Monday, July 27, 2009

The Top Signs the economy is bad

Here they are !

The Top Signs the economy is bad

CEOĆ¢€™s are now playing miniature golf

I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail

I went to buy a toaster oven and they gave me a bank

Keep reading..

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Friday, July 24, 2009

Why my facebook shows me as agnostic

A while back, I had a rather interesting dicussion with a person on facebook regarding an assumption that was made about my "religion status" which I have set to agnostic Specifically, there was some confusion that his meant I was "atheist", which is a completely different term alltogether.

This audio file helps explain better the difference



Essentially, I sort of feel "forced" into agnosticism. In truth, I am a believer in God. There are many reasons for my belief, most of which rely on the cosmological argument for the existtance of god. I also prefer to follow notions of darwism over traditional creationist theories. Although Darwin's theories never contradict the notion of a "uncaused cause" or a "designer" that put to into motion a specific trend. Though it theorizes that life can evolve without the necessity of such a creator.

Anyway, one of the problems I cannot simply state "I am a theist", or "I am a Christian", or I am [insert whatever]. Is because once stated, it means I must subscribe to the particular views of that sect of society. I force myself to commit to serveral basic principles. And from my research, I have yet to discover (and perhaps never will discover), a set of principles that I completely agree with. (There are some that are close)

If I had to pick the one, I suppose it is closest to the notion of Pantheism. The idea that God is present it all things, that in fact "God is all things", or the sum of all things, and I try as much as possible to remove myself from anthropomorphic god.

I think, for the most part, most religions have it "right", not "perfect". But the general notions, the general principles of doing good towards others, of loving others, (and ourselves)

The problem is that we are human, we are rational, free beings, who interpret things, who hold our own views. We can read a sentence and have multiple interepretations. Truthfully, it doesn't really matter who is right and who is wrong as much as it matters that we work together to make the world we live in as good a place as possible.

Related Reading:

The Problem with Perfection

God did not write the bible

More articles about Religion...

The problem with perfection

Would you consider yourself a perfectionist? Do others call you a perfectionist?

Many us stive for perfection (at time, even I myself am guitly of it).

One of the oddities/paradoxes of this however, is that I'm not sure we should strive for perfection or that we would ever really want to acheive it.

A lesson "taught" to us from all the "Bad Guyes" in stories, comic books, and movies. (The one's that want to take over the world). Is that to be a perfect socieity, is to surrender all free will to something (or someone) else.

The socieity without crime, without problems of any kind, achieves this state by relquisining individual control for socitiy control.

I was reminded of this fact, by a recent ZigZiglar blog post regarding the US medical system, those apposed to this system often state the basic philosophy "Don't let the government control our lives". If the government regulates, the government takes control, which means less individual freedom.

Do you want less individual freedom? What would you rather have a "perfect" world, or a "free" world. Is it really possible to have both? I'm not so sure!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Jay's Desktop: Things that aren't standardized but should be

Some standardizations are good, some are bad. If you could standardize anything, what would it be? Here's a funny list of humorous standardizations which will probably never come true but might just get you thinking!

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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Urban Legends Reference Pages: 1895 Exam

Could you have passed the Eight Grade in 1895?
Probably not . . . take a look:

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 from Salina, KS. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

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Friday, March 20, 2009

Computers as an Escape Mechanism

When we are faced with difficulty in our life, we basically have 2 options

a) Accept the Problem -> Face the difficulty and try to work through it

b) Avoid the Problem -> Burry ourselves in something else and try to avoid the 'problem' and hope it goes away.

And, in general, for each problem we generally switch between a) and b) interchangable.

We develop complexities in how we avoid problems. For me, I tend to buy myself in some computer problem, some program I can make, or 'bug' I can fix. For others, they may put in extra hours at work, or use substance abuse or alhocol abuse, etc.

When I'm working on a computer problem, or developing a new tool or utility, my mind can drift off into some "never never" land, problems seem to disappear, and I can just focus on 1 thing. I imagine this is why we do this, we avoid and work on something (or try to work on something) that keeps us "at arms length" from the 'pain' of dealing with the problem. Perhaps it's a real pain or just a precieved pain, but either way we tend to avoid it.

But in the end, the thoughts return, we can't avoid things forever, and our Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTS) are always waiting for us. Sometimes the fear and anticipation is much greater then the actual pain, but we can't realize this until we face it

Strategies such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and cognitive therapy can be employed to help us face these concerns, problems, and fears. But sometimes things are easier "said" then "done" and we may find ourselves in an ongoing cycle moving from "facing" to "avoiding" to "facing" over and over again.

But at the end of the day, it will be our willpower, our desire for change, or need to evolve that moves us forward and motiviates us. It can happen in the similist of circumstances, we are staring at a flower, or at the rain drops sliding down the window. We are listening to a song we've heard a thousand times before, and it "hits" you. You have a shift in your thinking and you can move on.

For everyone, there is a "ratio" of facing vs avoidance, and a challenge to maintain a ratio that keeps us happy, that keeps our mind, body, and spirit heallthy.

How is your ratio working for you?

The imagination exercises a powerful influence over every act of sense, thought, reason, over every idea! - Latin Proverb

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

No Good Deed goes unpunished

It was a cold wintery day in January, We had just had what felt like our 100th storm of the winter season, and as usual I was out shoveling snow.

On this evening however, I was shovelling for a special reason, we had decided to take our kids out to the mall so that they could play on the "slides". A little play center set up for kids, my daughter was very excited.

So while shovelling the driveway, I parked my car out on the road (Yes, I know it's not a good idea), and of course while shovelling a big truck with a plough on the front drives by, but can't get past by car.

So I apologized and told him I'd move the car so he could get by, but he actually volenteered (for free) to clear out my driveway.

Which was Great!!!... but as they say no good dead goes unpunished, you can listen to the audio below to find out what happens.









It's a different world that we live in. People don't tend to volenteer much anymore

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Everything Random

The importance of punctuation revealed. "An English Professor wrote the words:" A woman without her man is nothing and ask the students to properly punctuate it...

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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Clearly the Best movie of the year

The Oscars just have to vote this one the best picture of the year award, just check out this promo - It rocks! :-) Can't wait to go see it

He's been running his entire life
..hiding
...he's had enough
.....This Christmas
.......He finds you

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Friday, February 13, 2009

Job Interview Funny Answer

Ever get this question at a job interview?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years.

I dare you to give this answer :-)

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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

http://homeland.gov.safenow.org - what to do in an emergency

LOL. Need a good laugh for the day, check out these funny signs taken from a real anti-terrosim site and one guys funny take on what they must "really mean"

Warning: You may laugh uncontrollably when you read them, I'm not responsible if you get in trouble reading these at work and the boss wonders why you are laughing so hard at work :-)

Enjoy !

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