Since I found BookTalk through a link Chris O'Conner put at Tiny Thinker's atheism forum I thought I'd go ahead and just paste here the intro I wrote for Tiny's sister site, Thinker's Forum - yes, that's a plug for the place, check it out Anyhow...Osiris: Maybe we can start with the basics... Age? Name? Occuptation?Ani: That would be telling.Osiris: hmmm... It couldn't hurt to tell people who you are, could it?Ani: What do you want?Osiris: We want information.Ani: Well, you won't get it.Osiris: By hook or by crook, we will! *sigh* We seem to be stuck quoting from The Prisoner.Ani: Well, it probably is my all-time favorite TV show.Osiris: Ha! Now we're getting some information. So, how 'bout it? People often like to put a "face" to the posts they read.Ani: What's wrong with the heptagram as my portrait?Osiris: I'm suppose to be the one asking questions here... But it is pretty esoteric, don't you think?Ani: Yeah, but I like it Think it's more important to offer a window into my heart than a look at my face. And I have a lot heartfelt history, as it were, tied up in the heptagram... grew out of my attempt to find a more satisfying underlying geometry to the Chartres labyrinth, and ended up becoming something of a key for making a lot of the "big questions" accessible and understandable for me. I also like it as sorta a comment on Da Vinci's sketch of the human form in proportion to the pentagram: For me, the heptagram "puts wings" on the human form, which reflects my belief in the divinity of the human soul. Plus, the heptagon is also the only polygon that...Osiris: Ahem... this is supposed to be a brief interview.Ani: Osiris: Anyhow, I thought you were suppose to be an atheist.Ani: I describe myself as a devout atheist - which is meant to indicate that my view is one of strong atheism (in the sense that I accept some of the more extreme implications... hehe, and maybe a bit uncompromising, too); but also one that encompasses moral and metaphysical beliefs... see it as a godless religion if you want.Osiris: Lauren's gonna get you for that kind of oxymoronic thinking.Ani: Yeah, but language is like that - oftimes you need to use a bit nonsense to actually make sense, or at least to convey the meaning you wish.Osiris: So you like playing with words?Ani: Absolutely. That's a big part of why I pursued a writing career.Osiris: So that's what you do for a living?Ani: Hey! You tricked me into that answer.Osiris: By hook or by crook...Ani: hrrm. Well, no, not exactly what I do. Writing, both creative and technical (and that curious combination of the two called design), is a significant portion of my work; but I'm actually a scripter.Osiris: What's a scripter?Ani: I have no idea! Nobody knows what the heck a scripter is, which makes it tough at parties when people ask what I do... and tough at finding a job, too. Really, it's doing a little bit of everything with developing games, so I suppose you could say, "whatever the programmers and artist don't do, I do." But, of course, I do program using interpreted languages - even designing some of the languages - and work on art at various levels too. *shrug* Keeps things interesting at least.Osiris: What about your free time? Any hobbies?Ani: Well, not really... I'm tempted to say "learning" but that's such a generalization as to be almost meaningless. I enjoy the sense of discovery in novel experience, and exploring ideas is the best way to do that - and I just have a deep need to understand the world I live in. So, my interests/activities tend to be a bit eclectic and erratic, and what tends to be most important as far as my enthusiasm is how much I learn from them - or really, how much they make me think and ask questions.Osiris: And that's why you participate on discussion boards?Ani: Yes... although I really only visit a couple boards, and it's the people on the board that I'd cite as the reason I participate.Osiris: Speaking of participation... People often complain about the length of your posts. Why aren't you more accommodating?Ani: Well, what can I say... You think I'm being argumentative?Osiris: You should know.Ani: Ha! So should you.Osiris: I'm not feeling myself today... and you're dissembling.Ani: hrrmm... I suppose it is a bit selfish; and I can get a little, er, passionate at times. But the length of my posts is more often simply proportional to my own doubt - so I'll ramble on and on in order to find the answers for myself. Speaking of length, wasn't this interview supposed to be brief?Osiris: Okay... one last question then. Is Ani a girl or a boy's name?Ani: That would be telling.

That was hands-down the most amusing introduction I've ever read.Welcome aboard, and now to journey to the land implanted subliminally into my subconscious *clicks link*

Ani OsirisI'll second that Zach. Interesting introduction by all means. And what a name...Ani Osiris. I aspire to learn more of this choice of names.Osiris ruled the afterlife if I recall. I know very little about the Egyptian Gods, but Osiris was one of the most widely worshipped from what I remember. Now who was Ani? I ran a search and I'm seeing something about Ani being a scribe, and this I find in relation to the Book of the Dead. I've never read this Egyptian classic, but would be interested in learning more if this is an area in which you are educated.Welcome to BookTalk Ani Osiris. After reading your several posts I think you'll fit in well. BookTalk is relatively new, but you come at a time when we are about to pursue a growth strategy and hopefully increase our member base significantly. For many of us the Internet provides our most significant opportunity for intellectual stimulation. BookTalk was born out of the desire to bring together like-minded intelligent people where friendships can develop concurrently with self-education.I think you'll enjoy yourself here Ani Osiris. You'll want to try to attend some Open Chats on Thursday nights to meet everyone. We have a pretty good time during the 45 minutes to an hour where we chat about anything and everything. This Thursday night is intended to be an actual book discussion for "Guns, Germs, And Steel: The Fates of Human Societies," but I fear few of us actually completed the book. I've spent most of my time working on the site and didn't read as much as I had wanted to the last few months. This two-month period shall be different as I am already almost halfway through our new book, "The Lucifer Principle." And I do hope you pick up a copy as Dr. Howard Bloom will be our guest in the chat room first week in January.I would love to hear more about you too. Anything you care to add? And please do put a pushpin in the GuestMap at the bottom of the BookTalk page. Just click on the GuestMap link and the rest is self explanatory. It is nice to see where people live graphically.This is your thread so tell us whatever you like! Once again, welcome to BookTalk!Chris "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." -- Albert Einstein"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being." - Jerry Falwell"I don't see any god up here." - Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (the first man in space), speaking from orbit, 1961.Edited by: Chris OConnor  at: 11/4/02 12:30:39 am

Thanks for the welcomes I feel you've got a great group of people here and look forward to being a part of the community.I do tend to be somewhat shy about my personal life (the "that would be telling" line was a serious comment on myself as much as it was a bit of humor), so I don't really have anything I'm itching to tell folks about myself... who I am is for you to judge anyhow. Generally happy to answer questions, though, so as to my choice of the Ani Osiris nick...I am far from being any sort of expert on Egyptian mythology - and there is a great deal of variation in structure and interpretation as you might expect from such a long-lived religion in a society that itself went through many major cultural and political changes. In other words, there isn't any one answer to questions like, Who was Osiris and what did he represent? That means it's easy to take the generality and personalize it - which, of course, is precisely what I've done.Specifically, my screen name is taken from the Papyrus of Ani, one of the 'standard' versions of the Egyptian Book of the Dead (which was known as The Book of Going Forth By Day to the Egyptians), and its litany "the Osiris, [the scribe,] Ani, whose word is truth..." which means speaking honestly and from the heart more than having the answers, tho there is some element of that as well. Osiris was not a jealous god, and all who successfully negotiated the journey became an Osiris - why the mummy is referred to as the Osiris instead of so-and-so's body. Although probably an important enough figure in his community at the time, Ani was not a significant historical figure except in the fact that his funeral text was so well preserved. I inverted the name (hoping for a bit of humility) and to reflect that I don't feel I've completed the journey, but am attempting to follow the example.More generally, the name was chosen because of my affinity for the themes, motifs, etc. of Egyptian mythology where the central concept is becoming (in contrast to, say, transcendence) and the emphasis is on life/humanity and the real world as it were (in contrast to the spiritual/metaphysical). That affinity really came together for me when reading Awakening Osiris by Normandi Ellis, which is a translation of the EBotD. Actually, it's more of an interpretation as it takes what was a rather empty recitation of 'spells' with both Budge's (literal) and Faulkner's translation, and presents them as hymns and evocations that Westerners like myself can relate to... and I sorta internalized a good deal of the metaphors.

Ani,Very interesting. I read a book a while back on ancient Egyptian mythololgy. I was fascinated with it. Like many other subjects I would love to explore it further. Welcome to the board. It's great to have you! I look forward to getting to know you and judging who you are. Cheryl

While surfing other EZBoards I came across some very sad news. It appears Ani Osiris has died folks. I'm not sure exactly what to say, but I'm somehow very effected by this. As little as I knew him I really liked him and will miss him. I don't have any information as to how he died or how old he was, but I get the impression he was too young to die. Peaceful TurmoilChris