Gods and Aliens

Well now, it has been such a long time since I last posted that I think my clothes went out of style.

Not a bad thing

Since my last post I've done much thinking (bad thing) about worldly things and spiritual things. This is probably going to be a more of a vomit post, not that it will smell and cause other people to also make random blog posts, but rather, it will basically be me pouring my thoughts and belief (most of them of a religious nature) out onto this electronic page. If anyone reads this they are welcome to dispute or converse in a civil manner any of my ideas that conflict with their own and if I've led my life well it should be most of them.

Let the brain puking begin!

1. Ignorance and Hate

A while back I was playing a game online and I was talking with some people and enjoying myself when I eventually ended up chatting to a different group of people with vastly different views on the world. This particular group of people were outlandishly racist. Now here is the thing about racism and me. I have heard and retold many of the racist jokes and such but I've never actually come across any single person who legitimately hated another person simply because they were different. So I couldn't really say for sure if these people were extremely racist compared to other racists but they came across as super racist to me. Kind of like trying to explain colors to a person who has been blind all their life. I knew all those colors existed but I had never really experienced some of them.

There's just so many

Lame metaphors aside, this was an eye opening experience for me. These people made some outrageous claims, among them was the claim that president Obama was completely responsible for the state the economy was in. Now, I'm not a huge Obama fan (See previous post) because of

the whole universal healthcare, which puts people like me and my family in charge of taking care of all the lazy people who won't get a job. I don't hate Obama for it and I don't hate any of the people that will inevitably take advantage of the program. Universal healthcare is basically a whore with a heart of gold. There will be the people who are responsible with it and then there will be the people who abuse it until it becomes the kind of decrepit money system the tax system and social security programs have become.

The future...is still kind of hot?

Digression over, I couldn't fathom how these people were able to completely convince themselves that Obama was completely responsible for the economy when it is a generally understood fact that the economy turned bad during Bush's administration. I'm sure that if I had cited that fact they would have had some sort of information or conspiracy theory that refuted it, but I was just so astounded by it that I was at a loss for words. This all leads me to my point.

I can't understand how someone can be that blind to the truth. I'm not saying that I am receptive to the truth, whatever form it may take, and anyone who knows me will tell you the same. But when the truth walks up to you spins you around and then karate chops you across the face you can't just stand their and wonder where that immensely powerful gust of wind just came from and why your face suddenly feels like Chuck Norris just looked at you funny, you have to drop your pride and notice that YOU WERE WRONG!

The truth

It also happens to be completely ludicrous to hate someone based entirely on their looks or differences. Just because someone looks different or has differences does not make them a lesser or worse person than anyone else. This can be evidenced by the fact that despite all the hate these people had for Obama he was clearly better than them. He was the president of one of the most powerful countries in world and they were a bunch of shmucks who I took excessive pleasure from beating in Call of Duty.

This also applies to such topics like religion and science. I had one of my good friends tell me that he once knew (or heard of, can't remember which) a man who was absolutely convinced that the the universe and earth were created in exactly seven days (technically six) and that dinosaurs never existed. Now you might be tempted to shout to yourself, because face it, if you're reading this no one else is around and all the doors are locked, what about all the fossils and such that prove their existence?! Well, he had a perfectly reasonable and well thought out explanation for them. They were all put their by God to test mankind's faith. Apparently God is less like this:

and more like this:

Sounds to me like God is out to trick all of mankind into believing totally made up evidence so that he can deny most of us from heaven. It's not my belief on the matter, but its the interpretation I draw from the beliefs of that man.

Or how about when Bill Nye was booed off stage in Texas? Bill Nye was booed off stage in Waco, Texas upon stating that the "lesser light" was not actually a light, but instead reflected the greater light's light. Several people stormed out and one lady yelled, "we believe in God." To which I'd like to respond, congratulations how is that relevant and thank you for proving that Texas is at least partially as backwards as I like to believe it is. Let's examine the bible for a moment. It is a book. The stories within are very old. It was WRITTEN by men. It also MOST LIKELY contains old superstitions similar to those that lightning was actually thrown by a toga wearing humanoid who would routinely turn into various animals and have sex with human women.

Thrower of lighting, charmer of women

This leads at least me to believe that actually thought the moon produced its own light, which was a reasonable belief...AT THE TIME. We are now damn certain that the moon does not produce its own light because two very basic things would happen if it did. The first and most obvious is that we'd all have been completely incinerated and the second is that it would be a whole lot brighter during the night than during the day.

I think two examples is enough, next topic.

2. God

Oh SNAP! Now I've gone and done it. I'm going to talk about my thoughts on God and any random person who reads this is either A) going to tell me I'm going to hell B) try and preach to me C) reassure themselves that their beliefs are the only right ones D) receive my ideas thoughtfully and civilly.

So here is to my soul not being eternally condemned to torture!

I'm rather grown now. I've almost completed college and I'm well on my way to graduate school. With this has come some experience and some thoughts to try and hog tie those experiences into something meaningful. Firstly, I would like to say that I classify myself as a Deist. For those of you who may be unclear on that term, a deist is a person who believes that God created the universe and the other stuff (earth) and then retreated into his god lounge to watch his perfect creation run perfectly forever. This version of God is most often likened to a clock maker, since a clock maker creates a clock and then sets it to run primarily on its own and require only slight interventions to maintain proper work.

The universe to a deist

I changed my classification to deist during my senior year of high school. The reason for this change was because I could not understand how an all powerful, ever present, all loving God would let bad things happen to so many good people while the truly evil seemed to flourish. Many people like to reassure themselves that God has a plan and that innocent deaths and unpunished evil are all part of the plan. I HATE that. I don't hate the people that believe it, but I hate that idea. In my mind a good plan by a supreme God who really loves his creations and is involved daily does not allow for the good people to die or have terrible tragedies plague their lives. So it made more sense to me that God was still there but he took more of a passive role in earth's happenings.

Then I ran into a problem during college of rationalizing how an all powerful, all loving, always present being could just sit on the side lines like a disinterested coach whose team clearly needs his help.

He's just chilling

I then had a thought. Any of you good Catholics out there will know it's a terrible one. What if God wasn't all knowing or all powerful? God not being all loving didn't cross my mind, mainly due to the Old Testament. (Some of that stuff is terrifying) If God wasn't all knowing then he wasn't aware that good people were suffering and that greedy and selfish people were flourishing. If God wasn't all powerful then he at least knew about the situation but wasn't able to help all of the good people who needed Him. This still didn't make complete sense because a being who can create the universe is certainly powerful enough to both watch over and protect his creations. I was struggling with it for the longest time, then I went and played Assassin's Creed.

You might scoff (fancy word bonus) at me for adopting the ideas of a video game, but let me remind you that all forms of art have been influencing people since they were first encountered. The big thing here was that HUGE SPOILER in Assassin's Creed the gods are super advanced beings (probably from space) that created man in their image. They weren't all knowing or all powerful but they were more advanced than their creations. Just like I am more advanced than a hammer, or a fork.

Not a spork though, that reigns supreme

Granted, none of those objects can think and act on their own, and I didn't invent any of them because I still eat mainly with my fingers because damnit; its easier. But how long will it be before humans are fully cloned? We have been creating life ever since we were created, it just took a man and woman. Now, it only takes a sperm, an egg, and several tubes of varying size. If we went to a planet and started life it would most certainly be in OUR image. This simple video game provided me with at least part of an answer that I had been searching for. Our creator or creators did not let the good suffer by choice, but because they could not be everywhere at once to take care of us. So he, or they, gave us all the traits we needed initially and the ability to make our own decisions and then watched us grow up.

Its not a solid theory but let's argue and I'm almost certain I could prove that no theory involving God or gods is. I admit, this sounds outlandish and most people laugh when I suggest that God could quite possibly be a super advanced alien, but it makes the most sense to me and quite frankly it doesn't have to make sense to anyone else. It also isn't set in stone. I was raised Catholic, back in medieval times I would have been excommunicated, maybe killed for my current beliefs. But I came to these beliefs through a process and I know that the process isn't done because I'm still alive. I have a great many more experiences in store and I'm sure they will lead me in new directions with my beliefs.

So for now, here is a funny cat picture.

America, the Land of the Lazy

Anybody who lives anywhere knows that America kicks ass. If you live in America you know it kicks ass, if you live anywhere else you most likely hate America because it thinks it kicks ass. Well let me tell you as an American I am extremely proud of my country. When the National Anthem plays I swell up with pride and when I see a great big American flag waving in the wind I can't help but smile.

However, there is one thing that manages to infuriate me every time I think about it. That thing is the sad state of the legislature that has been getting passed. By this I mean Government run healthcare and Welfare. Good programs on paper; atrocious in practice. Every time I think about these programs and some of the types of people that take advantage of them it infuriates me.

and IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!

Here is a more professional statement on the same topic. None of those reasons really explain what infuriates me the most about either of these government run programs. I know that other government run healthcare programs are basically crap, but what enrages me beyond nine thousand is that other people abuse these programs for no other reason than they are lazy as shit.

Pictured: other people

Let me recap an argument that I had with someone once upon a time that exemplifies exactly the kind of horse shit attitude that explains the sad state that America has fallen into.

1: Every other civilized country in the World has it.

Check this out. I consulted Wikipedius, God of Knowledge, and He answered me with that. Now you will notice that not every civilized country in the world is on that list. Mainly because that statement is an exaggeration meant to imply some sort of commonality that all countries must have in order to be civilized. Now, attacking that statement by showing that not all civilized countries have universal healthcare is dumb and childish. I would like to present a stronger argument. Let's talk bandwagons.

Not this kind

Remember back in the 8th grade when that old dude or dudette came and spoke to your class about drugs and such even though it was clear that this person was the absolute worst choice for the job? Kind of like hiring a convicted child pornographer to work at a Sears photo studio.

Among other poor decisions

This is the same concept. Just because everyone else is doing it does not mean that America has to do it. If England and France started having unprotected sex with Germany would America have to join in? Even though I hear that Germany is pretty kinky in the sack. Arguing that America has to get universal healthcare because other civilized countries have it is not a political, economical, or even logical point to make. However, me making this argument does nothing now that Universal Healthcare has already been passed. This leads me to my next point of rage.

2: I don't know what its like to not have insurance

True, I don't know what it is like to not have insurance, but if anyone is interested I would like to also point out that the reason for that is because my parents always busted their asses to provide stuff like that. My parents worked. The funny thing is that the person who was making these outrageous arguments against me had TWO parents (science says that's twice as good as one), and neither of them worked in any kind of job that provided insurance. It wasn't a matter of circumstance that deprived this person of insurance it was laziness. Why bother working to earn money or insurance when there are ways to get the government to just GIVE it to you. Now, argue with me for a moment. Argue that jobs that provide insurance are pretty difficult and very time consuming for someone who is also trying to support three children. First, how can you support 3 children when you don't work to bring in any substantial income? Second, let me provide you with a short list of about 13 jobs that damn near anyone can have that provide insurance. CLICK HERE. You should notice that this isn't a professional compilation of any sorts, but look at some of the numbers. Just 20 hours at Starbucks earns you health benefits! I live on a campus right down the street from a Little Caesars and they provide health benefits. A FREAKIN GREETER AT WALMART GETS BENEFITS.

She is smiling because SHE has coverage

So basically anyone can EARN insurance. That's the thing though, earning things seems to be too difficult a concept for people in American these days; not everyone though, there are still millions of hardworking people, which raises my next point...

3: Where does the money come from?

Universal health care requires that everybody pay into a fund that sick people can use whenever they want. Everyone has full coverage, that's the meaning of universal after all; even those people that are unemployed, disabled, or too old to work. What do those people pay? Here is the average cost,roughly, of a doctor's visit. It could range anywhere from 60$ to 5,000$. That is a substantial amount of money to consider if 9.6% of Americans are unemployed. I'm not going to do the math for you because math is stupid, but here are the numbers (you can do the math yourself) there are about 311 million people in America and the unemployment rate is 9.6%... enjoy. Whatever that number you got multiply it by something between 60 and 5,000. Big number right? So who gets to cover that? Read this. Now laugh at the stupidity of the person who posed the first question. But ponder the answer. The taxes go up and therefore the people with a taxable income have to pay it. What do the people who don't have any source of income pay? NOTHING! This means that the person I was arguing with can use all the doctor's visits that are needed and they don't have to put shit back into the system for it.

Not being put back into the system

This is why America has become the Land of the Lazy. The laziest people in this country are now just being given things. Why is it that the US is rewarding behavior that is detrimental to everything this country stands for? Why not reward the hardworking middle class? The vast majority of the country that suits up everyday and busts their ass to provide for themselves and their families. The people who have pride in their work and are shamed by being given handouts. What happen to the pride in this country? How is it that so many people have lost their sense of shame? It seems like the wealthy in this country are content to let those financially below them squirm while the extremely lazy, and therefore poor, are content, even proud, to have their livings just given to them. Sadly this will be the way it will be for eternity it seems, because the working class is made up of people who take pride in working hard and these people shoulder up the nation everyday and go out and work to make this country a great place. The only problem is that the lazy and shameless don't have the spine, the guts, or the courage to carry their own weight.

That lack of shame and taking pride in a prideless lifestyle just pisses me off, and if you're a working class citizen it should piss you off too.

What to do?

Alright this needs to be settled. Last night I was out and about and I was introduced to some people and I shook this guy's hand but when I shook it I noticed he tried to pull away and do a slide. This kind of thing demands immediate attention. Have you ever felt that awkwardness after you go in for a handshake, or a slide and bump, or a shake and hug, and whoever is opposite you expects something different? First of all you come away feeling like an idiot and your opposite comes away thinking you are just that...an idiot.

but not the rich kind

I think the handshake and the greeting need to be analyzed. Is there a situational standard that can help you identify which greeting is expected? Or is it a race thing, should you fist bump white people to show you're hip? Should you shake a black person's hand to show respect? Do girls expect a hug? Who cares, why is she out of the kitchen? Is there a sandwich in her hands?

lolz sexist jokes iz funniez

Digressions aside, what is the real problem here? The problem is people! If we just get rid of all the people then handshakes and the need for them would be rendered void by the surrounding mushroom clouds.

Problem solved!

But seriously, nuclear war is not a way to solve real problems, unless you are a machine and you believe that humans are your biggest opponent in which case carry on. But since I am a great man and I do my research.

Wikipedius granting man knowledge

I went a searching on YouTube and I found these two gents.

These gentlemen have been kind enough to work out some of the difficulties and give you tips to help you out of your socially awkward greeting. They don't give you any advice on social situations that can help you sort this kind of thing out.

But maybe they are on to something. Maybe a handshake is based on the individual. So there is really no situational standard. Your boss at work might be really cool and so he feels a fist bump is more appropriate, or that white guy you met at the party while playing flippy cup wants to show he appreciates you not spilling your beer that last time and so he wants to shake your hand.Basically you need to read the individual and assess(quickly) what the next step is. If you can read the other person right your handshake might be like this.

Or like this...

I hope we start greeting each other like that.

A Simple Test

So I was given a very simple challenge. Turn off my computer for 48 hours. I was allowed to first get anything off of the computer that was necessary for homework. I sent my necessary sources and things to my email account so that I could work on them later. We were instructed not to use our own computers or our roommate's, but we were allowed to go to other places, like libraries for example. The first 24 hours of the challenge went pretty smoothly. I finished my final paper on another computer and then I returned to my room. I watched some TV played some Legend of Zelda and went to sleep, no big challenge. The final day was more difficult. I had no papers to write to take up my time and so the end of the day could not come fast enough. If I could sleep then the time would go by faster and the challenge would be gone sooner.

The point of the challenge was for us to experience a short amount of time in the digital divide. The Digital Divide is the reality that some areas of the world have access to technology while other areas do not. We had to try and live our lives without our most necessary tool and luxury, our computer. I can say that the challenge was doable for me because I know of places that are nearby that allow me access to computers and the internet. Also, unlike some people, I am not completely reliant on the computer or the cellphone.

Update to The Korea Post

So I was scanning my Reader account and noticed that another subscription was covering the Korean gaming problem so I dropped in to use the bathroom and not flush when I came across some startling facts that were inexplicably left out of my last response.

This time what I read about was entirely shocking. It appears that a Korean couple neglected their REAL LIFE, FLESH AND BLOOD, PREMATURELY BORN OUT OF AN ACTUAL VAGINA AND UTERUS to raise a virtual child.

HO-LEE-CRAP

I think I now understand the dangers of video game addiction. My previous conclusion about video games was that people played them in order to be something that they weren't or could never be. For example, I enjoy Modern Warfare 2. I play the game for several reasons. It is something I can be good at, I can interact with my relatives who I don't see all that often, and it lets me hunt down and shoot other people while being only marginally afraid of the bullets and grenades that my enemies are hopelessly slinging my way.

They are all dead men

Now some of you are going to cry, "That kind of video game is going to make you a bad person and you will become a murderer in real life." My response to that is shut up, stop blaming video games for your child's mindless violence because you never disciplined him, or her(I'm not sexist), when they were young, or else I'm coming to kill you...do we have an understanding?

ME, when I come for you

Anyway... When I read this I really could not believe what I was looking at. A couple neglected their REAL baby in order to raise a VIRTUAL one. I feel like either one or the other should suffice. If you have a an actual baby why on earth do you need to have another one that you can only visit at an internet cafe?... On a computer? The official report says that the parents were down on their luck because they had no jobs and their child was born premature. PREMATURE, that doesn't mean dead, though in Korean in might. So instead of the taking care of what should have been their pride and joy and the hope that kept them going, they decided to ignore even that and raise a child that in the end will not put mom and dad in a good nursery home, but will probably be hacked and stolen by some other really *poopy* parents.

The parents are set to be tried for negligent homicide on April 16th. I can only hope that they are found completely guilty, they lose custody of their online child, and that thing also dies because the company deletes the account. AND I HOPE, this doesn't lead to any other kind of world wide restrictions, because I'll be super *peed* if those people ruin an enjoyable experience for the rest of us.

Korea Cuts Continuous Gaming to Curb Addiction

Let's talk addiction for a moment. When I say addiction the first thing that is going to come to mind is the thought of drugs. Heroin, Meth, Crack, stuff like that. Never would your mind think of this guy.

Okay well maybe

As it turns out Korea seems to have a problem with video game addiction. This is South Korea we are talking about here not North Korea. They have bigger problems, like communism, the free world...

and this guy

Maybe once they get that guy to wear something WITHOUT zippers they can start having problems like game addiction. I digress. The South Korean government is in the process of deciding on whether or not to ban underage gamers from the internet after midnight. Supposedly the gamers can choose if the ban goes from midnight to six, one to seven, or two to eight. Either way, it's six hours that those gamers can't be online. I am not completely clear on what video game addiction is so I asked the eternal information god...Wikipedia. What I learned from that was that video game addiction is "the overuse of video and computer games that interferes with daily life." Which sucks because that means I have life addiction because I often overuse daily life and it interferes with my video gaming; I better balance that *poop* out.

Now I still can't really understand how video game addiction can exist, much less be a bad thing. I know addiction is bad.

Bad

That's a heroin addict's arm if you were curious. I digress. I may not understand video game addiction but as a reasonable individual that can make perfectly rational conclusions. I can assume that when a government takes action to curb certain kinds of behavior that behavior must be harmful and dangerous because, to my knowledge, governments NEVER take action against things that might be pointless endeavors.

Prohibition *Cough*

However, I do know that South Korea is home to some of the most "pro" video gamers in the world. They have celebrities whose sole claims to fame are being better than anyone else at video games. They have TV channels that broadcast these games! So maybe the government is taking a step in the right direction by trying to limit the youngsters playing time, because really, any pre-pubescent kid that is staying up past midnight to play games is probably not doing anything to help their health. I think those kids just need to be introduced to the joys of sleep, which is what I'm going to go get right now. It's late. My final word on the topic is that South Korea is doing the RIGHT thing until we start seeing things like

this

at which point more action will be required. Goodnight!

Sharing a Wedding with the World

When most people get married they usually plan a ceremony and reception that includes family and close friends. Although a select few go so far as to just get married at a court letting no one be aware that they are in fact tying the knot, which can lead to some very confused and frustrated parents.

Your angry mom

However, this is not the case with Greg Rewis and Stephanie Sullivan. These two decided to have a Twitter wedding. The two have apparently been married before and felt that this marriage needed to be special. By special some of us might think an awesome party with a rare celebrity guest or a very traditional ceremony. But not these two, special meant tweeting the entire ceremony. It is important to note that they weren't actually standing at the altar, cellphones in hand, tweeting while the good father united them. They had their children, from the previous marriages use laptops to post the vows at the right moments. They even had pictures!

Now it should be pretty obvious that these two are geeks. Heck, Greg even proposed through twitter, while he was IMing with his love. And let's be completely honest with ourselves. Who else other than a geek would be willing to tweet their entire wedding to the world and think its the coolest thing in the world? Geeks in this manner can be like pests. They swarm technology and cause other people to feel those awkward moments because, " that guy over there is really into this." I know, sometimes I'm "that guy." But geeks are essential to life as they often spread knowledge of useful or safe technology.

Pictured: Geeks and their technology

Now while Greg and Stephanie are truly geeks, I have to say it's pretty impressive. Plenty of other guys say they want to announce their love for a girl to the whole world but how many of them actually do. So maybe they yell out in a crowded park or propose in a public place. HA speaking of which check this out.

That...Sucks

But I actually hope that Greg and Stephanie are happy and congrats to those two for pulling off the world's largest wedding. It's not a Guinness record or anything but if the whole world is technically invited you deserve praise in my book. And thankfully they had the good sense to stop tweeting when it came to the honeymoon, but you know someone will eventually go there. The tweets will be hilarious.

I'm totally going to consummate my marriage:Posted 2 minutes ago from marriage man

Consummated my marriage...I don't know what the fuss was about: Posted seconds ago from marriage man