Plug In: People In Planes "Pretty Buildings"

The new music video for People In Planes. Check it out.

Announcement: Editor Please

Attention.

It has been brought to my attention that I am in desperate need of an editor. The saying "Behind every good author is a good editor" has only now come into focus.

For those of you who have struggled through my difficult to understand writings, I promise you tonight that from here on out I will write better. I will be better. That is a promise I will not break.

Thank you.

Read Books, Not "A" Book

[via Stephen Prothero]

Written works are some of the most precious creations known to man. I make such a statement with full and total confidence in the wealth and abundance of knowledge that has been accumulated by the human race and placed within the pages of these wonderful texts. To me books have always and will always be the place to turn to when all else fails. When social progression fails, when humanities' reign is at an end, those who come in the years, decades, and millenniums that follow will be able to know us through our written words.

Books are precious to me, not just for what they are, but for what they represent: Knowledge. Absolutely pure but absolutely corrupted knowledge that is both accessible, beneficial, and critical to know.

In my days I have encountered many fools among men who continue to remain fools because of their lack of knowledge, their lack of character, and their lack of ambition. These fools, tentatively called such, continue to simply live in complacent servitude-like lives of existence. I met the majority of these fools during high school. While there these immature children did not learn as they were supposed to, but rather these fools refused to learn anything. In doing so they created problems not just for themselves, but also for those around them. I've met several more fools the sizable church that I formerly attended. I won't bother listing names or running through their ages, just know that they are in the young adult section of the populace and therefore easily impressionable.

One particular gentleman I know has constantly been an annoyance to me for as the eight years that I have known him. We went to church together and our families are friends. He is only a few months younger than me as well. Naturally we should have clicked right off the bat, but due to some unfortunate character flaws on his part, I never felt it necessary to befriend him.

As the years have gone by, gradually this family friend has grown to become a good friend of my sixteen year old brother. They have only become friends through a shared interest in faith and music. Both of them play guitars for the church worship band. My younger brother is included in this article because he is the one that set me off on this trail tonight. This "friend" has spent his whole life growing up in a Christian family with basic Christian values and beliefs. Homeschooled, athletic, and somewhat of an idiot, he has continually irked me throughout our infrequent encounters.

On one fine spring day, he came over to spend a few hours with my younger brother practicing a new song for the band that they are in. I have no problem with my brother befriending him, but with my natural irritation towards this friend, I was not inclined to allow him to come over. Unfortunately, he still did.

They practiced the new song for quite some time. I was eating dinner and reading a book when they finished and came out to join me. After my brother and his friend had sat down, I turned to the friend and asked him if he had ever read the book that I currently was reading. His answer was "No. I only read the Bible."

My jaw dropped. For a little less than a minute I sat in total stunned silence, unable to comprehend the fact that he exclusively read the Bible. It boggled my mind to even consider the idea that a person, being literate and having access to all other sorts of books, would choose to only read the Bible. I simply couldn't understand it. When I asked why, his reply was that it was the only book that interested him. Nearly all who have ever read the Bible, Christians and non-believers alike, will testify that the Bible is one of the most difficult works of literature to get through. I personally have only read it through, cover to cover, twice. Both times I nearly quit on several occasions due to the incredibly dull concept of the Bible in general.

Many people believe that things happen in threes. I wouldn't question that either in this situation.

I was reading earlier tonight on Brian's blog, Primordial, a post entitled "The Unfortunate Legacy of Smith Wigglesworth." In it was discussed the legacy of this Pentecostal minister, one known for his fallacious antics that resulted in numerous claimed miracles. He is also a fool, and this is why:

"He was also proudly uneducated and only learned to read as an adult. He made a point of bragging that the only book he had ever read in his life was the bible." -Primordial

The same ignorance that so became Wigglesworth was proclaimed to me not only by this family friend, but also by my younger brother tonight. What set me off wasn't the fact that he was reading the Bible nor the fact that he began to discuss it with my mother; what set me off was when he proclaimed, just as the two before him that "the Bible was the only book he ever needed to read." And he, not to be outdone by the two, added on, and I quote "it is the source of infinite wisdom."

Unlike the previous time with the family friend, I did not fail to react. And sharply did I react. Typically in arguments and debates I think clearly and communicate clearly without the impediments of irrationality. Tonight was different. Something welled up within me, something bottled up and stored for such an occasion. With him proclaiming his own ignorance I couldn't resist attempting to educate him a little.

I began by implicating that this book of "infinite wisdom" infinitely provided the wisdom, directly from God, on how to deal with your rebellious children, how to treat your slaves, what to do with your enemies...etc. My argument was that God provided the biblically correct way of handling certain situations. The solutions provided by the God of the Bible would today be considered sexist, racist, immoral, and criminal.

He responded, quite unexpectedly, with this example of the Bible's wisdom "When the pharisees asked Jesus whether or not divorce was okay as Moses had said it was, Jesus said that it was no longer okay." My brother was referring to Mark 10: 2-12, a Bible passage reads as follows:

2Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"

3"What did Moses command you?" he replied.

4They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."

5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 7'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery." - Mark 10: 2-12 (NIV)

I used this outlandish counterargument, or one that I now recognize as outlandish, that if your wife committed adultery against you with thirteen other men, you, my brother, are willing to stay with her and not divorce the whore? His reply was a classic example of ignorance "No I wouldn't." When I begged to know why he wouldn't, he answered by stating that "She would...just...somehow die."

My brother is young so I will provide him with some measure of grace. I too was and still am young. But blatant ignorance, in the face of all logic and reason, should never be tolerated. Oddly, in many parts of the world, it is.

Besides their faith in the unbelievable, what did all three of these fools have in common? All three of them, two of which I personally know and know this for a fact as well as the third one has historical records to back this up, are little educated in the concepts of critical thinking.

Critical thinking has been defined as:

"The ability to apply a patina of rationality to a thought process that commences with a desired conclusion." [source]

It is a necessary skill to have if someone intends on actively pursuing a life of knowledge and intellect. For those who lack it, they are the ones doomed to a pitiful existence of the simple life. This simplicity is what I will here on after refer to as "sheephood," or the perpetual state of sheep like complacency.

Smith Wigglesworth, the family friend, and my brother all have this sheephood complex about them. They are amongst the many who so strongly believe in an archaically traditional work of seemingly spiritual significance. The ignorance, the lack of critical thinking, and the belief that reading this ancient manuscript is all thats necessary in order to find knowledge and wisdom, are all trademark examples of what I would call a fool.

History Knows Him

[via link]

I was browsing around on Wikipedia (aka time killer) when I came across an interesting article. Check it out:

"Herostratus was a young man who set fire to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (in what is now western Turkey) in his quest for fame on July 21, 356 BC. The temple was constructed of marble and was considered the most beautiful of some thirty shrines built by the Greeks to honor their goddess of the hunt and the wild. The temple was also one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Far from attempting to evade responsibility for his act of arson, Herostratus proudly claimed credit in order to immortalize his name in history. In order to dissuade similar-minded fame-seekers, the Ephesean authorities not only executed Herostratus, but condemned him to a legacy of obscurity by forbidding mention of his name under the penalty of death. Obviously, this harsh stipulation did not preclude Herostratus from achieving his goal, as the ancient historian Theopompus recorded the event and Herostratus in his history."[1]

Herostratus went out and burned down the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, so that his name would go down in history. Ironically, his egotistical plan succeeded and his name has even become a byword for someone constantly pursuing fame.

Links: wikipedia article, ancient biography

Input Equals Output

[via link]

There are three things that are required by me in order to blog. The first thing is a computer. Obviously without it I would seriously be hampered in the amount of writing I would be able to do. The second thing is the internet, a necessary tool that allows me to directly publish my writings online without having to go through a newspaper or other archaic means. The third thing, and this is the most critical, is inspiration. Without inspiration, I am nothing.

Pablo Picasso once said "Bad artists copy. Good artists steal"[1]. His words are truer than true. Think about it: when was the last time that you saw something totally and completely original? I'm not sure about you, but in all my years (how few they may be) I have seen, read, or heard only a dozen or so truly original works.

That may sound cold hearted and cruel to the countless creators out there who firmly believe and will continue to believe that their works are the most original works ever. But the truth is that all of us borrow from one another. All of us, collectively, use each others work to produce our own. The words we use, the beats, the paintings, have their basis upon something in the past. Another old adage goes "There is nothing new under the sun." Thats true as well.

So where do we turn for our inspiration? Some artists travel to live by the sea, hoping the intoxicating fumes and the resounding crescendos of the waves can somehow be recreated in their works. Some travel to the large cities, dreaming of the success that will arise from their Harlem beats or gritty Brooklyn paintings. Others still seclude themselves in solitude, utterly alone, drawing upon the lessons of old taught to them by professors or books, in order to be inspired enough to create something incredible.

Wherever they go, this is true: input equals output. Whatever you do, whatever you study and consume and cherish by placing inside of you is eventually expressed in whatever you create. I see this in my own works, whether poems, songs, or stories. So from personal experience I can testify that it is true, there is nothing new under the sun. Even this post is not new. I'm sure this topic has been discussed many times over. But that begs the question: what about over it?

Keith Olbermann Rips Through Bush (Bonus: Chris Matthews on Bush's Knesset Comments)

Keith Olbermann rips through Bush on Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Definately an interesting watch.

This is an interesting debate hosted by veteran commentator Chris Matthews on the topic of the now politically infamous Knesset Comments made by President George W. Bush.

Failure in Chief

President Bush, along with his compatriots in the Bush Administration, have been digging a mass grave over the course of the last seven years. This deep and expanding pit has been the site where countless atrocious murders have been committed and quickly covered up, all in the name of Freedom. But over the past years, Freedom itself has been brutally murdered and its corpse tossed lifelessly into the expanse to join its other dead brethren of Truth, Peace, Equality, Morality, and Justice.

I am speaking figuratively, of course. As far as we know, no mass graves filled with the bodies of countless innocents have been found that are the responsibility of this current lame duck Administration. That does not then leave their hands guilty or their consciences clean, seeing as how nearly every member of the Bush League is responsible in some way, however minute, for the senseless execution of all the values that Americans hold dear.

Let me diffuse your counterarguments here: No, I am not a free-think liberal incessantly shouting Anti-Bush catcalls or taking low blows at his golf swing; nor am I a senseless conservative solidly standing up for the man thats defended America from terrorism. What I am is a pissed off American who has had enough with the lies being constantly fed to us by one of the most corrupt Presidential Administrations ever. The corruption of this Administration has led to the recent decline in the U.S.'s power at home and abroad.

Michael Hirsch, a senior editor of Newsweek, in an article titled "An Unnatural Disaster: America bears much of the blame for its waning global clout" points out that the recent disasters in China and Burma are soon to be dwarfed by the tragedy of the decline of America's global influence. Heroically Hirsch champions the idea that America's current position of power (or lack thereof) is largely the responsibility of several key power players in Washington. Unfortunately, Hirsch doesn't specifically mention their names but undoubtedly he is referring to President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld, amongst many others.

An interesting note about the article is that in it, a major story of cause-and-effect is outlined. For example, Hirsch consistently points a weathered writer's finger towards several strategic flops of this Administration. One of these, the "biggie", was the invasion of Iraq. He is quick to equate the whole invasion debacle as the equivalent of "holding a conference on fire safety while your house is still burning down."

Already having the lowest approval rating of any sitting President in the history of polling, Bush seems to define what it means to be a failure. With 4078 U.S. soldiers dead and little progress to show for it, the Iraq War has become and is a failure. Afghanistan is rapidly becoming a failure with the resurgence of Al-Quaeda in the region. The public largely perceives him as a failure, and this includes foreign leaders. His most "successful" domestic program, an education plan entitled No Child Left Behind, still is limping along, but is nearing complete failure. Probably the worst blow the Office has come from the academic historians. 415 of them to be precise. 81% of those surveyed said that George W. Bush's presidency is a failure.

History doesn't need to decide whether Bush was a failure or not, it appears as if the populace mind has already been made. Just a few more months and George W. Bush's reign of ignorance will come to an end. When that day comes, hopefully the 28% of Americans who still approve of Bush will come to their senses and discover the mass grave into which they have lost so much, and gained nothing.

Infamous: Knesset Comments

NOTE: Sorry about my subjects being so singular today. But honestly, how could I NOT have discussed this man with all the problems he has been causing lately?

In his latest defiant display of ignorance, Bush recently compared leading Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, a politician known for trying to appease Adolf Hitler by granting him part of Czechoslovakia. CNN reports this:

JERUSALEM (CNN) – In a particularly sharp blast from halfway around the world, President Bush suggested Thursday that Sen. Barack Obama and other Democrats are in favor of "appeasement" of terrorists in the same way U.S. leaders appeased Nazis in the run-up to World War II.

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," said Bush, in what White House aides privately acknowledged was a reference to calls by Obama and other Democrats for the U.S. president to sit down for talks with leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

These statements have set off a political firestorm the likes of which scarcely seen. Apparently, nearly everyone in politics has made comments on these remarks. Senator Hillary Clinton, the only current opponent facing Obama, has come out and denounced the President's attack and defended Senator Obama publicly.

Senator Joe Biden made one of the best rebuttals towards Bush's outlandish statements. His reply: Bullshit! The Senator went on to say that if the President was so incensed at the idea of holding talks with Iran, he should fire his own secretaries of Defense and State, both of whom have held diplomatic talks with Iranian officials. CNN reported his comments:

“This is bullshit. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset…and make this kind of ridiculous statement,” Biden said angrily in a brief interview just off the Senate floor.

“He’s the guy who’s weakened us. He’s the guy that’s increased the number of terrorists in the world. His policies have produced this vulnerability the United States has. His intelligence community pointed that out not me. The NIE has pointed that out and what are you talking about, is he going to fire Condi Rice? Condi Rice has talked about the need to sit down. So his first two appeasers are Rice and Gates. I hope he comes home and does something.”

He quoted Gates saying Wednesday that we “need to figure out a way to develop some leverage and then sit down and talk with them.”

I have to agree with Senator Joe Biden on this one. And in the words spoken by the legendary Keith Olbermann, Bush needs to just "shut the hell up."

"Waving Posies" Poem

[via link]

I've been writing a lot recently, which I don't really mind. My writings are varied though, shifting from poetry to prose, and back again. Yesterday, sitting at our dinning room table that was outfitted with a cluster of flowers in a vase, I came up with this poem.

The poem is about life, and living, and the connection that we humans share with our environment. Sometimes something happens that can't be rationalized or explained. The event told in this poem is one of those events. It can't be explained. So if you will, suspend your disbelief and enjoy the poetry. It'll be worth it in the end, I promise.


Waving Posies
By Daniel Paul Ocean
05/15/08

I see a flock of stricken posies
Striking very particular poses
That make them look more dead than alive
At least to my untrained eye.
A tall one in the middle stands
Waving casually like a man’s hand
About a crowd of others still,
The group sits upon a window sill.
I could not resist waving back
Every gently, but lacking in tact.
I was stunned, my grin stifled,
At a puzzle that all but baffled
What was left of my conscience.
Thinking it must have been a coincidence,
I refused to believe what my eyes told me,
They whispered casually “He waved back to thee.”

Friday Afternoon Plug In: Coldplay

[via link]

I know its not Friday afternoon, but I felt like uploading this as soon as I found it.

Bands come around every few years who redefine the music industry. Their songs, voices, and beats all bring life and vitality to an industry accused every few months of being in the final throws of death. Coldplay is one of those bands.

Established in1998, Coldplay garnered a rabid fan-core-group rapidly. The band had issues to begin with, as most do, but with the success of their first EP, Brothers and Sisters, the group quickly banded together.

Coldplay has continued to bring fresh fire to the pit of the music industry, igniting it with hit singles such as Yellow, The Scientist, and probably the bands most noteworthy tribute to music: Clocks.

This bands incredible new CD, dubbed Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, is an incredible work of sure genius. The two singles of the album ,Viva la Vida and Violet Hill, have already been covered hundreds of times on Youtube and are the talk amongst many fans of the alternative rock genre. On May 19th, the band's latest music video for the single Violet Hill will be released. Fortunately enough, I was able to locate an early released version of it online. Hope you enjoy.

UPDATE: Complete music video removed from site. Only a short clip left.

To Busy Writing

[via link]

I was to busy writing on a short story that I came up with at work to update the ol' blog tonight. Sorry about that folks. Hopefully by tomorrow evening I will have something of substance added onto here. Until then.

100 Manly Books

The Art of Manliness blog has posted an interesting collection of the 100 Must-Read Books for Men. It's interesting that they equate reading with manliness seeing as how a large portion of today's young male gender would disagree with the statement that reading is manly. I'm generalizing, I know, but most guys would only agree to such an "outlandish" statement if it included reading Sports Illustrated or some other masculine magazine.

I liked the list. It was long and tedious to read through, but most of the books on it I can check off my own list. I would recommend you check it out. In case you missed the link, its here.