Category: Everything

Believing in things makes you see things. Right…

Posted Feb.16, 2010 under Everything

Originally posted as a school task. ©Johannes Siig, All Rights Reserved.

You’ve got to see some things to believe them, yet you also have to believe some things to see them. This, for example, is the case with religion.

I have an American friend, who claims to have “met the creator.” This is a prime example of seeing because of believing. He only “met the creator” because he believed in such a thing. If he hadn’t, he would never have. To be honest, he also claimed to have been a drug user at the time, so I’m a bit skeptical of that story – not that he’s lying (I’m sure he isn’t), but I think the hallucinations may have been due to excessive drug use and not because of some magical “creator.”

You only see some things because you want to see them. People who believe in extra-terrestrial life see aliens in every photograph, when they are spots on the lens or birds or “balloon boy.”

Which brings me to another point. People who wanted the kid to be in the “balloon,” saw the kid in the “balloon” as it was broadcast live (and simulcast over the web) on CBS and CNN and other American television news channels. I watched it, and believed (and even also “saw”) during the whole process that the kid was in that hideous contraption. Yet he was never there.

And some people thought it was an alien. Some people still think something happened in Roswell, New Mexico, United States in July, 1947… They only saw it because they believed it. At the time, some people thought it to be a Russian spy plane, because they didn’t believe in aliens at the time and had never heard of such a concept.
However, independent thought suggests that anything that’s capable of interplanetary travel should be capable of not crashing in a desert above the United States…

Don’t believe everything you’re told and don’t believe everything you see. It’s not healthy.

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The BBC misspelt…

Posted Feb.06, 2010 under Everything

…the name of the Estonian President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, in this programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qsbvv/The_Virtual_Revolution_Enemy_of_the_State/

They spelt it as Thoomas Ilves. Which sounds like the bastardisation of the names Thomas and Toomas.

I have already sent a note informing the local media (Postimees) of this.

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Why religion just doesn’t make sense

Posted Jan.12, 2010 under Everything

I don’t believe blindly something that was written in a book – any book (this includes the Bible). Unless it makes sense to me.

And well, the bible just doesn’t. You can say what you want but I just don’t buy the stories. Well, they are nice fairytales – very violent ones – but really? Seriously? Turning water into wine (umm, was that red wine or white? since if that was white wine – that may not have been water after all)? Walking on water (hint: stones under water and exact knowledge where they are)?
Do you really believe that today?

And what I especially don’t get about the Bible is how restrictive it really is…

I was religious (Lutheran Christian) as a child, well, up until I was about 6 or 7 – when I started questioning everything. It just didn’t make any sense anymore.

And what I really don’t like about religion is the fact that everybody believes their own god(s) is the only one. Seriously? There are all these religions around the world. Why is yours any different?

By the way – how can you not believe evolution? It’s basically been proven, but in the United States of America (the only place in the whole world where this still is a problem) they don’t want it taught in schools.
If this didn’t happen – then why do most animals have junk DNA left? Why are the races different? I mean, there’s a scientific explanation why the races are different – and that’s also according to evolution.

Evolution is nothing more, nothing less than just simply progress. People were much dumber 100 years ago than they are now – we have evolved into more intelligent human beings.

All in all, the Bible is a nice book to read – but I wouldn’t take everything you read seriously if I were you.

First published as a reply to this thread:

http://geeks.pirillo.com/forum/topics/how-holy-is-the-bible

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What’s wrong with people? Part deux.

Posted Dec.07, 2009 under Everything

I’m sorry if this bothers you, but I really have the need to continue my last post now…

The following story may be a bit depressing, so if you are easily influenced, try not to care.
I mean, people are just such f*cking idiots. For crying out loud.

Let me describe you a person… no particular person, but just a general type.

He lives in a really bad neighbourhood. In a rubbish flat with 1 room, a bathroom and a tiny kitchen. A flat which was last renovated in 1979… He has a wife/girlfriend and a small kid. The only jobs he gets are small and pay little. The only skill he has got is renovating stuff, but he doesn’t have (or make) enough to renovate his own home. His wife doesn’t love him…

But he’s got a car. And a nice one. But he never travels more than a couple of miles to the centre of the town and is always out of gas. And when his friends ask him for a favour, at least a small ride to the shops when they are sick, he charges them as if it was taxi service.

He drinks a lot. More than 10 litres of pure alcohol per year. Maybe even 20. He is thoroughly in debt. He has got all kinds of loans on him.

Now, if he sold his car, got a job and stopped drinking, he could probably support his family and get out of that rubbish flat into a nicer home, and then could also soon afford a car again. But he is too afraid. He’s afraid of having to walk. But he wouldn’t. It’s a lot easier to get on a bus than drive. But he’s afraid to look like a loser. He’s afraid to look like a loser to his friends who have very similar lives. And all of them are afraid.

He sits home, watching rubbish television on his 15″ CRT television from 1996. His wife/girlfriend doesn’t even speak to him. He has a cheap laptop, but that he bought when he was still living at home.

And what does he do all about it? Absolutely nothing. He just sits, watches TV like a zombie as the bills pile up and his family starves. And it’s all his fault. He had children too young. He never got a good education. He screwed up his life. But his still has his car…

And there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of these people. They just sit. And watch.

And you know who’s to blame? The society.

But not always.

Life is depressing, at times.

I mean, especially around here. People are miserable. People are losing their jobs. And those who don’t lose their jobs, get reduced pay. Cut by 30%. And that’s a lot if you’re only making $1000/month (you’re left with 700, which is taxed, and you’re left with $530 a month. Which is around $120/week. Which is not exactly a lot.).

And television isn’t making things better. They say it needs to be realistic, but that’s bullsh*t. Every single local show I’ve seen on local television makes you want to commit suicide. I’m not surprised the suicide rates are high around here. And, for once, I don’t blame them.

Really, television shows are really depressing. There’s one called Secrets, which consists of people sending depressing stories in and actors re-enacting them on television. What horrible sh*t is that…

You know what, there are even more depressing shows on television. Even the comedy shows aren’t funny anymore…

What the hell has happened?

And you’d hope that at these depressing times television would want to cheer you up. But it doesn’t. It just pours more oil into the fire…

Is it all due to the recession? I mean, life was a lot worse in the nineties around here, but nobody complained then. In fact, people were happy (and a bit drunk, but mostly happy). And television was funny.

What the **** is wrong with today’s society?

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What’s wrong with people?

Posted Nov.28, 2009 under Apple, Everything, Personal

I woke up at 9 o’clock this morning.

Not because I wanted to, not because I needed to, but because someone called me.

It’s Saturday morning. If you knew me, you’d know I have really hard and long days during the work week, and prefer to sleep on Saturdays till, at least, two o’clock in the afternoon.

But no, it wasn’t because they had something urgent to tell me. Nothing is that urgent that it would wake me up 5 hours before I need to.

It was the usual broken PC thing. They had disconnected it and moved it into another room, but were unable to put it back together again. C’mon, how hard can it be to plug things back into where they were before? It’s not like all ports look the same and everything fits together. It’s not like you can mix up the monitor port and the USB…

And then they wanted me to do something completely new and surprising – send an e-mail from their behalf. I’m not kidding. They actually wanted me to send someone an e-mail from their behalf…
What the hell happened to phones?

Couldn’t they just call them if it was so urgent?

It’s not like most people read their e-mail on Saturdays, anyway. I know I don’t.

And then, after 10 minutes of the sleepiest tech support ever I thought this was it. The call ended, and I thought it was over so I could go back to sleep.

5 minutes later I got another call… The same people asking me to send another e-mail.
For f**ks sake. Couldn’t they have just told me the contents of both e-mails at once…
And, to make matters worse, I actually had to look the e-mail address up.

What the hell?

After all that headache, I couldn’t sleep any longer, so I decided to treat myself to a new router. I went to a really nice and new shopping centre in the city centre and bought myself a new router – an Airport Extreme. And I went to a Latvian restaurant and had, what probably was, the best thing I’ve ever eaten…
Then I headed home to set up my new network. And then I satisfied my OCD by cleaning my whole office, including every single key on every single keyboard.

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Listen up, WMG!

Posted Nov.20, 2009 under Economy, Everything, Personal, Random, Technology

Have you ever heard of a concept called “free promotion”? Basically, the product you sell gets advertised, without you paying for the advertising… Well, how does it work?

Let’s take an example –  youtube. A user posts a video containing your music. Or a music video by an artist that’s signed under your label.

You think to yourself – “oh my god they are stealing our music.” First of all, why do you assume that they are stealing, and why do you assume it will create a loss in profit?

In fact, common sense tells us that if a song is advertised *anywhere* and people like it, people will probably buy it. But if the song isn’t available on, for example, youtube,  then your song will be unheard, and probably bought a lot less.

I agree on one point, though. If the author of the song isn’t credited or any mention of the song’s name and performer isn’t there, then it should count as copyright infringement. But if the author and/or performer is credited and the song’s title given and (preferably) a link to the song on, let’s say, umm, iTunes is given, then what’s the f**king problem?

Have you heard of these things, called, err, common sense and independent thought?

Because if you had any of either, you’d realise disabling audio on infringing promoting videos is clearly… retarded.

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Profanity and the modern society – what the fuck?

Posted Nov.16, 2009 under Everything, Personal, Random

WARNING! The following post contains “profane” words in a reported manner. If you are deeply religious or otherwise can not stand anything closely related to reproduction, please, do not read this post for the sake of your mental health. Otherwise, carry on reading.

If you’ve read some of my posts, you probably know I sometimes use profanity. Sometimes I use the word “b*tch,” sometimes I use the word “f*ck.” Sometimes I use the word “sh*t.”

But, what’s so bad about those words, actually? As hard as I’m thinking, I can’t think of anything wrong with those words. The society tells us these words are profane and inappropriate. But what makes these words inappropriate?

Why can we use the word excrement or stool, but not sh*t? Why can we use the phrase “have sex” instead of “f*ck”? Wouldn’t it be easier to just say “to f*ck each other” instead of “to have sex with each other” or even “to have sexual intercourse with each other”?

What’s so bad about the word “f*ck”, anyways?

Wikipedia defines profanity as following:
“As a result, “profane” and “profanity” has therefore come to describe a word, expression, gesture, or other social behaviour which is socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rudeness, vulgarism, desecrating, or showing disrespect.”

Is the word “f*ck” insulting, rude, vulgar, desecrating or disrespectful? There’s nothing insulting in it. And what does “rude” even mean? As in “disrespectful”? Why is “f*ck” disrespectful? It’s just a word, a synonym to sexual intercourse. Desecrating? Seriously? Yes, sex is not allowed outside marriage by the christian “law…”. But inside the marriage, there seems to be no problem with it. So why is referring to it such a desecration?

Is the word sh*t insulting, rude, vulgar, desecrating or disrespectful? No. None of those things. “Sh*t” is a synonym to stool, excrement. Both are things our bodies produce. Therefore, are our bodies rude, insulting, vulgar, desecrating or disrespectful? Why would they be? We are a part of nature. Why does our body insult anyone? (does it?) Why is our body rude? (is it?) Why is it vulgar? (is it?)
And why would our body be desecrating, as, according to the Christians, man was made by god. Therefore god’s work isn’t sacred?

Is the word b*tch insulting, rude, vulgar, desecrating or disrespectful? Why would it be? It’s literal meaning, up to this day, is female dog. Yes, I can see how being called a dog can be insulting. But if it’s used not in the context of calling someone it and used as “b*tching about something” then how come it’s wrong to use it in that context?

How come has our society learned to avoid these words? How come do we avoid people who use these words?

They are just words… Words alone do no harm. It’s what you can do with those words is the problem.

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Windows 7 Ads – Microsoft desperate?

Posted Nov.14, 2009 under Everything

That’s desperate thinking right there – they are advertising that they didn’t copy Windows 7 off of Mac OS X?

(That Application is Spotify, by the way.)

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New video!

Posted Nov.13, 2009 under Everything

I’ve got a new video up on youtube!

(That person in the video is NOT me)

Music: “Winter: Lux Aeterna” composed by Clint Mansell, performed by The Kronos Quartet (© NoneSuch Records)

Camera used:
Kodak Zx1 HD Camcorder


Software used creating this:
Adobe After Effects CS4
Apple iMovie
Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks (MisFire)
Red Giant Magic Bullet Colorista
Red Giant Trapcode Particular
Apple Quicktime

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Why there is a lot of pirated content outside the US.

Posted Nov.04, 2009 under Everything, Personal, Technology

I sometimes listen to pirated music. I (almost daily) watch television shows that I have illegally downloaded. I rarely watch any films and I usually buy them.

Why?
The content JUST ISN’T AVAILABLE.

If you live in the United States or the United Kingdom, or, in some cases, even in Australia, you are most likely fine. But, if you don’t, then there’s ABSOLUTELY no way of getting the content. Well, not instantly, at least.

I’d have to wait a YEAR until the latest episode of House gets here. I’d have to wait TWO THREE YEARS until the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy gets here. I’d have to wait at least 6 months until the latest episode of Top Gear would be here.
And when it gets here, it is spoiled by the narrowscreen (4:3) format and hardcoded subtitles and the annoying red-and-white “3″ logo in the top-right corner. It’s JUST NOT A PLEASURABLE EXPERIENCE.

It’s the same thing with CDs and DVDs. When a CD finally reaches here (and I can’t buy it online since there ISN’T A STORE), it’s always some sort of local re-release with worse audio and ads inside the jewel case. Or sometimes there isn’t a jewel case at all and the disc is in a paper box.
With DVDs there are the ads and, again, the narrowscreen format. I wrote a blog post about DVDs some time ago.

The only legal way for me to obtain music is Spotify. And… oh wait, f**k, I have to be in the UK or some other countries to get the full experience. Oh, f**k. I do use Spotify with a UK proxy. It’s the same way I use the BBC iPlayer.

I don’t use P2P, well, only when it’s the last resort: For example, I downloaded an episode of Grey’s Anatomy via torrent yesterday. I generally don’t like torrenting and prefer HTTP(S) servers and direct downloads.


I would honestly love to buy content, and now, for some time, I can. How? I bought a £15 iTunes Store gift card when I visited the UK. I wish I had bought more than just one though…

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