Suggestion Saturday: August 4, 2012

Here is this week’s list of blog posts, pictures, quotes and other tidbits from my favourite corners of the web.

“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.”

– This has been attributed to Marcus Aurelius but further research indicates he may not have actually said it. It’s a fantastic quote.  Does anyone know to whom it should really be attributed?

From How to Be an Ungrateful Jerk:

Wherever you go, you will find yourself surrounded by and confronted with constant reminders — reasons, causes, demands — to be grateful. You must guard yourself against them.

From Nobody Has a Normal Life:

 …every time someone talks about a “typical” or “average” life, they’re referring to a script that eliminates, conservatively, 98% of people actually living in society. This means that every time we make assumptions based on your normal, average, everyday person’s life arc, we are 98% likely to be wrong. We would literally be less wrong if we assumed that everyone is gay.

Atheist Afterlife: The Graveyard Book. This is a really neat conversation between a father and son about atheism and life after death. I’m not interested enough in the topic to have a dog in this fight but I love the idea of allowing everyone the opportunity to figure out what they do or do not believe.

The Last of Us. Click on this painting by Shaddy Safadi before reading the short story below. It complements “Ash and Dust” beautifully.

Ash and Dust. A short story about a midwife trying to survive on a dying Earth.

 I grew up with an unflappable mom. If any of our questions about sex or the human body embarrassed or surprised her we never knew it. One minute she’d be driving us around town or putting away groceries, the next she’d be answering questions about how HIV is transmitted, why certain forms of birth control fail more often than others  or the difference between sex and love.  Why is the Penis Shaped Like That? reminded me of these old conversations. It’s factual without being stuffy and is full of information I never knew about the human body. (Especially the bodies of men!)

What have you been reading?

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0 Responses to Suggestion Saturday: August 4, 2012

  1. Twyseschoch

    That was quite the short story. The picture looks heavenly in comparison.

  2. Hey, thanks for the mention!  I think one of the most important things for atheists to understand are their own foibles.

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