Opus 2026-282: Can Truth Become Monotonous?

I don’t require a lot of variety in my life.  I could go to the same restaurant every time I eat out.  When I end up at an Italian place I always get the same thing.  Breakfast is considered wild and crazy if I settle for 51 grams of oatmeal instead of 50.  I always put my left shoe on my left foot.  I can’t help it.  It is just the way I am.

Having said that, I do get tired of “turn or burn” sermons.  I realize that people need to get saved.  It is one of the most important decisions you will ever make but I have a feeling that they need to also grow in grace and be challenged to apply their faith to life.

One of the traits we have as humans is that if we have too much repetition we become desensitized.  Picture the difference between that first taste of pizza and how it hits you after you have eaten too much.  How boring would your birthday be if you celebrated it every day.  Do you really pay attention when people greet you with, “How are you?”  Why don’t advertisers use the same mantras forever?  How many home run records would be broken if every pitch was a fast ball right down the middle?

I find that as much as I like consistency I still throw in little variations.  I move my chair on the front porch for a different view of the horizon.  I turn my recliner a different angle just to be wild and crazy.  I buy a different type of cheese every once in a while.  You might need big changes.  Most of my family can’t stand the same restaurant two times in a row.  I get to go along for the ride.

If you are trying to convince someone of something important, like salvation, look for a variety of approaches so that you don’t wear them out.  Don’t be like the marines and charge straight up the hill every time.

As they say, results may vary.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-039: KISS

In case you’ve never seen that before, it’s an acronym for “Keep it simple, stupid” or “Keep it short, stupid”, or “Keep it short and simple.”  Take your choice.

Years ago when the United States was going through a tough time, FDR instituted something called fireside chats.  There was no TV.  There was obviously no Internet, but there was radio.  He made use of radio to communicate with the American people.  My proposal is “Orange Man Bad” (OMB) institute a similar weekly broadcast.

It should be at least a half hour and Trump should work at keeping himself from being repetitive like he often is.  He’d needs to act like he’s answering belligerent reporters, instead of talking to a massive crowd of supporters.  It should be scripted to take maybe 20 minutes and then the last 10 minutes answer questions that have been sent in . He could have those questions filtered by a couple of people who could read all of them and look for common concerns.  This would be answered off the cuff and should also be kept brief.

I would suggest to keep the spirit of spontaneity and human touch that it be understood that if he happens to get to the studio 10 minutes before scheduled, that he would start answering questions then and at the appropriate time switch over to his broadcast.

The topic needs to be more detailed answers.  For instance, the economy, people don’t feel that things are going well, but all of the data says it is.  We know the price of gas is down and the price of eggs has declined.  Maybe a simple explanation of why oatmeal still cost what it always did and why meat is not cheaper.  He could go into quick details about how the previous administration and it’s abusive branches of non-elected regulators have made it very difficult for American farmers to produce meat.  Look at all of the animals that have been killed for supposed health reasons.  Don’t be repetitive.  Don’t talk down to people.  But I think there are answers that could be given and people would listen.

I don’t know what the venue with this would be.  I would say that the broadcasting companies would not be the right spot.  You don’t want to get into a situation where CBS is allowed to give equal time to the Trump haters.  You probably couldn’t use YouTube because they love to edit and block you.  I think of when we had the speeches around election time you could go to the networks and have them cutting away when you wanted to hear things and an analyzing things with their silly summaries, but you could also go to a White House feed that came directly to you.

Again, I’m not sure of the details of the technology, but I’m sure it could be worked out.

Talk to us.  Keep it short and sweet.  And make it honest, above all make it honest.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-002: Orange God Bad

I am getting close to the end of the Joe Rogan program (2008) where he interviews Stephen Meyer.  Overall, it’s an interesting conversation.  Since I’ve read a couple of Meyer’s books, I am not shocked by anything he has to say or surprised by the scientific basis of what he is saying.  I did find at least two things very frustrating.

The first was how Rogan kept asking the same question every 10 or 15 minutes through the whole interview.  To paraphrase that question it would be, “Yeah, but what if?”  He kept wanting to say what if 400 years from now we have these big breakthroughs and find all kinds of neat cool stuff that just proves your point totally wrong, “What then?”  This, of course, is just an intellectual approach to playing the Why Game.  It is a pointless task based on just a wild hope that something will prove you wrong.  It isn’t that you don’t make sense.  It is not because facts are not on your side.  It isn’t because you refuse to admit the nature of science is change and new information.  It is because for you to be right people like Rogan would be confronted with a need to change.  They will sacrifice anything to cling to their assumptions.  It is almost as if they are the mirror image of what they accuse others of being.

I’m not saying that there might not be new discoveries to prove current theories wrong.  Meyer kept repeating that science is never settled and he expects there to be new discoveries.  I’m just saying that there is no basis at this point for projecting such discoveries, and it’s rather childish to put your faith in wild speculation.  

The second frustration would be on the part of Meyer to me.  One of the things I picked up in reading his books was the dishonesty of scientists in their inner motivations.  I don’t know how many times he pointed out in his books that the only real reason why many physicist had a hard time excepting the Big Bang Theory was because it would point toward the existence of a god.  In other words, their atheistic theological perspective was the assumption and mold for all of their thinking, and they refused to consider anything that went against that basic assumption.  How similar to the caricature of Fundamentalist Christians.

To use their terminology, your typical liberal, materialistic, atheistic scientist is living in his own version of “orange man bad” but in this case it is God with the orange hair.  That seems to be the answer to everything.  It has no basis in reality, but they insist on rejecting anything having to do with God, or pointing towards the existence of God, with a simple statement, “Orange God bad.”

Rogen and Meyer had a good discussion.  Both sides were respectful.  I still have about a half hour to go so I don’t know if they will reach any conclusions but I would recommend it.
homo unius libri

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-132: Coffee

I came to coffee in the same way that many people might have arrived; as a gradual addiction.  It started off in college as a way to stay awake when I had ignored studying and needed to pull an all nighter before a big test.  When I was drafted into the army and ended up sitting in an office and bored to tears, coffee was available.  So I would drink it.

I started with cream and sugar, because who can stand the taste of coffee without it?  It smells great, it doesn’t taste great, at least, until you develop a resistance to it.  Then when we went out to eat, and we’re sitting talking for long periods of time, they did not refill Cokes, so I went to coffee.

Eventually, I started liking it.  Eventually, I started purchasing whole bean coffee and grinding it in the store.  Then I got a blade grinder for home.  As I got more involved, I bought a burr grinder.  Then I started experimenting with different blends and sources of coffee.  In time I came to really enjoy it.

What brought me to this is the nuances that I am picking up in the coffee I’m drinking this morning.  I find that even if I brew my coffee exactly the same way every morning, it still tastes different.  I noticed that as the morning goes on the flavors that I am picking up change.  It is an interesting progression.  I guess it is part of the reason people drink it just in case you are one of those people who are still pure.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-192: Recommendations: According to Hoyt

I would like to recommend a site called According to Hoyt.  You don’t need to hurry.  It has been around awhile and will still be there tomorrow.

In fact, tomorrow might be a good time to check it out.  The main author, Sarah Hoyt, is a successful author.  I think most of her stuff is science fiction but I would not bet on it.  If you follow the click bait keep in mind that she has two types of posts.  One type, that I generally skip over, is what she calls “book promo” material.  If you are looking for suggestions to read, have at it.  The second type is made up of original material.  That is what I am finding worth reading.  So many blog sites do little but quote other people and rehash what everyone else is saying.  She does not go down that path.  She writes well, is a poor proof-reader and expresses ideas that resound with me.

Lately she has been encouraging.  She does not deny that things are going to get rough ahead but she has a lot of faith in the American people as a whole.  Recently a final comment was,

“Be not afraid. We got this. All we have to do to defeat them is be human beings.”

Feel free to check her out.  Feel free to ignore her.  I find that she puts out original essays about every other day.

homo unius libri