Today I got in a conversation with somebody where I mentioned that Canada is killing off their penny. They bristled at the idea. I said that not only do I wish we'd kill off our penny... I wish that we'd do away with cash altogether. In addition to saving us bajillions in production costs, we'd also do away with counterfeiters, hamper drug dealers, and reduce who-knows what other problems plaguing society. Money truly is the root of all evil, ya know. The person I was talking to admitted that they had never thought of it that way, and could see my point.
That's when I had to drop the bombshell that it's never going to happen in the US in our lifetimes because the Christians would revolt.
"Huh? Wha-? I'm a Christian, why would we revolt?!?"
"Well, a lot of you guys believe that the advent of a cashless society is a sign of the impending Apocalypse and the End of Days."
"Wha-? No we don't!"
"Some of you do. Among the freaky imagery in Revelation 13 is the idea that the Anti-Christ will do away with cash and you'll need the Mark of the Beast to buy stuff."
"Mark? Like a tattoo? That's in the Book of Revelations? "
"Err... Book of RevelaTION, yeah. I guess it could be a tattoo... like a barcode. Or maybe a brand. Or a computer chip or something... sure. Could even be a credit card... The Bible isn't always literal about things."
"Weird. Guess I don't remember Revelations much."
"Perhaps if you started by remembering the title correctly the rest would come easier..."
"Huh-?"
And then I had to wonder for the millionth time how it is that I, a non-Christian, have put in more time studying The Bible than most Christians I meet. And then I had to wonder for the billionth time how it is that somebody can choose to live their life and base their faith on a book (The Book) that they don't know much about and don't really understand. Maybe going to church and listening to somebody else tell them what they should think about their most sacred texts is enough. It wouldn't be for me. But to each their own I guess.
Anyway...
It snowed last night and was cold and rainy all day, so I was looking for something warm to eat for dinner. But after having worked all day, I didn't want to cook. So I decided to make a salad and see how that goes...
My dinner salad recipe for tonight (all measures approximate)
It was delicious. Though I do wish tomatoes were in season. With an additional vegetable (or a fruit masquerading as a vegetable), it might actually be considered a "salad" instead of an excuse to eat loads of dressing and cheese. I suppose I could have tossed some frozen peas in there or something.
But then I had Eggo waffles for dessert, so I guess it doesn't really matter how many vegetables I dump on my bowl of dressing and cheese.
Now I wish I had some ice cream.
Oh man... how awesome would ice cream be on Eggo waffles?
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And how many times has “The” Bible been re-written? Do Christians accept both Old and New Testaments? Maybe the “Bible” should be separate books; printed separately.
I’m been making this one salad over and over again for the past several months now. An Asian-inspired salad with arugula, mandarin orange slices and feta cheese.
you need:
3 oz Soy Sauce – for the dressing
1.5 oz Red Wine Vinegar – dressing
.5 oz water
1 tbsp sugar – dressing
3 tbsp freshly grated ginger – dressing
4-5 drops sesame oil – dressing
2 cloves garlic chopped fine – dressing
A bunch of arugula (or any other salad leaf)
1 can mandarin orange slices drained
1 cup grape tomatoes sliced in half
1 half small red onion sliced thinly
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly
1 half cup crumbled feta cheese
Blue Diamond Wasabi and Soy Almonds
La Choy Chow Mein Noodles
Mix all the dressing ingredients together with a whisk until the sugar dissolves. Make sure to use fresh ginger and garlic…makes a big difference.
Toss all the salad ingredients (arugula, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, orange slices and feta cheese. I sometimes add some of the crushed wasabi/soy almonds or some crushed Chow Mein noodles at this point as well, or you can just wait and sprinkle them both on top at the end.
Toss the salad with the dressing and let it sit for 5 minutes or so before serving. Top with some of the almonds and/or chow mein noodles.
We eat the hell out of this salad at least once a week. You can add all sorts of things to it as well. Sugar-snap peas, tofu, grilled chicken, chopped carrots…whatever. Comes out delicious every time.
You had me at “feta.”
It took you 75% of the recipe to be “had” by the cheese?
I’ll give you one easy Turkish breakfast recipe I loved when I was there:
Feta Cheese
Tomato, halved
Top halved tomato with Feta cheese, broil, eat
That apocalypse stuff is bullshit. I do worry about the loss of anonymity the abolition of cash might cause — I very much worry about the Big Brother possibilites. Somebody could know everything you bought from banal stuff to condoms to porno mags to junk food to pot. Additionally, Uncle Sam would be sure to tax transactions between provate parties. The possibilities for mischief are endless. This sounds weird but I don’t like the idea of a world where you can’t get away with anything. It’s a short step to putting a monitor in your car which issues a citation every time you exceed the speed limit or run a stale yellow light. (We’re already seeing shades of this with “sobriety roadblocks”, which throw the notion of probable cause right out the window.) Or how about a denial of junk food purchase if you are deemed too fat? I think the possibility for bad outweighs the potential cost savings here. It is the nature of power that it must be thwarted, circumvented and diluted. This coming from a liberal democrat!
On a separate note: my OCD personality would go insane if our monetary system had no “one”. Aieeeeee! Please Noooooooo!
Hahaha – my first thought was the stuff in Revelation!
Money IS the root of all evil. I wish I had so much I didn’t have to worry about it, though. I would be so effing generous!
I love to make homemade croutons. So easy and soooo yummeh.
I thought you might like to know: it is now official policy in dental hygiene that it IS indeed better to polish the teeth. Amazing we are flip-flopping on such a basic issue. I never discontinued polishing in my office; I thought it was the best part of the cleaning. Sorry Charley, you’re gonna git the grit 🙂
The cash stuff isn’t from the Bible, but from a movie they showed in churches, “A Thief in the Night.” I doubt it has any more biblical basis than the Rapture. (Half of a phrase in one verse.)
Next time tell him it’s technically “Book of the Revelation of Saint John the Divine, dumbass.”
My mom believed that the UPC symbol was the mark of the beast and when it was introduced in the 70’s, she refused to buy products that had the symbol on it. There was so much propaganda going around about how in 5 years, everyone will need to have a UPC symbol mark on their body to purchase anything.
That salad sounds really good.
Actually, it’s the “love” of money that’s the root of “all kinds of evil” if you’re pulling from the Bible, but either way, doing away with cash isn’t an indication of The End. However, I do think a stepping stone to more governmental control is a cashless society, as it’ll facilitate the loss of a good bit of our privacy, and with loss of privacy comes loss of freedom, and loss of freedom facilitates an easier transition to a more totalitarian government (be it a “world government” or not), and this will be a sign of end times as was prophesied.
Given the first world’s problems with over promising and mismanagement of tax dollars, we’ll all move in that direction in order to get rid of the “tax gap” we have every year. I’m all for people who get paid in cash paying taxes like I have to do, but I’d rather it be accomplished with a national sales tax (Congressman Linder’s “fair tax” actually) instead of taking away cash and continuing with our income tax system.