Flower Power!!

I'm gonna add fresh flowers to my dorm room next year!

Mom had a book out on flower therapy.  I think the basic concept's based on some ancient Chinese medicine.  I 'm still a bit skeptical on how effective it is, but I mean, it doesn't hurt to try.  And it adds color to your room.

Apparently, the color and aroma of a flower can have therapeutic effects on your body.  Like relieve stress (although I'm pretty sure most things are anti-stress), prevent colds, reverse depression, and strengthen your immune system (!).

I'll add a list of flowers later!

I forgot how to fall asleep...

I REALLY needed to fall asleep early last night but I couldn't.  I was supposed to go on a 6-mile hiking trip, so I needed some rest, but like all the past nights, I had trouble falling asleep.  Which is something I can easily do in those uncomfortable classroom chairs but not in my homey soft bed.  >:(

I ended up lying in my bed for a good hour with my playlist for falling asleep, which had NO effect on me whatsoever, played some stupid games on my iPod, and then rolled down to my back-up sleeping spot... my floor.  My dirty dirty floor.

This strategy usually helps, but last night I laid on my stupid floor for another hour until I lost consciousness.

I can't keep living sleeping like this.  Help!  What do I do?

Wrong! Didn't your mother ever tell you not to believe every word hear?

My stupid brother posted this on his Facebook:

There are weird similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy. 

• Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. 
• Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
• Both were shot in the back of the head in the presence of their wives.
• Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theatre. Kennedy was shot in a Lincoln, made by Ford
• Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.
• Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
•  Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
• Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
• Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
• Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.' Kennedy was shot in a car called 'Lincoln' made by 'Ford.'
• Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse. 
• Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theater.
•  Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials. - OMG Facts.

I was skeptical about all these coincidences, so I looked it up on Google, and whaddaya know?  Some of them aren't even true.  Or coincidences.

1. Considering that presidents are elected every four years, the 100 year "coincidental" difference between Lincoln's and Kennedy's election years aren't even "coincidental."
2. Dur, they were both shot in the head.  If you were trying to assassinate someone, where else are you gonna shoot them?  The chest IS another option, but they were both sitting down facing away from the assassins.  So they had no other choice.
3. Being shot on the same day of the week is already a 1 in 7 chance.  And since most public presidential events occur on a Friday or Saturday, it's already a 1 in 2 chance.
4. Lincoln never had a secretary named Kennedy.
5. Booth hid in a tobacco shed after the assassination.  He shot Lincoln in a theater for plays.  Lee Harvey Oswald was found in a movie theater.
6. "Assassinated" is not the right word to use for Booth.  He was shot by a trooper who thought Booth was going to shoot him back.

There was also a bogus rumor about Booth and Oswald being born 100 years apart.  Booth was actually born in March of 1838.
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Irrelevant PS
Hearing about Booth always reminds me about Zoolander and the "actor/model are perfect for assassins" conspiracy.

Aum and Aleph

Aum was Aleph. Aum was a religious organization in Japan in the mid 1990s that carried out acts of terrorism to protect their religious sect from persecution.

Asahara Shoko, an insane sociopath, established this organization in the 1980s as a yoga dojo.  He claimed he had freed his soul from his body, etc.etc., and used that "holiness" to increase membership in his crazy dojo.  He even sent out advertisements with pictures of himself levitating.

I have no idea how this was convincing.

Before becoming a terrorist group leader, Asahara had met and talked to the Dalai Lama, who encouraged Asahara to spread his dojo throughout Japan in the name of Buddhism.  I don't know how a no-name dojo owner could have had the chance to talk to such a great man.  As he proves a few years later, Asahara had a especially powerful ability to control people in his own way.  So I'm convinced he talked some people into letting him meet the Dalai Lama.

Anyway, Aum goes off the path and start killing people.  First was a guy who wanted to leave the group.  Then another who knew about the first murder.  And then the entire family of a lawyer who was going to legally persecute Aum for its dangerious beliefs was mudered.

The biggest incident occured in 1995 when a poisonous chemical called sarin was released in five different subway trains.  The point was to direct police investigations on the previous muders away from Aum.  But it backfired and Aum was the first (but correctly) to be accused for the Sarin Incident.

The whole time I was watching the TV special on Aum, I was wondering, "How the hell did they make sarin?"  It was a chemical warhead made by Nazi Germay, and later made in secrecy by the American army.  It was banned way back in the 1970s, so how could anything secret and banned get out into some tiny, insignificant yoga dojo in Japan?  I just didn't get it.

I guess "fascinated" is a bad word to use when you're talking about a terrorist psychopath, but I'm "fascinated" by the way Asahara controlled people's minds.  He tricked a promising doctor into developing and spreading sarin.  And thousands of everyday people into joining his dojo.  And possibly even the Dalai Lama, who he got to meet in the 1980s.  I know some people who can control others' minds (literally, not in some insignificant way), but not to this extent.  How did his mind work?  Could he control others because of  his arrogance?  Or his words?  Or is mind-control something that just occurs between people who have great differences in personality??????

It's really scary to know that Aum still exists as Aleph to this day.  I admit to being more socially liberal than the average person, but I think there should be some point when the government steps in and says, "Cut this crap out."

Dr. Lama

The Dalai Lama is an honarary professor (I think.  Am I right?) at my college.  Hooray!

DAWWWW. Just look at him! He's so cute like a grandpa.

His awesomenss doesn't just come from the way he looks, of course.  He's got much to say and stand for.  Oh, his little kid-self was cute in the movie Seven Years in Tibet too.  Go rent it and watch it.  It's a good movie.  (Brad Pitt is in it, ladies)

To me, the picture of Dalai Lama should be in the dictionary under the word "peace."  I mean, a lot of people represent that idea but I think he does it the best, through his demeanor.  He's always so calm.  Hell, I don't know him but I can FEEL his calmness just by looking at his pictures.  And his playfulness.  But mostly his calmness.

I don't mean to be demeaning, but being exiled is great for him.  He gets to travel around the world, asking for support to free Tibet, meeting other great people, and showing that Buddhism isn't all about sitting on your butt and meditating all day.

His views (on Wiki, where else?) were really interesting:

• "modern scientific findings should take precedence where appropriate over disproven religious superstition"
• religiously rejects abortion but accepts if circumstances are reasonable from a secular point of view
• "I still think of myself as half-Marxist, half-Buddhist."  He says communism is founded on moral principles.  Its fault is that it looks to destroy class differences, so it encourages hatred and neglects compassion.
• he's been campaining for a religious ruling against wearing tiger and leopard skins as garments
• forgiveness is important, but "if someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, he said, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun. Not at the head, where a fatal wound might result. But at some other body part, such as a leg"
• religiously rejects homosexuality but believes it should be accepted in the secular world

Compassion, Acceptance, Forgiveness, Understanding.

Unpopular Science

I was reading Popular Science's Best Inventions of the Year.  The good always comes with the bad.  So what are all the worst inventions?

 

It's a bra for hot people who want to be environmentally friendly.  Invented by the Japanese. OTZ.  But the girl's pretty attractive.

Whitey-tidies for your hands!!!! For people with clammy hands.  (Kev and Han should get one)

You can hang your babies from your window to save space.  I'm sure Michael Jackson would've wanted one.  Or may be he had one.

Want your privacy?  Git one.

This obviously has nothing to do with stupid inventions.  But i found it while I was looking for inventions.  I HAD to put it on here.  I might have to start stealing bacon too.  Stupid turkey bacons at Emory.

If you want to be fashionable and cool while you climb, it's for you.

  

Stupid.  But I would LOVE to have one.

 

And my favorite.  "Cheers to you!"  It comes with a dog tag!!!!  You can do it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o50_ZlMnjqY

Technology = Apple

My laptop is coming back!!!!! I'm just another proof that the lives of my generation is entirely dependent on technology. Yay.

I think I'm so addicted to technology because it's sooooo fascinating.  Brand new things come out every year, like new iPods, laptops, cameras, game systems, with innovative features.  2 or 3 years ago, we didn't have cameras with face-recognition.  Barely any touch screen.  Motion-sensoring game systems were non-existent.  Books were in books, not in hand-held screens.  It's mind-blowing how things evolve so quickly.

Companies probably had already invented these things years ago.  They're just using marketing strategies to keep folks wanting newer things with newer features.  Genius.  Look at Apple.  May be they've secretly started a settlement on Mars already.
...
We enjoy these things on a daily basis, and having them in our pockets is basically expected.  But when you start looking below your social class, people don't even have enough food for the day.  I should be extremely thankful that I have all these fancy gadgets to play with.  I believe that every extra "thing" that comfortable people are blessed with can be used to help those in need.  Like extra money.  Or extra food, clothing, time, and lovin.  And in this blog, technology.  I'm not inventive enough to know what you can do with our hi-tech toys.  But I'm sure there's a way.  People in Apple always find a way.