This thread should win some kind of award. Threads die a "natural" (by moderator) death at 15 pages; this one has to be pretty darn close to the record for least time taken. And doesn't that prove the wisdom of the Natural Law of 15 Pages? And since all natural laws are proof of ... oh, never mind.

15 pages is a general guideline sent down from Mt. Blunder from the all powerful Wizard, to we his loyal and humble servants. I for one may let it sneak past the guideline a little bit. Besides, it's somewhat nuclear, and the Wizard likes nukes. Can I get a " Hail Homer"?!

HAIL HOMER!!!!

Who am I to argue with that? Hail Homer!

Of course now we are worshipping a wizard named Dave and his alter ego named Homer. This could bring on a whole new debate. But, what the hell..............HAIL HOMER!

A refreshing debate.

What does not kill you makes you stronger.

Big F*** Waste of Time

I'm new in the neighborhood so I knew nothing of the 15 page rule---I just assumed you guys did this all the time. Very interesting discussion. I guess it's possible to learn things sometimes without using the 'boring method'.....
P&L, Kevin

Hope you're doing better with your illness. Prayers just said for ya. It's been interesting reading your comments. I agree with some of them. Peace to all...

Wow! I see you've all been quit busy here! I take a few days to sleep off a migraine only to find you guys are having way too much stress....I mean, way too much fun without me!

Larry said
For me, some sort of spiritulality includes believing in some form of deity and being a follower and practitioner in the ancient religion of smartassism.


Oh Larry! Would you be my guru too? You've struck my very soul with the kinship of someone who finally understands!

It's not easy being a follower and practitioner in the ancient religion of Smartassism. I find myself greatly persecuted at times and then I feel so all alone. Smartassism is always offending the Analrentivists. They just take themselves way too seriously! Just imagining the pressure they must be under makes it hard for me to breath. I have way too much empathy, so I try to avoid Analrentivists of every denomination. I expect it from "The Church Lady", but even my Atheist friends are practitioners.

I do try to be as spiritual as I possibly can. My heritage is Friends, but sometimes I make an absolutely horrible pacifist. I would say I probably lean toward the Christian mysticism side of things when I'm not practicing Smartassism. Some believe these two spiritual paths are mutually exclusive but I'm working on it. I think there is hope. Especially when I'm hanging out with the Blunderites.

I will confess one of my most difficult weaknesses is that I get my feelings hurt too easy. Here I feel accepted. I dream of the day when I can make it to the revival at the Church and give you all really big blunder hugs.

When things calm down some, maybe I would like to explore with PSB my fear of the idea of no creator and no after life. For one thing, if this is all there is, I'd better start having a hell of a lot more fun before it's too late. And I admit to my everlasting shame that if I allow myself to believe there is no accounting for one's behavior at the end of things, I might be tempted to be not nice and less honest more often than I already fall prey to.

You know, like making up a lie to get out of doing something you don't want to do kind of not honest. And telling people what you're really thinking kind of not nice.

For some, facing their fear is jumping out of an air plane, which I am also afraid to do. Facing one of my other fears would be to explore the philosophy of Atheism.

I have absolutely no intension of jumping out of a plane!

Changing the subject, I think this is funny. I took my pregnant, analretentive daughter out for dinner last Thursday. I told her that I had checked with some of my friends at the Birth Center to see if they take her insurance. (finally got MediCal) Well, that pissed her off. So I tried to back peddle and said, " Oh, but I told them that I'm not your childbirth educator, your doula or your lactation consultant. I'll stay out of your face and just wear my grandma hat."

This shows what she really thinks of me. She said, "O MY GOD MOM, YOU CANNOT WEAR A GRANDMA HAT TO MY BIRTH!" I gently explained to her that it was just a figure of speech.

But you have absolutely no idea how hard it was not to say, "Well, now that you've mentioned it, I think a grandma hat would be great! I could get it in blue or pink depending on whether you are having a girl or a boy and I can put the word "grandma" in rhinestones across the front!" But I was so good and kept my thought to myself.

This part isn't a joke. I am trying to get her to name the baby Arlo if it's a boy. Most likely, even if she likes the idea, and I think she did, she won't do it because I suggested it.

I can't wait until she has a kid of her own! I remember the curse my mother put on me many times as a teenager. "I hope you have a kid just like you someday!" The kid that's just like me is a lot of fun and I really enjoy her company. I think I'll give her the reverse whammy and use the, "I hope you have a kid just like me someday" curse.

Love and Peace,
Primula Brandybuck

Great post!

Get the hat!

I'm beginning to realize that religion aside, there is actually only one world. And everybody is in it, more or less. It's funny to me that someone would actually think that I, of all people, would advocate one anything for everyone, when all my life I've been supporting diversification. I like local things; language, culture, costumes (gotta love the priestess of Isis costumes), politics, beer, education, flora and fauna, as well as religious traditions (how many sects of everything are there anyways?), not to mention (as a guy writing this) girls (gotta love the diversity there too).

If anything, I remain steadfastly opposed to the cultivation of any ONE anything. It'd be like ripping out the wildflowers to grow only one kind of flower. I LIKE wildflowers growing naturally - there's a beauty in the way things are that inspires awe.

So if there was only one thing to come out of this discussion, I just want everyone to know that for me, the more the merrier applies to just about everything. I like it the way it was made with all the differences, with all the individuality, with all the whatever that makes the world a healthy and happy place. Every time someone comes along to make it less diverse, more the same, more organized, more efficient, more uniform, more the same - They screw it up royally and we end up with wars, repression, diseases and disasters, dictatorial regimes, and bad governments that could have been avoided if we'd just have left well enough alone.

The French said it best:

Vive La Différence!

I'm with them on this one...

adg

That is one of the best, most sincere posts of this whole discussion.

I'm with ya'.

Jay