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Sacred Snack Food Challenge

You may have noticed the latest dust-up over at Pharyngula. More than likely, you did not. I’ll paraphrase: someone tried to sneak a host out of a Roman Catholic Mass. There was a scuffle. There was publicity. Two views on this have arisen:

1. A consecrated host is the body of Christ, a sacred object. Using the host for anything else than it’s intended purpose (immediate consumption) is a Mortal Sin. No effort should be spared to retrieve this holy item.
2. It’s a fscking cracker, people! Grow up. Get a life. In fact, in order to demonstrate just how wacky you people are, we’re going to hijack your sacred snack food and record our exploits on the net!

deep sigh

Yes, we’ve sprung from proto-chimpanzees. Some of us just didn’t spring far enough.

One thing you should never do is argue with drunks or cultists. Host stealing? It’s like stealing Dumbo’s feather. Yes, we all know it’s just a freaking feather, but it makes the thief look worse than a thief. Tormenting crazy people is just plain mean. And there are better ways to make your point.

You are never going to be able to throw that “magic switch” and sway people with the power of your logic. We’re emotional creatures. We want an answer that satisfies emotionally. Logic is an afterthought (so to speak). So when you go into someone else’s turf and make a scene, you’re the one who’s going to look like an asshole.

A better solution is to show the host as the snack food it really is. And these things are cheap! It’s, what, three bucks for a package of 500?! It’s only “consecrated” when the priest does the magic passes. Come on, get creative. Put a pat of peanut butter on one that you’ve bought yourself and scarf it down online if you have to, but don’t rustle one out of someone’s meeting place. That’s just rude.

I usually weasel out of an update when I visit family, but I surprised myself by squeezing out a short update this week. I would have had a Shield of Creation update, but I left the first two panels on my sister-in-law’s computer.

So. With any luck, you’ll get an SoC update later on this week.

UPDATE: SoC

In the meantime, I have some filler “art” up for the Shield of Creation storyline.

How Then Shall We Live?

Ever since I decided I was an atheist, my head has been grinding overtime on a moral code. This is not as difficult as some of you theists may believe. I have no qualms about visiting the grand, human “cafeteria of thought” and taking one from column “A”, and one from column “B”.

One thought really brought me up short, though: it’s the thought that all of us, all of Humanity, even, is here on one grand suicide mission.

Think about it

Nobody gets out alive, as my father likes to say. Time is short, time is precious, and an abrupt end is certain. Sure sounds like a suicide mission to me, but what do I know? Rule One is this: be aware of time, and spend it the way you want to. Sounds a lot like Crowley, doesn’t it? “Do what thou wilt” shall be the whole of the Law.

My own personal addendum to Rule One is “Don’t be a dick while you’re doing it.” There’s enough fucking misery in the world without adding more. If you’re angry and bitter, please take it out on someone else, I just don’t have the time. Now, if you want to work through it, that’s different. I still don’t have endless time, but we can work out some kind of quid pro quo arrangement.

Yeah, it has a “rough and ready, frontier justice” kind of feel to it.  I never said this was going to be well thought out, now, did I?  I’m making this up as I go along, just like everybody else.

More on this as it occurs to me…

At least in the Shield of Creation universe, anyway.

When I started Shield of Creation, I informed Mr. Terracianno that his guys would get to be the heroes, because my guys would be the villains. At least for the first part.

But what kind of villains, though? I couldn’t make them completely despicable. They are my characters, after all. No, the main conflict is situational. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be enemies at all. Not necessarily friends, mind, but certainly not enemies.

So, let’s see if we have a match up with any of the Classic Villains. Bald. Check. Devilishly clever. Check. Represents an empire both ancient and honorable. Check. Hews to a code that, while alien and antagonistic to The Hero, nonetheless restrains the villain. The Bad Guy can’t do anything he wants to, because it’s a matter of honor and pride.

I’m talking, of course, of that IN-famous villain of the Pulps, the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu. Brutal, when he has to be, but never sadistic. Otherwise, polished and cultured. Dare I say it: debonair?

Yes. The villains have all the fun. Especially if you restrain them a wee bit.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE 14 July 2008

Actually, the Sax Rohmer Fu Manchu was a sadist. “My bad”, as they say. John Bernard is not. Well, he’s jerking Dominic’s chain something fierce now, but he almost lost his Lady Love, dammit! Dom’s doing very well for someone with a spike in his shoulder, wouldn’t you say?