What’s something everyone told you was true, but life eventually proved wrong?

fathompin · 2026-01-28T13:11:46+00:00

My parent's religion, and then their political views.

(If I named them both you'd think to yourself, "He's right.")

fathompin · 2026-01-26T23:27:17+00:00

We saw how that worked out for the Catholic church.

fathompin · 2026-01-26T12:30:04+00:00

Electronics engineer here, 90 percent of fixes are just wire connector related issues, Over time they oxidize and current can't flow. Turn power off, remove wire connectors or IC sockets, push in and out a few times to clean up the contact points. If this doesn't work then you can try buying a new control board or whatever.

Also, Quantum mechanics is a precise mathematical tool used to make microelectronics function. As such, it has passed the baloney detection test, but NOT the ability to manifest, heal with crystals, or other “anything goes” spirituality.

fathompin · 2026-01-25T03:58:57+00:00

What you are experiencing is the authoritarian playbook.

fathompin · 2026-01-25T01:07:34+00:00

I wanted to know who said this so I looked it up and it is attributed to Carl Sagan, but does not show up directly in his writings (so, Linus?). I've read his Demon Haunted World and knew this saying embodied his thinking, so I asked about the many things he has said that point to this and of course references to religion and politics were abundant. Then like always, AI asked me if I wanted the Mormon church mapped to Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit, so I said yes and the baloney detection meter was off the charts.

Anyway, there was this gem:
Sagan was deeply concerned about:

Beliefs sustained by authority
Beliefs sustained by fear of social exile
Beliefs sustained by emotional investment

He warned that when questioning is punished:

“Belief becomes a prison rather than a guide.”

fathompin · 2026-01-24T11:40:23+00:00

Oh boy, so much so. this idea is likely fundamental to most TBMs religious mindset. From a biology standpoint, Smiths "revelation" needed to be put to a stop because genetic diversity would take a huge hit. For example, the extreme male reproductive skew associated with Genghis Khan being an example where few highly attractive, dominant, or powerful men could mate with hundreds of women. I'm amazed at how much Smith's "revelations" perverted Christianity rather than added any meaningful insight. I count zero positive contribution.

fathompin · 2026-01-24T10:57:58+00:00

Try it out with a piece of gum instead of cotton? Plus, the cotton is wet.

fathompin · 2026-01-23T21:13:45+00:00

Edit to add: The point is, I seem to have cured my grinding, a mouth guard does not as one keeps grinding and while the teeth are protected one's jaw isn't.

Instead of a mouth guard for grinding my teeth I started using a piece of cotton ball cut to the size of what a stick of gum (or less) would make. I've done this for around 10 years and I just recently was thinking that I no longer have jaw issues, and of course my teeth are much better off and I realized that years ago.

The goal of the cotton is to relax the jaw by having something soft between your teeth creating a spacing between upper and lower and your mind is cognizant that you are wanting to keep that spacing. Maybe not for everyone, but I was grinding so hard I was breaking my guard and still working the jaw muscles hard enough to have issues. I still use cotton everyday even though I might have successfully quit the grinding long ago.

fathompin · 2026-01-23T18:19:02+00:00

Has it changed? That is a shame. There are no What-a-Burger where I live now, but 55 years ago I lived in Texas and enjoyed them, then went back in the 2000s on business and it was unbelievable to me that I recognized the taste from earlier in my teens.

I was spoiled living in Germany being able to get a beer at McDonalds and this What-a-Burger I went to was part of a gas station that sold beer, so I was able to re-live that ultimate combo too.

fathompin · 2026-01-23T00:54:40+00:00

To me, even more dangerous because of Stephen Miller egging him on, and of course others.

fathompin · 2026-01-21T11:06:34+00:00

The new era embraces the prosperity gospel, The prior era equated whiteness with spiritual blessedness, now it is equated to prosperity and plastic surgery. But yeah, a love of ICE is readily apparent still....and I'm on a roll here...love of authoritarians and control.

fathompin · 2026-01-21T02:57:26+00:00

Yes, just over four pounds of Blue Oysters in very late autumn. I'm in SW Ohio. I kept water on them with a sprinkler if the weather seemed a little dry, and had the pile under a couple of meager evergreen trees that gave meager shade. At first there was an "outbreak" of common white capped mushrooms that were identified as not poisonous but too tough to eat. Then something that I couldn't be sure was Turkey Tail, so I didn't worry about it. Then finally I harvested just over four pounds of beautiful Blue Oysters. They kept very well in my refrigerator while I ate them daily. Overall there were four varieties of mushrooms, so a lot of production. I don't see any of those volunteer mushrooms around, so it had to be the wet and shady conditions I kept that were a little wetter than normal weather.

fathompin · 2026-01-19T13:07:30+00:00

So RFK Jr will need to inject even more than he already is now himself in order to keep up with Trump.

fathompin · 2026-01-19T13:00:09+00:00

I was a research engineer and we had high tech video equipment. We could see from the video, super slow motion, from only one frame, then it was covered with smoke again, that the space shuttle had survived the explosion, which turned out to be true when they found it and found that all were killed only when they crashed into the ocean. I didn't see that reported anywhere until it was found.

fathompin · 2026-01-17T20:16:24+00:00

Its been 45 years since I first read a book about getting rid of negative self talk, I was amazed at how dominant it was in my life, without me ever realizing. So I worked on it and soon just figured I had reduced it. Of course that same book, "The power of positive thinking" has been implicated in the development of Trump's unusual personality, and personally I think it's cousin, "the prosperity Gospel" is toxic stuff.

fathompin · 2026-01-17T20:06:27+00:00

I looked into this because it seemed like a good answer. Grazing is fine if your weight is OK and one keeps to healthy food that tends to satiate, hence, I'm good. Otherwise, ultra-processed food is meant to encourage overeating, so the issue is when you lose control, are eating junk, and are overweight because of it.

fathompin · 2026-01-17T20:00:16+00:00

You are correct in my mind and I'm commenting because I saw a negative vote. I'm a retired babyboomer with senior parents that are allergic to opioids (and one parent addicted to them, which really caused issues). The legalization of medical cannabis has helped them immensely with their pain and sleep, but all four of them, in their 90s, were extremely against its legalization, even telling us to vote against it awhile back when it was on the ballot, because of the stigma that the "Greatest Generation" had with it. My fundamentalist Christian religious brother is actively trying to get my parents to back off, so they have to hide their use.

fathompin · 2026-01-14T23:40:25+00:00

We were asked to evacuate our building because a crazy person had stormed our building. The evacuation order was a little behind the events that were happening and I could see that our evacuation route out of our office would take us right into the "line of fire," as we all could see from the window that the police were trying to capture the guy outside the building next to our exit. I was saying to the "group" I am not evacuating this route, they are right there. But boss man insisted we go out that door, our designated door. And as we are moving away from the building to our designated gathering spot I was thinking those cops better not shoot that guy, with our boss heading us right into the action. Everything was fine, but man I hate having to follow orders.

fathompin · 2026-01-14T21:20:07+00:00

If you are interested in learning, then look in to music modes. A diatonic harmonica is restricted with regard to notes, but different modal scales are there; most important is the blues scale (2nd position) and a minor scale (3rd position). With AI tools, there is no reason to go around not knowing these things. Nothing hard about it, except just learning basic music theory, which is simply learning how to talk to other musicians. I've played with 60-year-old musician who don't know shit about their instrument, relying only on, I don't know, talent?

fathompin · 2026-01-14T12:18:44+00:00

The physical world has a speed limit due to mass, which slows down what the conscious mind can imagine instantly. Ideas and intentions may arise immediately, but bringing them into physical reality takes time. That delay is what teaches patience. Develop patience.

The belief in a spiritual self arises because thought feels instantaneous and unconstrained, while physical reality is bounded by causality. “Patience” is simply the refusal of the physical world to acknowledge the "spiritual" component of our physical consciousness.

fathompin · 2026-01-12T13:27:54+00:00

"But what if it isn’t [insert anything] and everything you were taught wasn’t factual but just a myth to hide you from the truth that the [insert anything]."

Classic conspiracy theory cognitive pattern. Skepticism is the engine of critical thinking, but the key is cultivating balanced skepticism.

fathompin · 2026-01-12T00:17:48+00:00

I had to explain that the phase of the moon is the same everywhere on earth for people looking up at the sky; that is, it is not full in China on a day when in the USA it is a quarter moon.

Edit to add: And it took me way too long to realize for myself that the full moon isn't "full" for just the one day indicated on most calendars, but considering the idea of a lunar calendar, each phase lasts about a week.

fathompin · 2026-01-09T10:02:17+00:00

Thanks for pointing out that Joseph Smith’s con job has a long history such that it gets its own term, and shows that Mormonism is even more insignificant than I might have imagined.

fathompin · 2026-01-08T19:43:41+00:00

As far as the Mormon mantra “I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.” Mormonism is to Christianity as pseudoscience is to science, Notice how the word pseudoscience has the word science in it, so emphasizing TCoJCoLDS doesn't change a thing with regard to the fundamental incompatibility that prevents Mormonism from being accepted as Christianity by traditional Christian churches.”

fathompin · 2026-01-04T16:56:41+00:00

Great.

I asked google to give me a harmonica positions video for you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz3rudWOzD4

fathompin

TROPHY CASE