The Village Mar 24, 2005
I saw "The Village" last night. Great movie. But like some of M. Night Shyamalan's other movies (Signs, the Sixth Sense), you can't really watch it more than once. His movies are very mysterious and have a tremendous amount of building. And then when they're done, you realize all this stuff that you had overlooked during the movie. Great quote:

   Ivy Walker: Why can you not say what is in your head?
   Lucius Hunt: Why can you not stop saying what is in yours?

Thus the story of my life. Although this scene was borderline sappy and there was a lot more involved, I like to take little snippets and use them for my own purposes. What was interesting is that the movie touched on some major points concerning human nature: for one, human beings are inherently evil. Somehow, in some way, a murderer evolved from a quiet, tiny, pure village. Two, fear consumes people. The people in the village were told that if they crossed the border, they'd be attacked by nameless beings. So the whole existence of the town was kept in order through the use of fear. Three, love knows no bounds. Lucius acted out of love for a girl by attempting to cross the border to get medicine, despite being overly quiet and fearful of the creatures. Ivy crossed the border to get medicine for her future husband, despite being blind and a woman. #entertainment
Unions Mar 23, 2005
I have another gripe:  unions.  It was a good idea in the beginning.  Protect workers' rights and stuff like that, but I think it's changed a bit.  Just look at the news.  Union bus drivers in NYC went on strike for some reason, so hundreds of thousands of people that work in the area were without transportation all because some stupid people were unhappy with their working conditions.  Or look at the NHL:  the multimillionaire players couldn't agree on a salary cap, so the entire season was canceled.  Or how about the ultra-fascist teachers union.  In order to work at a school, you must be part of the union.  But union rights don't apply to everyone in the union.  Teachers have the whole summer off.  Secretaries and administrators do not.  However, if there's a contract dispute or anything like that, everyone is involved, not just the affected parties.  There was also a union at Schering-Plough.  It was so stupid that I couldn't unscrew something in the plant because I'd be violating the unionworkers' contract.  I mean, this is ridiculous.  It's obviously gone too far.  To solve the problem, I'd like to start a company of a bunch of normal people who are willing to work for a living, and have them apply for a bunch of jobs as soon as stupid union people go on strike.  Like the bus driver example, I'd restaff the whole crew of people that were on strike and hire a bunch of hardworking people.  That's really what it comes down to.  Many people in unions just don't want to work some long ours and stuff like that.  Welcome to the real world, idiots.  While you hide under the protection of your stupid little union, everyone else on earth works for a living, sometimes working long hours and making less than they should.  That's how life works.  So if anyone wants to join my anti-union, let me know. #business
Completely wrong (1) Mar 23, 2005
After I look at the viewgraphs on my computer, I'll Xerox® you a copy and use my Rollerblades® to bring it to you. On the way, I have to stop at the ATM machine and enter my PIN number. I hope I don't pass any nucular power plants because I'll have to clean out my ears with Q-Tips® and patch up my wounds with a Band-Aid®. I also need to check my Palm Pilot® to see if this will all fit in my schedule. On the way, I'll listen to my Walkman® and wipe my nose with a Kleenex®. This will be the best thing for you and I.

How many stupid mistakes can you find? #language
Christianity or science Mar 23, 2005
I was thinking this morning (amazing, isn't it?), and I came upon a thought that I've had before: sometimes believing in science instead of Christianity takes more faith than Christianity. For example, are we to believe what science tells us: that complex, living, eating, breathing human beings evolved from nothing? Just take a look at us; think about how everything just works without even doing anything about it. Right now, my heart is pumping blood to every part of my body, carrying oxygen so that the muscles in my lungs can expand and contract. There are tiny little electrical impulses moving all around my brain, on the magnitude of 100-200 pulses per second. And this is just breathing and thinking. What about all the other millions of things we do on a continual basis?  You think this came from nothing? From one-celled organisms that developed out of nothing into something? That takes a lot of faith to believe. For me, I'll continue to believe that I was created by a supreme being, God. It just makes more sense. #religion
Trendy blog person Mar 21, 2005
In case I haven't made this completely obvious, yes I'm now one of those people with a trendy blog. I even have the trendy formatting and trendy titles and timestamps. I don't care. I doubt many people will ever read this besides me (and maybe Wendy since I told her about it), so I'm not too worried. Be prepared: now that I finally figured out my stupid website problems and some HTML formatting, I think I'll be doing this a lot (b/c I'm a major geek). #technology
Shopping carts rule Mar 21, 2005
What's the deal with shopping carts these days? You put all your weight on the handle and they don't flip over on top of you. You stand on the bar right below the handle, and you don't fall on your back and crack your head open. This is one thing that gives me hope that we're actually making forward progress in this world. Yeah sure my stupid cell phone only gets reception in places that I don't live (i.e. not Hoboken, not Hampton, not Randolph), but at least something works: shopping carts. #business
Political commentary Mar 21, 2005
Believe it or not, I have a few opinions about the current state of affairs in our world. You might call me somewhat of a conspiracy theorist (probably more on this later), but I believe the world is run by a few very powerful people, and the leaders we see in power are just puppets. Or at least that's how I think America works. Go ahead, make fun of George W. Bush for how stupid he sounds or how his foreign policy is pigheaded. Criticize his over-concern for nations in the Middle East and in East Asia, and his lack of concern for nations in Africa. But I think he's just acting out what the people behind closed doors tell him. "Go invade Iraq, George. That'll crumble the power in the Middle East and it'll hopefully help our dwindling supply of natural resources. Then associate North Korea with an 'axis of evil' so they know we don't like them. Then they'll build up their nuclear program. Then we'll invade them. Then we'll take care of the real problem: China." Granted, some of these ideas are not mine, but even if they're not original, they're what I'm believing more and more. #politics
Jesus fish Mar 21, 2005



Ιησους Χριστος Θεου Υίος Σοτηρ

Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter

Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior
#religion
A reason to go to college Mar 21, 2005
We had some people over for dinner on Saturday night. It was cool to see everybody. But Mike walked in our apartment and noticed our ginormous kitty tower and said, "Who is this kid?" This is just one example of how all my friends expect me to act in a certain way and say certain things, which is why I'm so glad I went away to college. I wouldn't really call it peer pressure, but that's sort of what it is. I never really felt pressured into doing certain things or acting a certain way, but I always felt like I determined my position in the world probably when I was about 12 or 13. Everything after that was based on how I acted when I was that age. So any time I tried to act different in some way, people would say, "You don't usually do that. You're not like that." My point is, what if I want to be like that? What if I want to change? This is why it was sooo good to go away to college. I was in a whole different setting with all new people who knew nothing about me. That's when my personality was truly defined. I still had some of the same old quirks and mannerisms, but God worked on me and changed me little by little. That's why college was so good for me. Yeah there was all the school work and pressure and stress and running around and sleepless nights, but those experiences partially formed who I am today. #education
Nothing but text Mar 21, 2005
Just to set the record straight: this site was created with nothing more than TextPad. I don't use any of that PHP, ASP, or CGI nonsense. If you're smart, you can probably tell already that I don't even know what those things are or how they work. But I'm happy with my pure text HTML and a little bit of Javascript. #technology