Explain celery to me...

[Whitney]

I bought some with red pepper today but haven't tried it yet.

^It wasn't that great but still good enough that I ate it.

[SteveS]

Hello SabineMaia - sorry for the delayed welcome.  I've been gone for a few weeks.

I've also been wondering if SteveS is a machine.

Haha!  Just flesh and blood - and I've just been applying what I've learned from the great atheists - primarily George Smith - his is a beautifully logical mind.

Oh, about celery --- if it doesn't go in beer I'm afraid I'm not that familiar with it.  Now hops, on the other hand, I could discuss for days.....

 :wink:

Where is the bible belt in Canada?  I'm curious - my dad is Canadian (never went for U.S. citizenship, though he's lived here for ~40 years).  He's from northern Manitoba, not too far from the Saskatchewan border.  As far as I can tell the area was fairly religious - don't know what its like now, though.  :?

[SabineMaia]

Oops, I've been gone a bit too.

Technically, the southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and south-eastern parts of BC are considered the Bible belt of Canada. There's a higher concentration of religious people, and churches here than anywhere else in Canada, but religiosity generally increases the further you go into rural areas here. A friend of mine told me about a fanatical wingnut he interviewed in northern Alberta, who raised money to go to Africa with her church to convert and exorcise people, because they practice witchcraft there. I just about fainted when he told me. I've been, luckily, sheltered enough from the extremes that I didn't think this kind of thing still went on. Anyway, here in southern Alberta, we have the creation museum and Cardston, which is where the big Mormon temple is located (and you can't get a beer in the town at all. Shame!),

In Calgary (the largest city in southern Alberta), there are a few religious stations, creation discussions are carried out in letters-to-the-editor, and the lifestyle sections include faith pages -- all-in-all a fairly innocuous religious presence by comparison, but, the other day, I was preached at by a rabid creationist while walking downtown. That as new to me. I have the feeling that innocuous nature is beginning to erode.

Oh -- celery, apparently goes well in a Ceasar, which has either vodka or tequila in it, but no hops.

[SteveS]

Fascinating about the Canadian bible belt.  I've never been to Calgary or anything remotely near-by.  On my trips to visit family I've gone through Winnipeg - which isn't very close to Calgary  :wink:  

My relations on my father's side followed an ... interesting religion.  It was the "new church" founded by Emanuel Swedenborg.  They were not all very devout, though - some more than others.

Avoiding the creation museum won't be hard, but thanks for the tip-off about Cardston; I'll certainly avoid that town if I can't even get a beer.  That's just plain un-Canadian!

[SabineMaia]

Swedenborg, eh? They'll make a church out of anything these days. Religion really is like a multi-headed hydra.

Calgary is well worth a visit if you ever have the chance. On the one side we have the Rockies and Banff National Park, which is a UNESCO heritage site, and on the other we have the badlands where you can find the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. It's all very beautiful in the summer, but also very far away from Winnipeg.

[SteveS]

Sounds good.  If I went, I think I'd like an autumn visit and then maybe I could catch a Flames game at the Saddledome.  I really like Jarome Iginla - and I wanted the Flames to beat Tampa Bay so bad back in '04 I could taste it.

The Museum of Paleontology sounds really cool - I've never heard of it.  I'm sure I would enjoy that.

[SabineMaia]

Jarome is a pretty cool guy.

The Royal Tyrrell is one of the best there is. The creation museum was built about an hour away from there, as a response to the unmitigated evolution that the Tyrrell teaches. I've heard rumours that some creationists go into the museum and tell visitors that what's on display is wrong, and that it's apparently gotten worse since the creation museum was built. I've also heard that they pieced together dino bones incorrectly for the creation museum with some fluff about humans and dinos living at the same time. Dammit! Now I'm going to have to plan a visit so I can see it for myself, then go to the Tyrrell to get my head straightened out.

[SteveS]

Cripes - this sounds as bad as the infamous creation museum here in the states, plus other farcical institutions like the Oral Roberts university.

It saddens me to see our neighbors to the north are impacted by this same nonsense, but I guess it doesn't surprise me.  Our cultures seem so very similar.

If a creationist approached me in a proper, scientific museum and began to tell me the exhibits were wrong - he better bring some thick skin with him.  I can imagine myself reacting in a highly sarcastic manner.  The equivalent behavior, just to put a proper perspective on it, would be to attend the creation museum and start harassing the attendees - this I would consider highly obnoxious, regardless of whether or not I think their exhibits are fallacious nonsense.

One thing I really don't admire about the religious is their boldness - their desire to get up in somebody's face and push their superstitious pap on them.  I have no problem discussing these topics in a civilized fashion on an open forum, or in a private discussion --- but for someone to accost a museum patron, uninvited and out of the blue, and start arguing that their religious stories make more sense than the scientific exhibits on display is just plain rude, out of line, unwarranted, obtuse, ego-centric, over-bearing and thoroughly despicable.

In my next post I'll tell you how I really feel....
 :wink:

If you decide to visit the creation museum you should take some pictures and post a re-cap of your findings - I'm sure many here would find it both humorous and alarming!

[SabineMaia]

I'm with you about the boldness. I don't walk into churches, or accost people on the street to tell them how wrong they are. It's uncivilized.

Hmmm, maybe I'll make it the first stop of a "Wacky and Weird Alberta" summer trip -- first visit the creation museum in Big Valley, then go up to the world's largest UFO landing pad (AND interpretive centre) in St. Paul.  That one's been on my list for a while now. I think we just need one more stop to make it an official tour package.

Now I just have to find the perfect road trip buddy.

[chris]

Celery stalks.  How creepy is that?

[SabineMaia]

Too creepy. What's with the built-in dental floss of it?