Vin Crosbie's Personal Blog

For his business blog, visit http://www.digitaldeliverance.com

Ignorant and Unchristian ‘Christian’ Racists

Vin

Conventional wisdom warns not to start talking about religion in establishments where alcohol is on tap. Correspondingly, self-preservation advises even more strongly not to respond to someone who does start talking religion in bars, pubs, and other drinking establishments. So, how does one react to a despicable fool like the one whom I encountered two months ago at a tavern along Route 67 in Connecticut ? He was loudly expressing his hate and his ignorance of religions (including his own, too) while thinking that he was Christianity.

“I hate Muslims!”, he bellowed to everyone and no one in particular at the tavern’s bar that evening.

When he arrived, I had overheard him telling the barmaid that he was a building contractor in the town. He was a muscular, formidable figure who had probably spent at least ten years lifting bricks, lumber, and construction equipment at building sites. As my friends will tell you (and my wife probably confirm), I’m not someone who feels bound by conventional wisdom nor even self-preservation. At least, not when open expressions of hate and racism are involved near my town, in my nation, or anywhere else for that matter. So, from my seat three stools and ten feet away, I loudly asked, “Why?”

I don’t think he expected anyone to respond or ask about his loud holler of hate. However, he readily answered. Appraising me, he spit out, “Because they hate Jesus!” That is when I noticed the crucifix he prominently wore.

Did I respond to that? No.

Why not? My reasons why not are these: Perhaps he is a competent contractor. Maybe he is an amenable person when not drunk. Perhaps he also is a good husband and a doting father. I don’t know for sure. However, I have no doubt that he believes he is a pious and devout Christian. I, however, have learned through seven decades of experience that there is no point in attempting to change the minds of zebras, donkeys, mules or other forms of ignorant jackasses. Particularly, when they are drunk.

Moreover, no amount of evidence or facts (by which I mean verifiable, readily provable, mutually-agreeable, court-admissible evidence and facts; and not anecdotal ‘evidence’, unverifiable ‘facts, or a cherry-picked mention of an outlying expert who is clearly contradicted by the huge preponderance other experts in that field) nor persuasive reasons will penetrate the thoroughly empty cerebellum of someone who cluelessly attempts to masquerade his atrocious prejudices under the guise of a religious faith.

First, allow me to raise a personal note. I was remembering him yesterday while standing in a taxi line on an island about 250 kilometers (150 mi.) off the coast of Northwester Africa. In the line next to me were two Muslim women. I’ve done business in nearly a dozen Muslim nations and have Muslim friends from yet another half dozen more nations. I’ve vacationed, even honeymooned, in Muslim nations. I doubt this fool in a Connecticut tavern has ever met a Muslim or visited any of the world’s 57 Islamic nations. In my travels, I’ve been privileged to visit mosques, ranging from the ancient Al-Azhar of Cairo (founded in the year 970) to the ultramodern Asy-Syakirin of Kuala Lumpur 8,000 kilometers (5,000 mi.) further east. I’ve read the Bible, the Q’uran, the Hindu Rigveda, some of the Torah, and many of the Buddhist sutras and text. These experiences have guided me to know that this drunken moron in a Connecticut bar is characteristic of a clan of racists who I’ve become all too familiar in modern life, particularly in my own nation: racists who pose as Christians.

So, let us test his prejudiced and opinion, from first the perspectives of Christianity, then that of Islam.

The Christian Gospels are crystal clear that Jesus lived, worked, and interacted with a wide variety of people of other religions. For examples, the polytheistic Roman occupiers of Palestine; idolator Syrians and Canaanites who worshipped Baal or Ashtoreth; and Samaritans, whose religion was similar to that of Jesus’s own Jews in that they followed the Torah and believed in a coming Messiah. (By the way, the Samaritan religion still exists). The Gospels describe his interactions with a Canaanite woman with a sick daughter (Matthew 15); a Samaritan woman at a well (John 4), a Samaritan leper (Luke 17), and the ‘Good Samaritan’ (Luke 10); a Roman centurion with a sick servant (Luke 7); and many sick and demoralized people from Syria and Decapolis who likely weren’t Jewish (Matthew 4 and 8; Mark 3 and 7). Unlike this reprehensible fool in a Connecticut tavern 2,000 years later, Jesus hated none of those non-Christians. He hated no one. Nor did he condemn or rebuke them. Nor argue or debate theology with them. Nor tell them that their religions were wrong. He led by his own example, thereby using what the Quakers 1,800 years later would call ‘quiet persuasion’.

Now, if I was a racist zealot who wanted to dismiss all that, I perhaps might attempt to distract from the issue by claiming that none of those ancient religions was Islam, which didn’t arise until six centuries after Christ. I don’t think this racist turd in 2024 would be dimly intelligent enough to attempt such a line of argument, but let’s now imagine that he had.

Many non-Christian religions founded since Jesus walked on Earth revere Jesus for performing such good works and for speaking the sermons that the Gospels report. In the Druze religion, Jesus is honored not only one of God’s important prophets but considered to be the Messiah who will return to Earth at the ‘End of Times’. Similarly, the Baháʼi religion considers Jesus to be one of many manifestations of God, while rejecting the Christian doctrine that he was an actual divinity. Yet of all non-Christian religions founded since Jesus’s teachings, Islam is the most to revere him.

In Islam, Jesus is called in Arabic Isa and his Gospels, themselves holy books in Islam, are call the Inil. Isa (Jesus) is Islam’s penultimate prophet; the messenger of God; and the Messiah who at the ‘End of Times’ will return to Earth, overthrow the Anti-Christ, and rule thew Earth. Indeed, the Q’uran mentions Isu (Jesus) by name 25 times, which is more often than it mentions Muhammad.

Islam differs from Christianity in that it consider Isa (Jesus) to have been a mortal human, albeit one divinely chosen to spread God’s message. Most Muslims believe that Isa (Jesus) wasn’t killed during his crucifixion, but that God made it appear so to his enemies and that God afterwards ascended him into heaven where Jesus is still alive. Despite those differences, the Q’uran and the New Testament agree about most aspects of his life and his teachings. Muslims and Christians believe that he was miraculously born without a human biological father by the will of God, and that his mother, Mary (Maryam in Arabic) is among the most saintly, pious, chaste and virtuous women ever. The Quran states that Isu (Jesus) was able to perform miracles through the will of God, including being able to raise the dead, restore sight to the blind, and cure lepers. One miracle attributed to Jesus (Isu) in the Quran, but not in the New Testament, is his being able to speak at only a few days after his birth, in order to defend his mother from accusations of adultery.

Does all that sound like Muslim’s hate Jesus?

No matter how much he might claim to be a Christian, what a thoroughly ignorant and hateful turd was the guy I encountered in the Connecticut tavern. He was demonstrably ignorant not only of Islam but of Jesus’s renowned teachings of tolerance and love for others.

Do you know anyone like him who claims to be Christian yet preaches hate for Muslims?

Unfortunately, I’ve encountered too many in recent years. This one was noxious when drunk. I’ve however encounter many of them who are quite affable when sober. They are worse. The affable one lack intoxication as any sort of excuse for their racism. Although few people like, condone, or tolerate a racist who is mean or irascible, unfortunately too many tolerate an affable one. Yet is affability any excuse for racism, prejudice, and hate? No, of course not. What if a friend or acquaintance from childhood or adolescence has grown to become a racist? Should he be tolerated. Absolutely not. If a racist is affable or was a childhood or adolescence friend and you tolerate his hate and prejudice, you aid him in spewing it.

And if a racists claims to be a devout Christian, you needn’t the heavens to part and a divine voice warn you that you’re dealing with not only someone hateful and prejudiced but a most evil hypocrite, drunk or sober, kneeling in church or relaxing at a tavern or country club. Any racist does the Devil’s work.

Faro de Maspalomas

Vin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6yLf80sj6M

Although I’ve owned an aerial camera drone, a DJI Mavic Air, for the past five years, I recently replaced it with the far more powerful, smaller, lighter, and more far-ranging DJI Mini 4 Pro. Meanwhile, laws about flying drones in North America or the European Union have considerably tightened.; so, I am now studying for my United States pilots license, which would allow me to fly the drone in many regions where amateur flights or unlicensed flights are prohibited. In the United States, I live fewer than 100 metres west of outside a restricted airspace, which means I can fly unlicensed only east of my property. At my home in the Canary Islands, Spain’s airspace restrictions are so tight that not only is flying a drone unlicensed in my city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria prohibited, but so too is virtually the entire eastern half of Gran Canaria island. I spent last weekend vacationing at the southern tip of the island, an area where unlicensed flights are allowed. This gave me a chance to briefly fly my Mini 4 Pro from the balcony of my hotel on a glorious Saturday afternoon. Here is a six-minute clip from that flight. It’s not an entirely smooth flight, as I’m still experimenting with adjustments to the 250-gram drone’s balance and flight controls. However, this video clip does provide great views of first the Lopesan Boabob and he Lopesan Costa Meloneras resort hotels, as well as the lighthouse of Maspalomas (‘El Faro de Maspalomas’).

Durian, Durian, Durian!

Vin

Although my wife prefers mangosteens, I love durians. In case you don’t know what those are, you’re in huge company. One of the side-benefits of travel is learning about fruits not native to you continent or even your hemisphere. Durians and mangosteens, which are southeast Asian fruits, are superb examples. Neither of these fruits ship well over long distances, which is why you find them almost only in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Indonesia. Although durians are often called the ‘Kings of Fruit’ and the most delicious fruit in the world, you won’t find them everywhere in Southeast Asia. Durians are also have the most repulsive smell of all fruits, so Singapore bans them from being served or eaten in public places.

The New York Times today published a homage to durians. Or rather why the People’s Republic of China nowadays imports US$6.7 billion of durians each year. I recommend this story.

What do durians taste like? Wikipedia quotes the 19th Century British explorer naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace: 

“This pulp is the edible part, and its consistence and flavour are indescribable. A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acidic nor sweet nor juicy; yet it wants neither of these qualities, for it is in itself perfect. It produces no nausea or other bad effect, and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to stop. In fact, to eat Durians is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience. … as producing a food of the most exquisite flavour it is unsurpassed.”

What is a durian’s smell? Wikipedia quotes the 21st Century travel writer Richard Sterling:

 its odor is best described as pig-excrement, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia.”

It is perhaps one of nature’s greatest practical jokes that the ‘King of Fruits’ smells like a dead one!

My wife and I first encountered durians two decades ago in Malaysia, one of my favorite nations. Since then, I’ve been able to find durians served in a Vietnamese restaurant in upstate New York (yes: how that location makes sense is another question). And I’ve been able to find them on sale in the Westchester County outlet of the Asian supermarket chain H-mart. As The New York Times article describes, however, these are likely durians that had been cryogenically frozen before shipping to North America. They lacked full delight of durian taste, unlike those in Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, if you are a North American, try them nonetheless. It is too bad that durians and mangosteens don’t travel well!

Mangosteens, also a fruit my wife and I first encounter in Malaysia, are my second-favorite fruits. These small apricot-like fruits are delicious. Yet unfortunately like durians, are almost impossible to find outside of Southeastern or Far Eastern Asia. If you can find them, you’ll immensely enjoy them.

Travel outside of your nation or continent and try the foods and fruits there. I doubt you’ll be disappointed!

Trump is a Symptom, not the Problem Itself

Vin

To understand why Trumpism is merely a symptom of a larger predicament, first consider that today’s children will see more technological, scientific, Industrial, business, and societal changes during their lifetimes than any previous generation in human history. Futurists for several decades have been documenting after the fact that the pace of such changes has been accelerating since the start of the Industrial Revolution. That pace has now begun skyrocketing due to developments such as computerization,  global connectivity,  artificial intelligence, genetic medicines, etc. Indeed, as the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus sagely observed 2,500 years ago, change is the nature of things and that the only constant is change.

Is that a problem? Well, change tends to make many, if not most living things anxious, even uncomfortable. Anxious animals defensively retreat into their burrows, nests, caves, etc. And anxious humans can similarly retreat into, if not nests, cave, or burrows, traditional values or nostalgia for a time before or without the change.

Certainly, some changes can be harmful. However, not only does change cause evolution, it likewise tends toward progress. Organisms don’t devolve. Human history during the past 500 years demonstrates increasing progress: such as ending slavery, emancipating women, democracies replacing monarchies or even more authoritarian forms of government, sciences and medicine elongating longevities and eradicating ancient diseases such as the plague, smallpox, polio, etc. Who adapts, and particularly takes advantage of change, best survives and flourishes.

But there is a contrary corollary. We shouldn’t be surprised that the people who tend to be most anxious when faced with change are those who are least able or willing to adapt and thus who most complain and resist change. They are also those who are most likely to be seduced by demagoguery against change or who claim that was past is best. Enter Trump, Putin, Modi, Bolsonaro, et. al.

Centuries ago when the pace of change was gentle, if even perceptible, these natural dynamics might have been less. Yet now that technological dynamics such as ‘Moore’s Law’, quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence, etc., have exponentially increased the pace of change, the sheer numbers of people who either can’t adapt, or not as easily as perhaps in the past, exponentially increases, too. Demagogues find willing audiences.

And as the pace of change continues to accelerate, perhaps an evolutionary hurdle is reached? If our technologies are now advancing faster than our adaptation to the changes they bring, what do we do about or how do we aid those among us who have trouble or can’t adapt? Aren’t they within their rights not to adapt? Or are there situations or cases in which their resistance to change or adaptation tramples the rights of those who embrace change? These questions need to be encountered and answered, because change is the nature of things.

‘Red’ vs. ‘Blue’ Map of the 2020 U.S. Election

Vin

Politically conservative simpletons in the United States of America are fond of posting on social media maps of the nation that have each county colored either red for a Trump victory in 2020 and blue for a Biden victory that year. They like to do that because it colors the U.S. mostly red for Trump. And it is true that Trump won more than 2,500 counties and Biden fewer than 500 during that election.

What the simpletons either don’t realize, forget, or ignore is that not all counties in the U.S. are equal. Trump indeed won thousand of largely empty or sparsely populated U.S. counties. Yet although Biden won few than 500 counties, he won those where not only most U.S. citizens live but in which 70-percent of America’s economy resides. Trump overwhelming won Texas’s Loving county (population: 54) but Biden overwhelmingly won Los Angeles county (pop.: 9.9 million),

It is infantile for politically conservatives to post colored maps showing that Trump won a greater geographic aggregate of the emptier counties in the U.S.. Elections are instead won by gaining the greater number of citizens’ votes, which Biden did during 2020 by more than seven million votes (equal to more than 109,000 Loving county’s). However, if it makes simpletons feel better to post such maps, give them all the red and blue crayons they need. I expect a similar outcome from the 2024 election.

You Won’t See U.S. or European Airlines Staffs Doing This

Vin

A frequent international traveler, I often post about how bad U.S. airlines have become and how European are starting to decline, too. The contrast between airlines from the Americas and Europe and those from the Middle East and Asia has become stark. Skytrax has long published the most objective and reputable ranking of the world’s airlines. Only one airline from outside the Middle East and Asia ranks among Skytrax’s Top Ten in the world: Air France. Moreover, no more than one airline from Europe and the Americas ranking in that top ten is usual. In recent years, Lufthansa had ranked in the Top Ten but no longer does; not more than one airline from the Americas or Europe has in decades; and in many years none does. Skytrax hasn’t picked its Top Ten for 2024, but atop its Top Ten last year were: Singapore, Qatar, ANA (All Nippon Airlines), Emirates, Japan Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Air France, Cathay Pacific of Hong Kong, EVA (Evergreen Airlines) of Taiwan, and Korean Airlines. Although a pedant might claim that Turkish is a European airline because it’s based in Istanbul west of the Bosporus, its service is distinctly Middle Eastern (meaning very good). Although their small airline, Drukair, isn’t rank by SkyTrax, the people of the Kingdom of Bhutan, a nation which uses a civic metric called the Gross National Happiness Index to judge itself, could make a case that it has the friendliest service in the world. Judge from this five-minute video from them. You won’t see the employees of Delta, British Airways, Latam, or Olympic doing this.

Homie Extremists

Vin

I regret that during the past 25 years of working with New Media, what has distressed and alarmed me most is discovering that a tangible percentage of the people with whom I grew up harbor extremist opinions. I estimate that the percentage of whom is approximately less than five-percent, yet that means one in every twenty. That number, like their extreme opinions, is unfortunately too tangible.

My mother was from a multi-generational Republican family (her ancestors was a Republican politician who served in the Connecticut State Legislature. My father was from a Boston liberal immigrant family (the Crosbies are lowland Scots). I thus grew up with political differences; I’m used to dealing with opposing political opinions.

However, what I’m not used to is political ‘opinions’ based upon clearly disproven lies. The political opinions of mature adults aren’t based upon lies. As psychologists will tell you, a characteristic of a mature adult is that the person changes his opinion when faced with contrary evidence that disproves that opinion. He will also acknowledge that the opinion has been disproved. Only liars or psychologically immature adults knowingly base their opinions upon clearly disproven lies. I unfortunately know, among the people with whom I grew up, too many psychologically immature adults or knowing liars. I’ve grown shocked to realize that is what they are. I’m tired of knowing them and am repulsed at their deceits or immaturity.

Worse, some of them purport to be Christians. During my life, I’ve gotten to know many Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists, and can state that I don’t know any who based their political opinions upon lies. Perhaps that is simply because as an adult I met these Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists and chose to make them my friends. Whereas, by contrast, I did not choose the people with whom I grew up; those were simply the kids who happened to live within the school district where I lived while growing up. Almost all of those kids were purportedly Christian (indeed, very many because I attended a Catholic parochial elementary school). I’ve become amazed at how some of these Christian kids have grown to become bigots, Christian nationalist extremists, or both.

This year, I intend to drop as friends and block from my social media feeds those among whom I grew up who harbor extremist opinions. I should have done so years ago. I first however feel a need to tell my other friends why I am dropping and blocking those extremists. I realize that I needn’t tell my friends why. Yet the reason I will tell them why is because they too have been enduring these extremists, perhaps putting up with them too much ‘for old times sakes’. Silence in response to bigotry or lies merely encourages the bigots and liars to spread their lies and prejudices more. Stop them here and now.

So, if during subsequent weeks you see me posting here about bigots and political liars who are unfortunately among my acquaintances, you now know why.

Why here on this blog? Because by posting here then simply linking to that on the several social media I use, I don’t have to repetitive writing the some posting on each of those social media.

A Notable Mechanical Figure in the Evolution of Robots

Vin

Yes, you read this blog posting’s headline correctly.

Although the concept of automata dates from ancient times and the modern concept of robots dates from the 1920s, has during the past 15 months have the basic technologies needed to create a real one converged. The OpenAI company in December, 2022, publicly introduced a text-based artificial intelligence ‘chatbot’. Within a few months, text-to-speech ands artificial voice technologies literally gave it voice. Meanwhile, other companies such as Boston Dynamics were building human-like mechanisms capable of performing work such as might occur in warehouses or factory assembly lines. Now, a company named Figure has combined all that into a prototype working robot. That’s an amazing evolution in such a short time. See for yourself in this video. Meet GPT-5 Body. You need only watch the first three minutes (the remainder is technical information). You now live in the future.

Gullible Billions of People Aren’t Prepared for This

Vin

To say that humans evolve at a glacial pace is to call glaciers as race cars. Evolutionary changes to our bodies, including our physical brains, take hundreds of thousands of years or more. Evolutionary changes to our thinking occur more quickly yet still take hundreds of years. Civilization has progressed remarkably since the year 1524, shortly after the beginning of the Renaissance and globalization; and the changes since the years 1024 (tjhe medieval period) and 524 (the ‘Dark Ages’) have been striking. Nonetheless, due to technological innovations, our physical senses, which we’ve depended upon since time immemorial, can now be easily fooled.

For some 30 years now, it has become easily for anyone with personal computer software to alter still photographs (‘It’s been photoshopped!’) And for the past 20 years, first in Hollywood and lately by any video blogger who owns a $20 ‘greenscreen’ rig, video can be altered in such a way as to me or you in any video scene. Yet now the nascent technologies of machine learning and Artificail Intelligence (AI) have become able to create entirely artificial but incredibly realistic videos. The first video here is an example from the Open AI company’s Sora software. I daresay most consumers nowadays who see a print advertisement or television advertisement or cinema scene may not realize that much, even possibly most, of what they see was ‘photoshopped’ or ‘greenscreened’. And I submit to you that if you show consumers this Sora video without telling them that it is artificial, most will believe that it is real. The second video here takes this even further: allowing the artificially-generated people–or even dead actual people–realistically to say things that they never said.

We are no entring a time in which it will become difficult to tell whether something in still photography, audio, or video is real or not, because the retouched, artificial, or entirely faked will be too perfect for the average consumer to tell the difference. What’s known as ‘media literacy’–namely the ability and knowledge how to tell the difference, isn’t much or at all taught in schools. If caveat emptor is Latin for ‘buyer beware’. then videntium cave or ‘viewer beware’. I estimate that at least ten percent of my some 800 Facebook ‘friends’ are so naturally gullible that they wouldn’t be able to tell, might even not think it even possible, that such a video is artificial or fake. I think there is another ten to fiften percent who if a faked video supports their political opinions, would ‘Share’ it (i.e., spreading lies) so that others of their ilk or the gullible would themselves virally ‘Share’ it. I fear that a ‘golden age’ of deceptive propaganda and deceptive marketing has begun.

2.4 US$100 Notes per Each Man, Woman, and Child on the Planet

Vin

It’s interesting to note (no pun intended) that the most numerous U.S. currency note in circulation is the $100, not the $1, note. Although the $1 note is perhaps the most numerous within the U.S., around the world–in which the principal reserve currency in international trade is U.S. , the $100 note is the most popular and numerous. There are 1.43 billion $1 notes in circulation worldwide, but there are 18.5 billion $100 notes ($1.85 trillion). That’s equal to 2.3 $100 notes for every man, woman, and child on Earth.

The Future Smartphone Will Be Without Apps

Vin

I wholeheartedly agree with this five-minute video story by Android Authority that the smartphone of the future won’t have or use Apps (i.e., individual single-purpose software applications) but instead simply use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to communicate/find/view.obtain/what its users wants. That Deutsche Telecom, one of the world’s largest cellular telephone services provider (such as its T-Mobile network in the United States) is experimenting with this concept (I’m sure that other cellular networks also are) shows how likely this might be. Watch the video and discover why this will happen. The this video uses a regular Android phone from today as an example.

Insanely Expensive Dining Insanely Done

Vin

I’ve been fortunate to have eaten at three Michelin-starred restaurants (Le Bernadin, New York City,  3 stars:  ABaC, Barcelona, 2 stars; and Man Wa, Hong Kong, 1 star) in recent years, and am a fam of the Hungarian restaurant owner (42, Budapest, 1 star)  Alexander ‘The Guest’  Varga’s YouTube channel about visiting Michelin-starred restaurants. His most recent review, however, is about Alchemist, a 2-star restaurant in Copenhagen which is so ridiculously over-the-top that viewers of movies and TV shows such as ‘The Menu‘, ‘Tampopo‘, or ‘The Bear‘ will chuckle. The 50-course (yes, fifty!) meal, it’s price, and the diner’s experience are insane.

By contrast, the world’s #1 ranked restaurant is Central in Lima, Peru. Here is Alexander’s review of that excellent but non-insane restaurant.