MG Shooters 2011

The title sounds much more exciting than the inlaid pictures indicate. Somewhere between leaving my driveway and mile number 20 on Dutch Flat Road (Halfway point) we stowed the camera and just cruised the warm desert landscape, forgetting completely to keep record of the trip.

Uncle Whiskey secured 2 brand new cots from REI in Henderson before he drove out Saturday morning to pack up and hit the trial. It was going to be both of our fist camp trips going tent less, with only our cots and sleeping bags. I secured a brand new, Swiss "0 degree" mummy bag from k-mart thinking they were pretty serious about the rating.

We loaded up the Jeep Saturday morning at about 10am and headed to the grocery store to fill up on camping grub. *upper jeep shot at house

Not to toot my own horn here, but Whiskey as my witness, guys were flocking to my over-loaded Jeep in the parking lot. It was oozing manliness with rifles sticking out of the cab and camo gear secured in the back. The biggest compliment for me was the old Navy vet that came up and asked me...Wait, not an Old Navy Vet...

The old, Navy Veteran that asked if we were military and in a re-enactment of some kind for the gun show going on in town. I explained that I drive this bad boy to work most days and Whiskey and I decided we weren't Military...We were More.

Once we finally broker free of the "Mo-Zeen Nay-gent" "Expert" that accosted Whiskey for 20 minutes while he tried to enjoy his breakfast in the passenger seat, we hit the dusty trail. (We call the rifles "Mah-zen Na-Gants" / Mosin Nagant and we like it that way)

Once in a nice open clearing, I remembered we do have a camera and I hardly ever get a picture of me driving, so I asked for a little help "Hamming it Up" and voila!

Once we got out past Mid Mohave Wash, we stopped to shoot our old Mosin Nagants at one of favorite target spots, A2. A2 being the designation on the map that I first used to plot the area way back, years ago on my Arctic Cat 400 4x4. You know, when my life really began...2003/2004.*

So, shooting into the afternoon Sun with a busted scope mount proved to be a major bummer for me. I should have checked it more thoroughly before I banked on it for the trip. Whiskey however, had a "blast" with his to a degree. That carbine kicks like a mule and shakes the entire Jeep with each shot. Heck of a cartridge!

That basically concludes the photos since pretty much after that, we started running out of day light and had to book it to Wikieup for a fill up and to check in with the our special lady friends.

I found a really sweet shortcut from A2 to the Power Line Road that brought us to Planet Ranch Road and out to Chicken Springs Road in no time.

We stopped, made our calls, threw in some petrol and with the Sun starting to set made short work of locating a camp spot 15 miles up the road at the shoot.

Luckily, we had plenty of daylight and worked out all of our camping area and designated the cots easily.

By 8:00 pm, we had our chairs and cooler, front row, settled in for the night shoot. One of my favorite parts of this was having had been there 4 times before so we knew we could sit much more closely than anyone else around us did. We walked right past the "line" of people and sat 20 feet closer to the firing line for a great view and awesome effect! Sitting here, we could see down the firing line and watch the muzzles unleash their fire for at least 50 feet on down into the darkness.

Tens of thousands of rounds, mostly tracer rounds, lit up the desert sky and ground, exploding dynamite and crates of fireworks in a display that can really only be seen here, twice a year.

They wrapped up a bit earlier than usual which we thought was a bit of a rip off. Of course, we had just paid full price to see that portion of the shoot. We hadn't been there all day and we didn't have time to go back through on Sunday. For $50 (for both) we got a camping spot with a Porta Potty, level ground and a pretty sweet display of firearms in my opinion. If it goes up next year, we'll probably skip it - Although I love the trek to it so…Meh.

We got back to the camp spot, rigged up some grub and afterwards I tried desperately to "enjoy" smoking my Grandpa's 79 year-old tobacco pipe. I had the right tobacco and the pipe was clean but I couldn't get it to stay lit. I hear it's an art so now I'm determined to figure it out.

All done eating, enjoying Whiskey's whiskey, talking and trying to be a poser with my pipe, we crashed out.

Outside of needing to sleep in my jacket, beanie and pants, I was remarkably comfortable. In fact, I could argue that it was the best night sleep, camping, ever. "0 degree" bag? Not even close. Whiskey fought his "30 degree" bag pretty heavily so unfortunately his night was pretty rough.

Up and at 'em at 6 - Packed up and on the road by 7:30, we hit the highway.

One of my other favorite parts of the trip? I pulled out on to the highway with plenty of time in between cars, got up to speed and moments later and a rocket-propelled PT Cruiser was all up in my rear, inches away from my bumper. For fun, you could refer back to one of the pictures above. That Jeep, filled with guns and ammo cans, camo gear and us two dudes all camped out and rugged as can be...And we get tailgated at 55, which was the speed limited?

My only reaction of course, for safety reasons, was to slow down to reasonable speed of about 15 mph for this poor, frustrated, ignorant SOB traveling a desolate desert highway with his wife in-tow. 1000 feet up ahead, a double lane opening gave promise to this idiot having his way and screaming off down the road. As his beet-red face started to turn and "glare me down" as he passed me on the left, his eyes got REALLY BIG as all of the gear and guns sank in to his tiny little mind. His wife smiled and shrugged like, "Yep, he's a moron". Before he made eye contact, his head shot straight forward as he pegged the throttle and scurried away. God Bless America.

We stopped in Wikieup and called in our howdies in to the ladies again and bonzai-ed back home through the dusty trial.

Good times.

Why Is Marvel Racist?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/08/02/marvel-announces-biracial-spider-man.html

Spiderman is dead.

Peter Parker, like Superman and Batman (At least his spine was dead at one point) has inevitably kicked the Pizza Box. As one poster on a recent blog stated, "It was going to happen sometime, who can continue to believe in a character that never changes? Are they some type of Demi-God?" Well, yeah! What a dope… Do you think a series can run for 40 years without several thousand leaps of "extraordinary"?

These "Mutants" ARE like Demi-Gods, that's why folks read comics and watch the movies in the first place! Their popularity is a natural progression of trends. When the trends change, it should open up new opportunity for CREATIVE thought and lead to new characters. So, they kill Peter Parker but because the name "Spiderman" sells, this new, NOT Peter Parker takes the name? What did we loose? What did we gain? - Same old idea but now wrapped in a different skin color?

Celebrate diversity by cramming an ethnic person in an iconic suit with iconic powers, already established by a white kid? Really? If it doesn’t matter what color or background someone has, why did they make “Spiderman” a different color with a different background? So, as a white man I have to be on notice that the typical white super-hero isn’t PC enough so, it is changing for that reason only? That’s called racism folks! My race is excluded from an iconic character’s future…Because of his RACE.

It isn’t trendy, so it’s getting changed. I read a very wise post by a self-proclaimed, Jewish-Blackman. He said, "What? Marvel doesn't think a mixed kid can be his own super character and make Marvel tons of money?" Changing the color of the man inside such an iconic, pre-existing suit should be insulting. It's a clear attempt at political and racial "celebration". The problem? If Spiderman is failing because he's white, let him (Peter and Spidey) completely FAIL. I'd like to think of it as, "The Super Hero Bailout". Once in this country, because of Capitalism, we were blessed with variety.

If a car company or bank failed, it wasn't the end of the world; it was the end of an era. Now, due to massive Gubment bailouts, I have to see GMC commercials for the next 30 years whether I like it or not. No competition can compete if things aren't allowed to FAIL! Chevy, you blew it. NEXT! I want to see the next big innovators in their garages have the opportunity to get their product out. The same goes for this debacle. Marvel, kill SPIDERMAN along with Peter Parker and give the mixed kid his very own spot light, and brand NEW character to make the next 40 years just as interesting as the last...3...

I will never purchase a NEW Spiderman related item, nor will I support Marvel's insane attempt to re-launch a tired, old story. He was in high-school, he got bit by a radioactive spider, blah, blah, blah. NEXT! I find it completely insulting to anyone of ethnicity that Marvel felt they had to catapult “diversity” into our faces using an iconic character that is, and always has been white as bread. Let’s see a multi-million dollar effort for something NEW. Give Miles Morales a chance to stand for himself in his own, unique costume, sporting his own, unique powers.

Now, while I’m on the subject, should we even celebrate diversity? I mean, respect it, yes. “Celebrating” it is kind of like cheering for a group of basketball players, golfers and hockey players on a football field, hoping they will “work together” for the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl. Skin color differences be damned, but if “diversity” means millions and millions of different ideas, rules and directions of where the UNITED STATES of AMERICA should be going, I’d say celebrating that is just as insane as expecting those players to win that game. Isn't any game, system and mechanism only truly effective and functional if all of the components work together? Why would we celebrate people staking Mexican Flags in the front yards of their American homes? Why would we provide accommodations to anti-American rallies...in America? We should all have a voice, but at what point does the celebration stop, and the ideology start ablaze?

When we can look at the majority of our neighbors and say, "Hey, I know I can count on you to help and contribute to our nation and its citizens", then celebrating diversity is in order. What does THAT have to do with Miles Morales? - Kind of the same thing as making Captain America an Iraqi man, fresh off the boat. You're welcome here buddy, but you got a LOT of hard work and loyalty to display before we make you our spokesperson. The idea of a Mexican-black kid is relatively new. From my standpoint, now that this is jammed in our faces, can we expect he will fly a "Viva la Mexico" flag outside his apartment window? Maybe cruise around with a "Black Power" T-Shirt when he is not in the real Spiderman's costume?

If it IS NOT about a political message then, and it is not about race...What did we loose and what did we gain?

This was a stupid move on Marvel's behalf.

The Language of God

I don't believe I've made it clear in my blog that I am not a religious nut and I don't belong to any church. This is by far the most important theory I've ever stumbled on (of my own). I am one of those people that floats up, off the world and is somewhat disconnected.

We all feel unique, yes, but how many times in your life do you open your mouth and write things that make people just tilt there heads and say, "huh?" "What are you smokin’?" For me, it's been as long as I can remember. And I'm not smoking anything. I don't smoke and I don't "drink the Kool-Aid". I walk alone (Gah, stupid Greenday Lyric...Not a fan).

I read as much as I can on the varying subjects of science and spirituality. I keep up on my documentaries of both as well. But, I've no degree and just work for a living. Maybe ten thousand people have already said what I'm about to say...But I've never heard it. With that said; a friend of mine and I were discussing the "Language of God" yesterday. I choose to bow down to and give thanks to The One True God and give prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior because of pure logic. All of the world's Leftists and Atheists gasp at the idea of God/ Gods and the term "logic" being used in the same sentence. It's ironic, isn't it?

I'm hoping to shed some light on the subject of perfect logic pointing to the need to worship God. I am not standing behind a Bible or pew. I am not on the steps of the Public Library shouting out the Devil. Again, no church affiliation, no "mission" in mind, I say to the world in this microscopic, unpopular blog...The Language of God is All Around You.

The recently discovered Mayan language is one of many keys. It's a great example of complex shapes and images representing words, such as Egyptian Hieroglyphs. I had a cool moment of clarity on my way to work this morning after watching a Nova program regarding Mayan language. Each character can have a corresponding sound. Each sound can build a word, phrase or phrases. Several variations of each character can mean the same sound or set of letters. I could write about the details for days so, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_script .

After you visit that link and just glance at it, you get the point. My theory is, all of the world around us is an encoded language. It could be as simple as "Rock, Tree, Elephant and Cockroach = The Formula For Unobtainium" or as complex as "The Periodic Table is A Set Of Vowels And The Entire Written Formula For Relativity Is A Set of Consonants".

I mention "Unobtainium" as a material that we may need to create as a tool which would help us find another set of “words”. This is all just scrambled at this time. I get that I am not preparing it in the form of a college thesis. I'd love to, but right now, I'm just sketching it out and probably incapable of creating the map. I honestly believe we mimic the Creator. That's what we can understand. We build, we imagine, we love, we put on plays and create works of art, music and film. We understand in our deepest cognitions that virtual reality exists because reality exists and we are within it, trying to explain it and dissect that fact from within in our own language!

We can't understand "PROOF" right now because we don't understand the language in which the proof was written. I personally don't need any more proof. That is why this is not a "mission" and I'm not a preacher. However, I kind of feel like throwing this "out there" to see if any Atheists will stumble on to it and comment. Besides the hating and bashing, doesn't any of this click? Use all of nature, try to decipher the objects around as a language, learn the language and THEN ask for proof.

If the obviously differentiated objects in nature represent consonants and vowels, we could hypothetically arrange it into communication. Don't the Jews believe that God's true name is a number? It was known once before...Is it hidden in some type of formula of the world around us? Is it then possible to expand that thought to a similar natural and mathematical pattern to see new words besides God's name, bringing to light...what; Instructions and / or wisdom?

The Tree of Knowledge, is it a perfect metaphor for the obvious? Decipher the meaning of the tree itself and gain the knowledge? How can it be that "we are not meant to know such things?" As usual, I believe digging in scientific ways with a heart full of appreciation for our passion as given as a system of functionality by the Divine Creator, is a "good work". http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/antigravityworldgrid/ciencia_antigravityworldgrid06.htm

We "Owe It To Ourselves"

This is an interesting article submitted to me by a great friend…

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-thompson-atheism-20110718,0,5682260.story

Since the origin of my blog was to delve into the unique and fringe, this is a great jump start and reminder for me to get on track again!

Check out the wrap up in the article. We owe it to ourselves to...What exactly? Could there be a HUGE hole in this theory that we should deconstruct our faith based mechanisms?

You really think you want to take the foundation of a law abiding society, which is the general fear of God and to do good, and chuck it out in the trash?

Here’s one for you - You live in a relatively steady environment. You can walk to your mailbox without a random bomb going off, correct? Perhaps you live in a gated community - A huge wall surrounds it, armed guards on patrol…A police sub-station just minutes away…And  you are an avid, anit-gun protestor. Not to get into politics in this post and muddy up the water, but there are millions of people that believe Americans should not be armed…And they have the freedom to protest it because there are millions and MILLIONS more, armed Americans…Including our soldiers and the soldiers who fought and died for our freedoms before them that are and were All ARMED. So, you’re fat and happy and free, and you have time to contemplate life without God, life without the “Big scary, vengeful authority figure that is keeping you down and potentially frowning on your abuse of “Medical" marijuana.

Part of the issue of God for a non-believer is just that - A problem with authority. Is it really a problem with not having any proof? It seems like proof feeds the fire of the Atheist, so it begs the question TO the Atheist, where’s YOUR proof of a Godless existence for all?

Just because you’ve determined that your brain is an accidental, although nearly perfect processor, operating as a chemical / electrical compound and has “automatically” evolved to produce a conscious mind which recognizes “self”, doesn’t mean you have “proof” that it was not designed.

There are probably only a handful of Atheists that can argue their side with big words, tons of charts and statistical analysis till the cows come home and wrap it all up with a lifestyle that is one of moral and ethical values that religious folk can respect.

Most of the Atheists I've known and have done battle with, are classically abused or attached to mamma's teat, sheltered from reality in every which way. It shows in their inability to process the thing that is always left out of the arguments…Acceptance that today, in our current state, it is likely that we cannot even fathom the truth of our reality.  

That is why I completely understand and support the need to dig. This article represents the effort to dig although, one sided. However, I would like to post the following question:

Do we actually have the capability to understand what we find? What happens if you place a broken piece of metal with foreign markings in the dirt on a farm? Has history proven that the illiterate farmer would discover it and run screaming into town that he has proof of an alien starship that crashed on his property? Can't almost anything and any event fit this analogy? The combination of events, coupled with the people and their level of intelligence and including limitations of current technology and understanding all determine the outcome of ANY discovery.

Which is why archiving exists. Fortunately, some smart folks decided to hang on to discoveries for future review. If everything we researched was an open and shut case, there would be only text books and binary code in which it is recorded. All evidence and physical matter pertaining to the discovery would not need to be stored in expensive laboratories.

Sound ridiculous? Why keep something once it has been “absolutely proven” to be this, this or that? Is it because we know that perhaps 10 years, 20 years or even more we could have different technology with which to re-evaluate the evidence or physical matter and put a fresh and more advanced persective on it. And THAT never ends.

What I'm getting at is that science by definition should be the purposely perpetual effort to understand a language - The language of the Universe and for some, God.

We are not at the stage of - All Knowledge Acquired. Nor will we be for an unimaginable length of time.

Keep digging scientists! But when will you ever understand that you're theories endlessly get disproven and reworked by those after you? Slam your fist on the table and say "Maybe!!"...never "Definitely!" It's in your DNA to want to be more than you are. Your ego feeds your need to replace an "archaic" idea of a protective, "imaginary" figure and is exactly and perfectly part of a plan that you don't have the language to understand at this time.

But please, by all means, keep digging!

If You Would Only...You'd Be Dangerous!

Ever hear that term..."If You Would Only Blah, Blah, Blah...You'd Be Dangerous!"? If you could only peer into my Man Cave and see the time, money and dedication spent on perfecting my video gaming experience...It's the perfect example of "placed energy". Oh, I get the "Wow!"s and the "OMG"s and it feels good. The room is painted in grey / blue and the ceiling is black, furniture is black, the carpet is dark grey and there are collectible action figures everywhere. Honestly, it's like that ultimate teenager's dream room. The key to my success in being in my 30's and having a room like this without ridicule (to my face anyway) is that it stops at the Cave entrance and does not extend into my home. In the house, normalcy prevails and you wouldn't even know my Cave existed. (Minus the “MAN CAVE” entrance sign, ahem.) But I recently discovered it just isn't ME anymore. Sure the dark and perplexing entrance, decorated by fake rock and extensive, artful content on the walls is a part of me. And, I get excited by the fact that it's always ice cold in there and exactly what I've always wanted. But, it's time for an overhaul. In fact, the origin of this post points back to the Title. The amount of time I spend gaming, network remapping and making sure everything is perfect before I game is...Well ask my wife - Total obsessive compulsive. I can't relax.

I watched my Dad sit in his recliner and watch the news and football as if the CRT was a transmitter and sending a message from the Holy Land. It was as if it was currently beaming the energy of God’s Heavenly Kingdom right into his body and was the main source for the fabled Fountain of Youth. Not to smack-talk my Pop but this stuff sticks with a kid. I rebelled, big time. Even today TV is not a Time Burglar for me. I cancelled cable at my house and kept the high-speed connection. They wanted $7 more dollars per month for a service my wife and I hardly used, so it was cut. We never looked back…Thanks to Netflix.

Now, that’s not a contradiction. We watch a little TV during dinner because of my hopeless insistence to do so. Since I can remember, that was dinner time. If not on a TV tray, 5 feet in front of the TV, then at the big dinner table…15 feet away from the TV with a perfectly clear view. Growing up - Grandpa’s house, friend’s houses and my house…Dinner = TV Time!

For the last 7 years I’ve completely lost my desire to watch TV shows. We do for filler and because I’m addicted to watching something while I eat, but otherwise TV is so boring…Compared to the highly intensive, competitive world of Video Gaming.

The eyes roll, the scowls of women-folk intensify with the mention of it, but the truth is, it WILL replace TV someday, just wait. Allow me to paint the picture before thee passes judgment:

Men want action. Men want adventure. Men want explosions, guns and menacing vehicles. Men want to conquer, pillage, plunder, build, destroy, jump, grapple, punch, leap, kick, detonate, rule, command, launch, dominate, score, win, laugh, snipe, run and respawn. Oh yes, men at the most simplistic, neurological level exist to spawn…And respawn as often as possible. - Simple terms for simple creatures.

TV Sports Viewing is to Video Gaming as Shoots ‘N Ladders is to…Video Gaming. The guys that roll their eyes to that statement fit nicely into two categories:

1.      Dude number 1, you suck at video games. You don’t get it because you can’t make it happen. The hand/ eye coordination just isn’t there. So what’s the next evolution of THAT mechanism? - Ridicule. You suck, so it’s LAME that people are “wasting their lives gaming”. If you were a natural, highly-skilled player it would take just one game for you to become an advocate and fan. You would see that, yes, spending time doing something you are highly skilled at is fun and rewarding.

When did Life-force become “wasted” if a human being is experiencing things otherwise impossible? A gamer lives the life of an adventurer - Although it is virtual, it can be argued that scientifically, the mind doesn’t know the difference. “Today, I infiltrated a CIA Office building and stopped an evil plot. I saved a million lives from a corrupt agent that was going to blow up a bomb.” Sure, I was sitting comfortably in a chair while doing so...But look it up! My brain didn’t know the difference! Take Joe Vital for instance, He’s built an empire on the recent study that proves that the human brain can not differentiate between most virtual reality experiences and “real” ones. I’ll be doing a write up on that soon as well. http://www.mrfire.com/

2.      Dude number two, your woman says “NO!” Oh man, there are so many of you guys out there. You sit and watch HOURS and HOURS of sports and Dancing with The Stars and you ridicule Video Gamers?? Buddy, you’re the one on the sidelines and your chick wears your sack like a trophy / necklace. As soon as you are single or grow a pair, come see why millions of grown, professional men have replaced Poker Night and Strip Clubs with Game Night. We balance work, house-work, wife time, kid time and everything else with this new replacement for brainless television.

Keep pumping your money into the multi-billion dollar sports machine and watch them continuously go on strike and trade from team to team to team in an endless, greedy loop. OR, be part of a global team for yourself! Call the shots, climb to the top and be feared! You laugh? You haven’t experienced it if so. There is a real rivalry and fear mechanism in online gaming. Don’t roll your eyes, come get some!

With that statement, I guess there is a third category. The “I’m a real B.A. in life and I’ll fight you for realz” guy. The whole, “Video Games are for geeks and dweebs.” And, “Real men obliterate their livers in a seedy bar every weeknight and tell B.S. stories about how many people they’ve “fought” and “nearly killed”. Well, you suck because, no, you won’t fight us. You’re all talk. You can’t actually take on more than one or two guys in a fight and would be sued to kingdom come for fighting anyway. Plus, arrested and fined. You won’t be fighting any one, any time, any where, and you won’t be driving your truck through anyone’s living room so just stop with the empty threats and get online to blow off some steam, it works. If you honestly believe you WILL fight any one, any time, any where then you are a obviously a troglodyte and should not try to work the mouse and keyboard for long since the scientists will need you back in your cage shortly for further testing! Run Monkey Man! Rrrruuuuuuuuuunnnn!!

With all of that said…I am turning over a new leaf. A Cave redesign, stricter play schedule and more intense focus on some of my projects is in order. I mentioned balance. The intensity of the game can consume…The next victory is right around the corner…But I’ve recently discovered that if I DO put my mind to writing, app creation, art, music production or any other project I have in my brain I will be dangerous.

APPitite For Creation!

This weekend the lightning bolt struck! Where can I place my creativity now that I have writer's block and artist's block? I can thrust my self-discipline issues and uncontainable, initial excitement into App Creation! Woot! I have the next Big Thing in smart phone apps rattling around in my head. I've formulated most of it but of course I have to work out the kinks. I've researched a little on hiring a developer just so I can get to market much more quickly. However, world domination starts with one's self. So now I am leaning towards learning to read and write the code necessary to be self contained. The next couple of weeks will steer me in one of those two directions. My idea is fresh and original for sure. I've also looked into its possible competing apps and they don't cut it. The key to this idea, like any great movie idea, is talent and marketing! I don't want this to end up like a great movie script and idea that lands in the hands of a low budget, talentless studio and therefore flops. With the right backing, you and YOU will gladly download my app and I will gladly share its brilliance with the world. Ha! That's pretty arrogant, I know. But trust me, it’s a doozy!

So, know of any developers? What are some tips for a semi-low-tech person to get started? Should a person with a plethora of ideas just go ahead and invest in becoming a developer? Or, start by hiring a developer for the first app and get to learn some of the in-and-outs first?
Mmmmm...In-N-Out...

LAN Ho! - Multiplayer Access and LAN Group

Aside from my ten googolplex hobbies, I love to have the guys over for LAN parties. It's amazing to me that search after search provides no results for the following questions:

The term LAN indicates local gaming usually in the same room. Why is it so difficult to find a schema for LAN / XBox Live optimum connections? I have a Belkin N / Wireless 4 port router and any type of hub and Lynxys router you can think of. What is THE BEST configuration model for a local group of 4 in a LAN to play online with 4 separate boxes, TVs and individual accounts?

What is the best router for this configuration? I've found many articles scratching the surface of the subject but...Is it really that rare in this day and age to incorporate LAN and online groups together?

I get it done now but the connections are sloppy and it seems that one person gets a terrible connection and ends up turning into a bullet sponge.

Suggestions? Schema?

Archive - Spiritual, Scientific GleeBahGloben

I started to save Word Docs of my various discussions and rebuttals at various sites. Incriminating evidence? I want it to be clear, unlike most bloggers, posters and Trolls I am not so closed minded as the language may seemingly dictate. Many times, I play Devil's Advocate to inspire a fiery conversation which should technically lead to a larger revelation. We can't move forward without looking back so I offer up some of my challenges and doosie responses in hopes to instigate a good fight and gain growth. Although I do occasionally play DA (That's the DM or Dungeon Master equivalent of Devil's Advocate), I certainly don't abuse it and will not run away to it as an excuse for some of my challenges and attacks...Nor do I play D & D...anymore...I mean I never have...ahem.

If interested, here's a recent volley at CNN's Religious Column:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/04/atheists-explain-flying-ad-campaign/comment-page-15/#comment-543548

I redrafted my statements and will post them here in segments. I thought this was so much fun! Of course for those that root deeply into a one-sided mindset it is very frustrating.

Where do you fit in to all of this? Is it even possible to dissect the subject of science and religion so far down as to get real answers? Does it infinitely dissect because of cognitive limitations or because of absolute simplicity? Where's the proof?

That, to me is the bottom line and goal of each side.

There's an episode of My Name is Earl that seems to depict this rallying, perfectly. Earl is stuck in a prison Hot House with an old nemesis. This guy is on one side of a chain-link fence digging in the dirt like a rabid dog, trying to get beneath it to get to Earl's side to strangle him...Well if you know the epi, the funny thing is all of the things he actually wants to do to Earl BESIDES just strangle him. Anyway, he's digging in the ground like a mad man and Earl, valuing his life is sitting down on the other side pushing the dirt back in the hole in this perpetual frenzy of panic and reasoning.

I absolutely love the mechanism of SciLigious discussions around the web. It reminds me of this scene.

Maybe I can get lucky enough to bring some folks in that can help map out some ideas and bring some insight to this perpetual battle.

Elden's Word

What an interesting turn of events. For nearly 9 years, since the invention of X-Box Live, my alter ego has been, "Eldensword". From day one I have been fighting with "ignorant, illiterates" that can not seem to pronounce my Gamertag correctly. "It's Elden SWORD, not Elden's Word or Elden's WORLD people!" I'd shout, forehead becoming a 3 dimensional display of anger as my temple veins shift into tubes of fury...And here I am now, proudly displaying it for the first time in a way that finally makes sense to me. My namesake derives from one of my favorite books from my adolescence, Hero of Dreams by Brian Lumley. The leading character is David Hero. However, with whom I relate to the most, is Eldin. The wise and faithful companion, Eldin (With an "i") is a large, aggressive intellectual and they travel together throughout Dreamland in several volumes. I may be stretching it a bit, but I take Eldin's moral compass and wise advice as one of my own, similar devices and similar relationship with the world around me. David's actions and build suite me well in "RL" (Real Life) but as you'll read in my postings, there is no wisdom in settling on any one way, when it comes to self perpetuating contemplation, by definition. I identify most with Eldin's - In the background, adage provisions and endless analogies to help steer the protagonists around me. I've taken "Eldin" and made one simple change to an "e" to give proper props to my parental folk. I recently received a gracious e-mail from Mr. Lumbley. I wrote him to thank him for producing the series which has inspired me and entertained me for many years. I made the mistake of writing, "Eldin" as "Elden" without explanation. He appreciated my loyalty but corrected my mistake. I guess not spelling it correctly made me sound pretty foolish. If only he knew the whole story. Heck of a fella! After jumping around from forum to forum and after finding that 70% of my searches for abstract theories complemented by extremely rare, non-cookie cutter rebuttals, have come up empty, I have decided to create my own realm of "reason". The parenthesis should be just as important in my spelling of "reason" as the consonants and vowels. My version of "reason" is pretty fringe at times. However, I’ll tell anyone that I will feel as though I am paving a new road and if the right information presents itself as enlightening; I will check my ego and listen. In the end, I have one goal: Learn - See and feel the truth. - The truth about life. - The truth about the ultra complex realm of particle physics, quantum mechanics, spirituality and the macroverse / multiverse.