The Revealer explains why religion is important even if you don't care about it.#

Last week Raymond McInnis, a columnist for Daily News Online, responded to a Revealer post by asking: "Why, currently, do I --as a secular humanist -- need to become conversant in theology to understand the current political rhetoric of America?" It's a fair and important question, as is McInnis's reaction--"Somebody else is writing the rules, and I don't like that." In this past week's Village Voice, Tedra Meyer poses, and answers, the same question:

"Fundamentalist suicide bombers, pedophilic priests, same-sex marriages, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ—if religion's an appendix, it's one on the verge of rupturing and causing havoc on the rest of the body politic. ..There's no avoiding it, whether you're deeply devout or have never set foot in a temple."

Matt May comments on Kerry speaking French.#

We have had a double-standard about languages for some time now. It used to be that some attempt at speaking Spanish, lame as it may be, was an appreciated gesture to the Latino community, which is projected to become the largest ethnic group in the United States in the next fifty years. Bush complied, trying a few words in front of friendly groups during the 2000 campaign, and later going so far as to do one of his weekly radio addresses in Spanglish.

But learning some other foreign language that doesn't shake free some of them immigrant votes just isn't a popular public image. And worse than speaking one of those other foreign languages, in this political climate, is speaking French. You know, Freedom Fries, axis of weasel, old Europe and all that. Never mind that Thomas Jefferson spoke six languages fluently, among them French; or that it was his good rapport with the French that helped him work out his view of how democracies should function. That was before we were powerful enough to get everybody to suck up to us by speaking English.

Jeremy Zawodny on creative linking.#

We've all heard that weblogs are conversations, and we often assume that they are generally productive conversations. Even when someone (like me) posts a bitchy or uninformed entry, there's often some little bit of good to come out of it. That's generally a testament to my readers. Some have an uncanny ability to see what I'm getting at even when I can't quite seem to make my real point.

But it's not always like that.

Ryan McGee has a great spoiling review of Kill Bill 2.#

As I wrote in my review of "Volume 1", morality lies at the center of this movie. It's perhaps the one fundamental constant that unites them. After all, "Volume 1" feels like a po-mo kung-fu/blaxploitation turned up to 11, whereas "Volume 2" sometimes slows to a crawl, substituting swords for words. But in both cases, there is an unspoken, but clearly defined, mode of conduct that bespeaks of "nobility".

I put "nobility" in quotes because, after all, we are dealing in a movie populated with what most people would kindly term the "scum of the earth". They are not above doing despicable things, but there is a clearly defined sense that there is, in this world, a "proper" way to do them. Bill isn't against killing the Bride; after all, he shoots her in the head due to a broken heart. But he does not advocate killing her in her sleep. Ellie, in "Volume 1", thinks her mission is to kill The Bride, but in fact, Bill has sent her there purely for reconnaissance. To kill her while in a coma would "lower" their status, he says.

Ms. Lauren links to John Scalzi about men and women being friends. (She doesn't really endorse though.)#

Why wouldn't you be attracted to your women friends? If you acknowledge that as a heterosexual man you generally find women attractive -- and that women who embody traits you enjoy in friends are more likely to be even more attractive to you than the general female population -- then wouldn't it be strange if you weren't sexually attracted to your women friends? Once you get that into your thick skull, it makes the attraction substantially easier to deal with; you realize it's part of the natural process of the friendship and something that adds to its quality, not a complicating factor that needs to be dealt with before you can move on...

Mark Bernstein links to Kung-Fu Kitchen.#

Ryan Overbey on the significance of "Buddha-Breasted Bikini Babes."#

For my part, I find the gaudy outfit more of an offense to fashion than anything else. What ever happened to classy, understated swimwear? And anyone who reads Buddhist texts knows the irony inherent in this choice of bikini. In many forms of Buddhism, women are karmically defiled, not sufficiently cultivated to enter life as a men. They are walking bags of saliva, urine, shit, and pus, little more than animated corpses, who constantly beguile pious monks and seduce them from their ascetic path. Touching them is a sin, and looking at them is generally a bad idea, unless you visualize them as bloated, rotting corpses.

When a woman adorns herself in this Buddha-bikini, I wonder if she realizes how deliberately the Buddhist traditions have always attempted to devalue her life and demonize her body. If she wears the bikini with a sense of defiance and protest, in essence forcing a bunch of Buddhas and bodhisattvas to have uninterrupted contact with her polluting flesh, then I applaud the move. Unfortunately, I doubt the purchasers of these bikinis are aware enough of the tradition to make such a powerful statement.

Lance Arthur proposes "Gay for Payday in 2004."#

On October 11, 2004, I propose that the GLBT members of the work force stay home from work and refuse to allow the federal and state governments to impose income taxes on our paychecks for one day in a simple act of civil disobedience to illustrate that although we are expected to pay the same money to the government to uphold our rights and provide certain services as everyone else, we are being told that we should be denied certain rights and cannot take advantage of some services and should be, henceforth, treated as second-class citizens.

Incidentally, we get a three-day weekend out of the bargain, so we can take a short vacation and go have sodomy in Texas - or anywhere else in the country for that matter. At least that, for now, is still legal.

I'm in.

Brent Simmons announces some of the new features of NetNewsWire. I'm looking forward to it.#

The Movie Blog points to Napolean Dynamite. Check it out.#

Richard to-the Gwailo writes about the vile dating game and how things don't "just happen."#

The rules about phone calls speaks to the problem I have with dating and relationships in general. I get conflicting messages from people wfho say that the relationships they entered into "just happened" when in reality they followed the rules and played the game well, which sometimes involves work and accentuating (or lying about) strengths and de-emphasizing (or, again, lying about) weaknesses. Part of the reason for my low level of success has been an unwillingness to accept the rules of the dating game, which almost always means involuntary non-participation in the dating game. (Confidence issues play a role too, and let me just say that the people who say I should get confidence need to come up with a detailed plan as to how this scarce commodity can be acquired.) I also get messages from people who say I have to change something about me in order to increase my chances—a recent tip was to wear cowboy shirts at parties—and then others who say I should "be myself". Be myself?! I've been myself for 25 years plus, and it hasn't worked!

Russell Roberts writes about the Calorie Restriction Society.#

I seem to have a very different concept of a "snack." When I think of a snack I think of maybe pistachio nuts or a candy bar or at least an apple. The motto of the Calorie Restriction Society is "Fewer Calories. More Life." I'd say longer, not more, but de gustibus as the saying goes.

Rather than eating less, I'd rather invest in biotech. More calories, more life.

If eating less really does extend lifespan and improve health, it's another example of the U-shaped relationship between your body and the world around us. No food—death. A little food—good health. Way too much food—death. It's all hormesis.