So I may be beating the proverbial dead horse with this one, but I've been wondering a lot why we are here on this earth. Well... Not so much wondering but more like relating. I mean if you think about it, with all the stars in the universe that are like ours (that is, ample size and brightness to sustain life), statistically speaking there are many planets like ours that are capable of sustaining life.
If you think about it, there are many chances that there is life on those planets. But what are the chances of civilizations of thinking, developing, and rational life? Out of all the species that have ever existed, Homo sapiens and their relatives are the only ones who have developed tools, grown, and established relationships and civilizations. We think and reason. We ask questions and learn.
We are the only thing we know of that contemplates the meaning of its own existence. The only living thing that will voluntarily break from its routine to ask itself why it does what it does. We re-evaluate ourselves and even move around to accommodate.
Out of the entire universe, is it possible that there are things that exist that ask themselves what their life is all about? That engage in discussions about the nature of the universe?
To clarify, I think my main question is why us? Why things that look like us? Why does it seem more than coincidental that beings that look like us have the powers of reason and thought. Why not things that look like dogs or cats or cows or lions? Why did they not ever develop the ability to reason? Surely if a lion could plan and think more than they already can, we would be done for. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me like there is very few reasons why it was our ancestors that caused us to be what we are today. Just seems like everything is following a plan. If what gives us these abilities is our mind (and existentially and espistemologically speaking, that is all we can deduce exists) then why cant our minds have existed in something else? Why is it this upright, two-legged thing can reason, think, and learn when something with better senses, four legs, and a big set of sharp teeth is stuck in a cage in a zoo?
It can't just be our thumbs...
I know WHY we are here, but I am consistently amazed with the sheer idea of it.
I know that we are here because of a plan much greater than we can fully understand.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Today...
This kind of stuff would probably be better on a twitter... but I don't want to do that to my dignity.
Today, I found out what Sweet & Low tastes like by itself because my philosophy professor dared me to.
(this was actually on the twelfth)
Today, I found out what Sweet & Low tastes like by itself because my philosophy professor dared me to.
(this was actually on the twelfth)
Friday, November 20, 2009
Today...
I want to start this thing where i try to post every day with at least something I thought about or saw...
Today, I saw a guy step in a puddle. As his foot went in, the water went about to his ankle, but he didn't break stride. As I walked away, I wondered if he thought, "Wow, that puddle was way deeper than I thought it was."
Today, I saw a guy step in a puddle. As his foot went in, the water went about to his ankle, but he didn't break stride. As I walked away, I wondered if he thought, "Wow, that puddle was way deeper than I thought it was."
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Transhumanist Movement
I'll cut to the chase...
The transhumanist movement makes me sick. Absolutely sick. Not only is it another group of over-educated stuck-up scientists with the most holier-than-thou attitude, but they are constantly striving to gain immortality on this Earth. I have a lot of issues with this.
1) Over population. If no one died, the population would skyrocket. Okay, say we said no more having kids. Well then the entire earth for all of eternity would be comprised of the same people always. Presidents, dictators, radicals, idiots, and the like would never die and we would all be stuck at the same age and not getting older. We would literally have the same neighbors with the same habits and going to the same job 5 days a week for the rest of eternity.
2) That's not what God has in store for us. Whether you believe or not, we are simply not here to live forever. It makes no logistical sense and for the religious perspective, it is ludicrous.
3) Say we gained the ultimate transhumanist dream and all became immortal. What next? Technology would continue forward while the human race does not. Now we can all be alive to see the machines take over. Transhumanists want to replace our bodies with machines. To upload our brains onto hard drives and them turn us into terminator machines.
"We would be transcending our physical limits" a transhumanist would say.
"not our mental ones," I would contest. "Additionally, we would be annihilating the very things which make us human."
"but we would be able to perceive things and gain memories."
"But we would be gaining the same memories over and over and logging them and sorting them like a computer. We would be gaining them through artificial eyes and storing them on hard drives. We might remember our names but what we 'see' in the mirror would be the same mass-produced body that everyone else has. we would kill the individual and all be clones. If our bodies and genes is what gives us our talents and differences, but are ultimately what kills us, I would rather have that," I would say.
These people just make me sick.
The transhumanist movement makes me sick. Absolutely sick. Not only is it another group of over-educated stuck-up scientists with the most holier-than-thou attitude, but they are constantly striving to gain immortality on this Earth. I have a lot of issues with this.
1) Over population. If no one died, the population would skyrocket. Okay, say we said no more having kids. Well then the entire earth for all of eternity would be comprised of the same people always. Presidents, dictators, radicals, idiots, and the like would never die and we would all be stuck at the same age and not getting older. We would literally have the same neighbors with the same habits and going to the same job 5 days a week for the rest of eternity.
2) That's not what God has in store for us. Whether you believe or not, we are simply not here to live forever. It makes no logistical sense and for the religious perspective, it is ludicrous.
3) Say we gained the ultimate transhumanist dream and all became immortal. What next? Technology would continue forward while the human race does not. Now we can all be alive to see the machines take over. Transhumanists want to replace our bodies with machines. To upload our brains onto hard drives and them turn us into terminator machines.
"We would be transcending our physical limits" a transhumanist would say.
"not our mental ones," I would contest. "Additionally, we would be annihilating the very things which make us human."
"but we would be able to perceive things and gain memories."
"But we would be gaining the same memories over and over and logging them and sorting them like a computer. We would be gaining them through artificial eyes and storing them on hard drives. We might remember our names but what we 'see' in the mirror would be the same mass-produced body that everyone else has. we would kill the individual and all be clones. If our bodies and genes is what gives us our talents and differences, but are ultimately what kills us, I would rather have that," I would say.
These people just make me sick.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Consideration
I think the default setting on cell phones should be vibrate.
My roommate since day one has been pissing me off with his cell phone. I don't whether he is lying to me or not but his stupid phone is a literal loudspeaker. Supposedly, his phone is on the quietest volume but I would have to yell over it for him to hear me. It's insane. And I don't like his stupid music to begin with, so why do I want to hear a 2 second clip of it every time he gets a text or a phone call? Why would I want to hear it at an ear-shattering for a solid 10 seconds at 9 in the morning? I wouldn't. I don't.
The best part is when he gets up to shower in the morning and leaves his phone on his bed. Then his stupid friends start texting him at 9:15 sharp and he's not there to shut his stupid phone off. I want to throw it across the room...
Point is, I think the default setting on phones should be vibrate and should be able to only be able to ring depending on their relative distance from their owner. For guys, we have our phones in our pockets. No reason to have them on ringer. For girls, phones might be in your purse so I can understand a ringer. If you have your cell phone in your purse on a loud subway train, you might need a louder ringer. So the ringer turns on and gets louder in direct proportion to the relative distance from the owner and ambient noise up to a certain point, like if said owner leaves the room.
Because we must also assume that we LIKE the music of the ringtone of the idiot who ALWAYS has to have his phone on. I think he should have to ask people standing around him whether this song is okay. If it's not, you can't play it.
It's just public courtesy.
OH and don't get me started on people standing in line on their cell phones.
My roommate since day one has been pissing me off with his cell phone. I don't whether he is lying to me or not but his stupid phone is a literal loudspeaker. Supposedly, his phone is on the quietest volume but I would have to yell over it for him to hear me. It's insane. And I don't like his stupid music to begin with, so why do I want to hear a 2 second clip of it every time he gets a text or a phone call? Why would I want to hear it at an ear-shattering for a solid 10 seconds at 9 in the morning? I wouldn't. I don't.
The best part is when he gets up to shower in the morning and leaves his phone on his bed. Then his stupid friends start texting him at 9:15 sharp and he's not there to shut his stupid phone off. I want to throw it across the room...
Point is, I think the default setting on phones should be vibrate and should be able to only be able to ring depending on their relative distance from their owner. For guys, we have our phones in our pockets. No reason to have them on ringer. For girls, phones might be in your purse so I can understand a ringer. If you have your cell phone in your purse on a loud subway train, you might need a louder ringer. So the ringer turns on and gets louder in direct proportion to the relative distance from the owner and ambient noise up to a certain point, like if said owner leaves the room.
Because we must also assume that we LIKE the music of the ringtone of the idiot who ALWAYS has to have his phone on. I think he should have to ask people standing around him whether this song is okay. If it's not, you can't play it.
It's just public courtesy.
OH and don't get me started on people standing in line on their cell phones.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
On a related note...
Niall Ferguson said something interesting on the Colbert Report this past January...
He explained to Steven that since money isn't backed up by gold anymore, it isn't physically worth anything. The only reason money has any value is because everyone accepts it and trusts that it has value. It's an IOU that is passed from person to person with no true value other than the cost of the cotton-paper it's on. I thought that was really interesting that a twenty-dollar bill is only worth twenty dollars because the person I am giving it to as well as myself agree and accept that it is indeed worth twenty arbitrary units of repayment.
Size, weight, and quantity are all arbitrary methods of measurement. There is no reason why an inch is as long as it is but because the United States accepts it as such, that's how long it is. If everyone tomorrow was to accept the inch as a little but shorter, that would unquestionably change our perception of the inch. Same with the pound, the gallon, etc.
This relates to Socrates' challenge of Euthyphro's seemingly arbitrary proposition of piety. I won't get into piety because that again brings in "faith" which is neither quantitative nor qualitative. But the point is that I think it's very interesting how all of these mathematical systems are virtually meaningless without the global acceptance of their standards. (The respect I have for Socrates comes from his methods rather than the conclusions he wants to suss out of people)
Thus, it would be possible to have a universal standard for beauty, righteousness, and all other things that are unable to be quantified if we were to all simply to accept a standard for these things. It's not that we can't, it's that we won't. We just all can't agree on standards for these things which is why everyone's opinion differs.
An inch is an inch because no one can come up with anything better, nor rally the support for a new measurement system. Beauty for one person isn't beauty for another for more psychological reasons of course but no one will agree. Righteousness can't be agreed on of course because people will always want to be able to do what we want in a society where the liberal media says that's okay. Nevertheless, people still follow the laws set forth by the Constitution and by states because that's what they are told to do, because it is universally accepted that these laws have meaning.
Righteousness, it could be argued, was founded in religious tenets that said that the Gods have put forth these laws and we should obey them because that is what the Gods would want. For the longest time people were totally cool with that. People now say that they shouldn't have to not do what they want just because a God tells them to. They cite religious rules as arbitrary and meaningless which is only so because they do not accept them. The same people follow secular laws (which again, are founded on mostly ancient religious laws) because they ACCEPT the governments rule which in essence is equally as arbitrary. All atheists can trace their lineage back to parents who were devout and pious. just thought I would point that out.
I think that's all I have for this.
He explained to Steven that since money isn't backed up by gold anymore, it isn't physically worth anything. The only reason money has any value is because everyone accepts it and trusts that it has value. It's an IOU that is passed from person to person with no true value other than the cost of the cotton-paper it's on. I thought that was really interesting that a twenty-dollar bill is only worth twenty dollars because the person I am giving it to as well as myself agree and accept that it is indeed worth twenty arbitrary units of repayment.
Size, weight, and quantity are all arbitrary methods of measurement. There is no reason why an inch is as long as it is but because the United States accepts it as such, that's how long it is. If everyone tomorrow was to accept the inch as a little but shorter, that would unquestionably change our perception of the inch. Same with the pound, the gallon, etc.
This relates to Socrates' challenge of Euthyphro's seemingly arbitrary proposition of piety. I won't get into piety because that again brings in "faith" which is neither quantitative nor qualitative. But the point is that I think it's very interesting how all of these mathematical systems are virtually meaningless without the global acceptance of their standards. (The respect I have for Socrates comes from his methods rather than the conclusions he wants to suss out of people)
Thus, it would be possible to have a universal standard for beauty, righteousness, and all other things that are unable to be quantified if we were to all simply to accept a standard for these things. It's not that we can't, it's that we won't. We just all can't agree on standards for these things which is why everyone's opinion differs.
An inch is an inch because no one can come up with anything better, nor rally the support for a new measurement system. Beauty for one person isn't beauty for another for more psychological reasons of course but no one will agree. Righteousness can't be agreed on of course because people will always want to be able to do what we want in a society where the liberal media says that's okay. Nevertheless, people still follow the laws set forth by the Constitution and by states because that's what they are told to do, because it is universally accepted that these laws have meaning.
Righteousness, it could be argued, was founded in religious tenets that said that the Gods have put forth these laws and we should obey them because that is what the Gods would want. For the longest time people were totally cool with that. People now say that they shouldn't have to not do what they want just because a God tells them to. They cite religious rules as arbitrary and meaningless which is only so because they do not accept them. The same people follow secular laws (which again, are founded on mostly ancient religious laws) because they ACCEPT the governments rule which in essence is equally as arbitrary. All atheists can trace their lineage back to parents who were devout and pious. just thought I would point that out.
I think that's all I have for this.
Sub-prime crisis
Watching a video by Niall Ferguson on the historical origins of the economic crisis...
Basically, a sub-prime loan is when mortgages are given to people with "patchy credit histories." These are also called NINJA loans. (NO INCOME NO JOB NO ASSETS) Essentially in 2002 Bush said everyone in America should own a home. This gave more than 5 million renting and non-home-owning minorities mortgages due to relaxed standards by credit agencies.
The agencies felt fine because of a convoluted system of securities that "ensured" the money would be there if the owner defaulted on the loan.
To sum up, they de-regulated the market and gave mortgages to people who couldn't pay because Bush said it was okay..
Most of these people were minorities in ghettos... With no jobs...
I'll say no more.
Basically, a sub-prime loan is when mortgages are given to people with "patchy credit histories." These are also called NINJA loans. (NO INCOME NO JOB NO ASSETS) Essentially in 2002 Bush said everyone in America should own a home. This gave more than 5 million renting and non-home-owning minorities mortgages due to relaxed standards by credit agencies.
The agencies felt fine because of a convoluted system of securities that "ensured" the money would be there if the owner defaulted on the loan.
To sum up, they de-regulated the market and gave mortgages to people who couldn't pay because Bush said it was okay..
Most of these people were minorities in ghettos... With no jobs...
I'll say no more.
A Day in the Life... (and a little bit of whining)
So my average day tends to go as follows:
My alarm cuts through the silence as I lie warmly in my bed. Disgusted, I roll over, fumbling for the device and quickly shutting it off. My average reaction time is about 5 seconds.
I return to a comfortable position and cold-start my brain. I commence a thousand calculations concerning my plans, classes, homework, and exactly how much time I have before I need to begin these things. I try to determine if I have even another 15 minutes of untapped sleeping time before I have to force myself to get up.
Whenever I manage it, I get up, grab my towel, and head to the showers. I brush my teeth while the old pipes fetch whatever is left of the warm water after the other 5 showers in the building have already had at it. This generally takes about 3 minutes.
After I shower, I sit around to dry off; I check my email, text my girlfriend, just about anything that comes to mind.
Donning my headphones, I grab my bag and head to the cafeteria. Once inside, I walk around trying to decide what my body can afford to consume since it's far too late in the day for their greasy breakfast. I sit by myself as always. As I eat, I watch people. I watch them talk, I watch them eat, I watch them study...
Creepy as it sounds, its fun to watch people. To see what they do, how they tick, how they interact. You learn a lot. Walking to class I'll see people absently passing me by, their tunnel vision fixed on their destination. The people here rise from their homes and come to their classes, taking off at dismissal to go back home or to work. The students walk briskly by on the way to their cars, classes, or dorms. There is little communication and other than ambient noise it seems like conversations are a rarity.
George Mason University has disappointed me. I was led to believe that college was a unifying experience where you get to see what it's like to be part of a larger community--a much larger network. I feel like I missed the memo where someone tells you that's not the case. Maybe it's just me and all of my friends going to other schools, but I haven't been part of a large group of friends since high school. What it seems to me is that everyone I know has one of those in college. I don't know... but I think it must be something about Mason. There aren't a lot of unifying factors with only about 28% of it's undergrad community living on campus, all of which are conveniently divided into literally 5 separate and autonomous living communities.
What I think is also contributing is going to be a little touchy.
Mason waves this massive banner over the university with a massive golden and embroidered "D" on the front. That, of course, is D for Diversity. George Mason doesn't hesitate to tell everyone it can that it is the most diverse university in the universe. You've got students here from every state and all over the world, which is great for something like the UN. But this poses a serious issue with building some sort of community. The colossal language, cultural, and identity barriers that diversity puts up alienates the entire student body. The ethnic clubs on campus further reinforce cultural identity, forming cliques and separating the interests of the students as a whole.
I realize it's important to find people you vibe with or whatever and it's certainly important to never forget or deny who you are... but I just think that with the sheer amount of differences we have with each other with our cultures and languages, it just seems like we're only defining the lines that form between us. I'm certainly not an expert on international relations or anthropology but there has to be some way to force things to get mixed up. I just simply don't see the students at Mason being able to come together because of something they all have in common.
I'm not saying anyone is better than anyone else or that anyone is discriminating or segregating, but I think that if you look at it psychologically and sociologically, people feel most comfortable in their own groups. With Mason already segregating students with its inordinate amount of commuter students compared to its on-campus students, there are so many lines drawn between us that we can all hardly call ourselves devout Patriots, much less a community. But I suppose I have to concede that it is in the same fashion we all call ourselves American. From a sociological standpoint, we don't draw these distinctions on purpose, it just kind of happens.
Okay, so maybe I pictured college to be this Athenian community of learning where people held seminars on the grassy lawns and students walked shoulder to shoulder having intelligent conversations and everyone stayed on campus to enjoy indie music and each other's company. Where people would go from dorm to dorm from open door to open door shaking hands and introducing themselves. A place where in 20 years you could meet someone from the same institution and be proud to have common ground.
Well George Mason is building new residence halls and parking decks over those grassy lawns.
Who knows maybe my thoughts and conclusions are unfounded based on an entirely limited scope of observation and maybe the limited enjoyment I'm getting is a direct result of what I'm putting into it. Maybe also colleges everywhere are like this. Maybe since we're not all forced to be in the same school in the same classes with the same people for four years and forced to go to pep rallies and have school spirit we are finally allowed to break the mold and be our own people, forming our own tight-knit group based on close associations of commonalities and values.
I also think it would help to be somewhere where 84% of the student body doesn't drive away every night.
more to come on this subject I think.
My alarm cuts through the silence as I lie warmly in my bed. Disgusted, I roll over, fumbling for the device and quickly shutting it off. My average reaction time is about 5 seconds.
I return to a comfortable position and cold-start my brain. I commence a thousand calculations concerning my plans, classes, homework, and exactly how much time I have before I need to begin these things. I try to determine if I have even another 15 minutes of untapped sleeping time before I have to force myself to get up.
Whenever I manage it, I get up, grab my towel, and head to the showers. I brush my teeth while the old pipes fetch whatever is left of the warm water after the other 5 showers in the building have already had at it. This generally takes about 3 minutes.
After I shower, I sit around to dry off; I check my email, text my girlfriend, just about anything that comes to mind.
Donning my headphones, I grab my bag and head to the cafeteria. Once inside, I walk around trying to decide what my body can afford to consume since it's far too late in the day for their greasy breakfast. I sit by myself as always. As I eat, I watch people. I watch them talk, I watch them eat, I watch them study...
Creepy as it sounds, its fun to watch people. To see what they do, how they tick, how they interact. You learn a lot. Walking to class I'll see people absently passing me by, their tunnel vision fixed on their destination. The people here rise from their homes and come to their classes, taking off at dismissal to go back home or to work. The students walk briskly by on the way to their cars, classes, or dorms. There is little communication and other than ambient noise it seems like conversations are a rarity.
George Mason University has disappointed me. I was led to believe that college was a unifying experience where you get to see what it's like to be part of a larger community--a much larger network. I feel like I missed the memo where someone tells you that's not the case. Maybe it's just me and all of my friends going to other schools, but I haven't been part of a large group of friends since high school. What it seems to me is that everyone I know has one of those in college. I don't know... but I think it must be something about Mason. There aren't a lot of unifying factors with only about 28% of it's undergrad community living on campus, all of which are conveniently divided into literally 5 separate and autonomous living communities.
What I think is also contributing is going to be a little touchy.
Mason waves this massive banner over the university with a massive golden and embroidered "D" on the front. That, of course, is D for Diversity. George Mason doesn't hesitate to tell everyone it can that it is the most diverse university in the universe. You've got students here from every state and all over the world, which is great for something like the UN. But this poses a serious issue with building some sort of community. The colossal language, cultural, and identity barriers that diversity puts up alienates the entire student body. The ethnic clubs on campus further reinforce cultural identity, forming cliques and separating the interests of the students as a whole.
I realize it's important to find people you vibe with or whatever and it's certainly important to never forget or deny who you are... but I just think that with the sheer amount of differences we have with each other with our cultures and languages, it just seems like we're only defining the lines that form between us. I'm certainly not an expert on international relations or anthropology but there has to be some way to force things to get mixed up. I just simply don't see the students at Mason being able to come together because of something they all have in common.
I'm not saying anyone is better than anyone else or that anyone is discriminating or segregating, but I think that if you look at it psychologically and sociologically, people feel most comfortable in their own groups. With Mason already segregating students with its inordinate amount of commuter students compared to its on-campus students, there are so many lines drawn between us that we can all hardly call ourselves devout Patriots, much less a community. But I suppose I have to concede that it is in the same fashion we all call ourselves American. From a sociological standpoint, we don't draw these distinctions on purpose, it just kind of happens.
Okay, so maybe I pictured college to be this Athenian community of learning where people held seminars on the grassy lawns and students walked shoulder to shoulder having intelligent conversations and everyone stayed on campus to enjoy indie music and each other's company. Where people would go from dorm to dorm from open door to open door shaking hands and introducing themselves. A place where in 20 years you could meet someone from the same institution and be proud to have common ground.
Well George Mason is building new residence halls and parking decks over those grassy lawns.
Who knows maybe my thoughts and conclusions are unfounded based on an entirely limited scope of observation and maybe the limited enjoyment I'm getting is a direct result of what I'm putting into it. Maybe also colleges everywhere are like this. Maybe since we're not all forced to be in the same school in the same classes with the same people for four years and forced to go to pep rallies and have school spirit we are finally allowed to break the mold and be our own people, forming our own tight-knit group based on close associations of commonalities and values.
I also think it would help to be somewhere where 84% of the student body doesn't drive away every night.
more to come on this subject I think.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Life Starts Now for Three Days Grace
Post-grunge was society’s way of dealing with all of the raw angst that grunge didn’t have the chance to deal with... because it died. Three Days Grace’s self-titled 2003 debut was hailed as flawless by critics, celebrated by moshing metal-heads, and adored by middle-schoolers with a little too much hatred for their parents. To be fair, Three Days Grace was consistent from track to track with emotional, relatable lyrics and tight guitar-work. With emo anthems like “Just Like You” and “I Hate Everything About You,” how can you go wrong?
Three Days Grace’s sophomore effort, One-X was a solid follow-up according to the reviews and displayed a polished sound that was just as angry and powerful as before with such headbangers as “Riot” and “Animal I Have Become.” Three Days Grace experimented on this album with lower tempos and more variety in the dynamics, something they had done particularly well.
Unfortunately, with their follow up Life Starts Now, Three Days Grace’s critics aren’t as forgiving when they saw that the band has a serious case of the Linkin Park. You know, those bands who gained popularity with the tween crowds in the early 2000s who can’t seem to write a single happy song.
The first track on Life Starts Now, “Bitter Taste,” has traditional Three Days Grace style with its strong chorus and overall anger; makes one wonder when lead singer Adam Gontier is going to find someone who doesn’t hurt his fragile heart. Songs like “Goin Down”, “World So Cold”, and “Life Starts Now” are really just space-fillers that don’t seem to contribute much of anything. It’s not hard to predict what their subject nature are—heartbreak and anger.
The first single, “Break” is your classic Three Days Grace which would just be a song about advocating angsty preteen rebellion. The first half of the song is fine but the line “At night I feel like a vampire” made the rest of the song unlistenable on principle.
Songs like “Lost in You”, “The Good Life”, and “No More” are musical contradictions whose lyrics don’t really match up with the songs too well with the latter leaving the audience wonder just how much pain one can actually write about.
“Last to Know” is the album’s magnum opus with a lovely piano intro leading slowly into an electric interlude. Here, Gontier shows his true voice and ability with some lovely falsetto moments.
Overall the album was good and what is expected from Three Days Grace, but it still leaves one to start to wonder how long Adam Gontier can hate life for. Who is his audience? Those stuck in permanent angst? When Three Days Grace mature in content? But then again, I guess if you cant vocalize your frustration in music, where can you do it?
Can't think of a good pun for Life starts now. Maybe... wow now that this review is done, Life starts now. Lame.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Race to Witch Mountain
You may be asking yourself "Why, Dylan? Why?"
Well I came back to my Dad's house this weekend and I catch him and his girlfriend watching it because for some reason, they rented it. I'm not going to review the whole movie, just say some of the thoughts I had.
First, it's the story about two aliens who crash land on earth that look surprisingly like Hitler's Youth and talk with painfully proper English. You know, the kind that we would WANT our kids to learn and speak. Anyway, they land in Vegas since all aliens crash land in the mid-west and get in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's cab. Long story short, they have to get back to their ship at Witch Mountain and get home.
So some stereotypes:
1. Aliens can assume the forms of humans (if they aren't already appearing as such).
2. Aliens have way more advanced technology and intelligence (since they have not only mastered long-distance space-travel but also know how to utilize their brains so they can do nutty stuff like telekinesis).
3. The government when faced with a flux of aliens no matter how large or small will do anything in it's power and seemingly unlimited resources to track, hunt, capture, and slice open the aliens from orifice to orifice to see what kind of green goo oozes from their bellies.
4. The government has unlimited resources and infinite nameless soldiers and guys in white lab coats.
5. Mankind is always in jeopardy and it takes not the cooperative effort of every human on the planet, but the reckless persistence of one seemingly ordinary and preposterously buff super-action hero.
Suffice it to say, I felt like I was watching the same Disney alien movie that had been packaged in different wrapping. I'm just tired of these alien movies that depict the government as a crazy black-suit organization that wants to cut up whatever it can find. I would think that the good doctor with a scalpel standind over the sedated alien (who I assume has a PhD in something related to space, aliens, or medicine) would think to himself, "Why don't we save the cutting for after we ask the aliens how to travel long distances in space and use telekinesis?"
I like to think that Obama would not only sit down to have a rational talk with the aliens, but offer them jobs and healthcare as well.
Well I came back to my Dad's house this weekend and I catch him and his girlfriend watching it because for some reason, they rented it. I'm not going to review the whole movie, just say some of the thoughts I had.
First, it's the story about two aliens who crash land on earth that look surprisingly like Hitler's Youth and talk with painfully proper English. You know, the kind that we would WANT our kids to learn and speak. Anyway, they land in Vegas since all aliens crash land in the mid-west and get in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's cab. Long story short, they have to get back to their ship at Witch Mountain and get home.
So some stereotypes:
1. Aliens can assume the forms of humans (if they aren't already appearing as such).
2. Aliens have way more advanced technology and intelligence (since they have not only mastered long-distance space-travel but also know how to utilize their brains so they can do nutty stuff like telekinesis).
3. The government when faced with a flux of aliens no matter how large or small will do anything in it's power and seemingly unlimited resources to track, hunt, capture, and slice open the aliens from orifice to orifice to see what kind of green goo oozes from their bellies.
4. The government has unlimited resources and infinite nameless soldiers and guys in white lab coats.
5. Mankind is always in jeopardy and it takes not the cooperative effort of every human on the planet, but the reckless persistence of one seemingly ordinary and preposterously buff super-action hero.
Suffice it to say, I felt like I was watching the same Disney alien movie that had been packaged in different wrapping. I'm just tired of these alien movies that depict the government as a crazy black-suit organization that wants to cut up whatever it can find. I would think that the good doctor with a scalpel standind over the sedated alien (who I assume has a PhD in something related to space, aliens, or medicine) would think to himself, "Why don't we save the cutting for after we ask the aliens how to travel long distances in space and use telekinesis?"
I like to think that Obama would not only sit down to have a rational talk with the aliens, but offer them jobs and healthcare as well.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Group thought
Working together without being together involves everyone having a full and correct understanding of the situation.
In a recent experiment I partook in, we were randomly and anonymously assigned groups and were instructed to be working towards a common goal. What I assumed would happen is... well what happened. People got greedy and lost sight of reason and ended up short-changing the rest of us quite literally.
If everyone knew the intricacies of the instructions and knew how to maximize their part of the experiment without messing up the rest of us, things would have turned out a lot better. Since we couldn't communicate, it was impossible and all I could do is hope they came around.
Point is, I think this applies to the world in a lot of ways. There are common goals out there that people of different locations share, and I think the reason a lot of things don't get done very quickly, very efficiently, or at all is because people don't understand what's going on completely.
It just seems hopeless when people don't communicate about the problems they're experiencing and we run circles instead of getting things done.
This came out a lot more vague than I thought lol.
Still pending: G.I. Joe review, Paramore, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin reviews. I can probably do those three this weekend. We'll see.
In a recent experiment I partook in, we were randomly and anonymously assigned groups and were instructed to be working towards a common goal. What I assumed would happen is... well what happened. People got greedy and lost sight of reason and ended up short-changing the rest of us quite literally.
If everyone knew the intricacies of the instructions and knew how to maximize their part of the experiment without messing up the rest of us, things would have turned out a lot better. Since we couldn't communicate, it was impossible and all I could do is hope they came around.
Point is, I think this applies to the world in a lot of ways. There are common goals out there that people of different locations share, and I think the reason a lot of things don't get done very quickly, very efficiently, or at all is because people don't understand what's going on completely.
It just seems hopeless when people don't communicate about the problems they're experiencing and we run circles instead of getting things done.
This came out a lot more vague than I thought lol.
Still pending: G.I. Joe review, Paramore, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin reviews. I can probably do those three this weekend. We'll see.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sophomore Year semester 1
This semester is ridiculous. Taking an online english class was an awful idea, really. The classes in general kind of suck.
Anyway, point of this is to predict my midterm and final grades for this semester. I was pretty bleak last semester but I ended up with straight A's...
and these are conservative estimates based on grades thus far...
Midterm
Spanish 105- B
Comm 203- B-
Bio 103- B-
Phil 302- A
Eng 302- C
Final
Spanish 105- B+
Comm 203- B-
Bio 103- B-
Phil 302- A-
Engl 302- C (if I'm lucky)
Let's see! It will be like a fun game or something!
Anyway, point of this is to predict my midterm and final grades for this semester. I was pretty bleak last semester but I ended up with straight A's...
and these are conservative estimates based on grades thus far...
Midterm
Spanish 105- B
Comm 203- B-
Bio 103- B-
Phil 302- A
Eng 302- C
Final
Spanish 105- B+
Comm 203- B-
Bio 103- B-
Phil 302- A-
Engl 302- C (if I'm lucky)
Let's see! It will be like a fun game or something!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sci-Fi Crimes
Been in the room all day so I haven't really experienced much of the outside world and this philosophy essay sucks so I have nothing to contribute today.
So ill give you something ive already written: my review of Chevelle's new Sci-Fi Crimes cd. It was fine.
At the end of the 90s came a fun little music genre called post-grunge and emerging out of that juncture has been some of 2000’s most popular bands of the 21st century. In 2002 we all remember shamelessly rocking out to Chevelle’s “Send the Pain Below” and “the Red” off of their better-known second album “Wonder What’s Next.” Since then, Chevelle has all but dropped off of the radar for most of the causal mainstream listeners.
“Sci-Fi Crimes,” the Illinois trio’s fifth studio album has been met with a wave of endearing reviews from all wakes. The reviews hail this album as the greatest one to date and hopefully the end of their gradual decline into obscurity as the record sales has been showing.
All-in-all, “Sci-Fi Crimes” is a great album. It is a fantastic show case of the bands thick and rhythmic sound, the band’s mastery at catchy choruses, and lead singer Pete Loeffler’s soaring vocals. Personally, from the opening track, “Sleep Apnea,” I could immediately sense what wasn’t a new sound from Chevelle, but a definite mood change due to a less morose lyrical style. The bass and riff-heavy opener reminded me exactly of what I love about this band—a no-holds-barred approach to awesome music.
I have to qualify my use of the word “fantastic” by saying that “Sci-Fi Crimes” is not Chevelle’s best, nor is it what will bring the band back to the mainstream. It’s not bad but it’s not what the critics are making it out to be. Other than a few stunning tracks like the all-acoustic “Highland’s Aspiration” and the aerial “Shameful Metaphors,” the album is littered by cautious tracks like “This Circus” and “Mexican Sun.”
Even their current single, “Jars” which has peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 is definitely not my choice for their first single. Don’t get me wrong, the single is great and I recommend it for new listeners and people trying to give their friends a good idea of what Chevelle sounds like. With a great hook in the chorus and a pertinent message for the time about going green (Put into jars/We'll save this Earth), it is a great candidate for the single and it has apparently done well. Simply said, it isn’t the most significant or best song.
I would say more about the lyrics but Loeffler’s abundant use of non-sequiturs entirely over-saturates the entire album with topics that range from going green to alien abductions and the guy who stole Chevelle’s stuff in 2007. To say the lyrics are hard to understand would be an understatement.
“Sci-Fi Crimes” neither adds greatness nor shows weakness in Chevelle’s ability as performers. Unlike a lot of album’s I’ve heard lately, this album isn’t a futile attempt at re-inventing their sound to keep listeners interested—it’s merely a sticking to a working formula that doesn’t make this feel like an album full of B-sides. It’s really good. Go buy it.
So ill give you something ive already written: my review of Chevelle's new Sci-Fi Crimes cd. It was fine.
At the end of the 90s came a fun little music genre called post-grunge and emerging out of that juncture has been some of 2000’s most popular bands of the 21st century. In 2002 we all remember shamelessly rocking out to Chevelle’s “Send the Pain Below” and “the Red” off of their better-known second album “Wonder What’s Next.” Since then, Chevelle has all but dropped off of the radar for most of the causal mainstream listeners.
“Sci-Fi Crimes,” the Illinois trio’s fifth studio album has been met with a wave of endearing reviews from all wakes. The reviews hail this album as the greatest one to date and hopefully the end of their gradual decline into obscurity as the record sales has been showing.
All-in-all, “Sci-Fi Crimes” is a great album. It is a fantastic show case of the bands thick and rhythmic sound, the band’s mastery at catchy choruses, and lead singer Pete Loeffler’s soaring vocals. Personally, from the opening track, “Sleep Apnea,” I could immediately sense what wasn’t a new sound from Chevelle, but a definite mood change due to a less morose lyrical style. The bass and riff-heavy opener reminded me exactly of what I love about this band—a no-holds-barred approach to awesome music.
I have to qualify my use of the word “fantastic” by saying that “Sci-Fi Crimes” is not Chevelle’s best, nor is it what will bring the band back to the mainstream. It’s not bad but it’s not what the critics are making it out to be. Other than a few stunning tracks like the all-acoustic “Highland’s Aspiration” and the aerial “Shameful Metaphors,” the album is littered by cautious tracks like “This Circus” and “Mexican Sun.”
Even their current single, “Jars” which has peaked at number six on the Billboard 200 is definitely not my choice for their first single. Don’t get me wrong, the single is great and I recommend it for new listeners and people trying to give their friends a good idea of what Chevelle sounds like. With a great hook in the chorus and a pertinent message for the time about going green (Put into jars/We'll save this Earth), it is a great candidate for the single and it has apparently done well. Simply said, it isn’t the most significant or best song.
I would say more about the lyrics but Loeffler’s abundant use of non-sequiturs entirely over-saturates the entire album with topics that range from going green to alien abductions and the guy who stole Chevelle’s stuff in 2007. To say the lyrics are hard to understand would be an understatement.
“Sci-Fi Crimes” neither adds greatness nor shows weakness in Chevelle’s ability as performers. Unlike a lot of album’s I’ve heard lately, this album isn’t a futile attempt at re-inventing their sound to keep listeners interested—it’s merely a sticking to a working formula that doesn’t make this feel like an album full of B-sides. It’s really good. Go buy it.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Philosophically speaking...
My professor said something interesting in class yesterday... we're talking about the Eleatic philosophers and their conception of the universe. My brain died midway through Parmenides' discussion of "what is" is bound by something... but I'm reading over Melissus (meh-lee-sus) and what he says makes a lot of sense.
"Whatever was, always was, and always will be. For if it came to be, it is necessary that before it came to be it was nothing. now if it was nothing, in no way could anything come to be out of nothing. Now since it did not come to be, it is and always was and always will be, and does not have a beginning or an end, but is unlimited."
Basically, the source of everything (chaos, apeiron, arche, etc.) is unlimited because if there was ever a time where it did not exist, nothing could conceivably come out of it since it itself could not come out of nothing.
Whether you believe that "what is" is God (I do) or just the universe, it is interesting to point out that quantum physicists and astronomers are writing, "yeah we've just discovered in the last 20 years that the universe is potentially limitless" when Greek philosophers 2600 years ago already knew it.
Think about that.
"Whatever was, always was, and always will be. For if it came to be, it is necessary that before it came to be it was nothing. now if it was nothing, in no way could anything come to be out of nothing. Now since it did not come to be, it is and always was and always will be, and does not have a beginning or an end, but is unlimited."
Basically, the source of everything (chaos, apeiron, arche, etc.) is unlimited because if there was ever a time where it did not exist, nothing could conceivably come out of it since it itself could not come out of nothing.
Whether you believe that "what is" is God (I do) or just the universe, it is interesting to point out that quantum physicists and astronomers are writing, "yeah we've just discovered in the last 20 years that the universe is potentially limitless" when Greek philosophers 2600 years ago already knew it.
Think about that.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
This week has been... Rough.
Rough to say the least. I've got a journalism story to do interviews for, a bogus english paper that needs researching, and a philosophy paper of whose content I don't even understand. On top of that, I had a bio exam I think I bombed and a massive spanish exam that our teacher is sure we won't even finish. This is fantastic.
I have nothing profound to say that won't take up my valuable homework time so I'll start you off easy with the last article of mine to be published. The editor went to town with it so if it sounds a little choppy, you know why.
Food Dude Entertains Mason
Abstract: Basically this guy came to our school to talk about what kinds of foods we should eat. He was entertaining. I'll post some more articles or past blogs later.
Until tomorrow...
Oh also, if you would like to know what I'm doing in philosophy and are otherwise thrilled to learn about ancient philosophy from the early 6th century, you can go here because wikipedia is the collection of all knowledge and will likely get me through... well, life.
I have nothing profound to say that won't take up my valuable homework time so I'll start you off easy with the last article of mine to be published. The editor went to town with it so if it sounds a little choppy, you know why.
Food Dude Entertains Mason
Abstract: Basically this guy came to our school to talk about what kinds of foods we should eat. He was entertaining. I'll post some more articles or past blogs later.
Until tomorrow...
Oh also, if you would like to know what I'm doing in philosophy and are otherwise thrilled to learn about ancient philosophy from the early 6th century, you can go here because wikipedia is the collection of all knowledge and will likely get me through... well, life.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Breaking ground;
So I literally have been trying to get myself to start one of these for what seems like ages. I'll use this to post reviews that the Broadside doesn't want to publish or reviews that they actually happen to give in and accept. Or just things that I see, have seen, or a general compilation/anthology of things that I have already written. So you, dear reader, can consider yourself fortunate not to have to scourge the internet for quality reading when you kind find it here, on my... blog.
Thesis on the word blog and the nature of them in contemporary society--
The word blog is what you get when you cut the head off of the word "weblog." It has taken on a negative connotation for your liberal media junkies who can't get their writing published on their own merits--a la, me. But for anyone who knows me I'm not a liberal trying to stick it to the man who has been keeping me down all these years. I'm just lazy and busy with my Philosophy 302 essay on Anaximander's initial "discovery of the universe" in the mid 6th century B.C. Then that guy Heraclitus had to come and disprove it a hundred years later. What a jerk. Alas, I digress. Hopefully this will be something people like to read. If not, well its therapeutic. I order everyone to make one... now.
"So Dylan... you start by discussing the meaning of blogs and how society sees them... and you stop. Please continue."
No.
So I literally have been trying to get myself to start one of these for what seems like ages. I'll use this to post reviews that the Broadside doesn't want to publish or reviews that they actually happen to give in and accept. Or just things that I see, have seen, or a general compilation/anthology of things that I have already written. So you, dear reader, can consider yourself fortunate not to have to scourge the internet for quality reading when you kind find it here, on my... blog.
Thesis on the word blog and the nature of them in contemporary society--
The word blog is what you get when you cut the head off of the word "weblog." It has taken on a negative connotation for your liberal media junkies who can't get their writing published on their own merits--a la, me. But for anyone who knows me I'm not a liberal trying to stick it to the man who has been keeping me down all these years. I'm just lazy and busy with my Philosophy 302 essay on Anaximander's initial "discovery of the universe" in the mid 6th century B.C. Then that guy Heraclitus had to come and disprove it a hundred years later. What a jerk. Alas, I digress. Hopefully this will be something people like to read. If not, well its therapeutic. I order everyone to make one... now.
"So Dylan... you start by discussing the meaning of blogs and how society sees them... and you stop. Please continue."
No.
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