A few random observations and a request

Just some random musings about things that I haven't gotten to yet.

As technology evolves, so must our concepts of manners, propriety, and so on. Twenty years ago, no one would have thought about talking on the phone in a movie theater because it wasn't possible. Before camera phones, no one would have thought twice about taking their cell phone into the locker room with them.

I believe I've determined another area where polite manners and technology must evolve.

I was at the wedding, this past weekend, of my girlfriend's cousin and his bride. Wedding ceremonies (especially in Catholic churches) are considered solemn events. You want to remain quiet and attentive during the ceremony. And yet, the constant beep and buzz of electronic noises constantly interrupted the event. Did people leave their cell phones on? No, but you're close. People were using digital cameras that make a "start-up" noise, beep when you push a button, and make a shutter noise when the picture is taken. It was very bizarre to constantly hear such noises at very inappropriate times during the ceremony.

Helpful hint from me to you, my faithful readers: If you buy or own a digital camera, learn how to shut off the sound effects. You will probably need to know how at some point.

In other news, last night I attended my first meeting of the ISU Philosophy Club. It was pretty fun. We talked about stuff. The evening got off to a running start with a discussion on abortion (myself being the only conservative at the table). I was pretty impressed. The others actually agreed that abortion is murder if the preborn child is a person. They just had to argue about when you define personhood. Myself, I take it not just as an argument about personhood, but about humanity. Is it a human life in there? The answer is yes, and it is uniquely human life, much different from a solitary organ or growth or some other common comparison made by abortion advocates.

We talked about other stuff. Some politics. Incidentally, I will need to investigate claims about approval of torture from this administration. I hope what the guys were talking about there weren't true. My part of the table (we had a big, big booth) centered around religion. It was interesting, except one guy kinda harped on a point for a long time. It was good witnessing, and I wish I coulda helped, but he was such a vociferous talker that I never found time to input anything. In any case, I think he may have come off as too belligerent, but we'll just have to see. Eventually, I couldn't really input anymore because my stomach was really upset. This was due to the immense cloud of smoke surrounding our table. Don't get me wrong, I expected there to be smoke, since we met at a pub. I just didn't expect people who were with us to smoke cigarrette after cigarrette after cigarrett. It was crazy!

One last thing. In the week since I installed the counter for this site (Site Meter), I've gotten about 70 visits. This actually impresses me. I didn't realize so many people read my blog. However, not many people leave comments. Actually, none of you do (save Melissa). My question to you, my readers, is why? What can I do to encourage more comments? What can I do to improve the content of this blog? What would get you to come back, or keeps you coming back?

Please, let me know. While I'm committed to freely sharing my views and opinions on the things happening around me and in the world, I'm not so dense as to ignore my audience. Help me help you.