Ronnie B is your Phone-A-Friend: On what subject would you NOT call him?

[StanUpshaw]

Ron has broad interests and can talk about most any subject, but is not always the most learned guy.

If you're on a game show and had to get some help from the Mayor of Benningtonville, which category would you steer clear from?

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[Furtherman]

It's Physics.

He loves to talk about it but math might as well be Chinese. He's said so himself.

[StanUpshaw]

Right, but I think the same could be said for laymen in general. I think for the kind of physics questions they'd ask on a game show, he might be of some help.

I chose biology, just because it's the subject I know the best, so I notice when he things he gets completely wrong.

[brettmojo]

Religion.

Judging by what he said about it today I just don't think he understands what it is.

[StanUpshaw]

Religion.

Judging by what he said about it today I just don't think he understands what it is.

What, specifically?

From what I remember, I thought he was arguing a solid point, just doing it sort of clumsily.

[brettmojo]

What, specifically?

From what I remember, I thought he was arguing a solid point, just doing it sort of clumsily.
He said something along the lines of "Religion actually brought us out of the caves..." when a caller said that religion was holding us back as a species suggesting that religion actually encourages mankind to grow as a species when nothing could be further from the truth.

[K.C.]

Can I just call someone else? I don't trust him on any of those subjects. The guy is great at crafting a debate, and asking questions, and cultivating discussion on topic, but in terms of actually knowing factual answers to stuff....?

I'd actually take Dave, then Fez (who is trivia-minded, but folds under pressure, so he's bumped to plan B).


Actually, on second thought, I would take Ron first on Music and Movies.

[furie]

Fez

[StanUpshaw]

He said something along the lines of "Religion actually brought us out of the caves..." when a caller said that religion was holding us back as a species suggesting that religion actually encourages mankind to grow as a species when nothing could be further from the truth.

Clearly none of the jibberish people were talking was sound science, but I think the "brought us out of the caves," depending on exactly what he meant, is somewhat in line with the theories of the evolutionary psychologists. Religious practice, in the way it promotes social cohesion, is a very plausible evolutionary adaptation.

So to say that it helped the species, yes, I think you could make a good argument.

[ShowerBench]

He said something along the lines of "Religion actually brought us out of the caves..." when a caller said that religion was holding us back as a species suggesting that religion actually encourages mankind to grow as a species when nothing could be further from the truth.

Belief in a higher power is as or more rational than a lack of belief and advancement as a species doesn't depend in any way on wholesale rejection of religion.

Depending on the religious system, it can encourage or prevent growth as a species. Given that it has played a significant and probably positive (on balance) role in human morality through history, it's likely it has encouraged mankind to grow. Religion doesn't have a completely positive track record but neither does purported humanism or atheism.

Then there is the small problem with stating "nothing could be further from the truth," namely that nobody knows what is true, including whether any particular religious prescription for mankind that promises greater human satisfaction here and/or hereafter is groundless.

[Mitch&Murray]

Medicine
His disdain for the medical profession is uninformed and ilconceived.

[Hepcat22]

His family.

[disneyspy]

that package from that guy

[Hottub]

Forget Aristotle and fuck Socrates...

[Hottub]

http://gravelandgold.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/band-levon-helm.jpg

[tanless1]

Way to derail a thread, brett.....in 4 ? I suspect I know where your coming from(and can't/wont fault you for it), but consider a 3rd perspective.

[STC-Dub]

Cool, I have Ron's phone number?

[Meataball23]

I'll take J. Geils Band for 800 please

[underdog]

Sports.

[Meataball23]

Sports.

Thats where I voted

[STC-Dub]

I would only use Ron for movies or music, I do not see him knowing more about any of the other subjects than I do. For music or movies I would gladly call him.

[Tenbatsuzen]

Sobriety

[Zorro]

Romance

[StanUpshaw]

Ronnie: "Your dog knows how to hunt because your caveman relatives taught it to!"

Yep, definitely biology.

[ShowerBench]

Ronnie: "Your dog knows how to hunt because your caveman relatives taught it to!"

Yep, definitely biology.

It's pretty clear he doesn't actually believe cavemen taught present-day hunting dogs to hunt.

So that aside, the statement is accurate shorthand for the process that has taken place since caveman days, which includes human selection (based in part on a dog's aptitude for learning and performing certain hunting skills), and which ultimately produced various hunting breeds.

[StanUpshaw]

It's pretty clear he doesn't actually believe cavemen taught present-day hunting dogs to hunt.

So that aside, the statement is accurate shorthand for the process that has taken place since caveman days, which includes human selection (based in part on a dog's aptitude for learning and performing certain hunting skills), and which ultimately produced various hunting breeds.

I thought it was pretty clear that he believed the dogs' learned behavior got passed down.

[n0thng2bdone]

something they missed is the fact that dogs can detect cancer only when they're trained to smell the tumors

[ShowerBench]

I thought it was pretty clear that he believed the dogs' learned behavior got passed down.

Nah, I think the point was that the dog-man relationship dates that far back and that the early and enduring relationship is the reason that your dog can hunt today. That's true.

[Serpico1103]

Nah, I think the point was that the dog-man relationship dates that far back and that the early and enduring relationship is the reason that your dog can hunt today. That's true.
This time and the last time this subject has come up, Ron expressed the belief that dogs were taught to hunt the way they hunt now by early man; pointers, retrievers. Instead of, men exploiting the hunting instinics in dogs and breeding them selectively. He thought pointers pointed because early man taught them, not that they pointed when in wild packs.
Alrighty than.

[KingModem]

Snitchin'.

[spoon]

mummers

[Devo37]

Alrighty than.

i'm embarrassed for you...

[MetalChild]

Physics
He does know a lot about many things, but I doubt that he knows the intricate details of whatever is happening, like string theory.