Random Subject Saturday - Rebranding (Again...)

Hello and welcome to the last ever random Random Subject Saturday; where I tell you about an interesting new change to the blog, and some of the kewl new graphics I shall be designing for it.

Ooooooh. Mystery silhouette. Who could it be? Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out.

OddballGreg was a fun blog for me to create. But now it's going away... FOREVER. (Dun Dun Dun) Luckily for you, that does not mean you will no longer have my fantastically strange ramblings to read. (Teehee) Stagnation in life is unhealthy, so lets talk about how this blog is going to continue moving forward.

First of all, I would like to thank those of you who have been recurring readers for all this time. Those wonderful friends of mine who always give me that warm fuzzy feeling inside when they tell me that my post about cats was weird. I truly appreciate it, as I do appreciate the people I do not know who read my strange ramblings. I might never meet you, but I thank you all the same.

Anyways, ironically, the first Random Subject Saturday was the first named day this blog ever had. (The day naming was a tactic I used to help me figure out what on earth I would write about.) The amazing thing is that the day naming convention will actually NOT end on a Random Subject Saturday. (I thought I would do that, but figured one last Storytime Sunday would be nice.)

As such, you may be wondering by this point what exactly is changing with the blog. Quite simply, it's broadening it's horizons and growing it's goals. What exactly do I mean by that? Come back tomorrow for aforementioned Storytime Sunday for the full story on TCSA, but basically, I will no longer be blogging alone. (*gasp*)

"South Africans": That's a plural. And there's 4 letters in TCSA. Go figure...

Who will be blogging with me? A nickname of his is Canoe, and I've mentioned him on the blog before. If you want to know who he is before tomorrow, (which is when I will have conveniently finished all the new graphics for the blog.), you can find out by scouring the various posts I have previously made in the past.

The good news, is that the I will still be here, the blog will no longer be comparable in colour to mustard, someone new with interesting new opinions will be blogging, and I won't have to do everything myself.

The bad news is that I won't be doing every blog post, (Sorry if that was a main attraction for you, I promise it means the ones I do will be better in quality.), All previously shared (or saved) URL's for the blog will cease to work, and the blog will no longer be comparable to the scrumptious colour of mustard. (I'm sorry, I like the way it looks.)

For those of you who found the posts via Facebook, Twitter or Feedburner, the URL change will not be an issue, as the new URL *should* automatically be shared following the change. For those of you who use other means to find the blog, it might be worth looking at those other means of finding it again.

The upside is that the blog will be getting an official TCSA Facebook page, Twitter Feed and even... dare I say it, an EMAIL address. (*gasp*) Maybe a good thing, maybe not. This will thankfully be the final foreseeable change to blog links and information. Your support is mandatory *cough cough* much appreciated in terms of liking, following and sharing the new pages which I will be sharing in tomorrow's Storytime Sunday. (For those of you not interested in doing so, my personal Facebook page and Twitter feed will continue to share the new blog posts.)

In any case, I once again thank you for your support, and look forward to many more strange and interesting discussions and post in the future. If you are unsure of anything, do be sure to ask about it in the comments below or by asking me directly via Facebook or Twitter. Also, your sharing of this post with any friends you know who read the blog, (or don't), will of course be greatly appreciated. Regardless of what you do however, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Goodbye my friends.

Philosophy Friday - Is Anything Actually Free?

Hello and welcome to Philosophy Friday; the day of the week where I make you question if the word free means what you think it does, and then talk about why.

Random animated coins. Seems legit.

Sometimes people help out strangers. Sometimes they donate to the poor. Sometimes shops give out "free" samples. To be technical, none of these things is actually free, as every action in the world comes with an inherent cost, regardless of whether you perceive it or not. Lets talk about that.

Have you ever wondered why someone would help you out for no reason? Maybe you were a damsel in distress with a flat tire and some burly man with chest hair came along to help you replace it. Whether you consider his inability to think with both brains at once and influence or not, the fact is that he got something out of the exchange regardless of whether he actually *got* anything out of the exchange.

As I mentioned in yesterdays article, the human brain is very concerned with itself, and likes to get things out of it's exchanges. As an altruist, I myself even understand that I do not do things purely out of a want to help people. While it can be effectively surmised as such, the technically correct way to say is that I am an altruist because I like the contented feeling I get when I know that I have helped someone. Any fans of the anime Full Metal Alchemist would understand it as the law of transmutation. A fair exchange is always required. (*Greg busies himself with elbowing nerdy Greg back into his box*)

The point is that things always have a cost. Donating to the poor costs you money and costs them dignity. Helping a stranger costs you time and they must react in some manner. (Preferably with thanks, I've been known to get angry at people who don't say "thanks".) The definition of "Free" is "without cost or payment". However, in essence, the word "Free" is rather extremely redundant in terms of this meaning. It would be far more correct to assert that something is "Free" when it's costs are not readily apparent nor clearly stated. (Unfortunately, I don't think such a definition would catch on... the "Ain't broke, don't fix it" mentally being what it is.)

In any case, the next time somebody offers you something "Pro-bono", take a moment to consider the true costs of what such an exchange might be. You might find it to be an interesting exercise, if nothing else. If you found this article interesting, or have anything to add to the argument, be sure to do so in the comments below or via Facebook/Twitter. And of course do be sure to share this article with anyone you think might be unsure of the actual meaning behind the term "free". If you would like to read more interesting articles like this, do be sure to follow me on Twitter and/or like my Facebook page so that you can get the latest posts, as I post them. Of course, regardless of what you do, I thank you for taking the time to read this article; hope that you have had an absolutely fantastic day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Au revoir mes amis.