Thanks, I thought it was time for a change.

Thanks, Stephen, so cute.

Thank you, Stephen, for the fireworks birthday greeting. I'm happy to report, being 85 is as good as being 84!

Thanks a lot, Stephen.  As it happens, this one is the big 7-0, LXX, Three Score and Ten ... and as it happens, I'm doing well for all those years.

Thank You, I also look forward to meeting new friends and also learing from them!

thank you for the welcome

Hi, and thanks for your welcome!

Noticed your photo about how "Jesus was a socialist"... reminds me of American right-wingers' objection to universal healthcare because of the "moral hazard" that people would be getting "undeserved" services they didn't individually pay or insure for. Chances are a healthy* majority of those right-wingers are Christians, whose entire religion is founded on the biggest moral hazard of all, according to their beliefs: salvation and a blissful afterlife freely given, not through any merits or work of people's own, but as a completely unearned and free gift! If it was good enough for their Jesus...

* (pun not intended, but I'll take it!)

(As opposed to Republican Jeezus! [click to embiggen])

Hi Stephen - Thanks for your comments. I don't really mind people who are prepared to argue their case to me for a god of some description becasue there is no real arugment. I never went to university although I did study various religions with the OU later in life along - with other things to do with the human condition - but, even without the Higher Education of some, I seem to find it incredibly easy to argue the Atheist case - because the case for a god is so weak. It quite surprises me really that their case can be torn apart quite so easily (even by someone of my limited education) once you dispense with 'blind faith' which, in the end, is all they can end up arguing. I have even had discussions with those that have studied and made a career in the church - and in the end it all comes down to the same thing - you just have to 'believe' without any evidence apart from that which has been manufactured in the past by others of faith in order to obtain and keep power over the (what was then) uneducated masses. They will always argue that the Big Bang cannot be the origin of everything - because it's stupid to believe that something can come from nothing and then they go on to argue that their god came from nothing in order to create us - which really is the definition of arguing against yourself. Now, I don't know if the Big Bang is the answer - nor do scientists - that's just the best explanation they have at the moment - until knowledge improves on the matter - at which point they will look at the evidence and see where it leads them. This is the complete opposite of what religion tells us to believe - that god came from nothing to create the universe and that, despite any evidence to the contrary - we must continue to believe that - oh yes, and if we don't, we will roast in the burning pits of their imaginary hell for eternity - so speaks their all powerful and 'forgiving' god. Anyway - if evidence ever comes along to prove me wrong - I will follow that evidence - as all rational people would. Take care now. Pete BG