Diversity, True Beauty

Without the differences inherent in religion and culture, we would be a much more empty people. Here are a few interesting examples of interesting news stories that highlight cultural diversity, I found interesting.

New Japanese parents receiving a gift traditionally give a lesser one in return. Similar to the American custom of handing out cigars in the U.S...except they are not trying to give family members lung cancer. The Yoshimiya rice shop in Fukuoka recently created an traditional return gift: small bags of rice in the weight of the newborn, printed with a picture of its face and name, so that original gift-givers (relatives, friends) can experience cuddling, holding and loving on the newborn. This gift is quite practical because after cuddling the baby rice bag, the relatives can then set down to a nice meal of baby rice. The Yoshimiya's owner admitts some people might have a problem with that. [Reuters, 1-8-07]

"We sleep with the snakes (i.e. cobras), we eat with the snakes, we live with the snakes (but) we are not scared," said a 14-year-old girl in a rural village outside Calcutta, India. The village leader insists, "Whenever I lie down in my bed, a cobra will just slide on top of me, without hurting me." Its estimated more than 3,000 cobras live in these small villages, largely in peace. Very few bite victims (though a cobra bite is often fatal because villagers initially trust the gods and spirit doctors to treat them)are reported. Many villages so revere Cobras that they view bites as attacks by bad vipers or "nonresident" cobras [Wall Street Journal, 11-26-07]

I Tried it!

Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper tastes like a cherry tootsie roll pop...mmm....I don't think it should be a soda...but it is truly interesting. On the Crosby show...Dr. Crosby...loved chocolate soda...now...I know what a hybrid of chocolate soda tastes like. I question the whole reasoning behind creating a soda that is suppose to taste like a chocolate covered cherry...Why? It must be part of the Valentine Conspiracy....

Have you Seen this?......I Have To Try It!

Have you seen this anywhere? WANTED: At least a bottle...to try. I am a die hard Diet Dr. Pepper fan. I tease that when they embalm me for the coffin...they will drain pure Diet Dr. Pepper from my veins. I loved Diet Cherry Vanilla and Berry Cream....but this I have to try. I am willing to pay someone to send me a bottle...Ha Ha...A friend said they were selling it on ebay...will it really come to that...will I have to purchase a bottle from ebay...I am not sure that is safe...buying soda from a person of ebay. That would definitely be a low. I can't find it anywhere in my area...how sad the day...when American capitalism fails to bring a fashionable soda to a willing customer...

Childhood Fears...Adult Nonesense!

There is a new show on the History channel called UFO hunters. I am watching it while I post. I can't believe the seriousness people show towards UFOs. Personally, I am not a believer in little green men or white beings with bulbous heads and huge black pearly eyes. But that wasn't always the case.

As a small child I was terribly afraid of them. I had nightmares of aliens that would rival the horrer movies on television. I had a very vivid imagination. I blame it all on my parents for watching X files and other alien movies. Can you believe my Dad told me about his own UFO experience....of seeing a fireball in the sky? Not to mention my Uncle who like all crazy Uncle's that are cross-country truck drivers had a few stories.

It got so bad....that when my My cousin bought me a little glow in the dark alien with blue sparkly eyes .... I kept it locked securely in a box in my dressor, because it frightened me. Oh how the tables have turned! Now I am a critical skeptic...that would find it hard to believe even if I saw one myself. Yet...am I truly honest with my self...to date the only three alien movies I have seen are Tommyknockers...Signs...and The War of the Worlds....

Do you think visiting a new blog every....

I mean the saying goes an apple a day keeps the docter away. Do you think visiting a new blog everyday and leaving a comment will increase traffic to my blog? Or maybe its a doomed operation? It could be subject matter. I do write about or post my own interests and ideas. It could be that others don't find it interesting...Oh well...this is mainly for my own enjoyment.

10 of the Worst Works of Art : Warning Some of this should be censored

1. Chris Ofili's "Holy Virgin Mary"

2."Piss Christ" by Andres Serrano

3. "Loose Lips Sink Ships" by Peter Langenbach

4. Renée Cox's "Yo Mama's Last Supper"

Operation 10

Stolen from the darling poet closest to my heart Poetikat...I offer from the realm of Mc Kittrick, straight from the halls of Morris Manor...via the fingers of a Softhearted Hardhead....Operation 10. Which for all of you that can not read my mind is my quest to find out why the number 10 is so important. I mean everyone wants to know 10 facts about you, 10 most used words, 10 biggest errors...how to loose a guy in 10 days....Or why Pearl Jam named an album Ten....or why there is a Big Ten Conference instead of a Big Six...or my personal favorite...On a scale from one to ten...so here is the profile of 10:

The number systems of important ancient cultures such as the Greeks and Hebrews were built on successive orders of 10. Ten is seen as the completion of all the other numbers before it or the culmination of those before it. Ten is built into the basic anatomy of our bodies: ten fingers and ten toes. Thus, ten is seen as the completeness of order. Ten for most implies completeness of order, no missing pieces and no leftovers. Ten for Biblical scholars and believes represents the perfection of divine order(10 commandments, 10 righteous, 10 generations...etc).

And for any Fans of Monk...we know its true. For him there is no greater good than 10 and its brothers 100, 1000, and in the case of his current season finale...1,000,000.

In addition for any numerologist fans (or Sylvia Brown addicts): Ten has the primary meanings of fulfillment, the conscious mind, the logical mind.

So if any of you are like me and wonder why we don't say 8 favorite things, 11 best movies, or 9 spectacular sayings....this may clear it up!

Delusion

I am no stranger to envy or jealousy, although I have grown to manage these impulses with intelligence, empathy and common sense. Yet, the one impulse I have yet to handle is my ability to judge harshly those in places of prominence such as pastors, teachers, police officers, Presidents, Judges, and Celebrities.

I had an epiphany while reading a post from the Stark Files...I am often very critical of Celebrities....for the obvious examples: Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, Britney Speares...etc. My message usually is that money, power, influence, beauty and tele-identity make people idols for worship and they aren't worthy. Some people vote, dress, eat and think like celebrities out of worship for a Hollywood ethic that they can't truly understand and that doesn't really exist. I bash the mindless drones for their worship and often all celebrities are trampled in my messages of fire and brimstone.

Today, I realized that their are stars out there like:
Oprah,
Alyssa Milano,
Bono,
Sandra Bullock,
Nicholas Cage,
Jackie Chan,
Celine Dion and many others

They all deserve a round of applause. These many stars actively support with funds, time and sincerity foundations and causes for the betterment of humankind. I should be careful, most College students don't think twice about shrugging off charitable actions or wasting extra cash of themselves. How many regular people do you know that would donate over 3 dollars to a charity? Here lies the rub...why then am I so quick to judge prominent figures by a criterion...I won't judge the rest of the world by? Hypocrisy? I donate...but do I do enough? All that I could? I shouldn't be so quick to lump all celebrities according to the seemingly idiotic behaviors of a few.

Goodnight Cyberspace, Be weary of Celebrities for advice on how to live, but recognize that idolship comes great responsibility.

I have always questioned the authority of this holiday. My main complaints are:
1. Its about buying presents for a sweetheart
2. Its alienating to those of us without a sweetheart
3. Its named after St. Valentine, to celebrate his martyrdom.
4. The Valentine's day Massacre...(this needs no clarification).

Yet, I still make homemade Valentines and give them out to my Grandma, who gives me a small box of sweethearts...Am I a hyprocrite? If I am, I enjoy it. I may not be successful in romance. Goodnight Cyberspace! Love is such a precarious thing. Be careful in love, be righteous in love, and most of all never give up.

St. Valentine's Day

Here's a little history on a nasty holiday:
February 15th,the Feast of Lupercalia: The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate, during the conservative years of Rome. However, one of the customs of the young people was love lotteries. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia the names of Roman girls wrote their names on slips of paper and placed them into jars. Each guy would draw a girl's name from the jar. Then they would then be partners for the festival.

The Emperor Claudius II having a difficult time at filling the ranks of his military leagues. He believed that the reason was roman men did not want to leave their loves or families. Therefore, Claudius II cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome to increase the numbers in the leagues. St. Valentine was a priest at Rome in these days . He and Saint Marius aided the Christian martyrs and secretly married couples.

For his part in aiding Christians and disobeying the decree of the Emperor, St. Valentine was captured and brought before the Prefect of Rome. He was charged and condemned to be beaten to death with and to have his head cut off. He suffered martyrdom on February 14, 269 A.D. Legend has it: that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend. The letter was signed "From Your Valentine".

In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine’s matyrdom. Overtime, St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers and modern day exchange of love notes. Have we really came that far? Its still a game of chance (HA HA).

Why Do We Suffer?

Theodicy....

"Is God dead?" in the immortal words of Nietzsche (I know a little out of context...but still valid)...Can God exist with an Evil world were innocents suffer? How many times have we heard the story of the righteous man that suffers. OR the great examples: Genocide, Rape, Murder...

Or the religious man who claims suffering is punishment for sin and blessing a reward for righteousness...What about Job? He did nothing wrong, yet he suffers. Job losses his family, wealth, credibility, ending up in the ashes. Why?

If we suffer for soul making, to build better character, then why doesn't it end there? Besides that why can't we be taught bravery, compassion and sensitivity through good rather than pain?
If the Problem of Evil stems from Free will, then why didn't God give man free will with a preference for good, instead of a sinful nature?

If instead the world is ruled by Karma and we suffer because of past misdeeds? Then why strive for good in this life?...you won't remember in the next life anyway....there is no help for the sufferer of Karma. Does the existence of evil and suffering mean there is no God?

Try answering this in a 3 page essay! Its impossible...Paradox exists within God and within our suffering for a purpose. Personally, I believe these issues are meant to be contradictory and paradoxical. This paradoxical nature proves that God’s Nature is beyond human conception. God is always beyond what we make of him...once we create a notion of God, suffering, pain, and injustice shattering this image of God. The problem of Evil has no satisfactory answer.

P.S. Offer any opinion on the subject! I'd love to know any ideas about theodicy, or God!

Do you think this says I love you?

"I would walk you to your car...but that is not the way I am headed," Sorry to all you guys out there who try to pick up girls this way...but it doesn't work. I just don't get it...to me it says lazy for one and for two it says....your only important enough to walk to your car in the dark if...its close to mine. A nice young man said this to me. I was told later he was trying to pick up on me. Yet, I would never have guessed. Maybe, my reciever is screwed up.

Voting day or Dia de Votante?

The polls closed at 8, we weren't finished counting ballots and cleaning up the poll site till 11:30. That is crazy....Wow. If only you were there you would understand. Have pity on your poll clerks next time you go to the polls. We are just regular people following the orders of the federal government. Some of us not even by our own choice!

Here is an example of the craziness. I was a poll clerk in a small community with 410 registered voters. Of the 410 over 75% are Spanish speaking individuals. Of the 4 poll workers only one of us signed that we were bilingual. I never sign bilingual, because I am not fluent and have grammatical construction problems. But our bilingual clerk...was a nightmare she was confusing the voters with weird words that don't even exist. So I had to take over translations. Yet, How do you do you explain to an illiterate Spanish speaking individual how to use an audio touch screen ballot machine with 4 years of conversational High School Spanish?

Or even more confusing how do you say what Republican and Democrat or American Independent political parties are? They don't translate straight across. I take my hat of to all of you that have the golden tongue of language…bilinguals, trilinguals, English 2nd language speakers...etc. But don't worry your votes are safe...I think…just because I started the day not know how to say “Would you like to vote in Spanish?” doesn’t mean I can’t count…uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis,….Goodnight Cyberspace…Good dreams, Good Health and Good Hearts!

Vote, Obama!

Don't Forget to Vote! Especially you Californians out there! Our primary is Tomorrow Feb. the 5th. Even if its not for my candidate.

Hint for Bloggers Wanting to get noticed!

As if they weren't noticeable before....Not that I know anything about increasing traffic....because I don't....According to studies, the two most noticeable colors together are school bus yellow and black. This is the reason, these two colors are the makeup of school buses and most taxis...To get noticed...interesting...it was to me...