Creationism: Are You Kidding Me?

I saw a short article today about how more Americans are starting to attend schools and colleges that teach Creationism. It was one of those video clips, so I only got to read the summary, but it got me thinking about how ridiculous and stupid this country is. It’s really sad.

Currently, I believe around 40% of Americans believe in Creationism and discredit evolution. That’s insane. Almost half of the people living in this country believe that Jesus rode a dinosaur to work. Believing in Creationsim is essentially saying The Flinstones is based on a true story. Doesn’t that bother anyone? It bothers me a lot. For every five Americans, two are complete idiots. Think about that. It’s mind-blowing.

The thing is, this isn’t like 40% believe in one of the more sensible versions of Creationism (I’m an atheist, so I use the word “sensible” lightly); they believe in straight-up Young Earth Creationism, which says God plopped Adam and Eve down in a universe He made in seven days. All science is not only disregarded, but lies are made up to try and get around the facts. How did dinosaur fossils get here, and how do you explain the carbon dating done on various rocks that shows the Earth is way older than the 10,000 years these people would like to believe it is? Oh, God put those here to trick us and test our faith. That’s a literal answer from Creationists. Hilarious, I know, but true. I mean, I guess it would be a little more acceptable if people at least believed in Progressive Creationism or something along those lines, but this 40% does not fall into that category. I know this because the figures shown are from a question worded as follows, with a chance to answer “true,” “false,” and “not sure”: Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals. 40% of Americans said “false,” and 20% said “not sure.” That leaves us with 60% of Americans saying they don’t completely buy evolution. Uh, what? Only 40% of Americans believe in science? Only Turkey scored lower than us for belief in evolution. That’s embarrassing. Now I know statistics can be manipulated, but this is a very basic question, and even if there was some manipulation, it still leaves a staggering amount of full-on Creationists, unless the people running the study were just plain lying. (Information about these stats: New Scientist and FASEB Journal and Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America)

I completely understand that everyone has their own beliefs, and I am all for that. If you believe in God, fine, it doesn’t affect the way I think about you, but at least use some common sense. Young Earth Creationism is just plain silly. In order to believe the metaphysics behind something like that requires one to throw out all rationality and all scientific research completed up to this point in time. I’m sorry, but the Bible has nothing backing it and science does. While I support evolution whole-heartedly and complete reject the existence of God, I can at least understand someone taking the side of Progressive Creationism, because it provides some sort of basis in the belief system. Shall we take a look? Yes, friends, we certainly shall.

Evolution and the existence of God can work together beautifully, so I don’t know why people are so ready to pit them against each other. All you have to say is that God had a plan and set it in motion. Ta-Da! Problem solved for theists who are too smart to completely reject science. See, science can never prove or disprove the existence of God, so theists shouldn’t be afraid of it. I got to my atheistic views based on philosophical inquiry and the idea that I have no reason to believe in God, since there is no proof of His, Her, or Its existence. I don’t believe in unicorns because nobody has ever provided solid evidence that any exist. Same concept. It wasn’t science alone that made me stray from my Catholic upbringing. At any rate, for someone who does believe in God, there are plenty of ways to use the science and the faith together. Why would it be so hard to believe that God planned out evolution? That way the science is still in tact and nobody needs to toss out the belief in God. From there the theist can decide for himself whether or not God stays prevalent in the events or sits back and watches them unfold, of course then he would need to grapple with free will, determinism, and whether or not God remains necessary. Remember, even if someone argues God set everything in motion, that doesn’t mean He still exists to this day. A man can make a watch and die, but the watch does not stop upon the maker’s passing.

The point is, people always want facts to back things up in life. They want to cover all bases before they make a decision. At least, people want that in everything besides religion. If someone wants you to buy a house you’ve never seen, but tells you it’s great, you don’t just sign the papers right then and there. You go and look at it. You want to know for sure that the house is great. You want proof. Most theists just accept God exists. There is no physical evidence to support this claim. It’s all hearsay through archaic books and ministers. Accepting Young Earth Creationism is exactly the same. There is no logical way to explain it. Just because someone wrote it down doesn’t make it true.

Shaun White…

…is a huge douchebag.

Thank you.

WordPress for Blackberry

I just got the WordPress app for Blackberry, so I’m running a test to see how it works. This is not an important message.

Let’s Kill “Indie Rock”

Indie rock is irrelevant. Pitchfork is irrelevant. There, I said it. I know a ton of people are up in arms right now with disgust over these statements, but admit it, they are both true. They’ve been true for quite some time now. Let it go; you’ll feel better accepting the facts.

Seriously, think about it: What is indie rock? It’s nothing. It’s a term with no meaning anymore. It’s a blanket “genre” used by people who don’t want to admit they listen to clichéd mainstream music. Do I listen to “indie rock?” Of course. Do I use the term? Yes, but I’m trying to avoid it. So I’m not here to completely blast everything about the music that falls into this lazy term. I’m just here to point a few things out.

By definition, indie rock is music that should be on an independent label, correct? It was a term used for a new type of sound that was not accepted by the mainstream when it first appeared. It was the underground “alternative” rock music, even though alternative was another worthless term that meant nothing. Nowadays “indie rock” is supposed to be associated with something, I assume. I implore someone to explain to me what this something is. Off-tempos and alternate guitar tunings are present in tons of music, so these can’t be the deciding factor in the genre, especially when they are more prevalent in math rock and post-hardcore. Lyrically, everything is based on the same concepts as other forms of rock music, so it isn’t that either. It’s certainly not based on the whether the band is on an independent label or not, seeing as super popular bands on major labels still get put under the genre. I’d also like to make the point here that being on a major label’s sub-label does not mean they are independent. That’s like saying Lady Gaga is indie pop because she’s actually on Akon’s label. This brings another point, even if Kon Live didn’t have Universal as it’s parent company, and truly was an independent label, nobody would consider Lady Gaga an independent artist. So what’s the difference between Lady Gaga and say, Modest Mouse? The fact that Modest Mouse was once on a small label? The fact that Modest Mouse is rock and Lady Gaga is pop? In any other form of music, if you are pulling in tons of money and getting a shitload of radio airplay, you’re not considered “indie” anymore. For some reason, the indie rock crowd thinks their music is different.

Let’s move into this a bit more. Take a look at bands on labels like Level Plane. In a broad sense, these bands fall under “rock” music, but nobody would call them indie rock. Everyone calls them post-hardcore, screamo, emo-violence, etc. So why are so many bands simply considered indie rock? It’s pure laziness. It’s also proof that the mainstream controls peoples’ views on the subject. People who don’t really know anything about music say they listen to things in broad genres. “I like pop.” “I listen to rock music.” Sorry pal, but you just told me nothing. Saying you listen to pop means you could listen to anything from Andrew Bird to Madonna. Maybe you do, but I highly doubt that is what was meant to be conveyed. I could also argue that the reason people would never consider City of Caterpillar an indie rock band is because they are doing something to remove themselves from that genre. Sadly, most bands considered indie rock are fucking boring and all sound the same, so it’s easy to lump them into a useless category.

As I said before, I think the main reason people feel the need to call music indie rock is based in the fear of listening to mainstream music. Guess what, hipsters, you are listening to mainstream music. Is that so terrible? Stop trying to pretend you’re still finding shit “under the radar.” WXRT and Pitchfork are now one in the same. Pitchfork says Animal Collective is amazing (which they aren’t, btw), and XRT plays Animal Collective heavily. They play Vampire Weekend, Panda Bear, Wilco, (insert cool indie band here). I like XRT, but so does my dad. My dad is not “underground,” and he doesn’t think he listens to underground music. You know why? Because he doesn’t give a shit about being in a counter-culture. To him music on the radio is popular music. He doesn’t care if it was on Pitchfork or some guy in women’s jeans says it’s avant-garde. It’s accessible music. It’s not under the radar; it’s not indie. If you find me someone who still legitimately calls Weezer an indie rock band, I’ll give you a dollar. People would laugh at the thought of Weezer being indie rock, but their story is exactly the same as all the so-called indie rock bands today. What the hell is the difference?

Listening to popular or correctly categorized music is not a sin, so stop trying to hide behind inappropriate names to make yourself feel better.

The State of the DJ

While I don’t get behind the decks very often anymore these days, at one time I was actually a pretty decent DJ. I started spinning when I was fifteen on a pair of crappy Gemini turntables set up on a board laid on top of a few milk crates in my bedroom. A good chunk of my first records were purchased from some guy in Elgin that I met at Gramaphones. Looking back on those records now, I realize that while they bring back some fond memories, the tracks themselves pretty much suck. After teaching myself to spin fairly well and upgrading to the industry standard (and in my opinion still the best turntables money can buy) Technic SL-1200 mk2s, I managed to hone in on a few styles I wanted to concentrate on spinning (prog-house, breakbeats, and minimal techno).  I bought records like mad. To this day I have a ton of vinyl spanning from deep house to hardcore to drum n’ bass. Eventually some fellow DJs and I decided we wanted to start a production company to throw parties under. We threw them everywhere: Mexican restaurants in the suburbs, lofts in the city, fields, an abandoned racetrack, even some with huge rave companies up in Madison. To each event we were picked up for, we lugged our headphones, needles and record bags. Parties were busted, cops showed up, people went to jail. This was all part of the process, and it made things much more interesting.

So why am I going on about all this? Because recently I have realized that the DJ is dying. While there are tons of people out there mixing songs together into sets, the entire idea of what an actual DJ was is falling to the wayside. I realize that this is the digital age, and everything is slowly adapting to it. However, the basics of DJ culture are now disappearing along with that adaptation.

My biggest gripe concerns the way sets are actually being put together. I’m sorry, but if you are not using some form of turntables, you have no right to call yourself a DJ, unless you mean one on the radio. I don’t care if you can sequence songs on your Mac. A mouse is not a tool in spinning. I would never pay money to see some kid click start/stop on Ableton (or any other software) on a laptop. That’s complete crap. Anyone can match a bunch of preset beat markers together. It’s irritating to think that people actually buy into that garbage. It’s even more upsetting that these Mac-Tappers consider themselves in line with those who have spent years learning to actually spin records properly.

A step up from the Mac-Tappers are people that get MP3 turntables and CD turntables. While this is a little better, it still lacks some of the important aspects of DJ culture. I have seen some of digital turntables that actually spin like a normal wheel so you can supposedly use touch the same way you would on an actual deck. I don’t know how realistic these are, but I guess it’s better than nothing. However, most of these need programs run through computers to organize files and whatnot. Along with these programs, one usually sees a visual layout for each song. This is a crutch, and once again takes away from the allure of the real thing. When you can see your beats hitting and whether your other track matches these or not, it’s obviously not as hard as having the fine-tuned ear necessary to be a real DJ. Also, you can see when and where all the breaks in the track are, meaning you no longer need to know everything about what you’re spinning. A good DJ knows his records well enough to have the previous song die and mix at the proper time with the new one without visual aids. At least CD turntables don’t usually give you this help, but they still aren’t much better. But this isn’t the end of my issues.

Another jarring problem with all these digital DJs is that nobody buys records anymore. Vinyl was the most important thing in DJ culture up until a few years ago. You had to actually hunt for records. You physically had to go to a record store and rummage through tons of bins to find songs you wanted. You had to pick up records you never heard and take the time to listen to them all. Plus, out of print records were just that- out of print. Finding one you wanted was extremely hard, and usually came about by trading with someone or just diligently searching for long periods of time. Nowadays, if some kid wants a track, he just downloads it. Anyone can get any track at any time they see fit. Before your sets were defined by what you could get your hands on. This helped to make sure people had different things. No longer is this true. It takes no effort to get music for sets by having it sent to your computer. Beyond this, the record shop used to be a place to socialize with others also interested in spinning. You talked to them about new artists and where to get the best records. You chatted about which needles were the best and what labels sucked. I hardly think iTunes gives the same sort of experience. Not to mention, records aren’t cheap, so you had to make sure you were picking out the best tracks for your money. With digital songs, you can just download thousands and then decide to go through them later, simply deleting what you don’t want. Some might argue cheaper is better. I argue that it kills the culture.

While some may think these are stupid complaints and that I need to just “get with the times,” I know for a fact that there are many out there that share my view. The amount of effort and talent is severely lacking with these digital DJs. While I could easily get behind a set of MP3 turntables or Ableton and put together a set, those who were brought up using these new means would most likely struggle if they were placed in front of two Tech-12’s and a mixer with a stack of vinyl.

Live Journal? Whoa!

So for some reason today, I decided to see if I could find my Live Journal from who knows how long ago. I didn’t remember ever closing it out, but I stopped using it like five years ago, so I wasn’t sure what its status would be. Well, I found it. I googled what I thought my old name was for it along with “Live Journal,” and while it didn’t lead directly to mine, it did link to someone who had me listed as her friend. I was correct about the name I had been using, so I tried to log in. Since I used to use one password for pretty much everything, it turned out to be correct, and I was able to access my old site.

It seems not much has changed on the Live Journal site. Everything is basically the same as it was five years ago. I wonder if people even use it anymore. If they don’t, I could see why no updates have been done.

It’s pretty interesting to look through all these old posts. Apparently I was pretty depressed and couldn’t decide how I felt about my girlfriend at the time. I also listened to a lot of music off of Ferret during that time, at least according to the little area set aside to type what was jamming with each post. I also liked to talk about how I was writing new music but never getting around to record it. I guess I have been lazy for quite some time, eh? I drank a lot and seem to have a decent amount of drunk entries. Apparently I also felt the need to explain how I put in hardwood flooring at my house during spring break and how much I didn’t like talking on the phone to various people. Of course, these people then saw those entries and left me nasty comments.

Insomnia was a problem back then just as it is now, and I liked to complain about it. I also liked to complain about going to school for architecture. For those of you who are not aware, I was two classes away from graduating with a degree in architecture when I suddenly decided to switch to philosophy. I guess I just got sick of it. I wonder if I can go back and finish those two classes.

So what is the point of this blog entry? Well, essentially everything worked out, no matter how rough I thought everything was at the time. It’s funny to see how miserable I was back then. A few life changes later, and I think I can manage. It’s also weird just to take a look back in time, like opening a diary one forgets they have.

Help! I’m Stuck!

Matt vs. I-Doser, Continued

As I promised earlier, I am going to update this blog every time I try another I-Doser file. I have two new ones to comment on.

Ketamine
Ok, this one was going to be a pretty big deal. At one point this was my favorite mind-altering substance, and I knew I was going to be super critical of it when I tried the binaural version. In all actuality, I’m not positive how I feel about my experience with I-Doser’s attempt. I can certainly say it did something. But, I also have to point out that I was very tired when I gave this a shot. At the beginning of the session, I got very giddy. This may have been a placebo effect, however. It’s very possibly I was channeling the way I used to feel about the real thing. As the drone continued, I started slipping in and out of dreams. I am not sure if this was because I was tired, and I was just literally slipping in and out of sleep, or if this was the dose. The dreams were very vivid though, so it may have been a combination of the two. All I know is that I was having an insanely hard time snapping myself out of this dream-like state. I did notice a very warped sense of time during all of this, as well. At the very end, I also realized that my limbs were really heavy, and after I took the headphones off and tried to get up, I noticed my motor skills were off and my movement felt slowed. These are effects associated with using real K. It was an interesting experience, but I think I need to give it another try.

Morphine
I tried morphine right before I went to bed since I have trouble sleeping. I figured it might relax me enough to lull me to sleep. It was an alright experience. It took a lot of concentration to get any body effects, but when they were achieved, I did feel like I was sinking into my bed. My mind became very relaxed, but beyond these stating things, not much happened. I did fall to sleep right after I was done with this, however.

I’m Freakin’ Out, Dude!

Matt vs. I-Doser

I recently stumbled across a very interesting method to alter one’s consciousness. Apparently, by using binaural beats, one can essentially trick the brain into varied states of being. You just lie down and listen to these noises through headphones, and the frequencies go to work on your noggin. One of the biggest sites I came across for this was I-Doser. The noise tracks are .drg files, so you need a special player to hear them, which I downloaded for free. Then I went onto Soulseek and got a shitload of these different files. Each track has a specific name and aim. Some have simple names like “Calm” or “Relax,” and are obviously meant to calm or relax you. Others have names like “French Roast,” and are meant to stimulate your brain into thinking you just had coffee or whatever. Some names are vague, like “Hand of God” and “White Crosses.” These are supposedly hybrids that can’t be described simply. The most interesting ones are the drug files, however. They seem to have a good chunk of them, from crack and heroin to peyote and acid. Along with each file comes a description of what is supposed to happen and how powerful it is.

I originally thought this was a bunch of crap. But then I really thought about it and did some research. Scientists have proven that binaural beats can alter consciousness, but there is debate as to what extent. The concept has been around for over 100 years actually. I was intrigued, and I decided to try some. I also figured I could update the old blog on each one I did afterward. Seems fun, right? This entry will include the ones that I have tried up until this point.

Oh, just so you know, the sounds produced by this whole thing are essentially ambient noise. I guess it works by having one frequency play in one ear and another in the opposite. When they overlap, you get a pulsating sound. There is also white noise present. The pulsing and white noise change speed and pitch throughout each “dose.” I guess this works for some people and does not for others.

Marijuana
I tried this one as an mp3, and apparently mp3 files mess up the nuances of the actual files and are not supposed to work as well (that’s why I downloaded the special player). I believe this one took about 13 minutes. I think the effect was pretty subtle. I certainly did not feel “high” by any means. I could, however, sense a change in my overall well-being. I became very relaxed and almost drowsy while listening to the noise. There was a nice running water effect within this track as well. I would say this would be fine for some sort of New Age relaxation technique, but that’s about it.

Hash QH
This was a “quick hit” version of hash. It was also a .drg file, as all will be from now on. The quick hits are just shortened versions of the longer “doses.” It lasted about 8 minutes, maybe? This wasn’t terribly strong, but I definitely felt a little strange. I got the pressure in my head that I used to get back in the day when I was really high. I also felt a certain sense of intensity, but I couldn’t place it. It was almost like my body was throbbing. Maybe the normal version is better.

Opium
The opium one was very relaxing. It also made my extremities feel pretty heavy when they were stationary, but fairly light when moved. My arms also began to feel extremely warm. There wasn’t any of the dreaminess present that I have experienced from real opium, but the body sensation was interesting to say the least. I think this track was around 30 minutes with no after effects.

Acid QH
So far this one has been the most “mind altering.” It was another quick hit, so it was not supposed to be as strong as the file called LSD, which is much longer. However, this one made me actually believe that this whole idea has some merit. During the track, I started realizing I couldn’t stop smiling. Then I started to laugh. For anyone who has not done acid or mushrooms, as the drug kicks in, you begin to smile uncontrollably, literally to the point that your face hurts. This was pretty close to that feeling. As the beats continued, I began to start feeling strange. I can’t describe it. The pulses would speed up and slow down, and I felt my body responding to them. After it was over and I removed the headphones, I realized I still felt a little weird. It was like I couldn’t connect reality with my brain. I just kind of sat there. It was a feeling that I have never gotten on actual acid, but it was certainly not a baseline state. Something was askew. This lasted around 15 minutes after the noise had ended.

So there you have it. This concept is strange, but I find it interesting. After I got some results (even if they were small), my intrigue piqued. So I will let everyone know how each of these go. Stay tuned, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

Being Broke Sucks

New post? It’s true. I have decided I might start writing again, so I figured I needed a place to put all the garbage I decide to come up with. Then I remembered I had this old thing. Blogtastic. So, yeah, I’m back.

And I have decided to come back with a nice bitchy entry about not having money right now. I will soon enough, but right now I am pretty dry on the sweetness that is cold hard cash. I went shopping the other day and spent $18. Here’s what I got:

A can of Chili Mac, a can of Beefaroni, a can of condensed chicken gumbo, two Tony’s pizzas, a loaf of white bread, extra chunky peanut butter, apple jelly, cheese, and a box of microwave kettle corn.

All that shit will be gone in a few days. And all of it sucks. Well, the apple jelly is pretty good.

Some Observations

I have made a few important observations over the past few days, and I figured all of my loyal readers would love to hear about them.

1. Thai brunch is a bad idea. I don’t want to eat spicy meat for breakfast. This should be avoided at all costs. Also, I am not very hungry until around 1 in the afternoon, so even if it wasn’t Thai, I probably still don’t want to eat it until later.

2. Beer delivery is awesome. Last night I called in to get pizza and beer delivered to my doorstep. A long time ago, a friend and I had the idea of an alcohol delivery service. Think of the money you could make by dropping off booze to people too lazy to leave their place. It was not until recently that I actually saw this idea becoming a reality. I am all for it. Say you have a bunch of people over for a Celine Dion party. While it’s raging, someone comes up to you and tells you that the beer is gone. What do you do? Not drink? Fuck no. Leave your own party to go pick up more? Send out a friend? Why not just call a place and have them bring it? Kudos, alcohol delivery. I love you.

3. I have nothing to do at work.

4. Tropicana Fruit Squeeze fruit juice water is gross. I don’t even know why I bought it. I won’t do it again.

5. People are so wrapped up in Sarah Palin that they are not paying attention to McCain. This is a huge problem. Palin is not running for president. We cannot allow McCain to fly under the radar while everyone focuses on the hockey mom. Don’t be stupid people.

6. Obama is a wash. (This has been an ongoing observation.)

7. Intelligentsia coffee is overrated. It tastes like burnt. If I want burnt coffee, I’ll dig out my old Mr. Coffee drip machine and burn it myself.

8. My new Line 6 TonePort guitar to computer interface is awesome. Expect more songs coming soon.

9. Ra Ra Riot is a really bad band, and they have really bad videos to go along with their really bad music. Also, Jaguar Love is another awful band. Johnny and Cody should have stuck with Blood Brothers. The Pretty Girls Make Graves guy can do whatever the fuck he wants.

10. I like cooler weather.