I have been asked, through email and through comments, why I, as an atheist, give a flying fuck about theists — about what believers do, or think, or believe. Why do I blog about religion and belief in god(s) if I am an unbeliever?
There are many reasons I blog. I blog to help me understand who I am. I blog to poke fun at political and religious absurdity. And I blog because I am scared abso-fucking-lutely shitless about the radical right. Read the rest of this entry »
When I was young I lived for a time at Grand Canyon. Right on the rim. I went to Grand Canyon Elementary School from early in my first grade year to early in my sixth year. And I saw my first example of child abuse. Read the rest of this entry »
There was a tour group leader show up in Albany. The good news – I got to go on a road trip. The bad news — I got to go on a road trip. I left on Thursday morning at 5:00am. It was already snowing when I hit the road. The driving wasn’t that bad. Snow and slush. I just cruised at between 45 and 55 miles per hour and, other than the trucks, things were pretty easy (the trucks (which (of course) can go much faster (their weight lets them cut through the slush rather efficiently) kept passing me and spraying me with lots of blinding slush). Read the rest of this entry »
I am amazed. Shocked. Aghast. Mentally obliviated. Blown away. Surprised. Why am I amazed, shocked, aghast, mentally obliviated and blown away? Read the rest of this entry »
As I have said (written?) before, one of my best friends is gay. He envies the relationship I have with (((Wife))). He envies the fact that I can be married. Here in Pennsylvania, he cannot. Hell, we don’t even have a domestic partnership law — Pennsylvania has gone so far as to ban, by statute, gay marriage.
Two total strangers (as long as they are of opposite sex) can get married. An 80-year-old geezer can marry (in most states) a sixteen-year-old girl. A death row inmate can marry a girl he only met through the mail. Yet, in most states, gay and lesbian lovers, who may have long term, committed relationships, cannot marry. Why not? Religion. Read the rest of this entry »
Chappie has a fun bit of nonsense up on her blog: The Alphabet Meme. She got it via email but has transubstantiationated it (must come from being a chaplain, donchaknow) to a blog post and made it voluntary. If anyone else wants to play along, go for it. If not, you should be expecting an email of dead chipmunks within 30 days. Not that I would threaten anyone, of course. Just sayin’.
RULES:
Using the first letter of your last name, answer the questions listed below. You may do this in the comments on this thread, and/or on your blog. If you do it on your blog, leave a comment here. If you do it on your blog and want to tag ten people, go right ahead. If you want to play along, consider yourself tagged. Read the rest of this entry »
Celebrating, of course, the 3rd Century Christian martyr (or martyrs) who, according to:
The Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, compiled about 1260 and one of the most-read books of the High Middle Ages, gives sufficient details of the saints for each day of the liturgical year to inspire a homily on each occasion. The very brief vita of St Valentine has him refusing to deny Christ before the “Emperor Claudius” in the year 280. Before his head was cut off, this Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer. Jacobus makes a play with the etymology of “Valentine”, “as containing valour”. (From Wikipedia)
or maybe not. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes.
You read that. You really did. National Pancake Week begins February 14 and ends on February 20, 2010. Apparently, they had a real problem deciding which week to celebrate as NPW. First they considered the third week of January, then the fourth week of February, and so on. Apparently, they kept waffling over the date.
Pancake Week. So. Should I publish a pancake recipe?
When have I ever gone with the flow? Here is my recipe for French Toast: Read the rest of this entry »
We just got our first major winter storm (well, first one down in the valley (which is actually the Wyoming Valley and the Lackawanna Valley (but people are lazy here (for instance, Luzerne County Community College is known throughout the valley as LCC)))) for about three years. Almost ten inches here in Wilkes-Barre. So what did I do?
Well, I disabled a snowblower (the little old lady two houses down lets us use her snowblower if we also dig her out). I shoveled snow. I made pizza (don’t worry, this is not a Thursday Gourmet post). And I designed a truly geo-geeky anti-mountain top removal mining poster. I don’t think it’ll be all that popular. After all, without looking it up, how many of you know what an orogeny is? Read the rest of this entry »
One of the toys that we three kids played with when I was younger was an Ouija board. Oddly, no matter what question was asked, or by whom, the answer usually matched the thoughts of the oldest of the three. Not little (((Billy))). Harmless fun. Well, for me, annoying. For my older sisters, fun.
Years later, I discovered that Ouija boards were not viewed as harmless fun. They were, according to one local preacher (local (at this time) being Western Maryland) decried the boards as a gateway to Satanism. As marijuana leads inexorably to opium, so Ouija leads directly to Satanic cults, orgies, human sacrifice. atheism, Darwinism, voting Democrat, alcoholism, divorce, and viewing the Bible as allegorical. Apparently, Christians (the specific subset of literalist Christians (and selected others)) are so insecure that they think a children’s game — a boring children’s game — is a threat to their belief system. Read the rest of this entry »
