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George, my uncle with the pencil-thin mustache
My uncle George was probably the most selfish, self-centered person I have ever met.
I call him George because that was his real name, and I prefer to run his real name through the mud rather than a fake name.
I'm sometimes accused of being cynical or negative in my thinking. But I want to assure you from the outset that this story has a happy ending. George dies.
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Peter Hempel
May 1543 min read
Springtime for Jesus (Passion of the Christ)
If this movie had had so much as a hint of anti-Muslim elements (not historically possible, of course), President Bush, the Wall Street Journal (which has written admiringly about the movie) and other heavy hitters would have been weighing in against stereotyping and intolerance. But hey, it’s only the Jews.
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Peter Hempel
May 114 min read
Infidelity: Part of Nature’s Intelligent Design?
It’s hardly an accident that our art and literature, our operas and our country western songs, are filled with tales of cheating, forbidden love, and jealous rages.
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Peter Hempel
May 118 min read
“Meine Yiddische Barbie” as Feminist Parable
When Barbie wonders, “Are they shtupping?,” “shtupping” is not likely to be a word that Barbie would’ve picked up from the family parties at Esther’s parents’ home
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Peter Hempel
Apr 225 min read
The Benioff question
I know there is a constant mantra that “violence is not the solution.” Call me somewhat undecided on that.
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Peter Hempel
Mar 264 min read
How to cook a unicorn
Early spring is the best time to hunt for unicorns – in early April, they are just emerging from their cocoons and are still slow and tentative – the best option is to try to find a young weeping willow tree where multiple cocoons have been attached.
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Peter Hempel
Mar 193 min read
My genie from Samara
Then he went on, “And, sadly, there are budget constraints. As a Muslim, you would normally be eligible for up to four wives, but they only allow me the budget for one. You understand, at times like these, we must all be prepared to make sacrifices.”
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Peter Hempel
Mar 1412 min read
Space Redux
“A few of the crew ended up heading out again on other ships as fast as they could. They couldn’t handle the idea of being back, so they became space rats instead. I almost did too. It might have been better for me if I had."
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Peter Hempel
Mar 1426 min read
The Jump - Gordon Mackenzie
An additional episode (stand-alone) for my short story "The Jump"
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Peter Hempel
Mar 147 min read
The Spirit of Christmas
“Go home, and take off that damned suit. You can’t handle it. You’re probably a good guy, and that’s why you can’t handle it. The ones who can handle it are pretty much psychos. The ones who are good at it are the very ones who should never be around children at all.”
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Peter Hempel
Mar 124 min read
Victoria
“A fuck is just sex, but a head-fuck is art.”
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Peter Hempel
Mar 1247 min read
Getting old sucks - try listening for a change
“For you, if you get the flu, you know you’re going to feel like total shit for a week. Then maybe another week, and you feel like crap. But after that, you forget all about it. It’s gone. You’re bouncing around like it never even happened. But suppose the worst day with the flu, when you couldn’t even get the fuck out of bed, was the best you were ever going to feel for the rest of your life? Then you’d start to fucking understand.
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Peter Hempel
Mar 61 min read


We need a new category – “mixed sex”
In the end, “trans” leaves out some crucial information – specifically, how trans they are (or what kind of trans they are). It’s a term without nuance, that we are expected to accept without question.
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Peter Hempel
Mar 24 min read
Alternative Aral Focus Group Report
The respondents looked shocked, and even stunned. “Ach, nein! Surely it cannot be so!” cried out one respondent when she began finally to recover. “Why would Mr. BP, the most respected energy company in the entire world, champion of green, leader of innovation, want to have a relationship with our poor little Aral?” “Yes,” chimed in another, “we love our little Aral, she is like our little child, but she is so, how do you say it, frumplich? Frumpy?”
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Peter Hempel
Mar 23 min read
Party Game Questions
You are single and unattached. You know someone who is in an open relationship. Through them, you meet their partner, who is quite attractive. At some point, you run into their partner alone and the partner asks you out. You agree, and you end up spending the night together. Everything is consensual and no “rules” have been broken.
When you run into the other person again, what is the appropriate etiquette? Should you mention that, “Oh, by the way, I went out with your partn
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Peter Hempel
Feb 253 min read
The Atheist and the 12-Step Program (an introduction)
For me, the program ended up being pretty much a one-step program: Letting go. The shoulder being torn from the socket, lots of blood, lots of pain, nothing I ever want to go through again. But I needed it, and it worked.
There are a lot of sayings in program, but the one that worked best for me was : "Take what you want and leave the rest." Listening to so many different people telling so many different stories at so many different meetings, I took what worked for me and
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Peter Hempel
Dec 7, 202522 min read
What was Monica thinking?
We’re talking the sale of the century (the millenium probably). Forget Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Princess Di’s gowns are a mere footnote by comparison. Jackie O who? Monica, we’re talking E-bay, with the whole world watching.
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Peter Hempel
Dec 7, 20252 min read
Europe’s “far right” is not America’s far right
The European “problem” arises from the vast portion of immigrants who come from Muslim countries. Unlike Hispanic immigrants in the US, and Eastern European immigrants in Western Europe, whose religion and cultural values overlap with American/European Western values, Muslim immigrants, especially recent Muslim immigrants, bring with them a completely different set of cultural values and religious ideas. The ideals of religious freedom and tolerance are completely alien to th
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Peter Hempel
Nov 15, 20259 min read
Why the Democrats suck on crime
Until the Democrats figure out what the fuck they really want to do about crime, we’re going to keep losing. We don’t deserve to win.
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Peter Hempel
Oct 22, 20255 min read
A prolegomenon to any future cryogenics
There are families in our culture who commemorate the memories of loved ones with rituals such as lighting yahrzeit candles on the anniversary of a loved one’s death, or going out to visit the graves of parents and loved ones, sometimes on particular days or in some cases as a weekly picnic or whatever. If the loved one is frozen, resting in some unclear legal and religious limbo, what happens to these kinds of visits? You wouldn’t exactly be mourning a “loss.” But neither is
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Peter Hempel
Oct 17, 20258 min read
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