Ethics in Christianity

For many years I have looked into different aspects of morality and ethics in the Bible. The hardest discrepancy to resolve with Bible scholars is the differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament has a lot more violent and intolerant behavior than the New Testament. We do not understand the reasoning of God and never can. Sadly, I think the initial reason I started trying to research this topic was because this is one of the new arguments Atheists and Agnostics have used to discredit the Bible and the Christian religion. Here, is one of those typical arguments on YouTube; (I will tell you in advance, these two have attitudes that are hard to deal with on a certain level, but what they say has a certain amount of merit.)

A rudimentary background of Christian ethics informs us that their ethics of the New Testament is based on the Old Testament. This paper also mentions how the Christian religion has to treat ethics differently because Christian morality is tied to Christian ethics. This page, oddly, says almost exactly the same thing. Which, means these guys can argue the morality, and therefore ethics, they say are lacking in God.

Tolerance is considered a bad word in the Church because Christians are not supposed to tolerate people who sin, or go against the word of God, (which is odd anyway because Christians are not supposed to judge others.) Christians are supposed to Evangelise to sinners, which to me always meant, invade someone’s privacy and private space and talk to them about things that are really personal, without knowing more than their name, before they know the slightest thing about your religion as soon as they walk in the doors of the church. Which, to me, contradicted church doctrine. Typically, my family would begin going to a new church, and as soon as we walked in the door, some members of the church would see we were new, and would make it their duty to evangelise to us, and try to make us go up to the front of the church. By this action, they were judging all of us teens in the family to be non-christians and in need of saving and accepting Christ into our lives. By the time I was 11 years old, myself and my younger 3 siblings had become Christians, so when these evil church people judged us to be non-christians, it really showed us what kind of people they were. Being a liberal myself, this showed me they were sheep who followed without thinking. In trying to evangelise to us they were showing Pride, Gluttony, and Greed, 3 of the 7 deadly sins! As soon as I heard their spiel start I would feel sorry for them and sorry for myself. How could church people act so immoral? Because it is the church doctrine that tells them they should act this way.

Sadly though, the Bible contains the three ‘isms’ that modern society hates, slavery, sexism and racism. I think these are really throwbacks to what the world was like in those days when the Bible was written. In the past one thing that really troubled me was that the slavery in the Bible was considered a bad thing if it was one of the favored tribes, like Moses’, but acceptable if it was one of the other tribes or individuals that were enslaved, which to me just is another way of God advocating racism.

The traditional Ten Commandments are what most people think of when they think of the morality of the Bible, but they have been slandered by God himself. Not only that, they aren’t the real “Ten Commandments” as delivered by God to Moses on the Stone Tablets from Mt. Sinai. God advocates killing, rape, murder, slavery, and many other things in the Bible, and usually advocates them to be used by his people only, because they are his followers.

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A Genocidal God?

The other reason I really wanted to ask all these questions, is because something else I came across really started bothering me. We were always taught in the Church to fear God. If you do bad you may be turned into pillars of salt, like those in Sodom and Gomorra. And if you think your sin isn’t as bad as theirs was, all you have to do is read the passage:

“Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10).  

“15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself.” (John 13:31-35)

It came to me in spurts luckily or it probably would have sent me into shock. First, I read about Abraham, and his family moving back and forth across the dessert. I laughed at all the incest, which back then, was acceptable, because Abraham was told by God that his family was not to marry outside of his race, they were the only ones who were sanctified. I blocked some of it out, I hate the racism, ethnicity-ism, and the toleration of racism, it’s just a sad part of our history.

But then I switched over to Moses and started reading about the plagues and the exodus. I sort of got to the end, I wanted to read the vernacular of how they described the parting of the Red Sea, because I’m a word nerd. I got to that part and the wording  for the people who came after Moses to the Red Sea was all inclusive:

(Exodus 14: 17-18 ) “ 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

Then I went back to the telling of the plague, and read the previous verses about the first-born plague:

(Exodus 13: 13) “13 The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

So now I’m thinking, “Did God kill all the Egyptians?” He killed the adults, elderly, children and babies who were firstborn, then in the Red Sea all the horsemen and soldiers, and all the rulers of Egypt. He also killed all the baby firstborn animals, too. With animals that you kill for meat, they are a seasonal stock, so killing all the firstborn would mean that one season they would have no meat, no livestock. The hundreds of thousands of slaves in Egypt at that time were not “Egyptians” they were foreigners. Anyone who was Egyptian at that time were guards or rulers.

I went back further and re-read about the plagues and the last plague was locusts which ate up all the plants. So, now there is no meat for one season and nothing green on the land:

(Exodus 10: 15)  “15 They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt.”

So, I have read the whole Bible a couple of times, though, so I wondered, how could I have missed this? So, I thought he didn’t kill them all, God doesn’t kill whole races of people. But then, I remembered that he does. I forgot somehow about Sodom and Gomorrah, the Canaanites, the tribe of Benjamin, Noah and the Flood, and other acts of genocide. [More][2nd Part of More]

One person commented, “you just said that the flood was punishment for people being evil… is that not god killing sinners? why use the flood? he could have just let them die naturally and then punish them by sending them to hell,” and I really still don’t even know how I would respond. God doesn’t follow his “Ten Words.”

I remembered what I was taught in Sunday school, we can not judge the acts of God because his reasoning is beyond what we can understand. God is just, not necessarily moral. God is to be feared.  “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge….The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…” (Prov. 1.7, 9.10).

I never believed my God was a moral God. I learned in Sunday School that God does what he wants and by his reasoning it is moral. God is Good; By that we mean that what God does, is by definition Good. If I think about killing someone, God says that is murder, and technically that is bad. God may show his grace and I can go to Heaven. If, However, God tells me to kill someone, then that murder is considered killing, and killing is justified/lawful. This is the reasoning some people use to explain why American soldiers aren’t going to Hell? Hopefully, their reasoning has merit in God’s eyes.

So, in conclusion, Racism, Sexism, and Slavery, are OK by God. Murder is wrong, but killing is lawful, and genocide is OK if sanctioned by God.

….. Some people believe they have higher morals and ethics than God….

I say all this in a way that is meant to be pernicious, facetious, and maybe satirical at the same time, yet serious. This is a popular argument among Atheists, and Agnostics, and Church going people. Many people are saying they would never go to a church where the congregation worships a God who kills discriminately, hates whole races of people, does not believe that women are equal, advocates sacrificing animals and kids, commits genocide. One guy posted online, “Here’s a good source for who gets stoned to death.”

The Christian Church says in reality, God is Good, he can not do anything immoral, because his doing it means that it is Good. You make think it is immoral or unethical or that God is a hypocrite, but you would be wrong in your assumption. And it specifically says in the Bible that God is an angry God, who if you follow him and worship him will give you everything you need and will help you get rid of your enemies:

“13Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 17Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. 18Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, 19thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said.”

So, in the end, God’s has strong morals because by definition, anything God does is Good. Ethics is defined as: “moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior.” God has good ethics because God created the morals and ethics that he follows. Man on the other hand has different ethics than God in most cases, so if he/she/you/me follow those ethics than we are ethically good people. If we do what God has done than we would be considered immoral and unethical, because the group that we belong to would consider them unethical.

 

What the Middle Class Really Is

Many people never studied politics or sociology so they have not idea the history of the words “Middle Class.” As Wikipedia says,or tries to say, Middle Class used to mean people who own a means of production, or a capital investment.

One of the secrets of being rich, or being independently wealthy, is to have capital that on it’s own makes money. So, if you have sheep, and the sheep continually make wool, then that is an income souce that continually creates income. Property is another example. Property is rented out and continually makes money for the owner/landlord.

This is why rich people get richer. You can try to work a lot and make enough money to get ahead, but that is like re-mowing the grass. If you own a prorperty that brings in $150 per month after you pay the mortgage, and you have sheep that you can sell the wool for $100 a month after the cost of feed, then you have multiplied your income, and you have not multiplied the number of hours worked.

This is the kind of thing that rich kids know growing up. Their parents give them capital as they are growing up and teach them what they have to do to manage it. So when wealthy kids go to college they already have a lot of experience managing a business, managing property, and managing people.

So, during the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution, there were a lot of people who owned Capital and/or owned a means of production, a factory, rental property, a farm, et. al. Eventually, these people were able to create enough wealth for themselves that they could challenge nobles, or the elitist of early America. These self-made men were heroes then, because people thought they represented the workers.

Banks are a good example of how this works because everything they own is an instrument of capital. They take it a step further though, they have a means of production and they invest money into it so that it will bring back more money, like in the Monopoly game.

Donald Trump is a good example of this. He buys property that either rents out for him, or otherwise creates wealth, like casinos. Most of the things he owns are creating income for him.

Rich people on the other hand, are like J.R. from Dallas, if the stock market takes a dive for a couple years, their income may go down, but they have an accumulation of wealth from other means that will not be affected. Rich people have the ability to buy diamonds and gold or property, or fossil fuels, or sugar; these kind of things never go down in value no matter what happens to the economy.

So, the Middle Class is really the Almost Richey Rich class. Mitt Romney is a little confused about the Middle Class, as seen in his definition, but I really don’t think anyone can be clear about who is still in the Middle Class.  In the Huffington Post article, Joe Biden derides Romney because the Democrats say they had the same definition, though I think they are similar not alike.

Who’s right about who the Middle Class is is not important to me. What is funny is that there are a lot of people who think because they make $50,000 – $150,000 a year and work at a regular 9 – 5 job, think they are part of the Middle Class. There are some people who think because their Household makes over $100,000 a year they are part of the Middle Class.

Scientists ?

Why is it that we Christians think of Science and Scientists differently than Math and Mathematicians ?

I was in conversation before with some Atheists who believe that being logical and being scientific is contrary to believing in God. Just shows me the state of our educational system is going dangerously downhill. Is America really SO conservative that people are not allowed to question what they are told or theorize or otherwise be creative ? Don’t people read their history books? All the times that scientists “proved” something and then later came back and said they were wrong and now they’ve found the reason and now they’re sure they are right. And we all get confused and say ” how can they be so sure they are right this time ?”

I wonder when science was developing as a subject, when did it change from the study of how things work, to a religion where some people who study it actually say that Science counters Religion ? In order for that to happen, some people would have to believe in Religion and the others would have to believe in Science.

I still believe that scientists are just like mathagicians, they study our world and figure out how it works. They’ll never figure out WHY is works, but I can surely tell you WHY it all works.

Look at a mathematician, they study how numbers work and number theory and all kinds of neat stuff. Never in their studies do they say, “well, hey. Fibonacci numbers have been proven to show the shape of a snail’s shell, so Math must have created snail shells.” We all understand that math defines numbers and studies life and numbers. Math tries to define numbers in our world.

Science, on the other hand, says, “we looked at the snail-shell and we saw a snail being born, so you have to prove to us that God created it and not Science.”

The difference is in the application of the tool. Math is a tool. Science is a tool. They both define our world and help us to understand it. But they didn’t create it. They don’t prove that God doesn’t exist. They actually prove that he does.

Do you honestly believe that with millions of operations going on in a billions cells in your body, multiplied by the billions of people on our planet, they are just accidentally happening correctly for years ? Your body works consistently the same 90% of the time, yet cells are malleable and can change anything about their structure or makeup by accident or mutation at any time. Yet, they don’t.

Belief in Science is a problem of Christians, not Atheists who believe science is the answer. Christians need to realize that there are people who study and experiment and prove things and are scientists. There are others who say science proves that the universe started with a Big Bang, but you can’t prove that your God exists. Of course, I say God created the Big Bang, because they can’t prove he didn’t. But they are basically saying that Science is the antithesis of God. I think the two co-exist, but for some reason many people can’t understand that.

The point though, and I don’t think of this lightly, these people who believe in Science, are the enemy of all religions.

The New Busy

If you get an email from someone who has Hotmail, often you will see a link at the bottom that says, “the new busy is not the old busy” or something like that. Their referring to email and advertising managing you email with the new Hotmail.

Really, when I see it of course, I think of life in general. I’m sure my parents at one time thought the same thing, when I was a kid perhaps. Today, you have to constantly be doing something, checking your email, deleting those junk emails, texting, researching on the internet, watching movies, reading magazines or new books, watching the news, just to keep up. There is always something to do or something someone else needs you to do. The more connected you are with people, the more stuff that creeps into your life !

There’s no time for video games anymore !

The stress of it all can be overwhelming sometimes. When I go on vacation and my cell phone is off or charging, there is sometimes…….. complete silence except for the wheels turning on the pavement. It is so quiet it is overwhelming ! It reminds you right away of the stress you are not feeling !

So, yea, the old busy is not the current busy ! Guess we just have to deal with it, and when we can’t, get in your car and drive far away !

Communication

I never knew less about communication then now. The more I learn about how people communicate, the more questions I have.

Communication does not just mean the words that we say, it also includes gestures and facial expressions, written communications, the impression you have on people, and body language.

People speak differently in different languages, mostly because different languages are built differently. In english we say “the red book”, in spanish you say “the book red”, (el libre rosa). One of the books about language I mentioned in another post said that English is more logical than other languages, for this reason above and other reasons.

The same reasoning goes to idioms, in Spanish there is no “fly on the wall” idiom. In English people say, “I would have liked to be a fly on the wall…”. In Spanish, fly has different connotations, spanish fly is one example, but also flies are considered active and vibrant and partying bugs.

For deaf people, American Sign Language doesn’t mean anything in Spanish.

But through studying people’s behavior and communication, and through my limited spanish language experiences I have come to understand more about language and the way we talk.

One example: Think about when you ask a question. After you ask a question, especially me because i like to clarify my question, I will follow with other questioning statements or other questions. Obviously, they don’t make it easier for the other person to answer the question when I do that. But, usually after you ask a question, you sometimes realize more information is needed.

person 1: Are we going over the draw bridge?

person 1: Where the boats go under the bridge.

person 1: The bridge that crosses into the borough.

person 1: The bridge that goes into Manhattan.

person 2: Yes, but we will be going into the borough of Brooklyn.

This is sometimes the way people communicate, and it is somewhat flawed, but at the same time, it usually works pretty well.

Of course, This is still pretty disorganized communication. That’s the kind I’m good at, but ….. not the best kind.

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Communication is usually at the heart of every success or every failure. Unfortunately, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time or place can ruin your whole life; alternatively, it may make you a millionaire or move you into a highly successful position. It’s unbelievable the power that communication has over our lives.

fibonnaci and pi (π)

How is pi (π) a unique number? some people understand that the measure of the curve of a circle is what makes pi. in a circle the arc is always the same, so the measure of a circle with a certain radius or diameter will always create a circle with the same area, shape and circumference. 2rπ is a circle of a certain size. if the 2 represents inches, then it is a 4 inch wide circle, and if you wanted that doubled then you would be talking about 4rπ. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi

Pi is also unique as a ratio. http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/index/11-XX.html Many people in the math theory field have found out unique properties of pi as a fraction/ratio. Basically, a spiral is what pi would look like as it gets larger. Some people have compared that to things we see in real life like tree rings, and jellyfish.

Fibonacci numbers create a similar pattern but dissimilar. the Fibonacci sequence is numbers all added together in sequence, and you add the last 2 to make the next number in the sequence.

Start with 1 and 1 (1st and 2nd numbers), add those to make 2 (3rd number). add 1 and 2 to get 3 (4th number), then 2 and 3 make 5 (5th number) and so on.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 (first 11 numbers, they get larger faster)

Basically if you compare these numbers to 1, gradually these numbers spiral out exponentially, first small then much larger quickly. This pattern is found in nature as well, the best example is a conch shell. In a conch shell the spiral is not evenly spaced like in Pi, but small spirals which turn into larger spirals quickly.

These 2 pages talk about the fibonacci number sequence and it’s relation to other natural elements:

http://my-ecoach.com/online/webresourcelist.php?rlid=4277

Fibonacci sequence’s relation to Music:

http://www.davesabine.com/Music/Articles/NumberTheoryinMusicFibonacci/tabid/168/Default.aspx

The State of Education

Our Education System was bunk when I was in High School and I graduated in ’91.

I went to high school in Glen Burnie, Maryland first, so the High Schools in Ohio were ruined for me after that. Maryland’s High School system was set up so that if you showed you were more advanced then you could be placed in higher level classes. Ohio has that now to some extent. There were other ways to move up in your classes there.

In Glen Burnie I benefited from this system. I started at Glen Burnie in the 9th Grade, and immediately put me in the 10th grade English class. English is easy and fun ! Besides, I always wanted to skip a grade in something ! Well, the class was Composition. By that time I had already started writing poetry and short stories on my own, and tried to write some Compositions/Essays. There isn’t a far stretch between a Composition and an Essay, or an Essay and a Research Report.

So, I went to class. The first day, I’m thinking, here I am with all these 10th graders, this is cool !

2nd day, I get to class and I notice most of the kids in the class are sleeping or talking in class and when I talk to them about stuff they look at me funny and don’t have much of a response. We have a classwork assignment to write about summer vacation and paint a picture with complete sentences, verb noun adjective pronoun. We were supposed to make sure there were plenty of adjectives cleanly related to the noun they were modifying, and pronouns that were just as succinct in their relationship. I remember because the teacher took a minute to show us how to diagram a sentence. I had never diagrammed a sentence before, but it was such a simple concept the teacher actually agreed when we discussed there was no place for the infinitives and conjunctions. The rest of the class was kind of lost at that point.

The 3rd day, I got kicked out. I went to class and some of the kids were talking about summer school. Summer school? I never went, would have refused, but given the chance I would have volunteered to go to school extra. By this time I’m thinking we get to write stories and I will get an easy A in this class !

Bad luck for me though ! At the end of class, the teacher actually told me to Get Out of her class ! When I tried to ask her what she meant, she told me I was way ahead of the other kids in the class. She gave me a pass to go see the Guidance Counselor that day so that I could be placed in the 11th grade English class ! And told me I would still get Credit for the 10th grade English class that I was skipping !

When I got to the next English class I was excited, but the classmates just looked at me and groaned a little. They didn’t share my enthusiasm. I thought when I was moved up to the 10th Grade English I was going to be behind. When they moved me to the 11th Grade English I was afraid I would be behind, but when I got there it was just another Essay class. Sometimes we had to study words and etymology, but that was fun, too !

But the point that this makes is that we need to identify the needs of the students and move them along to the level where they have some challenge. When I was in High School I wasted a lot of time “learning” things I already knew. Doing 3 months of fractions homework does not make someone better at fractions, just helps to identify the students who aren’t getting better at fractions.

In Ohio, I hear again and again all the bad effects of moving people up through the education system. They say students may not understand what they are learning at the higher levels because they have not had time to adjust and understand the previous lessons. I say teach them as much as we can as fast as we can.

When I was young I was an excellent speller, now I spell-check or I Google it. When I talk to a 12 year old kid and he asks me how to spell something, usually I just tell him/her to Google the thing. But when they ask,” How do you Google something?”, I can see then what our education system has become. A computer is a tool for people to use.

When we were young we were all good at math. When a kid asks me whats 103 – 57? I just put the finger to the calculator and go ! And when the kid asks me how to use the calculator the way I did, then I can see what our education system has become. A Calculator is a tool for people to use.

When I see a kid who gets angry when asked a question he/she can’t answer, I understand parents or the education system are to blame. If you can’t answer a question then Books are a good tool.

Most people know that I am a computer nerd. When kids have a computer problem and they sit there for a while and then they turn their laptop off, I am confused. People are a resource, and asking people questions in their specialty is a tool.

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Schools have changed, no doubt. When I was younger I read an article about what schools were meant to be in the early days.

Grade:                     Lesson:

K-6:                               Sit down and shut up, raise your hand if you have a question, and only do what you’re told.

7-12:                            Read what’s in the book, repeat the answer when asked the question.

Follow the rules of the person in charge,  respect the other students.

Associates Degree: Learn the basics for all subjects. You have to know these things to carry on a

conversation with anyone who had this level of  education in a related field.

Bachelor’s Degree: Here’s the basics for your specialty in your field. You can do research to back up

the prevailing opinion on any subject.

Master’s Degree: Learn how to think an original thought and do your own research to back it up.

At a business, when HR is looking for the right person for the job, this is what they look at to determine what education level they need in the candidate.

Someone who is 15-16 years old has been told all their lives, don’t do just follow directions, and mediocre is okay. The perfect fast-food employee.

If you’re looking for a shift supervisor, you may be looking for a high school graduate, someone who has mastered “do what you’re told” and will tell other people what to “do as they’re told.”

Associate’s Degree holder is the person who you want to know about everything you do, not how to do it, but what needs to be done to get there and how to back you up while you do the hard stuff.

Of course, if you want someone to be assigned a job and they do that job, then that’s where your Bachelor’s Degree person comes in.

Master’s Degree person is the person you hire who can go out and do research on a task, find out how it’s been done in the past, study your business to see what needs need to be met, then use their education and experience to make a plan and get the materials and staff gathered up to get the job done.

In our society, what people do you see in High School or starting college that you think will make it to this level ? Today, someone between 20-25 can have their own business if they are talented and can use the tools that I mentioned above.

In the old days, say the 1930’s, Adults were people who could go out and live on their own, build their own home, do the job that they have apprenticed to do, and start their own business doing the job they have trained their whole lives to do. The adults of our age, our students coming out of High School (or maybe College) need to be at this level.

Some people believe that in order to compete with other countries they need to be higher than this level.

ADBM and CRM

Some people are analytical. some people are detail oriented. some people can drill down into it with incredible intensity. That’s the kind of skill and focus Advanced Database Management requires.

Databases:

For a database to be interesting it has to have enough related data for it to contain some useful information. Database Management is taking the database and setting up the data so that it is good data. When you fill in a form and put in your last name as Microsoft or Gnulicense, some database manager somewhere has to scrub that. When you put in a date as 12//12/2012 someone has to clean that so it reads 12/12/2012.

Relational Data:

The difference between data and information is (usually) human intervention and interpretation. Often though, humans use database tools like Relational Database management to show relationships between data. A family has four kids, so the kids are in the table with the parents. They also go to school, so then they become part of the table that refers to the school. Later, as more and more adults with kids are added to the family tables, you eventually see how many students are in the schools. So, the kids and the students are related, the kids belong to the school and to the parents.

RFID tags:

Besides gathering data from people filling out forms or people using cards at the library or credit cards, there are the cards you use at the grocery store and tags in the things you buy. RFID tags are the tags that record enable RFID readers to transfer product data to the database. All types of information is recorded and placed in databases, but that is really only the first step in measuring data.

So, even though this is really only a simple outline of these basic database principles, you can probably see how tables and databases are set up to create relationships among data and use RFID tags and other technology to add other information to these tables and databases to show more depth of information.

CRM:

Customer Relationship Management is taking all of your customer product data, customer address and household data, customer family data, business product data, business characteristics, even business employee data, and finding all the relationships between  those data. Most Advanced databases use database technology, math, science and interpretation of relationships and data all thrown together into one big globule. Then you have to take that globule and look at the related data after its boiled down.

Imagine a customer table, which includes all customer demographic information.

Then there would be a purchase table of all the purchases by each customer, how much each thing costed, any discounts that were used, any coupons presented, what time and date the product was purchased, and of course, more.

A products table would have all the products, their availability, the product RFID#, size of the package or weight.

There might be an Inventory table that shows what shelf contains which product and whether that location was a kiosk or sale stack or end-of-aisle display or other type of display.

And of course, this can be just the beginning of a bigger more incredible monster. If you go to the website and use there customer card then your favorite websites or shipping information could be recorded. If you use a credit card or store credit card then information could be recorded from there.

Once all this data has been warehoused and drilled and mined, you could check out a Kroger and receive a coupon for a truck you were looking at online just before the last time you bought carrots online. They could figure out how much time remains from the last time you bought carrots till the next time and send you coupons just before the next time you go out to the grocery store. They might try to give you a coupon for the bigger bag of carrots to see if you will buy more carrots this time around. You could receive an email with pictures of trucks of carrots, and saying you can get a discount through your favorite search engine if you use your grocery store credit card to buy them.

They just want to show you what a special customer you are !

User friendly ?

Confusing Windows error messages ? You’re likely human. Check out this link, though http://content.techrepublic.com.com/2346-10877_11-333302.html – These are so hilarious ! I was crying after reading some, some after reading the captions underneath !

I thought it was kind of depressing that I have seen most of these errors. I don’t remember the “red screen of death” but I rarely try to repair Windows Vista.

It used to be, years ago, that the big difference between a Mac and a PC was not the price or the viruses, or even the parts, but “User friendly” in the Operating System. My buddy always used to say that Mac was more user friendly, but when he installed a program he had 2 files on the desktop that he had to drag to some folder. I asked him how I would know to move those 2 folders and to where, and he said “experience,” and I was confused since I have no experience, and no friends that have Macs……………..so, …….

So, I have played with Windows for 20 years. I played with other operating systems when I came in contact with them. It always seems to be the same thing, though. When you run into an error message that says, “Operation Failed” and “Press OK for the System to Restart now,” you are practically out of breath as you try to figure out everything you are going to lose and have to close unsaved besides as your PC screws you yet again. Or you are doing two operations at once and one asks you if you’re ready to restart, and then you get an error message from a process you thought had already completed. Then you realize that you will have to restart the second process, because the PC is shutting downnnnnnnnn…………….

Dang ! These people designing these things, don’t they realize they are inadvertently destroying lives ? Just kidding.

But really, the error messages could always be a little more detailed, descriptive, and complete.

When you pull your USB drive, it could tell you, ” Windows doesn’t think your write instructions were completed, but saved your files in a Temp directory, would you like to replace and re-copy those files or those files could dissappear forever ?”

When you download a really large file, Windows could come up with a secondary message, allowing your download to continue, and let you know, “This download will likely continue for 21 Hour and 21 more minutes.”

Or, “You are getting ready to print and your printer has no paper, would you like to Pause the Print request before the Printer goes bonkers ?”

How about: “This computer is shutting down, but you have not removed the optical media from the drive. Would you like to remove the cd before you shut down the system and have to restart just to take the disc out?”

“Is it okay if Windows shuts down after your Print job is sent to the Print que instead of before this time?”

Yes, of course those would be friendlier error messages, I suppose. Especially if they had the one with the Smiley face OK Cancel only error messagebox.

Wordsmith

I have always been an avid reader. Words have always been a big deal to me. I find it endlessly fascinating how words shape our lives. In a given day, you could pick any four words someone was going to say at a given time, and those four words could change the future of that time and place.

I have been puzzling over the simple idea that 2 people can hear the same thing and think they heard something totally different from what was said. Odd to me, I have found that some people interpret what they hear phrase by phrase and others add in assumptions with what is being said.  For example, one person says, “It’s almost time for lunch.”, and someone hearing it thinks that it’s almost noon. They assume that lunchtime and noon are the same. Somebody says, “I’m going on break,” and we all have to assume they’re going outside to smoke their cigarettes. But, where the word went and the idea went are two different places.

I thought of a sentence, ” Stop at the Stop sign.” This sentence cannot be more solid, the words have no multiple meanings, or anything like that. The sentence though, has many different interpretations. Really, just look at where people stop when they come to a stop sign. Some stop at the sign, some before, some after, some way before, some don’t stop at all. What’s up with that ?

There are many other things that affect the meanings of words and sentences. Which word you accent in the sentence changes the meaning of the sentence and insinuates something about the word that was accented as well. Obviously, if you use a closely related synonym, that changes the meaning of the sentence slightly or largely, depending on the word choice. “Pause at the Stop sign,” doesn’t mean Stop.

People think I am funny when I interpret a sentence they said and tell them my interpretation, which just shows everyone can see the different meanings of words they have said, sometimes they just don’t pay attention. I don’t understand how people expect to be understood if they aren’t paying attention to what they say.

English, I found out recently, has more words than any other language on the planet. Of course, we have also adopted words from every country on earth as well. And there are words we have adopted from other languages because they mean something special in English, to us. Like, “ciao”, or “je ne se qua”[?], and many more. Also, people are speaking more than one language these days as well, or sometimes just phrases from other languages.

George Orwell predicted that one day we would all speak one language, a mix of  all the major languages we have today. He predicted that minor languages would eventualy dissappear when people adopted larger countries’ langurages. It seems odd that as communciation continues to accellerate, people are communicating thousands of times more than what they used to, that language is becoming more broad and the meanings of even specific words are becoming more broad. What’s unique is that even though certain words are very specific, if the sentence structure is loosely configured then the sentence could mean varied things.

Our langurage just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

What’s next for our glorious language ?

I don’t understand people

Obviously, I understand some people, you know – the ones who think like me.

What is it with people and their illogical ideas ? Some of us have the right idea. Then other people, well they just want to do things another way. The wrong way.

Some people just say things and you don’t argue with them. You can’t. They wouldn’t believe you anyway.

Guy says, “My f^%$#n case manager told me to come down here.”
“Sir, you can’t cuss in our lobby.”
“You’re the only one who has a problem with my language.”
“Sir, I’m the only one here right now. But I don’t have to put up with your language.”
“Well I don’t have to put up with you.”
“That’s absolutely correct Sir, see you later. ”
“What? You’re making me leave?”
“If you don’t want to stop cursing that’s fine, but you can’t stay in our lobby. Those are the rules.”
“I’m here to do an application to live here. You have to let me stay. This is business !”
“If you stop cursing then you can stay and do an application.”
“Oh, F@#& this man ! You don’t want to help me that’s fine. “

Some people just don’t understand.

A guy tries to get a deal on a cell phone, and can’t. He is signing a new 2 year contract, so he tries to get 25% off the accessories. The agent tells him they can’t do that, they have already broken the rules letting him upgrade a day before they were supposed to let him upgrade. So, he walks out of the store.

I told my little sister, figure out what you want to do, figure out how to do it, and do it ! Don’t play around, make excuses, procrastinate, or let other people give you an excuse. But, on the other hand, you have to follow certain rules.

It has always amazed me when people walk into a store and start a conversation with the person behind the counter. They start some kind of questioning and when they get a “NO” answer, they want to argue or raise their voices. Sometimes they even threaten and wave their fists around.

To what end ? What positive outcome could that possibly have ? Any normal situation and you can expect the little nice person behind the counter, who wants no trouble anyway, is going to call the cops, maybe, or his manager.

These are the idiots you here riding the bus complaining, “I lost my car, now i gotta ride this bus that sucks. I got kicked out of Wally Mart for cussing at the girl at the Return stand. She was dumb !”

And people listen to me and they say that it seems I do understand; it’s those idiots that don’t understand.

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In customer service we talk to people who will ask you a question and you tell them it has to be either black or white. They say, “I want red.” You can’t enter the program if you have red, only black or white. “I want red, only red.” And we just look at them like they are from another planet because they have no idea. They are trying to get into our program, but they are literally talking their way out of our program.

Unbelievable !

The Search War

Everyone knows Google Search is better than Bing.

Here’s an example:

Google Search for “Untraceable Killing Techniques” [Pictures]:

optical illusion with brain and body killing effect

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Bing Search for “Untraceable Killing Techniques” [Pictures]:

bunny

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Disclaimer: these are not actual search results, this is just meant as a literary/picture metaphor joke. You can watch this Untraceable movie trailer though.

Paul didn’t know Jesus

my conclusion: we don’t know. we didn’t have a clue before, now we have an educated clue.

CNN has a blog somewhere similar to my blog, “Time Travel”, and they say if certain things happen Hubble should be picking up images from billions of years ago, and if we look in the right spot we may be able to revisit the “Big Bang”. which really makes me wonder about our concept of “time” since that time for us has already happened, but here it is still happening there.

but anyway, our concept of time has changed numerous times. they used to measure time with the sundial and it was only accurate to within an area of time. sometimes the minute hand was considered accurate, but when the seasons change then the minutes’ positions change. more recently we’ve had clocks/watches that if you do not wind them at exactly the same time everyday they aren’t accurate. then later with the atomic clock and the internet, scientists have found that seconds were too large a measurement of time to be accurate. then with internet synchronization they found that they had to synchronize once a day. the time on the computer would be off because computers measure time in eighths or tenths, and time is in sixths. (60 seconds in a minute vs. 100) but a computer chip runs in tenths but then it has to communicate with the other chips in bits, so 8, 16, 32….

One of the guys who commented on my other blog was curious about how long we’ve been around.

before scientists were invulnerable, and what they said was golden. but then some other scientists cam along who said we don’t know that carbon dating or uranium isotope deterioration is correct. obviously, we have not been around for 12,000 years, so we could never even tell you that is what carbon would be like after that long. then they said we don’t know that carbon ages in that way each time. under different conditions it may decay at a different rate. also, the atmospheric conditions of the time in question may have been different than what we know today. A little more detail on both sides of this argument.

so, keeping that in mind, i read another story in an archeological periodical or magazine, that told about them digging into a mesa out west around Colorado. mesas are easier to measure because whatever the height of the mesa is how far you don’t have to dig down, but still get material from that rock period in history. 

so these archeologists went down into different layers of the rock and found animals and bones at different levels and tested all of them to see how old they were. on the outside layer of the Mesa, however, there could be remains from any period from where it was over washed with flood waters.

but, when the archeologists dug into the Mesa they found lifeforms in the upper layers that were older than animals in the lower layers. they would find a fossil and compare it to a list of fossils that had been previously dated to see how old it was.

here, the archeologists had a problem. the layers had to be laid on in the correct order because they layer like the layers of a tree trunk, one on top of the older one. so, how could the dating be wrong on the animals that they had found ?

They could not find an acceptable answer. Me ? i just don’t think we really know what we’re doing yet.

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but don’t you let me let this argument be one sided !

religion has it’s own inaccuracies to deal with. First, the Gospels’ stories do not match factually. i, and many other people believe these books were written as parables by the disciples. Nowhere in the Bible does it mention Jesus’ actual appearance, which just shows some things were intentionally left our of his description, and the details of the stories. Luke and Matthew write different accounts of the stories as do Mark and John. if these accounts were handed down directly from God, then these guys didn’t double-check what they wrote.

That aside, people have recently stated a new argument. I’m still reading Jesus Papers by Michael Baigent, in which some archeologists and theologians have been working together for 50 years and have read ancient writings from the Bible and historical texts. even though Paul had never met Jesus, he talks of him as if he has. in those same words that Paul talks of Jesus, Matthew, Luke, and others talk of him. when most of the writers in the Bible talk of Jesus they speak of him in a 3rd person kind of way, more like the person who fulfilled the prophecies would be the Messiah. the Gospels write of Jesus as the one who fulfilled those prophecies, therefore, he was the Messiah.

if you look at Jesus this way, and if i have made any sense the way i have written it, you may be able to see how the Bible of parables, was written about the story of the Messiah, and that Messiah would be Jesus and the son of David and Abraham. but the Jesus that lived and the Jesus written about may not have been the same. the Jesus in the Bible was a prophesy, Jesus the man came later.

While i believe in God, and i believe the Bible is sacred, what else we know about time, our history and where we’re from, leaves a lot of questions.

Management Ethics

in the beginning…. Management was the people who supervised the workers. at least thats the way i imagine it because the indurstrial revoloution was somewhat before my time.

today…. wow what a bunch of employee-screwers ! everyday i hear of something new and interpret it through management’s perception. it’s incredible that i can say i think my boss cares about us and how we are doing outside of our work-a-day duties. on the other hand he is a manager and he has duties in that capacity that affect how he can go about his daily objectives.

let me digress… my dad taught me by telling me stories of management decisions, and anecdotes of management meetings where they discussed legal ways of taking away everything from the employees and giving the decision making back to management.

today, i go to meetings where everyone shares their information from their job title’s perspective. there is a reason for the meetings, studies found that employee’s opinions are not just opinions, they are actually whole stories about what is going on in the company. another study found that when you have many people working on the same project, simply improving communication through email and cell phones does not entirely work; think of riding in a car and no one speaks for the first half of the ride, but then of a sudden you remember something that happened yesterday. meetings help the group communicate more.

but management was the group who started the discussion of a meeting of these “leaders with titles”. why? at least 2 reasons, and you could find more:

1. it makes those leaders feel like they have input into the organization, their opinion counts, they are an invaluable part of the company. each leader feels like they are expected to say something because they are somebody, so they feel confident and self-important.

2. over time, things do not happen the way that policy dictates they are supposed to happen. also, people bend or break the rules. in a relaxed environment where these leaders feel they are an instrument of management, instead of an adjunct employee, they are willing to tell the full story, in the spirit that they are improving the quality of their company.

both are similar to the way Hitler did things. Hitler brought people into his Army or the Jr. Army (for younger folks), and made them feel like they belonged, and important to him,  so they would rat out their parents or cousins. he would make them feel like their ideas were important to him, even giving them salutorious advancements, so they could improve his organization, and so they would feel proud and obligated when it came time that they had to kill their father or sister or a friend who was a Jew.

we see more and more of these types of behaviors of management everyday. think of the grievance forms they give to customers, which are not there for their complaining antics, they are there so they can feel like they made an impression and were able to speak their piece.

they used to have a place where employees could make comments, and they would take the comments and bring some employee representatives with them to a management meeting just to top off the experience. those employees would report back to the other employees what had happened and how great they thought they had done in the meeting. of course, if things didn’t turn out right, the employees would blame the representative who went to the meeting ! how beautiful is that !

most businesses have the policy that you are not allowed to discuss salary. among some big businesses this is just considered silly ! big for-profit companies want you to know how much you could be making if you worked harder and did more for the company. many salaries you can find online of certain education-centered positions. when management or businesses in general, realized that they could combat wages by de-organizing the unions and telling the employees to keep it a secret, they did.

my former boss used to tell new guys, “you’re getting paid more than we’re really allowed to start you at, so don’t go telling everybody how much you make.” – and gave that guy .50 cents less than everyone else starting out.

this doesn’t just apply to pay, but also to health, dental, legal, life, and vision insurance, and other benefits.

so, be on your watchful eye and you might spy one of these tactics used by management to make you feel better about your job !

Those People

I’m watching “Bones” and of course that close-minded Booth is on there. usually, no big deal, his character is supposed to be that jocky-football player in college-lady’s man-badboy-type of guy, the kind you are forced to take with a grain of salt. as they say, “it’s just a tv show”.

anywho, he was talking about some kids who he considered low-lifes i guess, and they were just people who did not fit his idea of the norm. of course Bones was just thinking, “oh really?” and with that look she gives him sometimes.

it struck me this time maybe because i’ve been watching the courtroom Law and Order, (whichever one that is), and they kind of have the same idea.

and of course i get it. i was one of those people that dresses different, not necessarily one of the punks, i had my own style. i had hundreds of safety pins in my pants leg, and different sized buttons on my shirt, and i had pants on that were 10 sizes too big, (before that was popular of course), and i was anti-social. and of course, i think those social, conforming, everything has a hole that it fits in type people are oddly abnormal in their own way.

but Booth was just judging them by the way they dressed and talked and role-played this game they played, and was basically saying they were useless dregs of society, i’m paraphrasing, but it was awfully close. the first thing i thought was, hey if that’s the reaction people give them, how are they supposed to be expected to feel like they are accepted or that they do “fit in” ?

the idea of “fitting in” comes directly from the conformist strategy to box everything into categories and label people a certain way. i have to admit that’s the way most of us understand other people, by associating them with other people we understand. that’s simplifying it, but hey.

and what i think is devastatingly strange about the whole judgmental attitude and categorizing thing, is that it stifles art, and creativity, and enterprising ideas. the creative and smart people who engage in being different in these ways are basically castrated at birth by conformist ignorance.

i would be the first to admit that conforming to some advents of the status quo serve a purpose; however, i still have to admit that to conform you have to somehow identify what is “normal” or “average” and that makes absolute conformity impossible, so chew on that you straight laced mofos ! (just kidding !)

i remember when i was a kid trying to be different and thinking, ” I will show them that you can be different and better and not be like them and not just succeed, but be better than them ! not just at a single thing, but at everything.” and i tried. of course lots of the people who were trying to fit in were basically spending all their time trying to be cool. i was learning linguistics, plumbing, welding, music writing, programming, and anything else i could find.

i would have been one of those kids Booth was making fun of and degrading. but what was i wasting ? nothing. i cut class and stole passes from the guidance counselor’s office. and i used the money to buy cigarettes. i skipped class 100 days of 175 and still passed all my classes.

but i was speaking spanish and german and learning sign language. i was studying fibonacci numbers and prime numbers and how their ratios to 1 and Pi show relationships between evolution and God’s world. I was doing 100 miles of camping, canoeing, and hiking to work towards my Eagle Scout. i could memorize a chapter of my chemistry book and read it later. i ran track to practice for my Army physical fitness test and the rest of the track team got yelled at because i came in second running against them. their coach said they should have done better seeing as how they were on the track team and i was nobody. i decided not to run with them again, they didn’t need the hassle.

so i had spiked hair that was bleached blond with blue on the tips and 3 earrings.

makes me wonder what Booth was doing in High School.

Jumbalaya

every now and then i like to cook, and i like to experiment when i cook. really, i just put a bunch of stuff in the same skillet or pot and heat it up.

my favorite so far has been making spaghetti sauce from scratch, with stewed tomatoes and add chunks of different types of tomatoes, green peppers, garlic, and onions.

i just recently made a new dish that everyone likes: spicy green beans. you just take green beans and add garlic, tomatoes, and hot sauce. i have this “Sissy Sauce” that i add to it that is like hot spicy ketchup.

i got it in Nashville, Tennessee, i haven’t tried to get it in Ohio yet, but i bet it’s on the internet somewhere. it’s in a glass bottle shaped like one of those old liquor “canteens” that you see in the Westerns.

if you just try to make spicy green beans you will get it, and it really works  just season as hot as you want. i didn’t think it would work when i tried it, but it does.

i still want to make my own lasagna and meatloaf, those are on the horizon, i want to put blue cheese in them both to see how that tastes.

In the meantime, i ran across a recipe for jumbalaya which is not much different from gumbo, (depending on who you ask), and there are northern, Louisiana, Creole, and Italian versions of those recipes. usually the “italian” version is just substitute the rice with pasta, which is craziness in the South !

the recipe i was given had directions for cooking everything separately and cooking it together. cooking everything separately is quicker, but all the tastes wouldn’t combine, and traditionalists say cook it all together like a stew so it all blends together.

the point of this post was that it is the funnest recipe ever ! you take rice and a bunch of vegetables and some meat and mix it all together and add some spicy stuff and let it cook for hours ! you could probably add peanuts or almonds if you’re good but i don’t think beans would work in it.

chili or bean soup is next on the list though. ha ha !

Why can’t people do the Right thing?

My Uncle asked rhetorically, “Why can’t people just do the right thing?” and i’ve been quoting him ever since.

I usually try to think of a story people can relate to, but his story is the best. He was standing in line at the store, and there was a long line at the cashier.

And of course there was an item without a price tag, and of course it was a sale item. Empathizing with the other people in line, he tried to speed things up. He showed the cashier the ad from the current sales ad, and showed her the price was $1.38 or something.

This is why my policy is if I can’t figure out the price at the aisle I will buy it somewhere else. I’ve picked up an item with no price and looked at the tag on the shelf and it says something, but then when I get to the cashier they ring up something else, then I tell them i’m not buying it for that price and then they want to talk to you about it. “let me check the price”, “i’ll re-ring it for you”, “this isn’t the one on sale, i can show you the other one”, “it rang up correctly yesterday”, blah blah blah ! i don’t want to waste 2 minutes discussing my purchase decision with the cashier ! ugh ! or decide i’m getting something then have it in my head my plans when i get home, then have to change my plans at the cash register because the weirdos didn’t want to let everyone know how much their item costs in the aisle.

Anyway, so my Uncle tells the cashier, here’s the ad showing it is $1.38, the full-size version is $2.58, here’s $3, just let me have it for the $3 and you can check the price later, keep the change, and we won’t be holding up the line. So, of course, she called for a “Price Check”.

Now, even though there is no huge political or socio-economic situation here, it is still a judgement call on the cashier’s part. Not everyone agrees on what should have happened, most people cite the fact that a lot of stores would fire the cashier if she had done it, but the raw situation is pretty clear.

The point really is that people are faced with these types of decisions everyday. Watch Saw VI if you get a chance, outside of the blood and gore you will see the ethical dilemmas that people have and disagree on.

Why is it we have court trials where everyone agrees what should happen, but we accept when it doesn’t happen? We say, that’s the way the law works, the way the court works, we have to accept it. sometimes we don’t have the power to change things. there are so many situations we see where we wonder, why don’t they do what’s best instead of just trying to get the most money? and you know the answer, that’s the problem ! because they are worried about/want the money.

Jon doesn’t care about his and Kate’s kids. the Government doesn’t care about fair effective Health Care. your grocery store doesn’t really care if you get the best price. the Dollar Store makes money because even they are overcharging you for their products.

and what i think is troubling is that you say “hey where are the people that are supposed to do something about these things?”, and you have to think about it before you realize those people are there and they don’t work for us the way they’re supposed to anymore. the Better Business Bureau, Capitalism, Democracy, the Constitution, our Congressmen and women.

another example more people can probably see without all the political influence: what about these celebrities who get married and have everything and there’s no prenuptial agreement. they get a divorce and then you hear that it’s gotten crazy, the guy got married to this huge girl rocker when he was a homeless bum in a cornfield in Nevada, and how he’s not happy with the $60M she offered, he wants $80M because he’s afraid of being homeless again. What?

It’s hard for me to imagine being a Congressman and looking at a Bill going through and deciding to take $100,000 from the Oil Companies, regardless of the fact that my Constituents and myself want fuel-efficient cars. There have to be people who are concerned with other things besides the money.

Bildeburg Group (update)

If you haven’t yet seen Michael Moore’s new movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story”, you should go see it. It is really a movie for the working class, but rich people can watch it too.

One note though, a lady mentions she is in the “Middle Class”. Many in today’s society have been told that the Middle Class is people who make a decent living, usually insinuating between $50,000-$100,000 a year. Good for them, that’s really beautiful for them. but the original meaning of Middle Class was “those who own a means of production”. This means a business, like a mill, which produces a product and residual income. of course, residual income is when the income comes in whether you work or not.

In England and America during the building of our country there were the Lower, working class, the Middle Class who owned the businesses, and the rich who were the Upper Class and did not have to work for a living or depend on residual income.

Michael Moore’s movie is, to me, an update of the “Vampire 2000” paper I read years ago. This link is very similar, “Operation Vampire Killer 2000” , but I think the paper I read was just the explanation part of this website.

There are people who believe that the rich deserve to be rich; that’s understandable, but lots of people do nothing and get rich.

What’s more important to me though I think is the secondary rights Moore talks about in Capitalism. Many poor people are having their homes taken away, of course their jobs, but also their dignity, their healthcare, retirement package, everything.

People should have the right to a basic standard of living like our grandparents had. I should have the ability to work a basic job and have no debt, a house, ability to provide for my children, basic health insurance, and not have to worry about retirement. Big business and insurance companies have reduced the standard of living of our grandparents as well, after they were supposed to have their retirement package’s in hand !

This is the link to FDR’s speech regarding the “2nd Bill of Rights” which Moore talks about in his movie. I don’t think Socialism is the answer, and I don’t think the rich should pay for the poor, but there is some responsibility somewhere for us to help the less fortunate than those rich people.

Time Travel

the speed of light = 299 792 458 m / s

1 light year = 9.4605284 × 10¹⁵ meters, or exactly 9,460,730,472,580.8 km

One astronomical unit (the distance from the Sun to the Earth). It takes approximately 499 seconds (8.32 minutes) for light to travel this distance.

*the distance to the Sun is never constant, during different seasons, from different places on Earth, so really this scientific measure is also based on where on Earth you are and at what time of year, and what the weather is at the time and other factors

speed of sound at sea level = 340.29 m / s

no sound in space though, vacuum

sources:  www.space.com, wiktionary.com, wikipedia.com, http://www.google.com, HubbleSite.org

This website has 26 nearest star distances: 26 nearest stars

how far away can we see: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_far_away_can_the_best_telescope_see

Disclaimer: This post may only be mostly scientifically accurate, so for exact measures you can use the above, which are exactly accurate.

For the theoretical measures i talk about, well just try to imagine or look for the exact measures on the internet.

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i was reading an article once and it said that, you know, a light year is the distance to the sun*, and it takes light ~8 1/2 minutes  to get to the Earth. so, from what i already knew i knew that that meant anything that you see happening on the Sun right now, really happened 8 1/2 minutes ago. and i thought, well no one in the forums really would care about 8 1/2 minutes ago, what’s the big deal?

i had never heard anyone say anything about it before, so i looked it up on the internet, and it’s true, you’re looking at solar storms and flares that happened 8.32 minutes ago. my dad always said if you are thinking of it someone else has already thought it once, so i usually exaggerate things that i think of to try to see if i’ve heard somewhere of the exaggerated version.

[people don’t walk around with a glass of gas in case they run out, but if you exaggerate and say a 5 gallon tank of gas, sure lots of people haul a 5 gallon tank of gas in case they run out.]

so, the distance to the sun is 1 ly, let’s just say we look at a star that is 10 lys away. wait, that’s only about 83 minutes. the Hubble telescope can see billions of light years away from Earth orbit. so multiply 1 Billion times 8.32 minutes you get 8,320,000,000 minutes. that’s staggering. that is a little over 15829 years. so the Hubble telescope is sending us pictures from 15-20,000 years in the past !

if you are looking through a telescope is the telescope taking you back in time with that curved lens? well, i’ve never seen anything anywhere about curved lens and reducing the amount of time from here to what you’re looking at. right here, i’m in real time. at the other end of the telescope i may not be 15,000 years in the past, but i could probably look back a couple of days.

what if we could travel faster than the speed of light? could we travel to a star far away and look back and see the dinosaurs here on Earth? could we travel through the telescope and go back in time to that place at that time?

I wonder. ………

life on other planets?

everyone involved in religion and churches spends a lot of time and energy thinking on and discussing revelation, and the end times. i think that people should be aware of revelation and what it holds for us as a civilization.

(Realize before you continue reading, that many old-school Christians do not believe that you can believe in God and believe in aliens. if you read Genesis literally it would seem to preclude the notion that God created anyone but us Earthlings.)

i don’t think that people should act irrationally about Revelation, even though pastor’s interpretation of Revelation promotes irrational behavior. literally, no one knows when the Revelation will be, where it will be, who’s getting taken where, how long it will last, nothing. the people that are taken violently to heaven will be judged again when they get to heaven. even then, Jesus says, you will only get to heaven through God’s grace. which means you could live your whole life as a Christian and be forgiven and baptized and perfect and still not get into heaven. God can still come to you at the pearly gates and tell you your not getting in, simply because he won’t allow you his grace.

some people rest their preaching and religious declarations on Revelation, because they can declare anything may happen. and anything may happen, but anything may happen right now, too. i’m reading a book now, and it is one of those books, authors, premises; if you want to read it, it is called: UFO: End-Time Delusion, by David Allen Lewis & Robert Shreckhise, published by New Leaf Press (1992). i have mixed feelings about the book, its reasoning is hilarious, but some of the facts and ideas surprisingly make some sense.

i believe that demons exist. I also believe life exists on other planets. there are many who believe that UFO’s are demonic and piloted by demons. in all of the UFO sightings studied, UFOs disappeared from view and reappeared, made photo shots not turn out, made people who were watching forget what they saw, made bright lights that came from no actual source, and so forth. These types of things should be considered supernatural, especially the ones that cannot be explained by advanced technology. when someone takes a picture and it does not turn out, most people would say that’s beyond even the most advanced technology that the New Otherworldy Being’s (NOOB’s) might even have.

therefor, these supernatural events must be caused because the UFO’s and the NOOB’s are demons. if these “aliens” are really demons, then the reasoning is that they are here to dissuade Christians and people who may become Christians from listening to the way of God.

believing the demons, and believing they are aliens, brings people into the trap of following non-Christian beliefs.

if a demon is driving his little UFO through your neighborhood and you are visited, then they will try to implant your mind with ideas and pictures that waylay you from living your life with Christian beliefs or ideals.

if a demon is driving through your neighborhood and you believe he is an alien from another planet, then you are a member of the bigger group who believes that beings from other planets exist and you believe in the New World Order.

in either case, if you believe in aliens or you are visited by one, some people believe that you will also believe in one-world government, implanted id tags, one-religion, and one global monetary unit, because you would be following the powers-that-be into the hellish black hole they have created for you to fall into ! [evil laugh here]

what i think is odd is what i stated at the beginning of the post, some Christian leaders and some Christians still do not believe that there is life on other planets. Genesis oddly, is not the compete story of how God originated life, or the continuation of the story after God created life. Scholars have told me and would tell you, there are things left out of Genesis, it’s even retold in another book, sorry can’t remember which one, with more stuff in it. Cain and Abel had brothers and sisters and farmed and grew up together, and some of them got married and left the “Garden” at an early age, of course adulthood was 14-16 yrs old then. so, for someone to look at the Bible and think that alien life doesn’t exist or that NOOB’s are demons, i don’t understand. if someone was to say that some of these alien encounters were demons and some were not that i could say makes sense as well, but in UFO: End Time Delusion, he states that he has never encountered a case where a Christian was abducted by an alien, only visited. the non-Christians followed the NOOB’s away and are part of the New World Movement.

I believe there are too many planets out there for some of them not to have life. http://everything2.com/title/Millions+of+Alien+Races This is the Drake Equation of life on other planets: http://everything2.com/title/Drake+Equation

the Bible mentions UFO’s and aliens and dinosaurs. so i suppose its important to believe what you want and recognize aliens, and recognize demons.