Saying Good Bye to the Year of the Cow or the Bull or the Ox

Up

Is the latest Pixar cartoon movie.  I watched it in hopes of Tony liking it, but he didn't care for the old man, and the slow pace of the film at the start.  My wife, on the other hand, liked it and wondered if I could love her as well as the old man, in Up, loved his wife.  Tony seemed entranced by the action-packed ending, but still preferred to watch a video of Queen's " We Will Rock You" for the umpteenth time.

 

Not Much to Say

Another animal year is about to be over and done with.  Oh well.

 

At work, everything is in the holiday mode.  Shops have closed as their proprietors go to their hometowns to celebrate the Spring Festival.

 

Some students have plans to go somewhere.  Other students plan to stay indoors to avoid the crowds.

 

One student told me that Shanghai is the place to go to find shopping bargains next week.  Maybe, but no!

 

Play God

I asked the students to play God.  That is, I asked them to tell me what they would do if they were God.  It was a more stimulating exercise for them it seemed than to list arguments for or against the existence of God.  Having made their minds up (they were mostly atheists with an agnostic exception), they could only offer motives for what believers believed, but no reasons.  (Saying believers are cowards is not an argument against the existence of God.)

 

Anyway, the economist in me, had to shudder at all the students saying that if they were God, they would give everyone money.  Like that has ever been proven to help anyone!  Another student said he would give himself lots of money if he was God which made even less economic sense  -- God would have no reason to engage in market exchanges. 

 

The most interesting answer came from a student who said if they were God, they would punish the evil people and reward the good.  Sounded like God out of the Bible. 

 

What the student said about good and evil got me thinking.  How would God determine who is good or evil?  By watching them; by letting things play out.

 

Boss Magazine

There is a photo of me in the latest edition of Boss Magazine.  One afternoon, I was shuffled away from school to a photo studio.  The magazine needed a photo of a foreigner, apparently the ugliest one they could find, smiling.