Ether is one of the most interesting drugs I have tried, the feeling of disassociation with your body is pretty profound plus the feeling of being extremely drunk.

Me and my friend were experimenting on a rooftop patio, I remember being totally detached from my body, watching from a 3rd person perspective as he was moving contorted around me, freezing totally once, he told me that he totally black out at that time. It a hilarious night.

I wouldn't do it too often though, its really harsh on the lungs to huff it off a cloth. But thats a good thing considering its very chemically addictive. Also if you do attain some remember to do it soonish, or keep it in a medical grade flask as it evaporates very quickly.

I cried laughing at Eric Clapton! If only he played like this while contorting as he does here his concerts would be worth it!

It is certainly a reasonable analogy for use amongst like-minded non-theists, but I'm saying its not an appropriate analogy given the context. What is that context? This caller, his family, his friends, and a great majority of the culture he is familiar with go through rituals that reinforce the idea that Jesus was the son of God, etc., etc., almost on a daily basis. Telling this man that its *not difficult* to be hold disbelief in God (easy as not believing in bigfoot), which goes against the grain of his entire cultural experience since birth, is not seeing things from his perspective.

So! His question was, 'isn't it harder to not believe?' answered by, 'do you think its hard not to believe in bigfoot?'

Again, this ignores completely the context of the callers questions. In other words, I would have answered: "Yes, it can be difficult for some to begin to come to grips with disbelief, but over time you realize that believing in God and angels is exactly like believing in the Easter Bunny and leprechauns. And we both probably have little trouble believing in those things."

(@ my analogy attempt; You live your entire life believing the world is flat. No evidence is ever presented to contradict this, only evidence that further supports this idea. All your family and friends believe this. I come along and say, "nope, world's round, here's a picture of it". Would it be difficult to believe me, especially if family and friends never saw the picture or met me?)


In reply to this comment by BenjaminFranklin2u:
The bigfoot example is sound, because it addresses the fact that it's highly unlikely that bigfoot exists, only because there is little/no evidence to support it. In the same frame that the caller thinks that just because YOU believe something that you were told, doesn't make it true. BigFoot stories are just that, stories that are contorted and shared. Whereas your example of whether or not the world is round is an absolute, something that only requires evidence, not ANY belief. That is why your example does not apply. By absolute I mean to the utmost knowing that can possibly be known.

j, if you insist on writing out absurdist scenarios with constantly changing parameters, then why not just write whatever ending you like.

Here is one you might like:

FBI Superagents: The Next Generation (Chicago)
Episode 17 - "The papercut is mightier than the pen"

Interior, Interrogation room. A bound prisoner sits in a chair with a light illuminating his face. Stout African American FBI chief Bernard B. Bythebooke sits, clearly frustrated, just a few feet away from the prisoner.

"The kid will die along with half of Chicago, and there is nothing you can do about it, FBI director Bythebooke" says the terrorist in a deep scary voice.

SLAM goes the door as devilishly handsome, rogue agent Dash Zeusman enters the room and says, "Not if I can help it terrorist scum"

Dash reaches for the pen in his notepad and thrusts it towards the terrorists head, only to be knocked away by Bythebooke, who says "As a working FBI agent, you are not permitted to use torture". Without missing a beat, Zeusman winks and says, "Then I resign" and jabs his pen into the terrorists ear canal.

The terrorist winces as blood shoots out his ear and says, "I have been trained for this very moment. I can withstand any torture you can dish out"

"O RLY?" says Zuesman, contorting his face to look like an owl.

Zuesman reaches for his note pad and brandishes it at the terrorist who laughs and says, "What are you going to do? Write me a nasty letter?"

Zeusman then begins to furiously cover the terrorists face with papercuts and says, "Bring me the salt!"

"Nooooo.... anything but that, I'll talk, I"LL TALK!", says the terrorist.

Jump cut to an abandoned saw mill. A young boy sits strapped to a huge nuclear bomb, festooned with brightly colored wires and a huge countdown clock. 20 terrorist ninjas with swords and machine guns surround the boy.

As the clock reaches 01.00.0000000....Zeusman busts through a wall and dispatches all of the ninjas with rusty saw blades and other improvised weapons. He diffuses the bomb at 00.00.00000000001.

The boys eyes light up and he says, "Agent Zeusman, you're the bomb"

They both break into laughter. Freeze frame. Roll credits.

THE END.

I guess the experts were wrong and you were right after all, jeremy. Either that or you watch too many movies.

"Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong" sounds even MORE beautiful on pan flute! I didn't think that was possible, but there you have it. Sorry Joe Cocker, but your palsied and contorted stage performance pales in comparison to Zamfir's.

Someone else said he was far-left, it wasn't me. While his positions may be eclectic you'd really have to do some contorting to make the case that he's a liberal. It's key to remember how the liberal worldview is uniquely situated to power; Chomsky is hardly an apologist for power.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'performace, contortion, contortionist, dance, bend' to 'performance, contortion, contortionist, dance, bend' - edited by calvados

I think my favorite bit is where he basically eats his own nose.

This "facial contortion" thing is known as gurning. I think it's a brilliant word, could you put it in the tags?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurning

man that's majick, how does she remember all those one liners???...."No cautions, just contortions, smear an avocado on my lower portions".... tee and hee.....

Of course it is a useful statistic, and I find your contorting explanation about the capacities of the average viewer to be insulting to them. You are backtracking and I think you're being dishonest. And did you really miss the big blue box with the words DISCRETIONARY SPENDING in it? Nevertheless, your original objection has been exposed for the nonsense that it is.

*anxiously awaiting anarchy

(you are so damn sweet LB, ooozing ombudsman......


What? What were you right about theo47???! Here's yer chance to take another swing at fantastic notions of conspiracy and ineffectual know-nothing hicks!!? Which box, sir/maam, would you put choggie in???
Not a republican, christian or drop-out?? How about redneck?

Forget it. More likely than not, just another question answered with a question, or dialogue avoided altogether, or some other such sophomoric, denial or contortion of meaning......Jesus Loves me, but he can't stand you.....

It's called the Roman Polanski method of filming, since probably the first and best example of such a technique was Rosemary's baby.

The audience never sees the baby, but we see the terrified expression of Mia Farrow as she frantically questions what they have done to her baby. Our imaginations each contort a image of the baby that is subjectively horrifying to us.

His hands have contorted to fit the guitar it seems. The man is so talented. I watched this countless times now and it always hits home.

This octopus is up to 60 cm (2 feet) in length, with brown and white stripes or spots covering its body. This octopus is able to copy the ... all » physical likeness and movement of different species like sea snakes, flounder, lionfish, and flatfish. It accomplishes this by contorting its body and tentacles and changing color.

More information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimic_octopus
and here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/09/0920_octopusmimic.html

Too cool. Good work, evolution.

Too long for me. I got up to the part where she put her ass on her head and then got bored. Not that it isn't impressive, its just that there are several similar displays of contortion already around.