Why You Should Believe Everything Always

Blaise Pascal was a Christian philosopher and mathematician who created something called Pascal's wager.  It was basically a way of coming to decisions when you have vague information.

You see, Pascal wanted all people to believe in God, even though he knew that the available information wasn't exactly compelling to all people.  To that end, he argued that even if you know God doesn't exist, you still have more to gain if you believe He does.

You have two options: you either believe in God, or you do not.  Whether or not you believe in Him, God either exists or He doesn't.  If he does and you believe in him, you get heaven. If you don't believe in Him and he does, then you get Hell.

But, if God does not exist, then there is no real punishment or reward for your beliefs, regardless of what you believe.

So, Hell is bad and you want to avoid it.  Heaven is good and you want to get it. The only way to have no possibility of hell and have the possibility of heaven is to believe in God.  So, everyone should believe in God. 

This type of reasoning is used not only to prove that you should believe in God, but also to prove that you should believe in... 

Global Warming

Here's another nifty chart.

If you believe global warming exists and make people behave in a way to prevent it, then you will either save everyone, or just lose a ton of money.  However, if you don't believe it, everyone dies or nothing happens.

So, since losing money is bad, but everything dying is worse, it's probably a good idea to believe in global warming, as it doesn't have the possibility of everything dying forever.

Finally...

Unicorns!

Yup, unicorns.  Let us turn to the chart:

You see, the only way you can have a life of rainbows, joy and magic is if you believe in unicorns.  If you don't believe, then your only options are causing Fluttershy to cry or to have nothing happen.  By the way, if you make Fluttershy cry, legions of 20-40 year old men will rise up and harm you. No, seriously

However, if you believe in unicorns, you will have a dang awesome life or you will have a party-less life.  

The only choice you can make that will give you the possibility of this rainbow-riffic life while also preventing you from having the possibility of getting harmed by rabid fans would be to believe. So, you should believe in unicorns, too.

Conclusion!

So, there you have it: a reason why you should believe in God, global warming, and unicorns.  Remember, this form of arguing is very common and psychologically convincing, so feel free to manipulate others to believing  whatever the heck you want them to believe.  I've already worked out some charts that prove you should believe that zombies exist, chain letters are always true, and murdering your family will cure cancer. 

Remember, as long as it's possible that something awesome will happen, and impossible that a specific bad thing can't happen, the argument seems good.  It doesn't matter how likely it is.  After all, Pascal wanted this argument to be used when you didn't know the probabilities of things, but wanted to act anyway.

See also: Appeal to Consequences

If I Were to Get a Tattoo

Okay, normally, I don't like the idea of tattoos. First and foremost, they're frowned upon by my religion, and secondly, I really don't have the body to pull one off.  I happen to lack muscle and tan-ness, and other such manly things.

Pictured: a person who could clearly take me in a fight

However, those things aside, there is a reason why I would consider getting a tattoo.  It's not a manly reason, and its definitely not a cool reason, but it is a pragmatic reason.  You see, I have often thought that it would be very useful if I were to tattoo my blood type, a list of medications I'm allergic to, a list of medications I'm currently taking, etc. somewhere that wouldn't be very noticeable to most people, but highly noticeable to a doctor.

If I ever were to end up in some terrible car wreck, or were to have a seizure and wind up unconscious, or were to tell my fiancé that I think she may have a gray hair, I might be somehow incapacitated and unable to explain to the doctor what had happened.

It turns out, the punishment for saying such things is a punch to the face.

The genius of this tattoo would be in its ability to quickly tell any doctor all the immediately relevant medical data.  He or she could begin pumping drugs into my body without needing to worry about whether or not this new injection would cause my brain to explode: they'd already know, thanks to the tattoo.

Considering how safe and docile a life I lead, however, the need for this medical information tattoo is relatively low.  I'm not in any extreme sports, I don't drive, I don't drink alcohol, I make sure to get plenty of sleep, and I eat healthy-ish.  I'm as fit as a boring, middle-class fiddle.

Pictured: yet another person who could clearly take me in a fight

Weekend of Awesomeness.

Right.  So, if you came here from Facebook, you already know that I'm engaged.  It's true, I finally was able to trick a girl into thinking I am a decent human being.

Anyway, throughout the weekend, I used my camera phone to record some of the details that drew my eye, but let Mingo use her own, much better quality camera to take pictures of us and rings and such.  Unfortunately, that means that I have no good pictures of us together. But, you probably came here from Facebook, and thus have the ones she uploaded.

Friday
In the airport in SLC, I ran across this sign:


I'm glad that it was worded the way it is, because I most certainly am not a child, and thus played on the escalator.  Take that, oddly-specific sign!





Guess how much this pizza cost.  Seriously, guess.




5 dollars.  I paid 5 dollars for what amounts to a slice of pizza. </firstworldproblems>





This was my view from the plane.  That white thing is the wing.


Saturday

This is a flying unicorn.





Monday


And lest we forget, I did actually get engaged.  Here's an artist's rendition of what Mingo and I looked like when we exchanged engagement rings (yeah, I got one too.):

And that is a completely incomplete cover of what went down during this past weekend.  :D

"Nice" Guys

Once again, I found something on Facebook that I disagree with. Behold the following:

It's a common belief that niceness equates with an inability to get a serious relationship.  This sentiment is not limited to men, either. I have female friends who say the same thing: because they are nice, guys won't date them.


Problem with Definition

The complexity of this issue begins when we try to define the word "nice."

I have seen many people that I would consider idiots.  These same individuals would not consider themselves thus. This fact does not stop them from viewing other individuals as idiots.  The subjective nature of the word can be summed up as follows: "An idiot is someone who says something that makes you mad."

Similar to the former misunderstanding, niceness has a similar misunderstanding, though it is more complex than the issue relating to idiocy.  What I consider nice is not what everyone considers nice.  I may think I'm nice if I sacrifice my time and energy to help a woman feel better, but if she thinks that I am helping her only because I want something—like marriage or physical intimacy—she will see me as manipulative and not as nice.  So, "nice" then, is defined as follows: "a person who does things which I believe are good and decent."

But what is good and decent to one person may not be good and decent to another.

Problem with Perception

The phrase "nice guy" means different things to different people. Self-proclaimed nice guys will identify themselves as

reasonable, safe, passionate, thoughtful, patient, and romantic.

But, someone else may see them as

utilitarian, lacking creativity, obsessive, manipulative,  unable to take "no" for an answer, and creepy.

Because of this drastic distinction, I have met people who obsess and who refuse to take no for an answer that consider themselves nice.  I have met misogynists (men who think women are inferior) that consider themselves nice.  I have met selfish, terrible people who view women as objects but still legitimately believed themselves to be nice.  A self-professed nice guy made the following statement about American women: "  You should pray that more people won't eventually catch-on to what a purposeless, unthinking dollop of steaming excrement you are. "  At best, they could say that they considered themselves nice, not that they were actually nice.

Problems with Assumptions
Assumption: Friendship is just a failed relationship.
"Nice" guys can view friendship with the opposite sex as a failure.  They view friendship as a means to an end: dating and ultimately marriage and sex.  If the person they are interested in does not view friendship as a failure, but as something to be celebrated, they don't think the "friend zone" is a bad thing.

Assumption:  Niceness needs to be rewarded.
"Nice" guys can assume that they are owed something for their niceness, as if being kind is a way to receive stuff.  This kind of mentality is not shared by all; indeed, the concept of altruism (being kind without wanting a reward for it) is a very valid and common alternative.  Expecting to be rewarded for being nice can make people feel like you are faking kindness to get something.

Assumption: Relationships are a form of reward
There is a common belief among "nice" guys and "nice" girls that the kind of reward they deserve is a romantic or sexual one.  Romance and sex are not prizes one gets for doing good things.

Assumption: Only shallow women don't believe niceness is the most important thing.
A relationship is founded upon many things, one of which is niceness.  Even truly nice people may find that they are not attractive to their opposite sex friend in the romantic sense.

The following is an incomplete list of things that are, in general, important to consider in a person before deciding whether or not to date them:

sexual orientation	ambition	sexual attractiveness	age difference
political values	sexual values	religious values,	ethical/moral values,
mental disorders	honesty	trustworthiness	selflessness
cultural differences	opinions regarding children

The list is much longer than presented, and varies from person to person.

Assumption: Niceness is a behavior.

It is not a universal assumption that nice acts are nice independent of intention.  Some people think that the niceness of an act depends to a large degree on goal or purpose.  These people believe that holding a door open for a woman because you hope she will date you is not nice.  Holding a door open for a stranger you have no intention of ever seeing again is nice.  Helping someone move only because they are going to feed you afterwards is not nice.  Helping someone move because you know that if you were in their situation, you would want help, is nice.  

Most acts are neutral until motivation is considered.  If a house doesn't fall on you while you are inside it, no one would claim that the house is being nice.  However, if a person drops something on you, that action suddenly has moral implications.

Please state your opinion, however disagreeable, in the comments.

Accidental Equality

So, I'm walking around in the library when I find this display of books they have. Because it's February, and February has Valentine's day somewhere inside it, the display has stuff relating to love and romance.  Because it's a Mormon school, of course, it specifically deals with weddings and marriage.

So, I find this collection of artistically arranged books facing me, when I notice that one of the covers seems a little different than the rest.

Have a look.



Yup, there are three couples on the front of the book, but only one of them is straight.  And just to make sure that the couples on the sides weren't overly-well-dressed groomsmen and bridesmaids, I opened the book and skimmed some of the chapters.  Sure enough, it talks about how the set up same-sex wedding ceremonies as well as opposite-sex ones.

I think it's awesome that someone on this campus had either the gall or the naivete to set this book on display in one of the most homosexual-unfriendly campuses ever.

Comma Nazis Must Die (Or At Least Do Research First)

While bouncing around Facebook and not getting homework done, I ran across the following comma-related image:

The Oxford comma—also called the serial comma—is the nickname given to a comma that comes before the last thing on a list of three or more things.  For example, look at this sentence:

"I invited Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Great Pumpkin over."

The last thing on the list is "the Great Pumpkin", so the comma before it is the Oxford Comma. But, it is not necessary to always have the Oxford comma at the end of a list.

"I invited Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Great Pumpkin over."

See?  No Oxford comma, but no confusion or grammatical error.

Now, when a list has just two items in it, a comma is actually incorrect to place between the items. 

I went to the store with Jeff, my girlfriend.

In this case, I would have to use the word "and", or admit that my girlfriend has a rather burly name.

I went to the store with Jeff and my girlfriend

It is only when there are three or more items that commas are necessary. 

The problem with the Facebook picture is that it is implying something grammatically impossible.  It claims that the sentence "I had eggs, toast (no comma) and orange juice" would mean that toast and orange juice are one item. However, that would make the list have only two items: eggs and toast-and-orange-juice.  Since no list which has a comma in it can have so few items, the reader is left with two possible interpretations: either there are three separate items listed, or the author is addressing toast and orange juice. As with most writing, context will determine whether it's a list or whether the person speaking talks to inanimate objects.

P.S. Someone on Tumblr went ahead and made a correction to the image which kinda shows my point:

Minecraft

All right.  So, a couple of weeks ago, I—on a whim—decided to start playing Minecraft.  Now, for those of you don't know what Minecraft is, it looks like this:

There's a bit more to the game than cubical grass, but the art is all very similar to that. 

I'm going to skip mentioning the scanty plot which doesn't reveal itself until you've played the game for at least a few days, and instead talk about the gameplay.  See, this game is all about creating whatever you want to. You are given a few simplistic rules. (left-click mines, right-click uses items, space bar jumps, etc.) and then let loose in a huge world.  This world has many things to explore, like caves, tundras, oceans, grasslands, forests, and deserts.  It also has many threats, such as monsters, and lava. But, even more fun than exploring and fighting monsters, is the creation aspect.  You are given the ability to craft whatever you can imagine, and that is why it is so similar to Legos.

Given how much I like making things, this game was instantly—and quite literally—addictive.  I have lost so much sleep and social time because of this game.  I still think it was worth it, though.  But the novelty is wearing off and I'm going back to a normal-ish sleeping pattern.  

Goodnight, everybody. :)

Being Sick

I'm sick and have decided that I'm going to blog, since it keeps my mind off of being sick.  That, and I hate doing nothing.  So, this entry might be somewhat long and rambling, but hey, there are pretty pictures, too.

Okay, so I am bouncing about Facebook, adding some of my FHE family to my friends list, when I run into this alert:

Though this is a spelling error on Facebook's part, I think a fiends list is a pretty good idea: it would let me know which people to avoid forever.

Well, I'm off to scour Pinterest for hints of manliness.  Wish me luck!

P.S. I know this wasn't long at all, but that's because I'm lazy. :)

I Have Seen the Future, And It Has Wrinkles

So, I happen to have a friend that is currently in a makeup class. She needed a model to practice on, and since I'm so remarkably attractive (and was free at that time), she chose me.
For the record, latex hurts to take off.

Masquerade Ball

Tonight happens to be the night of the masquerade dance here at BYU-Idaho.  I'm really excited for it, as I get to wear a mask.  Well, technically it's only half of a mask, as official BYU-Idaho policy prevents its students from wear masks at dances and probably on campus.  Because of this policy, I have chosen to wear a Phantom of the Opera style mask, like so:

Anyway, I am really looking forward to it, as I quite like feeling fancy, and because Mingo looks dang good in a dress.

Since this post is going up before I've gone to the dance, it's going to be rather devoid of pictures. I may do a follow up with pictures and stuff later, but I'll probably just put everything on Facebook instead.

Halloween's A-coming!

I love October.  I love the colder weather, but more importantly, I love Halloween.  This holiday brings an influx of horror movies, scary barns and mazes to visit, copious quantities of candy, an excuse to dress up in costume, and jack-o'-lanterns.  Annoying to spell yet fun to make, jack-o'-lanterns are, in my mind, the best part of the whole Halloween experience.

However, one does not simply grab a knife and begin to lobotomize this orange immobile victim; there are certain steps that must be followed to insure that the finished product is as beautiful in reality as it was in your mind when you came up with the idea.  Instead of typing about that, I'm going to take the lazy route and link you to two other blogs that have covered the related processes in detail.

How to carve realistic looking faces on pumpkins

http://www.instructables.com/id/Phot-o-lantern/

A great number of tricks to use when making perfect pumpkins http://www.extremepumpkins.com/howtotips.html

Okay, that's all.  Talk to you later. :)