I, personally, am a stone-cold, ex-christian, fighting tooth and nail, atheist. I have some friends (really good friends) who are so deep into New Age mysticism, I could say “BOO” to them and they’d immediately ask me what spirit I was channeling. I actually celebrated Mabon with them last night, because they’re my friends and I’m grateful for them and their friendship, and I’m a good sport. Really, it was sort of worth brushing off the well-meaning accusations of being “really spiritual” and “connected below the level of my consciousness,” whatever that means.
My point is that it’s possible to legitimately identify as an atheist and indeed to fulfill all of the baseline conditions (I do not believe in God or spirits), but nevertheless confuse people who are trying to finger you as one thing or the other. On the other hand, they’re the easily confused set from the get-go, aren’t they. 🙂

I am a low-carber and i appreciate this link very much. Like your friend, I also prefer and am in favor of a diet of beans and rice. I used to be a vegan before being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. My diabetes is now under good control without insulin and with the bare minimum of a single medication (Metformin), due solely to my low-carb diet. Despite my best efforts (and they’re good efforts; I’m a creative cook) I can’t make a low-carb diet out of vegetables. It’s SO frustrating!

Typing this on the 10-inch Wind. Tried it first with the original Windows XP as a backup computer for work; it happened to have practically identical specs as the laptop I was issued as my primary work computer. It did a great job; it was even faster than the other laptop. I dual-booted with Ubuntu and liked it so much I finally switched completely over.
I can put in a good word for MSI’s customer support team, too… they were good to me after I ordered (I haven’t had a problem since so I can’t speak to that!).

My friends and I have long had an informal theory that you’re paid not for the work you do so much as a bribe to not hurt the company as much as you could do with the responsibility you’re given. Heh.

I don’t know about Razib, but I think my brain melted.
If your eyes did not glaze right over by the end of that, I think you need to top your eye-glaze tank.

I just read this to my fiance and we both are ROFL. He rephrased it like this (apologies in advance): “So, a man and a woman alone together are in grave danger of having sex, but if she lets him suck her boobies, that danger is handily averted.” Oh, boy.

I’m one like that. I can eat a moderate amount of hard cheese and recipes made with milk in them, but cannot drink fresh milk, ice creams, or dairy-based milkshakes, or eat a lot of cheese (especially if it’s soft or processed cheese). I did look at a chart recently of how much lactose common dairy foods contained, and found that all the things I can’t tolerate well had the highest lactose contents, either naturally or as part of processing. Using milk in a recipe with other ingredients cuts the lactose per serving, of course.
One way to tell if you have something psychological in your milk intolerance is to go to a frozen yogurt shop in your area that carries a non-dairy, tofu-based frozen yogurt (one in my area does and it is beyond excellent) and take samples home. Try them blind; one on one day and one on another.

No, no, no. It was just that Lion Voltron split into five lions, all very balanced and symmetrical and equal, like a team should be. Car Voltron was just a mashed together pile of Transformers.