Ron Paul 2012

Almost more than anything, I wish the guy had a chance at taking the whole thing. It does appear like he will be running for office, which I suppose gives me a reason to go to the booth (and be excited about the guy's platform). Excitement is tempered somewhat because of our uninformed electorate. If every American citizen sat down and read any of Dr. Paul's books, then there would be a good chance of, if not full agreement, then at least some understanding of his case for "a revolution". However, because he has ideas that would completely change this country into something good, something better than present-day, and into more of what we should have been all along, the guy gets reported as a nutcase by the media and becomes unelectable.

Whispering

So at naptime today, after telling a story about "Bobby" and singing the allie-bubba-catina-cat song, Greta mei asked me me, "I wu you seep wi' me". Being the sucker who just might love his kids TOO much, I obliged. After snuggling in between her and Lena,

Two Steps From Hell

So I came across some music the other day on Amazon that sounded like a collection of movie soundtrack themes. After listening to most of the samples, I downloaded it and compiled them in itunes under the genre "soundtrack" even though I had no idea at the time if the songs were from movies or not. Well, today I looked them up on wiki and facebook and lo and behold, this a music company that produces all of the epic music used in movie trailers such as Star Trek, Chronicles of Narnia, and Batman. Very cool - this stuff is amzanig!

Brownies

Yesterday, I got an urge for homemade brownies (with walnuts). Within an hour, with "help" from Maddie and Daniel, the brownies were sitting on the countertop, freshly dusted with powdered sugar. Not surprisingly, the kids inhaled their dinner in order to get their hands on them. Mei quietly sat in her booster for about an hour slowly nibbling on every last crumb.
This morning, according to Christine - "I asked Mei Mei what she wanted for breakfast this morning ... eggs, oatmeal ... and she said, without pausing ... brownies!" Funny thing is, if it had been me, I probably would have given her some. Reminded me of the story Bill Cosby told where his wife came into the kitchen to the sound of her kids chanting, "Dad is great, he gives us chocolate cake". There are some things you just don't do.

Tartar Sauce!

Whenever anyone else might feel like shouting an expletive such as, shall we say, "crap!" or "dang it!", my oldest daughter will say "tartar sauce!" At first I thought she was just being goofy, but I eventually realized she was quoting the childhood hero known to landlubbers as SpongeBob Squarepants. What better role model could a parent ask for? The yellow guy always has a smile on his face, he's a hard worker, and he has wonderful friends all over town, including the not-so-bright Patrick Star and the she-man squirrel Sandy Cheeks. Although oblivious to the real world around him, SpongeBob enjoys being himself with incessant laughing, chasing jellyfish, being hated on by Squidward, and working the job he was born for (flipping burgers). Yes, he is every parent's dream for successful children. Long live SpongeBob!

Can you sense some sarcasm? I hope so. The cartoon is actually pretty dang funny, I must admit - but I don't think it will EVER END! They just keep coming out with more episodes on TV and movies at the redbox. I suppose it won't end until they've sucked as much money as they can out of it. Sigh:( Well, at least my kids will be saying things like "tartar sauce!" instead of something less appropriate. That's good I guess.

Quote of the day

I found this quote online today - it's perfect! I couldn't have said it better myself. Geesh, what a bonehead.

“I cheerfully admit, and routinely say, that Mormonism has not proven its claims. I don’t think it’s supposed to do so, either, and, accordingly, I reject your claim that it has failed to do so.” Daniel C. Peterson (BYU Professor and Chief Mormon Apologist in Charge - MADB)

Daniel Peterson is also the author of "Evidences of The Book of Mormon", "Echoes and Evidences of The Book of Mormon", and "The Book of Mormon and DNA Research". These books come highly recommended by the Mormon leadership because (I'm going out on a limb here) they want books like these to be brought into the home and never actually looked at. Rather than being confused, it's best that Mormons leave these books on the bookshelf to be admired only. From a distance, they can sit comfortably knowing that a faithful Mormon "scholar" exists in this world, and he has explained away all the contradictory, faith-destroying information regarding Mormonism, and more specifically in Daniel Peterson's case, The Book of Mormon.

In the off chance you do read through Peterson's books, this simple math will make more sense:





= HORSE










= ASS









= HORSE'S ASS






Any questions?



Didn't think so.

Not your normal childhood

I come from a very strict, devout MORMON family. Need I emphasize the fact that my family is MORMON? Now, let me attempt to describe how strict and devout we were. By no means do I want to give the impression that the things I list below were all insane or problematic, though many of them most definitely were. Nor do I pretend that my childhood was terrible, because in many ways it was as blissful and perfect as any child could have asked for. We were a very poor family, and the Mormon church provided a sense of belonging and mutual understanding with other members of the faith, social status aside. But the church also exacted absolute obedience to its laws and commandments, which is required if you desire the attached blessings. That being said, may I quickly describe my childhood as it relates to Mormonism:

• My parents were having as many kids as the Lord could bless them
]]with (9 to be exact and I was #5)
• We held Family Home Evening every week
• At church 1 hour early every Sunday
• Always wearing our "Sunday best" = white-shirt and tie
• Always sitting on the 2nd pew from the front
• Attending all activities, meetings and socials
• Attended and graduated from early-morning seminary all 9 of us
• Eagle Scout every one of us 6 boys
• BYU graduates every one of us
• Served as full-time missionaries every one of us boys and even one
]]girl
• No dating before age 16 and then only double-dates
• No football watching or sports of any kind on the Sabbath, fully
]]aware that keeping the Sabbath-day holy was the “simplest
]]commandment and easiest to obey”
• No television at all except occasionally Little House, Andy Griffith or
]]a Walt Disney movie
• No playing video games (we had an ATARI for 1 week then my
]]mom threw it away because it brought “too much contention in the
]]home”)
• Performing service at the drop of a hat
• Driving 2 hours away while at our vacation spot every year to attend
]]an LDS church
• Holding family prayer every morning and evening
• Reading from the Book of Mormon as a family every morning
]]starting from age 5
• Receiving father’s blessings every year before school
• Rarely seeing my dad because he was always busy with his work
]]and many church callings
• Not drinking caffeinated products and rarely even soda in general
• Caring for a huge garden full of everything from broccoli to
]]zucchini and canning everything under the sun which of course was
]]part of our hoard of food storage
• Going to Nauvoo several times as a child (being in Indiana made it
]]only a 6 hour drive)
• Making the rounds in Palmyra while attending the pageant
• Playing violin and piano and becoming proficient at the piano so
]]we could play the hymns at church and while on our missions (the
]]ultimate goal)
• Dinner at 6:00 every night as a family
• Taking notes during conference and no dozing off
• Feeling pressure to bear testimony every fast Sunday - making sure
]]to mention the big five (I know the church is true, I know Joseph
]]Smith was a prophet of God, I know Jesus Christ lives, I know he
]]died for me, I know [current prophet] is called of God as Joseph
]]Smith was)

Yes, we were that type of family. My mom was Wonder-Woman. My dad was Super-Man. No, really, we never missed a beat.

Let them eat cake!

Gladiator is one of my favorite movies of all time... I suppose it's because of the vindication that Mr. Maximus realizes at the end, but

Rock - Paper - Scissors

It really is funny how fast kids catch on to a stupid game. When we're trying to decide who gets to pick the game, book, or movie, it usually comes down to rock paper scissors. Lena has a hard time with it however, and she'll usually stick to only one of the three choices, which puts her at a disadvantage. Last time we had a movie night, I decided to even the odds and use the "toothpick method". The three older kids each had their movie picked out and were all excited about this new non-discriminatory game of lot-drawing. I made sure to ask each of them if they were going to be ok with the results, whatever they might be. They were all agreed - you should have seen the smiles on their faces. When Lena won, and Snow White was the winning movie, two of those smiles mysteriously disappeared. The whining didn't last too long though, because I'd forgotten it was a school night. Maddie and Daniel were pretty upset over the whole thing, not just because they got the short end of the stick, but also because Lena got to stay up and watch her movie.

Day out with the kids

Last Saturday was a pretty good day. Christine spent the weekend in Spokane at a conference with her girlfriends, and after putting in extra hours at work during the week, I was able to stay home all weekend long. The kids and I had planned on going to a couple parks, but it was looking like a cold and rainy day, SO we took advantage of the "bus part" of the Bike-Walk-Bus-Missoula event that they were having all week (see pic above). First, Maddie wrote out a list of all the things we were going to do, and then we packed the backpack with the essentials (water, granola bars, raisins, diapers, wipees, books). I decided to take the jog stroller since Mei Mei would probably fall asleep at some point during the afternoon. That was the right decision.

We took the bus (for free) down to the mall where they proceeded to play on the train, go to the bathroom, go look at all the animals in the pet store, go to the bathroom, get lunch at Subway and Noodles Express, go to the bathroom, go to the candy store, go to the bathroom, go play on the train some more, and go to the bathroom. We spent about 3 and a half hours at the mall (half of which was spent in the bathroom), and then we got on another bus that took us to the Caras Park and the Children's Museum. On the way (this was ~30 minute bus ride) the kids read their books that we packed in the backpack. The carousel at the Caras Park was giving out free rides to anyone that walked or rode a bike or the bus to get there, but since we had less than an hour before the last bus of the day, we had to vote on either the carousel or the museum. They went with the museum. While the Meimers slept in the stroller, the other kids decided to completely cover their faces in paint from the face-paint station. Maddie painted Daniel's face all black because he wanted to be Darth Vader. By the time we left the museum, me and my colored children had to run to the bus-stop because we were behind schedule, but also because it had started raining again.

It was definitely a bath night. Surprisingly, the paint all came off, and not surprisingly, they all slept like logs all night while I watched a few horror movies. Hey, the wife was out of town and I had to take advantage, right?

Infanticide

A few posts back (Morality vs. Liberty), I stated that "abortion is different - a species should not kill it's own". It's funny that looking at that statement by itself makes me look pro-life - which I am. But I'm also pro-choice. Some things are not so cut and dry.

So anyway, I made that statement which I really didn't give much thought to - but today I started thinking about certain cases in the animal kingdom where species DO kill their own, and I'm not just talking about adults killing adults (for instance, where the female praying mantis consumes the male while copulating with him, or where the dominant hippo kills a younger male who challenges his right to a territory). No, I'm talking about adult animals killing young, powerless members of their own species. From a human perspective, many pro-lifers equate abortion of an unborn child to the killing of a young child, so the following list of animals that commit infanticide may come as a shock to them. In other words, it is a more common practice than you might think.

--> Many rodents show infanticide, including rats, ground squirrels, lemmings, hamsters, mice, voles, muskrats, gerbils, prairie dogs and marmots.
--> Rats and mice: When populations of mice and rats rise rapidly, the hungry and stressed survivors may kill and eat young. Ratbehavior.org goes into detail about infanticide in Norway rats. This is usually directed towards newborn rats. A mother pet rat may eat her own offspring. Mothers tend to kill deformed or wounded infants, which may allow her to allocate resources to the healthy pups, which are more likely to survive. Mothers may also kill litters when they are stressed, perhaps because she perceives the environment as too hostile for pup survival, or if she cannot to rear the litter successfully. She recuperates some her energetic investment by consuming the young. Malnourished mothers, and mothers who have an abnormal birth experience, may also become infanticidal. An unrelated adult male rat may kill young to bring the mother back into estrus sooner, so he can sire a litter of his own. Maternal aggression after the birth of a litter may reduce infanticide. Unrelated females may kill young rats to gain food and take over the nest.
--> Eastern grey squirrels: This website states that some males kill the young so that the females re-enter estrus. The Tennessee Animal Biogeographic System website states that captive, stressed females may kill their young.
--> Belding's ground squirrels: When Belding's ground squirrels fail to attend their territories, unrelated females or one-year-old males may arrive and kill pups. Yearling males usually eat the carcasses, so their infanticide may be motivated by hunger. When a predators kill a female's young, the female often emigrates to a new, safer site and kills the young there before she can settle. By removing juvenile females who may remain in the preferred area, infanticidal females reduce further competition for a nest site. Mothers with close relatives as neighbors lose fewer young to infanticides than females without neighboring kin. This is because groups of females detect marauders more quickly and expel them more rapidly than individuals acting alone, and because a female's relatives defend her young when she is away from home.
--> African hunting dogs: I remember a documentary about hunting dogs, where a dominant female tried to kill all the pups of another female. The documentary crew retrieved the last pup and named it Solo. Eventually Solo was reintroduced to the pack.
--> Lions: The University of Michigan zoology website and others state that when new adult lions take over a pride, they often kill the young and thus eliminate the chance of any rivalry against offspring he later fathers. This often causes the females to enter estrus after 2-3 weeks, much more quickly than if a female came into estrus after her cubs have become independent. The males mate with the female and help protect the females and their offspring, rather than protecting the young sired by the previous males. Lions may occasionally eat the cubs. Successful males that takeover a pride have about 2 years before another younger, stronger coalition will replace them. This is the same time a male would have to wait before nursing females entered estrus after their cubs became independent – by this time, a new male would probably take off the pride and the ‘patient' males would not longer be able to mate. Killing the cubs means that the males have a chance of leaving offspring, although females vigorously defend their cubs during a takeover.
--> Butterflies: The caterpillars of Monarch and Queen butterflies often eat the eggs of the species.
--> Bottle-nosed dolphins: The Polperro Dolphin Swims website states that adult bottle-nosed dolphins kill the young of their own species. This may be because competing adult males may be killing the offspring of their rivals so that the dead dolphin's mother will be receptive to mating. Researchers believe that females remain sexually inactive for years when raising their young, but become active again soon after their loss. This murderous behavior is not an uncommon feature within the animal kingdom. Large terrestrial carnivores, such as bears and lions, have been known to perform similar acts of infanticide to help start up their own dynasties to compete with their rivals.
--> Baboons: Ryne A. Palombit, of Rutgers University, studies male infanticide in chacma baboons, where a social relationship between males and lactating females leads to a decrease in infanticide. Similar relationships occur in olive baboons, where male infanticide is much less common.
--> Langurs and other primates: The males of several primate species, including the common langur, practice infanticide. Bands of male langurs will attack a mixed troop, driving off the males and killing the offspring before mating with the females. Baboons also kill their young and occasionally even eat them. Dominant male gorillas and chimpanzees may kill the young of their species, but infanticide does not seem to occur in bonobos.
--> Gulls and other birds: This strange website states that many species of gull that nest in large colonies eat eggs and young. This may be a response to crowding, but male gulls, which lack young of their own, are more likely to eat the eggs and young of their own species. Some parent birds may eat the young when populations become dense, or food scarce. Crows may eat eggs and chicks of rivals to improve their own chance of successful breeding.
--> Kangaroos: Kangaroos can have three young at different stages of development. One inside the body, one in the pouch and one that lives outside the pouch for much of the time, but still suckles from the mother. In severe conditions, the mother may not have enough energy to feed the older young, so this is left to its own devices. If conditions deteriorate, the mother will remove the pouch young. This means that the embryo in the body develops and soon occupies the vacant pouch. Whether this course of action counts as infanticide is debatable, but if the mother died, so would the young.

Naturalists have identified dozens of species that kill their young, including the animals listed above, as well as hippos, bears, wolves, hyenas, herring gulls and more than 15 types of primates other than man. Humans are not alone. Like these animals, we are not non-maleficent robots that live for the group and kill only to eat. Instead, we are programmed for selfish, even murderous acts when survival and propagation are threatened. Luckily for all of us, survival and propagation are not as difficult to achieve as humans. Maybe this is why some view abortion as such a heinous crime - it is usually done for only selfish reasons. Then again, I think we can afford to be, given that humans are one of the most successful species this planet has ever seen.

Women have skills in other areas

Hip-Pocket Politics: How To Become a Tack by Gary North

Hip-Pocket Politics: How To Become a Tack by Gary North
Ron Paul continues to attract young conservatives which gives me some measure of hope for our future. This Gary North fella says some things I'd like to repeat here. Here's one:

"Ron Paul is still dismissed as a gadfly or kook by the mainstream media. He is not taken seriously. Yet he keeps scoring straw poll victories. This should not be happening, they believe.

When I was his research assistant in 1976, we knew that on some votes, the outcome would be 434 to 1. He would be the lone "no" vote. This has not changed. He is still the lone ranger in the House.

The problem for the Republican Establishment is that he represents a rising swing vote nationally. He and Palin together represent a growing threat to the Party's Punch and Judy show that Republican incumbents play with incumbent Democrats. The doctrine of representation matters in politics. These two represent disillusioned Republican voters who are in a position to inflict permanent losses on Republican candidates who operate in terms of politics as usual.

In 2010, Ron Paul remains the ultimate loner inside the Beltway. Outside the Beltway, he is not a loner. The Republican voter in the street knows who he is. There is no other person in Congress even close to his ability to gain votes at this stage.

This is causing consternation inside the Republican Establishment. Paul can raise tens of millions of dollars on the Web. They know that. He has a constant YouTube presence. They don't. He has a hard-core audience inside the Tea Party movement. Only Sarah Palin matches him, which gives the big-spending Republican Establishment no comfort. They hate her, too."

His conclusion perfectly illustrates my personal position on the subject. Read on:

"The most important power in politics is the power to impose pain on politicians. Civil government is about imposing negative sanctions on law-breakers. So is politics.

Any time a politician begins to think you are in his hip pocket, make sure he knows you are a tack.

The Tea Party movement is growing. Rising taxes and rising deficits will guarantee that this will continue.

If the Tea Party bloc cannot get its candidates nominated, it should run third-party candidates every time. It should kill the chances of any Republican candidate unless he decides to pander to them.

The Establishment Republicans will wail in despair. "This is keeping the party from winning." Exactly! The goal is to do this for as long as the Republican Party does not publicly pursue the agenda of the Tea Party wing.

Two election cycles later, the wafflers will be gone. At that point, the Tea Party bloc will control the Republican Party's grass roots.

The political cancer today is big spending. Big spenders must be removed with surgical precision. Every candidate must know that he will lose in November if he waffles.

Politicians see the light only when they feel the heat. This is the doctrine of hell in politics. It is time to give politicians hell."

Things that make us Human

If you were to ask someone on the street what they though made us different from animals, they might say, "tools, ...

10. Life after children

Most animals reproduce until they die, but in humans, females can survive long after ceasing reproduction. This might be due to the social bonds seen in humans -- in extended families, grandparents can help ensure the success of their families long after they themselves can have children.

9. Long Childhoods

Humans must remain in the care of their parents for much longer than other living primates. The question then becomes why, when it might make more evolutionary sense to grow as fast as possible to have more offspring. The explanation may be our large brains, which presumably require a long time to grow and learn.

8. Blushing

Humans are the only species known to blush, a behavior Darwin called "the most peculiar and the most human of all expressions." It remains uncertain why people blush, involuntarily revealing our innermost emotions. The most common idea is that blushing helps keep people honest, benefiting the group as a whole.

7. Fire

The human ability to control fire would have brought a semblance of day to night, helping our ancestors to see in an otherwise dark world and keep nocturnal predators at bay. The warmth of the flames also helped people stay warm in cold weather, enabling us to live in cooler areas. And of course it gave us cooking, which some researchers suggest influenced human evolution -- cooked foods are easier to chew and digest, perhaps contributing to human reductions in tooth and gut size.

6. Clothing

Humans may be called "naked apes," but most of us wear clothing, a fact that makes us unique in the animal kingdom, save for the clothing we make for other animals. The development of clothing has even influenced the evolution of other species -- the body louse, unlike all other kinds, clings to clothing, not hair.

5. Speech

The larynx, or voice box, sits lower in the throat in humans than in chimps, one of several features that enable human speech. Human ancestors evolved a descended larynx roughly 350,000 years ago. We also possess a descended hyoid bone -- this horseshoe-shaped bone below the tongue, unique in that it is not attached to any other bones in the body, allows us to articulate words when speaking.

4. Hands

Contrary to popular misconceptions, humans are not the only animals to possess opposable thumbs -- most primates do. (Unlike the rest of the great apes, we don't have opposable big toes on our feet.) What makes humans unique is how we can bring our thumbs all the way across the hand to our ring and little fingers. We can also flex the ring and little fingers toward the base of our thumb. This gives humans a powerful grip and exceptional dexterity to hold and manipulate tools with.

3. Nakedness

We look naked compared to our hairier ape cousins. Surprisingly, however, a square inch of human skin on average possesses as much hair-producing follicles as other primates, or more -- humans often just have thinner, shorter, lighter hairs.

2. Upright Posture

Humans are unique among the primates in how walking fully upright is our chief mode of locomotion. This frees our hands up for using tools. Unfortunately, the changes made in our pelvis for moving on two legs, in combination with babies with large brains, makes human childbirth unusually dangerous compared with the rest of the animal kingdom. A century ago, childbirth was a leading cause of death for women. The lumbar curve in the lower back, which helps us maintain our balance as we stand and walk, also leaves us vulnerable to lower back pain and strain.

1. Extraordinary Brains

Without a doubt, the human trait that sets us apart the most from the animal kingdom is our extraordinary brain. Humans don't have the largest brains in the world -- those belong to sperm whales. We don't even have the largest brains relative to body size -- many birds have brains that make up more than 8 percent of their body weight, compared to only 2.5 percent for humans. Yet the human brain, weighing only about 3 pounds when fully grown, give us the ability to reason and think on our feet beyond the capabilities of the rest of the animal kingdom, and provided the works of Mozart, Einstein and many other geniuses.

Morality vs. Liberty

I was thinking about the laws governing marijuana use as well as abortion rights. Consider these questions:

Is it right to grant more liberty at the expense of morality?

Is it right to command strict morality at the expense of liberty?

Is forced morality actually … immoral?

In other words, in the balance between morality and liberty, which is more important to you?

Which is more important to our country?



I personally find it ludicrous that our government tries to force us into not smoking marijuana. The chemical THC is not as dangerous or addictive as alcohol or nicotine. And yet the alcohol and tobacco industries are doing just fine. Some regulations surrounding harmful and potentially harmful substances are appropriate, such as making alcohol and tobacco use by teens illegal, but banning the use of something as inconsequential as marijuana is immoral. Our government needs to address real problems. Marijuana use isn't one of them. For the record, I've never touched the stuff, but I think I should have the right to if I so desire.

Now abortion. From a physiological perspective, a sperm and an egg are as alive as any other cell in your body - including the cells in a developing embryo. Life did have a beginning, but that probably only happened once. When we see a baby being born, what we're seeing is a continuation of life - an absolutely beautiful thing. But the question I'm asking is - Should the government force us into a moral corner on unnatural abortion?

Most citizens of this country find no problem putting to death murderers and child molesters. I think it's because deep down, we feel that what they were convicted of is below us, and as dehumanized flesh, do not deserve to be part of the human species. We kill every species of animal and plant out there if they stand in our way. Killing is all around us. We see it when we eat a hamburger or spread herbicides and pesticides on our immaculate lawns. We can’t relate to a dandelion. Nor to a roach. But it could only be because we lack the motivation, and for most of us, ending the life of non-human species is a "natural" consequence of our own survival.

But abortion (the unnatural kind) is different. A species should not kill its own. Humans ending the life of humans is wrong because it’s not in the interest of our species' survival. From this perspective, abortion is wrong ... but let's consider one very important thing.

Humans have the most peculiar ability to make choices. We are unlike any other life form in this respect. We can visualize an outcome before it occurs. We can change and adapt our emotions and thought-processes. Among other reasons, we do it to arrive at more rational conclusions. Our days are full of choices. Some we make quickly because we can and should. Some take more time. Abortion is one of these issues.

In my personal opinion, the government should not infringe on a person’s right to their own body. If a person wants to kill herself, that is her right. If a person wants to remove a small mass of cells called an embryo growing within her, that is her right. Would it be the morally correct decision? No, I don't believe so. But in my book, liberty trumps morality, and as long as we as a species are not in danger of being wiped out, why can’t we just let it alone?

The Grandpa "get-er-dun" list

My folks have been in town since Wednesday, and let me tell you - it has been nice. Mother has kept us fed with yummy food and has babysat the kids with games and books (Lon Po Po and Charlotte's Web). Daddy-O has kept himself busy working on what had been MY to-do list. Luckily, he is much more of a handyman than I am, and most of the things I was having trouble with were no trouble for him.

The sprinkler pipe on the east wall has been leaking for a couple years. He inspected it, tightened it, sanded down the universal joint, but no luck. So he tore it off the wall and cut the pipe coming outside from the basement. That's his style. He ended up replacing the copper sections with PVC. Works for me.

Open-Mindedness: Lesson #1

I grew up as a true-believing Mormon, and did everything (I mean everything) that a good little Mormon boy was expected to do. Since I no longer pretend to adhere to the Mormon dogmatic/doctrinal/
"whatever you wanna call it" belief system, I'm often asked where I stand in relation to religion - or even ... dun-duh-duh ... God. I'd like to say, "I don't believe in God" which is, I admit, the truth. But usually I'll say something like, "I'm not sure what to think." I do this to avoid a long and pointless debate about the supernatural. Sure, you might think I'm avoiding the issue so I can save face, and this may be true, but it's mostly because I want to save time.

There are times however when I do admit the truth - like when I'm chatting with someone on a bus or a flight who I just met for the first time, or with someone who doesn't enjoy being a judgmental bastard, or with someone who prefers to listen and understand (imagine that!) Regardless of the precautions I take, I never know exactly how people will respond when I open up to them.

Some people will accept what I say and even make me feel completely normal for my having no belief in God. But then, there will always be some people who think that "not believing in something" equates to "knowing that something is not true." Some think that I'm too much of a "scientist" and that I have to have proof to accept anything. Others think I should be more open-minded and consider all options. Well, in that vein, I found a very well-produced video on youtube today that explains the importance of understanding what genuine science and open-mindedness really are.

Whether you believe in a higher power or not, open-mindedness and critical thinking are absolutely invaluable assets. Lacking one or the other means you're either short on creativity or you're just really gullible. Then again, if you're close-minded, it doesn't really matter if you possess critical thinking skills because you've closed yourself off from new ideas that would require them. If you choose to be open-minded and critically evaluate ALL information, you may find that science and the natural world have more meaning than you expected.

You can see the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T69TOuqaqXI

Gose-bussuhs!

Since I'm married to an Asian woman, I feel perfectly fine highlighting some of the amusing jokes I come across (especially since I usually come across these jokes through her or her family). There will be more of these I'm sure.

Knecht Gym

The kids are going to make me ripped! It seems like every other day, Daniel and Maddie want to have a competition with me to see who can do the most pull-ups and push-ups. I'd like to say I always win, or that I let them win, but Daniel actually beat me last time. On our second rep on the pull-up bar, he did 10 and I did, seriously, 9 and a half. I just couldn't make it that extra little bit. I guess I could reason through it by saying "he only weighs 45 pounds" to make myself feel better, but that's just not productive.

This is the way it works. I do 14 push-ups. So Daniel has to do 15. Then I'll do 16, etc. It works the same on the pull-up bar, but this is little more difficult for me than push-ups. I think the most I can do in a row (right now) is 11. Give me a couple months, and a couple extra workouts per week when the kids are asleep, and it'll be smooth sailing. One can hope.

Guitar Hero

So yesterday morning I was trying my best (on the beginner level) to follow along with the TV prompts. I played for about an hour, and throughout the entire thing, first Maddie, then Daniel and Elena would say "Now!" every time I was supposed to strum the guitar. Halfway through it they decided that they would each pick a color and help me with that color, so someone was on Red, someone else on Green, and someone else on Yellow. Toward the end though they were all just yelling "NOW! NOW! NOW!" and I was just standing there smiling. It was cute how they thought they were helping, so I just let them "help". But man, did that screw me up or what!? I had to concentrate about twice as hard. Good times.

"Your focus determines your reality"

The valuable words of Qui Gon from Star Wars, episode 1. I'm not a big fan of the new prequels to the original Star Wars trilogy, but this phrase stuck with me the other day when I was talking to my friend Brandon.

I remember telling someone years ago (which I mentioned to Brandon a couple days ago) that, in my opinion, someone who is clinically depressed is usually more aware of the true state of his environment. The environment is that person's "world", or what he perceives as his "world", and is everything that surrounds him or has an affect on him. I know some people would disagree, but I still cling to that theory.

A problem with depressed individuals, beyond the fact that many have neurotransmitter imbalances, is that they are not focusing on the issues that they have control over. In Cabo Verde, I remember Senhor Pond telling us to make two lists. The first list should include all the problems we had no control over, while the second should contain all the problems we could control. He then told us that we should cross out the first list and focus only on the aspects of life that we had control over. Very insightful and memorable - that was over 10 years ago.

While talking to Brandon, he agreed with me about depressed people being more aware of their world's problems, and he reiterated basically the same thing Senhor Pond had said, but then he added the quote from Star Wars. It all makes sense to me, and I'd like to combine these ideas together.

Being more aware of the state of your world is a good thing, but you have to take into account a little thing called "perspective". Yes, you can be aware of things as they truly are, and this can be mind-opening, but at the same time, you can choose to focus on those things that are important, productive, and able to be controlled - by you. If you spend your time focusing on things you can't control, you will only make yourself more miserable, because your perceived reality will include all those unproductive, depressing and uncontrollable aspects of your life. The point here is - Being aware of something is different from being emotionally and psychologically attached to it.

The - what is real, and what is not - depends largely on perspective, and if you can just acquire a proper perspective on your world, and if you can choose to focus on those things that YOU can control, you'll be in a much more contented place.

Greta loves her Daa-ee

This morning I went upstairs to see if Meimers was awake and ready to get up. I snuck into her room and leaned over the crib. She was laying there with her eyes open looking out the opposite side of the crib and singing, "Daa-ee, Daa-ee, Daaaaa-ee". It was adorable - SHE'S adorable. Then I whispered, "Good morning Mei-mei" and she flipped around and said, much louder than before, "Daa-ee, my Daa-ee!" and gave me one of those big "good morning" hugs and held on to me for a minute or two like she does every morning that I get her up. That girl is so cute I can hardly stand it.

Português faz falta

Desde que saí da missão, eu sinto que perdi algumas frases muito importantes. Existem duas frases que às vezes queria usar, mas não posso, porque elas não existem em Inglés. Estou a falar do "faz falta" e "ter saudades de". Ambos são expressões que a gente de Portugal gosta muito de usar.

Aí dizem - "faz falta". No idioma Inglés, se pode dizer algo como "I really miss", mas isso não é a mesma coisa. Se você quer dizer "I really miss", ía dizer "Sinto muito falta de ...". Literalmente, "faz falta" significa "make lack", enquanto a frase "sentir falta de" é uma tradução correta do "feel lack". A frase "não faz falta" tém outro sentido, que é algo como "It doesn't matter".

Também dizem - "ter saudades de" quando a falta feita é mais forte. Gostas da aliteração? Em Inglés, se dizem "to yearn for" ou "to long for" mas outra vez, não é a mesma coisa. "Deixar saudades de" é uma maneira de dizer "to be greatly missed".

Não sou especialista de linguagem, mas ao meu ver, Inglés nunca basta quando a gente sinta falta de qualquer coisa. Português, de verdade, faz falta, e sempre vou ter saudades do povo de Portugal.

Estou certo disso.

An American Hero

Yesterday I learned that Dr. Ron Paul was selected as the straw poll winner at the Conservative Political Action Conference. I'm sure the mainstream Republican Party was shamed by this result. He may be too old to run for president in 2012, but he is a champion for true conservatism, that is, limited government. His winning of the poll sends a message to members of government across this nation that REAL change is needed, that the Fed must be abolished, that the budget must be balanced, that handouts will never help anyone, and that our presence overseas needs to end.

A few years ago, a friend of mine from Texas gave me a signed copy of Ron Paul's book "The Revolution". Unlike most books on my shelf, I actually read it from cover to cover. For the first time in a long time, I was hopeful for our present-day system of government and for my and my children's future. Paul's ideas for America, his "Manifesto" of adhering to the Constitution, was exactly what I needed. It is what America needs, which is really nothing more than returning to our roots. I'm sure I'll write more on this inspiring man later, but for now, here's a video.

This is the entire video of Congressman Ron Paul's acceptance speech at CPAC 2010. Sure, he does ramble a bit, but it's also pretty clear that he is speaking off the cuff and from the heart:

Escrevendo à máquina em Português

I'm just now learning how to type in Portuguese. There are a number of characters that don't show up on the keyboard, mostly with accent marks. I used to use the symbols search tool in Word, and then I'd copy and paste, but here's a shortcut. By holding the Alt and Fn keys you can produce them, such as:
135 = ç
128 = Ç
160 = á
0193 = Á
0227 = ã
0195 = Ã
133 = à
0192 = À
0245 = õ
0213 = Õ
162 = ó
0211 = Ó
147 = ô
0212 = Ô
130 = é
144 = É
136 = ê
0202 = Ê
161 = í
0205 = Í

My first post

This is an attempt to put in order those scrambled thoughts bouncing around between my ears. I may not come off as a deep thinker, but then again, that's not really the point, is it? I'm just here to write about what I find interesting, and make notes of the things I do.

This blog has a Portuguese title because, well, for a few reasons -
1) I absolutely love reading, listening to and speaking (as well as I can) the language of the angels. Yes, that is in fact the language they speak in Portugal. Yes, Portugal is that Indiana-sized country to the west of Spain.
2) It looked to me like a flashy title - pronounced "KOH-moo ee-muh-ZHEE-nuh, uh-SING ā ell"
3) Who wants to read "As a man thinks, so is he"? - that sounds a bit overused.
4) I prefer the Portuguese word "imaginar" to the English "think" because it gives a more active sense of mental processing (at least to me).

I admit, most of this will likely be me journaling, but at least having a blog gives me a little more incentive.