Critical Thinking And Religion

Religion requires that a follower abandon logic and rationality in favor of faith. But, why would religion require such a thing? Logic and science have dragged us kicking and screaming into the modern age of technological convenience; they have enhanced the quality of our lives in countless ways. Which means that logic and science are good things for us - why would God create us in a universe where logic is all we can use to improve the quality of our lives, and then turn around and demand that we abandon logic in favor of faith? Does God not want us to be happy?

Traffic Ticket Quotas

Almost everyone has experienced the dreaded traffic ticket at least once. You could have been late for work on monday, and if you get caught traveling 8 mph over the speed limit, you end up losing everything that you will earn working for that entire week. Makes it seem like getting to work is just not worth it, eh?

Detour: My Star Trek Parody

Most people don't like star trek. However, I've spiced it up to the point that non-star trek fans can get a good laugh. This two-parter is my most recently made star trek parody dealing with the borg. Enjoy this detour!

Part One


Part Two

Bitcoin - A Decentralized Digital Currency

I've been theorizing on how to make an inflation-proof and fraud-proof digital currency which was also decentralized. The task seems next to impossible to fulfill. However, that doesn't mean that other people aren't trying. Meet Bitcoin.

http://www.bitcoin.org/faq

Bitcoin uses a network of nodes in order to attempt to control its currency without the inevitable betrayal that comes from centralization. It is designed so that inflation of Bitcoin currency (creation of new Bitcoins) requires significant CPU processing time. Furthermore, Bitcoin is totally digital. While the intentions and philosophy behind the Bitcoin are good, I still think that Bitcoin is doomed to inevitable failure. And here's why.

Voluntarism - The Non-Violence Principle

Of all the ways to accomplish a goal, every one of them fits into one of two categories: to achieve by violent means, or to achieve by voluntary means. To get what you want in life, you can either work towards peacefully soliciting the voluntary cooperation of other people, or you can use violence and coercion to take what you want from other people without respect to their wishes.

Detour: My Downfall Parody

If you are a fan of the Downfall parodies (Der Untergang / Hitler Finds Out), you should definitely check out the downfall parody that I made. I used adobe premier and virtualdub. If you enjoy this parody, then you should check out the various star trek parodies that I have made and uploaded to blip.tv.

http://rlore18.blip.tv/

Inflation And The Future Of Money

The most basic and fundamental rule of economics would probably be the law of supply and demand. If there is less of something, it will cost more to acquire. And if there is more of something, it will cost less to acquire. For example, the Mona Lisa is worth a fortune because there is only one original. If someone, somehow, created a perfect duplicate of the original Mona Lisa so that there were two originals in existence, what would happen to the value of the first? It would drop by 50%, with the new Mona Lisa acquiring 50% of its value.

Well, what happens when a monetary supply, such as dollar bills, is inflated by 100%? There are twice as many dollar bills in existence (twice the supply), so the value (purchasing power) of the dollar bill gets cut in half. Except, it doesn't take a lot of work to print up as many zeros as you need.

The Cure For Cancer

The number one killer and concern of human beings - cancer. It's everywhere - widespread between all races genders and creeds. Almost everyone will see themselves with some form of cancer during their lifetime. To not label cancer as an epidemic is to understate the severity of our problem.