"After twelve years of therapy my psychiatrist said something that brought tears to my eyes. He said, 'No hablo ingles.'" - Ronnie Shakes

I had a good laugh at this, especially thinking how Mario'd pronounce "Wiiiid, dooood."

The Mystery of Consciousness -- Friday, Jan. 19, 2007 -- Page 1 -- TIME

This is quite an intense article on a materialistic, supposedly scientific look at consciousness: The Mystery of Consciousness -- Friday, Jan. 19, 2007

What made this article thought-provoking for me was the question: What if scientists end up understanding how consciousness works and can explain (and manipulate!) it entirely by measuring (and simulating) brain waves and movements? If it could be shown that the feeling that "I exist and can choose" is something physical, something I can turn on and off as I please - would that challenge the Biblical belief that such a thing as the "soul" exists?

In the article the author seems to equate "soul" and "consciousness" a lot, in the end stating that if (and in his view, when) scientists achieve the goal of explaining consciousness, it's basically a death blow to any reasonable faith in an after-life.

Sorry, I don't really follow that logic - for me the soul is more than just consciousness. What I do find intriguing is one of the most interesting justifications I've heard yet for atheistic morality. I'm not saying I agree with the author, but at least he's trying to make sense. :) I'd love to hear any thoughts both of you regular readers of mine have about this article, if any.

Princess Sarah

Princess Sarah
Originally uploaded by epaga.

Hi everyone!
Sarah Lena Goering was born today at 3:14 p.m. Her name means "princess of light".
The birth went incredibly smooth - her first contractions started around 8:30 in the morning, slowly got stronger as the day went by, the really painful ones were right at the end, the last half hour or so. Sarah weighs in at 6 pounds 3 oz and is 19 inches tall. Oh, and she has really long feet. :) Attached to this are a few pictures - her dad thinks she's one of the very few newborns that actually look cute. ;) Both Mom and daughter are feeling great, Stephi said she's feeling better than yesterday, since she was feeling pretty tired yesterday.
Have a great week!!!

For a few more pictures, see our Flickr page! http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnstephi

Hallo zusammen!
Heute ist Sarah Lena Goering um 15:14 geboren worden! Ihr Name bedeutet "Prinzessin des Lichts".
Die Geburt verlief super glatt - die ersten Wehen begannen so um 8:30 morgens, und wurden langsam aber sich immer stärker, die richtig schmerzhaften Wehen kamen aber erst ganz zum Schluss, so die letzte halbe Stunde. Sie wiegt 2800g, ist 49cm groß, und hat richtig große Füße. :) Angehängt ein paar Bilder - ihr Papa findet, sie ist eine der gaanz wenigen Neugeborenen, die tatsächlich süß aussehen. ;) Sowohl der Mutter als auch der Tochter geht's blendend. Stephi sagte, ihr geht's zur Zeit besser als gestern um diese Zeit, wo sie sich ziemlich kaputt fühlte.

Euch allen eine schöne Woche!!!

Für weitere Fotos einfach auf die Flickr Seite schauen! http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnstephi

So silly. And yet - so amazing. This guy's been practicing this for 37 years. I'd say he has it down.

Just found an awesome site. But first, let me explain. No, that would take too long. Let me sum up (100 points for anyone who got that movie reference).

A lot of you know I try to use the geeky GTD system for stayinggetting organized - if you, like me, happen to have a problem with being organized, check out "Getting Things Done" by David Allen, it's a lifesaver for me. The main points that help me the most are:

Have a trusted "in box" where you simply dump anything and everything you think needs an action from you at any point in time. This makes sure I never forget a great idea I have - yes, it does happen about once a year.

Divide your to-do list not into days when you want to do them but into contexts, in other words, have an "Email" to do list, a "Talk to Stephi about this" to do list, etc. etc. That way, whenever you're in that context, you can check the things you need to be doing in that context and not worry about the other contexts.

Have your to do list only consist of actual "Next Actions", not big plans, so that you know exactly the next physical thing you need to do, so don't have "Fix car" as your todo, rather "Call car repair place - (232) 424-1555".

Anyways, the main reason for my blog post is that I found a great online way to do this system. It's a web service called TiddlySpot which hosts your own personal Wiki for free. I'm using a Wiki called d3 which is basically a GTD version of TiddlyWiki, which is a free and simple personal wiki. Phew. Wild and wooly Web 2.0, I'll tell ya.

So anyways, it rocks, and it's free, and it's online and it keeps me organized. If I remember to use it. :)

From The Onion 3 years ago:

Bush on North Korea: 'We Must Invade Iraq'

WASHINGTON, DC—With concern over North Korea's nuclear capabilities growing, President Bush reassured the American people Monday that "extreme force" will be used to remove Saddam Hussein from power if the Iraqi president fails to give up suspected weapons of mass destruction.

Check out the article for more satire goodness. :)

Had this funny story in my mind, thought I'd share it with you so that you could laugh at with me:

Imagine you're standing in a large room, blindfolded. You hear three philosophers, also blindfolded, debating about what an elephant is, since one is standing in their midst. You hear one voice say: "An elephant is clearly a small rope-like animal, I can feel it very clearly." Then you hear the other say: "No, no, no, an elephant is a large, rough wall, I'm leaning on it right now." The third says, "No, I disagree entirely. An elephant is more like a large rubber tube with a hole in one end."

Then you hear a fourth voice: "I AM the Elephant. No one knows what an elephant is without me."

Who's right...and who's wrong?

Yeah, I'm weird.