Author: John L. Prittie
John L. Prittie is a committed secular humorist. He appears now and then, here and there, to this .one and that one, and how are you Mr. Wilson? He
does not believe that casual use of obscure references will get punished in the afterlife but still harbors a dim hope that the use of alternative facts might receive a review on a case-by-case basis.
The Parable of the Fair-Weather Believer
Once there was a man who had been taught to believe something that didn’t really make sense. The man kind of knew that it didn’t really make sense, but he had also been taught that believing it—even if it didn’t make sense—made him a better person. He was a good man, and he wanted to …
This article is available for free to all.Yeaster Day (All My Troubles Seemed So Far Away)
Since its “rediscovery” in recent decades, Yeaster has become one of the most popular and fastest-growing holidays in the world. It is recognized by national holiday commissions in eighty-seven countries on eleven continents, and under consideration in many others. Why all the fuss over Yeaster? Because it is a celebration of yeast, perhaps the most …
Four Canines
I was flossing my teeth the other night when I had this thought: “I have four canines!” That’s how it fell out of my brain, exclamation mark and all (just not in quotes). And I thought, “Four canines … an animal … a dog … a monkey … that’s what I am.” Of course, I …
Life Exceptionalism vs. the Chemical Machine
In the August/September 2019 FI, Adam Neiblum discussed what he refers to as “human exceptionalism” (“Gould’s Second Stage: Progress, Evolution, and Human Exceptionalism”). Most of us have also been made well aware of so-called “American exceptionalism,” which falls one taxonomic level below Neiblum’s (as exceptionalisms go). Our “exceptionalist” biases seem to extend a level higher …
Two Monsters
“I know there’s a god,” someone once told me, “because I need there to be.” This was said at the end of a routine god/no-god debate. Amicable beer-drinking continued thereafter, but that specific conversation had clearly ended with that bit of insight. It was something of an epiphany for both of us. This was the …