Monday, October 30, 2006
Plato and DaVinci's Notebook
Have you heard the latest episode of The Acapodcast?
At the very least, listen to the first track in the latest episode, a wonderful number by DaVinci's Notebook. Besides being amazing music, it is also damn funny.
Also, check out this video. Warning: Mature content in lyrics.
Seriously, man, listening and watching this kind of stuff always makes me want to sing a cappella. If only I can arrange half as well. Oh wells.
I recently came across an interesting article on the Euthyphro Dilemma, by a particular forum member of a particular forum I visit regularly.
Euthyphro, as you may know, is one of Plato's many dialogues. I was aware of the general idea of the work, but had never read it in full. Apparently it is available in Wiki, so here it is; it isn't terribly long, but quite brilliant as you may expect from Plato.
The gist of the matter is, as you may have guessed by now, translated into modern monotheistic terms, "Is what is moral commanded by God because it is moral, or is it moral because it's commanded by God?". This present a problem for Christian thought because if what is moral is only so because it is commanded by God, that hardly seems fair and, indeed, sounds very much like tyranny, while the alternative, that God commands that which is moral, begs the question of exactly what moral basis God is referring to when making that choice. Now at first glance it seems to be almost too perfect. Socrates seems to have Euthyphro soundly beaten! There goes the theistic basis for morality!
But wait! A closer examination of the argument presented by Socrates (Plato) enables one to poke many logical holes in his argument, as presented by this essay.
Facinating. Well, at least I think it is.
Departing from the realm of Philosophy, is anyone going for the Rockapella concert? I can't seem to find anyone interested in going with me. Also, the Swingle Singers are coming to town this December!
LFM A Cappella concerts pst.
{/3:13 PM}
me
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
cher: I would LOVE to visit you in London. Maybe I'll save up enough to go. =)
yh: If you're talking about iMoo it's beside my pillow on my bed =p
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I had Mac breakfast today. One of the relatively new guys posted to my unit was late for the morning brief, so he was jokingly commanded to buy breakfast for us, and someone jokingly quipped that he wants Mac Big Breakfast. And lo and behold, today he comes to work with 2 big boxes of assorted Mac breakfast! Man, he's got some deep pockets (drives a merc to work). It was very appreciated. A proper breakfast, for once.
Random thought: Why is it that every med student I know at some point of time will have as their MSN display name latin words of various parts of the human anatomy? Newsflash: We don't care if you can name all 216 bones in reverse-alphabetical order.
I'm in an ORD-mood right now. 3 more months baby!
One of the guys in my unit has secured a teaching position in HCI after he ORDs, teaching Chemistry to JC1s. Hopefully I will be able to do the same. Will be talking to teachers about that soon, hopefully Chemistry or Maths for JC1, or, if not, IP. Not sure if there's any difference though, in how NJC and HCI operates, given that my school is not an independent one. $65 a day is too good to pass up, and teaching has been my on-and-off passion. I was, after all, an MOE scholar for 2 years.
And, I really do not want to get stuck with an administrative job after 2 years of that in NS.
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Came across an interesting article. Here's an exerpt:
"A Christian man struggles to maintain sexual purity in a culture that says he's crazy. (Once when I told co-workers that my wife and I waited till after marriage, they looked at me as if I'd just gotten off the shuttle from Pluto.) In a common scenario, an unmarried Christian man knows he could have sex with many women, but he withholds and endeavors to wait. He fights back temptation after temptation to please God and to give his future wife the gift of sexual purity. Then at last he marries and crosses the finish line, yet instead of fabulous banquets, he gets frozen dinners for years to come. Such men will tell you they feel robbed, resentful, victims of false advertising."
And here is a forum post in discussion of the above:
"Yes. You wait. Yes. It can be hard. Yes. There are times you want the rules to change, but geez. If God gives us these rules, do you think it's to hinder our joy or increase our joy? I would say seeing as God is all about joy, it would definitely be to increase our joy?"
"Does this mean that there are times that I see a beautiful lady and just sigh and want to say "How long O Lord? How long?" Absolutely. I don't cease to have hormones just because I'm a Christian and I don't think God takes away your hormones or desires until you say "I do." (This is one reason upon moving out I've taken a personal vow to not have a girl alone with me in my apartment.)"
"What is there to gain from sex outside of marriage? A moment of pleasure? Is that moment of pleasure worth it in the long run? Now let's suppose my theology is all wrong and when I get to Heaven I found out it would have been okay. I don't think I will at all, but I don't think you can have regrets in Heaven. I think I'd be thankful for the awesome time I did have with my wife."
"My approach at the point is that the human female form is simply the most beautiful form that there is. I am entirely unworthy at this point of beholding that form in all of its glory, let alone uniting with that form. Of course, I desire to see that form, but I am not worthy of it, and when it comes, I want it to be with a lady I've already established a covenant with so that she knows I'll be there and I know she'll be there and when we wake up the morning after, we'll know we can look over and see each other."
"One final point I'd like to stress. I think we treat sex too seriously also. We are tempted to sleep with someone beforehand to see if we're sexually compatible. Dude. If you have all the Y parts and she has all the X parts, you're compatible. Your marriage will not stand or fall on sex. If sex is the foundation for your marriage and the main reason you get married, you have a flimsy foundation and reason."
"Sex is a kind of spice to the marriage. It adds more pizzazz of the recipe of the one man and the one woman coming together. The company of the lady would be awesome enough as it is, but getting to be so intimate with her and literally enter into her and have her trust you entirely and you trust her only deepens things. I think a good marriage will consist of good sex, but "good sex" does not equal a good marriage."
"Instead, the main reason from what I understand couples break up over is financial reasons, yet for all this talk, when was the last time couples tried to see if they were financially compatible? When was the last time they tried to see if their in-laws were compatible? No. For some reason, sex takes the front seat."
"In a Christian marriage, you know God takes the front seat. I would see if you're compatible in faith first and then in other areas and know that if you do love each other and trust each other, you will be compatible in sex, and it will be awesome."
"And I do say that definitely looking forward to the awesomeness, but realizing as awesome as it is, that the great treasure is not the lady's function sexually, but the lady herself."
Something to think about.
{/10:56 AM}
me
