Author: icubud

Glory to God in the highest, THEN - peace on earth and goodwill to men (Luke 2:14). So peace on earth and goodwill to the human race can not occur until their is first - Glory to God in the highest. This will never be accomplished nor desired by the UN or the USA governments. Hence the Second Advent.

you read it here…

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/08/15/possible-flash-mob-hits-maryland-7-eleven-police-say/%27?test=latestnews

Considering the story at the link above and the fact of degenerates using Twitter and other social networking sites to create mobs of looting vandals and criminals in the UK  the inevitable is going to happen. The way I see it, because a handful of degenerates exploit a system to cause crime we will see legislation and policies inacted in some way to restrict the easy availability for all (Twitter, etc) so we can stop the unethical carbon based life forms from violating other individuals life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Of course their will be the screams of free speech and the legal and ethical arguments back and forth and the polarization of the whole thing distilling it down into political camps and political philosophy — NEVERTHELESS — it will happen in our lifetime….maybe within the next five years….

What do you think?

icubudLeave a comment

information, ideas, thinking and the truth

I came across an interesting article this morning at the NYT titled The Elusive Big Idea. Some of the interesting, thought provoking quotes are:

“If our ideas seem smaller nowadays, it’s not because we are dumber than our forebears but because we just don’t care as much about ideas as they did. In effect, we are living in an increasingly post-idea world — a world in which big, thought-provoking ideas that can’t instantly be monetized are of so little intrinsic value that fewer people are generating them and fewer outlets are disseminating them, the Internet notwithstanding.”

“It is no secret, especially here in America, that we live in a post-Enlightenment age in which rationality, science, evidence, logical argument and debate have lost the battle in many sectors, and perhaps even in society generally, to superstition, faith, opinion and orthodoxy. While we continue to make giant technological advances, we may be the first generation to have turned back the epochal clock — to have gone backward intellectually from advanced modes of thinking into old modes of belief. But post-Enlightenment and post-idea, while related, are not exactly the same.

Post-Enlightenment refers to a style of thinking that no longer deploys the techniques of rational thought. Post-idea refers to thinking that is no longer done, regardless of the style.”

“The real cause may be information itself. It may seem counterintuitive that at a time when we know more than we have ever known, we think about it less.

We live in the much vaunted Age of Information. Courtesy of the Internet, we seem to have immediate access to anything that anyone could ever want to know. We are certainly the most informed generation in history, at least quantitatively. There are trillions upon trillions of bytes out there in the ether — so much to gather and to think about.”

“In effect, we are living within the nimbus of an informational Gresham’s law in which trivial information pushes out significant information, but it is also an ideational Gresham’s law in which information, trivial or not, pushes out ideas.

We prefer knowing to thinking because knowing has more immediate value. It keeps us in the loop, keeps us connected to our friends and our cohort. Ideas are too airy, too impractical, too much work for too little reward. Few talk ideas. Everyone talks information, usually personal information. Where are you going? What are you doing? Whom are you seeing? These are today’s big questions.”

“The implications of a society that no longer thinks big are enormous. Ideas aren’t just intellectual playthings. They have practical effects.”

“No doubt there will be those who say that the big ideas have migrated to the marketplace, but there is a vast difference between profit-making inventions and intellectually challenging thoughts. Entrepreneurs have plenty of ideas, and some, like Steven P. Jobs of Apple, have come up with some brilliant ideas in the “inventional” sense of the word.

Still, while these ideas may change the way we live, they rarely transform the way we think. They are material, not ideational. It is thinkers who are in short supply, and the situation probably isn’t going to change anytime soon.

We have become information narcissists, so uninterested in anything outside ourselves and our friendship circles or in any tidbit we cannot share with those friends that if a Marx or a Nietzsche were suddenly to appear, blasting his ideas, no one would pay the slightest attention, certainly not the general media, which have learned to service our narcissism.

What the future portends is more and more information — Everests of it. There won’t be anything we won’t know. But there will be no one thinking about it.

Think about that.”

2 cents: While reading this article, two Bible verses came to mind.

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4 KJV)

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away….Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  

(2 Timothy 3:1-5, 7 KJV)

In the above quotes I underlined a few words and phrases.

I find myself struggling with information overload and a lot if not most of it, is usually of no real value. The concept of studying about a subject, pouring over it to learn, grasp and be a master of a subject has given way to typing into what you think is the most powerful search engine so as to give you the information you wanted before and simply bookmark it so if you need you can get to it. My bookmarkers are like my bookshelves in that they are buy genre but unlike my books a lot of them I have not read. They are saved in the event. The goal to increase my exposure and reach to information and data, yet little processing has occurred. What has ended up happening is exposure not saturation. Surface level not depth. If one does not have saturation and depth, then how can one speak or think and develop ideas? The result – instead – is opinion. Let’s be honest, we know the analogy about opinions. What makes one’s opinion of real value is that it is based on knowledge, understanding and experience.  

From an eternal perspective the verses point to the reality that though information increases, the people are further from the truth and understanding it. The majority of the human race that even believes in an afterlife and eternity has decided their opinion is what counts and if there is a supreme being then that being will have to take their opinion into account and that it will matter. But the truth is He will take it into account and its matter will be that it was incorrect and now the human being faces an eternity in a place that no person in their right mind would want to even spend a minute in it and yet they will now reside and endure life there forever.

John 8:32: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 14:6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 17:17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

2Peter 2:2:  And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

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Burzynski

tallblue brought this doctor and his effective cancer treatment to my attention in a 7/29/11 post.
His name is Dr. Burzynski and it is the use of antineoplastons.
The movie is available on Netflix and you can watch it for free at You Tube here.

Do you and your loved ones a favor and record his name in the event of future cancer diagnosis.
Absolutely unbelievable results. Over 30 years of shenanigans by the government and National Cancer Institute.
This is a story – a sad pathetic angering story of MONEY and economical infrastructure of the cancer billion dollar industry.
The fact that our government allows cancer patients to endure life threatening highly ineffective treatment as the sole means of sanctioned actions to save the person’s life is unethical, immoral and a travesty.

Please share this information with your friends and family.

Record his name.
About the movie
Burzynski Research Institute

icubudLeave a comment

Two cents on the economy

What is happening in our national economy and also in Europe is the positioning of investors into a new paradigm based on the perception that consumers will not be making the purchases on credit like they did five to fifteen years ago. In addition the realization that the number of consumers has dropped because of real unemployment figures that hover at least at 25% and in Europe as high as 35%. Healthy corporations have been saving cash instead of investing profits and those missing dollars affect the investment portion of finance and economy. Banks will now begin charging these corporations more money to hold these huge sums of cash as a way to recoup fees lost when the corporations would invest. All of these arenas are shifting trying to first become stable and then to be strategic and identify new ways to generate income based on the new paradigm which is becoming the new economy and marketplace.

I think what has happened is that individuals have looked at the result of the whole raising the deficit spending cap and decided that a fundamental, systemic change is beginning to occur in our government. That change is that people are pushing for real changes in how the government does it business meaning that a real drive is happening for the government to have a budget and to stick to it. This means that spending is to become restrained which means some “projects” that result in goods and services will not be realized or if they are they will be a smaller percentage than before. This then would result in less labor required which translates into less FT jobs and benefits and that translates into X number of current consumers being either restricted in their consumption because of loss of job or at least a decrease of some percentage which snowballs into many people and that drives even less demand than currently for products/services which means mfg/etc need less employees working FT etc, etc. So the individuals who are the bankers/investors/money are realizing that the government is not going to be in the position to improve the economy (first paragraph) so they are reevaluating how they are going to use their money.

Some of the next variables are the US 2011 and 2012 elections, Israel and the Palestinian issue, China and Russia concentrated push for replacing the US dollar as the reserve currency, EU whether it develops into a black hole or not – and/or if the individual countries push for nationalism erodes the unity, power & value behind the euro. These don’t begin to address every real variable out there but they are ones that will definitely drive MSM and political spin.

What does all of this mean for people like you and I? We need to pay of our debts as quickly as possible because banks/ creditors will keep raising finance charges in an effort to recoup lost $ at the sales registers. Save cash.

icubudLeave a comment

“Coincidences”

Well-being, religion, philosophy, love, relationships, thinking, perception, or what about life, immortality, eternity, hope, fear? Some great things have been written about each of these so what could I actually add that would be of value? Something that isn’t redundant? Something that maybe connected dots? Or maybe identified what the dots were? What exactly is a dot? Does it need to be connected or can it thrive solo? Do all things need to be connected in order to thrive? What is the definition of thrive? How about the word “value” – who determines if “it” is valued or of value?

I appreciate the process of connecting dots and seeing the connections across a body of information. I don’t believe in the so-called meaningful coincidence since I believe that God is almighty and thereby there can be no coincidence. Does that make sense? Is the implication accurate and true? Does the removal of coincidence, significant or not, imply a fate for every being that is not based on the individual’s values, principles and freewill? If so then it cannot be accurate because God did not create certain individuals to be fodder in the lake of fire. I guess this would stumble into the idea of a permissive will of God which is real but does not rule out or against “coincidence” so this then is a question: Since God is almighty, is there such a “thing” in the realm & experiences of human beings as coincidence?

Dictionary.com defines coincidence as: “a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance;the condition or fact of coinciding. Coincide as 1. to occupy the same place in space, the same point or period in time, or the same relative position: The centers of concentric circles coincide. Our vacations coincided this year. 2. to correspond exactly, as in nature, character, etc.: His vocation coincides with his avocation. 3. to agree or concur, as in thought or opinion: Their opinions always coincide.”

I agree with definition but building on the coincidence definition I would state it as a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance that are of significance to the receiver/noticer. It’s those last eight words that are required for a meaningful coincidence to be such a thing which brings me back to the idea of is the striking occurrence of two or more events at one time an act or result of an omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient God, schemes of a lesser deity (ex. Satan), or simply and nothing more than chance?

Providence is defined by Dictionary.com as by as when considered by “God, especially when conceived as omnisciently directing the universe and the affairs of humankind with wise benevolence; a manifestation of divine care or direction.”

Could it be that what we consider as coincidence is actually the effective result of planning by God or lesser deity in all circumstances so that there is really no such thing as a coincidence? What we consider a coincidence is because we have not actively considered all possibilities nor set things into motion that would provide for the best conclusion which would be an end which is agreement with our will? Put another way, because we do not spend the time and resources to consider every action, inaction and event we will have the opportunity to encounter – PLUS – the inability to secretively/quietly influence others without them knowing they are being influenced– PLUS – the lack of thousands of years of experience with human beings on a personal level – PLUS – not knowing or understanding the history of every race or culture along with its dogma, religion and values – THEN – what we happen to notice as a coincidence is incorrectly identified as such and is really a logical and planned result of God or a lesser deity.

If the above is true, does it necessitate that all events/happenings we identify as coincidence are actually not of chance at all? God told Israel not to play games of chance because it approached upon His providence. If that is to be interpreted that all games of chance are not actually chance then I think it implies that coincidences are not by chance but are events that we perceive as chance occurrences only because of our lack of knowledge about events/happenings preceding the “coincidence”. Many of the games we label as chance are probably misidentified happenings of laws of action and reaction that we don’t have the knowledge to understand. For example, flipping of a coin – it is quite possible that what is involved is the playing out of an equation in which the weight and size of the coin, facing a certain way, flipped a specific number of times, in a specific rotation, in an environment of X temp and humidity will always result in a X finding (tails or heads). So the end result seems chance by us because we do not consider the variables or how to quantify them so they can be measured thereby telling the participant the sure end result. We could consider the same with rolling dice. Another good example is the difference from someone playing pool with skill and a novice. The end results can be predicted by the skilled player where the novice will surely just happen to get some balls into the pockets by “accident” = “chance”. The skilled player can call the pocket and even the rails and interaction with certain balls removing all “chance”.

So in the realm of what we perceive as coincidences what we are missing is knowledge/information and power/skill. So does this require that every action/event is the work of God or a lesser deity? I think that there are actually categories for these perceived coincidences. The trite superficial and of little or no importance is the result of actions and decisions that we and others involved made, preceding the perceived coincidence that led to a certain, ultimate event. Most if not all the human beings involved did not have the knowledge/information and power/skill to bring about the certain event’s logical, reasonable conclusion nor the ability to know what decisions/actions others made that led to the event taking place. This means that those who took notice of the event perceive it to be a coincidence but in reality it is not. This does not mean that the event happened by chance because once a person has knowledge/information and power/skill the end result is predictable & repeatable.

In the case of meaningful coincidences I believe that they are in fact the work of God &/or a lesser deity/s to bring about a certain end/event/happening and they are errantly perceived as meaningful coincidences by human beings.

This means that people are freewill beings and their steps are not made for them. There are scenarios, schemes and blueprints planned by God and lesser deities but these do not remove the freewill of the person to make choices and decisions and the resulting actions. So there can be a “fate” in the romantic idea of the subject but only if the person believes they have such a plan to follow and then exercise their freewill correctly so that they can achieve such fate.

I wonder if this means that if you are in the center of God’s will you will come across a much greater amount of so-called coincidences since you will be following His plan for your life? Which implies to me that the scarcity of so-called coincidences in one’s life is proof that many who call themselves Christian, religious or spiritual etc. – are really off track – doing what they want to do instead of following & obeying God. For myself I know that when (making the quote sign with my fingers) coincidences occur often I consider them proof of God being present and me aware of Him. This often results from answered prayers not something communicated to other people just between Him and I. This gives me more to think about…

icubudLeave a comment

One

Run!

Run faster!

Push you idiot!

He spoke to himself.

Actually he yelled at himself.

He fought the urge to look.

He knew he needed to keep running

The darkness was his ally and an obstacle.

Using cars and trees as objects to hide behind,

He zigged and zagged now turning down streets remaining northward

As best he could, because northward would lead him to home

Home where his loaded Ruger waited to vanquish the threat and menace

His breathes were heavy and his aching legs – wobbly soon he would cease

He could now see his street four houses away, he recognized the blue car

Parked at the corner, passing it he could now see his home five houses away

The last bit of adrenalin kicked in as it realized the closeness of hope and rest

Churning up the steps fumbling with his keys pleading with the lock and key to cooperate – open

Click! The knob gave way and his soaked panting exhausted body pushed the door wide open, stumbling forward

Slamming the door shut and turning off the porch light pulling the blinds closed dripping sweat on his table

Straddling the coffee table heading to closet and the hidden Ruger cleverly residing in his brown dress coat inside pocket.

The cool friendly feeling in his hand, pulling it out popping out the clip and placing it back into its place

Sliding it allowing one into the chamber all while turning toward the front door and plopping to the floor –Ruger aimed

The pounding in his chest and screaming of his legs filled his mind, sweat trickling into his eyes – burning, his thoughts swirling.

He became aware of sharp pain in his abdomen; looking down, he saw blood on his shirt and pants, pain met with wooziness.

He’d been shot? He saw the dark room, the chains, arguing, the blast, the light, the gun shots, the empty clip, running.

Lifting his shirt he saw the wound and all the blood – the hard running had pumped the blood out of him.

Heavy wooziness settled on him, his escape killed him. Fleeing with only the thought of not getting caught – killed him.

 He’d been shot! He slipped off his shirt, rolled it up and then pressed it against the wound. Pain.

His eyes kept going from the front door to his bloody abdomen. He struggled against his heavy eyelids.

What to do? He couldn’t go to the hospital. He could just remain slumped here. Eyes closing.

If they do I am dead he thought to himself. He tried to get up. Push!

His legs acting like pistons pumped his upper body up against the wall. He moved.

Up! Up you idiot! His legs while pushing were wobbly and head was spinning.

He slid his hand around his back, he didn’t feel a wound present.

The bullet is still inside. He struggled to the kitchen, looking around

Grabbed a clean dish towel, wadded it up and jammed it

Into the wound, searing pain shot through his weakened body

He struggled over to the stool feeling his life

Fade away from him. Looking around. Please help!

He fell to the floor, Numbness, darkness

Eyes closed, throbbing over, pressure lifting

Mom, dad, granny, granddad, laughing

Fading, dreams, goals, aspirations

Darkness, emptiness, waste

Nothing left

Dead

 

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