philosophy

A primer to the universe

Posted on by — 10 Comments ↓

This week will be the Tuesday (Evening) Zep… Basically, I’d like to expand on yesterday’s post, but I spent all my time transcribing it that I didn’t get a chance to write the commentary that I’d hoped for today. So here’s to hoping for an update tonight! Let’s just call this an incremental post. I’ll add to it over time, mainly throughout this week. Of course, I should say right off that I’m no expert in this field, so hopefully we can make this a group learning experience. It’ll be a bumpy ride. Expect a little of my own critique as well as links to similar material and an explanation of why I chose the quote below.

In the meantime, block out 15 minutes of your day to watch the video or read the transcript. (YouTube original.) I dare you to tell me that it was a waste of your time.

UNIVERSE CLOSED - USE RAINBOW
Read more A primer to the universe ›

Science Saved My Soul transcript

Posted on by — 36 Comments ↓

I ran across a new video on YouTube this week entitled Science Saved My Soul. It is such a compelling multimedia experience that I decided to take the time to transcribe it. In short, it is one part galactic, scientific, poetic “mindgasm”; one part exposition on religion; and one part Arcade Fire music video. (Note that, while educational, there are two uses of profanity.) I will save any other analysis of the video for a different blog post. I don’t know the proper formatting for transcription, and I’ve made at least one guess during a part that I couldn’t understand (it’s underlined)—now corrected; see UPDATE at end.

This is the first time I’ve come across a video from YouTube user philhellenes and he does not include any information about himself (that I could find). His channel page reads, “ANYONE can download, copy or mirror ANY of my stuff without asking for permission,” so I’ve included my own copy of the Flash file here, as well; sorry, I didn’t feel like finding conversion software to make it into an AVI.

Science Saved My Soul, YouTube image

Read more Science Saved My Soul transcript ›

Chasing the theological rabbit

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

It’s been over a year since I’ve shared some theological musings with Zepfanedites. This is an abridged version of an email chain I recently had with a friend. Names and places have been changed to protect the innocent. I’ll repeat here something I mentioned in the e-mails – in case you don’t want to read through the whole thing: what I’ve concluded is that people either believe or they don’t. I spent about three or four months trying to maintain my belief in Christianity and I even shared my doubts with fellow Christians. In the end, I couldn’t force myself to believe anymore – it’s like that spirit just left me. (For a related biblical passage that has always stayed with me, however, see Romans 1-2, particularly 1:18-32.)
Flying Spaghetti Monster

Read more Chasing the theological rabbit ›

The Thriving Natty Dream Team (Part II)

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

Natty befunky.comMy friend Natty concludes (for now) guest-blogging this week. More about the man in my introductory post.

Things were going well in May.  The late spring in San Francisco sees plenty of sun light which always makes me feel more chipper, more productive, more optimistic.  I had just finished a fun set of performances and was heading into the summer, which meant that I would be making more money serving fried shrimp to tourists.

I had spent a couple of weeks out of the gym after a very bad groin pull and everything now seemed aligned (finances, art making, weather, health, and time) to focus on myself.  I even stopped dating a lovely gent, with his blessing, so as to keep this time all about loving myself.

I spent several hours composing the email that I shared in Part I of this blog.  And then I got to it. Read more The Thriving Natty Dream Team (Part II) ›