So it is.. or at least was.. Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd make a list of some of the things I'm grateful for. I could go shopping, but I really don't feel like buying normal priced stuff in large mindless crowds because it's supposedly cheaper on Black Friday. This list is by no means comprehensive or in any specific order... other than in the order that they came to mind.
1. Hydrogen bonds
2. My mom
3. Dogs
4. Bikinis (yes, this is the 4th thing that came to mind...)
5. The band Lit
6. Open source software
7. Star Trek Voyager
8. Nerf guns
9. The Earth's magnetic field
10. Sleep
11. The number 11
12. Nuclear fusion (the sun is so warm!)
13. Power steering
14. Goldeneye 64
15. My grandma
16. Mario Kart banana peels
17. Gravity
18. That my ears don't stick out super far like they used to when I was little
19. My metabolism
20. My ability to be better than most people at most things
21. The amusement I get from not being humble ... at all
22. Socks
23. The scroll wheel on the mouse
24. Plate tectonics
25. Some of my friends (what? some of you I could do without...)
26. Orange juice
27. Spreadsheet programs
28. Platypuses
29. The ctrl+z command
30. The Spectrum
31. The Wendy's dollar menu
32. Sight
33. Light waves
34. Trig functions
35. Laddergoat (you so random)
36. This weird duck pencil sharpener of which I have no recollection of owning.
37. MP3s
38. Scooby Doo
39. Utah State University
40. Final Fantasy X
41. My Tiburon (and the fact that after 6 years it still runs fine!)
42. Museums
43. The wheel
44. Satisfying sneezes
45. Handcuffs or rope ... or really anything you can restrain someone in bed with
46. Strongbad
47. Prime numbers
48. Cacti
49. Algae (without it we'd have nothing to breathe or anything to absorb CO2!)
50. The fact that even though it's only the 26th day of No-Shave November, I already shaved.
Now because I feel like it - things I'm not grateful for:
1. The word grateful, I hate how it's spelled.
2. People who disappear when they start dating someone.
3. Country "music"
4. The nasty Orbit gum that tastes like green tea
5. Apple, their products and the douches who buy it right away because the media told them it's cool.
6. Anthrax
7. The Bubonic Plague
8. Mosquitoes
9. Idiots who drive large trucks as their daily commuter vehicle
10. Sub-zero temperatures south of the 45th parallel.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
I Stand Alone
What I was listening to the Godsmack song, I Stand Alone. Sounded like a good title..
Throughout high school and the first couple of years afterward I had a pretty close group of friends. Andrew, Eric, Joe and myself pretty much did everything together. We had fun, we were pretty tight. Sure there were boring nights and there were times when I got sick of them, but as a whole they're the best group of friends I've ever had. We kind of began to split ways in 2008. I moved to Logan. Eric got married. Joe and Andrew simply got caught up in life. The four of us almost never hang out anymore.
Eric and Andrew are both (happily?) married and Trisha just sent me a text message telling me that Joe proposed to his girlfriend. That's awesome, it's been far too long and I'm happy for him. Come this summer I'll be the only one of us still single. That's cool, I like the single life for the most part. More time to do what I want, more money to spend on myself, more girls to do what I want with... come this summer I'll also be the only one of us with a college degree and it'll be a 4 year science degree from a tier 1 university! This is me looking at the bright side of things.
In reality I feel like I must be doing something wrong. I've had plenty of girls I've discussed marriage with. Trisha, Rachel, Shelly, Nichole... Rachel and I even discussed it quite seriously. She wanted me to quit school at USU, move in with her and finish my degree at CSUN. I suppose Trisha and I were pretty serious too, but it's clearly never amounted to much. I've dated a lot, I've kissed over 30 girls and had some sort of mutual attachment to about 15 of those, whether you call a relationship or whatever, I don't care, some of them were never girlfriends, but we shared a mutual attachment. So why no luck for me then? Is it by choice? Sort of, if I wanted to change myself I could have married Rachel or Trisha, I'm sure, but I like who I am. I don't want to change myself just yet. They should have simply accepted me how I am rather than wanting me to put out or be Mormon. Though by asking them to accept me I'm asking them to change themselves too.
From what I can tell when people get married, they have to change themselves. They have to sacrifice things that are important to them to satisfy things important to their significant other. I've had friends here who used to be just as avid Aggie sports fans as I am that no longer come to any of the games. My friends at home and I used to have game nights at least once a month, we've not had one since July. Some of my friends, like a roommate I had last year, simply disappear altogether after marriage. I see him on campus, but he just doesn't even look or act like the same person. I guess to a lot of people this is an acceptable sacrifice to make. I'm sure I'll make it someday, I guess I've just not yet met the girl I'd be willing to give things up for.
I don't understand why two of my friends rushed so headlong into marriage. It seemed like they couldn't wait to get away from the misery that single life caused them. I used to feel this way and I'll be honest, sometimes I still do feel this way. I'd love to meet the girl of my dreams and have a wonderful fun relationship that just builds on itself day after day until we get married and have a happy marriage complete with a couple kids a dog and a nice house. It's the hopeless romantic in me. I'd love for that to happen starting tomorrow, but the chances of that are slim to none. One must be willing to make sacrifices in order for marriage to work. I suppose I've just not been willing to make these sacrifices yet.
Though at the young age of 24 should I feel any pressure to? I've experienced a lot. I've had one night stands, long term relationships that ended in a firey ball of hell, I've become an ultimate Aggie, been on a random roadtrip to another state to see someone I'd never met, been to countless Aggie basketball games, met thousands of people, stayed up late playing video games with roommates, stayed up late playing video games with girlfriends, slept in til 2pm with girls I never even think about anymore, played night games, had bonfires, eaten out with friends, finished 4 years of college, become an undergraduate teaching fellow, staked mining claims for Kennecott, stayed out of debt, learned to snowboard, learned all kinds of academia that I never thought I would, killed zombies, been camping with groups of people all over the state, stayed up all night watching Olympic basketball, played on an ultimate frisbee team, broken a bed with someone who wasn't even my girlfriend and countless other things that I would have never done had I tied myself down so early.
Would I trade these experiences for a few more years of marriage? Nah. Not yet.
Throughout high school and the first couple of years afterward I had a pretty close group of friends. Andrew, Eric, Joe and myself pretty much did everything together. We had fun, we were pretty tight. Sure there were boring nights and there were times when I got sick of them, but as a whole they're the best group of friends I've ever had. We kind of began to split ways in 2008. I moved to Logan. Eric got married. Joe and Andrew simply got caught up in life. The four of us almost never hang out anymore.
Eric and Andrew are both (happily?) married and Trisha just sent me a text message telling me that Joe proposed to his girlfriend. That's awesome, it's been far too long and I'm happy for him. Come this summer I'll be the only one of us still single. That's cool, I like the single life for the most part. More time to do what I want, more money to spend on myself, more girls to do what I want with... come this summer I'll also be the only one of us with a college degree and it'll be a 4 year science degree from a tier 1 university! This is me looking at the bright side of things.
In reality I feel like I must be doing something wrong. I've had plenty of girls I've discussed marriage with. Trisha, Rachel, Shelly, Nichole... Rachel and I even discussed it quite seriously. She wanted me to quit school at USU, move in with her and finish my degree at CSUN. I suppose Trisha and I were pretty serious too, but it's clearly never amounted to much. I've dated a lot, I've kissed over 30 girls and had some sort of mutual attachment to about 15 of those, whether you call a relationship or whatever, I don't care, some of them were never girlfriends, but we shared a mutual attachment. So why no luck for me then? Is it by choice? Sort of, if I wanted to change myself I could have married Rachel or Trisha, I'm sure, but I like who I am. I don't want to change myself just yet. They should have simply accepted me how I am rather than wanting me to put out or be Mormon. Though by asking them to accept me I'm asking them to change themselves too.
From what I can tell when people get married, they have to change themselves. They have to sacrifice things that are important to them to satisfy things important to their significant other. I've had friends here who used to be just as avid Aggie sports fans as I am that no longer come to any of the games. My friends at home and I used to have game nights at least once a month, we've not had one since July. Some of my friends, like a roommate I had last year, simply disappear altogether after marriage. I see him on campus, but he just doesn't even look or act like the same person. I guess to a lot of people this is an acceptable sacrifice to make. I'm sure I'll make it someday, I guess I've just not yet met the girl I'd be willing to give things up for.
I don't understand why two of my friends rushed so headlong into marriage. It seemed like they couldn't wait to get away from the misery that single life caused them. I used to feel this way and I'll be honest, sometimes I still do feel this way. I'd love to meet the girl of my dreams and have a wonderful fun relationship that just builds on itself day after day until we get married and have a happy marriage complete with a couple kids a dog and a nice house. It's the hopeless romantic in me. I'd love for that to happen starting tomorrow, but the chances of that are slim to none. One must be willing to make sacrifices in order for marriage to work. I suppose I've just not been willing to make these sacrifices yet.
Though at the young age of 24 should I feel any pressure to? I've experienced a lot. I've had one night stands, long term relationships that ended in a firey ball of hell, I've become an ultimate Aggie, been on a random roadtrip to another state to see someone I'd never met, been to countless Aggie basketball games, met thousands of people, stayed up late playing video games with roommates, stayed up late playing video games with girlfriends, slept in til 2pm with girls I never even think about anymore, played night games, had bonfires, eaten out with friends, finished 4 years of college, become an undergraduate teaching fellow, staked mining claims for Kennecott, stayed out of debt, learned to snowboard, learned all kinds of academia that I never thought I would, killed zombies, been camping with groups of people all over the state, stayed up all night watching Olympic basketball, played on an ultimate frisbee team, broken a bed with someone who wasn't even my girlfriend and countless other things that I would have never done had I tied myself down so early.
Would I trade these experiences for a few more years of marriage? Nah. Not yet.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Signs you go to Utah State
In no particular order :
You have been walking to or from class and passed by a tractor.
You think the "French Fries" are a valid reference point to use when giving directions to Freshmen.
At midnight under a full moon rather than thinking about werewolves, you're thinking about who you could make out with on a statue.
You have no idea what the lyrics to your alma mater are, but you know the Scotsman!
You consider walking to class a workout.
Anything over 10 miles away is too far if you're not spending the whole weekend there.
You've dated someone who won't go out to dinner with you on Sunday night, but will wake up with you Monday morning.
You have shot zombies.
You've been in a class with someone wearing a plaid shirt or leather, who thought it looked good.
50% of females when asked about their major will respond, "Elementary education"
50% of males, when asked about their major will respond, "Well, it was engineering, but now it's business."
You have watched a movie outside in September and been freezing.
It snows during finals week, every year, both semesters.
You know what ward-prayer is.
You have cleaned the sink and greatly enjoyed doing so.
You consider a basketball game a 5 hour event.
You'd rather drive all the way across the state to watch your basketball team, than walk up the hill to watch your football team.
You have or know someone who has ridden a bull naked.
You complain about pollution, don't want your county to enact vehicle emissions standards.
In January you envy places with clean air, like Los Angeles.
You have never legally driven over 45 mph in your current home town.
The Wasatch Mountains are on the west and you actually know that.
The LDS temple in your town is older and far more beautiful than that of any other town with a university.
You have never been drunk at a college party.
Your school has a building for the Geology major, but not a building for any of the Humanities or Social Sciences.
You have absolutely no idea what your mascot is supposed to be, but everyone kind of pretends that it's a bull.
It has been 0*F and sunny at noon.
You think the 500 or so Asians at your school of over 18,000 make it "diverse."
Your schools gym is about as old as the school itself, but it has 3 new engineering buildings.
You have seen pigs on campus.
You like to point out who the winning and losing teams are, even after a 50 point win in which there really was no question the entire game.
Sledding down Old Main Hill is a graduation requirement.
Your friends facebook status updates begin complaining about how much they hate winter in late September.
It snows for 5 months out of the year, but you have only seen 2 snow plows in your entire college career.
You are in college, but you can't remember the last time you went to Denny's.
You have been walking to or from class and passed by a tractor.
You think the "French Fries" are a valid reference point to use when giving directions to Freshmen.
At midnight under a full moon rather than thinking about werewolves, you're thinking about who you could make out with on a statue.
You have no idea what the lyrics to your alma mater are, but you know the Scotsman!
You consider walking to class a workout.
Anything over 10 miles away is too far if you're not spending the whole weekend there.
You've dated someone who won't go out to dinner with you on Sunday night, but will wake up with you Monday morning.
You have shot zombies.
You've been in a class with someone wearing a plaid shirt or leather, who thought it looked good.
50% of females when asked about their major will respond, "Elementary education"
50% of males, when asked about their major will respond, "Well, it was engineering, but now it's business."
You have watched a movie outside in September and been freezing.
It snows during finals week, every year, both semesters.
You know what ward-prayer is.
You have cleaned the sink and greatly enjoyed doing so.
You consider a basketball game a 5 hour event.
You'd rather drive all the way across the state to watch your basketball team, than walk up the hill to watch your football team.
You have or know someone who has ridden a bull naked.
You complain about pollution, don't want your county to enact vehicle emissions standards.
In January you envy places with clean air, like Los Angeles.
You have never legally driven over 45 mph in your current home town.
The Wasatch Mountains are on the west and you actually know that.
The LDS temple in your town is older and far more beautiful than that of any other town with a university.
You have never been drunk at a college party.
Your school has a building for the Geology major, but not a building for any of the Humanities or Social Sciences.
You have absolutely no idea what your mascot is supposed to be, but everyone kind of pretends that it's a bull.
It has been 0*F and sunny at noon.
You think the 500 or so Asians at your school of over 18,000 make it "diverse."
Your schools gym is about as old as the school itself, but it has 3 new engineering buildings.
You have seen pigs on campus.
You like to point out who the winning and losing teams are, even after a 50 point win in which there really was no question the entire game.
Sledding down Old Main Hill is a graduation requirement.
Your friends facebook status updates begin complaining about how much they hate winter in late September.
It snows for 5 months out of the year, but you have only seen 2 snow plows in your entire college career.
You are in college, but you can't remember the last time you went to Denny's.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Zombie Apocalypse
Last week these was an outbreak of a virus on the Utah State campus which spread to the student population turning those infected into mindless flesh eating zombies.
I'm serious.
Anyway, it all started Monday when this kid who was a zombie began uhm.. feeding on humans. No one suspected it at first until the people who were bitten began mindless rampages on others. Many of the students began arming themselves with guns andsock balls throwing knives. On the way to class we would all watch each others backs and always travel between buildings with caution. At night humans would meet up to try and find and accomplish goals around campus to secure resources to combat the zombies. Many humans were turned into zombies and began attacking and trying to eat their friends.
Friday night a helicopter was to arrive on the field behind the towers to extract the survivors, but we had to make it from the block A to the Geology building, past the Ag. Science building, past the fries, NR building and engineering complex. Through the art sector of campus and through central campus housing. This area was crawling with hundreds of zombies. My group of 15 or so survivors began the journey. I shot many of what were once my friends and saw some of my friends become zombies. Once about 10 of us made it to the field we joined other survivors in holding off the waves of zombie invasions as we protected the helipad. A few of use escaped. I was lucky enough to be one of the survivors. Then wewent to Village Inn escaped the quarantine zone and celebrated with french toast.
Seriously though, Humans vs. Zombies is pretty intense. It's a glorified game of tag mixed with a Nerf war. What can be more fun that shooting zombies with Nerf guns? That's right, nothing. There were about 800 players originally of which maybe 650 played the game. At the end there were probably 70-80 humans left. I, along with a couple of neighbors, were among the survivors. I must admit I'm quite proud of this. I must have shot no less than 40 zombies over the week (they respawn after a few minutes,) it was rather intense. Sneaking to class, packing a Nerf pistol everywhere you go, meeting up with people for missions, humans vs. zombies is a well thought out and intense game.
Today I went to the Wellsville's to measure section. I found about 10 trilobites and must have stumbled across 100 brachiopods.. of which I only kept a few. There were some amazing fossils in the Spence Shale formation though. Kind of a crap way to spend your Saturday, but whatever. Beats sitting at home or watching Utah State's football team get slaughtered. They actually won today, but had I been there they'd have likely found a way to lose. They can run up a 31-3 lead on BYU when I'm in Wyoming, but can't even score on Hawaii when I go to the game.
On a more serious note (translation : quit reading if you're not interested in my life) I'm sick of being so damn nice all the time. Tonight I had plans with a friend. Nothing specific, but we'd discussed playing on Saturday night the prior 3 nights. I get back from the Wellsville's around 6:30 and my friend had decided something more exciting than hanging out with me came up. I was rather irked, but I played it like it was cool and just got off the phone. I sat and thought about it for a while and how normally I just let things like that go and decided I was sick of being so nice when the courtesy isn't always returned. I thought about it and in a tactful way let her know that it wasn't acceptable to use me as the "in case nothing else comes up" plan. It felt really good.
I wasn't really annoyed, I ended up watching the Jazz game, hanging out with my roommates and going to see some neighbors later tonight. I just felt really proud of myself for being confident enough to express that I am not a backup plan... in so many words... I don't really remember exactly what I said. I also felt proud of myself for being mature and tactful about it. Maybe this is part of growing up, haha. Earlier this week I did a similar thing with another friend that did something to annoy me. I didn't get angry, I didn't get all butt-hurt. I simply let her know that I didn't appreciate how she decided to act towards me and that was it.
If I compare this to how I may have acted in my late-teens or early-twenties I really like how I've changed. I am seriously proud of myself for how I handled a handful of situations this week that I would have reacted much differently to in prior years. It's nice to just stay cool, but let people know how you feel anyway. Totally beats overreacting or ignoring the situation altogether. Now if only I could learn to treat school the same way. Whenever I do bad on a test I either get depressed or just play it like I don't care. What's the alternative to these? blah. Well daylight savings has been good to me, but it's 2:22 (even with my extra hour) and I need to get to bed as I've not slept more than 3 or 4 hours the past 3 nights, though I have cheated and had a nap or two, and apparently my eyes are bloodshot because of it. Bye!
I'm serious.
Anyway, it all started Monday when this kid who was a zombie began uhm.. feeding on humans. No one suspected it at first until the people who were bitten began mindless rampages on others. Many of the students began arming themselves with guns and
Friday night a helicopter was to arrive on the field behind the towers to extract the survivors, but we had to make it from the block A to the Geology building, past the Ag. Science building, past the fries, NR building and engineering complex. Through the art sector of campus and through central campus housing. This area was crawling with hundreds of zombies. My group of 15 or so survivors began the journey. I shot many of what were once my friends and saw some of my friends become zombies. Once about 10 of us made it to the field we joined other survivors in holding off the waves of zombie invasions as we protected the helipad. A few of use escaped. I was lucky enough to be one of the survivors. Then we
Seriously though, Humans vs. Zombies is pretty intense. It's a glorified game of tag mixed with a Nerf war. What can be more fun that shooting zombies with Nerf guns? That's right, nothing. There were about 800 players originally of which maybe 650 played the game. At the end there were probably 70-80 humans left. I, along with a couple of neighbors, were among the survivors. I must admit I'm quite proud of this. I must have shot no less than 40 zombies over the week (they respawn after a few minutes,) it was rather intense. Sneaking to class, packing a Nerf pistol everywhere you go, meeting up with people for missions, humans vs. zombies is a well thought out and intense game.
Today I went to the Wellsville's to measure section. I found about 10 trilobites and must have stumbled across 100 brachiopods.. of which I only kept a few. There were some amazing fossils in the Spence Shale formation though. Kind of a crap way to spend your Saturday, but whatever. Beats sitting at home or watching Utah State's football team get slaughtered. They actually won today, but had I been there they'd have likely found a way to lose. They can run up a 31-3 lead on BYU when I'm in Wyoming, but can't even score on Hawaii when I go to the game.
On a more serious note (translation : quit reading if you're not interested in my life) I'm sick of being so damn nice all the time. Tonight I had plans with a friend. Nothing specific, but we'd discussed playing on Saturday night the prior 3 nights. I get back from the Wellsville's around 6:30 and my friend had decided something more exciting than hanging out with me came up. I was rather irked, but I played it like it was cool and just got off the phone. I sat and thought about it for a while and how normally I just let things like that go and decided I was sick of being so nice when the courtesy isn't always returned. I thought about it and in a tactful way let her know that it wasn't acceptable to use me as the "in case nothing else comes up" plan. It felt really good.
I wasn't really annoyed, I ended up watching the Jazz game, hanging out with my roommates and going to see some neighbors later tonight. I just felt really proud of myself for being confident enough to express that I am not a backup plan... in so many words... I don't really remember exactly what I said. I also felt proud of myself for being mature and tactful about it. Maybe this is part of growing up, haha. Earlier this week I did a similar thing with another friend that did something to annoy me. I didn't get angry, I didn't get all butt-hurt. I simply let her know that I didn't appreciate how she decided to act towards me and that was it.
If I compare this to how I may have acted in my late-teens or early-twenties I really like how I've changed. I am seriously proud of myself for how I handled a handful of situations this week that I would have reacted much differently to in prior years. It's nice to just stay cool, but let people know how you feel anyway. Totally beats overreacting or ignoring the situation altogether. Now if only I could learn to treat school the same way. Whenever I do bad on a test I either get depressed or just play it like I don't care. What's the alternative to these? blah. Well daylight savings has been good to me, but it's 2:22 (even with my extra hour) and I need to get to bed as I've not slept more than 3 or 4 hours the past 3 nights, though I have cheated and had a nap or two, and apparently my eyes are bloodshot because of it. Bye!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Trying to compare and relate science and religion
Science is great. It's simply observation, prediction, investigation and explanation. Then you do it over and over until you are satisfied. It's one of the few sets of beliefs I know that openly thrives on the fact that it can be wrong. It embraces this as part of its general belief.
For fun lets compare science with religion. It's not a tough comparison as they are a lot alike.
A scientist studies publications of other scientists to learn about how they practiced their beliefs. A religious leader studies similar publications such as scripture or testimony of other religious leaders. They both become well versed in their area of study and great experts. Both science and religion attempt to take what is known by the leaders of the communities and explain the world around them. This is great!
Here is where they differ. The basic belief of science is that you can observe the natural world and attempt to explain why what you observe happens. Then you test your observations to see if your predictions stand up to your tests. If they don't, that's cool. You don't have to question your entire belief system, you simply accept that you were wrong, learn from your mistake and try again.
Now religion on the other hand approaches the world from a completely different perspective. Religion will make a claim based on the testimony of a respected religious leader or what is written in a book. This claim is then fact without being subject to any test, questioning or interpretation by others. This of course assuming we are talking about one religion, I know there are about a million religions who have interpreted the bible (or other religious texts) differently, but let's simply choose one for now - pick your favorite.
Let's say the scientific community sets a belief. Let's use continental drift for instance. If another scientist comes along 40 years later and says "hey, this old belief we had about continents plowing across the ocean doesn't seem to make sense since continents are weaker than the bottom of the ocean." the community will go "hmm.. yes.. maybe you are right, what could they be doing instead? Oh, maybe the continents are shattered into pieces that slide around a ductile layer underneath them and the continents are less dense causing isostasy and this is why they are higher in elevation" Then people are allowed to agree or disagree based on their observations and interpretations of them.
Religion says, "Noah stated that around 5,000 years ago there was a great flood which covered the whole Earth, all animals went extinct except for those Noah saved, so this is true." and then over time people start observing things that don't seem to fit with this such as lack of an index flood deposit covering the Earth and the fact that land animals which Noah would have had absolutely no way of accessing, from the middle-east, still exist such as Kangaroos or Alpacas. Religion then reconsiders their beliefs and states, "Noah stated that around 5,000 years ago there was a great flood which covered the whole Earth, all animals went extinct except for those Noah saved, so this is true and your observations are invalid."
Yet hundreds of millions of people still believe that Noah and his ark contained the sole survivors of a catastrophic flood that wiped the planet clean. Why? Because they have faith in what the top religious figures say.
What is faith? One of my favorite scriptures was written by an ancient North American prophet named Alma. He says that faith isn't knowledge, faith is simply hope. I like that. It's a great and wise statement. He almost seems like he's smarter than most of these religious folk. He's not saying "have faith for it is true" he's saying "have faith because you want it to be true." Well yeah, I want to die and meet God and have him say "Wow Brandon, you really did some good stuff with your life. You became well versed in the knowledge of the world I gave you to study, you treated your fellow man with compassion and you even tried to please me in situations where it was very hard for you." Though I have absolutely no empirical reason to believe this whatsoever. All I have is faith... or hope.
Unfortunately I also faith that Utah State will win the WAC in basketball. I have no empirical reason to think they will, but I sure hope they do. Is my hope of the Aggies winning the WAC the same as my hope that a creator who understands me is waiting for me after my bodies biological functions become unable to sustain what I know as life? Yes, actually it is. Neither faiths are backed by empirical evidence. Both are based on hope and testimony. One has people who make religion their life telling me God created me and is waiting for me in an after-life while the other has people who make sports their life telling me that the Aggies will win the WAC.
One could say that I can observe the past and predict that it is likely Utah State will win their division, but that doesn't mean at all that they will. They COULD finish dead last. Likewise one can come up with all sorts of arguments for me to believe in the LDS church (my personal specific faith) and it's quite possible that it is true, but it's also possible that it is not. A good Mormon is not allowed to believe that it is possible that it is not true. A scientist is completely allowed to reject a well accepted theory if they have reason and data to back it up with.
Is it so hard to see why so many people have become atheist or agnostic over the last few decades? The way we view religion is becoming obsolete.
Why can't religion be more accepting of the observed natural world? Why can't a religion be strong enough to say, "Hey we understand that a catastrophic world-wide flood has absolutely no observable evidence other than a written story, so maybe it was just a parable." or "Yeah, using many different dating techniques we can observe that the earth has been around for far longer than is written in the bible, likely even billions of years."? Religion can't do this because for so long religion has based their legitimacy on the fact that God is omniscient and therefore men of God are omniscient.
Bullshit.
God may be omniscient but men of God are nothing but flawed mortals trying to relay his messages in the best way they know how. Guess what, the Pope can be wrong. Your Pasteur or Bishop or Prophet can be wrong. They are imperfect humans, it is in their nature to be wrong. If a religion were to admit that religious texts and interpretations of religious text are subject to fallacy, they would become far more honest and correct, but they would lose followers. Religion doesn't want to lose followers. They want to save (or collect money from - depending on the religion) as many people as they can. Accepting fault is unacceptable in religion. That is too bad. I wish religion was able to simply observe their set beliefs could be wrong and modify them like science can.
God is right, God is always right. It's his job to always be right. Religion is humans trying to imitate and please God. Humans aren't very good at being perfect and we never will be, hell we're not even that good at being right. Science is a set of beliefs that embraces our incompetence as humans and teaches us to learn from it and modify our beliefs to try and get as close to right as we can while knowing that we can never be fully right. This is why I love science. I also love God who I know exists because of the aforementioned faith I have in him. To quote a man far more brilliant than I will ever be,
"Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?... Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?"
Well Professor Hawking, the answer to this question is simple. God :)
For fun lets compare science with religion. It's not a tough comparison as they are a lot alike.
A scientist studies publications of other scientists to learn about how they practiced their beliefs. A religious leader studies similar publications such as scripture or testimony of other religious leaders. They both become well versed in their area of study and great experts. Both science and religion attempt to take what is known by the leaders of the communities and explain the world around them. This is great!
Here is where they differ. The basic belief of science is that you can observe the natural world and attempt to explain why what you observe happens. Then you test your observations to see if your predictions stand up to your tests. If they don't, that's cool. You don't have to question your entire belief system, you simply accept that you were wrong, learn from your mistake and try again.
Now religion on the other hand approaches the world from a completely different perspective. Religion will make a claim based on the testimony of a respected religious leader or what is written in a book. This claim is then fact without being subject to any test, questioning or interpretation by others. This of course assuming we are talking about one religion, I know there are about a million religions who have interpreted the bible (or other religious texts) differently, but let's simply choose one for now - pick your favorite.
Let's say the scientific community sets a belief. Let's use continental drift for instance. If another scientist comes along 40 years later and says "hey, this old belief we had about continents plowing across the ocean doesn't seem to make sense since continents are weaker than the bottom of the ocean." the community will go "hmm.. yes.. maybe you are right, what could they be doing instead? Oh, maybe the continents are shattered into pieces that slide around a ductile layer underneath them and the continents are less dense causing isostasy and this is why they are higher in elevation" Then people are allowed to agree or disagree based on their observations and interpretations of them.
Religion says, "Noah stated that around 5,000 years ago there was a great flood which covered the whole Earth, all animals went extinct except for those Noah saved, so this is true." and then over time people start observing things that don't seem to fit with this such as lack of an index flood deposit covering the Earth and the fact that land animals which Noah would have had absolutely no way of accessing, from the middle-east, still exist such as Kangaroos or Alpacas. Religion then reconsiders their beliefs and states, "Noah stated that around 5,000 years ago there was a great flood which covered the whole Earth, all animals went extinct except for those Noah saved, so this is true and your observations are invalid."
Yet hundreds of millions of people still believe that Noah and his ark contained the sole survivors of a catastrophic flood that wiped the planet clean. Why? Because they have faith in what the top religious figures say.
What is faith? One of my favorite scriptures was written by an ancient North American prophet named Alma. He says that faith isn't knowledge, faith is simply hope. I like that. It's a great and wise statement. He almost seems like he's smarter than most of these religious folk. He's not saying "have faith for it is true" he's saying "have faith because you want it to be true." Well yeah, I want to die and meet God and have him say "Wow Brandon, you really did some good stuff with your life. You became well versed in the knowledge of the world I gave you to study, you treated your fellow man with compassion and you even tried to please me in situations where it was very hard for you." Though I have absolutely no empirical reason to believe this whatsoever. All I have is faith... or hope.
Unfortunately I also faith that Utah State will win the WAC in basketball. I have no empirical reason to think they will, but I sure hope they do. Is my hope of the Aggies winning the WAC the same as my hope that a creator who understands me is waiting for me after my bodies biological functions become unable to sustain what I know as life? Yes, actually it is. Neither faiths are backed by empirical evidence. Both are based on hope and testimony. One has people who make religion their life telling me God created me and is waiting for me in an after-life while the other has people who make sports their life telling me that the Aggies will win the WAC.
One could say that I can observe the past and predict that it is likely Utah State will win their division, but that doesn't mean at all that they will. They COULD finish dead last. Likewise one can come up with all sorts of arguments for me to believe in the LDS church (my personal specific faith) and it's quite possible that it is true, but it's also possible that it is not. A good Mormon is not allowed to believe that it is possible that it is not true. A scientist is completely allowed to reject a well accepted theory if they have reason and data to back it up with.
Is it so hard to see why so many people have become atheist or agnostic over the last few decades? The way we view religion is becoming obsolete.
Why can't religion be more accepting of the observed natural world? Why can't a religion be strong enough to say, "Hey we understand that a catastrophic world-wide flood has absolutely no observable evidence other than a written story, so maybe it was just a parable." or "Yeah, using many different dating techniques we can observe that the earth has been around for far longer than is written in the bible, likely even billions of years."? Religion can't do this because for so long religion has based their legitimacy on the fact that God is omniscient and therefore men of God are omniscient.
Bullshit.
God may be omniscient but men of God are nothing but flawed mortals trying to relay his messages in the best way they know how. Guess what, the Pope can be wrong. Your Pasteur or Bishop or Prophet can be wrong. They are imperfect humans, it is in their nature to be wrong. If a religion were to admit that religious texts and interpretations of religious text are subject to fallacy, they would become far more honest and correct, but they would lose followers. Religion doesn't want to lose followers. They want to save (or collect money from - depending on the religion) as many people as they can. Accepting fault is unacceptable in religion. That is too bad. I wish religion was able to simply observe their set beliefs could be wrong and modify them like science can.
God is right, God is always right. It's his job to always be right. Religion is humans trying to imitate and please God. Humans aren't very good at being perfect and we never will be, hell we're not even that good at being right. Science is a set of beliefs that embraces our incompetence as humans and teaches us to learn from it and modify our beliefs to try and get as close to right as we can while knowing that we can never be fully right. This is why I love science. I also love God who I know exists because of the aforementioned faith I have in him. To quote a man far more brilliant than I will ever be,
"Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?... Why does the universe go to all the bother of existing?"
Well Professor Hawking, the answer to this question is simple. God :)
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Mormons vs. Gays v.2010
So everyone seems to bandwagoning either the gays or the Mormons again. A president in the church made a remark about how homosexuality is unnatural, but God still loves you and will accept your repentance and the gay community took offense and decided to demand an apology out of the man.
Here's what I don't get. Why do they care? He didn't say anything mean to the gays. He simply stated his religions viewpoint on homosexuality. Is that not one of the rights of the country? To be allowed to have a religion that has points of view which may be different from another person's? I mean c'mon. I'm not even conservative and I support gays being allowed to be with other gays. I still think they're stupid for getting mad at this. It's almost like they're trying to find reasons to take offense, thinking that if they act like a pathetic little victim they will garner respect. Wrong, you lost my respect. I understand you were pissed when the LDS church gave money to a campaign against prop 8. Understandable. This is a tax free organization and as so should not be allowed to influence campaign funds with their money. If they want to tell their homosexual members that there is hope for them I see no problem with this though. I read that 1/11 people are either homosexual or bisexual. Of the 12 or 13 or... I lost track... ex girlfriends I have, three were admittedly bisexual (though usually in the closet about it.) All 3 of them were Mormon and went to church. Considering there are 13 million Mormons in the world I think this talk was probably nice to quite a few people who have this concern. Dear super-sensitive gays, Quit being so sensitive, no one is going to take you seriously until you quit acting like fags. Yes, there is a difference between bi/homosexuals and fags.
On the flip side of this, I don't like that President Packer compared heterosexuality to gravity. This is a stupid analogy. Gravity is defined as [6.67*10^-11(m1)(m2)]/r^2 . Now please, tell me, what is the mathematical equation for heterosexuality, because I have some friends that I would greatly enjoy testing this on. Fail. This is a terrible analogy whether you're scientific minded or not. Gravity simply exists, you can not deny it. Can you fly against it? Sure, but gravity is still acting on you. Orbit? Gravity is still acting on you, without gravity you could not orbit. Homosexuality is not something which is definable like this. Some people simply feel gay. That's cool. They're allowed to and they're allowed to choose whether to act on their gay tendencies or not. I know for certain that one of my best friends from high school is bi, he's married to a woman and has never done anything homosexual. He made this choice, some people don't. No one has a choice whether or not they accept their gravitational attraction or not. Heterosexuality is not a "natural law," it just happens to be what is the most functional and makes the most sense.
So I guess in conclusion, while the church official made a poor comparison, he's right. The LDS church does not accept homosexuality as right, but accepts homosexuals and even allows them church positions if they overcome their gay tendencies. He should have worded things differently and not gone into the whole "it's unnatural" thing. My Molly Mormon friends will have a hard time agreeing with me on that point because they don't understand that church officials are mortal and sometimes don't word things correctly, but really? If this is going to set off the gay community, then they need to not ever repent and go to hell.
Here's what I don't get. Why do they care? He didn't say anything mean to the gays. He simply stated his religions viewpoint on homosexuality. Is that not one of the rights of the country? To be allowed to have a religion that has points of view which may be different from another person's? I mean c'mon. I'm not even conservative and I support gays being allowed to be with other gays. I still think they're stupid for getting mad at this. It's almost like they're trying to find reasons to take offense, thinking that if they act like a pathetic little victim they will garner respect. Wrong, you lost my respect. I understand you were pissed when the LDS church gave money to a campaign against prop 8. Understandable. This is a tax free organization and as so should not be allowed to influence campaign funds with their money. If they want to tell their homosexual members that there is hope for them I see no problem with this though. I read that 1/11 people are either homosexual or bisexual. Of the 12 or 13 or... I lost track... ex girlfriends I have, three were admittedly bisexual (though usually in the closet about it.) All 3 of them were Mormon and went to church. Considering there are 13 million Mormons in the world I think this talk was probably nice to quite a few people who have this concern. Dear super-sensitive gays, Quit being so sensitive, no one is going to take you seriously until you quit acting like fags. Yes, there is a difference between bi/homosexuals and fags.
On the flip side of this, I don't like that President Packer compared heterosexuality to gravity. This is a stupid analogy. Gravity is defined as [6.67*10^-11(m1)(m2)]/r^2 . Now please, tell me, what is the mathematical equation for heterosexuality, because I have some friends that I would greatly enjoy testing this on. Fail. This is a terrible analogy whether you're scientific minded or not. Gravity simply exists, you can not deny it. Can you fly against it? Sure, but gravity is still acting on you. Orbit? Gravity is still acting on you, without gravity you could not orbit. Homosexuality is not something which is definable like this. Some people simply feel gay. That's cool. They're allowed to and they're allowed to choose whether to act on their gay tendencies or not. I know for certain that one of my best friends from high school is bi, he's married to a woman and has never done anything homosexual. He made this choice, some people don't. No one has a choice whether or not they accept their gravitational attraction or not. Heterosexuality is not a "natural law," it just happens to be what is the most functional and makes the most sense.
So I guess in conclusion, while the church official made a poor comparison, he's right. The LDS church does not accept homosexuality as right, but accepts homosexuals and even allows them church positions if they overcome their gay tendencies. He should have worded things differently and not gone into the whole "it's unnatural" thing. My Molly Mormon friends will have a hard time agreeing with me on that point because they don't understand that church officials are mortal and sometimes don't word things correctly, but really? If this is going to set off the gay community, then they need to not ever repent and go to hell.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Binary
This made me laugh and I wanted to share:
Katie XXXXX 101010 = 42. Yet I still don't feel like I really know the answer to life, the universe and everything...
Nicole XXXXX wtf does that mean? how is 101010= 42
18 minutes ago · Like
Brandon Alger There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who do not.
15 minutes ago · Like · 1 person
Nicole XXXXX k thats 2 types not 10.
10 minutes ago · Like
Brandon Alger and you are clearly the latter type :-D
9 minutes ago · Like
Nicole XXXXX yeah i have a life
9 minutes ago · Like
Brandon Alger I fail to see the high correlation coefficient between life and knowledge of binary, but that's awesome! Congratulations :)
I love stupid people. They make me feel so much better about myself. Though she did make a valid implication. I have little social life this weekend. (Though to be perfectly honest I probably have more friends than this person despite my knowledge of binary.) You see, this isn't a normal circumstance for me, but this weekend has blown ass. Saturday was all right, but I've spent Friday and Sunday nights home alone... well James is here, but I'm in my room alone at 9:30. I feel kind of unwanted or something. Not unwanted, because that's not true. People like being around me, just like everyone has people they'd rather be around. The girl I was into the last month for example said she'd come play or watch a movie after she went to ward prayer, she then sort of bailed without notice on me. My other roommates are all with people that apparently more exciting to be around than I am. My other old crush started dating her ex-boyfriend. Good choice there, take my advice - it's stupid. Don't ever date the ex. You're ex's for a reason, the same reason will break you up again. Speaking of ex's. I hung out with my ex's ex best friend last night. Cool girl. She was telling me that when my ex made out with my old friend like a day after we broke up she only acted regretful to appease me since I was pissed at her. Kind of hurt me a little, even though it shouldn't being that it really doesn't matter anymore. She's a person of crap character though. I could go on, but since she may or may not read this (likely not by this point, but just in case) I won't. I'm only a person of sometimes crap character. I play nice usually. Okay sorry, huge tangent. The point is I'm feeling down. It's annoying. Especially since it's not even winter yet. Winter is depressing season. Fall is supposed to be happy! Even though everything is dying... but I don't mean like that... I'm not one of them morbid kids that's like yes, death = happiness. Death is sad, I miss Snowball.
Snowball was awesome. She'd be 16 now if she were still alive. She could do various tricks such as sit, shake, walk on two toes, dance, play amazing catch with a frisbee, eat flies and sing along with a harmonica. She was so playful but even more than playful - she was hungry. You could not leave food out with any conceivable way for Snowball to get to it, because she'd get it. Sometimes I'd just be confused as to where something went and then I'd find a sleeping Snowball along with some crumbs. You're not obvious now are you? End.
Katie XXXXX 101010 = 42. Yet I still don't feel like I really know the answer to life, the universe and everything...
Nicole XXXXX wtf does that mean? how is 101010= 42
18 minutes ago · Like
Brandon Alger There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who do not.
15 minutes ago · Like · 1 person
Nicole XXXXX k thats 2 types not 10.
10 minutes ago · Like
Brandon Alger and you are clearly the latter type :-D
9 minutes ago · Like
Nicole XXXXX yeah i have a life
9 minutes ago · Like
Brandon Alger I fail to see the high correlation coefficient between life and knowledge of binary, but that's awesome! Congratulations :)
I love stupid people. They make me feel so much better about myself. Though she did make a valid implication. I have little social life this weekend. (Though to be perfectly honest I probably have more friends than this person despite my knowledge of binary.) You see, this isn't a normal circumstance for me, but this weekend has blown ass. Saturday was all right, but I've spent Friday and Sunday nights home alone... well James is here, but I'm in my room alone at 9:30. I feel kind of unwanted or something. Not unwanted, because that's not true. People like being around me, just like everyone has people they'd rather be around. The girl I was into the last month for example said she'd come play or watch a movie after she went to ward prayer, she then sort of bailed without notice on me. My other roommates are all with people that apparently more exciting to be around than I am. My other old crush started dating her ex-boyfriend. Good choice there, take my advice - it's stupid. Don't ever date the ex. You're ex's for a reason, the same reason will break you up again. Speaking of ex's. I hung out with my ex's ex best friend last night. Cool girl. She was telling me that when my ex made out with my old friend like a day after we broke up she only acted regretful to appease me since I was pissed at her. Kind of hurt me a little, even though it shouldn't being that it really doesn't matter anymore. She's a person of crap character though. I could go on, but since she may or may not read this (likely not by this point, but just in case) I won't. I'm only a person of sometimes crap character. I play nice usually. Okay sorry, huge tangent. The point is I'm feeling down. It's annoying. Especially since it's not even winter yet. Winter is depressing season. Fall is supposed to be happy! Even though everything is dying... but I don't mean like that... I'm not one of them morbid kids that's like yes, death = happiness. Death is sad, I miss Snowball.
Snowball was awesome. She'd be 16 now if she were still alive. She could do various tricks such as sit, shake, walk on two toes, dance, play amazing catch with a frisbee, eat flies and sing along with a harmonica. She was so playful but even more than playful - she was hungry. You could not leave food out with any conceivable way for Snowball to get to it, because she'd get it. Sometimes I'd just be confused as to where something went and then I'd find a sleeping Snowball along with some crumbs. You're not obvious now are you? End.
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