Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I was going to post something this week, but I figured that you guys right now are too busy getting ready for Thanksgiving, and then after Turkey Day, you'll be busy shopping (like me!). 

So I'll refrain from posting anything this week - other than this post, of course! - and just wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!  

See you all next week!

God, "God's will", and the "problem of evil" Part 1

"Andromeda Perseus: I'll have to blog about this in more detail, but my thinking is this: God didn't vote for Obama, we did. Some may pray for Romney to win (and honestly, I did), *but others are also prays for Obama to win. So who is God going to please? Some of the people, anyway. However, I think these things happen for a reason. Let's say it was indeed God's will that Obama won. However, it could be said that it's not for the reason that Obama supporters think. It could be that God is saying "You think society's messed up? Then fix it. You learn nothing if I did everything for you. Look, you want motivation? Obama is president again, and if you think the damage he's done so far is bad, what do you think will happen now, now that he no longer has to worry about re-election? There's your motivation. Now go do something about it."

Again, I'll discuss this more on my blog, but the writer of the meme above does not understand God the way believers do. He's not our genie, granting wishes left and right. If the God-genie is his idea of God, then it's no wonder he doesn't believe in him. I wouldn't either."

*  This sentence should read: "but others prayed for Obama to win".  That's what I get for typing in a hurry!  LOL

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The meme above was posted on one of my FB friend's wall.  I had to respond to it, because I think I'm in a position to discuss the topic of God, "God's will", and the question of evil.  I say this because I'm a believer in God that was born to and raised by Marxist baby boomer parents, so as you can see, I've run the gamut on this issue. 

The important thing to mention here though, is that my parents didn't go out of their way to make sure that I didn't even know about God.  It was not at all their intent to indoctrinate me into their way of thinking, but to expose me to all points of view so that I would arrive at their thinking on my own.  They really believed that, after I examined all the facts (as they knew them) for myself, I would arrive at no other conclusion but what they themselves concluded: That a belief in God is for weak-minded people who need a crutch to get along in life, and that society is too stupid and corrupt to allow control to be dictated by "the people" (via democracy), so the masses have to be controlled by the government by specialized government workers via socialism.  

No, of course they didn't phrase it that way, but that's essentially what socialists believe.  Socialists (which includes Communists and Marxists) ultimately believe in totalitarianism, whether overt (such as in the old Soviet Russia) or benign (as it is being tried to be implemented in our country).  The reason I am setting this all up is to give you an idea of what I started out with, which is basically that I wasn't brought up to believe in God.  So to go from that starting point to being a God-believing Christian, I had to start from scratch.  My point here is that those who call themselves atheists probably started out much further ahead in their own upbringing about the belief in God than I ever did. 

What follows is my own take about the issue of God, his will, and the question of evil.  This is the result of many discussions with lots of people of various levels of a belief in God, from outright denial to total unquestioned belief in his existence.  I make no claims to being a theologian or expert on this topic, these are all my own musings and observations.  I also must be a bit insane to try to tackle in a few blog posts a topic that has vexed greater minds than mine for centuries.  But hey, I admit to being a bit insane, so ride with me the rest of the way at your own risk.  You have been warned.  ;-)

First, yes I do believe in God.  I do believe that there's a higher form of intelligence "out there" that most people refer to as God.  While I do believe in evolution, I don't think evolution explains how self-aware creatures like us came into existence.  What trips most people up is thinking of God existing only in physical space like we do.  That's why atheists often talk derisively of "the magic man in the sky." 

Here I had to mentally work this over as well.  If God is not someone physical, then what is he? Describing God as this being you can't see, touch, smell, etc but is somehow "out there" could also fit describing unicorns - as the more snide detractors of God that I've come across have said to me more than once.  But the vast majority of us don't go looking for unicorns for the bigger questions in life; questions such as "Why are we here?", and "What's it all about?", and the classic "What's the meaning of life?"

On top of that is the question of evil.  There are many ways to define evil, but its most basic definition is that of selfishness.  It's not just coincidence that those who are evil are also very, very selfish people.  I know some of you are thinking, "Is she saying that babies are evil?"  :-)
There is a difference between a baby and someone like Adolf Hitler.  A baby is not intentionally selfish - that's just a survival mechanism.  "Selfish" in the way I'm describing it is the willful act of satisfying one's own needs at the expense of others, and by that I mean that one of the intents of the evil act IS to take from someone else (for selfish reasons) in such a way as to deprive them in a harmful and even fatal way. 

Having set the stage, here goes. 

As I just said, I believe God is a being; a higher intelligence that is the creator of all.  I believe this because the order of the universe suggests a beginning.  That is, everything came from something else (which is pretty much what evolution is about) - but there had to be a starting point.  The "Big Bang" would be what most people would call the starting point of it all, and the continued expansion of the universe is evidence of a cosmic-sized explosion indeed having occurred.  But why did this "big bang" occur?  Science has no answer for that; nor does evolution, for that matter. 

Back in my college days, I remember something called the "God-sized hole", which has two interpretations, depending on who is bringing up this phrase.  For atheists, this means basically that whenever there's gaps in knowledge or information, then "God" fills that gap.  It's meant to be a derisive term (atheists have no lack of ways to define and describe God and his believers in derisive ways, it seems) to suggest that those who believe in God use him as a substitute for actually learning the truth. 

For believers in God, the "God-sized hole" refers to the inner longing for something beyond ourselves - an undefined absence that ultimately only God can fill.  Being raised in an atheist Marxist family, I got to know both interpretations, and in all honesty, I can see both sides on this.  That is, I can see some people using God as an excuse to not learn more about the world, and I can see God as the final answer to the larger questions in life.

Scientists try to answer the "how" of existence.  That's their job.  They look at the evidence, make speculations (aka theories, but ultimately all theories are speculation, since there's no way we can totally know everything about anything), and adjust accordingly when facts seem to conflict with the current speculations.  What scientists don't do is to ask the "why" of existence.

That is, scientists can create their speculations as to how the universe came into existence (currently that would be the big bang) - but they can't answer "why".  To ask "why" would imply that there was an intelligence behind the sparking of the big bang, and such thinking belongs to the realm of philosophers and theologians.

Now, there's all kinds of thoughts and ideas that can be entertained out, but that would take much more space on this blog post than I think would be helpful for my discussion.  So for the sake of brevity, I'll take on only the issue of our existence as to how it relates to my discussion next time.

End Part 1

"Chins up. Stand tall. We'll fight again tomorrow"

My thanks to Michelle Malkin for her blog post about yesterday's election results.  She sums up my feelings quite well, and I posted the last line of that post as the header for my own post, because it's an important reminder to not give up. 

Yes, I'm disappointed that Romney lost, but it's one election.  There will be others.  And as Michelle noted at the end of that particular post:

"We'll fight again tomorrow".

Those of you who are regular readers to my blog know that I'm a passionate conservative.  I love this country.  I love its history and traditions.  Now this is not to say that liberals don't love this country, but what I think they love is not the kind of America that I love.  I won't go into the details about that now, because there will be plenty of time to get into that later.  And those of you who know my writing style know that I will get back to it. 

But not now. 

Now we need to work on picking ourselves up and dusting ourselves off, and start planning for next time.  Most importantly, we need to learn what went wrong and make adaptations to fix it.  But I hope that my fellow conservatives learned this:  We can't afford any more "moderates" along the lines of a John McCain.  Or Mitt Romney.  We need a conservative candidate that's capable of defending the conservative way. 

Starting today, I will go back to blogging, and go back to posting on Facebook.  I will not give up, nor will I go away.  The contest for 2016 begins as of this moment, and I will participate in it with all the strength, talent, and intellect that the Good Lord blesses me with.  So no, friends - it's not over.  It's only just begun.

See you all out there. 

We briefly interrupt this blog for a very imporant message: Go vote!

I briefly interrupt my blog for a very important message:  Go vote or I'll kick your ass!

I want everyone wearing one of these stickers by the end of the day! 

This blog will resume its normal programming by this time tomorrow.

Thanks!  ^.^

Challenge to the artists: Slave Leia Disney Princesses!

With the announcement of Disney buying out the Star Wars franchises, this leads to the possibilities of inspiration for new artworks.  Therefore, I am issuing a challenge to you artists out there.  Here's your mission:

I challenge you to draw artwork of one or more of the Disney princesses in the Slave Leia costume!  I was searching for some images of cosplayers in the Slave Leia look, but they all had the wrong shoes!  Dammit ladies, Slave Leia did not wear high heels!  I decided to just go to the source and look up Carrie Fisher in that outfit, and voila, there is the outfit with the right boots!  Use that link as your reference, artists!

If I get any responses, then I'll post them to my blog! 

Go, artists, go!  Make those nerds out there drool!

And now my "Marvel Universe" bio page! (text below)

And now I present to you my "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe"-style bio page!  Pretty cool, huh?  Let me know what you think!

This is going to be bookmarked on my sidebar for future reference.  ----------------------->

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UPDATE:  More than one person mentioned that they had trouble reading the text, so I've enclosed the text of the bio below:
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ANDROMEDA

Real Name: Unknown
Occupation: Publicly: Superhero.  Officially: Agent for the Federal Department of Superhuman Affairs
Identity: Secret
Aliases: (Facebook): Andromeda Perseus
(blog): The Mighty Andromeda is: Busty Superhero Chick
( http://bustysuperherochick.blogspot.com/ )
Place of Birth: Unknown
Marital Status: Unknown
Known Relatives: Unnamed parents and grandparents
Group Affiliation: Federal Department of Superhuman Affairs
Base of Operations: Washington, D.C.
First Appearance: Busty Superhero Chick blog entry for November 18, 2008

History: Superhumans were rumored to exist since prehistoric times, but it wasn’t until 1947 that actual proof of their existence emerged. That first contact took place near the small town of Roswell, New Mexico.  The rumors of an extraterrestrial spacecraft crashing near Roswell were not started by the government, but it was convenient, so they secretly encouraged the UFO crash rumors so as to distract from the truth: The first positive proof of the existence of superhumans. 

The identity of that first known superhuman has been classified, along with his or her powers, but arising out of that first contact came the Federal Department of Superhuman Studies (now a part of Homeland Security since 2007).  The DSS operated in secret for decades, studying every superhuman that they caught, and in the process, the scientists learned the nature of their powers and most importantly, how to counter nearly all of them.  The DSS was forced out of hiding after an uprising of superhumans in 2005.  This very public uprising was how the rest of the country became aware of the existence of superhumans. 

After months of battling at a standstill with the leaders of the superhumans’ uprising (including the takeover of some towns and cities), control was finally being regained by the government; due mostly to the five decades of knowledge on superhuman powers that was acquired by the DSS, but also because some superhumans came to the aid of the authorities.  One of those superhumans was a young woman later code-named Andromeda.  Those superhumans who weren’t killed or captured went back into hiding. After control was re-established, the DSS decided to enlist superhumans into the department so as to give the DSS a public face by way of utilizing the “superhero” mythos that comes from comic books.  Very few superhumans – even among those that aided in the quelling of the superhuman uprisings – took up the DSS’ offer.  This was largely in response to the outcome of the court case, Burgenstein vs. United States, which gave official government acknowledgement to the existence of superhumans, but without extending any rights to them. 

With the superhuman uprisings and takeovers and the chaos that arose from it still fresh in everyone’s minds, even the courts weren’t ready to immediately hand over to superhumans the rights enjoyed by regular citizens.  However, to prevent a second uprising of the superhumans, the court did rule that when reliable methods were devised to help keep the order, then rights granted to superhumans would gradually “evolve”. 

The young woman code-named Andromeda took up the DSS’ offer in order to serve as a go-between between the government and the superhuman community.  As a major in American History with an eye to history, Andromeda felt that one of her kind needed to step into the role of being that first superhuman who reached out to the government to start the process of healing in the relations between humans and superhumans.  It is her hope that this will lead to those first few critical steps in which superhumans are granted full citizenship rights, and that humans and superhumans will one day live together in peace. 

Height: 6’ 1”
Weight: Unknown
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Light Brown

Strength Level: Andromeda possesses a strength level beyond normal human strength.  She bench-pressed 20 tons during her last test.
Known Superhuman Powers:  Andromeda possesses enhanced senses, about 3 times the normal human average.  She is also capable of unaided flight and can fly at subsonic speeds.  She has an enhanced level of healing; making her capable of healing from even severe injuries in a matter of hours. 
Abilities: Andromeda is knowledgeable in several martial arts, but not a master of any of them.  She possesses a near genuis level of intellect that, along with her years of experience in dealing with superhumans, makes her among the most knowledgeable tacticians on the planet in regards to battles with superhumans.

Andromeda created by John P. Araujo.
Artwork by Chris Butler - http://bigchrisgallery.tumblr.com/

New artwork of me, "Marvel" style!

And now, TADAAAAH!

Here is the latest stunning artwork by the very creative and talented Chris Butler!  In this artwork, I am posing a la Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe style!  Yeah, baby!  I am so striking the pose! 

This is going to be my official artwork for times in which I need a ready reference for my costume's appearance.  Like I mentioned before, we've officially made the cleavage hole the flat oval that Power Girl used to have before DC Comics went all politically correct on her and covered it up.  I would think that the real Power Girl would have kept it anyway despite any rule changes about the women's costumes, so thanks for taking PG out of character, DC!  Pbbbbtthhh!!!!

So artists, pay attention.  My costume consists of:

* 1 white hairband
* 1 long-sleeved white crop top with a flat oval cleavage hole
* 1 brown leather chest band at the base of the top, with a gold-toned buckle at the front that has the letters BSC on it.
* 1 yellow smiley face temporary tattoo on the right breast
* 1 white pleated skirt that reaches down to mid-thigh
* 1 pair white Spandex shorts worn under the skirt 
* 1 brown leather belt with a gold-toned buckle shaped in a stylized letter "A" 
* 1 pair brown leather gloves that reach over the elbow
* 1 pair brown leather upper arm bands that go over the biceps
* 1 pair brown leather boots that go over the knees, with padding over the knee
* 1 pair gold-toned earrings in a stylized letter "A"

Also to note:  I'm 6 foot 1, my eyes are blue, and my hair is a light brown and is very long, reaching down to my butt.  Since my costume doesn't have a cape, it's my hair that artists often draw in an artsy way as a kind of substitute cape.

Got all that?  Good!  

Oh, wait!

Wait!

What was that about this being my OHOTMU pose?  Oh no, I'm not joining Marvel Comcis!  LOL  No, instead what this is indicating is that we are in the works of making a page of me with this pose (along with the previous artwork by Chris) and whip it all together with a bio so that I have my own OHOTMU-style page! 

How cool is that???  ^.^

So stay tuned, true believers, because that will be coming your way very soon!

w00t!

Thanks Chris, on yet another awesome and excellent artwork!  I love it!  :-D
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UPDATE:  Here is a link to the OHOTMU-style page.  

Review of the graphic novel, Pearl of Pandaria

WoW week continues through this week, and today I review the latest graphic novel from Blizzard, Pearl of Pandaria (PoP).  Before I continue however, time for the usual

*****WARNING!*****

Spoilers ahead!  If you haven't read Pearl of Pandaria and don't want what's in it spoiled for you, then STOP READING NOW!   You have been warned!

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PoP is about a young pandaren girl named Li Li, who by my best guess, is roughly the equivalent of 12 in human years.  Pandaren are panda-like creatures who in WoW have a culture and architecture that is very much like the Oriental culture of our Earth.  Pandaren originally came from a continent called Pandaria, but in PoP, the story actually takes place atop a very, very large turtle named Shen-zin Su, or The Wandering Isle.  Yes, this turtle is so large that he is literally an island to himself!  He's also immensely old, over 10,000 years.  As you might imagine, a little back story is needed here.

Shen-zin Su started out as a regular-sized turtle and the beast of burden for Liu Lang, an ancient pandaren that left Pandaria for the lands across the ocean - namely, the rest of Azeroth.  Over the years, Shen-zin Su grew and grew and grew.  Liu Lang returned to Pandaria from time to time, but one day, he left with his wife Shinizi and assorted other pandaren and never came back.  Over the centuries, Shen-zin Su grew to enormous size - so large that the descendents of Liu Lang and the others grew on his back, and have lived there for generations as he grew to island size.  He had been gone from Pandaria for so long that the continent was little more than a myth to these pandaren inhabitants.

The Wandering Isle has a famous son named Chen Stormstout.  He's so famous that he's even known in the rest of Azeorth (except in Pandaria, of course).  Chen is known as an explorer and adventurer who left the Wandering Isle in search of adventure and new booze.  Yeah, he's a bit of a lush....  While he wandered Azeroth, he wrote letters to his niece Li Li who read each letter as Chen described his adventures in the lands across the sea. These letters inspired Li Li to want to go out to explore the world as well, but her father forbade it, because the rest of the world is dangerous; especially to a young girl like her.

But her desire to explore the world and to find her famous uncle Chen is so strong that she sneaked away by flying on a large crane and trying to find her way around the rest of Azeroth by following the letters from her Uncle Chen.  Her father finds out and asked Strongbo, one of the pandaren trainers, to go find her and bring her back.  As it turns out, she's a sneaky and clever little creature, and she managed to talk her way into staying on the continent longer and longer.

Long story short, the unlikely pair wander to different parts of the Eastern Kingdoms; the whole time with Strongbo trying to get Li Li to return home.  Unknown to them, they are followed by a naga, a goblin, an ogre, and a fel orc with a burning desire to defeat the one opponent who has managed to defeat him in combat.  Yep, you guessed it - it was the famous Chen Stormstout!  The fel orc is hoping that these pandaren will lead him to Chen, while the other three are out for a very large magic pearl, the Pearl of Pandaria.  Li Li and Strongbo have no knowledge of this pearl, but the naga thinks otherwise, and they follow Li Li and Strongbo wherever they go. 

After some adventuring in Stormwind and Ironforge, the tale ends in a final confrontation between Strongbo and the fel orc.  The orc manages to fatally wound Strongbo by cheating, but Chen finally shows up to save the day.  It is Strongbo, however, who deals the killing blow to the orc before he himself expires.  Chen then takes his niece back to the Wandering Isle, and the book ends there, but is continued on WoW's website.  Here is a link to the first part (of four) if you want to follow the continuation of the story. 

Overall, I enjoyed the story, and the artwork is beautiful.  This book is printed in a horizontal format instead of the usual vertical format, which is a nice little change to the standard comic book.  If you are already into WoW lore as I am, then you'll really enjoy this book.  My only complaint is that Li Li is a bit disrespectful and insensitive towards the feelings of others - but then she is about 12 years old, and who among us wasn't that way around that age?  In this story, you have basically a rebel story in which one person wants to do things differently than what is usually done in X culture.  

Like the citizens of Gilneas, the citizens of Shen-zin su (and later, the citizens of Pandaria) are very insular; that is, they very much keep to themselves.  While the Gilneans built a wall around themselves, the citizens of Shen-zin su were isolated by the fact that the giant turtle they lived on basically just wandered the oceans of Azeroth - and apparently, never made landfall with any continents in that whole time!  Pandaria was surrounded by an impenetrable mist for 10,000 years, which explains their insularity.  The mist was broken up by the events of the Cataclysm, but I'll get more into that when I discuss my adventures in WoW (I'm waiting until my pandaren toon has to make the choice between Horde and Alliance before I discuss my adventures on my blog.  She'll go Horde, of course!).

In summary, I enjoyed the story mainly for its depictions of some of the cities of Azeroth, and for showing the festival Brewfest while it was going on!  Whoohoo!!!  (Actually, Hallow's End is my favorite WoW holiday).  It was nicely done, and I wish Blizz would get on the stick and put out more comics and graphic novels.  On a scale of 1 to 10 in which 1 is a bomb and 10 is THE bomb, I give PoP an 8.5, but I fully admit that it's getting that score because I love WoW lore already.

Coming soon, as soon as I get my little pandaren to level 10 where she can decide which faction to join, I'll post about her adventures on the Wandering Isle.  So far I'm enjoying it; especially the fact that it's free!  LOL