Don't mind me I'm just rambling like an idiot

Yeah so I'm at the desk watching a youtube video and I had to stop it because some guest walked in and decided to use the lobby computer. So I'll blog instead while I have the video on pause. I guess I'll watch it later. I have shit I should be doing any way. Holy shit! I'm distracted and have to do things I get paid for at the moment.

Well that never fails. I get to doing things I get paid to do and I get a guest nagging at me at the same time. And why do they always ask me how I'm doing? I know it's a politeness thing but really, just get to the point. No one calls in the middle of the night to check on the well being of the guy at the desk. Except maybe my mother. Or your mother, but that's another story that she told me not to tell anyone.

OH SHIT!

But enough of that. Fuck it. I really need to move on to something else. Or something. I really need to find a new job to be unhappy with and bitch about.

So any way. What else?

I can't say for sure, but I think Halloween night is going to be spent with my girlfriend at home. Unless someone I know is having a house party or something that night and hasn't told me. Part of me wants to go to a bar or night club or something, but I'm not up for dealing with crowds of gawkers and douchebags. And there's only a few places that play music I like. I guess I would be more inclined to go out, but I don't live by any place I want to go and I lack in transportation. Whoring myself out for a ride never works. I just still don't know what I am going to do.

I think I'm starting to prefer cons to Halloween, truthfully. Maybe I just need to move to a part of the world that doesn't suck. Seriously. I don't think I'd have this issue if I lived in a big city. Fuck Largo. And fuck you if you live there. Can someone please open up a decent night club in this shit hole? Or 2 maybe? One that has drag queens and one that plays punk, industrial and metal? Hell all that under the same roof would be fucking epic! Seriously!

Maybe I should do that. I don't know. Could it work?

I was going to lay off the fundies for a while, then I saw this -

No really you can't be this stupid.

Christians aren't an offense to society at large. The homos on the other hand are spreading their disease in murderous fashion in city and country alike. Also, they are decreasing our population leaving us open to a future Muslim takeover.

That being said folks, you should stop being gay and get to breeding! The Muslims are coming! THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING!!!!!! Pastor Adam Briggs of Damascus Road Bible Fellowship said so!

If there is no God, there is no right or wrong.

Only nature.

So says a fundie.

They say the damnedest things, don't they? But let's take a look at this idea, shall we?

For starters, I'm an atheist. I do not believe that any god exists. I have yet to see proof of such. Because I don't believe that God exists, I don't believe in right and wrong. Murder, rape, theft, and eating babies are just fine by me. It's OK in the animal kingdom, so it's OK for people too. Right?

Of course not.

The reality is that I actually do have a concept of right and wrong. Fundies would say that I do because God gave me one. Wrote it on my heart or some nonsense. And because I have a sense of right and wrong, I know that God exists. Sounds a bit like circular reasoning to me. I'm not buying it. If you bought it, I suggest you take it back. According to some of the things I read in the Bible, this God makes folks like Hitler and Stalin look like amateurs. Why anyone would agree that they are made in his image is beyond me. I'll get to those things in the Bible later. Let's talk about where right and wrong really comes from.

I'm going to focus on the big wrongs, things that are usually touted as absolutely wrong. Murder, rape, theft, and deceit. Seems like every time I get in an argument about morality with a fundie the question of one of those always comes up.

"Is Murder wrong?"
"ummmm, yeah!"
"Absolutely wrong?"
"I think most people will agree that murder is wrong."
"So you do believe in absolutes!"

Yeah and it just goes from there. So why is murder wrong? Animals kill members of their own species and humans are animals, right? Yes, humans are animals, but we are an animal that understands that murder is not conductive to the survival of our species. It doesn't really fit in to how humans organise themselves into societies. Same goes for those other wrongs - rape, theft, and deceit. Throughout thousands of years of human evolution, these concepts have become part of our nature. We need to be told murder is wrong about as much as we need to be told to hold our breath when our heads are underwater.

There's a bit more though. Weird thing about humans, we can feel what it's like, to an extent, to be another human. We can project our feelings on to another of our kind. We can understand the feelings of another of our kind. Those things being said, if I, as a human, understand that something is harmful to me, then I understand that it is harmful to another of my kind. I wouldn't want anything harmful done to me, therefore I shouldn't do harmful things to others of my kind. Harmful things tend not to be good for survival. If an animal understands anything, it understands what it needs for it and it's species to survive. Our needs as humans are a little different from what other animals need so we tend not to do exactly as the animals do. This is why we don't eat our babies. This is why males of our kind do not regularly gang rape females of our kind.

It is nature, our nature as human beings, that dictates right and wrong, not the nature of how other animals behave. God does not make right and wrong. We do.

And if you are still looking to God for your moral absolutes, maybe you can learn a thing to a few from this video -



So what say you? Did you really need the Bible to know that murder is bad, or did it just make sense without you being told anything about it?

A few muslims are terrorists, so let's burn a Quran!

Let's not.

Before I get started on what I know is going to be a long rant, take a look at these links-

http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68592

http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Burn-A-Koran-Day/134718123226530?v=wall

Yeah, I know the first one is a forum post that links to the second, but there are quite a few people there that are all for this. If I were not currently banned from that forum, I'd post a link to this if not just post the whole thing there. If anyone would like to do that on my behalf, I'd be pretty cool with it. I'd like to get some comments from those that support burning the Quran or any other book. You know, have like a discussion?

I'm very against this. I know not all Muslims are terrorists. The people behind what happened on 9/11/2001 were, but they only represent a relative few that are extremist fanatics. Nearly all Muslims I have encountered are pretty nice. Aside from that I am against book burnings in general. Nearly all books serve either a purpose of education or entertainment. I think it's completely asinine to to burn a book because you don't like it or don't agree with it. Burning a religious text carries a bit of added weight as that text hols a pretty special meaning to those who are members of the religion that is attached to that text. Burning a holy text is purely an act of hate and ignorance.

From the Facebook link -

On September 11th, 2010, from 6pm - 9pm, we will burn the Koran on the property of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!

Did I read that right? In remembrance? That alone is something I've got a pretty big issue with. There's a lot better things one can do in remembrance of those that died that day than commit a blatant act of hate. It's total disrespect! Why not have a big group prayer for those that died, their families they left behind and the soldiers still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? I don't believe in praying as I am an atheist, but I do understand that most people that belong to one religion or another do. That's at least respectful. Or how about some big charity fund raiser for the families of the victims? Or send care packages to the soldiers? Or just do something positive and respectful?

But there's other problems I have. As I said, not all Muslims are terrorists. Islam is the second largest religion and accounts for 23% of the worlds population, about 1.57 billion people. At least that's what Wikipedia tells me. It's only a relative few, pretty much their equivalent to militant fundamentalist Christians, that do commit terrorist acts. It seems rather asinine to burn Qurans over a few when many of them are not bad people at all. It would be like burning KJV's because the members of Westboro Baptist Church are total fucking douchebags. In other words, committing a hateful act toward a large group is just ridiculous when only a few are the problem.

And about burning the Quran. It's a religious text. Just a book to anyone else, but to a Muslim it's pretty special. Burning it is only going to make the terrorist fanatics fell justified in their actions and at least annoy the rest. Not to mention make those doing the burning and anyone even remotely associated look bad. Great move there folks, you are doing America a real solid. If any reading this is planning on participating in burning Qurans, before you do, think about how you would feel if it was your holy text that someone was burning.

Another thought on this, where are they going to get the Qurans from? If they are going to acquire them legitimately, well that's a lot of sales of Qurans. The people publishing them and the bookstores I'm sure will appreciate your money. Heck it may even look like a lot of people just converted to Islam. And if they are acquired not so legitimately? Well isn't there something in the Bible that says "Thou shalt not steal"? Hmmm Exodus 20:15, Matthew 19:18, Romans 13:9. And it's usually in the front of the Bible with the rest of the 10 Commandments. So if you are not purchasing your Quran before you burn it and you believe what the Bible says, you are going to Hell. Why not give that money to a charity? You know, do something positive with it? A Quran costs between $8 and $40. You could feed or clothe some people with that. Heck if a large enough group gave that each, they could probly put a child of one of the victims through college, if not a few. Just another thought.

Another thing to those that are planning on burning a Quran. Have you read it? If you are going to buy it, you might as well read it before tossing it in to the fire. If anything so you really know what you are burning and why you are burning it. You might learn something. I suggest you not burn it. Read it and keep it as a reference. It may come in handy in a theological debate with a Muslim. It's why I keep a Bible handy as well as having BibleGateway.com bookmarked. This quote from Sun Tzu's Art of War comes to mind.

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

Not that I consider Muslims or Christians to be enemies of mine, but I do get into debates with them, mostly the latter. Getting back to the point, burning any text without reading and understanding it is just ignorant.

In closing and to sum it up, anyone that is participating in a Quran burning is only exposing their hate, ignorance, disrespect and just being a total douchebag. I feel like for the most part I'm preaching to the choir here, but if I change someone's mind or cause them to think, well them my time wasn't completely wasted. At least I got it off my chest.

I guess he does have a point.

And this is why I love TheologyOnline, only there can I find people that think this is a completely logical argument.

Originally Posted by Nick M You must be one big retard to say Boeing 777's just devolp into working machines if left in a pile of parts over billions of years.

Source.

I really wish he was joking.

Now this guy just sounds like a total loonball

Another gem from TheologyOnline.

HAAAY! - Satan didn’t have a breath! All other living creatures had the breath of Life, but not Satan. Satan didn’t breathe the air of God. - Mainly, because Satan didn’t have a nose; -- or ears, for that matter. Satan can’t hear either. Eyes to see? - No! No eyes either, but I’m just concerned with the breath of God right now. ---- Well, - Cain was like his father, Cain didn’t have a face either, until God put the mark of Abel’s face on Cain to keep everyone from killing him for being the son of Satan, but that’s another story you (DON’T WANT TO “HEAR”) with your EAR.

Don’t tell me, I know you can’t believe any of that. Maybe because you don’t have an ear to hear with either and maybe you don’t even have an eye to see with either. Most are as their father the Devil; - without form and void of features.

ANYHOW! You know that Satan came through the flood of Noah somehow. Maybe God just forgot about Satan and let him through without drowning, or God lied. – Genesis 2:7 KJV - & Genesis 6:17 KJV - & Genesis 7:15 KJV – Genesis 7:22 KJV – “ALL IN WHOSE NOSTRILS WAS THE BREATH OF LIFE, OF ALL THAT WAS IN THE DRY LAND, “(DIED)”. ---- BUT SATAN, - That doesn’t matter, Satan has ears and a nose, you know he does. -- OOOKKK!
Peace.

Paul – 020210

Is it just me or does this guy sound like a total ranting lunatic? I think the guys in the white coats need to be called in on this one.

Source.

One of my more amusing quotes as of late.

At least I think so.

On arguing with conservative Christians online -

Arguing with conservative Christian windbags is fun. But if you are doing it on the interwebs, make sure your spelling and grammar are absolutely perfect. This is more important than your actual argument, especially when they are wrong or have no real argument and are too full of themselves to admit it. Eventually they will resort to some form of childish name calling, that's when it starts getting funny.

I don't think I have ever said anything more true.

I wonder just who this guy thinks he is

I've had 4 calls in the last hour from a guest in one room complaining about noise in the next room. The people he is complaining about are not being loud at all. Yes, there is a party in the room, but they are being very respectful of those around them. It's all adults, no teens or children. Both myself and my coworker have been in and around the room. You can't tell there's a party from the outside. I've had no complaints from the room on the opposite side or the directly adjoining room all of which are occupied.

I think I'm being bullshitted here. Also, the guy calling and complaining has referred to the people next to him as scum and pigs and has flat out said they are not good enough to be here and should be staying at the Days Inn. He has also said that it is not fair to him that they are next to him. He's using the fact that he's a frequent stay member (has a card) member and that he "spends a lot of money here" as part of his argument.

This is where I feel the need to laugh at him. He's a base level card person. More amusingly, the room he's complaining about is paying twice as much for tonight. The guest in the room he's complaining about also has a card and stays here quite often as well, and pays more per night. None of this really means anything when dealing with a complaint, but it's still amusing. I'm tempted to tell this asshat that keeps calling me about this. Especially after him telling me they are not good enough to stay here.

As far as I can see, the only thing the party being complained about is doing wrong is being of Latino descent. The guy complaining is an elitist snob and a racist to boot. I don't know who he is to dictate who can and can't stay here, but he did say that is we don't do somethiong about it, he's going to call the police. I hope he does.

Another thing that makes me wish I had a car.

Fucked up people like the one I encountered tonight on my way to work. I've seen this one guy before. Every time I've seen him, he seems drunk and just really annoying. He never has his money or bus pass ready. He is always bothering somebody, usually the nearest woman. Also, he just looks really dirty, unkept and has kind of a creepy look about him. Tonight he took it a step further. He didn't seem to care too much that his shorts were way too loose on him. I'm not making this up – there was a few times that his manly bits were exposed. I didn't care to see that. Or his ass for that matter. Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd be a little too embarrassed to talk to anyone after accidentally flashing them, save for an apology. Not the case with this guy. Just went right into trying to flirt with the lady near him. After she got off he went on to talking to anyone with in an earshot about some nonsense regarding conspiracy, cameras, Scientology and cell phones.

I wanted to say something to this rather disgusting lunatic. However, I know it would have gotten me nowhere. So instead I ignored him the best I could and now I'm trashing him in my blog. It may have been a bit more amusing if I had a camera to get a picture or two of him with. I doubt anyone would want to see it though. I'm glad I was looking about as masculine as I get. Last thing I need is for this creep to be flirting with me.

Hotel stories - You are an idiot and so is your kid edition

I just had a feeling it was going to be a bad night, and that was before I left my apartment.

I hate it when I'm right.

The first thing I was greeted with tonight was a note for the management and an incident report. A guest's 12 year old child was in the hotel's fitness center, unsupervised, and hurt them self on the treadmill. Somehow this is the hotel's fault because we don't have any warning signs in the fitness center.

Then I had to deal with a room that was being a noise problem. Sure enough, party room. Sure enough, they have a pretty girl answer the door. Doesn't make any difference, she still gets told the diplomatic version of shut the fuck up or get the fuck out. I've not had any complaints yet. Bummer, I wouldn't mind an eviction.

And most recently I had a lady at the desk looking for a room. We don't have much left tonight. what few rooms we do have are smoking rooms and despite that they seem to be going quick. While she was at the desk, my co-worker was selling 2 rooms to another guest. I quoted her the lowest rate I had for the types of rooms I had. She tried to get me to cut her a deal. Can't do it. I think anyone that's taken a basic course in economic can understand why. That and I really can't change the rates anyway. She asked me about other hotels. I told her which ones had availability and where they were. She left.

Then about 15 minutes later she comes back with her boyfriend. In the mean time I had sold another room. At this point I have 2 left, gave him the rates for each. Both were smoking rooms. He proceeded to ask me if I was sure. Yes. Then if I was serious. Yes. Then if I could cut him a break because it's midnight. No. Then if I could cut him a break because they are smoking rooms. No, non-smoking is the same price. He asks me if there's anything I can do about the rate. No, lowest rate I have, it's actually less than the AAA rate. He again asks me if I'm sure. Yes. And if I'm serious. Yes. Then he decides he doesn't want to talk to me anymore and wants a manager. I am a manager. So he wants my business card and tells me that he's never been treated so poorly. I don't have one of my own, but I did give him a plain hotel business card and wrote my first name only on it. He wants my last name too because according to him I don't know who I just messed with. Not getting it. I don't give it out, ever. Especially to someone who just made that remark at me. He keeps thrown a fit about how badly he thinks he's being treated. I guess I should have been kissing his ass or something. He leaves telling me that he will be calling to complain.

But wait! There's more! He comes back in like a few seconds later all pissed off and asking me if I gave "his girl"attitude like I gave him. I didn't give either of them attitude. He goes on to tell me that I don't know who I messed with, again. Even my co-worker stepped in and said I didn't give either of them attitude. Again he said he was going to call and complain. And that I really don't know who I messed with. I wished him a good night.

Whateva.

All nice and quiet now. And those 2 rooms I had left? Sold!

Moral of tonight's stories - Don't be an idiot, keep an eye on your kid, don't be a cheapskate.

I'm not planning on buying another Dell computer, you should not either

I used to like my Flamingo Pink Dell Inspiron 1420 Laptop, now I have become quite angry with it and it's manufacturer. I recently got a screen full of multicolored vertical lines at startup. Long story short - the video card has failed. According to Dell, the warranty has been extended for users experiencing this very issue as detailed here. However, I have been given nothing less than a run around with tech support. Every time I have called in the last week I have been told they are unclear on the warranty status and that they would look into it and call me back. They never call me back. It's always me calling them back and not getting a definitive answer even after telling them that the warranty was extended because of this specific issue with this specific video card.

I'm not pleased with this. They are supposed to fix it and I want it fixed. This is my first direct experience with Dell and I have to say it will be my last. I'm not the only one having this difficulty getting support. In the link above, there are quite a few people having this trouble, both with this video card and tech support jerking them around.

That being said, any recommendations on who to go through for my next laptop will be greatly appreciated. I'm just looking for something inexpensive that will last me a few years and will run my games (Particularly Eve Online) and will run Linux with minimal effort on my part. If pink or purple is an available color option, that would be a big plus.

Worried about my mother and my old landlord, the electric company and mother nature have all pissed me off

Was over at my parents' house today working on replacing a fence that is taking me weeks to get done, but that part is another story. While I was there, my mom was under a lot of stress. Most of it from my father. He won't do anything for himself, expects my mother to do everything. It's getting to the point where it's driving her crazy. Literally. She seemed pretty lost and confused. To the point where she didn't even know what day it was. I helped her as much as I could. tried to get her to just relax while I took care of things. Meanwhile my dad kept calling her to do more for him. Ugh. He really needs to go into a nursing home. Not just because he's driving my mom nuts making her do everything and being a total selfish ass about it. But also because he does have some health issues that warrant constant attention. Some of which would require less attention if he would just take better care of himself. He needs to go in a home and she needs a vacation. The last time I spoke to her, she was feeling better. Resting a bit helped.

I finally got my deposit back from my old landlord, minus $160. $60 of that was because I actually moved out on the first, which I told him I was going to do, and I went back on the second to clean the place. If that's not enough, he took out $100 because he had to call a plumber and also because the tub was full of shit, literally. That tub was clean when I left, I made sure of that. There were pictures included with the check and the letter he sent me detailing what he found. It looks to me like in the time between I moved out and he came and inspected, a week, the sewer backed up into the tub. That happened once before, a few months after I moved in. And me and the landlord were plungering the toilet and tub drain hardcore. He was trying his damnedest then not to have to call a plumber. In the last few weeks I lived there the drains were slower and noisier than usual. Another thing he said in the letter was that the drains were plugged with hair. For anyone reading this that has never seen me out of drag, I shave the sides and back of my head. What is left on top is currently at the longest it has been in 2 years, almost shoulder length. How the hell did my hair clog a sewer line??? Total bullshit and big surprise when I called him, I got his voicemail.

He's trying to screw me here, no lube or even a reach around. I'm at odds with taking him to court over this, if it would even be worth it. Is there anything else I could do? Legally that is. Anyone I can go to? I can produce a witness on the tub. A friend of mine did help me move.

The next shocker (yeah bad pun) in the mail today was my electric bill. There was a balance forward of $200. I'd really like to know why but that won't happen until Monday. I had $180 left on my deposit before I moved, what happened to that?

Finally, while I was at my parents' house, I was putting up a fence that I have been working on for a few weeks. at this point I had everything done but the gate. It's going to be 2 gates this time, not one big one like they had. Should be easier for my mom to open and close. I got one gate up then it started to down pour. The weather has been something I have been fighting against with this entire project. I know there isn't much I can do about it, but it still pisses me off.

So after a week in the new place

Life is pretty good and my finances are starting to find their way back on track. I've still got a lot of stuff in boxes but I have started decorating. I'm thinking there's going to be a lot of purple and black. Just what I'm seeing now.

My old landlord still has not paid me back my deposit. Last time I spoke to him was Wednesday. He was still out of town. Said he would be back in town on Thursday and would be checking the apartment and mailing my check then. I'm going to give him a call in the next day or 2 and see what the status is.

My laptop has been down. The AC adapter has been giving me trouble for a while, it finally died out totally. I bought a new one today. The good news is I have a laptop with a fully charged battery. The bad is that replacing it didn't cure the video problems I'm having and I have a feeling it's going to be the motherboard. So much for my idea that they were the result of an underpowered vid card. :(

To keep my sanity on the past 2 days I've had off, I've been working out in the fitness center and doing lots of design work on my DragonCon costumes. Most stuff is drawn, next is patterns, schematics and a materials list.

Not really eventful day, but some things are on my mind

Got up this evening and hit the fitness center for an hour. Had a pretty good work out. I'm going to continue to do this every day. Saw some of the other tenants there. They all seemed like nice people. Property manager was getting a workout there too. Cool. I'd like to meet more people in the complex.

On my way to the bus stop, I stopped at the K-mart to pick up something to eat while at work. Got a little annoyed at the cashier when I was told that next time I have to leave my backpack at the counter. They said it's for their protection to keep things from being stolen from the store. I told her I like to keep it on me for my protection from things being stolen out of it. Seriously, I keep my laptop and my MP3player in there and I am not about to have either disappear in the care of K-mart employees. Besides I keep my money in there, so that's rather inconvenient for them. And finally, no other stores want to hold on to my bag, why does Kmart?

While waiting for the bus there was a few people their that were pretty downtrodden. At least one of them did have a place, I'm not sure about the others. They kept asking me for change and cigarettes. I'm once again attempting to quit smoking, so no cigs. I don't really have the money for them and I really should quit anyway. The fact that they jacked up the taxes on them again is enough to make me not want to smoke. If it's not obvious, I didn't give them any money either, though when the bus came I did pass another guy a quarter that came up a little short on bus fare. Another thing about these people, they has some items that they were taking to the stores (there's a Walmart across from the Kmart)to be returned. No receipts for the items though. I guessed they were stolen or bought somewhere else at a discounted price. They were even joking with each other about what excuse they were going to use for the receipt.

In my browsing of the different blogs I read, I noticed that a fundie pastor pulled his dick out of a choir boy long enough to put words in my mouth in response to some comments we have been throwing back and forth at each other. His actions remind me of something Voltaire was talking about in his most recent blog. It amuses me how quick people are to pass judgement on someone they know little about. And, yes, the reference above was an example of that.

At this point I'm expecting to have a long, boring night ahead of me. I think I'll do some writing and some design work.