History is a funny thing. It's only a collection of cold facts. It has no sympathy for the pain of the "bad guys", and even its own suffering is explained with numbers instead of emotion.

We don't realize why these events are so important. We study them, memorize when they happened, list who was involved, but we never feel it. We learn about the holocaust and slavery so that we do not callous. But we callous anyway, don't we? How can we understand pain if we haven't felt it? How can we remember the suffering if we didn't suffer ourselves? How can we understand the pained if we aren't one of them?Self-flagellation isn't the solution, but neither is ignorance. Research or even light reading may be too much. But movies, when not too blown up, can be effective. Though they will inevitably be altered, all that matters is that we feel at least a taste of the pain they suffered. From that, we can give them the memory they deserve because feeling is reality and fact is history.

I've been thinking about it a lot. My last post was on Creative Writing. I still hold to it, but I just want to reiterate how hard it is! Writer's block is mean! And even when you do think of something, it quite often ends up in the sock drawer. Here's a few old drafts for this blog that were either too dumb or unfinished. Some are cuts from past posts.

I Think I Am Happy (I was wrong)

I Think...Don't I? (wrong again)

Another Embarrassing Moment (too embarrassing)

And last but not least:

Urine Example (don't ask)

You say that's not a lot. Sure. But that's because most of the time I didn't even have an idea to toss. But despite (or rather because of) its inherent difficulty, writing's one of the few truly fulfilling things that anyone, big or small (in width or height), can do.

Oh, and for those of you who wish you could write like John Doe or Mr. Brown, you can't. Bunches of people imitate styles of famous writers like Hemingway and the like, but not one can live off what he gets for his publications. The ones that can, however, write like themselves. The fact is, you're no good when you're something you're not, but when you're yourself (no matter who you are), you're better than you thought was possible. All those corny things you heard when you were a kid ("Believe in Yourself", "If You Put Your Mind To It, You Can Do Anything") were said by people who followed that advice. They weren't just made up. And they work for everybody. EVERYBODY.

So, if you wish you could write, do it because you can. Just know that it's hard for everybody. Those who make it look easy have accepted the difficulty and have committed to write anyway. If it wasn't hard, there wouldn't be any good writers. Difficulty is what good writers are made of.

I think everyone should read and either take a class on or teach him/herself creative writing. I'm not assuming that everyone likes the same things I do. In fact, you might not even enjoy reading fiction (but why would you be reading my blog?), but trust me, everyone can appreciate it. I'm not saying it's the principle of the thing or a responsibility, I'm not that full of it. A better way to put it is that everyone can benefit from it.

Many people would like to learn to write, but either never try or stop soon after they start because they think they either can't do it, or aren't good enough to waste time on it. Both myths. I'll tell you why.

Some people think they aren't smart enough. Everyone knows that the left brain is logical and the right is creative. The IQ you get from an IQ test is so inaccurate at estimating the development of these areas. First, IQ tests hardly test the right side of the brain at all, which is the area you need for creative writing. And second, nutrition, daily biological cycles, time of day, sleep deprivation, and temporary clutter from too much concentration can cloud the mind and lower test scores. Also, think about testing anxiety.

The truth brain-wise is that our IQ (logical and creative) grows (a lot) and shrinks (a lot) with use and neglect just like a muscle. And just like muscles, some people have an easier time developing certain areas, but it doesn't mean that they are the only ones who can do it. It just takes a little longer. Reading and writing (along with other arts) are the fastest ways to develop the right brain.

Why? Why even care? The more you read and write, the more your right brain will develop and therefore the more creative in every area you will be. You will be more innovative, inventive, imaginative, and every other quality that the most successful minds have. And though reading and writing may not look fun right now, when you gain an appreciation for them, they will become a regular passtime that you love.

Trust me. You'll be happier.

What would we do? If you think about it, the outcome's not as simple as the movies make it seem. Either they are much more advanced technologically and possibly intellectually or they had some kind of unfair advantage that allowed them to make their way into space faster than us.

Hollywood doesn't get paid to think all that hard on how an alien invasion would actually happen. Instead, they get paid to have high action and cool looking martians. The way the humans defeat the aliens is always highly unlikely (or highly impossible). Independence Day, for example, assumed that these advanced aliens used IBM compatible computers using Windows 95 and had an irresponsible IT department who installed no antivirus software. Otherwise, how would Jeff Goldblum have put a virus into their system?

In reality, it would come down to one of the two cases stated above: more advanced technology or unfair advantage that allowed them to enter space prematurely. In the first case, they would probably not only have more advanced space technology, they would also have more extensive weapons technology. Furthermore, they would probably know the risks of such an invasion very well and would have thus overcompensated on resources and firepower to make sure they didn't waste a such a long trip. In other words, in this case, we have no hope.

As for the second scenario where they had an unfair advantage that allowed them to enter space with either lesser technology (biological maybe) or lesser intelligence, we may have a chance because though they may have won the space race, they may not have won the weapons and science races. As for the weapons race, maybe they hadn't developed nuclear technology or even known that such power might even exist. And for the science race, they may not have intended to use science at all. We, on the other hand, could study them and maybe create a biological weapon that would give us the advantage. We may even be able to imitate their space technology and become superior in every way.

When it comes down to it, either they're smarter or they aren't. When they're smarter, they're going to win, when they aren't, we have a chance. Furthermore, we really have no concept of what they may really be. Personally, I liked Arthur C. Clarke's idea in Childhood's End where it wasn't an invasion at all.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a thousand words is worth a picture. In other words, the Mona Lisa is worth a thousand words. A thousand quality words mind you, but nevertheless only a thousand. The average novel, being approximately one-hundred thousand words in length, is worth one-hundred pictures. Point made.

Omit needless words, sentences, paragraphs, pages, scenes/sections, chapters, and books (Modification of quote from Strunk and White's Elements of Style).

What makes me right about everything and everyone else wrong? A lot of our opinions were passed down by our parents. Were our parents right? If I had been born to parents that were different in every way, would I be different in every way? Do I have tunnel-vision?

So I have to sit down and think through everything I am and am not sure of, such as the sky is blue vs. gun control is right/wrong. Then I have to think through why I think that gun control is right/wrong. Is it because my parents told me so, or was a friend of mine shot?

It's all in the frame of reference. Republicans say they are maintaining our country's values while Democrats say that Republicans are enforcing their values on others that don't share them (not all fit this description; I'm being general here). Democrats say they are giving us more freedoms while Republicans say that Democrats are either making crime legal or not looking at the consequences. Democrats say that gay marriage should be legalized because it is prejudice not to (makes perfect sense) while Republicans (when they aren't talking religion) say that our children are our country's future and more dilinquents come from gay parents than from traditional families (painful truth), and that polygamy and polyamory may follow suit (there really are organizations working on it). Should we look out for the children or should we let the parents have their freedom? Should we control how parents raise their children or should we let them decide what is right for them? Who's right?

If you actually think about where the opposing side is coming from, you might actually see that they aren't as irrational as you thought. Maybe there isn't one right political party. Maybe a mixture of both is best. We can't be too conservative and we can't be too liberal either. Am I saying that we shouldn't take sides? No. I'm saying that we shouldn't take a side unless we're sure that side is right and the other side is wrong. Then and only then can we take a side. If you aren't sure, don't do it. Either there's one right side or both are right. If both are right, there's no point in proving them wrong. If only half are, then is it right to take sides if you might be wrong?