301 Comments

Subscribed. Thank you, anonymous person who gifted me the subscription. Your kindness and generosity are appreciated more than you can know.

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I didn't donate to the patreon at quite the level for a subscription, but I did donate and do appreciate Hemant's work.

OT: Greg is still trying to post gotcha's by posting links to the ordinances in the wrong city.

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OMG, that’s one piece of work there. Claiming he wants us to engage in good faith conversation but never acting in good faith himself. He want us to recognize closed mindedness, but does not open his own. Several folks presented their evidence for not believing in god and he just said “you’re closed minded because you’re an atheist, go look at this other philosophy that I believe.” He’s got the goal posts on rocket skates to run over all the strawmen he setup, he should be careful cause they’ve been tripped up by his spam, shoddy research and appeal to authority. (All scientists throughout history and today are religious, which is a flat falsehood). Master Charles Emerson Winchester sounds like a toddler compared to the bloviating Greg is doing, the one thing Charles has on this guy is that he actually understands the words he’s using.

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He hyped agnosticism over atheism at one point but couldn't even spell it.

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I didn't notice that. Thanks. I did a screen grab because he likes to do a lot of after the fact editing.

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It's an understandable mistake for a quick, shallow attempt, but from someone who's calling others out for not doing their research, it's an unforgivable mistake.

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Has he received awards for his research like a certain someone else? : )

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I suspect he's also linking to the wrong type of permits from a cursory glance at the page. He seems to like to use a lot of big words and think that makes him a deep thinker, but he's really pretty shallow.

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I’ve been rereading the Harry Potter books. Greg reminds me of Gilderoy Lockhart.

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I just posted several replies to him. I know we shouldn't feed the trolls, but they look and sound so pathetic and whiny when they plead for attention that I just can't resist handing them a few crumbs.

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I wish I could donate, not only for the content but for the community here.

dreg commence sérieusement à faire chier.

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Greggy Poo's a MAGAt believer whose brain has Sprung a leak. I refuse to feed the troll.

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I can never resist feeding the poor little creatures at the zoo, either.

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This from Greg:

"Thank you for identifying these details.

It forces me to admit that my position was phony anyways because I have no horse in the race.

I now realize that I’m just being a troll.

Thanks again and best regards. " (I miss Disqus' ability to link to individual comments)

Under the circumstances probably the most graceful way to bow out now that he's been shown to be wrong on just about everything he said.

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Saw that. He said it twice. He thought he was being smarmy, but he only confirmed what we already knew. That he was nothing but a troll.

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Not even Spam ?

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Spam aplenty. His trolling also encompasses gaslighting, personal attacks, harassment and spreading misinformation.

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Even if I wanted to engage the pea-brain, it wouldn't make a difference. And besides, Joan and others are batting him around like a ball bearing in a pinball machine.

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Just seeing this. Many thanks for the like, Hemant. Also hugely appreciated. :)

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OT2: In news of "that's what you get for living in Texas", my garden-size Pride Flag was stolen Thursday. The replacement arrived today. If I ever get dressed, I'll replace it.

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"If I ever get dressed"

Ain't nobody got time for that!

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The law in Texas (and, surprisingly, Washington) is remarkably unclear about the need to get dressed. It seems to be dependent on the observer's reaction rather than your behavior.

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Be careful. People who fly Pride flags are being assassinated now. I guess that's how you can tell what a bastion of freedom this country is.

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I apparently didn't hear this story. Did the article you read happen to mention which hate preacher the suspect listened to?

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Big fan of Jordan Peterson I hear.

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Another two-faced liar, Musk. I wonder how much 'X' (more stupid) usage has gone down in the last 10 months.

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It's not unusual for a Republican to want the country to fail while they pick over the corpse and move the money to the Cayman's.

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He wants to make it so that no one under twenty-five can vote.

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I decided to go out to get some late lunch rather than eat the last of Wednesday's Pizza, so I put the flag out there. The only problem is I bought a different stand (5 prong instead of two, the previous one leaned a lot.) and now the Pride Flag sits higher than the U.S. Flag.

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Oh, that's sure to piss off a patriot¹.

(¹ Actually a misspelling of "pet rat". See also: Jingoist.)

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Yeah, I'm debating ordering another of the new style stands or wait and see how the new one does and then replace the two-prong stand.

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Personally I'd be ordering landmines.

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Landmines would hurt the mowing crew and besides I'm pretty sure lethal automatic measures would be illegal. Even in a 'stand your ground' state.

I am looking at security cameras, but they are a little steep.

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I was looking at cameras to figure out how some dog was getting onto my section to shit on my lawn. Not security cameras as such but trail cams – they seemed to be relatively cheap. Some were even cheaper than the skunk granules I eventually got which solved the problem.

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Configure them for command detonation only. 😉

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OT: This made me think of NoGodz, went to SeaWorld SA's waterpark this week with my niece and nephew and discovered the place is cashless. They do have several kiosks to convert your cash into a pre-paid VISA (how 'nice' of them). While it's not the sort of thing that really seems wrong to me like a cashless doctor's office, I can appreciate his position.

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Thank you. 🙂

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The had a cashless armband so you didn't have to carry your CC around. It seems to me they could have easily made that a pre-pay cash tab with refund at the end of the day just as easily. It wouldn't be hard for the computer to keep up with the balance, unlike a bartender.

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The difference between what I described and the pre-paid VISA is I've never seen one which will refund you the unused balance and since it won't calculate a partial payment of the remaining balance for a merchant so you can split payment, you often leave a small amount that you can't use on the card.

When AT&T sent me a two-dollar refund on a pre-paid card when I closed my account with them the only reason I was able to get any money out of that was Amazon Gift Cards only have a $1 minimum and allow 1 cent increments. I order from Amazon enough that that is almost as good as cash.

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Seems like such a hassle (to me, at least). Think I'll stick with cash. They want the magic plastic? Then I don't need what they're selling.

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I don't know, having to go back to your locker for cash every time you want to buy a bottle of water seems like even more of a hassle

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This is why you try to plan ahead. Might not be foolproof, but it gives you a chance. :)

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OT - Seen on a bumper sticker

Condoms Prevent Minivans

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A condom could have prevented Donald J. Trump. I want to see that bumper sticker (and meet the person brave enough to put it on their car)

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Growing up, we had a full size van. A minivan wouldn't have cut it.

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Closest we ever got was a station wagon.

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I saw that bumper sticker on a station wagon yesterday. At first I thought it was a Hearst because I thought they stopped making station wagons decades ago.

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The last station wagon was discontinued in 1996. The SUVs helped kill it.

I also have to think the continuing trend towards smaller cars drove in the coffin nails on the big American automobiles in general.

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You had me until the two entries by Porsche.

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Technically speaking, these are all SUVs. :)

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https://www.autoevolution.com/holden/commodore-wagon/

Not that I'm particularly interested in cars but........... the Antipodes doesn't always get the credit it deserves.

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Guys and cars... Give me a break.

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Do they sell them in the US?

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Then it was a Hearst, but it wasn't a owned by a funeral home.

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Would that be a Patty Wagon?

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That reminds me of Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs using a 52 Packard Hearse to tour in. :)

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OT

Bob Barker died. Will never forget him in "Happy Gilmore"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CajdyoaSM0

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I've never been able to shake the suspicion he was embalmed back in the '70s.

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Are you telling the truth? Because, if not, there will be consequences.

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IMDB confirms it August 26, 2023.

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He was 99. The story's all over the Interwebz.

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Barbara Feldon was 99.

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99 was mighty fine.

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As I recall, Laramie was more my type.

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I kinda crushed on Hymie the Robot, played at the time by the scrumptious Dick Gautier.

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Just looked it up. 99 is now 90.

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He almost made it to 100 without going over.

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That's bad. I wonder if Drew will use it for his tribute.

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A great advocate for animals...something our insane world sorely needs, in addition to ridding itself of superstition and religion.

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OT : DM just gratified me with a coffee shower 😅

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Cream and sugar included?

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She drinks it black.

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Kinky...?

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In casa de DM, drinking it black is vanilla 😁

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My kind of woman.

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I thought the French put milk (or cream) in their coffee.

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Depend of where you grew up. For her grandfather it was a blasphemy.

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Are you being a dirty girl?

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I was, for 5 minutes, the time for me to stop laughing, grab a clean T-shirt and take a covfefe free shower.

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OT: Here's an article from CNN about dead relatives in dreams:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/27/us/dreams-dead-relatives-study-trnd/index.html

I've had dreams about dead relatives and also dead people I didn't know (Abe Lincoln, for example). Nothing unusual, I would guess the same for most people. Someone is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.

"The survey’s yes-no questionnaire didn’t ask for explanations about the nature of these encounters from respondents.

Because of this, the researchers wrote that they “don’t know whether people view these experiences as mysterious or supernatural, or whether they see them as having natural or scientific causes, or some of both.”

I know. Must be a slow day at CNN, too.

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Last night I dreamed that I was a guest on the Mike Douglas Show. And the other guest was Tom Snyder. I swear I haven't even heard their names for several decades, so I have no idea where the hell it came from.

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Tom Snyder was never on the Mike Douglas Show. : )

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0811571/

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I sometimes dream about my dead parents and other dead people – and people I haven't seen for years. But mostly my dreams are what I call frustration dreams. I'm trying to get somewhere but can't because things keep happening to stop me. That's the most common one. No doubt some woo peddler would make a fortune with that if I could bring myself to see one.

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I have the can't get somewhere dreams, but the reason is because bears are roaming around outside.

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Stephen King once said "Ever notice how you never get where you're going in your dreams?"

That's a recurring theme in my dreams.

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Well that is somewhat reassuring. The fact that it's common – at least here.

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No 'Dukes of Hazzard' marathon?

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???

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Brain fart. Merging Tom Wopat and John Scheider plus alternate spelling of the later came out Tom Snyder

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I dream about my mom and dad all the time. I also dream of famous people I've never met (and some I have).

In the end, dreams are your simply mind playing tricks on you. Nothing supernatural at all. Dreaming is a safe way to go a little crazy every night. 🙂

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I don't know that I would call it "playing tricks". To me, it's more of a free association kind of thing.

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My dreams mostly happen in a semi-conscious state (I may have seen "Dreamscape" at an impressionable age) I have conversations with dead relatives. But most of my dreams seem to be trying to tell some epic story and occasionally, I'll realize one of the characters is being played by a famous actor.

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Can't say I remember dreaming of a dead person unless you count the following. It was in a long hallway I was in a mid 19th century dress and a man said to me "I will take you to watch the Rigoletto" after that he took my hand and we started to run and slide on the floors. The chilling fact ? I had no idea what the Rigoletto was once I woke up, at least not consciously.

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OT3: In news of money that could be better spent:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/monster-hunters-descend-on-scotland-for-biggest-loch-ness-search-in-50-years/ar-AA1fNvSZ

It would be quite something if they found it, but the likelihood is there's nothing there and ultimately even if they did there are better places to spend the money.

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There is indeed something, it's called a tourists trap.

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So is Roswell, NM. Can't really blame the locals though, when a small town finds an industry, you pretty much have to run with it.

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One of my Egyptian boyfriend's uncles ran a tourist trap in a village called Athribis, in the Nile Delta. He was quite frankly flabbergasted that so many American christians would give him such large heaps of cash for the junk he sold them and the invented tales he told. Always a conscientious writer, I drafted a new spiel for him that ticked every one of their pious boxes. He later thanked me for the way it augmented his livelihood. I is de wickedest thing!

The weird thing is, there's a REAL ancient mystery there. Athribis was the site of one of the smaller pyramids. It still existed in the late 1800s; there's a detailed description of it in the old Baedeker's guide to Egypt. Then the pyramid...disappeared. No trace of it but a small pile of rubble. The theory is that all the stones were stripped off and carted away for building material in one of the surrounding towns. Except that there's no trace of any such stones anyplace in the region. So it's anyone's guess what happened. But American christians, being American christians, only ever wanted to hear about made-up mysteries. They had no interest at all in the real one that was right under their noses.

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That was the first me I ever posted way back on Disqus.

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It's cuter than the source meme, which is why I went for it.

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Ancient or Middle Kingdom pyramid ? Middle Kingdom pyramids are notorious for being poorly build.

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Mark Twain visited the Holy Land and was disappointed and disillusioned by it.

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Twain, wonderful skeptic that he was, was disappointed and disillusioned by just about all the humbug on the planet.

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Kind of a cynical curmudgeon, IMO. : )

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It's like all those christian "archeologists" who scour "the Holy Land" looking for proof the bible is true.

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Hey, don't scoff. They've found the Ark dozens of times.

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Amazing how the Egyptians and other ancient civilizations somehow managed to survive the Great Flood. Why, it's as if that flood never occurred at all.

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They've found Sodom 3 or 4 times at least.

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They also found Tyre. Oops.

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Tyre, according to the bible, was destroyed and never to be rebuilt.

This is news to the people of Tyre, as that destruction never happened. Oops is right.

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