Eric Dokter

Confabulation

2008-06-25T07:40:47Z

You may or may not have experienced or heard of this phenomenon before, but here is a short explanation of it. Confabulation is when a real memory is altered by the imagination then reimplanted into the mind as the original. This was explained to me in Cognitive Science with the following example: If you see a white vase with with red roses but you recall a red vase with white roses when telling someone about it later. The memory still contains all the same parts simply recombined in a different way. It can also be characterized by the addition of details from the memory that are not part of an event but simply fabrications of imagination. It's most often characterized with false memory syndrome, wherein a person will undergo memory regression or hypnosis and will extend an memory with details that were not there prior. Like a person remembering an Alien abduction or sexual abuse that didn't really happen while under hypnosis.

The reason I bring it up is that I read an article recently on constructivist memory theory; in the article it spoke of the section of the population that Confabulation would be most common in. In Constructivist theory memories are saved in a gist fashion (without details) and in a verbatim fashion (with details) and that these are really two different things stored separately in the mind. Gist memory is better for long term storage and retrieval, but verbatim is better for short term comparison and detail work. These two types of memory can become disseparate and recombined if forced to do so.

That's the theory of how it happens now here is what the article talked about: Confabulation, outside of certain circumstances, is more common among certain members of the population then others. Those diagnosed with an eidetic memory seem to have a longer term grasp of verbatim memory then most of the population, but these memories also remain associated with their respective gist memories. Such individuals are able to bring up details of events in far greater clarity then most people, and with an accuracy that belays confabulation. In the average individual verbatim memories are soon lost when no longer associated with the gist memory, this forms the basis of memories shifting from short term to medium term. An individual would need to have near eidetic memory but not quite; a longer grasp of verbatim memory details, but a loss of association, for confabulation to form naturally. Now that's roughly what I can remember from the article; when it spoke about "certain circumstances" it meant with the use certain drugs or hypnosis etc.

The reason I care enough to talk about this is I was, in the past, diagnosed with "Near photographic memory". This was done by a psychologist when I was like 10 maybe. Mom was trying to get me qualified for GT in the state system since I was leaving Catholic school and I had to take a series of tests for it. I truly care because I think I am in the group of people that they are speaking about. I however don't want this to be one of those fortune teller like events (You'll have a good day with some dark patches, beware scruffy men and you'll turn out fine. That self fulfilling tautological common sense crap.) However I think I can remember several arguments with people of stuff like this. Especially over game rules. However I do often remember house rules or old rules for the same situation without remembering which is current. Memory is also ultimately flawed anyway since memory, imagination, and initial event all look exactly the same to the brain. It takes most of our childhood to get the separation of those things in our heads and some of us never fully get there.

Also just watched Lain again after recently watching Eva and End of Eva, so kind of in a loose mentality mind frame right now anyway. :p

Deathbed: The bed that eats people

2008-06-22T06:24:28Z

For those of you who have not heard this bit from Patton Oswalt it is incredibly funny.

And here is a small taste of that wonderful Film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBhsPP06-mA

My Psychoses

2008-06-09T15:14:54Z

Yay I didn't score very high in any group... What are yours?

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	High
Schizoid:	Moderate
Schizotypal:	High
Antisocial:	High
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Moderate
Narcissistic:	Moderate
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test -- -- Personality Disorder Information --

The Fight for Freedom

2008-06-04T14:45:46Z

An article I read this morning at the International Herald reminded me of the date, June 4th.

For those of you that have forgotten June 4th 1989 was the date of the Chinese Government crackdown on students in Tiananmen Square. What struck me in the article and made me write this post was a statistic made by foreign agencies in China. It stated that because of censorship less then 5% of Chinese nationals under the age of 25 even know about the incident in Tiananmen square. Just last year, four reporters lost there jobs for running an ad that stated simply "Remember the mothers of June 4th." None of the clerks under the reporters knew the significance when they sent it to print.

With our own Independence day just one month away, please remember that freedom is still a luxury most of this world does not afford and be thankful for the rights you can enjoy because of it.

HOLY CRAP

2008-06-03T21:59:17Z

that's really all I have to saw that doesn't get really geeky or sexist about this video.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO

2008-04-26T19:30:39Z

So for those who don't know this is the gentleman who directed Hellboy. He has a few movies on the horizon that really gird my loins.

One is Hellboy 2 that is coming out this summer, which should be awesome.

He's also recently announced that he is doing the Hobbit movie, which I should say movies. That's right he thought it was too detailed to leave anything out, so he's making two of them to cover the whole story.

He's also doing a Dr. Strange movie. If you are unfamiliar Dr. Strange is a Mage from the Marvel Comics universe. His comics are odd and movies of it have always fallen a little short because they try to make it more understandable. My hope is that the guy that brought us Hellboy can do justice to this franchise.

Now the reason for my post and girdation and ZOMG brain melting awesome. HE'S DOING THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS. Holy crap holy crap holy crap. Few things make me feel giddy but the prospect of a real thriller Lovcraftian movie on the Big screen done by a full studio is certainly one of them. Get your sanity packed up and ready to ship out people, Lovecraft is coming to the big screen.

I for one welcome our new robotic over lords...

2008-04-24T21:53:42Z

http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/04/hondas-robot-wi.html

So this story is on Asimo, the little Honda robot that could. He's going to be conducting YoYo Ma and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Honda is also announcing at the same time that they are donating money to some of the charities that the orchestra is associated with. Then Asimo must find Sara Connor.

I only have a few comments on this:

1) When is Honda going to actually put these up for sale? They have something along the lines of 7 of these Asimo prototypes and they keep upgrading them, but when will they be purchasable? Even for crazy gobs of ludicrous money I just want to know; won't buy one, just want to know.

2) They mention it in the article, but please tell me the irony and slap in the face of this being in DETROIT isn't lost on everyone. American Auto Makers, our engineers became very bored simply working on cars, unlike yours, so we put them to work on a robot. You know, as a lark. So now we came to see what else you had been working on... oh, nothing? Well, enjoy the music. We will also steal the good will of your citizens with donations to your children. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

2b) Yes, that whole conversation happened in my head when I saw the title. Yes, before I read the article. Yes, for some reason everyone in my head sounds like a German/Russian Mad Scientist when they are being cleverly evil. No, I'm not crazy. Yes, I'm sure.

3) Why didn't they simply use EMP weapons on the Terminators? Even with EM hardening you can still shutdown a system with enough power. Also, Why not X-Ray everyone before they come inside; Why use dogs? If the T-1000 was made of Liquid metal, how did it get back through the time machine? Why are you so stupid future freedom fighters? ... Why is there no Terminator MMO or RPG? Even a stupid themed FPS would be kind of cool.

4) Can you now see why my teachers had issues following my Essays in school? Yes my logic is jumpy but I still got A's. More I think because they quit reading after a while and only looked at the front half but you know, their loss.

That's it. Don't care anymore

2008-04-22T01:46:53Z

I'm tired of a response post every time I have a bad day and snap. Most people deal with it. Some people can't get through a day with out angst it seems. This may be fuel on the fire, but you know what? Fuck it. I'm tired of it. Goodbye Ann.

PS. please be so kind as to do the sensible thing and remove me from your end as well.

YAY SCIENCE

2008-04-11T14:06:51Z

So players of the Fallout games will appreciate this: http://medheadlines.com/2008/04/11/new-drug-prevents-radiation-damage/

It seems that they've gone and invented RadX. I wonder if this means there will be giant scorpions soon too.

Edit: And Mentats apparently: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/04/09/brain.drugs/?iref=mpstoryview

My God... It's full of Cute...

2008-03-27T15:06:55Z

OK linky thing no worky so http://tubbypaws.blogspot.com/2007/09/dont-touch-that-box.html.

This is horribly sickeningly undeniably causticly cute. Damn you internet, damn you.

New D&D Test

2008-03-06T22:49:45Z

I felt that in honor of the death of Gary Gygax I would look up a good one of these and try it out.

When did my alignment change to LG? WAIT, I'M WHAT CLASS!?!?!?!

... Hmm with these stats I should of been a bard or something, maybe I'll talk the DM into letting me do a prestige class for some martially type guy. So many odd stats, did I get my extra stat point yet?... Heh but I'm a 50 point character, awesome.

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Wizard (4th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-15

Dexterity-15

Constitution-16

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-14

Charisma-16

Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Adam the Serpent and the Garden

2008-02-14T20:59:20Z

Please see earlier post on religion for the ground rules.

This will be the last post for today I promise. This is a discussion of a topic that many people address often. Why do we have evil in the world. The easiest way to answer this question is in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Weather this story is a statement of fact, an analogy, or simply a fable is not at discussion. What is at discussion here is what the story teaches us about God's intentions.

We should all be familiar with the story of Adam and Eve there are many versions of the story out there if you look at texts from the time of Genesis and one in particular is the first book of the Christian bible.

God created the World, Man, and the Beasts of nature, He looked upon his creation and proclaimed it good. This is a world that contained no Sin, no death, no illness, and no pain. God placed but a single rule upon Adam and Eve, do not eat from the tree of Knowledge. If They had followed this rule there would still be no Sin or evil in the world. Then came into the world a serpent and this serpent was temptation. This is the first indication of any wrong in the world. God's original intention was for us to live in peace we would be as happy a a clam and there would've been no death. Temptation came to Eve and made her eat of the fruit, she then went to Adam and he ate of the fruit. Then with knowledge they looked upon themselves and saw their shame. They clothed themselves and hid from God's sight. We chose to eat the apple, we chose to commit a sin in the Garden. We became intelligent but with it came the knowledge of things that were bad and things that were wrong. With this apple into us came Sin. God then looked for Adam and Eve and upon finding he asked why they hid. They told him of the tree and the apple. With a sad heart God them commanded them to leave the Garden never again to enter it's borders. With knowledge came pain and disease. With Sin came death. God gave us a choice, an easy road or a hard road. The easy road was contentment and a world without Sin. The hard road was one of enlightenment, but also one of pain and death. We chose the hard road.

The tree represents temptation, because we are intelligent and God made us in his image we can make the choice to give into temptation or not. The basis of our religion revolves around this choice, do we follow God or not. Every person is given that choice. Being in God's image has nothing to do with body or power, it has to do with free will. God did not want drones in the Garden, God wanted companions. We choose in this life for our place in the next. Some people are blessed with an easy life and an easy choice. They have good homes, stable families, loving relationships, good jobs. These people still have a choice, thank God for your life or take it for Granted. Some people live hard lives lack of home life, addiction to worldly things, dangerous lives. These people may ask for Gods grace to deal with the situation or succumb to the turmoil that surrounds them. There is ultimately evil in the world because this world is not Heaven. This world contains the temptation of Sin and the pains of life. In the end we all die. Death is not a bad thing for the dead though, this is their chance to choose, if they chose God they go to Heaven and the pain of this world is done. The biggest saving grace for this life and it's pain is that it is all impermanent. Pain, death disease, and Sin are all qualities you leave at death's door. Heaven awaits you in the hereafter. So all in all we have pain so that there is a choice and we have death to be free of Sin.

Both of these views were told to me by separate priests and in the end both of these views require faith in one thing or another to swallow. If you have no faith in religion or God, then I do not know an answer for you, but that is the choice to have faith or not. One thing I can say is that christians do not look for this world to be fair, the view that life has to work out before you die is not held by any major christian creed that I know of. We look for life to become fair after death, and our faith in that carries us through till we die.

I'm not sure that I've answered to point on this one. If anyone has anything they disagree with or would like to discuss or simply like to ask, please let me know.

Misconceptions and Definitions

2008-02-14T20:12:10Z

See previous religion posts for the Ground Rules:

Many non-Catholics have a dim view of the church and her peoples and several even go so far as to spout non-truths to others in order to discredit us and our faith. I would like to use this post to attend to some of those in some small way if I am able. That being said, in the comments you may post any idea you have about our Religion and I will try to answer them. Please specify what it is that you want answered and please try not to double up.

The Mystery of The Holy Trinity is probably one of the worst places for us to explain ourselves. Note that the whole thing is called a "Mystery" and the mechanics of it are meant to be something humans simply can't understand. The concept is not that hard and that's what I will try to explain here but if it seems over simplified that may be my fault, so please bear with me. At its' base this is one of the core beliefs of our religion. The Mystery of The Holy Trinity states that God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct beings but one God in Spirit and in Essence. This means that God and Jesus when they talk or argue in the Bible are actually doing so, not just putting on a show for those present, as some scholars put forth. Jesus as a man was not omniscient as no man is, but was no less God. The Holy Spirit that came upon the the apostles was not the voice of God or Jesus, but the Spirit that works on earth to this day. Now this is not to say that we follow three gods. These are all God in the big sense of the word and there is only one God, they are not pieces or aspects of God, they are not the avatars of God in some lessened simplified sense. They are God. Now if all that sounds contradictory then thinking in the right direction. This is one of the points of faith in our religion, that none of that makes any real logical sense but we believe it anyway. Some Protestants especially like to say we are closet polytheists because of this belief because of the separation of apparent powers or personages, but that is part of the belief and part of the not understandable part of the Mystery.

This concept spreads over into Orthodoxy as well as Catholicism. The keeping of statues paintings and images of the Christ and the Saints. The Church is often called out as Idollic for keeping a Crucifix in the church and for other images and statues on church buildings and in places of worship. The definition of an Idol is :an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed. The thing I would like to point out here is the "to which religious worship is addressed." This means that Idol worshippers directly give praise and honor to the object. Statues and other images are reminders in the church, like family photos, some have sentimental value or value as art or historical pieces. Statues are not given any religious value or worth. They are objects pure and simple. Some may believe that miracles take place on or through an object but they are not BY the object. Statues are not given some magical power to call upon God's power, but the Holy Spirit may work near or through an object as readily as not. The Crucifix is the same. The Crucifix is a constant visual reminder that Jesus died for us, in pain on a plank of wood. The object itself has no power or value, but the reminder renews faith and refreshes thanks.

This is an idea as old as the Church but still as misunderstood as it was by the Romans. Christians have, since their inception, borrowed images and festivals dates and even traditions from other cultures to explain concepts to outsiders. The dates of all Holidays on the Catholic Calender are artificial, that is, all the dates on the Calender are set for convenience not because they are the anniversary of the event. The prime holidays are mostly based on the dates of old Roman or Pagan holidays. These dates and their images were retooled by Christians to explain our religion to the indigenous peoples in a way that they would understand and would be accepting to them. Most Christmas traditions we have were old Germanic beliefs that were retold with a Christian spin on them, most of which have since been removed again in the US. Even in the New World Franciscan monks took native beliefs and retold them from a Christian point of view. The thought was that the Natives weren't wrong about events that happened they simply misunderstood the message. From a cynic point of view, it's easier to make someone listen when you don't start by telling them they are ignorant and everything they know is wrong. Some critics of Christianity try to use this to undermine our religion but I feel it's one of it's strong suits when used to bring others to the faith and strengthen our Christian community.

Firstly let me define a Saint since this is also a bit of controversy. A Saint is an individual that has been recognized by the Church as have had the Grace of God. Now lay terms: Saints are people that performed deeds or overcame odds that could only have been done with the help of God. The important part here is person. They are not angels or super powerful beings of another sort. They were people who were put in situations and did not lose faith in God, and God provided for them. The Catholic Church requires two documented miracles in order to canonize a Saint. All this means is that they wish hard proof in order to recognize a Saint officially. There is now 'Making' a Saint only recognition of their Sainthood. Now onto the veneration part. An analogy for veneration of Saints or Mary I often use is this: If God is your father you may not always feel ready to ask something of him, so you ask your mother or an older sibling to ask him for you. You feel uncomfortable asking yourself for what ever reason and get a third party to help. This is a good analogy for praying with Saints. You may also pray to God to be like a Saint. Saints overcame great odds in some instance of their lives and you may be facing a similar issue, you may ask God to help you in the same way he helped them. The final part of veneration is remembrance. Mary in particular was a great and unique person in all of human existence. She was the vessel for the Christ, she was the mother of God. In that we are all brothers and sisters of Christ Jesus she too is our mother in the Church. Mary is honored as any mother should be. We do not make her a goddess, she was still only human, but she is a human you should never forget and always hope to emulate.

You may have already noticed several places were I use capital letters versus lowercase on the same words. This is done to give the words different meanings even though they are the same words. This is like the standard God vs god. Capital 'G' God is used when referring to God the Father. Little 'g' god is used when referring to any deity in general. A few places this is used that may be unique to Catholics are: Catholic, Christian, Church, Communion, Protestant, Orthodox, and Sin. Lets start from the top and work our way down.

Catholic vs catholic: Catholic is the Catholic Church, often referred to for convenience as The Roman Catholic Church. On the other hand catholic is used when referring to the Christian church over all or all Churches in communion with the Catholic Church. This includes most of the Orthodoxy and several European Churches. This is a good place to note too, the Catholic Church does not refer to itself and the Roman Catholic Church, though members often do so for clarity and convenience. This Name was given to it by the Orthodoxy when they split during the Schism.

Christian vs christian: This one gets a little sticky with some people. Usually Christian is used to mean anyone who follows the church with a little wider scope then Catholic for it also entails anyone who is not in Communion with the Church. However this can also mean under different uses anyone who follows a majority of the core beliefs that the Church follows. This second use would exclude Mormons for example. Christian is also used in a historic sense to mean anyone who followed Christ in any form prior to the Protestant Reformation. Lowercase christian can mean either anyone who follows Christ in the modern day regardless of creed or Communion or it's sometimes used to mean 'Not Catholic' christians.

Church vs church: This one is much easier. The Church is the Catholic Church as a whole, the organization. A Church is any specific denomination again as an organization. The Church body are the members of the Church, usually the laity. A Church body are the members of a specific parish. The church is any specific parish organization. A church may be a parish or a building. Finally a church building is clarified to the structure itself.

Communion vs communion: Being in Communion with the Church is being in good standing with aligned beliefs with the Church. This may be a community or a person or another Church. This is usually used in the positive for organizations, the Greek Catholic Canton is in Communion with the Catholic Church, and negatively for specific people, Fano Ngcobo was Excommunicated for starting his own religion. Now communion is used to denote to activity of receiving communion in church, or partaking of the host during Mass.

Protestant vs protestant: Current usage for this is capital 'P' for a Church and lowercase 'p' for an individual.

Orthodox vs orthodox: This is for the Orthodox Church. The group of Churches that split with the Catholic Church during the Schism. Lowercased orthodox simply means in accordance with the law.

Sin vs sin: This is a bit headier topic then the other definitions. Sin is the state of giving in to temptations such as the phrase "Living in Sin". It is the quality of man that allows temptations to take hold and divert you from the true path. This is often used in the phrases "The Sin of the World" or "Take away my Sin". This is different from a sin or sins. These are the specific acts that you have performed because of Sin.

Hopefully this was helpful to any who read it. Again as I said if you have questions of our faith you would like someone to address please feel free to ask. If I do not know the answer I will find it for you and put it here.

Why Lent and Other Questions

2008-02-14T16:53:32Z

So before I get into this post I'm going to set some ground rules. These posts, that's right I'll do more after this and these rules apply to all of them, are centered around Catholic dogma. I may drift into the realm of theology on some of them but I'll say if that's what I mean to do. If the topic does not appeal to you please do not comment negatively about religion in general or mine in particular or I will strip your post. I am not posting these to be divisive or to single people out or to claim better or more right views; I am posting these to be informative to those who may not know as much about my religion as they may wish. If any one has any question no matter how far off field feel free to ask them. If a question is off by enough I'll make another post to answer it. If any one has any constructive comments or wishes to counter a point I make feel free to do so but please back yourself up don't just nay-say. Other then that I hope these are helpful, even if you don't follow my beliefs, in understanding who Catholics are and what we believe. Step one: who am I to state these as fact and why should you listen.

You may not know who I am in the real world so I'll back this up with a little history. I am a Catholic in the United States. I once considered joining the Seminary but for personal reasons turned away from that path. I attended Catholic school followed by Catholic Ministry until I was 22. I applied to and declined entry to the seminary after some soul searching. I have never been good at remembering Book:Chapter:Verse or direct quotations from the bible; I do remember the stories and have read the bible.

So on to the point. The questions that have hit me a lot recently, more then I would have thought, is "What is lent for?" and "Why do you 'do that lent thing'?" What ever particular Lenten activity that may be. So let me answer these questions and maybe remind some people who follow lent and have forgotten what it's supposed to mean. Lent is the season of 40 days not counting Sundays prior to Easter. The date varies because the date of Easter is a lunar day. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. This is how Easter is determined by the Catholic church and other christian religions have their own means of determining the date. Easter is the single most Important holiday in the Catholic Calendar and Lent is the season we use to prepare ourselves for this day. Lent is a time to humble oneself before God and to remove those things from your life that are separating you from God. This removal is often taken amongst children to remove some object or activity that occupies a large portion of your time. Amongst adults it may include this but should also include fasting and prayer beyond what one would undertake in the rest of the year. When you remove these things from your life you should remind yourself to be glad and not to sulk. Feeling sorry or want over the lose of this thing is sign of the emotions you have tied to a physical object or activity that it does not deserve. Many Christians, Catholics included, simply get rid of something simple like chocolate or alcohol but, the act of giving up the thing is not enough. Lent requires internal thought and personal analysis or the season is not complete.

The Season of lent in the Catholic Calendar is populated by several other

(note that a holiday does not always accompany celebration and food, holiday is a shortening of the the Words holy and day, and holiday on the Catholic Calendar is a Holy Day where we remind ourselves of some event in the past)

amongst these days are most notably Ash Wednesday and Holy Week.

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent on this day we burn the Palm fonds that were used in the previous year's Palm Sunday, see Holy Week below, to remind of the ephemerality of earthly glories. The ash from this fire is then blessed and marked on the foreheads of the parishioners with the phrase "Remember man, thou art dust and ash, and to dust and ash you shall return." This particulars of this phrase may be modernized or another prayer with a less ominous sounds may be used since around 1995ad. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting and abstinence for catholics and sets the tone for Lent.

Holy Week is the final week of Lent leading up to Easter.

It begins with Palm Sunday and runs through till the Easter Vigil. The Primary days of Holy Week are Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Palm Sunday is the day we remember Jesus' final trip into Jerusalem he was hailed as a King and honored by a throng of people waving palm branches. He was placed on a horse a led through town dressed in regal attire given him by the crowd. This day is both a day to celebrate and to remember. We celebrate Jesus' along with the crowd, but we remember that this is the crime for which he was executed. The people celebrated a man on a Sabbath this is an honor, under Hebrew Law, regarded only for Holy Men and Heads of State. During the rest of the next week the Catholic Church performs the Passion of the Christ, no not the movie, at any Mass that is celebrated. Good Friday is the Friday between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Good Friday is the day we remember Jesus' Death. Jesus' was crucified on a cross for the crime of usurping power and claiming a kingship. This is also a day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. Good Friday is a solemn day, but it is not a day to mourn. The Passion of the Christ is not supposed to be a sad and heart wrenching event. Jesus knew he had to die and he knew it was not going to be pleasant. He chose to follow God's will even though it would mean his death. We believe that by his death we, humanity not just Christians, have all been saved. So we are solemn in memory of his death and thankful to him for his sacrifice for us. It is also important to note from a theological perspective, Good Friday is placed on a Friday not because we believe he died on that day or a Friday in particular, but because it falls three days before we celebrate Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday is the day Christians celebrate Jesus rising from the grave and conquering death. Easter, as many like to point out, falls on the same day as previous pagan and roman holidays. Easter was placed on these days by the fathers of the early church for several reasons. The festival days were already allowed for roman citizens to be off from work, but the Christians of the early church did not wish to celebrate a day to a pagan deity, so many of the traditions were given new meanings for the Christians in order to allow them the festival time without the heresy. Another very important issue was one of secrecy. The early Christian Church came under fire by other religions and so many teachings had to be passed under the guise of something else. This is why we still have many of the trappings of previous religions attached to popular celebrations of our Holidays. Easter and Christmas are by far the most crowded with prior holdovers but lets try and clear some of these up. Easter is the day we remember the resurrection of Jesus. It is also the day we loose our restrictions placed on ourselves over Lent, hopefully now free of the emotional trappings from before; this is where the candy and chocolates come into play. In Rome a holiday for Spring fertility was celebrated and symbols of this day were the egg and the rabbit. The rabbits came about and left eggs for us to find and open revealing the treasure inside. In Roman tradition the rabbit was a symbol of fertility bringing the eggs to young women, or in other words bringing pregnancy and fertility. Christians took these symbols and changed the meaning for themselves. The rabbit represents Jesus who was laid in a hole three days prior but now springs forth alive and renewed. He brings with him the promise of new life and the gift of eternal life. He has placed this gift in our lives for us to find and take into ourselves, represented by the eggs being hidden and found. We are also represented by the egg in that we hide ourselves from Christ thinking we are unworthy, only to have had the gift of new life within us.

One means of prayer that had sadly slipped into disuse by many in the Catholic Church is the Stations of the Cross. I also have found that many none Catholics do not know what this is. The Stations of the Cross, like the Passion of the Christ, is a remembrance of the focal point of our religion, the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Stations are a series of prayers over the events leading up to the entombment of Jesus. There are usually 14 but this can range up to 18 and down to 12 depending on church and tradition. The 14 primary Steps are these: I. The Condemnation of Jesus by Pontius Pilate, II. Jesus' Taking of the Cross, III. Jesus' First Fall, IV. Jesus meets his mother Mary, V. Simon Helps Jesus, VI. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus, VII. Jesus' Second Fall, VIII. Jesus consoles the Women and Children, IX. Jesus' Final fall, X. Jesus is Stripped, XI. Jesus is Crucified, XII. Jesus Dies on the Cross, XIII. Jesus is removed from the cross, XIV. Jesus is Entombed. If the Stations are reduced to 12 the final two are removed. If the Stations are expanded one is added to the front "Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time". Two are added after the Crucifiction "Jesus speaks to the Thieves." and "Jesus speaks to Joseph and Mary". Finally one would be added at the end for "Jesus rises from the Grave." There may be more in other churches but I have never encountered more then this.

I would also like to note here the Station "Jesus speaks to Joseph and Mary", Jesus says to Joseph of Arimathea, who is a disciple of his, this is your mother, and to Mary, his mother, this is your son. These phrases are often used to point out that Jesus had siblings, I can not say whether he did or not but this phrase in particular is a Hebrew Custom and not an admission of blood relations, it also hints that at this time at least Jesus was the only family Mary had. Mary was at or near 50 at the time of Jesus' death, It is thought that Joseph, Jesus' Father, was already old at the time of Jesus' birth and that he was a widower before marrying Mary, so presumable he was dead by Jesus' death. According to Hebrew custom a widow needed to be taken care of by someone, usually their children. Jesus Hands this responsibility over to Joseph of Arimathea in this phrase. Joseph of Arimathea is not thought to be a blood relative of Jesus, and the only reason Jesus would need to hand this responsibility out of family is if no other children were available to take on this responsibility. You may take this note as you wish I just wanted to add it here.

Well I think this is probably enough for one post. I would like to do more of these in the future. If any of you have questions you want answered or concepts you would like cleared up I would be happy to help where I can. If you would like me to clearify, define, or defend anything please let me know that as well. I must note though that tracking down sources may take a while, I do not remember every book I have read and some of these statements were cleared up in discussions with Priests or other Clergy, but if you ask me to I will try. I will make another post today on a few things that have weighed on my mind recently so watch for that too. Oh, and if you know someone who would like to read these who is not on my friends list please point them to my LJ. These are part of my Lenten pledge this year so the more people that can help this year the better this will work out.

dokmarkeric @ 2008-02-08T15:59:00

2008-02-08T22:01:13Z

Reposted in a comment in achan_hiarusa's LJ so if you've seen this before please don't make a fuss that I'm repeating myself:

I went to the doctor last week cause I had an upset stomach that had lasted for a few days and didn't go away. I described the symptoms and was issued an anti-microbial as the doctor thought I may have simply gotten some bad water or something. A week goes by the pills are gone and I feel fine, never really got bad just had to take time off for the appointment and then snow the next day cause no one wants to work when it's snowing. So I got a call yesterday from the doctor's office and they sounded kind of worried, apparently I had a bad case of food poisoning, Salmonella to be exact, and they were worried because these can lead to horrible diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to severe dehydration. I only had bad gas and an upset stomach... I think I have a high CON score in the game of life.

dokmarkeric @ 2008-02-01T12:28:00

2008-02-01T18:34:30Z

Heh Heh Heh I'm a Sci-Fi Geek I know the one I missed too cause I couldn't hear enough of the monster sound. :p stupid Journey to the Center of the Earth. So I'm now wondering who hear has seen Them! or IT! From beyond space? Those are both crazy old movies.

	I received 92 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Quiz by SheGoddess: Lose weight quickly

It Does tell you when you get it right or wrong btw. Look at the top of the quiz across from the numbers it says right or wrong after you answer a question.

dokmarkeric @ 2008-01-08T08:21:00

2008-01-08T14:42:15Z

1/0% ie ie C'THULU
83% Bill Richardson
79% Barack Obama
77% Chris Dodd
77% John Edwards
76% Hillary Clinton
72% Joe Biden
71% Mike Gravel
63% Dennis Kucinich
51% Rudy Giuliani
49% John McCain
42% Mike Huckabee
40% Mitt Romney
37% Tom Tancredo
33% Ron Paul
32% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Vote Green It's Inevitable :p

This is what happens when you know platforms ahead of time. I like Bill Richardson (the half-mexican governor guy) but I don't think he is electable. Obama is the Candidate that I'm backing Right now on the Dem side with McCain on the Rep side, (Giuliani is a nutjob). I would love to see an Obama/Richardson Ticket, I'm Kind of seeing a Huckabee/Guiliani or Huckabee/McCain ticket on the Rep side. Those seem to be the top guys that'll spread the Rep party the most (white guy, white guy, white guy, Christian white guy!). I think the Republican party is forgetting the minority votes this year, even if Richardson or Obama or Clinton never seen the actual party ticket the Democratic party is willing to listen to them. The debates on the republican side are reminiscent of the presidential elections on Futurama (They may share the same genetic material but they differ on Key issues. : I think your 3 cent tax hike goes too far! , I say my 3 cent tax hike doesn't go to far enough!)

Oh one last thing, I'm Christian (Catholic for those of you who seem to think that's different) but I don't care if the president is as long as he is still a moral person with a platform I support; Dear Republican party STOP PUSHING IT DOWN OUR THROATS, YES YOU'RE OLD CHRISTIAN WHITES GUYS, WE DON'T CARE.

So yeah, News

2007-12-21T15:08:56Z

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119820608191144195.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

So I'm confused I didn't think china HAD any copyright laws. All those shitty knockoffs of animes come from China. Is this "Pick on the white guy's company?" Also notice that Baidu (Chinese and Indian owned) was not held liable for very similar infringment. Meh

Awesome survey of Awesomness

2007-12-20T17:12:26Z

26Find Ultrasound schools near you

$4325.00Find Ultrasound schools near you

And of course the zombie one doesn't look like it's going to show but I made only 52% survival chance in the zombie apocalypse.

52%Want to be a x-ray technician?

Achan and how he made me think too much today

2007-12-19T22:18:51Z

*****WARNING HEAVY SCIENCE BELOW. DON'T WHINE IF YOU GET LOST. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED*****

<lj-cut, text = "no that's not a pun, though maybe it should be" >

Due to Achan's physicy post, http://achan-hiarusa.livejournal.com/131756.html , I started to think about another conversation he and I had and never finished regarding exotic matter. There is often the term Anti-Gravity in Sci-Fi, but where such a thing would come from in science rather then for plot convienience is hard to nail down since we don't really understand the mechanism of gravity even today. We know a lot of applications of "Gravity" but not really the how of it other then it is related to mass and it effects space-time. Anti- gravity would have to be an opposed effect to space-time curve. Sammy's answer to Anti-Gravity was "It doesn't exist and science doesn't support it." In the search for anti-gravity though I stumbled across Negative Mass. Here is the logic exercise I wrote down concerning it:

M1, M2, M3 |: Inertial mass, passive gravitational mass, active gravitational mass

Newton states that M1 and M2 are equivalent and equal and Newtons third law states implies that M2 and M3 must be equal or at least universally proportional.

General relativity is built on the assumption that M1 and M2 are the same but since gravity isn't a force by classic sense in relativity the assumption is not required (experiments so far hold this to be true though)

Neither Implicitly states that Mass must be Positive though and neither set of math requires it in order to remain consistant.

This brings up the idea of Negative Mass for a substance including Anti-matter. If masses are Equal in value and negative we'd see some changes in basic properties.

F=M1*a : The basics of Newtons laws. Apply a force on an object and it will move. This holds true for negative mass but the acceleration is towards the force rather then away. Objects accelerate in a direction opposite of F.

g=G(m1m2)/(d^2) where d is the distance between objects and the m's are M2 and M3 based on perspective when determining the force.
F=gM1 the force felt is gravity against the mass involved.
With two objects there are 3 possible interactions both Positive mass, which we are familiar with. Both negative masses and opposite masses, which we are exploring here.

Lets start with Both negatively massed objects. Negative Masses in the gravity equation for both objects yeilds a total poistive in g so a massively negative object still exerts a positive force on other negative massed objects. However negative massed objects move opposite to direction of force so motion is away, negatively massive objects repel each other via gravitational forces. This means that if there is such a thing a negatively massed material it will spread out rather then condense over large distances meaning there would be no Negative stars or Negative planets.

Lets now look at the case where a negative mass and a positive mass interact. The resultant force of the gravity equation would be negative. In essence a repulsion force. On the positively massed objects this results in an acceleration away from the Negatively massed object. On the Negatively massed particle however this results in an acceleration towards the positively massed particle. Their acceleration would be in line with the force in the direction of the positive mass. This presents a bit of an issue. If the masses are the same then it results in a constant state of acceleration in line with the positive mass with no appearent energy into the system the only thing limiting this from reaching luminal velocity would be the compression of length with increased velocity increasing d and slowly reducing the force from g to some stopping point based on mass very near C. If the masses differ then you need to consider that with no starting velocities the forces are still the same to both objects but lighter objects recieve more acceleration due to the force. If the positive mass is lighter it will accelerate more quickly and escape the negative object. If on the other hand the positive massed object is heavier the two objects will collide gaining more and more acceleration in the process again eventually running into relitivistic speeds.

Another consideration however is Electromagnetic forces. These negative massed objects can only have the same electromagnetic charges as normal matter, positive and negative. The reactions to these charges would be opposite of what we think as well though. Oppositely charged negative mass particles would still apply an attractive force, but the acceleration would be reversed, moving the particles apart. Conversely same charge particles would exert a replusive force accelerating them towards each other, increaseing force and acceleration till they collided. This means that should negative massed matter exist it would form natural magnetic monopoles. Protons of negative mass would collect, however it should be recognised that since over small distances electric charge over powers mass for most cases these forces might cause fusion just as gravity causes fusion with positively massed matter. This also means however that true anti-matter, that with opposite mass and charge, would move towards matter at a distance and be repelled close up with a point at which gravity and electromagnetic forces would be equally opposed on the particles.

The implications of all of this from a theoretical stand-point I'll leave to those with more time and better math skills. This Negatively massed material though is theorized to be required for a few of the more exotic applications of relativity out there including wormholes. No negative matter has been detected so far either, but few tests have been formulated to look specifically for it. Most of this is a cobbel of two papers I read during work with a liberal application of the physics I remember. I'd like to ask the physics minded out there a few questions that have sprung to my mind and I can't figure the answers for.

Could Negative massed matter be the dark matter we search for as it wouldn't associate closly enough to form galaxies or large stars?

Could the presence of Negative massed matter explain the uncontrolled expansion of the universe or would the distribution of galaxies be different?

If Negative massed matter existed, would there be any means that we could force create it as we do with opposite charged anti-matter today or would it be based around a quark that would not be found in our Positive massed system, like a negative boson or something?

If Negative Massed matter still exists in the universe from the Big Bang, is there any means by which it could be detected?

Finally a few closing notes for those of you who read this far...
1) I realize that data so far shows that Anti-Matter detected and created on earth indicates it has Positive mass, but there are results that are inconclusive and have indicated for the presence of negative mass. Most of these are more easily explained in other ways or through human error, but it has not been disproven either.

2) The implications of negative mass here are mostly my own for the functions of mass as I understand them, if my deductions are wrong or if another system for mass/forces/gravity exist please feel free to post them here.

3) I tried to keep the math to a minimum and mostly rely on mental constructs to aid in understanding, hopefully I didn't oversimplify anything. If I did please let me know how and where.

4) there is no number 4

5)Why in God's name did you read all this drivel you must be a bored as I am.

</lj-cut>

OMG two in one day... and food none the less

2007-12-19T03:55:56Z

Ok in response to Xylinna and Achan here is a recipe I tried out recently and got good reviews of:

Garden Stuffed Squash

8-10 Yellow squash or Zucchini
1/2 cup Green Pepper
1 Med. Tomato
1 Med. Onion
2 slices of bacon crisp and crumbled
1/2 cup cheese
1/2 tsp salt
Dash of pepper
Butter

Wash the squash and simmer in water till soft or about 8 min.
drain and cool squash.
Cut a slice in each squash and core the seeds
combine all the remaining ingredients chopped and fill the empty squash
dot each opening with a pat of butter and bake at 400 degrees for 20 min
cool and serve

If your not a fan of onions I'd recommend reducing the onion to half and adding another 1/2 cup peppers and half a tomato you can also add any spices to the filling mix or cut the bacon if you're a vegetarian, but the extra little bit of flavor is really a plus in this recipe.

ZOMG A REAL POST!!!!111|||

2007-12-19T03:04:50Z

So I now have a new job. I am an AP1 at the UofA (Yay govm't jobs) under the ISIS dept. This means I don't take complaints for a living anymore, and I actually get to use my programming skills (note to self: must find where I left them 4 years ago). This also means that I get paid more then an AP1 should, can't say how much but it's market average for a programmer (as determined by nation wide market analysis of blah blah blah...). Unfortunately it means that I have to get up in the mornings and work all day (Man I miss unemployment already)... [also on a completely unrelated note I HATE ADV, their fucking dub of Lost Universe is driving me INSANE. I really like the series but OH MY FUCKING GOD do I wish to stab some actors (and a director or two) in the head right about now. ANYWAY back to the previous thread already in progress...]and they'll be sending me to training and then a conference after that all paid for by the university. The training alone is like $4000 johnny-bucks a course and I get three different courses one of which is in Atlanta (must look up a certain paki while I'm there) the other two should be in San Fran. The conference is then in Las Vegas and CK gets to go with. It makes me laugh too, this job was one of the stupid programming jobs I applied for back in July with these people, yay University bureaucracy. Good thing I expected them to take six months when I put the App in. On a side note too, CK and I are moving soon (like now actually but more specifically we're moving our things and place of residence) across town to the Stearn's street Apartments. We'll be out of here (on a more permanent basis then most times when we leave) by the end of the month.

Now is time to look at a monkey

aw isn't he just SWEET :p

dokmarkeric @ 2007-12-11T17:46:00

2007-12-11T23:46:40Z

Quiz taken from Quartic

http://quizfarm.com/quiz_repository/Fashion/9166/

Law's Game Style

You scored as a Method Actor
You think that gaming is a form of creative expression. You may view rules as, at best, a necessary evil, preferring sessions where the dice never come out of the bag. You enjoy situations that test or deepen your character's personality traits.

Method Actor 100%
Specialist 58%
Storyteller 50%
Power Gamer 50%
Tactician 42%
Butt-Kicker 42%
Casual Gamer 25%

HEH I didn't think I was that much of an actor in the games but, eh.

Pyro Quiz even better

2007-12-03T04:59:00Z

http://www.armory.com/~spcecdt/pyrotech/pyrotest.html

You answered "yes" to 56 of 100 questions, making you 44.0% pyro pure; that is, you are 56.0% pyromaniac.
**Your Weirdness Factor (AKA Uniqueness Factor) is 39%, based on a comparison of your test results with 131047 other submissions for this test.**

The average purity for this test is 64.7%.
The first submission for this test was received June 16, 1994.

So I think my explosives training in school pushed this score up, but what the HELL is wrong with most of the people for these questions to be Valid. This also validates that I'm not really a Pyro, cause some people are crazy. I'm not crazy, I'm safe. On a side note, WOW I got a really unique score.

Purity Quiz

2007-12-03T04:46:54Z

More then you wanted to know about Eric

http://www.armory.com/tests/100.html

You answered "yes" to 55 of 100 questions, making you 45.0% sexually pure (55.0% sexually corrupt); that is, you are 45.0% pure in the sex domain.
**Your Weirdness Factor (AKA Uniqueness Factor) is 10%, based on a comparison of your test results with 1219397 other submissions for this test.**

The average purity for this test is 55.3%.
The first submission for this test was received June 16, 1994.
Awww, I'm only 10% unique I did get 10% Unique some how. I'm still below average though, which kind of makes me wonder what most people do to get over my score.