because Nature is a whore with a vacuum

I did a lot of blog-culling recently, but I've got some replacements. Two new blogs for the "Holy Shit" section of my sidebar:

1. Mis-nagid, a blog by an atheistic frum Jew, whatever a "frum Jew" is. Choice passage:

Theology is a bogus field. When pushed, the honest theologians admit that any conception of God other than utterly incomprehensible is fraught with contradiction and logical problems. If so, on what do they base their conjectures? Nothing. They just forge ahead like mystics, making up cool-sounding things to please themselves. Theology is completely intellectually bankrupt. The most honest [theologians] know it and simply relabel their study of anthropology "theology" because they deal with the mythologies man created for himself.

Because I'm not plugged in to the Jewish community, most of this blog makes me feel like I'm missing an in-joke, but I'm fascinated all the same.

2. Ow, My Blog, a blog about "Buddhism, Aikido, art, books, music, and other stuff that gets stuck in your head." Choice extrait:

But the reason I don't really dig Christmas is twofold. First, not being a Christian kinda takes the stuffing out of the Christ part, and hearing stodgy fundamentalists whine about the "real meaning" is so tiresome. The other part is the commercialism and acquisitiveness, which really grates on my Zen nerves. And just to be non-dual, there's spiritual materialism (great piece at the Buddhist Channel today) stirring the great pot so that the spending becomes Christian, the Christianity becomes financial, and the whole mess becomes one great theologico-economic metaevent that makes it all too political as well. And I'm on a starvation diet where politics are concerned.

So what in Christmas appeals to me? The art, I suppose, the annual explosion of popular art in the form of decoration, music, public celebration, costumery, and general light-hearted sense of play in the behavior of some of the most uptight people. It's not the religious iconography, nor the superlative advertising blush that attracts me, just the common cultural stuff that still has mass appeal long after so much of our popular culture has been debased and sold back to us with negative emotions. Think about it: chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Yuletide carols being sung by a fire, and folks dressed up like Eskimos. Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright; tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight. Now, you don't have to be rich or cool or Anglo or American or even Christian to appreciate that.

This is the same blog that gave us the magnificent Scrooge Sutra. After several visits, I've decided to add it to my gallery.

And in other news-- Mike honors the great Scottish poet Robert Burns. This post features what has to be the funniest ode to beer (or is it whisky?) I've ever read. You need to do what I did and read it aloud with a bad Scottish accent. Not only will you laugh your ass off, but you'll be able to make the words "joy" and "eye" rhyme-- an impossibility in American English, but plenty possible for a piss-drunk Scotsman.

[NB: Sidebar images for the new blogs will be up soon.]


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