Thailand April 19, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , add a commentI spent a week in Thailand with my good friend Bird, experiencing Water Festival, the Thai new year. It was a very wet wet week and it ruined my wallet 🙁 Bangkok is hot as hell, and humid. The traffic is awful. Yet is has a good MRT. This alone marks it higher than LA. All that aside, I look forward to coming back here.
Protected: Beyond April 13, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , Enter your password to view comments.A Cousin’s Question April 12, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Philosophy , 1 comment so farMy cousin Kristy wrote me this Email:
Hey Evan. Unbeknownst to you, I pop in on your blog from time to time to see where in the world you are now. I probably know more about you now than I ever have in my whole life, and I’ve got to ask one question: how did you arrive at the conclusion that you are an atheist? As you may know, I am wholeheartedly and totally Christian, and I’ve never had the opportunity to ask a real-life atheist how they became one. So if you don’t mind, and you have time, I’d really like to know. Be honest–I’m genuinely curious and it’s impossible for you to hurt my feelings just because I happen to disagree with you. Thanks! your cousin, Kristy
In answer, I replied:
To be clear, I am a strong Atheist. This just means that instead of Not believing there is a God/s, I believe there IS no God. Do you see this difference? One might call weak Atheism agnosticism; just not knowing. But I take the view that there isn’t an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God.
A) There is no direct evidence for a god. By this I mean God has never been seen or measured… Quantified, in any way. Especially not by me, which would be the most compelling evidence. The world around us can be explained without a God, so I find no reason to believe that this world couldn’t exist without a God.
B) The Christian God in particular is contradictory. Is your god omniscient (all knowing)? Do you have free will? Well you can’t have both. If s/he is omnipotent, then s/he knows whether or not you are going to hell. If s/he knows that, then you do not have free will, as everything you will do is already known and decided. If s/he Doesn’t know what you will do… well then what Else about your God is off base?
C) The history of Christianity, and all religions, are dubious at best. The Bible has gone through So many changes and has been altered by so many people, that it can Hardly be considered the words of God, who is said to have originally inspired the Gospels.
D) The intense hypocrisy of religions is astounding. For example, in America, where we are all supposed to have equal rights, homosexuals are denied equality. This is based on the idea that homosexuality is a moral weakness, or even a damnable sin! This is based on biblical doctrine. But the same people that are so quick to damn gay people, have No problem eating Shrimp (Click here to see what I mean)! It is this tendency to select certain parts of religion to accept, but not others, that adds to my belief that religion exists ONLY to make us feel better, to make us more certain about what we already think.
There are ALOT of myths regarding Atheism and what it is and isn’t. THIS website does the best job of explaining. I’m sad to say but it seems the best weapons that the religious authorities have is the total willingness of their subjects to believe the authorities, with no research of their own and Total devotion. Evolution and gravity, for examples, are really not even a question anymore; there are some who even say the earth is still flat and the universe revolves around the Earth, using the same logic the Intelligent Design theorists use. Evolution defies the bible. The bible thus loses credibility to me. I don’t know if this answers your question, but when it all comes down to it, we All make a faith based decision when we think about the universe. I guess the only way we’ll know is when we die. oh hey, cool that you read my Blog! 😉
love, Evan HB
ps: How are things? I was just about to say I’m in Thailand now, but I guess you will see pictures soon enough.
I will update it to be a bit more clear and full as to my opinion on the matter when time permits.
Thailand is toooo H O T hot. But cool!
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , 1 comment so farPictures up later. and, I StumbledUpon this. TOOO funny.
| Evan — [noun]:A master blogger ‘How will you be defined in the dictionary?’ at QuizGalaxy.com |
| Evan Reed Haight-Boyd — [noun]: A person who laughs at anything (even this entry) ‘How will you be defined in the dictionary?’ at QuizGalaxy.com |
Green Island Adventures April 6, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , 5 comments
Click the picture for the Green Island photo set!
Originally uploaded by AkumAPRIME.
Joyce and I left for Green Island on Sunday night, at 10pm. by train. The trip started out rough. A 7 hour train ride is something few people look forward to; especially one like this. Two cute kids quickly became two baying brats about three hours in to the trip. Well to be fair, it was really the one kid’s fault. He kept LA making these NALA loud noises NA. Then when his parents tried to stop him, he began to cry which incited the other.
At any rate, I was able to find maybe an hour’s sleep before arriving in Taitung at 6am. We had to wait until 11 for the ferry, so we rented a scooter and hopped around uneventfully for a couple hours. Finally we ferried over to Green Island.
When I stepped off the boat, the beauty of the island was not immediately apparent. We got our scooter, gassed up and it was on the ride around the island to our quarters that I was amazed. The island is not large; you can scooter around it in under an hour. The beautiful beaches and natural rock formations and trees and animals and… well I’ll let the pictures speak for me. (Note: pics up ASAP) So we had lunch, napped (due to lack of sleep), had dinner (goat* hot pot) and slept.
An early rise at 4:45 got us up in time to see a beautiful sunrise. A quick breakfast and we went snorkeling. Out in the water, I wanted to dive deep, but was unable due to the life vest. After asking the coach who was with us, he allowed me, and I was able to go wild. (As a side note, the Taiwanese are not swimmers. They don’t go into the ocean, they don’t swim much really. This is disconcerting to me. At any rate, it was remarked upon that foreigners are good swimmers, so it would be ok if I took the vest off.) The fish were gorgeous. I saw Angel fish, Clown fish, Goblin fish, Tube fish, fish I don’t know the name of, Sea anemones, Sea Urchins, etc… The water was a clear blue, the water was warm… I kicked a rock pretty damn hard, got some coral scrapes… All was well with the world.
After a nice bowl of shaved ice sea weed, we went to the jail that exists on the island. Well, there are two jails: one is actively used, and houses some of Taiwan’s worst criminals. The other was a political prison that now houses a monument to a period of social unrest and political corruption called the “White Terrorâ€. It was nice to learn a little history about the country I’ve been living in, even if it wasn’t the nicest historical period.
When we finished with the jail, we went looking for a place to rent snorkeling equipment, so I could go by myself. Well apparently a Taiwanese girl had done this several years ago, went out, and never came back! So after being told by three stores “Nonono, no one will rent you equipment,†I found one that did I had Joyce drop me at a beach and told her to meet me in an hour. Walking down to the beach, I saw two signs: one said “Snorkelingâ€, the other said “No Swimming.†hmmm… well the water was ridiculously choppy, and a group of six students from Honduras were sitting in the shallows (well three were). I invited them to the original snorkeling spot I knew from earlier in the day, if they would give me a lift. They accepted, but we would be three to a scooter, something I didn’t want. So I gave them directions and headed off for a looooong walk back to the hostel. As I walked, a group of twelve scooters passed me. All of them had two people on, but one. I thumbed him down, and they were nice enough to give me a ride. They were a group of Indonesians and they happened to be going to the nature walk right next to my house.
I grabbed the scooter, and headed out to Chaikou, the nice snorkeling spot. I found three of the Hondurans (one was Mexican) on the way. They pointed me to their snorkeling minded friends and when I found them…. OMG. A fisherman had told them this was a good snorkeling spot. All I saw was a mud hole. So I grabbed them, we headed to Chaikou, but they split off to go to the jail with their friends. So to sum things up from there, I snorkeled, saw the Hondurans one more time (glad they finally got some decent snorkeling in) and headed home. Joyce and I had dinner which was… disappointing.
As we walked around after dinner something scary happened. Taiwanese LOVE their pets. I mean it. They seem to allll own dogs, and pamper the hell out of them. I am inclined to approach every one I see, in general. If they are friendly, I pet them. If they growl, I don’t! Well this one dog stood as I approached it. Confusingly, it wagged its tail, but it ears were pointed and it growled. Since I wasn’t convinced of its friendliness, I walked away but it quickly ran towards me and jumped on me… and froze… if I moved, it growled. I could’ve attacked it. It was in the perfect position for me to punch it in the face, and though I think I would’ve been able to beat it in a fight, I’m sure I would’ve incurred painful bites. I had Joyce go in to the store the beast had been guarding and summon the owner, who was able to get it off me…. Not sure what made it do that… I don’t know if I had the scent of a male dog on me or if the dog was just crazy…. /sigh
Near our hostel was a mountainy peak with a small building, where you could watch the sunrise. That night we decided to go there to see the stars, but cloud cover was a problem More importantly, the buffeting winds were inSanely strong.
This day was effectively my last day on the island. Joyce and I had planned on a 4:45 sunrise, but when the time came, we chose sleep over sun. 8ish led us to breakfast, then to Bullhead mountain. We wanted to get on top of it, but were unable, so we went to its neck, where Swallow Cave lay. I saved a hermit crab (the ungrateful bastard kept pinching me) from certain doom. The we headed to the hot springs to look at them.
I went snorkeling for a bit at this point, with the goal of swimming out to where the shelf drops off. When I got a certain distance out however, I realized there was no one around. I saw the depth and darkness of the sea about me, and a primordial fear welled within me. I swam quickly back to a shallower setting. But even here I was faces with danger! A scorpion fish, very poisonous, swum beneath me. An eel, the first I’d seen here, swimming nearby. Then, as I stood on the rocks, another eel, staring at me, baring his fangs… I may love the ocean, but that many things in 20 minutes time is enough for me. Then after a nap I dropped Joyce off at the ferry and I was on my own.
I took the nature walk near my house. I saw lizards, squirrels, one of the now uncommon spotted deer which the island is famous for, butterflies and Huge spiders. After the hike I went into town for some tea (Oh oh oh, tell Wayne that I was wrong. Milk in tea is Awesome!) and see the cute dogs. I saw two little kids, maybe 8 years old, one of whom was drinking a Smirnoff Ice, an alcoholic beverage. I tried to tell him not to drink it, that it was bad for him, but they ran off.
I enjoyed a barbeque dinner, then hot springs that night. At this point, alone, I became bored. I headed back to the hostel and saw a fire on the other side of the mountain. Alarmed, I asked some people I, mistakenly, thought to be natives what it was. They didn’t know, but an old man laughed and said it was the garbage being burned. It turns out he was wrong, as the shrieking sirens of fire engines told me. It turns out I was right in my guess that the high winds, coupled with the burning of “ghost money,” started a fire. I’m guessing they put it out. Still bored, I looked around for people to talk to.
Next to the hostel is a BBQ place. I was a bit hungry, but not much, so I approached a table of four men, and asked to order just a small amount of food. They decided to treat me, and I sat down for what turned out to be a great evening. The man to my left, 22, named Andy, spoke english well, so we could all talk. The two across from me were 16 and 17, and sadly smoked many cigarettes. The three of them lived in Thailand now, but were back for their summer break. To my left, 13, was Brad. 13? No way, I laughed and asked again, 13? I made him stand up… after a few minutes it became evident they meant 30.. ok, lol, so we talked, and eventually karaoked and had some beer. The table to my left had four older men and three younger girls. They invited me over to talk to them, as they knew english, and kept toasting and filling my glass. We had a wonderful, if drunken, time and I hope they all email me the pictures we took!!!
A few hours sleep later and I ferried, sadly, back to the mainland… The train ride was not pleasant, but faster. Now I’m back in dreary and bustling Taipei. But not for long! I’m off to Thailand in 2 days… OMG! I better pack…
* The word for goat and lamb is the same in Mandarin. So I was told we were going to have lamb hot pot, but as soon as I bit into it, I could taste that it was goat. It tasted like goat smells. It was good, but lamb is Much better.
Green Island April 2, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Games,Life,OCTGN , 3 commentsI’m off to Green Island for a few days of fun in the sun. I can’t wait to see and swim in a beach! Dreary cloudy rainy Taipei is far from cheerful. Well, I won’t be around till’ Thursday.
In other news, even though I remained Signed on to IM clients, people still believed my small April Fools joke that I was coming back to the states.
I also took a few minutes to throw THIS port of Sets together. Usable via OCTGN, it is a Mensa award winning multiplayer puzzle game. HERE are the rules.
TrANtGENT March 27, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , 2 commentsI love baking soda toothpaste. Arm and Hammer makes the best kind, and I brought a tube to Taiwan with me. Unfortunately, there is No baking soda toothpaste here. The toothpaste here is weak, slimy and weird. They DO have great shampoo here, however: Head and Shoulders with Menthol mixed in!
So now I just brush my teeth with shampoo. It works well, tastes fine, and my teeth have never been as clean, or had such nice body. Plus the Menthol leaves me with minty fresh breath.
Good breath is im… oops gotta run. I’ll finish this later and add a pic.
Some important things to note. March 25, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , add a comment
Originally uploaded by AkumAPRIME.
1. Apparently the Chupacabra is real, and it migrated to Mexico via the Bering strait, with the Chinese.
2. Snake meat is good, but it’s a PITA because there are WAY too many bones… and I thought fish were bad.
3. THIS program is amazing. It allows you to control your windows behavior with mouse gestures, basically making buttons obsolete. Totally customizable. Well designed and useful, this program is orgasmic!
4. Are you watching LOST? WTF not? There is NO good reason for you to not quit your job for a week, rent the episodes from Blockbuster, and have a marathon. Ok ok, Season 2 starts strong, then gets slow/boring for about 5 eps. Man up! It gets great again.
PCL Boosters league March 22, 2006
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : OCTGN , add a commentThere’s a new MTG league over at CardFloppers. Come on over, grab OCTGN and join us! irc.ircstorm.net #octgn for matches or help!
A non-E-xistent post
Posted by AkumAPRIME in : Life , 1 comment so farDue to author status granted by the one and only true author of this blog. I, Max, am writing a post that has virtually no content at all. I mean, what can I say? This isn’t my blog, but if i have permission, I figure I’ve got to use it.
Ceci n’est pa une post
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