Monday, October 3, 2011
Finding meanin in the meaningless.
Walk out into the middle of your street, or out into your backyard, and look straight up. Look at all of the stars that litter the sky. Take this time to realize that all of these lights, even though they look no larger than the period at the end of this sentence, are immense clouds of gas that have been burning for hundreds of millions of years. That tiny little speck that you;re staring at is larger and older than the planet you're standing on and one day, it will burn out and exist no longer. But why does it matter? Why does anything matter. When you consider the scale of the universe, the enormous quantities of nothingness that exists out there, you have to realize that your own life means nothing. The reason for life does not exist far out in the heavens but rather, within yourself. You must create your own purpose. Your life means nothing to anyone but you and you must embrace this. What I'm saying isn't cynical and pessimistic. It's the key to your life. You have to take your life and fill it with the things you love, whether its religion, art, science, the herb, or the simple act of living. Those stars don't care what you do, and neither does the woman sleeping three houses down from you, nor the monk praying at the crack of dawn on some far way mountain peak. Take your time on this planet to appreciate everything that you can, including your own insignificance. Once you can realize that your actions really don't have a consequence in the universe, you can achieve true freedom and live your life to it's fullest.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Flu
I apologize for the lack of updates guys, I got the flu recently, and was pretty sick. I'm feeling much better now though and should have new updates again very soon.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Universe.
My friend showed me this website, and it takes you all the way from 10^-35m. (that means 34 0's after the decimal point) to 10^26 x 9.3m.
The website can be found here, and while it is rather cartoony, the information provided is accurate. Yes even the 7 meter earthworm. The largest confirmed earthworm was 6.7 meters long, and there have been unconfirmed reports of much larger earth worms.
Even with all of that information clearly in front of me it's difficult for me to comprehend it all.
The website can be found here, and while it is rather cartoony, the information provided is accurate. Yes even the 7 meter earthworm. The largest confirmed earthworm was 6.7 meters long, and there have been unconfirmed reports of much larger earth worms.
Even with all of that information clearly in front of me it's difficult for me to comprehend it all.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Unbelievable shrimp
When a friend showed this video to me, I simply could not believe that what I was seeing was real, but it is. (skip to :50 for the action)
Among the fascinating creatures of the deep is a finger-size shrimp with an oversize claw—resembling a boxing glove—that it uses to stun its prey by snapping the claw shut. The snapping produces a sharp cracking sound.
When colonies of the shrimp snap their claws, the cacophony is so intense that submarines can take advantage of it to hide from sonar.
When the claw snaps shut, a jet of water shoots out from a socket in the claw at speeds of up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) an hour, generating a low-pressure bubble in its wake. As the pressure stabilizes, the bubble collapses with a loud bang.
The whole process, which was recorded with the use of high-speed cameras and sound equipment, occurs within 300 microseconds.
Now, using a device that counts photons, Lohse and his colleagues recorded a flash of light that occurs when the bubble collapses.
The flashing phenomenon is thought to be similar to sonoluminescence, in which bubbles that are in a liquid driven by a strong sound field emit light. The researchers have dubbed the shrimp activity shrimpoluminescence.
In sonoluminescence, the peak intensity of the emitted light is at a short wavelength. This indicates that the temperature inside the bubble is at least 10,000 degrees Kelvin (18,000 degrees Fahrenheit).
This shrimp is seriously insane, and just a little bit scary. It may be only the size of my thumb, but it makes me wonder what other types of crazy things are out there. Frogs that shoot laser beams out of their eyes perhaps? After seeing this I wouldn't be that shocked if there were.
Among the fascinating creatures of the deep is a finger-size shrimp with an oversize claw—resembling a boxing glove—that it uses to stun its prey by snapping the claw shut. The snapping produces a sharp cracking sound.
When colonies of the shrimp snap their claws, the cacophony is so intense that submarines can take advantage of it to hide from sonar.
When the claw snaps shut, a jet of water shoots out from a socket in the claw at speeds of up to 62 miles (100 kilometers) an hour, generating a low-pressure bubble in its wake. As the pressure stabilizes, the bubble collapses with a loud bang.
The whole process, which was recorded with the use of high-speed cameras and sound equipment, occurs within 300 microseconds.
Now, using a device that counts photons, Lohse and his colleagues recorded a flash of light that occurs when the bubble collapses.
The flashing phenomenon is thought to be similar to sonoluminescence, in which bubbles that are in a liquid driven by a strong sound field emit light. The researchers have dubbed the shrimp activity shrimpoluminescence.
In sonoluminescence, the peak intensity of the emitted light is at a short wavelength. This indicates that the temperature inside the bubble is at least 10,000 degrees Kelvin (18,000 degrees Fahrenheit).
This shrimp is seriously insane, and just a little bit scary. It may be only the size of my thumb, but it makes me wonder what other types of crazy things are out there. Frogs that shoot laser beams out of their eyes perhaps? After seeing this I wouldn't be that shocked if there were.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Blog plug
I was looking through all of my followers blogs. yes i do take a look at your blogs, and read your comments. when i found one that i liked so much i had to share it with all of you guys.
the blog is called catalyst-spark, and is about inspiration and how to be successful, and happy and stuff like that. it really is an excellent blog and i highly recommend you check it out.
while i am plugging other blogs i might as well plug my own blog as well. I have another blog as well as this one, my other blog is a music blog all about dubstep. so check it out, follow, leave a comment, and check back regularly to get your Daily Dose of Delicious Dubstep.
the blog is called catalyst-spark, and is about inspiration and how to be successful, and happy and stuff like that. it really is an excellent blog and i highly recommend you check it out.
while i am plugging other blogs i might as well plug my own blog as well. I have another blog as well as this one, my other blog is a music blog all about dubstep. so check it out, follow, leave a comment, and check back regularly to get your Daily Dose of Delicious Dubstep.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
A wise friend
somewhat continuing the theme of my last post i wanted to share a short piece of writing with you.
A friend of mine named Lucas passed away a while ago, he was wise behind his years and kept journals. His younger brother Nathan shared some of his journal entries and they had a real impact on my life, he gave me permission to put them on my blog and i would like to share them with you in hopes it might have an impact on your life as well.
this is from december 21, 2003
"How many times do we awake in the morning and immediately begin our day with a negative thought? "I'm so tired," or "I really don't want to get out of bed," or "I wish I didn't have to work/shave/help the kids get ready/fix breakfast/go to school/etc." I have certainly been guilty of this throughout my life.
The first thing we're taught, as Jews, to do in the morning is to thank Hashem for returning our spirits to our bodies, so we can live another day. What a great way to wake up: with gratitude. But here, too, Jews are just as guilty as everybody else-- as soon as they thank God upon waking, they begin with a stream of negative thoughts which no doubt makes mornings that much more difficult to bear. Why can't we, Jew and gentile, religious and secular, begin our mornings by making an accounting of all the things we're grateful for? Because we are not living in the here and now, and because we are not attentive to just how much we actually have to be thankful for.
Hot showers. Clean water. Soap and shampoo. Indoor plumbing. Towels and clothing. Toothbrushes and toothpaste. A warm bed. Food for our bellies. Various forms of entertainment. Transportation. Heat and or air conditioning. A healthy body which can move around, or even the medications we have to remain healthy. A roof over our head, to shelter us from the elements. Life. And most importantly, the renewed chance, every single day, to become a better person and to make a difference in the world. We could definitely come up with much more things to add to this list if we were just attentive to what we have to be thankful for.
Count your blessings, every single day. And be thankful for your adversities, because at the end of the day, you have still been blessed immensely. With as much turmoil and pain that exists in the world, we could all use a daily reminder that we have much to be thankful for. Whether we offer that gratitude up to God, or to ourselves for all of our hard work, bringing attention too all of the good we have in our lives is undoubtedly a transformative way to begin our days.
It is amazing what a little centeredness, and an appreciative attitude can do for our overall psyche. We have got to stop focusing on the bad, and begin focusing on the good. This newfound gratitude, which just takes a little cultivation to become routine, will assuredly translate into altruism, which turns into us becoming like God, and healing those we come into contact with.
And that, there, is yet another thing to be grateful for."
i am not religious, but still found a lot of meaning. I read this the same night i found out he died. i was sad for his passing, but the next day was one of the best days i had had in very long time.
if you guys would like to read more of his writing let me know in the comments. his brother shared a few other journal entries too. all equally meaningful and inspiring.
A friend of mine named Lucas passed away a while ago, he was wise behind his years and kept journals. His younger brother Nathan shared some of his journal entries and they had a real impact on my life, he gave me permission to put them on my blog and i would like to share them with you in hopes it might have an impact on your life as well.
this is from december 21, 2003
"How many times do we awake in the morning and immediately begin our day with a negative thought? "I'm so tired," or "I really don't want to get out of bed," or "I wish I didn't have to work/shave/help the kids get ready/fix breakfast/go to school/etc." I have certainly been guilty of this throughout my life.
The first thing we're taught, as Jews, to do in the morning is to thank Hashem for returning our spirits to our bodies, so we can live another day. What a great way to wake up: with gratitude. But here, too, Jews are just as guilty as everybody else-- as soon as they thank God upon waking, they begin with a stream of negative thoughts which no doubt makes mornings that much more difficult to bear. Why can't we, Jew and gentile, religious and secular, begin our mornings by making an accounting of all the things we're grateful for? Because we are not living in the here and now, and because we are not attentive to just how much we actually have to be thankful for.
Hot showers. Clean water. Soap and shampoo. Indoor plumbing. Towels and clothing. Toothbrushes and toothpaste. A warm bed. Food for our bellies. Various forms of entertainment. Transportation. Heat and or air conditioning. A healthy body which can move around, or even the medications we have to remain healthy. A roof over our head, to shelter us from the elements. Life. And most importantly, the renewed chance, every single day, to become a better person and to make a difference in the world. We could definitely come up with much more things to add to this list if we were just attentive to what we have to be thankful for.
Count your blessings, every single day. And be thankful for your adversities, because at the end of the day, you have still been blessed immensely. With as much turmoil and pain that exists in the world, we could all use a daily reminder that we have much to be thankful for. Whether we offer that gratitude up to God, or to ourselves for all of our hard work, bringing attention too all of the good we have in our lives is undoubtedly a transformative way to begin our days.
It is amazing what a little centeredness, and an appreciative attitude can do for our overall psyche. We have got to stop focusing on the bad, and begin focusing on the good. This newfound gratitude, which just takes a little cultivation to become routine, will assuredly translate into altruism, which turns into us becoming like God, and healing those we come into contact with.
And that, there, is yet another thing to be grateful for."
i am not religious, but still found a lot of meaning. I read this the same night i found out he died. i was sad for his passing, but the next day was one of the best days i had had in very long time.
if you guys would like to read more of his writing let me know in the comments. his brother shared a few other journal entries too. all equally meaningful and inspiring.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Pay it Forward
Pay it Forward, most of you have probably seen this movie or at least know the general plot of it.
you go and do 1 big things for 3 people and all you ask in return is that they do 1 big thing for 3 more people, and they tell them to do something for 3 people etc...
So this movie has a powerful message. I think most people who watched the movie probably told themselves they were at the very least going to go do some random acts of kindness for people. i'm sure a lot of you did indeed go out and do just that, but how long did you do that for? a day? a week? a whole month?
We are always quick to forget the lessons we learn. We forget the difference even a small act of kindness can make. So we need reminded occasionally, through things like the movie Pay it Forward, or seeing someone just go out of their way to help a complete stranger, or maybe being that stranger being helped.
Well i had something happen to me today that reminded. A random act of kindness from a complete stranger.
I was at Taco Bell and i had a coupon for a quad steak burrito. I get to the cashier and i hand her the coupon, she informs me they no longer have that burrito anymore instead they replaced it with the shrimp one. i asked if i could use it on that instead than, and was informed no. I didn't even bring my wallet with me cause i didn't think i would need it, so i walked out and went to my car. i was in the middle of backing up when a fairly attractive older 20's black lady started walking towards my car, so i rolled down the window. she came up and asked if i didn't have any money on me. i told her no, but that it was fine i lived right around the corner. she handed me two dollars and some change and despite my protests was very insistent on me keeping it, so i thanked her and re-parked my car. her car was parked closer to the entrance of the Taco Bell than mine was, so i passed it on my way back inside, as i was passing her she beckoned for me to come over to her car so i did, i began thanking her again when i noticed she was digging through her purse and she said let's see what else i can give you, she then shoves another dollar and some more change into my hand for a total of about $4.50, again being very insistent that i take it. we had a very brief conversation, and then she drove off.
it made my entire day, she was just so nice and friendly to a complete stranger i walked around with a smile on my face for the whole day. it reminded me how much doing something small can impact someone. I plan on going out and spreading good until i forget this lesson again, but i've noticed that each time i'm reminded i seem to remember it for a little bit longer.
Hopefully this will remind some of you and inspire you to go out and do some random acts of kindness, big or small.
you go and do 1 big things for 3 people and all you ask in return is that they do 1 big thing for 3 more people, and they tell them to do something for 3 people etc...
So this movie has a powerful message. I think most people who watched the movie probably told themselves they were at the very least going to go do some random acts of kindness for people. i'm sure a lot of you did indeed go out and do just that, but how long did you do that for? a day? a week? a whole month?
We are always quick to forget the lessons we learn. We forget the difference even a small act of kindness can make. So we need reminded occasionally, through things like the movie Pay it Forward, or seeing someone just go out of their way to help a complete stranger, or maybe being that stranger being helped.
Well i had something happen to me today that reminded. A random act of kindness from a complete stranger.
I was at Taco Bell and i had a coupon for a quad steak burrito. I get to the cashier and i hand her the coupon, she informs me they no longer have that burrito anymore instead they replaced it with the shrimp one. i asked if i could use it on that instead than, and was informed no. I didn't even bring my wallet with me cause i didn't think i would need it, so i walked out and went to my car. i was in the middle of backing up when a fairly attractive older 20's black lady started walking towards my car, so i rolled down the window. she came up and asked if i didn't have any money on me. i told her no, but that it was fine i lived right around the corner. she handed me two dollars and some change and despite my protests was very insistent on me keeping it, so i thanked her and re-parked my car. her car was parked closer to the entrance of the Taco Bell than mine was, so i passed it on my way back inside, as i was passing her she beckoned for me to come over to her car so i did, i began thanking her again when i noticed she was digging through her purse and she said let's see what else i can give you, she then shoves another dollar and some more change into my hand for a total of about $4.50, again being very insistent that i take it. we had a very brief conversation, and then she drove off.
it made my entire day, she was just so nice and friendly to a complete stranger i walked around with a smile on my face for the whole day. it reminded me how much doing something small can impact someone. I plan on going out and spreading good until i forget this lesson again, but i've noticed that each time i'm reminded i seem to remember it for a little bit longer.
Hopefully this will remind some of you and inspire you to go out and do some random acts of kindness, big or small.
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