album sales are driven by ghosts

The first law of thermodynamics is that energy can be neither created or destroyed. We are made from energy - in fact, everything is. When our bodies die and return to the earth, they feed the soil and, in turn, the trees and the plants, etc etc. Ashes to ashes, energy to energy.

Now, time is also an entity of some kind. There is the age old question one person might ask another, in a metaphorical or facetious kind of way: you're sitting on your white-painted wicker furniture on the porch at dusk one summer evening, and you look at the person sitting next to you and realize that the summer is almost over, and you find yourself asking: 'where does the time go?' But when you take a closer look at that question, it isn't just a meaningless question without an answer. Time has to go SOMEWHERE, because it is someTHING. Just as gravity is an invisible force that holds us down on our planet, time is an equally invisible-but-none-the-less real force that continues to push all living things forward, completely unstoppable and uncontrolled.

So where does it go? It can't just fall into the abyss because, as we concluded, energy - something everything is made up of - can be neither created or destroyed. So it must, as the Taoists believe, be cyclical, not linear. Therefore, it must recycle itself.

The question becomes not "where does it go?", but 'what does it transform into?' The Mayan calandar stops at 2012, and this can be attributed simply to the fact that the ancient civilization could not be expected to document the future years of all eternity. But maybe they were onto something - maybe that is the end of time's cycle, and it will continue on again fresh and new starting that year. That is not to say there will be an apocolyptic ending, or that we will be able to sense a change. No; if time recycling is true and real, then it would just continue on like any other day, a new beginning but not one that is dramatic or life-changing or even noticeable.

There could be other theories or explainations. If energy is neither created nor destroyed, and whatever is within the human body is energy (call it your essence, your soul, your being, your consciousness, whatever), then something has to happen to that soul (being, essence, et all). Perhaps there is a heaven, but that doesn't seem entirely plausible. What could happen is as time recycles, so do souls - into new bodies, new lives, with new purpose and new lives. Or maybe we live the same life over and over and over again without change, just in different dimensions, with start and end dates randomly selected. Or perhaps we live similar lives to the one preceding it, but they are never completely identical, because even in nature, finding something exactly the same as another is not very common.

That just might be it.

Trees

Dolly, please remind me that we need to talk about time recycling soon.

--Mabis

Ugly people II

Spin off from last week's question: is the familiar beautiful?

Has anyone ever noticed that the two halves of many couples are NOT created equal?

I used to work in a high-end jewellery store, and it came to my attention that, more often than not, a couple that came in to look at engagement rings or wedding bands were not standing at an equal level of attractiveness. We are about to blow your mind, but listen close: In these situations, the man in the relationship was usually markedly more attractive than his female partner.

Of course, this first begs the obvious question -- are men really not as superficial as society would have us believe? Hollywood suggests that man-trolls have the ability to score the supermodels, yet real life scenarios are telling us otherwise. Really good looking men - men who could probably attract any hot (conventionally or otherwise) woman - are ending up with women that range from average to unattractive.

It should be noted that we are not talking "somewhat attractive" or "okay" looking women ... we're talking men who are 7's or 8's or 9's and women who are 2's or 3's.

THE REAL QUESTION here is as follows: are these men attracted to these women because of their personalities and then, because they love them/they are familiar, find them beautiful? Or do they honestly find these women beautiful from the get-go? Do they ever recognize the disparity, or do their love-goggles keep them clueless? What are the factors that affect how a man views a woman or chooses her as his partner?

Discuss.

Is the familiar beautiful?

Do ugly people know they're ugly? When an uggo looks in the mirror everyday, do they realize they are ugly? Or does their reflection look "normal" ... or, indeed, even beautiful ... because it is what they are used to seeing? Is it because their parents are telling them they are beautiful and, thus, are conditioned from a young age to believe it?

Surely ugly people must think they are beautiful or they wouldn't walk around outside. Imagine being an ugly person you know (but don't imagine too hard/long, or you might get trapped) -- do you know you're ugly? How are you okay with it?

Do ugly people know they are ugly the way beautiful people know they are beautiful? This opens up another can of worms, because there are beautiful people with low self esteem and they do not believe they are good looking. This begs the question: are there ugly people who possess overly high (and unwarrented) self esteem?

We really wanna know the answer. Enlighten us.

EDIT 24 HOURS LATER:

What people had to say when we posted this question on the dating section on Kijiji:
Response 1:
I like your interest in the ugly side of things. I'm a big man and I feel like I have parts of me that can come off as ugly. My self esteem kind of comes to me from that dichotomy. I don't know how unwaranted it is.

Well I would sure like to here from a girl who gets a brighter perspective on that kind of thing mail me back. Its *** at ***-****.
Response 2:
You know. Confidence is key. It adds more attraction. Too much, however, is ugly. I know a guy who is like 320 lbs, pure fat. But he has these unreal standards, like he only likes really skinny model type women, hence why I am pretty sure he is a virgin still. But, at least he has the confidence, but how does a guy that size call a girl "too fat" when she is persay 170 LBS. That is hilarious. Women are also hilarious. I think people hide behind their screen and over rate themselves. When a girl says she is average weight, she is most likely fat, if she says she has a few xtra lbs, she's a TANKER. ANywhoo, my 2 cents
Response 3:
Beauty starts on the inside dont you think? If someone is happy with themself, regardless of how they look physically, generally they tend to be attractive, especially women to men. Men are looking for a combo of good looks and a good persoanlity, but women can easily settle with a guy that fills them up on the inside alone. I would say sure there are physicaly ugly people who have a high self esteem, maybe even truer confidence then the most beautiful people around. A lot of people i'm srue gain "happiness" through being a good looking person, a sense of confidence really. But true everlasting confidence comes from deep withn and is unaffected by our physical aspects. Proves why in my search for woman I find that fat girls are about the most real out there and are actually interesting. Sexy girls are usually running off their appearance, not always but usually. Its society really.

Thank you for the post. I enjoy this stuff.
Response 4:
hey ia m ***** 25 m saskatoon so what do u like to do for fun and are u single and looking for abf

EDIT 48 HOURS LATER

And, our favourite response - so biting and venomously awesome:

Your verbage is quite thought provoking. However, the answer to your questions isn't that elusive. Just write down what you're thinking when YOU look in the mirror. That should be enough enlightenment to tickle your fancy for a long time.

Or rapies.

Watching "Babe: Pig in the City." Shit just got real. The mafia speaking dog has got to be the best movie character of all time (after the 4 boys from The Hangover).

It's Phil, leave a message. Actually, you know what, don't text me. It's gay.

Hello… how ’bout that ride in? I guess thats why they call it Sin City ha. ha. You guys might not know this but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as a one man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf pack, it grew by one. So there… there was two of us in the wolf pack. I was alone first in the pack and Doug joined in later. And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys I thought “wait a second, could it be?” And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack. Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine…

Beware the bad cat bearing a grudge.

Sorry for being gay.

I don't know. My nails look awesome. Don't be a douchenizzle. Here is something you need to take to Ontario with you: "______ knows what's up." Shit just got real. When they're old and wandering, I wonder what they'll look back and think about. Talk about the fire ban and how angry it makes you. Pink sky at night, hookers' delight.