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News Briefs 12-11-2013

Anyone had a chance to read my book Stop Worrying! There Probably is an Afterlife? Would love to hear your thoughts…

Thanks Kat and Richard.

Quote of the Day:

There’s a certain point in researching anomalistic science where the astute investigator realizes that the skeptical sub-culture is near illiterate in their understanding of cultural issues, and because of this, they, as a self identifying group, lack any discernment into the areas that they feel strangely compelled to mock, deride, dismiss and hoot at like drunken frat students who’ve been huffing dust off.

David B. Metcalfe

Editor
  1. Pseudo-science clearly means . .
    . . .anything that doesn’t meet with how the person using the term thinks things are.

    When the term pseudo-scientist is applied to one with a Phd in biochemistry that becomes clear. “Don’t step beyond the canon of the Holy Temple or you’ll be branded a heretic and we will seek to destroy you by any and all means.”

  2. Atheist and their churches
    Given that atheists (in contrast to agnostics) have a set of beliefs as strong or stronger than many who follow a religion, I’m not surprised.

    To be clear – an atheist is one with strong, often passionate, beliefs in the non-existence of a deity or deities.

    An agnostic doesn’t have a belief in the existence of such and also doesn’t have a belief in the non-existence of such.

    1. well, not necessarily
      Well, not necessarily. Bertrand Russell, for one, defined himself as an agnostic to other philosophers, but as an atheist in a more general social context. Me, I’m generally agnostic, in the Pyrrhonist sense, but haven’t seen any evidence to make me believe in any deity. I’m not passionate about it, though; and I remain curious about religious beliefs.

      And I’m not going to any atheist church, either. As an agnostic-atheist, my spiritual practice involves sitting in my apartment, drinking sherry, and playing the trombone.

      1. Yes, neccessarily ..
        While I understand that people do have terms they are fond of, at base terms have definitions. The definitions I gave are correct.

        Atheist – one who has a committed belief that there is no deity or deities.

        Agnostic – one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of a deity or deities.

        But yeah I get that people call themselves whatever they want to call themselves. Whether the term they use is accurate or not.

        1. Um
          Actually, my dictionary here doesn’t use the word “committed” for either word. I’m partial to Robert Anton Wilson’s praxis of “maybe logic,” myself. You obviously use the terms differently than Bertrand Russell; my vote goes to him.

  3. Science and its skeptics.
    lol No need to read that article. Another “science as religion” person spewing. More accurate titles:

    – Physicalism/materialism and the more advanced.
    – The Holy Temple of Materialism and the non-believers.

    lol

    1. Yup
      [quote=red pill junkie]*Opening link*

      *Reading name of author*

      *Suppressing urge to close the tab*[/quote]

      Same process putting it in the news links today brother. Fingers didn’t want to CTRL-V that link in…

      1. After reading it…
        After fighting the urge & finished reading it, I don’t know what Radford’s plan was in the first place. First he seemed focused on belittling Edward Leedskalnin by presenting some of his (now antiquated) beliefs –“look! the guy was no enlightened being!”– and then he talks about how the block acting as a revolving door actually “rotated on a metal shaft and rested on a truck bearing.” Well I’m sorry Ben, but having a block to keep turning for 63 years is still pretty awesome in my book. As an interior designer who’s designed quite a few doors myself, I tip my sombrero to Edward’s ingenuity.

        He ends up by saying anyone would have been able to build such a marvel with enough hard work & patience, but never bothered to do a few calculations, or show some Myth-buster like video to illustrate his point.

        He also never bothered to mention how Edward wasn’t even supposed to have lived that long, since when he was in Canada he got sick with tuberculosis & was given only a short time left of life expectancy.

  4. Church
    [quote=] “If you think about church, there’s very little that’s bad. It’s singing awesome songs, hearing interesting talks, thinking about improving yourself and helping other people — and doing that in a community with wonderful relationships. What part of that is not to like?”[/quote]

    If you’re Catholic or Christian? The parking lot 😛

  5. Coral Crumbles
    Seems to be a trend today that someone, somewhere must find something unexplained and then concoct an answer to it.
    There’s also been an explosion in a million various fields of ‘expertise’ reaching the point now where the title carries little actual weight.

    The job of these ‘experts’? To take down long enduring folklore and mystery such as the one mentioned in the Coral Castle link… where long enduring enigma is treated more like landfill. It doesn’t even really matter what rubbish goes into it so long as it is covered neatly and tamped down in the end.

    Life is getting so boring these days.

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