What in the hell …

If Atheists Ruled The World

Need a manifesto? Got no time to draft one? Mutual aid is here!

This post is an object lesson in how a) not to tell a joke, b) to come off as quite closed minded and sectarian and as something of a jerk, and c) to appear both awkward and pretentious all at once. I consider it thus a triple word score in the Scrabble game of life, and I hope a useful tool for anyone seeking to accomplish any of the above. (more…)

I was all set to write this post (by “all set” I mean I had my titular phrase and some rough ideas to bounce around) and then I totally got derailed by the following sequence of events: I mistyped the post’s title at first as “What’s a metaphor?” then was struck by the idea that there has to be some pun that could be made here, then I was stymied by my inability to come up with one. Now I’m having trouble remembering what the ideas I even had were.

Curses.

What’s a metaphor? (more…)

The English write Jeremy Bentham used the phrase once (I believe he actually said “upon” and not “on” but whatever). He wasn’t talking about The Coming Insurrection but he could have been. That’s the title of a whack job piece of what I recently heard aptly described as lifestyle communism - little different from lifestyle anarchism except in the resources it (ab)uses, calling to mind Paul Mattick’s suggestion that Marxism might be the last refuge of the bourgeoisie (most notably the petit bourgeoisie, or upper strata cultural producers who aspire to petit bourgeois [qua celebrity] status). Here’s a good review of why the book is crap. (more…)

So back here in the What In The Hell (Am I Doing In This Cave) Cave I have a computer monitor that tracks in real time how people found my site, what they’re wearing, and what their last meal was. It’s awesome. Through that device I found this link:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/url/whatinthehell.blogsome.com/2008/02/29/is-the-best-lightbulb-joke/

Some discerning well dressed character who had just eaten a tasty meal of corn chowder and sourdough bread, washed down with a natural cola and a dessert of fresh strawberries and cream (me, I’d have had chocolate cake, but I’m not one to judge) posted my lightbulb jokes up for the amusement of others. This fine altruist also listed the following (more…)

I’ve been an atheist since I was 14 or 15, in terms of the ideas I hold. I don’t know that being an atheist is just about the ideas one holds, though. There’s also habits and gut level reactions and so on. I think I’m mostly an atheist at that level, but not entirely. For instance, every once in a while when I’m really stressed out and/or something really bad happens, there’s this voice in the back of my head, my voice, where I say something like this to myself: “Please let it be okay.” Something like that. It’s the same part of the back of my head where I used to pray back when I was religious. I don’t believe in any higher power, it’s just a way to express fervent and desperate hope. I’m not praying to anyone. Until now. (more…)

A nice duck. (more…)