Quote of the Day 11-21-2005

This is courtesy of Slate, a.k.a. the last LIBERAL medium in america.
”To truly appreciate Beavis and Butt-Head, you have to watch from a similar place, a Zen rock garden of peaceful imbecility”

Nuts and Bolts

-wassupdude
- not much wassup with you
-less than nothing
- I have been doing a temp job this week. Been out at a warehouse setting up shelves. Hard physically, not too much mentally.
-cool
- Had an interview tuesday for a theoretically permanent position. When I go in, the first thing the guy says is"why did they send another person here"
- lol
-It went downhill from there. The man had american flags, army memorabilia, and Oakland Raiders stuff all over the place. I probably wouldn’t have gotten along with him. Still, it was a letdown when I got the call from the agency saying, "he said you were not a match for the job"
- rejection is always tough to take
- yea. So I went back to the warehouse. They are working me to death, but it gets a bit easier every day. I have some knee pads I got at a yard sale, and they are good on that concrete floor
-cool
- The warehouse is all nuts and bolts. I have never known which is which, with regards to nuts and bolts. I just looked in the dictionary. I think the best way to remember is that a bolt of steel is like a bolt of lightning, or is shaped the same. Of course, this is different from a bolt of material, or bolt as in run. Another way to remember this is the U in nut is a receptacle for the bolt. Of course, a nut is o shaped, but o is in bolt.
One thing is certain. Bolt is the active, masculine form, while nut is the passive, feminine form. While nut as in peanut is arguably a feminine feature...a seed with a protective shell...a nut is a slang phrase for gonad, which is as male as it gets.
-lol
- so, it is this man from texas and a crew of temporaries. It is surprising how competent the temps are, myself included. You can learn the basics of this in about an hour, and then it is just repeat repeat repeat. Today it was myself, the texan, a latino, and two black men of uncertain orgin. I was assembling the units with the man ( Native born American, Caribbean, Africa...he speaks softly, without much of an accent), while the others bolt what we assemble onto the unit before it.
- gotta run. nice chatting with you

four images

23rd post

"Chili Cookoff" was the 23rd post on Chamblee54.
The fifth sentence was:
Crockpots of chili graced the room, six on the table and another in the kitchen.
The spell check suggestion for crockpots is crackpots.
I am watching a video of "Star Wars, The Phantom Menace " while I write this, and download the "Four Images " post. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I hope that hairstyles and movie dialog is better than this in the future.

chili cookoff

Procrastination, excuses, and gasoline.After a year of not going to Tall Club events, I decided to make it to the Chili Cookoff.
Bonnie's house was not tough to find. The fact that I had been there before helps, the row of cars was a clue. Tom Mort pulled in behind me, and we went to the house with the banner in front and the image of Rick Larose in the window.

Crockpots of chili graced the room, six on the table and another in the kitchen. The recipes ranged from Texas chili ( the spiciest of the bunch), to an assortment of beans, to one with a lot of olives ( I managed to slide a serving around the olives)


There was a collection of chili fans. In addition to the people you would expect, there were two children and Miss TCI. I was not the only M.I.A. returning to action.








Birthdays were celebrated.



Dayglo shooters were shared after dinner and dessert.
While a digital camera will sometimes skip the flash, one wonders if this picture was not what some were seeing.

After a while people started to leave. They must not mind those who stayed after, and needed someone to talk about.

Jesus 110905

Christopher Isherwood gave an interview to a magazine once. In this story, he observed that religion is about people, not about philosophy. It is the person who introduces you to a religion that "converts" you, not the teachings of this belief system. He said, if I had met a Catholic who impressed me like the person who drew me to Vedanta, I might have become a Catholic. Instead, this key person was a Hindu, and that is the path I was drawn to. ( I offer my apologies for the lack of a verbatim quote. This does get the essence of his message.)
While I can hear the " you don't understand" comments already, I do agree with Mr. Isherwood. And , there are a couple of corollaries to this theorem. Just as a person will lead you to a religion with a good experience, another person will lead you away from a religion with a bad experience. This is especially true of religions like jesus worship, where a premium is placed on the conversion of non-believers, because of ideas about life after death.

Experience is why I can NEVER be a jesus worshipper. While there are exceptions, my negative experiences with jesus worship have been so intense as to make it impossible for any positive experience to overcome.
I look back on an incident in May of 1999. I was working closely with a professional jesus worshipper. This man shouted me down and humiliated me for jesus. And when it was over, he picked up the phone and told his friend, " I never felt better in my life"
That is the truth about jesus.
I was shouted down and humiliated for jesus.
He did it for jesus.
And when the professional jesus worshipper was through humiliating me for jesus, he picked up the phone, and told his friend " I never felt better in my life".
That is what jesus means to me.
Aside from the nasty things I have learned about jesus through his believers, there are numerous philosophical issues. These include:
The idea that the bible is "the word of god".
The idea that concern over life after death justifies verbal abuse.
The idea that jesus is the "son of god".
What do we mean by "god"?
Is god separate from man?
Is jesus worship right, and all other religions wrong?
These are the main issues. The concept of "god in a book" is the foundation of much of jesus worship, and if you pull that cornerstone out the house comes tumbling down.
So what do I believe?
I am not interested in your ideas about god, the bible, jesus, and life after death.
My opinions about god, the bible, jesus, and life after death, are none of your business.