Thursday December 15, 2005 - 3:41PM EDT
"I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man," Freeman says. - full article
The Cos caught heat for what he said about race. We are not hear to talk about The Cos. I love what Freeman has to say here. Although it is only a few tidbits that could easily be taken out of context and criticized, from them I know exactly the feelings behind them. It is about the whole illusion of race built up in human society. If you read my posts on history of slavery I think Freeman's thoughts may closely resemble mine in some aspects. Some will try to disavow race as an excuse to ignore or discount the problems of disadvantaged people. Other meanwhile will focus too much on race when speaking of disadvantaged. Race shouldn't be the foucs, because it doesn't exist as a concrete well definable thing. We can't focus on race because it is an illusion.
Wednesday December 14, 2005 - 2:12AM EDT
I read this interesting article here. And it gets me thinking. There were a couple of sections that I thought need more thought but it was a decent starting point. The article was about difference between human and chimpanzee behavior. Specifically imitation in relation to solving puzzles. It made me think about a whole bunch of things. Especially since I've been studying brain function recently. One thing I thought of immediately especially considering the initial intepretation of immitation in the article was what is imitation exactly? Why would human kids imitate like they did in these studies talked about in the article. Does that imitation behavior have consequences higher up in more abstract thought that makes humans prone to suggestion. Does the imitation behavior vary among humans or even certain population groups. As I think about it now. I would imitate exactly probably because of paranoia. Well not exactly but I would imitate because maybe I thought there was something else that I was missing and the complex actions required to complete an action shown to me for a reason. However, I personally am very quick to imitate initially but then very quickly look for other methods to accomplish the goal once I was sure I had all the information about the situation. Some people however will always imitate regardless and not look for more direct methods for a variety of reasons.
This article really made me think because of personal experience with seeing something done then most of the time wanting to do it a more direct, faster way. I always look for unecessary steps and seek to eliminate them. But I find that some people will continue those extra steps without any logical reason whatsoever. When asked about these steps the answers I get never seem to make sense and it is frustrating. Could my frustration with someone's non-recognition of effeciency be somekind of physiological difference in how we think about things. How many times have I asked someone why they do something and am given the reason is that it is the way it is always done? Does this imitation thing have something to do with the practice of upholding tradition? Our strong urges to hold on to things of the past when they have become illogical and obsolete? It is a large leap of reasoning for a simple study but it makes me think about it. If humans are such strong imitators and their behavior reflects it throughout life, what advantages does it bring? What disadvantages does it bring? Fuck I am going to be thinking about this all night now. Can I extrapolate this new perspective and somehow use it to deal with humans better.
As we learn more about how we work we seem more and more like simple organic machines than these magical beings with "free will". It is good though. This is why that crappy give-up kind of religious and philosophical thought is so damaging. When you attribute things to mystical reasoning your just giving up. Why do people love to give up so much?
Tuesday December 13, 2005 - 8:10PM EDT
Critics say Apple's proprietary technology and its refusal to offer more ways to buy or to stray from its rigid 99 cents a song model is dampening legal sales of digital tunes - full article
So now begins the complaining about legal downloads. The first part of that tidbit is correct but the part about rigid 99 cents dampening sales is ludicrous. Somehow allowing variable pricing and selling some songs at a higher price is going to drive sales. Hardly, it will just drive up profits when sales start getting crappy. How whoever wrote this article tried to sneak that one by is garbage. I don't pay fo downloads anyway. The DRM makes them a huge rip-off compared to CDs. Except maybe Sony CDs, then they are equal rip-offs.
Tuesday December 13, 2005 - 4:42AM EDT
What is the deal with these ideas about staying within your limits or not seeking knowledge. That fucking book we call the Holy Bible and how things went terribly wrong when Adam ate from the tree of Knowledge is disgusting. And the idea of a faustian deal is disgusting. Even the story of icarus flying to high it suppose to tell us to not seek out the limits to stay within our bounds. I fucking hate these kinds of ideas passed down over the years. I realize where ignorance comes from sometimes when I think of these things.
Tuesday December 13, 2005 - 4:20AM EDT
Again I never liked mortal kombat as much as street fighter. With this Stanley Williams execution there is a spat of news articles on the death penalty. Sometimes you just don't know what to do with people who commit the most heinous crimes. Like those really extreme crimes of depravity. Like those kids who lured another kid to the woods and beat him to death with hatchets. That shit is fucked up. Other times you hear about people wrongly executed because of witness testimony. That shit is fucked up too. What I mostly hate about this discussion is those who somehow reason that execution is anything but revenge or a question of effeciency. They call it just. Dude, what the fuck. We have reasoned in a society that revenge is unwarranted except in the case of "justice". That shit is fucked up. I try to put myself in the place of a victims friend or family. All you really want is that person back. You know killing the murderer isn't going to do that. But does it somehow put your mind at ease? If it does, why does it? Is it simply our tradition that tells you that it helps you move on. Do any other animals exhibit behavior like revenge? I don't know. I particulary hate the losers who argue so forcefully that someone deserves to be executed. Usually because they boil it down to justice or some other nonsense and totally skip over revenge. I love me some revenge though.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 11:23PM EDT
I never liked mortal kombat as much as street figher but I still played it quite a bit. I also never liked those old sayings that some like to champion. Cheaters never prosper, winners never quit, always finish what you started the list goes on and on. I hate those things. Especially when they are used as absolute statements and as reasons for just about anything. When I hear finish what we began as reasons for supporting Iraq war I sigh. Can't you come up with something a little better than that.
I'm tired.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 10:24PM EDT
This was a solid movie though not as enjoyable as I thought it would be. It was very broad and although it hinted at certain things it wasn't a movie that was trying to make an overtly strong stance on anything. It didn't make me think about specific things like some other movies it had me thinking more broad and big picture than usual. I just wish the movie was longer because I wanted to see more of the story. It didn't have the happy ending which was good. It left me feeling with a serious case of the bad guys won though. Which was interesting because the bad guys weren't typical bad guys. They were just people who became corrupt working within a system. Their actions weren't neccesarily evil to them. That is what is most striking about the movie. Nobody is maniacally evil. They're kind of just plodding around in their own spheres and are ignorant to the effects of their actions outside their sphere. It was a decent movie in that the picture it presented was as muddled as real life is sometimes.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 3:35PM EDT
I heard what I am about to talk about mentioned before in an article kind of offhandedly. I wish I had the article but I don't remember it. Social Security is built on each subsequent generation sacrificing for the one that came before them. Well, ok that is not how it is seen in the public's eye most of the time. It is seen as you yourself saving away money for your later years. But I don't think it quite works that way, maybe it does I really don't know. I think it works more on my first statement. Now we want to switch that. We want to make it so the system is not one in which subsequent generations sacrifice for the previous ones. That it is one of all for yourself. Where did this idea of respect your elders that comes up somtimes disappear to in regard to social security system. Seems to me if this idea is so important as they want to make it out to be why not make it one of those overarching ideologies that tangibly affect policy. Its fucking disgusting. When you are personally told about respecting older people as a young person yet somehow we have structured our society so that they are continually disregarded and crushed underfoot. With very basic things like healthcare and decent places to live. How is it that any elderly person goes without needed medication, or not even needed ones, maybe just optional ones to take the edge off dying a slow horrible death. I don't know, just seems a little harsh.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 3:35PM EDT
Experts Urge Less Focus on Antioxidants
An article promoting sound thinking and not skewing science. These kinds of articles are few and far between. It doesn't put words in scientests' mouths or make ridiculous logic leaps. It also brings the hammer down on those food studies that you keep hearing over and over again. Like the wine and chocolate is good for you. I eat chocolate because it taste good, flavanols are a bonus. I like the quote that says leave that stuff up to scientests. Yes, great statement. Stop half-assing science for the benefit of product sales or massaging your psyche and get the whole picture for once. Or just let the scientest study it if your going to be an ignorant poser about it.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 3:35PM EDT
You ever been in an airport and notice how the airline workers and the TSA employees don't exactly have the best relationship. Not personally but it seems that one never really knows that the other is doing or that they do seperate jobs and really don't care much about the job the other is doing. That shit is retarded. That is the kind of garbage that makes stuff unsafe. That division between TSA people and airline workers is the most glaring hole in security I see. Let's not discount the fact that at least half the time you go to an airport you run into a bastard of a TSA official or airline employee. Not bastard stickler for the rules, just bastard for the sake of being a bastard as if that is helping secure things. They must have this idea that you have to be a hard-ass to secure things. How about you just be observant instead of puffing out your chest all the time. Airport security is pathetic. I'd take a group of high schoolers out-smarting airport security anyday of the week.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 12:57PM EDT
So recently I read about Andre Agassi's school in Las Vegas. He funded a school for underpriviliged kids in Las Vegas. This I like. One of the few charitable contributions that makes some sense. I also liked Warrick Dunn's helping young single mothers get decent housing. So not all charity is piss poor and retarded. There are some decent ideas out there. I wish every single sports superstar would do the exact same thing as Agassi. The majority of charity is trash but this school is good. I don't know what if any real affect Lance's Cancer foundation is going to have. His peanuts are nothing compared to government and corporate spending. It might be money better spent on education of kids who may find a cure later in life. Still though, all their contributions are drops in a massive bucket. Not nearly enough. Agassi's school may turn out a child better equipped to deal with the problems in the neighborhood but those are problems that need to be addressed at the same time. I'm hungry, I want some curry with coconut milk.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 12:08PM EDT
Pope has no real sway with anyone anymore but he deserves mention every once in a while when he states backward screwed up thinking. He serves mainly as a symbol of how crappy thinking ruins humankind.
He is saying that consumerism ruins Christmas. Well how convenient that it ruins Christmas. Besides the fact that I could probably count as many things that Christmas and its related mumbo-jumbo has ruined countless other things why is it just christmas. Why does he pull the consumerism rabbit out of the hat to defend christmas but leaves it alone when it destroys so many other far more important things. Like the planet. Oh wait this world doesn't matter to all modern religions it is the next world that is important. Actually I'm trying to remember whether Buddihism originally had a concept of heaven or some kind of after-life or was it planted by mystical moroons years later.
Particulary amusing in that article is how he says nativity scenes teach faith. Nativity scenes are fine they show the birth of Christ who is an important historical figure. It called Christmas for a reason, so maybe suprisingly to some I'm down with nativity scenes. But this teaching faith, aka ignorance, is something I can do without.
Somehow people can't be happy with not knowing or having holes in their life. Everyting must be this complete and perfect package. That is what relgion fills in, all the percieved holes in life. It tidyly wraps everything that we don't know up. Ties up all the loose ends. That is the predominant mindset of human society. Accepting not knowing and uncertainty is shunned in favor of mystical reasons. And for some odd reason when you don't want to accept the closed off dogma and neatness of religion they call you close-minded. When you choose to say that you cannot know everything but will always continue to seek knowledge and learn as much as you can in a short life you and you are not talking about studying the Bible you are called arrogant. That shit is baffling. The only hope is that as it has for a long time now, those who embrace the lunacy of religion and shun logical reasoning will simply die off because they refuse to take vaccines or only eat certain foods. Religion has changed markedly over the history of mankind. When it will be dealt that crushing blow that eradicates it or relegates it to the fringes of crazy man thought I don't know, if ever.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 2:01AM EDT
I saw Syriana and a movie review will be coming soon. As I was watching it I was thinking about human soceity. How some things are taken so seriously when all they represent are the various imaginative machinations of the human mind. Our intepretation of reality, not reality itself. I just think about that sometimes. Religion, morality, laws, technology. Its all in our head. A spoon is a spoon not because of its shape. Its a spoon because of how we use it and the human ideas connected to it. A spoon is not a spoon to a squirrel. It is just another object that may only be vaguely different from a tree branch. When I think about things like that I can understand how mystical things become so prominent in this world. How things that defy practical logic and sound reasoning become a basis for living. How the difference between someone standing up for moral values and a maniac killing for pleasure are not that dissimilar at all.
In other news, I had some really good curry this weekend. Thai style curry with coconut milk. It was awesome.
Monday December 12, 2005 - 1:43AM EDT
You know what I always thought was funny. In the movie Troy everyone speaks with a for a lack of a more specific term a British accent. Its funny because originally they would have spoken another language, Greek or anything but english. So where did the filmmakers divine that they should speak with these UK accents. Weird. Same goes for Alexander the great in the movie Alexander. Did Alexander even speak english in his lifetime. I know it is a movie for english audiences but why they decided to make the actors speak with certain accents when the accents aren't even historically accurate is a question I'd like to ask. Answer is probably something stupid.
Sunday December 11, 2005 - 11:24PM EDT
This word values has such sinister undertones its scary. I keep hearing people talk about values. It is spooky as hell because the values vary so wildy between people yet they take it so seriously. Values is treating as some altruistic thing that everyone needs to have. I'm begining to look on it as a sinister pestilence that is poisoning mankind. When people focus too much on morality as the cause of problems it sickens me. Morality is a human's illusion first of all. Why do people ignore practicality and go to these mystical things first for explanation. Religion, morality, values, etc. Damn losers.
Sunday December 11, 2005 - 7:01PM EDT
Not much to say about this movie because there isn't much here. I am baffled by the good reviews this movie got. This was not a good movie. It was way to childish and glossed over the darker themes. I didn't read the book so I can't compare but as a stand alone movie it didn't stand alone very well. I just think they dumbed and toned down the whole movie for ages 10 and below. An adult really couldn't enjoy this movie. Even movies that are targeted at kids normally have something that most people find entertaining. This didn't. It was just really boring.
Friday December 9, 2005 - 2:47PM EDT
David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, said he thinks the shooting may prove more "reassuring than disturbing" to the traveling public his organization represents. "This is a reminder they are there and are protecting the passengers and that it is a seriously deadly business," he said. - full article
This man is insane for thinking that. Somehow a bomber who did want to blow up the plane and somehow got a bomb past security would have quietly reached into his bag and blown the plane up. This whole thing is weird and the weird analysis by some people is disturbing. This loser is the head of some Air Traveles Association and somehow he has some input on my safety. I don't feel safe with a clown like that at the wheel.
Friday December 9, 2005 - 2:07PM EDT
Where are the nervous system disrupters when you need them. This Miami airport shooting makes me think about that. How effective is a bullet at stopping someone from pushing a button on a bomb? You better hit the right place to kill him instantly and still the only thing you really want to do is stop this person from moving, not kill him. It is just that the only way we have to stop someone from moving instantly is killing them and that is very difficult with one shot from a gun.
So where are the instant temporary paralysis guns. What a boon to mankind that thing would be. How often do officers actually want to kill somebody. Think about it. Do they really want to kill someone most of the time? No, they just want to protect themselves by restricting the threat's movement so for the moment killing is the only way. Tazers don't work half the time. Wow, what if police officers only caried non-lethal weapons. Effective ones, so far there really isn't any. You'd have to restrict all gun sales and manufacturing. Make it only for the strict purpose of hunting. Would these people who want guns for self-defense trade them in for an effective non-lethal solution. How many who have a gun want to actually kill someone? They just want protect themselves. I think about all the various non-lethal weapons they have now. Terrible. Tasers and stun guns suck, nets are too freaking huge, mace is pathetic. There is nothing effective. That is the problem. They are using an instrument of killing as self-defense. That shit is going to cause problems. There is more research into lethal weapons than non-lethal.
Friday December 9, 2005 - 1:51PM EDT
Now there is this report card from the 9/11 commision about how the government is doing in acting on the points to secure the nation and fight terrorism. I heard one editorial dude say that we should give more weight to the A grade the government recieved on cutting of terrorist funding. Most of the other grades were failing. What in the holy hell is this man thinking. That A grade is an illusion. This is simple. The U.S. can control terrorist funding in US based accounts and maybe some overseas accounts with international cooperation. But I suspect that the majority of terrorist funding comes from the rich in the region itself. And where do those rich get their money? If you haven't figured this out yet your an idiot. Petroleum consumption. How anyones gets an A grade for curtailing terrorism funding when we still run a petroleum based energy economy is beyond me. The petroleum consumption spawned so many other sources of money that some people forget their source. Just think what would happen to terrorist funding if the whole world suddenly didn't buy oil. Besides, whith Russi and China purchasing the U.S. can't alone make a reasonable dent in terrorist group funding. How in the hell do they get an A grade.
Friday December 9, 2005 - 1:37PM EDT
"Unauthorised use of lyrics and tablature deprives the songwriter of the ability to make a living, and is no different than stealing," he said. - full article
I love how he says the songwriter. That is a load of trash. It deprives the manager, the marketing pro, etc. Everyone but the songwriter is deprived. Songwriter would make any money if no one could hear their songs. Well I guess they are going to have to crack my head open and scoop out all the song lyrics I have stored there. They are going to lose and I love it. There are fighting a battle against nuclear weapons with pitchforks. Does anyone really think these companies can reign in the entire internet and find all the song lyrics. Now all we have to do is create decentralized lyric servers. Actually they probably already have it. This is hilarious. The Gnutella protocol is unstoppable. It is still available and I still use it. They can't even begin to fathom how to shut Gnutella down. They would have to shutdown the internet. Ha! And of course there is the Bittorrent protocol. The funny part about this is that they attack the software, but the strength in these services is the concept. Software is easily duplicated based on known concept. It's virtually impossible to remove the concept from the public pysche. If they take down one piece of software which in itself is virtually impossible, 100 more will pop up in its place. There are at least 20 pieces of software or more that use the Gnutella protocol. The only reason downloading diminished was because of pay services and the small group of new users they attracted to downloading to skew percentages. And a few people who feel bad downloading music.
Then there is Sony. Somehow managing to poke more holes in Windows than Microsoft can themselves. I'd be pissed if I was Microsoft. It is bad for Microsoft too to have a company destabilize the security of your OS through something as common as a music cd. Why they didn't work with Microsoft directly is something to explore. But they paid the price.
I wish I had a plan and a few billion lying around so I could demolish the industry's current structure. Well maybe not demolish, but rennovate it.