Thoughts I don't want to have

A couple goes on vacation to the Holy Land, and the wife dies suddenly. The husband is trying to handle the arrangements, and while talking to the undertaker is told that he can either pay $30,000 to have her body shipped back home, or $1,000 and have her buried in Jerusalem. He thinks for a minute, and decides to have her shipped home. When asked why he says: "2000 years ago, a man was buried in Jerusalem, and three days later, he rose from the dead. I can't take that chance." Laughter ensues... I don't think Jeshua would have laughed at that. Jeshua ben Joseph ben Sarak, that was his actual name, Jesus is just how you say it in Greek. Jeshua son of Joseph son of Sarak. If you listen to Christian mythology, they will talk all day about the miracles he did; healing the sick and infirm, walking on water, feeding thousands with a few fish and a couple loaves. Hey, I was a college student... Not as impressive after you had to do it to make it to the end of term. ...

I have a beef with Marvel. Now, before I begin, understand that I love the storytelling and characters that Stan Lee and company have created. The rich tapestry of drama, comedy, and tragedy is a spectacle to behold. But, sometimes to sound cool and smart, they weave in concepts from the real world without really understanding them. They throw around terms and phrases that have meanings vastly different from what they actually mean. The one that really ruffles my fur? Gamma Radiation... We all know the story of The Hulk, Bruce Banner, Gamma bomb, purple pants, "You won't like me when I'm angry." Great story and character arcs, wonderful depth, superb. What in the ever loving fuck did Stan smoke? Gamma radiation is one of the highest energy forms of radiation. In fact, one of the things that happen when a star collapses into a black hole is, that in the moment of collapse, a shockwave of gamma radiation bursts out, spreading and dissipating as it expands outward....

April 9th, a week from today, marks the 161st anniversary of the end of the US Civil War when Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox. Very few events have had as much impact as the Civil War, as it has gone on to influence American politics even up to today. So much of American political discourse revolves around it, and I think it is important to carefully examine things around it, to get a fuller picture of the situation. The core of the issue revolves around the inhumane treatment of large numbers of African slaves and their descendants by the time the war began. Black people were horribly abused and used as cattle. I want to be clear, this is not an exaggeration, most people picture cotton fields when they picture slavery, but the most profitable plantations did not grow crops at all, instead breeding and selling their black populations in the manner of modern puppy mills. Black girls were forcefully bred as soon as they were old enough to have children. Few mal...

 When I was in high school, my dad kinda... made me buy a pair of broken down Volvos. The theory was sound, they were the same model and year range, so Frankensteining them together is kinda obvious. This plan failed. I was 14. I was a nerd, so for safety reasons I did not take shop class with the Jocks. This was before the internet, so no YouTube. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. This was compounded by the fact that in the 2 years between the models they had rearranged shit. Years later, I ended up taking a professional mechanic's course. I learned a lot about how the engine worked, not a specific model, more the theory behind it. What makes it work. You need that kind of knowledge to fix a car... or really any system. Computers, engines, sewers... Families... Now, I know that no two families are identical, nor should they be, but there are common themes. Relationships serve two roles, reproduction and companionship. Some are better at one than the other, and some...

 Sometime in the early 1340s, there was a massive volcanic eruption. No written record of the event is known to survive, the exact date and location are unknown. Technically, we are not even sure if it was a single eruption, or multiple ones. We do know it happened, and that it was likely somewhere near the equator. What evidence we have for this event is in physical evidence left behind; tree ring data shows a cooling between about 1343-1345ish, ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica show that it was massive as well as showing it was near the equator because the amount of ashfall shows they are about equal in amount, with a little less in Antarctica, thus equator. Now, a forest gets cold and grows slowly, no one cares. But crops are plants too, and people do care about those, and the reduced sunlight stunted their growth as well. And places like Germany, France, and the British Isles started to show a marked downturn in yields. There were reserves in these places as well, but ...

 I want to share with you one of my oldest memories. It's an important one though, probably the most important one I have. I was in 1st grade, and was already reading at a 8th grade level. I was a smart kid; always observing and thinking, you know, the kind of kid that gets beat up first, usually while the teacher is watching. i couldn't tell you the day of the week, the name of my teacher or classmates, heck, I am not 100% sure it was 1st grade and not 2nd. I do remember it was directly after recess. We had just returned to the classroom when we were ushered into a different class, joining the kids already there. I remember it was right after recess because the teacher for the other class was the duty teacher from the recess before. The one that made eye contact with me while two older boys were beating me up, and then walked away. We were doing a science thing that morning, and we were there to watch a show on octopus and squid. It was probably an hour or two long, and we...