Bible in classrooms

Reading my weekly dose of Time, skimming through the pages, looking at the headings that interest me and skipping the ones that don't, I could not help but notice the cover story, "Why we should teach the bible in public schools". I was like not again, This has been an on going argument for a while now, how Christians have been trying to enforce the learning of Bible in public schools either by proposing it or trying to sneak it in through ideas like Intelligent Design. I was like o.k I'm just gonna give it a peak and as soon as I started reading the article I was hooked.

This was a whole new perspective. This article was saying that many high schools have started teaching the bible in schools not to convert them into the religion but to increase their knowledge/literacy. Considering the Bible is the number one Bestseller every year since bestselling books have been recorded it is quite obvious that the Bible is so much embedded in the history of the world and our cultures we cannot just sit back and erase it. This article poses strong points such as, from reading Shakespeare to the latest bestsellers (For example the Da Vinci Code) knowledge of the Bible is key to enjoying the full experience and understanding of these books. Littered all over what we call literature are references to people, places and scenarios in the Bible, even in the movies. You cannot enjoy/understand the full impact of the Matrix if you do not have an adept knowledge of the Bible.

The point is that it has been discovered that to be considered literate in todays world you have to have knowledge of the Bible. After reading this I smiled, so Christians did not even need to try to get the Bible into the classroom, it was practically destined to be, we need the Bible to be educated. It made perfect sense.

Food for thought: Something I found Interesting was that in the Bible it is said that at the end of the world (Which many predict not to be far away) majority of the world will forget God so when he comes again it will be those who really love him and have been with him, will he take to heaven. If the bible is on its way to be a standard in school curriculum, is it going to be possible to forget God and his teachings? How close is the end of the world?

What is Genius?

There has been a quote I have been thinking about for some time now. The one from Thomas Edisson where he said "Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration". Its not one of those quotes that just hits you as immediate truth or as i like to say "Shows you the light". Its one that makes you think, it gives a different perspective on a topic in our society that many of us think is inborn, rare and special, but this quote nudges you to think otherwise. It says we can all attain this rare staus by just working hard.

Yes I know you have met people with extra ordinary skills, people that could multiply 325 by 672 in their head in a minute or even seconds and then you ask, how are these people not born like this, how can you say they are not talented or given a gift from God. But from observation I have seen those such people are those who have worked the hardest. They are the people while you party they are writing computer code, while you sleep they are reading. Definitely at the end of the day it is going to show. No I am not saying that people are not gifted differently in intelligence, what I am saying is that the skill or the ability we call Genius (Which is defined as: someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality ) is attained through hard work and is not just randomly assigned. In order to confirm my thoughts on this i did a little digging and I came up with this article (From New Scientist).

Basically What it says is that if we look at all the people we call geniuses in different fields, from Mozart to Einstein, what brought them fame was not the inborn intelligence but the work they put in. That hard work broke ground and led them to come up with things that no one thought about. According to the article IQ does not assure greatness. There was an elementary school in New York where the requirement to get in was an IQ score above 130 (Which only 1 percent of the world is on that level of intelligence) but when these students were watched although they had satisfactory/successful lives, none of them came out with a Pulitzer prize or a Nobel prize, very few of them are even recognizable by name today.

If you look today at who is making the news and actively changing our world, Bill Gates, Micheal Dell, Steve Jobs and co, these are all college dropouts. That leaves me asking, what about those kids that get 4.0 in MIT and Harvard? where are they? what companies do they lead? I personally believe the brain is a muscle, the more you task it and test it, the more powerful t would be, and the closer to genius you will be (If that is your desire).

Movie Review Monday (MRM): 300

I am always asked to recommend movies when ever my friends are debating seeing a movie and for some reason I always go blank. I find that really unusually cause I'm the kind of guy that should get paid to watch movies. I think I have a broad range of movies I watch, actually I am really unbiased when it comes to movies and music, for me it is all about the mood I am at, at that particular time. So in a way I could be a good movie partner but many people dont like me cause I always give side commentary while the movie is going on. Yes I am that guy, that annoying guy that feels he can predict the next five scenes and feels that he can actually tell you the end of the movie from like 40 minutes into the movie. O.k I know that is bad but I think for a significant percentage im right though but anyway I am steering away from the point.

I recently decided to review one movie I have seen recently every monday (hence forming MRM: Movie Review Mondays) so all of you out there can know what I have seen and from my review decide if it is worth your while or not. Although I do not believe in movie ratings by movie critics I will put them side by side with my own rating for you to see what other people are saying about that movie.

So I recently saw the movie "300". To give you are very brief description of the movie without saying too much, it was about 300 legendary soldiers from sparta (a city in ancient Greece) and how they fought against the Persians (Who wanted to enslave them). It is a typical ancient Greek war movie, if you liked the movie Troy, you would probably love this. The cinematic effects was highly impressive. This movie was highly digitized so you can probably find it in a 3-D movie theater near you (recommended). This is one of those movies better seen in the theater than at home on you couch, its an action packed adrenaline pumping movie that I would recommend.

Movie Trailer here.

My rating: 80% (A must see)
Rotten Tomatoes: 61%(Fresh)
Yahoo movies: B+


Note: Rotten Tomatoes rates harshly and rates better towards Oscar worthy movies rather than what might just be a plain chill/fun movie

Springbreak Check List

March is closing in and I cant wait for spring to arrive, It has been a crazy winter here in New York with 2 feet of snow overnight and ice cold winds, freezing up from trees to cars even airplanes. Well spring break is near and I can hear the waves on the beach calling me, the beautiful women in bikini's sun bathing and sleepless nights spent in huge untamed nightclubs. That is why I chose to go to Cancun this year, after a bottled up, cold four months we all need to stretch, relax and have some fun. But in all this excitement many of us will forget to pack the most essential things needed for the break which may affect the overall fun on the trip. Thats why I have created this check list of things to take and things do for your spring break trip.

Things to do:

• Make sure you have your passport packed 2 days before your trip
• Call the airline company to confirm your flight and the times
• Check your due dates for bills (you don't want to get back from your holiday only to pay late fees)

• Leave contact information for friends and family to be able to reach you in case there is an emergency.

Things to pack:

• Sunscreen (for those who need it)
• Swimming trunks
• Condoms
  
• camera/camcorder (Your gonna want to remember those crazy moments)
• Money (This is very important, go on forums or ask other people that have been to where ever your going how much they think you would need)
• Magazines (for the plane and when your on the beach relaxing)
• Mp3/Music player (Essential on the plane or relaxing)
• Your Brain (This is the most important, many people go on holidays and just wild out forgetting life continues after the break)