Snowflake's Forum

 Does God exist was asked of us yesterday. I find it odd that the more important question wasn't asked. DOES THE DEVIL EXIST? For an answer to that age old question, we should refer to the experts, wouldn't you agree? Yes, the Devil is real. He is “the ruler of the world,” a spirit creature who became wicked and rebelled against God. ( John 14:30;  Ephesians 6:11, 12 ) https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/is-the-devil-real/ Satan is real. In the premortal life he was known as Lucifer. He rebelled against our Father in Heaven’s plan during the great council in heaven and sought to destroy the agency of man. He was “cast down” and became the devil, the enemy of righteousness and of those who seek to do the will of Heavenly Father. He is the author of deception and lies, a subtle and practiced deceiver. (See  Moses 4:1–6 .) He and his followers try to imitate the work of God to lead people astray. (Odd, I thought all priests imitated the work of God, but what...

Yes, we’ve been over this fundamental religion question a zillion times.   But let’s try it... one. more. time. Q: How do you know that God exists or doesn’t exist? FIRST, it is necessary to give your definitions of “know,” "God," and “exist” before you present your argument.   So p lease do that, because definitions can make all the difference in debating something.   If we can’t agree on definitions, we are talking past each other (speaking different languages). SECOND, give your argument.  DO you know?   Yes, No, I don't know.    If "Yes" or "No," what’s your "knowledge" proof?   If "I don't know," you will be left off the knowledge hook. Granted, it's a complicated subject, but let’s figure this out, once and for all. 😉 (by PrimalSoup)

  My spouse and I decided to go for a walk in the woods this morning. We chose a spot nearby–if the smoke from the local forest fire came rolling in, we could beat a quick retreat. We live in western Oregon, where the climate has been described as 9 months of temperate rainforest and 3 months of Mediterranean summer. Except, in the last 5-10 years it’s more like 7 months of temperate rainforest and 5 months of Mediterranean summer. The native plants were in bad shape for this time of year–leaves wilted and yellowed from thirst. They have 6-8 weeks to go before they’re likely to get rain. Snowberry, vine maple, huckleberry–even the poison oak was thirsty. Dead douglas-fir spotted the landscape, killed off by a combination of drought and beetle.  The ecosystem I grew up in is dying. Which means the world I grew up in is dying. It will be replaced by a different ecosystem–something more drought tolerant if current trends hold. I’m planting many drought tolerant trees on my proper...

We all know how our digital-age equipment (i.e., computers and their peripherals, our phones, pads and laptops, what have you) can constantly (let’s call it) “challenge us.”   Like that rambunctious child wanting attention, something always seems to be “acting up.”   “Look at me!   Look at me!!”   (Nee-ner nee-ner neeeee-ner)   Our equipment can be very temperamental “siblings,” always vying for our attention. 😉 Then you got your “storage” problems.   That’s always scary. 😱😭 Warnings like “Your X is almost full.   Buy more storage here.”   Who hasn’t experienced  that threat?!? So here are today’s questions: How “full” are your devices and when’s the last time you checked them? Do you pay for extra storage?   If yes, how much for how much? Have you ever had a “crash”?   Something “died” on you and you had to somehow get it back.   (Buy a new thing, re-create/rebuild it or get some nerd to do it for you, etc.). Do you ...

"How do we save our planet ?" asked the World Economic Forum in June of 2022. "Some economists believe the only way is to radically scale back our global consumption of resources."   They go on to state that " The solution is essentially to move away from the assumption that growth is good. "One of the things degrowthers would like to see is  the end of gross domestic product (GDP) being used as a measure of economic progress , notes The Conversation. GDP measures an economy’s entire output of goods and services." In addition, Tim Jackson, with Bill McKibben and others, wrote "Prosperity Without Growth ,  published in 2011 and revised some seven years later.  In it, they argue against the pursuit of exponential growth as a basic human good, a basic belief among economists, politicians, and ordinary voters (and non-voters) alike. I would like to buy this book!  I think we really need to think about how both bourgeois industrialism and everyday hum...

  Here is the real scandal.............. Whistleblower tells Congress the U.S. is concealing ‘multi-decade’ program that captures UFOs WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is concealing a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers  unidentified flying objects , a former Air Force intelligence officer testified Wednesday to Congress. The Pentagon has denied his claims. Retired Maj. David Grusch’s highly anticipated testimony before a House Oversight subcommittee was Congress’ latest foray into the world of UAPs — or “unidentified aerial phenomena,” which is the official term the U.S. government uses instead of UFOs. While the study of mysterious aircraft or objects often evokes talk of aliens and “little green men,” Democrats and Republicans in recent years have pushed for more research as a national security matter due to concerns that sightings observed by pilots may be tied to U.S. adversaries. Grusch said he was asked in 2019 by the head of a government ...

Let’s talk about aging. Peter Taylor has an interesting question: Do you see yourself as being your chronological age? Has it always been so? For example, when you were 8, how old did you see yourself as? How about 15? 25? 40? 60? 80?   Did you think of yourself as younger or older than you were chronologically? Was there a point in your life when you swopped over from seeing yourself as older to seeing yourself as younger (or vice versa)? How do you think others see you? Posted for Peter Taylor by PrimalSoup

I recently ran across a list of more than 100 philosophical questions to ask people.  So, providing it goes over well, this series should last us a long time… and then some!  I hope you will stick with us and participate to help make it a success.  You will know the series by the upcoming titles “Philosophical Question [#]”.  So, the next one after this will be entitled “Philosophical Question 2,” etc.  I might also include a “hint” (subject matter) in the OP title.  Not sure yet.  TBD. Personally, I love those kinds of heavy, thought-inducing, ethically-challenging questions that philosophy provides.   Not everything can be fun and games, amiright? 😉 The questions presented in this new series are questions that you’ve surely heard many times before.   However, now your response will be “just for the record.” Don’t worry, I won’t torture you daily with such heavy questions.  😁  Just now and then, sprinkled in with the questi...

SNOWFLAKE asks: If you are country could you ever live in a city, or if you are city could you ever envision the country life? If you’ve had both such living conditions, what has been your experience with each?  Are you currently living in a city or in the country?  What’s the current population of your area? (Posted for SNOWFLAKE by PrimalSoup)

 I purchase the rights to a product and want to give it a fresh, innovative, and inspiring new name and logo. What do I do? Hire an army of advertising specialists? Ask people who have been using the product? Or just make the change myself? Then there is Elon Musk. He MUST BE a genius. I mean who else but Musk would take a product and rename it..................... Now, you gotta admit, THAT one is simply brilliant. Betting he had a lot of sleepless nights coming up with that little gem. Amirite?? Twitter's blue bird has flown as Elon Musk unveils new 'X' logo Elon Musk and Twitter chief executive officer Linda Yaccarino unveiled a logo for the social media platform on Monday that featured a white "X" on a black background as a replacement for the familiar blue bird symbol. https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/twitter-x-rebrand-1.6915706 Best comment from the comment section: X...now there's a name that's really going to distinguish itself. Now if I send a fil...

Fellow Blogger Thunder and I were discussing the influence of the media on humanity. When it comes to swaying peoples’ likes and dislikes, wants and desires, opinions and beliefs, who is in most control?  Ourselves, or the media?  If a little of both, give your percentage breakdown. To put it another way, are we more an extension of the media, or is the media more an extension of us?  Who's really running the show? (by PrimalSoup)

This is what WE have come to folks. Seriously. Never mind Trump, or the war in Ukraine, or record-breaking heat waves, THIS is what people are talking about........... Box Office: ‘Barbie’ Opens to Record-Setting $155 Million, ‘Oppenheimer’ Shatters Expectations With $80 Million Debut "Barbenheimer" fueled the fourth-biggest box office weekend in history https://variety.com/2023/film/box-office/box-office-barbie-oppenheimer-opening-weekend-shatter-records-1235677601/ All I can say is........... when a movie about Barbie sells more tickets than a historically significant movie, then something has gone wrong with our collective psyche.  OR........ has it? Is "escapism" just what we need right now? More: Barbie vs Oppenheimer: The funniest Barbenheimer memes and reactions It's officially Barbenheimer Week!  If you've been living under a rock lately, you might have missed the intense online buzz surrounding the epic cinematic clash between Greta Gerwig's hig...

and less sectarianism in our movements!!  😊 Posted by Jennifer A. Nolan  

                                                                        Who put the bomp                                                      In the bomp bah bomp bah bomp?                                                                                                               Who put the b...

Hope everyone’s doing good/well today!  Here’s something lite to cap off your weekend: Dan T  asks: Favorite plant and animal, and why?   My follow up question : If you had to be…or not be some plant or animal, what would it be/not be, and why? (by Dan and me, PrimalSoup)

 When I was in college in Kentucky , I dated a young lady from Hendersonville for a time.  During Spring Break, I stayed with her and her mom and was "invited" to join them at church.  Hey, I was not just a northern boy, I was Jewish.  I'd never been to a Baptist church, let alone one south of the Mason-Dixon Line.   It was ...interesting. When we left, we climbed into her mom's car and drove around the corner -- and there it was.  The same church.  I mean, brick-for-brick, the facade, even the sermon listed on the church sign, a doppleganger .  I asked my girlfriend why there were two identical churches on the same block, and she explained that was the Black church.  We had been at the White church.   "We built that for them so they'd be more comfortable among their own kind." She said this without a wisp of irony.   So that "they" would be more comfortable.   Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.   It took her...

  The past seven years have been painful and disorienting. As horrific as the antics of the mango messiah have been, what has disturbed many of us even more is the sense that we no longer can trust, or even respect, our fellow Americans. How could they possibly support a person who is so transparently a horrible person? I’m here to take a stab at answering that question–and in the process, to suggest that Trump supporters are not terrible people. Decent people can want an indecent leader.  Bill Clinton was in my opinion a pretty good President. I voted for him twice. I continued to support him after it was clear he had abused the power of his office to take advantage of a young intern, and then lied about it under oath. And then shirked responsibility by questioning what the meaning of the word “is” is. OK: None of that amounts to launching an insurrection against the United States. But it was during the Clinton years that I came to believe that Americans want a President who ...

History of National Hot Dog Day Given the National Hot Dog Day is an international event, where it begins and who sponsors it tends to vary by region. In the USA it’s primarily the industry partners that participate in promoting it, whereas in other countries around the world it may be historical organizations celebrating the role it played in their history. Did you know that the Frankfurter was named for the Germany city of Frankfurt, where it was said to originate? Well now you do! There’s even multiple varieties of Hot Dogs! The original hot dogs came in a natural casing, which in case you didn’t know were made from the small intestines of sheep. Intestines were regularly used for making all kinds of sausages, hotdogs included! Then you have skinless hotdogs, in order to hold them together they’re cooked in a cellulose casing that gets taken off when they get packaged. Since cellulose is kosher and cheaper than kosher intestine, this is often how the frankly (heh heh) delicious Kosh...