What the...?

So I'm minding my own business trying to keep warm while getting a little breath of fresh air and suddenly this big white thing falls from the sky and hits me on the head. "Great," I think, "another one of those birds just got me." Then I notice that there are an awfull lot of white things falling from the sky; enough to cover the ground. Pretty weird I know, but believe you me, it's true; I even have this picture to prove it... see!

You know what? This stuff actually turns into really cold water when you pick it up in your hand; yeah, I know, you're asking why I felt compelled to pick bird shit up with my bare hand. Don't ask me 'cause I don't know why!

Anyway, Seattle has some pretty strange stuff but this one has to be the strangest... I think I heard a neighbor call it "snow." And here I thought snow was that stuff on your television when the channel is not tuned correctly.

Ignorance Is Bliss

Sunday I stopped off at my local Starbucks (yup, I'm one of those idiots who pay US$300.00 for a cup of coffee)... anyway, as I was waiting for my coffee, I noticed the music playing overhead. Of course it was Christmas music; that time of year I guess.

Since I grew up in a Christian household, Christmas was an important part of the religion. We celebrated all parts of it including the music. As a result, I am still programmed to get that warm fuzzy feeling when I hear the stuff and this time was no different.

I actually have nothing against most of the music; believe it or not, I actually like music from many religions. Anyway, I was listening to the song and singing along in my mind... until it got to the part of "...Christ was born on Christmas Day."

* cue sound of screeching tires *

My mind could not deal with that outright lie and the warm fuzzy feeling faded quickly. Even most Bible scholars agree that Christ was not “born on Christmas Day.”

This got me thinking. I went from warm and fuzzy to cold and not-so-fuzzy. The lies that are perpetuated by those in religious power are unacceptable. However, a part of me longed for that time where I was more ignorant to such things. That state of being where ignorance bliss; there is something to be said about that.

Now keep in mind that ignorance is the root of most evil in the world today... but for those who are ignorant about the world but still do not judge (a rare bread indeed), I have a small amount of envy. To live a life without being connected to the rest of the world; to be able to have traditions and blindly follow them to the grave without ever feeling like you need to question them... now that would be bliss.

But unfortunately, any bliss one might have would be short-lived as the world is getting smaller by the minute. Even the most remote places are being suberbed into the rest of civilization. And when bliss is interrupted by the rude truth, usually ignorance turns into hatred and then pure evil.

Believe it or not, I actually have nothing against evil. Without evil, there can be no good. Just like a coin that has two sides; it cannot exist without one or the other; humanity cannot exist without good and evil. This is how we have our “soul;” an individuality that allows us to choose the path we follow. Even most religions got this one right.

In Christianity, there is God and Satan; the proverbial “good” and “evil.” However, I prefer to think of them only as Yin and Yang. God cannot exist without Satan and Satan not without God; they actually compliment each other. That, of course, differs from Christianity where their God is to defeat Satan. Notice though, that even their God does not eliminate Satan; he just casts him out.

Anyway, I’m not sure how I went from Christmas music to Satan, but there you have it, my ramblings for the day.

Hiking the Mountains

Recently a hiker was lost in the woods up here in Washington State. This hiker figured that if they "stay the course" and continue hiking blindly into the woods, they might find a way out... wrong.

Anyway, today’s Seattle Times paper is full of letters to the editor about the foolishness of the hiker and what she could have/should have done. The following letter stood out from the rest; not because of its admonition of the hiker, but because of its defense of hikers in general. Pay close attention to the last line.

Saving grace
Doug Mercer's cautionary comments in "Dark side of the mountain: a climber's obligation" [guest commentary, Nov. 22] on one's responsibility to not die foolishly in the mountains are well-taken: It's selfish to forget about the ones left behind to do the crying.

Yet he almost makes it sound like we all go to the mountains for the thrill of danger.

That may be part of it, but I think we also go to the mountains for the same reason others go to church.

— John Wolff, Seattle

That last line says it all. “...I think we also go to the mountains for the same reason others go to church.”

How profound. I would have never thought to put it in those exact words, but I think this is as good as any and it allows meaning to be interpreted by the individual.

Health & Fitness: The Road to 40 (Week 8)

Official Count - Week #8: THREE Days
(For a grand total of THIRTY-THREE out of FIFTY-FIVE)

Not too much to report this week other than the fact that the Thanksgiving Holiday was Thursday and I had Friday off from work; no workout those two days.

On the bright side, I didn't have any dinner plans for Thanksgiving so my dinner that night was quite healthy. This next week should be back to five days again.

Blog Template - Upgrade

Alright, I've pretty much finished the Blog upgrade. This new template is a bit different than the old one but I think it's a little better looking.

So, the benefits of going fully "Blogger Beta" are that updating the template should be easier now. Hacks are also available and relatively easy to implement.

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The first hack was written by Gabriel Lau over at Freeyasoul Adventure. This is a Random Rotating Banner Hack. Each time you visit the blog, a different banner should show at the top; of course, there will be repeats as I've only made seven banners. To quote Gabriel, "If you don't get what I mean, press "F5" on your keyboard and a different banner should appear, if it happen to be the same banner then press again till you see a new one."

Just so you are not pressing F5 forever, I've included the banners below. Most are using pictures I took while on hikes or trips.

The original zp4 banner; taken from the top of Mt Pilchuck looking west to the San Juan Islands:

Another picture taken from the top of Mt Pilchuck; this one looking east to the Cascade Mountain Range:

The next two were taken on the Olympic Peninsula at Third Beach (Pacific Ocean):

This one was taken up by the Washington/British Columbia border at a little resort called Semiahmoo:

The following were (obviously) not taken by me; they come via the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Eagle Nebula:

The Orion Nebula:

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The next Hack comes from phydeaux3. A new feature in Blogger Beta is the use of labels. This is one way to sort out the posts you don't care to read. Phydeaux3 has provided a way to list the labels in "cloud" form instead of a standard list. On zp4, the cloud can be found to the right near the top of the page. The more times a label is used, the larger its font is in the cloud. Now there's a surprise, "Politics" has the largest font in mine.

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The final hack I've used was found over at the Digital Inspirations blog. This adds language translation capabilities to the top of my blog (the country flags just under the banner). Each will translate this blog into its respective language. The cool thing about this is that while in the translated page, you can navigate the links and still maintain your language of choice.

The only problem I have found with this is that the first translation does not load all of the images. The way around it is to click on the "Remove Frame" text in the Google frame at the top. This should reload all images.

If any of you are multilingual, let me know how well Google does on its translations.

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An honorable mention is Hackosphere. It was from this blog that I found the cloud hack.

Blogger Beta - Template Upgrade

THIS SITE IS CURRENTLY
UNDERGOING A REMODEL

Bear with me while I upgrade my blog template. This might take a little time for all the little details to be worked out so check back later for the final version. In the mean time, all posts should still work.

I'll work on the "...eye of the beholder" blog after I get the main one up and running smoothly.

Thanks for your patience.

U.S. Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope you all don't stuff yourselves too much.

Health & Fitness: The Road to 40 (Week 7)

Official Count - Week #7: FOUR Days
(For a grand total of THIRTY out of FORTY-EIGHT)

On Monday my morning bus was diverted around an accident so I was 20 minutes late getting downtown. As a result, I converted the workout into extended cardio.

Wednesday morning I... just... could... not... drag myself out of bed; no workout for me that day.

On the brighter side, it's hard to believe that I've kept this up for seven weeks now. I’m definitely feeling fitter and more confident. I wish that the stomach was the first place to loose the fat instead of being the last place though; I’d really like to have those washboards.

Anyway, my average weight for this week is down to 210 lbs.

You Mean It's Not Unnatural? Oh The Horror!

Mitch Reardon / Lonely Planet Images

News article: ...A first-ever museum display, "Against Nature?," which opened last month at the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum in orway, presents 51 species of animals exhibiting homosexuality. ... ...Scientists say that homosexual activity among giraffes is, in many cases, more common than heterosexual activity. ...

It's about time this is dealt with by the public. Too many times conservatives who oppose all things homosexual do the George Bush thing and throw out untrue “facts.” Usually, the first excuse for discrimination is that it’s “unnatural” which is always shot down as being incorrect by proponents. The next step is to change their excuse for discrimination to something else; which, again, is always shot down by facts.

I guess living with “Flat Earth” believers in the world makes for interesting discussions. Facts vs. Fantasy.

Anyway, aren’t those gay giraffes cute... look, they are showing tenderness. I guess that is a dirty word in some religious circles.

The "War on Christmas:" An Early Start This Year

It looks like some Christians are getting an early start on their imagined persecution. Some scheming businessman has decided to make headlines (thus promoting his product) by "donating" 4,000 talking Jesus dolls to the Toys for Tots charity.

Many Christians have this Jesus complex where they feel that they need to be persecuted in order to get into heaven. When that persecution does not happen, they manufacture it; a similar psychosis to that of those mothers who intentionally make their children sick in order to get attention and sympathy from their friends and neighbors.

As a result, this Toys for Tots issue has brought out these people in droves. On the message board attached to the article, many are complaining that Christmas is only about Christ (“CHRISTmas" = Christ) and what are Jewish and Muslim children getting Christmas gifts for anyway? A rather unchristian thought process if you ask me.

It’s funny how people do not know their own sorted history. They only blindly follow what they are told without asking questions. The following post does a better job of explaining the past than I could, so here it is.

Note: Dudepez, Alicrew, et al are some of those self persecuted Christians posting on the board.

sfmom
Message #16711/14/06 03:51 PM
Dear Dudepez, Alicrew, et al: While Christmas, per se, IS a Christian holiday, it is a holiday that was established by the Christian Church as a deliberate attempt to co-opt, colonialize, overshadow, and steal the original PAGAN holiday. The Yuletide existed for hundreds if not thousands of years before the christian efforts to destroy an entire culture, religion and way of life.

IF your "Christmas" celebration involves "christmas" trees, wreaths, gift giving, stockings hung by the chimney, etc., then NO, it ISN'T a "christian" holiday, it's a pagan holiday --though we share it willingly with others who choose to observe it as the cultural holiday into which it has evolved. This may include Jewish, agnostic, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, etc. neighbors. The only really offensive practices are attempting to use the holiday as another excuse to try to attack other people's religious beliefs (just like when the christian church decided to steal this holiday in the first place) or using the cover of gift giving as a sneaky ploy to try to propagandize other people's children with YOUR offensive religion. "Gift giving" with an agenda like that ISN'T about giving; it's about TAKING.

Also:

NonBelieverButGoodMoralPerson
Message #17111/14/06 03:51 PM
Christmas was about children and giving presents BEFORE it was Christian holiday. And it is has been stated here many times, Toys for Tots do not only give toys to tots on Christmas so their toys have to be non-denominational. It is simple logic, but then again, logic is not a strength of the believer. If you don't like it, move to a country that does not have religious freedom.

And I am so sorry that Christians feel so put upon in America. We non-believers do not ever force our beliefs down your throat without it being done to us first. Is there even such a thing as a non-believer doll that quotes non-scripture when you pull a string? And please post the poll that says 85 percent of America believes in Jesus. I would like to see that.

Please study history and realize Christmas (the holiday celebrated on or around the 25th of December) is older than Christianity. Christians hijacked it just like they hijacked so many other customs of the pagans.

With respect to the fact that these so-called Christians are forgetting that they live in a society that has dictated that all children must get gifts for Christmas, they are not thinking about the kid. Until gift giving is abolished (which it never will be), the kids do not understand why they are the only ones in their school who did not get a Christmas present. The adoption of the pagan ritual of giving gifts on this day has pretty much backfired and gone against everything that Jesus allegedly stood for. It is now all about materialism for children.

Watch any kid on Christmas morning opening their gifts. They will focus on one or two toys and barely glance at that hand-made scarf that their grandmother lovingly knitted for them. Christmas for kids is all about being selfish.

So, until Christians do something about that part of this adopted holiday, they really do not have any leg to stand on.

Another post of interest is:

Mrs. Chicago
Message #17011/14/06 03:51 PM
I've read everyone's comments. OK, Christmas is a Christian holiday but that isn't important to most small children. All faiths try to make that part of the year a pleasure for their children. As adults, we seem to be in the business of taking away every bit of a child's childhood. With the schedules we put them on and the way we work, kids often come second to what we want. The Marines have given toys to children for years regardless of their religious orientation. They don't need to start siding with any religion or politically correct group. Give the dolls to some of the many intercity churches who can distribute them at an annual Christmas party. If they had refused a doll that quoted the Qur'an, would some of you be applauding them? What about two "Bill & Bill" dolls? The list could go on and on. Can't have it both ways people. Our nation allows religious freedom, but religious indoctrination by using small unsuspecting children. That's another issue. Oh, by the way I am a very religous Catholic mother.

Mrs. Chicago does a good job of pointing out the hypocrisy of this whole outrage.

Winter Storm

What a cool picture. I love this kind of weather... well, actually, I love all kinds of weather.

This picture is of the I-520 Floating Bridge that crosses Lake Washington in Seattle. It was taken during the wind storm we had on Wednesday, November 15.

Check out those waves. In years past, the waves would be large enough to actually break over the bridge deck.

Photo Credit: Joshua Trujillo/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Don't Hate Us

So now that the election is over, I have seen many conservatives berate the voters and announce that the terrorists are coming because they did not vote Republican. Being the hot-head that I am, I’d immediately jump on the defensive side and fire a couple of insults right back.

Deep down however, I know the only way to heal the nation is to do the “Jesus” thing (to put it in a religious context) and take the high road; in other words, to forgive. Now, we all know that I am just a simple male from the Homo sapiens species with way too much testosterone in my system. As a result, forgiveness of the vitriol that spews from their mouths does not come easy.

I think the following Letter to the Editor of the Seattle Times does a good job of trying to put the conservatives vs. liberals fight in perspective.

Our American cousins

Dear Republican letter writers:

Please take a deep breath, calm down, and try to get control of yourselves. I'm beginning to wonder if some of you aren't coming by my home anytime soon to lynch me for being too liberal, not conservative enough, or for voting pro-terrorist.

You know, a lot of people can have similar goals and dreams but have different ideas about how to accomplish them. Having a different plan doesn't automatically make you the enemy.

I'd be willing to bet that many of your co-workers — those who wait on you in restaurants, ring up your groceries, operate on your spleen and who just recently gave candy to your children while warmly admiring their costumes — are liberals: actual real people who live in your neighborhoods and walk your sidewalks and pay their taxes and abide the same laws as you.

They don't hate America any more than you do. They don't love terrorists any more than you do. They love their children and cherish their futures. They want safe schools, clean air and water, secure borders and a strong economy. They want to be happy and they want the same for their neighbors.

Now can all of this please be considered before jumping to the conclusion that anyone who didn't vote for your guy or gal is evil and must be destroyed? Please, before you hurt yourselves.

— David Brown, Seattle

Health & Fitness: The Road to 40 (Week 6)

The official count? TWENTY SIX.

Okay, so this was not a good week.

Monday, I had an early morning meeting with the FAA (yeah, sometimes I actually get to have a little excitement in my job) so there was not a chance to do the morning workout. However, I planned ahead and brought my gym clothes for an afternoon round of extended cardio.

Tuesday morning I woke to neck pain from sleeping wrong but still went to the gym. I probably should have not worked my chest that day but did anyway. The net effect was to screw the neck up even more. Needless to say, that was the last day that I saw the gym this week.

Hopefully, next week will show improvement.

Democrats Take House and Senate

Mission Accomplished!

Maybe Congress can use that $20 million for the end-of-war party now. The war on our constitution is over and the Democrats have won. I guess this calls for a celebration; the “evil doers” have been defeated. We are finally bringing democracy back to that lost nation of America.

Unfortunately, we have not found all of the Weapons of Mass Destruction since Karl Rove is still at large; but we will be distributing a deck of card with their names and pictures.

I think Karl Rove will be the Joker.

Definitely Gay

LOL!

Monkey With A Death Wish

I found this on Google Video. Silly Rabbit, tricks are for kids.

If God had wanted you to have ...

Perfect! This Letter to the Editor of the Seattle Times:

The all-seeing

Your Hubble servant

As a God-fearing fundamentalist Christian, I am outraged by NASA's blasphemous decision to fix the instrument of the Devil known as the Hubble Space Telescope ["NASA says repairs on Hubble are a go," News, Nov. 1].

And to the tune of $900 million, no less. Do they have any idea how many Bibles that money would buy?

If the good Lord had seen fit for us to study outer space, he would have given us the ability to build rocket ships and telescopes and computers and ... um ... er ...

Never mind.

— Dave Richards, Bainbridge Island

Hypocrisy in America Defined

Here is an interesting article that puts into words what I have tired to figure out for a long time. It actually makes me look at the whole antigay sentiment in America in a whole new light.

I have an uncle who, when Oregon was trying pass some antigay legislation 10 years ago, was extremely outspoken against gays. This got so bad that my mother actually outed me to him to shut him up and get him thinking about what he was saying.

I think I now understand my uncle (not that I can forgive him because, after all, I am only human). Of course, this is the same uncle who was all about sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll in the first part of his life. He was a drummer in a rock band and has had two children (two different women) out of wedlock. Later in life, he found "religion." It makes sense that he would project his displeasure with his own past onto others to make himself feel all high-and-mighty.

Anyway, the full article is here.

Haggard, Foley and GOP Preach Against the Vices They Can't Shake

Are all homophobic Republicans secretly gay? The leaders of the party with a penchant for condemning others would do well to look inward. It's time to call them on their hypocrisy.

...

For answers to the puzzles that seem to infest the conservative worldview, we might dust off our old Freud texts. From the father of psychoanalysis, we learn the concept of "reaction formation" which describes how we react to our own unacceptable impulses. Reaction formation is a classic "defense mechanism" -- an unconscious behavior designed to ward off uncomfortable feelings. Sometimes we react to our discomfort with ourselves in harmless ways, such as when a man cheats on his wife and brings her flowers to ease his guilt. Other times, the reactions can be punitive-we judge and condemn others who exhibit the very impulses that we, ourselves, cannot control. This is frequently the case when dealing with lust or greed.

...

What is the solution to this misplaced effort to restrict others' behavior? For Freud, it was therapy. But more broadly, it's a dose of introspection, an ability to look inward, and to shift focus from others' behavior to our own. If hypocrisy in American political life is, in part, a symptom of inadequate introspection, if our fear that we can't control ourselves leads to an unconscious effort to control others, we'll continue to reach for a magnifying glass when what we really need is a mirror.

Republicans have no monopoly on hypocrisy. Most of us are guilty, at one time or another, of vocally denouncing something we ourselves have done, of shifting focus away from our own foibles by hoisting them onto others.

...

-Nathaniel Frank

Notice that I included that last paragraph to make the point that we all are hypocritical about something; I know I am. ... unless, of course, "it depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."

Check Mate.

Ari Gold "Wave of You"

A friend tipped me off to this video... makes me want to go out and dance!


In homage to the work of Herb Ritts (1952-2002)

November “…eye of the beholder”

I know; I’ve been a little remiss in updating the “…eye of the beholder” threads. I’ll do my best to get November up this weekend.

Have patience young grasshopper.

Health & Fitness: The Road to 40 (Week 5)

The official count? TWENTY FOUR.

Yes, that’s right; I missed a day at the gym this week. Before you condemn me to hell, hear me out. I had an early morning meeting on Wednesday so instead of sitting in the gym thrusting weights over my head; I was sitting in a chair trying to keep my head from falling like dead weight.

My heart was in the right place though; I brought clothes so that I might hit the gym after work. Unfortunately, I was also fighting a cold and was quite worn out to the point that I went home sick in the afternoon.

On to week six.