Sorcerer to be Executed

[DesDownunder]

Saudi Arabia is going to execute a 'sorcerer'.

Cenk's comments at TYT says it all.

[Trab]

One of the comments in response also says it all. Religions need to disappear for humanity to progress.

[Guest BTDT]

That's interesting, but what really is a sorcerer. I mean that the Bible tells us not to tolerate witches among us, but is that similar to a sorcerer. I think I need a dictionary and a picture encyclopedia to all these hate terms. I am not sure I am hating the right person and what has lately become the flavor of the month to hate and kill. Excuse me, to send to their heavenly reward.

They kill you for having a Christian Bible over there, small wonder that they kill you for just about anything except blowing up infidels.

[Trab]

dictory

Is this Freudian, or what?

[JamesSavik]

Can they get Johnathan Edwards too?

[EleCivil]

I have a strong suspicion that my former boss is a witch.

You listening, Saudi Arabia?

Also, John Proctor is sending his spirit into my room at night. He's an all right fellow, but he and The Devil always leave quite the mess. At least, that's what I tell people when they notice how disorganized it is.

[Guest BTDT]

Is this Freudian, or what?

No, just an old man with bad eyesight. I had internal bleeding in both eyes and two years ago went blind. I have had a series of operations and can see partialy out of one eye and it is sometimes hard to see what I type. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Trab]

That's okay. Glad you have at least some vision now.

[DesDownunder]

I'm sorry to hear about your limited vision BTDT.

Please don't worry about the misspelling, I mistype all the time, but catch most of it with a spell-checker.

What gets through is usually caught by our well intentioned pedantically correct spelling obsessed members.

They can't help themselves, especially if there is a double meaning revealed by the misspelling.

And then of course there is the different spellings that occur between real English and American English...we can't do much about except grin and bear it.

It's really the thoughts that counts in the posts, and we all appreciate that.

[Cole Parker]

And then of course there is the different spellings that occur between real English and American English...we can't do much about except grin and bear it.

Ahem! Real English is what we practice on this side of the pond. Fake English spoken with a strange sort of funny sounding incomprehensibility and which also is often spelled wrong is what's practiced down in the part of the planet where the water swirls the wrong direction down the drain, which screwiness has obviously slopped over onto and taken captive some of the people who live there, too. And of course there are people who speak the anachronistic English of the place where the smart ones all left several centuries ago to create a more enlightened nation over here.

And some people, some who won't be named, just love to bare it and then grin.

C

[DesDownunder]

... the smart ones all left several centuries ago to create a more enlightened nation over here.

"Smart ones?" Republicans? Naughty DesDownunder...

And some people, some who won't be named, just love to bare it and then grin.

You mean smiling through the cracks? :spank:

As for screwiness, G'day.

[Cole Parker]

All this talk of smiling reminded me of a song from long ago, back when the air smelled sweeter and all that rot. I just looked up the lyrics. They're pretty good:

Smile

Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though it's breaking

When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by

If you smile through your fear and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You'll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness

Hide every trace of sadness

Although a tear may be ever so near

That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use of crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile

That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use of crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile

[Trab]

Lovely, Cole. Thanks.

After reading it, I started to think about something I'd read year and years ago. I've tried a quick google but found nothing on this, however, I'll related what I can recall. It seems that some research was done that indicated strongly that there is a reciprocation between a smile and feeling good, and not just with someone else seeing the smile, but within the person doing the smiling. Somehow, there seems to be an interconnection between the thoughts of the brain and the smile. Yes, a happy brain may cause a smile, but somehow, strangely, a smile on your own face can induce the brain to become happier. So, it is not just that smiling instead of crying is logical, it may well be the answer to lift you out of your depression a bit.

[DesDownunder]

Smile to Live Longer?

Ernest L. Abel and Michael L. Kruger at Wayne State University have found that the larger your smile, the longer you may live. Yes, that?s right; ?smile intensity? seems to have a statistically significant effect on a person?s longevity.

In their research, to be published in the journal Psychological Science, the professors conducted an amusing case study that used a sampling of 230 photographs of baseball players culled from the now-defunct Sporting News Baseball Register. The professional ball players were chosen as a representative sample because detailed life statistics (such as birth, death, education, marital status, etc.) were available for each, leading to a more conclusive study.

The players? headshots, taken in the lead-up to the 1952 season, were analyzed by the researchers and their assistants and given flat distinctions of either ?no smile,? ?partial smile? or ?full (Duchenne) smile.? After some Web sleuthing, the researchers compiled the life data for the baseball players and controlled for body mass index, career length, marital status, college attendance and other longevity factors.

The results? Even a partial smile added years to a player?s lifespan.

On average, the players with no smile lived for 72.9 years, a full two years less than those who exhibited partial smiles. Those with the largest grins reaped an even longer lifespan: Players with full smiles lived to 79.9 years, almost two years longer than the typical life expectancy for an American. That?s an overall difference of seven years of life between those players that chose not to smile and those who gave wholehearted grins.

The researchers also ran the same study again and rated each of the players headshots based on a three-point scale of attractiveness. Unlike a player?s smile, there was no significant correlation between a player?s perceived attractiveness and their longevity.

But smiles, it seems, can be telling about our characteristics.

?Individuals whose underlying emotional disposition is reflected in voluntary or involuntary Duchenne smiles may be basically happier than those with less intense smiles and hence maybe more predisposed to benefit from the effects of positive emotionality,? concluded the researchers.

Before you smirk and explain that there must be some other factor involved, it?s worth mentioning that this study is not an anomaly. The researchers cited numerous other studies displaying the powerful effects of relatively simple facial expressions and emotional conditions like involuntary happiness or sadness.

See the above report from Miller-McCune site.

Speaking for myself, I am sure, I think it would help me live longer to bring loving smiles to the faces of a baseball team.

Jokes about getting to first, second or third base, and home runs along with sitting on the bench, battering up, etc., are obviously going to make us all live longer if we remember to laugh at them.

:spank: :icon1: