NAVIGATION

A stunning realization

Today, alas, without heroes, we must make do with celebrities.

- George Lois


Posted by Jeremy Yamaguchi under the Daily on Monday 28th Apr 08

The Hollow Blah V.4

Welcome to THB 4.0.
As I'm sure some of you can tell, a lot more has changed in this latest evolutionary step than just the general aesthetics of the website. As I'm a firm believer in form following function, I decided to focus on making the site a lot more usable and reader friendly.

Below is a list of some of the improvements that have been made:

(1) Blog content was given more of an emphasis and made bigger and bolder than ever.
(2) The Link Blog was dug up out of the sidebar and given a more prominent position at the top of the site. This creates sort of a dual blog effect, as the link blog will be updated independently and regularly.
(3) As most regular readers probably don't use the navigation all that much, it was collapsed and made to expand on request. This allows it to be all but invisible to those who don't need it, while still being accessible for new readers who want to browse through the website.
(4) You can now "Suggest a Link" to be posted to the Link Blog. This way, if you run across anything cool online you can see it posted here.
(5) There are now more featured articles at the top of the site, and you can cycle through them with the < and > buttons. By now you can probably tell there was a large amount of AJAX used in this redesign.
(6) A lot of old pages and functions were removed, and the site was trimmed down to be leaner, meaner and cleaner.
(7) And of course, the old design of the site was uprooted and replaced by an all new look and feel.

As this has been a pretty big revision to the site, you may find bugs here and there. If you do, shoot me an email and I'll get to work on squashing them.

Otherwise, I hope you continue to enjoy this beast we call THB. It's been fun running this thing over the past few years, and it wouldn't have been nearly as exciting if it weren't for your input. You're the best. Ad Infinitum


Posted by Jeremy Yamaguchi under the Daily on Saturday 12th Apr 08

It matters

I get so inspired sometimes when I intellectually interact with worldviews like naturalism, for instance I was reading The Gay Science by Nietzsche and came upon the often quoted "Parable of the Madman" portion of the text where Nietzsche lays out the effect upon society if God is really dead that people then did not and most even now do not realize.


Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market-place, and cried incessantly: "I am looking for God! I am looking for God!"
As many of those who did not believe in God were standing together there, he excited considerable laughter. Have you lost him, then? said one. Did he lose his way like a child? said another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? or emigrated? Thus they shouted and laughed. The madman sprang into their midst and pierced them with his glances.

"Where has God gone?" he cried. "I shall tell you. We have killed him - you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we not smell anything yet of God's decomposition? Gods too decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whosoever shall be born after us - for the sake of this deed he shall be part of a higher history than all history hitherto."

Here the madman fell silent and again regarded his listeners; and they too were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern to the ground, and it broke and went out. "I have come too early," he said then; "my time has not come yet. The tremendous event is still on its way, still travelling - it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds require time even after they are done, before they can be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the distant stars - and yet they have done it themselves."

It has been further related that on that same day the madman entered divers churches and there sang a requiem. Led out and quietened, he is said to have retorted each time: "what are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchres of God?"



And I imagine what the full effect of life without God is, no meaning, no purpose, no objective value, no hope or desire, where life can be built "only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair", where the greatest pinnacles of human greatness and chasms of depravity all perish in the inevitable heat death of the universe.

And then I see God, breaking in upon the universe, flooding the black corners with searing heat and light - and if I could sing I would.

Joy to the Earth, the Savior Reigns!


Posted by Kenji Yamaguchi under Spirit on Monday 10th Mar 08

Progress Through Adversity

I was recently asked the following question:

Is there any reason why we've been engineered to learn and profit from suffering and hardship more than from happiness? You know like the poem says, "I walked a mile with sorrow..."

I'm guessing the answer lies somewhere along the lines of drawing us closer to the Lord, and I'll be doing some research of my own, but I'm writing you in case... I don't know. In case it helps.


This question interests me for two different reasons. First, I wonder if it's true that we really do progress more from times of hardship than from times of joy and happiness. And second, if it is true, I was interested in exploring the possible answers to why this is the case.

I've included the answer that I came up with below, but I feel like there may be more to this than what immediately came to mind. If you have any additional input or insight, throw it up in the comments. I'm interested to see any other angles or alternate answers to this question.

---The following is my answer---

The first thing that comes to mind is man's innate ability to adapt to adverse situations and hardship.

I think security is a desire inherent in all of us, and when that security is threatened by suffering and hardship, we are forced to adapt quickly in order to evade or eliminate the hardship we face. When we are happy and life is good, we tend to stagnate as we aren't forced to change and progress due to adverse situations. Thus, progress seems to come slower as we get more and more comfortable.

There is a psychological theory called "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" that illustrates this concept. The idea behind this theory is that there are multiple levels of being, the lower levels of which have to be met before you can progress to a higher level. Five levels are usually used to describe this theory, with level 5 being the lowest, and level 1 being the highest. These levels are described as follows:

(5) Physiological needs: Breathing, food, water, homeostasis, sleep, etc.
(4) Safety needs: Security of body, resources, health, family and property, etc.
(3) Social needs: Love, belonging, intimacy, etc.
(2) Esteem needs: Self esteem, confidence, achievement, etc.
(1) Self Actualization: Creativity, spontaneity, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts, etc.

The general idea behind this is that until one has sufficiently filled the needs of a lower category he won't pursue higher category needs. For example, if you were starving, you would risk putting yourself in danger's path in order to find food. Then, if you had food but were in danger, you would pursue safety and security before you focused on filling any social needs.

An idea is also held that until the needs in a higher category are met, one will redouble their efforts in a lower category in order to meet those needs. This would explain the great amount of progress you seem to make through times of hardship and adversity.

What do you think?


Posted by Jeremy Yamaguchi under Psychology on Tuesday 08th Apr 08

Quote of the Day

For every difficult and complicated question there is an answer that is simple, easily understood, and wrong.

- H.L. Mencken


Posted by Jeremy Yamaguchi under the Daily on Friday 04th Apr 08

Progress

Something big is on the horizon for THB and implementing it has proven to be rather time consuming, thus the lack of updates.

Stay tuned for the 4th evolution.


Posted by Jeremy Yamaguchi under the Daily on Tuesday 25th Mar 08

Happy Pi Day

Pi day is held to celebrate the mathematical constant of Pi, which is roughly 3.14 (or (03/14), and so is celebrated on the 14th of March every year.

Mathematics have never held much appeal to me, but I hold to the belief that an excuse to celebrate should never be passed up.

It also coincidentally happens to be Einstein's birthday today, which means that E=party2.


Posted by Jeremy Yamaguchi under the Daily on Friday 14th Mar 08