Questing Rat's Page

Religion.

• Religion and me.
• 100 Questions An FAQ of Universal Unitarians. A good place to start looking for information on UUs.
• "The Catholic FAQ" A good place to start looking for information on the Catholic faith.
• Alt.Religion.Wicca FAQ A good place to start looking for information on Wicca for anyone interested for whatever reason.
  • The Aviano Stregone Merry Meet, Merry Part, and Merry Meet again!(Local)
  • Beltaine - My thoughts on the Heathen Valentine Day.(Local)
  • #Pagan_Way The official page of the Dalnet Chat Channel #Pagan_Way. While the Channel itself seems to have waned, the page still contains a great deal of excellent information.
  • Witches Voice "The Witches' Voice is a proactive educational network dedicated to correcting misinformation about Witches and Witchcraft."
  • Pagan Profiles Search for other Pagans by geographical area, name, or age.
• The Principia Discordia The "Bible" of the Discordians. Either a joke disguised as a religion, or a religion disguised as a joke, or both. (Local, In txt format.)
• Lysator -- A large archive of religious materials from Islamic to Wiccan.
• The Occult Biblioteca Under Construction. A collection of information on the Occult, Occult philosophy, and Occult groups.

Science & Technology

• Science and Technology?
• The MacTutor History Of Mathmatics Archive Check out a slew of articles on the history of mathmatics and physics. Check out the History Topics Index for the following:
  • The Quantum Age Begins (Could have used a second draft ... ;')
  • Special Relativity and ....
  • General Relativity
• Elementary-Particle Physics Composed by the Committee on Elementary-Particle Physics as a summary of what we've learned in the past 20 years, and where to go for the future.(Local)
  • The Irrepressable Fermilab! Giving us such wonderful products as: Antihydrogen, The "Particle Physics Tour", and ... Folk dancing at the Village Barn?
  • The Magnificant CERN! -- The European Laboratory for Particle Physics ... and the inventors of the World Wide Web. Take the 2 minute tour for a quick tour of CERN and particle physics.
• DNA Computers When he discovered how to provide us with computational power far beyond the power supplied by all the computers that ever existed, Leonard Alderman sat up in bed and said to his wife, Lori, "Jeez, these things could compute!"
  • Morph's 'Everybody's Guide to DNA Computers' As Seen On TV! :') A lot less obtuse than the first link. Besides, who doesn't like legos? While you're there, try the 'Scientific Guide to DNA Computers.' Same stuff, different language. No difference. Do it.
• Engines of Creation K. Eric Drexlor's book on Nanotechnology. When the promise of nanotechnology is realised, the implications will be shattering to every facet of existance.
  • The Foresight Institute Preparing for Nanotechnology...
• Space Views News and opinions about Space, Policy, Technology, etc
  • Space Station Web Track news and information on the International Space Station due to begin launch in November.
  • The Artemis Society International Finally, Private buisness doing what it should. Isn't it tyme YOU went to the moon?
  • Island One A meeting place "for future space colonists."
• The Critlink Mediator "The first public service enabling universal annotation of Web documents." Finally, comment on what you read, and read what others have commented. (I plan on doing all of my browsing via the Critlink Mediator.)
  • Backlinking Thanks Rob Jellinghaus for a quick intro to the next step for the WWW.
  • Adding Comments to the Web A more in depth essay on Web Criticism and it's effect on us all by Misha Glouberman.

Alternative thinking

• What Is Chaos Magick A very good introduction to the manipulation of paradigms, thanks and kudos to Joshua S. Wetzel.
  • Tools of Chaos One of the best sources of information on Chaos Magick. Be careful. There be dragons here.
  • Phil Hine's Homepage A forefront in Chaos Magick literature; Check out Phil Hine's booklet "Oven Ready Chaos" under _Downloads_ for a lucid explination.
  • The Genius of ZOS An Austin Osman Spare archive ... the Papa of Chaos Magick.
• Disinformation -- The more views you know, the better able you are to form your own.
• Deoxy.org -- "Imagine a YAHOO for denizens of alternate realities"
• Alchemy Mindworks Inc. This is stumper. It belongs here, or perhaps in religion ... or maybe in tools ... perhaps it is its own catagory ... perhaps that's why I like it.

Iconoclasm

• Iconoclasm... What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?
• W.S. Maugham; Quite possibly the thinker who has influenced me and my thought more than any other factor known to me. If anyone knows any good pages dedicated to Maugham, PLEASE let me know.
• My Wife Argueably the farthest thing from an Iconoclast ... she nonetheless has done much to influence my thinking in key aspects of my life. (Besides, everyone knows who the real thinker is in this family. local)
• My Family ... Including especially Adam, Chuck and Jamie, who were never afraid to call me a bastard, a prude, and wrong when the case warrented. (If that isn't the role of an Iconoclast, what is?)
• David Hume Courtesy of the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy . Never before have I met such a charming devil!
  • An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding A book that delt a devestating attack to my conception of the world, and from which I have never completely recovered. (I know this is a bear as it is. I will try to make it easier to read if I have tyme in the future. local)
  • The David Hume Archives. A wealth of information about, for, against, and by the Illustrious David Hume.
• Great Thinkers and Visionaries page From Albert Einstien to Terrence McKenna.
• Cult of the Dead Cow Creators of "Back Orifice." Iconoclasts? Yes. Alternative thinking? Yes. Tools? *evil grin* Here are some p#r3AKs reminding everyone that the internet evolved to spread information by eluding governments, not bowing down to them.
• A Buckminster Fuller FAQ -- A (sometymes stiff) FAQ of an American Hero.
  • Synergetics Online! Remember how you said you'd never use geometry again?. (Last tyme I was here, there were a handfull of Javascript errors, but nothing to worry about.
• The Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson Show Brought to you by Deoxy.Org above, this sight is jam packed with information concerning two of America's greatest Iconoclasts.
  • The Robert Anton Wilson Homepage Catch the good Doctor at home.
  • The Timothy Leary Homepage Unfortantly, this good Doctor no longer resides on Spaceship Earth ...He passed on in 1996, and last year his ashes were launched into space ... finally achieving a lifelong mission.
    • The Psychedelic Experience Leary's guide to psychedelica based upon the Tibetian Book of the Dead. Authoured by Timothy Leary, Ph.D., Ralph Metzner,Ph.D., & Richard Alpert, Ph.D.

Other

• Friends we love, Online Here are some of the folks we love to love.
• Questing Rat's Roleplaying Page I figured everyone else had one ... why not me?
• James' Homepage Just who the heck am I, anyhow?

Names are funny things. There are those who believed, and believe, that to know a true name of something, is to command that thing. Certainly knowning the name of something gives you some power over it. Consider, for instance, a young man walking down the street. You can cause various reactions by calling him by his various names. Calling out "Honey" will give you a completely different response than if you called out "Airman Gustafson" and both of them will give you a different reaction than "Gussie." Names do have power ... ask any schoolboy who has been called by his full name. He knows.

I am quite proud of my given name. Not only does it show the connection to my family, but it shows my connection to my father, my mother and the feelings she had for my father, as well as many other more subtle things. However, it is only one of my names. I have many others. Most of which I had no part in getting ... freebies, I suppose.

Questing Rat is the name I gave myself. Many religious traditions advocate taking a second name, from Judaism to Wicca. It becomes a handle by which you grasp hold of that facet of your life. Using it puts you in a certain mindframe; the same way putting on a uniform puts you in a certain mindframe (as opposed to say, running shorts, or a suit and tie.) Questing Rat is that facet of my life that desires ... yearns for understanding. Understanding of myself, my life, and the world around me. Questing Rat is the philosopher ... priest ... scientist inside me.