Thursday, December 21, 2006
Kiwi Christmas Snow
pohutukawa snow. Its all over our driveway and cars! (the pohutukawa is called New Zealands Christmas tree because its red blossum comes out right around christmas)
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Chew the Fat
Rediscovered Chris's blog today :)
I was really enjoying his experiments with religions.
except I think in my slacking I stopped reading, but he has a summary of buddishim thats interesting. Now that he is in a new country it will be interesting what insights he has.
I was really enjoying his experiments with religions.
except I think in my slacking I stopped reading, but he has a summary of buddishim thats interesting. Now that he is in a new country it will be interesting what insights he has.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Friday, December 15, 2006
Blinded by snow
well, I was sucked in by the eskimos and their words for snow, but the truth seems a lot more interesting http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000405.html
Thanks for the link from http://fritchie.blogspot.com/2006/12/where-my-head-is-at-and-great-read.html#comments by http://jambecorp.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the link from http://fritchie.blogspot.com/2006/12/where-my-head-is-at-and-great-read.html#comments by http://jambecorp.blogspot.com/
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Solving the middle east problems made easy
Franks reflecting on the Israel / Palenstine situation.
The whole middle east situation is a very complex interplay of many different things.
There are many individuals with their own beliefs and idividual psychology
There are many social groups and sub groups with their own beliefs and social psychology
There is many political, power, and money influences from within the middle east and external to the middle east that want to have their say
Its a life and death situation
This all adds up to a massively complicated mess and untangling it seems really complicated
However, theres an idea about complexity that says that simple rules that feedback on themselves can create very complex behaviour. Some would argue that the universe is an example of said complex systems. Anyways, it seems to me that their might be a simple idea that will feedback on itself to create the needed complex untangling of the mess that is the middle east.
Problem is, I don't know what that simple idea is. But! I would guess the nature of the idea will be something that utilises human kindness and promotes empathy.
The whole middle east situation is a very complex interplay of many different things.
There are many individuals with their own beliefs and idividual psychology
There are many social groups and sub groups with their own beliefs and social psychology
There is many political, power, and money influences from within the middle east and external to the middle east that want to have their say
Its a life and death situation
This all adds up to a massively complicated mess and untangling it seems really complicated
However, theres an idea about complexity that says that simple rules that feedback on themselves can create very complex behaviour. Some would argue that the universe is an example of said complex systems. Anyways, it seems to me that their might be a simple idea that will feedback on itself to create the needed complex untangling of the mess that is the middle east.
Problem is, I don't know what that simple idea is. But! I would guess the nature of the idea will be something that utilises human kindness and promotes empathy.
God's Gonna Cut You Down
Another Johnny Cash. Fear tactics? or being blunt about the ultimate consequence of ones actions?
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Judging
I've been pondering on a couple of passages in the bible lately...
firstly....
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
This passage is interesting. It's a passage I've heard many christians use it to tell off other christains, which can get somewhat ironic. It's interesting that the main takeaway point is "do not judge". I'm not implying all christians interpret it this way, but it is one interpretation.
Another way to look at it is if you wish to influence others about morality then you should make sure you live your own life according to your moral beliefs. In fact living life according to your own beliefs helps you fully understand what your beliefs are, what are the high points, what are the low points, and then you actually might have a useful insight that you can share with others. ie, "walk the talk" then "talk the walk" rather than just "talk the talk". This follows nicely into the next few verses
Another way to look at it is that for people of different faiths God may judge them by their own moral beliefs. That those who do good in this world outside a belief in the christian god will be judged by their actions. Underlying this must be some idea of an objective morality.
Then we have the passage "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
This is probablly the passage that christains want to tell other christians off with. Often times people judge things by their mere appearances and end up making big fools of themselves regardless of what you believe. I think its definitely worth telling someone when they are making a fool of themselves. I see this as a call to reason. Especially as this was said by Jesus to people who were trying to use "religious rules" to chastise him. It points to a deeper nature of God than religious doctrine. God is a lot more dynamic than what is written about him.
Maybe its my perception, but I feel christians often miss this and often define God in ways he shouldn't be defined or in ways that misrepresent God. They judge and hold a measure that is perhaps beyond what they have lived and experienced.
I'm not saying all christians are like this, I'm just reflecting on the christians who have influenced and inspired me versus those that have been real dumbasses.
firstly....
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
This passage is interesting. It's a passage I've heard many christians use it to tell off other christains, which can get somewhat ironic. It's interesting that the main takeaway point is "do not judge". I'm not implying all christians interpret it this way, but it is one interpretation.
Another way to look at it is if you wish to influence others about morality then you should make sure you live your own life according to your moral beliefs. In fact living life according to your own beliefs helps you fully understand what your beliefs are, what are the high points, what are the low points, and then you actually might have a useful insight that you can share with others. ie, "walk the talk" then "talk the walk" rather than just "talk the talk". This follows nicely into the next few verses
Another way to look at it is that for people of different faiths God may judge them by their own moral beliefs. That those who do good in this world outside a belief in the christian god will be judged by their actions. Underlying this must be some idea of an objective morality.
Then we have the passage "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."
This is probablly the passage that christains want to tell other christians off with. Often times people judge things by their mere appearances and end up making big fools of themselves regardless of what you believe. I think its definitely worth telling someone when they are making a fool of themselves. I see this as a call to reason. Especially as this was said by Jesus to people who were trying to use "religious rules" to chastise him. It points to a deeper nature of God than religious doctrine. God is a lot more dynamic than what is written about him.
Maybe its my perception, but I feel christians often miss this and often define God in ways he shouldn't be defined or in ways that misrepresent God. They judge and hold a measure that is perhaps beyond what they have lived and experienced.
I'm not saying all christians are like this, I'm just reflecting on the christians who have influenced and inspired me versus those that have been real dumbasses.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Upgraded
Well, I upgraded to the beta of blogger and then last night upgraded my sites template. Now you can use the very cool drag and drop layout tool! Everything seems to much improved in the new blogger (not that my blog looks much different as I quite like the simple look, in fact some would say it suits me :)
One day I might get my hands dirty and customise the look and feel a whole bunch more.
One day I might get my hands dirty and customise the look and feel a whole bunch more.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
The nutty world of religion
Well, I've just had one of those odd evenings of internet browsing!
I was first browsing franks site which is a place where I like to comment on various things. Then I went over to emergent kiwi where theres a really interesting post on "hard questions". It's going to be really interesting to see how that works out, there's some really curly ones in there that I have been ponderng. From there I went to Tim abbotts site which then had an interesting link to Magic Statistics which then had an interesting reference to "Muslim Village" where I was reading through this topic which had a pointer to a contraditiction in the bible which was between II CHRONICLES 36 and II KINGS 24 about the age of Jehoiachin. Which when I first went to biblegateway it said his age was eighteen in both passages (in the NIV), so I switched it into King James and it stated his age as eight in one passage and eighteen in the other. (and google searches shows theres a bunch of debate about this...). anyways, after reading more of the muslim village topic I was interested in seeing what contradictions there were in the koran, which a google search showed a bunch of, but I came across "Putting the bible in perspective" and another page "Paul vs Jesus" which contained a bunch of some of my thinkings and a lot of other interesting thoughts and observations.
It's left me a bunch of things to ponder! However, if you do wade through all that stuff, go have a look at one of my fav youtube clips "Urban Ninja" which looks like its a lot easier than making sense of religion :-)
I was first browsing franks site which is a place where I like to comment on various things. Then I went over to emergent kiwi where theres a really interesting post on "hard questions". It's going to be really interesting to see how that works out, there's some really curly ones in there that I have been ponderng. From there I went to Tim abbotts site which then had an interesting link to Magic Statistics which then had an interesting reference to "Muslim Village" where I was reading through this topic which had a pointer to a contraditiction in the bible which was between II CHRONICLES 36 and II KINGS 24 about the age of Jehoiachin. Which when I first went to biblegateway it said his age was eighteen in both passages (in the NIV), so I switched it into King James and it stated his age as eight in one passage and eighteen in the other. (and google searches shows theres a bunch of debate about this...). anyways, after reading more of the muslim village topic I was interested in seeing what contradictions there were in the koran, which a google search showed a bunch of, but I came across "Putting the bible in perspective" and another page "Paul vs Jesus" which contained a bunch of some of my thinkings and a lot of other interesting thoughts and observations.
It's left me a bunch of things to ponder! However, if you do wade through all that stuff, go have a look at one of my fav youtube clips "Urban Ninja" which looks like its a lot easier than making sense of religion :-)
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Introspection
Introspection is one of those powerful tools that we use to reflect upon ourselves and to understand the meaning and reason for our beliefs and actions.
Yet, introspection has huge flaws. We have a tendency for misattribution. We come up with reasons for our beliefs that are wrong. In fact the act of introspection can lead us astray and make us act in a way that dosnt match what we believe. There was an experiment where people were asked to rate a bunch of fine art and pop art posters. Some people were also asked to to write down why they liked each poster. Then each person got the chance to choose a poster to take home either a pop art or fine art poster. What the researchers found was that mostly everyone liked fine art. Those that had been asked to write down why they liked posters, however, rate both pop art and fine art about equal. They then rang each person and found those who hadn't been asked to write down the "why" were generally quite happy with their poster choices. While those that had reasoned about why they like posters were less satisfied with their poster choice.
This link to psych stuff is an interesting overview of the psychology behind introspection. There's also a paper here and a billion other pages by googling around. Especially worth looking at any of the "Nisbett & Wilson" works and the psychological experiments they ran. This then lead to various other research and slighlty varying ideas of introspection.
But the main point is, don't believe yourself because often your introspection will reflect hidden assumptions from the social group your in. It is important to reflect on yourself through many ways. Expose yourself to as many ideas / cultures / social groups as possible.
Yet, introspection has huge flaws. We have a tendency for misattribution. We come up with reasons for our beliefs that are wrong. In fact the act of introspection can lead us astray and make us act in a way that dosnt match what we believe. There was an experiment where people were asked to rate a bunch of fine art and pop art posters. Some people were also asked to to write down why they liked each poster. Then each person got the chance to choose a poster to take home either a pop art or fine art poster. What the researchers found was that mostly everyone liked fine art. Those that had been asked to write down why they liked posters, however, rate both pop art and fine art about equal. They then rang each person and found those who hadn't been asked to write down the "why" were generally quite happy with their poster choices. While those that had reasoned about why they like posters were less satisfied with their poster choice.
This link to psych stuff is an interesting overview of the psychology behind introspection. There's also a paper here and a billion other pages by googling around. Especially worth looking at any of the "Nisbett & Wilson" works and the psychological experiments they ran. This then lead to various other research and slighlty varying ideas of introspection.
But the main point is, don't believe yourself because often your introspection will reflect hidden assumptions from the social group your in. It is important to reflect on yourself through many ways. Expose yourself to as many ideas / cultures / social groups as possible.
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