Recent Discussions — Ship of Fools http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 03:00:39 +0000 en Recent Discussions — Ship of Fools Donald ******* Trump http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6020/donald-trump Tue, 29 Oct 2024 07:02:06 +0000 Hell ChastMastr 6020@/index.php?p=/discussions
The Madison Square Garden stuff seems like a new low.]]> Alliterative Antics http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6779/alliterative-antics Sat, 17 Jan 2026 15:10:55 +0000 The Circus Boogie 6779@/index.php?p=/discussions Rules of the Game:

every round of the A to Z Two-Word Game has its own theme, or subject, throughout: e.g. animals, cars, cities etc.
each round goes from A-Z, using in order the letters of the English alphabet
each participant posts 2 words, an adjective and a noun, where the noun fits in with the theme, and where both adjective and noun start with the same letter of the alphabet
the next participant posts (in a separate post) 2 further words, both starting with the following letter of the alphabet, again an adjective and a noun (with the noun going along with the same theme as the previous post and current A-Z round)
the person who arrives at Z suggests please a new subject for the next round of A-Z

Special Rules

usage of an English dictionary or thesaurus book or online is explicitly allowed, as one of the fun elements can be to discover new adjectives, and possibly even new nouns. However, a dictionary or thesaurus is by no means necessary to participate.
There are some tricky letters, e,g, X and Y, or perhaps Z, where it is difficult to find words that fit the current theme. Just do your best. We will see how far we get.
if you can, avoid using the same adjective as in a previous round - if possible. It's about creativity!]]> 'Synergia'. Both/and? http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6983/synergia-both-and Sun, 19 Jul 2026 20:51:30 +0000 Purgatory Gamma Gamaliel 6983@/index.php?p=/discussions
'Synergia'.

Divine initiative and human response. Cooperation between the human and the divine.

Orthodoxy places a strong emphasis on this. Always acknowledging God's grace. Other Christian traditions don't place so much emphasis on this.

Are we 'monergists' or synergists?

What are the pros and cons of each?

Colours to the mast. I see synergism in the scriptures.

I read the scriptures through the lens of Holy Tradition.]]> Catechesis. Work cut out? http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6978/catechesis-work-cut-out Mon, 13 Jul 2026 21:36:04 +0000 Purgatory Gamma Gamaliel 6978@/index.php?p=/discussions Church Going on BBC Radio 4.

He's an Anglican cleric, broadcaster and columnist of 'liberal catholic' persuasion.

The series will examine the state of church attendance, decline and pockets of growth in the UK today.

As part of the programme he visited his alma mater of Ripon College, Cuddesdon near Oxford. He was surprised to hear how few full-time students there are now and even more surprised when the Principal told him she'd known students come in who weren't even aware that there was only one God in Christianity.

This was nothing new, she claimed. When she did her own training there was someone who hadn't heard of Moses and someone who thought Martin Luther was black.

I've come across some wild and woolly ideas from enquirers and catechumens in our parish but this took me by surprise, I must admit.

The Principal was quite philosophical. This was how it is. Besides, there are opportunities if people are coming in with no 'baggage.'

Obstacle or opportunity?

Does this reflect the situation where you are and within your church, denomination or tradition?

I know US Shipmates have more experience of adult Sunday school and similar initiatives that are less common here in the UK. But even in the US I imagine that general 'religious knowledge' is not what it was.

Thoughts?]]> Today I Consign To Hell -the All Saints version http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/315/today-i-consign-to-hell-the-all-saints-version Tue, 06 Mar 2018 19:13:05 +0000 All Saints Piglet 315@/index.php?p=/discussions Today I Consign To Hell, the All Saints version.

We've been tossing this idea round in the Hosts' lounge for a wee while now, so here it is.

If you have a grouse or a grump, or next door's cat is getting on your nerves, or even if you're just really hacked off about something, tell us here.

Just one topic per post, please, and while responses of support and advice are OK (this is AS after all), if a particular topic becomes a bit overwhelming, we may suggest it gets its own thread. Please remember, too, that All Saints rules apply, so no personal attacks on Shipmates.

Have at it! ]]> Sacrament or Ordinance? http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6980/sacrament-or-ordinance Thu, 16 Jul 2026 18:48:16 +0000 Purgatory Barnabas62 6980@/index.php?p=/discussions
@Nick Tamen observed, as did @Gamma Gamaliel , that the low church understanding of baptism and communion was that these were more properly described as ordinances rather than sacraments.

Personally I’d always used the term sacrament, relating as it does to the term used Traditionally, but always recognised that the meanings we associated with the practices were different. But I think there may be more to the differences in the use of the terms than pure labelling.

Anyway I thought it might be worth a separate discussion, recognising that not all Protestants see these sacraments (ordinances) in the same way.

Views encouraged. ]]> The Labour Government - 2025 http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6201/the-labour-government-2025 Tue, 14 Jan 2025 13:07:43 +0000 Purgatory Louise 6201@/index.php?p=/discussions
One of the reasons I was glad to be in Scotland and not feel I had to vote Labour at the recent election was because their whole 'we will pay for better public services out of economic growth' pitch looked like obvious snake oil.

If you wanted any decent chance of significant economic growth, the realistic thing to do would be to start reversing Brexit. Brexit is such a clear and colossal case of self-harm that any politicians who start from the position that it's fine or beneficial or we should keep it are right out of the gate the political equivalent of anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers or the kind of grifter who adopts that colouration as advantageous never minding the harm it does.

Now it looks to me like they've gone full snake-oil on economic growth over AI. There's a current thread on AI itself. Some AI applications do specialist things well but the kind being pushed by the big corporate firms at the moment tend not to be of that sort and have many issues.

But two people I know who are professional IT experts both basically said the same thing to me - I give the pithier version- "Nothing makes me sweat like the three words "Government IT Project". There's a huge history of getting government IT projects disastrously and incredibly expensively wrong with a big side-order of corruption and deals for mates and donors.

Starmer himself has been quoted in the Financial Times saying
I don't think it's going to take five or ten years to double productivity, not for a moment", adding that he was "absolutely confident that the timeframes we're talking about are much, much shorter.

And while he pours money into this mirage, Rachel Reeves is basically going to be telling people who need public help 'Let them eat AI!' as she looks for cuts to benefits and public services, and the magic economic growth fairy promised by Starmer fails to appear.

There have been lots of posts previously tallking about how and where Labour use scapegoating to attack minorities. This is another more toxic form of snake oil and magical thinking: attacking migrants and immigration doesn't improve public services. It's immoral and acts as a distraction and a false solution to real problems when people are encouraged to blame real hardship on imaginary causes.

It also has the well-known harm seen in many other countries that if you accept the far-right framing and analysis behind scapegoating and offer a 'lite' version of that which fails to improve people's lives (because the whole framing was false in the first place), then it positions the far right with their full-fat version to win. You admitted they were right in their analysis of the problem but you just didn't go far enough. And your opponents have the advantage of not just having failed for all to see to improve anything.


The latest You Gov poll is now

LAB: 26% (-9)

RFM: 25% (+10)

CON: 22% (-2)

LDM: 14% (+1)

GRN: 8% (+1)

SNP: 3% (=)

Labour are only 1% ahead of Reform.


I honestly think this economic snake oil and social scapegoating approach is going to be catastrophic. It's the definition of a Right Wing party to me. And I simply don't know how it can be turned round by the next election because the flaws in this way of thinking go so deep.

(In depth discussion of the scapegoating side would belong in Epiphanies unless this thread is placed under dual rules)


]]> Headlines of Utter Weirdness http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/470/headlines-of-utter-weirdness Sun, 08 Apr 2018 11:15:05 +0000 The Circus Wesley J 470@/index.php?p=/discussions this thread on strangely worded headlines from the papers we read, respectively their online counterparts. These could also be quotes Shipmates saw in an article, put into amazingly bizarre and/or funny ways. Some are conscious choices by a clever author, many are simple negligence and thoughtlessness.

A few of these curious wordings may be changed shortly after publication by a responsible and responsive proofreader, but more often than not, they aren't.

I hope this thread might make us wonder and marvel about the language used, and the entrapments thereof. Have fun!

* * *
Here's my gift for today, from the Washington Post, in an article about a fire in NYC's Trump Tower:
Sixty-seven-year-old Todd Brassner, 67, who was in the apartment, was taken to a hospital and died a short time later.

May he rest in peace, twice-agespecified Todd.]]> Bloody Hell it's Hot http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6957/bloody-hell-its-hot Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:25:54 +0000 Hell la vie en rouge 6957@/index.php?p=/discussions
I usually have a fairly high tolerance for heat but this is ridiculous. And it's only June. Sodding climate change. ]]> What did you sing at church today? http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/3574/what-did-you-sing-at-church-today Wed, 21 Jul 2021 14:22:52 +0000 Ecclesiantics Nenya 3574@/index.php?p=/discussions
The original thread was started in March 2018 and ran until March 2020 when the first lockdown rendered it redundant. ]]> The Trivial Round, The Common Task - the British thread 2026 http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6726/the-trivial-round-the-common-task-the-british-thread-2026 Thu, 01 Jan 2026 04:31:12 +0000 All Saints Nenya 6726@/index.php?p=/discussions
What we're doing with our day, what we're having for tea - bring it on!]]> Prayers of the Faithful 2026 http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6742/prayers-of-the-faithful-2026 Thu, 01 Jan 2026 14:23:10 +0000 All Saints Piglet 6742@/index.php?p=/discussions
Last year's thread for reference.]]> Is this not rude http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6974/is-this-not-rude Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:07:06 +0000 Hell Hugal 6974@/index.php?p=/discussions If Satan opened HECK, a not quite Hellish region of the afterlife, what would it be like? http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6953/if-satan-opened-heck-a-not-quite-hellish-region-of-the-afterlife-what-would-it-be-like Thu, 18 Jun 2026 15:29:22 +0000 The Circus The_Riv 6953@/index.php?p=/discussions
Bored with run-o'-the-mill eternal torment, weeping and gnashing of teeth, Satan opens HECK, a new region of the afterlife that's not at all Heavenly, but not quite Hell. Our task is to develop its environs, parameters, population, etc.

So, what would it be like?! NOTE: this is not intended as a theological issue to be argued. I know there are as many ideas/positions about Satan and Hell on Ship as there are posters. This is a thought experiment Game, so please play along.

The simple baseline is that Heaven and Hell exist, and Heck has been dropped somewhere in between. Go! ]]> General Good-byes And RIPs http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/500/general-good-byes-and-rips Wed, 18 Apr 2018 23:49:18 +0000 All Saints Golden Key 500@/index.php?p=/discussions
(And, as Zappa said in starting it, "though not precluding individual threads too".)]]> spring http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/187/spring Sun, 25 Feb 2018 20:41:54 +0000 The Circus Ariston 187@/index.php?p=/discussions Hands in the soil, head in the sun. The gardening thread 2026 🪏 http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6727/hands-in-the-soil-head-in-the-sun-the-gardening-thread-2026-%F0%9F%AA%8F Thu, 01 Jan 2026 10:42:17 +0000 Heaven Boogie 6727@/index.php?p=/discussions
May Sarton]]> Wordle http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/4080/wordle Wed, 12 Jan 2022 20:03:33 +0000 The Circus Piglet 4080@/index.php?p=/discussions Wordle?

I got into it when my nephew posted a link to it on our family Whats App group, and to be honest, it's just as well they only offer one per day, or I'd be doing nothing else!

I'm not sure quite how it'll fly here: I'm thinking of people posting about their successes and failures.

Just remember: try and avoid spoilers - bearing in mind that we're in several time zones.

For the church music geeks, someone on Farcebark has set up a spin-off called Byrdle.

I'm not usually one to boast, but I got the first Byrdle in one guess. :smirk: ]]> Football fans must be gutted. http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6935/football-fans-must-be-gutted Tue, 26 May 2026 17:03:52 +0000 Hell Hugal 6935@/index.php?p=/discussions The final will be in a stadium that is not walkable from public transport and the area is a bit of a health hazard. ]]> Do you enjoy watching sport? http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6975/do-you-enjoy-watching-sport Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:21:33 +0000 Purgatory Boogie 6975@/index.php?p=/discussions Le Mondial, 2026 http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6948/le-mondial-2026 Sun, 14 Jun 2026 23:08:53 +0000 The Circus sionisais 6948@/index.php?p=/discussions Although the massive stadium is air conditioned, I think some of the players were suffering cramp towards the end, but the pitch could affect that.]]> July Book Club - The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6966/july-book-club-the-sparrow-by-mary-doria-russell Wed, 01 Jul 2026 09:13:06 +0000 Heaven TurquoiseTastic 6966@/index.php?p=/discussions Here is a link to World of Books...

And of course you could also get it you-know-where....

I will post some questions for discussion in a couple of weeks. You can post below if you plan to join in, but feel free to chip in at any time. Happy reading!]]> Help, please! General questions for 2026 http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6747/help-please-general-questions-for-2026 Thu, 01 Jan 2026 16:11:47 +0000 Heaven jedijudy 6747@/index.php?p=/discussions Silly Point - the Cricket Thread http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6757/silly-point-the-cricket-thread Fri, 02 Jan 2026 19:27:34 +0000 The Circus la vie en rouge 6757@/index.php?p=/discussions National Anthem after Mattins http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6968/national-anthem-after-mattins Wed, 01 Jul 2026 21:22:08 +0000 Ecclesiantics Hookers_Trick 6968@/index.php?p=/discussions What was the sermon about today? http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5292/what-was-the-sermon-about-today Mon, 18 Sep 2023 15:35:31 +0000 Ecclesiantics Nenya 5292@/index.php?p=/discussions
If the sermon was based on a Bible passage a link to it would be helpful, using a site such as Bible Gateway .

At Our Place yesterday the passage was Romans 1:18-32 and entitled "Sin and the Wrath of God" - we all know God is nice and loving but he has another side to him because we are all depraved, miserable sinners. It was, almost literally, a case of "Oh, look, a Dead Horse... let's not talk about that." Step over said Horse and carry on.]]> Words We Love to Hate http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6950/words-we-love-to-hate Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:40:50 +0000 Hell sionisais 6950@/index.php?p=/discussions Anyway, my first word is “robust”, particularly in the sense of policies and especially in HR-Speak, where it is used, in my experience, to justify hard, ie, pig-headed decisions, that are legal, but barely decent. It’s astonishing how anti-bullying policies can be found in just about every workplace, but the management is all but exempt.]]> "Action!" Films of 2026 http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/6753/action-films-of-2026 Fri, 02 Jan 2026 09:19:24 +0000 Heaven Doublethink 6753@/index.php?p=/discussions
(ETA late because my own typo was doing my head in.)]]> Wild life near you http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/5788/wild-life-near-you Fri, 07 Jun 2024 02:33:00 +0000 Heaven Gee D 5788@/index.php?p=/discussions
What is your local wildlife (neighbours children excepted)? Do you see much?

Angophora - https://www.google.com/search?q=angophora&oq=angophora&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQLhhA0gEINDgyM2owajGoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Sulphur-crested cockatoos - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulphur-crested_cockatoo]]> The New, New Crew's Quiz http://forums.shipoffools.com/index.php?p=/discussion/186/the-new-new-crews-quiz Sun, 25 Feb 2018 20:40:43 +0000 The Circus Ariston 186@/index.php?p=/discussions Guessometers ready?
Blasted Fillums are too hard
Dram of Highland Park.]]>