Commenting on prejudice

I managed to stumble upon a video in which Barack Obama speaked to the people of America on his policies on religion. He made some really good points, but in the comments section I saw something extremely ignorant. It was written by a man who had named himself 'JesusChristRulesYOU'. His words went as such:

"Sorry but this is a Christian nation and we should only have Christian presidents and Christian lawmakers. Obama is a colored man and that is why America is in a recession it is their fault. Plus you have to give your soul to Christianity because if you don't will you burn in hell forever and that is a solid fact."

I responded by saying this:

"You know, I thought Christianity was about peace and love. Kindness to your fellow man, whether he be different to you in skin colour, sexuality, beliefs etc.

Not condemning a man just because he's different from you, but forming friendships and alliances. A perfect world would have members of all various groups and skin colours and sexualities united as one human race."

And continued on with:

"As a pastafarian I believe in something different to you. My beliefs may seem silly, may seem like a joke. But I have all the same rights that you have. I have the right to believe in my beliefs, and so do you. But that gives you no right to murder those who are slightly different. If there is a god, then he wouldn't care if somebody is gay, straight, black, white, Jewish, Christian, Atheist, Pastafarian. He would love us all the same and would allow all in to heaven."

Just some thoughts.

This is also on Nerdfighters.com

Nostalgic philosophy

This is John Green's latest video. You can watch it if you want.

It got me thinking about nostalgia. Nostalgia is always there, haunting you like a ghost. It will cloud your thoughts, and change you. Then there is pain (exampled in his video by a pesky bee). Pain is also there, haunting nostalgia. Pain will kill your nostalgia at any point, but more than likely the deepest point. Just as your at the pinnacle of nostalgia, a bee of pain comes and strikes. It is that pain that people hate, and it can embody itself as any kind of memory.

The memory of a loss

The memory of a tragedy

The memory of an incident

The memory of a death

Nostalgia is primarily your bank of memories. As you scan through it you get completely nostalgic, but towards the end you find a tragic memory, the bee that stings you. The bee that harms, the memory that kills. The memory that twists your past, to the point of when it is no longer recognizable.

Shirts and Kinections

Ooh! New design!

Hi, so I've had a bit of an eventful day.

I watched the Xbox 360 E3 keynote-conference-thingy. It was very good. They showed some pretty good stuff. To me, the Call Of Duty: Black Ops demo that they showed does look like just Call Of Duty 4 moved to a new location. I'm not a huge Call Of Duty fan.

Halo: Reach looks very very good. I look forward to playing the campaign mode, and a bit of the multiplayer. I participated in the Beta, and it'd be good to see what's different. But I won't play for probably longer than a month. More than likely less. There are other games to play.

Also, yes. I have seen Kinect. (And yes, that is the most stupid way to spell the word connect). But it looks really cool, and a lot of fun. I want one but probably won't get one when they launch in the holidays. Seeing as that's when Portal 2 comes out, me and my parents will more than likely go the cheaper (and probably more awesome) route. So, yeah.

Also, a shirt came to me in the mail. It's one of the LoadingReadyRun shirts, the earliest one. The slacking one. It is awesome. If you don't know where it's from, click here. Do you want one? Click here.

Thanks for reading, bye!

A Really Wondrous Day! :)

Hello friends!

I've had a really nice day today. I've actually had a really had a nice weekend in general. Got a new wireless keyboard and wireless mouse on Friday! Got some homework done on Saturday and had a swim!

Also, today I got some English related homework. It was about news media. I had to convert some news stories in to "TV news speak" and I have to present it in class. I found some really good news stories. Perhaps I'll share some of my faves with you. Shall I? Yeah, why not?

I found out that Obama is bringing out a new plan on national security! Click here.

Also, Australia's getting a new satellite service. Government funded to! Click here.

I also went swimming again today, and I did 1.3 km! A new record! Woo! Also, I've been watching some very good videos. I'll embed a couple and link the rest.

First off, Hank Green showed me how to make a website within four minutes.

Also, Wheezy Waiter showed me his awesome sunglasses.

I did say there might be some, but those are really the only ones I can find.

Guess I'd better head to bed. Bye everyone!

The Ever Changing YouTubes

You may have noticed that YouTube changed the standard layout for the video page. But what I found really interesting was the reaction to it.

I used the redesign before it became standard for everyone. I opted-in for the Beta and I enjoyed it (and thus never changed back). I found it made everything a lot easier to use and a lot cleaner. But a lot of people didn't.

What's weird with human nature is that humans aren't fans of change. When a change happens around the web our human instinct is to react with upset and fear and anger. YouTube is our home for online video, and so when that home changes we of course feel angry about it. But here's the interesting thing, we start using it and we get used to it.

When the Beta came out for the new design, you could op-in and then you went to a video page of a documentary called HOME. Of course, when I read through the comments I found an overwhelming abundance of people yelling out "THIS LAYOUT SUCKS!!!!!!". But now people are fine with it. They get used to it. And then they change another thing and people freak out.

It happens all over the 'net. On Facebook, Twitter and any other social media site.

Whilst it is human nature to be angry and afraid of any change that comes at us, it's also human nature to adapt and change with it.

Michael Atkinson: Removing Our Freedom Of Choice

Well, it seems like Michael Atkinson won't stop banning our media. Recently, Atknison decided to slip in a law for South Australia that states that a video purchase or rent place cannot advertise R18+ movies, or have flyers and posters. Films bearing the R18+ rating will have their DVD covers replaced with blank covers that just state the movie's title. This could possibly lead to the end of informed choices about critically acclaimed films such as Three Kings and Fight Club.

Click here for a news article!

Michael Atkinson is best known for his opinions on censorship and ratings, and his most famous fight is against the R18+ rating for video games. And with any new law comes the punishments, and this one has really stupid ones. If you show a poster or a flyer for an R18+ rated movie, you could get fined up to $5000! But take Fight Club for example, it's cover is a bar of soap! Offensive, no! Also, if you do show the cover, it has to be in a closed off area like the adult sections we're used to seeing for pornography. Michael Atkinson doesn't seem to understand that FREEDOM OF CHOICE is a something that we all have. Cutting out the covers of R18+ films is chopping away our freedom of choice.

SUBJECT CHANGE!

As I mentioned earlier in the article, Michael Atkinson has fought a battle against an R18+ rating for video games. He says that interactive games media is more dangerous than films or TV because the player is actually doing the violent act rather than watching it. But little does he know that more adults are playing than children. In a study done by Bond University, results showed that the average age of gamers was 30. And that having that rating would stop less games getting banned and children not able to play them. But Michael Douchebag Atkinson thinks "Oh no! Children could get damaged! We can't have the rating!". But by not having the rating, you're allowing less games to come across our shores and thus RESTRICTING OUR FREEDOM OF CHOICE!

But, luckily, there are like-minded people who care. A group of gamers called 'Gamers 4 Croydon' are planning to run against Atkinson and hopefully eliminate him. I hope that this group accomplishes their goals and I wish them the best of luck.

An interview by IGN with the gaming group.

Another Blog!

I've put up another blog. Now, I'm not going to keep them regular, but I will keep them updated. This one's all about gaming. Check it out.