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Post by Evolve <Evil Empire> on Nov 6, 2006 1:51:10 GMT -5
Ranting is good for the soul and if I do not vent about the little things in life that give me homicidal urges I may lose 'it', whatever 'it' is.
1. While driving in Charlotte today I was on a road, Billy Graham was the name of the road, when I came upon a side that said Billy Graham was ending and from that point on the road would be known by a different name. How can the same road, no veering off, no turning, no intersection, the same straight road suddenly be a different road? 2. Not to make a comment one way or the other about Iraq, but for all their talk about promoting a democratic society there they sure did pull the television stations off the air that were 'promoting secretarian violence' after the announced verdict in the Saddam Hussein trial. 3. The CBS Evening News has a segment on their program where people can talk about whatever topic you like. Sounds good, but when people come on the show they are given a list of topics that they are allowed to discuss. That's funny. 4. I am no bleeding heart liberal, and usually I am pro death penalty. But last night I watched a documentary where this man spent twenty six years on death row before being cleared by DNA evidence. The documentary made me think about my views on the death penalty. Most of the anti death penalty arguments are weak....it doesn't prevent other crimes, who cares-it gets rid of the one criminal permanently, it's not moral...morality is only a word and who really is the ultimate judge of what is moral and what is not...but the argument that the courts may have gotten it wrong, that one is hard to counter. If only one person is executed for something they did not do, that is too many.
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Post by Evolve <Evil Empire> on Nov 6, 2006 20:11:40 GMT -5
Rant may have been a misnomer, because some of these posts may not be rants, just wandering musings.
While reading an article today in Discover Magazine about Epigenetic changes I was reminded of a quote by Herbert Spencer, I am paraphrasing here but he basically said that when you have two antagonostic opinions the truth generally lies in the coordination of the two. That sounds like simple wisdom, but when you look at the number of dichotomous separations in our society you would realize that simple wisdow is lost on the majority. Republican vs. Democrat, Religion vs Atheism, or Nature vs. Nurture. When Charles Darwin, and several other scientists of the same period who you hear little about, was composing his theory of Natural Selection there was another man, Lamarck, you offered an alternative to evolution by natural selection. He stated that changes to an individual during their life, including what they learned, could be passed on to their progeny. This idea was disregarded rather quickly and another famous biologist named August Weismann performed a series of experiments that showed purely acquired characteristics could not be passed to the next generation.
Now, however, there is significant evidence that diet, the amount of nurturing by your parent, or other environmental cues can do just that...they can change your DNA, more specifically the Histones that code your DNA, and that these changes can be passed on to future generations, perhaps several generations.
I am not trying to get into a genetics conversation, nor a symposium on the merits or flaws of Darwin's work, just a point that was reinforced in my mind through reading this article.
Every point made, on any subject, no doubt contains some measure of the truth, and we should be very careful of locking ourselves dogmatically to any one position. Science has clearly shown that was is known now, at this moment, may be found to be untrue tomorrow. Don't hold on to your beliefs tightly and be prepared to change your opinion when new information is presented to you.
On a totally different note, the connotation of the word incredible is completely different from its meaning. The average person uses incredible to denote something good, when in reality it means 'not credible' or 'too extraordinary to be believed'. In many situations the person you are speaking with will probably understand your meaning, but for people who know the word by its true definition, your sentence will convey a completely opposite message.
There is a field of philosophy that discusses this, it holds that problems in philosophy come from the muddled use of language...
but that is for another day.
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Post by Evolve <Evil Empire> on Nov 18, 2006 12:39:15 GMT -5
I rarely pick up a newspaper, or turn on the news for that matter....that is a rant for another day I suppose. But yesterday, at work, it just so happened that the newspaper was lying on the table of the break room and I decided, against my better judgment, to peruse the front section. Actually, I read that days Get Fuzzy first, then I perused. Front page news for the day, although I do not know why, was a story about people camping outside all night to buy one of the few Playstation 3's released by the company.
They camped outside all night, in a tent, in front of Best Buy, to purchase a video game.
Surely I am not the only one who thinks this is insane.
I must give kudo's though to two rather enterprising criminals who, in some odd stroke of genius, realized that there would be forty people outside, in the middle of the night, each with about $600 on them, with no security anywhere around.......
Yes, you got it, they robbed the Playstation line.
One gentleman refused to give up his money, his video game money, and was promptly shot on the spot.
For a video game?
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Post by Evolve <Evil Empire> on Nov 25, 2006 6:24:07 GMT -5
I know Thanksgiving is over but we hear this same nonsense every year and I thought I would at least try and correct this myth.
Trytophan in turkey does not make you sleepy. Trytophan is an essential amino acid and is always found in the human body (actually, Trytophan is one of the essential amino acids and is found in all living creatures from amoebas to humans), it is also in almost every meat product you eat and is found in the same levels in all poultry.
Trytophan is an effective sleep inducing agent if taken in pure amino acid form, in turkey it is encoded in a protein and is not there in sufficient numbers to cause drowsiness. It is not even the Trytophan that makes you sleepy, Trytophan is necessary for the production of serotonin and melatonin, a neurotransmitter and neurohormone that assist in regulating sleep.
The drowsiness on Thanksgiving is from overeating, much like any big meal makes you sleepy.
So kindly do your part not to further this silly myth.
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Post by Evolve <Evil Empire> on Nov 25, 2006 6:26:30 GMT -5
And while I am ranting about Thanksgiving, I went to Wal-Mart (the single most evil company on the planet yesterday) to grocery shop. This was on the day after Thanksgiving at approximately 10 A.M. There is usually a police officer stationed at Wal-Mart, stationed is the wrong word I suppose as he is an off duty officer paid by Wally World to work security, on 3rd shift, but this was during the day and there was not one there, but five!
Five police officers working security at Wal-Mart at 10A.M..
Why you ask?
Because that is how rowdy the early bird, day after thanksgiving shopping crowd has become.
Tis the season to spend money you don't have on people you don't like, and to be total pricks while doing it.
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Post by Evolve <Evil Empire> on Nov 25, 2006 6:31:23 GMT -5
Speaking of nonsensical holiday garbage, I was recently accosted by one of the many charities begging for money at this time of the year.
This time it happened to be a Marine with Toys For Tots.
Now, in general, I disagree with charity, I consider it a vice and not a virtue, but that is a different rant.
Normally I leave the Marines alone, but this one approached me and when presented with a chance to speak my mind I could hardly refuse.
Toys for Tots? Let's help the underpriviledged children by giving them a toy at Christmas....surely that will help them out. Who cares about you starving the rest of the year, we'll give Little Johnny a GI Joe doll, that will make his whole year better. And the worst part of the whole thing is that you do not seen the Marines, or most other charities for that matter, doing anything throughout the rest of the year. But, come Christmas, when everyone's attention is focused on what those who 'have' are doing for those who 'have not', the Marines are out in force.
PR Grab anyone?
My stance on charity, just from a financial standpoint is this....I have paid about $5,000 in taxes this year I think, give or take, counting Social Security, State, Federal, etc. 60% of the government's money is spent on welfare programs...which means about $3,000 of my earnings has been unwillingly donated to charity. At about $600 a week, I worked over a month free to support someone else.
That is more than enough charity for me.
Too much actually.
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