Here is a question for you. What level of woo would make someone undateable? What about unfriendable? Do you have a limit that you’ve drawn in your life or do you have a lot of woo woo people around you that you interact with? How do you get on with them? Do you find it difficult? Do you argue with them or are you silent about your woo disbelief?

Woo can be defined as anything supernatural, irrational or lacking in evidence. So it would include religion and any kind of pseudoscience.

On a side note, is there anything that could be defined as woo that you still believe in? If so, why?

For me, I’ve somehow whittled down my friend list from all woo-lovers to all skeptical atheists. I didn’t do this deliberately, but I guess with my skeptical talk and constant questioning (not aggressively, but I really did question all the woo I previously embraced), my woo-loving friends all went their separate ways and avoided me within months of when my quest for knowledge began.

I didn’t have many friends for awhile but then found the Morgantown Atheists where I found several people that have become good friends. Also, having HDC has let me meet new people who were rather like-minded as well.

With extended family, I still have to deal with woo, both religious and supernatural. They know Butch (my awesome husband) and I are die-hard atheists so we have come to an unspoken agreement that we don’t talk about religion. Or politics just to be safe and have nice dinners together. :P

I think I’m lucky in most respects. My skeptical atheist friends keep things lively by being smart and reason-based (most of the time, we’re not perfect, of course). And my extended family gives me an occasional glimpse into woo-land so I get to see what the majority of people are dealing with and believing. It’s enough.

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Sometimes you just have to give props where they’re due. Johnny left a comment somewhere around here yesterday with a link to a youtube video. It was so brilliant I have to share it with you immediately. It’s about everyone’s favorite lord, Jesus. Apparently he had a meeting with a group of angels before he had himself impregnated into poor, innocent Mary. This is the video from that meeting. It’s 8:40 minutes long, but entirely awesome. Thanks, Johnny, for letting us know about it!

What I don’t get is that nowhere in the bible is Australia mentioned, and Jesus and the angels are obviously from Down Under. Checkmate, heathens! HA!

empty gesturesAnyway, along the same lines, I have been pretty active on Facebook for a couple weeks or so. Every day people ask me to join causes and groups for one well-meaning reason or another. But no group really makes me feel like I’m doing something through joining. So I had to start my own! It is brand new, so go join today! Invite your friends and family, and together we can make a difference with ZERO EFFORT!

Six Zillion Strong For All Causes!

We can all sleep like innocent babies in our comfy beds tonight, secure in the knowledge that we made a difference by joining 6 Zillion Strong.

Think of all we can do if we simply join together. We can save whales from extinction! And polar bears from starvation! And so much more! Join today and then say hi on the discussion board and tell us who or what you want to save today! Since I’m the Founder, you can leave your comments here, but to truly make a difference, at this time, the only way is to join 6 Zillion Strong on Facebook.

If you feel we need to branch out already, to help spread the love and caring, leave comments here, and maybe we can make a group on HDC that can try to match the great works done by 6 Zillion Strong on Facebook.

Together, we can do anything. And it literally takes ZERO EFFORT! Join Today!

EDIT: this is a test. But watch this 9 minute video anyway, because it’s funny. These are the only two I’ve seen but Johnny says NonStampCollector is awesome, and I tend to agree.

OMG is fulla wordzAs you know, I have recently given up and gone back to Facebook (and Twitter). Twitter is not verbose enough. I see peoples’ tweets and links on my page and I don’t follow them because I have no idea what they are about. But I find that I like Facebook. I have found friends (a lot of you from here have befriended me, which I LOVE!), and those friends put up links and stories that I then look into, which is awesome.

Recently I decided to see about finding a few friends from high school. I found one, we’ll call him Pete. We have been chatting on Facebook and it was looking like maybe we could be friends again. I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. Well, then I mentioned that I went to a group meeting this past Sunday. I realized after mentioning it that the very name of the group would open up the discussion of religion and I tried to change the subject. I didn’t want to lose a friend before even getting him back.

The meeting I went to was for Morgantown Atheists. I’ve become rather active with them, as they are local, seem quite friendly, and hey, they’re atheists! Yay! Well, Pete immediately asked me, why am I an atheist? I started to tell him. I said that there’s no evidence for any gods. He said he had proof of god and the afterlife. I was intrigued and asked him for details, and to tell me why he is a christian, and he then told me 2 stories from his past, which have made him a believer.

He has a very unusual set of beliefs, culled together from different christian ideas, but mainly filtered down to only be the happy stuff. The stories he told were very much not happy. So I guess it makes sense for him to see the afterlife as a good thing.

As he told me more and more, I realized that if I said anything at all, to shine the light of logic and reason onto his stories and perceptions of god and the afterlife, that I’d alienate him as well as make him mad. He apparently derives great comfort from his beliefs, and I didn’t think it was appropriate to burst his bubble with talk of evidence, especially since it was clear that he felt he had more than enough proof. In fact, at one point he asked me if he had freaked me out. I had to say no, and that it wasn’t going to convert me either.The thing is, he ended the conversation and I haven’t heard from him since. Read the rest of this entry »

no more xmas lites ever

It’s that time of year, my friends. The Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year for us in the Northern Hemisphere, has arrived.

waitinfor-sandy claws

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First, let’s do the other goodness. The political bit follows. My friend has been busy lately and I want to share what he’s been doing.

  • Global Atheist is an aggregate site that refreshes every 15 minutes. It’s a great place to scan lots of awesome skeptical and atheist sites at once.

Now for the Rambling Political Bit:

After about 2 years of campaigning and general political nastiness, it’s over. We’ll have a new president soon! Change is in the air! President Barack Obama. I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad it’s done.

It seems that most of America is probably relieved and happy today, while some people (like my parents) are very angry and busy selling off their stocks so that they can leave the country. Maybe they can move to Canada. Oh wait, Canada really IS a socialist country. Just teasing.

Hopefully things will settle down, and people will get on with their lives. My phone didn’t ring all day from the Republican party, telling me how to think, so it was nice to have some peace and quiet.

I feel like there is so much potential for positive change. I hope good things will be able to happen with a new administration.

What does it mean to us, the little people, to have a new president? Hopefully a lot. In my humble opinion, things can only get better after the past 8 years. Apparently most of America agrees that it was time for something different. WOOT!