Coopernundrums » thinker

Emotional Frame of Mind

JayCooper — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:00:21 +0000

I struggle every day, in a world that surrounds me with xstians not to become that “angry atheist” that causes their friends to leave the room or scares the children spouting off the facts they have never heard from their parents. It is such a seriously hard line to walk. I love all my friends and I don’t want to loose any of them. I just hope every time I wade into the realm of debate with them that I don’t wind up alienating them. On the other hand, I am not one that will back down from said debate. I have very strong beliefs based on fact and reason.

It’s tough when you live in a world with folks that are obviously intelligent and yet they pursue causes out of ritual or habit. People that no longer question the why of the world or want to know the truths all around them. People that you might see as incredible conversationalists or thinkers yet they choose to overlook obvious inconsistencies in logic and reason. Tough, living with the realization that these otherwise brilliant people will never change their minds, no matter how much science or proof you draw to their attention. Its super easy to become that angry, profane individual when you feel like you are screaming at the top of your lungs that the world is round not flat, and no one will listen to you.

…oh wait, that’s another story, isn’t it?

Life is all just a matter of perceptions. Some people think the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, when in fact, the sun never moves at all.

Adding Insult to..Whatever

JayCooper — Fri, 21 May 2010 04:14:05 +0000

Some might think this post is offensive. I Ask that if you are easily offended stop now while you’re ahead. If your open minded and enjoy poking fun at people for the frail, juvenile creatures that they are then by all means proceed.

Ah, the middle finger, also known as the long finger or bird finger, and usually the longest finger, is the third digit of the human hand, located between the index finger and the ring finger. It is also referred to as digitus medius, digitus tertius, “digitus infamous”, or digitus III in anatomy.

In many Western countries, extending the middle finger (either on its own or along with the index finger in the United Kingdom & Australia) is an offensive and obscene hand gesture, colloquially known as the highway salute, the bird, “flipping the bird”, “flipping someone off”, “giving the finger” (as in giving someone the finger), often meaning the phrase “fuck you” or “up yours.” It is performed by showing the back of the hand, extending the middle finger of the hand upwards while bending the other fingers down into the palm.

Giving someone “the finger” is one of the basest violations in modern culture, but its origins date back over 2500 years. The first written record of the insult occurred in ancient Greece, where the playwright Aristophanes (the Adam Sandler of his day) made a crude joke in an ancient Greek comedy mixing up the middle finger and the penis. Even back then, the bird was considered an aggressive, phallic put-down. Greeks began calling upon their substitute wieners by raising their own hands to mock, threaten, and humiliate others.

The widespread usage of the finger in many cultures is likely due to the geographical influence of the Roman Empire and Greco-Roman civilization. When the Romans imported the art, music, and culture of the Greeks, the finger came along, too. The Roman Emperor Caligula, a pioneer in perversity, frequently shocked his citizens by forcing them to kiss his middle finger instead of his hand. One of his subjects, Cassius, who Caligula often taunted as being too effeminate, finally had enough humiliation and assassinated him. Clearly, the bird was not to be taken lightly.

During the Middle Ages, the finger went underground. It was still known, but the Catholic Church frowned upon its use, as the middle finger was supposed to be holy in the Mass. The unholy insult lurked deep within the hearts of filthy- minded folks everywhere, hiding from sight until the 19th century when it began to crop up again thanks to a new invention -photography.

In 1886, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn slipped his little finger fastball into the Boston Beaneaters team picture. The split-second art of photography could turn the once-boring painted portrait into a spontaneous work of rebellion, humor and spunk. Americans everywhere quickly got into the act.

The finger is a near universal insult that we can all use. Men, Women, children, old folks, Farmers, bankers and even computer nerds like me can use the finger with virtually perfect understanding of its meaning. In this fast paced day and age, who has time to formulate real, meaningful insults?

We should embrace the finger since it is truly part of our culture and something to be respected. So here’s to you. Up yours!

I Think..Therefore I don’t Need Tech Support

JayCooper — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:35:43 +0000

Oh, how I hate my fellow man. Well, sometimes anyway. Doing phone support all day can sure make a man jaded when it comes to having any kind of confidence that there is actually intelligent life on this planet. I have a wall poster in my office that has several clever saying regarding technical support truths, but one in particular kind of sums up all the others.

“Can you help me with this” usually means “Please do it for me”. In honor of this depressing thought I would like to draw your attention to my fine philosophical idol Ayn Randand her introduction to objectivism. Please read this and for the love of family, PLEASE try to think for yourselves people.

A Philosophy For Living

“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” –Ayn Rand

Objectivism means :

- Believing in yourself, not in any church, not in society, and not in fellow man.

- Not take things on faith, for reason is man’s greatest attribute.

- Helping yourself to not rely on others; and not letting others rely on you.

- Realizing that Man is an end in and of himself- not a means to ANY other purpose.

- Understanding that your personal happiness is your PRIMARY moral obligation.

- Always trying to achieve you greatest goals and productivity.

..and in doing sowe becomes a heroic beings.

Dirty Little Matt

JayCooper — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:03:17 +0000

Dirty Little Matt is sitting in the back of math class, obviously not paying any attention, when the teacher calls his name.

“Yeah teach?” he replies.

“If there are three ducks on a fence and you shoot one of them with a shotgun, how many are left?” asks the teacher.

Matt answers “Well, teach, if I shoot one of them with a shotgun, the loud noise is gonna make them all fly off.”

“No, Matt, there will be two left if you shoot one with a shotgun, but I like the way you’re thinking.” the teacher responds.

“Well, teach, I’ve got a question for you… There are 3 women that come out of an ice-cream parlor, one is biting her ice-cream cone, one is licking it, and one is sucking on it. Which one is married?”

The teacher, a little taken back by the question answers, “Well, uh, gee Matt, I guess the one that’s sucking on the ice cream.”

Matt replies “No teach, the one that has the wedding ring on her finger, but I like the way you’re thinking!”

Some Painful Growths

JayCooper — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:27:00 +0000

Oh how I love the joys of parenthood…..most of the time. I was a pretty young parent having a step son as soon as I got married and my first son within my first year of marriage. I never subscribed much to the school of thought regarding how teens drive you crazy. I still don’t lend that belief much credence. It is funny, however, how much they tend to make your stress levels go off the charts.

I want my boys to slow down and realize that they don’t have to accomplish everything they want to accomplish TODAY. They have time, plenty of time. I know some folks out there say that you should do all that you can as fast and as hard as you can because you never know if you will be alive tomorrow, BUT, I am not on of those thinkers.

Oh how I miss changing diapers and cuddling with them. YES I said it..changing diapers! Now it seems that I see them on their way out the door more than I see them at dinner time. It also feels like they have a lot of hate and while I am sure they don’t mean to they seem to focus it at me. Some of that is probably my mental state , but it sure feels real.

What to do, what to do? I guess ya just love them while you can and do the best you can and wait patiently for the days when they have their own families and realize what a job parents have. I think its only then that they will truly realize what a hard job it is raising, protecting and loving your children..

A Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

JayCooper — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:34:35 +0000

“When I became convinced that the universe is natural—that all the ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul, into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom.

The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all the world—not even infinite space.

I was free. Free to think, to express my thoughts. Free to live my own ideal. Free to live for myself and those I loved. Free to use all my faculties, all my senses. Free to spread imagination’s wings. Free to investigate, to guess and dream and hope. Free to judge and determine for myself. Free to reject all ignorant and cruel creeds, all the “inspired” books that savages have produced, and all the barbarous legends of the past. Free from popes and priests. Free from all the “called” and “set apart.” Free from sanctified mistakes and “holy” lies. Free from the winged monsters of the night. Free from devils, ghosts and gods.

For the first time I was free. There were no prohibited places in all the realms of thought, no air, no space, where fancy could not spread her painted wings, no claims for my limbs, no lashes for my back, no fires for my flesh, no following another’s steps, no need to bow, or cringe, or crawl, or utter lying words. I was free. I stood erect and fearlessly, joyously, faced all worlds.

And then my heart was filled with gratitude, with thankfulness, and went out in love to all the heroes, the thinkers, who gave their lives for the liberty of hand and brain, for the freedom of labor and thought, to those who fell on the fierce fields of war, to those who died in dungeons bound with chains, to those who proudly mounted scaffold’s stairs, to those by fire consumed, to all the wise, the good, the brave of every land, whose thoughts and deeds have given freedom to the sons and daughters of men and women. And then I vowed to grasp the torch that they have held, and hold it high, that light may conquer darkness still.” ~Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899)