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Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to make it - I found out last night we're leaving around 7 AM on Sat rather than the previously anticipated 10 AM due to change in meet-up time with others. I'll make the next show, so have a great time with this one

I just started reading Nixonland, and so far I'm definitely impressed. Should be a good read

Depending on when I'm heading out of town on that Saturday I'm there. If I have to leave before 10am, I probably won't make it, but it currently looks like I'll be leaving around noonish. Should be a fun time 

Congrats! Hopefully the other program comes through too 

EVERYONE.  STOP.  PLEASE.

Will do. Enjoy all 

Seriously, Lys? My band has a copyright lawyer handy, and I'd be happy to talk to them and refer anyone who feels the need to them or someone they recommend, whether for US or International copyright issues. Especially if intents, copyrights, and limitations are stated beforehand, what would happen is you'd be sued for damages, the legal fees to resolve those damages far out pacing the profit. However, it's the fucking principle, so - hypothetically of course - lawsuit would most likely move forward.

Why even ask that question (hypothetically or no), especially in light of this thread?

Woohoo! Grats on it RWHN 

Good luck with the funding presentation RWHN!

I can only assume you're trolling me, now. If you're not, sorry. However, I have other things to do and have no desire to continue this.

Here's the sum total of UU dogma:

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

    * The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
    * Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
    * Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
    * A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
    * The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
    * The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
    * Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

That's it. See anything about God? Prayer? Dogma?

I'll be the first to admit UU suffers from the usual organizational pitfalls, if not more than most - a committee system will do that to you every time, and UU is nothing if not a committee system from an organizational standpoint, subject to all the usual annoyances and pitfalls of any committee system. It's why I don't bother going to UU churches, and haven't been to one since I was 18, way back in 1994. I kept the useful bits (the 7 points outlined above) and ditched the obnoxious organizational committee crap.

And if you're getting all worked up over me talking bad about your religion, then you've obviously fallen way too deep into it and are no longer looking objectively/humorously at things. Pull your head out of it's ass for a few minutes and remember to question your own beliefs.

I'm getting worked up because you're not even close to accurate in your statements about UU. I might have taken a harsh tone, but when someone misses the mark that badly, it's hard to take it as other than accusations made in willful ignorance (especially when you admit you're probably talking out your ass). Amazingly, and this is especially true for those raised UU such as myself, being lumped in with the "organized" religions is a guaranteed way to raise the hackles. Congrats on that.

Check out the main UU site - read a bit from the people actually doing it.

http://www.uua.org/index.shtml

I'll be the first to admit I have my own beliefs and opinions, but they're not set in stone and I take accusations that they are less than lightly. If you can point out where I've not "questioned my own beliefs" rather than pointed out how spectacularly wrong you are about UU, show me and I'll be happy to admit it.

Wait, combine UU with discordianism?

Hmm....

"have blind, unquestioning faith in the existence of this big imaginary friend" + "Think for yourself/Question everything"

Oh yea, seems like a perfect match to me.

Yeah, that blind faith is why my UU hymnals had the word "God" completely removed. Ever been to a UU service? 

Sure, I might be marginalizing and misreading the beliefs of UU, but with judeo-christian origins and roots I kind of doubt it. Isn't the understanding that organized religion is a bad thing one of the few point that discordians actually agree on, or did I miss a meeting at some point. These are the organizations that say "look to us for answers instead of yourself, but we'll sometimes let you believe that we really want you to look to yourself for them". The places that use scare tactics to get you to live your life according to what they feel you should or shouldn't do instead of just trying to reason with you on behavioral patterns.


There are two main problems that each and every organized religion suffers from.

1) They are lead by humans/groups of humans, and humans are power hungry bastards from birth who will use/abuse whatever they get in search of more, even if they start out with good intentions and ideas.

2) The religion as an organism becomes more concerned with its own survival than the well being, liberties, interests, and happiness of the individual.


I'm not trying to say you can't be a member of a church and a discordian at the same time, but will you all please stop trying to tell me how church a or religion b mixes so well with it? It's like combining your bed and diarrhea... sure, you can do it, but it's not really somewhere you want to curl up and take a nice nap.

It helps when you actually are familiar with the religion you're bashing. UU is not really similar to any other organized religion - it's based on the TFY,S principle in that you find what works for you and run with it. My minister when I was growing up was Jewish. We had a very active CUUPs segment (Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans), as well as a VERY large Secular Humanist faction.

Also, the closest we ever got to "prayer" was a moment of silence. So, if you're going to speak out your ass, at least do a LITTLE research first.

Good stuff Kai!

As a UU and a Discordian, I've found that the two mesh quite nicely - glad to hear you found it a welcoming environment! UU congregations are good for finding people of like-mind, especially in the youth groups. Every spag from here I've had the pleasure of meeting has reminded me of the people I knew growing up in the UU youth program (in a good way  ), and the same kind of approach (TFY,S!) is definitely at the heart of both theologies/philosophies.

Hope it bears fruit Kai 

Sounds fun! I will probably forget about this between now and then (only three more months!) so reminders = win.

I will admit I, like many others have stated in this thread, missed ECH's intention in his OP, and saw it through the filter of increased negativity that's been building around here, and I apologize for that.

I think a big part of things is the "IRL friends coming to the board" thing: sometimes it works (D-Cup, Richter to name a couple), sometimes it doesn't (the NYC contingent at the first Meet-up a while back comes to mind - remember their posting attempts?). When it works it's great, and when it doesn't it opens the door WIDE for drama, since any insult to a IRL friend will generally be met with extra hostility by the person who they're IRL friends with.

While I've never been fond of the IRL vs. Internet distinction (we are, in fact, all actual human beings rather than bots or something I'd hope), there are times where that distinction needs to be made, and what is acceptable in IRL circles might not fly somewhere on the net, like here. Different social "standards" and all. There does need to be a separation between IRL and the net, if for no other reason than to not confuse one set of social standards with another, which will only lead to conflict and confusion.

While that may or may not be a big factor with this, it's something I've noticed over time around here and in other places. I keep my forum life separate from IRL for the most part, so it's something I've only seen indirectly, but it's something to consider as part of this situation.

Thanks all!

I was trying to type 54 degrees. The "standard" degree range for the angle of the spine (at whichever vertebrae they measure it between - can't remember off-hand) is between 40 and 50 degrees. Thus, I had a mild case and still had to wear that damn thing for 2 years.

TOG:  I did not count on your return.  I have slandered you and dishonored myself.  I will redeem myself through death with the seppuku ritual, which will cause me to hunch onver in pain as I expire.
-Sincerely  Deacon "Irony is my Kaishaku" Richter

No need to do all that on my account - gets the floors all messy or ruins perfectly good drop-cloths.

Seriously - that brace was fun in some ways, admittedly. I was never sure how the people in my high school saw it. Did they think it was from an accident? Some experiment gone awry? No one ever asked, outside of a couple of friends (who were as much social outcasts as me) and I never said. I definitely confused the shit out of my classmates, though, so at least I had that going for me 

At least I never had to get the 3 titanium rods surgically inserted into my spine, so 2 years in a horrible brace is a small price to pay.