Bumble...

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

Chalky, I do not believe that there is a God. That is not the same as stating that there is no God. Nobody can provide evidence to prove such a negative.

It is a poor argument made by religious people to non-believers "Prove to me that there is no God". Frank often states the exotic and then uses the "Prove to me that there is no ......." in his debating topics. I cannot prove that there is no teapot orbiting Pluto but the chances are sufficiently low that I can dismiss the assertion that there is.

I have mentioned this before to you. If you say that you farted 5 minutes ago I would accept that as truth because the matter is trivial, you are honest and would not lie about that. But if anyone states that there definitely is a God, that is an exotic assertion. As such the burden of evidence / proof is totally upon that person who makes such an assertion. I can accept that you believe that there is a God, just as I expect you to accept that I do not believe that there is a God.

You have heard Richard Dawkins speak about this. He believes that there is no God but cannot prove it just as he believes that there are no fairies and no leprechauns. "The evidence for the existence of each of the three is equally weak". No religious person can prove that there is a God.

Whenever anyone says "Prove to me that there is no ....." it is a sure sign that such a person has said something for which positive evidence / proof is needed rather than trying to get the gainsayer to prove the negative. The burden of proof is on the asserter of the exotic, rather than on the gainsayer.

[6EQUJ5]

Supposing that I stated that there is intelligent life to at least our level of development on or inside Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn & Uranus and it keeps itself from being detected from Earth.

You do not believe it.

Then I say to you "Prove that there is no such life". You cannot do that. It would be a ridiculous attitude by me to try to make you prove the negative. The burden of proof would be totally upon me to provide evidence to support my exotic assertion.

[6EQUJ5]

Our attitude to wildlife is a fundamental test of how civilised the human race is.

[Chauncey]

Stefan,when I said that it was like you providing unequivocal proof that there was no God it was merely to compare my suprise at bumbles revaluations about the "Wildlife" photos being faked because i honestly thought that they was photographed out in the open,it wasn't having a dig at you or anything just a quip if anything,infact I think that you give a well thought argument to the non existence God and respect your views and Frank's* demands that you prove it are ridiculous just as I can't prove that he does exist,before you mentioned Dawkins on here I had never heard of him but then suddenly I've noticed his name pop up several times since,once on Room 101 by Frank Skinner,once part of a Chase question and then straight after a funeral that I went to outside a church a couple of weeks ago

* Frank,you can't put prove to God's existence just by saying look in the air at the birds and expect everyone to concert to Christianity,i think that you are just having a days fishing to see who you can tempt with the bait

Right then,anyway I'm finished with this thread,bumble has torn up my admiration of nature photos by revealing stuff that only photographers should know and people like me to believe,she's got red squirrels on her back fence and seen puffins up close so I'm deflated

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

Ah Chalky, I misunderstood your reference in the context of your original post, so I need not have bothered with the reply.

[Bumble]

Get yourself away to see them first hand. There are a load of places you can see puffins. The best time is around 20 June.

I would like to see a white-tailed eagle and was thinking of a trip to the highlands this close season. The only problem is knowing when our close season is going to start!

[Blackdogblue]

What would win an award is a photo of the Lesser Spotted Chalky… rare thing 😀

[6EQUJ5]

Bumble, how is it that there are so many good quality wildlife documentaries made? Surely the best place to make such documentaries is far from civilisation, where the wildlife is relaxed. Let's consider that the crew wish to film something for 3 months and they have in mind to film that which is very interesting but may happen at any time or not at all. So that means 3 months continuous filming far from civilisation. How does the technical side go? What about charging up their cameras with electricity when the location is far from civilisation, maybe in a desert or in the Arctic / Antarctic. It may be that in 3 months the crew never gets the important action on video and there is no interest in a tv company buying it? Is such work done freelance with the hope of the raw footage being bought by one of the big tv companies and moulded into their format?

It seems to be that someone takes a substantial financial risk in terms of a crew being paid for several months and possibly having the bad luck to not get the event that would make the venture profitable. Maybe some of these efforts are non-specific in that all the wildlife is filmed all the time. Thus what is initially regarded as a peripheral part of the scope may turn out to be a winner when the main point of the venture has been a let-down.

[griff]

Get yourself away to see them first hand. There are a load of places you can see puffins. The best time is around 20 June.

I would like to see a white-tailed eagle and was thinking of a trip to the highlands this close season. The only problem is knowing when our close season is going to start!

Saw some on Mull, Bumble. I think there’s a place there that specialises in getting sightings. Got really up close to an otter there too.

[Chauncey]

Got really up close to an otter there too.

Just when I thought that this thread couldn't make me feel any worst 🙄