Thursday, September 09, 2004
Greed is the World Killer
I've noticed a disproportionate amount of religion bashing going on amongst some of the people I know and respect online. Phrases like - 'religion is the root of all conflict' and 'religion has caused more death and destruction than anything else' have been the norm when the subject is broached.
Now I'm as irreligious as the next athiest but these blanket statements are simply not true. Here's some stats on the top 5 atrocities of all time:
1: World War Two (1937 to 1945) - 50,000,000 dead
2: Mao Zedong's Regime (1949 to 1976) - 40,000,000 dead
3: Stalin's Regime (1924 to 1953) - 20,000,000 dead
4: World War One (1914 to 1918) - 15,000,000 dead
5: Russian Civil War (1918 to 1921) - 8,800,000 dead
None of these conflicts directly involved religion at all. In my opinion they were all based on mankinds greed. Greed for land. For power. For geo-political control.
It's like we don't need gods to justify our own ends anymore - we'll kill who we want for whatever reasons we like. For revenge. For oil. For corporate profit.
Don't blame death and destruction on religion - we're more than capable of doing it all and worse on our own.
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 01:29 pm
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
I miss running my own bar - in particular I miss coming up with crazy cocktails. Here's a few originals and slight variations from my time down in The Ch'ch:
The Warm Fuzzy
1 part banana liquer
1 part chocolate liquer
1 part green chartreuse
1 marshmellow
1 lighter
1 long handled teaspoon
Layer liquids in order.
Flame top floating chartreuse with lighter.
Carefully spoon in marshmellow.
Allow marshmellow to 'toast' as much as you desire.
Blow out flame and shoot.
The Flux*
1 double shot of tequila
1 shot butterscotch schnapps
apple juice
ice
Half fill a tall glass with ice.
Pour over tequila and schnapps.
Top with apple juice.
The Wimbledon Special
1 double shot of peach schnapps
1 shot kirsch
2 medium sized strawberries
1 scoop vanilla bean icecream
blanc de blanc champaign
In a bar blender mix schnapps, kirsch, strawberries and ice cream until smooth.
Half fill two champaign flutes with mixture and top with champaign.
Brandy Lucille
1 double shot brandy
1 double shot creme de cacao
1 double shot baileys
3 scoops ice cream
3 oreo cookies
Burst cookies in a blender until crumbed and set aside.
Place alcohol and ice cream in the blender and mix until smooth.
Poor into a tall shake-style glass and stir through cookie crumbs.
* Not my own invention - all credit to Rachel @ The Rockpool
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 05:09 pm
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Cafe Conversations Part Two
Me: It just seems more... like... agressive for the man.
H: Why?
Me: Because he has to... 'penetrate' the woman - she just has to lie there.
H: Yeah right - you've been with the wrong women.
Me: Tell me about it.
H: Besides, why is it always the man 'penetrating' the woman - why isn't it the woman 'enveloping' the man?
Me: ... ... ...
H: You'll catch flies with your mouth open like that.
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 12:44 pm
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
What's the frequency Kenneth?
For months I've been struggling with my wireless broadband connection at my workdesk. I have this little 'Woosh' modem that has a frequency strength counter which ranges between 0 and 4. At my desk I used to get a 3 hit, until I got this metal paper work holder thingamy (my desk really was a state before I got it) that somehow seems to interfere with my reception. As such I've been struggling to get a 1 count and have been shifting the modem and paperwork shrubbery around my desk trying to get an optimal result.
Today, quite by accident, I popped the modem up on my desk and didn't notice that the little aerial thing was actually touching the shrubbery... and I got a 4 count! Woohoo!
God that's a boring story - I'm just gonna stop writing entries about aspects of my own life now. More crazy esoteric pop-philosophy to come...
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 12:08 pm
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
Monday, August 30, 2004
Had a bit of a break from the gym. Two weeks in all - a confluence of feeling the need to be at work 24/7 after a burglar almost made off with a $70,000 car and then a week spent in recovery from a particularly virulent strain of influenza. Oh and then some world class procastination about when exactly I should start back.
So on friday I waltzed back into the gym. Keen to ease back into the groove, I racked up the lower weight recorded in my notebook (80kg), but completely forgot to count the 20kg pole in the total. So I accidently ended up squatting 12 reps at my top weight (100kg) - which I had previously only ever failed at 8 reps, on my first day back in 2 weeks.
Bad fuckin move.
After a pretty piss poor effort at Hack Squats and Leg Press, my training partner mentions that I look green. I reply that "funnily enough - I feel green" and proceed to the bathroom to throw up. The next day my legs are all achey, but it's bearable and to tell the truth you kinda begin to expect and like that pain because it signifies all sorts of cool things are happening inside the muscle tissue.
But the day after my legs are even worse - so bad that I can't sit down or stand up without making noises like I'm lifting 100kgs again. This is not so normal - I usually get the pleasant aches for a day and then I'm fine, but now I have to use my arms to get up from my desk at work. And it's while I'm getting up from my desk that I misjudge how much weight I am shifting back onto my legs and they just give out under me - I throw my hands down to catch myself, but only manage to sprain my wrist on the way to the ground.
So here I am - on a thankfully slow day at work, with only one operational limb and one of those throbbing migraines you get when you've been in constant pain for a certain amount of time and your brain's getting shitty about it.
Luckily I only need one hand to type.
- Soul
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 04:12 pm
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Pajama Pantsed Fist Shaker From Hell!
A sign that I'm old: everytime I see a group of teenagers out and about on the street - I instantly think they're up to no good.
I've become the kind of old person who hates the kind of young person I used to be... who ironically hated the kind of old person I've become. It's a viscious circle of close-mindedness that chaffes against my self percieved perfectly well balanced personality.
Is knowing you're being rediculously judgemental any defence? Or does it make it worse?
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 05:11 pm
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Cafe Conversations Part One
me: any guy would love to have her
zette: any straight guy
me: or gay girl
zette: is that what it's come to? "any 'straight guy' OR 'gay girl' would love to have her?"
me: Gynophile!
zette: ... ... ...
me: "any 'Gynophile' would love to have her" - it covers all the bases...
zette: what about married men?
me: they'd love to have her too
zette: drink your coffee...
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 01:24 pm
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
Thursday, August 19, 2004
A present from my business partner in perfect harmony with my love of whisky AND samurai culture!
And the reason I shant be at the gym this morning....
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 03:48 am
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
Monday, August 16, 2004
Localised Eventuality Storm
I have complex ideas about the human soul...
...or rather I have a series of basic ideas that, if combined into one cohesive mythology of the human soul - would be ecclectic and complex and quite possibly senseless.
On the one hand I see the human soul as a Localised Eventuality Storm - a kind of entropic event generator that slices through fate and effects the world at large in macro and microscopic ways.
Take any amount of crude matter (say chocolate pudding for instance) and place it in a room with a chicken and a bicycle, for any defined amount of time and record all the possible outcomes. There may be a few different eventualities but we're certainly talking about a finite amount of distinctly different results.
Now do the same with a human being and note how the number of possible results skyrockets in comparison. Still not convinced this has anything to do with the human soul?
Try the experiment one more time with a dead human body (preferably the same human being) - you'll probably find that a human body (sans-soul) is about as entropic as chocolate pudding.
I could rewind this experiment a little and show how the chicken isn't as much of a L.E.S. as the living human being, providing a little insight into the question of whether animals have souls, but that is a matter for another time, and another board...
(my computer is spamwared and I can't post this on the usual discussion forums)
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 05:41 pm
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
Sunday, August 15, 2004
I have this habit of writing myself notes when I'm drunk and I know I'll forget something interesting/important. Shades of Heidi and her incessant list-making I guess.
Yesterday I got a note from myself that said:
Matthew Good Band - Load Me Up
No man - I shit you not... a monkey in a roast beef sandwhich...
Now the first part I can appreciate as some kind of music that took my drunken fancy... but that second part? Is that a quote from a movie or something? Does anyone recognize that madness? A monkey in a roast beef sandwhich... what the?
- Soul
This thought broke free from
Solender's mind at 11:43 am
It is still at large and should be considered Armed and Dangerous
