Religion and Ethics and Health BBS

Religion and Ethics and Health BBS
[ Religion and Ethics and Health BBS ]

This doesn't seem a healthy environment. Posters above the rules,

Posted by Azriel on December 12, 2025, 7:45 am

40 year-old grudges, nasty responses to simple questions and an unwillingness to openly discuss issues other than individually, hidden from others. Time to depart the snake pit.

This board is dead. "Hammer DNR Plague" killed it.

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on December 13, 2025, 2:37 pm, in reply to "This doesn't seem a healthy environment. Posters above the rules,"

Now the Three Stooges have invaded the crypt.

Odd. You're the most abusive poster I've encountered, but you take

Posted by Azriel on December 22, 2025, 6:31 am, in reply to "This board is dead. "Hammer DNR Plague" killed it."

No responsibility for your own behavior. Every fault is to be found elsewhere. OK. I'm commenting based on a very short period. Maybe the last couple of months have included some personal horror show in your life that has turned you into a remarkably rude and abusive person. Anything is possible,, but I'd still expect more civil behavior from an adult.
You're the reason I skip the politics board and the board that appears to be "yours" is just an echo chamber you consider a perfect example of what a board should be. We're Back Where this post began, Odd.

Re: This board is reduced, but not quite dead.

Posted by Christopher Blackwell on December 14, 2025, 3:58 pm, in reply to "This board is dead. "Hammer DNR Plague" killed it."

It still depends on who posts and what they post.

The old format is preferable.

Posted by GOG on December 14, 2025, 12:50 pm, in reply to "This board is dead. "Hammer DNR Plague" killed it."

Like your board is now. The setup is more conducive, user friendly, all at a glance.

I like not having to page down ten times to find recent replies

Posted by trish on December 16, 2025, 12:08 pm, in reply to "The old format is preferable."

Far quicker review than this current blockage.

Posted by GOG on December 22, 2025, 6:54 am, in reply to "I like not having to page down ten times to find recent replies"

However, there are greater issues. Like some complaints that I’m posting more than my share. LOLS:-))))

try the search feature on your computer

Posted by trish on December 22, 2025, 1:30 pm, in reply to "Far quicker review than this current blockage."

plug in the words you're looking for. It's fast

What words do you suggest? And what for?

Posted by GOG on December 22, 2025, 2:17 pm, in reply to "try the search feature on your computer"

I am sure you are aware of the concept of keywords

Posted by Trish on December 22, 2025, 3:33 pm, in reply to "What words do you suggest? And what for?"

so if you're looking for X topic, use that as your keyword. Or you can use your name for the search.

It will save you time

Some people like seeing their names over and over again

Posted by Mugwump on December 17, 2025, 2:17 pm, in reply to "I like not having to page down ten times to find recent replies"

Even if they have nothing of value to say.

Who?

Posted by GOG on December 13, 2025, 4:53 am, in reply to "This doesn't seem a healthy environment. Posters above the rules,"

It has become a waste of time.

Posted by Dancing Digits on December 12, 2025, 8:02 pm, in reply to "This doesn't seem a healthy environment. Posters above the rules,"

I gave up trying to have a conversation around here. Insults and counter-insults abound and take over threads.

A shame cause we had some pretty damn good posters here who left. And speaking of damn good posters. . . has any heard from Sara/7:77? Events in Japan had me wondering.

What else would you do?

Posted by GOG on December 13, 2025, 12:18 pm, in reply to "It has become a waste of time."

Are you retired?

What I always do

Posted by Dancing Digits on December 13, 2025, 2:41 pm, in reply to "What else would you do?"

Read, arts and crafts including canvas painting, piano/music studies, and best of all spend time with my family.

Retired? I am no longer employed. I do still work - keep house, maintain the yard, do laundry. . . all that hum drum stuff that humans do. Gardening can be a joy, yard maintenance not so much.

My house is a pig sty. Before the advent of the internet

Posted by GOG on December 14, 2025, 12:56 pm, in reply to "What I always do"

I cleaned. Was immaculate. The furniture and artifacts are organized. But dust and straw everywhere. Oh well….. I think the net is conducive to staving off senility.

Didnt you say you lived off the grid and had dirt floors in your house made of mud bricks

Posted by Lucky on December 22, 2025, 2:44 pm, in reply to "My house is a pig sty. Before the advent of the internet "

I like my A/C and electric heat ,but if you like living like that is fine with me no skin off of my back.

I have a love/hate relationship with the internet.

Posted by Dancing Digits on December 14, 2025, 1:53 pm, in reply to "My house is a pig sty. Before the advent of the internet "

I can research from my comfy chair at home whenever I want, coffee cup or hot chocolate in hand and dressed in the most comfortable clothes. I can converse with people I would never have been able otherwise. I can find old clips of TV shows I miss. It can be very, very entertaining . . . BUT

It's also a rabbit hole that leads to a massive cavern filled with things one can use to waste time galore. And time is something we can never recapture once we use it and its gone. There's no going to the Time Store and buying more minutes of life.

It has become a companion of sorts for some, especially the lonely or bored. It has become a place where lies and crap spread like wildfire.

It has its benefits but like so many things, it is also misused, over used, and even abused by being a means for nefarious purposes (hacking, scamming, spreading crap). I something wonder if we were better off without it when I was a kid. Or maybe I've just become an old fogey.

Australia "has implemented a world-first ban....

Posted by Skye on December 14, 2025, 3:56 pm, in reply to "I have a love/hate relationship with the internet."

on major social media platforms for children under 16, effective December 2025, requiring platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to block underage users to reduce cyberbullying and harmful content, while many Australian states also have bans on mobile phones in schools to improve focus and well-being. This national social media ban places responsibility on tech companies, with potential hefty fines for non-compliance, and complements existing state-level school phone restrictions, with all states now having some form of "off and away" policy for phones during school hours."

Don't know how effectively that will be enforceable, but it might not be a bad idea.

Australia is now having its problems with religious violence in the news of late. Very sad. It is supposed to be a safe place where gun violence is very rare, which is no doubt why some religious groups or people who have felt persecuted and unsafe in the world at large have gone there for peace and protection.

Sadly, politics and religion seem to have a lot in common... you have to have 'faith' in the leaders who all too often are going to war playing like they are 'God' or God's favorites.

Australia started as a prison colony. Looks like it is reverting back.

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on December 14, 2025, 6:28 pm, in reply to "Australia "has implemented a world-first ban...."

Gun violence in Australia is rare due to strict firearm laws....

Posted by Skye on December 14, 2025, 8:21 pm, in reply to "Australia started as a prison colony. Looks like it is reverting back."

In fact, they have been one of the safest and most peaceful countries to live in since cracking down on gun ownership many years ago after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. They just don't want or need others coming in with their guns and their grudges.

AI Overview

Gun violence in Australia is rare due to strict firearm laws enacted after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, with a gun death rate significantly lower than that of the United States. However, a recent high-profile terror attack has brought the issue back into public scrutiny, with concerns raised about the rising number of privately owned firearms and potential legal gaps.

Key Statistics and Trends

Overall Decline: The annual rate of total gun deaths in Australia fell from 2.9 per 100,000 people in 1996 to just 0.88 per 100,000 in 2018.

Mass Shootings: In the 18 years before the 1996 National Firearms Agreement (NFA), Australia experienced 13 mass shootings (defined as five or more victims killed). In the decades following the reforms, no mass shootings occurred until a recent attack in December 2025.

Homicides and Suicides: Rates of firearm-related suicide and homicide both saw accelerated declines after the laws were introduced. Firearm suicides, the largest component of gun deaths, more than halved in the ten years following the reforms.

International Comparison: Australia's gun death rate is about 12 times lower than that of the US. The US experiences a rate of death from gun violence over 10-fold higher than Australia.

The 1996 Gun Law Reforms

Following the Port Arthur tragedy, the Australian government, with bipartisan support, implemented sweeping reforms:

Bans: Military-style semi-automatic rifles and pump-action shotguns were banned from civilian possession.

Buyback Program: A compulsory, government-funded buyback program removed and destroyed over 650,000 firearms from the community.

Strict Licensing & Registration: Gun ownership is tightly regulated, requiring a license with a "genuine reason" for ownership (self-defense is generally not considered a valid reason). All remaining firearms were individually registered.

Current Concerns and Recent Events

Despite the success of the 1996 laws, recent events and reports have highlighted ongoing challenges:

Bondi Beach Attack: In December 2025, a terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach killed at least 15 people. One of the gunmen was a licensed firearm owner, raising questions about current vetting processes and the "gold standard" of the laws.

Increasing Gun Numbers: Recent reports indicate that the total number of guns in Australia has quietly risen in recent years, with over 4 million firearms now in the country—more than at the time of the Port Arthur massacre.

Gaps and Loopholes: Concerns exist regarding inconsistent state laws, a lack of a fully unified national gun registry, the black market trade, and the rise of 3D-printed firearms.

The recent attack has led to renewed calls from politicians for tougher gun laws to address existing gaps and ensure the laws are "fit for purpose

It is doubtful that new laws had significant effects.

Posted by DFM on December 22, 2025, 1:46 pm, in reply to "Gun violence in Australia is rare due to strict firearm laws...."

Violence was on a long-term decline BEFORE the "massacre" and continued on that decline afterward. The change in gun laws had no effect.

I think Japan too?

Posted by trish on December 17, 2025, 10:01 am, in reply to "Gun violence in Australia is rare due to strict firearm laws...."

NY state has banned cell phone use during classroom hours

Posted by Dancing Digits on December 14, 2025, 4:56 pm, in reply to "Australia "has implemented a world-first ban...."

in the public schools. Sometimes things work in reverse though - ban something and it becomes more desirable. I don't know what the best approach is to all of this but doing nothing is not a good option.

Organized religion, though perhaps not intentionally divisive, often is by its very nature. Politics here in the US has a very 'us versus them' mentality. I believe much is driven by the desire for money and power.

I agree with this but for the instance in which a child

Posted by Trish on December 16, 2025, 1:36 pm, in reply to "NY state has banned cell phone use during classroom hours"

might need to be picked up due to an emergency. Then something would have to be worked out with the teacher as to where to keep the phone

Agreed

Posted by Skye on December 14, 2025, 5:08 pm, in reply to "NY state has banned cell phone use during classroom hours"

Sometimes you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

We have friends in Australia, and we were just talking about what is going on there now. I think they resent other people coming there and bringing their problems with them. Very hard to be isolationists in this world today, though. If we don't learn to live together, or side by side, accepting our differences with mutual respect and fairness... we may well end up in another world war, which we all know is NOT an option with a likely good or viable outcome.

Give me a filing cabinet. And my old clunky ring phone.

Posted by GOG on December 14, 2025, 3:54 pm, in reply to "I have a love/hate relationship with the internet."

The silicon beast. It’s ALIVE. it’s ALIVE. A silicon Frankenstein. I agree with your post. I learn a lot. There used to be conspiracies galore. That was fun. And enlightening. But unfortunately social media platforms now decide what is misinformation. And that censorship is 90% political. So, for me the internet is a former shadow of what was the free flow of information. Sites were my decision to interact with. Now I’m totally forced into a sanitized woke subjectivity. The thrill is gone.

I miss gardening SO much

Posted by trish on December 14, 2025, 9:38 am, in reply to "What I always do"

I used to have an incredible vegetable plot (including growing corn one year). But with my medical issues...

Always wanted a veggie garden in this home.

Posted by Dancing Digits on December 14, 2025, 9:51 am, in reply to "I miss gardening SO much"

My father had a magnificent one - grew just about everything one can think of. Absolutely nothing like fresh veggies plucked and eaten the same day.

We get too little sun here - between being upstate NY and surrounded by mature trees, we are lucky if we get 4 1/2 hours of direct sun during the peak of the summer. I tried growing crops, but they were very leggy & thin and we had no real yield. The ground here needs constant work - very sandy and poor.

So I content myself with flowers and evergreens. But I must be picky over the variety I grow.

I can no longer sit on the ground . . . can't stay there long and getting up is getting harder. I have a folding garden bench that I drag around with me. Not the same as sitting on the ground, working the soil with my hands & the sun on my back (which I love!), but at least I can still garden.

You're probably right. It is a snake pit, isn't it?

Posted by Mugwump on December 12, 2025, 4:53 pm, in reply to "This doesn't seem a healthy environment. Posters above the rules,"

But it is a personal choice whether one chooses

Posted by Christopher Blackwell on December 12, 2025, 6:03 pm, in reply to "You're probably right. It is a snake pit, isn't it?"

to take part in the snake pit side of this forum, Azriel. It is one of the reasons that I post articles rather than my opinion. Then those that read the article can post their own opinion about the article and I have no need to argue with them. I don't place much value on mere opinion, that includes my own.

That's nice, but nobody reads That Homely Miss Cox stuff because it is full of bias.

Posted by Mondo Fuego™ on December 14, 2025, 6:32 pm, in reply to "But it is a personal choice whether one chooses "

People get their daily fill of bias from CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS/NPT.

Intellectuals get their information from NewsMax and Fox, especially Fox Business News.

Well you have shown your own reason for bias.

Posted by Christopher Blackwell on December 15, 2025, 11:33 am, in reply to "That's nice, but nobody reads That Homely Miss Cox stuff because it is full of bias."

So your own bias is understood, because of your chosen news sources.

Your opinion is way more valuable to a discussion board than

Posted by GOG on December 12, 2025, 6:49 pm, in reply to "But it is a personal choice whether one chooses "

100 paragraphs of facts and fiction.

Re: You opinion is way more valuable to a discussion board.

Posted by Christopher Blackwell on December 12, 2025, 8:17 pm, in reply to "Your opinion is way more valuable to a discussion board than "

GOG, not in the way that it encourages hateful comments, name-calling, and insults, much like teenagers do to impress other teenagers. Few of the discussions here are actually adult like.

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