Earn it mates... Respect I mean [4]

If you want to be treated well/respected, then first learn/start to behave well and respectable!

I have been using my motorbike quite often lately and riding is great, fun, lovely etc. But other bikers irritate me a lot.

Bikers want to be treated like cars, to have that much parking space, but they just don't behave well. When there is a traffic jam, they take all those small narrow paths and get to the front of the jam and get their way.

Having a motorbike is not the licence to go beyond the speed limits; it is not the licence to overtake where you aren't permitted to. But they all do.

How do you then expected to be treated well by other motorists? And we, the ones who actually follow the rules have to share the bad-image you create.

No offense to youngsters, but they seem to do it the most - and they wear the least amount of protective wear. God only can save them - meaning, they cannot be saved! :P

Signing off, Sands.

PS: Tomorrow, we'll read about Indian-Supremacy-Theory!

Mission Accomplished.. [3]

So, in such a big university like Technical University Munich, students came asking for my course, and we offered it, I did the course and finally conducted the exams – ALL on my own. And I feel really great.

When I look around and see the opportunities my colleagues/friends had, in comparison with me, it feels even more great!

All what remains now is evaluation and I’ll do it tomorrow, and that will be the end of this semester work! Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!! 

And, it rained today - heavily. When it did, I went out in the rain – after quite a long time. There is nothing which is as good as walking out when it is pouring cats and dogs!

Hmm, this daily blog for a month is going to be a little hard! Let me see! :)

Signing off, Sands.

God or No God? [2]

It’s an age old decision to never take part in theism/atheism argument.

Personal experiences tell me that religious people tend to react badly (emotionally too) if something hurts their beliefs – well, they have something to lose, if the argument doesn’t favour them. (Why should I do it?)

It must be true with non-theists too, but they are in general more open (or at least aren’t too sentimentally attached to non-theism – of course, they have only a God to gain; nothing to lose.)

Obviously, a very hard decision to follow. Lately, I had been following some bright blogs [Greta, mal-bright]  and they made me a bit edgy when it came to God.

To add insult to injury, after my dad’s demise, I am even entertaining the thoughts of militant atheism. Read WikiLink.

Yesterday (late afty), I did get into one such argument. My opponent challenged me that she’ll break my arguments one by one  in the evening. Luckily, there wasn’t any argument. Lucky, because such arguments usually don’t reach an end, and I am very good at hurting others’ beliefs.

All the same, I prepared a LIST of thoughts/questions which could be used in such arguments. Most of them aren’t even explained well, each point is simple a tip of a huge iceberg.

You could read them, use them, answer the questions if you want. If you take it very serious, you could even copy paste them to an editor, answer them and send them over to me.

Signing off, Sands.

PS: For your benefit, I copy paste the thoughts/questions here! :)

1. What is God?

   • Everything?
   • Surveillance camera?
   • Concept to help the weak??
   • Cannot even define??
2. What does he/she do?
   • Creation? - why think a complex thing got created from nothingness, than the simple universe created itself?
   • Taking care of things? - look around at the state of affairs.
3. How do you prove?
   • Russel's Teapot? - teapot going around sun, between earth and mars. The one who claims its existence should prove it.
   • Flying Spaghetti Monster. - we were all created 5 minutes ago. Just that our brains were filled with long lasting memories.
   • Invisible Pink Unicorn… :)
4. If he/she does exist, what is the big deal to prove it?
5. Why should all questions be answered?
   • What if a lifetime in not enough?
   • What goes wrong if a Question is not answered? (should we be satisfied with a wrong answer than none?)

     The magic I don't understand is a miracle? or not? Why can’t we take that time will show it to us slowly, but now it is unknown.

6. God of the Gaps? Shrinking God?

   This argument has the form

   • There is a gap in scientific knowledge.
   • Therefore, the things in this gap are best explained as acts of God.
   This is not based in logic. It is simply a statement of pessimism about the future progress of science.

   The God is shrinking. ¹

7. Does God interfere with normal life/mortals?
   • If yes, why all these atrocities?
   • If no, think about praying.
8. is Life = God?
9. I could be wrong; So could you be.. right??
10. Faith = without proof? (axiom?)

    I refuse to accept something without a proof. You believe in something without proof? Because someone said so? How can he be right? (Flying spaghetti monster and teapot)

11. How about other religions? are they wrong too? Just your religion is right?
12. Does majority/minority matter? – if yes, people who don’t believe in your faith is MORE than the ones who do .. and it is true for EVERY religion. If no, never say atheists are less in number.
13. I see a bear and a lion hugging each other here. Am I hallucinating?
    • What if I see God in my dream? How is it different from normal dreaming?
14. Do miracles happen? Coincidences? (Have you heard the word probability?)
15. Could the scriptures be wrong?
    • Why life is so hard if they have everything in there?

      All it takes is read the scriptures up and have a good life?

    • Why dedicate life for science? Go learn the scriptures – well which religions’ ??
    • Scriptures are finite, Unknown is infinite. How can we have infinite knowledge in finite scriptures?

      (I know examples of mistakes in Indian scriptures - esp. in Astrology/Astronomy. Not to mention church’s reaction to heliocentric system.)

      (When science makes mistakes and gets it corrected later, they simply accept it without fighting.)

16. Why most logical thinkers are Atheists?
17. You deny N Gods, atheists deny N+1. What’s the big deal?
18. Are all Gods the same? then why do religions contradict? Why doesn't he/she step in and make people understand and make the world a better place? (have you heard about the tower of Babel?)
19. Why natural disasters? Did/Do all those people deserve same treatment at same time?
20. How does praying help? Isn’t it as bad as bribery? Does god need reminding? Can he not simply know your wishes? why utter them?
    If praying doesn't help...why pray?

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Footnotes:

¹Down through the centuries, science has eliminated a great many of its gaps. People who had used the Gap argument were embarrassed, since their God shrank in power with each new scientific advance. For example, after the work of Galileo and Newton, it was no longer thought that angels pushed the planets across the heavens.

A more recent example is the argument by some Creationists that complex molecules (such as amino acids) could not have arisen by natural processes on the early earth. Hence, life could not have arisen by natural means, and God must have miraculously created these chemicals while creating life. The chemicals were part of a Purpose.

The basis of this argument was a gap in scientific knowledge. This basis fell apart when molecules (including organic molecules) were detected in interstellar space by astronomers. The argument came further apart when amino acids were found inside the Murchison meteorite. Apparently the basic molecules of life form naturally in some quite harsh places, and there is a way for vast quantities to have arrived intact on the early earth. So, their existence has Purpose only to the extent that the entire galaxy does.

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Punctuality? (does that exist?) [1]

Hmm.. first post of the monthly series happens to be a cribbing post!

Waiting long for someone (something) can practically drive me crazy. Of course, there could be reasons –  the train didn’t just come, or the bus was late – which could be entertained.

But something worse is that, the late-comer did (does) know about the delay, but the person who’s waiting won’t be informed.

Why don’t they give a call and say, “Hey, I’ll be these many minutes late”. That would give me (or the waiting person) the chance to make better use of time. [Isn’t my/his/her time valuable?]

First of all, be punctual – it is not THAT hard. Many people do that quite well. Even I, such a lazy bum, have been doing it for the past 10-15 years.

Of course, there were times when I was late; and whenever there was telephone connection, I have informed the other party.

Now, it is 7:05, I am still waiting for someone who told me that we’ll meet at 6:45; I haven’t heard anything yet. Luckily, I am at home.

Give or take 5 minutes… other than that, being late cannot be tolerated, without proper ‘letting-me-know’. It feels like my time has NO value.

Making someone wait is like not respecting his/her time (and that person him/herself).

My time is precious; Your time is MORE precious : let this message sink in us.

Signing off, Sands.

New Moon – yes, Twilight:2

Warning: I am seriously considering about a month of daily posts. (All will be small and short (hence sweet and beautiful too)). Not decided yet. All it would take is getting up early, publishing a post, and starting the day. Are my readers with me? Ready to endure?

After coming back from home, I started reading “Accidental Mind” – concerning brain-theory/neuroscience – mainly because I wanted to know more about what happened to my dad’s brain.

But I figured soon that it was not the best book to read at that time. If you read non-fiction and have tears because you relate those theories to your life/near-n-dear, then it is time to put that book down and pick some light-weight reading. Mind needs time to heal.

Without reading/finishing even a book in 3 weeks, I was also starting to feel bad that I am not doing anything useful in life.

So, what could have been lighter/better than vampire stories? :)

So, after a loooooong time, I finished a book – New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. Don’t give me that look – I know, it is teenage stuff. But I wanted to know what is this big drama about “Edward Cullen” – vampire. (Had read the first book in the series a few months ago – and found it ok.)

I think the book is Ok, even though I fail to see the reason for such a hype. Girls are screaming with joy on hearing the name “Cullen”; but, to my eyes, he never looked like a decent hero. Never mind, next time someone talks to me about twilight, I can speak authoritatively.

For one thing, I like to have the privilege of saying – “I know what I am speaking of, I have read that”.

For another thing, it wasn’t too bad a book.

Anyway, just thinking – whether I should take the next one in the series? Or take a break.

Signing off, Sands.

PS: Mind teeming with thoughts…. will have to sit and structure them.

PPS: A little thanks to RG for Twilight introduction. :)

Double standard alias Patronising…

My long absence here – you know why, if you read my last post.I have made up my mind to come back here and be regular all over again. The show must go on – right?

Personal freedom – I stand for it, I support it, I advocate for it. I tell others to fight for it, if necessary.

“This is how I live, that is how you live; You live your life and I live  mine” – I totally get this.

In most of the cases, I act so too. But sometimes, I think I am adding one more line to it – “Anyway, my way is superior. You could be like me.”

Now I am not so clear whether I give such a vibe too often/strong. But in general, I have an attitude that my way is better and I am happier than the average Joe.

I like to be RIGHT. But I shall not deny others’ right to be right, right?

As RG once pointed out, I like to “feel good about myself” than the average Joe. That’s all fine… as long as I don’t force it on others.

Perhaps, I am not doing it a lot. But lately some incidents make me (re)think. And isn’t that something I should pay attention to? Yes, it IS; So, I will.

Thanks to the ones who brought it to my notice; Apologies to the ones who suffered my superiority complex. ;)

I’ll live my life and you figure out yours; and feel free to kick my ass if I interfere with your way! (Hmm… I won’t hesitate if you interfere with mine) ..

On a different note, I am afraid of the time when the picture here becomes true – some day!

Signing off, Sands.

 

PS: Dedicating this entry to the one who helped me see the issue better.

PPS: Was reading THIS (the real trigger).

PPPS: Blogging is very good to get your thoughts structured. Reason #1: it won’t talk back to you when you are half way through your conversation. :)

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