Month: September 2008

In a snarky and light-hearted discussion about beliefs over on Damn Portlanders, a LiveJournal community I frequent, I and others eventually got down to the subtle differences between an agnostic and an atheist. My own personal take on it appeared to oppose dave256’s views; the definition I use is that atheist belief is provisional and contingent on the evidence, and an agnostic’s belief, coming from the assumption that the existence of God or gods isn’t necessarily something we can ever know, is not really provable or disprovable.

Of course, I’d say that because I consider myself an atheist, and I’m giving myself the rational position. Heh.

dave256, on the other hand, gives the same basic definition of “agnostic” that I would give – then appends the idea that an agnostic would be the one most likely to change their mind if presented with evidence of a God or gods, rather than an atheist, which gave me food for thought.

Sure, atheists in general seem more sure of themselves on the topic, but even among atheists there are distinctions that not many are aware of. There’s both “strong” and “weak” atheism, where a weak atheist takes the position of being against the specific gods of the major world religions – the Christian God, Jesus-as-God, Yahweh, Allah, the many Hindu gods, the Norse or Greek or Egyptian gods, and so on – and a strong atheist takes the position that dave256 is suggesting, that there are, flatly, no gods at all.

More and more, I find myself pushed by the evidence (always follow the evidence is my creed and motto) to simply reject the major gods of the world’s existing religions. Might there be a god yet uncovered by human philosophy? Sure. Show me the evidence, though, so I can evaluate your claim. But the vast flavors of Christianity, the various sects of Judaism, the factions of Islam, the myriad followers of Vishnu et. al. – those all make specific claims, and those claims can be evaluated with the imperfect-but-best-we’ve-got tools of logic, the scientific method, rational thought, and always always always direct comparison to the world we actually see around us.

And those gods have always failed tests by those tools.

So, in that Damned Portlanders discussion, when existence_ltd mentioned the word “adeist”, it caught my attention:

It strikes me that in the context of this conversation — in the context that we commonly use the word “atheist” — that it might be more appropriate to use the word “adeist.” Is that a word? Should be.

I Googled the word and found that someone had apparently added “adeist” to Urban Dictionary in October 2007, so they had beaten existence_ltd to the claim of invention, but the idea itself is useful and it’s one I shall use for myself in the future as a more specific descriptor of my own beliefs.

And whether or not others see it my way or not, I can say for myself that I’m open to new evidence and willing to admit I’m wrong if someone shows me God in a Box ™.

Looks like the union office staff for the Oregon Education Association (which is itself a union for teachers and educators in Oregon) have, um, gone on strike.

For shame, OEA. For shame.

Since installing the 2.1 update for iPhone, my battery life kinda rocks. I get nervous when the little battery indicator gets low, but the damn thing just keeps on going. If I saw an indicator at 1/3 or less, I was within an hour of having it shut down entirely, previously. Now, it seems to just keep working.

I don’t know why I’m talking about this now.

Just a quick update before I have a chance to write more words on the topic:

Friday night Tracy, Gina and I had dinner, then rocked out to Harvey Danger at the Doug Fir. So good. Sean Nelson, I think I’ve now seen you live in concert more times than any other performer. Well done, sir.

Then Saturday I took the train up to Seattle to see Bad Religion fill a tiny little club with their challenging and acerbic music, to the delight of several hundred sweaty punk rock fans, including myself. So hot inside, and black as pitch. The security was spraying down the crowd with cold water. That felt good after being in the pit, moshing and laughing.

I think I’ve figured out why moshing is so exhilarating to me: I’m so bipolar when it comes to contact and touch, that being in a crowd like that, having almost no control and being pushed and pushing back, just takes me beyond my normal boundaries. And there’s a combination of the feeling of “danger, danger!” and the, yes, friendliness of the crowd. I fell once last night, and the crowd immediately made room for me, and a giant of a man reached down and pulled me to my feet almost before I knew I was down. We’re happy maniacs in there. Feels damned good.

Today I’m taking the train back. Kinda glad I brought a change of clothes – I was soaked with sweat and water last night.

Rocket is promising a real unicorn. That, on top of the fire and strippers and chance to help out a fellow traveler, should be all you need to know.

When I saw the movie “Fletch” for the first time, I loved it. I dug Chevy Chase, and I loved the idea of the investigative reporter who is a) hilarious, and b) challenging to authority. Oh, and he got the chicks.

When a friend pointed out that the movie was based on a book, in a series of books, I knew I had to read it. This wasn’t a novelization of the movie, made after the fact, a hack attempt to cash in. The character of Irving M. “Fletch” Fletcher started on the page, in the mind of Gregory Mcdonald. And so I read “Fletch”.

And then I read “Confess, Fletch”. And then I read “Fletch’s Fortune”. And then I read “Fletch and the Widow Bradley”… and on and on.

And as much as I loved Chevy Chase’s take on the character, I realized that Mcdonald’s written version of the character wasn’t the same at all. On the page, Fletch was more vulnerable and somehow, more charming. Chase’s Fletch stumbled sometimes but he was always the master of the situation. In the books, we had access to Fletch’s thoughts and feelings, and it gave me more insight into the mind of a caring con man, a schemer for justice, if you will.

And it was all done through Mcdonald’s marvelous dialogue. Real, funny, and it always drove the plot and defined the characters.

Which is all to say that I’m going to miss Gregory Mcdonald. I didn’t know much about him as a person, but I loved the stories he told and characters he created. He was an inspiration to me.

Goodbye, Mr. Mcdonald.

Republican co-worker in conversation with like-minded libertarian co-worker on Monday:

“Palin? McCain? Of course they’re lying. What does lying get them? More money in the bank and a boost in the polls! It’s OK! There’s a war on, and whatever it takes to win…”

Republican co-worker in conversation with friendly but opposing Democratic co-worker on Wednesday, in reference to Joe Biden’s gun control position:

“He’s been in the fight but he’s never told the truth. We don’t like liars.“

…at which point I busted up laughing and practically shouted at him, “You don’t like liars?”

He replied back, “Show me a documented instance of–“

I cut him off. “How about McCain and Palin?”

“Uh, uh, well, no, I’m talking about–“

“Whatever,” I said. “I need coffee.” And I walked away.

Felt good to catch him in a direct contradiction. That might’ve made my entire week.

Rocket has put together a fund-raising benefit for Cricket, to help with medical expenses.

The benefit is Thursday, September 25th, 9:00p – 2:00a at Devil’s Point.

Cricket is an energetic and positive performer. No 23-year-old should have fuckin’ cancer.

Bring your friend Benjamin!

Edit: fixed the links to Rocket and Cricket’s MySpace pages.