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Best Reddit Burn Ever and r/darwinawards
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
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Following the assassination attempt on Trump one user responded with perhaps the best summation I've seen...
And I've just discovered the r/darwinawards reddit thread. Social Media & Cellphones means video proof of Stupidity with the highest consequence, never as refined as American Politics, but - been watching the RNC and Biden and this is a hell of a lot more cheerful.
July 18, 2024
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 205
And it begins. A fire in the distance, visible from my apartment, the plume of smoke, the ceaseless sound of water bombers.
Last night a quick thunder and lightening storm that dropped little for rain but lots for lightning and - from the rainiest spring I remember to - in the span of 2 weeks, what is likely to be another record year for forest fires. A slight haze this morning has become already a pall upon the town.
The Cantino (El Centro)
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Other
- Hits: 355
Tuesday, Taco Tuesday and I'm headed off to the Cantina for a lazy snack.
They pride themselves on their fashionability, with their fancy servers (fashionable) and the sidewalk stamped with "Agave" leaves where you're supposed to line up to be seated.
There are a couple of people ahead of me in line, the server is busy running inside-out to the patio, inside, look through the window, the restaurant is empty. Outside, the patio about half full.
Wait. Wait. They subscribe to the "Make people wait" philosophy, like what you get at fashionable nightclubs where there's always a line even when the nightclub is empty...
After a time the man first in line, judging by his accent and demeanor a British Twat on vacation, starts berating the server...
"How long do we have to wait here...????"
The server is apologetic, not her department, she'll grab the hostess inside...
And then walks off.
Next time she crosses to the patio he's had it, gives her a piece of his mind, and - while I dispute his delivery, his means of telling her, which is just rude, he's right.
They walk off, and I give up. Inside the restaurant is still empty.
***
9:30 PM AM and I'm still hungry. I walk down to try again at the Cantina.
Inside, empty, more staff than customers. Hostess, server, numerous cooks. Outside, patio, waiter crossing again, 2 tables. One is getting the bill. Waiting in line, waiting. Maybe they're closed? No one comes to acknowledge me. 10 minutes later and the waiter is still standing beside me, on the patio, talking to the customers, and I give up yet again. Service here is a bunch of fancy tattoos and dreadlocks, admire them for their fashionability, otherwise non-existent, it looks like this summer I'll be cooking for myself.
Revelation & Epiphanies VS The Fast Path to Reason
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 274
Now, this is a curious thought I'm having while reading "The Master Key". So many of these books, they all tell you the same thing, self-help, mind is key, as above, so below, etc, etc. And yet few people really believe it.
This, despite the abundant and unending substantiations and proofs.
Yet most people subscribe to some religious philosophy or another. Religion is still a far more popular means of teaching spiritual truths than any number of self-help books.
Why is this?
I think I have it. We are hard wired for narrative. We need a story. And all the spiritual teaching books the world religions are based upon are based upon stories. The commandments and strictures - whether they be to abstain from pork, alcohol, etc, these are community guidelines. But the "histories" and narratives, stories, tales and parables they tell, these are the encoding of the beliefs.
And the Truth.
Now - using the Bible for example, is encoded on a variety of levels.
For the unthinking idiot it's a marvelous trove of historical facts, people and truths that should be taken entirely at face value.
This, while contributing greatly to it's popularity is also it's downfall, as we live in more pragmatic times and people of thought and discernment are prejudiced against the book by it's devotees and audience.
But - like any good fairy tale or fable, it has within it germs of truth, has in fact codified the truth so that anyone at a certain level of thought or schooling can have an epiphany or revelation - or several - and suddenly understand what it's telling you.
It is filled with such examples, few of which are ever realized by it's readers.
Some more obvious ones: Jesus is the son of God. We are all Jesus's brothers. Therefore we are all the sons of God.
From this you could go even further: Dogs beget dogs. Donkeys beget Donkeys. Gods beget Gods. Therefore we are all Gods.
In this you see then that all the vile actions, rapes, murders and wars sanctioned by "God" were in fact sanctioned by ourselves, and deemed good. We judged ourselves and were comfortable with the assessment.
In this vein one could go on and on. But - what matters is, the fact that a series of inane or implausible stories, some of which contain germs of historical truth, have been codified or written in such a way to allow interpretations on a variety of levels. Most people won't go to the work of thinking, thinking is tough, hard, or they simply have no qualifications, and hence the Bible - and Religion - become a means for social control.
And - power corrupts, and if you have not slain the Buddha on the Road then he will surely slay you.
Back to my Master Key...
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