Things You Don't Understand . . .

[wease]

Higgs is a goddamn genius

[BurtReynolds]

Metallic posters.

[Chris_H_2]

Why are most toilets in Europe shaped in such a way that it’s nearly impossible to have the crap fall directly into the water? Instead it sits on the downslope (which oftentimes acts like a shelf).

[Ello Sailor]

Those Euros do love a good poop shelf.

[bodysnatcher]

Why are most toilets in Europe shaped in such a way that it’s nearly impossible to have the crap fall directly into the water? Instead it sits on the downslope (which oftentimes acts like a shelf).

I heard in Japan the toilet bowls are inverted. They kind of look like a dome so that the pee and poop stream around it like a fondue fountain.

[spike]

Why are most toilets in Europe shaped in such a way that it’s nearly impossible to have the crap fall directly into the water? Instead it sits on the downslope (which oftentimes acts like a shelf).

so they can check their feces for diseases etc

[lennytheweedwhacker]

Theo Von

[JuanHamm]

Theo Von

Don't know him, but he looks annoying

[lennytheweedwhacker]

Theo Von

Don't know him, but he looks annoying

Watch a lot of his stuff

[Chris_H_2]

why sinead o'connor dying this week is getting so much traction. i haven't heard from her since like 1990. is it because she ripped up a picture of the pope on snl? i seriously don't get it.

[BurtReynolds]

She pops up from the to time, usually for mental health issues.

[BurtReynolds]

Or wacky Twitter behavior.

[bodysnatcher]

why sinead o'connor dying this week is getting so much traction. i haven't heard from her since like 1990. is it because she ripped up a picture of the pope on snl? i seriously don't get it.

i seriously thought she died a couple of years ago. i was more surprised to hear she was still alive.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Or wacky Twitter behavior.

*X

[epilogue]

why sinead o'connor dying this week is getting so much traction. i haven't heard from her since like 1990. is it because she ripped up a picture of the pope on snl? i seriously don't get it.

I think if you followed her career you'd understand.

[Ello Sailor]

She was lambasted for taking a stand against the church. And she was right all along.

Poo-brained Americans not understanding that is extremely on brand.

[E.H. Ruddock]

The fact that the Catholic Church still exists after all the child diddling stuff is beyond my comprehension. You Christians and your forgiveness…

[bart]

It was a slow news week

[Bammer]

I was involved in an internship with some college students recently, and they did presentations to wrap up the program today. The administrator of the program did this survey for all the students, and one of the questions was as follows (I'm paraphrasing a little):

Rate on a scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree"
1. I felt that all of my identities were welcome in this program
2. I felt that some of my identities were more comfortable than others
3. I actively discouraged some of my identities


WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?

[Higgs]

The fact that the Catholic Church still exists after all the child diddling stuff is beyond my comprehension. You Christians and your forgiveness…

I went to a funeral last week of one of my brothers best mates. It was (of course) sad and he went too young at 64 or 65. But what really struck me was that it was a fully non-religious affair. No prayers, no hymns, no religion at all.

It was quite a lovely funeral, but that was neither to do with or particularly because of the lack of religious attachments, it just happened to be a really nice "celebration of life" is all.

Anyway, it got me thinking, quite a bit in fact, and I've been mulling it over for the week and a half since. You see, I was born a Roman Catholic, took my first Holy Communion at 13 and all that, but then my folks sent me to an Anglican School from grade 5, so when I prayed, I tended to do so under the Church of England's processes. And out-of-school my best mates by-and-large were Jewish, so go figure.

My family wasn't particularly religious though, in fact my Dad was almost actively anti-religious, and that never caused me no grief at all.

So I've been thinking about my own funeral, and what do I want that day to "look like"? I mean, in the end it totally doesn't matter of course - not like I'm gonna be there or anything, but I feel I owe it to those who will be, those who I love and who I hope to mourn me, to try and let them know what it is that I want. And I think I've finally found something that fits right with me.

See I've been also looking into ways that I can perhaps change my own behaviours to better reflect who it is that I want to be, and to help me get through this thing called life in a less stressed, happier way. I used to be calm and relaxed as, but the past 10 or so years have really changed that, in a bad way. I let other things get to me way too much, and I want to stop doing that and to regain my composure and my general cool. I want to stop giving other people power over me and control my own emotions again.

Anyway, as part of this little self-reflection journey that I've been on I've been digging back into the philosophy of Stoicism again, and the thoughts and meditations of my old mate, Marcus Aurelius. He has this quote and I am pretty sure that this is going to be on the back page of my little Funeral Program book, whenever that time comes:

"Live a good life.

If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.

If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them.

If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

I am really glad that I found it, it really speaks to me.