An article in Newsweek quoting that according to 2009 American Religious Identification Survey, the number of Americans identifying themselves with no religion affiliation has doubled since 1990, from 8% to 15%. It's a small step, but could we really have hope that one day our country will truly become less-than-Christian America?
The End of Christian America
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The HOW versus the WHY
A quote from the blog entry -- Reporting From the Front Lines of the Texas Evolution Debate -- by Juli Berwald:-
Maybe people can be crudely divided into two major and one subgroup -- those who MUST have a why and will take whatever how there is that will fit into the why (because quite frankly, God creating Adam and Eve and just dropped them on earth is kind of a cop out); those who can accept, and fortunate enough to be exposed to, the how even if it doesn't explain the why (or are simply okay with the idea that we have no idea about how OR why); and a subgroup/spinoff of the first group -- those who just believe in everything they were told literally and never given a thought as to how or why.
Science is about explaining the how of the natural world: how the universe began, how life originated, how the diversity of species occurred. Scientists feel no need for their work to answer why the universe exists, why we are here. For scientists, those are questions better left to philosophy, religion and after-work hours.I think it was very well said.
Perhaps creationists find theories that only answer how to be completely unsatisfactory. Maybe for creationists, any theory that doesn't answer why contains weaknesses.
<...>
Maybe evolutionists and creationists can't find common ground because they really aren't even having the same argument. Scientists are fighting to preserve their ability to answer how unimpeded by why. Creationists are fighting to have answers to why, unthreatened by answers to how.
Maybe people can be crudely divided into two major and one subgroup -- those who MUST have a why and will take whatever how there is that will fit into the why (because quite frankly, God creating Adam and Eve and just dropped them on earth is kind of a cop out); those who can accept, and fortunate enough to be exposed to, the how even if it doesn't explain the why (or are simply okay with the idea that we have no idea about how OR why); and a subgroup/spinoff of the first group -- those who just believe in everything they were told literally and never given a thought as to how or why.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Way to Go, Vermont!!
Woohoo!! I was genuinely surprised today when I opened up my Gmail and saw a news alert that gay marriage has been legalized in Vermont. I would not say that I am in tears, but I am ecstatic. 4 down! 46 more to go! And I have always thought that California and New York will be among the first to legalize gay marriage... :(
Interesting article from the other side:
FRC Urges Citizen Action Following Votes in Vermont, DC
I will give you an example, I have known this gentleman who has been married 5 times. FIVE! Twice to the same woman. If you REALLY want to argue about the destruction of the institution of marriage, please go after these folks first. I can understand one mistake, two. Any more than that, you are not even taking this seriously. Did you even stop for a moment to think about WHY you want to marry this person? Have you seriously considered spending the rest of your life with him/her? Strange, I see marraige as a pledge between two individual in front of friends and family about your decision/determintion/commitment to spend the rest of your lives with the other person. The gender of the individuals are completely irrelevant.
I quote this comedian that I have seen on TV once (and I apologize for I have forgotten his name, but he as in the first season of Last Comic Standing), "Gay marriage? How does that concern me? -- Next, people will want to marry their dogs. -- Again, how does that concern me?" Exactly. Same sex couple, opposite sex couple, their getting marry will not affect my marriage in any way. It's a right and nobody should be discriminated against it.
That said, to our lovely homosexual brothers/sisters/comrades, please, you have fought hard for this basic rights and some of us heterosexuals have fought along side you. This right, albeit emphermeral in California, did not come easy. While I understand that straight couples do that all the time, please, think first before you go into the court house to "make a point." Please do not get a divorce three months after you got married. The point here is to show that the commitment to your partner is important to you, don't cheapen it.
Interesting article from the other side:
FRC Urges Citizen Action Following Votes in Vermont, DC
"Same-sex 'marriage' is a movement driven by wealthy homosexual activists and a liberal elite determined to destroy not only the institution of marriage, but democracy as well. Time and again, we see when citizens have the opportunity to vote at the ballot box, they consistently opt to support traditional marriage," said Perkins.I am still very much confused since the beginning of this whole discussion. I am heterosexual, exactly how does gays getting married destroy my union with my husband or even infringe on my rights again? With or without the religious undertone, this is just another one of those fanatic, brain-washed propaganda."The vote today by the D.C. City Council was a direct affront to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The radical Left wants to destroy the traditional union of one man and one woman across the country and they will not rest until they do so.
I will give you an example, I have known this gentleman who has been married 5 times. FIVE! Twice to the same woman. If you REALLY want to argue about the destruction of the institution of marriage, please go after these folks first. I can understand one mistake, two. Any more than that, you are not even taking this seriously. Did you even stop for a moment to think about WHY you want to marry this person? Have you seriously considered spending the rest of your life with him/her? Strange, I see marraige as a pledge between two individual in front of friends and family about your decision/determintion/commitment to spend the rest of your lives with the other person. The gender of the individuals are completely irrelevant.
I quote this comedian that I have seen on TV once (and I apologize for I have forgotten his name, but he as in the first season of Last Comic Standing), "Gay marriage? How does that concern me? -- Next, people will want to marry their dogs. -- Again, how does that concern me?" Exactly. Same sex couple, opposite sex couple, their getting marry will not affect my marriage in any way. It's a right and nobody should be discriminated against it.
That said, to our lovely homosexual brothers/sisters/comrades, please, you have fought hard for this basic rights and some of us heterosexuals have fought along side you. This right, albeit emphermeral in California, did not come easy. While I understand that straight couples do that all the time, please, think first before you go into the court house to "make a point." Please do not get a divorce three months after you got married. The point here is to show that the commitment to your partner is important to you, don't cheapen it.
And Who Said There's Never Good News?
My coworker said he had never heard "good" news (news that are not tragic and sad) on the news. So here goes:
Companies that have No Layoffs -- Ever!
A few tips for those future business owners.
Companies that have No Layoffs -- Ever!
A few tips for those future business owners.
Monday, April 6, 2009
My Husband, In a Nutshell
Oh my god, this entry on Wired.com blog totally explained my husband's behavior years ago that even he himself could not understand.
So shortly after we moved to this area, my husband wanted to buy a house. It was entirely inexplicable -- we were not certain that we wanted to settle down in this area; my job situation was definitely unsettled; there no reason to think that was a great time to buy a house. Not to mention that house prices in this area is arguably only for the wealthy. Regardless, we started looking at houses. "Just browsing," he said.
Let's just say we started at our budget x. Shortly thereafter, we were looking at an amount that exceeds our original budget by 25%. Remember this was the era when your agent will lie through their teeth to get you the biggest loan remotely possible? I was utterly amazed that when the agent called and told us this house that exceeds our original budget by 35% was "a steal," my husband actually paused to think about it. WTH???
Not only that, the agent showed us the price that the seller bought the house for, and the asking price then. Mind you, the asking price was LOWER than the purchased price that the seller paid. When Buying Price > Selling Price, the price has GONE DOWN. One doesn't need a phD degree to figure that out, yet my husband continued to chant "House prices never go down. House prices never go down," like a brain-washed zombie the entire time while staring at the figures in front of him. "But the asking price is LOWER than the buying price!!" I tried to break the spell but failed miserably.
Luckily, this symptom seemed to only affect the male gender, so it's up the the intelligent and rational wife (me) to put her foot down and said "no!" It's funny; it would appear that these agents have a sixth sense -- when Hubby called to decline, they would continue to try to talk him back into it; when I call, they knew instinctively that it was over, and that it's not even worth their time to try to convince me otherwise. ;) We really dodged a bullet there.
And a side note, during this entire fiasco, a different agent told us that he can get us a loan that exceeds our original budget by 60%! I have NO idea where he learned to do this math, because any way I crunched the numbers, the ONLY way we could afford that is to give us a few luxury items such as food, gas (biking or walking to work is good for health, I guess), electricity, water, and pretty much everything else.... But who needs all those when you can put a large check in the agent's pocket and a monthly donation (interest) to the bank!
Given "Expert" Advice, Brains Shut DownThe title is self-explanatory enough that your probably don't even need to read the actual entry. So why did I say that's my husband, in a nutshell? Allow me to tell you this story. It's on house-hunting, back long, long time ago where the myth of real estate is still the best investment to put your money was still unbroken....
So shortly after we moved to this area, my husband wanted to buy a house. It was entirely inexplicable -- we were not certain that we wanted to settle down in this area; my job situation was definitely unsettled; there no reason to think that was a great time to buy a house. Not to mention that house prices in this area is arguably only for the wealthy. Regardless, we started looking at houses. "Just browsing," he said.
Let's just say we started at our budget x. Shortly thereafter, we were looking at an amount that exceeds our original budget by 25%. Remember this was the era when your agent will lie through their teeth to get you the biggest loan remotely possible? I was utterly amazed that when the agent called and told us this house that exceeds our original budget by 35% was "a steal," my husband actually paused to think about it. WTH???
Not only that, the agent showed us the price that the seller bought the house for, and the asking price then. Mind you, the asking price was LOWER than the purchased price that the seller paid. When Buying Price > Selling Price, the price has GONE DOWN. One doesn't need a phD degree to figure that out, yet my husband continued to chant "House prices never go down. House prices never go down," like a brain-washed zombie the entire time while staring at the figures in front of him. "But the asking price is LOWER than the buying price!!" I tried to break the spell but failed miserably.
Luckily, this symptom seemed to only affect the male gender, so it's up the the intelligent and rational wife (me) to put her foot down and said "no!" It's funny; it would appear that these agents have a sixth sense -- when Hubby called to decline, they would continue to try to talk him back into it; when I call, they knew instinctively that it was over, and that it's not even worth their time to try to convince me otherwise. ;) We really dodged a bullet there.
And a side note, during this entire fiasco, a different agent told us that he can get us a loan that exceeds our original budget by 60%! I have NO idea where he learned to do this math, because any way I crunched the numbers, the ONLY way we could afford that is to give us a few luxury items such as food, gas (biking or walking to work is good for health, I guess), electricity, water, and pretty much everything else.... But who needs all those when you can put a large check in the agent's pocket and a monthly donation (interest) to the bank!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Christian Tourette
According to wikipedia, Tourette syndrom is "an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by the presence of multiple physical (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane" and "Tourette's was once considered a rare and bizarre syndrome, most often associated with the exclamation of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks (coprolalia)."
So I guess I can safely describe those who cannot control but to blurt out their Christian faith randomly and inappropriately (mid conversation with nothing to do with religion and sometimes to total strangers) as sufferer of what I'd call "Christian Tourette."
Okay, maybe it's not exactly Tourette, maybe it's just a "vocal (phonic) tic," unless you count the inability to stop butting into other people's business as a physical (motor) tic.
My friend who had lived in Illinois told me that to be consider having truth faith, you must acquire the ability to constantly remind others of your faith. Now the mystery of why AND how have finally been solved.
Knee-Jerk Reflex
Oh wow, there certainly was a lot of shootings around the country lately California (a few miles from us no less!), New York, Philadelphia, Washington... I expected more petty crime/robberies to go up as the economy worsen, I did not expect more shootings.
To start this entry, I would like to clarify my take on owning guns -- I don't get why people need it (nowadays, don't quote me the reason BEHIND it why we have it in the first place) but I am not strongly against it either. And since it's legal AND it is a RIGHT, I am planning on owning one someday.
What baffles me is Americans resilience to giving up their guns? It seems that this is a country based a lot on knee-jerk reflexes -- anything bad happens, people will freak out and call for a ban on this, additional restrictions on that, especially if the incident involve kids. Whenever kids are involved, common sense goes out the window, "Oh, we have to do this, this, and that to prevent that from happening again!" Much like our frivolous law suits, it has gotten way out of hand. Every issue except for guns. Sometimes, really, people should just take a little bit more responsibilities in their actions. All issues except when it comes to guns, that's when logic goes out the window. It's truly an eye-opener. Kids got shot in schools - "It's our constitutional rights to bear arms." Men/women shooting their entire family -- "It's our constitutional rights to own guns." Cops getting shot.... you get the idea.
Like I said, I am not passionate enough in this subject to fight this battle one way or another. I am merely commenting on people's passion on their guns. And can someone please explain to me about one of our latest shootings -- Police say Richard Poplawski, 23, had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
Granted, this person clearly has lost his mind but the fear of gun-banning is part of his motive to shoot at cops? If anything, isn't that an ammunition, so to speak, for the opposite of why people should NOT own gun?
Perhaps I only think that because I grew up where most people have never and will never see a real gun in their lives... I guess Asian peeps used to walk around in swords, and now we can still legally own knives in the comfort of your own home. It's all the same idea, right?
To start this entry, I would like to clarify my take on owning guns -- I don't get why people need it (nowadays, don't quote me the reason BEHIND it why we have it in the first place) but I am not strongly against it either. And since it's legal AND it is a RIGHT, I am planning on owning one someday.
What baffles me is Americans resilience to giving up their guns? It seems that this is a country based a lot on knee-jerk reflexes -- anything bad happens, people will freak out and call for a ban on this, additional restrictions on that, especially if the incident involve kids. Whenever kids are involved, common sense goes out the window, "Oh, we have to do this, this, and that to prevent that from happening again!" Much like our frivolous law suits, it has gotten way out of hand. Every issue except for guns. Sometimes, really, people should just take a little bit more responsibilities in their actions. All issues except when it comes to guns, that's when logic goes out the window. It's truly an eye-opener. Kids got shot in schools - "It's our constitutional rights to bear arms." Men/women shooting their entire family -- "It's our constitutional rights to own guns." Cops getting shot.... you get the idea.
Like I said, I am not passionate enough in this subject to fight this battle one way or another. I am merely commenting on people's passion on their guns. And can someone please explain to me about one of our latest shootings -- Police say Richard Poplawski, 23, had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
Granted, this person clearly has lost his mind but the fear of gun-banning is part of his motive to shoot at cops? If anything, isn't that an ammunition, so to speak, for the opposite of why people should NOT own gun?
Perhaps I only think that because I grew up where most people have never and will never see a real gun in their lives... I guess Asian peeps used to walk around in swords, and now we can still legally own knives in the comfort of your own home. It's all the same idea, right?
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Science v Religion
Here's a good quote from Wired blog:-
Science is about explaining the how of the natural world: how the universe began, how life originated, how the diversity of species occurred. Scientists feel no need for their work to answer why the universe exists, why we are here. For scientists, those are questions better left to philosophy, religion and after-work hours.Perhaps creationists find theories that only answer how to be completely unsatisfactory. Maybe for creationists, any theory that doesn't answer why contains weaknesses.
...
Even if science could give creationists solutions to some of these issues, evolution is never going to answer their most pressing questions: Why are we here? Why were we given consciousness? What is the meaning of life? Only alternative, supernatural explanations of the natural world, the type espoused by intelligent design, can answer those questions.
Maybe evolutionists and creationists can't find common ground because they really aren't even having the same argument. Scientists are fighting to preserve their ability to answer how unimpeded by why. Creationists are fighting to have answers to why, unthreatened by answers to how.
3 Down, 47 More to Go
If you have not yet heard, gay people can legally get married in Iowa as of Thursday, April 3, 2009!!! Yay!!! 3 down!! 47 more to go!!! It is so sad to see that we, California, even with San Francisco, has just voted for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. The idea of putting discrimination into the constitution is despicable; it's one thing to disagree with an idea, it's another to blatantly discriminate.
Opponent of gay marriage, wake up! How much longer are you going to use religion to justify hatred and discrimination. Then again, why do I think the brain-washed bunch will one day be able to think for themselves?
Supreme Court Justice Mark Cady, who wrote the unanimous decision, at one point invoked the court’s first-ever decision, in 1839, which struck down slavery laws 17 years before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of a slave owner to treat a person as property.
Iowa’s gay marriage ban “is unconstitutional, because the county has been unable to identify a constitutionally adequate justification for excluding plaintiffs from the institution of civil marriage,” Cady wrote in the 69-page opinion that seemed to dismiss the concept of civil unions as an option for gay couples.
The ruling, however, also addressed what it called the “religious undercurrent propelling the same-sex marriage debate,” and said judges must remain outside the fray.A little research will tell you that Iowa has always been a free state -- slavery was abolished in Iowa 17 (that's SEVENTEEN) years before the US Supreme Court outlawed slavery. Wow, does that mean gays will be able to finally get married freely and legally in this country in another 17 years? I guess that's not that bad for an uphill battle.Some Iowa religions are strongly opposed to same-sex marriages, the justices noted, while some support the notion.
“Our constitution does not permit any branch of government to resolve these types of religious debates and entrusts to courts the task of ensuring that government avoids them,” the opinion says.
Opponent of gay marriage, wake up! How much longer are you going to use religion to justify hatred and discrimination. Then again, why do I think the brain-washed bunch will one day be able to think for themselves?
Friday, April 3, 2009
God & Suicide
New song that I felt in love with:-
I can live with god and with suicide
the same thing holds if I close my eyes
it's a truth so pure it can kill you dead
a taste of heaven mixed with hell inside of my head
If a three-four cord can ignite a flame
and a girl like you can forget my name
then I'm that far gone in this crooked grave
with a pistol for my creature and a feather for my day
When I do go down in a rain of toil
with a hand in my satchel and my knees in the soil
I can live with god and with suicide
a lover in her calico, a pony stands at her side
I can live with god and with suicide
the same thing holds if I close my eyes
it's a truth so pure it can kill you dead
a taste of heaven mixed with hell inside of my head
You can listen to it here.
Funny thing, when I stuck this song on my iPod, it was filed under the "Indy" category automatically. Does Indy mean the lyrics just doesn't have to make sense? :O I mean, I absolutely love the tunes of the song and even though I understand every single word in it, I have NO idea what it is saying. Like a string of random words strung together grammatically...
Also, I first heard this song on Chuck, the TV show. Much as I love that it had introduced me to the song, I still could not figure out why they played the song during the scene... granted, kind of hard to figure it out what scene the song can possibly go with, if I am clueless what it is about... any suggestions?
I can live with god and with suicide
the same thing holds if I close my eyes
it's a truth so pure it can kill you dead
a taste of heaven mixed with hell inside of my head
If a three-four cord can ignite a flame
and a girl like you can forget my name
then I'm that far gone in this crooked grave
with a pistol for my creature and a feather for my day
When I do go down in a rain of toil
with a hand in my satchel and my knees in the soil
I can live with god and with suicide
a lover in her calico, a pony stands at her side
I can live with god and with suicide
the same thing holds if I close my eyes
it's a truth so pure it can kill you dead
a taste of heaven mixed with hell inside of my head
You can listen to it here.
Funny thing, when I stuck this song on my iPod, it was filed under the "Indy" category automatically. Does Indy mean the lyrics just doesn't have to make sense? :O I mean, I absolutely love the tunes of the song and even though I understand every single word in it, I have NO idea what it is saying. Like a string of random words strung together grammatically...
Also, I first heard this song on Chuck, the TV show. Much as I love that it had introduced me to the song, I still could not figure out why they played the song during the scene... granted, kind of hard to figure it out what scene the song can possibly go with, if I am clueless what it is about... any suggestions?
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
From the Kiva site I've discovered a group called the Atheists, Agnostics, Free Thinkers, Non-Secular Humanist, and Non-Religious. Further research in the community area led me to the discover of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster -- a group who "believed" that the ultimate creator is, well, a big blob of spaghetti with two meatballs embedded. =.= Albeit the a bit juvenile approach and slightly phallic choice of their idol, I enjoyed the concept of it. As I have mentioned one of my previous post and surely many more to come, I am getting very fed up with a certain specific religion's persistent effort of shoving their belief down other's throats. Interesting enough, the homepage of Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster also features a "hate mail" section. (Only one with a big heart can feature a "hate mail" section on their homepage, if I may add.)
I feel compelled to quote a couple of them:
ARE YOU [Censored] JOKING??????!!!! A flying Spagetti Monster created this world??? you idiots have way too much time on your hands. I thought i saw it all But YOU guys for sure topped the stupidest list of SHIT ive seen/ OMG please get a life.
This lady has certainly took the meaning of "literally" to a whole different level. No, not every one of us believe in every thing that's spoon fed to us literally.
Here's a quite standard one:
I am at loss for words. Listen, I don’t understand why you people who believe in this “garbage” and at that matter, anyone who does not believe that God is not our savior feel the need to rat christians out for their beliefs. I know a couple of you can respect it, and that’s just fine with me. But many of you just plain rant on us christians, but what have we ever done to you, has god hurt you in any way? God created you, and everything you have, everything you can imagine and you say things like “I hate him” “He’s not real” “That dumb @$$ doesn’t even exist!” Well, could you please respect our opinons. We have done everything possible to reach out to you, and try to invite you to the church of Christ, and you have done nothing but rant us out.
See what I meant? These people are incapable of even contemplating the idea that there are individuals out there who believe differently than them (though not necessarily a flying spaghetti monster, no offense). It was clearly stated in the letter that God (as their religion defines it) is the truth, the only truth and nothing but the truth. :O My favorite part is "has God hurt you in any way?" Hmmmm, allow me to answer a question with a question, -- What have the homosexual individuals ever done to you? Surely the bible may have mentioned that the act of homosexuality is "not natural," -- not sure about the actual wording, I do not proclaim that I have read the entire Bible cover to cover -- but I never did quite figure out how we went from "unnatural" to "God hate homosexuals."
Surely, the act of homosexuality is unnatural. I do not argue that, as two males and two females cannot biologically reproduce. But tell these same group of people that we are just animals whose purpose is to procreate and they will try to stone you to death just as swiftly. If you argue that human beings have conscious, then we must also be given free will, and that will include the choice of the gender of your partner, let it be the same as you or the opposite of you. There are greater meaning to our lives on earth than merely to reproduce.
The very idea that "God" and "hate" being put in the same sentence is baffling. I thought the idea behind a religion (fictitious or otherwise) is to spread love, evidently my view point, learned from an Asian country, is way skewed. Religion is our wonderful U.S. of A seems to focus more on brain washing and manipulating the individual than any thing else. It is very sad to see a religion succumb to this. If there is a God, He must be very disappointed at those who are just trying to control the crowds in His name.
In short, Go Church of the FSM! I certainly support you guys on principles. :)
I feel compelled to quote a couple of them:
ARE YOU [Censored] JOKING??????!!!! A flying Spagetti Monster created this world??? you idiots have way too much time on your hands. I thought i saw it all But YOU guys for sure topped the stupidest list of SHIT ive seen/ OMG please get a life.
This lady has certainly took the meaning of "literally" to a whole different level. No, not every one of us believe in every thing that's spoon fed to us literally.
Here's a quite standard one:
I am at loss for words. Listen, I don’t understand why you people who believe in this “garbage” and at that matter, anyone who does not believe that God is not our savior feel the need to rat christians out for their beliefs. I know a couple of you can respect it, and that’s just fine with me. But many of you just plain rant on us christians, but what have we ever done to you, has god hurt you in any way? God created you, and everything you have, everything you can imagine and you say things like “I hate him” “He’s not real” “That dumb @$$ doesn’t even exist!” Well, could you please respect our opinons. We have done everything possible to reach out to you, and try to invite you to the church of Christ, and you have done nothing but rant us out.
See what I meant? These people are incapable of even contemplating the idea that there are individuals out there who believe differently than them (though not necessarily a flying spaghetti monster, no offense). It was clearly stated in the letter that God (as their religion defines it) is the truth, the only truth and nothing but the truth. :O My favorite part is "has God hurt you in any way?" Hmmmm, allow me to answer a question with a question, -- What have the homosexual individuals ever done to you? Surely the bible may have mentioned that the act of homosexuality is "not natural," -- not sure about the actual wording, I do not proclaim that I have read the entire Bible cover to cover -- but I never did quite figure out how we went from "unnatural" to "God hate homosexuals."
Surely, the act of homosexuality is unnatural. I do not argue that, as two males and two females cannot biologically reproduce. But tell these same group of people that we are just animals whose purpose is to procreate and they will try to stone you to death just as swiftly. If you argue that human beings have conscious, then we must also be given free will, and that will include the choice of the gender of your partner, let it be the same as you or the opposite of you. There are greater meaning to our lives on earth than merely to reproduce.
The very idea that "God" and "hate" being put in the same sentence is baffling. I thought the idea behind a religion (fictitious or otherwise) is to spread love, evidently my view point, learned from an Asian country, is way skewed. Religion is our wonderful U.S. of A seems to focus more on brain washing and manipulating the individual than any thing else. It is very sad to see a religion succumb to this. If there is a God, He must be very disappointed at those who are just trying to control the crowds in His name.
In short, Go Church of the FSM! I certainly support you guys on principles. :)
9 Quintillion
We had March Madness at work, where people filled out brackets, gathered around, ate, and watched basketball on TV. A year ago, I could not have told you what a bracket is or what the seed number means... So while I was filling out the bracket, my coworker S informed me that I could join the Yahoo bracket too, and that the perfect bracket could win $1 million. I felt for sure that filling out the perfect bracket will be a lot easier than picking the lottery winning number. Just for the fun of it (I'm crazy, okay?), I looked up the odds of filling out the perfect bracket. I was wrong, in fact, not just wrong, I could not possibly be more wrong -- as it turned out, the odds of winning lottery jacket is 1 out 42.5 million and the odds of filling out the perfect bracket is, get this, 9 QUINTILLION. What is a quintillion, you may ask. A quintillion is 18 zeroes...
Check out the calculation at:
http://ask.yahoo.com/20060322.html
For more units that you have never heard of in your life:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/quintillion
Check out the calculation at:
http://ask.yahoo.com/20060322.html
For more units that you have never heard of in your life:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/quintillion
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Kiva.org
Saw the advertisement of Kiva.org while trying to watch celebrity apprentice online. Wow, major advertisement budget. Effectively, I hope, judging by the fact that we went out of donee by Sunday again. [To the Christian lady I mentioned in my previous blog: helping those in need make you a good person. Helping them without flaunting about your achievement make you an even better person.]
Long story short, Kiva.org is a website that allows you to do microfinancing -- making small loans to those who live in poverty, where a little sum can go a long way, help them jump start/maintain their entrepreneurship, get the money back. Years ago I've donated to Grameen Foundation, a similar establishment but Kiva is better in that you get to put a face to your donation (loan), AND you can reasonably expect the recipient of the loan to repay you, then you can choose between loaning your money to another individual/group, donate to Kiva, or pull your fund back out. I truly like the transparency of that. It's been to be able to "see" where the money went, and see it coming back, instead of not knowing how much of my donation really went to helping people and how much is tied up in administrative fees. Scroll down this blog to see the link to Kiva.org.
Long story short, Kiva.org is a website that allows you to do microfinancing -- making small loans to those who live in poverty, where a little sum can go a long way, help them jump start/maintain their entrepreneurship, get the money back. Years ago I've donated to Grameen Foundation, a similar establishment but Kiva is better in that you get to put a face to your donation (loan), AND you can reasonably expect the recipient of the loan to repay you, then you can choose between loaning your money to another individual/group, donate to Kiva, or pull your fund back out. I truly like the transparency of that. It's been to be able to "see" where the money went, and see it coming back, instead of not knowing how much of my donation really went to helping people and how much is tied up in administrative fees. Scroll down this blog to see the link to Kiva.org.
Pub & Christian Lady
Some "religious" people can somehow, always, manage to find a way to insert their religious belief in a conversation. That was simply incredible, and by incredible, I am being sarcastic, I meant obnoxious and offensive, and a bigot at best. I used to have a coworker who just refused to stop praying for me, despite multiples instances that I had to tell her point blank that I am an atheist and do not believe there is a God. She just wanted to "do her thing." Which is fine, after all, what possible harm could it done to pray to a God, her God, fictitious or otherwise, but why the need to persistently TOLD me that she prayed for me???
So I went with Hubby to see his friend play in a band over the weekend. Mind you, I'm not a bar/pub/club kind of person. I merely went there for the food, and ended up staying. Okay, so the friend was kind of cute, so I wanted to stay to hear him sing, and it appeared that they play music that I somewhat like. Alas, my attention can only last so long, so after a few songs, I broke out my iPod touch and started watching tv shows on it. The lady next to me expresssed strong interest in my little device so I happily took my headphone off and showed her the functionality, briefly mentioned iTunes, just like any other geek would. I explained to her that shows cost money, unless, of course, if she downloads them illegally (I did not encourage her to do so, merely stating a fact that it is do-able) but podcasts are free. Out of no where came this, "I like to Christian podcasts, I do not get sleepy when I am listening to God." Ummmmm. I'm sorry, did I by any chance inquired about your religious belief? Or even the slightest curiosity about WHAT type of content would you be interested in, did I? That was unbelievable that she could managed to sneak her religious belief in that conversation.
Luckily, I've already had my iPod out and earphones in my hand. I rolled my eyes, put my ear piece back in, that conversation was SO over. What's with these people who like to flaunt their religious belief? Ooookay, so you are Christian, yippee. What does that have to do with me? Really, the ONLY message behind that statement is "Being a Christian naturally make me a good person." No lady, being a good person make you a good person, your religious belief by no means tell me what kind of a person you are. Shall we bring up certain priests' fondness toward little boys? Telling a complete stranger within the first ten minutes your religious belief tells me that you are a rude bigot who (1) believe that naturally every one is religious and (2) naturally we all believe in your religious. Please, keep that to yourself. Thank you.
So I went with Hubby to see his friend play in a band over the weekend. Mind you, I'm not a bar/pub/club kind of person. I merely went there for the food, and ended up staying. Okay, so the friend was kind of cute, so I wanted to stay to hear him sing, and it appeared that they play music that I somewhat like. Alas, my attention can only last so long, so after a few songs, I broke out my iPod touch and started watching tv shows on it. The lady next to me expresssed strong interest in my little device so I happily took my headphone off and showed her the functionality, briefly mentioned iTunes, just like any other geek would. I explained to her that shows cost money, unless, of course, if she downloads them illegally (I did not encourage her to do so, merely stating a fact that it is do-able) but podcasts are free. Out of no where came this, "I like to Christian podcasts, I do not get sleepy when I am listening to God." Ummmmm. I'm sorry, did I by any chance inquired about your religious belief? Or even the slightest curiosity about WHAT type of content would you be interested in, did I? That was unbelievable that she could managed to sneak her religious belief in that conversation.
Luckily, I've already had my iPod out and earphones in my hand. I rolled my eyes, put my ear piece back in, that conversation was SO over. What's with these people who like to flaunt their religious belief? Ooookay, so you are Christian, yippee. What does that have to do with me? Really, the ONLY message behind that statement is "Being a Christian naturally make me a good person." No lady, being a good person make you a good person, your religious belief by no means tell me what kind of a person you are. Shall we bring up certain priests' fondness toward little boys? Telling a complete stranger within the first ten minutes your religious belief tells me that you are a rude bigot who (1) believe that naturally every one is religious and (2) naturally we all believe in your religious. Please, keep that to yourself. Thank you.
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