Introduction

This blog is intended to provide a forum to post about any and all things that interest me. It may eventually develop some kind of theme or direction, but at this point expect it to be as eclectic as my idle thoughts. Honestly, the main impetus for starting this is the hope that pressure of having a semi-public forum for my ideas will force me to do a better job of researching, refining, and crystallizing my thoughts on various subjects. I am envisioning about a post a week and, should you have a relevant addition or insight, welcome your comments.

While the first real post for this blog is still in process, I have compiled a partial list of the topics I envision writing about in the coming months. If any of this interests you, please stay tuned.

• The relative propensity of various religions for violence.
• What the Nativity would look like if it happened in 2008.
• Appropriate rules of electronic etiquette (including email, cell phones, and instant texting)
• The development of biological engines
• The true market value of jewelry-class diamonds and how they became a cultural fixture
• Why women wear engagement rings and men don’t - shifting/static gender roles during courtship
• Evolution of Continental and American place settings and utensil usage
• Ethnic breakdown and analysis of America’s Next Top Model Contestants
• Critique of Project Runway’s fundamental premise
• Rules of the city, or the unspoken urban mores that allow people to live in close proximity
• The Coming Catastrophe – bioengineering, oil shock, global warming – what’s going to change the way we live the most and the soonest?
• Animals in zoos: Morality and social commentary
• The nature of irrationality – under what conditions can we fairly say that someone is acting irrationally?
• The fairness of death penalty-certified juries
• The symmetry of attraction – comparison of key indicators of attraction and arousal betwixt straight males and females
• Mortality rates – differences between published rates and life on the street, and what that tells us about descriptive statistics and the ways they are used
• Altered states of consciousness – particularly hypnosis and lucid dreaming
• What does it take to get on a reality TV show? Alternatively titled: “How do you prove you’re an emotionally stunted extrovert in a two-minute audition video?”
• Coping mechanisms in extreme situations – how do people learn to survive emotionally in environments defined by violence, death, and extreme deprivation?
• The argument against physical determinism – why it is/isn’t just kinetic interactions
• The death of poetry and what has taken its place
• Why the rich rule the world and nothing ever changes
• Memory alteration and its implications for free will, social design, etc.
• What happened to China’s communist fire?