I do not understand the concept of virgin mojitos. Isn't it just a bunch of mint and lime wedges in the bottom of a glass?

Plus tonic water and ice!

I think. I've made a few for Emmett.

I love cable TV. Call me old-fashioned, or whatever, but I'm not ready to acquire all the cable shows I watch some other way than TiVo reaching out and grabbing them. I mean, I can get illegally and legally downloaded stuff onto my TiVo or my Apple TV, but that requires effort on my part, at least nominally, which most of my TV watching doesn't.

This is me.

I'm reasonably okay with not existing anymore. I mean, I figure, I won't be around to mind, so what's the point of minding now?

Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, I didn't exist at all for 99.999999whatever% of the universe's history, and I don't mind that much....

Then I think it's better to act as if free will exists anyway. The alternative seems to entail just sitting around a lot.

Yeah, predestination always seemed iffy, because when folks say "Well, I'm going to heaven anyway, so why shouldn't I misbehave?", clerics say, "Because God could change his mind if you're too evil." Or, "I'm already going to hell, so, etc.", and clerics say, "Ah, but you don't know you're going to hell, and if you're too bad, etc." It makes little sense.

When I start thinking like that, I think about how maybe everything in the universe has already happened; we just don't perceive it that way. Then I start thinking about predestination and the lack of free will. Then I think it's better to act as if free will exists anyway. The alternative seems to entail just sitting around a lot.

What's a better delusion: free will or God?

Answer: Whatever makes a better story. Or possibly whatever makes you happy. Or possibly, whatever makes you productive. (Literally, making stuff. Not just staying busy or making money. I'm kind of into the notion of Making as one of the big redeeming human qualities. Let's fill the world with good books, good movies, good songs and artful backyard spaceships.)

My DVR has definitely made Cable TV pretty awesome. Just bring up the web browser, tell it what I want, and then watch it whenever I want to. If there are well-behaved commercial breaks with blank frames before and after, they can be automatically removed.

I do not understand the concept of virgin mojitos. Isn't it just a bunch of mint and lime wedges in the bottom of a glass?

Plus soda water, and some sugar!! And in this case, ginger syrup. Mmmmmmm.

The thing I would really like to ahem (since I have cable and tivo) is EBOOKS. OMG. I mean, they're ridiculous expensive!

Oh, an opening for shameless self-promotion. I have a Sci-Fi novelette that's in eBook form (ePub or Kindle).

Discipline Follow the link to the eBook versions.

And Holli (I want to call her our Holli for some reason) has a collection of short stories. (Let me find the link...)

There: [link]

Both are free.

Then I start thinking about predestination and the lack of free will. Then I think it's better to act as if free will exists anyway. The alternative seems to entail just sitting around a lot.

Not if you are predestined to do something other than sit around. If you really embrace not having free will, it doesn't make any difference. Your "choices" are just your rationalizations for what you have no alternative but to do. Sometimes I think that's more important than what we actually do, what we tell ourselves about why we do what we do.

I'm not sure one way or the other, personally. Then again, I just sit around a lot.

The things that keep me from really even considering ditching my satellite service are NFL football and Game of Thrones coming in April.

I'm more like when Rita Rudner said she'd buy a CD player if they promised not to invent anything else.I don't want that to happen just because I don't want to learn to work it.I HATE the technology learning curve thing, even more since my Mom thinks I'm great at it because I blog and use Google...anything with a button is now my department.(I'm not great at it. I'm not great at talking to the Indian people who ARE great at it.) JZ, you'll be happy to know I'm writing a new script and I can finally use that book about con games you lent me. It's going okay.