Shotgun

I'm drinking a whiskey and coke, waiting for a friend to come over, and trying really hard to ignore how filthy my house is (because I'm not in the mood for cleaning). Beyond that, who knows what the activities will be for this evening.

Is that what people call Role Playing? Yeah, Bill's into that role playing stuff... He's really cute when he's pretending to be Little Red Riding Hood.

>And billvon is an evil genius. Bill may be a genius, but that "evil" thing is just an act.

Sexy! Mmm, meat...

And you know that said people are now going to expect video, don't you? Hmm, now I'm hungry for pizza... and meat.

I'll probably wish I hadn't asked... but what is a "Berries itcher"?

Actually, Bobisticism is not all it's cracked up to be. A bunch of pansy know-it-alls who think they're better than everyone else... Hmm, quite similar to atheism and Christianity.

Odd, I've been calling around all day trying to find a Jesus pinata for our next barbecue, but no one seems to keep them in stock... I guess there aren't enough militant atheists around who enjoy beating candy and cheap toys out of a paper Jesus.

Oh, I'm not offended. I'm just amused at how inferior you are to not understand the difference between an atheist and an agnostic. Ok, just kidding... Yes, the debate over which word to use is silly, but it's fun for a little while... The two terms are extremely similar, almost interchangeable. Maybe I'll just stick to telling people that I don't believe in God (if they want to know), and they can decide for themselves how they want to label me. Or maybe I'll tell them that I'm a Bobistic, and let them go look it up on wikipedia...

Gosh, you're starting to make us atheists sound like Christians - like we spend a lot of time arguing about who can call themselves a "real atheist" or not. Now excuse me while I go chuckle to myself about how superior I am to the wishy-washy agnostics and all the poor misguided religious folk. Oh, and I have decided to devote my life to promoting the militant atheist agenda, so I guess I should get to work on that...

Atheism doesn't exactly fit the dictionary definition of a religion. And I certainly don't think of it as a religion; I just call myself an atheist because that is a quicker way of saying "I don't believe in God" (by about one syllable ). And I don't see how you would go about using atheism to teach people how to be decent. I mean, how would the idea that there is no god encourage anyone to treat other people well? Teach your kids what you believe, and perhaps teach them about other beliefs as well so they can decide for themselves. And if you want them to grow up with good morals, then teach them by setting a good example.

Exactly. I think the only thing that can be assumed about all atheists is that we don't believe in God; our beliefs regarding other aspects of life are going to vary widely.

Porky's. I remember seeing that when I was about 12 years old and thinking it was the funniest thing ever... But I saw it again as an adult and didn't think it was funny at all... Though it might work for turning off your brain.

Actually, I tend to think that the existence of matter is infinite - that it has always been here and always will be, in one form or another (or something like that).

Hmm, maybe it is a perspective thing... I was only 19 when I started skydiving, but I had already been seriously injured myself and had been through the experience of losing close family and friends... so I think I was fully aware of my own mortality... and maybe that made the dangers of skydiving a lot more real to me than to someone who has not already had those experiences in life. But I still find it a bit disturbing to think that there are so many skydivers who do not realize that they can get seriously injured or killed in this sport (and won't realize that until they witness it or experience it themselves). One of the things that they do in some BASE FJC's is to show (not-so-pretty) videos of what can happen when things go wrong - and I think that helps to make people more aware of what they are getting themselves into. Maybe that would be a good idea for skydiving FJC's too?

It is disturbing (and depressing) to me to think that there are so many people out there who would not live by any rules or moral conduct if they didn't have a fictional religious story to tell them what is right and wrong. I believe the same thing that jakee does, and yet my life would simply not feel "right" to me if I treated other people badly. Do you honestly feel the need for some sort of "reward" such as heaven to make you want to treat others well?

Long before I made my first jump... (The risk involved is pretty obvious.) And I would hope that anyone getting into this sport would understand that they can get seriously injured or killed without having to witness (or be involved in) an incident to prove that point.

I have lucid dreams sometimes. They usually come at a time when I have been having sleeping problems and after a succession of nightmares triggered by "awake during sleep paralysis" dreams. I have never had very good control over them, but once I realize that I am dreaming I am able to control it a little bit... And when I first realize that I am dreaming - it seems like the first thing I always do is to start floating around rather than walking - I love that feeling of weightlessness... There have been times when I was floating around but could see myself lying in bed, so it seemed like an "out of body" experience - very cool. I find it difficult to explain my dreams to other people too. And I often have such vivid, intense dreams that I am always in awe of what realistic experiences my brain is capable of creating on its own. In fact it leads me to think that the power of our brains is practically untapped as of now... And another experience that I get from my dreams is that there seems to be some sort of interconnectedness of all of our brains, but that is something that I find difficult to explain as well... Anyhow, I am fascinated by dreams, and especially lucid dreams... They are definitely a source of wonder for me.

Here's some evidence for the existence of God; it's called Conscience... the law of God written on our hearts. Some ignore it, and it becomes seared. I have a conscience, and yet I don't believe in God. I do not think that it requires belief in the supernatural to make one want to treat others well.

I've only had stitches one time, but in three different places: my left knee, my right shoulder, and on my head next to my right eye. My shoulder even had a cool little tube thingie stuck in it for a while to drain out the glass. This was from a car wreck that I had two weeks before my 16th birthday. I got a ticket for driving without a license and for not wearing a seatbelt, but the wreck was actually not my fault; some chick ran a red light and hit me as I was turning left. I broke the windshield with my head, knocked out the passenger-side window with my shoulder, and took out the car stereo with my knee. Funny, I constantly have these "awake during sleep paralysis" dreams, where I'm sort of awake but I can't move... and when I started coming to after the wreck, I thought I was having one of those dreams, except it was different because all I could see was red (blood in my eyes from the head wound)... I kept hearing voices from a man and a woman telling me that everything would be ok and that the ambulance would be there soon, but I don't think that I really realized what was going on until I fully woke up in the ambulance... and then I started freaking out asking where Naomi was (a six-year-old girl that I had been babysitting that day - but luckily I had left her with my mom). The last thing I could remember was having her with me... Apparently I had people looking for her until my mom arrived at the emergency room with her. Anyhow, that's my stitches story... The scars on my head and knee are pretty much gone, but I still have ugly scars on my shoulder. They used to be so dark that people would ask me if it was a tattoo, so I finally decided to get a tattoo around them... but the tattoo artist didn't think that was good idea, so I ended up getting one on the opposite shoulder...

Hmm, too bad that these same ideas can't be taught without the use of a myth. To me, they seem pretty simple, fundamental to society 'working'. I don't need to believe some BS story to think that these are good things to do; and I honestly can't understand why anyone else would need to either.

Yeah, you probably shouldn't let him have a shotgun... I'm a bit dangerous.

Or hanging patents on their walls...

I don't get it either, probably something to do with male superiority... Which is one of the many reasons that I would choose to not associate with that particular church....