness, that is for sure. What I have learned is that there is no such thing as coincidence. Try eliminating that word from your vocabulary for a few days. You might notice some very interesting things.

As to the quote, I think it a little dubious. For instance, it relates thoughts to fizz of a soda. That is fine, but they also have a comparison to HOW similar they are to each other. For instance, 1 and 2 are both numbers. There isn't really a problem with them both being numbers at the same time, its a party yall, all the numbers get to the dance floor! However, even in their exact "numberness" of being all "numbers", they still have differences to each other, even while still being numbers! So while the "one"ness of 1 being one is still just a number, a number which is a number exactly the same way 2 is, their is also a difference between 1 and 2, and it is inherit to the way that both exist. In the same way that A=A, A!=(!A). The basic laws of identity and contraindication. 1 may be of some degree of similarity to 2, and likewise, Fizz to thinking. But there is also a degree of separation. One could say the same, on a high level argument, that both smell and touch are of the "Same" physical representation of an object. So while the object they correspond to has a oneness with itself, the individual properties of its oneness are unique and independent. And not just via the method of induction, but it is AUTOMATICALLY apparent and true that things that are different are not the same. So the comparison of the atomic nature of both fizz and thoughts is ABSOLUTELY true, but so are there differences. It is those absolute differences that I, personally, use in my own method of philosophy which I borrowed and adapted from my limited understanding of Phenomenology.

I think you kind of missed the point here. It is just an analogy to show that if our thoughts are just the product of some brew of chemicals and electricity, and you and I just happened to get different chemicals, then your doubt and my faith have nothing to do with what we believe. They are just the natural result of how we are assembled and nothing else.

As to the last assumption of my beliefs, I actually don't have the same material requirement for existence. I find the views of George Berkeley, that we all exist in the minds of God, as the one of MANY, near infinite, plausible methods we could exist metaphysically.

Sure, there are many ways to imagine this, and I've heard quite a few. I think the only two meaningful questions concerning this is..is there a God, and if so, has He introduced Himself?

One might also mockingly bring up the idea of a spaghetti monster, but I have ALWAYS found that to be extremely uncharitable with the way "NORMAL" theory is crafted.

The FSM has no explanatory power. You don't get a Universe from flying pasta. The only workable theory is one that could explain all the meaningful questions that we have. I find all of those answers in Jesus Christ.

My current understanding of the universe certainly allows for a God, in fact, I find myself leaning that way more than my atheist brethren. It was, for me, certain, though, that the God of the Christian variety didn't satisfy all the problems that I had.

What problems do you feel He fell short on?

So my metaphysical undemanding doesn't have to find its roots in matter. I don't hold that matter is all there is, or that matter ISN'T all there is. I think there is not enough evidence to say either way. Moreover, I don't know that such evidence could even exist, which is why I am not only atheist, but also agnostic.

Ahh, but if you're agnostic you cannot be an atheist. If you don't know if the evidence could exist, then necessarily you don't know that it couldn't exist either. To be a true agnostic is to have no bias in either direction.

I think we are most likely creatures that are good at doing what we do, and truth...absolute truth, isn't really valuable as far as not getting eaten by a tiger is concerned.

It would be very valuable if God could help you avoid the tiger.

As such, I think humans have very few tools for understanding truth, from a Gods eye view perspective. It is the great arrogance of man that most cranktankerous arguments between scientists and religious people have with one another. We really do have more in common than different...we really have no clue what's going on. 7000 years of human discovery, great monuments of technology and thought, and yet, the truth is still as elusive as it ever was.

As I was saying above, without being God, or having direct revelation from God, we are only chasing our own tails. If there is no God we will never know how it all began or what is really going on. What I believe is that there is a God who has revealed Himself through the person of Jesus Christ. That we can know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Hopefully, this huge wall of text has some merit and value, for I have written it while ill. I hope I have portrayed my message without the normal anger and hate associated with such inquiries. Of note, such pleasant conversations are truly all I exist for, if not for them, my life is worthless. As a person, I hope only to accomplish knowledge, and the pass that knowledge on to others. Nothing else really matters to me at all. Which is why, at times, I have lashed out at those undeserving because of the deep relationship I have with this type of endeavor. Imm'a let this fly now, and hope the typos don't completely obscure it, but I need to sleep.

I have enjoyed and appreciated your conversation. It certainly is a lot to chew on. I enjoy these kind of philosophical discussions; they have always been my bread and butter. I also appreciate that you are strictly concerned with knowledge, and how committed you are to it. I wholeheartedly approve of your endevour. Truth is what matters to me, second to love. When I was agnostic, I tied my brain into a million knots searching for it, and when I became aware there is a spirit, the mystery deepened 1000 fold. I feel I have found what truth is, which is the love of God, and I hope to share as much of that with you as I can.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK

Peacefull protest demonstrated in a video giving a happy feeling is not *happy. Fuck off.

>> ^bcglorf:

This is not HAPPY.
I am Canadian and this is an underlying conflict that is simmering away waiting to explode.
This was a single border crossing that happens to be on a Mohawk reserve. The federal government decided to arm the border guards at all crossings across the country. The argument against arming the guards in this particular crossing was that it would lead to an armed conflict between some of the people there and the border guards. That means absolutely crazy tensions already exist.
The conflict in Canada that has been brewing for awhile now is that the Mohawk people on this reserve, and many natives on other reserves across the country do NOT recognize themselves as Canadian citizens. They do not recognize Canada as their nation. There are treaties that lend legal weight to that interpretation, so they are in many/most cases right on this too. The trouble comes in when large portions of Canadian tax dollars are still being distributed to these non-Canadian reserves. Again, there is legal precedent in the treaties for this too, but it is becoming a major point of tension.
The most damaging tension in this is that the leaders of the reserves are nominally the leaders of their own independent nation, but it is a nation that is nearly 100% reliant and dependent on a much larger nation. When something goes wrong on a reserve, like the housing falling apart or the water supply failing, who gets blamed? The reserve leaders demand it's Canada's fault for not funding them. Canada says it's the reserve leaders fault because they DID fund them. The reserves are nominally independent so they largely refuse to allow any input or support from Canada except cold cash. The victims in all this are the people living on the reserves with corrupt or incompetent leaders and/or the ones living on reserves that aren't adequately funded by Canada. Those poor residents are pawned off between the two with both the reserve leaders and Canada's leaders declaring it's not their fault the housing and water there are no good.
The situation on reserves as a whole in Canada today is horrible. The conditions on any given reserve compared to it's neighboring 'Canadian' towns are stark and shameful. It's the fault of both the local leaders and Canada's leaders for their failures to workout a solution for the people's problems.
What it's created is a system that segregates people based on race, generally leaves the segregated communities in underprivileged conditions and assesses and distributes tax dollars differently, again dependent upon race. It's a system tailor made to create racist resentment and tension. What's worse, fixing it ultimately means revisiting ancient treaties which is inevitably going to open up yet more racist resentment and tension.
This is SAD.

This is not HAPPY.

I am Canadian and this is an underlying conflict that is simmering away waiting to explode.

This was a single border crossing that happens to be on a Mohawk reserve. The federal government decided to arm the border guards at all crossings across the country. The argument against arming the guards in this particular crossing was that it would lead to an armed conflict between some of the people there and the border guards. That means absolutely crazy tensions already exist.

The conflict in Canada that has been brewing for awhile now is that the Mohawk people on this reserve, and many natives on other reserves across the country do NOT recognize themselves as Canadian citizens. They do not recognize Canada as their nation. There are treaties that lend legal weight to that interpretation, so they are in many/most cases right on this too. The trouble comes in when large portions of Canadian tax dollars are still being distributed to these non-Canadian reserves. Again, there is legal precedent in the treaties for this too, but it is becoming a major point of tension.

The most damaging tension in this is that the leaders of the reserves are nominally the leaders of their own independent nation, but it is a nation that is nearly 100% reliant and dependent on a much larger nation. When something goes wrong on a reserve, like the housing falling apart or the water supply failing, who gets blamed? The reserve leaders demand it's Canada's fault for not funding them. Canada says it's the reserve leaders fault because they DID fund them. The reserves are nominally independent so they largely refuse to allow any input or support from Canada except cold cash. The victims in all this are the people living on the reserves with corrupt or incompetent leaders and/or the ones living on reserves that aren't adequately funded by Canada. Those poor residents are pawned off between the two with both the reserve leaders and Canada's leaders declaring it's not their fault the housing and water there are no good.

The situation on reserves as a whole in Canada today is horrible. The conditions on any given reserve compared to it's neighboring 'Canadian' towns are stark and shameful. It's the fault of both the local leaders and Canada's leaders for their failures to workout a solution for the people's problems.

What it's created is a system that segregates people based on race, generally leaves the segregated communities in underprivileged conditions and assesses and distributes tax dollars differently, again dependent upon race. It's a system tailor made to create racist resentment and tension. What's worse, fixing it ultimately means revisiting ancient treaties which is inevitably going to open up yet more racist resentment and tension.

This is SAD.

>> ^ghark:

I would just point out one thing for @NetRunner - the OWS movement is not the anti-tea party per se, over 70% of them identify as politically independent.
http://occupywallst.org/article/70-percent-ows-supporters-independent/


That doesn't surprise me in the least. Ultimately to me that's the big X-factor about OWS.

My optimist side says this is just the right kind of brew from which a strong, left-leaning 3rd party could arise. Or maybe just an authentic, left-wing version of the Tea Party -- people who don't swear fealty to the Democratic party, but who will force the politicians of both parties to cater to them via the threat of outside challenges in primaries and general elections. At a minimum, maybe it'll just help keep the media talking about the real problems (unemployment, wealth inequality, corporate misdeeds), and not the fake problems (debt, inflation, regulatory "uncertainty").

My cynical side tells me that its heavy resistance to making alliances with either party (including even established liberal groups like MoveOn), as well as its assiduously non-partisan messaging, is ultimately going to prevent it from being more than just a news fad. I'm worried that their somewhat rigid adherence to "independence" winds up meaning they get themselves political isolation, and not political revolution.

I'm hopeful about the potential for OWS to bring about a real reset of the political system, but each day that goes by without them making any attempt to translate the protest's energy into some sort of direct political action (i.e. voting, petitioning, primarying, general strikes, etc.), a bit of that hope fades. If all they ever plan to do is occupy public spaces and wave signs, they're just going to wind up being ignored.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

Lyrics per request @ant


I like MintBBB
She can brew a mocha frazuzzi
Semi-sweet and always minty
Yeah, baby.

I like MintBBB
Netrunner and her gonna play parcheesi
I've got a cold and my voice is wheezy
Yeah, baby

She was born to Sift I can tell by the eye
It looks into my very soul and I can't lie
I think I see a puppy. I think I see a puppy.

I like MintBBB
The triple Bs are still a mystery.
I hope it's not the Better Business Bureau
Cause that's lame.

She's a galaxy, only number three
She beat BlankFist that's enough for me ...
Please don't get angry ... Blankfist Baby.

I like MintBBB
stay semi-sweet and minty
Not sure how someone is minty
but please ... stay that.

I had a witty reply brewing up to about the middle, but yeah.. this was a bit much.

Wellllllp,

The airplane is a p-51 Mustang from the WW2 era, apparently equipped with multiple modern recording devices. While mid-flight a piece from the tail end of the aircraft (edit: the piece is the elevator trim tab) broke off, affecting the planes ability to maneuver effectively, causing catastrophic failure and the pilot lost all control on a turn. The plane then pitched up and took a sharp turn downwards as it nose dives into a luxury box-seat area killing dozens and wounding 70 or so.

While the tragedy in this story is obvious, the physics are not. Notice the lack of explosion upon impact or shortly there after. Usually there is a massive fireball that proceeds a crash like this and it has baffled scientists and engineers alike.

In reply to this comment by Shepppard:
I would REALLY like some backstory on this.

What was going on? Was it a race, or an air show? what the hell was the pilot doing in the first place, the angle of that descent means he either did the most boneheaded loop ever, or something went catastrophically wrong.

I'm not even happy having watched this. It's not exactly snuff, because we don't explicitly see anybody die (I mean, obviously the pilot, but we only see an after explosion) but even still, I'm uncomfortable watching it. However, just because I'm uncomfortable watching it, doesn't automatically make it snuff.

ehh.. one way or the other, I see controversy brewing with this video.

I would REALLY like some backstory on this.

What was going on? Was it a race, or an air show? what the hell was the pilot doing in the first place, the angle of that descent means he either did the most boneheaded loop ever, or something went catastrophically wrong.

I'm not even happy having watched this. It's not exactly snuff, because we don't explicitly see anybody die (I mean, obviously the pilot, but we only see an after explosion) but even still, I'm uncomfortable watching it. However, just because I'm uncomfortable watching it, doesn't automatically make it snuff.

ehh.. one way or the other, I see controversy brewing with this video.

Apparently, his one request was to share a beer with President Obama. So they had one of the White House's home-brewed beers.

Sadly, I don't have any Guinness around. Name the beer you choose to drink while watching! I went with the Belgian St. Bernardus Abt. 12. For any beer connoisseurs out there, St. Bernadus used to be the brewers for the Trappist Westvletern before the monastery decided to take the brewing back. So their recipe is only slightly different.

Hooray for beer and science!

Yep, I am from Maine.
>> ^dag:

It was pretty good - just a hint of fruit without being sweet. I'll take you up on that offer. Maine, right?>> ^critical_d:
How was the apricot beer? I am not a huge fan of beer flavored with fruits but I would love to try one (or seven). The next time you are in the Northeast, you can head to the other Portland and I will introduce you to some of the best micro-brews in the world.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It was pretty good - just a hint of fruit without being sweet. I'll take you up on that offer. Maine, right?>> ^critical_d:

How was the apricot beer? I am not a huge fan of beer flavored with fruits but I would love to try one (or seven). The next time you are in the Northeast, you can head to the other Portland and I will introduce you to some of the best micro-brews in the world.

How was the apricot beer? I am not a huge fan of beer flavored with fruits but I would love to try one (or seven). The next time you are in the Northeast, you can head to the other Portland and I will introduce you to some of the best micro-brews in the world.