Turns out neither Mr Brown or I will be raptured ...

... Or the furry girls either, so I'm glad. Life without furries would be utter crap.

So, no point going to the markets tomorrow then ...

... or cleaning the house really.

From here

If I'm wrong, and I do not believe that I am, then yes, "what an arse god turned out to be"! (Especially if it means I miss out on Dr Who.)

Yeah, exactly, what they said.

However, the fact this cool o'matic actually exists out there in the interwibs, could change my mind *winkwink*

Terribly, terribly, terribly rude ...

... but, as Mr Minchin says, "if you build your fucking church on claims of fucking moral authority, and with threats of hell imposed on others in society, then you, you motherfuckers, should expect some fucking wrath, when it turns out you've been fucking us in our motherfucking asses".
That is all.

Actually, not all, here's Mr Minchin saying stuff I wish I'd come up with during arguments with folks wishing to impose upon one, their particular invisible friend.

I love a clever, wordy, rude boy!

I find ...

... stuff like this endlessly fascinating.
People, and the things they think up, are so fucking weird!

Oooo lookie ...

... lookie at what I found.
Mr Brown does not get my thing about Catholic saints, he finds it an anomaly in a proclaimed atheist. I don't, it's stories, wonderfully colourful, gory stories that creep and delight.
I may order a hard copy of this one.

Wot's for dinner then, eh?

... yep, those are eyeballs, eyeballs on a plate.
Francisco de Zubaran's Saint Lucy, the patron saint of the poor, and eyes.
This is what you get for googling 'eyes on a plate'. Ummm, no, I don't think I'll tell you why, see if you can guess!

Because it's too long to tweet ...

... "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."
Steven Weinberg
And this because it made me laugh and laugh and laugh.

The interwebs comes to my rescue ...

... in more ways than one.
I love hot cross buns. I love them hot with a hearty slab of butter.
And yet, I'm torn, because they are quite a potent symbol of a special christian festival and I'm loathe to support a religious festival.
But let's make that WAS torn shall we? Because it turns out the cross on the hot cross buns, was there years before a certain jewish gentleman was nailed to a tree (no, I'm not being all mocking and irreverent actually, though I understand why folk would think I was!). The cross was originally a symbol of the sun or sun wheel. And I'm a lot more comfortable with an ancient, non-practiced (well mostly) religion that basically marked the change of seasons, than with contemporary practiced ones. So, I'll scoff with a clear mind.
I'd probably never have known this (I may have stumbled across it, of course, given my highly eclectic reading habits, but then again, perhaps not) had I not stumbled across a reference on a baker's blog. A bit more googling and I was happy with a fact. Thank goodness for the interwebs.
Why was I reading a baker's blog?
Because I was at the end of a three-day long hunt for fabled Chocolate & Sour Cherry Hot Cross Buns. I knew I could get them at the Marrickville Organic Food & Farmers Market on Sundays. I also knew a sparrow-fart rising hour was required to ensure a purchase. I don't do mornings.
Basically I tweeted my rage at my inability to purchase Chocolate & Sour Cherry Hot Cross Buns anywhere within walking distance of my office. The baker, via twitter, let me know exactly how I could get my greedy little paws on some, not in the CBD but just near home. Easy pick up at weekends or before work! Big smoochies to the Brasserie Bread twitterer btw *mwah*
I could even order THIS if I wanted too! I suspect I will too.
The interwebs is my hero.

Clever monkeys ....

.... I think Sir David says it well, no need for me to say anything at all really.

I read somewhere once that a skinned bear looks like a human being ...

... a skinned human being, obvy (otherwise known as flayed, a la St Batholomew, the ghoul in me loves how he's nearly always pictured with his skin, jauntily slung over his arm).
The thought stuck in my mind, for years and years, tucked away somewhere in the back of my brainbox, filed under "possibly useful".
The wee factoid popped to the fore the other day when I bought this book, Amazing Rare Things. It's the book of this exhibition that I'd have loved to have seen, the tyranny of distance, bah.
Anyway, the point is, in the book is this picture. An anatomical drawing of a bear foot, by the clever Mr Da Vinci.
Look closely and you tell me, if you disregard the claws of course, that, that isn't a human foot and ankle. Hell, when you consider the state of the toenails of some of the male of the species, it just plain IS a human foot.
Cool, eh?

They never taught any of the good stuff when I went to Catholic school ...

... probably because they knew things like the miracle of the lactation would make us roll our eyes and possibly question the faith.
Honestly, it's a bit too much like some oddity fetish (I googled that for you but didn't go further) to take seriously as a momentous religious event.
Men, particularly the celibate variety, can be weird little monkeys.
This one by Alonso Cano.

I am not rich or insane ...

The pedant in me wants to point out that Atheism is NOT a religion, but it still made me giggle.

From here.

Ours is a mixed marriage ...

... well, technically anyway.
We are both atheists really, but were brought up in different faiths, sort of, not particularly forcefully at any rate. Me, Catholic, Mr Brown Protestant.
Given our actual beliefs match this has not been an issue, and society is not the same as it was, there's not the prejudice there used to be, thank goodness. There was no sitting down with our respective families and "breaking the news" as it were.
Anyway, 16 years on, we are still plugging away at it.
I'm listening to ABC Radio National's Life Matters program, all about "inter-faith" marriages and the whole Catholic/Protestant divide that existed in Australia.
My parents were a mixed marriage too, in order to be "allowed" to get married in mum's church, my dad promised us away before we were even born. If I were mum I'd just have not got married in the church, but these things mattered more back then I guess.
My mum's parent's marriage was also mixed, again all 100 of their children were brought up in my grandmother's faith, or they wouldn't have been allowed to marry in the church.
I'm not a fan of that particular church, I think it just a little bit evil.

Last night we finally saw one of the new Jeebers ads ...

... the Jeebers has all the answers ones being run at the moment.
I turned to Mr Brown, "You know, if I actually believed Jeebers had all the answers, I may consider becoming a believer, if there was a guarantee I'd be given the bloody answers".
"What do you want the answers to?"
"O, you know, life, the Universe, everything really. I want to know everything."
"Narrow it down for me."
"Ok, why, if there is supposed to be an all powerful god, are little kiddies allowed to die of disease and hunger? Why are there people who are cruel to animals? Why are there mosquitoes?"
"That's because this particular god, the one in the ads, is not an interventionist god." *

And all together now "THEN WHY DO PEOPLE BOTHER PRAYING????"


* this I know, I was setting up the punch line for Mr Brown - whom I know soooo well.

If religion was compulsory ...

... I was thinking the other day, what I'd do if, suddenly, I had to be a christian. If some law came to pass or something. I think I'd be a Quaker. All that compulsory daydreaming once a week (I'm sure nobody would be able to tell I wasn't communing with an invisible friend).
If the law was that I had to choose between the desert 3, I suspect I'd choose Judaism. Not Orthodox obviously, I couldn't do with all the dressing in black and wearing a wig in summer. I rather like that the Jews don't tell everyone else that they will go to hell if they don't become Jewish. Also, I rather like the coming together every Friday for a family dinner, a rather nice tradition (although, I'd be fussy about which family).
If I was forced to pick a religion, any religion, I guess it would be some form of airy fairy multi-god earth religion.
But I'm very, very glad I don't have to pick one, because I'd be fibbing whatever I chose.

Today I took Rupert outside despite the near-constant drizzle ...

... Because Mr Brown and the rest were sailing off Battery Park, and thought pictures would be nice.
But that wasn't until after lunch so I thought I'd wander about the lovely green spaces along the river a bit more and give Rupert's new flash-bang lens a bit of a try out, things other than our own watches from the other side of the room!
Just look at what he can do now.

Isn't this a lovely little park?
Of course, being Saturday, the Museum of Jewish Heritage was closed. Hey! I'm an atheist!
On the way over to the sailing viewing spot some shell hit me on the head. Looking up I found this cheeky wee bugger doing what squirrels do best (eat nuts, climb trees, who'da thunk?)

And on through Battery Park where I saw more squirrels. Yes, that's right, we spent $eleventybillion on a fancy lens so I could take photographs of rodents. I'm not entering into any debate about it.

And there were the sailors. I found an excellent spot, down by the water edge to watch and take some snaps but these bloody great big ferries kept parking in front of me. Also I was beginning to look a bit like a sailing anorak (was wearing one for goodness sake). So, best I pop on one of them, I thought. Risking a vomit-fest (the water was a bit choppy) I paid the money, went through totally over-the-top security (I had to take my watch off for the first time this trip) and climbed aboard the Miss New York.While aboard I also got to see this, the lady has BIG FEET. And this.

Then I pretended to be a good wife and walked down to the ferry Mr Brown catches ever day and waited so we could walk back to the hotel together.
Dinner was here, having slunk out of the hotel like spies to avoid young sailing types who would want pizza or burgers a-fucking-gain. An excellent spot, down by the river.
I had a lovely salad of fresh heirloom tomatoes, basil, celery heart and olive oil followed by beautifully-cooked chicken with the kind of lemon sauce my mum makes for veal. Mr Brown, needing to keep his weight up, ate pasta with squid (pronounced "excellent") and a whole sea bass. I even risked a short black, was asked if I really wanted it "short" assured them I did and got an excellent sip of coffee, perfect way to end the meal.

Me either ...

... from here.

This is why I find God Botherers ...

... a trifle, well, bothersome.

What I bought while in Canberra last week ...

... a new Furla handbag (Canberra has the only shop in Australia now).
A book I had already read, but didn't realise until I got it back to our apartment.
A plain white singlet for Mr Brown, and a toothbrush, also for Mr Brown (this is the last time he will be allowed to pack unsupervised).
An exceptionally nice dinner, at one of our favourite eating spots.
What I didn't buy, and am now regretting ...
A Grimoire. The Grimoire of Armadel as it happens.

And thinking about that Grimoire led me to this site and what I believe is one of the best Q&A sections I've read in a long while. You've got to love a scholar with a sense of humour.