Being born is really like drawing straws. Consider the fact that you were probably born American, into a Christian family. Given the world's popuation, you had a 1/6 chance of being born Chinese, one of multiple eastern religions. 1/6 chance of being born Hindu in India. Process that. You can take whatever meaning or destiny you want out of where you are, but your chances weren't that good of being born where you are- all arrogance aside, probably the best possible country in the world, financially socially politically, in many ways. What if you had been born in a Third World Country?

Now thats all interesting, but further think about this. Are you really Christian (or whatever religion you might be) because you sat down, evaluated it, weighed all the other religions and beliefs, and chose your religion like you'd chose a TV at Best Buy? NO. You were born that religion, and while you may end up Protestant if you started Catholic or vice-versa, chances are you're sticking with what you started with. Soooooo though social religious and political pressures are different in different countries, chances are most other people are sticking with what they started with too.

Fuuuuurthermore, you end up really being convicted that your religion is right, true, best, whatever. Take a look at all the Muslims these days in the Middle East waging religious war on us or Israel or what have you. Everyone is sitting around shouting that their religion is right when fact is most people probably know very little about any of the others and fact is believe in their religion cause they were born with it. Even if people know much about their own, they probably know very little about other religions.

That leaves me a little more open to considering the validity of other religions, because fact is its a craps shoot whether I'm born American Catholic or Chinese Buddhist. And I can almost promise you on simple odds that if I was born Buddhist I'd still be Buddhist today. If any one religion was that AMAZINGLY true and right compared to all others I see a few more people converting. Sure there's the argument about not having access or exposure but still. So Christianity still could be the one true right religion, but fact is, I never know what I'd think about it if I was born Buddhist, and fact is regardless of what I tell myself, my convictions about it are largely built on at least the cornerstone fact that I was born into it.

So there's that. Its really a matter of dice whether you're eternally aghast that someone would fly a plane into your largest city's twin towers, or whether you're happy someone finally taught those arrogant Americans a lesson. You could be on either side of the coin. So what if you were on the other side? Makes you think differently about this side, and about the people on the other side. They're living with exactly the same attitudes and actions we are, they were just born on the other side.

This is gross but I think makes perfect sense. I think the reason people (generally) dont mind the smell of their own farts as much as other peoples' is because their smells are associated with relief at that moment. Smells are powerful- perfume while you're at a concert or some food smell while you're talking to someone- that smell turns you on or off to that moment and associates with that moment. If you smell something bad or good during a neutral moment, it can color your interpretation of your enjoyment of the moment, and conversely if you smell anything during a good or bad moment, it can color your interpretation of that smell, associating that memory with that smell for a long time...

The biggest thing people miss about the word creative is that it involves CREATION. Always seems like a word where you are sorta thoughtful, inventive, artsy, but you never think of it as really involving DOING- its a word that is deserved more of Popular Science type people, rather than the Hobby Lobby types who have taken it over for their own uses. Its too much of an artsy word where you can design and arrange, but its really an inventors word! And by that definition is when I find myself truly CREATE-IVE. Im wont to create.

At some point it seems like there might be a possibility to create a library version of Netflix, perhaps through an existing website such as BetterWorldBooks.com, Amazon, or Half.com. A place where the website becomes the lender, takes possession of the books, and they are returned on a timely basis with lending limits and such, and the person who takes out the book could get charged based on the received condition of the book (to keep people from abusing the books). I of course realize many of the counterpoints to this idea but it'd be cool if it worked, huh? Its basically what I do on Half.com already anyway, buying books, reading them, and selling em to someone else...

"Casual Bluetoothing"- there will be a point when everyone is Bluetooth enabled- PDAs, phones, laptops, Blackberrys. At this point, on the subway for example, it would be possible to detect dozens of other wireless devices and anonymously share info- games, news, photos, video. You never know what you'll get. You can check it for viruses and such first, and limit it to not accept any executable program files if you want (no games then) to protect yourself. It would be an in-person way of staying totally anonymous still, as if you were sitting in a chatroom passing around things, yet you're sitting in a live chatroom physically but still without any idea who you're talking to.......

At some point iPod earbuds could easily become their own accessory. Apple really needs their own clothing line. Earbuds could be the ends of drawstrings on shorts or hoodies. You could even make a hoodie where the drawstring itself was headphones wire- put the iPod into the pouch pocket, plug it inside, and put the drawstring earbuds in your ears, and you're all set! An icon like Apple with devoted fans and buyers such as they have really needs a clothing line for people to further express and join the Apple culture...

Ok seriously- the iPod is not unplugging. Its chosing what to be plugged into. Its no different than sitting in a park reading a book- you are choosing the reality you wish to be a part of, choosing the experience you wish to have, instead of leaving your senses at the mercy of the random events of the world. What precisely is wrong with that? Choosing from the mess of sight and sound, all random, a cachophony, to listen to something that you enjoy, to create the experience you want to have. As if everyone else who doesn't have headphones on is in one giant harmony of social unification, smile and greeting everyone they meet on the street...

I came to a realization. I used to think, why don't more stupid people get eliminated in the Survival of the Fittest? Why are they around? What do we need them for? But then it dawned on me. Who would work at all the fast-food places and customer service centers if we didn't have these people? They do that stuff so others don't have to- and for that I say thank you. Mmmmm such good fries.

Know whats interesting? You always shoot for arriving places at a certain time. Whether its church, a party, a movie, a flight, you know what time its at and most of the time you plan to get there "on time". But what does that really mean? When is "on time"? You have MAYBE a minute or two at the most that could be considered "on time", neither early or late. Otherwise, you're early or you're late. SO, when you're shooting to be on time, and something always ruins your ideal plan of how long itll take to get there and when you'll leave, you end up being late, as usual, and can't figure out why.

The only way to fix it is to start shooting for being early, because generally speaking, if you're not early, you're late.

Well its time for the long-overdue rant about Sex and the City. Long-overdue as in, I saw my first episode over two years ago. And have been bitching about it ever since. Let's take a look at this show. Supposedly empowering, freeing, for the 21st-Century woman. It intends to paint a picture of freedom, independence, strength, power. The modern femininity, a new lense through which to view the female's role in society (at least urban society, anyway).

Now perhaps the writers and producers created and perpetuated this show with a sense of irony lost on its viewers (though certainly not on me- though don't you dare consider me a viewer!). But all I see from a supposedly empowering show is one in which those with the freedom to choose their fates freely and gladly embrace the fates and roles of most women before them. Women who are free from men choose sex and marriage, lament over failed relationships, and oogle the man sitting across the restaurant. They constantly talk about wardrobes and spend too much of their time and money shopping. They are completely high-maintenance, unproductive members of upper-class society.

Seen the one where Sarah-Jessica Parker's character (thank God I don't know her name) goes to the farm with her boyfriend, the long-haired toolbox cheeseball guy who was engaged to Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity? She can't stand dirt, doesn't know how to cook, and freaks out at the sight of any animals or insects. She powerfully chooses to go back to her life of heels shopping and eating out with her prissy friends.

I'm glad we have such a revolutionary view of women to lead us into the 21st-century.

How long will it be before the ultra-rich deside to form a new city somewhere- perfectly planned, like Seaside, Florida (used to film The Truman Show), probably located by water (possibly even man-made) and certainly with a small airport for private jets. With enough money, a perfect ideal town could be made exactly to the specs of whoever created it. Take Dubai, for example, in the Middle East- making a map of the world out of man-made islands! If something like this ever comes to fruition in the US, I hope to be the architect on-hand...

Yes, its been ridiculously long since I put up a new entry on here. Just ridiculous.