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Q. Why was the blonde staring at the frozen orange juice container?
A. The container brought to mind the pleasant Sunday breakfasts with her mother, in the days before she took her life.
Q. How many blondes does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Margot preferred darkness.
Q. How can you tell if a blonde has been using your typewriter?
A. The nicotine-stained keys and dried tears.
Q. Why did the blonde drive into the ditch?
A. She was overtaken with despair. No one was awaiting her arrival.
Dunno what the fuss is about snakes, we just go out and catch our own. Round here we have some seriously nice Tigers, with seriously un-nice bites ...
The poison is particularly deadly, the up side is their fangs are quite small so a bad bite is unusual but still needs to be treated tout suite.
Neighbor got bitten on toe, delayed treatment, got damaged heart as result, which killed her a few years later.
I was thinking recently about the concept of fiction.
When writing was first developed, it was mostly used for ordinary, practical purposes. Keeping track of agricultural production, making contracts, complaining about the quality of copper ingots, and so forth.
At some point, someone created the first work of fiction. Like, they deliberately wrote down an account of people and events which never actually happened, for the purpose of entertainment rather than commerce.
And whoever first read that… were they confused by this? Like “So, you’re telling me that none of this ever happened? This person you’re describing never existed?”
And they’d have been like “That is correct.”
And the other person must have assumed that they were nuts. Or possessed, maybe.
No, the bible is a fairly recent innovation. Written language is thought to have evolved around 3200 BC, whereas Yahwism, the precursor to Judaism, can be traced back only to about 1200 BC.
Also, the concept of religion being a distinct thing, separate from atheism, is an extremely modern idea. Spirituality and mysticism have existed for as long as humans have possessed spoken language and conscious thought. It was simply the default position until the 16th century or thereabouts.
The Bible, the Quran, and others did not have a word or even a concept of religion in their original languages, and neither did the people or the cultures in which these sacred texts were written. For example, there is no precise equivalent of the English word "religion" in the Hebrew language, and within present-day Israel, the word "Jewish" is used to describe both the national, racial, ethnic, AND religious identities of the Jewish people.
Also, consider, for instance, a person who claims to hear the literal voice of God speaking to them.
Of course, it's possible that we atheists have it all wrong, and God is in fact speaking to that individual.
More likely, however, this is not the case.
Now, some people in that situation will believe that the person is hallucinating, or lying, or otherwise "nuts."
However, there's a good chance that some others will believe this person, and perhaps even praise them. They might believe that this individual has been especially chosen by God to act as his messenger on Earth.
Are all of those people crazy as well? Because where I grew up, that was considered to be perfectly ordinary. We all went to a large building each Sunday morning to sing songs, listen to stories about it, and put money in a bowl.
People are the number one way that anyone finds Christianity. People are also the number one way people get driven away from churches.
The author CS Lewis said that he thought Pride was the greatest sin. He said that pride causes people to be hypocrites, arrogant, and behave in ways that were not respectful to our fellow man or to God.
I love God, but I really don't like most people. At least I feel like that sometimes. I like a lot of individuals in small doses. I can handle a few people for longer durations and even really enjoy some of them. And many people don't tolerate me very long either.
I've been working on trying to be more gracious to my fellow man. I've been trying to treat others openly with love and kindness and respect. Some of them make that quite difficult. Others seem to rejoice in being treated kindly and suddenly open up like a flower revealing the goodness they have been hiding inside. People are afraid to show it for fear of it being damaged. I am very much a work in progress and I'm not the same as I was even 2 years ago.
Did I ramble on and on enough for that to qualify for this thread?
I'm going to Japan next month. I haven't really been into the Miata much ever since having kids almost 10 years ago. So far the only thing I plan getting is Misumi 3d printing parts. Anything Miata-related stuff worth buying there?
I was thinking recently about the concept of fiction.
When writing was first developed, it was mostly used for ordinary, practical purposes. Keeping track of agricultural production, making contracts, complaining about the quality of copper ingots, and so forth.
At some point, someone created the first work of fiction. Like, they deliberately wrote down an account of people and events which never actually happened, for the purpose of entertainment rather than commerce.
And whoever first read that… were they confused by this? Like “So, you’re telling me that none of this ever happened? This person you’re describing never existed?”
And they’d have been like “That is correct.”
And the other person must have assumed that they were nuts. Or possessed, maybe.
What makes you think the first work of fiction was created for entertainment and not commerce?
At some point, someone created the first work of fiction. Like, they deliberately wrote down an account of people and events which never actually happened, for the purpose of entertainment rather than commerce.
You are confusing writing with the exchange of ideas.
Storytelling was around long before anyone invented a way to write it down.
07-31-2024, 07:04 AM
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