The Great Debate

Ever since I have been young the question of aliens has always boggled my mind. It probably started at Ross' Birthday party, of which was themed "Aliens" and all guests got neat hats that read "I 'heart' Aliens." At the time aliens were more a fad, like Barney or Pokemon, rather than a deep scientific question, but as the years past I began to question the notion of extraterrestrial life in the universe. I must admit, when I was young (and naive) I took the approach of no alien life because how could God create other specimens that he loved. I call this the Classical American Christian Approach. But throughout my progression I realized that the universe is far too vast to not have any life elsewhere. This brings us to now.

As read in previous post, my father and I disagree about the role that et's have played in past human circumstances. To this day, my opinion remains un-wavered, but this doesn't mean that I don't believe in other intelligent life such as ours or even greater. Where I disagree with many concerns UFOs and alien contact with the earth. Plain and simply, I don't believe any extraterrestrial has ever been to our lovely planet. I don't think that it is possible. I said it, it isn't possible. To get here that would require that life form to travel at greater than the speed of light and when that happens space and time bend. That would just screw up everything, including life on earth. The only other way would be to travel by worm hole, which seems improbably because all wormhole explanations are purely hypothetical.

All in all, I am looking for opinions. Please chime in.

The Case of the Mondays

I hate to admit it but I have gotten into this trend of watching two shows on Monday nights with my sister and her husband. I am sort of embarrassed to say that these shows are indeed "The Bachelorette" and "True Beauty." But let me assure you, my enjoyment for this reality tv comes from my pure disgust of the concepts of these two terrible shows.

Let me begin with "The Bachelorette." Oh but how to start...hmm...well...okay, I am sure most of you know the basic premise of the show; one girl who makes-out with fifteen or so guys who are all trying to make-out with her the best in order to win her over at the end. Simple enough, correct? Wrong! These guys all act like they are in love with her even though they have only known her for somewhere around a month and out of that month they must all share their time trying to get to know her. What's even worse is that she is in love...with them all. Can you imagine if this were real life? What if I signed up to meet the girl of my dreams and when I meet her, I come to find fourteen other guys drooling over her. What if that was life? For some reason I feel this is sort of what internet dating is like.

On to "True Beauty." For many, I believe this show is a lot less popular, but let me tell you, it is still every bit as intriguing as the previous. The premise of this show is that there are 10 "so called" beautiful people trying to compete for to be the "Face of Vegas." The real catch though, is the fact that they are being monitored by three judges on their inner beauty. Herein the problem lies. The types of tests that they have these people go through are absolutely nuts and are a crappy indicator of inner beauty, plus, I have a hard time believing that the judges are saints behind closed doors. But the true reason for watching this show happens to be that one of the contestants looks eerily like Vanilla Ice.

"There's No Crying In Baseball"

I hope to keep this post short and to the point. We will see how it goes.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Royals game, sitting in what were the best seats i have ever had in my life. It was a lovely afternoon in the low 90s with a radiant sun beating against our faces; a stereotypical baseball day. It was during the phenomenon, known as the Seventh Inning Stretch, in which a young gentleman had hopped out on to the field and ran like a mad man. Within a matter of seconds a security guard had tackled him as it were nothing. Sure, we hear about these happening all the time, but I must admit, I wish it were me.

C'est Mon Amie: Mallory Wiegers

This is Mallory. I must admit, I am a little harsh on her at sometimes, but it's all in good fun. Usually if one were going to describe Mallory, one might make a remark on her tall stature or maybe comment about her obsession with cats, but me, I choose her "mother-esque" qualities as the pinnacle of my presentation. For starters, she likes to bake for groups of people. Combine this with her tall stature, her natural love for giving hugs, and her infatuation with felines, the term "mom" fits quite nicely. Or perhaps crazy cat lady. Take your pick.

For the seven weeks following my girlfriend's departure to France next Friday, Mallory is to be my replacement date for things like dinners and such. For those of you who don't know nor understand my group of friends, this is purely a joke and holds no real substance when considering the American term "date" nowadays. She is simply way too tall, and I way too short, to ever seriously date, besides, I just finished writing about how she is motherly.

A short, contemporary biography of Mallory would include her love for art and young hippies. If you would like to contact her, she is the tallest female roaming the hills of Lawrence, Kansas, where she proudly calls herself a jayhawk.

Controversial Moment: Tank Man

Next year I will be moving into a house and lately I have been thinking about how exactly I will decorate my walls. I have come to the conclusion that one wall will be covered in pictures depicting controversial issues of the past. I have decided that occasionally, throughout my blog, I will give a brief history on the moments that I find disputed in one way or another.

Tank Man, as some like to call him, was a brave young civilian who stood up to several tanks making their way to Tiananmen Square in early June 1989. For those of you who aren't aware of these events, let me fill you in. It began as a student revolt; nothing more than a simple protest. But eventually the protest attracted the other civilians of Beijing, and what started as a simple revolt turned into a full fledged attempt at a revolution. Due to the oppressive nature and lack freedom granted by the government, soon 1/10th of the population of Beijing joined in. Eventually, the government called in the Army to keep the peaceful protest in hand (like I said, it was a peaceful movement and therefore, didn't really need such drastic measures to be taken). Once the army was brought in, the people of Beijing were shot at for little than throwing pebbles. This all lead to the brave man who stood up in front of the tanks. The man was eventually taken away by four men, and the whereabouts of him are still disputed today.

Sadly, if one shows this picture to a Chinese person too young to know about the events of 1989, they wouldn't have a clue of what the picture means. 236,000 pictures come up in Google if one types in "Tiananmen Square," but if the same search is made in China then only three pages of pictures come up, each excluding "Tank Man."

Coffee-Table Books

Q: What is the single greatest threat to those of us who love to read?
A: Coffee-table books!

Well, rather those who own coffee-table books. These are the people who lavish their coffee tables with highly intellectual or cultural books with no intent to read them. We all know these people. I know one in particular who claims to love reading and love books but he never reads. Instead he ornaments his bookshelf with books like The Teachings of Buddha, Origin of Species, Paradise Lost, and a copy of the Koran. Sure, these are all great books, but they are only great if one reads the words inside them. It thoroughly annoys me that he hasn't even touched them since the day that he bought them.

Bigfoot?

I am not one for believing in conspiracies or mythical creatures, but as time goes on, there happens to be one such thought that is becoming more pervasive. That thought is Bigfoot. But wait, hear me out before you click the "Next Blog" button. I may be able to convince you too.

A long long time ago, within the evolution of the primate order, existed a hominoid known as Gigantipithecus. I know, I know, it sounds like I just made this up, but it really existed and took residence in East Asia. This seems a lot like the Abominable Snowman. Look at the picture and you tell me.

There are even two species of Gigantipithecus that look an awful lot like the Sasquatch and the Yeti.