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Real Vegas
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May 28, 2013
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I wish modern movies gave a more realistic picture of Las Vegas. Instead of the standard, Hangover-esque classy drinks and fun games and beautiful strippers, it would be cool to see the real Las Vegas: Old people with oxygen tanks repetitively pressing buttons on never-winning slot machines while being waited on by geriatric women with cankles, all while being offered time shares and horrifying prostitutes. Vegas, baby.
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Common -ectomies
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May 22, 2013
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I think it would be helpful if a hospital offered some common -ectomies -- appendectomy, tonsillectomy, wisdom tooth extraction -- as a package deal. I have this fear that one of these useless body parts will one day become problematic for me, and it'll happen when I'm hiking in the middle of nowhere or visiting some exotic island whose healthcare consists of rum. I'd rather just get all that stuff removed before it becomes a problem. #health
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The Bible and slavery
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May 18, 2013
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Whenever the Bible's stance on slavery comes into question, it's usually based on a few verses in the Old Testament that essentially say, "Cut your slaves some slack every now and then," and some verses in the New Testament that essentially say, "If you're a slave, be a good one." As a Christian, I learned to respond to these objections with such statements as, "Slavery was a fact of that time period," or "At least God supported fair treatment of slaves."
However, upon further consideration (and insight from some light reading), here's an observation: The Bible is often considered the focal point of modern ethics. I mean, without the Bible, we'd all be murdering and raping each other. The fact that slavery is absolutely and unquestionably wrong is evident to all modern people. No one these days (aside from some groups in the Middle East and Africa) believes it's even remotely acceptable to own another person. There's just no doubt about that anymore. Yet the Bible, the pillar of morality and righteousness, doesn't really make a stand either way.
If the Bible is considered to be the ultimate set of moral laws handed down by an all-knowing God, why didn't the author have the foresight to condemn a ridiculously evil practice like slavery? He covered murder, theft, and coveting asses, but the ownership of one human being by another human being was simply accepted. #religion
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The Dow Jones is stupid
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May 3, 2013
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A recent Planet Money episode talked about why the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a poor metric of our nation's financial health. The main point was that you can't compare today's average with the average from 20 years ago without adjusting for inflation, and when you do, today's average isn't that good. The secondary point was that the DJIA is a group of big companies chosen for secretive reasons and which don't necessarily represent the current state of the economy. So now every time there's a news headline about the Dow, I ignore it purposefully, instead of just ignoring it because it has absolutely no effect on my life.
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