Big 2001 Vacation: Part 2: 11/10/01-11/12/01

Reno[, NV]
Carol-Ann is an interesting person. She’s Ronie’s Mother, and I can see the similarities. Carol-Ann worries a bit more than Ronie though. We left on a trip to Reno for a comped stay, at Harrid’s.
I gambled, and lost for 2 days. Not bad for a beginner. Carol-Ann played the slots constantly, going up and down on winnings and losses. She had a great time. I had a good time on slots and then blow my limited winnings and everything else on Blackjack and Roulette. I think I[‘m] finally starting to figure [out Roulette]. (of course that’s a joke). {Actually, I did start to understand how to play Roulette effectively. Since then, I usually leave the Roulette table nearly breaking even, if not actually winning.} Carol-Ann was worried that we would get snowed in, but we didn’t of course.
We saw three shows. [We saw a]n adorable fashion show from Macy’s by Harrids employees. The kids stole the show. We saw an adult review. We sat close enough to be under the dancers’ high kicks. The Gordie Brown show was funny, and fun.
Guess what, we didn’t get snowed in, but had we stayed longer, we would’ve.
{An other thing I remember was at the Blackjack tables where the dealers were getting upset at me cuz I was playing so very poorly. I guess they felt I was screwing everyone else up too.}

Big 2001 vacation, Part 1: Introduction

I'm starting a new, short series of entries transcribed from my preblog
Travel Diary of my vacation of Nov 2001. No single event from this
vacation was life altering, but the trip on whole acted as a catalyst to
open the door for my spiritual enlightment. That sounds like an
overstatement, but it's not. Weird that upon reading these transcriptions,
I don't think you will see the transformation. I know I don't. I just
know how I was before, how I am now, and that this trip occurred at the
crossroads. Maybe Hawaii cleansed my spirit of most of its negativity.
Maybe the trip simply allowed me the excuse to let the last bits of the
younger me go.
Oddly, the first stop on this trip is Reno, NV.
...
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Week wasn't so bad

My last week (when I g/f was out of town) wasn't so bad. I didn't do anything wild or have nights later than 10:30pm, but I did hang out with a variety of my friends successively. On Weds, Dave came over and hung out at my place for awhile. Thurs, I had a relaxing dinner and coffee shop stop with Chi. Fri, Jenn and her friend met up with me and former co-workers of theirs at a British pub. Sat, I spent doing my laundry ALL DAY and NIGHT. Sun, Miriam cooked dinner for me and we watched Collatoral (eh). Her 5 year old daughter gave me an adorable birthday card with a picture of me and hearts, and a cutout loose bow tie. I haven't worn a bow tie since I was 8, I think. hehe Chi and I talked about a bunch of stuff over dinner on Monday.
Then, finally on Tues, my g/f was back in town. FINALLY! I missed her. :p I'll be able to see almost everyone again this weekend for my belated b/d gathering. It's shaping up to be a diverse and fun crowd!

Hunger

I guess I’m not meant to eat breakfast this morning. First, I head to a donut shop close by my home, on my way to work. They are out of milk. I really can’t eat a donut without milk, so I’m like thanks but sorry. Then I stop at a quicky-mart up the road. No donuts or milk. Alright, so I’ll just get pop tarts from the vending machine at work. Well, I get to work, go to the lunch room. The dang vendor it busy loading the vending machine, and he’s taking forever! Arg. ::hungry::

Intelligent Design

“When are people going wake up and realize that [evolution] is trash science,” said Pat Robertson today, 3/7/05.

It’s funny that fundamentalist put so much effort into trashing the Theory of Evolution. In the past, the only alternative that has been offered is the first two chapters of Genesis. Of course, the first two chapters of Genesis have two completely separate and contradictory creation myths. Fundamentalist try to pretend it’s one story, but is a sticky point that is often used to catch them in their lies (that is, taking only parts of the bible completely literally and ignoring or explaining away sections that contradict their beliefs).

So, Intelligent Design is invited. Intelligent Design attempts to prove that a creator must be the explanation for life on Earth, and its diversity, without making direct reference to the bible or a god. Intelligent Design promoters have come up with all kinds of trick formulae, mental exercises, and baseless assumptions in the effort to build up a body of support for their ideas. However, the biggest point that makes Intelligent Design nearly useless is that its promoters don’t use the scientific method to falsify hypotheses. It is not enough to say that one has evidence for a hypothesis. One must also try to find evidence that contradicts their hypothesis. Absolutely no one that is out promoting Intelligent Design has done that.

In my opinion, the people promoting Intelligent Design don’t care whether or not they are speaking truth. They are spurred on by money, taking advantage of the ignorant masses seeking a remedy to the contradiction between the bible and reality. Basically, Intelligent Design promoters are snake-oil-salesmen, pushing a do-nothing product on unsuspecting people.

In science, it is usually healthy to have opposing views battling out the facts until the truth is discovered. The 20th Century’s great example of this battle was between Big Bang Theory and Steady State Theory. Of course, the Big Bang Theory evidential won the day, but not before Steady State Theory studies had an impact on our understanding of the Universe. Steady State supporters made several important discoveries. Ultimately these discoveries ended up providing further proof for the Big Bang Theory, but without opposing views driving research, it may have taken much longer to understand our visible Universe.

Here’s my challenge to Intelligent Design promoters. Stop selling snail-oil and start taking science seriously. Only then is it possible that their contributions will play and important role in our understanding of the origin of species. Until that unlikely day, there is no practical use for Intelligent Design. Using the scientific method to study nature as it is (and not just how we want it to be) provides endless insights and benefits to everyone. The Theory of Evolution is practical science that is playing a role in making new discoveries. Intelligent Design provides no insights or benefits into anything because it ends the search for further discovery.

**Update 9/23/2013: I stand justified of my opinion according to this recent article: Discovery Institute is a con-profit scam.**

G/F outta town

Well, my g/f is out of town for a week.
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