The Hazards of Belief

recedite · 07-03-2014 2:09am

It was some kind of filthy science magic anyway. Whether KNO3 or Lye Cheese.

endacl · 07-03-2014 3:28am

legspin wrote: »

The skin on the thumb, while being sensitive to touch, is quite thick and fairly tough. It has to be to put up with all the abuse it gets in daily life.

The skin on the forehead, not so much, especially if not that weather-beaten.
Therefore it stands to reason that a caustic substance such as potash (KNO3, potassium hydroxide, a product in the ash of certain burnt woods) would irritate the thin skin on a forehead.
Mind you, if the priest had got some on anything other than the pad of his thumb (the base and sides of the thumbnail for example), he'd certainly know it.

One of the "treatments" to de-horn calves is to rub the nubbins of their horns with a stick of potash before they break through the skin. You had to make sure it broke through the fibrous outer layer of horn under the skin and onto the still growing core. Do it when the calves were young enough and it would essentially cauterise the bit of the horn that made it grow and the calve would grow up 'pollied'.
It was always one of the more unpleasant tasks during spring and early summer as it drove the poor little buggers mad.
We also used sodium hydroxide to wash the milking machine. That would sting like hell as well

This is slightly conjecture but the moment I heard the story I jumped to this conclusion. If I'm wildly off the mark, please tell me.

The skin on the *ahem*..... is quite sensitive. Surely the same priest didn't go the whole day without spending a penny? Perhaps the poor cleric was also 'de-horned'?

On a side note, I only saw one holy headsmudge yesterday. In Slattery's of Rathmines at about 10:30 last night. Youngish woman. Otherwise attractive. A bit tipsy too.

:pac:

I know its subjective, but I was out and about a fair bit yesterday. Even a few years ago I'm sure I remember seeing loads more. Surely the census can't be that far off the mark?!? Aren't loads of us catholic here? Where have all the holy headsmudges gone?!? Were people fibbing when they filled out the form?

Hotblack Desiato · 07-03-2014 8:43am

No, no, the census is totally accurate and reliable and that goes for the speaking Irish question too!!!

Hotblack Desiato · 07-03-2014 9:04am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-26453576

Legoland closes resort hotel following threats

It comes after a private fun day organised by an Islamic group, due to be held on Sunday, was cancelled due to threats from far-right groups.

What the hell? These muslims will only go there when there's no infidels about?

Bannasidhe · 07-03-2014 1:50pm

ninja900 wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-26453576

What the hell? These muslims will only go there when there's no infidels about?

I see it more as a group who happened to be Muslim organised a private day out - happens all the time. I remember when all the community groups in Hackney did the same at Windsor Safari Park - block booked the whole place for a day. That was a day I thought would never end....:eek:

My problem is with the fecking numpties who sent threats. Aren't Muslims allowed to do what other groups do without eejits getting the pitch forks out?

Red Nissan · 07-03-2014 3:37pm

I believe the local population of that village sold their souls to the Devil for All Ireland Fame & Success, seemingly they received same and now they are paying the full price.

Shzzzz!! :eek:

Brian Shanahan · 07-03-2014 11:25pm

robindch wrote: »

(*) Nick wins a bet.

The aul' fella always wins. That's why he owns Vegas.

Sulla Felix · 07-03-2014 11:34pm

ninja900 wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-26453576

What the hell? These muslims will only go there when there's no infidels about?

Bannasidhe wrote: »

I see it more as a group who happened to be Muslim organised a private day out - happens all the time. I remember when all the community groups in Hackney did the same at Windsor Safari Park - block booked the whole place for a day. That was a day I thought would never end....:eek:

My problem is with the fecking numpties who sent threats. Aren't Muslims allowed to do what other groups do without eejits getting the pitch forks out?

Eh, I'd advocate militant social inclusion. It's good for the groups to be mixed and exposed to one another. Whether they want it or not.

PopePalpatine · 07-03-2014 11:54pm

I think this has gone unnoticed over the last few days:
auld bint defends the Magdalene Gulags.

I honestly believe that those who defend these gulags should spend a month in there with Sr Hannah Landa of the SS Order breathing down their neck, and try to come back afterwards and defend these gulags with a straight face.

Hotblack Desiato · 08-03-2014 3:07am

That odious dreck is a disgrace to print in any reputable newspaper.

Hotblack Desiato · 08-03-2014 3:20am

Pope Francis confesses to stealing dead confessor's rosary beads from casket

Nodin · 08-03-2014 7:03am

ninja900 wrote: »

That odious dreck is a disgrace to print in any reputable newspaper.

Yeah, but the in-house dreck meister is 'on sabbatical' so.....

Gordon · 08-03-2014 9:39am

ninja900 wrote: »

Pope Francis confesses to stealing dead confessor's rosary beads from casket

And keeps it in his pants.

FouxDaFaFa · 08-03-2014 12:57pm

ninja900 wrote: »

Pope Francis confesses to stealing dead confessor's rosary beads from casket

I just...can't believe that's real. That is so weird. Maybe it's a bad translation or something but he sounds so casual about effectively prying something out of someone's cold, dead hands. And the comments are hilarious. "God led him to it". "It gives him solace", etc.

recedite · 08-03-2014 12:58pm

PopePalpatine wrote: »

auld bint defends the Magdalene Gulags.

She gives a somewhat enigmatic account of leaving the order;

the ex-nun wrote:

I do, however, have knowledge of living as a sister for 25 years (1954-1979) in the Religious Sisters of Charity. The buildings we lived in were adequate but never lavish and neither was our lifestyle. I was happy and fulfilled during those years, and worked as a physiotherapist in public health institutions (without a salary from the State). I left unexpectedly following a retreat where I received “a call” to follow a different way.

Perhaps these people just cannot admit to themselves that they were "taken in" and devoted the best years of their lives to pointless religious devotion and selfless loyalty to a cult, and always subservient to male priests.

She seems to think her physiotherapy work was unpaid, but if she was qualified and working in a public hospital, wouldn't the religious order have been collecting the salary?

Anyway she seems to be happy out of it, and now runs another hippy garden, the Shekina Sculpture Garden.

You can't go anywhere in Wicklow these days without bumping into a bunch of semi or ex-nuns planting organic seeds to coincide with the moon's alignment with the planet Venus or some such nonsense.

Holy Faith Sisters; http://centreforspirituality.com/
Dominican Sisters; http://www.ecocentrewicklow.ie/

Nodin · 08-03-2014 4:11pm

Gordon wrote: »

And keeps it in his pants.

Its the catholic thing to do.

Nodin · 09-03-2014 7:22am

"As the Legionaries of Christ, known as 'the Legion', was setting up in Ireland in the late 1950s, the founder of this new religious order, Fr Marcial Maciel was under investigation by the Vatican for acts of sodomy with boys, fraud and drug addiction. Despite what the Vatican knew about Maciel, he was allowed to establish a congregation in Ireland and recruit young, enthusiastic Irish men to build the Legion empire from a minority Spanish-speaking Congregation into a powerful international movement within the Catholic Church.

Archbishop John Charles McQuaid facilitated the establishment of the Legion in Ireland, but concluded in a letter in 1970 that "there is a creepiness and secrecy about this whole group that is a constant worry to me." McQuaid's successor, Archbishop Ryan banned them from recruiting in Dublin because of their " lack of freedom of conscience, alienation from parents and undue pressure."
http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/

tl-dr - second paragraph should be buttock clenching enough.

Obliq · 09-03-2014 8:57am

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I think this has gone unnoticed over the last few days:
auld bint defends the Magdalene Gulags.

I honestly believe that those who defend these gulags should spend a month in there with Sr Hannah Landa of the SS Order breathing down their neck, and try to come back afterwards and defend these gulags with a straight face.

Didn't notice your post till now, but just WUT???

"Should sisters solely be made responsible when families and other members of the public were the cause of the plight of many of these women?"

Oh yeah, least we forget - it's ACTUALLY the fault of those shameless hussies getting pregnant and necessitating being shamed, locked up, worked relentlessly and abused in a multitude of depraved ways. Poor nuns :mad:

Hotblack Desiato · 09-03-2014 11:07am

Sorry Banna I meant to get back to this sooner.

Bannasidhe wrote: »

I see it more as a group who happened to be Muslim organised a private day out - happens all the time. I remember when all the community groups in Hackney did the same at Windsor Safari Park - block booked the whole place for a day. That was a day I thought would never end....:eek:

Groups, plural - so those groups had no problem mixing with other people, presumably of diverse backgrounds and beliefs. That may be the case with this muslim group too. Or they could be a bunch of assholes with a religious-superiority complex.

My problem is with the fecking numpties who sent threats. Aren't Muslims allowed to do what other groups do without eejits getting the pitch forks out?

Indeed, the knuckle-draggers who issued threats are totally wrong to do so. But I don't think people should be facilitated in segregating themselves away from the rest of society on the basis of religion. Build your own walled compound if you're into that sort of thing. In public places and businesses open to the public you have no right to expect that people of other beliefs be excluded to facilitate you.

PopePalpatine · 09-03-2014 11:50am

Nodin wrote: »

McQuaid's successor, Archbishop Ryan banned [the Legion] from recruiting in Dublin because of their " lack of freedom of conscience, alienation from parents and undue pressure."
http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/

Pot, meet kettle.

endacl · 09-03-2014 2:12pm

Nodin wrote: »

"As the Legionaries of Christ, known as 'the Legion', was setting up in Ireland in the late 1950s, the founder of this new religious order, Fr Marcial Maciel was under investigation by the Vatican for acts of sodomy with boys, fraud and drug addiction. Despite what the Vatican knew about Maciel, he was allowed to establish a congregation in Ireland and recruit young, enthusiastic Irish men to build the Legion empire from a minority Spanish-speaking Congregation into a powerful international movement within the Catholic Church.

Archbishop John Charles McQuaid facilitated the establishment of the Legion in Ireland, but concluded in a letter in 1970 that "there is a creepiness and secrecy about this whole group that is a constant worry to me." McQuaid's successor, Archbishop Ryan banned them from recruiting in Dublin because of their " lack of freedom of conscience, alienation from parents and undue pressure."
http://www.rte.ie/tv/wouldyoubelieve/

tl-dr - second paragraph should be buttock clenching enough.

The Legion have a school in Wicklow.
http://www.dublinoakacademy.com/

I wouldn't have lasted long.

Hotblack Desiato · 09-03-2014 7:49pm

These guys must be something else if the infamous despot McQuaid and paedo enabler Ryan thought they were a bit much.

robindch · 11-03-2014 3:27pm

robindch wrote: »

With the support of that cold, malevolent bastard Putin, the Ukrainian government is still playing politics while their capital burns and their citizens die.

Well, a few weeks later and Putin is still playing politics while his army continues its takeover of Crimea. One of the justifications he's using is an alleged rash of anti-semitic attacks in eastern Ukraine. The leading rabbis of Ukraine take issue with this in a refreshingly blunt fashion:

http://eajc.org/page32/news43672.html

EAJC wrote:

To the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Mr. President!

We are Jewish citizens of Ukraine: businessmen, managers, public figures, scientists and scholars, artists and musicians. We are addressing you on behalf of the multi-national people of Ukraine, Ukraine's national minorities, and on behalf of the Jewish community.

You have stated that Russia wants to protect the rights of the Russian-speaking citizens of the Crimea and all of Ukraine and that these rights have been flouted by the current Ukrainian government. Historically, Ukrainian Jews are also mostly Russian-speaking. Thus, our opinion on what is happening carries no less weight than the opinion of those who advise and inform you.

We do not believe that you are easy to fool. You consciously pick and choose lies and slander from the massive amount of information about Ukraine. And you know very well that Victor Yanukovich's statement concerning the time after the latest treaty had been signed that “...Kyiv is full of armed people who have begun to trash buildings, places of worship, churches. Innocent people have begun to suffer. People have simply been robbed and killed in the street...” are lies, from the first word to the very last.

The Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine are not being humiliated or discriminated against, their civil rights have not been limited. Meanderings about “forced Ukrainization” and “bans on the Russian language” that have been so common in Russian media are on the heads of those who invented them. Your certainty of the growth of anti-Semitism in Ukraine also does not correspond to the actual facts. It seems you have confused Ukraine with Russia, where Jewish organizations have noticed growth in anti-Semitic tendencies last year.

Right now, after Ukraine has survived a difficult political crisis, many of us have wound up on different sides of the barricades. The Jews of Ukraine, as all ethnic groups, are not absolutely unified in their opinion towards what is happening in the country. But we live in a democratic country and can afford a difference of opinion.

They have tried to scare us (and are continuing their attempts) with “Bandera followers” and “Fascists” attempting to wrest away the helm of Ukrainian society, with imminent Jewish progroms. Yes, we are well aware that the political opposition and the forces of social protests who have secured changes for the better are made up of different groups. They include nationalistic groups, but even the most marginal do not dare show anti-Semitism or other xenophobic behavior. And we certainly know that our very few nationalists are well-controlled by civil society and the new Ukrainian government – which is more than can be said for the Russian neo-Nazis, who are encouraged by your security services.

We have a great mutual understanding with the new government, and a partnership is in the works. There are quite a few national minority representatives in the Cabinet of Ministers: the Minister of Internal Affairs is Armenian, the Vice Prime Minister is a Jew, two ministers are Russian. The newly-appointed governors of Ukraine's region are also not exclusively Ukrainian.

Unfortunately, we must admit that in recent days stability in our country has been threatened. And this threat is coming from the Russian government, namely – from you personally. It is your policy of inciting separatism and crude pressure placed on Ukraine that threatens us and all Ukrainian people, including those who live in Crimea and the Ukrainian South-East. South-eastern Ukrainians will soon see that for themselves.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, we highly value your concern about the safety and rights of Ukrainian national minorities. But we do not wish to be “defended” by sundering Ukraine and annexing its territory. We decisively call for you not to intervene in internal Ukrainian affairs, to return the Russian armed forces to their normal fixed peacetime location, and to stop encouraging pro-Russian separatism.

Vladimir Vladimirovich, we are quite capable of protecting our rights in a constructive dialogue and in cooperation with the government and civil society of a sovereign, democratic, and united Ukraine. We strongly urge you not to destabilize the situation in our country and to stop your attempts of delegitimizing the new Ukrainian government.

(...signed...)

Turtwig · 11-03-2014 6:44pm

Fluoride quacks on the news again.

Obliq · 11-03-2014 6:49pm

Jernal wrote: »

Fluoride quacks on the news again.

Which news Jernal?

Turtwig · 11-03-2014 6:49pm

Obliq wrote: »

Which news Jernal?

Dunno.

Just saw em on it.

Bannasidhe · 11-03-2014 6:50pm

Obliq wrote: »

Which news Jernal?

TV3 - they have moved on to Gee-Gee Racing now.

Obliq · 11-03-2014 6:52pm

Ok. I'm sure they'll rear their heads again somewhere. Was it that god-awful girl against flouride muppet?

Bannasidhe · 11-03-2014 7:33pm

Obliq wrote: »

Ok. I'm sure they'll rear their heads again somewhere. Was it that god-awful girl against flouride muppet?

Nope. Piece about how cafes and the like in Bantry have seen an increase in business since they went fluoride free. Also Jerry Buttimor saying we need to debate whether, in light of medical advances, it is still required.

Personally, I would like to hear both sides of the debate - I find it interesting how often I see the anti-side pilloried in an attack the poster kinda way..

Turtwig · 11-03-2014 7:35pm

Some of the anti-side are just like your average barmy creationists. A distinction needs to be drawn between those quacks though and people who hold reservations about fluoridation for less crazy reasons.

The Hazards of Belief

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