Math is a Religion!

Pretty funny huh?  I always loved this one.  Not because it explain the mystery of mathematics, but because it explains, in a comical fashion, my disbelief in religion.  I see no logos in religion.  Sure there might be this allmighty, supernatural being that created the world, but you can't prove it now can you?   Now I realize I may be offending quite a few people with this, but I'm afraid to say that you will not get an apology out of me.

All religion does is exploit the weakness that is inherent in humans.  Whether said weakness may be a fear of death, a lack of purpose, or anything that we want in life but don't have.  Religion is willing to comfort us and tell us that if we spend enough time praying (which to me seems completely unproductive) and if we have faith everything will work out just fine.  And when is doesn't (probably because you were praying instead of working) it's because you did not have enough faith.

I wish I could continue this but its 2:10 and I think I should finish up my passion blog too.  "Sad face"

Music, what does it mean to you.

The mainstream bores me.  Its the same old tried and tested beat with new lyrics that all seem to be about fucking bitches and getting some ass.  Its a waste of time, energy and brain cells.  Few artists today can sing, fewer can play instruments.  They all rely on computers to make them sound good.  There is little no talent in the music industry and the labels wonder why sales are falling.  Every time I hear a song thats mainstream I wonder how anyone even remotely intelligent would want to listen to it.  Is the familiarity of hearing the same sound but with different lyrics, or is it because its catchy and you can dance to it, or it simply because nobody cares about good music anymore.  Maybe they just don't know.

Living life deaf

No I am not deaf, not even close and no I do not know anyone who is.  But I do have an ear infection.  What that means is that I cannot hear as well as normal.  So if anyone whispers to me or speaks from the other end of the room I may not hear them properly.  And its a PAIN. 

What being partially deaf does is completely change how I communicate with others.  Since I can't hear perfectly and since I'm not going to ask people to repeat themselves, more often than not, if I don't get exactly what the other person says all I do is simply smile and nod my head.  Or use some other expression depending on what expression the other person uses.  Its not perfect, and I'm sure that a lot of people probably think I'm insane.

But what I found rather funny about this is that ,deaf or not,  most people use the same tactic in conversations.  Haven't we all been in this one utterly boring conversation that we want no part of.  And when our patience is at its end, all of us just start smiling and nodding like dolls thereby eliminating any chance that conversation had of being a good one.  After all there is no conversation more boring than one where everyone agrees.

I believe in Middle earth Link

http://www.zshare.net/audio/860462076eeb73b6/

The Blame Game

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6286915.html?tag=result%3Btitle%3B0

On the 24th of January, less than a week ago a suicide bomber attacked Moskow's Domodedovo airport.  Most suspect separatists from Chechenya.  Yet in light of these tragic events, instead of trying to find who really did this, the Russian media chooses to blame video games. 


As a gamer, I am no stranger to the bad rep that video games have.  My parents have constantly tried to show me that "studies" prove that video games increase aggression.  And I've also seen the US media try to blame nearly everything wrong with society on games as well by using studies that only prove some little amount of correlation and absolutely no causation. Its just sad to see a tragic event like this twisted by those who are simply trying to make a quick buck.  It's the media at its best; when you can't find a solution, create a problem.

Rhetoric in Calvin and Hobbes

For my blog I shall look into rhetoric in everybody's favourite comic, Calvin and Hobbes.  For my first post, I am going to talk about my all time favourite strip.

The strip begins with Calvin's mom screaming at him about some mess or the other (there always seems to be a mess in his house doesn't there) and Calvin in a most typical attempt to get out of trouble makes up this outlandish excuse that involves Venusians who possessed a "diabolical, high frequency device and pointed it..". Anyway Calvin ends up getting sent to his room, dejected and staring aimlessly at this floor and he then says the most hilariously profound line I have ever heard in my entire life.  He says "Mothers are the necessity of invention".  This is an obvious reference to the line " Necessity is the mother of all invention"But it also refers to the fact that every child, from whatever day, age or country, has lied to his mom to get out of trouble.  While mine were never as outlandish as Venusians with high frequency devices this line reminds of me of the crazy antics I did when I was a child ( not that I'm particularly old) and the even crazier stories I made up to get out of trouble. 

Essentially this strip acts like a portal that takes us back to a time where life was simpler and we did not have to worry about the weight of responsibility that lies on our shoulders today.

The grand opening, or not

Welcome to one and all.  I am Akshay, Penn State freshman and student of the LA101h course which, of course, is why I even created this blog.  I have spent hours thinking about what to blog about ( by hours I mean 5 minutes). I thought about doing a blog about business and economics, and being an economics major I guess that would make a lot of sense.  But now that I think about it, it seems like something that would involve lots of effort and time.  Of course I could blog about some TV series (just started the Sopranos) or I could blog about one of my nerdy-er habits like video games or comics.  A significant life choice indeed.  Uh I guess I'll decide later.