Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evolving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Rules For the rest of the Site also accessible on the sidebar.
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Spot silver 58.61 @ 6pm central.
I'm having an OOBE and need to post some past comms (?). NSFW
Inspired by this comment
Trash Humpers
I've had this thought re: TH for a long while. Finally compelled to post. 🤷♂️
Why was Franklin the cartoon character chosen?
Reading for the 2nd Sunday of Advent : Epistle: 2 Peter 3:8-15a
8But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.
9The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.
11Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness,12waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. 14Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.
George Washington's Rules Of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company And Conversation (1700s)
Was trying to look up some books on etiquette or "rules of civility" or on having good manners and this came up, anyone read it or have any other articles or books to suggest on the subject?
https://archive.org/details/georgewashington00wash_4/page/4/mode/2up
good comment on the GW history and etiquette, I read this many years ago.
Not sure how these contemporary etiquette books are as I have not read them, but I looked them up
Debrett's New Guide to Etiquette and Modern Manners: A comprehensive handbook for modern life. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/383595.Debrett_s_New_Guide_to_Etiquette_and_Modern_Manners
Considering Others: Good Manners to Glorify God by Jungu Olobia: A scripturally-based guide for family, social, and church manners. https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/51036096-considering-others
Ephesians 4:29-32 "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." As long as I live to follow the word, other books on this subject are good for historical reference, but I have simplified my life by following THE WORD.
Some rules of etiquette are kind of arbitrary and just try to standardize things to make it more efficient to set things up, like a formal arrangement of utensils and plates on a table - without this it would just be guesswork every time and might waste time needlessly
Other "rules of civility" might have more of the moral dimension of being an expression of kindness or the love of one's neighbor
The rules of etiquette are what I like to call the thin veneer of civilization. It succeeds in making people think that if they follow the rules of the landed gentry, they somehow are on the same level as them. An old joke goes this way, a man enters hell and is shown around. He comes to each door and hears moaning and wailing, at one door he asks, "who is behind this door"? The devil tells him it is the "Methodists who played poker and went to strip clubs" He comes to the other door, "It is the Catholics who missed their Holy Days of Obligation". The last door, the loudest cries can be heard from. Who is this? Devil says, this is where you are going, it is for the Episcopalians who used their salad fork for the entree".
Humanity's Directive: Ready, Set, Survive.
Go forth and multiply
I am again asking for prayers for a speech that I am making via telephone tomorrow at a public meeting for a government agency. The speech is at 1:00 pm PST. Specific prayers: 1. They don't hang up on me or talk over me (they've done each of these things in previous speeches I've made). 2. I have a good connection with no static and it doesn't cut out. 3. I speak clearly and finish in the allotted time. 4. The message resonates and people are compelled to act.
Thank you! I appreciate all the prayers and encouragement you all have given me over the years!
In my country, soccer is ⚽ and football is 🏈. God provides talent for both and I heard some IU players give Him praise last night following a very good football game.
The Bipedal Two-Step of Human Evolution BY FRANK SHERWIN, D.SC. (HON.) * | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 04, 2025 https://www.icr.org/article/bipedal-human-evolution/
The supposed evolution of bipedalism continues to be a major obstacle in the narrative that humans evolved from apelike ancestors.1,2
For example, in 2024, researchers from New York University reported, “While scientists have long been intrigued by the question of how humans’ bipedal stance and movement evolved from a quadrupedal ancestor, neither past studies nor fossil records have permitted the reconstruction of a clear and definitive history of the early evolutionary stages that led to human bipedalism.”3
Recently, evolutionists from Harvard allegedly found “the genetic clues that let humans walk on two legs,” stating that “two small changes in human DNA may have played a big role in helping our ancestors walk upright [emphasis added].”4
According to their interpretation, one of these supposed changes caused the ilium (hip bone) to shift 90° in humans. This is significant because muscle attachment to the pelvis would also have needed to radically change.
Terence Capellini, an evolutionary biologist and study coauthor at Harvard, said these alleged changes were “essential for creating and shifting muscles that are usually on the back of the animal, pushing the animal forward, to now being on the sides, helping us stay upright as we walk.”4
Evolutionary explanations are often filled with such just-so stories. What are the specific links in human evolution that document such a transition? “Creating and shifting muscles”?4 How could all of that happen at the same time?
To investigate developmental differences, the scientists examined samples of developing pelvic tissue from chimps, mice, and people, pairing the microscopic samples with CT scans. What did they find?
Analysis revealed that the difference came from subtle changes in gene regulation—the “on-off switches” that control how and when certain genes are active.
In humans, cartilage-forming genes switched on in new regions, prompting horizontal growth, while bone-forming genes activated later, slowing the hardening process.
Because primates share most of the same developmental genes, researchers believe these changes appeared early in human evolution, after our lineage split from chimpanzees.4 (emphasis added)
However, evolutionists don’t know when our lineage split from chimps nor what this common ancestor was. Furthermore, sharing many common developmental genes is hardly surprising since humans also share genes with other organisms for breaking down and digesting proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. This is evidence of a common Designer, not a common ancestor.
God designed people as people, including our distinctive pelvic cartilage that grows sideways, while it grows vertically in apes and chimps. A Nature article addressing the evolution of hominin bipedalism described the difference of the ilia of humans and apes: “One of the earliest and most important shifts was an ilium, or superior pelvic bone, that became shortened cranial-caudally, widened anterior-posteriorly, and aligned parasagittally compared with the ilia of apes.”5 Exactly.
But there was no shift from one into the other. The scientists were simply describing the human ilium as it exists today. They also observed “a unique perichondral pattern of bone formation (both radial and non-internalizing) in human ilia that differs from and is delayed (underwent a heterochronic shift) compared with all studied non-human primates and the mouse.”5 These descriptions highlight additional anatomical differences between humans and the animals listed.
The same Nature article went on to say, “The ilium changes compared with living primates are an evolutionary novelty,” and it claimed these “innovations facilitated further growth of the human pelvis and the unique formation of the ilium among primates.”5 But terms like “novelty” and “innovation” have no single agreed-upon definition in evolutionary biology. Evolutionist Michael Denton stated that “explaining how novelties come about is one of the major unfinished tasks of evolutionary biology.”6
But did the ilium slowly change as unknown primates became human? No. At least, there is no fossil evidence for this. The human pelvis is designed for upright walking, and that of the chimp is designed for climbing.
Evolutionists are still stumped trying to explain any human-chimp connection. One evolutionist said, “How and why natural selection favored the transition to bipedal posture and locomotion are likewise ongoing subjects of scholarly debate and conjecture.”7
To conclude, chimps have always been chimps and people have always been people.8,9 Without fossil evidence, evolutionists do not know what the common ancestor of humans and chimps was, nor when this divergence occurred. If that is true, how can they be so sure that our upright walking was due to “two major developmental genetic innovations that shaped the human ilium [emphasis added]”? 5 What they discovered are two more genetic differences uniquely found in human DNA, furthering the divide between man and chimps.
References
Sherwin, F. Man: Created to Walk Upright. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org May 8, 2023. Rupe, C. and J. Sanford. 2017. Contested Bones. FMS Publications. Inner Ear of 6-Million-Year-Old Ape Fossil Reveals Clues about the Evolution of Human Movement. New York University. Posted on phys.org January 29, 2024. Edwards, I. Scientists Find the Genetic Clues That Let Humans Walk on Two Legs. Medical Xpress. Posted on medicalxpress.com November 2, 2025. Senevirathne, G. et al. 2025. The Evolution of Hominin Bipedalism in Two Steps. Nature. 645: 952–963. Denton, M. 2016. Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis. Seattle, WA: Discovery Institute Press, 57. Stanford, C. 2006. Arboreal Bipedalism in Wild Chimpanzees: Implications for the Evolution of Hominid Posture and Locomotion. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 129 (2): 225–231. Tomkins, J. 2021. Chimps and Humans. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research. Tomkins, J. 2022. Human Origins. Dallas, TX: Institute for Creation Research.
Isaiah 8:12 - Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear, nor be in dread. https://www.bible.com/bible/59/isa.8.12
Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
This was amazing to me, since my study Bible says Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet and he said these words between 740 BC to 681 BC (BC = Before Christ). And then Christ is born and lives and gives His life and work for US.
And I think about how we sit in our comforts complaining about two more weeks, or two more years, or whatever. It occurs to me that we are pretty dense, especially when we don't recognize His presents and His presence.