Philosophy vs Religion

Well, I've started more earnest study of philosophy, including the History of Philosophy podcast, an iTunesU program on philosophy, along with one other podcast on philosophy. The most recent podcast I listened to was about Plato's Republic. Now, I haven't read the work (though we did have to read parts of it in my college ethics class), but based on that podcast I don't really like what I'm hearing. Plato's supposed Utopia sounds like a robot society with no freedom or love or self-expression. Now, sad as it may be that a society lacking freedom would probably be the safest, that doesn't mean that we should seek to create such a society. I would rather live in a slightly dangerous slightly controlled society than a perfectly safe society without freedom. Again I come back to my standard answer, balance, there has to be a balance between lack of freedom and provision of safety.

One of my other thoughts on philosophy, is my struggle to balance my love of philosophy with my love of Jesus. I don't like to think of myself as religious because I dislike the word and its implications and general negative connotations. But, I do love the Bible and I believe every part of it and am a Christian, in that, I follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. As such I believe that God's Word, namely the Bible, is the complete guide on how we ought to live. So studying ethics and philosophy seems sort of silly, because if you want to know how one ought to live, just read the instruction manual. That's not to say I don't like the general thoughtfulness and rationale in philosophy. To quote Wikipedia: "Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument" (emphasis mine). So, I love systematic theology and rational argumentation, however, God's instructions don't have to be rational (as we understand rationality).

So many "rational thinking atheists" often use philosophical arguments to try to poke holes in biblical teachings. However, if you really believe the Bible is the sole source of God's intention for life and creation, then there can be no argument against God's precepts. God said it, therefore it is true and right for our lives. That being said there's a whole world of biblical discussion on systematically analyzing the Bible to understand how and when to apply certain principals. But, the question never comes up as to why we should do this or that. God said it therefore we must do it. That world of biblical discussion also includes the ideas that God intended somethings for some time periods/peoples and other things for other people/time periods. It's often called dispensationalism. The idea that though God is immutable; the way He interacts with creation has changed over time. Many prime examples are found in much of the Old Testament law; all the forbidden foods and other ways God set down to separate His people. Critics will say, if you believe the Bible is true and the rules for your life why do you eat pork or wear mixed fabric clothes? (Which is easily refutable with a careful study of the freedom taught in the New Testament.) Most biblical scholars aren't thrown off by these simple arguments, but some newer, less studied believers can be. All this to be summed up with: I'm going to continue to study philosophy but with a critical Christian point of view.

We are blessed to live in such a beautiful place

Ten Year Old Glenmorangie at Sunset

At the behest of my good friend Will Haas we're trading guest blogs.

I taste tested this new single malt Scotch whiskey Glenmorangie Original at Taguchi beach park this evening.  While I like the taste and may add it to my regular scotch collection it doesn't have enough bite for my preference.  I like biting scotch and this particular single malt it a bit too smooth and sweet for me.  A bit of a floral taste sweeter than other single malts I've tasted.  It does have a beautiful look especially in the warm glow of the setting sun over the East China Sea.  It has a bit of a woody taste to it, which isn't unusual for single malts and it is quite smooth.  Not the smoothest taste I've had but pretty good.  Looking forward to having more.  Don't worry the bottle and glass survived the trip to the beach and I am actually sitting at my desk enjoying another glass as I write this.  I'm not quite the connoisseur that Will is, but if you'd like to read more of his reviews on other whiskeys I encourage you to check out his blog.  Whatever the case, if you're looking for a good single malt to go with a good cigar (which I don't have, because I haven't found a good cigar shop here on island yet) or just to sit back and enjoy sometime try this the original Glenmorangie.  You won't be disappointed.

So blessed to live in such a beautiful place

Couldn't convince Michelle to stop taking pictures of me

See what I mean about it being yellow

Happy Fourth of July!

Short and sweet today...

Spent a lot of time at the beach today, but the tide was very low and we walked around on the coral most of the time and I got roasted.

Short update on my philosophy study: I've been listening to the History of Philosophy podcast, though we're still on the pre-socratics.  The podcast is well put together though solely western philosophy focused.  I bought a Korean philosophy book but haven't had the time to start it.  It's called 웃기는 철학, 우스운 철학(넥서스) "Funny Philosophy, Silly Philosophy (Nexus)" I haven't even started reading it, it might be about western philosophy hopefully it's about eastern philosophy.

Got this funny picture from a friend, it seems silly but it's pretty close to correct Korean pronunciation and if you learn it this way you will, more or less be able to pronounce all the Korean letters and read it phonetically:

Guest Blogger #1 Eric Flynn

My first guest blogger!!

Eric Flynn and I attended the Defense Language Institute at about the same period of time though he was in the Arabic course and I took the Korean course. He's out of the Air Force now and been teaching English in Korea for a few years.

---When you ask someone "What's the best way to learn a foreign language?", usually the answer will be "Live in another country." Well, that's mostly true, but not so much when that country happens to be South Korea. It's still kind of true... but not as much as you'd think.

I've been living in South Korea for almost three years now. Before I came here, I imagined myself in the future, having lived abroad for several years, and returning to impress my friends and family with my mastery of Korean. I learned very quickly that this was not to be. From time to time I recall a scene from a movie called The Thirteenth Warrior in which Antonio Banderas (pronounced Bahndehrrassss, in a breathy tone) plays an Arabic scholar (or something) who finds himself in league with a band of Vikings. For a portion of the movie he finds himself flummoxed with this inability to comprehend their language (which is called "Vikish" for those of you who are not experts in world languages). Finally, in one scene, we see him listening to the conversation of his Scandanavian companions as they talk around a fire and, suddenly, he finds himself able to comprehend their speech simply by listening to it and absorbing it.

Yeah, right.

Of course, humans do have the capacity to learn language intuitively; that is, simply through "absorbing" it. This ability is present during our formative years and diminishes steadily as we age. Though I've never lived in a country which speaks Spanish, Italian, etc., I'd imagine that it's still possible to absorb language in such a way. Certainly not to the extent that we can absorb our mother tongue (why does that term always make me uncomfortable?) when we're young, but still enough for it to be of some use. A person with a rudimentary education in Spanish, for instance, can go and live in a Spanish-speaking country and gradually become fluent in Spanish. At least, that's what people tell me: people who use Spanish at every available opportunity to prove how good they are at Spanish, even going so far as to pronounce Mexico "Meh HEE Ko" when it comes up in conversation. However, with Korean it's different. It's very common to meet people who have lived in South Korea for six years or more and who still have only a basic working knowledge of the language.

Now, most of you who have never lived in Korea might think this is because everyone in South Korea speaks enough English that a foreigner can get by without speaking Korean. Therefore, there's no reason to use Korean, let alone learn it. This is not really true. While much of the South Korean youth have a rudimentary knowledge of English, and it has found its way into the Korean culture (albeit in often improperly-applied ways), one shouldn't think that he or she can take care of such things as banking, internet service, or even grocery shopping without knowledge of Korean. There is a language barrier here, so much so that foreigners need someone else to rely on (someone who speaks Korean) to make sure most of their basic needs are met. So it isn't simple laziness that prevents people from absorbing the language here. It's my theory that the reason so few foreigners in Korea are able to learn the language is that Korean and English are so fundamentally different that nothing short of intense studying can help you learn it.

Evidence can be found in the Korean youth. English is taught in public schools from as early as elementary school, and probably even kindergarten, if I had to guess. And yet, most of my high school students don't even know that "nice to meet you" is an inappropriate phrase when greeting someone whom you've been seeing five days a week for the last six months of your life.

Beyond the fact that Korean students are apathetic towards English, it's really hard for them to learn. I personally have studied Arabic intensively for two years of my life, and I can say that learning Arabic is a walk in the park compared to Korean.

That's not saying that Korean is poorly thought-out language or inefficient (a native of speaker of English calling another language inefficient seems a lot like the proverbial kettle calling the metaphorical pot "cookware"). In fact, I'm told that, much like it's easy for English speakers to learn Spanish, it's similarly easy for speakers of Japanese to learn Korean. But I'd venture that it's safe to assume that a Spanish speaker would find it every bit as difficult to learn Korean as I – uh, I mean English speakers – do.
So just how different are the two languages? Well, I think the best example is simple use of the word "what". Imagine that we're eating dinner together and I'm staring at you funny. You're not sure if it's because I'm trying to use my psychic powers to make your head explode, like that guy in the movie Scanners, or if I'm fascinated/disgusted by the goiter on your neck that makes "Kuwato" from Total Recall look like a freckle. So, in order to surmise why I'm staring at you the way I am, you'll stop chewing your tofu-dog and say:

"What?"

Both being native speakers of English, we know that this is a short way of asking "What is the reason for which you are staring at me, you freaking weirdo?" However, if we were Koreans, you would stop chewing your still-squirming octopus, perhaps shoving a tentacle back in your mouth as it tries to escape and say:

"Why?"

A seemingly small difference, but imagine that applied to everything you say. Not only must one learn vocabulary, but there is also an element of culture, and learning how to phrase things. Let's look at another example. Let's say we're eating dinner together again and you're wondering if it's possible that anyone out there could fall in love with the pathetic slob in front of you, who didn't even bother to put on pants when he left the house, but still chose to wear a mustard-stained Poison t-shirt. So you ask:

"Are you married?"

In Korean, the way they choose to phrase this question is "Did you marry?"

When learning Arabic, I found that, once one gained mastery of the various grammatical concepts, it was generally okay to translate what you wanted to say word-for-word. Even expressions such as "on the other hand" occasionally translate to mean exactly the same thing. But was we can see from the above example, even when asking a simple question, one must change it so that we are no longer using an adjective, but rather a past-tense verb.

Now, I should point out that my understanding of Korean is very rudimentary, and I'm sure that there is more than one way to posit the above question in a way that's more akin to English verbiage, but the very fact that the question is generally stated in that way hints at how difficult it is to learn Korean.

On final example of the differences between English and Korean: I was in my co-workers' office one day. They had seen fit to let me out of my cage at that time, since they understand that it's good to let me stretch my legs once in a while. The young, highly attractive student teacher was sitting off to the side, not noticing my existence, as she was wont to do. Suddenly her sweater (the periwinkle-colored one that complemented her eyes nicely, and that she usually wore on Tuesdays, but today was wearing on a Wednesday, for some reason) had slipped off the back of her chair upon which it was hanging and fell to the floor. Before I could dash over and pick up, presenting the sweater to her in the same way a dog presents a pair of slippers before his master, eagerly wagging his tail and hoping for praise, my co-teacher pointed to the sweater and uttered one single word which, I was told, is Korean for "fell".

Now, had the same thing happened in the U.S., or Canada, she would have more likely said something like "Oh, your sweater fell on the floor." But in Korean, this entire sentence was condensed to a single word.

This brevity of language can be evidenced with students. When speaking in English, they often tend to use only minimal sentence fragments when conferring their ideas, and frequently need to be reminded to implement subjects and other things when speaking.

If the above examples haven't driven home just how different Korean and English is, maybe this will: a common task of English teachers in Korea is teaching students how to organize essays when writing in English. The tactic of using and introduction, then body (with supporting details) and finally, a conclusion, is a concept that is completely alien to speakers of Korean. Of course, not being able to fully read Korean, I can't read any essays or papers written in that language, which only leaves me to fantasize at what sort of roundabout stream-of-consciousness three-ring-circuses their papers must be. When I've asked my Korean friends about Korean essay writing, it's been explained that such linear organization as is found in western papers is unnecessary to accommodate the eastern way of thinking.

Of course, this alternate way of thought expression involved in the learning of Korean is only one of several hurdles English speakers have to overcome. Add to it things such as foreign sounds (such as the notoriously difficult-to-pronounce "eu"), verb conjugation, different speech patterns depending on level of formality, and words that simply have no equivalent in English, and one can clearly see the myriad obstacles that English speakers encounter on their way to becoming fluent in Korean. I'd like to see Antonio Banderas and his rugged Latino good looks deal with that.---

Happy Monday! Time for Scotch

If you regularly read my blog you'll know that I've been invited by my friend Will Haas to write a blog on scotch, and that I was having trouble finding a good single malt scotch whiskey and that I was considering trying a blended scotch.  Well, tonight while on an ice run to the store I found a 10 year old Glenmorangie single malt.  Hopefully it lives up to the other scotch whiskeys that I've tried.  Probably not tomorrow, maybe on the fourth.

This is where I plan to sample said scotch:

Being an Expert

A wise man once told me the definition of 'expert,' someone who lives at least a thousand miles away. (Thanks dad, I've always loved that practical wisdom!) The main reason I bring this up is the Supreme Court ruling on "Obamacare" today. Well, when it was announced Tyler Starline posted a funny meme photo about the ruling:

I read an interesting article on Google+ (that I can't find now, unfortunately) about the decision. To sum up the article it was written by a woman that was actually at the hearing to announce the decision which is a pretty cool perspective. The article talked about the presentation of their decision and how John G. Roberts actually seemed to disagree with the passing of the law but still found it to be constitutional. The crux of the matter, according to the article is that it's a tax. The government cannot, constitutionally, force people to purchase anything. However, since the law is set up so that you don't have to buy healthcare as long as you pay the tax. It's like an optional tax, that you can decide to whom you want to pay the healthcare tax. If you want to personally procure it then by all means go right ahead, if you don't want to buy it, you pay a special tax. Therefore, it's constitutional as a special tax. Much like if you don't want to buy a house you don't have to pay property taxes. Anyways, the way it was written made me think about the qualities of true experts.

My dad always made that joke (that I started out with) in reference to his time in the business world when they would hire a consultant (read: expert) to come in and give the company advice on how to resolve some problem. Well, after reading the article people continue to blast the law and talk about how unconstitutional it is, etc. etc. etc. My response to these busybodies: Really!? You're more knowledgeable than the Supreme Court Justices!? Somehow I don't think Joe Schmoe Facebooker knows more about constitutional law than the Supreme Court. If you want to continue to debate the idea and discuss the dissenting views that's one thing, but to say flat out that they're wrong is akin to claiming you're better than the real experts.

As much as I don't like it, it's here to stay (unless recalled by the senate). Write your congressman, or vote for a different one if you really want to affect change.

Alex learning to snorkel

Language Change (among other things)

First, a word from the text I've been reading about linguistics. The second half of the first chapter is about language change. The main point being to NOT be too pessimistic or conservative towards language change, because, frankly speaking it's going to happen whether you like it or not. As I talked about in a previous post the Academies in Europe failed at preserving their respective languages, there's no way to stop it. To put it in the vernacular don't get your panties in a twist you can't do anything about the change. The problems pessimists complain about now are the same, or at least similar to the pessimists of the past, language change is nothing new. Also, there's no predicting language change; it doesn't follow patterns, it doesn't 'evolve' as evolution is generally defined. It doesn't progress or regress. There are (to some extent) predictable changes to languages, if one looks at a larger social/cultural picture, but by and large it's an ebb and flow of change not a progression.

On the topic of philosophy, I've continued on to the second in the series on the History of Philosophy.  Today's topic was the next in line from Thales on pre-Socratic philosophy. The only thing interesting (to me) was this next set of thinkers (attempted to) conceptualize the idea of the infinite. One postulated an infinite intangible 'thing' that everything comes from. The other thought of air as the infinite source of all existence. Of course, that may not seem significant but really the attempt to conceptualize the infinite(ness) is an important step in philosophy. Honestly, no matter how hard we, as humans, try we will NEVER be able to understand the infinite. Think about this concept: if evolutionary/atheistic theory is correct, the universe is infinite. There is no such thing as time, it has always gone on and will always continue. Of course, if the theistic view from the Bible is true then only God is infinite. There's no way we can conceive this; we see such a tiny picture of reality.

One last topic, I've been invited by my friend Will Haas to write a post on scotch whiskey, and he's going to reciprocate with a post on photography here. I generally prefer single malt scotch whiskey, however, there's only Glenfiddich and Glenlivet here at the on-base liquor store and I've had both of them on multiple occasions. I'm thinking about branching out and trying a blended malt and the options there are slim too. So, I need recommendations, should I go for a Johnnie Walker, or venture out to a local liquor store and see if they have other options (assuming I can read the labels). I have a Japanese friend that we went to church with in Omaha, he said that scotch whisky is popular in Japan. Of course he is from mainland Japan and things might be different here on the island. I need a good one to write up a review on.

Underwater photography is fun!

Don't Ask Don't Tell

Yeah another topic I don't generally feel comfortable writing about for several reasons.  Mainly, I don't really care all that much about people's sexual preference and whether or not they choose to serve in the military.  However, I read an article the other day and saw a commercial on Armed Forces Network (AFN) TV this morning that angered me.

I don't generally mind stuff that I consider "reverse discrimination" like African American History month, Hispanic Heritage month etc.  I can understand some amount of memorial time for past (and to some degree) present racial inequalities, but this it TOTALLY different.  It's like sexual preference reverse discrimination.

I don't go around accosting people that profess to be homosexual with the Bible and insisting that they repent of their sins ere they die and go to hell.  I don't think that's the best way to approach the issue.  It's pretty clear both biblically and biologically that homosexuality is not natural, so people that choose that lifestyle are not going to respond to that kind of approach.  All that being said...  I can't stand militant, *insert philosophy here*...

Apparently, along with the Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal the Department of Defense is now having some kind of gay pride celebration month.  This morning I was eating my breakfast and the AFN sports channel was playing (as always) and a commercial with a message from the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF), Leon Panetta, welcoming gays and members of the LBGT community into the military.  Now, I know the SECDEF says thank you to everyone serving fairly regularly, but when was the last time he said ...we appreciate all heterosexual monogamous couples serving...  Celebrate diversity in gender, race, and culture among other things, but let's not celebrate sin.

About Blog Layout

My wife (Michelle) recently commented that she couldn't read my blog because the formatting and letter color. That, coupled with the format I was using was (for no reason at all) changing the formatting to highlighted, which was completely illegible. So, in order to make my blog a little easier on the eyes and to avoid having to redo the formatting on every post, I've changed to a much simpler style. If you have any comments on readability of the text (or on the content) please let me know.

Wesley, taking a picture of his own foot while swimming

Grammar

I'm sure you're reading the title of this post and groaning, I don't know many people who like grammar or even the idea of grammar but as I'm reading the first chapter of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, (I know, sounds like enthralling reading eh?) I'm trying to formulate my opinion regarding prescriptivism and descriptivism in regards to grammar.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) my opinion on prescriptivist versus descriptivist gramar ends with one word that can be used in many many different areas of life; balance. According to the text modern grammarians/linguists agree with me, there should be a balance of some sort between prescribing rules and describing patterns. In the past I have always fallen on the more prescriptive side of the house, and I still correct people's grammar (especially my children and sometimes my wife). However, I'm not blind nor am I an idiot. Language change happens and there's nothing we can do about it. The academies set up in several European countries (noticeably NOT in England, and NOT in the US) failed to stop language change. According to the text I'm reading even the LAW in France couldn't stop the anglicization of French so some degree. The realist in me says if they couldn't stem the tide of language change what makes me think that I can? The traditionalist (read: conservative) in me says NOOOO, language has rules and grammar for a logical reason, so that we can all understand each other and have a common framework with which to communicate.

Reading this text, and in no small way, my recent Korean review class; I've decided to try to be a little more openminded toward language change. My current postulate on the issue is such: Teach correct grammar, syntax, spelling and other language rules, and when anomalies occur when they've been accepted by the general public and are commonly understood by the general culture, accept them as language change. Then after an anomaly has become accepted by culture to the point where everyone understands it and has used it for a long time ('long time' being subjective on purpose) then incorporate it into teaching. However, that all being said there should be plenty of recorded history of language as it once was. The comprehensive dictionary, (of course limited dictionaries will have to pare down their lists of words to fit in compact volumes) for example, should NEVER take out words, words that have fallen out of common usage should simply have some kind of note stating such. I'm sure some of my ideas are already in use, especially the one about archaic words being noted as such in the dictionary, as I've seen such notations in the dictionary in the past.

Much of my reservations on this topic stem from our future generations' becoming even worse than we are at forgetting our traditions and history. I feel that we, as a global society, are constantly losing touch with our history. The pervasive thought (seemingly worldwide) is that newer is better and older is worse. A funny quote that I've only heard in the children's cartoon movie The Incredibles, one of the final scenes two old men are talking:

"See that?"
"Eh"
"That's the way to do it, that's old school."
"Yeah, no school like the old school."

Morality and Marriage

It's an interesting paradox that I chose to name my blog "Life Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness" because many people would use that quote to defend homosexual marriage.  I read an interesting opinion piece from The New York Times about how the author changed his opinion about gay marriage.  Accordingly I thought I'd take a crack at the topic.  I know it's a hot topic that gets people up-in-arms quite quickly.

My first thought when reading that opinion piece was that many of the points the writer made were actually great arguments against gay marriage.  I.e. "...children have the right, insofar as society makes it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world. I didn’t just dream up this notion: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which came into force in 1990, guarantees children this right."  I have also been reading a small pamphlet about what the Bible says about various social issues.  The chapter on gay marriage what written by Answers in Genesis' Ken Ham.  A respected author that I admire.  His comments on the subject were, not surprisingly, rooted in the Genesis account and started off with the old atheists' attempt at casting doubt on the Genesis story about Cain and Able; "Where did Cain get his wife?"  While that might not really seem to be connected to the issue (other than the question is about marriage) he easily turns question around and links the issue of gay marriage with a much deeper issue of morality.

I used to say something to the effect of; if our country/culture which is built on freedom defines marriage as any person with any other person then as the majority decides, so be it.  So as that New York Times opinion article is titled, I have also changed my view on gay marriage.  Of course my opinion has changed in the opposite direction, I now feel that, as a nation we should resist the loss of morality as evidenced in the acceptance of gay marriage.  I'm not going to go on any rampage and protest or join the crazies from Westboro Baptist Church (which by the way if you've never looked into it, is actually very politically motivated).  It's still a biblical mandate to love one another and to show God's love but I do not accept gay marriage at all.

There are many other arguments against gay marriage including a very simple biological argument that says, two people of the same gender cannot reproduce, therefore it is not natural that two such people should have that type of relationship.  There's another, albeit less viable argument that says, children raised in same gender homes have developmental problems.  The main problem with that argument is that it hasn't been completely proven to be true.

So, I'm going to stick to my guns on this issue.  God decides what is right and wrong, and has clearly stated that homosexuality and gay marriage is wrong.  Therefore it is wrong and should be abhorred.  Any trip down the road towards a loss of morality only leads to a more debased culture/society and eventually a breakdown in society itself.  Without a moral standard, a clear statement of right versus wrong, all reasons and foundations for rule of law are worthless.  Without the rule of law society breaks down and there's nothing but anarchy. 

Health and Fitness

Do you ever feel old?  I feel old today.  I've had a sore foot all day and a sore knee all day, it seems like age has hit me harder today that usual.  I know I'm not the most healthy person, I don't diet (other than the see-food diet) and I'm not really in shape (though round is a shape).  That being said I do try to workout and I enjoy running and my Saturday bike rides are fun.  It seems like my diet must really be the main problem in taking off weight.

According to a rough BMI calculator (height to weight ratio) I'm obese.  It's tough because I love food, and I continually eat too much food.  I workout, probably more than the average person, I workout with out unit physical training sessions three days a week, then on Saturday mornings I go for a bike ride with a pretty fast club.  Then on Sunday morning I run with a local group that runs (fairly slowly) between 6-8.5 miles.  Oh, on top of that I spend one or two nights hitting my heavy punching bag for 6-8 rounds alternating jump rope and hitting the bag with various styles.

WHY then can't I seem to lose any weight!?  Why does it seem like my body is breaking down.  I'm not old!  I think it's time to buckle down and change my diet.

Does anyone else have this type of problem?  I can't be the only one that exercises but still can't lose weight.  It seems like in the past I've never had a problem with weight, not that I ate any healthier just that I worked out enough that it didn't seem to matter what I ate.  Now it seems that no matter how much I workout I can't lose weight consistently.

Invitation, Et. Al.

First off, the invitation.  If any of you are bloggers and would like to write up an entry for my blog or are interested in me writing up an entry for your blog, please let me know.  I'm not technically an "expert" in anything really, but I do have an interest in a variety of topics.

Secondly the 'et. al.' I started up studying some philosophy today, by listening to a podcast. The podcast is the 'History of Philosophy' and it starts off with the ancient pre-Socratic philosopher Thales with the subtitle: Everything is Full of Gods.  I'm not going to bore you with the details as it was kind of dry.  The podcast covers the history of western philosophy starting with Thales through as one continuous narrative to modern philosophy.  I still haven't found a good philosophy text though I'm leaning towards finding one that is NOT about the history of philosophy since I'm already listening to this podcast.

Though it's indiscernable to you, I just took an hour-long interlude to play a volleyball game since they were short on players.

Unfortunately there's nothing to update on the rewrite of the language book.  I've tried to contact the author and the publishing company to no avail so far.  Hopefully I hear back soon.

Don't have any photos relating to this topic so here's just a random one, they have AWESOME slides here on island:

Big Government

This isn't one of my usual topics but a friend of mine asked me to write an editorial for his page www.oneletter.org concerning big government, term limits etc.  Which, as I said, isn't one of my typical topics but I've been thinking about these issues for a long time and even read some other blog/editorial sources about these topics lately so here goes.

The problem of big government is much more convoluted that just having too many laws, not having term limits, governmental corruption etc.  I have a fairly unique perspective, being in the military and a student of foreign language and culture.  Additionally, I am currently living overseas and thereby accountable to not only US laws but local law, Status of Forces Agreements and military regulations.  So, I have the perspective of being accountable to more laws and regulations than the average person.

One of the recent blogs on this topic that I've read lately was from NPR's regular feature 13.7 Cosmos and Culture the most telling quote in the 18 June post: "Laws Of Unintended Consequence: A Warning To Policymakers."

"A law may be passed with noble intentions. but its uses inevitably stray far from its original purpose.  As the legal system evolves dynamically, laws come to serve as adjacent possible niches, typically for the benefit of the powerful and to the detriment of the powerless.  The more numerous the laws, and the heavier the sanctions, the greater the opportunity for persecution of the innocent."

Also, in a recent posting from Natural News concerning the recently proposed ban on large sodas in NYC.  The most obvious outcome from such a forward proposal is that if the government can outlaw something so personal as how much soda one drinks what else can they outlaw?  Where does the personal-life-invasion stop?  My personal thoughts on this issue actually take a different turn.  I personally think that instead of healthcare/welfare reform, we should consider health/welfare abolition.  The logic goes like this; if the government is responsible for your personal welfare then the government has every right to tell you how to live your life.

Take seatbelt laws...  NOT wearing your seatbelt (while a dumb idea, that I don't subscribe to at all) is an inherently personal decision that doesn't hurt anyone else if you don't wear your seatbelt.  Because all liberty stops when one's actions infringe on someone else's rights.  (E.g. you're free to drink alcohol, and free to drive, just not both at the same time because when one combines the two it often infringes on other's right to live, i.e. a car accident that more often than not leaves the drunk driver alive.)  So, if the government is responsible for your health, read: governmental healthcare, then the government can enforce whatever health restrictions it wants.  If there's no such thing as government provided healthcare/welfare then the government will have no (logical) right to tell you how to be healthy.

A quote Natural News sums this up quite well; "Be on red alert any time you hear, 'We're from the government, and we're here to protect you from yourself.'  These are quite possibly the twelve most dangerous words ever uttered in America. Because from this illogical and liberty-crushing premise, the government can justify any and all invasions of your privacy."

Language Learning Book Idea

I think I might want to start writing a book.  What do you think?  I really don't want to write a completely new book per se, I want to update a book that I read a few years ago that has, in some ways, been out of date for years even a few years ago when I read it.  It's called How to Learn Any Language; Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and On Your Own.  I read the book several years ago and I recently listened to an interesting podcast about language learning and it inspired me to look more into it.  Looking back a the book I realized (again) that though some of the things mentioned in the book are terribly out of date, e.g. mentions of numerous tape players including portable ones (as if they are a new development).  So I think I'd like to take on the tremendous job of rewriting the book with updated ideas like CDs, .mp3 formats, podcasts etc.  The over-arching ideas in the book are wonderful, hence the reason I'd like to update the text.  That and I think the author's ideas/methods are overlooked by many linguists and I'd like to get the ideas from the text out into the world.

There are so many obstacles to my idea...

One, I SUCK at finishing things: I started putting my wife's family cookbook into eBook format with the program iBooks Author, yeah not done yet.  I also started writing a beginner music textbook, also not done yet.  Granted, the cookbook and textbook were pretty much spur of the moment ideas that I didn't really plan out.  Of course so far this one is too!

Second, I have NO IDEA where to start!  I know that one of the most important things I should knock out first is contacting the original author and getting his permission to do this project.  I also need to get permission from the publishing company (if there is one) to do the update also.  I need to find a publishing output also, though I'm pretty sure the iBook Author program has a publishing option built into the application.

Third, I don't really know if I'm qualified to write a book even an update to a book.  I know it doesn't technically require any expertise to write a book but I'd like all the work I plan to put into this to do someone somewhere some good.

It reads: "Heaven (or Sky) Park" (the name of the park)

I don't particularly have any language-related photos, so I'll just post one from my trip to Korea: (yes, that was our "Adventure Dog," that I lost in Italy on my last trip to the desert)

Another Great Day

I know, I'm killing you all by constantly recounting my frequent trips to the beach but I just have to give a quick run down of my day...

This morning I went for the longest bike ride I've ever done in my life, 34.7mi all over the southern part of the island.  Then we ran some errands, got some stuff to prepare for the impending typhoon.  Then leftovers for lunch, and then left for the beach.  We just had to, the weather was too nice!  Did lots of snorkeling and just kind of sat in the ocean.  Alex is doing a great job learning how to swim and snorkel.  The rest of the day has been relatively uneventful now we're watching one of the Narnia Chronicles movies.

Back to what I was talking about the other day.  Philosophy...  I know enthralling subject matter eh?  I've found several books on the Korean book website, though still haven't sorted out the address issue so I can purchase any of them.  Found a pleasant assortment of podcasts to subscribe to about philosophy.  I love podcasts unfortunately I never seem to find enough time in my day to watch/listen to all the ones to which I've subscribed.  Still haven't found an English philosophy book but even as I write this I'm going to start searching all the ebook options I have for a good introductory philosophy book.

We didn't take any photos of our trip to the beach today but of course we have many from previous trips so here you go.

Ahhh the Beach

Well, as an update on the philosophy study...  I haven't done ANYTHING!  Ha!  Well, that's not entirely true, the online Korean eBook store that I have been in contact with because I can't input my APO address because they don't have the APO AP option for the state, emailed me back about my inquiry.  Of course it took me about 30 minutes to craft a reply (I'm too OCD and have to have everything spelled correctly and I don't want to look stupid misspelling easy Korean words).

Anyways, on to more important things!  We had a nice day today, my Korean classmates and teacher all came over to our house and we grilled out and sat around chatting.  It was funny to talk to the teacher in Korean and every once in a while Rob Marion would talk about/in Japanese.  Of course Michelle doesn't speak either language so we'd have to translate some for her.  Then once everyone was gone we went to the beach.

We LOVE the beach, we'd pretty much live there if we could.  I spent nearly two full hours in the water.  The most important thing of all though, Alex (our older son), started swimming!  Michelle has been working with him on floating on his back.  Usually she always supports him for a few seconds then lets go to get him used to floating on his own.  Well, today he just started floating on his back all on his own, then he started swimming.  Of course it looked a little like drowning but he was definitely moving forward and then when he was floating on his back he started doing the backstroke all by himself without being prompted.  He wasn't scared to put his face in the water with or without his mask.  Wesley then joined in and tried using the snorkel and mask.  With Michelle's help he tried using the mask and snorkel for a while, but according to the lifeguard snorkeling isn't allowed in the swimming area.

Whatever you're doing where ever you are I hope you're having as much fun as we have on the beach. This picture wasn't taken today but it is of Wes getting the hang of snorkeling.

Philosophy

I may have missed my calling in life...

I read an article about East-Asian philosophy and how it's generally ignored by western philosophers.  Of course that got me on a trek to find a book on Korean philosophy written in Korean.  I still haven't succeeded but I will keep searching till I find one.  I kind of wish I had studied philosophy in school.  Of course now that I'm looking into East-Asian philosophy I see how lacking my understanding of western philosophy is.  I took a class on ethics in college and that only whet my appetite for understanding philosophy.

Honestly I don't really know where to start.  I really want to take a class on philosophy especially eastern philosophy.  I think I might try finding an iTunes U channel on philosophy.  I also need to find a good philosophy book, I've kind of gone digital when it comes to reading (don't get me wrong, I love the feel of a good paperbound book sometimes but eBooks are just so convenient.

I don't usually ask for comments... but anyone reading this have any ideas/suggestions for good teach-yourself philosophy books/sources?

Call Guinness Book of World Records!

I have officially blogged two days in a row!

You want to know what's on my mind today?  Well, if you're reading this I assume you care...  I HATE copyright law.  No offense if any of you work in that field I'm sure you can look yourself in the mirror every night after putting in a hard day's work squelching creative thought.  I'm exaggerating of course, but seriously.  The reason I've been thinking about this all day is an article we read (in Korean cir 2010) about the Korean version of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) suing Starbucks for not paying royalties.  The defense (according to the article) was that they had a contract with the American copyright company which is where the music came from so there shouldn't be any issue.  Well, apparently the court ruled in favor of the copyright company.

Then after reading the article I looked into some other examples in the US.  Apparently I was previously mistaken.  I thought that as long as you didn't have a certain number of people attend you could charge admission without having to pay royalties.  According to some of the web forums I've researched basically boil down to: if you buy a movie or song for private home use, you cannot show, watch or listen to that entertainment with anyone but your own family.  Which is disconcerting because we just bought an awesome home projector/home entertainment system and we were hoping to host many a fun movie night in our home.

Some Recent Developments

I just finished reading a blog about blogging and felt the inspiration to take up blogging some again.  I liked the suggestions there EXCEPT the one about devoting time to blogging.  I don't have the time to blog twice a day!  I do read dozens of blogs a day and I should definitely incorporate more photographs in my blog but here I am just writing what I've been thinking about.

My wife and I just  finished the movie Act of Valor.  It was decent, better than the rotten tomato ratings.  The reviews were pretty straightforward, it was mostly a recruiting movie for the SEALs.

In general though life here in Okinawa has been, simply put, AWESOME!  We go to the beach regularly, we're trying to get signed up for SCUBA lessons, I run with a nice local run club, and I've ridden once with a road-biking club.  If you don't like swimming or spending time outdoors I can kind of understand not liking living here but in general no one should ever complain about living here.

Update

I know I don't post very often and I wish I could, but to be honest I generally don't have anything cool to talk about.

Finally I have made it to probably the best assignment I could have.  I'm now living on the island of Okinawa.  It's pretty much a sub-tropical paradise that I've loved every minute of.  My family has also had a great time so far.  We go to the beach all the time, I've joined a small running club and biking club.  The weather here is pretty much awesome almost all the time.  It rains more than back in Omaha, Monterey or Ohio, but even the rain is pleasant.  We've gone snorkeling a few times and look forward to many more times as the water around here is wonderful.  Michelle and I are also going to try to get into a SCUBA class also.  Basically the ocean is always calling and I want to answer its call.

In general the next few years are going to be some of the best I've had.

Return Home

Well, obviously I'm not too concerned about keeping up with blogging since I haven't written in months! But, I've finally come home from being deployed. Now I'm back home getting settled in to being back home. Our three-year-old, Wesley, is taking gymnastics class. He's hilarious! One of the best in his class he makes me so proud!

It's funny, seeing my son play and have fun at gymnastics makes me want to go back to CrossFit. Might seem odd, the correlation there, but anyone who knows CrossFit knows there's lots of cool gymnastics workouts included in CrossFit. Anyways, I need to find a gym!

Language Learning

I once read the book "How to Learn Any Language; Quickly, Easily, Inexpensively, Enjoyably and On Your Own" by Barry Farber. Then last night I watched the movie "Limitless," and it got me thinking about learning languages again. I have always loved learning foreign languages! But for some reason I've never really gotten around to putting Mr. Farber's advice on language learning into practice. Now, I think since I'm deployed and I can use my free time however I want, maybe I should start back up learning another language.

Modern technology is amazing! I have at my fingertips, all kinds of great language learning tools. Now, the question is how to use them and what language to start studying.

Japanese
Pros: I'm going to be living there next year so it'll be useful, it's closely related to Korean (grammatically) so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Cons: it really is actually difficult; multiple alphabets, no direct teacher to help me sort through the complexities.

French
Pros: beautiful language, useful throughout Europe, friend here that speaks it natively and can help, I've studied it once before so I have a head start.

Cons: no direct usefulness, no definite need/future usefulness (i.e. I doubt I'll be visiting a French speaking country any time soon).

Any other language
Pros: joy of learning a language

Cons: no plans and probably no teachers, unknown future usefulness.

Still haven't made a decision I'll post more when I decide.

Apple products

I have a couple computer savvy friends that made fun of me for getting this iPad. Even so, this is nothing short of a shameless plug for all Apple products. I am nothing less than very impressed with the iPad, iPod Touch, and classic iPod I have.

I know they're not for everyone, but I think I may never go back to IBM compatible products again! They have been quite user-friendly and the battery life on all the products I have is simply amazing. While I'm deployed battery life and convenience are the most important features in any electronics. I don't have high speed Internet and, more importantly I don't have time to mess with something to make it work.

None of my Apple products crash, and if they do, it's quite easy and quick to recover from and doesn't take any time to restart. They have an amazing array of apps that can do even more than my standard laptop. I regularly call and text my family back home via the Internet for free! If all Apple products are this user-friendly I might just have to stick with them from now on. Sure they're more expensive, but I'm willing to pay for the convenience.

Video Games

I like playing video games, they're fun. I'm not good at any video games and I don't want to be better, I play to have fun. Also, our unit here deployed has a morale room devoted to watching TV/movies and playing video games. Generally it's lots of fun to hang out there, however, today I went in for a few minutes since it's my day off to check the schedule and hang out for a little while playing video games. Well, it started out fun as I was playing with another person in the squadron who's really good at the game and he was destroying me. *I don't care about being bad at the game. Well, a couple more people joined in and it was even more fun. Then, a couple other people from the squadron came in the room... it suddenly stopped being fun! Because this new group of people started continuously heckling the couple of us that don't play the game very well. I have generally pretty thick skin when it comes to being picked on so it wouldn't really bother me, but today for some reason it bothered me quite a bit. Maybe it's because I really don't care about being good at video games and I know that being good at video games gets you absolutely no where in life. Hell, if anything being good at video games is actually detrimental to having a real life. Technically it's the taking the time and effort to be good at video games that is detrimental to having a real life but the ideas are linked.

Anyways, all this to say, if you enjoy video games and you're good at them BIG DEAL, only other video game players care. Also, don't heckle people that aren't good at whatever video game you're good at because they probably have a real life that is much better than yours.

You know what makes me mad!?!

First off, let me start off with a little background:

I ride a bike, both here deployed and when home.
I know the rules of the road concerning biking on the road.
I signal appropriately if there is another vehicle at an intersection.

Well, apparently many people don't understand that it's better and safer to treat bicyclists just like you would a slow moving car. For example, I was riding along coming up to a simple four-way stop. There was a truck already about to stop at the four-way coming the opposite direction. That truck, stopped well before I got to the intersection, and instead of proceeding as normal, the truck waited and flashed his lights at me. Now obviously the person was trying to be nice and let me go first but really, it's much safer and easier on bikers if you just behave as an ordinary vehicle. I only mention this because it's happened at least twice in the past two days.

So please, if you drive, which I assume that anyone reading this blog does, don't go out of your way and drive differently around bicyclists it only impedes their riding and the rest of traffic.

Deployment Life

First off let me say this deployment hasn't been too bad. I'm actually not having tons of fun and I miss my family but it's not been nearly as bad as last year.

So I'll give you a run down of my typical day (at least as it's been the last two weeks)

0600: Wake up go for a run, then shower and get dressed (usually in PT gear)
0730: Ride bike to breakfast
0830: Ride bike to work
0915: Change clothes into flight uniform and start work
1730-1830: Depending on the work day ride bike to dinner about this time
1800/1900 or so: ride back to room
2000: Go to crossfit workout (absolutely insanely difficult workouts) then shower
2100-0000 Free time, usually go to the internet cafe and text/call wife and kids, check email, etc.

So there you have it, if I'm not sleeping working or eating I'm probably working out. Though I've been at this for over a week and a half now (I did take a couple days off working out) I've only lost 1 pound. I've been cutting back on how much I eat too, I'm assuming that I've been building muscle (which weighs more than fat) so I'm in better shape just not any lighter.

Third Thing...

Well, to be totally honest I totally forgot what I was going to talk about last time I blogged and said I had three things to talk about. Oh well, the main thing now is my current deployment.

I just deployed overseas again, same as last year only to a different location. Well, fortunately for me EVERYTHING (almost) is way better! Really, the only thing that isn't as nice as last year is the housing situation. And, even that isn't really that bad I have great roommates that aren't noisy and don't turn on lights needlessly. The only thing remotely bad about this location is the bathrooms are separate from the bed room buildings. So if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night you have to get fully dressed with sandals, and reflective belt, and walk (about 100yds) to the bathroom. I guess if I had to find something else wrong it's the large number of people here that are nit picky about rules like the reflective belt along with other uniform rules. Oh and one of those other things... the Vibram toe shoes are completely prohibited here. It'd be nice if I could get that changed but I doubt it. Oh, I guess technically I'd like to be able to get internet in my room (I might I haven't really tried). Other than those slight negative things, pretty much everything else here is so much better. I like the unit here much better. The squadron is full of people that like to hang out together. There's a nice morale-room in the squadron with different game systems and thousands of movies and other videos, and people like to hang out in there. It makes for a MUCH better environment around the squadron which basically means this deployment by and large will be much better than last year's.

Two Thoughts... Well really three but I'll save the third for later

I know I generally dislike discussing politics but I read an interesting article and watched an interesting argument on Fox News that I want to mention it here...

There's a huge debate brewing in congress about raising the debt ceiling on the US government spending. Now, in general I am a Republican in the idea that I believe the government should be smaller. Ideally the government should only be in charge of regulation of taxes and inter-state commerce and international trade, and of course national defense. So, that being said the raising the debt ceiling will only serve to increase the amount the government borrows each year and will continue to balloon the national debt. Don't get me wrong I'm not all doom and gloom about the national debt, however, it doesn't make any sense to increase the spending limit on an already insanely huge debt. Just think about this monetarily; if you have a credit card with a bank and you constantly have the card limit maxed out and are only able to make minimum payments and never actually pay the debt off does it make sense to RAISE that credit limit? Now, technically in one sense it DOES make sense to raise the limit... because that means you can spend more and therefore owe the bank MORE money and they can charge more interest. However, there's a danger in that, because the bank is constantly in danger of the indebted person claiming bankruptcy then the bank gets little to nothing back from the debt. In the case of the government (I can't imagine what declaring bankruptcy would entail) to whom do they owe this money? I've been watching some youtube videos about this by Learn Liberty. It's difficult to imagine these amounts of money, and to whom, or where did it all go?

Second thought for my blog centers around a disturbing article I read in USA Today about girls hitting puberty sooner than ever. The article doesn't directly impact my life, I don't have any daughters (yet). However, it does bring up an over-arching point that I've struggled with as a father for a long time. Namely, the idea of kids being able to be kids! I hope that Michelle and I can provide the kind of safe family environment that our kids can be kids. I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn't had the opportunities I had as a child to run and play. I was at an advantage since I grew up on a farm in the country side, but that doesn't give me any excuses on how I raise my kids. It just makes it a little harder to get them outdoors. On top of not living on a farm or in the country, I struggle with helping my kids be kids because I've been deployed (now two summers in a row). I know it's my duty as a military member, but I can't wait until I'm done with my commitment to go wherever they tell me whenever they tell me. Unfortunately, since I'm planning on making a career of this, I'll be working in the Air Force until long after my boys are all grown up. This just means that I'll have to make good use of the time I have with them and use that time the best I can. On that note I can't wait to move to Japan, because I get to take my family, and while I'm there it's highly unlikely I'll deploy any for any length of time. So I should have three years with my family in "the Hawaii of Japan."

Negativity

If anyone actually reads this blog... sorry I've been so negative lately. Life hasn't really been what I want lately and it's been coming out in my attitude and in my blogging.

I'm still stuck in Meridian Mississippi working on the last parts of my training. Hopefully be done here soon.

Pop Culture

I think I've decided... I hate pop culture. Among other things but I really detest American pop culture. I have been blessed with being able to sit around and do things I really enjoy the last few days and this morning I sat and read the paper over lunch. Well, a couple things really hit me: first, I hate politics. I love the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and I've often wondered if one could do something like that these days. It drives me crazy, also because so many people are so passionate about their political views. I really don't care about politics in general and it bothers me how much politicians can change the nation when in reality they're just people, and we all know that all people are flawed.

Secondly, I hate pop culture. There was a mini-article about Maria Carey posing nude while 9 months pregnant with twins. WHAT!? Are you serious!? Who would do this? She's quoted in the article saying something about being nervous about doing this but wanted to share this important time in her life with her "true fans." First off, it's sad that nudity and sexual perversion has become so commonplace that the fact that she's naked doesn't seem to bother people. Then, it's scary how fans get so enamored with these "stars" that they start to think they have some real connection with these uber-rich-often-aloof-self-centered entertainers. It's particularly scary that some of these stars seem to drink up that attention and revel in it so much that they seem to fall victim to the same problem, thinking they have some real connection to these fan(atics).

I know this isn't really feasible and it's not what I should do (either as a Christian or responsible member of society), but I really want to become a hermit or at least live a hermit-like life. I know I shouldn't bury my head in the sand and ignore the changes in the world but I definitely don't want to welcome these things with open arms. So, I have this delicate balancing act to try to walk where I can be among this messed up society but not be tainted by it. Though the scary thing about that is in the old analogy my dad used to say all the time... "The gloves get muddy, the mud doesn't get 'glovey.'"