Signs, Signs

There's a billboard on my way to work. For the last month, it just had one word on it; purple background, white letting that read "hopeless." That's all that was on it. No fine print, no brought to you by, nothing.

This month it's changed. The "less" on the word has been poorly scratched off (you know what used to be there) and the clear letters read "hope." Now there is some fine print but I was driving too fast to read it and I don't really care. I'm more interested in the marketing effect they were going for. Not bad.

Will The Truth Set You Free?

As my 15 month old gets older, she's of course learning new things everyday. When Mrs. Lock notices, she might attribute it to something that I suspect is of an intelligence beyond Baby Lock's months/years. But Mrs. Lock swears she did this or recognized that for a certain reason that our daughter was fully cognizant about. My questioning and doubtful mind kicks in and I wonder if that's what really happened.

I do think it's important to assume your kid is smart in all cases. If you treat your kid like he/she is smart, they'll try to fit the role.

So I'm a doubting Thomas and I apply the same reasoning to my daughter's actions as I do with all things in life which causes an internal conflict. The side that wants the truth vs. the side that wants a smart daughter and to show my support as her father. And I'm not sure I can turn off the questioning side. Is it really appropriate in those events? I'm not always going to be right. Just out of chance or due to my inexperience with raising children, I'm going to be wrong on occasion and she really is advanced on whatever she did and her dad is going to incorrectly write it off as an accident and not encourage and reward such behavior? Not good.

Sausage and Tang

The weekend continues to be nice. I really should get outdoors. I did shoot some hoops with the neighbors for a couple of hours tonight. There's my exercise for the year. I'll be sore tomorrow too.

The title is a reference from That 70's Show. Mrs. Forman insisted on serving her family sausage and Tang and couldn't figure out why the boys were snickering. She even said "A growing boy needs his Tang!" at which point they lost it.

A Relaxing Weekend

Happy Seis de Mayo!

Ah, I love weekends. 2/3 of the Lock family is out of town visiting with mom-in-law and stepdad-in-law. I'm home playing through a That 70's Show marathon (TiVo almost got full) while playing World of Warcraft. It's quiet except for the trickle of the filter system in my fresh water tank. For lunch I had microwaved two chicken patties and two corn dogs. No chips in the house. Had two Hawaiian Punches to drink. I guess two is the theme of the day.

It's a beautiful day out. Sunshine is bright, temp is not too hot at a nice springy 64 degrees. I was thinking about doing some yard work, but I've got the house to myself today. Why don't I enjoy it's vast interior and peaceful environment while I can. Besides we had a rabbits nest that just "hatched" this week. The baby bunnies are scrambled all over the yard. Would hate to mow one of them over. It's not a pretty sight (or smell).

I saw MI3 last night. It was ok. Not as good as the first but probably better than the second. I'm not a big J.J. Abrams fan, the director. I've only seen one Alias and I gave Lost a try for a season but I didn't care for either. The movie had some key Abrams moments in it, the elements that turned me off his shows so oops.

During the movie, someone lit up a cigarette. Everyone could smell it. I don't think I've ever seen that before in a theater. Seconds later, someone yelled out that whoever had the cigarette that they needed to put it out pronto. Only he used different words to try and motivate the law breaker. It worked. The smoke cleared in a couple of minutes. Personally I don't care, I just realized I don't think I've ever noticed that before. I do remember as a kid, the movie promos would ban talking and smoking (back in the day). Smoking got dropped at some point (although I still see it occasionally) and replaced with turning off cell phones.

Anyway, back to my recreations. I still owe the blog a post. I will have 31 for this month before it's over.

Lapsive Memory

I made up a word.

So I forgot to post yesterday. I try to make a promise and I don't last four days on it. WTF(reak)?

Things are extremely busy at work but that's no excuse. In fact, it should be source material. The best I can do is talk about yesterday. I hauled in a crate off the dock, wooden and sealed with about a hundred industrial size screws. It was probably a good half ton and the size of it, it could've easily have housed a coffin. In fact in looked like what a coffin crate would look like. It was very difficult to maneuver it through the building, around corners, through doors. A lot of people stood and stared, made coffin jokes.

I gotta make another post later today to make up for my lapse. If I did this four days into my promise to post every month, I'm probably going to commit the offense again before it's over. I guess I'll just have to repeat the process until I get it right.

Look out June!

Gas Prices

So Congress is looking into if the oil companies are "gouging" us, to use the industry term, on the gas we pay which is close to $3.00 a gallon now. If such a practice is happening, they'll punish them in the way of fines. Where do you think those fines will go? Back to us in the form or a rebate? Will we all get a refund on the supposed extra money we've been filling our gas tank with?

The money will go to government programs. They'll use the fines for their own programs that are normally funded with taxes, taxes we'll stay pay (since there's no refund coming).

What this means is, Congress just taxed us by way of the oil companies. We might think it's some form of justice to penalize the oil companies for having high prices, but what do we really get out it? Maybe higher gas prices so the oil companies can pay the fines.

What's funny about all this is the government subsidizes the oil companies. They use our tax dollars to reward the oil companies for keeping their prices low. Have you ever seen the price of gas (petrol) in Europe? It's usually $5 or more. Has been for many years because their governments don't subsideze the price to keep it low to keep everyone using gas and not develop many alternatives.

Does anyone find this even a little bit bizarre as to what is actually happening here? We are taxed to keep gas prices low. So they take our money so that they can't take our money. When the gas prices get too high, the money we funnel into the oil companies goes back to the government in the way of fines which is just going to go back to the oil companies to keep gas cheap. It's a loop only we're not in it. We're funding it.

Is this the way to do business?

--

Snapshot


Market:
DJI 11403, NASDAQ 2306, SP5 1308

#1 Movie at the box office:
RV

Last movie I saw at the theater:
V for Vendetta

Last movie(s) I saw not at the theater:
Walk The Line (VOD)
Lord Of War (VOD)
Latest Harry Potter (DVD)


Books I'm currently reading:
Bourne Trilogy by Robert Ludlum. (On #3, Ultimatum right now)

Albums (cd/mp3) I'm listening to:
Limp Bizkit - Significant Other
Lots of 80s on radio

Video games I'm playing:
World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft and more World of Warcraft (60 Druid, 56 Warlock, 17 Priest)

Price I'm paying for gas:
$2.89/gallon

Last several Google searches:

porttalk driver
colorado boulder university
204 * 156 pounds to dollars
mshta
google translator
Atbash
zerg
victor hugo
galileo galilei
ball state "second life"
copperfield
sonic digital media
MAX media player DS
Marisol Last Supper

Exchange Rate

My company got bought out/merged/funded whatever the euphemism is now, by a British company late last year. As a bonus from the new parent company, we all got some shares of the IPO since they were about to go public. The interesting thing is these shares are on the London stock exchange only and when I check the ticker, the price is expressed in pounds. Kinda quirky but money is money.

I just checked it today, and the value of my shares has gone up a few thousand dollars without the price of the stock moving. That means the pound went higher and/or the value of the dollar went lower.

I'm not sure how to feel about that.

"Yaaaa weak dollar?"

A New Beginning

True to my word, I am beginning my month long commitment to posting on my blog at least once a day. And boy, what a doozie I'm starting with.

Atheists. What does it mean to be an atheist? You don't believe in the God or just a god? And is that the Christian God? Muslim God? Satanist God? If it's just the Christian God then the world is full of atheists, very spiritual ones: Buddhists, Taoist, Shintoists, Hindus. The word atheism as I've typed it and as you read it, is a Christian term. But surely they have the same word in other languages and in other religions, so I can't accept that the concept of atheism is just a Christian one. If that's true, that means atheism refers to the lack of belief of any faith's God, then I've got you. Because gods are a dime a dozen. Oh, not your god you say? Why is yours different?

Atheism literally translates to 'without god.' What's a god? Is it a humanoid being responsible for the creation of you? Is it something that spoke? Had a book published on its ideas or dialogue? No that doesn't apply to every religion (since atheism isn't limited to just one religion we must define it in general) but the one thing that does, I think, all religions have in common is that a god is simply an entity who has believers. That makes a god. A god just needs believers to be a god. It doesn't need a book or church or rituals. Just people to acknowledge its existence in same fashion.

And if I'm right, then I don't think there can be any atheists in the world. The term is invalid. It's even a paradox as I'll explain later. If belief and the support of something is a part of your life, and I'm pretty sure it is and you'll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't believe in anything, then you can't be an atheist. Even funnier, if you accept my belief in this matter and support it, you just made a god for yourself mister.

I love my fifteen month old daughter. She is my world. My life revolves around her and I would give anything for her, even my life. Isn't this the definition of the ultimate worshipper? Wouldn't many gods love to have me as a faithful follower, the one who would sacrifice anything?

If I am a worshipper, doesn't that make my daughter my god which automatically makes me a (drop the A) theist of something? I now have a god in my life and she is not the only one I have either. I believe in my wife, I believe in peace and the good nature of man, I believe in being happy. I believe in money to get me the things I want or to keep me out of situations I don't want. I believe and worship many shows on television that entertain me. I believe in the love and support of family members. I worship and want all of these things in my life and call for them to support me, so that I may depend on them when I need them. Isn't the purpose of a god? What do you use your god for?

What does your god require? Church? Hymns? Speaking in tongues? Meditation? Helping the needy? Whipping yourself bloody? If you can define your own religion (therefore god) then so can I. If what you say or what your ancestors said make your religion, I can make one too. And if you can make your own religion, your own god and its simply based on what you love, believe in and support, I don't think anyone is an atheist. Even to believe in atheism is to believe in something and now you have a god. A paradoxical one but a god isn't required and in fact many times thrives on not making logical sense.

Then there's the other term...Agnostic. I have a problem with this term but not for the same reason as atheist and that's my very point.

I don't think agnostic is the opposite of atheist. I don't think it's even the same discussion. If agnostic were a ballgame, it'd be the fans and atheism is Bigfoot. The two labels are very different schools of thought.

Agnosticism is uncertainty of the existence of a god. So what? How many countless things are we unsure of? If you tell me the final number of pi is going to be 8, well I'm just not sure. It could be but last I heard pi didn't have one. Does that mean he's wrong? Just because pi doesn't currently have a last number, doesn't mean it can't have one. And if it can have a final number, it means I have to consider the possibility that it does exist (will exist if that's easier for you). Does that make me agnostic about the final number in pi? How can you be atheist about it? It just means we don't know and who doesn't know everything? Aren't we all agnostic then if we haven't seen evidence of a god just like we haven't seen evidence of the last number in pi? How can you deny something the potential of existing simply because it currently doesn't exist? That's why I don't think the two terms are even on the same field. I don't think being an atheist is even possible and I happen to think we are all agnostic, rendering it a useless term if we're all the same thing. It's like asking someone, "Are you human?"

If people ask me if I'm atheist, I don't know how to answer because I don't know what they mean by the question. Eventually the answer for me is no, I am not an atheist because I believe in things, many things. If asked if I am agnostic, I would say. "Of course! Duh."

An atheist will say you can't become atheist. That you are born atheist. If you are religious it is because you have come to religion at some point in your life, leaving atheism behind and actually you're not born religious. You're also born pretty stupid, but it doesn't mean you should stay that way as you mature. I think self-described atheists should quit pointing this out.

But I would argue, you're not born atheist. That you are indeed born into religion. You have a god even at birth. You worship the comfort of your mother, the voice of your father you heard in the womb, the warmth of the breast and the nurturing milk it delivers to give you life. You want these things, you desire these things even at a basic, instinctual level and that's all a god is too. A need.

John Lennon said "God is a concept, by which we measure our pain." Well it's still a concept and therefore exists. John's criticism must be on how God was being used even though in the same song he said that he doesn't believe in Him. He also didn't believe in Beatles, Dylan or anything else that did exist for him at some point.

Running Baby

Baby Lock is walking pretty good now. Sometimes running, if one can call it that. Her two enemies right now are momentum and gravity. The combination of the two causes the running, sometimes with disastrous results.

Fear And Reason

Fear and reason can not coexist. You either use one or the other.

I haven't been posting much lately. Blame video gaming and parenting (in that order too). I think I'm going to make a commitment. Starting May 1, I'll make a post every day for the month of May. That should get my writing wheels turning and hopefully create some momentum.