Opinions and ‘Editorials’

Blog, blog, blog, blog, blog…………

We can write about what we want and tell people what we think about it. Entirely anonymous, and secure in our own homes, we can feel free to happily pound away at our keyboard. With so many opinions out here, and so little chance of ever actually confronting the people that their writing may insult, so many bloggers can use prejudiced, unsubstantiated claims just because they know that someone, somewhere is listening to them. While this Anonymity can be a good thing, allowing the ‘little people’ to finally get their opinions out in the same volume, could it also be a bad thing? I’m not quite positive which way to lean with this one. Forum boards are a perfect example of the results of anonymity. So many people posting with no fear of confrontation. The vast majority of posts (in my experience) are angry, rude, crude, insulting, violent, or hedonistic. The internet comic Penny Arcade put it the simplest with this post. (Ignore the swearing if it offends you. If you look behind you and scream real loud, maybe you won’t see or hear these words.) ( How in the heck are you going to hear a blog post?) ( now I’m just confusing myself)

That’s the downside of anonymity. There is a happier side though. The number of political blogs has only increased of late. More entertaining sites (that may actually fund their hosts) are popping up everywhere. One of my personal favorites is Waiter Rant. It’s a blog hosted quite literally by a waiter. Another one of your average everymen trying to make a living and putting what he learned out for others to see.

All that being said, Internet and blog anonymity can be either a good thing or a bad thing. It’s really all in how you look at it. The few of you who might know who I really am, can chuckle at this smugly. Everyone else can just trust that I am that as I say I am. Or not, but do what you want. I’m gonna spew my comments out anyways. Of course, doesn’t everybody? After all newspapers pay people to write ‘Opinion Editorials’. It is the same news, just with an added tilt of someone injecting their own thoughts into the mix. Seems like blogging to me. I’m not sure how long these Opinion Editorials have been circulating, so I don’t know which one came first. However, blogging and opinionated news seem to go hand in hand. After all, whether we agree with them or not, most of the time we enjoy hearing someone else’s thoughts on the world around us. News of the Weird is another fun site, it is a general news site updated weekly with the added twist that all of the reported news will be ‘weird’.

Maybe it is just a self-righteous desire to compare our own ideas to another’s, maybe it is a genuine interest in the presented topics. Whichever, this kind of thing seems like it will be around for a while. I’m ready for it. My opinions are out there now. I’m posting them already. What are yours? Comment or not, it’s your choice, but now I’m curious as to what you all think about this.

Anyways. TTFN, Ta Ta For Now

Following Up.

I told you I would do it. I did, didn’t I? And look at that, I followed through. To those of you who remember what I said, I did it. I posted that English paper up here. You don’t have to read it, but if you do, feel free to comment on it. You can download the file from that Box Widget on the side of the screen there. It’s kind of funny how a paper I intended to be on Mesopotamian culture ended up pushing into the war in Iraq. So many things seem to relate to the war lately. Regardless, I hope you can all throw some comments my way.

Time Well Spent.

So….. No one felt like responding to my quote a couple of days ago. So I figure your punishment is to listen to me describe my research paper at length. To summarize it, my paper is written on the historical and anthropological value behind the ancient city of babylon and the destruction of it by the U.S. Military. Simply put, that’s it. Not so simply put, it fills six pages and more. I’ll post the whole paper when I finish the final draft. I figure those of you interested enough to read it can do so, and everyone else can just push “next”.

On to more … Interesting topics. I recently stumbled upon a video extolling the theories behind different dimensions and string theory in unusually simple terms. Imagining the fourth dimension can be a headache at times, but they go as far as dimension ten! Anyways, its probably better to let you see it yourself. Here you go.

Hows that? Pretty mind blowing, isn’t it. Makes me want to go back to bed. If there really is that much out there that we are unaware of, then I’m little more than a load of cosmic spittle. And yet, the stone at the top of the mountain would not be there if not for the stones on the bottom. I suppose I can’t go much farther into this with getting all existential. So I suppose I can leave you all to the aspirin you undoubtedly need after that video. I’ll see you all later.

Just to get you thinking

I’m gonna try and throw a ‘random’ quote or some such oddity out there whenever I post. Whichever of you are bothering to read this drivel of mine, go ahead and throw a comment my way. Give me a topic to banter about. I’d greatly appreciate it. Anyways, just to break any possible tension that might exist over the internet (who knows? It could happen.) I’ll throw a quote out there now.

“The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I remember we’d all pile into the car—I forget what kind it was—and drive and drive. I’m not sure where we’d go, but I think there were some trees there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called “Dad.” We’d eat some stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave you.” —Jack Handy— Deep Thoughts.

Hows that for randomity? I hope it gets those of you who care enough to comment chuckling enough to go out and find some more deep thoughts for me.

Speaking of Raisins

Well, to all of you who have been anticipating my posting, (I very much doubt it.) I apologize. Life has become almost impossibly erratic of late, and I have been unable to reach my computer. Between double shifts at the local pizzeria, visiting a friend in Canton and a friend moving to Vegas in a week, balancing housework in a house with eight people (ugh!) and trying to study for my chem exam on Monday (also ugh), I really haven’t been able to do much at all. Anyways, I suppose I can spout off for a bit about the research project. So for those of you reading this for class (likely all of you), only the next paragraph is relevant.

My problem hasn’t been finding sources, it’s finding relevant sources. Babylon is a word that ends up in far too many cheap fantasy novels for the actual city to be come top on the Google list. Apart from that, my only problem is finding time to read my sources. Hopefully time to write about them as well. Writing a paper based on Babylon is pretty interesting, I keep finding alternate sources that are not helpful at all. Mostly religious texts about Babylon and books on Astrology. As Babylonians developed Astrology, I guess that might be helpful, but I doubt it. Anyways, I keep distracting myself with these side articles and losing focus. That probably explains why my writing is so disjointed. Of all of the articles I found, the most interesting was about Undeath and the Babylonian goddess Ereshkigal (very cool). Always a fan of dead and dying religious beliefs, this article stole my attention for over four hours. I kept running off after new articles similar to that one. I learned a lot, but nothing that could help my project. Apart from battling with time and my own attention span, I can’t think of a single real obstacle I have had writing this.

That’s it for the moment, hopefully I’ll have more time to post over the upcoming week. I have plenty of hopes and ideas for this blag, so lets see how it goes

As a first

Well, this would be my first post on a weblog. I’m not quite positive how formal or informal I should be online, so I’ll just throw myself into this. I’m starting this as part of a research project for an English course at Ohio State, but I’m hoping to continue this if only for my own amusement. Anyways, I’ll be posting on and off of a regular basis, depending on how erratic life at home is. If all goes well I’ll be posting later tonight. TTFN, TaTa For Now.