Isn't it ironic...

I saw a recent mugshot on The Smoking Gun the other day and it made me sad. It was evident that the dude had been huffing because he had silver spray paint all around his mouth and nose. It reminded me of one incident I had when I was a little bit younger. I was working on a model outside and when I bent over to spray paint the body, I shot myself in the face. It was...unpleasant to say the least. My mom comforted me by saying that every female does that at least once with a can of hairspray. I was glad that I did something stupid while attempting to do something worthwhile at the same time, unlike hairspray. Ha. Anyways, that image brought back the memory of that incident. Now it has made me think about how irrational we as humans are. It's obvious that if we as Christians believe that God is who He says He is, we can conclude that sin is irrational. Most people when they do something like drugs, they are acting out of selfish ambitions. I want to get high, I want to get stupid drunk, I want to smoke, I want to take steroids, etc. I want to feel good. It's those lusts of the flesh. However, these ambitions are not selfish enough if we want to do the right thing. If we really cared about ourselves, we wouldn't do these things because of their health effects. I found that interesting.

Spidey

Hmm...the other picture doesn't seem to want to work anymore. Anyways, I hope this one does.





Cary LD has a new mascot....

More later...

Aloha from my aunt's CO. Taken while refueling somewhere over the sandbox.

What is...

A Harley add in the latest Road and Track reads:

Don't worry. The rest of the world has normal covered.

Tie up your boots nice and snug. Pull on your cowhide leathers. Fire up that mountain of Milwaukee metal, leave your mark on the world and watch normal go up in a ball of tire smoke.


It features a picture of a Harley doing a hairy burnout.

My first thought was, That's kind of neat. But then I asked myself the question, What is "normal"?

"1. usual
conforming to the usual standard, type, or custom"

That still doesn't answer the question.

From what basis do we apply a standard of "normalcy"?

If you say that someone is doing something normal when they go over the speed limit, you are committing the bandwagon fallacy because since everyone does it, it's "normal". But if something isn't right, is it "normal"? According to the definition, the answer could be yes. What if the answer was no?

Now, should something that is right, just, morally okay, etc. , be considered abnormal? If something is done morally wrong, the intentions were selfish. If something is done morally right, which means that it was not done with selfish intentions, is it ever okay to classify that as being strange, weird, stupid, etc.? When someone wants to do the right thing is it okay to classify them as being just plane weird, especially when that action is not something that most want to step up to the plate and do?

What makes something "normal"?

Ohm-sweet-ohm...

It's funny (funny as in strange). In lab yesterday, I had yet another person unwittingly express their view on things such as grades. It seems that a good portion of the class doesn't give too much a hoot about due-dates, completing the lab, and completing the lab report with that thing in it that makes it a lab report.

"Dude, that lab was due today."

"I know."

"Right, so how come it isn't done?"

"Obviously, you care more about your lab."

I guess so...

Then we have another person in our class that has a heart attack whenever he gets something like a 90...because it's just too low.

Said person looks at lab report and grumbles.

Ben takes a peek.

"What's wrong?"

"I got a stinkin' 90."

"So? That's pretty good (especially for that lab)."

"Shut up."

"You know, there are a lot of people in this group that would be happy to consistently get that kind of grade."

It seems like he has some sort of issue with achievement and letting his aptness in certain areas be known.

Some others seem to think that finishing the lab minutes before class isn't a big deal. And if they don't finish it, they don't care all that much. In fact, it's a laughing matter. Haha! (?)

I just have a funny story to tell today; nothing serious or thoughtful (as if my posts are).

When my grandpa was out working at Point Mugu, CA, they were doing a lot of missile tests and such. One day, they were launching drones so that pilots could come in behind them and practice. The Brits were doing it this day. In the drone, there were two fuel tanks: One that took up the front and the middle of the drone, and one auxil. tank that was in the back. The Brits accidentally filled up just the auxil. tank, apparently because of a lack of communication, putting all of the weight on the back of the drone. When the drone was launched ahead of the pilot it pretty much did a back flip, sending the drone over the base and causing the pilot to make some quick maneuvers. :)

Remind me to tell you about the Nike missile sometime...

TFTD

I forgot the Thought For The Day (gasp).....



Keep your brain sharp. You never know when you might have to stab somebody with it.

Legos...

You know, I always like to look back on all the crazy things that I did when I was 6, 7, 10, 13, 16...

What is it with people banning things like legos?
"They're violent!"
"Well, so is your attitude towards them. Hey, is that because Ken and Barbie didn't get along when you were a kid?"

I think that it is just the war against boys. But why is it against boys? Why are there a lot of feminists but hardly any....girly men (?). Naturally, most guys don't really care for sewing, changing diapers, prancing like a ballerina, etc. AND...most girls don't care for explosive materials, cars, weapons of any sort, camping, etc.

For example: Last weekend I was on a camp out. It was midnight. As I was sitting there in my tent, I saw something that had a lot of legs and was crawling around the top of the tent. I turned on my flashlight and to my delight, I discovered a Brown Recluse sitting there above my head. My initial reaction was, "Cool. You don't see one of those everyday, let alone sleep next to it." The desire for personal safety outweighed the coolness, so I killed it. On Friday, a friend and I took some left over cap rings from a cap gun and piled them on my driveway (They had been lying in my room for two years). I then hit it with a hammer. Besides the fact that our ears were ringing, my buddy and I said, "Cool," and finished them off.

Go to a dragstrip and you'll see what I mean. Every time there's some lady in the stands who looks utterly bored. Some car will make a run and you'll hear exclamations of all types from the guys while the ladies have this look on their face that says, "That's great honey, but can we go now?"

Wouldn't it be nice if the girls kept on being girls, and the guys remained guys?

Seeing as this is my first post...I don't know what to write.

There is one thing that I have observed concerning the automotive world and how it relates to the church (All of you who can't stand my ramblings concerning autos, just wait). I recently heard that the federal government is thinking about making Electronic Stability Control (ESC) standard on all vehicles by 2011. I have a problem with this. ESC, in its most basic form, automatically applies the brakes to certain wheels when it detects things like wheel slippage. This is kind of cool. However, it adds weight and cost to the car. Also, the situations in which the ESC takes control of a good portion of your car are ones such as ice, rain, etc. For one, people shouldn't be out driving when there is ice and snow on the road. If they lose control because of black ice, they probably weren't paying careful enough attention to the road and taking the necessary precautions. If you lose control in the rain, you were either driving too fast or you hydroplaned. People are not to blaim for all of these things, but the conditions of the road serve their own warning. How does this relate to the church? I'll get there in a second. The problem with ESC is that when it is required on all vehicles, people will automatically have a false sense of security, making them more apt to make rash decisions such as driving too fast in the rain. The same thing was seen when the "child-proof" caps on medicine bottles came out. People had a false sense of security and left the bottles out in the open, which resulted in more infant deaths because of poisining and the like. We are letting things such as a computer system on a car take over when we make bad decisions. This has happened for the following reason: Most people do not enjoy driving anymore. This is because vehicles are seen as just a means for transportation. We live in such a hurried and lazy society that I believe the auto market is currently in a state of ruin. We don't use maps anymore, we have GPS. We have DVD players in our cars to occupy our time (please forgive me if I have stepped on any toes there). I have noticed that the colors which cars come in these days are usually limited to red, black, white, silver, and maybe champagne. This is because most people don't care too much about how their cars look. To most they are just tools for transportation. The car manufacturers are adjusting to the mindset of the people by coming out with poorly-designed, blandly-colored, and under-powered vehicles. It used to be that people would take their cars out on Sunday for a drive in the country because it was so fun.

Now, how does this relate to the church? Currently, a large number of churches have changed their look, style, and even their messages to conform to the ways of the world so as to attract more members. They are losing membership. This is because the churches have not been presenting messages that are biblically sound or true to God's word. People are leaving the church because, frankly, they are bored. This is evident because conservative-minded churches are flourishing. The churches that have liberal mindsets are having to adopt certain principles such as same-sex unions because they are dying as a denomination.

I just found that an interesting comparison between how auto manufacturers are making vehicles and how churches are starting to conform to the world.