Good Old Neon

My goodness, Lynn - what a way to start a fire. Anyways, me claiming atheism is, at this point, probably sort of redundant.

Well said - I have a deep sympathy for your position. Each election cycle makes it clearer and clearer that we live in a one party system with a conservative wing, and a slightly more liberal one, and with the exception of a few minor policy differences, both parties essentially want the same thing. And what is that? - to serve their corporate benefactors. Today, Glen Greenwald wrote an excellent column regarding the events surrounding the Russia/Georgia conflict - in it, he points out the extreme hypocrisy underlying the current administration

I

We could argue the origins of compassion, I would argue it is an evolved trait (reciprocal altruism, etc), and certainly does not require a foundation in religion. We need look no further than the animal kingdom for proof of compassion without the influence of religion

To me, quite the opposite is true, the arrogance is to be found in believing we are the center of the universe, that existence was created for us, and that we are god

I would dispute that, but, I

Thank you, and I am sincerely saddened to learn of your similar experience. Or, given everything we now know with the help of neuroscience and brain imaging, human biology, evolution, etc - different parts of our brain are responsible for certain functions (with a boat load of overlapping and synergy as well of course), and when a portion of a brain is compromised, specific functions related to that area are damaged and/or lost as well. And given that zero evidence exists for the existence of an incorporeal soul, outside of religion and certain schools of philosophy, the evidence is stron

As an atheist, I do not believe in an incorporeal soul that exists outside the body, but I still often refer to consciousness as

I always just sort of assumed the song was referencing some fella named Theo Logins, and how, despite what he might think, Theo doesn

I cannot totally relate to this, though in practice, I completely suck at it. Which is why I love the following quote from, Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun and personal hero of sorts. The quote is taken from an interview conducted by Bill Moyers: (Chodron is referring here to the teachings of the Buddhist sage, Shantideva)

My point, was that what someone finds distracting/annoying might be subjective. You might not find it annoying, but someone else might

Is there an event at which you might find it disrespectful to text? How about funerals, cause if you

Texting doesn

Your opening band might be my headliner. See Sunken Treasure's awesome Jeff rant w/r/t my feelings vis a vis communal concert behavior as it relates to the individual.

The least obnoxious thing someone could do is just shut the fuck up and/or stop texting long enough to simply listen to the band they just drove x number of miles at $3.99+ a gallon, plus the price of admission, to see. Not to mention being courteous and respectful towards all the other folks who took time out of their lives to catch the band, and not your distracting (not you specifically of course) totally engaging conversation. Not quite, realistically, it would not be viable to carry on this conversation over the phone. Whereas texting now often takes the place of actual conver

Because it would be really difficult, logistically, to conference everyone in, by phone, for a discussion regarding the merits of texting?

Well, it strikes me as a waste of time when a situation is such that you could simply walk on over and talk to the recipient of your text

Ok, that settles it, I will. On second thought, can you spot me a few thousand Looney

Wow, that took guts (ok, maybe not really, I mean, this is only the internet, and I

Yes, an oldie but a goody. And besides, I once fell in love with Nova Scotia, I would love to rekindle that relationship.

Could you please email me a Canadian Citizenship Application? Affairs are growing increasingly odd and concerning down here in these United States

I didn

Surprisingly, on average, an urban, metro camel

Yeah, well, they could have at least checked with Camco