The Hope.

Note: If you are a devout Christian, be it Catholic or Protestant or what-have-you, I suggest you stop reading. For those of you still reading, I ask you please keep an open mind as you read this post.

I am a self-proclaimed agnostic. I believe that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena. But I neither believe nor disbelieve in God. But recently, I have started to become more atheist than agnostic. Why?

We all grow and develop. This aspect is true for all animals, and continues even after adolescence. As I continue to learn, I have come to realize that there might not be a God. Why should there be?

The Language.

In 1887, L. L. Zamenhof created a new language with the goal of making it easy-to-learn and politically neutral. Zamenhof wanted this new language to foster peace and international understanding between people with different regional and national languages. Now, there are an estimated 10,000 to 2,000,000 active/fluent speakers. But that’s tiny compared to the estimated 7,000,000,000 people in the world. These were virtuous goals, but there is a reason why Esperanto is largely considered a failure.

The Warship.

The Navy has recently announced that it will be taking orders for a new Zumwalt-class warship filled with all sorts of high-tech gadgets and goodies. With each ship costing $7 billion, thank goodness the navy decided to cut its orders from 32 to 3. Yahoo! reports that the chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, says that this ship is supposed to bolster “the U.S. military presence in the Pacific in response to Asia’s growing economic importance and China’s rise as a military power.” But with the high costs of these new and fancy warships, the Navy has chosen to only order three and instead build more of the “tried-and-true” Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

The Crotch(es).

Yahoo! is really smart. They realize that if the use a picture of a bunch of guys’ crotches, lots of people will want to click the link to see what’s going on. Well done, Yahoo!, well done.

The Song.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose.

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer/Had a very shiny nose/And if you ever saw it/You would even say it glows/All of the other reindeer/Used to laugh and call him names/They never let poor Rudolph/Play in any reindeer games/Then one foggy Christmas Eve/Santa came to say/Rudolph with your nose so bright/Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?/Then all the reindeer loved him/And they shouted out with glee/”Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer/You’ll go down in history!”

The Grille.

Dictionary.com defines “grille” as “an opening, usually covered by grillwork, for admitting air to cool the engine of an automobile or the like.” For as long as I could tell, the grille has been a trademark for automobile manufacturers; it has made their brand and cars instantly recognizable within the sea of mass-produced cars. Take, for example, Mercedes-Benz. Although they have a new “sport” grille that has quickly been implemented throughout its lineup, they still keep their iconic “classic” grille. This “classic” grille has, as far as I can tell, been installed in some variation or another in their cars from at least as far back as the 1950s. Now, even as they explore a newer and more “sporty” grille design, Mercedes-Benz still falls back on that classic grille that so many of us have come to equate with “luxury” and “high-class,” not to mention “pricy”!

So when Lexus came out with their so-called “spindle” grille, why was it that I felt I had seen it before? Oh, that’s right! Infiniti/Nissan introduced it first! The grille can be seen on Infiniti’s 2009 Essence concept vehicle. When examined closely, the grille of this concept vehicle seems oh-so-similar to Lexus’s GS concept revealed last year, scheduled for the 2013 model year. Any competent human can see that in both examples, the grille looks as if it were cinched across its “waist,” with the topside being curving out less so than the bottom.

Further, Nissan introduced the Ellure concept in 2010. For those who can’t do the math, that is before Lexus came out with their “new” concept. On the Ellure, the grille was shaped in an Essence-esque sort of way, the only difference being that Ellure’s grille looks as if it were flipped over so that its bottom is on top and its top is on bottom.

Just today, Nissan announced that it would launch a brand-new, redesigned Altima this year. In released pictures, the Altima clearly shows a grille very similar to that of the Essence, but more so to the Ellure. Then why is it that when I read the comments box the comments are filled with comments such as “Looks too much like a newer Lexus [...]” and “I wonder if they ask[ed] Lexus if they could use their grille………..somebody’s going to get slapped” and “I wonder if Nissan planned to have the Altima carry a Lexus grill…”????? Nissan/Infiniti clearly had this idea before anyone at Lexus did, so what I don’t understand why anyone is complaining about Nissan “ripping off” Lexus’s so-called “spindle grille.” (For those who don’t know, Nissan is the parent brand of Infiniti.) The stupid people of the planet either need to check their facts or just shut up completely.

P.S. What’s even more interesting is that when I go back and look at the article, I see on top that the article was “sponsored by Lexus.” Oh, the irony.

P.P.S. I have included the link of the article for your convenience. I’m sure you are just as interested as I am. ;)

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/03/2013-nissan-altima-new-york-2012/

Welcome!

Hi!

I’m new, as you can probably tell from the lack of posts. As time passes I will be learning new and exciting features, so things might look weird at first. :P

I have basically already described myself in the About tab, so feel free to head over there. It will cost you nothing. I swear. Well I don’t swear. I don’t swear. I promise.

Well anyway, I hope you enjoy this site as much as I [probably will come to] enjoy it!

Live well and love the world!