"I'll pray for you."

What Christians (and apparently now, Muslims 130127) mean when they say, "I'll pray for you."

Here's my question to you, Mr. or Ms. Christian (or Abrahamic god-pusher of any sort); Why even bother telling me, an atheist, that you will pray for me? However you imagine that playing out, it is at best a misuse of communication, and at worst a product of coercion.

You're communicating dishonestly-

Mentioning it to me gets you nowhere with me. I can't imagine you don't already realise that I think prayer is a waste of time.
If you were really concerned for me, and thought that sending psychic messages to your imaginary sky ghost would help, then why don't you just do that, and not tell me you are going to do it? That would make much more sense, if indeed you actually believed such un-efforts would be efficacious. But why mention it? Because the weight of your intent is not actually on the prayer, is it? However silly that alone would be, you are just trying to shirk further discussion, when faced with cognitive dissonance.
You throw the phrase off like a lizard detaches its tail, and in some part of your mind, you may also realise the phrase is worthless in its literal sense.

You're just being selfish-

When you realise that you're being dishonest, you wish to mitigate your own self-judgment by hearing yourself saying what you believe to be righteous words.
'There, I said the nice *christian*(muslim) thing.. I'm good.. I'm not a liar for jesus (or Mo)."

You think you're being watched-

You're putting on a show for your imaginary judge. You've got to choose carefully from that limited superstitious phrase set, don't you? If you don't say the appropriate magic words, then it will show up as a negative tick on your heavenly credit score. Your god is watching you! Never mind the inconsistency that he's supposedly all-knowing in the first place, and would discern you're underlying, platitude encrusted motivations anyway.
But it doesn't end there! Who else is watching? Others of your "faith".
Despite what they say, they do judge, and you're afraid of that. You have to be careful not to say what you're really thinking, like "fuck off," lest your congregation cast a glance of disparagement your way.

So let's try just a bit harder to put an honest face on it, shall we? If you really and truly wish to pray for me, go ahead and clench your eyelids resolutely firm to your little delusional hearts content, dance a dance, make a grass doll, whatever. I just don't need to hear about it. And if you think I do, take a long hard think about these, your more probable motivations.

Apparently, My Ass Is No Asset

In which I link my latest disappointment back to politics and religion.

I was brainstorming how to make some quick cash, and thought back to an article I was reading, about how research institutions really need bodies to do research on..

http://tinyurl.com/3o9zqlz

..and so I thought, hey, I wonder how much I could get if I sold my future corpse to science. Sounded like a good idea to me. Supply and demand! There's probably alotta fun stuff inside this bizarre set of guts.
But then I was researching it further, and found out that it is, seemingly for no good reason, illegal to sell bodies or body parts, even if they're your own, in these United States, and in each of the states of these United States.
Instead, we are prodded, with a strong undertone of moral sanction, to just hand over our most precious asset (our actual former selves) to those researchers who would seek to both deal in and deny its commodity.

"Your donation should be made in the spirit of a truly priceless gift for mankind and the advancement of health sciences."

Blah blah blah giveusyourbodyforfree blah.

What are the honest reasons behind this quaint proscription? I wager, the self-same religious "sacred body" jibberty jabber mentioned in that article.
Oh, Reginald, we mustn't trample on the "soul", cheapen up the "chakras", or debase the "spirit" of the deceased's former temple.
Laws against such an otherwise reasonable transaction can only be based in superstitious sensitivities and rooted in the antiquated asshattery that has yet to be fully flushed out of our societal system.
I'm winking at you, religion.

Hey, wait! What happened to our great capitalist society?! Why isn't the political Right jumping all over this? Oh, that's right, they have to play the doublethink game and play to the diametrically opposed constituents of their base: the fundie religious, and the free-market wheeler-dealers. And since this idea would step on the toes of the already panicky social reactionaries, the fundie card trumps on this one.
And why isn't the Left up in arms.. or rather, flowers.. about the infringement that is unjustly and unreasonably restricting our personal right to happiness in determining the manner by which our remains meet their ultimate destiny? Oh, that's right, they have to tiptoe around the egg shells of political correctness. We shouldn't dare to possibly disrespect anyone's sacred beliefs. Especially if those beliefs happen to have been sneaked in and codified by law. Everyone has the right not to be offended, after all.
Sure, I can understand a ban on selling other people's body parts. That sort of market would conjure the whole woke-up-in-a-bathtub-full-of-ice-with-a-surgical-scar-missing-a-kidney scenario. But my own body parts?! My own whole body? That's gotta be worth something. And I was under the impression that it was mine to do with as I pleased.. well, except apparently, use "controlled substances" on it, sell it for sex, or voluntarily stop its life functions.. but that's a whole nother set of somewhat related issues.
Can't say there wouldn't be any purchase interest, if they were being honest, especially with all the interesting complications of diabetes churning around in this walking zombie. But then, of course, the arms of those institutions of higher learning would be hard twisted to start actually paying for something they've always gotten for free.. or clandestinely dug out of the local paupers' field. That's the real reason they're so quick to leverage that "spirit of giving" "betterment of mankind" spiel. For them too, it's just all a matter of the cash.
If they want it, they can buy it.
Their moral outrage is plastic.

So, fuck 'em. They're not willing to fork over fare trade value, they're getting squat. My corpus is going in the furnace.

Clickity Clackity Clickity Clack

OK.. here's one of my pet peeves. 

I find those commercials very annoying, that use the sound of a keyboard clickity-clacking as letters are apparently "typed" on the screen to reveal the ad message. Do you know the ones I'm referring to?

I guess I should be happy. Those used to use the old-fashioned typewriter sound.

Completely off topic, but I just noticed something...

...O to the M to the G! What is up with Christian Slater's shiny forehead?! Is it coated with acrylic or something?!