About

I am a grad student of mathematics in the far-off and cold land of Finland, closer to thirty than to twenty, and a godless freethinker (though I like the a-word more). Also a Discordian; if there is a religion an atheist can believe in, that is it. (I’ve explained now and then; for one go, see “Who is Eris?” on Mirrors of Eris.)

I am a bit of a Tolkien-reading, Dawkins-quoting voracious bibliophile (nothing unhygienic, if you wonder) and a giant consumer of everything edible; I like Lovecraft, and everything out of Japan; I laugh when most people frown; and Masks of Eris, this blog, is where I write. The writing is whatever I feel like writing: this has included humorous half-serious pieces about Finland, atheist opinions, mockeries of religion, random jokes and observations, and even mathematics now and then.

Other places where I am are Lemmata, a blog of comic-like scribbles, one a day, and Mirrors of Eris, a non-blog site of more massed perversions of religion, philosophy and conspiracy theory.

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I also write, whenever I feel like it, A Guide to Finland. It is just a conglomeration of my moans and bad jokes on the subject of the sweet land of depression and ice that is mine. You can see the ready chapters of the Guide on the right, under “Pages”, or just see the table of contents for longer chapter titles.

I try to be both accurate and amusing, but beyond being a citizen of the said place, and sometimes an explainer of its more unusual quirks to exchange students, I have no special qualifications for the work. Feel free to read and comment on the Guide, and (oh, I blush) don’t hesitate to forward a link to it to all your friends.

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Here’s a sampling of above-average posts about various subjects:

• What is Discordianism?, or an explanation of that which is to religion as Flying Spaghetti Monster-ism is to Intelligent Design cretinism. Er, creationism.
• Of the Golden Apple, or a not entirely serious retelling of the legend of the Apple of Strife of Eris Discordia.
• Dead bodies, or my personal favorite post, in which I try to combine humor, cannibalism and necrophilia.
• Immanentizing the Z-Eschaton, or a short tale with Jesus and zombies; the more uptight Christians might not want to read this one.
• Personal genesis, or a poem that tries to be a scientifically accurate creation story of me, from the Big Bang (astronomical, not parental) to my present tubby form. (Tripe, yes, but my tripe and tripe I rather like.)
• You and your PhD advisor, or the varieties of the advisorial experience entabulated.
• Faith-based mathematics, or the application of theological methods and arguments into proving that, er, that all functions are continuous.

Finally, there’s Erisiana (pdf): since I understand religious people have these holy books, I as a Discordian decided to write one myself. As neither Mohammed nor Joseph Smith commented on this particular aspect of the creative process: “It was a jolly good time.”

If you want variety by Masks of Eris, just consider that Eris is a minor goddess and a dwarf planet, and Masks of Eris abbreviates to “moe”, which is both the Simpsons’ bartender and a Japanese word for either “protective, nonsexual love” or someone inspiring that, and “masks” — well, we all wear masks, but in addition the word can denote a distressing party game played with copious amounts of drugs, a packet of razorblades and a copy of either the Silence of the Lambs or Face/Off.

Okay, the last one was made up. And the goddess and the bartender are imaginary creatures. And the planet is incredibly far away. But “moe”, the Japanese concept? Well, that is something that exists.

I hope you don’t need the words “screaming tedium” to characterize this blog o’ mine.

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Oh, one more thing. Even a scribbler as humble as I does not wholly discount the possibility of someone finding his scribblings amusing or otherwise worth reading, so let this be said: You are free to copy and distribute the content of this blog and fiddle with it if you so wish, as long as no money is gotten out of it, and as long as you credit Masks of Eris and, preferably, also include a link to me. (And it would be nice if you left a comment about what you’re doing, too.) To be more concise:

(click for explanation)

Also, a warning: if you try to say something I wrote is your work, I shall send a demon with treads of glass and breath like a tractor with diarrhea to plague you… by renting the apartment above yours.

Otherwise, enjoy!