Thats the great thing about imaginary friends, they never let you down.

My $0.02:
I'm glad he got fired. He's an idiot and his company have the right to fire him.

In the case of the Catholic school teacher or any or @enochs other imaginary scenarios of people being fired for spurious reasons, no, they would be wrong.

Why? Because they are different situations. Context matters!

Bein fired for getting drunk and calling your boss an asshole? Fine!
Being fired for admitting to being an atheist? Not cool.

This really isn't that hard people. You judge each situation on its merits.

@eoe
jesus christ dude..
could you be any more presumptuous?

first off,i didnt call you out specifically.
i rather enjoyed you and newts exchange,but my commentary was not addressing nor interjecting in that conversation.

second,the only argument (if you even want to call it that) that i proposed was to cut the moral absolutes out,because they are bullshit.

now maybe you do not engage in the morality argument that many ..MANY ...vegans DO attempt to utilize to better make their point,and hats off to you if you see the hypocrisy of such a tactic.

now please understand i am not ignoring that there is a morality factor in being a vegan and i totally respect that.what i am stating is to not become burdened with absolutes and attempting to use morality to further a position..or you will be called out on it and rightly so.

thirdly,
your comment is actually a straw man,not mine.
you posit a position i didnt take in order to refute that imaginary position.

which you took a step further by accusing me of not addressing certain aspects of an argument that i only tacitly referred to and in no specific or detailed way.

in fact almost your entire comment towards me is a fabricated argument that i never had with you.

so who are you arguing/debating with?
because i can say with some authority that it is not me.

maybe you took my tone or words as a direct assault on you or what you have written,but as anybody here will attest,i have no problem calling someone out directly.conversely,i have no problem being called out (if my fly is open,please let me know).

so if that is the case,allow me to offer an olive branch:
my girlfriend of many years is a devout vegan.
so i am full aware of the reasons why she became a vegan (at the tender age of seven,no shit) and for her the decision was mostly a moral one i.e:cruelty,abuse etc etc.

when we first started dating she attempted to use every tactic in the book to get me to see the barbarity in my callous and cruel meat eating ways.she would send me videos of the most horrific abuse of animals,slaughterhouse horror stories..i am sure you may be familiar with many of her tactics in attempting to reveal the moral imperative to stop this torture and abuse.

which i responded (much like alluded to in my original comment) by showing her videos of the horrific abuses perpetrated upon human beings just so she could have cheap clothing and those electronic gadgets she loves so much.

which of course made her feel absolute,crushing guilt.almost to the point where it paralyzed her.because she is an adorable sweetheart who genuinely cares for not only people but animals.

which leads me to the main point i was making:
you cannot make a vegan argument based solely on moral absolutes,because it will fall apart within seconds and you come across as a pretentious twat.

so YOU can make the decision to be a vegan based on moral grounds and that is totally acceptable,but you cannot take the moral high ground when debating veganism to further a point,because we ALL bear responsibility in the suffering of others.be they animal or human.

do you see what i am saying?

if you choose to indulge moral absolutes,then you will be exposed as a hypocrite,because when we use absolutes,that metric has to be applied equally to all factors of living.

which leaves us with the "distinctions" and the reason i say those are boring is because it becomes a narcissistic exercise of self-righteous twattery.

i recycle.
i refuse to shop at walmart.
i do not eat fast food.
i only buy organic.
i try to shop local.

all these things i do,not because they actually make a difference,but rather they make me feel better about myself.it gives me the "feel goods".even though i am full aware that in the larger picture,what i am doing means next to nothing.

but it means something to me.
and i think that is really the only real argument a vegan has to rely on to express their viewpoint.

i have seen the videos.
i am aware how awful,cruel and barbaric farming animals can be,but i like bacon.

i am an asshole.

And something I just noticed...so you "NEVER" considered turning to an imaginary friend for help...not once? (And I am in the same boat as you are on that one my friend.) But oh that sounds funny...almost sounds like the fact that you cannot do with God under any circumstances, that would imply NEEDING a more logical faith than imaginary God. For you it is a must, no? Or do you not get the Socratic logic behind that "need" of yours?

But as you and Chaos said, you obviously choose this need of logic, so it is not a need at all? You can just walk away with help, as Chaos said, right?

Don't know about @ChaosEngine, but I did suffer that kind of daily abuse for 15 + years from an older brother who beat me daily, locked me outside in the winter rains at night, burned me repeatedly, cut me repeatedly, took advantage of my claustrophobia by wrapping me in blankets and sitting on me until I would pass out, killing numerous pets of mine, etc, and I NEVER considered turning to an imaginary friend for help...not once....and my friends and family were completely useless helping me with him, so I'm awaiting your rant with bells on.

Regarding the niqab, the rule should be pretty simple:

are you allowed take the citizenship oath while your face is covered (i.e. with a mask or a motorcycle helmet)?

If so, then there's no reason you shouldn't be allowed wear a niqab.

If not, then I don't give a shit what your imaginary friend tells you to wear; if you want to be a citizen of a country you must abide by its laws.

I really mean that. I have no problem with her wearing a niqab, provided it's not some special exemption for religious reasons.

That is one method, but it is possible to do it with a planted card rather than a full deck.

This is my little brother's trick that he tends to do if someone finds out he's a magician and asks the inevitable 'show us a trick then!'

When he did it to me it was at our parents house. He came into the room, put his bag (a back pack) in the middle of the floor and sat down on the sofa. He then turned to me and did the imaginary pack spiel, just like Rose does in the video. I choose a card and announce it to the room.

He then tells me to go to his bag and look through it for his wallet. I find the wallet and take it out of the bag. It's not a big bag and there's only one wallet. He then tells me to open it and look through the card slots until I find a playing card. I do so, there's only one card. Predictably it's the card I've chosen.

There's no trick deck and I'm pretty sure it's not a trick wallet. He didn't handle the bag or the wallet after he put the bag down in the middle of the floor and sat down.

He won't tell me how it's done, but I've seen him do it numerous times to numerous people. It's always the same method although if he's out in public he might just keep his bag on his shoulder rather than put it on the floor and he'll handle his wallet and show the card, but in a way so that everyone can see what he's doing. I've asked him about that and the handling isn't necessary for the trick. the method is the same whether he's handling the bag/wallet or not.

He's a magician who designs tricks for other magicians. He's worked as a technical advisor for magic TV shows, designing props and methods. He specialises in mentalism. He doesn't talk that much about how the tricks are done. He'll help me out if I'm guessing along the right lines but I don't push for answers too much. I've done a little magic myself when younger, but nothing on his level.

The trick deck is just one way of doing this effect, but it's not the only way.

Runner here (at least before my knees decided enough's enough).

My road route took me past a house where a toy some-such-or-other breed routinely chased me and came close to nipping at my heels. One day my knees weren't the only thing that decided enough was enough. Stopped, turned around, looked at the pesky atom, and ROARED. I'd like to think I'm a kind guy, but in all honesty, the other option of trying to score a field goal on imaginary 40-yard uprights was a very very close second. Runners will understand.

Anyways, I didn't, but it was very satisfying to see that little pest leave a vapour trail on its way back to its old-lady owner, who tried to comfort it against the big bad normally harmless passerby.

Do NOT train your dog to do what these people did. Might look cute, but is not.

Oh, go away and take your imaginary friend with you.

@lantern53 @bobknight33

What the fuck is wrong with you two?!

WHY DO YOU JUSTIFY THE WORST SHIT, JUST BECAUSE COPS DID IT?!?!

You're both fuckin' batshitcrazy sociopaths.

I seriously hope the worst shit EVER happens to you and your families..

With the caveat that Law Enforcement Officers did it.

That way, I can smugly mock your heartache and suffering by telling you your problems are imaginary.

"Well, if they didn't want to be burned to the ground..
your Houses should have just cooperated with the authorities.."

@lantern53 & @bobknight33

Thoughts? Comments?

Lantern, what as that you said about "blah blah, black president. ding dong, racism is over."

Looking forward to how you'll mock & dismiss this as..
"totally not racist" or "imaginary, not an actual problem".

Or alternatively, Forbes and their imaginary investors could just fuck off, since Gravity is privately held...

They are in the payment processing business, historically a high-margin one, they're not going anywhere any time soon.

So I been avoiding layin' into the racists on the site for a bit.
Because it's like fighting with a brick wall with your forehead, stupid and bad for my health.

But this point - 1:36 - about how racists are much more politically correct than openly, unapologetically racist is true.

@lantern53
@bobknight33
@quantumushroom
@Trancecoach
And @shinyblurry if I remember correctly

Most of the comments these numbskulls post are inherently racist as fuck.

But they always use the excuse of some political or religion cop-out, like.

"If black people started voting Republican, instead of supporting Libtard Democrats who only want to keep them poor.."

I'm convinced they all think, on a daily basis:
"Well my white, middle-class life was tough. And I overcame!

I know! Better take to the interwebs and give those silly black folks some advice.

Yeah, some helpful, common sense advice like.. GET A JOB YOU LAZY VIOLENT SAVAGES!

Wow, ahem.. excuse me...

But really, your struggles are just imaginary black people.

Stop complaining about the VIOLENT THUGS erm.. questionably innocent people the police murder because they definitely deserved it.

Besides black people kill black people all the time, I heard on Fox News once.

So it's definitely not okay to make a big fuss when Law Enforcement Office very clearly unlawfully execute one of you coons.. er.. folks.

Just get up off your lazy asses and vote. It's always worked for me and my elder white voting block friends who are in no way disenfranchised by our current voting laws ."

*Crack knuckles, dusts shoulders*

"Yuuup. Good thing I helped those ignorant jiggaboos understand how the world REALLY is.

And that's why White Americans are god's SUPERIOR chosen people.

Oh yeah! and clearly no I said can be construed as racist because I'm not because Obama is the first black president.

..an UNTRUSTWORTHY, FOREIGNER who's really from KENYA or INDONESIA (you know, one of those icky brown countries) and that DOESN'T STAND FOR MURICA VALUES!!

But he's blackish and the president so, see.

Ding Dong! No racism here."

Anywho have fun jerk your collect bigot boners about how i'm wrong.

How blacks are just as equals as whites because you say so.

How your not racists even tho you say shit only racist say.. ugh.

If you truly like this site, why do you constantly and consistently denigrate it in your comments?
I would bet that at least 90% of internet trolls would say the same thing...'I'm not a troll, I just hate (or-"have to hold my nose at posting" of 'X') most everything and everyone on or about this site and I'm going to tell you about what I see as it's problems and foibles daily. I have every right to express my opinion.'...yes, you have a right...but they way you go about it makes you a troll, IMO.

If I went to a right wing leaning message board and, daily, told them what misguided morons they all are, and how the site is worthless because it's nothing more than a bastion for the idiot right and all the misguided, America hating morons in it, I would be a troll. It would be obvious that I would not be intending to change minds, only to insult and lambast those I disagree with.

Please to explain...how are you different in the way you post here?

EDIT: Ultra left DOJ!!!! I was rolling on the floor at that one buddy, good one.
Almost as funny as you calling yourself "conservative"...what you are is a neo-con...which means you want to return to a past that never existed...a "new" (imaginary) past you wish to conserve...therefore "neo-con".
I am actually an old school republican, which are fiscally 'conservative' (which means we try to conserve our funds by spending them wisely on programs that save money as a whole, like upkeep of infrastructure...not the same thing as removing all spending/taxation)
-and a social liberal (Yes, real republicans are (were) anti-war, anti-corporatist, anti-religion in government, pro-environment, pro-freedom to choose your own morality, actual thinkers. Regan changed all that 180 deg. Now I have NO party that represents me. It's hilarious to hear you guys call me a "lefty" over and over!)