BS: What If ?

Subject: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 11:57 AM

http://what-if.xkcd.com/archive/


What if a pitcher could throw a baseball At 90% the speed of light?


What if catters understood the point of other people's posts?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 12:08 PM

What if there really was a God? Would I then be in an awful lot of trouble?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 01:09 PM

You are steve

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 01:10 PM

YourmMrs caught youin her cchocolate

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 01:36 PM

Not yet she hasn't. I can prove it: my testicles are still intact.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 02:38 PM

1. It would be a bugger to hit and

2. No. 1 is far more likely :-)

But, Donuel, yours make far more sense than many!

Thanks.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 06:06 PM

What if there were not a God.....we would not be here to discuss it....

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 06:37 PM

How do you know?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: michaelr
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 07:05 PM

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 08:34 PM

Well don't matter what anyone else believes but my prayer today helped me land that six pound steelhead.. Wooo what a beautiful fish.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Rapparee
Date: 17 Apr 16 - 09:43 PM

Your question is answered in the book "What If?" by the xkcd author. Briefly, there would be an explosion equal to a small nuclear weapon.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 04:29 AM

But what if your magnificent steelhead had prayed that he wouldn't be caught by that big ugly yank at the side of the water? 🤔

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 05:19 AM

I just typed a post; but was dissatisfied on rereading so deleted it unsent. What if I hadn't, but had posted it -- would the entire future history of the world have been altered?

I just typed 'wortld' first off, but noticed and corrected it. What if I hadn't? Would anyone have suffered as a consequence?

& so ad ∞∞∞∞

≈M≈

Questions like this have bugged me all my life. I recall falling asleep in early childhood worrying about them? Still do, sometimes. Does everyone, or just me? Do you?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: TheSnail
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 06:00 AM

The steelhead believed that evolution is true, just didn't realise that it only applies to species not individuals.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 08:26 AM

No it didn't. Belief has no place in the truth.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 08:31 AM

What if olddude wastes his beautiful trout by baking it with rows of almonds down it, 1970s-style?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 10:15 AM

Steve, you asked:

What if there really was a God? Would I then be in an awful lot of trouble?

That depends whether the "a God" was really all-knowing, to be
aware of your unbelief.
    and
Whether the "a God" gives a durn whether you believe in him/her/it.
    and
Whether the "a God" has and chooses to exercise the power
to punish you, putting you in an awful lot of trouble.

The putative existence of the generic "a God" does not necessarily entail positive answers to any or all of the above.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 10:28 AM

But what if he really existed, he was all-knowing and felt irritated by my scornful attitude to his flock? Would he let me give him an argument?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: TheSnail
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 10:32 AM

Yep. The steelhead was wrong. That's why it got caught.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 10:34 AM

Well I've never been caught.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 10:52 AM

It all sounds a bit fishy..groan..

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 12:20 PM

In cod we trust.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Will Fly
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 12:25 PM

FIN!

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 12:26 PM

Sole-ly?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 01:30 PM

Cue Franz Schubert's "Die Forelle."

Poor dear Schubert. "Die Forelle" is such a wussy poem. It's anti-angler, if you've ever looked over the text. A Pro-Fish poet stands at water's edge, watching the angler muddy the river ("tükkisch trübe") so that the trout doesn't see the fishhook. And in the final verse, O! the betrayed little fishie! "Das Fischlein, das Fischlein...die Betrogne," wriggling on the line, while Schubert's piano part has the accompanist's hands going FLAPFLAPFLAPFLAP on the piano keys.

So why did Schubert set it to music in the first place?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 02:07 PM

He does similar in the Trout Quintet in that variation movement that Classic FM plays to death. A blind spot of mine, unlike that much finer Quintet in C that's coming to the desert island with me.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Apr 16 - 03:48 PM

Okay, my apologies for hijacking a BS thread with classical Lieder. I'm taking "Die Forelle" upstairs where it belongs, poor little betrayed fischlein. Do carry on.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 03:18 AM

What if? What if someone is on earth simply for the benefit of someone else with no regard for their own well-being? (I have too much time on my hands.)

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 03:59 AM

He? God was a woman!
cue changing mind jokes..............................

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Monique
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 04:08 AM

God was first a woman!

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 05:12 AM

Surely you should be saying that God was, is, and always will be a woman? What's with this '"was" malarkey?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: banjoman
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 05:38 AM

What if - My aunty had balls - then she would be my uncle

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Monique
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 05:42 AM

I'm not responsible for the humans' visions of God through history, Steve. Do read this guy's stuff , it's pretty interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 05:51 AM

Sorry, Monique, but I can't take seriously a bloke who expresses this kind of certainty:

The world we know was undoubtedly shaped by God.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 10:14 AM

What if god evolved from a monkey deity... that'd really piss off the nutcase creationists... 🐒

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 10:14 AM

What if god evolved from a monkey deity... that'd really piss off the nutcase creationists... 🐒

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 10:21 AM

what if.. mudcat 'Preview' and 'Submit Message' functions worked properly all the time... ???? 😕

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: frogprince
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 11:22 AM

"The world we know was undoubtedly shaped by God."

I really think that, in context, the author is saying that culture worldwide is profoundly influenced by the overwhelming prevalence of conceptions of a god. It seems clear that he sees god as wholly the product of human imagination.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 12:13 PM

OK, I'll have another bash.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 01:35 PM

Whoa, egg on my face. I skimmed it way too skimmingly and grabbed the wrong end of the stick. Apologies to Monique. 😳

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 01:53 PM

Going back to the ball travelling at 90% the speed of light in the first post; that could cause havoc with the solar system as any object travelling at that speed will have enormous mass (mass increases with speed, see relativity).
I propose that there should be a new rule limiting the speed of the pitcher's delivery.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: gnu
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 02:28 PM

So, what if ewer pitching to God and the Devil was the catcher? Three strikes and God goes to the Dugout? Or would God beat the Devil out of it and score a Heaven Run on every swing?

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, and a little outside just in case it's a curve ball... at 0.634 Bmph, ya gotta anticipate eh?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 05:34 PM

I did,nt skim very far at all before I see what he believed....or maybe did,nt believe. Maybe "nutcase creationists" are quicker off the mark....

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ed T
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 09:03 PM

What if there were no "be" in "belief"?
Would it make us "liefier"?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Apr 16 - 09:22 PM

You can't not have "be," Ed. after all,

To be is to do - Socrates
To do is to be - Satre
Do be do be do - Sinatra

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ebbie
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 01:55 AM

In my opinion, if there is a God, It is a spirit. In a discussion with my brother, I enquired why everyone says "Father". Father is male- does that mean that God has testosterone? Has a penis?

My brother was not pleased.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: michaelr
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 02:49 AM

If mass does increase with speed, baseball should be outlawed.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 03:15 AM

Da do do do. Da dah dah dah. Police
Do dah do dah do dah. Police car.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 05:27 AM

" I enquired why everyone says "Father". Father is male- does that mean that God has testosterone? Has a penis? "

He certainly does. And, as he's the Big Enchilada, he also has three testicles in order to put him one up on the rest of us. Moral? Steer clear of the lads' pub one-upmanship game, as you just might be messing with the Almighty:

Bloke sidles up confidentially to other bloke leaning on the bar.

"Hey, mate, between you and me we have five bollocks."

"Really? Have you only got the one then?"

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 03:49 PM

So ebbie, was you asking your brother a serious question , or was being offensive. As you suggest God is spirit, and so no physical parts. However we are told that Jesus ascended to heaven so there may be some kind of body , but that is conjecture. We are also told that we are created in the image of God as male and female. So though Father , womanhood is not presented as inferior . Note too , that he is the original Father from which our parenthood is derived, not the other way round ....not withstanding modern fancies to the contrary.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ed T
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 04:47 PM

Belief (language origin) = be happy, or be glad.

Whatever happened to that, especially with some folks who claim to have some serious, orthodox, (if not strong and unbending) "beliefs".

Dont worry, be lief.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 05:30 PM

But argument from Ultimate Derivation can be a bit two-edged, Ed T. Remember that "silly' derives from a word originally meaning "holy" [doublet of 'soul'!], via the sense of "unworldly".

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 05:42 PM

Well, Pete, I can tell you for certain that Ebbie's brother was not being offensive. If you really don't want anyone to "offend" your God, I suggest that you either lobby for the heresy laws to be reinstated, or, better, prove that he exists in the first place.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ed T
Date: 20 Apr 16 - 05:57 PM

Holy/silly, I see the similarities, as did Monty Python;).

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 21 Apr 16 - 07:58 PM

Your attention to detail seems amiss Steve. Ebbie was saying that it was her brother who was not pleased .   "...prove...". You know very well that we cannot speak in terms of proof when considering this. Best we can do is present data which is itself subject to interpretation. However some of the data creationists present against the evolutionist story is still unanswered , except for the faith that they might answer one day.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Apr 16 - 08:21 PM

This is not the first time that you have either implied, or stated categorically, that we should not insult God or your belief in him. Well I don't agree with that. The plain fact is that your God almost certainly does not exist, therefore I owe him neither respect nor credence.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: gnu
Date: 21 Apr 16 - 08:27 PM

I am still waiting on a rules clarification. I mean, if there are no rules, everyone gets to believe what they want to believe, right? I mean, how fair is that shit eh? Jaysus H! The next thing will be someone telling someone they don't know what... oh, yeah, right.

Never mind. Carry on. Some em if ya got em... in yer own house or away from others as it's only polite eh?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Apr 16 - 09:27 PM

"...we are created in the image of God as male and female." pete/7 stars

Question: Where does it say that, Pete? I don't recall that.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Apr 16 - 09:28 PM

dude you are the fish whisperer.

Steve Shaw , that flap flap is a mistake in notation rendition. It should be an arppegiated tremolo effect not a flap flap. It should sound like rain.


Ebbie, do you think a black hole has gender?

xeberatu, utuberex?


Agod, If I posted a question about bicycle sprockets would the response still be about religion?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 12:08 AM

I can see why some people might be disturbed when a totally unrelated subject elicits unsolicited random religion comments - again - but as you may have noticed, human beings tend to be like that. Frankly, I like it.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 05:11 AM

Ebbie —

Genesis I 27: "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them"

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Monique
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 06:11 AM

Page 7 about "male and female".

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 06:18 AM

"Agod, If I posted a question about bicycle sprockets would the response still be about religion?"

Very likely. Why, I once saw a painting of the Virgin Mary with a spiky halo that looked just like a bicycle sprocket. I didn't count the teeth. On the halo, not the Virgin. Duh.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 06:22 AM

"... in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them"

Get thee immediately to the grammar pedants' thread, Michael. 😂

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 06:36 AM

Don't blame me -- it was old Mo whodunit!

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 06:16 PM

Funny thing is, it is usually the atheists...that is the crusading ones...who change almost any subject into an opportunity to attack Christian belief. Steve, of course has just told us , pretty much, that respect for God is out the window, whether he exists or not. Yet when I call evolutionism to account he cries blue murder. A case of one rule for you, and another for me, methinks.                   Thanks . Lion, for beating me to the post . There are other scriptures also that describe Gods care in feminine terms. I hope this brings a bit of balance to the discussion..

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ed T
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 07:26 PM

Bicycle sprockets?

Well, "Ezekiel saw da wheel", or so he claimed. So, it is somewhat related.;)

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 16 - 07:28 PM

You have never once called "evolutionism" to account because you clearly lack the intellectual capacity, let alone the knowledge, to do so. There are no crusading atheists here. The crusaders on this forum are, without exception, Christians. Catholics in particular, which I suppose lets you off the hook slightly. These people regard their stance as the default, as indeed you yourself do. You think nothing of the offensive. practice seen in those threads which ask people for prayers, on a forum that involves so many people who don't share your delusions. Why, otherwise, would you take such umbrage at the merest piss-taking out of your beloved God? Your chosen belief system, old chap, has never, in the history of mankind, earned the merest shred of respect by dint of any good that it's ever done. The opposite, in fact. As for your God having any feminine attributes, well here's a new thing. Scour that bible of yours, that bible that you take so literally, and show me one single reference to a female God. He's all-male, mate. All three of him. The role of his women was never to follow him and propagate his word, just to wash his feet and his dead body and weep. It's what women do, in your world.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 23 Apr 16 - 05:31 PM

Knowledge, Steve, can never be exhaustive, and it does not have to be , if in debate, any party is unable to counter, or explain his position to the questioner. Even if said questioner is less academically qualified. And this is what we find here. I have presented a number of evidences of why the evolutionary story can not be true. Just about the only ...rebuttal..are appeals to authority and numbers of fellow believers.          And why should you object to requests for prayer on dedicated threads where this would be expected.   , even if it were delusional , and why should that be offensive to you, especially as you are quite happy to listen to religious music, and visit ecclesiastical buildings where you will encounter far more reference to God.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 16 - 05:43 PM

I am not aware that threads are "dedicated" to prayer requests. Actually, that would be quite a good idea, then the rest of us could avoid them. Let me tell you that I never take offence personally at anything I ever read here. As for religious buildings and religious music, they were conceived and executed by my fellow human beings, not your God. They are as much mine as they are yours. I advise you to keep them out of the argument.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 23 Apr 16 - 06:01 PM

You are extremely blinkered to write off the Christian faith as having done no good and been unworthy of respect. And I could quote atheists that agree with that assessment    And for the benefit of anyone wondering , here are a couple of texts that speak of God caring for his people in feminine imagery. Deuteronomy 32 11f. Matthew 23. 27. Luke 15. 8-10.   Cf too Paul describing his care alo in feminine terms 1 Thessalonians 2. 7.   You are also in error re women following and propagating his word. As well as scattered texts in acts and the epistles , the first proclaimer of the ressurection of Christ was a woman.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 16 - 06:13 PM

So how many of the twelve apostles were women? Take your time...

How many New Testament writings were by women? Take your time...

As for the "first proclaimer of the resurrection," well the resurrection is a well-known Christian lie, one of many. But never mind. We propagate these lies in order to get to deeper truths, don't we? Beats telling the plain truth every time!

So list the good things that Christianity has done for the planet. Take your time...

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Apr 16 - 07:39 PM

If you want to write some popular science fiction, one may use bible verses/descriptions to demonstrate how people are often right for the wrong reasons and how reasons can be wrong. Fill in all the details with a Perspectivism that explains character development and lack of it.
The ending should reward both sides of the religious debate by having the irrational become a bit more rational and the intractable have the epiphany of listening for the first time.

This kind of sci fi is schlock but it sells.

It also is representative of the typical mudcat religious/non religious debate. Doing the real work of helping people is the profoundly honest work of both the religious and non religious.
Action no matter how small is worth a million words.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 16 - 07:53 PM

Inchoate but in the right camp, Donuel.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 24 Apr 16 - 02:12 AM

Any of you other oldies round here remember Prof C.E.M. Joad from the 1940s? A London Univ Philosophy teacher, he was one of the original pillars of the popular BBC radio 'Brains Trust' question·&·answer prog, the original "Any Questions". He got rather a lot of ridicule by habitually prefacing his answers with "It depends what you mean by...": became a sort of catchphrase which comic impressionists would take up when pretending to be him. But I always thought, even at 8 yrs old, that the guy had a point -- doesn't it so often depend on "what you mean by..."?

A consideration I frequently feel posters to threads like this would do well to bear in mind and allow for in their responses.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 24 Apr 16 - 05:35 PM

Can't argue with that lion!    However, even when trying to explain carefully , someone ...if cap fits...will say ,...well what about , or but this....

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Apr 16 - 06:53 PM

Well, Michael, "depends what you mean by..." cannot apply to the likes of Pete. He does not know himself what he means when it comes to anything at all that he says. One does bear in mind your stricture, of course, but, on this forum, it can, at times, have only limited application. vide Pete's last post. Incomprehensible.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 07:36 AM

Well now, Steve; it all depends what you mean by 'Incomprehensible'...

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 10:44 AM

I think what he means is , a word that comes in handy to put someone down!

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 11:56 AM

I have presented a number of evidences of why the evolutionary story can not be true.

So, where in the pages of countless scientific journals and texts are these evidences published then? Are they classed as mainstream science? If not, why not? I am not saying theses evidences are wrong, Just that, on balance, I would guess they come under what some call pseudo science or what should be referred to more correctly as complete bollocks.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 08:04 PM

My God!











is bettern your god.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 08:08 PM

Evidence the second coming is less than the first

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 08:40 PM

Don't be so lazy, Michael. If it's not incomprehensible, which I still claim it to be, then explain it to me.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 08:40 PM

Steve, some days I feel as though I will never finish my epic stream of consciousness work entitled "The Complete Works of Inchoate Perceptionistic Reality"

The editor assures me that I have already out Prousted Proust.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Apr 16 - 08:43 PM

Keep on with it, Donuel. I'll forever be trying to hitch my horse to your wagon.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 03:58 AM

I think the office jargon thread has got to you, Steve :-)

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 04:07 AM

I shall be as lazy as I like, Steve, without the leave of thee!

≈M≈

I am not bound to please thee with my answers
The Merchant of Venice IV i 65

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 04:20 AM

Well now, Steve; it all depends what you mean by 'Incomprehensible'...


Come on Steve; give Michael the benefit of the joke.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 05:00 AM

😴💤

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Fossil
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 09:34 AM

It is 01:30AM here. What if I stopped reading this nonsense, turned the computer off and went to bed? Would anything really change? Feel free to discuss it while I'm gone...

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 09:45 AM

what if wearing an "I'm a mudcat member" badge instantly made you irresistibly super cool and sexy.. ??????? 😎

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 10:08 AM

What if at this very moment, the habitat and nutritional opportunities and lack of them, is creating many new species of hmo Sapiens to take advantage of the mono homogeneous aspects of today's semi toxic suburban life.

Sudbury man
Rockvillathal
Davonportman
Chestermen United
Patheticopithicus ...

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 10:21 AM

Anfield superhero...

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 02:00 PM

In the far flung dark dank and putrid recesses in the back of my mind, I dared think that Liverpool was a result of a literal pool of livers left over by the executions by King Henry the 8th to be a treat for his prize hounds.

It is 10 years to the day that Steve Shaw wrote "keep going, don't stop now. Keep going" in response to a thread in which I explored embryonic wordless memory and the possibility of quantum neuro connections as well as endocrinal, hormonal, electrical and light transmitter/messengers in the human brain.

Seeing that he still seems to egg on posters, I wonder if he remembers that 40 page post in which he encouraged me to squeeze every last drop of reductio-absurdum realite' all over mudcat BS.

Did you also start school yard fights among other kids while you merely watched?

I don't think even Spaw was ready for that tract of Uber Meta Para Abnormal speculation into the unforeseen path of brain research.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 02:09 PM

Donuel, how is this possible? When I looked at Steve Shaw's history at Mudcat I found the "Welcome new catter Steve Shaw" thread that was begun in 2007, which is nine years ago....

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 02:13 PM

Time travel?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 02:18 PM

What is one year off in comparison to geologic time? Oh well it seemed like 10 years to me. My son is a memory savant not me.

What does keberoxu mean? A Barrel Zoo?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ed T
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 03:07 PM

"Incomprehensible is no better than banal – it's just its flip-side." 
― Tom McCarthy

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ed T
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 03:08 PM

"While much recent historicist criticism has assumed early nineteenth-century readers attuned to subtle ideological nuances in poetry, actual responses from readers often come closer to clulessness. ... It is no surprise that no one understood Blake, but other poets fared not much better. ... Coleridge's 'Christabel' was 'the standing enigma which puzzles the curiosity of literary circles. What is it all about?', while another reviewer asked about Shelley, 'What, in the name of wonder on one side, and of common sense on the other, is the meaning of this metaphysical rhapsody about the unbinding of Prometheus?'. Even Keats was condemned for 'his frequent obscurity and confusion of language' and his 'unintelligible quaintness'. Byron, never to be outdone, boasted in 'Don Juan' that not only did he not understand many of his fellow poets, he did not understand himself either: 'I don't pretend that I quite understand / My own meaning when I would be very fine.' ..." 
― Andrew Elfenbein, Romanticism and the Rise of English

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Apr 16 - 03:11 PM

I feel like I'm being investigated. Better than being ignored!

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Apr 16 - 09:57 AM

Ed T. I have a notion that great poets may be best described by neuro science and brain anatomy than by concepts of Romanticism.

In this age of computers even severe dyslexics like myself, whose angular gyrus brain structures harbor visual concepts rather than words and language can participate in subjects like poetry and literature, if only by translation.

Poetry came easy to me but few other forms of writing when I was young.

I revel in the mastery of language by many who grace these pages but only as fan and not a payer.

While my original name was Donuel Webster, an orator I will never be, unless I first write my thoughts and read them. But poetry allows my wiring to access pictures and association in a relative unique manner that I too don't completely understand.

I once wrote a perfect sonnet called father and son without realizing it was a sonnet form in proper lines and syllables. This phenomena is not just a monkey with a typewriter but gives evidence to an unconscious editor that seems to function while in a state of hypnotic consciousness. At least for me despite my language deficits and what some may inappropriately call a learning disability.

This possibly is what some 19th century poets experienced but I don't have any evidence. That readers are not erudite as a whole is something I wholeheartedly agree.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Apr 16 - 10:11 AM

Of course to be scientifically fair, there is still the possibility that dyslexia is just an excuse for being dumb as a post and th I need to go slower than everyone else who processes oral language instantly.


btw Is ending a sentence with a preposition really n anathema to th grammer police?

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: frogprince
Date: 27 Apr 16 - 10:38 AM

Some few years back, I wish I had a reference, I heard it claimed that objection to ending with a preposition derived from doing so being problematic in Latin, but that there is no valid reason to object to it in English usage. Whether that really means anything, I am knowing not.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: frogprince
Date: 27 Apr 16 - 10:40 AM

Correct that last to "knowing not am I."

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Apr 16 - 10:57 AM

Thnks Frog Princ,
My computer seems to running low on a's and e's.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Apr 16 - 11:58 AM

It's something with which I won't put up.

Subject: RE: BS: What If ?
From: Ed T
Date: 27 Apr 16 - 12:44 PM

Donuel, interesting.
I suspect diversity is bountiful in humans, as with most species These differences are often not observed, and nor always seen for the potential advantages that many may present, to oe indivdual or otherwise. However, with broader communications, this may be changing, at least in some societies to a limited degree.