Rapid-Fire Thoughts

It is healthy to express thoughts. Even if they are the tiniest, most insignificant thoughts in rapid sequence:

Tired, book, 1984, 2011, celebration, love, women, children, family tree, ancestors, King Louie XVI, executions, Bastille, key to Bastille in Mount Vernon, George Washington, Americans, obesity, McDonalds, franchise, Wal-Mart, groceries, im hungry, Ritz crackers and cheese, cows, farmers, producers, consumers, human-beings, carnivores, tiger, Missouri, Bushwackers, Jayhawkers, Lawrence, basketball, Allen Fieldhouse, Phog Allen, clouds, weather, blizzard, NYC, large apples, apple orchard, iPod, iPad, materialism, Xbox 360, Black Ops, entire day, tired.

 

Notice how each thought is connected; this is supposed to be a chain of continuous thought

How to feed Kansas

1 Juice Box

2 Milks

1 sausage

1 Chilli-Beans

1 Pudding

1 Peaches

1 Raisins

1 Gummy bears

1 Pretzels

1 Fruit Bars

1 Stack of crackers

2 Cereals

All of that makes one packets. You fit seven packets in a box vertically, and then 1 horizontally. Then you stack 64 boxes per palette. One palette contains 512 packets, costing $4 each. You need to feed 5,000 children a week. Together is costs over $20,000 to make sure that no body's kid goes hungry.

                This is the enormous task of the Kansas food bank, located in Wichita. In the process, it requires hundreds of random strangers all coming together to make sure that everybody’s kid can eat this week. Today I volunteered just two hours of my day at the Kansas Food Bank, working together with other strangers who wandered in to give their time. I was quickly briefed by a kind gentleman named john about the process of assembling one packet and then left to help get this big job done. So there I was with my Ipod rocking the latest album by Keane, Night Train (Reviewed in my other blog). I would pace about between folding box, stuffing plastic bags with goods, and loading the palettes. Another little family of a Grandma and her two grandsons, as well as myself. It was a good way to kill my afternoon during winter break. Unfortunately they aren’t open on weekends so winter break seems like the best time help out the families in need. Speaking of which Walmart can make the difference for this bank of groceries. This big warehouse downtown combines the work of volunteers and employees, and would really appreciate any votes. Pretty soon Keane ran out so I was forced into “Black Keys” mode. By the end of the day I was tired, happy, and inspired. Kansas Food Bank was probably pretty happy too, because we filled up an palette, as I mentioned it feeds 512 people. And it all started with

1 Juice Box

The Kingdom of God is within You

I have read quite a few books over the course of this year, but the most view-changing among them was The Kingdom of God is within You, by Leo Tolstoy. Apart from influencing Nelson Mandela, it is an important text to Christian anarchists.

The central premise of his work is that when God commands us, “Thou Shall not Murder”, how can we kill anybody for any reason? He asks, why is it wrong when one man kills another, but acceptable when nations destroy each other? In addition, he believes that we cannot judge our fellow man, and so should not send people to jail or administer the death penalty for crimes. We must ‘turn the other cheek’ as Jesus told us to. Because of those ideas, he believes that no government is justified, because their purposes are contrary to the Bible.

His book questions the answers that people have given in response to arguments like his, people who claim war is unavoidable, or that some people are simply savage and would destroy cultured civilization. Meticulously, he points out the flaws in their arguments.

Tolstoy explains the development of mans’ love. He shows how man first loved only himself, and then his family, then his heathen ‘religion’, and now his country. Jesus signaled the coming of last phase, the phase when man loved all, like his father in heaven.

Later in his book, he shows how this change is not already come about. The blame is shuttled all about for these transgressions of God’s law, so no man can stop himself from doing what he knows is wrong.

Tolstoy created a unique idea of Christianity later in life, but he was not proud of himself as a young man.

"I cannot recall those years without horror, loathing, and heart-rending pain. I killed people in war, challenged men to duels with the purpose of killing them, and lost at cards; I squandered the fruits of the peasants' toil and then had them executed; I was a fornicator and a cheat. Lying, stealing, promiscuity of every kind, drunkenness, violence, murder - there was not a crime I did not commit...Thus I lived for ten years."

Tolstoy was also know for writing War and Peace, as well as Anna Karenina. After Mahatma Gandhi read The Kingdom of God is within You, they started a correspondence and became friends.

I believe this book should be at the top of everybody’s reading list. Even if you disagree with the author's opinion, it is tremendously helpful to understand this alternate viewpoint towards the world.

The complexities of a human soul

This picture, to some, may be just a wacky picture taken during Christmas. Others may see this as two silly gooses having a laugh over a Macbook application. But to me, this is a delicate yet accidental portrayal of human judgmental attitudes and error. For instance, this picture shows how the distorted face is warped into a slight bean shape, and my shoulder is mutated over the bean-head. But this represents how the common bean, consumed by billions of people constantly, is similar to the face. When you take a bite of a bean, the structure of it collapses, releases its taste, something not forseen by the connoisseur. People may look at this face and laugh. Some may cry. Some may even feel sorry, and donate large amounts of money to operate on my disfigured head. But I will always see a kid, dashed in his prime by an anomaly of his head, mistaken for who he really is. He could be the coolest cat on the block. But don't be mistaken, comrades. El Gato does not enjoy beans. He actually despises them. Beans are the downfall of humanity. People say that they are the magical fruit......WRONG! Their cunning and trickery has led everyone into thinking that!

I'm sorry. That was inappropriate and irrelevant. I will save my bean rant for another day. But back to the bean in our lives. People need to stop admiring the bean from a distance, but take that disgusting, revolting bite into the bean to find out what its really like.

Your wonderful

We may have tough days

But you are wonderful and that’s why I stay

The ends don’t need to meet

When your eyes shine so sweet

The years wear on as you grow old

But I trust your heart will never be cold

The bad years seems to be all the time

We don’t need to worry, I wrote you this rhyme

Don't worry at all tonight, your are wonderful tonight

-Merry Christmas

The man waits for his pudding

The man waits for his pudding

the man waits for his pudding

the sun rises

the man waits for his pudding

tea time ends

the man waits for his pudding

the sun sets

the man waits for his pudding

darkness falls

the man waits for his pudding

the sun rises

the man waits for his pudding

the woman comes and gives

him his pudding

the man eats his pudding

the man finishes the pudding

the man waits for his pudding

the man dies

the man waits no more

The ills of utilitarianism and a defense of deontology

This article is in direct response to “ethics” by bookrat

After generating much commentary I feel I want to write a full article on the subject on the eternal debate of utilitarianism and deontology.

As bookrat said, deontology is generally associated with religion and morals that are grounded in religious texts. Religions are the biggest promoter of world peace, though religion we can lay foundation of morals in the hearts and mind of the young, by teaching the ideals that took 1000’s of years to develop. You see many young people have difficulty seeing the ramifications of their actions, if accepted on a grand scale. Teenagers steal, teenagers cheat, teenagers lie, and most importantly of all teenagers can often be violent. It’s not unreasonable for them to do this either, they don’t have the thousands of years of text, thought, and trials behind them. Utilitarianism appeals to these people as a moral because they naturally have difficulty supporting the deontologist ideals. But it is easy to see that robbing someone for their money is not acceptable behavior, but utilitarianism allows them to justify such an action, at least to them. I understand that blindly following something is wrong, but sometimes it isn’t reasonable to explain the elaborate support of why you are following them. That is why religion in young people is good.

                In a utilitarian world, there is no place for the arts. The robotic mathematic decision making engines cannot quantify the value you of pleasure, joy, and other such subtle emotions. This is the biggest flaw in that ideology. The arts are important for two reasons. When a person is happy he or she is more productive. We are not statistics that work to max our profit, we are emotional people. The emotional side of the brain is just as important as the rational parts. Emotions such as fear, and pleasure allow people to make better decisions faster that trying to calculate “This bear has 67% chance of attacking me, I have 23% chance to escape if I run now, however if I stand here and run more equations I can devise a way to kill it, giving me a 100% chance of survival assuming 23% chance earlier, so it is better for me to stand here” The emotional side of the brain just know, “It’s a bear, run!”. This thinking has kept us alive for thousands of years. We cannot shut out our emotions when we make decisions, if we do we will become unhappy.

                Emotions and art are crucial to solving global problems. When we promote arts, we also promote creativity, allowing for more creative development. We can solve today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions, we need new creative ones. The advancement of sciences and research would drop drastically if we needed to prove that research was profitable. Most research is done on very emotional desires to explore and be curious. Research, advancement, and creativity have to be encouraged in order to solve the world’s problems.

               

                Lets look at perfect case of rationality. These people make all their decisions with no emotions, instead they logically think through everything, carefully look that the util value of their decisions. If it maximizes gain overall, than it is justified. These people literally can’t make decisions based on emotions; their brain is damaged in that regard. These people are called psychopaths. These people don’t kill because they enjoy it, no it just the opposite, their brains are extremely rational. If it makes sense to kill some, they do it. They feel no regret from killing. If this person thought their family needed money to survive, they would rob someone, it seems like a better decision.

                It is obvious that deontology is a better ethic system, feel free to refute my arguments however.

Ethics

Over the past year, I have learned a lot about ethics. It seems a subject that is not very widely taught, at least to teenagers. There are two approaches to it that I would like to outline.

The first is known as utilitarianism. The proponents of it believe that the worth of an act results from the consequence of the act. Thus, if a train will kill five people who are tied to its track, but can be shifted to another track with only one person tied up, it is morally right to shift the train. You have a better consequence (5 lives saved and 1 death) versus the alternative (1 life saved and 5 deaths). The act does not matter, but the result does. Another example would be stealing food to save a starving person. The end justifies the means.

The other approach to ethics is called deontology. It judges the act based on how it follows rules, so they believe that that some actions are wrong regardless of the outcome. Most religions follow deontology, with various codes of behavior like the 10 Commandments. If God commanded an action, then it should be preformed because it is a duty.

Most people believe it would be wrong to kill a person to harvest his organs in order to save the lives of five others, but how is that different from the trolley scenario? Deontologists believe that the difference is respecting the rights of individuals.

                For English class last month we read the classic work of George Orwell, Animal Farm. My English teacher is awesome at least in the sense that he allows you to have a multitude of options for many assignments. I choose to do a creative writing assignment over this book. I am partially happy with at least some of my poems so i decided to post it here, if i wrote some cool and creative, it belongs on this blog.

 What you see today is a series of contemporary poems that have come about as part of pop culture. That internet is a strange, unique and wonderful world where strange people from all parts of the world reside. The ability for genius to become a viral phenomenon is often unbelievable. From what I gather, originally this concept started in the most ridiculous of place, South Park. It was originally used to satire big business, which seems fitting to my adapted purposes, seeing as I am satirizing a concept inspired in opposition to big business. I will be using the original one as an example.

1. Collect underpants

2. ?

3. Profit

                As you can see it follows a structure, has meaning, and is an art of the pen, all of which constitute poetry. They usually use 3-5 steps and are often funny, in a sarcastic sense. Step one is generally a very board statement of direction. The key here is the absurdity at which one gets from any to profiting. This important step add humor, imagination, and satire. This is also fitting in the way Squealer turns into the feared return of Jones. The question marks represent different things to different people. Instead of writing 25 words per poem, I will write many, some story related, other communist ideals related. This is to be read as a comical guide to aspiring dictators. 

How to inspire political rebellion:

1. Blame the current leader in power as the cause of everyone's sorrows

2. Sing a song together

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

How to steal milk and apples:

1. Make up science about the effect of milk and apples on the brain

2. Invoke fear of Jone's return

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

How to defend you domain from invaders:

1. Research ancient Romanian war tactics, and ambushing

2. Valiantly sink your teeth into Jone's leg

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

How to abuse communism:

1. Don't work

2. ????

3. PROFIT!

How to ruin a perfectly good Sunday afternoon:

1. Argue for building a windmill

2. Argue against building a windmill

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

How to get rid of a political rival:

1. Gather dogs

2. ????

3. PROFIT!

How to run a propaganda agency like Squealer:

1. Use large words and frame things in a deceitful way

2. Skip from side to side (This is very convincing)

3. End all argues by invoking the fear of jone's returns

4. ????

5. PROFIT!

How to rewrite laws:

1. Rule over an extremely ignorant population of workers

2. Add text to the laws in the night

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

How to get away with anything:

1. Do something

2. Blame it on Snowball

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

How to run a brutal dictatorship:

1. Brutally murder your enemies in public, with dogs (See step 1 section 9 for further directions)

2. Force the survivors into harsh work

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

How to commit suicide, publicly

1. Talk to snowball

2. Talk about snowball around napoleon

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

How to ruin a perfectly good book:

1. Corrupt everything that was good and pure

2. Turn Boxer into glue

3. ????

4. profit?

How to become absolute corruptly

1.  Get power

2. Get more power

3. ????

4. ABSOLUTE CORRUPTION

How to become a famous author:

1. Pick a dictator

2. Replace all the characters of his life with animals

3. ????

4. PROFIT!

The sweet berries meet my lips

The sensation flows from the great depths of passion

Sweet, sweet juice runs down my face

Oh God! Yes!

Berries!

The sky Is blue

Touchdown. Looking up you see the sky is on fire, as a giant cloud bakes in the mornings beauty. For upon gazing of this magnificent sight, all thought seems to fade from mind other than exploring what possible Being could create such brilliance. As the day withers on, lines of white seem to stretch as far as the eye can see crossing the sky in millions of geometrical patterns. But I don't get to look for very long, for soon the sun begins to set, twilight is abound, I bathe in the unearthly light, at peace with the world. However it seems that in this world peace never lasts, night descends and the stars wake to the moon as we wake to the sun, moonlight caresses the land casting my shadow across the plains, long, twisting, barley visible shadows in the night. My eyes well up with tears and stream down my face like gossamer threads. This is Kansas, my home, and the sky is blue.

I piece i recently did in photoshop and taking pictures of my local park. Enjoy.

new radio

Every week I like to listen to something new and completely rearrange my iTunes library. Lately I've been finding some good stuff and I would like to share it with you.

First lets define indie, indie to me is something original or in someway takes something not original and puts a spin on it.

This weeks artist is IYAD, first of i did not say IYAZ i said IYAD.

Next what I view about this artist is he seems to take 8bit and put it into some viable music.

What is 8 bit you might ask? It is a genre I never thought existed other than in Zelda and other Nintendo classic.

Be for warned he is not a professional so you will find imperfections in his music.

Here's the link to one of my favorite songs by him NEVER AGE , one of the reason i like this song is because at 3:00 it goes crazy.

STEPS FOR DOWNLOADING:

1. right click on download button

2. then chose save link as

3. chose where you want it (i recommend desktop)

OTHER TITLES:

city of mediocrity

when i sleep my heart speaks

Francois casts the devils
songs with his nail-less finger,
swishing them quickly, muttering,
hands in his bohemian coat.

Droplets tame the roofs' crows
and a surrealist dies in the hills,
in the trench,
careening ambulances, muttering
hands on this wooden wheel.

The rain claims the stone tower,
muttering on your scooter, a
keen delivery,
collapse,death.

At the Renaissance Fair

I and he and she and him
her are chimpanzees
and so is
the tar-
footed creature
sitting on my head,
me smiling, tossing
my hair like airplane
propellers
while this sick gypsy
snaps an always fading,
then to nothing Polaroid
and I'm charged way
to much for this
stupid little
picture

How to become a dictator in four simple steps

1. Make friends in high places (Be sure to murder the opposition in dramatic fashion)
2. Spread propaganda about how you can solve all the worlds suffering as a leader
3. ????
4. PROFIT!

Rant contest entry

Rules Regulations Restrictions

What kind of Nazi came off with this idea?

“Hey guys I think if we create restrictions on people it will make the world a better place!”

“That is a great idea, lets ban stuff!”

“We will ban all the bad things!”

That was the day the world died. Rules restrict options, rules restrict creativity. How can you possible help people by denying them options! That is much of the world these days, a list of things you can’t do. Turns me cold to realize all how society is killing itself with rules. When I am at home I have rules, not many but some. When I go to school, we have a book dedicated to things people aren’t allowed to do. This is like a stubbed toe on a Monday. Not how I want to start my week. Rules naturally cause conflict as people are bound to break them. Some people are just naturally creative free spirit people, yet they get punished for being awesome. I want to kick a hipster when I think about. Our rules make us all serious because if you breathe some one else’s air, you go to jail. Oh ya, jails got even more rules. Break one rule and you’re unfit for freedom. A risk to society they say. It’s like society deserves to be protected or something. Once you are identified as a rules breaker they add more rules, just so you can break those. Typically your punishment is more rules which you break and spiral into oblivion. Those that avoid breaking rules are squelched or creativity. Like it like pisses me off, like a valley girl does.  Detention doesn’t teach you how to behave, detention scares people into following rules and regulations. I like my Photoshop class a lot, I don’t have to follow rules when I am working. I follow my imagination, an imagination unbounded by rules. Imagination is one of the things that make humans better than animals. We can look at a problem and fix it. Well I can’t fix my problems if rules are allow dividing me.

There is a little voice inside of you saying “Rules keep the bad stuff away, rules protect us” On the surface this seems legitimate however it’s got problems. Buckets of problems, running over, spilling over like a river. Bad is extremely subjective to what the maker of the rule views as bad.  I think microwave radiation from cell phones is bad, and I happen to be a powerful political leader, so I get to ban cell phones. Cell phones obviously aren’t bad; I just believe they are bad. Let’s take a more serious example. I think black people are dumb so I ban their ability to vote in election, own land, or use the same restrooms. Why would spend government resources on people unable to use it properly. Education is a waste of precious government money. Oh! It is true, my study proves black folk are naturally dumb!

We all can see the problem with this thinking.

“BUT it’s backed up by a scientific study!!!”. 

Scientific studies are incredibly easy to skew.

Rules justified some of the horrible events in history. “rules are rules” How many times have you heard that? I hear it again I might just vomit in my mouth. And then shallow it again. Bad things are extremely objective, so banning all bad things is unreasonable and allows oppression. 

Rules don’t protect anyone, banning murder has never stopped anyone determined enough to kill someone. If I’m going to kill someone I’m either going to plan it out in such a way to that I don’t get caught, or it’s going to be a rage crime. In both cases, rules didn’t save a life.

                All these rules make everyone so serious. “Oh don’t say that, it against the rules. You might hurt someone’s feelings.” “Oh don’t do that it’s not safe!!” No one knows how to chill and live free. The more rules we add the more stressed were going to be. “Walk on this line, not that one, you can’t eat that, it’s not healthy, you have to eat your anchovies!”. If I followed all the rules all the time and think I would die. So now I forced to break rules for my health. That’s not a good situation to be in. You just gotta let the seriousness go away! Be chill do what you want to do, pursue happiness.

Finally I would like to conclude with:

Rules are like kanye west, they would be the low point of my presidency too…

Wisdom is relative. No one is actually "wise", your just not as stupid as the person next to you.

And no one is actually smarter than the next. It's just like there is no thing as natural talent, everything ever known can be taught. Wisdom is based on how you learn or in what enviornment you learn. I'm going to be smarter than a person with only a 5th grade education. I will make better decisions and be wiser than them because i am educated on what is wrong.

This brings up another argument that nothing is actually what it is. Everything you've ever known is taught. I could call you a tiger and you could be a tiger if that is what you have known for your whole life. This makes it so, essentially, there is no such thing as human nature. Everything for a lack of a better word, is academic. I am wiser than a person with a 5th grade education because of academia, my opportunity to learn.

Now, you will argue that before education we were all equal yes. There it is, right there. Education equals wisdom. Natural ability and talent, to a certain extent, is false. Everything known can be taught

I wrote a Haiku

I forgot where I put it....

Oh yes, it's right here.

Knowledge is Power

"Scientia Potentia Est" Knowledge is power.

-Sir Francis Bacon

I have been inspired by this quote in such a way that I believe it could be applied to The White Hairs. Let us not forget that not only does knowledge and wisdom come from age (or white hairs), but it most definitely comes through experience. Life is nothing more than just experiences and events strung in a certain order. The real reason wisdom seems to come through age is that when you grow old, you have lived through many life experiences. Young people, including you and me, should strive for wisdom continuously so we may have the knowledge and power of our older brethren. Wisdom = Knowledge = Power. Though wisdom is a critical tool in our toolbox of greatness, I believe that it could be difficult to "measure" wisdom. For example, knowledge could be based on an amount of factoids and information stored inside your precious brain. But wisdom, however, can only be based on a level system. There are points throughout your life that you can acquire wisdom, usually following a traumatic event or time in your life. That is why wisdom does not necessarily only come with age. I propose an idea for the wonderful authors and contributors to The White Hairs. If my theory is correct about wisdom, I believe that we should blog about important events or happenings in our daily lives. This is so we can share the wisdom gained with everyone. Share your happy times, sad times, stressful times, problems you are going through, pleads for advice, and other important events. This is my challenge to you; nevertheless, continue with the other posts because they are also beautiful and fine pieces of art. Long live The White Hairs!

Songs- All Fall Down

Lost till you're found. Swim till you drown. Love till you hate. Strong till you brake. These words can be found in the song "All Fall Down" by Onerepublic (BTW they're my favorite band). Now I want to shine the spot light on this song for a moment. I want to take a deeper look at this song, to dive into the world of a song, much as you would a book. First, I want you to listen to the song, maybe leave the window or tab open to go back and listen. Next, I want you to set everything aside for a moment and give this your full attention. Now, after you've listened to this song, continue reading.

The first part I want to talk about is in the chorus: "If ever your world starts crashin down, whenever your world starts crashin down, whenever your world starts crashin down, thats where you'll find me." To start out with, I would like to point out how he (Ryan Tedder) first says IF, then on the second and third times, he switches to WHENEVER. I believe he puts this in here not only to point out that it is a when, not an if, but that there will be more than one time in your life when your feel like your world is crashing down. Now when he says, that's where you'll find me, I think that part is based more on personal opinion. For me, I like to remember that I found this band when I was at a low point in my life.

Second, I want to go back to the beginning of the song, before he begins singing the chorus: "Step out the door, and it feels like rain. That's the sound, that's the sound on your window pane. Take to the streets, but you can't ignore, that's the sound, that's the sound, you waited for." I get a little confused at this part. Apparently, you have been waiting for rain, and we later find out that's when you're world falls down. Okay, so maybe he wants to start the song in a solemn mood. Here's the feeling i get: I am so sad, something has happened to make me very sad or angry; with the arrival of rain, I feel like i can appropriately express my feelings. With the expression of my feelings comes the realization something big and important, such as life, isn't what it is made out to be. And then your world falls apart.

"Take a breath, take a step, meet me down below." I see this part and I think of someone jumping off a bridge. Imagine yourself, standing there, contemplating life, and then you decide to do it. You take one last breath. You take one step, and your falling, falling, falling..... Now instead of a bridge, think of this as a pit, your standing on the edge, looking down and you see someone down there. He tells you to come on down, so you walk right of the edge as if you were a cat knowing you're going to land on your feet. This might symbolize people after their world falls out on them. They get depressed, then they're vulnerable for a period. He could be referring to the devil tempting you, or peer pressure to do drugs or smoke.

That concludes my article for today. I want to hear what think about this song and this article. Please leave your comments below.

By Mr. Awesome

mindflex- imagination

Imagination is one of the best and most dangerous gifts we have been given as humans...

This whole article is a reference and analysis of a book by the name of sphere by Michel Crichton ( a note of fair warning before you go out looking for it, there is a slightly inappropriate scene in one chapter of the book) this article is a analysis not a review so i will spoil it for the purposes of explaining it. You are strongly encouraged to stop reading and go out and read the book yourself first

Sphere is a novel in which a team of scientists are called by the us government to help uncover a discovered wreckage at the bottom of the pacific ocean, they are then trapped at the bottom by a storm, they discover the wreckage is a united states spaceship from some time in the future. It is a incredibly advanced ship and they discover a sphere. I will save you nonsense and get to the point the sphere grants the power to shape his/her imagination into reality. Needless to say it didn't work out to good. No one knew who the power was given to and monsters started to show up and everyone dies... yup everyone outright dies. The moral of this story is that we as humans do not control our imagination and let it run wild... and its OK, but it is a problem in the grand scheme. If we are to become an advanced civilization then we must learn to control this very powerful gift because it can lead to whatever pops into our heads happening... Imagine what would happen if we got mad at someone... Evan briefly imagine them dieing and suddenly they were dead. you obviously did not want that to happen but now you are responsible for it. If we are to have the power of gods then we need to control it like one.