Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Paranoia Tag

You need a hazmat suit, a gas mask and a camera disguised as a Geiger counter. Go downtown and start taking pictures of everything. 1 point for every concerned look captured on film. 3 points if you can get someone to run. Add up all points and post your time stamped photos to flicker for proof.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Cosmic Teapot

Bertrand Russell wrote some time ago:
If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.


I'm not saying that there is no God. I'm just saying that I have no proof of the existence of God and refuse to believe God exists until I do.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Make the world a better place one laugh at a time

Here

I first watched this years ago. It made me laugh and feel good. Prompted by nothing some time later I found myself roaming the halls of my work place and laughing to the point of tears for no reason; the looks on the faces of random people in the halls was enough to keep the laughter going.

I found the video again recently, watched it and laughed again. A little kicking around in Google found medical papers that say that laughter lowers stress and blood pressure and boosts your immune system. There is a yoga practice based around laughing and breathing.

From laughter comes joy, from joy comes peace, from peace comes love. Does it matter where the laughter came from?

With this in mind I walked around my new place of work, looked people full in the face and smiled. Everyone smiled back. I started laughing as I walked and people would smile when they saw that.

Smile a while for when you smile another smiles and then there are miles and miles of smiles because you smiled.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Karate Kid and A-Team

Watched both movies this weekend.

A-Team is a pretty solid summer action flick. I don't feel that they abused my childhood which I think might be the highest praise I can lay upon a movie that takes something from my young and brings it into this century.

Karate kid was very well done. Almost all the elements from the Original are here and are masterful put together. Personally I feel that the acting was very well done. Jackie Chan shows that he has a great depth of acting range which is nothing less than I would expect from an actor of his caliber. The surprise is that Jaden Smith can act also. True he is portraying a kid which shouldn't be a stretch for him but he is actually able to cry on command when his mentor and friend reveals his pain. Excellent acting combined with the amazing filming location made a great movie. It was kind of a shot gun tourism ad for china; Great Wall, Olympic village, Wudang, the Forbidden City, Beijing; amazing shots you can't get anywhere else. I only have a couple of questions for this movie. What happened to the kid from the early part of the movie; the blonde white kid? He just sorta up and vanished from the plot early on and never came back. The other thing I missed was an element from the original that didn't make it to this version. At the end of the original Mr Miagi and the Instructor from the rival martial artist fight. It was an awesome scene that I was looking forward to in this movie. They just didn't do it. They skipped it sorta. The other masters students all bowed and showed respect to little dre and the evil master looked on shocked that they did so. Then Mr Han and his pupil walk of in to a freeze frame. You have Jackie Chan on the pay-roll and you don't give him an opportunity to kick the butt of the guy you've expertly set up as his evil counter-part? really? I realize that it might not have been necessary in this rather long movie to have that scene play out but I still felt jipped. Over all a good movie that showed respect to its original and kicked it's butt at the same time.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Anarchist

I really don't like any political party because I don't feel that my interests are protected by them. I don't care who is in charge because no matter who has the reins they seem to care about my opinion and they won't care if I express it ( I have sent many many letters to my congressmen and representatives only to be ignored). I recognize that while our government is far from good it is still much much better than anywhere else but that realization doesn't fix any issues. I do not feel that I am in charge of my life, free, so long as there is an authority out there that will pay people to beat me up if i don't do what they say.

That having been said I don't feel that I could or would want to live completely apart from everyone and everything. I like the internet. I like my friends. I like city water, sewage, and power. I like movies and books. I want some things that I can't make. I want the things I need to make the things I can make. I should pay for the things that I want, need, and use ultimately by my own effort. If I have a job and earn money I should be able to accomplish what I want.

I think my issue is that I am disgruntled by my perceptions of how much money I am being forced to pay versus my perception of the benefit I receive.