A couple of things. First off:: Good Golly, Miss Molly! Is it really the end of the world? Apparently it is. I personally find it hard to believe that people are worried about this when we have a president who has total disregard for the law and who is slowly striping away our personal freedoms. If anything RFID would used as tools to improve the illegal domestic spy program… Like the T-Shirts say, ‘Guns don’t kill people, I kill people.’
Secondly, I am glad I do not have a giant toothbrush or this might be me!
Thirdly, while I do not believe in most of the tripe on this site (just because it is written down does not mean you should believe it, especially if someone says it was written by an omnipotent being with split a personality) this commentary is quite informative (not being sarcastic). I’ve long had a thing against televangelists once I figured out they are scam artists, but apparently they also make people complacent in their faith (is that good or bad?). Sort of like modern day indulgences. Instead of paying so crazy TV personality for salvation or whatnot just print out the following and your are good to go.
The text reads: “By the authority of all the saints, and in mercy towards you, I absolve you from all sins and misdeeds and remit all punishments for ten days.” Shamelessly pilfered from Wikipedia.
Fourthly, Steve might find this amusing.
This turned out to be longer than I thought… damn you Internet! Also, I think that the language of religion makes me cringe more than religion itself. I think I dislike it because people believe in anything spoken using that language (Bush & Bin Laden are good examples). The language pretty much allows people to accept or reject things without actually thinking about them.
Fifthly, a little something extra on the use of language.
Okay, so, like I said earlier, I have started reading the Daily Kos. Yesterday, Bush gave a speech that irked me and this post pretty much sums up my feeling on the subject (which I is why I like to read the site). I thought I would share. It seems that fighting abortion is the only way this administration can seem compassionate. It has done nothing good for the majority of the country, even if most of it either does not know it or does not care.
The book that I am reading is forcing my mind to think about current events. Many of the ideas the Victorians struggled with (existence of God, purpose of God, purpose without God) are ideas that many people still struggle with. One of the more interesting points the author makes is that for all extents and purposes the ‘clockmaker God’ (God as the creator) has died and needed to die for society to continue to advance (i.e. have science). While I do not think that this God is quite dead (’D-E-D, dead’) I do agree that it needs to die. The fact that people believe that God is active in this world allows people to avoid active thought and put forth old prejudices as truth. While there can be a god it needs to be more of a paradigm and less of a monarch. Of course, many people want God to give them a purpose and to make them special (i.e. judea/christian tradition states we were created in God’s image and that we inherited the Earth). Suck it up. You are an (pseudo-) intellegent ape.
And sayeth he, ‘organize thy music according to iTunes’. And so it was done. Er… or at least started. I did not realize that we had collected so much music. I guess that it was in a format that discouraged use (CD), so disuse caused me to forget about it. It looks like I will be spending many a night ripping our CDs.
Then he doth say, ‘Woot’. I think I have a plan in my head for the next couple of nights (though wanting to watch the Bruins game may interfere with them). Tonight: go home rip some more CDs, eat, then play hockey. Tomorrow: go to the Coffee shop and write a response to an essay I recently read (or watch hockey). I can understand why the romans spent so much money on the Colosseum. Sports (violent or no) are very distracting. I could spend much of my free time watching or playing sports leaving little time for me to think, read, discussing or doing other things. People could do some pretty shady stuff and I might just be too distracted to notice.
And, ‘Though shalt not steal, lie or covet stuff that is not porn’. I randomly followed a link the other day and found this. It seems to share many of the concerns I have for what is going on around us, and it seems to be one of the few places that actually quotes Dean. You would think the news media would be interested in the person who is trying to reform the Democratic Party (you know the one that loosely represents 1/2 of our population). And by reform I mean ‘grow a backbone’ not ’stop taking bribes/kickbacks’, which apparently is a problem among Republicans.
He then concludith, ‘for the LORD thy God is a jealous God, and thou shalt not belevith in Evolution’. I saw this in one of Heidi’s Science News’s. It is always good to see stupidity mocked by in humorously ingenious ways.
Right. So that’s done. This year I received the correct amount of clothing: 2 shirts, 2 pairs of socks (taken from my father in-law because I am a failure at packing), 2 vests and 1 pair of pants. My body is like the Ark. Woot. Instead of clothing I received fun stuff: a DS, a Nano-rific music device, a large stack of porn, a NAS, a campin’ stove, and some other things.
Currently I am watching an NECN report on Kwanzaaaa. It looks like this is coming becoming more popular, but that practitioners are worried that it will become commercialized like Christmas. Haha. If you really think about it all American holidays are commercial… even personal ones like birthdays and anniversaries. I mean there is Christmas (gifts), Valentine’s Day (candy/flowers), Halloween (candy), Mother’s Day (candy/flowers), e&c (candy/flowers). The only holiday I can think of that actually does not involve me buying something for someone is Thanksgiving (food/drink). Hmm…
Now go, kids, go.
A quick post. Caveman outfielder is going cosmopolitian. ID is found to be not science.
If you have been reading this for a while you know my stance on intellegent design. The only thing that makes me a little sad is now the Flying Spaghetti Monster will not be taught about in school (at least in Dover, PA). Don’t you want to put this on your car? I heard this on NPR yesterday while in the automobile; listen if you wish.
I put some ads up. The are a little fucked up… I think that has something to do with the preview server for blogger displaying my weblog differently than the live server. I’ll mess with it later.
I have been receiving emails from such groups as moveon.org and a common strategy they employ is that of the reformed sinner (Amen!?). For example:
‘So, we’re inviting you to share your story and help us find Republicans and former Bush supporters against privatization. Please just take a couple of minutes today to click on the link below and write a testimonial about Social Security or forward this e-mail to Republicans or former Bush supporters you know.
http://www.moveonpac.org/socialsecurity/mystory/’
While I do not really think of this as subversive, I think it is a stupid tactic. Of course every republican is not going to agree with everything Bush does, just like every Democrat did not want Dean as the DNC Chair. Pointing out what is wrong with the current Republican government does nothing, because a large number of people do not see the Democratic Party as an alternative, but maybe that’s because everyone is a fucking moron and thinks God ordains everything. Everyone please take responsibility for your own actions, it gives you an excuse to think (that includes those who voted for Gore/Kerry).
Contrary to the title I will not be remembering when (though I do not have any adverse feeling towards that activity), it is simply something that came in one ear and out my fingers. Recently I have been busy, not simply at work but at home as well, but I will not be writing about this either.
Instead I will write about stubborn people. My recent observations have lead me to believe that spineless/ineffectual people are more stubborn than aggressive people, but only about certain things. I think that to make up for not getting their way all the time they take one or two things and defend them tooth and nail against all arguments. Who knew dictionary.com did banalities! Aggressive people, on the other hand, are more likely to get their way but less likely to care, i.e. they are more willing to do what is more reasonable and not defend a useless point.
I do not know opinion of aggressive people is correct, as almost all the people I work with are spineless. So all I am sure of is that spineless people make it difficult to get shit done because they will not speak up unless forced to and they defend stupid shit with a passion. I think they like to make themselves out as martyrs. bleg.
Z. Monkey
P.S. Oh, and religious zealots/fanatics/devotees/whatnots are the most stubborn people I know… who else could believe in something so abstract a God, with a “book” (good or no) for proof. I book most likely written over a long period of time by multiple people with different agendas. Suggested reading: Interpreting the New Testament, Interpreting the Old Testament both by Daniel J. Harrington.
It is always amusing when one of sites I frequent makes a comment about the profession I am supposed to be in. This comment, which points to this article, seems very relevant to what I am currently doing. Apparently, people who write weblogs are morons who have never read a book from cover to cover. While this may be true in most cases, it is not fair to generalize. I presonally read everything between the covers of every book I read and go so far as to read the spine of each book as well!
While I do not see any harm in letting Google paying for the digitization of books and then give access to them. I do agree that reading a book online is shitty for several reason: (1) screens suck, (2) computers are heavy and put your legs to sleep if you use them on the shitter, (3) computers are hot and burn your legs, cock and/or balls if you use them on the shitter, (4) computers have batteries and (5) you cannot carry a computer around in your back pocket for reading on the bus, train, etc (some bastardface may steal it).
I also think that in the near future many of the above-mentioned problems will be remedied and having access to a large number of books online will be fucking fantastic. I do understand that people will search these books online and misquote, misread or take out of context much of what is in them. This, however, is not a new thing. Look at how people quote the fucking Bible! Talk about taking something out of context!
Z. Monkey
This is not a post about me being lost, metaphorically or otherwise. It is a post regarding the actual novel by Daniel Defoe, which I recently read.
The one thing that seems to have stuck in my mind is the idea of Providence, or that everything that happens to you for a reason (as decided by the God). This allows you to not take responsibility for your own actions and to justify behavior such as slavery and misogyny.
For example, Crusoe was put on the desert isle by God so that he could become a better Christian, the ship (which crashed into the isle) was put there so he could easily support himself, the natives on the mainland were put there so they could be mastered by the Europeans, Friday escaped being eaten so that he could willingly become Crusoes slave and a Christian.
One other way to think of this is as follows: greed put Crusoe on a ship and a storm put him on a desert isle, the ship (which crashed into the isle) was put there because it crashed into the isle, the natives were on the mainland because their ancestors moved there because they thought it was nice, Friday escaped being eaten so he would not be eaten and, owning his life to Crusoe, decided to live with him and became a Christian because he had little use for religion (it is often difficult to tell the mind of a fictional character).
Perhaps I am just looking at the superficial reasons and not at the underlying cause, but I doubt it. Why would an omnipotent, omniscience being bother with us (other than as a diversion)? Why would such a being exist? Do we, as a semi-educated society, still need such a crutch? Should not we grow up and start taking responsibilities for our own actions and not justify them by Providence or what not?
Or perhaps the book is simply outdated and no one thinks this way, but that’s a lie… I’ve meet my mother.
I really have nothing to say today but I am doing this thing as a experiment so I will attempt to write something. Perhaps, experiment is not the correct word as I am not attempt to disprove anything (for those of you who believe in creationism science does not prove anything, it only rules out things that are impossible).
Anyways, I signed up for an adult hockey league that starts this month. As I have never played hockey I decided to go and play in a pickup game at the local arena. For those of you who do not know, skating uses muscles which are not used for anything else. My “skating muscles” are very weak, for lack of skating, and currently they are also very sore. Though I am glad that I went out and tried this hockey thing before my first league game, as it allowed me to make a fool of myself before then (I did fall over the boards… hizzah [sic]).
And now back to work.
Z. Monkey
Can't stop posting she's so fat!
