Lateralus

Well, this doesn't have any of the letters you mentioned, but how about Demitri Martin?

Could be Steven Wright. The other possibility, though unlikely, is Mitch Hedberg.

If you're talking about the creation of The United States of America, then you really are doing a great disservice to Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Your constitution as a founding document is unparalleled in ensuring freedom of, and therefore freedom from, religion. The wall of seperation has defintely crumbled over the years, but the founding of the country was anything but religious.

The gateway argument is pathetic, and another distortion of correlation and causation. They tell you most people who go on to take heroin started out smoking weed, and I'm sure this is perfectly correct. What about the much larger percentage of people who smoke weed and don't go on to take heroin? There's almost certainly a much larger group of people who drink alcohol and take heroin, or smoke cigarettes and take heroin. Did you know that 99.9% of murderers and rapists started out eating bread? 100 percent of the people who have died in car crashes were known water drinkers. Chilling figures.

No. I have poker night with the ladies, and we don't use money if ya know what I mean. ;) Tampons. Gotcha.

Exactly. As unfair as it sounds, hearing tragic stories of suffering of others makes us feel grateful that we don't have that kind of life. If we didn't hear horror stories like that, I have the feeling we'd be a lot less appreciate about our lives than we are now. Suffering is necessary. Like having an ugly friend to make you feel good. Pretty disgusting and ultimately a poor design. Well, I'm not saying we should go out and seek those horror stories like someone with low self-esteem goes out to seek ugly friends. As for this being a poor design, I'd rather live in a world perpetuated by the balance of good and evil than live in a stagnant, uneventful, boring world with neither. It's a price you have to pay, which reminds me of TANSTAAFL in a way. Just because humans have the ability to complain, I don't see that as a good reason to not believe in god. It's a means of getting us to strive for what we do want which allows for flexibility, individuality, and self-achievement. Some say that the journey is better than the destination. I definitely think this holds true for the never-ending path to happiness. So how do you feel about heaven? Eternal bliss with no inequality or problems etc. You seem to lean towards deism which is more excusable, but if you believe in one of the popular ideas of heaven then it sounds like you wouldn't have a great time there.

Exactly. As unfair as it sounds, hearing tragic stories of suffering of others makes us feel grateful that we don't have that kind of life. If we didn't hear horror stories like that, I have the feeling we'd be a lot less appreciate about our lives than we are now. Suffering is necessary. Like having an ugly friend to make you feel good. Pretty disgusting and ultimately a poor design.

I don't understand the argument that the Japanese would fight to the last man and surrender under no circumstances. If this was the case the dropping a bomb would have been entirely useless. Since the Japanese did surrender after the dropping of the bomb, to say that surrender is not part of their culture is ridiculous.

God would exist outside logical boundaries. Can the universe be described this way though? The universe definitely has many counterintuitive properties, as even a quick look at quantum mechanics will show. Just because our minds demand that the universe has a beginning does not mean it has to be so.

You might be talking about the Belle & Sebastian version.

It's subjective of course, but I think Camus slots nicely into most peoples' brains.

Life is as much an infliction as it is a gift. I'm surprised at your posting this, given your understanding of Camus. I think absurdism ties up these loose ends quite nicely.

Living vicariously is much easier than creating an interesting life for yourself.

Lou Reed - The Blue Mask (song) Fantastic song and album.

It's "The Name of the Game (Big A.T.T. remix)" by Crystal Method. First song on the soundtrack.

My bad. Hard to read in the right 'tone of voice' sometimes.

Why dismiss a whole genre of music? Some rap is good.

I've had Eminem's new album on a lot lately. I love it. I think Insane and Hello are my favourite tracks.

I suppose this is a good chance to namedrop Rick Roderick. He was a philosophy lecturer at a few universities, and is reasonably well known for making complex material accessible to just about anyone. You can download a few series of lectures in audio format here. He's interesting, funny and highly informative. Philosophy with a West Texas kick.

You don't. It sounds like you've told him how you feel, and that's all you should do. It's his life, and if he wants to be fat then let him.

Finally got around to watching If... on Daan's recommendation. I enjoyed it very much. Malcolm McDowell was cool in such a creepy way when he was young.

No 36 Chambers?

Most lagers are 5% and under, would you call them girls drinks? Unfortunately it was all the bar had, but you could compare it to 12-13 ( i think) vodka shots. Apples and oranges. Shots are supposed to be high percentage because they're specifically for getting hammered as quickly as possibly. Corky's and Sourz and the like are for people who want to order a shot just so they can do a shot. The only real barrier to putting away any significant amount of this stuff is the sweet sickly taste.

Isn't Corky's 20% and under? It's a girl's drink.

I think humans as they are now are inherently unhappy creatures. It's possible that over millions of years that evolution might balance our brain chemistry more correctly, but as it stands, the characteristics that make us dominant also make us miserable. Intelligence has a terrible price.