tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96691252024-03-07T23:41:15.383-07:00Reviews, essays, commentary, scribblingsBy William A BaurleWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-80501571372927391052018-06-10T15:07:00.003-07:002018-06-12T11:22:36.261-07:00Free Will Versus Determinism Articles in One Post
My position is as follows (and bear in mind these are my present beliefs. If Determinism is true and all of our actions are wholly determined by natural laws of cause and effect, and if in fact we are not free agents, and if in fact the sense of having two or more realizable courses of action in a given situation is an illusion, then there is no freewill period, a possibility which I do not Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-21638077977069792142017-08-09T20:26:00.001-07:002018-06-03T12:41:12.107-07:00Eratosphere: regressive cesspool
Well me hearties, I have finally, and at long last, been successful in getting my ass out of Eratosphere. Eratosphere used to be a place where intelligent people could gather to express differing opinions about what is going on in the world, and, more specifically, about what is going on in the world of formal poetry.
Well, those days are LONG over. The only way you are going to have your voiceWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-12825846317569677922017-06-04T05:29:00.001-07:002017-06-04T05:37:23.415-07:00PM to someone who needs some Information and a dose of Reality
I won't be returning to C's thread. I've unsubscribed to it and
will ignore it for a few days, then go back and read it; but I will not
be adding any more posts there. It's too risky for me, as I was already
silenced by A. and J. S. for offense given in A. M's T.
W. thread. I just barely made it back without being banned outright.
Background on me:
I barely made it through Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-33421349682392925282017-05-05T23:36:00.001-07:002017-06-04T18:53:53.994-07:00Snowflakes and Snowstorms; FB post
There's a word that's getting popular on college campuses -
"Microaggression". Saying "Freshmen" instead of "First Year Student" is
considered an act of microaggression. The existence of "men" in the term
"freshmen" is "potentially insulting and degrading due to gender
issues." I saw one young lady who considered free speech advocates to be
"suspect", because, in her words, "Free speech Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-46960537922148013782017-05-01T21:23:00.002-07:002017-05-01T21:29:13.390-07:00Radical socialism doesn't work; BB post; Talk Freethought
Originally Posted by William A. Baurle
https://archive.org/details/KolymaTh...ovietLaborCamp
Do you really think some nice guy is going to be at the head of any radically socialist regime?
It has never happened historically. What makes you think it will happen in the future?
j wrote: We agree. I just don't see how you can equate radical socialism with state Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-9461708742053808862017-04-16T21:13:00.001-07:002017-04-16T21:34:38.641-07:00How to be Creepy in 2017
Someone else wrote: The
Dracula things is picked up by Larkin himself in a poem. He had quite a
lot more sex with quite a lot more girls than he let on.
Ruth Bowman
Monica
His secretary, Betty Mackelreth
Patsy Strang
Maeve Brennan.
I had initially written, in the thread this comes from, the following, but decided to snuff it, lest I get silenced again:
"And this would all beWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-17693435926731507372017-04-12T22:04:00.002-07:002017-04-12T22:08:11.531-07:00Hey All You Hellfire Preachers
Hi S.
I thank you for your considerate and erudite message! It comes at a very
crucial time for me, as I am tottering on the edge of a knife: with
faith on one side and a return to agnosticism on the other.
I was an atheist for most of my adult life, from around 18 to 47, when I
had an emotional breakdown followed by a psychotic episode that wound
me up in the emergency room for about Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-2253723660736064132017-03-22T22:27:00.001-07:002017-04-12T22:11:32.533-07:00Write That Check (Free Speech)
Ayn Rand, famous (or infamous) creator of Objectivism, considered the use of agressive force to be one of the 'destroyers of the world'. The other destroyer was faith. I'll leave off faith for another day, and focus on force.
As much as I currently disagree with much of Rand's philosophy (particularly her views on esthetics), I happen to agree that the use of aggressive force is one of the Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-39075335213033324212015-10-25T23:35:00.002-07:002015-10-25T23:50:00.007-07:00Utopia? Nope. FB dialogue
P. O. to me: We could rearrange the how the world is organized such that everyone could attain their heart's one true desire if they are only willing to play by certain rules. I think that perfect happiness would be a sufficient motivator for all besides the few that have short-circuits in their minds.
Moi:
Certainly - if only everyone would abide by the rules, we'd have a Utopia; Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-3772940114947813472015-10-02T02:58:00.004-07:002015-10-02T02:58:49.240-07:00Information versus Entertainment; posted @ FB
I
want to offer some suggestions to the producers of media content
whose primary purpose is to educate people, and not necessarily
entertain them.
If
you have information that you would like to communicate to people
that you think is vital, and that they should understand for their
own betterment, you should concentrate on educating, and lower - or
even eliminate - the entertainment aspect Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-2540270235487003692015-09-27T01:22:00.004-07:002015-09-27T01:22:39.048-07:00Sam Harris, Nominalism, Islam, Mustaches, & Swiss Cheese; navelgazing @ FB
I
was having a discussion with a young man about religion, Islam, Sam
Harris, and accusations directed at Harris of racism and
"Islamophobia". The conversation started off on a sour note
due to some misunderstandings of what I had written. I was happy to
take the blame for that misunderstanding - occasionally my writing is
convoluted, goes off on tangents, and crawls up its own arse. I get
Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-76912527314380204332015-08-09T02:29:00.004-07:002015-08-09T02:29:44.273-07:00Me 8.9.15; posted also @ Facebook
I am a Spinozan agnostic non-denominational universalist
follower of Jesus Christ as I understand Him to be and as He has
revealed Himself in my heart (not the pump in my chest).
I am not diagnosed bi-polar, but underwent treatment for
emotional disorder for a while - to no benefit. My brother and sister
(I'm in the middle) have both been diagnosed bi-polar and both are on
medication. My Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-46345343360032029102015-06-22T21:40:00.001-07:002015-06-22T21:40:37.633-07:00Gun control; rights; @Facebook
Well,
I did some reading as promised, but in the long run my opinion on the
issue remains as it was. Even if it's true that owning a gun puts one
at greater risk for harm, which is self-evident by virtue of what a
gun is: a potentially deadly instrument, that's simply not a
justifiable reason to divest a person of their right to own a gun for
the purpose of self defense. I'm a professional cookWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-68874728863808930952015-06-19T18:26:00.002-07:002015-06-19T18:26:37.675-07:00Media data overload; madfingering @ Facebook
I've got so much I could add to this conversation, I could literally go on for thousands of words. However, I'll try to keep it short and sweet. I think we need to ignore the media. Ignore it flat out. We're in an age now where "information" - (usually misinformation, especially the very first articles or blogs about a particular event or issue, because people are too eager to get their Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-30400009344466891032015-06-12T03:30:00.002-07:002015-06-12T03:30:44.627-07:00Thanksgiving
Whatever
happened to politeness and simple courtesy? At a BB I post regularly
at, which shall go nameless, I've noticed over the past few years an
annoying tendency amongst the more entrenched members, particularly
those who are widely published, to ignore the time-honored etiquette
for such public fora, meaning the idea that one should always thank a
critter for their critique. At least two Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-48123271711520088922014-06-05T22:06:00.002-07:002014-06-05T22:06:32.929-07:00Pontificating at the Sphere; crit and critters phase 1 where Doris gets her oats; as Williamb
Many in this thread have already given expression to most of the things I think and feel about poetry, but there are some things I'd like to say about the relationship between poet and reader, or poet and critter.
There are always people in workshops who take a hard, aggressive approach to critique, and this, by and large, with proper moderation and attention to board etiquette, is a Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-23893267409184232382014-05-18T22:41:00.001-07:002014-05-18T22:44:01.968-07:00"...It's an Orangy sky..."
As a father, I've encouraged my sons to look up Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Rape of Nanking, I've discussed the atrocities of the Holocaust, the evils of war, the evils that occurred in POW camps, the evils of religious, ethnic, and political persecution; as well as to bear in mind the evils of child and spousal abuse, sexual abuse, especially in times when people had no Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-55929045712401879842014-04-22T03:30:00.000-07:002014-05-18T22:45:47.500-07:00Cosmotheological diddlings from Eratosphere; as Williamb
I'll be 50 in two months, and until Feb. 2011, when I was 46, I was an atheist the whole time, just like my pop, who as it happens, turned 70 back in January.
Either I'm insane or I was touched by God. Or something extremely powerful, benevolent, and amazing. I have been an outspoken God-believer ever since, despite the fact that my life is falling apart around me and each day bringsWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-6773529289154187822014-01-11T01:03:00.000-07:002015-06-26T09:45:40.127-07:00'Splainin' @ FRDB; response to D; as WilliamB
D.
wrote: The question was not about art, or the role of art, but the
descriptive efficacy of ordinary language/folk psychology.
Fair
enough. The best way I can answer this accurate rebuttle is to try
and address the exact terms you have used in my own way. I hope this
eases things along and that our interactions can improve.
First:
I would have to say that "folk psychology", at face valueWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-44146121684641058292013-12-26T13:40:00.001-07:002013-12-26T22:54:32.137-07:00"Defending Jesus"; Facebook advert; Christian duty (an opinion, not a knowledge claim).
What's with this "defend Jesus" advert I've seen on Facebook recently? Hello there, Christians, Jesus defends us, we do not defend Him. Jesus Christ requires no defense. He is the defense. Our job as Christians is to adore, worship, and depend on Him, with all we've got, and to witness to others how He has worked in our lives, in the hope that they may realize equal results; not to "defend" HimWilliamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-12274891719121778092013-12-25T23:40:00.000-07:002013-12-25T23:40:10.706-07:00Old PFFA BB post, as Urizen; noun/adjective pairings; modifiers
Scavella, In regard to your exerpts (and I'm only thinking of the first one presently, as the second one is much better, I think), I recall reading somewhere (and agreeing with it) that when people use modifiers they have a tendency to use very common ones, like 'large' 'big', 'small', 'little', 'dark', 'old', and color-words. In the Wordsworth passage I see quite a bit of those kinds of words.Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-76524952629544331542013-12-17T01:01:00.001-07:002013-12-17T01:01:14.132-07:00BB post; on snark vs smarm; criticism; publication; vanity; @ Eratosphere
Well, I read the article linked to, and I don't suppose I had the reaction I was supposed to have. In fact, I pretty much agree, though with some important caveats, with the quote by Eggers:
Do not be critics, you people, I beg you. I was a critic and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me, and spoke with a voice that was all rage Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-11071025301560462712013-12-12T20:55:00.002-07:002017-03-12T22:37:00.378-07:00angryfloof removal phase 2
all gone.
Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-65826686802008544602013-12-11T03:09:00.003-07:002013-12-11T03:32:40.612-07:00On Slavery; Whitefield; attempts at justification via the Bible
In the early 18th century, slavery was outlawed in Georgia. In 1749, George Whitefield campaigned for its legalisation, claiming that the territory would never be prosperous unless farms were able to use slave labor.[18] He began his fourth visit to America in 1751 advocating slavery, viewing its re-legalisation in Georgia as necessary to make his plantation profitable.[19] Partly through his Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9669125.post-14035510918296655482013-11-24T10:59:00.001-07:002013-11-24T12:44:58.110-07:00BB post, unposted; poem critique; sanitation & food safety; BB etiquette
Sounds like N should have called a county sanitarian post-haste. I made my living as a cook from 1989 to 2012, with a two-year stint as Dietary Manager in a Nursing facility. I've done every task there is to be done in a kitchen, save for expert cooking (I'm a cook, not a chef). The moral problem of consuming something forbidden because of religious observance is dwarfed here by the far Williamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09274451416814354460noreply@blogger.com0