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This weekend I was dragged to the bars that circle my university like vultures do with a fresh carcass.

I sat at a table with a few new friends who made idle chatter, nursing my Ameretto Stone Sour (I'm quite the lush you see), as I watched the rest of the constituents of humanity file in to indulge in what is called "Happy Hour".

I watched as a myriad of individuals filed in, each receiving a stamp for their cover charge.

Stamp

Stamp

Stamp

Each and every single one of them ultimately looking for something, myself included. "What is it each of us here is looking for?" I asked myself, as I took another sip from my glass. Gray cigarette smoke filtering past my vision toward the ceiling from, what I imagine, was a dozen or so cigarettes lit in symphony.

And then it hit me as quickly and efficiently as any other blunt object would.

Escape.

We were, we are, all looking for an escape. Weither it is through self-destruction, commitment to a cause/ideal, or simply drowning sorrows/confusion/complex thoughts with a few simple swigs of flavored poison.

Let me start by saying I had my first child at nineteen, two months before my twentieth birthday. I was married and it was not planned. It was result of my own stupidity (not getting on the pill or using condoms or anything else for that matter). With that being said, I have a need to bitch about teenagers WANTING babies.
I remember high school. I remember having boyfriends I was sure I was going to be with forever. Love makes you stupid even if it is puppy love. However, I NEVER remember thinking, "Gee, I want to have a baby."
I have a teenage sister. She's seventeen. She "knows" everything as most teenagers think. She's had the same boyfrined for over a year. Oh, what bliss. Recently, she has said to me that she thinks she wants to have a baby soon. As I picked my jaw up from the floor, my next response was, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Can't we all get along? There are so many different people in this world and they like to fight each other. There are stupid Christians, stupid Muslims, and stupid Jews.

My point is, I don't like serious criticism of religion based on the perception said critic has of a religion. These days, the two biggest religions are Christianity and Islam. This makes people outside these belief systems uncomfortable, as people in these religions start sharing their religious beliefs as the correct way for everybody to go about things. Some Stupid Muslims in the Middle East like to burn flags and curse the USA. Some Stupid Muslims are mad at the Danish government for not censoring caricatures of their prophet, but for the wrong reason:It goes against religious law. They should instead be furious because the cartoons weren't funny. They are also the ones who denounce alcohol consumption, while at the same time permitting opium, a much more hazardous substance. Silly stupid Muslims.

Recently I read someone's review of the site that said, "This site rips on Christianity too much. As much as I dislike people who interpret the bible literally, nobody needs to fault them for it as long as they keep it to themselves." I don't want anyone to think that this site is COMPLETELY aimed at poking fun of Christianity, however within the same quote saying that we rip on Christianity too much, I find the reason that we do.

Christians do not keep their religion to themselves. They are constantly in your face and they attempt to control everything. In the USA they control our government, broadcast on TV and radio, and influence every person's habits/lifestyles regardless of their individual religion or belief system.

What do I mean by influencing everyone's habits/lifestyles? Christians have a moral code that supersedes everyone else's in this country. Since they control the government many aspects are enacted into laws. The ones that will really get you though are the ones that aren't laws. They make you think/act (or outwardly pretend) in certain ways. For example, any non-christians are looked down upon by Christians. This prevents children (born into a Christian family mainly, but this can apply to others) from wanting to be anything but Christian because they will face ridicule and be seen as an outcasts by the world around them. Another example would be having an alternative sexual preference, such as homosexuality or polyamory. Being heterosexual with one partner is fine, but anything else is frowned upon. Thus we have homosexuals scared out of their minds "in the closet," and polygamy will get you thrown in jail. I could probably write a book on how Christianity fucks with our lives, but I'm sure given these examples you can think of a few other ones on your own.

The bottom line is that until Christianity either completely changes or dies, it's going to piss me off and I will continue to oppose it outwardly. Christianity perpetuates ignorance, intolerance, and hate. They should not be allowed so much control.

I know there has been a theme of anti-christianity in my rants, but I want to assure you that I'll eventually get around to poking fun at, and pointing out absurdities in many many other religions. This site is still pretty young, so give us a bit of time, we'll get around to offending a lot more than just Christians. :-)

Where are the good math teachers? I am so damn tired of paying four hundred bucks to sit in a class and listen to a boring condescending ass clown. I have had one good math teacher in 24 years. One in ten has been good, and that means that 90% of them have sucked. People wonder why other countries are doing better at math, perhaps it is because our math teachers are mostly ass clowns. What makes a good math teacher? I spent some time thinking about it and I have come up with a list.

• Teaching must involve the class.
• The teacher should know what is on the test he or she is giving.
• For best results the teacher should know the material forwards, backwards, sideways, and upside down.
• When asked a question the teacher should answer the question, and then ask if the explanation made sense to the person asking the question.
• Taking problems out of the book for each chapter and solving them on the board is not a substitute for giving students real notes to use.
• If a teacher is doing their job there shouldn't be anyone sleeping.
• A good teacher can make almost anything interesting.
• Teaching things that will be on the test.
• Let students work through questions similar to ones on the test
• Don't skip steps when giving notes. In a month when students review notes, how you got from A to B is not always obvious.

• Some time in June I will be the father of a baby girl.
• My online calculus class is kicking my ass. Its pretty hard and the teacher is kind of a dick when grading my work. I am a week behind and it has been taking 10 hours a week to get the homework done. I don't know wtf I was thinking.. Oh yah.. I thought well.. this way I can get more sleep during the week, and my wife can help me if I get stuck. I was Wrong on both counts.
• College books are such a scam. Student Buys book X for $130 dollars. If student is lucky he or she will be able to sell the book back to the college for $3.37 or some other small fraction of the original price.

So have you ever gotten metaphorically slapped in the face for telling someone you'd pray for them when they are goin thru something difficult? Well I have.

This is going to sound weird coming from a strong agnostic, but prayer works! Have I gone mad? No, just keep reading.

The 'healing power' of prayer, the 'healing power' of sugar pills, is there a difference? The answer is simple, there is no difference at all. This effect is called a 'Placebo'.

What is a placebo? Typically placebos are thought of as sugar pills given to patients who either think they need medication when in fact they do not, or if no real treatment exists, a placebo could also be administered. A placebo does not have to be a pill, it can be anything someone does promising a healing effect. When a person believes in the placebo, amazing healing can take place spontaneously. Scientists are still somewhat boggled by the placebo effect but they speculate that it has to do with the inherent healing powers of the body that are awakened or tricked into working overtime by positive thinking.

When you pray for God to heal your illness, or even when you tell someone you are praying for them and they buy it, you are initiating the placebo effect. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing that people know that you care about them and want them to get better, but if you take away all of the religious mumbo-jumbo and replace 'praying for you' with 'take this miracle drug' and hand them a sugar pill the effect will be identical.

I'm really not sure where to begin. For Christmas, my family and I went home to New Orleans to visit with our family as we do every year. This year was different, of course. As we drove from our home in Fort Hood, Texas the devastation and destruction was evident before we even crossed the Texas border.
We drove through Beaumont and Port Arthur. The first thing you notice is the trees are so sparcely spread along the interstate. The next thing I noticed was the blue FEMA roofs. Even though I knew the closer we got to our destination the more of it all we would see, I was not yet affected.

Once again, I was stood up by George Carlin. I drove to Austin only to find that once again his show had been cancelled. Unfortunatley this time it would not be rescheduled. I just want to see the freaking guy before he kickes the bucket. You know he was born in 1937? He ain't no spring chicklen!!! Yeah, I said "ain't no". I guess George thinks he's too good for Austin. Oh well.