Thursday, December 2, 2004
My effort was rewarded today.
I decided to ride my bike to work today. I often ride to work in the warmer months, but I give it up when it get cold and snowy. Today, however, I just wanted to exercise my body and take on a bit of a challenge. It is clear and very cold in Utah today, about 17 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. I...
Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Farewell to James
Last week my cousin James put on a little concert for his friends and family. He’s sort of a wiz with music like I am. He plays the piano like a dream. He’s also proficient at guitar, bass, and drums. He also reads music very well - a trait that I lack. It was fun to listen to his songs. Some he...
Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, November 22, 2004
I feel like I'm striking out against evil today.
I’m going to depart from my usual philosophical theme and get more personal today. In the spring of this year, my wife asked me if I’d be interested in adopting an orphaned child from Haiti. One of our neighbors had been doing some humanitarian work there and gave a presentation at our church. To...
Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Some bloggers prefer a mask over their real persona
People often hide behind a mask to commit unethical acts. Whether it’s a uniform, an alias, or a painted face, we often take leave of our moral center by submerging it beneath a facade of some sort. With the moral center blocked, the more base desires can erupt. A businessman may hide behind the...
Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, November 12, 2004
Accidents
It leaves you reeling when you crash, Twixt metal, glass, and plastic mash. Atop razor’s edge, turned as pawns, To contemplate the dance of myriad electrons, Spin or counter-spin, across this universe so vast. It all happens so fast, Life’s last breathe, measured as if by eyelash. Yet seconds...
Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Sometimes I feel like a hockey puck
Newton’s first law of motion states that every body continues in its state of rest or in its uniform motion along a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it. But more succinctly, this is the law of inertia. For example, if I whack a hockey puck at you,...
Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
One of my poems
Prejudice Trapped as prisoner by the mould in your brain, Bereft of all freedom, you struggle in vain, To lift your head above the morass, Of filters and funnels and chasms that clasp, Your synapses in chains. You cracked the cast once, at last! Yet it crystallized anew, just as fast, As you lay...
Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
Is science evil?
Philosophy should be a guide for living. As I mentioned in a previous post, science has been given a bad rap by some moralists. I think this is an error. The finger would be more appropriately pointed at the failings of philosophy rather than at science. Science simply aims to describe things as...
Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, November 8, 2004
What do bloggers value most?
I appreciate all the good comments from everyone on my last blog. The variety of responses points out the difficulties of ethics: it’s hard to design a system that is logically cohesive, yet applies to every situation. Life gives us certain givens: We are alive. We can think. We get to try out our...
Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, November 5, 2004
Hey bloggers! Vote for your favorite ethical system. Write ins welcome.
Divine Command Theory: Ethics originate with God. He knows what is moral and what isn’t. God determines what is good and what is bad. Special divine revelation to a key person or group of people shows the rest of us how to behave. Goodness rests in conformity to a divine set of rules or...
Sign in to see full entry.
