George Aar

Man performs his job better than anyone expected, but still resigns in disgust...

Ohmygod! Somebody took me out for a birthday breakfast, then a client called up and he wanted to take me out for a Sushi lunch (his mother picked up the tab - we tried to talk but, sore wa chotto muzukashii dedanga), then someone else came by the job and took me out for supper! Yikes, I'm stuffed! At any rate, thanks for the birthday wishes! geo.

My Fair Lady? Or, more properly "Pygmalion"...

Rest assured Ms. Van Pelt, I'm not trying to influence anyone's choice in music. And I'm totally unfamiliar with anything that Mr. Stanley did or is currently doing. I was referring more to the post of Ms. Royale's ode to PFAL. As Wayfer music went, I guess it was pretty good, but that's not saying too much. I always found (even as a starry-eyed WayBot) Wayfer music to be ICKY. Like most pop-40-wanna-bee religious diddies, it was driven by message more than music I think. And as a result, it came out banal, bland, boring, but still shackled with the creepy,often moralistic, always painfully sentimental, theological message. Add to that the baggage of WayWorld life, and all the ugly memories that entails, and I'm somewhat less than enthused about ever hearing any of that (stuff) again. Likewise, I find it remarkable that ANYONE does. But then, that's just me. YMMV. Peace, love...

Yeah, and that's assuming (a rather BIG assumption) that the events ever actually DID occur. Sorta an amazing coincidence that so much of what's recorded in The Bible was already written up in mythology predating the Christian era by centuries. All the Jesus-like uber-humans, the virgin births, the human sacrifice, the miraculous healings, the divine seed, etc. They were all well-worn literary devices even then...

Waysider, IIRC, life expectancy around the time of Christ was 28 years, give or take. Of course the horrific rate of infant mortality would bring the average way down, but, still, life was a short, brutal, difficult affair for most...

One of the things that got me off of the "Christianity is the only TRUE way" track was the realization that quite a number (dare I say "most"?) of the people who I knew of that did serious, hard-core, scholarly-type, textual research, usually became agnostic or outright atheist as a direct result of thsir study. The diametric opposite of what WayWorld claimed would happen. (for example, just google the "Dead Sea Scrolls" and read about the guy who used to head the Israeli research team on that project) Eventually, the utter and complete lack of relevance to anything I experienced in my life and what is in The Bible pretty much squelched any remaining interest I had in any sort of "spiritual" search. I concluded that if Almighty God really wants a relationship with me, He knows where I live. Later on I happened upon a copy of Carl Sagan's "A Demon-Haunted World". What a great read! If anyone is really looking for answers, and not just corroboration of what you already believe, I suggest taking a glance at it, anyway...

Yeah, gosh, hearing that again makes me all misty and yearning to hear J.P. do another rendition of "Hiway 29"... (Yes, I AM being facetious) Honestly, do you guys actually LIKE listening to Wayfer music? I can't imagine. Really, it's so foreign of a concept to me. Yes, taste is an individual thing, but, good gawd...

No more so than Amway. (really, it's not all that interesting, just another "gimmee yer dough and I'll show you the secret" scam)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yGa3LXyuIXI (hey, somebody had to do it) Hi FAII. It's always so easy to hand out advice when somebody opens up like you have, so I'll try not to be preachy. I'm just struck by how you seem to want to find the real answers on how to live life. But, there just might not be any, ya know? Certainly lots of folks wanta believe there are, and lots of others claim to have found them. But it seems to me we're all just making this up as we go along. It doesn't seem to me that there's any ironclad guarantees of much of anything - save death and taxes. So my advice? Don't be a jerk, pull your own weight (and maybe a little more when you can), and try to enjoy yourself along the way. This may be (and likely is, if you ask me) the only shot we have at life. Don't waste too much of it chasing tinkerbells. And for Gawd's sake, don't spend any time with anybody who wants a donation to "help" you understand anything...

I guess it's kinda neat that they do this, but the question remains, why do they?

While we obviously will never be able to view what was really going on in the Vicster's brain, I think we can gain a little perspective by looking at someone who's in the same business. Take a look at mini-MOG, Peter Popoff in action, and how Randi exposed what he was really up to: So - obviously - Mr. Popoff KNEW he was blowing smoke, but he was able to convince his flock otherwise. I kinda think Mr. Wierwille had a similar mindset. An urgent need to flim-flam so as to attain a lifestyle that he thought he deserved. I really think these sorta guys are mentally defective. They have no capacity for empathy whatsoever, and are capable of anything to get what they want...

"I'm not sure of the existence of the "good ol' doctrinal forum days" that Oak and Abi have spoken of." Indeed, I think that era slipped by me as well. And if I may elabortate on Lindy's comments a bit more, uh, we're not all ignorant, knuckle-dragging, unwashed heathens here. I think even Oakie takes a shower every so often. Some of us even read now and then. And not only the Soap Opera Digest either. Lotsa times I read books with really big words and not many pictures at all...

Well, I'm convinced, whoever it is will be a C&W singer. Do you need anymore evidence than that? (although I'm keeping an eye on Richard Simmons too...)

The car rental business is having a tough time now, as is just about every trade that caters to the tourist market. They're desperate to do any business at all, so I'd suggest doing a little comparative shopping, and then make the different companies fight for your business. First get a quote from Brand X car rentals, then call up Brand Y and tell them what rate X is willing to give you and ask if they can beat that. Then call up Brand Z and tell them what Brand Y was willing to do for you and can they beat that. Give that one or two goes around and you eventually will end up with about as cheap a rate as you're gonna get...

Oh gawd, what a hoot! Thanks, you've made a rather glum morning a good deal lighter. Gotta go get some leather for my Fred...

Maybe the thought of wearing an orange "Home Depot" vest is sending chills up his spine...

Isn't what really is being presupposed here, is that there IS a God to begin with?

OHMYGAWD, Karmic, That's a hoot! That's all I could do when I saw it was just burst out laughing. Yeah, not exactly what I'd wanna be looking at for any length of time. But, hey, taste is a pretty subjective sorta thing... I googled the photogs that you posted Ron. I thought Hamilton was the best of the lot. I like some of Sturges' stuff too - maybe 'cause I'm a sucker for really welldone B&W. But I didn't see much of anything in Sally Mann's work. I kinda think, were it not for the age of her subjects, nobody would have noticed... I really like the "Mohican" too dooj. You can definitely see the hand of an illustrator in that. I like the bold outline of the subject...

Of course all the wonderfulness of martyrdom and the selflessness and sacrifice becomes rather moot if Christianity turns out to be just another religion among the many. Just another collection of folksy wisdom, old-wives tales, a smattering of distorted history, and CARLOADS of credulous superstition. Certainly there have been selfless martyrs of just about every religious stripe I can think of. Logically, wouldn't it appear that the vast majority of them are simply tragically deluded? (I would vote for "all" but then, I would). The one question that I can never seem to get a straight answer to from the "believer" crowd is - What makes The Bible so special? Why is IT true, and NOT all the other holy writs? With all the easily demonstrated errors in it, and it's almost laughable lineage, and all the efforts to distort and amend it's contents, let alone all the outright forgeries, how can one logically cleave to such a work? It's a question that troubled me greatly as a believer. As an unbeliever - not so much...

The water-powered car will be a GREAT boon to society as soon as congress gets off it's collective azz and repeals those stupid laws of thermodynamics (were they a dumb idea 'er what?)...

'Cause we don't make ANYTHING anymore. The supplysiders and pop-economists have succeeded in gutting the entire industrial capacity of the country, leaving us now beholden to whoever can make what we use everyday. A stroke of brilliance, no? Welcome to the NEW economy, where the rest of the world supplies the goods we need, and WE supply, uh, ... What is it that WE supply again?

I've heard rumors about Grumpy possibly stalking poor Snowy? And the restraining order and all, isn't this the REAL reason for his absence?

Well, in retrospect, I guess I CAN see that Invisible Dan is a reprobate. Come to think of it, he doesn't know my Spiderman either, and made some untoward comments about His "spidey senses". Get the torches!