Job rant that hardly anyone else will understand: I HATE how some otherwise intelligent techies will turn into drooling idiots when you try to explain to them how ssh keys and public-key cryptography works.

The stuff that really scares me is the Republican candidates. I'll worry about the heat death of the universe later.

Atheism never asks you to tithe.

Does tithe money go to the church, or to charity? Because if it's the latter, [link]

(Stats show that atheists give less to charity than churchgoers. This is frequently used as "proof" that atheists have no morals. However, if you correct for how often each group is asked to give, the differences vanish. Foundation Beyond Belief was set up to correct this imbalance.)

Mostly the stuff that scares me is shit I shouldn't care about. Like the sun becoming a red giant, turning the earth into vapor and dust, and everything that ever happened being snuffed out, with no one to ever know we were even here. In 4.5 billion years. It freaks me out.

That is the kind of thing that I actually find reassuring. That there is this amazing cycle to things.

In a world where (until a month ago) my sister wouldn't recycle even her plastic water bottles, eventually the Earth will recycle itself.

Ginger, that's probably the intent, sure. I'm just hoping it will work like the massive overplaying of Hootie and The Blowfish singles and break up the band. And does anybody think of science...animatronics doesn't count, or parasailing when they look at Mitt Romney?Guy Smiley, maybe. (if my life had worked out more like I wanted in college, I might have had to work for the firm on the Cool Mormon Hunt. Guess God does answer prayers after all

Stepford Mormons?

is Phoenix just super-duper-special.

Phoenix is Salt Lake City South, the whole of Arizona is seen as "they'd be a pseudo-theocracy just like Utah, if we could just make them understand". There is very little difference seen between the two states. We (Utah) just need to get that booze away from you.

Atheism, though terrifying, seems much less annoying.

I get a lot of "so you believe in nothing?" I'm not so terrified of the unknown that I'll walk straight into the arms of a misogynistic, self-serving, self-righteous group of ninny muggins and hand over my wallet and my free will.

maybe. I think that level of self-promotion from a church is...icky. Of course, they are really easy for me to mock and stuff, and it's hard for me to get inside their worldview where people not digging Mitt makes them persecuted... But on a non-political level, don't they have kids to feed or something?(Of course, I feel that way about UCP and Easter Seals, too, actually.

heir worldview where people not digging Mitt makes them persecuted...

Lots of things make them feel persecuted. Persecution is what makes them special. That's why they persecute people, because they must defend themselves from persecution. (That's a fun logical knot to die stupid Mormons into.)