Obviously, these questions all lead to the bigger question. Is there a higher being? Is there an afterlife? These are questions that humans have posed for thousands of years, and everyone has come up empty handed, at least scientifically. From my point of view, there may very well be a higher being, but I don’t look at this higher being in the same way some religions do. For one thing, humans can only comprehend what we can see in front of us. We only know what we know based on context and past experiences. Therefore, we can only view the world based on what we see. For all we know, this universe is just one of many other universes. We usually picture the universe as Earth, the other planets, the sun, the moon, stars. But just because that is all we as humans see, doesn’t mean that is existence. It is all that we are capable of comprehending. This universe may be a mere delusion for all we know.

When I look at the different religions, and the prophets and leaders, I don’t have a place to say one way or another that these people did or didn’t exist. Or did, or didn’t talk to God. However, when I look at the history of rumors, and how quickly an urban legend in today’s world can spread, even with all this technology, it’s hard to not be skeptical on how accurate the truth can be on topics where there is really no recorded proof. Have you ever played the game telephone– where somebody comes up with a word or saying and then whispers it into the ear of the person next to them, and then that person whispers to another person, until you get all the way down the chain and see if the last person has the original message? How many times is that game successful? It fails more times than not. The point is rumors spread, and ideas are transformed from one person to the next. It can happen within minutes… now think about millenniums.

In regards to the afterlife, I feel that there are really only several options. The first option is there is no afterlife. We die, but don’t know that we died. We don’t exist anymore. It may seem depressing, but not really when you think about it, because you don’t know that you are dead. You don’t feel anything. The second option is that there is an afterlife. Now this is where religion and personal opinions really come into play. Instead of looking at it from the religious point of view though, I would like to look at this from the practical point of view. Humans are not the only species to “rate” or “classify” each other, however, we definitely do it far more than any other species. There is absolutely no reason to believe that a higher being is deciding if we are good or bad people. There simply would not be a just way to do this. Humans are not all on the same playing level as one another. Someone born into poverty is not given the same opportunities as, say, the son of a billionaire. The person born into poverty might not receive an education. Maybe he’s living with a single mother trying to raise her family. It’s unfair to say that this person is being challenged by God to overcome his conflicts, because if you are going to judge or compare two people on this basis, you can’t change outside factors. It’s understandable why crime takes place more in these communities. Now for the billionaire’s son, he can inherit all of his fathers money, and decide to give 100 million dollars to charity. He was put in a position where he could appear to be a better person than the person born into poverty. But is he really a better person? Does he deserve to go to Heaven, and the poverty stricken person Hell? In my opinion, we wouldn’t be able to determine nor would God.

Maybe here’s a better example–If Hell does exist and a higher being judges the dead, then it would be widely accepted that a person like Hitler would be in Hell. But what if Hitler passed away as an infant; perhaps there were complications in his birth. For many, this would have been a desired outcome, but the point is, what if Hitler was never given the opportunity to commit the atrocities that he did? If he died as an infant, before he could be “judged”, would he go to heaven, even though he was obviously not a good person?

It’s as if we look at Heaven as a college we need to be accepted to…and if we are rejected, Hell it is. Therefore, I don’t really look at the afterlife in the same way as some religions. I have no idea what to expect, but I’m okay with that. I think people should do good not to get on God’s A list, but because they genuinely want to do good and set their own expectations for themselves. If people want to motivate themselves by doing it for God, that seems fine, but the problem comes when people start passing judgment on others to make people feel better about themselves.

So what does this mean? Is geography not important, as 70% of participants would have you believe? I’ll be the first to admit that I am not great with geography, but do I believe it’s important, yes. Someday these young adults (including me) will be in charge of our country, and being the biggest power in the world, it is our obligation to effectively control international affairs. Really, how much confidence can a country like Iraq have in the United States occupying their country, when the majority of our country doesn’t know Iraq’s location from Israel’s (75% don’t know where Israel is located.) As for not knowing where some states are located in the United States, that is another story. It’s hard to convince anyone that one is not egocentric, when he or she doesn’t even know the 50 States’ locations.

In sub-Saharan Africa, approximately 31,935,184 women, children, and men have died of AID’s. The number there infected with HIV is approximately 47,271,010. Everyday, 16,000 children alone die in the world from hunger related causes. That’s one child who dies every 5 seconds, a majority of which are coming from sub-Saharan Africa. There is a current genocide occurring in Darfur, Sudan, with more conflict widespread throughout Africa. Almost fifty percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day. Imagine how devastating these statistics would be for the United States.

About every other American believes that the United States overspends on foreign aid. People also believe that we as a country spend a great deal more money helping other countries than we actually do. Polls suggest that most Americans think the federal government spends about 10 to 15 percent of its budget on foreign aid. The truth is that we spend less than 1 percent, the lowest of any industrialized nation. All of sub-Saharan Africa receives just over $1 billion in economic aid. If everyone in America gave up one soft drink a month, we could double our current aid to Africa. Again, we have spent over 400 billion dollars on the war in Iraq, so far. It is nearly impossible to help these desperate countries if we don’t even know, or care, where they are located.

Try this test to get an idea to see just how knowledgeable you are with your geography. You’ll have 10 minutes on both tests to list all the states in the United States you can remember, and then 10 minutes to list the 54 counties in Africa. I was able to get all 50 states, but the countries in Africa was an entirely different story. If you want to have an actual map to identify, I’ll link one for both continents also. This should be a pretty concrete example, showing us that it is time for a change.

10 minute tests

U.S. Test Africa Test

Geography tests with map

U.S. Test Africa Test

Satellite Radio is Expensive

The costs for each company for satellites alone, and then the launching of those satellites, has been over a billion dollars. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that is an expensive way to broadcast, and in turn, subscription fees rise. Also, satellites only last 15-20 years.

Technology Will Soon Change The Radio Industry Forever

Wifi will find it’s way to the car, and once any station around the world can be accessed, demands will change in the radio industry. One of satellite radios biggest pitches is commercial free radio. That’s great, but you will soon be able to get that service for free. There are stations all over the world that are listener supported, and in general, better radio stations than well let’s say, anything Clear Channel Radio produces. Clear Channel was at a point where almost 25 minutes out of an hour’s worth of broadcasting, were commercials. After getting the criticism they deserved, they cut back on this time slightly, but still, it helps remind the listeners what these station owner’s are really about–making money, not the listener.

Once listeners can access more stations in the car, these big corporations, including XM and Sirius, will have big problems competing, with their current business models. XM has about 170 stations, and Sirius about 80, but the average listener will probably only have several stations that are really compatible with them–with Wifi, people will be able to find stations even more personalized to their needs.

Did Somebody Kill The Radio Star?

Yes. The DJ has been dying a slow painful death for years. Mp3 players give you something that no radio station can offer- the ability to completely control what you are listening to, when you want to be listening to it. Some people enjoy having a personality, and hearing a variety of different music hand selected by another person, but the average folk is perfectly content with listening to their own favorite tunes. Even online radio is changing, with companies like Pandora, making it so you get a personalized selection of music based on your rating habits of other songs–also, you can skip a certain amount of songs per hour, if you don’t like them.

XM and Sirius Are Not Flexible Enough

Or at least, haven’t been. If XM and Sirius want a fighting chance, they are going to have to get “Sirius.” I am not all that impressed with their services, and haven’t seen much creativity on their end. Sirius, trying to define itself as the HBO of radio, picked up Howard Stern for a handsome sum of $500 million dollars over 5 years. He might draw millions of listeners a day, but apparently that’s not going to be enough to save satellite radio, and anyone who is a big enough fan of Stern’s to pay to listen to him would have already taken the leap. XM took on sports coverage such as MLB, college games, and the PGA tour in hopes of getting customers. What’s going to happen when you can access those games via Wifi in your car though? I know there are other talk show hosts, such as Oprah (XM) and Martha Stewart (Sirius), but it is unlikely that big names alone will be able to keep satellite radio floating. If the merger does go through, the company will have to find their niche, and a reason why people should actually go satellite– convincing them will be difficult.

Am I Really Getting What I’m paying for?

Well, let’s put it in perspective. For a $12.95 subscription you are only paying 43 cents a day. Seems like a good service for that kind of money. But then if you look at Rhapsody, which gives you access to millions of songs that you can upload onto select MP3 players for $14.99 a month, you are only paying 7 cents more a day. Some people don’t like the idea of “renting music” because you lose your library if you stop paying the monthly fee, but what do you call radio? At least with Rhapsody, you have access to pretty much any song you’d hear on XM or Sirius radio, and have unlimited access to the songs whenever you choose to listen to them. By the way, I use both Rhapsody and Napster’s music service, and as of right now, I would recommend Rhapsody over Napster, but that’s for another post.