I'd like to start a thread about ideas for responding to religious remarks while still being positive and inoffensive.  Putting people on the spot usually just makes them shut down and go on the defensive.  I like to make my friends think, and remind them that not everybody they may know or like shares their beliefs, but I see no benefit in insulting them or attempting to make them feel bad about themselves.  Sometimes this calls for a little wit and imagination. Bearing in mind that one catches more flies with honey than with vinegar, can you think  of situations or scenarios where this would apply?

Here is the "incident" that prompted this idea, a Facebook update by an old classmate of mine:

John C******r Time for worship and praise.

July 12 at 7:19am · Comment · Like

CHUGGA CHUUGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA CHOO CHOO!

So, about my camera being stolen.... I'm filing a police report in the morning, but I don't think there's much that I can do at the moment other than working towards trying to replace it. Unfortunately, however, that's a bit complicated. My Sony A100 was a DSLR which as you may or may not know are the cameras you have to chop your hands off to be able to afford if you're poor. Which, unfortunately, I am. It was the only major purchase I have ever bought myself and upon discovering it was missing and not coming back, I had a nervous breakdown and proceeded to lie on the floor for four hours bawling my eyes out. Photography is one of the few passions I truly love, losing my camera was probably the closest thing I will ever experience to having my heart ripped metaphorically out of my chest. It was really classy. It also scared my cats that I was crying so hard I could barely move, let alone function. And I don't have a job that even pays me, so replacing it feels nigh impossible.

For those are wondering, someone just let themselves into my house and took it. Left my debit card and all the other things nearby alone too, just took my camera. They could have taken anything else including my antiques and I probably would have taken it better. Ehhh.

Normally I wouldn't even do this, but I'm sort of out of options when it comes to this. I've found a replacement model for $414, which is better than the $700+ I was otherwise encountering. I cannot even begin to have this sort of money on my own and vonheston just paid $500 for my ticket to come see her at the end of this month. I'm going down to Richmond but we're also going to Washington DC for a few days and she still needs to get us our hotel room. We're going to the Smithsonian and the Holocaust Museum and many other places that I have wanted to see my entire life and I now have absolutely no way to share them with others. It's extremely, extremely upsetting to me because I express myself (and relieve stress, sadly enough) with photography. With that said:

Please don't feel like you have to donate if you can't afford it, but I would really appreciate it if you would donate anything you feel like you can spare. And if you do any by some grace filing a police report actually returns my camera to me, I will make sure every penny gets back to you. I'm making this public and encourage my friends to share if they feel compelled to, but don't feel forced. Anything that restores my faith in humanity would be reward enough.

Thanks for listening, you guys. :(

Okay, so this isn't technically about me, but let me tell you something guys. I absolutely love Lufia games. They are my childhood. Even now, the soundtracks still pump me up for battle. If you guys haven't experienced the sheer awesomeness of Lufia, then let me educate you all.

(See, my brother is older than me so when we were kids he would play all of the SquareEnix games. I WATCHED all of the Final Fantasies and Chrono Trigger but tbh I've never touched them myself. I suck. :( I already watched the story!!)

It's basically just a standard RPG that was released in the 90s, but I found it to be so much fun. It was also probably one of the first games I baww'd my eyes out on. Every weekend, I would rent it from Blockbuster for 6.36 (after tax) so that I could play it, eventually I just bought it from that Blockbuster for 35 dollars without box. If i bought it with the box, it would have been like 70 or something, I don't remember why BUT I DO REMEMBER THESE NUMBERS LOL. I was a small child saving up for months okay? Gosh, I must have been.. ten years old? Yeah.

Anyway, the boss battles in this game are so amazingly epic and I think it's seriously due to the battle themes. They're just pretty awesome for a small game by a noname company.

And it had awesome graphics!





Ohhh yeahhhh final boss you are correct, good sir.

It's a REALLY HARD game too. I have to say it has the most challenging puzzles in an RPG I've ever played. D: Ugh, some of these puzzles still give me nightmares, STUPID REGROWING PLANTS. It's just such a fun and innovative RPG, I really really love it. I'm so going to replay it sometime in the future once I'm done with everything I have to play right now.

Samples of battle themes :
Battle Theme #2
Sinistral Battle Theme <-- BEST. EVER.

Final Dungeon Theme

And the best piece ever, Lufia's Theme (Orchestrated)

THIS SONG BRINGS MANLY TEARS TO MY EYES.
Oh my god. :(((( Here's the simplified version of the same song.

That's all. I felt very nostalgic tonight I'm sorry. :(
Aghh I just rewatched the ending of Lufia 1 because I could not remember how it ended and now the manly tears flow again. THESE GAMES WHY ARE THEY SO GOOD!? ;A;

Okay I will stop talking now.

Oh cock, just read the damn thing here. I tried to post it but it barfed html at me.

[Edit] Here's another article.

  What are you listening to?



What are you reading?

  A Phantom of the Opera retelling called "Kristina: A Fantasy" found here: www.fanfiction.net/s/4803765/1/Kristina_A_Fantasy  Stephanie is an amazingly talented writer, with the ability to create compelling original charecters and use interesting plot devices to great effect. She also doesn't languish in the purple prose and over-blown romance that so many fan fic writers (particularly in this fandom) do. She has a very subtle, seductive style of writing that leaves me breathless. A word of warning though--this story is a re-tread of the entire PTO universe. Its realistic and wonderful and everyone should read it. But don't expect Leroux or Kay. Its more Ursula Le Guin.

What is your current obsession?

  Michael Jackson. I am listening to his discography again, discovering these little-known songs that I just love. 'Strangers in Moscow', ' 2000 Watts' (in which he sings in a very low register and is surprisingly amazing!) and all of the interviews (even that shitty Bashir one). I have fallen in love with MJ all over again and am still so sad that he is gone.

What are you drinking?

  Pepsi in a can. Just finished my vanilla latte (I drink one every day).

What are you eating?

  Nothing now but just ate a mushroom and swiss burger at Denny's.

What are you doing?

  I'm at work right now and i'm on summer vacation for the next 6 weeks so am just hanging around the house, sleeping, watching old movies on TCM, generally vegging out. I am also doing some volunteer work and beta-ing some stories for various authors.


  No obligation to anyone to do the meme but feel free to steal it if you'd like.

My co-worker just laughed like ushishishi at me and now I'm creeped the hell out. D:

Somehow whenever I go off to camp I become SO MUCH MORE absorbed into Pokemon fandom.

So this is a Pokesupe post.

First off, OH MY GOD THEY CHANGED THE WEBSITE DESIGN. When I visited it today I made this surprised squawking sound and my dog looked at me strangely but CAN YOU BLAME ME? I was expecting to be bombarded with YELLOW but was instead met with BLUE. (By which I mean the colors, not the characters.) I'm still kind of in shock; I'm pretty sure the website has ALWAYS been yellow. Even back in like 2001 when I stumbled upon it because I was curious to see if the manga had ever progressed into the GSC arc but I had no way of knowing because Viz was a tard. (It was yellow in early 2002, at least. ...Wait, why is Blue facing forward? Was she really reintroduced before Red and Green were? whut.)

But enough about the website.

During the first few weeks of being at camp I read volumes 30 and 31. And I just have to say OH MY GOD THESE KIDS ARE ADORABLE.

( Geeky squealing underneath. )

Also also also also on that note TIEM FOR MOAR HGSSSUPE SPECULATION.

( Under here. )

......Okay I think I'm done.

Returned to the river again yesterday to see how far I could get. This was as far upriver as I was able to go in my kayak. Had to clamber over twelve beaver dams and six downed trees to get to this remote spot. Lovely place: pitcher plants were everywhere, some pitchers reaching almost a foot in length. It was as if the past two centuries never happened. No evidence of human beings anywhere.

So: can you find the snake in this picture?

Did anybody else see the rapid-fire delete from antitheism?

After posting links at random regarding violence involving Muslims, aztec_mummy comments:

'Hmmm. The conflation of a race and the cultural artifact of religion continues apace.'

Wow. What a deep and profound comment in response to the subject matter!

This is a person who berates philosophy majors for being useless, by the way. It's clearly anti-intellectual jealousy.

Pro: Having my bibliography in pdf form on my hard drive.

Con: Google Scholar thinking I'm a worm and disabling my access.