27-28 Aug 2010
I woke up around 6:00 PM and took 1 piracetam and choline (800mg/1000mg), and again at 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM. I didn't get very much sleep last night, as it was very hot. It was seriously too hot to continue sleeping. The dreams that I can remember were mostly the "bureaucratic" type: you need to be somewhere, for something that apparently isn't important at all, but you can't get there for some reason.
I'm not really noticing the same elevated mood today, though that may just be due to the lack of sleep. I'm not feeling particularly sharp, either. I made a brief announcement video about this weekend's fundraiser, although YouTube has yet to push it to my subscribers even 6 hours after I uploaded it. This can actually be a significant issue: once it finally is published to everyone, it was still posted X hours ago, so it's buried under all the more recent videos from the subscriber's perspective. The entire point of having subscribers is that they see your videos; publishing delays directly undermine that, and 20,000 potential viewers are reduced to 0 actual viewers.
I watched Team America: World Police on the recommendation of friends, which was amusing. Later, I worked on tweaking the site theme, and it seems mostly complete by now. The greatest difficulty seems to be changing the tag "cloud" into a tag list. For some reason, there are no easy fixes for this, and it apparently requires learning how to write WordPress widgets (I'll figure that out when I can). It's strange that a simple list isn't even an option, but the relatively unsightly tag cloud is included as a default feature.
Right now, I'm considering potential topics for my next video. I feel like I should reply to someone who actually said that science education and sex education in schools isn't important, which is just so irritating. I know my perennial moral sparring partner is preparing a response to my last video on morality, and depending on its substance, I may need to address it (though hopefully it won't have to be another 20-minute lecture). At some point, I'd like to discuss the tendency of some people to conclude their religious arguments by stating that they'll pray for you, which, if it were even effective, would be a massively unfair debate tactic. I also think I should say something to the people who angrily tell me that witchcraft is real and they (believe that they) practice it, whenever I point out that there's no such thing as witchcraft in the context of Christians killing alleged "witches". This is vexing from every angle. Finally, I want to explain why it's a bad idea for gay people to try and reinterpret the Bible in hopes of establishing theological support for homosexuality.
At least one of these will appear by next week. I do hope I can sleep better tonight.
Intriguing topic ideas, can't wait to see the videos. I've been inspired by your nootropic adventure to try them for myself. I couldn't find a local source for Piracetam, so I decided to try Vinpocetine. On day three with no noticeable effects. Eh, should have held out for Piracetam.
I've never been intrigued by the "Jesus was gay!" possibility. While I can understand LGBT Christians wanting "one of our own" the religion is quite repugnant. Leaving it makes more sense than trying to force it to accept people it calls abominations in simple black and white.
I'll science for you.
Do you have a non-24-hour sleep cycle? It looks like you're getting up later every day.
I don't really know. It is irregular.
Hello Zinnia, I never knew that you had a blog,I wish you would mention it in one of your videos,I'm always interested in what your doing.
Love Lance
Yes, I hate it when people say they'll "pray" for me when they disagree or disapprove of me. Its patronizing. I realize some people might have good intentions when they do say they will pray (like if I'm sick or some other hardship I'm going through). My problem is that while it may be a nice thing to do, its either a manipulation tactic, or they don't actually end up praying for you at all simply because they don't ACTUALLY care that much, OR they are saying it to make themselves look good. Either way its deceptive and I believe there are very few instances where someone has actually prayed for my well-being, and even fewer still where they MEANT it.
Something else that bothers me a lot is that people who do this don't realize that simply saying something kind to someone who is experiencing a hardship can really make all the difference in that person's day. But no, instead of saying something to the person that really exists, they run off to their imaginary friend. Its a bit counter-intuitive. Plus when people pray 90% is for themselves. When I used to pray, I had to make a conscious effort to actually thank god instead of resorting to asking for something for myself, because its way too easy to just fall into the "gimme gimme gimme" mode of praying.
All in all, upon analyzing it, praying just seems like more of a spiteful, negative, selfish action than anything. You're basically talking to yourself anyway, so why wouldn't it be?
Since the gender lexicon continues to grow and change - and is even different depending upon where one lives - I wanted to ask about your definition of trans.
In Houston, trans and transgender means anything outside of the binary male/female gender stereotype. This means that in Houston, butch women, fem men, cross dressers, drag kings and queens, pre/post/non op transsexuals (AKA transsexed), intersex and gender queer folk are all part of one community.
So, how do you view the meaning of trans from where you're from?