I managed to convince my managers that a Vampire Prom (our release party) requires some gothic rock. I formed a band out of employees and customers/friends, and we're going to run through our set tomorrow. We're going to stay in character, too: "Hi, we're the rain, from Forks, Washington. Thanks for coming out early."

I won't have a microphone, so I will be less likely to make a Mormon joke.

Science and religion are indeed mutually exclusive, and, by its very nature, the scientific method could never be a religion. You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. Science is based on facts.

So, An0ptimist, (or did you spell it 0ptomist?) and any other "believer" here, do you think you can and should pick up and handle venomous snakes, drink poison, et cetera, and escape harm? If not, why not?

Do you believe that the Earth is flat? If not, why not?

Do I need to explain to you why the story of Noah's Ark is impossible? If not, why not?

Do I need to explain to you why the stories of Adam and Eve, and Abraham and Isaac, are preposterous? If not, why not?

Racism is the belief that there is a biological difference, and thus a hierarchy, between different "races" of humanity.

The belief that women (and men) ought to be able to (for example) sleep with whomever they want without risking an honor killing, is not racism.

It's a common mistake, on Broadsheet and elsewhere, to spend so much time focusing on the Middle East and elsewhere, when you can find these reactionary religious groups (not just Muslims) all over the US.

... a PUNK ROCK WEDDING! If you must get married at all, DIY. The lot of you just don't understand.

... then your impressions are probably, but not necessarily, inaccurate.

I wonder how many fewer problems the Middle East would have if the boys and girls weren't so often separated.

Samantha Power was one of the leading cheerleaders for Clinton's attack on the former Yugoslavia. She took the crimes committed by all sides during a civil war and spun them into lurid tales of "genocide" that encouraged a so-called "humanitarian intervention." This intervention consisted of over seventy days of aerial bombing, bringing considerable suffering to the people on the ground and worsening the antagonism between various communities. She's an advocate of imperialism and has every intention of continuing on that path.

Sam has agency. She has an internal life; it's simply more secure and developed than Large's, hence, she helps him.

I'm totally straight-edge, partially because I'm terrified of aging. The only problem is that this might help ensure I live *too long,* at which point I'll have to take matters into my own hands.

Yeah, loss of faith is a good thing. If it takes this nonsense to make you lose the mumbo-jumbo, so be it.

Hemorrhoids!

Robert Smith did the same thing in 1987 with The Cure's song "Why Can't I Be You?"

Belief without evidence, i.e. faith, spirituality, et cetera, is the worst mental darkness possible. The Enlightenment got its name because of the emphasis on casting light on the darkness shed by religion.

I've heard about the doctors that won't sterilize the childfree, but can you (whoever mentioned it earlier, as well as Shazzer, who brings it up sometimes) not shop around?

When there's a male pill, and it's made generically in India and elsewhere, this could almost save the world. I'm not kidding. Think about it. A great many men, by and large, don't really want children. That's why they leave after knocking up women, and that's why most poor people in the world are women and children.

Just think of the possibilities...

She was on the cover of a prominent magazine a week or two ago. Copies of the magazine were on display right in front of where I work. As people approached, nearly every group included somebody who would gawk at her photo, talk to their companions, about it, et cetera.

Many of them remarked on how male she looked.

I should have said this long ago: your daughter seems so spunky. That's a considerable compliment, if you're wondering.

They want to stop sex for anyone who isn't married and trying to conceive. I'm not exaggerating, it sometimes seems like their overriding objective in life.

I think what you just did is called "begging the question." It's like circular reasoning. You assume that so-called Post Abortion Syndrome must exist because abortion-on-demand exists. That's a fallacy.

The same people/groups who oppose abortion also oppose all the measures that drastically reduce abortion. Ergo, they really just oppose sex without conception.

Georgia is not in Europe, and besides, the Georgian government are the agressors in the current conflict.

Obesity rates have increased sharply on the lower end of the age scale. It takes time for those health effects to truly impact life expectancy figures. I've seen the warnings that the age cohort of the kids in these camps might have a shorter life expectancy than their parents did.

Additionally, keep in mind that there are many factors that go into life expectancy, and that it's a widely misunderstood statistic. It's easy to forget that changes in infant mortality are largely responsible for changes in life expectancy. It doesn't dictate the age at which otherwise healthy adults drop dead; it takes into account all deaths. In ancient Rome, life expectancy was 40-something, but all the senators were in their 50s and 60s. Seventy was old and eighty was ancient. Throughout much of history, if one lived through a very vulnerable childhood, one would probably live well into adulthood. Type 2 diabetes changes that.

Lonewolfy, you aren't referring to the imperialist Obama, are you?

to become a burden on others, especially one's family or closest friends? Who would wish that on their children? It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees.