this might pose a couple of questions to you T, and its only an hour pal 😉

Is that a spoof video? It’s really bad if not 😳

Only someone who’s never bothered to really listen to been convinced by an intelligent person of faith would think that.

Now that’s just rude, so I’ve fixed it for you. Can we stay away from adhoms please?

I believe in God.

But to me, God is just a better version of me, somewhere inside of me, with a proper functioning conscience, and mostly inaccessible to the conscious real me.

That’s a fascinating insight. And I can completely relate to what you are saying. But respectfully, it doesn’t sound like you actually believe in ‘God’; more like you believe in mostly trying to be a better person and you call that system of ‘conscience in hindsight’, God.

I’m pretty sure it’s different. The religious do NOT have the monopoly on morality.

So you don’t have to guess what their motivations are.

You miss my point. Those people could I’m sure tell me what their motivations are; but they will be absent of fact, based in ‘faith’ (which is just opinion put on a pedestal) and therefore absolutely no more (or less, to be fair) valid than my guess.

You don’t have to guess, it’s actually pretty easy to explain

No, I DO have to guess. Or take someone’s word for it. Because as you point out, this is a discussion completely devoid of fact, it’s a matter of ‘faith’. Which means, ipso facto, my opinion is as valid as anyone’s…

As has been explained over and over again on this forum, the creation story in the Bible is taken as fable by most Christians.

Yep, the ability to pick and choose which bits of the book to take literally interests me; it’s a relatively new thing in the history of Christianity I believe. It’s an interesting development in response to both scientific and moral/ethical advances in society. I wonder at what point we reach the tipping point whereby so much of the book is redacted into allegory that it becomes obvious that it is what it is; a 1900 year old man made collection of contradictions and mostly irrelevant, out of date attempts to explain and codify the universe?

(And the same for the other ‘holy books’ too, for the sake of equality)

I think this was suggested by some 16th century German fellow wasn’t it?

No idea! There’s precious few new ideas under the sun though, so probably 😏

Otherwise, how could we have religious scientists? People who believe in God and yet still continue to seek answers about science and the universe?

Humans are REALLY good at compartmentalising, is my guess.

What faith is NOT is an attempt to explain the existence of the universe and replace science.

Lol.

Religious faith is nothing if it not this very thing. This is self evidently the origin of religious beliefs; a man made construct to answer difficult questions in the absence of quality evidence. Humans always want answers; this provides a vacuum that can be exploited by both well meaning paternal types and power hungry controlling types.

No single human being is better equipped or qualified than any other to understand ‘God’s word’. Those who suggest that they are should be viewed with suspicion.

That being said; Wheatons law should always apply. Pity that a lot of religious types haven’t gotten the memo.

The plane is going because people choose to fly on it. Only one way to change that…

And that won’t happen whilst flying is considerably cheaper and more convenient. Ridiculous situation; sums up the massive clusterfudge of fail that is our public transport infrastructure in the UK.

I still MTB fairly regularly, but I could totally see myself replace it with hiking at the more scrambley end of the scale. Satisfies my desire for challenge and mini adventure, whilst being quite accessible without oodles of kit and specialist skills. Do a bit now, mostly in Snowdonia and it’s ace.

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You’re (edit; almost) all wrong. The breakfast of (fat) Gods is the sausage and egg bagel, customised to add ketchup and bacon. Washed down with a coffee and a hash brown on the side. I don’t think that there is a single more caloric item on the entire menu. I’m drooling just thinking about it… 🤤

No riots. No water cannons. No detention centres. No ovens.
Looks pretty moderate to me.

You have a hilariously low bar for what you want from a society. As long as we are not under an actual murderous facist dictatorship its all cool with you, yeah? 😂

In fairness it went off in Newcastle.

Aye, but that’s not how the initial reports were written. Becoming more accurate now though, to be fair.

Understandable; yes, reasonable; probably not, depending on the dynamics of your relationship. I’ve sucked up similar with good grace, because I’ve no doubt my other half would allow me similar leeway.

I don’t agree with all the religious ceremony apologists though; christenings and their other faith equivalents are amongst the most sinister of all the ceremonies; something to do with the lack of any form of informed consent on the part of the child. It’s only because it’s always been done that we are immune to it’s innate weirdness. If it was Ron L Hubbard presiding we’d probably object more strongly…

Ah, the old ‘London/SE = Large swathes of the UK’ chestnut 🙄

I’ve dropped a tenner in the pot. Thoughts and prayers of strangers are all very well, but I reckon cash is more useful at this juncture.

Edit; never mind. Not getting into this again.

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Best buy (if you could find one) would be a major incident response vehicle from an NHS Ambo service. Minimal miles (major incidents are few and far between) but kept in a full state of readiness, and serviced as per manufacturers specs. Sometimes (though not always) garaged, too.

Edit;

Bit over budget, but this could probably fit the bill (never seen a smelly patient in its 25k mile life, either)

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F264408691203

to get tugged off by a restaurant.

I’ve had worse nights out…

Fiat panda. Can vouch that they are awesome, and cheap.

Can you still/could you ever get droppers for 27.2 posts? I’m okay with the idea of one but not at the expense of my Soda…

Surely one of those old Mondeo barges would do the trick? Always seem to be touted as the most cavernous of the older estate cars.

OOB, sorry, no, I disagree. Christopher Hitchens, noted atheist of Jewish descent and self declared ‘anti-Zionist’ explains what I mean far more eloquently than I could in this short clip.

No, I disagree. You can dislike, find distasteful, be uncomfortable with (and therefore be ‘anti’) the Zionist founding of Israel, whilst still recognising that what is done is done. Lots of States around the world are founded in iffy circumstances; by their nature there are winners and losers. Doesn’t mean that there’s anything to be gained by revisiting history.

I very much doubt Thomas Mair was a card carrying Libdem.

No, but you get my point. It’s not ‘a Labour issue’ it’s a fringe extremist lunatic issue. The Labour problem is that the loonies haven’t got a left wing UKIP equivalent to migrate to. Although there are still plenty of loonies in and supporting the Tories, too.

NB. ‘the £3 blackshirts’, can’t you stoop any lower?

Yeah! Brown shirts, surely? 🙄

2018 panda scored zero; original new panda scored 4/5. Standards have come on, the Panda hasn’t. Not sure you can knock a second hand station car candidate for not have active lane assist and city emergency braking though…

No death threats. It really is a Labour phenomenon.

That’s literally not true is it. (RIP Jo Cox). And the Daily Mail comments sections contain as many bat shit right wing mentalist who crack on with insulting socialists as any left wing loonys do attacking their perceived enemies. It’s not unique to either political leaning, it’s a problem with idiot people and the increasing polarisation of politics.

I’m REALLY no expert, but I’m sure that you can think that the historical manner in which Israel came in to being is troubling, whilst still accepting the de facto existence of Israel. Similarly one can feel deeply uncomfortable about how India, Pakistan and latterly Bangladesh were created, without wanting to get all invadey and map redrawingy about it.

There is something as deeply concerning about this weaponisation of bigotry and perceived bigotry, as there is about the bigotry itself.

Calling female MPs ‘Zionist Cum Bags’ isn’t criticism of the government of Israel either.

Interesting one that, because as well as being incredibly rude and offensive, it strikes me as anti Zionist rather than antisemitic, per se. Is it possible to be anti Zionist without being antisemitic? Many Jews think so. I’m interested, and on the fence, as I don’t have a dog in the fight. What is obvious is that both sides are using accusations of various forms of racism for political point scoring, which kinda cheapens the whole argument.

Agree. 100hp is a borderline classic now, and would be a travesty to wastes as a station car. However, a normal panda would be a perfect fit. Cheap as chips to run, insure, fuel and fix, undesirable to nick, and some have even got aircon. Surprisingly fun to drive in a go kart sort of way, and boingy suspension and tallish walled tyres laugh off potholes. Perfect for the man with nothing to prove (or compensate for 😉) with his car.

I think it’s best if you don’t compare your party leader to Hitler.

It does seem supremely arrogant and distasteful, especially seeing as the criticism actually relates specifically to the accusations of antisemitism. It’s not surprising she was fired, really.

Genuine question; how much of the antisemitism row do people think originated from the conflation of (understandable) criticism of the government of Israel with (antisemitic) criticism of Jews in general?

Seems to be an easy way to spread muck, although I completely recognise that stupid/ignorant/racist stuff has been said by stupid/ignorant/racist people.

What is the risk, have you calculated the odds

Is an irrelevant statement in the real world, unless you have no personal skin in the game (see; male privilege) or are able to separate emotion from fact to an almost Vulcan degree. As you point out, us humans are very bad at judging comparative risk, but that should be acknowledged and empathised with to a certain extent, (as we are all guilty of it to some degree) rather than simply seen as the problem.

Hazzard County; the one I spent many an enjoyable 23 minutes at a time of my early life thoroughly absorbed by. Nice weather, fun in cars and mild peril of being chased around by a corrupt but incompetent sheriff and his deputies.

I had NO idea about the racism and sexism inherent in the show. Pity; looked great fun from my then innocent eyes.

Generally I am a scruffy lazy git, and I still manage to take all of my rubbish home with me, so I object on behalf of scruffy lazy hits everywhere…

Can live with the odd banana skin, You know what I don’t like seeing? The little scrunched up bits of bright white tissue tucked behind rocks etc that suggests someone has had a wee (or worse). And in the ‘worse’ case I suspect that it’s significantly more ‘soil enriching’ than a banana peel…

Can you give me an example of Boris racism that you don’t think hasn’t been widely reported in the media so we can google it and see how much coverage it got.

Denise Rowe. Monkey noises. Watermelons. Google it. Plenty out there, but main stream press? Nope.

I do love a good maxtorque post 😎

It’s potential difference that makes things happen, not voltage.

<ultrapedantmode> A Volt IS the unit of measurement for potential difference. <\ultrapedantmode>

But you’re absolutely right other than that.