true faith

Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is amusing me beyond all reason. I had heard about it before, but a few days ago I was doing some research for work (really) and came across James Randi's page on the phenomenon. I don't know why the whole thing strikes me as so funny. Perhaps it's the ridiculousness of the image, or the outrage with which the parody has been greeted by the fundies, or the amusement of the media. Whatever the reason, it's bringing me a great deal of merriment.

Well, if one must follow a religion, why not choose one that makes you laugh? Anything that inspires "Der Spiegel" to publish an article entitled "Mein Gott! Ein Nudelmonster!" has to be a force for good in the world. Plus, followers of FSM got a five-day weekend last week. Or would have, were it not for the depth of religious discrimination in this country. For shame. If you wish to learn more about His Noodleyness, Boing Boing has an extensive list of links.

shiny!

My spiffy new flat-panel monitor arrived today! The colors are a little weird -- everything was looking oddly washed-out at first, although I was able to make it better by adjusting some settings -- but it's so nice to have more screen real estate. My old monitor was going on ten years old, so it was past time for an upgrade. I was also finally able to ditch my monitor stand, which was actually the old Mac Centris (that picture shows a Quadra, but it looks almost the same) that I used in grad school.

The only unfortunate side effect is that I can no longer perch Syd on top of my monitor, which has been his resting place for years. Syd is the stuffed moose featured in my userpic. For many years, he lived atop my monitor -- first at home, then at LS (the dotcom where I worked right out of grad school), and when LS laid me off he came home with me. He has lived there ever since, along with a couple more stuffed moose and the little wooden owl. But the top of the new monitor is far too narrow. So now he sits at the base of the monitor's built-in stand. It's so weird not to look up and see him there. The trade-off is worth making, but I am still a little sad.