Your Own 2 Ears.

God will continue to exist no matter how much we atheists care to disprove it. *wry smile* As paradoxical as it seems, the all-wise and all-seeing god is created and sustained by the faith of ordinary homo-sapien humans. Thus we get the divine arising out of the normal heap we call society. Christianity is only as holy as it followers. It, and all religions, will never disappear. As long a single person still believes, it remains relevant and not yet relegated to history. So if you wish to preserve your faith, indoctrinate your kids, make sure they will do the same, and all their ancestors after them. Because remember, faith is nothing without you.

If you don't believe in any form of a deity, just relax and let the others do their stuff. You cannot swerve such a momentum-rich institution. What matters is what is thought between your very own two ears. Deal with the problems there before trying to fix the world.

Back to you...

WTF's Out There?

According to Scientology, there exists a Galactic Confederacy that has lasted for trillions and trillions of years in and out of our universe. When our species achieves a certain level of spiritual "wellness," we will be welcomed into this "galactic" fraternity. Yah, good luck with that Mr Cruise.

Moving on, this theme of an extraterrestrial presence watching our progress like parent may watch a child is pretty common. We tend to imagine all aliens as super advanced and peaceful. Literature, movies it is all the same.

However, far more likely is the idea that there is no Galactic Confederacy. No welcoming committee. No one to tell us what to do when we reach that stage. Now put that all aside for a minute and think.

What if we are the first? If we will win this first race? If we will be the ones peering down from the flying saucers? What if we create the Galactic Confederacy (you would still be wrong Mr Cruise)??? If we are the ones offering our friendship to other LESSER civilizations?

I think (hope) that we could fill this role. While we may be pretty war-like now, I think that as space opens up as a a new frontier, fighting will cease. Why fight over a thin strip of land between your two countries when you can fly TWO THOUSAND LIGHTYEARS away and colonize a planet.

That is our far-likelier future, and the one that I hope will happen.

Mr. Roboto

The question that should be asked of robotics today is not when an intelligent robot is created, but how long before a mob would tear it apart. This is what I do, I ask questions about questions that we haven't found the answer to. But don't thank me, thank my awesome powers of precognition.

Other stupid questions:

• Once space travel is commonplace, who will get sovernty on the moon? On the other planets? Other solar systems?
• If time travel supposedly is possible, why were there no grieving time-tourists watching as 9/11 took place?
• The end goal of capitalism is for everyone to buy from 'the company' and for everyone to work for 'the company.' Isn't this the same goal of communism? Only with 'the government' replacing 'the company.' Makes you wonder what the cold war was really about.
• If light travels slower through certain substances (refraction) shouldn't time move slower inside these substances as well? Remember, time slows the closer to the speed of light one goes.

Any stupid answers?

Great Men

Absence? Naw.

As I learned a week ago, history is divided into 3 views of why it happened. Its almost like a Coke or Pepsi question with actual merit behind each choice. Drumroll please...

1. Luck.
2. Environment shaped who got where in technology, and when. Leading to a major plus in Europe.
3. Great men took charge.

Right. So now I have a question for YOU (three). Which side are you? If you were wondering, I AM going to shove my opinion down your throats for your own enjoyment. (The title is prolly a big clue.)

Bachelorette #3, if you please. Where are we if not for great leaders and thinkers? My evidence is in 2 sets.

a) Mongols v. Plains Indians. First we must come to a consensus that relatively similar societies exist here. Both were shamanists living nomadic lifestyles. Both had horse, bow, fire and not much else. Skip to 1250. One of them is the overlords of a massive empire from China to Hungary. (Assuming level 6 is won). Take a stab at it.

The plains Indians are pretty well the same as they were 3000 years ago if not more. What is the only variable? A great warrior with vision and the drive to unite and conquer. Genghis Khan. QED.

b)700 BC. Two metals: Tin and brass. Found in 2 places I will focus in on: Greece and Mexico. The Greeks had it fully exploited, even basing their entire military strategy around it. The Aztecs were still using obsidian macanas and just starting to discover bronze's properties. What ain't broke wasn't fixed. Of course, they only figuered out it was broke when the Spanish crushed it into paste. So the Greeks great alchemists give them a major advantage in the long run.

The best part of this is the Great Man Theory, as it is called, is the anti-thesis of the Communist thought process, so I can be a history nerd and shove my right wing-nessin your face. Two birds, baby.

The Campaign Begins...

Hi there, for those who do not know me, I live in Canada and am currently under the voting age, which is 18 years. Remember that the movement does not need to effect you for you to be involved. Lets take this international.

The current voting age in Canada and around the world is 18. This age is used because we leave the free school system and start giving back to society through jobs or university course fees. Many people feel that anyone younger than that cannot appreciate the subtleties of politics and will be easily swayed by what their parents think.

Is this the subtleties of politics at work?

This opinion has fallen behind the times and like all other outdated junk, it should be replaced! Us young adults who are soon to enter university or the world should be given a say in what state we will find that world. Should we not have a choice as we build the foundations of our lives? With elections taking place every 5 to 4 years, 50% of today's youth will not vote before their 20th birthday. That is, if they even show up to vote:

Introduce politics sooner and interest will grow. Join the campaign; lower the voting age to 16.

TSOT: Russia

Examining the role Russia will play in a global thermonuclear war. Most of the military research was done this week, although I get a lot of the background info from a report I did a couple years ago on Russia.

When I first introduced the series TSOT on instant martians, the many comments made it clear that people thought Russia had no chance. I got things like: "Russia is already dying." These opinions may seem true when one looks at the recession and the rate of poverty. However, take a step back and examine the bigger picture.

• Russia holds approx. 45% of the world's 20,000 nuclear weapons. By comparison, the USA has about 50% and - the next highest - China has about 2%.
• These weapons, mostly atop ICBM's, are deployed throughout the region of Russia named Siberia. The massive distances between them make missile strikes a very inefficient way of destroying them. Land strikes would not work either because of the weather.
• Russia's government is a go-getter. Throughout history, Russia has not been a passive superpower like China. They were always quick to seize strategic opportunity. They will not need to be lured into a war.

I hope that has changed some of your minds.

I am going to skip some of the basis demographics and delve into the ECONOMY. Russia's economy is based primarily on primary resources, both raw and refined. Like the other polar countries (Canada, Norway, Poland, etc.) mining, oil, and forestry play a huge role. Farming, grain especially, provides food for a large portion of the population. All this means that Russia is very self-sustaining. They would be able to survive while alienated from other states and cut off of imports. Of course, in war some of the people would go hungry; however, trust that those who make the decisions would not.

The MILITARY: On top of their formidable nuclear stockpile (see the beginning of the post), Russia also wields the worlds finest artillery force. While this may not help overseas in the US, remember that for Russia, both the European Union and China are both a quick hop over the border. Since the USSR fell apart, its navy has fallen out of use. Although, if Tom Clancy is to be believed, quite a few nuclear subs are still putting around the pacific. Russia is too large for an infantry army to be of any use. My guess is, if it ever comes to war, that small heavily armed commando units will do most of the dirty work.

As far as INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS go, all bets are off. They are big enough that they don't need help. Now that the Space Shuttle is being retired, the USA will rely on them to get into space aboard the Soyuz rocket. They are still trying to agree with the US to decrease the amount of nukes, but they each have enough to destroy the world several times over. A meaningful treaty is still far off in the future.

TECH LEVEL for heavens sake! They practically invented the nuke and they darn near won the space race. Russia has fallen behind in recent years though, perhaps communism had something going then...

I am going to go fast through the next few. DISCIPLINE is good, though their companies could do without so much corruption. TERRAIN is among the harshest on the planet, no land invasions. The LEADER, type of RELIGION, and POPULATION is unimportant. Arms are most certainly DEPLOYED. The government's BUDGET is no longer limitless, and it has inherited some US$100 billion in DEBT from the USSR. Its position is fine though, because it already has a lot of arms deployed and made, plus compared to the USA, its debts are trivial.

OVERALL:

Russia is no small player on the world stage. It has the nuclear strength to make and ignore threats. The only questions I have are how would its people react and what would cause it to consider war in the first place.

If you are reading this on Facebook, consider posting your comments here, where our other reads can read and respond to them. And if any of you ARE Russian, your comments or critique are especially important.