Comments by Goldy

Comment #210566 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 7:53 pm

Letters in the Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-boys-and-knives-867642.html

You call it religion, I call it homophobia

Once again the dubious shroud of religious doctrine has been employed as an excuse to legitimise blatant homophobia (report, 11 July). The decision by the Central London Employment Tribunal to award a claim of discrimination to Ms Ladele, a Christian registrar who refused to perform same-sex civil partnerships, is deeply disappointing when so much valuable work is being done in many other areas to rid our institutions of old-fashioned bigotry.

I am at a loss to comprehend why Ms Ladele's religious beliefs can be considered an acceptable excuse for her homophobia and her refusal to carry out a duty for which she has been employed and is paid. Were she to claim that the idea of two men sleeping together sickens her, she would rightly be disciplined for her unsavoury and outdated beliefs, but as soon as the Christian angle is introduced, a quasi-respectability is afforded to her otherwise deeply unpleasant attitude.

I hope very much that heterosexual couples marrying in Islington will ask specifically not to be wedded by someone with such poisonous beliefs.

Hamish Dowlen

London SW19

I, along with myriads of others, am absolutely ecstatic that Lillian Ladele has won her case.

Despite approval in "law" of civil partnerships in this country, let it be known that it never has and never will have God's approval. Christians like Ms Ladele have nothing in their hearts but genuine love and concern for the salvation of sinners, whatever their background and however deep they may have plunged the depths of sin.

Gay-rights campaign groups like Stonewall may indeed oppose, ridicule and decry her honorable and noble Christian stand against immoral behaviour, but God and truth are on her side. She need not fear. She was a winner long, long before the Central London Employment Tribunal upheld her claims of discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the grounds of her Christian faith.

To try to silence Ms Ladele is an attempt to silence God and Christianity. It would be easier for them to keep the sun from shining or empty the sea of water.

DONALD J MORRISON

INVERNESS

Thank you to Deborah Orr (12 July) for highlighting the flawed arguments of Lillian Ladele. I only disagree with Orr where she suggests that Islington Council should have "quietly accommodated her stubborn views". If the council had not and does not continue to challenge Ladele it would send out the message to staff and the community that homophobia is somehow more acceptable than other forms of prejudice.

Penny List

London NW9

Lillian Ladele may be interested to hear about two evangelising Christians who came to my door (uninvited) to convert me to their way of thinking. Like Ms Ladele, they also held "deep and sincere orthodox Christian views". It transpired that these views were racist, espousing negative judgements against people of African descent. When I asked them to explain how they justified their claim that black people were "naturally inferior", they said �" "As a punishment, God turned Negroes black to remind us all of their sins."

This appalling statement was uttered in Detroit in 1964. Although their perverted religious logic was at least challenged, back in those dark homophobic days, alas, I was not brave enough to argue comparisons between their bigotry and my own homosexuality.

Ms Ladele may claim to hold her "deep and sincere Christian views", but, in reality, she is just as much a bigot as the two religious racists.

Narvel Annable

Belper, Derbyshire

Sir: Registrars with conscientious objections to civil partnerships are mistaken: civil partnerships are not gay marriages since there is no presumption of a sexual relationship between the partners. A marriage can be annulled if it is not consummated; this does not apply to a civil partnership. This difference is exemplified by those priests who have contracted civil partnerships while upholding the church's traditional teaching on homosexuality by practising celibacy.

Julian Gardiner

Elstree, Hertfordshire

Registrar Lillian Ladele has won her case against conducting civil partnerships on the grounds of her faith. Yet the State cannot spiritually marry anyone. The height of its power amounts only to legal cohabitation. For almost 16 years, then, as far as her reported orthodox belief in marriage goes, Ladele has been inviting countless heterosexual couples to "live in sin". Strangely, she has no qualms about that.

Catherine von Ruhland

HAMPTON, Middlesex

2202. Dalai Lama defends Islam as peaceful religion

Comment #210514 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 6:07 pm

That makes it sound less idiotic than how I typed it last time...

:-) Sorry, couldn't resist.
I believe they were quite big in SE Asia - while I ma not 100% sure if that is pertinent now, certainly in past history they were major players in world affairs (such as world affairs are). The way China is can be said to have been in a small way influenced by Buddhist thought. Makes me think we shouldn't write it off completely.
I know that doesn't answer your question - but then I am of a very Eurocentric mindset. As my wife would ask - what has Jesus done for us (she's Chinese - there are Christians in China but they are of no consequence).

2203. Dalai Lama defends Islam as peaceful religion

Comment #210511 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 5:58 pm

What has any Buddhist ever done? I mean real, tangible results.

They built some great big statues in Bamyan... ;-)

2204. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #210492 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 5:13 pm

I blame 8teist, myself. He said, way back when, he had a dose of flu....
;-)

2205. Dalai Lama defends Islam as peaceful religion

Comment #210482 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 4:39 pm

Anotehr dying religion, in some parts...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/world/asia/14japan.html?ref=asia

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Comment #210481 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 4:36 pm

I was sorry I had to leave it, but just couldn't keep my eyes open.

I had to miss it all - cold virus infestation is strong in our house, my back is still sodding sore and my wife is quite pregnant now so ill daughter didn't get as much love and attention she felt an ill little girl should be getting...
Hopefully things will be back to normal next week!
They got bored with secular affairs? For shame! Doesn't the Koran have something to say about that? Why restrict themselves to just evolution? Sad, sad, sad!

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Comment #210474 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 4:29 pm

The worst of both political systems...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/arts/television/14stol.html?ref=asia

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Comment #210472 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 4:19 pm

I understand that Norway has soldiers in Afghanistan. 580 to be exact. Not exactly a staggering contribution. The question that remains is when the conflict expands, which it will at some point, this seems inevitable.

Comparing numbers is always a dangerous game, Al. Try mentioning that NZ only lost a small number of men in WWI compared to Britain... ;-)
As for governments - all I can really say with my hand on my heart is that whatever form of government is in power, people will be complaining about it.
Pretty good thing, mind - the gibbering baboons (no, not you, Fanusi) have gone :-) Seems we scared them away :-D

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Comment #210467 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 4:04 pm

The other nonsense idea mentioned by Goldy was tribal, family-based societies, which is so wrong as to defy description.

Jesus. mate, give it a rest. It was tongue in cheek! Is your head so far up your arse you couldn't see that? Fuck me! As it is, I do believe the San in Botswana might disagree with you, as would certain Aboriginals in Australia, Andaman Islanders and Amazonian Indians.
The style works for them. They like it. Giving them the western life gave them alcoholism and strife, mainly because they were not taught how to live it.
Fuck, you are so insultingly stupid. I'd read your comments with a bit more respect, but half of what you write is the sort of virulent anti-Islamic shite I'd expect a half educated lab tech to spout.
A fuckwit, one of the highest order.

2210. Dalai Lama defends Islam as peaceful religion

Comment #210460 by Goldy on July 14, 2008 at 3:42 pm

Given that news reports stated that ethnic Tibetans attacked Hui as well as Han, this might be the Dalai Lama's way of telling those that follow him not to attack religious minorities.

2211. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #210072 by Goldy on July 13, 2008 at 9:39 pm

Be sure to click on that gorgeous picture. Now I'm not an expert, but I have a hard time imagining ice like that not having been in a fluid state at some point. Doesn't it look like it was flowing towards the edges to you? And to be honest, and this is of course just a personal impression, but looking at the photo, the word "ancient" doesn't seem to fit. Does it look like really old to you?

I clicked and I can't say I see flowing. Not as in wet water flowing. No. I also don't understand why you don't think ancient seems to fit. Looks like it has been there a pretty long time...
Salty water article does suggest we shouldn't get too excited in finding life...as we know it. However, pause for thoughtnext time you pass a brightly coloured salty lake :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halophile

2212. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #209953 by Goldy on July 13, 2008 at 3:49 pm

Txty

Even if the ancient and the modern one were genetically distant enough from each other that they couldn't breed successfully, they are still the same morphological form.

Aaaah, they LOOK the same, eh? That's the clincher! Well, got me by the balls there. So...I guess all lizards are related. Closely, I mean. They are all...well, crocodilians. Stands to reason, apart from size and genes, they are the same morphologically. Even tuatara are the same. Heck, even newts and salamanders! Well, that makes classification so much easier! They look like crocodiles so they must be. I guess that makes the chimpanzees and lemurs human - they are the same morphologically.
But then, you are the font of all knowledge, a gnostic to which the real truth has been revealed, thruth the even Kardashovel is not privy too (and God actually talked to him. Just wondering, does God talk to you too?).

What do you expect? Do you think humans will still be around when the sun expands into a red giant? If you do, do you think they would be significantly different or will they get caught up in the dreary monotony of stasis?

My point to this question was that you tell us everything was made as is. Oddly, the fossil records don't show this. Yes, it shows a few highly conserved lines but also the disappearance and appearance of other animals. I do believe there is yet to be found a Jurassic lion or kangaroo, just as we'd be bloody surprised to bump into a Triceratops today. Animals seem to appear and take over niches left vacant by those that are no longer there. Yet they were all there at once - together. The Flood, you say, but...

And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.' Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

See, it's that phrase, "every living thing" - even dinosaurs and trilobites and dodoes. The mind does boggle how a Brontosaurus was tended, but tended it was because prior to the end of its line, it was one of the "every living thing".
Yet this isn't borne out by research. There is no overlap between those that died out a long time adn those that died out less long ago and those that are dying out now. Why so?
Are we, as humans, going to be around? No, of course not. Not as H. sapiens. What is the future? You tell me - you are the great wise one, more intelligent than any expert in any field one cares to mention. As it is, it appears humans are evolving faster now than previously thought. We have gone quite a way in the last 40 000 years, it seems. Blue eyes, blond hair, lactose tolerance...who knows that we shall become. But I can safely tell you this - you would not call our decendants human.

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Comment #209607 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 7:19 pm

TWP

But that's the beauty in it. People should be able to choose.

People chose poverty?

As sad as poverty is, I don't believe that we should give the government the right to interfere with that. It just leads the government to areas of control that individually we really don't want.

While I must admit to grumbling about my taxes funding workshy KFC eating inhabitants of South Auckland (stereotyping here...sorry), I think governments like to make sure things don't get too bad for these poor people. Keeping on the Chinese theme, there is a bit of history of social insurrection and rebellion when the poor had to rely on the generosity of the rich.
Laurie, it is great coming here and seeing where I can get a thread back to waaay back when by answering questions and commenting on things written ages ago.
What is Guiseppe saying? Something about the Koran and sayings. Odd...

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Comment #209571 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 4:29 pm

Fanusi, you're riding high on one good comment ages ago. Why are you trying hard to become a prick again?

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Comment #209365 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 4:20 am

OK, off to bed now.
TTFN!

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Comment #209364 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 4:19 am

Well, well, well - South Africa won! And after the captain was sin binned. Mind you, I thought that was a touch unfair - I mean, if the player getting the high tackle can look around, find the ref and point to the infringement while being tackled, it can't have been that dangerous. Definitely not as dangerous as being spear tackled...eh, 8teist?

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Comment #209362 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 4:16 am

What about the reduction of farm land in certain areas of the globe because of global warming or the shortage of water because of population growth?

These can probably be offset by reintroduction of farmland turned over to industry. After all, if the industry is now defunct.... :-)
I do think water might be a bit of a problem in the future...

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Comment #209361 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 4:14 am

Comment #209358 by Bonzai
So I take it on the capitalism trumps, SH beats HK? ;-)

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Comment #209356 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 4:08 am

goldy - correct, but would such a collapse not inevitably throw up an economic force other than capitalism?

Maybe I am set in my ways (hope not - I'm only 40!) but I can't help but think it'll be the same shit but a different product.

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Comment #209351 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 3:58 am

Goldy, shanghai can't seem to get their shit together..But what about shanghai should I be trumped by?

Politically, no. The old ruling clique was from Shanghai. Hu Jintao isn't, so he's getting rid of them. But for unfettered capitalism, I think SH beats HK. My brother in law is one of the new capitalists there, as are all my wife's friends. Money sprouting out of god knows where. Poverty, opulence - it's all there! From Ferraris to bare feet because shoes are not affordable.
Live matches are shown on the Rugby Channel, part of the Dirty Digger's empire. I have to rely on the terrestrial channel to catch the match. To avoid being fined or something, they have to show the match after it has been played.

Laurie

The problem with growth is that you cannot grow indefinitely

No, you can't, that's true. But even after a collapse, there's the stuff which can be used again which begins the fuelling of the next growth. So we lose oil - maybe bicycles are the next big thing. Or water. Or high oil producing vegetables. All a collapse is, basically, a hitting of the reset button.

2221. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209345 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 3:33 am

Actually, I would probably laugh if somebody came in and farted loudly and often. Wish I HAD done that in the more excruciatingly boring sermons I had to sit through.

I can proudly say I did that once. Bit embarrassing as I was a school prefect at the time. I can't tell you how hard it was the suppress the laughter in the prefect rows adn the first three schoolboy rows...

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Comment #209341 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 3:27 am

8teist, I know what country you live in. Population 4 million, I'll find you...
;-)
Bonzai, that's harsh. Like all of us, we're here for the education as well as airing our opinions.

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Comment #209335 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 3:23 am

Capitalism is just one of the economic experiments which have been tried. It will collapse, eventually; it has to, for the conditions for its existence will become defunct.

I'm not sure about that, Laurie. It is just such an intrinsic human nature that it must be the only way. Luckily, so is altruism... ;-)

Edited for the full quotation...

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Comment #209334 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 3:20 am

So, Bonzai, you reckon my Shanghai card trumps her HK card? :-)

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Comment #209330 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 3:14 am

TWP

Goldy, two words...Hong Kong :)

Hmmm, strong card! However (and here he smiles and slips out his card...) Shang Hai! Or Shanghai as one word, it matters not :-)
I think in Top Trumps, I may have the stronger card... ;-)
We'll let the others debate.
All Blacks winning (well, probably already won - capitalism means I can't watch the match live but have to be happy with a hand-me-down)

Edit - correction, Springboks winning. That post to Fanusi really distracted me. Now I am annoyed.

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Comment #209327 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 3:11 am

OK, Fanusi, I'll try and answer all your points. Watching SA v the ABs so bear with me...

OK, you fear bills. That's good. We all do. But for some, it is grinding - all the wages go to bills.
Grinding poverty - luckily we have, in many cases, a social security system to stop the real grinding poverty. I believe this is not 100% kosher in capitalist circles...though you may correct me if I am wrong... Are you sure the other contries are proper socialist countries? My wife certainly remembers a time in China when it was socialist were everyone had enough. Not happy and not condusive to advancement, no, but everyone she knew seemed to be catered for. Not now - at least, not in Shanghai. I am a bit miffed you accuse me of evading the point - I didn't feel I did. Never mentioned it because it was not part of the argument I was...err...arguing about.
What salvery, you ask. Women are a commodity. It has been a bit of a newsworthy topic in the UK in the past - probably still is. You think them women in the "massage" parlours from Lithuania, the Balkans etc are there willingly? That leads to what I am talking about. Ather violence to women...watch "Once were Warriors".
And this line

You know nothing, I mean absolutely nothing about what you are talking about.

I lived in London, mate, when Irish nationalists were dropping the odd bomb around. My mother was bombed by the Americans and I well recall her stories. Almost as if I was there. Anyway, I AM in a war, the War on Terror ring a bell? Why my passport is thicker with electronic devices, lasts half the time for twice the price, why it is a pain in the arse for me to fly (and yes, I do see the irony in those remarks), why I am constantly told to be careful, why I studiously avoid flying anywhere via the US, etc, etc. So you left a burning city - that just puts you closer to a battle. I too live in a war - I know what I am talking about. Ironic you mention South Africa - as I recall, the main problem is capitalism - the have-nots are the problem in their version of redistribution of wealth.
Don't insult me again - I never have insulted you.

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Comment #209313 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 2:53 am

G'nite Mord!

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Comment #209311 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 2:52 am

mainly because we havent had an economy run on pure capitalism. Therefore I can not possibly agree.

Aaaah - but we've come pretty close at times, methinks. Classical civilisations probably got a bit close. But that's for the classicists to correct me on. By all accounts China is pretty damn close too...
But nice to see why you disagreed :-)

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Comment #209306 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 2:44 am

While the accumulation of profit is a good thing, if one is purely capitalist, the it is basically the only thing. OK, you don't want to kill of workers that are the source of the profit, hence, when slavery or a massive pool of willing poor people aren't available, some social benefits are filtered down. Pure capitalism would have this at the minimum level as they dig into the profits.
I think a good example of pure capitalism would be something like...well, Chinese mines or banana republics.
Accumulation of profit can be very nasty as it accumulates in human hands...

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Comment #209302 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 2:35 am

If you prefer that system, you're welcome to it.

They seem very happy. Do you know of the fear of bills, the grinding poverty, the lack of social help, the slavery, the violence to women, the constant bloody warfare...hmmm, sounds similar, eh?

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Comment #209299 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 2:32 am

disagree.

Because....?
Don't forget, this is pure capitalism we're talking about :-)

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Comment #209294 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 2:24 am

And...

When I attend to my job, I recieve all the benefits of the ones who made the software that I work with, the scientists who did the basic research on which I build, the University that created the laboratories, and those who paid for it. All of that for free.

A bunch of research is no longer feasable here because of capitalism. The ADHB (Auckland District Health Board) has decided to try and pay off the new hospital building by charging for pretty much anything. A signature on a research grant costs about $1500, I think (I'll look it up, if you like - deleted the email but it caused a bit of a ruckus here at the UoA). It's not always free...

Edit - http://www.adhb.govt.nz/researchoffice/

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Comment #209291 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 2:20 am

What social system has a better track record with respect to any social problem than Capitalism?

What am I? Chopped liver? A fart in the breeze?
Comment #209281 by Goldy

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Comment #209281 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 2:12 am

for example the environment remains pretty constant for a very long time then why should it change? look at the Coelacanth - they appeared 410 million years ago in the Devonian and were discover this century hardly changed at all it's appearance

And not forgetting bacteria, fungi, flies, ants, tree ferns, moss....etc. I believe stromatolites have been around since the dawn of life (give or take a few million years...). But they have to pick the animals of relatively recent vintage. Sad - can't even put a decent argument together!

Mordacious1, daughter is going through next phase in life... "No, darling, you have to climb in/out yourself. Daddy's sore!" It works! :-) Wife is down with the cold, I'm just getting over it, daughter...I don't know. Whatever quackery chiropraty is, it did make me less fearful of sneezing. Mind you, nurofen with codein helps too ;-)

Fanusi

which system in human history has a better record than Capitalism with respect towards any social problem?

Probably small family groups in a self sufficient lifestyle. I believe some tribes in the Amazon and the Andaman Isles are exceedingly enamoured of this lifestyle, to the extent of killing foreigners...
As it is, where can one say a pure form of social governance works to the detriment of all others? It doesn't - pure capitalism works for those that it works for, not those that make it work. Pure communism works for those that it works for, not those...etc, etc. The best system is always an amalgam, neither one being better than the other.

Right, SA v the All Blacks (the free match on telly). Haka is done, so I may not respond too swiftly... :-)

Edit - thewhitepearl, I believe how so is answered by the word pure before capitalism. You have to mash it a bit to fit in the socialist ideas. Bit like the religious do with reality :-)

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Comment #209230 by Goldy on July 12, 2008 at 12:25 am

I would say that at the moment, India is becoming, if it is not already, more 'the West' than Europe.

Seeing as they have bought pretty much all of the iconic British brands, I think you're right. And the definitive British motorcycle is....made in Madras...or should that be Chennai...?
Off to wash baby and look after wife.
TTFN!

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Comment #209156 by Goldy on July 11, 2008 at 4:33 pm

Tom Paine

Chiropractic therapy is pretty much proven as a quack treatment and potentially can even be dangerous, as rational people you should apply the same scepticism to alt therapy as to religion. Quackery often has a pseudo-religious or spiritualist root and Chiropractic therapy is no different.

I know, I know - but when you get to the state where you literally can't get out of bed, what can you do? Painkillers - they mask the pain but man do you have to look for the right one. And the pain does not go away.
This feller took X-rays, showed me my scoliotic back and told me what he thought was the cause of my pain. He didn't try anything because of my biomedical science background. Actually, it mostly revolved around engineering - a compromise solution to bipedalism can result in problems later on. He told me he'll try and get the back sorted adn told me the other half of the work is me - I need to stretch and strengthen the muscles to try and rectify the problem.
Oddly, he emphatically said he can't cure me. I'm 40 and the problem too long standing. He said he'll do what he can to help and to try and reduce the incidence of pain recurrence but heal, no. Never. Sorry. That was a bit annoying but what can you do - I shall go to my grave with a double sigmoidal spine, S shaped in two planes and twisted to one side to boot.
If you want quackery, try osteopathology ;-)
At least my body can be remedied to a point, though, whether by science or cryptoscience. The mind, on the other hand...well, you can see what poor treatment of the mind can lead to here :-)
Sorry for the delay in replying to the subject - bloody time difference!

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Comment #208462 by Goldy on July 11, 2008 at 12:53 am

As well, there is evidence that a tsunami hit the east coast about 25,000 years ago with enough force to leave debris in the Blue mountains (i.e. about 1000m. altitude).

Bah, a mere piffle in Oz. Only place I know where one can fly for an hour over a bushfire...and it isn't even reported. An hour?!?
Talking of tsunamis, I did read of one feller's theory that the lack of mammals in NZ (aside from a bat and a crypto-monotreme) was due to a devastating tsunami or two. About 30-odd thousand years ago...

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Comment #208461 by Goldy on July 11, 2008 at 12:48 am

Goldy

Good luck with your back tomorrow, hope it helps.

Cheers mate! Chiropracty the easy part - open wallet, they perform a pecuniectomy and then attempt to snap my spine. The hard part comes now with...shudder!...exercise!

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Comment #208322 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 8:40 pm

I did a huge piss outside a while back. Does that count?

Only if some bloke shot off to Bunnings for wood and nails to build an ark...
Found one myth (or revealed truth, however you want to put it...)
http://www.sacred-texts.com/aus/mla/mla09.htm

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Comment #208316 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 8:34 pm

Goldy , I`ve had this flu for 2 weeks

Bugger!
Laurie, I too feel for Joe. And the other feller and even wooter. I worry for all of them - all this information out there and yet it must be wrong. Txpiper is a classic case - there must have been a flood because mythology says so. Sad that by quirk of history that mythology has been relabelled as religion...
Australia doesn't have any evidence for an inundiation in relatively recent times, does it?

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Comment #208287 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 7:54 pm

But not bad back pains! Coughing hurts - I fear sneezing! Not sure what is worse - the cold symptoms or the back pain - both keep me awake...

2242. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208281 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 7:49 pm

Night? Only 2:48pm here. Just waiting for wife to say we can go home and weekend begins :-)

2243. Religious bigotry upheld in court

Comment #208277 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 7:45 pm

Dragonfirematrix, unfortunately she's in the UK where we appear to have enough idiots who think someone's chosen views matter on religion matter more than the sexuality someone was unwittingly born into.

2244. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #208274 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 7:34 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7495961.stm
txty - what fossils can tell us :-)
One thing you never explained...when a species goes extinct, it's gone forever, right? And when it's gone, nothing takes its place, right? Soooooo.....what are your views on the future of the planet?

2245. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208271 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 7:29 pm

Hmmm. I was just pondering the thought while driving back from the chiropractor. The BBC (AM 810 if you're in Auckland) had a story about a 6 year old girl married off by her father to pay off his creditor. Part of the problem was, well, it's in Afghanistan. Another major part was the poor bloke could not grow opium and so could not afford the debts.
Worrying thing was that Afghans, at least, the rural poor, see women as an economic thing, much like a motorcycle or car, to be bought and sold. Apparently this was seen as being better than India where the rural poor see women as a burden (dowries, etc).
Wonder what our babbling baboons say about this. Particularly interested in Capslock Joe's views...him being a convert and all...

2246. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208258 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 7:07 pm

From the home of Islam...
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=111702&d=11&m=7&y=2008

2247. Religious bigotry upheld in court

Comment #208249 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 6:56 pm

Does this mean gays can refuse to be married by a black person too?

2248. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208242 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 6:48 pm

Brian, 8teist - :-D
Two good reasons I keep coming back here!

2249. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208225 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 6:16 pm

NakedCelt, probably a host of other factors as well, like the ending of the Little Ice Age, a dietary change in Europe due to imported south American tubers (yum!) which helped stave off falling wheat production (except, according to the History Channel, the French), etc, etc. Bound to be a history book where someone gives their pet theory on why it all happened.
But it happened - in the past. A long time ago. The Enlightenment is still in flower but getting past its prime and there are those that wish not to nurture it and take ideas from is as seeds from a plant but cut it down, stamp on it, trample it and be done with it.
The gibbering baboons we have had here shows you what a tiny amount of education wrongly placed and badly directed can lead us to.

2250. McDonald's Makes Jesus Cry

Comment #208204 by Goldy on July 10, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Whenever I go to Xmas or Thanksgiving dinner at my inlaws there is this prick of a brother-in-law who, when 30 people are sitting at the table, makes a point of asking me to say grace. He just wants to remind everyone that I'm an atheist.

Hehehehehe! I can't remember the last time I said grace - think it was at school.
thanksgiving, eh? Simple - grab a turkey leg, raise your glass of non consecrated wine and say "Good wine, good meat, hotdamn, let's eat!"
Sorry for popping in late here :-)