 theseus51
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Name: David
Country: United States
State: Hawaii
Metro: Honolulu
Birthday: 12/26/1980
Gender: Male
Interests: I am a child of Generation E, so I chat online, sometimes watch tv, and RTS or poker games are sometimes used to cure boredom. Of course the usual hanging out with friends, or talking on the phone with various friends. My friends say I'm smart/witty, funny, and interesting. Heh what do they know. I'm also usually upbeat/positive with an overriding sense of sarcasm and rebellion against authority.
Expertise: Logic, Finance, Politics, Buddhism and Computer stuffs.
Occupation: Computer related
Industry: Government
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  theseus51
Member Since:
6/23/2002
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| http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/us/02nuns.html?pagewanted=2
U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny - The article basically talks about how the Vatican is clamping down on the US Nuns, who they view as too liberal for their orthodoxy. That's not what really interested me in the article though. Towards the end, it had this line:
"Besides these two investigations, another decree that affected some nuns was issued in March by the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops said that Catholics should stop practicing Reiki, a healing therapy that is used in some Catholic hospitals and retreat centers, and which was enthusiastically adopted by many nuns. The bishops said Reiki is both unscientific and non-Christian."
For those that don't know, Reiki is a Japanese holistic healing method where you place your hands on your patient and send them Ki Energy (also known as "Chi" in Chinese). I'm a strong believer in it, as well as my aunt, who got me into it. It was discovered by a Buddhist Japanese man a couple centuries ago.
The Catholic Church decided that Reiki is unscientific and non-Christian. If a Christian man discovered it, I'm sure the Catholic Church would be hailing the miracle healing power of Reiki, and giving the discoverer Sainthood But since it was a Buddhist man, the practice of healing others with your hands isn't their cup of tea. I also got a chuckle out of the fact that they didn't like it cause it was "unscientific". The irony is just too funny.
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| I know the banking and credit card industry is hurting, but I had no idea how desperate they are. Visa has pre-approved me for their Black Card. I once got mailed an invitation to join AARP (I was 25 at the time and working full time), but this is even more bizarre.
http://www.ninomiya.org/piccys/blackcard.jpg
I have no idea what kind of specific benefits you get, but it said you get "24-Hour Concierge Service", "Luxury Gifts" and an "Exclusive Rewards Program". Sounds impressive. It better be for the $495 annual fee. Anyway I don't know what they are thinking, cause I spend less than the Black Card's $495 annual fee every month on my current credit card. A lot less.
The history behind the Black Card is actually very interesting. It was an urban legend in the 1980's, that there was a mysterious Black Card that had no limits and was for the super rich. So American Express capitalized on the legend and actually issued a Black Card in 1999.
http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/blackcard.asp
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| There should be a headline in the paper saying: "Having solved all the crime in the city, the Honolulu Police Department is now on a mission to stop pedestrians from crossing the crosswalks when the red hand is flashing."
I was going to cross the street at the corner of Punchbowl and Halekauwila last Friday morning to go to work, and the signal was the little white man. It then turns to the flashy red hand thing, and I am about to walk and the police officer on the corner tells me not to cross. I look at him but don't wanna make a big "thing" out of this so I just stand by. Then I hear him talking, and notice it's to ANOTHER police officer across the street, ocean side, presumably doing the same thing.
If anything, there should be police officers stopping jaywalkers between Halekauwila and Queen street, where a lot of people jaywalk. But yeah, I guess there's nothing better to do for Honolulu's finest, since they have solved all the crime in the city, so are now tackling the smaller crimes like crossing the street when the red hand is blinking.
By the way, I can't take credit for the made up headline. It's a take off on one of the Cato Institute's news headlines from a few years ago. Theirs was when a Committee in the US House of Representatives was going to investigate the way the NCAA Football Champion is determined. Saying the BCS system is flawed. Their headline was "Having solved all of America's problems . . . " http://www.cato.org/dispatch/12-07-05d.html
In other news, it took about 8 hours for the last oreo to be eaten at work. And with the blue lighting, my screen looks a bit funny, so I had to play around with the brightness and graphics properties on my monitor to get it to look like normal.
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| Michael Jackson: I can't believe you never heard of me. I'm a very popular entertainer.
Homer: Oh, of COURSE I've heard of you! I mean, you'd have to be living under a rock not to know . . . what'd you say your name was?
Michael Jackson: Michael Jackson.
Homer: Doesn't ring a bell.
Michael Jackson: Well, have you heard of MTV?
Homer: No.
Michael Jackson: Motown?
Homer: No.
Michael Jackson: Beat It?
Homer: YOU beat it!
Michael Jackson: Thriller?
Homer: What was that last one?
Michael Jackson: Thriller.
Homer: Nope.
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