Natural Wonder Fellowship

Hello  Thoughtful Thursday. Religious nonbelievers are frequently harassed in the name of 'being saved'. I don't mean the bigotry, obnoxiousness, condemnation and so on from acquaintances (or strangers). I'm talking about the loving , deeply held belief that [some] family members think they will "save me from hell". Ah, jeez!  Fortunately, I have read the religious texts, various versions of them. Mom, if you truly believed your writings, then you know that I was saved long ago because * you * believed, Acts 16:31. Daughte r, forget the naysayers who claim it doesn't mean what it clearly says; that it was 'modified' when taken 'in context'; "they" aren't 'Real Christians'! Wasn't I 'saved' when Mom had me baptized as a baby? (Don't mention my DeBaptismal Certificate , LOL) Wasn't I confirm-saved when I ate those blessed crackers (cookies? wafers?) that morning at church? (Don't mention I was 6-7...

This was meant to be thunk about on Thoughtful Thursday, but... we can think on other days, too. How do you see yourself in relationship to 'the group' or 'the crowd'? Are you a member of "the crowd"? Are you not a member, but pretending to be because... [whatever personal reasons - often fear of rejection or retribution]? If a close friend or family member were having doubts about the dogma of the group, would you want to know? How could they best broach the subject to you? Would you continue to love and support that person? For instance, "Christian". I used to think it was a generic term basically meaning belief in the biblical "Christ" as a deity. I've come to realize that if that were the case, there would not be so many versions of "the church" and "christianity". I'm not counting mosques or jewish or hindu or pagan temples; I just mean "christian church". Straight off I ask, why are catholic ch...

Amazing Grace is among my favorite songs. For some reason, I especially like it when played (well) on bagpipes. If I can't have bagpipes, then I want strings. Listening to it, with or without lyrics, gives me chills. It is one of the first "real songs" I learned to play (not especially well) on my keyboard (on the 'strings' setting). Its lyrics are actually troubling the way they're usually interpreted though. You can be as obnoxious, as downright positively evil as you like, for as long as you like, throughout your life. Then halleluiah open your eyes to the [biblical 3-in-1 true] god, recognize the 'gift of grace' from this particular 'loving god' and you're good to go to your 'reward' (where you'll worship the 'loving god' for 10,000 years, and then 10,000 more). Hundreds of versions of this song exist on YouTube. This one for instance , gives me a tremendous headache in less than a minute. (It is far too sharp, ...

Chip is a complete sweetheart. He loves people, he loves other cats. He especially loves his litter mate brother Chad. It's hard to get a picture of just him. He's usually with another. He loves to play with rawhide string, and watch the birds. He really loves to eat, LOL. I noticed about a year ago that "the boys" were getting quite fat, but many of the others kept getting thinner...  yeah -- "the boys" were eating most of the overnight kibble put down for the entire group. Just to be sure, we took them to the vet for blood work. They're on scheduled meals here, with free feed only over night (Precious is teetering on the edge of whatever was not wrong with her litter mate Boots). Blood tests for them showed normal -- no hypo-thyroid, no nothing. So we isolated "the boys" overnight in the first bedroom. They began to lose a bit of weight, very slowly.  CC's babies - Oct 26, 2009 This litter has been with my rescue since late Octobe...

George Wallace - 1960s Maybe we need a history refresher course. The Democratic Party of today is the result of the splintering off of those "southern democrats" and "dixiecrats" who moved to the "Republican" party late 1940s into the 1950s-1960s -- the civil rights movement and the Johnson administration. Have you heard of Strom Thurmond? After a southern Democrat (Truman) "introduced a pro-civil rights platform at the party’s 1948 convention, a faction walked out. These defectors, known as the 'Dixiecrats', held a separate convention in Birmingham, Alabama. There, they nominated South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, a staunch opposer [sic] of civil rights, to run for president on their 'States Rights' ticket."  How about George Wallace? He refused to join the Republicans -- to him in 1948, they weren't quite segregationist enough. There are dozens of articles about the "switching" of party platforms when in ...

Someone posts "Face Masks Don't Work" and pastes copy from a cited article. Within the copy, it is kinda clear they are talking about the influenza virus. The assertion is this is 'official' from the CDC as of May, and insinuates it's related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. At least poster did provide a link [ https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article ]. Following that link, you find the quote is from a piece originally published February 6, 2020, included in the May 2020 magazine issue, talking about the H1N1 and H2N3 flu virus, based on metadata from studies conducted from 2005 through 2019. It has zero, zippo, nada to do with the new coronavirus. In February, few beyond official government channels were even aware of a threat from a new virus. Is the poster confused, or maybe just careless? Or is the poster deliberately trying to mislead the reader?  This kind of thing goes on daily, across social media platforms and private blogs. Why do conspiracy...

This is one of my favorite stories. I was going to quote it here, in full because I don't know how much longer it will be available on its host site ( https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/taxes/how-splitting-the-dinner-bill-relates-to-tax-cuts/article24441644/ ) I read this long ago; I think the post I cite (by a Canadian author) is a later copy of the one I originally read (yes, it was *that* long ago). I just found another version, still getting comments (in 2020):  http://www.jonasmaxwell.com/pages/index.cfm?pg=234&cat=5    So, the first four lunch mates are complaining because they got none of the discount (but 'forgot' they were paying none of the original cost) and the next few didn't get any but were no longer paying even the reduced amount they were paying, the next couple few didn't get as much in absolute rebate as the richest one. The same applies to say, primary home property taxes. We all pay the same rate. We'll ca...

Huh, I just noticed this. I never quite realized that blood magic and hexes were part of Christianity. I mean, I knew it but never quite recognized the significance of knowing it; you know what I mean? Not the prayers for this or that, or the you'll be damned and cursed for thinking this or doing that, but spoken incantations. Yes, many rituals too, but this is really magic. The blood sacrifice (animal and human), blessing by a 'priest', protection spell (benediction?), divination (prophesy?), hexing or cursing by a layman? Like the sample to the left, the words are inspired by scripture. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a protection spell; looks more like a curse. It is exactly the sort of thing that the sorcerers and seers (and 'priests') would provide, for a fee of course, in case you felt you needed that 'extra oomph' from a professional. This kind of generic spell casting is easily attributable to dozens of beliefs and religions that came before and ...

On these "troubled times" -- people demonstrating in the streets, making demands for equality, for change -- or, if you're a Fox News follower, people rioting and looting, trying to destroy the American way of life... How much of the injustice and prejudice we see around us is directly attributable to religious dogma? Deep, under the surface tensions brought on by poverty, by unemployment, by lack of health care, by extreme "law & order" enforcement policies, by rejection of social programs... how much has been justified in the name of religion? If a person can say their 'god says', they relieve themselves of personal responsibility for heinous acts taken in the name of  that god. Matthew 12:18 Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. -- a particular special or chosen people 1 Corinthians 14:34 Let your women keep silence in the...

In my private rescue, I get way more inquiries ('is so-and-so still available' is my favorite -- no, s/he is on my 'adoptables' page because I need to answer more phone calls or e-mails; or 'can I get one of [bonded pair]?' rarely even gets more than an eye-roll) than I get applications, and I get way more applications than I get adoptions. The applications without really meaning it are the most disappointing. This happened again over the past couple weeks. Chan, Beau, Bitsy, Chip, Chad Nov. 2009 Adopted! Early 2010 Chip & Chad are male bonded litter-mates. There were 5 in that litter, and I actually had that mom, too (a calico cat who I called CeeCee). Three orange tabbys (Chad, Charlie, Chip), a Siamese looking male (Chan), and a little black female (Cherry). The kittens were about 4weeks old when I got them in October, 2009. Over the next couple months, the usual care was given (it's a lot more work than that makes it sound). Charlie showed ...

I found this a while ago. I am just now posting it here. Your loved one is no longer in pain, finally at peace, no longer suffering -- no longer there for you!! If you truly loved, hope you too, will have many scars.

It is a GLORIOUS day! Carrie used to mock me for saying that, hahaha. She was not (still isn't) an early riser. Dawn/sunrise right now is about 5:30 here. I grabbed this short video audio about 8:30 to share the morning symphony I am lucky enough to enjoy with my first few cups of coffee. Not a lot more to say -- I'm still working on a multi-part piece on the history of racism in America (it's much more involved than I expected). Image to the left is a still from the video. I so enjoy being surrounded by nature :) Brad manipulated the raw video from the tablet (Win10) so I could post it here. I think it's part of nature that when your partner does something considerate or helpful or otherwise thoughtful that you forget the dozens of times said partner has been a "turkey". It keeps you happier and prevents you from stabbing them in their sleep, hahaha!! A deliberately short memory may be (one of) the secrets to a good, long lasting relationship.

Ad hominem attacks do not help your cause. Inflammatory language propagated by biased news providers does not help your cause. WHY, why, why do people do this?  'The  city ’s mayor, Jacob Frey, has stopped short of vying [sic] to abolish the police department, although he said this week he supported “massive structural reform to revise a structurally racist system.” ' https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests-reform/minneapolis-city-council-resolves-to-replace-police-with-community-led-model-idUSKBN23J2W5   Reuters and APNews are 2 of the main sources of news picked up by consumer outlets. Even Dailymail's page name ( https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8416087/Minneapolis-City-Council-unanimously-votes-replace-police-department.html ) was more accurate, but its body subtitle switched to the 'ABOLISH' language. No other daily used this language -- there's 'disband', 'replace', 'reform', 'create new' and ...

Do worms have genders? Who thought of that, and why? But oookaay, curiosity is a good thing. Question everything, learn something new every day. I went looking on google to try to understand the "Rowling transphobia" discussion. I've known gay people both male and female; I 've known men and women. I had an interesting discussion outside a mall public restroom with an apparent male in female garb. She seemed uninsulted when I asked my ignorant questions, and I answered when she asked me what I was waiting for. It seems people are labeling themselves, beyond transgender (gender dysphoria?) to include genderless and intersex (not even including hermaphrodite and similar in this discussion). Nowhere have I seen anything that says someone without a uterus can menstruate nor that a 'person who menstruates' is not a woman. That does not mean that all women menstruate. A transman would have a difficult mind fuch every month until that thing is removed (or he ages out...

In mythology, gods and goddesses maintain or gain power by the worship they receive. Really fervent worship by the greatest number of worshipers is required for a god to stay stronger than the neighboring god. Worship may include approved rituals, giving gifts, and much, much periodic (daily or maybe hourly) praise and glorification to the god (or goddess). Gifts may be  of money, jewels, oils,  animals, food stuffs, young children [infants for who knows what (eating??, just to steal the innocence??, to show how much the parent is willing to sacrifice -- what kind of insecure sadist is this god??) or prepubescent or teen girls or sometimes boys (for sex for the leaders??, for what/why??).  We've heard about the Inca mummified children found in the 1990s, believed to have been a sacrifice about 500 years ago. The bible story of Jephthah's daughter is similar - to thank the god for winning the battle.] -- almost anything considered valuable in the culture of the time could ...