Various Assorted Topics to Bore You With...

On Unabashed Vanity...

So since I decided to connect this blog with the other website I frequent (less frequently), I am sure the majority of readers are quite interested about what is going on with my hair, and not my gratuitously, sometimes obnoxiously opinionated posts about politics and religion, which are sure to upset and offend everyone. For everyone else, Haaiii! I'm a freak with a hair growing hobby! I bet you didn't know that about me and I could care less what you think of me for it.  And no it is not a fetish, but purely aesthetic.  The last time I trimmed my hair was back in January, and I was exceedingly frustrated with the fairytale ends that were uneven, thus I cut back to hip length. At this point, the hair approaches tailbone length, and is being protected almost daily by a cinnabun held by 2 Ketylo hairsticks in Agatewood. I'm embracing the old school recommendation of wearing hair up often in order to protect it so it can grow longer, and have actually *what a shock* found great success with the method. The wearing-hair-up thing started occurring with frequency for a completely separate reason, however, as this past summer has been simply disgusting. The humidity made simple day-to-day minutia and chores unbearable with all that hair. Seriously any moron who insists there is no climate change can kiss my sweaty, uncomfortable ass. If anyone is wondering, no I haven't measured my hair in quite some time. Whatever inches it is, it is what it is. Standing around measuring hair with a measuring tape must be useful if someone has growth issues and they are using supplements or herbs or simply experimenting for hair growth. I don't have time for that, and I'm not particularly experimenting with anything for growth, except for testing my own patience lol.

On Deism and Thomas Paine

This past summer I read a wonderful old book that truly resonated with my heart. The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. I discovered that there is something in between Atheism and Religion which resonates with my Pantheistic leanings. Deism. In a nutshell, it is disavowing all written theology, all the while not throwing the baby out with the bathwater-- a Deity. I don't use the word "God" because it has so much ridiculous Abrahamic  baggage which I do not want any affiliation with. It is a belief that doesn't disavow science and reason, either, and instead views the understanding and knowledge of science and reason as a pathway to knowing and understanding the deity. "Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it." An Atheist reading this will be shaking their head at me, and I really don't care. Believing there is nothing is too pessimistic for me. I can't accept that all this gigantic wonder, the Universe, and all the emotions we feel came from nothing, and are simply spiritually meaningless chemical reactions occurring constantly in the brain. That sounds as absurd as saying there is only one true religion based on a book written by humans , which insists that the Earth and Humans are the center of everything, after knowing what we know about the size, scope, and age of the Universe. (My suspicious, questioning mind has to ask where and from whom such a dangerously demoralizing, de-humanizing motive would come from. Maybe the powers that be DO in fact want to remove the concept of spiritual growth / transcendence in order to create strict obedience only to a man-made state. )  I encourage everyone to read this book. This was revolutionary writing in the time of Thomas Paine (1700's) and he was ostracized for single-handedly ripping apart every word of every chapter of the Bible; all the while not abandoning a greater being. "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." Because of this, his proper place as a founding father in American history is trivialized by some to this day, and has been the reason why constitutionalists argue on about rights and god and the US Constitution.  This book is especially refreshing after reading the works of the Atheist "Four Horseman," especially someone like Sam Harris. With Deism, you have your cake and eat it too.

Adventures with Ayn Rand

Most people will know me as a libertarian about many issues, not all, and for questioning  collectivism. Recently, I have felt arrows appearing around me, gently pointing in Ayn Rand's direction. I recently read Anthem, and was disappointed by the end, unless of course her intention was to point out that if humans are forced to extreme collectivism, the ego backlash  would be just as ugly. I'm going to leave that right there, and I don't think it would be fair to myself or the author to judge based on this one work. I have taken up Atlas Shrugged, which first started appearing in my life almost 2 years ago when a forum I was frequenting had some conflicts between the members and moderators and the book was mentioned. Since then, for reasons unrelated, I began to discover my own progressive libertarianism, as opposed to being a Liberal Democrat that I used to be. The works of Ayn Rand began to come up more often, and it is something, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit, that I haven't made reasonable exploration of. I have read reviews of her work, and people appear to either adore her or find her abhorrent. There is no middle road. Either way it is probably better reading than the recent books about Obama by Dinesh Desouza, which I almost picked up instead, simply out of morbid curiosity of neoconservative blatherings. I say this without reading the Obama books by the said author because he also wrote a book singing the praises of Christianity, which clearly demonstrates the theocratic perspective from which he attacks Obama, apparently an "anti-colonialist" who will contribute to the "islamization" of America. I find that as absurd as calling the Obamacare bill socialized medicine, but that is another topic entirely. So, anyway, after straying off topic, Ayn Rand. Let's go and read, shall we? I will update my progress and opinions on the matter here. I am reading slow and leisurely, so bear with me, as Ayn Rand is very descriptive of characters and it appears there is lots to be gleaned from that. Thus far I think this will add fodder for another project I plan to pursue, the concept of being human, and how the cutthroat ways of business looks to shred any last vestige of being human from what is visible to the consumer. (I do abhor that word)