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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Secret Of The Universe
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell:
I've given you the Meaning Of Life, the Solution Of The Mind-Body Problem, and now the Secret Of The Universe, but all you do is moan. You could at least say "Thankyou".
You're a delusional freak who doesn't even understand the basic rationale behind these boards. They're for discussion. If all you want to do is tell us the answers then you've come to the wrong place, and should probably fuck off to somewhere that gives a shit about anything you have to say. If such a place even exists.
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell:
Obviously I'm supposed to have Paranormal Powers so I can see Hidden Meanings in the Commandments and Guidelines.
There are no hidden messages in the Commandments and Guidelines. If anything is unclear, just ask in the Styx and we'll try our best to clarify things.
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Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
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Patdys
Iron Wannabe
RooK-Annoyer
# 9397
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Posted
Studying theology taught me that you shouldn't expect all the answers, but rather, there are some questions not worth asking.
Frankly Frank, you are not convincing me otherwise.
Eta - this in response to Frank and not the subsequent host/admin posts.
[ 12. January 2014, 22:24: Message edited by: Patdys ]
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Marathon run. Next Dream. Australian this time.
Posts: 3511 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Frank Mitchell
planked
# 17946
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Posted
I'm now more convinced than ever that half the people in the World are below average intelligence.
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Faictz Ce Que Vouldras
Posts: 72 | From: Cheshire, England | Registered: Dec 2013
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariston:
Hell, if I hadn't had the dumb luck to notice that City of God thread you tried to derail into Plato, and then into that weird Zoroastrianism thesis that was getting demolished on its own thread, I'm sure IngoB would have stopped by to give you a truly right and proper Augustine lesson.
Thanks, Ariston, but I'm pretty damn sure that you know Augustine a lot better than I do. I'm more a hobby Thomist, and even that less by study than by congeniality.
Since we are having such a learned discussion, is Frank Mitchell a Ringlefinch, a Tusseladd, a Jotne, a Mountain King, a Harding, or a Dovregubben? Argued opinions, please.
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004
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Porridge
Shipmate
# 15405
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell:
Likewise I'm sure a large proportion of SOF Posters could get into Mensa.
A number of SOF posters already are in Mensa. Fortunately for all of us, the affected posters have better sense than to attach much significance to scores on a simple paper-and-pencil IQ test.
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Spiggott: Everything I've ever told you is a lie, including that.
Moon: Including what?
Spiggott: That everything I've ever told you is a lie.
Moon: That's not true!
Posts: 3925 | From: Upper right corner | Registered: Jan 2010
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell:
I'm now more convinced than ever that half the people in the World are below average intelligence.
Now see, that's the kind of vaguely insinuating and insulting remark we like to see down here in the Ship's hotter regions. Almost makes me want to put down the sharp implement I'm holding.
Have a biscuit.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Barnabas62
Shipmate
# 9110
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
We have some amazingly ignorant dumbasses who've been managing it around here for years.
1. Insulting
2. True.
Thought I might point you to this masterpiece, Frank, since you seem to be so interested in ranking intelligences.
I don't care how intelligent you claim to be, Frank. What our amazingly ignorant dumbasses have demonstrated is that they understand better how to open a discussion on an online discussion website than you do.
Which in that respect makes you inferior to our amazingly ignorant dumbasses. Mensa mustn't test for the ability to solve that kind of pianola problem. Not surprising really. The ability to work exceptionally well in the high abstract is often associated with Epsilon Minus Semi-Moron social skills. The levels of social eccentricity amongst Oxbridge professors in certain disciplines is often discussed by their colleagues with a smile and a shake of the head. Just a different kind of dumb, really.
I'd prefer you to be that sort of dumb. At least that would represent a kind of innocence.
But for me, the evidence is mounting that you're a different kind of dumbass. The kind of high abstract thinker who figures that high Mensa scores and similar tests of problem solving sets him free to take the piss out those he perceives as other kinds of dumb. Which, if true, would be kind of pathetic, really. A sort of intellectual master-racism.
Show-offs always demean themselves in the end. So in cybersocial terms are you innocent dumb, or faux-dumb-mischievous? Seems it's got to be one or the other.
The jury is still out, Frank. We're a kindly lot, often even in our Hellish nastiness. Cut folks a fair bit of slack. Until we become convinced that someone is pissballing about.
Wise up to just how dumb you look. That's if you're interested.
[ 13. January 2014, 01:25: Message edited by: orfeo ]
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
In case anyone's wondering, my edit of the previous post was with the poster's agreement. Sometimes I can be all cooperative like that. Other times I'm just a contrary bastard, so don't assume anything.
orfeo
Hellhost
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Sober Preacher's Kid
Presbymethegationalist
# 12699
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell:
Obviously I'm supposed to have Paranormal Powers so I can see Hidden Meanings in the Commandments and Guidelines. Actually a Professor of Psychiatry once said I had a Paranoid Personality, but the Hidden Meanings still elude me.
![[Mad]](angryfire.gif)
Now listen here you blithering idiot, there are many people on the Ship with genuine Mental Health issues, past or present, myself among them. They deserve our understanding and compassion. You however are trolling for shits and giggles and make a mockery of the genuine issues that many face.
Roast, you uncouth great oaf.
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NDP Federal Convention Ottawa 2018: A random assortment of Prots and Trots.
Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
Host Hat On
Okay folks, listen up.
There will be an end on this thread to the following:
1. References to the Ship's commandments and whether they've been breached.
2. References to people being kicked off the Ship.
3. Accusations of trolling.
That leaves you plenty of scope for accusing people of being blithering idiots who need to be hit over the head with a clue stick, alright? It leaves you with ample room to suggest that someone has got communication skills so bad they could employ Marcel Marceau as an interpreter.
But the interpretation of Ship rules and policy is over here. If you really feel like you want to discuss that fascinating topic, go to the Styx.
Host Hat Off
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell:
I'm now more convinced than ever that half the people in the World are below average intelligence.
The fact that you seem incapable of explaining your ideas in a way that enables others to respond or engage with suggests that you may not be on the side of the half you think you are. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Tubbs
[ 13. January 2014, 10:05: Message edited by: Tubbs ]
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"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt" - Dennis Thatcher. My blog. Decide for yourself which I am
Posts: 12701 | From: Someplace strange | Registered: Jun 2001
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Martin60
Shipmate
# 368
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Posted
Look, we all know I'm not even there, is Frank? Do we have any actual evidence of intelligent life in Frank?
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Love wins
Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Erroneous Monk
Shipmate
# 10858
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Martin PC not & Ship's Biohazard:
We're ALL clever here. Even me at the wee-wee end of the pool. The trick is to be kind and encouraging. Ha!
I can never tell which end of the poo is which.
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And I shot a man in Tesco, just to watch him die.
Posts: 2950 | From: I cannot tell you, for you are not a friar | Registered: Jan 2006
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
If he's a talkbot, it would account the waffle, obtuseness, lack of point, failure to engage and theRandom Use of Capitals. I think you you may have hit it, Martin.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Martin PC not & Ship's Biohazard:
Do we have any actual evidence of intelligent life in Frank?
Not that I can see.
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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iamchristianhearmeroar
Shipmate
# 15483
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell
I'm now more convinced than ever that half the people in the World are below average intelligence.
By definition the statement that "half the people in the World are below average intelligence" must be correct. So your conjecture that you have only now become convinced of that suggests...
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My blog: http://alastairnewman.wordpress.com/
Posts: 642 | From: London, UK | Registered: Feb 2010
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
Frank, he's like Martin PC lite.
"All of the nonsense, none of the calories."
[ 13. January 2014, 17:29: Message edited by: Pyx_e ]
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It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by iamchristianhearmeroar:
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell
I'm now more convinced than ever that half the people in the World are below average intelligence.
By definition the statement that "half the people in the World are below average intelligence" must be correct. So your conjecture that you have only now become convinced of that suggests...
That supposes that we are talking about average human intelligence. Maybe we are not.
Intelligence probably folows a scale a bit like temperature. It is difficult to find any animal life with no perceptible intelligence. A lot of it has very little (insects, fish, birds etc), while a little of it has a lot (cetaceans & primates).
From the little I remember of GCE "A" level Maths and Statistics (failed) that gives a modal value for intelligence of something akin to the temperature in outer space, ie, not much more than bugger all. The median value, halfway between the lowest and highest, remembering how the curve is stretched towards higher intelligence by mammals which are rare (both in species terms and population-wise) is around the level of a domesticated pet, albeit a dim one, while the mean, because of the sheer number of beasts of very little brain, is at about the level of Frank Mitchell.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Erroneous Monk:
I can never tell which end of the poo is which.
My current Western intelligence level leads me to conclude that the pointy end points to the Black Hole from whence it came
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Change is the only certainty of existence
Posts: 3206 | From: U.K. | Registered: Dec 2011
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Martin60
Shipmate
# 368
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Posted
Frank, you mean before now you were less convinced but you still aren't completely convinced yet? Which half of humanity does that put you in? How convinced are you? 50%?
Serving you high calorie nonsense since 1998.
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Love wins
Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Martin60
Shipmate
# 368
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Posted
rolyn, you sod, I NEVER LOL.
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Love wins
Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Now I like you again, Marty.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sober Preacher's Kid
Presbymethegationalist
# 12699
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Posted
![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif)
John Calvin's Beard, but a shipmate who makes Martin look coherent and intelligent? ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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NDP Federal Convention Ottawa 2018: A random assortment of Prots and Trots.
Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Well, Marty, the Weird Mantle is all yours again. Lonely is the head that wears the crown...
I hope you don't mind me calling you Marty. I mean, given we're in Hell there's no way I'm gonna stop,whether you mind or not, but it gives me a giggle, just to let you know.
[ 14. January 2014, 20:02: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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rolyn
Shipmate
# 16840
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Martin PC not & Ship's Biohazard:
rolyn, you sod, I NEVER LOL.
The best medicine Martin , or so they say .
Wouldn't be knowing all that much about it myself either.
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Change is the only certainty of existence
Posts: 3206 | From: U.K. | Registered: Dec 2011
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Rolyn, to be frank* , you sometimes bug the shit** out of me, but it does take skill and prowess to craft a poo joke of that level of excellence.
*I know.
** I KNOW.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
If I may, I would suggest that we all grab our Mousethief Coolers, bottles of GIN or Fernet Branca, or whatever else we have handy, review the rules outlined here and here, and read the previous thread.
I think my liver hates me for even thinking about this.
[ 15. January 2014, 03:32: Message edited by: Ariston ]
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
Are you guys still skull-fucking the banned troll? That's the problem with kids these days - no sense of decorum. Back in the Good Old Days™, we would give one good thrust into each eye socket, piss on the corpse, wipe and zip up and saunter away with dignity.
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
I was trying to pick a fight with either rolyn or Martin. Just to wrap things up.
Fighting with Martin is fun; all I have to do is say exactly what I think and he dances the dance of the seven veils around me.
By the way, that post of yours is imagery worthy of a Peter Greenway film.
[ 15. January 2014, 05:31: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Fighting with Martin is fun; all I have to do is say exactly what I think and he dances the dance of the seven veils around me.
So who's John the Baptist in this scenario?
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Frank—
Ok, Grasshopper, you want the secrets of the universe? The meaning of life? With math and magic thrown in? Then do the following:
--Read “The Tao Of Pooh”, by Benjamin Hoff.
--Read “Goedel, Escher, And Bach: The Eternal Golden Braid”, by Douglas Hofstadter.
--Read “Surreal Numbers”, by D. E. Knuth.
--Watch the entire “Kung Fu” TV series, from the ‘70s.
--Watch “The Fifth Element”.
--Watch “Godspell”.
--Read “Miss Rumphius”, by Barbara Cooney.
--Read “Carpe Jugulum”, by Terry Pratchett.
--Read “Peace Is Every Step”, by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Read/watch, learn, and inwardly digest. Then put that all away. Go outside, do something kind for someone—and then have some ice cream.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
GK, Frank has been booted off the Ship and won't be reading any of your sage advice.
Well, actually, maybe he'll be reading it, but as he's unable to respond it's best not to attempt conversations with him.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Orfeo--
Ah. Thanks. Hadn't heard that.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Martin60
Shipmate
# 368
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Posted
Greenaway. I'd compulsively rather be right than happy. Loading up on tea towels.
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Love wins
Posts: 17586 | From: Never Dobunni after all. Corieltauvi after all. Just moved to the capital. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Arggh. I caught that a day after I posted, and decided too many people has seen it for me to abuse my editing powers.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Barnabas62
Shipmate
# 9110
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Posted
RuthW
Maybe something to practice on? That drinks link is OLD ... no popcorn in sight. A few good poo jokes is all.
Even RooK's skull image seems to have an air of desperation .. that's not something you can say all that often.
Just saying afore I get mai coat. Oh yes
(In case he lurks)
Bye bye, shade of Frank. It's not been nice; mostly boring same-old-same-old But that's what I've learned to expect from faux-dumbass-mischief makers. If you want to try your sockpuppet luck, I wouldn't bother. You were lucky to get to 72 posts really.
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RooK:
Are you guys still skull-fucking the banned troll? That's the problem with kids these days - no sense of decorum. Back in the Good Old Days™, we would give one good thrust into each eye socket, piss on the corpse, wipe and zip up and saunter away with dignity.
Whereas today, we at least offer to cuddle.
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Barnabas62:
RuthW
Maybe something to practice on?
Practice? Aw, come on. My hellishness isn't that rusty.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Nenya
Shipmate
# 16427
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
quote:
Originally posted by Frank Mitchell:
I'm now more convinced than ever that half the people in the World are below average intelligence.
Now see, that's the kind of vaguely insinuating and insulting remark we like to see down here in the Ship's hotter regions. Almost makes me want to put down the sharp implement I'm holding.
Have a biscuit.
![[Killing me]](graemlins/killingme.gif)
Posts like that, and threads like this, make me realise afresh how much I love the Ship, even Hell - where it's usually far too hot for me to do anything except lurk.
Nen - running before she roasts...
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They told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn.
Posts: 1289 | Registered: May 2011
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
--Read “Carpe Jugulum”, by Terry Pratchett.
I read that one on advice from The Ship and I can't say I really derived any hard core deep truths from it.
I only remember Mightily Oats going off to help the people in darkness who he thought would really need it.
Meaning of life = Do something useful where it's needed?
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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a theological scrapbook
Posts: 9481 | From: Australia | Registered: Apr 2009
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
Meaning of life = Do something useful where it's needed?
I can think of worse meanings.
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Barnabas62
Shipmate
# 9110
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
quote:
Originally posted by Barnabas62:
RuthW
Maybe something to practice on?
Practice? Aw, come on. My hellishness isn't that rusty.
Hee-hee. For what we are about to receive ....
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Who is it that you seek? How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Posts: 21397 | From: Norfolk UK | Registered: Feb 2005
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
Meaning of life = Do something useful where it's needed?
I can think of worse meanings.
That kind of thing isn't really a meaning.
It's more of a "what would be a good thing to do while I find myself in this odd world". More of a stopgap really.
OTOH if you believe you are participating in the Kingdom of God by doing so then it would point to Ultimate Meaning.
OTOH the Christian tradition is not all that clear on Ultimate Meaning. The question of "why did God create us" is not really answered except perhaps by Genesis.
Cos in Genesis God creates us to ponce around the Garden nekkid and have a fine time chillaxing with her - taking walks in the evening breeze.
Cos really, "tilling and keeping" the Garden seems a rather superfluous occupation. I mean really, what for ?
[ 16. January 2014, 13:33: Message edited by: Evensong ]
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a theological scrapbook
Posts: 9481 | From: Australia | Registered: Apr 2009
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
Meaning of life = Do something useful where it's needed?
I can think of worse meanings.
That kind of thing isn't really a meaning.
What is the meaning of a screwdriver?
(and spare me any lame "vodka and orange" jokes you may have been considering)
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evensong:
OTOH the Christian tradition is not all that clear on Ultimate Meaning. The question of "why did God create us" is not really answered except perhaps by Genesis.
To the contrary, Christian tradition is quite clear about the purpose of man. It can be stated in two (and a half) points. First, as part of creation and hence like all creation man's end is to add to the glory of God. While God's perfection cannot be increased intrinsically, extrinsically His glory is increased by the praise of His creation. Second, in a more personal sense the end of man is to attain his own beatitude, a perfect harmony of his self, mind and body, in happiness and righteousness. The half point is that while man's nature points to this end, it cannot be attained by nature alone in this world, but requires God's supernatural grace. Thus this natural end points man to his eternal destiny with God.
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004
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pydseybare
Shipmate
# 16184
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:
To the contrary, Christian tradition is quite clear about the purpose of man. It can be stated in two (and a half) points. First, as part of creation and hence like all creation man's end is to add to the glory of God. While God's perfection cannot be increased intrinsically, extrinsically His glory is increased by the praise of His creation.
That is not really a very useful point as anything can be said to be done for the 'glory of God', up to an including the total destruction of all that he has made.
quote:
Second, in a more personal sense the end of man is to attain his own beatitude, a perfect harmony of his self, mind and body, in happiness and righteousness.
Why? How do you know that such a harmony is even possible?
quote:
The half point is that while man's nature points to this end, it cannot be attained by nature alone in this world, but requires God's supernatural grace. Thus this natural end points man to his eternal destiny with God.
Not a point at all. You're just saying here that man exists because God wants him to, but with other extraneous wordy detail. The same might be said of worms or any other part of the created order.
[ 17. January 2014, 10:58: Message edited by: pydseybare ]
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"If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future."
Posts: 812 | Registered: Jan 2011
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by pydseybare:
That is not really a very useful point as anything can be said to be done for the 'glory of God', up to an including the total destruction of all that he has made.
For all her faults, Evensong - whom I was talking to - is neither a psychopathic idiot (i.e., she is not spectacularly ignorant or incapable of the law God has written on her heart) nor does she lack all Christian formation (i.e., she is not spectacularly ignorant or incapable of the law God has revealed to mankind). Maybe you are one or the other, or both. In which case please start destroying creation by smashing whatever you use to access the internet.
quote:
Originally posted by pydseybare:
Why? How do you know that such a harmony is even possible?
Don't worry, Christianity has a place for those who desire a disharmony of self, mind and body, in sadness and depravity. If that is what you desire, then in a certain ironic sense you've already reached your destination. Congratulations. And if you had paid attention to what I was saying, then you would know that it is precisely not possible to attain beatitude in this life. But to long for it is possible, and in manifold more or less conscious and healthy ways, that's what most people do. It is part of Christian hope, the good news, that God will fulfil these longings.
quote:
Originally posted by pydseybare:
Not a point at all. You're just saying here that man exists because God wants him to, but with other extraneous wordy detail. The same might be said of worms or any other part of the created order.
Well, no. I was stating something important about beatitude. I've just repeated that, and maybe you will comprehend it now. Worms glorify God by doing what is proper to worms. It is more complicated for us, because we are more complicated than worms. Well, most of us are, I can't speak for you there, obviously.
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
Posts: 12010 | From: Gone fishing | Registered: Oct 2004
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