Dropship

We could also speculate that Jesus said something that upsets certain people which is why they attempt to discredit him..;) 

On 2/6/2022 at 2:51 PM, mistermack said:

Imagine an innocent toddler has been abducted by a couple of pedophiles, and you have one in captivity, and he knows where the other is keeping the child, but he won't tell...would you use torture to get the location of the child? I would.

It'd be best to try other methods first, such as reminding him that things would go a lot easier for him at his trial if the jury was told he'd co-operated with the police by telling them where his mate was.

Also it might be a good idea to tell him that he'd be in for a big cash reward for informing the police.

26 minutes ago, Bufofrog said:

That of course is speculation.  There is only one planet in the universe that we know has intelligent life.  There is only 1 planet where we know of ANY life occurring.

You can speculate anything you want.  You can speculate that the whole story of Jesus was just made up, or that he was a magic pelican that could transform himself into a human or that he is God.

Like I've said, speculating is FUN..:)

As for Jesus being God, he made it quite clear that he wasn't God, yet amazingly many "christians" say he was God, so it's the naughty step for them for calling him a fibber.

 Jesus said - "Only God knows when Judgment Day will be, I don't know myself" (Mark 13:32)
Jesus said  - "I say nothing of my own accord, i only say what my father tells me to say.." (John 12:49)

A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered, “No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:19)

God himself said  - "This is my beloved son, listen to him" (Matt 17:5)
And the people realised- "There is one mediator between God and men- the man Jesus Christ" (1 Tim 2:5)

And Jesus often prayed to God, but if he was God why would he pray to himself?..:)

I think the 'deaths' graphs are the most important, here are the latest Feb/March 2022 graphs which are interesting because they show how the figures go up and down like a roller coaster.

Why are there such widely varying peaks and troughs, is it because of seasons of the year or what?

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

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Regarding sample numbers, aluminium has been linked to Alzheimers but I'm not sure if all victims have aluminium flecks in their brains or just a few.

But on the assumption that there's no smoke without fire, I decided to play it safe and switched from aluminium pots and pans long ago-

On 3/6/2022 at 12:40 AM, deepend said:

 ..You can go on and on about why religions exist.  But then the fact that they are nonsense gets buried in the mountains of pointless debate..

Nonsense??

Scientists estimate there are thousands of intelligent civilisations in the universe, and as Jesus said "I am not of this world", we could open-mindedly speculate that he was simply an alien visitor..:)

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Jesus said- "I know where I came from and where I am going, but you have no idea where I come from or where I am going....you are of this world, I am not of this world...though you do not believe me, believe the miracles...I'll tell you things hidden since the creation of the world" (John 8:14/ 8:23/10:38/Matt 13:35)

Hey Spock, will you listen to JC?

"Affirmative, I'm all ears"

The operators were no doubt lulled into a false sense of security thinking that the AZ-5 emergency shutdown button would do its job, whereas because of a reactor design flaw it triggered the explosion.

That video is a clip from the 2019 5-part 'Chernobyl' TV miniseries, and although the show was generally praised for accuracy, the producers did nevertheless say some scenes had been enhanced for dramatic effect.

For example in the top scene below, a firemans hand turns to a painful bloody mush soon after he picks up a lump of highly-radioactive graphite. Would those symptoms happen so quickly in real life?

And the bottom scene is a view from somebody's window when the reactor blows its top, followed by an eerie glowing "radioactive pillar of light" shooting up into the night sky, did that pillar really happen?

53 minutes ago, zapatos said:

Money? Influence? Power? All the usual stuff.

Also, a lack of real things to document is a motive for making things up.

Saul already had a good job as a powerful bounty hunter on the payroll of the jewish priests, tasked with rounding up christians for punishment but then he saw the light, changed his name to Paul and became a fugitive on the run from the priests and Romans, what a man..:)

Paul wrote- "I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 
I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brothers. 
I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep, I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 
Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches" (2 Cor 11:23-29) 
 

46 minutes ago, exchemist said:

..There are some things that have made it into Christianity that come from St Paul and are mentioned nowhere in the gospels. A classic example is the Christian disapproval of anything to do with sex. 

Wait a min, Christianity has no beef with warm, loving sex..:)

Jesus sad "Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28)
Paul said "Control yourselves honourably, not in lust like the heathens" (1 Thessalonians 4:4/5)

Heck, even Jesus cut girls a lot of slack, like when he said to the snooty priests-

"Prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you" (Matthew 21:31)

Below: JC rescues a naughty girl from a stone-throwing mob-

1 hour ago, dimreepr said:

If you have only one teacher, your thrall is with me..

If you can do stuff like JC did below, you'll become a chat show star..:)

"Come on out of there Lazarus mate"

16 hours ago, CharonY said:

...However, the dominant ones currently circulating are Delta (some of its subvariants) and Omicron (and mostly its subvariant BA.2, which has edged out Omicron in some areas). These have displaced most of the other variants of concern (such as Alpha or Gamma).

Thanks and incidentally where do viruses come from, do they just blink into existence out of thin air or what?

And what's their life cycle, how do they "breed"?

And as they float through the air are they resistant to hot and cold weather and the ultra-violet radiation from the sun?

Speaking of floating, what's their lifespan if they can't find a human to attach themselves to, do they just die off?

PS- the thing stuck itself to my eyeballs 2 years ago which it used as a "beach head" to invade other parts of my body.

Below- my baby blue eyes at that time, and a news article-

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18 minutes ago, exchemist said:

Didn't stop him making up stuff Jesus never said, though, did it? 

But what would have been Paul's motive for making things up?

Yes the control rod tips were cheapskate to save money like the guy sums up in this vid from 1:00,

also the operators were slap-happy in pushing the reactor to it's limits thinking that in an emergency they could simply hit the AZ-5 shutdown button to get out of trouble..:)

3 hours ago, exchemist said:

Who determined that?

Well Paul said "Follow Jesus not me, I wasn't crucified for you" (1 Corinthians 1:12-13), and when one early christian group began straying from the teachings of Jesus he told them "I'm coming to bust your asses" (2 Corinthians 13:2)

so his integrity was pretty good..:)

On 3/4/2022 at 2:42 AM, MigL said:

Hopefully Ukrainian nuclear power plants of recent years have built-in redundant safeguards against fires like Western power plants.
I'd hate to see another Chernobyl.

Yes hopefully modern reactors are better designed and foolproof.

The 1986 Chernobyl disaster happened because they used cheap graphite rods to save money, and when the operators hit the AZ-5 emergency shutdown button, the rods jammed up and triggered the explosion-

9 minutes ago, beecee said:

 

To expand on swansont's answer,  scientific theories grow in certainty, over time and as they continue matching observational and experimental evidence, and making correct predictions. The theory of evolution has gained so much indistputable evidence, it is now a fact.

Yes it's common sense that the fittest will survive , but there are still many missing links along the path of evolution.

I once asked Richard Dawkins about it and he replied "Of course there are missing links". 

Thanks, and here's another speculation I saw; it's apparently unproven but demonstrates how it's fun to think outside the box and push the envelope of scientific thinking..:)-

Thanks, which brings me to this follow-up question- there are at least 8 Covid variants floating around, so will one vax shot give us protection against them all, or would we need a different shot against each one?

Furthermore some variants need one or more "booster shots", so that'll be a lot of stuff sloshing around our systems, is it safe?

https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1971

3 hours ago, exchemist said:

So if Jesus is the only teacher, why do Christians quote the Epistles of Ss Peter and Paul as well, as if they also have authority? 

Because they're singing from the same song sheet as Jesus..:)

Is the Theory of Evolution a speculation or a solid proven fact?

In a sense, a 'speculation' is a 'theory', many of which have no hard evidence, but we can still have fun examining them.

For example when Einstein first aired his Theory of Relativity he had no evidence, and it was years before science finally proved him correct..:)

Speculation is FUN because it requires no evidence..:)

For example I like to speculate that the woman in the grocers fancies me..

5 minutes ago, geordief said:

So take your own advice.

Incidentally I'm English, what nationality are you?

I hope you've got nothing against the English race..;)

On 1/12/2022 at 1:00 AM, mistermack said:

..The first step would be to establish a settlement that was self-sustaining without help from Earth. And that's a formidable step, but should happen within a couple of hundred years.

Could a colony on the moon or mars really survive without earth backing them up?

Presumably they'd have to live under domes, replenishing air, water and food etc?

6 minutes ago, geordief said:

So racism just comes naturally  to you?

Racism is eveywhere so we certainly have to be on our guard..:)

I'm also unsure what to do, and am open to advice.

I've never been vaxed and was hit by Cov-19 in May 2020 (yes 22 months ago) and had all the symptoms except breathlessness, so I rode it out without bothering to consult a doctor, and the symptoms slowly cleared up after a couple of weeks.

However, since then I've had recurrent symptoms every couple of months which I presume is 'long covid'. 

Question- would getting vaxed now be pointless, bearing in mind the virus is already in my system?