"Vae, Gaudium Fugax!"*

"There is a Garden in the east, serene and perfect, but a seraph guards it with a flaming sword. For God has seven thousand names, and one of them is Bastard." -Briadach the Blind, Lucifer, "A Dalliance With the Damned"

*"Woe, for joy has flown from us!"

More ANSWERS!

anarchette's Questions.

1.) Absolutely :)

2.) Two, in fact, and one critical examination of her work.

3.) No. But you're welcome ;)

4.) Not yet. There would need to be a few more transgressions, before that stage.

5.) No. No I do not. :P

Apocalypse Dreams

kidneythieves - [Beføre I'm Dead]--- Dreamed what is probably my favourite Apocalypse scenario, last night. I say it's probably my favourite, because it's so damn literal. Everything imagined was becoming real, and I was on a Scooby-Doo-type reality show, trying to decided if we needed to be in teams of two. One scene, from several angles, of someone telling someone that they didn't need a team, followed by an immediate cut to two others, one of whom saying, "Now that we're on a Team..."

Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep climbing and destoying buildings. There was a top-down, 3/4ths view, like a SimCity game, watching them destroy so much.

An under-city that was also the basement lobby of a hotel. I had to press a combination of elevator buttons, to get to the proper surface, or rather the proper conception of the surface. (Arcana - [In Search of the Divine]). One of the buttons had bakeneko's name on it, but she never showed up. Everyone else had a section of the city to handle, and I grabbed the Stop Being Fucked Up Stick, and my Hand-And-a-Half ninjatō, and headed for the street level.

Björk - [Human Behaviour]--- I told people to think of weapons for me, to envision me winning, and to focus on those thoughts, because the world was maleable to thought, and I was going to be a lens, turning that focus into a laser. It was the only way we were going to destroy all of the monsters, or, at the very least, let them know who was actually in charge.

Something about driving, around the freeway. Having to go in circles on surface streets to get to a prticular on-ramp.

David Bowie& Trent Reznor - [The Heart's Filthy Lesson (Remix)]--- I'm more awake, now, but damn... Crazy dreams.

Dog keeps being a fucking lunatic. Electrotic? Something's setting her off. She keeps jumping the dog gate, eating all the cats' food, and disruptting the litter box. It's very freaking upsetting, first thing in the fucking morning, you know?

I asked this question to cailement, but I'm going to ask it to you all, to make you uncomfortable: What is something you Need to say to someone, but can't bring yourself to?

Nine Inch Nails - [Hurt]--- Subquestion: Why Can't You?

Good morning, internet. I may cut you, for the sheer joy of it. Take appropriate precautions.

Atheist are not Agnostics are not Necessarily Philosophers

I'm sending this in to NPR, in response to this article. The letter won't get on the air (it's too long), but, for any number of reasons, I felt myself needing to say something.

--------------------

In listening to Barbara Bradley Hagerty's piece on Camp Inquiry, I was increasingly dismayed at the lack of distinction between the terms "atheist" and "agnostic." The terms are increasingly muddled, in today's conversations on science and belief, and even a brief mention of their differences would have done a world of good.

Too often agnostics are cast as "atheist-lite," only waiting for the final disproving factor to give up any inquiry into the various possibilities of universal generation. Rather, Agnosticism is the most honest form of skepticism; it is clearly and firmly saying "I Don't Know," and, as Socrates said, this starting place is often the best, because everything is open, from there.

Finally, on the implicit equating of philosophy with denial of faith, I can only say that I hope young Ryan Lee continues in honest reading and inquiry, from Dawkins to Aquinas to Ayer to Hume, and many many more.

We can always use more scholars in both Philosophy and Religious Studies.

DAmn it. Research.

Jason Webley - [Dance While The Sky Crashes Down]--- I'm going to have to read this entire fucking series, AGAIN, so that I can find the relevant scenes and quotes.

Dethklok - [Murmaider]--- If I do this, non-stop, then I should be able to get it done in 11 days, at most.

I need to get to work.