What was your first ever EVC post? Do you read it now and cringe with embarrassment? Do you read it now and feel the glow of self congratulatory consistency? Do you read it now and wonder when that once polite, reasonable and respectful person that you used to be became such a pompous self righteous arse?
This thread is intended as an opportunity for a bit of self-deprecating fun. Maybe some serious reflection if the mood so takes you. Especially if you have an EVC "journey" to tell.
I am particularly interested in the first/early posts of those regular members who have been posting for years. I am intrigued to see how those posters have developed over time and how they view their evolution here. But all are welcome. "Young" and "old".
Here is my first ever post Message 34. Rather boring if anything on reflection. Hopefully others will have better examples than I.
(Note: This thread isn't about debating the issues raised in linked to first posts. This thread is about people not points and as such is intended to be fairly uncontentious)
Was looking around for a toe into the site and tripped across here. Seems like as good a place to begin as any.
There's probably a label that can be attached to the views I held before conversion to Christianity... but I'm not sure what it would be. I didn't think about God, didn't think about where the world or all the things in it came from, didn't think about my nominal Roman Catholic 'faith'. Neither did I care. Iano was Iano and lived his life as he saw fit. The prime thing that concerned me, was me. And that was, by and large, the view that seemed to be shared by people I came in contact with - so there was no reason to think there was anything inappropriate/invalid about it.
A constant throughout my life had been a tendency to live it intensely. As a kid it was the string of hobbies; entered into with relish, then developed to deep levels. Not for me, the casual picking up and discarding of interests once the initial novelty had worn off. Additional to a strong drive to seek fulfillment and enjoyment however, was a parallel companion called boredom. Whatever it was that gave initial satisfaction would eventually (even if it took years) loose it's lustre and I'd start to see the activity as being...well, a bit pointless really. There was always a void behind the surface satisfaction and pleasure. Something that remained untouched - no matter what I tried to fill it with: childhood hobbies, juvenile delinquency, drugs, sex and then when I came to my senses a little, university, work, success-seeking, homebuilding.
Satisfaction-seeking had, for me, the characteristic that I needed more as I went along. Yet for all the new thrills I could access, they never even approached the peaks of childhood ones. The shiny new motorcycle I could now easily afford, not a patch on the beat up old Suzuki I scraped my pennies together for. Neither did anything ever seem to pan out as expected. The promise always had a downside. The bosses, to think of one example, I had so respected for their confidence/abilities/power, were the same folk who had non-marriages/70 hour weeks /no relationship with their kids - once I had climbed high enough to get a view of things myself.
I couldn't have vocalised it so at the time but to me, life had to be about something and everything I looked at for meaning was transparent. They weren't substance - just beautifully packaged illusions.
Mild disillusionment with it all set in at 30. By the time I passed my 38th birthday that disillusionment had cranked up to despair. I was trapped. I had tried innumerable things to fill the void and although there were things as yet untried, logic told me that the results could only be the same. The itch was getting worse, the attempts to scratch it more desperate and damaging. I was an object moving in a straight line and no exterior force was having any effect. And the only direction I could go in was down.
It was at that point I turned to an unseen, unbelieved and unknown God and cried for help.
Entered a pot-stirring rabble rouser, and thus I remain.
Edited by subbie, : subtitle fun
Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. -- Thomas Jefferson
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. -- Barack Obama
We see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- Phat
Anyone who claims to be at 1 or 7 has to be deluded because either position requires a certainty about the source of their absolute certanty that it is impossible to have.
My position has arguably softened. But did you follow the link and read your reply at the time?
Iano writes:
Straggler writes:
Anyone who claims to be at 1 or 7 has to be deluded because either position requires a certainty about the source of their absolute certanty that it is impossible to have.
Percy: For example, all the definitions would say that a Saint Bernard and a Chihuahua are members of the same species, but that dogs and wolves are different species.
Moose: Nitpicking, but I'm pretty sure dogs and wolves are the same species.
Moose
ps: The blue print on grey background causes eye strain
Things were pretty slow back then. I had previously been involved in the Yahoo evcforum.net precursor forum which was started by Percy. I lurked at this forum until I saw some reason to join.
Any tips on how to retrieve my first ever message? Since I've been posting to multiple threads since my first joining (after months of lurking). I'm not sure what my first ever post was....
Thanks in advance!
I hunt for the truth
I am the one Orgasmatron, the outstretched grasping hand My image is of agony, my servants rape the land Obsequious and arrogant, clandestine and vain Two thousand years of misery, of torture in my name Hypocrisy made paramount, paranoia the law My name is called religion, sadistic, sacred whore. -Lyrics by Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead
The way to start is to look around the topics at the bottom of your message index.
Yes, I figured as much. However, the very first message it gave me was: Message 1, of which I'm pretty sure is not my first ever message here. So, any tips on being sure which was ones first message? (perhaps I'm too intoxicated rght now to figure it out, if you think that's the case, just leave it, and I will have another look tomorrow morning. )I hunt for the truth
I am the one Orgasmatron, the outstretched grasping hand My image is of agony, my servants rape the land Obsequious and arrogant, clandestine and vain Two thousand years of misery, of torture in my name Hypocrisy made paramount, paranoia the law My name is called religion, sadistic, sacred whore. -Lyrics by Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead
My first evc post was a PNT, for some reason posted in two parts and on the subject of kinds. Post can be found here. Apparently it died on the vine! Here are the two parts as one:
Embryonic-Lith writes:
Okay, here is a new thread on the Creationist definition of "kinds". My hope is that any YEC's out there can help with this, the definition as I have seen it is always slippery and changes to fit any presented evidence.
Taxonomically I have seen the term fit to species (dog kind [including all breeds of dogs], human kind [modern man and some extinct variants]), family (horse kind [donkeys, horses, zebras], cat kind
It is truly a bullet-proof argument, provided that "kind" is never shackled with a consistant definition. I lieu of above, I propose the following defintiion for the YEC "kind"
Kind (n): Any taxonomic category from species to kingdom for which there is available fossil, biochemical, embryonic, or morphological evidence of transition between members of the next lowest ranking taxonomic category.
Please, any YEC's out there who have a better definition please reply. I have attempted on several occassions to pin down this definition to no avail. As I mentioned in another post, I have a correspondence with Kent Hovind that states that hermit crabs and Alaskan king crabs are a single kind, and that ALL mollusks represent a single kind (I sent him a detailed narrative of mollusk evolution based upon transitional fossils that derives modern scaphopods, bivalves, gastropods, and cephalopods from monoplacophoran ancestors with all of the transitions known). If the mollusks (a phyla) represent a kind, then it is clear that the Creator only needed to create about 33 kinds of animals. Adam was probably a lancelet or acorn worm of some type.
I do mention an earlier post(?), but this is the first one listed in my message history!
Added by edit by Adminnemooseus: This appears to be Lithodid-Man's first post:
LM writes:
I would first like to say I have loved this thread. I am a crustacean biologist with a great interest in human evolution.
This message index shows the earliest most recent messages in the various topics. Looking into those topics, you may or may not find even earlier messages. That's how I found the above cited.
Edited by Adminnemooseus, : See above.
Doctor Bashir: "Of all the stories you told me, which were true and which weren't?" Elim Garak: "My dear Doctor, they're all true" Doctor Bashir: "Even the lies?" Elim Garak: "Especially the lies"
My cherry being popped, I thought I was setting the record straight with this pathetic gem. LOL
This thread is intended as an opportunity for a bit of self deprecating fun. Maybe some serious reflection if the mood so takes you. Especially if you have an EVC "journey" to tell.
It has been one cool learning experience. It got me back involved in things that I left behind when I quit college. It has also made me want to eventually (when time permits) finish school.
I came here because I was writing some blogs on creationist and the issues with ID in schools. I came here with the idea to antagonize a few fundies, have them lash out with their insanity, in hopes that I would get a few good talking points from what they said. Basically, I came here looking for a fight then I was going to leave.
But what I found was some of the smartest people I've ever had a chance to talk to. Discussions on topics that most people don't bother looking into. So I stuck around and got hooked on the actual debating.
It's been a lot of fun and hopefully I'll make a few friends in the process (which I have).
This thread isn't about debating the issues raised in linked to first posts. This thread is about people not points and as such is intended to be fairly uncontentious
This was my first post. It was a little pedantic, and I seem to have thought I was being more insightful than I really was.
Meh... I was a brand-new entomology student, so I guess I thought I had a lot to prove. I think I might have almost grown into the big talk I was trying to use back then.
And, I responded to two different people in one post. I've improved there, too.
Thanks for finding that! I did not think that my first post was a PNT, but could not find an earlier one. That being said, I find myself in agreement still with myself from back then. What counts as differences between species or genera of crustaceans cannot be compared to the differences between hominin genera.
Edited by Lithodid-Man, : Clarified a sentence to make more sense
Doctor Bashir: "Of all the stories you told me, which were true and which weren't?" Elim Garak: "My dear Doctor, they're all true" Doctor Bashir: "Even the lies?" Elim Garak: "Especially the lies"
Had a quick look through the thread you linked to and was surprised at who else was around at that time.
Percy obviously. Nosy I guess I kind of assumed had been around since the beginning of time as well. But I had no idea that Mark24 and Wounded King were such old timers!
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