The Order of the Stick #349

This one tends to appeal way too much to my demoness half, especially when it all comes together in the last 2 panels lol. Sorry y'all.



Click on the image to see it full-sized.

(Afterthoughts)
That comic is sooo freaking cool.

The Order of the Stick #327

The simple answer to the old riddle with one guy who only lies and one who only tells the truth.

Click on the picture to see it full sized.

(Afterthoughts)
Hell yeah, I hung a copy of this on my toolbox at work.

Cruelest post ever (darkest post... darkest post... darkest post)

I am sorry for this one people, bring on the hate mail but I had to do it. I have been reminded of one the the most confusing riddles of humanity which I will never understand. I'm not accusing my friend totally of this, I love her to death and respect her feeling, but she reminded me of this human flaw due to her own recent troubles. I'm sure this will not only piss her off but several of you also, I understand that, but just because you think your views and opinions are valid doesn't mean that I can't have my own differing opinion also. And in this case it happens to differ from the majority. Whether you agree or not is fine just as long as you don't hate simply because I don't follow your own beliefs.

This is a topical rant by Foamy, audio only instead of his typical webtoon. Link to the site on my link list, I tend to think along similar lines which is why I like the toon so well lol.

My crazy theory (well one of them lol)

Here is why I think Starbuck's coffee tastes soooooo horrible. They haven't worked out how to completely mask the nasty taste of the mind control chemicals they put into their drinks. They make a decent attempt with all the flavorings options they have but ya can still notice it. And if you make the mistake of ordering plain black coffee (which I prefer) you will find it is undrinkable. Disagree if you want but there is a reason YOU keep returning mindlessly lol.

(Afterthoughts)
Shush, "they" are listening.

A bad day

A guy is sitting at the bar just staring at his drink for half an hour when this big trouble-making biker steps next to him, grabs his drink, gulps it down in one swig and then turns to the guy with a menacing stare as if to say, 'What'cha gonna do about it?'
The poor little guy starts crying. "Come on man I was just giving you a hard time," the biker says. "I didn't think you'd CRY. I can't stand to see a man crying."
"This is the worst day of my life," says the little guy between sobs. "I can't do anything right. I overslept and was late to an important meeting, so my boss fired me. When I went to the parking lot, I found my car was stolen and I don't have any insurance. I left my wallet in the cab I took home. I found my wife in bed with the gardener and my dog bit me. So I came to this bar trying to work up the courage to put an end to my life, and then you show up and drink the stupid poison."

(Afterthoughts)
Um, maybe his day just got a little bit better?

Smart Blonde

A blonde and a lawyer are seated next to each other on a flight from LA to NY. The lawyer asks if she would like to play a fun game? The blonde, tired, just wants to take a nap, politely declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists and explains that the game is easy and a lot of fun. He explains, "I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5.00, and vise versa." Again, she declines and tries to get some sleep. The lawyer, now agitated, says, "Okay, if you don't know the answer you pay me $5.00, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500.00." This catches the blonde's attention and, figuring there will be no end to this torment unless she plays, agrees to the game. The lawyer asks the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?" The blonde doesn't say a word, reaches into her purse, pulls out a $5.00 bill and hands it to the lawyer. Okay says the lawyer, your turn. She asks the lawyer, "What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four legs?" The lawyer, puzzled, takes out his laptop computer and searches all his references, no answer. He taps into the air phone with his modem and searches the net and the library of congress, no answer. Frustrated, he sends e-mails to all his friends and coworker, to no avail. After an hour, he wakes the blonde, and hands her $500. The blonde says,"Thank you", and turns back to get some more sleep. The lawyer, who is more than a little miffed, wakes the blonde and asks, "Well, what's the answer?" Without a word, the blonde reaches into her purse, hands the lawyer $5.00, and goes back to sleep. And you thought blondes were dumb!

(Afterthoughts)
Pure awesome.

Just A Tap On The Shoulder

A passenger in a taxi leaned over to ask the driver a question and tapped him on the shoulder. The driver screamed, lost control of the cab, nearly hit a bus, drove up over the curb, and stopped just inches from a large plate glass window. For a few moments everything was silent in the cab, and then the still shaking driver said, 'I'm sorry, but you scared the daylights out of me.' The frightened passenger apologized to the driver and said he didn't realize a mere tap on the shoulder could frighten him so much. The driver slowly replied, 'No, no, I'm sorry, it's entirely my fault. Today is my first day driving a cab......I've been driving a hearse for the past 25 years

(Afterthoughts)
Brainsssssss.

Wait!?! What!?!

Everyone keeps talking about finally being about to actually look inside and see their true selves and the peace they achieve doing so. As awesome as that all is for them I'm gonna tell y'all what happens when a half-demoness like myself does that.

When you look into the abyss, it's not supposed to smile and wave back at you, like a dog welcoming it's mistress.

(Afterthoughts)
Hope you are all happy to know what my frightening type of inner peace is. Hugs XXXX.

Warning, be careful

Secret Platinum has a clear gel in vanilla chai that smells delicious, just be warned that it doesn't taste nearly as good.

(Afterthoughts)
Iccky.

Emptiness, think it's bad, guess what, you are wrong!!!

The Buddhist concept of Emptiness (shunyata) is a very subtle concept which is not understood by many buddhists themselves. In order to get a grasp on Emptiness it is necessary to know what Emptiness is an Emptiness of. Emptiness refers to Emptiness of inherent existence.
According the Madhyamaka, or Middle Way philosophy which is central to Mahayana Buddhism, ordinary beings misperceive all objects of perception in a fundamental way. The misperception is caused by the psychological tendency to grasp at all objects of perception as if they really existed as independent entities. This is to say that ordinary beings believe that such objects exist 'out there' as they appear to perception. Another way to frame this is to say that objects of perception are thought to have svabhava or 'inherent existence' - 'own being' or 'own power' - which is to say that they are perceived and thought to exist 'from their own side' exactly as they appear.
Sunyata - translated as Emptiness - is the concept that all objects are Empty of svabhava, they are Empty of 'inherent existence'.
Note that it is completely incorrect to think as Emptiness as being the same as Nothingness, a mistake which is often made. Emptiness does not negate the play of appearances which manifest to a multitude of sentient beings, it asserts that they are insubstantial.
The Dalai Lama (2005: p.?) states that:
"One of the most important philosophical insights in Buddhism comes from what is known as the theory of emptiness. At its heart is the deep recognition that there is a fundamental disparity between the way we perceive the world, including our own experience in it, and the way things actually are. In our day-to-day experience, we tend to relate to the world and to ourselves as if these entities possessed self-enclosed, definable, discrete and enduring reality. For instance, if we examine our own conception of selfhood, we will find that we tend to believe in the presence of an essential core to our being, which characterises our individuality and identity as a discrete ego, independent of the physical and mental elements that constitute our existence. The philosophy of emptiness reveals that this is not only a fundamental error but also the basis for attachment, clinging and the development of our numerous prejudices. According to the theory of emptiness, any belief in an objective reality grounded in the assumption of intrinsic, independent existence is simply untenable. All things and events, whether ‘material’, mental or even abstract concepts like time, are devoid of objective, independent existence. To intrinsically possess such independent existence would imply that all things and events are somehow complete unto themselves and are therefore entirely self-contained. This would mean that nothing has the capacity to interact with or exert influence on any other phenomena. But we know that there is cause and effect – turn a key in a car, the starter motor turns the engine over, spark plugs ignite and fuel begins to burn… Yet in a universe of self-contained, inherently existing things, these events could never occur! So effectively, the notion of intrinsic existence is incompatible with causation; this is because causation implies contingency and dependence, while anything that inherently existed would be immutable and self-enclosed. In the theory of emptiness, everything is argued as merely being composed of dependently related events; of continuously interacting phenomena with no fixed, immutable essence, which are themselves in dynamic and constantly changing relations. Thus, things and events are 'empty' in that they can never possess any immutable essence, intrinsic reality or absolute ‘being’ that affords independence."

Roger R. Jackson writes; "A nihilistic interpretation of the concept of voidness (or of mind-only) is not, by any means, a merely hypothetical possibility; it consistently was adopted by Buddhism's opponents, wherever the religion spread, nor have Buddhists themselves been immune to it..." And later; "In order to obviate nihilism, ... mainstream Mahayanists have explained their own negative rhetoric by appealing to the notion that there are, in fact, two types of truth (satyadvaya), conventional or "mundane superficial" (lokasamvriti) truths, and ultimate truths that are true in the "highest sense" (paramartha)."
In the words of Robert F. Thurman; "... voidness does not mean nothingness, but rather that all things lack intrinsic reality, intrinsic objectivity, intrinsic identity or intrinsic referentiality. Lacking such static essence or substance does not make them not exist - it makes them thoroughly relative."
This relativity of all phenomena contrasts to materialism, the notion that phenomena exist in their own right, in and of themselves. Thus, the philosophy of the Buddha is seen as the Middle Way between nihilism and materialism.

(Afterthoughts)
After all of that my head fills overfilled instead of empty, lol.