DesDownunder

You forgot the earthquakes. We evidently cause earthquakes as well as the other things you list. Of course really big earthquakes are a bit beyond me at my age. It's enough for me if the man in my bed tells me that the Earth moved for him. And don't forget to have your way with the lions before giving them their Christian offering, it really makes the Leos chow down.

Yes!

You could also say: Reply under consideration. or This comment has been superseded by other thoughts which are still not worth mentioning. Next!

Cole, that was how we were taught in Australia, too. We had copy books of perfect cursive writing that must have been written by celibate monks. The customary dipping of the girl's pigtails in the inkwell scored extra marks for the boys who did that...usually red marks across their backsides.

To moisturise the piston

No, grapevine is wrong. I'm good for another 300,000

The principles they care about are petrified, without any compassion for the people they affect in the real world we live in. As for abortion, I would never tell a woman what she should do with her body, so long as she doesn't want to involve me. I wouldn't tell a man what he should do with his body, unless he wanted to involve me, but then celibacy has never been a priority for me. In fact I think homosexuality is the perfect answer to avoiding unwanted pregnancies.

The R.A.C.Q. is known for its roadside service. I think it's interesting that the husband was watching the show of the mechanics equipment. I'd love to hear the explanation the mechanic gave to the doctor when he got his stitches.

Religious discussion: It's strange to think that so many of us who were raised as Christians (and in other religions) have followed reason to become non-believers in the supernatural. There are many discussions available on the web about the virtues of teaching religion as myths from our earliest attempts to make sense of what we experience. Our ancestors did what they could by explaining their experiences of the real world: thunder, lightning, wind, and rain,etc,. In doing so they not only created gods to explain these things, but they created religions, myths that were to become the basis of philosophies, art, even science itself. The study of comparative religion as a history of our attempts to explain our experiences shouldn't be a problem. Neither should such studies be a covert operation to convert the students to the beliefs of those early myths. I remember my public school teachers making the case for how our early myths developed from many gods to a single god; all perfectly logical. Early lessons on evolution were somewhat limited, and in hindsight, I guess even the good teachers of those days didn't quite understand the full impact of evolution theory. Alongside these relatively enlightened historical studies, we had religious instruction classes. Once a week we were divided up into various denominations of Christianity and were lectured by the local priest, pastor or rabbi, if you were Jewish. Family life also influenced our thinking, but in many cases, the gods of our families were alcohol, football, or infights. Religion fell by the wayside of the demands of the culture. The search for the meaning of life had become lost in a marriage of funerals and weddings, mostly, for the sake of commerce but hidden behind a veil of religious fabrication, itself a commercial enterprise. Then there was the brainwashing by Hollywood religious epics. The impact of the visual images portrayed on screen should not be underestimated. I have seen Bollywood movies from India about Hindi myths and it becomes easier to understand just how mind numbing biblical epics have corrupted our ethics, and perception of reality. In all this then we might see the study of comparative religion as well worthwhile from a literary view. We can understand how we have arrived at the crossroads of irrational belief, and scientific investigation. We must choose an informed education based on evidence, or an irrational belief system created by the ideas of ancient ancestors. Even Richard Dawkins proclaims the worth of the literary value of the books known as the Bible. Shakespeare and other works of art rely on the audience being familiar with the biblical myths. Exposing the myths of our earliest attempts at explaining the cosmos is an essential part of education, lest we create yet more ignorance rather than understand how we can evolve our experiences of reality in all its truth, grandeur and beauty.

This might be of interest to see how discrimination is confronted in Australia. A NURSE and a Newcastle BHP worker made history in 1995 in a legal case over $915. Not that Andrew and Bill Whitbread-Brown knew it was legal history at the start. Their case against health insurer NIB was a significant milestone in the fight for legal recognition of gay and lesbian relationships in Australia, but the two men weren't aware how significant until their story made news around the country. "I think when we saw it on the front page of a newspaper it was like 'Oh my Lordie, this is bigger than we thought'," Andrew says. "We thought it might have been a little news article in the Newcastle Herald because we were from Newcastle, but it was clear it was bigger than that." They are talking this week as federal politicians play catch-up with the community and count the numbers for an historic marriage equality vote. Read the whole article: http://www.theherald.com.au/story/3126314/its-time-for-positive-change/

Thanks Guys. I have already run Malwarebytes...no objects found. Java is latest update. I always look for added toolbars etc., when I'm installing or updating software What seemed to be happening at JMG was the advertisements seemed to trigger the Avast anti-virus warnings, many of them, one after the other, but that might just be a coincidence. The warnings ceased when I exited the JMG blog. Anyway I thought I should post the alert above for all to see.

Joe My God website has a virus that AVAST anti-virus is detecting. It is a threat that keeps repeating itself until the web page is closed.

There's a whole new world of crazy out there, Chris. Whether it's religion or politics, the right wing conservatives have been tarnished by their ignorance, The left wing is a cause of concern in that there is an obvious breakdown in understanding its own ideology. I find Bernie Sanders a man of some hope, but I doubt that he can withstand the right wingg attacks. In Australia we have joined so many other countries in the shift to the right. Fascism is rife, even if its actions are covert, but what is of real concern is that so many respond to greed and avarice put forward as a legitimate path to a future that the right wing worships and the left wing seems helpless to stop. Hawkings, Hitchens, and Dawkins have all warned us that the reason we do not get visited by aliens is because civilisations that eventually achieve the same position as we find ourselves, inevitably destroy themselves. I could go on with much more, but currently I think we are surviving because we do, with a little calm thought, see that there is much to gain by not allowing these shape-shifters to ruin our day. If they want a war they can wait whilst I examine the worth of getting out of bed. And when I do arise it shall be with a joy and a sadness of knowing I tried to live without creating this mess, or contributing to it. Like the last war against fascists, just when do we become like the enemy and fight for peace?

"...kinda like television." particularly when the television broadcasts sporting events. I don't have a problem with people participating in sports, provided they don't tell me that god demands me to join in, or that I must act like I recently updated my frontal lobotomy. Sport: competitive conformity.

If I remember correctly, this is the second time a dog has won BGT. Once was enough.

Animals should have their own talent show.

I believe it was the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 in England that was used to charge Oscar Wilde with Gross Indecency. However, I'm sure that under the Inquisition and various other crusades, laws, and affronts to human rights, 1385 probably, wasn't a real cool time to be gay either.

Delays until August are a travesty of justice in the political process. "Justice delayed is justice denied," and marriage equality is about the justice of equality human rights. I agree Graeme, don't hold your breath. Abbott and the LNP will probably try to use marriage equality as a wedge issue at the next election. The LNP, under Abbott, are playing delay tactics, and the religious fundamentalists are getting louder, every day in their opposition. You could be forgiven for thinking they are from 1885.

The longer the parliament plays political football, the longer we have to wait for our goal of human rights and marriage equality. We are plagued with opportunistic pragmatists who are subject to factions which have lost their relevance to the ideologies that once influenced the Aussie fair go for all. We'll be lucky if the final marriage bill permits couples to marry without restrictions on the sale of lube.

Penny Wong (Labor member) wrote: Yesterday I watched Bill Shorten introduce a bill in the parliament to make marriage equality a reality. It was an amazing moment to witness and a significant time for so many in our community who have been fighting to make marriage equality a reality for so long. That’s why I’m surprised to hear that when Tony Abbott and the Liberals met this morning, they didn’t discuss marriage equality at all. Not at all. Tony Abbott said that when a bill came before the parliament he would let it go before his party room. It’s time for him to keep that promise. Mr Abbott might be refusing to talk about marriage equality, but we all know Australians want to have this debate. Share our petition online and help us keep up the pressure on Tony Abbott to support marriage equality. We’ve currently got over 65,000 signatures from people supporting marriage equality online. Let’s make it 100,000 before the end of the week and make sure Tony Abbott knows where Australians stand. http://www.itstimeformarriageequality.org.au/

Thanks Mike, that's the one. Hope y'all can see it now.

Sorry guys, er I mean, dudes, the censoring of videos is something that frustrates me all the time. Many U.S. shows like The Daily Show and others, are unavailable in Australia (and I suspect other places). Sometimes the shows become available after a few weeks. Of course a VPN connection might help, but it's a bit of a bother. Suffice it to say that there is an active attempt to finally get marriage equality through the Australian parliament, but the politics of it are being turned into a religious football, and from within both the left and right wings of the parties. Only in Australia could we expect apathy to be suddenly confronted by the forces of bigotry as an intellectual argument. Luckily, our laconic sense of satire and humour refuses to play ball except when we ridicule the ludicrous nature of the usual tantrums. I posted the above video because it was an example of this kind of response to the stupid.

"Live long, your prostate" -Yoda greeting to a Vulcan.

What more can I say:

Gives a whole new image of fisting.