This is a blog created by a very opinionated guy. I hope you understand 'opinionated,' because that's all the warning you get. So, just remember, if something on this blog offends you, just LEAVE.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

New Skin! Yay!

In case you hadn't noticed yet (not likely), I've got a new blogskin. Found at at blogskins.com, yadda yadda, credits are on the links page. Isn't HTML fun? I realize some of you probably can't see all of it; I can't on my home PC, but then, I know what it says, don't I? It's still partially under construction, but with any luck I'll have it all done by 10 tonight. I've still got to do some edits in the code for the profile, and I'm trying to insert one of the Haloscan comment links. I'll be getting some help with that if I can. If you see something that really needs to be fixed, and the comment box isn't up, most of you know one of my email addresses.

Update @ 8:41 PM: So, with a little bit of tweaking I got the comment thing to work, and got it in the right place. Thanks to Jenny and Annie for that, I took a look at the source for their blogs to figure out where to put it. Does anyone know what I should do with that "taggie board" space? I was thinking of a chatterbox, but I'm not sure. Suggestions welcome.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Enough=Enough

So..... I'm going to be a bit..... personal here. I'm going to use names, 'cause the people involved, and the people who know about it, are pretty much the only ones who come to this site.

Two of my friends broke up rather violently... I guess it was a year and a half ago, now. When I say, two of my friends, I don't mean that I was friends with one person and became friends with the other. I'd known Jenny since we were little kids at Brannen Elementary, and I'd known Jake for a long time, too.

Anyway.... there was this whole big blowup, that I won't go into. You all know one side of the story, or the other. Neither side is entirely correct, as there were no objective observers. The reason I'm writing for this is because of the things that have been cycling up and down since then.

There's a lot of hate on either side, and from time to time I've felt like I've been caught in the middle. You see, I'm a bastard and an asshole, but I'm also fiercely loyal to my friends. Loyalty, for me, is non-negotiable. Until you give me an absolutely irrefutable reason to leave you behind, I will not. But this isn't about me, is it?

Anyway..... things have been weird and crappy for the last year and a half. Jake hates Jenny.... but then, he doesn't. Jenny despises Jake..... I think. And I.... am am unwilling messenger.

Jake has made it his mission in life to show Jenny "how stupid she is." He says this every time her name comes up, and it pisses me off immensely. Jenny is not stupid. She's devastatingly intelligent, to be honest, and I'm glad to know her.

Jenny "doesn't want to breathe the same air" as Jake. I'm not sure why.... he's usually not sick. Jake is not a bad person, he just has a piss-poor attitude. I do too, actually.

It's been a long time, people. Why can't we have some reconciliation, here? Everyone involved did something wrong, and everyone who's still around can admit that, right? I'm certain that there can be, if not true peace, than an end to overt hostility. It's possible, but there's only one question.....

Who's going to make the first move?

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

De-Religiosity!

To begin, I am not the following:
  • Anti-christian
  • Anti-religion
  • Evil. Well.... not really. I think. Right?
  • The Antichrist
Okay? We all understand this, right? Now, onto the good stuff.


I think I opened some eyes today. Well, I suppose I should say we opened some eyes Wednesday, we being me and Jake.

There's this kid in our Math Models class, who is very, very religious. Naturally I won't tell you his name, we'll call him "B." He's a smart kid, though you might not think so on first meeting. I've known him for years, and I'm glad to know him, he's a good guy. But like I said, he's very religous.

Let's get something established here: I am not antireligous. I think faith is a great thing to have, and I'm rather peeved that my mind won't allow me to have it. I simply do not think that people should follow the Bible, or the Koran, or the Torah, or whatever, without ever thinking about it, which is what lots of people seem to do. I think everyone should question all authority at all times, and that certainly includes religion. Here's some of the ways I think it should be questioned.

1. We all recognize that the bible was written by men
The fact that it was written by men means it is colored by man's perceptions. I don't care if God himself if standing in front of you and dictating it directly; you're going to hear what you want to hear, and that's what's going to be written down. Moses put down the laws of the Hebrews, right? It really doesn't matter who did, for this, but let's say it was Moses, okay? [Pure supposition begins here] Suppose Moses was really, really grossed out by homosexuals. He was the first in a long line of homophobes, and decided that it might be a good idea to do something to get rid of them. So, he took the dictation from God, and then.... added some stuff. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the bible says nothing about abortion. So shouldn't we be smacking anyone who says "God says abortion is wrong!" Wouldn't that be blasphemy, or at least eisogesis?
2. Could you send good people to hell?
It is believed by most monotheists that those who do not share their faith will burn in hell, or whatever. Imagine this scenario: you are God for a day. Maybe you won a contest or something, I don't know, it's your imagination. Anyway, during your day as God, someone dies. For this argument, let us assume that you are the Judeo-Christian God, and and the man who dies, let's say he's an atheist. Now, he is an atheist, but he has led an exemplary life. He did the regular kid things that are "wrong," such as lying to his parents. We all did that at some point, right? Anyway, he has led an exemplary life as an adult, unknowingly following all the teachings of the church. He dies saving a little girl from a fire. He is pretty much on the fast track to wings, harp, and halo.

But he's an atheist.

What do you do? Could you, as a loving God, send this man to hell? Do you think God Himself can? Do you think he should? God's supposed to know all of us, knitted us together in the womb, etc. Suppose you knew the guy that well? Could you send him to hell then?
3. So, are you absolutely certain you're right?
There's no way to prove God. There is no equation for the divine, no empirical evidence, no scientific process to definitively solve the question of God. You believe you are right, and that what your book says is what you should live by. But what if you're not? Have you ever thought that you might be wrong? This brings us back to question 2: If you are wrong, don't you hope the right people's God is a bit more forgiving than the one you believe in? Uh-oh..... suppose you are wrong, and all your life you've called the people who were right names like "pagan" and "heathen." What does that mean for your immortal soul? And what if no one was right? The theological implications are simply staggering! If no one is right... what happens when we die? Suppose God is really pissed at us 'cause we never figured it out! We'd all be screwed!
4. Do you honestly think God is going to pay particular attention to your prayers, or in fact you in general?
How many people are hanging onto this rock now? Still 6-point-something billion, isn't it? That's a whole lot of people, most of whom are praying to one god or another. And many of the prayers are utter bullshit. "Please, God, let the Angels win the pennant," and such shit. So what do you think the odds are that yours are getting through? And suppose you're one of the people with one of the bullshit prayers? You've run up a huge list of stupid prayers, and at this point even the angel secretary is dumping your requests directly into the ephemral shredder. Then all of the sudden you have a terminal disease, and start praying in earnest, but.... at the same time your team gets into the World Series/Superbowl/Rose Bowl/what the hell ever. The angel starts dumping your stuff even faster, and you're dead as a doornail in a few months. Also, it's kind of hard to believe that he's listening to some well-off middle-class american than some poor guy in Africa who has AIDS, E.Coli, and is starving. He'd rather listen to your pleas for a new season of Trigun or Desperate Housewives or Chapelle's Show (I've got a wide audience here), than some poor guy in Siberia who has to eat snow to survive. You're just bitching, these guys are dying. You really think he's going to help you?



I'm sure there was much more to the argument than that, but I've been working on this post for several days, off and on, and I can't remeber any more of it. I know this post made some people mad, but I really hope it made some people think, too. Comments, please.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Randomity

So what's up with all the fucking angst? Why are people who should be happy, not happy? People who have a boyfriend or girlfriend, or a job and thus money, or a licence-- in short many of the things I wish I had-- whining and complaining and acting like fucking emo's while I'm over here cracking evil jokes and laughing my ass off pretty much constantly? The only people I know who aren't always talking about how fucking bad they have it, I communicate with only through bits and bytes. While I may complain from time to time about things being bad, it certainly isn't fucking constant, and I at least try to make it funny and amuse people while complaining.

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Speaking of emo.... can you think of anything less useful for someone to be? I can't. All the little bastards do is smoke and pretend to hate everything.

"Oh, god, I hate my life. I can go down to Hot Topic with daddy's money and buy myself an entire wardrobe in one afternoon. I hate the world. I've got lots of friends who are just like me. I hate my family. I pretend to commit suicide because then people think I'm cool and edgy."

There appears to be absolutely no point to this crap! They're halfway between Goth, which is kind of cool, and wussy-nerd-dumbass. They need to fucking choose.

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I want to move to California.