Comment

Comment by Joan Denoo on July 15, 2018 at 7:43pm

@Joseph P, I forgot to tell you how much I like your comment and video of your two-years-old' solving the dilemma of the "runaway-train moral quandary." Thinking outside the box gives evidence he will be a great problem solver. 

Comment by Joan Denoo on July 4, 2018 at 2:09pm

@Donald L. Engel, I retract my retraction of two years ago; Climate Change is a fact, and if we deny it, we will suffer along with those who do not understand the data. If the climate crashes, we all will suffer, anyway. However, if we accept the facts, take as many corrective actions as we can, work for the best, and prepare for the worst we might be able to pull off restoration of a living environment for all. 

There are the possibility, the probability, and the preferability of what we achieve. We live with what Mother Nature provides. 

Comment by Joan Denoo on July 4, 2018 at 1:59pm

Ruth, this past year has been a tough one for me, too. I used strategies that I know are valid. Again, I turn to the ideas of Martin Seligman. I needed more. Just a couple of hours of counseling helped, and so did an hour-long massage.

You have been dealing with some incredibly powerful and significant issues: climate change, fascism, racism, civil rights, morality, writing letters to Congress, energy, religion, unchecked plunder, AI, fake news, and even dogmatic toothbrushes. 

One person cannot solve all these; it takes a group of people. You provide the background information needed by people who join together on common ground. You probably do not know how powerful you are. 

I use your material when I go into a debate. Living with Conservative reactionaries, in a reactionary Conservative town, I have to use valid, reliable, and replicable data. Their responses often are to put me down, ridicule, ignore,  discount, trivialize, and demonize me. 

We need support people who can help us when the sticks and stones get too sharp.

There is power in fact-based information. Thank you, Ruth, for providing those resources. 

Comment by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on July 1, 2018 at 2:39pm

Kill them all is a novel moral solution, all right, Joseph.

Joan, I've had more negative coping behaviors the past 3 months. <sigh>

Comment by Joan Denoo on July 1, 2018 at 2:16pm

The origin of the Earth and universe offers a complex set of challenges to sort out fact from fiction as do the origin of human thought and behaviors. Coping is a strategy developed to manage stress and anxiety. 

People respond to challenges by coping with threats. 

Negative coping includes such attitudes and behaviors as: disbelief, shock, numbness, feeling helpless, avoiding the problems, compulsive spending, escaping, addictions, sleeping, crying, promiscuity, emotional eating, scapegoating. 

Positive ways of coping: confronting fear, exercising in moderation, eating healthily, getting enough sleep, channeling nervous energy into productive activity, taking time out, talking to friends and counselors,  and avoiding drugs and alcohol. 

I googled for ”negative” and positive coping strategies; there are many other characteristics to describe each than I list here. 

Of the negative coping mechanisms, I see Trump jumping out at me. I also can identify with the negative ones because last year I did just about all of them, from feeling helpless, avoiding problems, sleeping, crying, emotional eating, and scapegoating. 

This is the year of positive coping mechanisms. 

Comment by Joseph P on September 3, 2016 at 11:05pm

This kid found a brilliant new solution to the runaway-train moral quandary:

From http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/09/01/a-cruel-new....

Comment by Joan Denoo on June 26, 2016 at 11:48am

Donald, you are correct, and I am wrong. I tried to send you an article and graph that convinced me and am unable to get it to load. Thank you for being o persistent and gentlemanly in changing my mind. 

My interpretation is now even more challenging. You undoubtedly noticed that the shifts to hot and cold climate change happened precipitously. If particles in the air, caused by a volcanic eruption or whatever, precipitates the plung into hot earth climate, then human-caused pollutants can be a factor in initiating the climate changes we experience now. The numbers in the article confirmed that. 

The fossil fuel industry has smart people in their midst and well-trained scientists. If they can't figure this out, if they seek profits above all else, then the non-scientists have to blow the whistle. We all know what happens to whistleblowers in this country. 

I will send you the article and graphs as soon as I solve the problem. 

Comment by Donald L. Engel on June 25, 2016 at 1:58am

Joan, I presented a graph that shows a record of temperatures over the last 420,000 years.  That graph is not a presentation of an argument for, or against, global warming.  It is a presentation of what actually occured.

We are nearing the top of the 5th warming period, and while we are nearing it, we have not reached the temperatures that occured during the previous 4 warming periods.  If man was not around during the previous four warming periods, why is it man's fault this time?  Look at rule #3 in your list.  Haven't I presented evidence gained from observation?  And what is your answer to rule #4 in this case?

Comment by Joan Denoo on June 25, 2016 at 1:11am

Donald, I am not pulling your chain, but I wish you would apply those 5 rules to the theory of natural global warming. 

Comment by Donald L. Engel on June 25, 2016 at 12:29am

Joan, I'm not getting smart with you, but I wish you would apply those 5 rules to the theory of man made global warming.

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