20030111: the search for 20030110
11th January 2003
Drat. I didn't get a What's New done yesterday.
I know what the problem is: the problem is that I stay awake for two days at a time, and forget to write two What's News while I'm awake. It's Saturday morning now; as far as I'm concerned, yesterday was Wednesday night. It's all very strange.
On the bright side, every time I buy something online, it shows up the next day--although it takes half a week in realtime.
On which note: I finally found a place with real hats. Which is good, since my 1943 Stevens fedora is looking a bit beat up now. I picked up a black Stetson which looks about right. Lemee find it real quick....
Here is is: http://dadshats.com/dexter1.html.
I'm not thrilled about the pleated sash; but I can probably just replace that with the bowtie sash from an old Biltmore which is well beyond reblocking...if reblocking is still an option in the twenty-first century. I haven't seen anyone doing it in years.
There are times when I wish the predictions of the twenty-first century made back in the sixties had come true. Granted, I'm far happier with a laptop than I'd be with the HAL9000; but it would be nice if you could still get fedoras and smoking seats on PanAm shuttles to the moon.
Anyway....
I got this EMail tonight. It almost sounds like a review, except that it doesn't really fit into The Good, The Bad, or The Stoopid. It's technically a negative review, I think; but it also demonstrates that my intentions were fruitful. You decide:
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From: Brian Wilson [bkwilson@ca.astound.net]
To: gremlin@gremlin.net
Subject: Your stuff
I'm a Christian sitting here with tears in my eyes. Why do you sell this stuff? I respect your right to do what you want but why go out of your way to do this. What has Christianity done to you to deserve this? I know you don't believe in Jesus Christ, thats your choice, God gave all men free will to make thier own choices so why mock those of us who choose God and desecrate the symbol of our beliefs?
I pray that someday you will find another not so devastating philosophy to market and that you will come to know the peace that Christ brings. Jesus was and is real.
Grace and peace to you.
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I assume that 'this stuff' is the stuff at wastedinc.com; it was never really made clear which 'stuff' I'm being asked about.
To answer the initial question--Why do you sell this stuff--I'd have to counterask: Why do people buy this stuff?
The simple answer is that I'd buy this stuff if someone else were selling it. But I haven't seen anyone else doing it yet. So I made it myself to buy it from myself. Then the demand arose from other people who wanted this stuff, and now it's a matter of supply and demand. It's available; people like it; people buy it.
What has christianity done to me? That's an interesting question. I suppose I could reference historical acts--the crusades, the inquisition, the third reich--where that latter was responsible for killing not only the jews everyone's aware of, but also the homosexuals, atheists, and everyone else who didn't fit Hitler's happy little aryan christian bullshit paradigm. But, since no one is more weary than I of hearing people like BangBang whimpering about Hunter's ancestors killing his ancestors while my ancestors went in to stop them, I'm not too interested in adding any wrinkles to this ubiquitous rant.
I could discuss current events. I could complain that christianity is getting in the way of genetic research. But, in a way, I'm okay with that. If you want to ban genetic research in Duhmerica today, you can buy all the products of genetic research from England tomorrow. I suppose I'm willing to wait an extra five years just so I can watch the same idiot christians, who tried to prevent this from happening in the first place, complain that the UK are transplanting custom-designed organs and curing viral diseases, and that this technology should be available in the States.
I could probably complain that the christians keep misrepresenting the scientific method. Evolution is a fact. That evolution occurs is a fact. Its mechanisms are theoretical--just like the mechanisms of gravity are theoretical; but no one with an elementary understanding of biology will dispute the fact that evolution occurs. Still: the christians, in their ultimate sophistry, keep telling us that 'evolution is only a theory, so we need to teach "creation theory" alongside it in schools'. This is bullshit. Creationism isn't even a hypothesis. It directly contradicts the most basic of sciences. Matter and energy are eternal: they can't be created or destroyed. The dumb hunch that all things were designed by the bogeyman was never a theory; it was the reduction of all mystery in the universe to the simplest possible excuse. It's never been shown to be a valid hypothesis, and no one of any reputation takes it seriously.
So. What has christianity ever done to me? It's annoyed me. It's encouraged morons to annoy me. It's attempted to take the real world and molest it into some silly D&D game in which the DM gives its players free will, and then rolls dice to see what bombastic bullshit will happen next. It's a joke. It's just not an amusing one.
That determined, we can now go back to the initial question. Why do I sell this stuff? For the same reason you sell christianity: I happen to like it, and it annoys the living hell out of you. Everybody's a winner.
The next 'question' is nothing more than the assertion that deities exist; according to the disclaimer, that just means that Brian Wilson owes me ten thousand bucks.
As for the last paragraph: pray away. But you might wanna look a few things up in that regard. See: I've read your bible. Taking your deity's name in vain never had anything to do with shouting it as an explicative. It's all about asking your deity to do something which doesn't get done. Once a year, you have to beg forgiveness from your deity for all the things you prayed to have happen which never occurred, because your deity hates vanity outside its own. So pray that I suddenly become dumb enough to believe that your deity exists, despite the total lack of evidence. But, if you really believe, pray also that your deity doesn't send you to hell for wasting its time.
Spam of the Day
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Mine too....
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Didn't Trump declare bankruptcy in 1987 or so?
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More Later....
--Gremlin