An old friend sent me these this morning.
Click on ‘Pause’ to read the text, because it is moving on too fast.
Author: Grievous
Aug 6th, 1945
1945 – World War II: Hiroshima is devastated when an atomic bomb, ‘Little Boy’, is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 90,000 people were killed instantly.
The above has never meant very much to me. For a better part of my life, I had felt that the atomic bomb was justified. I had believed that it was a necessary evil to end the war, and to bring Imperial Japan to its knees without further loss of lives for the Allies and Japanese alike.
I lost an uncle I never had the chance to meet during the war. He was one of the Chinese volunteers at Kranji. My father was 3 when the Japanese invaded Singapore. My grandfather died from a bomb shrapnel that destroyed the home left behind by my great-grandfather. Another uncle – just a babe – died when my grandmother dropped him off the lorry taking them away to safety. Nanking, and the ‘Sook Ching’ in Singapore has made me felt at least the use of first bomb was justified.
I am not so sure anymore after I watched a the documentary ‘Hiroshima’ on Discovery Channel. I felt sorry for the people of Hiroshima.
There was the account of a mother, recalling how she has been unable to extricate her own child from the debris, and had to listen to her child’s wails and shrieks of agony as she is burnt to death. And then how her husband died from radiation sickness there after.
A bank employee recalled how she emerge from the ruins to see people who are burnt badly, with skin hanging from their bodies wandering mindlessly around. A tram operator recalling how people seem to be unaware that the direction they are moving towards will give them no solace, not to mention they seem oblivious to those heading towards them in the opposite direction. A doctor recalling how he came across a victim, so badly burnt but yet has ran several miles before he practically dropped dead before his eyes.
It was a vision of hell on Earth.
I am not justifying the war or making Japan look like the victim. Imperial Japan certain has blood on its hands with all the crimes committed in the occupied terroritories. But I doubt these people deserved any of this.
It is my sincere wish such an evil weapon will never be used again and that these ‘Cocoons of the Devil’ should all be destroyed so it can harm no one anymore.
“Transformers Cannot Be Found”
Princessa told me that the evil IT guy in her office has for some odd reasons (in my opinion: known only to the imagined gray matter in his small ‘head’) has started blocking the blogs she accessed frequently.
While I was trying to help by getting her to enter the IP address instead (hoping that this guy isnt’ really so smart), the following screen appeared. (No, this isn’t photoshoped. Princessa and a whole lot of my colleagues saw it as well!)
What a way to begin a day. I am laughing my head off.
Movie: The Simpsons Movie
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I watched ‘The Simpsons Movie’ after work on Saturday with my colleague and his wifey. And I went into the movie at around 2135hrs at GV Marina, again, with quite a bad headache. (Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone kicking my seat throughout this movie. That’s a rarity!) |
My personal opinion is that movie has used the person of Homer Simpson to present the following messages very well:
- Environemental:
This message is distinct. Do something about the environment now. Foul it up and it comes back to haunt you later, and in the end the action to be taken to contain environmental damages maybe drastic. - Social Responsibility:
Being a selfish dickhead does not pay. When you keep annoying and fxxking up everyone, you lose everything that is dear to you, even your family and their respect in the end. - Parental Responsibility:
Your kids are the best mirror of your failures. If they fouled up, it’s not always their fault, or the fault of people around them or their environment. If you failed in your responsibilities to your own children, the trade-off may simply be as little as just losing their respect.
I hope no one consider these spoilers because they are just my view of the movie. But all in all, I enjoyed ‘The Simpsons Movie’ and it is worth every cent I paid for the ticket.
The Eye – Some facts
Post maybe controversial in nature. Do not link this post. Do not read further if the debate of Creationism vs. Evolution disturbs or offends you.
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Excerpts from Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe: When light first strike the retina a photon interacts with a molecule called 11-cis-retina, which re-arranges within picoseconds to trans-retina. (A picosecond is about the time it takes light to travel the breath of a single human hair.) The change in the shape of the retina molecule forces a change in the shape of the protein, rhodopsin, to which the retinal is tightly bound. The protein’s metamorphosis alters its behaviour. Now called metarhodopsin II, the protein sticks to another protein, called transducin. Before bumping into metarhodopsin II, transducin had tightly bound a small molecule called GDP. But when transducin interacts with metarhodopsin II, the GDP falls off, and a molecule called GTP binds to transducin… GTP-transducin-metarhodopsin II now binds to a protein called phosphodiesterase, located in the inner membrane of the cell. When attached to metarhodopsin II and its entourage, the phosphodiesterase acquires the chemical ability to “cut” a molecule called cGMP… When the amount of cGMP is reduced because of cleavage by phosphodiesterase, the ion channel closes, causing cellular concentration of positively charged ions to be reduced. This causes an imbalance of charge across the cell membrane that, finally, causes a current to be transmitted down the optical nerve to the brain. The result, when interpreted by the brain, is vision. |
Michael Behe is, a biochemist more well known for his Creationist stand. He has written several books that against Evolution and one of them is Darwin’s Black Box.
Looking at the above, I can understand why he remained unconvinced by Evolution, which allegedly ‘explains loads of facts and is supported by mountains of evidence’. In fact, I would find it difficult to fault him for doubting that such precise interaction within the eye can be a result of mutation, one of the key tenets of Evolution.
Evolutionists and their ilk can ridicule or demolish Behe with mere words, but it makes one wonder why people cannot look beyond his Creationist stand but ridicule him for doing what scientists should be doing – testing a theory. Seems like what the pre-reformed Catholic Church did to Galileo, Evolutionists today are doing the same to these so-called ‘Creationists’. Is Evolution a scientific theory or a dogma which cannot be challenged?
Michael Behe should perhaps just give up and be a preacher, because God is spiritual and He is seen more clearly in the heart and the spirit than in science. And personally I do not believe that “Intelligent Design” should be taught in schools as a rival theory to Evolution. Matters of faith has nothing to do with science.
God, in His omni-potence, can definitely stand up for Himself without us mere mortals thinking we can do better.
This is a personal opinion, debate or discussion is not welcomed. Comments and Pingbacks is turned off. Do not link this post.