Comments on: And Yet It Does Move…

By: Buddy McCue

Buddy McCue — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:31:40 +0000

One Englishman shouting “Rubbish” doesn’t bother me. I assume he wasn’t in charge of anything, no media position, no sway over people’s religious beliefs, no authoritative government office, just one stubborn guy with pre-conceived notions. He only hurts himself, right?

There used to be this joke: A businessman is interviewing people to take the postion of accountant. The businessman asks for the sum of two plus two and the prospective employee looks around, pulls the shades, and asks in a whisper: “What do you WANT it to equal?”

That used to be a joke. It used to be funny. Now, it is becoming the very definition of reality itself. Welcome back to the Dark Ages.

By: Kathryn in MA

Kathryn in MA — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:17:39 +0000

Here i am, happily in the EPU zone to tell another story of someone refusing to participate because of preconceived beliefs – I and my family visited Stonehenge and overheard a guide talking about ‘lay lines,’ which IIRC intersected at this spot (therefore the choice in the siting of Stonehenge). To demonstrate the existence of these lines, he had a dowsing rod which swung to when he crossed a certain line. I tried it as did my boys, but a certain Englishman kept yelling, “Rubbish!” He was invited to try, too, but he refused because it was Rubbish!

By: Canuckistanian

Canuckistanian — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:55:11 +0000

Just a small, irrelevant protest, here.

Can we knock it off with all the “Fitz! Fratz! Footz!” nonsense? Sometimes I have to scroll down a page just to get to the real intelligent commentary on a very sober subject.

It’s geting real old real fast.

By: Buddy McCue

Buddy McCue — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 14:51:59 +0000

The story of Galileo and the Church is a very good example of thinking forward versus thinking backward, in my opinion.

Starting with a question, admitting you don’t know the answer yet, collecting evidence, and finding conclusions based only on that evidence (the scientific method) is thinking forward.

Starting with your answer and fixing or “cherry-picking” all your evidence to support it is thinking backward.

Very, very simple stuff, really. It amazes me that so many people today can’t see the distinction. I mean, the Enlightenment WAS a long time ago, long enough for the lesson to sink in. More people should realize that creating things like Democracy would not have been possible without giving people the tools (or the right?) to observe the world and form independent ideas about its nature. Before this, reality was what the man in charge SAID it was; Truth came from Authority, and Authority came from God.

Wasn’t there an anecdote about Galileo inviting a priest or cardinal to look into his telescope to see the sunspots that shouldn’t have been there (according to the then-current interpretation of the gospels?)

The priest or cardinal refused for fear that it would be questioning his faith? I can’t seem to find it on the internet; I think I remember seeing a painting of this. Little help, anyone?

By: Ruby Tuesday

Ruby Tuesday — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:15:05 +0000

eureka springs @ 53

you say you know of houses off the grid w/AC for only $20K. Anyway you could point me to some sites with more info about such systems? We’re starting a major renovation of our home/office and am doing some solar add-ons like a solar/gas water heater, solar air-to-air heating assist, but the first estimate we got for a more complete solar system was more than $60K. Would like to do PV panels with a grid tie-in.

After seeing An Inconvenient Truth, my partner did agree that we could do more, especially after we went to climatecrisis.net and did the worksheet that showed we put out almost 3X the amount of CO2 as the average family. (Some of those factors are out of our control, like our state utilities burn a lot of coal, and how we reduce our air travel is beyond me, since our business requires that we do a lot of air travel. There’s no reasonable alternative for that, since there’s little rail service here and getting to the places we need to get to are often 1.5K plus from our home.)

If you got some info I could use as we do the plans, I’d sure appreciate it. thanks.

By: nancy

nancy — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 11:43:19 +0000

Uniquely Tim #4

That should be mindfully repeated every day.
We need all the help we can get these days.

By: daCascadian

daCascadian — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:26:59 +0000

EPU`d but what the heck, gotta put this on the record

Since we`re talkin about Mr. Galileo…

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” - Galileo Galilei

By: Talcott

Talcott — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 06:45:42 +0000

Check out this Woody H movie:

http://www.voiceyourself.com/0....._movie.php

Gauranfookinteed…….enjoyment !

By: Lord Jeopardy

Lord Jeopardy — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 06:27:58 +0000

It’s good to have city light pollution at night in our modern world.

If you look at the stars and understand our sun is one star of millions of stars in one galaxy of millions/billions of galaxies in the universe………….isn’t it easy to conclude god is guiding the planet with faith based leadership.

I would have written church or religious or god based leadership but faith sounds better.

By: HopeSpringsATurtle

HopeSpringsATurtle — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 04:42:45 +0000

Thank you Christy for giving me the lowdown. My husband just walked in from the hospital and wrapped his arms around me cause I was crying. He just had an 18 year old Marine die, and still was there for me. He sends his condolences to Jane and has offered to answer any questions or concerns she may have lingering. Thank you again for the warm welcome and I’m very grateful to have found this place. This terrible time in the world has got to pass soon, and I have faith that it will.