Video: Possible UFO Sighting?

I dunno if this has been covered, and knowing the thoroughness of the people on this board, I reckon it has. But here it is anyway. I found it interesting, to say the least.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/ufosighting.html

Pagan?

Pagan, paganism -- people use these terms a lot, especially when they disagree with someone on religious ideas. Unfortunately, no one seems to ever explain themselves properly -- I never had any real inkling as to what "pagan" actually means! I've heard it used in many cases, and sometimes it seemed that there was no justification in the "insult" (as the speaker I'm thinking of meant it to be just that -- an insult). So I looked it up on the Internet, obviously, as I like to know just exactly why I'm being insulted or what the heck that insult even means.

...Alas, it didn't help a bit. It seems that not many people at all seem to have a definite meaning for Pagan.








Confusing? A joke? Makes complete sense? I dunno, it's all up to you. But I will say this, my opinion -- if you're going to call someone a Pagan, you'd better be sure of two things: ONE, the person you're insulting should know why they're being called that (this may actually be a compliment in some cases, if the person also thinks of themselves as a Pagan, ex., Wiccan and Neopagans); and TWO, you should know why you're calling them that. You certainly have plently of meanings to choose from.

My question(s) to you: What have you generally thought of as the meaning for "pagan"? Do you know of a meaning that isn't covered here/needs more coverage? Do you agree with the word's use? Do you think this word helps or hinders our relationships with people who may have beliefs different to ours?





These interesting definitions came from the webpage Meanings of the terms Pagan and Paganism, which basically summed up everything I found elsewhere. I suggest you take a look, maybe do a search of your own if you're interested.

A few other sources:
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online
Wikipedia on Paganism
Pagan FAQ

Stitomancy - form of divination, quite neat

http://www.facade.com/stichomancy/

Here's a great site if you want to try out stichomancy, which is one of the oldest forms of divination known. The way it works, you ask a question, then randomly select a page from a random book, and the passage you read will contain the answer to your question. With the website, of course, it selects the book and page for you, so you don't have to go running to the library.

For me, it's worked a lot better than I would ever have thought. For instance, instead of fully wording out a question, once I just put "How?" in the input line, and kept the rest of the question in my mind. And yet the passage that came up gave me the answer I needed, relevant to the whole question.

Obviously some of the passages will need some interpreting on an individual level, but I think it's worth a try all the same. Have fun.

125 Questions that Face Scientists

I found this to be rather interesting. Here's a list of a bunch of questions that are very significant, but that our current science fails to answer yet. Enjoy. http://www.sciencemag.org/sciext/125th/

FYI, this page lists only twenty-five of the questions. To see the rest, click on the link titled, "So Much More to Know . . ."

DeviantART

Just got this set up, figured I'd spam it around... http://siblin.deviantart.com/ Don't flame too much. Does anyone else have one of these?