Why 404?

I’m sure most of you have clicked on a link, only to discover something like this:

Sometimes, you may have wondered, “What does that 404 stand for? And why?”

If you could play any instrument, what would you play?

“If you could play any instrument, what would you play?”

Good question!

Well, as of right now, the instruments I do know how to play are piano and violin. If I could play any instrument…

…ok, I’m going to tweak this question.

If I could play any instruments, I would play every single instrument in the orchestra! Yes! And here’s why:

1. I can’t make up my mind on a single instrument.
2. Each instrument has its own unique qualities, and dare I say, personalities. For example, the flute is flirtatious while the double bass is lively and energetic, and the timpani are extremely ambitious.
3. If I could play every single instrument in the orchestra, what I would do is take an orchestral piece, learn every part on every instrument, make 20 or so recordings (depending on the number of parts), each recording with me playing a different instrument or part, and stitch all the recordings together in Audacity! Then, I could burn it to a CD and sell it and call it “the only orchestra in the world with one and only one person.” Imagine how much money that would make me!
4. I could substitute for any missing players.
5. Learning how to play all the instruments would be a great life challenge/project. It would also cost me a lot of money for those instruments, but imagine, I’ll have an entire mini-symphony sitting in my room!
6. This would be a great thing to mention if I had to state a unique talent that I have.
7. I could go to the music store and try out all the instruments, instead of just the electric pianos.
8. 20X instruments learned = 20,000% better chance of making it into a professional orchestra. 20K PERCENT!
9. After learning percussion instruments, I could make music with anything. Ever heard of that group STOMP?

How do I decide when a post is ready to publish?

Given the enormously little amount of time I have to write to my blog these days, this is no longer something I’m concerned about. At this point, I just want to get my ideas out there, almost like a stream of consciousness.

In the past, I would write out my ideas in paragraph form, save it, go to sleep, revise it the next day, and publish it. If I think the post is going to be something that a mass audience will read, I will revise it several times and add pictures, etc. to it before it gets published.

Furthermore, I’m not looking for a career in writing or journalism, I just enjoy doing it as a hobby.

What is a friend?

I have been asked this question many many times. Ironically, I’ve never known the answer, but I’ve thought so much about this.

Does a friend have to stay with you forever? If so, how long? And what distinguishes between a “best friend”, “friend”, “acquaintance”, “random person”, and “enemy”?

Evolution and the Ship of Theseus

While I was pondering about evolution vs. creation the other day, a paradox came into mind. It’s called the Ship of Theseus. The paradox goes like this -

One of the oldest of all thought experiments is the paradox known as the Ship of Theseus, which originated in the writings of Plutarch. It describes a ship that remained seaworthy for hundreds of years thanks to constant repairs and replacement parts. As soon as one plank became old and rotted, it would be replaced, and so on until every working part of the ship was no longer original to it. Source: TopTenz.net

In the same way, Darwin said that living this go through random mutations (like old parts being replaced with new parts) and gradually become another species. Here’s where the Ship of Theseus comes in:

If a fish evolves into a lizard, at what point does the fish become not a fish but a lizard? And if evolutionists say we came from fish, then why aren’t we still called fish? Aren’t all animals in the world just fish with all the “old parts” (fins, scales, etc.) replaced with new parts?

Likewise, creation states that God made all organisms unique. Zebras are zebras, not refurbished fish.

The Ship of Theseus and Evolution are ready for a big conflict.

Who wants to be Commenter Number 100?

I’m glad to announce that Thought Box has 99 comments at the time of this post. Be the 100th commenter and I will feature you and your website in my next blog post!

Long live the Thought Box!

The answer to “If humans evolved from monkeys then why are there still monkeys?”

Earlier this month I asked this question on my blog to see if anyone would be able to answer it. One person wrote and guessed that humans evolved smart enough to preserve monkeys, and that this was a rare instance. But that’s not the answer.

The answer is simple enough: humans didn’t evolve from monkeys!

So yes, this was a trick question, and it took me 30 seconds to realize that.

Humans and monkeys shared a common ancestor as they are both hominids. That doesn’t mean they evolved from each other. It’s like saying “if I evolved from my cousins, then why are my cousins here?”

“If humans evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?”

I was reading Science News and came upon this very interesting question. It took me about an hour to get the answer from what I knew. Now it’s your turn. Answer this question by posting a comment.

UPDATE: Apparently no one knew the answer. See this post for the answer.

Should I Categorize?

On WordPress, I get two options: tags, and/or categories. So far, I’ve stuck with tags and the largest category is “uncategorized”. However, the entries in this blog can be easily sorted out (i.e. “reviews”, “opinion”, etc). This should also make it easier for readers to find content of their interest.

If anyone objects to this and still likes my blog to be tag-only, please leave a comment.

UPDATE: I will be categorizing the posts on my blog, including the ones I have already written. This should make it easier for readers of my blog to find articles of their interest.

UPDATE: Ok, all my posts have been categorized. Now I only need to fix the category cloud so it’s similar to the tag cloud.

This Blog Needs a New Title

Seriously, the name “Deathgleaner’s Blog” is very boring, bland, and un-original. Blogs like Rough Drafts (EasyBib’s Blog) have better names. I’m reaching out to my blog readers to come up with a better name for this blog. Please comment and tell me your idea. Thank you!

UPDATE: Hmmm… maybe something like DeathPress Blog? I don’t know.

UPDATE: Okay, since everything I write here is just random miscellany pulled out of my head, it should have something associated with “mind”.

UPDATE: Blog renamed to “Mind and Miscellany”. What do you think? I’ve also tagged a few posts that I forgot to tag earlier.

UPDATE: Yeah, I thought about the blog title and it’s not as good as I thought it would be. Most people who read this blog don’t know what “miscellany” means. I’m thinking of a new title. Any suggestions?

UPDATE: No suggestions, but I thought of a new name, “Thought Box”. Much better.