Yes, your insoles are farting.

Does Radio Shack carry those?

No, you gotta pull 'em off the boy roach. However, they stay alive for hours after removal. Which is the cool and/or freaktastic part.

And he wants my input on whether the program budget looks appropriate!

You should tell him the thing about the cockroach antennas.

Just because.

After taking yesterday off, I keep thinking today is Monday. Then I get the delightful zing of "Not only is it Friday, but it's payday and a three-day weekend!" Doesn't suck.

Would the heathens/pagans/Others care to explicate their stances and/or spirituality?

I've probably done the Erisian Sermon before. Lots of folks consider Erisianism/Discordianism a sci-fi joke, but as the original writers of the Principia Discordia said, "We thought we were joking, then we kept nodding and saying, That makes sense."

In a nutshell: There are two main balances, distruction and creativity, order and chaos. If you follow an all-order path, you have to accept destruction and creativity, likewise will an all-chaos path. However, if you want to follow an all-creative path (generally believed to be the best choice), then you have to accept both order and chaos. Life is very difficult without the order of traffic lights, for example, and it's boring without occasionally wearing a tiara to Taco Bell.

The universe is supposedly built on order: the DNA code, atomic structure, etc. This, however, ignores all the random chaos out there. Many people can't deal with accepting chaos into their lives, so they accept destruction in the name of an orderly existence. I'm sure I don't need to name the examples.

Personally, I don't--necessarily--believe in a separate cosmic entity called Eris. She is the manifestation of forces, and, fortunately, she has a sense of humor. I've been known to pray to her, as a convenient target. I don't expect her to intervene, but it helps tremendously to know I've got cosmic-level sympathy on my side.

In regards to faith informing a moral structure, I don't fear hell. I don't think it exists. Life can be hellish enough, and the afterlife is either nirvana or peaceful blankness. If I don't exist, I'm not going to be there to be upset by non-existance. Maybe there's reincarnation. If the board's still around, maybe I'll get back to you on that. Anyway, at the end of days, I'm going to have to stand before the universe in all its glory, with all my faults and deeds hanging out. I'm hoping to only have to do a minimum of, "Yeah, that was pretty freaking stupid, wasn't it." I am willing to say, "I know, not the most honorable of decisions there. Here's my reason, I stand by it."

I should bookmark this and copy it and hand it out to the missionaries.

If I don't exist, I'm not going to be there to be upset by non-existance. Maybe there's reincarnation. If the board's still around, maybe I'll get back to you on that.

I'm planning on posting here while I'm on my deathbed, so I'll tell you all if I see a light, and or Moses or something....

Actually, my last post from my deathbed will probably look like this:

Huh. My heart just stopped beating. Weird.

eta: SLUT!!

Hec, thanks for those links. Neat stuff.

Cindy, whatever it is you're writing up, feel free to paraphrase or directly quote me. I'm not worried about citations. I do have a Livejournal but there's no need to link to it in your writing or what have you unless you want to.

My agnosticism is borne mostly of disinterest; my life is overwhelmingly full and complex already--I don't need a definitive answer on the existance of God or the lack thereof, and I just don't care very much either way. I don't think my life would be fuller if there were a God or emptier if there weren't. Many, many more questions are more compelling to me.

Edited to add that I can understand why it's a compelling question to a lot of people, and a compelling belief to those of faith, everyone should believe their own truth, nothingwrongwiththatcakes.

I can appreciate that sentiment, Jen.

Jen doesn't need God because she's high on life!

Heh. Which I actually think is true, what with her naturalist, zoological and medical fascinations.

See, I don't know, the idea that this is all there is, that there's no afterlife or higher purpose to it all...that doesn't bother me. I find it kind of satisfying in a way I can't really articulate.

Yeah, for the ethical laws, I was always taught "This is good, therefore G-d said to do it," not "G-d said to do this, therefore it is good."

That's a lovely way of putting it, Hil.

Phew. I was right and Client was wrong about the grant deadline date. His wife/co-director had written 2/21 on the calendar as a heads-up to start thinking about the grant, not as a deadline.

t pounds head against wall