Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

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Philo Sofee
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Philo Sofee »

Lem wrote:
Fri Dec 18, 2020 3:42 pm
gemli taking the comical approach to Lou's lecturing:
gemli Louis Midgley
Gemli appreciates Dr. Midgley's interest in improving his mind, but sadly it is already full of useful knowledge, and there are alarmingly large bumps on his cranium due to information overload. Gemli will have to forget some things before new knowledge can be added.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeters ... 5189619393
The third person mocking is quite clever. I hope it drives Midgley nuts so he can grasp how childish it really is rather than intellectual as Lou supposes.
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Philo Sofee »

Gadianton wrote:
Sat Dec 19, 2020 12:04 am
I'm being totally honest here. I woke up in the middle of the night laughing about Gemli's bath comment.
Yer sick! :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'd threaten to sue him for infraction of sleep capability.... :D
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Gadianton »

Physics Guy wrote:This sounds cute from gemli but actually he has walked right into a standard theistic argument.

When I ask, "Why is this water boiling?", I often find it to be a good answer that my wife is making tea. If gemli were to berate me for ignoring the thermodynamics of water and instead using a story about the purposeful acts of an intelligent being to explain the boiled water, it would be obvious that gemli was playing a silly word game of wilfully misunderstanding what I meant by saying my wife had made tea. Yet in objecting on principle to all explanations in terms of intelligent agents, gemli is committing that sophistry.

The fact that there is clear evidence for my wife's tea-making, and not so much for the devil's bath-taking, is beside this point. The issue of evidence for the particular agents in question is another issue which gemli can certainly raise. To pretend that there is anything fundamentally wrong with explanations in terms of intelligent agents is just dumb, though. I'm wondering now how much serious thought gemli has really put into this stuff.
I'll try to respond without laughing because I'm seriously boiling rice now. I'm with Lem that Gemli's intent is pointed to sneaking supernatural explanations into ordinary data, which encompasses the majority of SeN's fascination with the supernatural. The only agent-causation argument I'm familiar with is for the beginning of everything, as the uncaused cause would be an agent. If Gemli meant the Devil is purposefully making the water boil then I suppose he could have intended it in that sense. It's actually interesting to consider this as I hadn't thought about mythological explanations this way before.

I take it Gemli means that the devil, accidently, is causing water to boil because he has to take a bath like everyone else but he's so hot from the fires of hell consuming him that the bath water boils. And a lot of mythology is like this, routing things the God's do destroy empires and reverse fortunes. Like stepping on an ant hill.
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Moksha
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Moksha »

Loved this exchange:

Gemli Kiwi57 • 4 days ago
. But his command of the English language was magnificent, his knowledge of history was first-rate and his ability to rattle his opponents was a joy to behold. So I take your utter disregard for him as a purely defensive maneuver so that you don't get a boo-boo on your frontal lobes.

DanielPeterson Mod gemli • 4 days ago
Oooh! Can I play?

Give me sixty seconds, and I'll name ten people who could easily hold their own in terms of intelligence, education, world political experience, philosophy, history, religion, with Christopher Hitchens.

Heck, William Lane Craig -- Ph.D. (Birmingham), D.Theol. (Munich) -- would easily make that list. Incidentally, his German is excellent. (I've heard it, and my German is . . . well, I can pack away schnitzel like the Bavarians at Oktoberfest, even without the beer.)
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Lem »

Moksha wrote:
Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:34 am
Loved this exchange:

Gemli Kiwi57 • 4 days ago
. But his command of the English language was magnificent, his knowledge of history was first-rate and his ability to rattle his opponents was a joy to behold. So I take your utter disregard for him as a purely defensive maneuver so that you don't get a boo-boo on your frontal lobes.

DanielPeterson Mod gemli • 4 days ago
Oooh! Can I play?

Give me sixty seconds, and I'll name ten people who could easily hold their own in terms of intelligence, education, world political experience, philosophy, history, religion, with Christopher Hitchens.

Heck, William Lane Craig -- Ph.D. (Birmingham), D.Theol. (Munich) -- would easily make that list. Incidentally, his German is excellent. (I've heard it, and my German is . . . well, I can pack away schnitzel like the Bavarians at Oktoberfest, even without the beer.)
:lol: I'm pretty sure a little poetic license was taken there.
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Lem »

Sigh. Midgley gives his fellow Mormons such a bad name.
gemli Hoosier •

Fortunately, I've not had to overcome not liking him. I've watched The Office several times, and it gets better with every viewing. Then there's the the two-part sequel to The Office, "The Christmas Special," which, like all good comedy, will leave you in tears, and cheering.

----
Louis Midgley gemli •

gemli, it turns out, is just a bag of sloppy emotional froth, who seems glued to the TV, except when he is not posting comments on sic et non.

-----
gemli Louis Midgley •

Gemli mentioned only a series and it's sequel by Ricky Gervais. But because he is capable of human feeling, he will tear up on occasion. If Dr. Midgley is unaffected by sloppy emotional froth, he might try watching an adorable little Japanese animated film called Grave of the Fireflies."

http://disq.us/p/2dx8bc3
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Moksha »

Louis Midgley gemli • 3 hours ago • edited
If this sort of thing actually moves the emotions of gemli, who boasts of seeing himself and all other human beings as mere accidental globs of meaningless sentient goo, he might try actually reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon, where he could, if he cared to open himself to actually knowing something about divine things, actually move past mere emotional froth. One problem is that the one who gemli worships--one of his surrogates for God--Christopher Hitchens, insisted that life would not be worth living without a second bottle in the evening. And he did not have in mind a can of Diet DP or Diet Ginger-Lime Coke.
Ginger-Lime Coke?!!! I need some of that in my fridge.

Midgley really does come off like the Grinch some times. Too much harsh gospel worship perhaps.
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Moksha
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Moksha »

Lem wrote:
Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:11 pm
:lol: I'm pretty sure a little poetic license was taken there.
I like to refer to it as the Millet Method. Helping ask the question they should have asked here, helping fill in the sentence they should have answered there. Discreet changes to help illuminate the subject matter at hand.
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by Philo Sofee »

Moksha wrote:
Sun Dec 20, 2020 8:56 am
Louis Midgley gemli • 3 hours ago • edited
If this sort of thing actually moves the emotions of gemli, who boasts of seeing himself and all other human beings as mere accidental globs of meaningless sentient goo, he might try actually reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon, where he could, if he cared to open himself to actually knowing something about divine things, actually move past mere emotional froth. One problem is that the one who gemli worships--one of his surrogates for God--Christopher Hitchens, insisted that life would not be worth living without a second bottle in the evening. And he did not have in mind a can of Diet DP or Diet Ginger-Lime Coke.
Ginger-Lime Coke?!!! I need some of that in my fridge.

Midgley really does come off like the Grinch some times. Too much harsh gospel worship perhaps.
Hey, I have recently discovered Ginger Beer also. It's not alcoholic, and it is quite delicious to the taste and very desireable. I mix in some half and half with it, then add some vanilla, and wala, a Ginger Beer milkshake! Can't wait for summer to add in the ice cream!
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Re: Still gemli's gems: still the best reason to read a blog

Post by malkie »

Reading some of Midgely's comments that are addressed, directly or indirectly, to gemli, I'm struck by how sad they are.

Midgely seems unable to let anything that gemli says go by without a snide remark, or a demeaning assumption. However, his comments are not smart and witty, not clever in any way - just a steady stream of low-grade unpleasantness.

I wonder if he is pleased with his performance, and feels that he is making a positive difference in the world with this sort of trash.

Does he feel that it is his Christian duty to so act? Does he imagine that his Lord and Saviour looks on with approval?

In his mind, is this a valiant defence of Mormonism?
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