With Restraint - Again.

My entry regarding a film called Proud American shook a few trees it seems.

I had one commenter and one ridiculous email.

The post itself can be found here. http://northkin.blogspot.com/2008/10/with-restraint.html

If anyone looked closely (not that it required that level of scrutiny), they would see that I did not attack the American people. Only the film itself.

I was right in my assumption that Americans would be dissapointed in the film, as shown by the brutal landslide of negative impressions from American film critics. It will probably be voted (by Americans) as one of the worst films of the year.

My suspicions about the film (based completely on the trailer alone) seems to have been accurate. Let's see if I'm correct again in my prediction.

Hoping to see it though.

A Nice Autumn Day.

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It really is a nice day out. The leaves are mostly turned, although some seem a faded green throughout the year (trees without vacation from city life).

In regards to my recent posts, it seems to be the popular notion that these talks MUST end in a bad way, while that may be, I would like to see it for myself. Well, I've found someone - Jason B. (Christian) who says he enjoys discussing and debating the existence of gods in deitic religions. He has agreed to join me in some discussions.

I'm trying to percieve it like a designed prophecy. That is to say, if it is feared enough - it will happen. Well I don't fear that a conversation about religion between two mature people will end poorly. There is nothing destructive about learning what specifics people use as a benchmark, a trigger, a reason for believing. That's my goal.

I bet its all snowy back in Canada.

Video: A few shots taken today, and one shot taken last year. File size: 6MB Format: .wmv Audio: Elemental Gearbolt

To be loaded when the controls to upload video are useable. At present, I am blogging via secure tunnel. As a regular occurance, it used to turn me off from blogging at all. Now, it simply forces me to return to my posts to complete them. Video or photos may be uploaded anywhere up to 5 days from now, usually.

Hey, you're UGLY!

So I'm out of hair gel. With my current (short and simple) hair style, I don't need a lot but it helps to keep a neat appearance.

I was out of hair gel for 2 weeks before going back to the store I had purchased it from. It was convenient, the store was near my work. Preferring the same brand, I brought the container with me. The store manager informs me that they will have it next week. The following week came around, and I stopped in to check on the product, and again ... its not in. This continued for 2 more weeks.

I decided to bring a friend to help communicate, and as it turns out, he insisted that they will have the product in the following week IF I was serious about buying it. I told her to tell him I was serious for the past month, but now I can't be bothered to come back. After, my friend and I had lunch.

Photo: Clever brand name. It will sell well with the Stinky Girl perfume.

A Friendly Discussion

Through several emails, the following was formed. I hadn't spent much time discussing my thoughts on the subject, least of all with someone who did not agree with me. There are things I noticed, when looking it over. I later found that I had sought to test the strength of my views.

Michael - "Hey Chad,

I have for the past few months been entertained by blogs, various readings and countless youtube videos about religion, atheism, and anything else relative.

So I'm inviting you, someone with a perspective different than my own while also someone who I regard as an open minded critical thinker, to take part in a friendly discussion about religion and the existence of God.

My position is agonistic-atheism and, if I'm not mistaken, your position is theism. If I have labelled your position inaccurately, please correctly state your position."

Chad - "I consider myself to be an intelligent educated man. Your naming of me as a theist is somewhat vague, I am a Christian, and while I am most definitely not a scholar of theological matters, I find your proposition of a friendly discussion to be rather intriguing. Hopefully everyone who either takes part in the conversation, or follows along with us, will take something positive away with them when all is said and done.

I can't promise to have all the answers, but I can and will try to provide as much accurate and adequate information as I can lay hands on. As this is your idea, and not to mention your space, I now leave the floor open to you so we can begin. "

Mike - "Okay. Based on my growing understanding, Christianity is a Bronze Age myth that evolved into a tool of control and has altered and changed to suit the needs of the time in order to maintain authority. Over time, it seems that there has been a change of Christianity's validity of being completely factual to being otherwise, but still seems to maintain a claim of there being a supernatural force. In effect, it is now being popularized as being a collection of stories where its message is of value, and not its questionable content. A clear example of its shifting ability to become whatever it needs to do to maintain existence and influence, is this change which appears to be a result of its failed attack on the evolutionary theory.

1. What was it that you believed was proof enough for you to believe in the Christian god?
2. Should that proof change, would you still believe?
3. If the message of Christianity is important and not its validity, isn't that an admittance of there not being a Christian god? And why if then, should people carry on believing?"

Chad - "Wow, 'friendly discussion' indeed... I think we may need to discuss what the ultimate goal is here, are you trying to gain understanding and/or insight into the Christian perspective as it applies to me? Or are you trying to validate your own perspective via attempting to discredit opposing views?

To respond: Yes, throughout history there are those who have attempted to use Christianity as a means to control others. You will find with even the basest research that this is the case with any thought or ideal held by a group of people.

This in itself doesn't invalidate Christianity, otherwise things like 'Freedom' would be invalid as well, since the concept of freedom has been used to control people just as often if not more than Christianity. Though come to think of it, freedom in itself may be a poor comparison, as nobody is truly 100% free. Maybe free will would fit better.

I firmly believe the Bible is in fact a work of complete fact, and have the wonderful science of archaeology to thank for proving the facts of the Bible time and time again.

Yes there are those who claim to be Christians, that rather than stand by their beliefs, give in to societal pressure and go on about how the Bible is just a bunch of stories put together to steer us in the right direction. These people are more than likely from a Christian background, who have fallen away and want to assuage their conscience by trying to make the beliefs of their parents fit their own views.
The majority of real Christians hold to the truth of the Bible as the Word of God, unfortunately we tend to be less vocal about it in the public eye as the general public tends to label anyone who speaks about Christ as truth to be a wackjob.

To answer your numbered questions:
1. The thing that made me first believe in the message of Christ and the 'Christian God' as you put it, was the fact that all of creation is just a little to neat and tidy to be the result of pure chance. Even modern science can't begin to figure out the purely infinitesimal probabilities required for us to exist, yet here we are.

2. Honestly if science were suddenly able to figure it all out, I believe it would just reinforce my belief.

3. Your third question is rather a moot point, if the message of Christianity were invalid, it would inherently have no meaning. You assume that the validity of the message has been disproved, when it has not.

Let me ask you 3 questions in direct response to your own.
1. What was it that you believed was proof enough for you to discount the existence of the Christian God?
2. Should that proof change, would you believe?
3. If the message of Christianity is important yet you firmly deny it's validity why do you feel the need for this discussion?"

Mike - "Great reply!

You posed a question to start and if I answer your numbered questions first, the answer should be clear.

1. I can't recall ever having discounted the existence of any god.
2. Absolutely.
3. Curiosity for one, and likely there are other reasons I or we, will discover. As I had mentioned in my initial email, "I have for the past few months been entertained by blogs, various readings and countless youtube videos about religion, atheism, and anything else relative." I think your question pushes for more information. (thinking . . .) It is a very controversial topic, and I have been enthralled by it. Just ask my (Christian) roommate Paul. I could join the rabble on youtube, but it isn't as enjoyable.

I can agree that control via religion does not invalidate the religion.

Where you stated "the Bible is in fact a work of complete fact, and have the wonderful science of archaeology to thank for proving the facts of the Bible time and time again". It reminds me of a youtube blogger who stated the same thing. Can you give me a link or an example? I asked that blogger for more information and instead waited 5 months for him to approve my comment as well as a tacky bible address and quote as a response. >:[

I don't agree that Christians who claim that the bible is a collection of stories built for moral direction are lesser in their belief than those who claim it all to be true. A Christian priest was interviewed and I watched the video on youtube. His interview was his response to Bill Mahers "Religulous" movie, where he was attempting to diffuse Bill Mahers documentary by stating that the 'message' of the bible is god's word, and that the bible is not full of factual events. He went on to talk about one particular author of the bible as an example, backing his statements by claim that research had been conducted by Christian scholars.

I'm not sure where or by what way the Christian bible states the age of the world, but when you state that the bible is complete fact, are you implying that the world is around 6000 years old? From what I see, archaeology claims that the world is far older than 6000 years. How can the wonderful science of archaeology be regarded as means of supporting the Christian bible if it is horrendously wrong on the age of the world? 65,000,000 and 6,000 are not close numbers."

- - -

A continueing post between Chad and I will be made after subsequent communication is made on the topic furthering the discussion for as long as it entertains us both.

Indirectly to my discussion with Chad (but still in a wide range ballpark), I watched Ben Stein's EXPELLED "No Intelligence Allowed", and will post about it after I catch some Zs. G'night.

Photo: Taken in Beijing 2007 in a tightly packed shopping mall of hundreds of tiny 12' x 8' stores. This photo seems to be describing Astroboy, as it shows the name, but the actual description is describing someone called 'Atom'. I fail at recalling the entire story of the Astroboy cartoon. The image was displayed on the exterior of a store where businesses commonly showed their business names. This business in particular sold clothing, and nothing that related to Astroboy. Sort of interesting, sort of mundane. /shrug

With Restraint.

Has anyone seen this movie?
Did it show in any country other than the U.S.? (rhetorical)

What first strikes me as odd, is that no one noticed how much of an easy target the caption at the top of the advertisement reads "AMERICA, AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE". Makes me wonder how many U.S. citizens regard that as something all too true. I mean what does that suggest?

Based on the description of the movie on http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/proudamerican/ ,

"Tolerance, freedom, education and personal responsibility, the pillars that make America a truly grand society. Proud American presents five powerful singular stories all of which magnify the themes mentioned above. Our film is an emotional, inspirational, and visual journey depicting America and the everyday Americans who exemplify the best that we can be."

"The best we can be" ? Where's the movie showing the worst they can be, the other side of the few individuals of remarkable achievement? One could argue that the evidence of such material is available in worldwide everyday news, but lets face it - the U.S. is at an all time low in popularity all over the world.

I haven't met a single person here, Chinese national or visiting foreigner that expresses a positive attitude towards the U.S., and they express relief when I reveal that I am Canadian.

I'll support that there are a small number of people from the U.S. that are probably noteworthy examples worth honouring, but is this movie really neccessary? The circles of criminally political and religeous influence is rampant in the west, and I am pretensiously stating that this movie's intention to regain face and stature that has been falling or kept low for more than a few decades is weak. A movie like this coming at a time like this, its easy to be apprehensive.

I have yet to see it, and I'm excited about my gamble.

I just watched the trailer and I laughed. It must be a comedy, despite it being listed as a drama.

Photo: Advertisement of the movie Proud American.

Poached Eggs?

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It's quite funny. A while back, something uncommon (but not rare) happened to my friend Chris Watts while he was in Shanghai. Sitting down in a public location, what appeared to be a Chinese national placed his son right next to him, and proceeded to take a photo. If I recall his story correctly, Chris turned his head away from the camera. Or, he got up and left. One of the two, I can't exactly recall.

From time to time, I too have experienced some sneak photography, seemingly to them, a "papparazzi" opportunity. Some even try to be descreet, aiming their cell cam at you while trying to be inconspicuous.

I decided to up my level of personal security and took extra steps at controlling the acquisition and usage of photos of me, in an attempt to reserve a right that didn't transfer with me or my luggage when I came to China. Under these conditions, one can only be so successful.

In early summer of this year, I went to the neighbouring city of Kaifeng, which I enjoyed by the way. Very beautiful. However, when I arrived at the location I was to work at for 2 hours, I noticed an old photo of me on their school banner . . . I was not thrilled.

The reason I am mentioning this now, is because something happened to me the other day. I was having my haircut, and when it was finished I stood up and found that they had been videotaping me. Remembering what someone had told me long ago, I pulled out my cell phone and started recording them in what was supposedly the most effective way to get them to stop. I didn't think it would work when I originally heard the idea. After putting it to the test, I found that unfortunately . . . I was right.

Photo: No photo
Video: Me filming them filming me, filming them. Filming me. No permissions acquired.

Chinese 101

People think an L3 language like Chinese is difficult to learn. Its really easy!

Let us begin.

1) That's not right ..................... Sum Ting Wong

2) Are you harboring a fugitive? ............ Hu Yu Hai Ding

3) See me ASAP ............................... Kum Hia Nao

4) Stupid Man ............................. Dum Gai

5) Small Horse ............................. Tai Ni Po Ni

6) Did you go to the beach? ................ Wai Yu So Tan

7) I bumped into a coffee table ......... Ai Bang Mai Fa Kin Ni

8) I think you need a face lift ........... Chin Tu Fat

9) Its very dark in here .................. Wao So Dim

10) I thought you were on a diet ........... Wai Yu Mun Ching

11) This is a tow away zone ................ No Pah King

12) Our meeting is scheduled for next week ... Wai Yu Kum Nao

13) Staying out of sight ................... Lei Ying Lo

14) He's cleaning his automobile ........... Wa Shing Ka

15) Your body odor is offensive ............ Yu Stin Ki Pu

16) Great ................................ Fa Kin Su Pah

All mock translations found on multiple web sites. Impossible to cite original source.

Photo: A grass hut near a strawberry field in the ostrich farm we visited in summer of 07. I need some new photos.

A message from Kuato.

File size: 8.51MB Format: .MOV

I love recieving video and photos from back home. Sometimes I feel a little lost and out of the loop. I suppose I could negotiate from my friends and family using the care package of things I bought here for them as leverage.

Video: My friend Jamie back in Canada reinacting a scene from Total Recall. Video taken last winter in Newmarket Ontario, Canada. Kuato is played by Shieleigh.

Hungry Hungry Hippos!

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Another old video I found. They grow up so fast. The only difference now is, they eat more, poop more, meow more, and fall off things less. Except Sugar, she still falls off things.

Video: Low settings on my previous Amoi cell phone. Sugar and Pepper at 2 months old.

In need of a boat!

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In 2007 it didn't rain a lot, but when it did...

I wonder what it will be like at my new address when it rains.

Video: 30 minutes of rain made a 25 minute walk into an hour of adventure. Video taken on low settings on my previous Amoi cell phone.