Well said, Typo Boy.

I can take a bath and watch a DVD at the same time!!!!

You can also use your laptop to watch movies in a hotel, or while on a train.

And for about $20, you can buy an adaptor that will let you play DVDs (or whatever) on a TV.

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I think my Powerbook came with this adapter. I watch most torrents on my TV now.

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Hee. See, I'm totally the opposite; I watch everything on my computer, cause my PC looks quite a bit better than my rather elderly TV.

And for a bit of mememe...I tried on pants I haven't worn since 1998, and THEY FIT!!! I have a cameltoe in them, so they are not quite fitting well, but they are on me, zipped, and loose in the thighs. I am so weirdly happy.

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That was fantastic, Gar.

if you can't find rational arguments for your emotional bias then you need to find a way to change it; mind you I don't think proof in any absolute way will ever be found; but I try to have a reasonable argument why my viewpoint is not insane or stupid.

I agree with this. And I think it touches on such an important point. When any person holds a belief they are afraid to question, I think it needs questioning.

The day will come when I am not in heaven or hell or reincarnated or drifting around on a different plane. I will be gone. There won't even be a little bit of me left to know that I'm gone. That was not an easy thing to accept, and once made that leap is made, belief it an afterlife seems kind of like a kindly lie told for people who can't bear a harsh truth.

I think the fear of the above (or unacceptance of the above) is more common than not, regardless of any belief in the supernatural, but surely must play into mankind's quest for answers. Does that sort of extinction of being freak out other people here?

It hasn't bothered me, but I wonder if that's because I came to my personal beliefs so young, but always had sort of a "if this isn't true, nothing is, and there's nothing after death" as my back-up understanding, if you will. Well more specifically, I always thought there was a God. I always thought that if there was a God, the Christians were most likely to be right, and if they were wrong, then I thought the Jews were 2nd most likely to be right, and then I thought the atheists were third most likely to be right. Now granted, as a American child, my most-likely-scenario-#1 and my most-likely-scenario-#2 were at least partially a by-product of how I was raised, and the culture in which I was raised. Today however, I still think the same things are likely to be true, and in that order, if anything is true.

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Does that sort of extinction of being freak out other people here?

It used to. But now I pretty much deal with it. It does make me live more in the moment because of the realization that I only have a finite amount of time to do stuff....

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Ha! Cindy, that cracks me up! I totally now see religion as a cosmic horserace in your teeny wee head:

"ANNNNNDD now we have Christianity in the the backstretch, followed closely by Atheism! Wait...wait...is that JUDAISM burning up the track, catching up with, NO WAIT -- passing Atheism! It's a hot race, folks!"

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Does it give you a feeling that nothing much matters, tommyrot (Gar, and anyone else who believes in this idea). Because I think that's why it doesn't freak me out. There's an appeal in it. Where people think faith is comforting, I think of atheism as comforting.

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"ANNNNNDD now we have Christianity the the backstretch, followed closely by Atheism! Wait...wait...is that JUDAISM burning up the track, catching up with, NO WAIT -- passing Atheism! It's a hot race, folks!"

Hee. Pretty much. The thought process was, "There's gotta be a God. Okay, if there's a God, it's *that* God, in one way or another, or there's no God.

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Does that sort of extinction of being freak out other people here

The only time it ever gives me a twinge is when I think of all the stories in my head that'll die with me. 'Cause I know I won't have time to get them all out (not a comment on life's brevity, more a comment on how noisy the voices in my head are).

My "religion" gives me great comfort. I recently realized that a very well-meaning, kind, earnest soul who was trying to convince me that I needed to accept Jesus etc. was having as much effect on me as an Amway salesperson. Well, a better effect, because Jesus is cool and Amway is scary pyramid marketing.

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Does it give you a feeling that nothing much matters, tommyrot

Sorta. But it also makes me want the world to be a better place, as those who suffer in this world will not be rewarded (or whatever) in the next.

My father always told us not to complain if things were unfair. He would say that God would even things out in the end. So as a result of that I think I grew up far too stoic for my own good. (Or, to put it less nicely, I didn't have much of a backbone.) So for me, the realization that this life is all we have makes me stand up for myself and others.

So I think the only thing that matters is people, especially family and friends.

Does that answer your queston?

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