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| Last PostIndeed, I am moving away from xanga to my original site http://www.xenger.com which is now equipped with a blog.
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| Question of the day:
"Do you explain the explosion of retail sales in the Christmas season as businesses responding to demand created by religious celebrations or as consumers responding to an altered shopping experience created as successful merchandizing ploy?"
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| Before I start i'd like to apologize if this offends you.
So incase you havent heard, they did a 1800 person study to show the effect of "praying" on heart surgery. Read here. In short, out of the three groups (prayed for, thought they were prayed for, not prayed for), the group that was prayed for had the most complications in the surgery. Now, you probably already know that I am not a religious person, so seeing results like this doesnt surprise me. In fact, in today's society, i doubt it surprises anyone. What really bugs me tho, is how quick religious people are to denounce the study. The reasoning of course being "one can not use science to study god".
Now look at article number 2 which studies the effect of playing "violent games" on teenage violent behavior. Notice how the article says at the end that "Students who'd played Grand Theft Auto were more likely to think they'd be accused of cheating." without any numbers to back it up. Yet after reading the second article, I'd say most parents would end up with the thought that "violent games" = bad for kids.
Now compare the two articles. 1800 heart surgeries vs 100 teenagers. results presented vs conclusions presented. Doesn't it seem wrong? It is my belief that human society as we know it today is built on logic. Everything from scientific research, to government policies to choosing between apple and oranges. If that is true, then how can we just believe some statistics and disregard others? If say it is true that we can not use "logic" to understand God, then how can we even acknowledge that he exists, since the act of "acknowledgement" is in itself based on logic? If we accept that "Logic" can not be used when it comes to issues of religion, then who is to say that the crusades/witch hunts/terrorism is wrong? since those actions are mostly based on religious motivations? Ok so let's take a step back. Suppose the study does not say anything about the existence of God, but rather just the act of praying. I'd claim that most people "pray" because they believe that they will benefit from it in some way. If science can "proof" (as we understand proofs today) that praying is bad for your health. How many people would still pray?
The reason that I'm not religious is not because I dont believe in God. I just find it difficult to accept modern religions which has so many contradictions and hypocrits. I admire and respect those who do not waver in their belief even in the face of all "logical" contradiction. To be able to "truly" have faith is something that goes beyond normal human capabilities. What you can't do, is to selectively use one or the other to better suit your life. Those people I believe are the reall "sinners".
Anyway, once again, I apologize if I offended anyone.
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| The prospect of regularity is becoming strangely frightening. While in college there was never an issue thanks to inconsistent attendence and holidays. However, now it seems like my life for the next 2 years at least have been set, likely characterized by 8-9+ workdays (yea, cant really leave at 8 anymore), 4-5 cups of tea a day, sushi or chinese for meals and so forth. Is that why people go drink themselves stupid on the weekends? Are they hoping to find something "unexpected" to break them out of their routine? Perhaps I will start doing that too. I am starting to sound really morbid. It's not that bad really.
I have finally acquired "half" of my bed, which consists of everything but the mattress and bedframe. Having a real comforter instead of a sleepingbag is definitely a step up in terms of sleep comfort, but a step down in terms of wake up time. Still working on that.
So it looks like we're going back for carnival on the thursday of that week. Not sure when yet. Since I'm currently the only driver, we may have to use other modes of transport. Greyhounds definitely has it's benefits. Just ask Geoff!
Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
- William Dement
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| You know how they say looking at green stuff is good for your eyes? Does it still work if it's on a computer monitor? (no that's not why this site is green).
I seem to have found my regular breakfast place. It's this little shop that makes breakfast sandwiches and pastries. What I find interesting about it is that the sandwich part of the shop is run by a group of mexicans and the pastry/cashier part is run by a group of middle-age korean ladies. Neither group speak very much english. Both teams are led by this one charismatic korean dude who likes to make quirky remarks at his customers. Might as well support the immigrants right?
I think one can look at the frequency of my xanga updates and determine how much work I have. Unlike most others, for me it's more work = more updates. The more work I have the more I dont want to work, and therefore the more I procrastinate. yea....
"The basis of optimism is sheer terror."
- Oscar Wilde
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