Lavender is gross, especially in food.* I was at an otherwise delightful high tea once and took a bite of what turned out to be a lavender scone. Blech. Not something you wish to try unawares. What a waste of clotted cream. The establishment is called the Lavender Tea House, but I didn't think they actually put lavender in the food. I've never been back due to trauma. :tongue_smilie: * I can tolerate a small amount in herbes de Provence. I also don't mind fresh lavender... grows like a weed around here.

I'd also take the meat off the carcass. It'll reheat faster next day if you slice it and lay it out in a thin layer, covered with foil. Reheat the sauce in a pan, whisking as necessary. "Snug-fitting pot" means just that. The liquid should a good way up the side of the chicken. If you have to use a larger vessel, I'd cover for part of the cooking.

I don't think there's any Biblical stipulation that marriage cannot be for means of convenience or for the sake business, and sex is for the purpose of procreation. It would be an ongoing lie or deception (ETA: if the person's partner was unaware) that was the sin, not the marriage itself. Is that correct?

Ahem. Doughnuts.

I was pleased to see a few minutes ago that New Mexico has now joined that club. :)

*IF* you want to go there and define perversion by relative percentage in "nature," can we also not say the same about other conditions/states people are born with? Gingers? Geniuses? The extremely tall and the extremely short? Albinism? The congentially blind or deaf? People born with poor immune systems or with a predisposition for autoimmune disorders? Are these not too "perversions of the usual and standard mechanics of nature" because they represent a small proportion of the population? All of these things *are* found in nature (and, I presume, you would say in God), so I do not see how they can be a "perversion" of it.

This bit in Jezebel yesterday nicely sums up much of what skeeves me out about Love Actually. There is "language," none of it with asterisks, for those sensitive to that sort of thing. http://jezebel.com/i-rewatched-love-actually-and-am-here-to-ruin-it-for-al-1485136388

I can only wish. The churches in my neighborhood are modest at best. Only two even have a bell.

Foam totally missed its calling. It is sorely out of place in an era of Paleo and HF/LC, but would have been the perfect complement to the "dust" so pervasive in Weight Watchers and similar plans in the way way back (with a nod to Little Britain for "dust," the only nod I will concede to that show).

I agree they're nice when the don't ring around the clock and when they aren't merely an amplified recording played too loudly over speakers. I've lived near loud "bells" and it's not pleasant. Otherwise, anyone who doesn't like it shouldn't live near a church.

So do I, though I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the composition or the implied serenity (though you'd think the animals would be chatty); and there are some beautiful sets, miniature, life size and living (though I'd never support the use of lions and tigers as mentioned in another thread). Every year we go to the Grotto, a local Catholic sanctuary done up for the season with lights and festivities. The kids go right to the petting zoo, but we all enjoy the lights, the carollers, the performances in the chapel, and the living creche. And every year we sit through the somewhat out of place proselytizing puppet show and sip hot chocolate. It's the powdered kind, but it's still nice.

LOL. I'd never be able to say that with a straight face.

Have you done a factory data reset?

It's not over until there's bacon infused foam. Foam is just silly and a bit gross, and when I see it my lizard brain assumes there is a spittle bug inside. (Thankfully it isn't something that caught on in a major way here.) Oh, wait. They've done that. Uck.

Sorry I wasn't replying just to you, but also to a generalized frustration over the attention being paid to something that is notable partially because it's an exception (I've seen one "atheist" billboard, ever). I should have made that clearer. :)

Let's all unite in our hatred of billboards? I'm there.

Thinking about popping in Encounters at the End of the World...

I just bought chocolate. Well, "chocolate," as it is white "chocolate," for the kids' stockings. I've set aside a major prejudice to accommodate their wishes. :)

And it's helpful to lob them into a potentially contentious (but so far self-regulating) thread rather than stating that? I'd rather just pretend it didn't happen, and I'll now go back to doing so. :)

Every billboard can be seen here (needs Flash): http://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/19499-ffrf-sponsors-%E2%80%9Cnon-sacramental%E2%80%9D-billboard-blitz-in-sacramento

I think it's just the way the picture is cropped.

There's eargasms too (Q-Tip related). And I was just reading about people who gasm when listening to certain types of monotonous or semi-montonous voices. That might explain my, ummm , thing for Werner Herzog. :D

You are not everyone. :) I'm sure there are places online where you can read about the experiences of those who "came out" in less fortunate circumstances than yours. I'm lucky in that I have no unpleasant story to share in that respect.

"Godless" (ETA: fixed the typo) as an epithet refers to a person or people, and is regularly used as such in the US. The examples you cite are far from exclusive to non-Christians.

This is indeed the case. The are 55 similar billboards in the Sacramento area. http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013/12/02/sacramento-group-posting-55-billboards-to-help-nonbelievers-come-out/