u/CJoshuaV

The most meaningful moment of my first Burn this year was serving as a Lamplighter Carrier from 6 to Temple on Thursday night in a white out.

I unpacked today to find that my Lamplighter Pendant got scraped up in-transit, despite my efforts to protect it.

Any members of the Lamplighter camp here with spare pendants? I'd be happy to cover postage and other expenses.

"And that’s the greatest irony of it all: that the very Evangelicals who’ve spent the last 60 years in this country demonizing those who reject Jesus are now the single most compelling reason for them to do so. They are giving people who suspect that all Christians are self-righteous, hateful hypocrites all the evidence they need. The Church is confirming the outside world’s most dire suspicions about itself."

Personally, I would rather the Christian nationalist movement create more atheists than allow it to create more Christian nationalists, but I do wonder how many of them step outside their echo chamber and realize the impact of their politics.

I've been looking for a more comfortable alternative to my Evergoods CTB 26, that I've taken all over the world as a personal item. I love the organization in the bag, but the back digging issue is really getting to me.

I have tried some alternatives, and been unimpressed.

Then the Aer Travel Pack 4 (28L) in Ultra arrived today and it seems like a grail bag. The harness is super comfortable, and I can replicate my CTB layout with only some slight modifications.

Are there weaknesses to the bag I'm not seeing?

It's a hair bigger than the CTB, so I'm wondering if I should try the City Pack Pro 2 (24L) in Ultra for use when I'm on small, regional jets, especially in Europe.

How does the organization and comfort on the City Pack Pro 2 compare to the Travel Pack 4? Are there any downsides to the CPP2? over the TP4?

There doesn't seem to be much difference between the 24L and the 20L in the CPP2, just a half inch of depth. I'm 6'1", so I'd rather have the extra room.

Every third post here is someone being absolutely tormented by the natural experience of human sexuality. Many of the posts include language of "wanting to do what the Bible says" and the "Christian" views on human sexuality.

From my perspective as a socially progressive, mainline Protestant, this isn't about the Bible or Christianity, but about a particularly pernicious interpretation of both. The biblical writers wrote for a radically different social structure, with a radically different understanding of marriage and romantic relationships. Trying to shoehorn their rules about sexuality - rooted in the control of women and women's bodies - into a modern, egalitarian society is a major source of this tension.

It also ignores same-sex relationships, and sexual intimacy that is non-procreative in nature, which rules out a lot of people's sexual experience.

Since nearly everyone feels a desire both for sexual intimacy and sexual release (gasp...masturbation!), sexual behaviors become an easy focus for high-control religious systems. They also, and this is the reason for my post, draw attention away from the countless other religious obligations that might actually challenge the existing power structures that do tangible harm to the world.

By getting people to obsess, to the point of tears, about their "lust" - which harms no one - it's easy to distract them from how their spending choices uphold abusive work environments, or how their vote takes food from the mouths of hungry children, or how their actions harm their community or the environment.

So, here's a humble suggestion from your neighborhood Chaplain. If you think of yourself as struggling with "lust," ask yourself if the "lust" you are struggling with causes harm. Does it break, for instance, a covenant with your spouse or partner? Does it violate consent? Does it lead you to think of a person or a group of people as an object rather than as human(s)?

If not, let it be. While you're at it, please remember that the overwhelming medical consensus is that masturbation not only causes no harm, it is medically and psychologically beneficial. If you think your masturbatory habits are unhealthy, please have that confirmed by a competent, secular medical or mental health professional.

Instead of agonizing over this "sin" that causes no harm, every time you find yourself falling back into the sense of guilt and shame, look up a biblical passage about social justice and the gospel, and then ask yourself how your life conforms to those high expectations. My guess is, if you're honest, you'll feel just as much guilt and shame (I know that I do), but the tangible work you do in response will actually make the world a better place.

Worst case scenario, I'm wrong and the sex-negative folks are right, and masturbating or having sex with your long-term partner are sins . If you follow my advice, you're sinning in a way that causes no harm instead of sinning in a way that causes actual suffering. Same amount of sin, just less harm.

I keep hearing or seeing words in German and thinking, "Oh, that would be useful for my citizenship interview. I need to remember it!" And then I remember, "Oh wait, I'm already a Swiss citizen!"

The anxiety around the process hung over my head for so long that it still, a couple months later, doesn't feel real. I keep my passport on my desk just as a reminder.

Any other new citizens feel that way?

The very first example in the article is a Delta customer choosing to fly to a dangerous part of Mexico and take a bus from there rather than pay Delta's extortionate prices.

I'm planning out my first burn, and have been getting gear recommendations from several friends who are veterans.

The consensus seems to be either the Shiftpod or the Coleman Instant Tent (8-person). Both have roughly a 12 x 12 footprint when assembled, and both are much larger than the 62 linear inches allowed on the Burner Express Bus. The Coleman is smaller and lighter, at 11.25"L x 11.25"W x 47.5"H.

For those who used a tent this size and rode the bus, how did you get your tent to the playa? Am I stuck using a smaller tent if I want to ride the bus?