Unity without Uniformity

I read somewhere, that all of our views can be tolerant of each other, without being the same kind of thinking. Or, "agree to disagree".
This applies to things of opinions and preferences, in cases where the truth of it is inconsequential or the preference of it is according to taste.
Such as, a red car is better than a blue car. You may agree with the statement, or disagree.
However, you can not argue that a red car does NOT get more speeding tickets than a blue car, simply because you are of the opinion that the red car is better.

When it comes to matters of knowledge and actual truth, agreeing to disagree is a joke.
Either you agree with the facts, or you don't.
The best way to demonstrate it is:
"A red car is good, a blue car is not as good."
"2+2=4 is correct, 2+2=5 is not as correct".

It becomes obvious that 2+2=5 isn't "not as correct", it simply is wrong. Where as a blue car is "not as good" is a matter of opinion.
However, if fundamentally, math was wrong, and 2+2=5 is correct, then we'd have to show and prove it to be so. In doing so, we must employ the scientific method.
I'm not saying disagreeing isn't something to do, The scientific discord is based on disagreement. It's this entire, middle luke warm ground that irritates me. If you agree with the facts, great... if you don't, prove to me why the facts are wrong and I'll gladly champion your cause with you.

For once, Christianity got it right.
Revelation 3:16
"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
Being on the fence about facts should be rejected outright. However, the determination of which side of the fence is absolutely wrong when it comes to religion, they don't take reasoning or logic into account, but belief and faith.

 There is a final thing, if we do not personally possess the capacity to understand the information, facts or method upon which the claims are being made, we can not make a judgment. This form of "fence sitting" isn't considered lukewarmness in my book. This is the true fence sitting of any scientific method and logical deduction. This is the null stance that everyone should take when determining and understanding a concept.

Cherished belief 2

Recently, there's been a study on the speed of a Neutrino.
It has been demonstrated in one experiment, several times, that a neutrino would exceed the speed of light. Not by much.. but just enough to record.
Now, to the common folk... this isn't much.
But to a scientist, this is huge!
I mean huge huge!
This would mean Einstein was wrong. Very very wrong in fact.
Every known physical science to date would have to be reworked and "re-calibrated", and even some re-invented.
This would be a shift in paradigm unlike any other.

This can be akin to the shift of the creation story over evolution and abiogenesis. Scientist would, however, not try to "cover up" or "suppress" the truth of it; no matter how inconvenient, and yes.. this is a huge inconvenience. They would not rally against it keep it from being taught in school because it wouldn't fit into the model of "the in group" of scientist.

Would the masses of scientist switch over to "faster than light neutrino" group if proven correct? Yes.
Would a small minority hold to current model of relative physics by Einstein, despite the proof? Yes.
Would they be wrong to do so? NO

Here's the reason why. It isn't wrong to think that a mistake was made in the validation of a sort, they can in fact continue to try to disprove the theory as long as they want, but to be intellectually honest, every time they do, and they get the exact same result, it'll go to the favor of the opposition. They then have to redouble their efforts to not only prove their opponents wrong, but their own previous efforts wrong.
It is a daunting task, but has been done in the past.

Now, this is why I laugh at the ID theorist, they have never made a real effort to do so, and the feeble attempts have been rejected and they cry out persecution.
If ID was a serious shift in paradigm, it would be much like the Neutrino exceeding the speed of light issue. The entire community of science would be in an uproar....

Here's the problem though... bout 10 years or so ago, there was a supernova, who's light finally hit us after some thousand years of travel, simultaneously set off neutrino detectors in japan the same time as the visual recordings took pictures of it occurring.
If indeed neutrinos traveled faster than photons, the bombardment of neutrinos would have been some 6 years earlier at those distances. It wasn't.
So, to explain this.. there has to be a slowing agent over time on the neutrino but not photons... which wouldn't make much sense. Or... that the measurements of that incident was wrong... which wouldn't make much sense either.

Currently the experiment results does not match observable behaviors. This is one of the humps that needs to be explained before the theory is to be believed.
If the explanation are to be accurate and testable, then I would gladly let go of the most cherished belief of Eisenstein relative physics. As is the case of knowledge. A new theory must be placed, since faster than light is proven.. Einstein's theory would have to be reworked from the ground up. The final product, probably nothing resembling it. Needless to say,
I will give up this cherished belief if proven wrong.

It's all a conspiracy!

I've been met with a great deal many complaints about evolution.
That it is a giant conspiracy to suppress creationism, or to use evolution as a tool to further the cause of atheism.
Thus, the disproof of which is resisted and conspirators strive to cover up and propagate it's "lies" for the sake of going against god and the such.

Simply put, scientist are like anyone who else in the world. They seek fame and fortune. Even if not every scientist does, one must.
Now, imagine yourself one of these scientist. A creation scientist no less. You are then tasked to find evidence against evolution, or... for creation.
The moment you find this proof evolution is wrong, demonstrate it, and have your peers independently verify your experiment you would be herald as the person that heightened our understanding that much more.

I would be the first absolute person to admit evolution was wrong if I can review the details of the study that proves it wrong. The likely-hood of which is near insurmountable, but I assure you it can be done. To me it would be liken to telling me gravity isn't real, oddly "gravity" might not be real in the sense of what we understood it to be, but rather an illusion brought about by an interaction with the higgs fields, but that's mostly colloquial semantics.
But I digress.

The reality of it is, the person claiming that conspiracy to suppress creation must in it's core have the same beliefs they do, is absolutely false. I do not hold something so cherished of a belief that I would suppress another for their presented information. I follow where the facts lead, even if I don't like it. I would like to believe most scientist do that as well.
Records seem to show that most do, however, some do not.

Now, though that addresses the motivation, or rather the non-motivation, to suppress creationism, I now have to take one step further.
Has there been a time when a proposed theory was rejected and only later found out to be true?
Or more precisely a theory that was "suppressed" and later, with enough evidence inducted into the realm of fact?
The answer is definitively yes.
The proposed mitochondria as an invader and parasitic anomaly evolving into a structural symbiont, and now even integrated part of living cells, was in it's initial presentation absolutely rejected.
It took years and years to gather enough information and thousands of man hours of work to have it finally accepted as a fact. The implications of which is hugely exploited to the benefit of mankind at the moment.

Now, move on to a held belief that has been since rejected. The cosmological aether. It was widely accepted, coincidentally when the theory of evolution was first proposed, that the universe was made up of a medium called the aether. Like waves on a pond, everything was somehow immersed in it and everything flowed in relation to it.
Mainly this was thought up to explain the travel of light through a vacuum. Since light was observed to behave like a wave it had to flow within a medium like any wave. A beam of light then can not travel through a vacuum, yet.. it does.
The aether theory was believed and assumed by many scientist at the time. It wasn't till later they attempted to measure the travel of light through the medium of the aether that they discovered it's not there. Then there were offshoots of non-resistive aether, and non-stationary aether, and a few other theories that fell short. However, this does not give rise to the default victory of any other theories.
It wasn't until the proposed electromagnetic theory of light came about that the aether theory was finally put to utter rest. And yes, the electromagnetic theory met with stern and very very critical reviews.

So, the conspiracy you seek, doesn't exist. Simply put, the ideas put forward doesn't meet the standard bar of peer-review and testability to be inaugurated in the realm of science. Would scientists welcome something that expands their knowledge that much more, yes. Would scientists want to be the person to usher in a new paradigm shift, yes. Would scientists want fame/fortune and the nobel prize, yes. Would they like to do it by wedging information past the peer review process and undercut the standards of information, no.

All those whom would never be

I had a dream a few weeks ago.

I walked into a room. This room was filled with people. Male, female, intersexed, gay, etc.. all walks of life.
All of them.. somewhat familiar, but I couldn't put a finger on it. They seem to be cousins or relatives of a sort. Someone came up and greeted me.

"Hi" She said with an odd excitement. "You're new, or maybe, I just haven't met you."
"My name is combination 17830284156123. What's your combination number?"

I replied, "I don't have a number."

With a curious look, she said "oh, well... I guess from your corner, you guys don't label yourself like that hm? Of course, around these parts, since we've gotten tired of just saying 'hey you'. We decided to give yourselves the designations of the combination."

"Oh, designation? Then my name is Dark".

With that her eyes grew wide in realization of who I was.
"You're the one! The one that made it!"

Shouting from the tops of her lungs she gathered as many people as she could.
Bewildered, I just stood there dumbstruck.

"I guess you wouldn't know," she continued after calming down a bit, "but we, are the unborn combinations of you.
"We, the millions of people here are the you that never was."

As I looked around I see myself in them, all my age, all of them with similar features to my own. All walks of life I could have been. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Some with deformities, some absolutely flawless, some identical twin.
Yet here I stand. With a name.The gravity of it all hit me.

I stood there looking at the crowd gathering. Each of them looking up expectantly at me, seemingly wanting me to say something, to do something.
With every ounce of courage I could muster I spoke resoundingly.
"I have been fortunate to be the one selected out of the millions of you that did not come to be. Though my life is uneventful and rather unremarkable, I do not squander the gift I have been given and denied you."

I woke up.

I marvel at all the possibilities that could have been, but here I stand. My life unremarkable, uneventful, and for the most part quite common.

But such greatness is grander than any divine plan, greater than any "meaning", itself is beautiful and elegant.
I have won the greatest proverbial lottery ever played. And the jackpot, A chance to live.

A cherished belief

I sometimes think, if only briefly, if there is a cherished belief of mine that I wouldn't give up. The reason I think of it so briefly is because there isn't.

If given enough evidence, I will reject every previously held notion, no matter how ingrained, how a much a part of me it is, no matter how much it is a part of me, I will reject the belief without hesitation.

I sometimes think of a past example of such. It's rather hard, to tell you the truth, because I've never really held something to that esteem. My knowledge is never held as absolute not even to myself. I never had such reverence for a piece of knowledge to a point where it can not be questioned. I question everything, even my own conclusion over and over to ensure the best possible and most reasonable answer.

If one day someone came to me and told me my arm will eventually be the cause of my death, though the evidence to convince me is near insurmountable, I will cut off my arm. Not gladly, not without thought, and... depending on the situation, might accept death over the loss of my arm. AND... of course, I wouldn't cut it off immediately if I chose to do so.

But, aside from hypothetical, I suppose the only actual held belief I've ever had that I rather cherished as a child, and oddly enough wished to pass on to my children but sadly will never; is a phrase: "My very eager mother just served us nine pizzas."

To anyone know knows this, I hope you feel my sorrow.

On August 25, 2006, it was announced through some vigorous debate, Pluto is no longer a planet. It is now considered a dwarf planet amongst several other dwarf planets slightly smaller to Eris, a dwarf planet slightly larger than Pluto just on the outskirts of our solar system.

As a child, I grew up being taught there were 9 planets in our solar system. That the furthest yet smallest, was Pluto. Beyond Pluto, there existed only dust and asteroids. None able to sustain an atmosphere, none able to be considered planets. Yet, now we find Pluto can not be a planet, otherwise, we would have to consider other objects within our solar system to be planets as well, and that'll just get messy.

Over night, I disregarded my 12 years of knowledge that I once thought was truth. The "truth" has changed. The "truth" was no longer true.

Perhaps one day I will riddle the phrase to my children.
"My very eager mother just served us nine.... what??"
It pains me not to be able to tell them it was Pizzas.

Bums

So.. in the previous post...
You might wonder...
Why would you give out your coins to some bum?

Because, despite how some people may think, Even if I'm a soulless bastard, I still have a heart. I may not believe in divine morals, I do believe in humanistic morals. Though not every atheist is a humanist, it's a very simple transition from one to the other.

But... usually I'm bit selective. If the bum is truthful... I once gave a man 5 bucks on the street because he held up a sign that said, "Poor, Homeless, Need beer fund"... Man deserves it for being honest.
I give money also to those who have a sense of humor about it. I once saw a guy that said, "Aliens kidnapped my daughter and wife... Need ransom money" Again... Gave him 5 bucks. On further thought of that a little time later... I am curious if he actually believed it...

Oddly I have no sympathy for those who are either genuine in their plea... or if they are attempting to seem genuine in their plea. Sadly because the amount of genuine plea is trumped from the disingenuous ones. And I've seen this first hand on many many occasions.

But... the mother of all charity is one of the mind....
I have once heard someone say, "Well.. at least the bum is reading a book while he's holding up the sign, At least he's trying to enrich his mind."
Sadly... I don't take up this sentiment, I'm bit more critical. Yes, reading a book can enrich your mind, and teach you things... but I highly doubt you can learn the secrets to life from reading a horror book. Yes, you can improve your reading capacity, your comprehension and an array of many skills associated with reading as an act. But, in the end the information contained in those pages are as fiction as a TV show is fiction. It no more enriches your mind than a Saturday night drama.
And sadly... some can... but never ground breaking, I can assure you.
So.. simply because a bum has a hold of a book, unless it's the work of Nietzsche, Einstein, Tyson (Neil deGrasse Tyson), or Hawkings it isn't much enriching your understanding.
And worst off... heaven forbid, if they were reading the worst tripe.... The bible.

But.. every so often, if I see a well-minded individual, I ask them a very specific question.
"Where has god been in your life?"
I await their answer in hopes they will answer, "God has never existed in my life, I do not seek god, do not assume he is there or even real. If he is, he has forsaken me and I him."
With that... I would unload all the money I have on my person.
This has only happened once. To a kind gentleman who wasn't holding up a sign, who was busily scavenging through the trash for cans. His answer was simple.

"There is no god. He can go fuck himself if he existed."
He was a bit defensive, he thought I was some religious nut trying to bring lost souls in.... well.. that's until I gave him.. 28 bucks I believe.... and told him that's the most honest answer and I was fishing for a realist.

Every person I have asked, even the most well-minded persons, either because they've been conditioned to answer it a certain way... or they just wanted the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Responds usually the same.... "Oh god has blessed me each and every day." "I can not get up in the morning without god." "I know god exist and will save us all"... bla bla bla...

One would wonder why god would allow you to suffer so then. To me.. I would have to give a portion of my life to take you out of the situation you're in, something I'm not always willing to do, I am quite selfish sometimes as is with human nature. and I'm willing to at least give you my time to hear you, and even some of my money if you are a well-minded person with a badly dealt hand at life.
But... to an all-powerful and all-able being.. who won't even spare a second's notice... admittedly wouldn't even cost him 1/100000000000000000000000~ of his resources to bring you out of your situation, has chosen to let you suffer.... how ironic that you lay prostrate at his feet and not at mine for sparing more time and more percentage of my resources to aid you.

The plight of kindness

So... today I was walking along. I saw this guy.... fairly old guy. Initially I saw him talking to someone in front of me... getting really close, like they knew each other, I didn't think anything of it.

As I got closer and the two parted ways... I saw he was holding a brown paper bag with a rim of a can poking out of the top. I suddenly smelled a strong stench of cheap beer. This man approached me. He was an older man, mid 50s... black man with a graying beard, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was wearing a beanie.
He stuck out his arms in a hug like fashion looking directly at me and smiling. I knew there wasn't anyone behind me, so I was obviously the focus of his attention. After seeing the pause on my face and stern look, he withdrew a bit and instead offered me a handshake. I gripped his hands in a standard handshake. And... this is where the story gets really odd.

He pulls me in... then says, "it's been a long time man... you remember me don't you? We're family."
Just as a matter of fact... I'm not black. So... I assumed he ment it in the loose term of all humans are family of a sorts.... I went with it.
OK, sure... I said.
He went on to jabber on and on... then said.. yeah.. you remember... in Vietnam.. you were with me all the while still in hand shake that he hasn't let go of, though I tried subtly on several occasions.
Erum... I'm not old enough to have been in the Vietnam war, I was born in California in the 80s....
I said that just in case he had some odd concept that I was somehow born or raised in Vietnam.
Anyways, he jabbered on in a slurred drunken speech. Then asked for a quarter.
Somehow... I felt kind today. Usually I wouldn't think to pay him any mind and just walk away... but today I felt generous.
I can admire a drunk man in the middle of the day enjoying his time. I personally prefer in the dead of night myself over the mid noon sun, but to each his own. A great many times I wish I had a buck or two while drunk to get me something to eat, I can sympathize.

So... I usually keep my "silvers" with me, and toss my pennies in my cup holder in my car, I reached deep into my pocket, and he actually let go of my hand to allow me to, I really just intended to give him one quarter... but again.. I felt generous, I took out the whole lot. umm.. about 85 cents worth. I handed it over to him.
The wide eye expression of gratitude made me happy..... but... I spoke bit too soon.

He instantly tried to reach over to give me a side hug... I stood firm and looked at him in a glare.... he half reached over to my other shoulder... but seeing how I didn't allow it... he backed off. Then again.. he offered his hand to shake, in my mind.. in sign of gratitude and in parting... I really shouldn't have shook it.... again.. he didn't let go again.

Now he looks seriously into my eyes and said... you remember me right?? We were at the CDC the other day... you saw my new wife... let me borrow a buck. I promise once we get to the UCD medical center over there.. I'll give it back....

My first thought was... O.o the Center for Disease Control? Huh?? I know your wife??
Then with bitterness I flatly said.. hey buddy.. I just gave you all my change, almost a bucks worth, and I've got to go.
This is when his grip became firmer and his demeanor bit more aggressive.

Hey... just a quarter then... please??
This is when my anger rose and a plethora of thoughts came flooding into my head. I responded with a tight grip of my own... and I may not look like it, but I used to power lift, so my muscles aren't bulky.. they're strong and tight... and it hasn't been so long so that my strength hasn't diminished.
I firmly said, Hey.. that's all the change I've got. I won't give you a dollar.

What was going through my head was... OMG, this guy is pissing me off. If he's going to try to mug me, he's doing a crappy job at it. Does he think he can try to intimidate me?... I know I look easily intimidated, but I've taken down guys twice his size.... OMG... am I going to have to beat up an old man in broad daylight? If he takes out a knife I'm gonna use it to stab him. If he takes out a blunt object I'm taking out my keys and use it with my knuckles. You crazy drunk bastard, I'll beat you bloody, go on I need to take my anger out on something. Take a swing, I'll break a few of your ribs.
Through the entire rage thought.. I had a prevailing thought that kinda didn't pertain directly to the events occurring and it went back and forth....

I really don't want to break my MP3 player... I really don't want to smash his face with it... I really want to keep my MP3s... I really don't want to buy another one....

Yes... I was concerned I had to use my MP3 as a weapon and that it'd break...
I know some one out there might say, "Well.. that's not very noble of you... Using objects and weapons when someone is fighting you with their fists".
Well.. guess what... I'm not the one stopping you from using weapons either. Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly fine with fist fighting, but I prefer weapons, I feel more comfortable and more at ease, even if I had the advantage bare fisted and they would if we'd both have weapons.... even if it was an MP3 player....

With the apparent shock of my strength, he loosened his grip a bit, at which point I dropped his hands and continued walking.
I quickly said, good day, I'm going to go. I wasn't sure if it was in a calm voice as I intended, or if my anger showed through... probably the latter.
Oh... his attempt to stare me down didn't work, he was quite a bit bigger than me and taller... I'm sure he saw the anger in my eyes.. I was ready to beat him down if he so much as made the wrong move... or if he didn't let go of my hand after a while longer.

After thinking about it... I really am happy, I am able to accept my anger as justified. As my younger self, I wouldn't have the notion of being angry, only afraid.... I don't think I was afraid in this case, just really pissed off this guy is stopping me and trying to abuse my kindness to him.

... Then after things calmed down a bit more... currently I'm writing this 40 min after the fact...
I kept thinking... CDC..... should I wash my hands and sanitize myself? I haven't yet washed my hand.

.................................
There.... hands washed and scrubbed....

That's what I get for feeling kind.
I probably should have gotten bubblegum with that money instead.... or something...