Facing Danger

In the face of danger,

Fight or Flight are the only option

To those without Faith

Dann J Flesher, Jan 26, 2014                             

Facing Fear

Fear knocked at the door,

Faith answered,

And no one was there.

                                         English Proverb

                

FACT-CHECKER ?

Several months ago (Dec 2016) There was a flap on Forbes about Snopes  It was started by Kalev Leetaru in his article titled "The Daily Mail Snopes Story And Fact Checking The Fact Checkers".  It was at the time that Snopes' husband-wife founders were concluding a very public divorce, and people were arguing over whether Snopes was still to be considered trustworthy as an "unbiased" source.

I had posted this comment "About Bias" shortly after the original article came out:

About BIAS (December 2016)

“We are unBiased”; that is what all of the self proclaimed “Fact Checkers” say.  It is their bread and butter, a ruse to get ‘everyone’ to think as they do.  By my own definition they fit within a rule that I established about 30 years ago (see below).  My answer is to get the opinions of people with strong biases from each side of an issue before deciding for yourself.  Repeat that process frequently, recognizing and admitting your own bias.

“If ANYONE tells you they are NOT biased, then they will LIE to you about ANYTHING.” (Dann J. Flesher) (an original Flesher-ism, circa 1985)

Today, eight months later, I received notice of yet another comment on the original story. Over this time there have been pro/con comments, portraying either the avid trust of Snopes by some, or the disgust with Snopes by others.  Does this "Fact Checker" have the ability to judge all matters of human endeavors by claiming to operate as an "UNBIASED" source?

So, with the continuing comments, I felt compelled to repeat my own position, which, I had vainly hoped would end the discussion.months ago.  My position is about all such sources of judgement, not just Snopes.  This position is rather harsh and perhaps abrasive to some, and I can find no flaw in it, but then, I do admit that I am Biased.

To clarify, I personally have several 'biases', especially on subjects like Religion and Politics.  Recently I noted that I have a Political Bias somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan.  However I also have a strong Religious Bias... which thankfully prevents me from acting out my Political Bias.

Dann Flesher (July 20,2017)

At the risk of being redundant I will repeat my comment on this article made months ago. Since I have never heard it said before, and no one seems prone to repeat it, I will retain (and renew) my copyright on it here: repeat it only with the copyright notice attached. Since all humans are biased, this rule also applies to almost (?) every “human run Fact Checker”:

“When someone says they are NOT biased, they will lie to you about anything.” (c) DJF 2017

Selah

Here is the same thought expressed in 'free verse' and two different ways.  I would appreciate your thoughts on which is clearer, which is more appealing to you, and any comments on either.

THE SACRAMENT

and

PRETENDING

In Gethsemane and on the cross

He pretended He was me.

In my daily life and when taking the sacrament

He asks me to pretend I am Him.

Dann J. Flesher

6/4/2017

PRETENDING

In Gethsemane and

On the cross

He pretended 
That He was me.

In my daily life, or

When I pray to our Father, or

When I take the sacrament,

He asks me,

For that moment,

To pretend

That I am Him.

Dann J. Flesher

6/5/2017

WEAK MINDED CONSERVATIVES...

OR

How not to answer "Today's Toughest Questions"

Conservatives PERSIST in letting Bleeding-Heart-LIBS change the meaning of simple words and concepts, and thus miss-direct the Debates. IF we Conservatives try to respond to these FALLACIOUS premises, we lose before we even open our mouths. Our first action as a Conservative is to conserve the language.

Do You need Examples???:

First Example: NEITHER Obama-Care NOR Trump-Care address improving or even maintaining our HEALTH CARE. The LIBS have changed the vernacular, and they have won. Both Bills are only about the MONEY involved; "who pays what, when, to whom, how much, and how often".

WAKE-UP! They both are only "INSURANCE COST Bills" not "HEALTH CARE Bills". So which "(fake) Health Care Bill is best? Neither! They are simply not about HEALTH CARE !!! 

This should be our first response to any question about this legislation: "These are INSURANCE Bills, not Health Care Bills. Now do you want to talk about INSURANCE or HEALTH CARE?"

Anyone should see that a REAL Heath Care Bill would be concerned with the number of Doctors and Nurses vs the number of Patients. It should also discus the expansion of acceptable (and proven) health care methodologies and providers, like MD's, Nurses, Acupuncturists, Physical Therapists, Nutritionists, Dentists, Chiropractors, Pharmacists, Herbal Medicines, and many others. New Laws or Government Research Grants for real Health Care should force (or at least entice) these entities to cooperate with each other in both research and patient treatment activities... instead of being at war with each other over the MONEY. Only then do they deserve our financial support.

{Where are the voices of the AMA, the ADA, the ALS, .. and the hundreds of other US Health Care organizations in these bills??? These are the entities who should be called on the carpet in the oval office to provide a plan for our future health. Very few Politicians (who are mostly Lawyers) can dress wounds, or prescribe the best pill, or recommend a diet change ... so why should they be expected to write a good first draft of a real "health care' bill?}

Another Example: Abortion. Here, the Libs ask us "When does LIFE Begin?" We think it is a valid question, so we attempt to answer. However, there is NO scientific or medical answer to that question... whether you are speaking of a specific person's 'life' or of 'life' in general... No One Knows! So the only valid response to that query is: "No one Knows... what is your next Question?" If we even try to answer that question, or even consider it as being valid or even debatable, we automatically LOSE.

A related REAL question (with REAL answers which often send LIBs running) is "When does LIFE END?" "When does Death occur?" Now, there IS an established scientific and medical ANSWER to that question: Life Ends when the attending doctor or an M.E. "calls it", and then writes down the date and time. Then, following the "WHEN?" answer, there are more, related questions which can, and often must, be asked ("Where?", "Why?" and "WHO was involved with this Death?"). Much simpler questions to answer, isn't it? Aren't they?

Conservatives, you must THINK before you answer tough questions. And, don't even try to answer FALLACIOUS questions. Instead, take a little time, look for the converse to the FALLACIOUS question, then ask your opponent that REAL question.

The result is often Cryptic or sometimes even humorous; I find that watching a opponent divert their eyes and start to stutter can be quite entertaining.   xxx

  

ARE YOU WRONG ?

CONGRATULATIONS !

I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU !

Here are a few related statements that should make you reconsider your day and rejoice in it. If being wrong has ever made you sad, then these similar concepts should help you avoid that problem in the future, perhaps even right now.

Think carefully about them and you might suddenly be able to think of another way of expressing this idea, that will brighten your day tomorrow. Please add your own statement to my comments. 

• It is wonderful to discover that we are wrong. It is a major step, if not the only step, to learning and to our personal progress.
• Being disillusioned is a step in the right direction, a temporary discomfort is replaced with a better, but not-yet-perfect, view of reality.
• The book and concept of “Psycho Cybernetics” (Maxwell Maltz, 1960) correctly proposes that 'negative feedback is more positive than positive feedback'. Negative feed back allows us to change direction to choose a better, more certain, path to an important or complex goal. Positive feedback doesn't even confirm to us that our instruments are still working.
• If your image of life today is the same as it was yesterday, there is a good chance that either:1) you are still asleep, or 2) that you have died and no one has yet been kind enough to inform you.  

I would love to add more to this list in the future.  If you would like personal credit for you concept please put your name in parentheses, (me), after your comment.

Hugh Nibley and Thoughts on how we Perceive Beauty and Perfection

About: Hugh Winder Nibley (1910 – 2005) graduated Summa Cum Laude at the university of California, Berkeley in 1938.  He became a professor at Brigham Young University in 1946, and published 19 books
. 
The Concept

"We recognize what is lovely because we have seen it somewhere else, and as we walk through the world, we are constantly on the watch for it with a kind of nostalgia, so that when we see an object or a person that pleases us, it is like recognizing an old friend; it hits us in the solar plexus, and we need no measuring or lecturing to tell us that it is indeed quite perfect. It is something we have long been looking for, something we have seen in another world, memories of how things should be."

    “Goods of First and Second Intent,” Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 9:528

Plato and Socrates

I remember a story that Plato wrote about his teacher's, Socrates's, belief in a pre-existent life. While teaching his students Socrates called over a young slave boy, drew a crude triangle in the sand, and asked the slave boy what it was.  The slave boy answered, "It is a triangle." The teacher drew a second triangle making the lines much straighter, "And this?" he asked? "it is also a triangle?" the lad responded. Then Socrates took a straight edge, drew the best triangle he could, and asked again. The puzzled boy gave the same answer.

Then Socrates asked, "Which one of these three triangles is perfect?" The now frustrated boy said, cautiously, "The last you drew is the most perfect,... but actually, sir, none of them are perfect?"

Socrates, smiled, thanked the lad and dismissed him, then turned to his students.  "How can this slave boy, draw that conclusion? Unlike you, has had no teacher, no training, yet he understands that my triangles were not perfect. He has never seen a perfect triangle in his life on this earth. For him to understand perfection, he must have seen it, and he must have lived, somewhere else, before he came to earth."                

From The Archives

Turkish philosopher and advocate Harun Yahya has been quoted saying,

“I always wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place

when they can fly anywhere on the earth,

then I ask myself the same question.” 

Science VS Nature

Scientific Studies say that bumblebees can't fly,

But they can !

Scientific Studies also say most old people can't smell.

But they do !

INSIGHTS into CAPITALISM

A former neighbor of mine was an anarchist as well as horse-race fan.  He thought good neighbors should save money by sharing tools; and so, he often shared mine.

He complained to me one day that the executive leaders of big companies were being paid much to too much. I replied like this: "You like to go to races, don't you?.  At the track only the first three, fastest horses win, right?  But those three winners are the only reason that all the other horses are brought to the race.  And higher stakes bring in faster horses, right?"

He had to agree and I continued my analogy something like this.

Capitalism is similar to the horse race ... but in Capitalism most of the slower "horses" get paid too.  They are not paid as much as their leaders, but they are still paid, just for "running".

Besides that, in a free capitalistic society we have at least four (4) free-will options we can pursue.  If or when we think that our boss makes too much money we can either: 

1) Outrun the boss (or out perform them) and take their job.  If you are still of a mind set to lower your own executive wages your Board of directors will appreciate the gesture, and you will have less competition for your job.

2) Leave that company, start a competing business and be the "boss" (an "entrepreneur" - most complainers can't spell the word, much less become one 😐).  Then, if you are true to you own code, you can work very, very hard and pay yourself less than your former boss. That may lower your product costs and you can try to drive him out of business 😓, 

3) Learn how you company actually works in detail, especially learn the financial part, and determine what you would be willing to pay someone else, with just your current skills, to do your current job (putting your own discontent aside).  Depending on how that compares with similar jobs, that should either a) make you more content with your own salary, or b) it will give you the incentive to ask for a raise, or c) change companies. Either way you skills will be improved.

4) Just keep the job and whine about it being "unfair", like most of those people do who can't actually do any of the first three.

(Some, like my former neighbor, would take option 5, and desire to destroy Capitalism... and most of your above options with it.  But the horse track kept him out of any real political competition.)

Unlike the horses, Capitalism gives us real choices.

Just sayin'...

THE SEARCH MUST GO ON

Consider the goals of these three widely diverse groups.

First: SETI Scientists – SETI and their followers in the scientific world, in media news rooms, in colleges, among teachers and kids down to pre-schoolers.

Second: Science Fiction buffs -- writers, readers, film and TV followers, “Con” attendees everywhere.

Third: Religions – all of Christianity, plus most religions with origins in the Middle Eastern breadbasket, plus most American Indians (Amerinds), and many others.

     Question: What do these billions upon billions of Humans have in common?

     Answer: WE are all looking to the sky with the hope, prayers, and deep desire that we may soon see 'visitors from outer space'.

Whether it is God, or gods, or E.T. and his family, or aliens, or Captain Kirk, or, heaven forbid (pun intended) even Darth Vader,... if they do exist, we desperately need their help.

We have made a mess of so much of our planet and violently abused most of our siblings living on this planet. The Chaos continues, and seems to be getting worse.

We don't even know how to sanely govern our physical resources, much less tend to the more important mental and spiritual resources that have been placed for our safe keeping.

There are a few of us inept residents that even seek to govern all of us. They appear to be willing to destroy 99% of what is here, both people and resources, just to be able to screem out loud that they are “Kink of da Whole Verld.*” (*a 1970's punchline of a joke about Henry Kissinger). These aspiring Kinks only compound the chaos.

It seem obvious that real help cannot come from this planet.

Therefore we search the skies, with hope in our hearts.

The Search Must Go On !

             So Say I, So Say Us All !!! (... except for the aspiring Kinks.)