I would like to post a longer entry but it’s 4:35 and I’m drunk, high and very tired. I’ve gambled my fedora on a fellow named Chevy’s ability to recover his leather cap that went missing. I love my hat but I have faith that his will be returned, but if it doesn’t I will give up mine in exchange (he seemed to like it). I met a lot of interesting women tonight. They seemed interested in my idea of handing over the torch of power to the female half of humanity, and yet they weren’t attracted to a completely passive, non-manly man. In my opinion that kind of male is what it’s going to take for us to live in relative harmony with the rest of the world, and yet they weren’t satisfied with that passive idealistic, non-agressive male. I guess what it comes down to is we have a job to perform as protectors and if they didn’t feel that duty is being fulfilled they aren’t interested in furthering that relationship. I say however that we as the dominant male species have to give it all up or none at all, so it becomes an interesting dilemma of sacrifice. Who’s willing to give up what in order to save humanity.
I was at a great party and I met a lot of people. As a great believer in communication I spent the majority of the party talking to different people. I enjoy my job as an ambassador of dynamic quality but it can be taxing and overwhelming as well. When you enter a room and everybody is searching for common ground, providing that focus can be a strenuous and involving commitment of self. Alcohol and drugs are my social lubricant so somehow I survive. If only the weed didn’t interfere with the natural selection process. I find myself unable to speak at any depth to the people I’m most interested in speaking to, and end up talking of frivolties and not important ‘relationship’ topics. I suppose it’s my fear of public displays, somehow the dirty secret of my lack of experience will become a mocking conversation and I can only retreat in embarassment. So hesitiation and fear are my biggest obstacles, and yet I would be most comfortable confronting thorny ‘relationship issues’ in a private, one on one domain. But that’s just me.
Wow, that was as close to a pure brain core dump as I’ve ever acheived. It probably doesn’t make any sense whatsoever but I’m tired and my bed, ooooh it calls.

Apparently I would be:

What Classic Movie Are You?

And yet thekitty constantly calls me anti-semitic.. 😉

I love my referral logs. Basically it’s a narcissistic practice but it’s also the fuel that fires my creative juices. 21 grams is certainly generating a lot of traffic for me but more importantly a fresh supply of comments for me to digest. It was recently posted in this Philosophy Forums discussion, which hasn’t been as insightful as I would have hoped yet nonetheless the board looks very promising. I may have to switch from TGM to this new one, if I can find time again.
One of the comments in the 21 grams thread led to the old question of does a tree make a sound if it falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it? A lot of people seem to give up on this question as it seemingly comes down to semantics, however I think that there may be an answer and I’ve attempted it here.

Continue reading That old chestnut →

Here’s a couple of really good political links to digest:
George Soros delivers a withering but rational rebuke of the Bush Administration. He’s a multi-billionaire banker who has been very critical of the current administrations foreign policy, and it sounds to me like he knows what he’s talking about. You’ll have to keep an eye out for this one as the world get’s shifted to an information economy.
Washington Hawks urge more war. Pushing for military blockades of North Korea is just one of the ideas in their “manual for victory”. I’m *so* very glad to hear that the man with his finger on the button is listening to these hardliners. Makes me feel much safer.
Bush’s ‘volunteer’ enviornmental plan has little to no effect. Three cheers for Bush’s devote devotion to the environment! I guess he really is trying to save our planet.

The power of the internet is forged with hyperlinks. Google capitalized on it but now it’s the bloggers time, time for the direction of traffic to be based on premeditated linking. As more and more people link to an article or site aggregator sites (like Daypop and Blogdex) pick up that multiple people are linking to the same thing and bubble up that article. This creates a sort of chain reaction once it reaches a critical mass – and then a meme is started and everyone (at least us news fiends and bloggers) soon knows about it.
Why is it important to link to things you agree with? Because if you agree with it, then you value that person perception, and theoretically you would like others to agree with you as well. The power of linkage the power of the internet. Why am I going on about linkage? Well I read an interesting article on WiredOpinion.com about calls for someone to critique a Glenn Reynolds’s recent post on U.S. foreign policy regarding Palestinians. Instapundit is a powerful soap box and when he writes people listen and believe him. Jonathan has written excellent critique of Glenn’s rather short sited and irrational ‘call to arms’. If other people link to Jonathans piece then maybe it will reach the critical mass I was talking about earlier and come to the attention of Instapundit. It requires a communal effort but it’s often worth it, especially with matters of profound importance like people’s perception of the Palestinian people.
While I’m at the linking game I may as well direct your attention to C. C. Keiser, yet another goodie found on my 21 grams thread. This fellow has some interesting views on something he calls Poly-Solipsism which I agree with pretty strongly. It’s interesting when people can reach the same conclusions – does that validate them or just exemplify universal insanity? Who knows.

I’m glad to see after all these years Willie Nelson is still focused on the game plan. His message of peace has been constant throughout his entire career and those who love him love him for that reason. Check out ‘What Ever Happened to Peace on Earth?‘, some words by Willie Nelson (link courtesy of oldcatman).
The truth is also my weapon of mass protection. Thank you Willie for inspiring us all.

News Years eve is a classic example of complexity and chaos. There’s a chaotic mix of individuals sharing thoughts with strangers because for this one night, everyone’s the party. There’s also complexity between friends (old and new) based on the experiences of the past. You might say it’s like a complex neural net with variable nodal points as opposed to static ones. Each experience and perception is different and unique but when shared with another, a stranger, they become connected to you as you are to them from that moment on. At some level a brief encounter with a stranger changes the course of your path, to greater and lesser degree, based on how much you agree with their perception.

Continue reading Complexity and Chaos →

I was thinking about writing about the mad cow controversy, but then I realized that there’s not really that much to talk about. The North American Beef Industry is *fucked*.
instead I started thinking about Christmas and family, and how bizarre my family is compared to the rest of the world. You see the strange thing in our family, the dirty, dark little secret that nobody wants to talk about, well spill the beans – there are none. There are no black sheep (well, beside me and one of my cousins – we’re crazy!). There is no drama, no controversy, no embarassing uncles, no children in jail, no freaks (but plenty of geeks). We’re having a family reunion next year and so far out of 70 people only three can’t make it because their kid is in a world diving competition. Everyone else *wants* to come. Strange, huh?
It’s hard for me to understand another’s perception who comes from a family that is messed up. This is my weakness and probably why I believe there is always hope for humanity. From my perspective everybody *can* get along, and have a fun time as well.
I took the holidays off from blogging to relax and enjoy the holidays, but I’m going to get right back into the swing of things – big changes are coming soon!

I had a very upsetting experience today. I was over at my buddies place shooting the shit, talking about games when his girlfriend and sister came home. After smoking a bit of pot, we were just getting into an amusing conversation when Erin, his sister, got up and headed for the stair well. At the third or fourth step she started collapsing. What probably happened over the course of 30 seconds felt like a lifetime as I watched somebody die right before my eyes. She started convulsing, not in a particularily violently way but more of an ending, the last throes of a mortal being. As her now ghastly white face came to rest on the step her eyes revealed her death, it was her eyes that went blank, it was her eyes that made us realize that this was something of deadly seriousness.
Panic.
We all knew that there was something terribly wrong so her brother called 911. As he was talking and we were trying to move her body to the floor I noticed her eyes move. Slowly she came back to us. It took some coaxing but eventually she was with us again. By this time it was too late to cancel the firetruck and ambulance, so the next hour was one of dazed confusion, emergency response men, oxygen tanks and a calmly talking paramedic. She went to the hospital and I watched the house… Eventually they came home and Erin was shaken, but fine.
The official report was fainting due to some alcohol, a little pot and maybe not enough to eat. I’ve seen people faint before but not like this. Fainting doesn’t explain how we all knew, how the first thing on our mind was calling 911 so that she could be resuscitated before it was too late. She may not have died, that’s a possibility, and as we didn’t taker her pulse we can’t ever truely know. As far as I’m concerned though she wasn’t and then she was, a true disaster turn miracle, and just in time for Christmas.

I think that we can safely say that our new robot overlords have a good sense of musical timing and choreography.