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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.

Comment by Joan Denoo on June 24, 2016 at 2:02pm

Quoting  Reginald V. Finley

Still one of my favorite parts of the new Cosmos series with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Season 1, Episode 13:

"Only a few centuries ago, a mere second of cosmic time, we knew nothing of where or when we were. Oblivious to the rest of the cosmos. We inhabited a kind of prison bounded by a nutshell. How did we escape from the prison? It was the work of generations of searchers who took five simple rules to heart:

1.) Question authority: No idea is true just because someone says so, including me. Think for yourself.
2.) Question yourself: Don't believe anything, just because you want to. Believing something doesn't make it so.
3.) Test ideas by the evidence gained from observation and experiment: If a favorite idea fails a well-designed test, it's wrong. Get over it.
4.) Follow the evidence whenever it leads: If you have no evidence, reserve judgment.
5.) And perhaps the most important rule of all? Remember, you could be wrong: Even the best scientists have been wrong about some things. Newton, Einstein, and every other great scientist in history, they all made mistakes. Of course, they did--they were human.

Science is a way to keep from fooling ourselves.... and each other."

 

Comment by Susan Stanko on June 13, 2016 at 6:50am

Qiana, most of the Nigerians who try to scam me on Facebook claim to be military and think that I am would love to hook up.  LOL  Depending on my mood, i play with their minds.

Comment by Joseph P on June 12, 2016 at 6:39pm

@Alan

I don't think his efforts were sufficiently thought-through to know what sort of people he was likely dealing with.  For all we know, he could be flooding 15 other websites with similar begging.

Personally, I'd rather deal with him to prevent him targeting some of our minors or others like that.  When we have such a good, proactive site-administrator, I say we should make use of him when necessary.

Comment by Joseph P on June 12, 2016 at 6:34pm

@Joan

Well, Dominic might not be an anarchist.  I was mostly referring to a few of my local atheists with that string of adjectives.  We have a handful of anarcho-capitalists who are more than a bit unhinged, and one of them got into a one-sided screaming match which got him (always a he) kicked out of the group.

Two of the others think that private ownership of nuclear weapons should be covered by the 2nd Amendment.

Comment by Alan Buchanan on June 12, 2016 at 6:17pm

To bring this all down to base level, I think this guy has a real nerve trying to con people from a group who are devoted sceptics to start with. Maybe he saw it as a challenge. Don't get too annoyed about him, that's the way people operate in this world now. Say " No thank you, go away please" at their first request and we don't need bother with them

any more. If they persist, block them, certainly do not engage.    

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