I want you to laugh Someday, somewhere, somehow -- everything will be funny for everyone.
-- Robert Stone, Damascus Gate.

A Faith for the New Millennium
It's three words: Must be funny. It's the name, the whole doctrine and belief system, the one commandment, the discipline practiced by the faithful, the spiritual goal . . .more


must be funny Manual of faith and practice
Contents -- edition of 23 MAY 2006


1. Faith
Seriousness and original sin

The good news
Repentence
We realize we are powerless and cannot change by ourselves
Redemption, forgiveness and remission of sins
The last shall be first
Sacred meme
Backwards compatible
Traditional/funny religion conversion chart
No religion

Funny is as funny does
Serious in pursuit of funny is no vice
The true believer and salvation
All saved, all lost or who cares?
Obedience that comes from faith
Faith without works is dead
The Trickster

Redeeming Laughter by Peter L. Berger
Funny rapture
Divine intervention

2. Escaping temptation by the Serious One
The purpose trap
The time trap
The insanity attack
The identity trap
The righteousness trap
Boundary control
The Inquisition
Make it funny

Pure faith in funny

3. Funny science
True, false or funny?

The truth will set you free?
Mirror world
Third logical dimension
Flying in the third dimension
Laughter overrules lies
Quantum thought

Why funny?

4. Funny mission
Funny mission fields
Mbf mission statement
Missionary conversion
Spreading the sacred meme
Party a lot
Divinity school
Treat recruits as god
Free love and easy virtue
Funny sacrifice
Funny paranoia
The funny police
How to stay funny
And now for something completely serious
Mbf as obvious

Goal is funny production, not consumption
Funny performance
Funny promotion of bliss
Funny is a safe outlet for our energy

Energy and funniness
Two kinds of disbelief

Side benefits of missionary work
Quantum thought
Triple joke
Let us pray

Funny as higher consciousness

5. Building Funny world
The answer and the quest
The answer becomes a clue
Visions of funny future

Funny world: story, game or reality?
Funny world as play
Commedia dell'arte

Playing off serious world
Funny school and funny factory
Funny world
Funny world fantasy and science fiction
Funny nudity
Love and sex in funny world
Funny sex: hypersexuality

Funny history

6. Funny money
Talisman
Why funny money?
The funny money story
Funny money monstrosity

Funny money has no plans
Is funny money secular or religious?
The Church of the Almighty Dollar
Middle of the road religion
Funny money basics
Informal funny money
Funny money inflation

Funnies
Stage money
Build funny world: make funny money
Being and action

Funny money
Funny money adjusts to reality
What to do with funny money
The laugh standard
The $100/hr standard
Sex-based currency
Funny economics Q & A
The funny economy
Funny money and funny economy
We can't make what we can't measure
Don't be cruel

7. Funny games
It's only a game

Missionary game
Story game
Investment game
One-on-one network game
We're in an adventure game
Funny chaos
Game design
Funny money matching funds
Funny money and Time Dollars



Bizarro strip 4-9-2000

08 MAR 2010

Can the investment game play time dollars?

When heretics have to do time they see their funny money turned into time dollars, which they have to earn back. They may choose from a variety of nonprofit jobs, and if they're brain-dead they'll leave their time dollars where they earned them and forget about them. That's where volunteer hours are now, and only the nonprofits get benefits such as matching funds.

Funny world is designed to get players involved with their game currency. When they get to time dollars world they'll feel they own their time dollars, which used to be their funny money, especially after having to earn them back. They will then claim ownership of all time dollars they earn henceforward.

What does ownership of time dollars mean? It means if I work off my time dollars debt here and there I can gather my earnings in one place and spend them or invest them somewhere else. Normally time dollars are held wherever you earn them. Former heretics will want to move them.

This is a major conflict area. Nonprofits would like to continue to own all the volunteer hours, and have no interest in giving them up. The funny world project is like forming a union for volunteers, demanding ownership of the time dollars they've earned.

The nonprofits have a point, since they provided the facilities, materials and management. They can claim the volunteer hours, and so can the volunteers, win-win accounting. That should ease things a bit. The nonprofits earned their time dollars, and giving the volunteers their own time dollars doesn't cost anything extra.

Mobility of volunteer hours is a big hurdle to cross for each nonprofit. We will bring time dollars in as a new program that doesn't affect existing volunteer hours, but the time dollars must be moveable.

Volunteers will probably keep most of their time dollars where they work, and invest the rest in other causes. This is the investment game again, where you put your money into what you want in your world.

Will this work in time dollars world? When we played in funny world, some of the funny proposals needed matching funds and labor, like putting on a party or a play. In time dollars world, volunteer investment in each nonprofit or project is a metric that many donors will follow. Volunteers are in daily contact with these organizations, and where they put their time dollars is good information on the quality of the operations.

6959
 
08 MAR 2010

Investment game

Funny world is literally the sum of our funny money: what's written on it and how much it's worth. Our personal wealth is our individual funny world, and when we join with others we make up a larger funny world.

We enrich ourselves by copying funnies from each other. Once a week we have a game party where a group builds funny world. There we may deal with major issues such as: What is the funny world holiday? Some will say April 1st, some Halloween, some say both. Players put up funny money with their choice, and the one with the higher investment wins. (We went with both April 1st and Halloween as funny world holidays.)

That little game is the engine of growth for both the funny economy and the time dollars economy. It's another product, and the previous product was create a time dollars economy, so this one goes a level deeper. If we run the engine we'll build an economy.

Let's call it the investment game, and put it to its first test: Can it play heretics vs. Inquisition?

We can all play both parts, playing heretic until someone makes a serious proposal. Ideally all the other players will unanimously turn Inquisition and pound it to death, dividing the meager spoils. But if it's close we play the investment game to decide. Serious or funny? Which side gets the higher investment?

6958
 
08 MAR 2010

Funny money and time dollars

The game is building a funny fantasy world with funny money. This teaches us a lot about time dollars, and what kind of world we can build with them.

Funny world is defined by the rule "must be funny" and revolves around funny money. Funny people are heretics pursued by the Inquisition from serious world who want to bring them back. When they're caught their funny money is seized by the Inquisition and turned into time dollars. The failed heretics have to do time, or community service, until they've earned the time dollars.

TIMERAISING/FUNDRAISING PRODUCT: The game of heretics vs. Inquisition is part of an evening's entertainment, and players end up with a time dollars commitment to work a certain number of hours of volunteer service. If they prefer, they may pay off this commitment at the rate of $100/hour.

The funny money also converts to time dollars at 100 funny dollars per hour, and this provides a standard of value for funny money. Funny money follows the ancient definition: money we make ourselves with nothing behind it whatsoever. But it could cost us an hour for every hundred we create, so that tends to limit the funny money supply and make a funny economy possible.

Funny money and time dollars are linked in ways that strengthen them both. Funny money is a source of time dollars, and time dollars make a funny economy possible. That's just a start. Time dollars need an economy too. That's another product, and we can do our R&D playing with funny money.

6957
 
07 MAR 2010

Inquisition manual

The heretics are funny people who think they can build a funny world and escape the hegemony of serious world. They have their funny money, funny business, funny religion and so on. We are the Inquisition sent to arrest them and make them do time, or community service.

The normal thing is to play heretic and see how far you get. You won't see the Inquisition at all, since we play undercover as heretics building funny world. We catch heretics by their seriousness.

Why would we do that? Aren't we fighting funniness?

No. Funniness is beyond us. But we know a lot about seriousness. When we catch a serious heretic they have already fallen out of funny world, they have lost their funniness and are back in serious world. They have lost the game of heretics v. Inquisition and are in our power. They are ready for our message.

They have fallen suddenly, one moment free in funny world, no danger in sight, now captive in serious world. The message is we are the hegemony. Nobody escapes. We're all serious. We are all the Inquisition.

No, we're not asking you to join. You never left. We own you. And we run this game.

6955
 
06 MAR 2010

What is the time dollars innovation?

Players will own their time dollars and can move them from one nonprofit bank to another, investing their time dollars wealth in their favorite causes. Funding will surely follow this signal.

In funny world, players will learn this pattern with funny money. They'll own their funny money, naturally, and they'll invest it in funny projects or proposals or fantasy elements, and build a funny world which is literally written on their funny money.

When the Inquisition seizes a serious proposal, the funny money is turned into time dollars, which are then earned by working, so the sense of ownership is carried over.

Nonprofits would generally prefer not to offer time dollars mobility, which is why this initiative has to come from the volunteers. They will want to keep what worked in funny world, and they'll want to keep their power in time dollars world.

6953
 
27 FEB 2010

Dual currencies for play and work

There needs to be motivation to earn time dollars and increase our balances. There will be rewards, and we'll invest our time dollars and find they count.

The Inquisition view is that funny money doesn't count, but funny people will copy time dollars to give funny money some structure. Then funny money totals may be an alternative measure of winning, significant for aspiring funny people.

6935
 
27 FEB 2010

Funny world needs time dollars

Not just as a serious excuse for support. Funny world needs time dollars for its construction. It may need them to teach funny money. Another reversal. Just as we convince serious world it needs funny money to teach time dollars, now we tell funny people they need time dollars to learn funny money.

6933
 
27 FEB 2010

Applying time dollars to funny world

Since we're mostly serious, we'll be building funny world with time dollars labor, further interlocking the two sides of the project. Funny world is the source of time dollars and also the demonstration project. Our enthusiasm for either cannot be separated.

Serious world will see funny world as a toy project redeemed only by its time dollars demonstration and production. The heretical view is that serious world is fooled into building funny world for its own serious reasons.

We're building funny world using time dollars principles, ostensibly to teach time dollars, actually because it's efficient. Funny people can get enthusiastic about time dollars for building funny world.

6867
 
24 FEB 2010

Story viewpoint

The heretic view is epochal struggle, brave pioneers, fiction to play out seriously while enjoying good parties and having the Inquisition do all the work. The Inquisition view is that they run this game, own the heretics and put them to work. Both want to build funny world.

6855
 
24 FEB 2010

Help wanted

Funny people to build a funny world startup.
We're sick of serious world. Help create an alternative.

Funny people have been declared heretics by serious world, which has mounted an Inquisition against them. Heretics have the twin challenges of creating a new world and escaping the Inquisition.

6854
 
23 FEB 2010

Inquisition manual

First the name: INQUISITION comes from the game HERETICS vs. INQUISITION where we take the serious role against the funny heretics.

When heretics lose and are captured by the Inquisition they have to do time in their choice of volunteer work. Players will drop out of the game when they reach the number of hours they want to commit. The game is a volunteer entertainment, reward and time-raiser. Also a fundraiser.

The heretics build funny world and run it on funny money. As Inquisition, we strike unexpectedly from time to time, attacking anything that's not funny and also has funny money invested. We seize this funny money and turn it into a time penalty, at the rate of 100 funny dollars per hour.

Side effects: We establish a standard of value for funny money. We perform quality control to keep funny world funny. We recruit the time of serious people, preferred by volunteer administrators.

As secret agents of the Inquisition, we spend most of our time in funny world, delivering time dollars as product. In fact all heretics have to sign up as secret agents of the Inquisition in order to play. Their time dollars account is established before they make any funny money. A true heretic would have to sign up or stand out. So there's no way of telling who's who.

In the design phase we step through the game, prototyping, testing, developing the product. Our time dollars are recycled in-house into this R&D work.

Most of the work is building funny world, which is tough, not to mention ironic, for the Inquisition. We have to seek out funny talent to bring funny world alive.

We can give our game an education function, where funny money is practice for time dollars. Players get used to creating a new currency, and explore what it means for them. They'll be way ahead of the game when they get to time dollars.

TIME DOLLARS: Volunteers earn them. They own them. The nonprofits are time dollars banks. Like banks, they derive a lot of credit from these volunteer hours.

If volunteers own their time dollars, they can move them to another bank. They'll invest in nonprofits and projects they believe in. Matching funds will follow volunteer wisdom.

6850
 
20 FEB 2010

Inquisition manual

The central Inquisition task is to extract labor from funny world. Heretics are sentenced to do time.

The production chain starts with building funny world and recruiting heretics. We show them how to create their own funny money, which is functionally similar to time dollars. We sponsor games and they learn the funny money economy by playing.

We play the opposition in the games, and attack any serious ideas or activities. We seize the funny money involved and turn it into time dollars, which the heretic is required to work off.

An example would be a nonprofit social fundraising event. Funny world is the entertainment, and time dollars become a volunteer commitment, or they can be paid off at $100/hour.

That's just an introduction to a weekly event, where players get involved in an ongoing funny world creation, and generate an ongoing supply of hours.

When players find they can build a world with their funny money, they're ready to do something with their time dollars.

Time dollars are kept in accounts in the nonprofits they work for. The volunteers have earned them and they don't go away. The first step to making time dollars valuable is transferability. Volunteers should be able to move, consolidate accounts, invest their time dollars in their favorite causes. Donors to nonprofits then have a major metric to follow, and may match the volunteer support.

Transferability of time dollars establishes a banking system and a minimum standard for nonprofits. This is a major goal of the Inquisition, to establish time dollars as an alternative nonprofit currency.

Building a time dollars economy can then follow, meeting needs not met by money. Time dollars will become a form of social security and a valuable backup to the shaky money economy.

This should appeal to heretics, that funny world is a rehearsal and training for bringing something new and good to serious world and meeting the challenge of our times.

6837
 
14 FEB 2010

Bottom line

The serious engineer's job is focused on the time dollars bottom line. He interfaces with funny people and builds funny world as a means of time dollars production. His job is simplified by remaining serious. It's also a big con. Building funny world is the bottom line.

The engineer easily rationalizes this. Make funny money because it is the raw material for time dollars.

6825
 
09 FEB 2010

Time dollars

Time dollars. Volunteer wealth. Usually kept where you work, but after a while, as you leave jobs and move and so on, your wealth becomes a free-floating investment portfolio in various causes, which you can reallocate online. It's also a form of social security. A valuable alternative wealth system, whether serious money thrives or fails.

6816
 
02 FEB 2010

Zero-rupees note

zero-rupees.jpg

The World Bank, no less, brings us news of a new form of funny money at
http://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/paying-zero-public-services

The zero-rupees note is paid whenever a bureaucrat in India asks for a bribe. Apparently it terrifies them and delivers the goods.

6805
 
Keep on reading in archives: January 2010 contents
 

Email Adress:

Comments:

 


Trips to funny world

Places around Prescott to get away from serious world

Frequently questioned answer

True, False or Funny? Getting your way with triple logic

An Interview with God

Manual of Faith and Practice

Abundance and meaning

Quotes & aphorisms

Funny sex and nudity

Life of Saint Hick

Address to Unitarians


search mustbefunny.org

2010 archives
2009 archives
2008 archives
2007 archives
2006 archives
2005 archives
2004 archives
2003 archives
2002 archives

Older stuff

The competition:
Funny money
Church of Dudeism
Play for Change
Saint Misbehavin'
Haha Mustbefunnyism
Stephenological Colbertism
The Church of Google
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Maybe logic academy
Zero = infinity
Shamanic Humorists and Optimists
Sarlo's Guru Rating Service
Church of Ed Wood
Museum of Hoaxes
Detox
The Door Magazine
Landover Baptist Church
Godless British humour
Swami Beyondananda
Church of the SubGenius
Discordianism
Temporary Autonomous Zone
Cacophony Society
Religious humor directory


Contact

Copyleft (C) 2009 by Derek Brownlee. Free for copying and distribution under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

Print funny money at: mustbefunny.com

 

 

The only rule you need to break all the others
6546

 



What happens in funny world stays in funny world
6544

 

To move ahead we need a new set of lies.
8702

 



"How do I save my own life?" the poet asked.

"By being a fool," God said.
-- Erica Jong
8480

 

 

 

Do nothing. Time is too precious to waste.
-- Buddha
4077


He deserves Paradise who makes his companions laugh.
-- Mohammed

 


April Fool's Day — the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year.
-- Mark Twain

 

 

IF THE FOOL WOULD PERSIST IN HIS FOLLY HE WOULD BECOME WISE
-- William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell


 

Of all our senses, the most highly developed is nonsense.
-- Happy Oasis

 



WAFFLE IRON:

Why on earth would you want to iron a waffle? Wouldn't that just flatten out all the little squares? No, I believe waffles should be dry cleaned. Pancakes, of course, should always be ironed.

-- George Carlin, p.14, Brain Droppings, 1997
9833

 

 

Start off each day with a smile and get it over with. ~~ W. C. Fields

 

 


Top card in the deck. Funny trumps everything.
8750