Have been away for a week, and decided to take a break from blogging during that time. Some accumulated thoughts and observations:

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Going virtually internet free for a week was relatively painless, but trying to "catch up" upon my return I suddenly feel like I am a coma patient waking up in an unfamiliar future.

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Speaking of the future, modern cars are pretty impressive I reckon. I highly recommend not driving for a year or two [or only driving a shitbox 80’s car] and then taking a spin in your average mid-priced sedan; With all that automation and instrumentation, it almost feels like a personal spaceship! Except for the fact that the underlying propulsion systems are still based on exploding non-renewable fossil fuels, we’re living in the future!

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Rental car insurance is weird. When I dropped the car off yesterday I couldn’t help feeling a little ripped off that I had spent money on extra insurance — it’s as though I’m somehow annoyed that I didn’t have an accident! I guess this is the nature of insurance; no matter what happens, you will always be at least a little put-out.

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The editor of my crappy hometown newspaper [which has a proper web site now] felt it appropriate to include a "Bible Thought" for the Christmas Eve edition, the gist of which I think is that I’ll be going to hell — What a charming holiday sentiment! Click here to see a larger scan featuring this plus some charming if slightly incoherent readers’ letters.

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George Bush [Senior] once said, while on the 1988 campaign trail, “I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.” I had never heard of this quote until recently, and just thinking about it [and the fact that no one except atheists seemed to consider his remark offensive at the time — I don’t think there was never an apology] makes my blood boil… And it makes me seriously wonder: If his [more overtly religious] son had to decide between saving the lives of two atheists and saving the life of one Christian, which would he choose?

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Tonight I watched a news update boasting that Australia had boosted its Asian tsunami relief package to $35M. The news update immediately followed an ad promoting the upcoming $31M Lotto draw, which made it seem like as a country we could probably give a lot more.

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The Moving Pictures song What About Me is a terrible, insipid song that has dated very badly, and it should never be recorded or performed again.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 30th, 2004 at 1:56 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.