Sometimes I miss having powers... Oh. Oh! I know what this is! This is peer pressure! Any second now you're gonna make me smoke tobacco and--and have drugs!

Anya ,'Showtime'


Natter 54: Right here, dammit.  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Jars - Oct 24, 2007 10:46:18 am PDT #8362 of 10001

Plus I dig up dead people from thousands of years ago and have yet to be haunted. And you'd think that if they were going to go after anyone, it'd be the people disturbing their everlasting rest. Because they're getting in the way of a new motorway.


Trudy Booth - Oct 24, 2007 10:46:21 am PDT #8363 of 10001
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

Now I don't have to imagine!


Daisy Jane - Oct 24, 2007 10:47:12 am PDT #8364 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."

I don't know or really care if they're real, but I love creepy things.

Like this [link]

Or this for the "Looks like happy innocent fun time...but wait, what's that!?!" factor. [link]

I don't know why this one creeps me out so much. [link]


beekaytee - Oct 24, 2007 10:51:11 am PDT #8365 of 10001
Compassionately intolerant

My wicked stepsister freaked out when I changed some details of my literally wicked father's funeral...(he was wicked, the funeral was actually cool). She was afraid he'd be 'mad at us.' My response? Look, if he's going to haunt anyone, it will be me and, frankly, I can take it. 13 years later, so far, so good.

If his spirit sustains, I hope it has better things to do!

On the other hand, I've counseled a lot of people who culturally support the notion of a sustaining presence. I can't argue with them.

As a friend says, "Believe nothing, but entertain all possibilities."


Typo Boy - Oct 24, 2007 10:52:17 am PDT #8366 of 10001
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

I don't think I could believe in a ghost I had not been personally introduced to. Or presented other kinds of overwhelming evidence. (Even then, they'd have to compensate for the "I don't believe I'm so smart I can't be fooled" factor.)

But in terms Allyson's argument about whether ghost will haunt the burnt out remains of the earth after the sun goes nova - I could so fan-wank that question, just for the sake of arguing. That is actually a pretty easy one to rebut. The big reason I don't believe in ghosts is the same reason I don't believe in Santa Claus. The burden is on anyone arguing for their reality to prove it, not on me to disprove it.


tommyrot - Oct 24, 2007 10:57:10 am PDT #8367 of 10001
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.

Or this for the "Looks like happy innocent fun time...but wait, what's that!?!" factor. [link]

From the link:

If you noticed the point of the flash, it's flat, as if no depth. But the ghostly image is embossed, as if the computer actually detected that the image does indeed have depth . Creepy!

Um... no. The computer didn't detect "depth" - just patterns of light and dark. "Embossing" is just a digital effect that processes the light and dark as if they follow usual rules of light and shadow for 3-d objects, and inferring depth from that. But really, we can't actually say if there's "depth" or just an odd pattern of light and dark.


Trudy Booth - Oct 24, 2007 10:58:00 am PDT #8368 of 10001
Greece's financial crisis threatens to take down all of Western civilization - a civilization they themselves founded. A rather tragic irony - which is something they also invented. - Jon Stewart

Plus I dig up dead people from thousands of years ago and have yet to be haunted. And you'd think that if they were going to go after anyone, it'd be the people disturbing their everlasting rest. Because they're getting in the way of a new motorway.

Well, even assuming there are ghosts they're not all that common. It's not every disrupted dead guy that gets all wiggy. Maybe they had some sort of meeting and decided that the motorway seemed like a good idea and sent the whiner or two off to give grief to the politician who planned the thing.


Jars - Oct 24, 2007 11:00:03 am PDT #8369 of 10001

It is the politicians who deserve the grief.


Daisy Jane - Oct 24, 2007 11:02:11 am PDT #8370 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."

This is nice and creepy. Videos are soooo much better than pictures for the shiver factor. [link]


Daisy Jane - Oct 24, 2007 11:03:23 am PDT #8371 of 10001
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."

Do not watch this if you scare easily.

[link]