Didn't people (at some point in the past) dress small children v. similarly up until an ages (not sure what age it would be) - i.e., long hair, clothing more like gowns?

Pretty much until they were out of diapers, iirc. Not much in the way of velcro or snaps bitd.

This is what religion encourages: fear based on imaginary terrors.

Well, and one or two other things. Honestly? It's not the religious experience I grew up with in any way.

I can understand thinking religion is just evil bullshit if that's ones entire experience of it -- but, seriously, time to crack a book or talk to a few folks. You don't have to buy into it, but at a certain point a refusal to glance around and notice, oh, hospitals and universities and one or two other things ammounts to just another flavor of willful ignorance.

So, Iceland's most active volcano has started erupting. 50 earthquakes have resulted from the volanco eruption.

Maybe the predictions were a day late.

It's not the religious experience I grew up with in any way.

No, nor me. I am mostly a cultural Catholic nowadays: I'm not entirely sure what I believe a lot of the time. Which puts me at outs with both the strongly-religious and the atheist community. When your spokespeople are folks as full of hate and self-righteousness as Christopher Hitchens, I'm not going to stand with you--even if I agree with some of what you want.

When your spokespeople are folks as full of hate and self-righteousness as Christopher Hitchens, I'm not going to stand with you--even if I agree with some of what you want.

"Your" spokespeople is putting it strongly. It's not like there was a vote.

Breaking in to say that Sarah Silverman spoke at my school's graduation today, and I was so impressed. Funny yes, but seriously good advice (including "pay attention to yourself" and "don't buy into the idea that women have to compete with each other--there's room for all of us").

Some people scoff at agnostics as fence-sitters.

I prefer to think of myself as laid-back, practical and curious.

There's more under Heaven and Earth, Horatio...and I don't know what the fuck it is.

Whatever is or is not, I can do nothing about it, so I prefer to read a lot and try to be a decent person, by the standards I set for myself. Whatever you believe in: okey, that's fine. Religion and atheism can be a cool thing or an evil thing. Mostly, I think it's in between, like most things.

I'll sit on my damn fence and watch the birds, find holiness in a well-crafted sentence and sanctity in kind acts and laughter.

ita, I was surprised at both Cristina and Owen's reactions. Though it does seem like the perfect thing to put a fine point on the differences between them since the very beginning. I, too, am on her side but still wish she had not made the decision in the midst of all that chaos.

I actually saw the chief resident appointment coming. Everyone else had an anvil fall on their chances . My favorite part was Avery telling her (April) that everyone was going to hate her. So true, so true.

I totally agree about Meredith's punishment, though I don't think it's quite over. Funny how Sheppard ended up back out in the woods .

It seems a lot of the characters are going back to their squares one.

It's not like there was a vote.

True. And it's true of so many things, really: the loudest voices get the most attention, even if they don't actually represent the beliefs or attitudes of the people they claim to be aligned with.

Guess it's another instance of "Don't be on my side: you make my side look bad."

"Your" spokespeople is putting it strongly. It's not like there was a vote.

See my tagline from Trudy.

But I think there is legitimate non hate-filled argument to be made that in the current century religion is a net evil. The bad things outweigh the good, and often the good replace secular institutions that could do a better job. Think of Catholic hospitals that gain a local monopoly while refusing to provide abortion or birth control. I'm not saying religion is the greatest evil or an unmitigated evil. Bu, in spite of all the good it does, religious belief is on net an evil and a major enabler of many greater evils.

Watching the singing of "Maryland, My Maryland" at the Preakness. Good lord, that was an awfully high key for that glee club.