Why Is Life So Unfair?

(The following blog is not meant to offend anyone or attack anyone's beliefs. It's merely to question why life is the way it is)

We've all heard it before, life's not fair. But really, is it? We've heard other people say it or we may have said it ourselves but can we really say that if you believe in certain other human beliefs? Fate for example, though it you believe in fate it would be destined to happen anyways and could still be deemed unfair. Other believes though, such as karma. With karma every action has a consequence depending on whether your action was good or bad. Good actions equal good things happening to you, bad action equal bad results. Does this always apply though?
Many times it seems that bad things happen to people that don't deserve it; that are seemingly nice people. Did they maybe do something to cause this? In this life or maybe in a past one? Or is life merely random and we have created these beliefs in attempt to explain things to ourselves.
Honestly I myself believe that life is a combination of both fated events and possibly random or ones based a bit on karma, but that's just my opinion, that in no way makes it right. What I'm trying to say with this, I think, is that we might never know for sure what makes life the way it is and so people should be allowed to always believe in what they wish to.

Aftermath

Aftermath is show that originally showed what the world would be like if all humans were to all disappear at the same time. They never explain why this happens, it's just all at once poof we're gone (I think it adds to the show honestly. Maybe it adds an air of mystery or something along those lines that intrigues people). From this originally program they have created other, "what if" situations such as what if the sun was to become a red dwarf star or what if the world were to slowly stop spinning and even what if the world were to run out of oil overnight. Most of the time these events don't end well for humans, though there is the odd occasion when after a really devastating loss in the human population things, after years, finally start to get better.

These what if question, I feel, help to give us an idea of just how fragile our way of life, and even our lives themselves really are. Maybe shows like this will make people more grateful to be alive. I think Aftermath also appeals to that morbid fascination I've spoken of in previous posts too. In the back of our mind we all know that one day we'll die and that one day our world will too be gone. Still though very few people would want to die before their time. It can also help to show us just how everything we've worked so hard to build up and create will one day be gone and also that no matter how hard we try we can't control everything. I guess this just means we should take better care of were we live and what's around us. Maybe even enjoy life a little more. Even though what's shown on Aftermath can be scary we shouldn't spend too much time worrying over it. Just don't forget to live I guess it's what it means.

1000 Awesome Things

1000 Awesome Things is more or less a blog (I told myself when I started this blog I wouldn't blog about a blog but once again I'm breaking my own rules). Anyways I'm sure a lot of people have already heard about this since Neil Pasricha has a book coming out now but 1000 Awesome Things is basically a blog about all the little things in life that Pasricha happy or thankful for.
I think this blog was a great idea on his part since so often these days people look over all the small things in life that really, when we think about it, make us happy or do more for us then we think. So often we only realize how much something is important to us when it is too late and it has been taken away. These little things, in my opinion, begin to be huge parts of our life when added together and in the end become most of what we remember. Ever thing back to when you were very little? At least with me most of what I remember at a young age is all little things, like sitting in the kitchen in the summer with the dishwasher running. A really small, simple thing right? There were some bigger events that happened to me when I was little. Once my dad was carrying me and he tripped. I fell and ended up spraining my ankle. Funny thing is I had to be told about all that even though I was at the age when kids start to remember things. I guess what my point is that small things can end up meaning a lot and that its mostly the small things that make us happy when it really comes down to it. Both The Book of Awesome and 1000 Awesome Things are helping to make us more aware of that so we don't forget just how much the small things mean. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I find that really awesome.

More Then Just The Mindless Laughs?

South Park, The Simpsons and Family Guy, all could be seen as mindless shows meant only as mindless entertainment and to a point that is true. Every once in a while though certain shows will actually be out to make a point about an issue in society such as South Park and The Simpsons (probably not so much Family Guy but to an extent maybe). Though the way they show these messages may be seen as both rude and offensive to some, they aim to point out what is "stupid" in society or what seems to make no sense.

Now some, perhaps most people, that watch these shows don't think about these messages and just think its a funny show they're watching. Really, expressing these messages in this way makes it easy for some people not to think about them because "its just a cartoon." But they should think about what they're watching instead of just blindly watching. I agree that young children shouldn't learn about these messages through these shows as they can be crude and violent but these shows do tend to make valid points if people would just think about them.

Zeusaphone

The Zeusaphone is Tesla coil. What is really interesting about this Tesla coil is that it is able to play music through the sparks it creates. This is done through a master control. Along with the music created the Zeusaphone is also able to create different effects of its sparks by using different frequencies and pulse width.
Science coming together in an art form. The Zeusaphone is a great representation that both science and art don't always have to be what we think they should or would normally think they are. They can work well together or on their own. It also shows that people are able to express themselves in a variety of ways and are always looking for new ways to do so. Even something as dangerous as electrical sparks can to used and turned into interesting forms of expression (It's also really cool that music can be created through electricity).

When Entertainment Meets Nature- Parahawking

Parahawking is basically paragliding but with a unique twist, birds of prey actually fly along with the glider. Developed in Nepal in 2001 by Scott Mason, Adam Hill and Graham Sunders-Griffiths, paragliding has slowly grown into a commercial industry. They take rescue birds, the ones that can't be returned to the wild for one reason or another (most likely because they have become imprinted on humans) and train them to fly with the glider using food as a lure. The birds actually land on the arm of the person gliding to get the food. This makes it so the people basically get to interact with the birds in their own environment, something they could not otherwise do.

There are quite a few benefit to this type of program, which is why I have chosen to blog about this (that and it's just a cool idea to be able to "fly" along with birds in the sky). Humans gain an interesting way to be entertained and experience nature. But it too benefit the birds. By helping them to return to the wild or have healthily lives even if they can't it could help to bring awareness to people about these birds in the future so they may help to protect them. I think that not all people may think about this when going to paraglide but its at least a start that might get them to think about nature in our now very technology based world.

Something else I found interesting about paragliding is the fact that, with the birds help in flight, paragliders are able to glide longer and go farther then without them. These birds are so adapted to gliding over long distances while saving energy that they have developed ways to see thermals (rising warm air) so they don't waste energy flapping their wings to stay aloft (what they are seeing might actually be rising dust or small particles but the point is that in this way they know where the thermals are and therefore where to fly).

If we could find more ways to get along with nature like this then it might just help to improve the state our world is in.

Whole life with Half a Body

Kenny Easterday is a man that was born with a condition called sacral agenesis. Because of this his spine never fully formed and doctors had to amputate both his legs. He was offered prosthetic legs though he turned them down. As of now Kenny is 35, 14 years older then doctors predicted him to live (as most people with sacral agenesis die at a young age) and does many things one would not think possible without legs such as playing bowling and getting around without the use of a wheelchair or other device (as shown in the photo above Kenny walks using his hands).

The reason I chose to blog about this, I think, is both because this is not the type of thing that one normally sees people with "disabilities" doing and that it also becomes very inspiring to hearing about and/or see him going about daily life (without any assistance) with this "disability" when most other people would give up on being independent. It makes you think, "If he can do that, maybe things are not as bad as they seem in my life." Or something to that effect. In a way it's sad that that we can feel better about ourselves because we're "normal" and someone else is not but that's not quite it in some cases such as this one (at least in my opinion). In the case of Kenny I believe we draw inspiration from that fact he CAN do these thing and he DOES even though it may be harder for him to do so then someone with legs. It may be sad to us that he doesn't have legs, but in his view he's perfectly fine and capable of doing all these things that he was most likely told he could never do. I think this story gives us belief, a greater belief in ourselves that we can do more then we think we can if we just try.