Fascinating names

I've always been interested in names: variations on names, name origins, the meanings of names. I used to pore over a book of baby names when I was a kid, the one that my mother used to name me. I used to search for just the right name for the characters in my stories.

So, I found the pair of articles recently posted at slate.com to be of great interest. One was about names and race:

http://www.slate.com/id/2116449/

And the other was about names and class:

http://www.slate.com/id/2116505/

Jesus was not a nice man

I'm sorry, but Jesus was not a nice guy. He was a fucker. I know a lot of New Agers want to believe that all the awful teachings in the Bible are confined to the Old Testament or to the teachings of Paul. But according to the New Testament, Jesus wasn't all love and light, and he even contradicted himself a bit.

-He said he came to bring a sword, not peace.
-He advocated disowning your family once you became a follower.
-He suggested cutting off body parts to keep yourself from sinning.
-He said that looking at another person with lust was as bad as committing adultery (Thought Police extraordinaire!).

So, if you are a "Cafeterian" and like to uphold the nice teachings in the Bible and ignore the not-so-nice ones, fine. Just don't try to tell me what a loving, peaceful teacher Jesus was.

What do you really know about what the Bible says?

http://www.ffrf.org/quiz/bquiz.php

And now for a completely gratuitous Monty Python reference

On a completely different note, all the cute kitties you can stand!

http://www.themoggy.com/solos.htm