Woo

The law has just changed so that it is no longer illegal to rip a cd onto your computer. However, you can't copy a vinyl LP onto a cassette because "Home taping is killing music". :-D

I don't "believe in...", I "believe that..."

I wish people would stop saying that they believe in something, because it is too imprecise and open to misinterpretation. The statement "I believe in peace" might mean "I believe that peace is possible" or "I believe that peace is preferable to conflict". Similarly, if someone says "I believe in [insert name of locally popular deity]" they might mean "I believe that [insert name of locally popular deity] exists" or "I believe that [insert name of locally popular deity] is omnipotent and omniscient" or "I believe that the teachings of [insert name of locally popular deity] gives guidance of how to live one's life."

What is needed is to replace "in" with "that" because it forces the explanation. The imprecise "I believe in love" would have to be explained as "I believe that one day I will find love" or "I believe that love makes a lot of people happy" or "I believe that being loved is the preferred state" etc.

Truths?

Whilst watching a religious debate online recently I became increasingly irritated by one participant who repeatedly used the word "truths" when describing the content of her preferred book of myths. The contents of the book are not truths. They are not undisputed facts or descriptions of reality. By misusing the word "truths", she was able to make such claims as "My truths are of equal value to your truths". This is blatantly wrong. She was claiming that opinions are the same as facts and unsupported assertions are the same as accurate descriptions of reality. Wanting something to be true does not make it true. Wishful thinking should not be mistaken for reality.

Recreation of a t-shirt I saw today

Girl - My Number

*applause*

Within Temptation - Faster