Holy crap!
The Ayn Rand Dating Service
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Since I am going on on the topic of dreams, I will note that last night, the night of January 16, I had my recurring nightmare about my teeth falling out. (In short; I feel that my teeth are loose in my gums... they begin falling out one by one, to my horror. I try to put them back in or keep them from falling out, to no avail.) Except this time, I was aware that I was having a recurring dream, so I pinched myself.. in the dream. Having not "waken up" (in the dream), I was then thoroughly convinced that it was real. I also was confused, since I'd seen the dentist recently and was quite sure my teeth hadn't been that bad, and felt remorse for not having better followed his advice. I also thought he'd be quite pissed when I went to him to have my teeth put back in. This is when I woke up.
("Brush more often or your gums will recede," says my Dentist. Note that I've been having this dream since before I saw the dentist. Whether this means my gums have been trying to tell me something, or I subconsciously processed concerns I had over whether I was brushing enough, none can say. For example, if you dream about having cancer, does that mean you have cancer, or that you're worried about it?)
I have had this dream at least three times before, though I Don't Remember When.
I record this dream for the purpose of proving that it is indeed a recurring dream. Should I have it again, I will record it again. That way instead of saying "I Remember I've Had It Before But Don't Remember When," when at parties I brag about how prescient or creepy my dreams are, I shall have it explicitly on record.
*(like those retarded feelings of deja-vu where you aren't sure whether you're actually repeating an experience, or are just being mindfucked)
("Brush more often or your gums will recede," says my Dentist. Note that I've been having this dream since before I saw the dentist. Whether this means my gums have been trying to tell me something, or I subconsciously processed concerns I had over whether I was brushing enough, none can say. For example, if you dream about having cancer, does that mean you have cancer, or that you're worried about it?)
I have had this dream at least three times before, though I Don't Remember When.
I record this dream for the purpose of proving that it is indeed a recurring dream. Should I have it again, I will record it again. That way instead of saying "I Remember I've Had It Before But Don't Remember When," when at parties I brag about how prescient or creepy my dreams are, I shall have it explicitly on record.
*(like those retarded feelings of deja-vu where you aren't sure whether you're actually repeating an experience, or are just being mindfucked)
Needing pscyhological analysis
Is it normal to have nightmares when you're awake? Because I just did, and I don't smoke pot.
When I was eight, I was sick once, and had a variety of fevered nightmares. What distinguished them from other nightmares is a) their intensity, b) that the fear was not a fear of the situation dreamt about, but a completely irrational fear, and c) that the feeling induced did not fade after waking.
My dad tried to reassure me then saying, "Yes, when I was little and had a fever, I dreamt about angry people chasing me."
However... my fever dreams were different from my dad's sort of dream (I will explain shortly).
Tonight, I had one again, but I a) don't have a fever, b) I'm an adult, c) I was awake d) I was fully aware of what was going on. That's what worries me
I am going to, to the best of my abilities, describe my dreams, so that I can correctly be diagnosed.
When I was 8 with the fever:
The dream: For some reason, I am picking up sticks which are scattered about the floor in my parents' bedroom. As I pick them up, there are progressively more and more sticks on the ground, that appear faster and faster, faster than I can pick them up. I begin to panic because I can't pick up the sticks fast enough, I try to pick them up faster, but the sticks begin spinning around me, faster and faster, soon I am surrounded by a hurricane of sticks that goes faster and faster, and I can't pick them up, and they're spinning around me and I can't pick them up.
(This is what I mean by "the fear is not a fear of the situation dreamt about, but an irrational fear." Because seriously... picking up sticks?? Oh, terrifying!!!)
Second dream: I go into the bathroom. There is a robot there, vaguely resembling a person. Now normally, I like robots, they're pretty cool. But in this case, the sight of the robot filled me with terror. It begins spinning or something, its body, its parts, all whirling, moving, rotating at higher and higher speeds, and this whole time it was just staring at me, and I'd never been more terrified in my life.
Third dream: I am on the stairs in my house. My aunt, who I normally adore, is there as a disembodied staring head. She is talking to me, just chatting, but the words take on a sinister rhythmic chanting, and she chants faster and faster and faster and the words make no sense, and I am with her, helpless and paralyzed.
Not a dream: I wake up, screaming to my parents about these nightmares. They comfort me, listening attentively, expecting to hear all the usual childrens' nightmares of monsters and bogeymen. I try to explain it to them but they don't really understand what's so scary about a bunch of sticks, a robot, and my aunt. I'm eight, so the only thing I can get across is, "Going very fast, can't stop, can't stop." My parents notice that my heart is beating dangerously fast, so they try to get me to calm down. I do, but over the next two days, I can't stand to be alone, or that pounding, racing fear comes back to me for absolutely no reason. My parents say, "Oh, your heart was beating very fast, that must be causing all those dreams about things quickening. So you should keep your heart rate down."
The same day, I'm playing the piano, you know, the scales, something simple to relax my mind. As I play, my fingers begin going faster and faster, and I begin to panic because the faster I go, the more I mess up the notes, and something compels me to play faster and faster and faster but my fingers can't keep up, and it's just like the dream, but with no sticks, and I start to panic and my heart hammers. I realize this though, and what my parents told me about keeping my heart rate down. Unlike the dream, I am awake, and I am in control. I count to ten slowly, in calm, measured intervals. I force my fingers to play the scales slowly and deliberately, at a controlled rate, and soon, my heart rate falls, and I'm calm again. My parents have no idea that anything is wrong.
I'm hesitant about going to bed again that night, but I hold in my head visions of butterflies frolicking in a meadow as the sun sets. I count to ten calmly. I have no nightmares of the sort that night, or for the next twelve years.
Tonight: I lying in bed. I close my eyes, trying to fall asleep. Suddenly, that feeling of quickening panic draws over me (no sticks, robots, aunts, pianos, or any scene, just the feeling) and I open my eyes immediately, recognizing it at once. I'm puzzled. I haven't experienced this type of panic since childhood, I don't have a fever, and unlike that time, I didn't have a nightmare to accompany it, just the sensation. I brush it off and try to go to bed again- I'm not a frightened eight year old, there are no stick hurricanes and spinning robots for God's sake. Again, it happens, but my mind pulls away, the mental equivalent of flares and warning signs and a hand on a hot stove. My eyes snap open. After I cease to be frightened, I'm a bit annoyed at myself. Seriously, what is it that's causing that effect? This time, I'm going to close my eyes and keep them closed, even if I begin panicking, even if the panic rises, because I'm a goddamned grown-up, I can deal with it, and I want to know what's going on, and I can't know what's going on if I don't ride it out. I close my eyes, drifting towards sleep, but with part of my mind awake and observant. I am beginning to sleep, my sensations, my consciousness fading into oblivion. This is usually a pleasant sensation, but this time, it's different - I feel the sensory darkness creeping over my limbs, I feel acutely aware of my unseeing eyes staring into the vast unshaped chaos that is sleep, and I'm frightened, and fighting it, fighting for wakefulness, and there I am again, awake. WTF, goes my brain.. I sleep 365 days of the year, why is it different today? I try to sleep again, willfully ignoring the Unshaped Oblivion, forbidding myself from conceptualizing it as separate entity. This works for a little while, but the more you think about not thinking about it, the more you think about it. A chanting rushes through my head, but a soundless chanting without words, rhythmic, all-consuming (I can hardly think about anything else). It's not really a sound, though it can only be described as such, in the same way that pain is not really fire, love is not really warmth, knowledge is not really light, and death is not really darkness- these are things so far beyond their linguistic and sensory metaphors as to be impossible to truly describe. It's the "sound" of my heart beating, my brain pulsing, the blood surging through my veins, the sound of sheer chaos and terror and oblivion and wildness without end, this all-consuming roar that goes faster and faster and faster... by now I am quite awake. And it will not stop. I put my hand to my chest, but don't feel any difference in heart rate. If it is not my heart that is the physiological cause of this panic, what is it?
I have had my share of nightmares, but the fear in those comes from something. For example, last night I dreamed I was being chased by a demonic T-Rex. I was frightened of the T-Rex of course, but when I woke up I realized I wasn't being chased by a T-Rex in reality, and was immediately unafraid. Obviously, it was the T-Rex causing the fear. But this? There is no T-Rex, or any other monster.. it is almost as if it is the fear that is causing the fear.
Tell me what I fear, so that I may be unafraid.
Is it normal to have nightmares when you're awake? Because I just did, and I don't smoke pot.
When I was eight, I was sick once, and had a variety of fevered nightmares. What distinguished them from other nightmares is a) their intensity, b) that the fear was not a fear of the situation dreamt about, but a completely irrational fear, and c) that the feeling induced did not fade after waking.
My dad tried to reassure me then saying, "Yes, when I was little and had a fever, I dreamt about angry people chasing me."
However... my fever dreams were different from my dad's sort of dream (I will explain shortly).
Tonight, I had one again, but I a) don't have a fever, b) I'm an adult, c) I was awake d) I was fully aware of what was going on. That's what worries me
I am going to, to the best of my abilities, describe my dreams, so that I can correctly be diagnosed.
When I was 8 with the fever:
The dream: For some reason, I am picking up sticks which are scattered about the floor in my parents' bedroom. As I pick them up, there are progressively more and more sticks on the ground, that appear faster and faster, faster than I can pick them up. I begin to panic because I can't pick up the sticks fast enough, I try to pick them up faster, but the sticks begin spinning around me, faster and faster, soon I am surrounded by a hurricane of sticks that goes faster and faster, and I can't pick them up, and they're spinning around me and I can't pick them up.
(This is what I mean by "the fear is not a fear of the situation dreamt about, but an irrational fear." Because seriously... picking up sticks?? Oh, terrifying!!!)
Second dream: I go into the bathroom. There is a robot there, vaguely resembling a person. Now normally, I like robots, they're pretty cool. But in this case, the sight of the robot filled me with terror. It begins spinning or something, its body, its parts, all whirling, moving, rotating at higher and higher speeds, and this whole time it was just staring at me, and I'd never been more terrified in my life.
Third dream: I am on the stairs in my house. My aunt, who I normally adore, is there as a disembodied staring head. She is talking to me, just chatting, but the words take on a sinister rhythmic chanting, and she chants faster and faster and faster and the words make no sense, and I am with her, helpless and paralyzed.
Not a dream: I wake up, screaming to my parents about these nightmares. They comfort me, listening attentively, expecting to hear all the usual childrens' nightmares of monsters and bogeymen. I try to explain it to them but they don't really understand what's so scary about a bunch of sticks, a robot, and my aunt. I'm eight, so the only thing I can get across is, "Going very fast, can't stop, can't stop." My parents notice that my heart is beating dangerously fast, so they try to get me to calm down. I do, but over the next two days, I can't stand to be alone, or that pounding, racing fear comes back to me for absolutely no reason. My parents say, "Oh, your heart was beating very fast, that must be causing all those dreams about things quickening. So you should keep your heart rate down."
The same day, I'm playing the piano, you know, the scales, something simple to relax my mind. As I play, my fingers begin going faster and faster, and I begin to panic because the faster I go, the more I mess up the notes, and something compels me to play faster and faster and faster but my fingers can't keep up, and it's just like the dream, but with no sticks, and I start to panic and my heart hammers. I realize this though, and what my parents told me about keeping my heart rate down. Unlike the dream, I am awake, and I am in control. I count to ten slowly, in calm, measured intervals. I force my fingers to play the scales slowly and deliberately, at a controlled rate, and soon, my heart rate falls, and I'm calm again. My parents have no idea that anything is wrong.
I'm hesitant about going to bed again that night, but I hold in my head visions of butterflies frolicking in a meadow as the sun sets. I count to ten calmly. I have no nightmares of the sort that night, or for the next twelve years.
Tonight: I lying in bed. I close my eyes, trying to fall asleep. Suddenly, that feeling of quickening panic draws over me (no sticks, robots, aunts, pianos, or any scene, just the feeling) and I open my eyes immediately, recognizing it at once. I'm puzzled. I haven't experienced this type of panic since childhood, I don't have a fever, and unlike that time, I didn't have a nightmare to accompany it, just the sensation. I brush it off and try to go to bed again- I'm not a frightened eight year old, there are no stick hurricanes and spinning robots for God's sake. Again, it happens, but my mind pulls away, the mental equivalent of flares and warning signs and a hand on a hot stove. My eyes snap open. After I cease to be frightened, I'm a bit annoyed at myself. Seriously, what is it that's causing that effect? This time, I'm going to close my eyes and keep them closed, even if I begin panicking, even if the panic rises, because I'm a goddamned grown-up, I can deal with it, and I want to know what's going on, and I can't know what's going on if I don't ride it out. I close my eyes, drifting towards sleep, but with part of my mind awake and observant. I am beginning to sleep, my sensations, my consciousness fading into oblivion. This is usually a pleasant sensation, but this time, it's different - I feel the sensory darkness creeping over my limbs, I feel acutely aware of my unseeing eyes staring into the vast unshaped chaos that is sleep, and I'm frightened, and fighting it, fighting for wakefulness, and there I am again, awake. WTF, goes my brain.. I sleep 365 days of the year, why is it different today? I try to sleep again, willfully ignoring the Unshaped Oblivion, forbidding myself from conceptualizing it as separate entity. This works for a little while, but the more you think about not thinking about it, the more you think about it. A chanting rushes through my head, but a soundless chanting without words, rhythmic, all-consuming (I can hardly think about anything else). It's not really a sound, though it can only be described as such, in the same way that pain is not really fire, love is not really warmth, knowledge is not really light, and death is not really darkness- these are things so far beyond their linguistic and sensory metaphors as to be impossible to truly describe. It's the "sound" of my heart beating, my brain pulsing, the blood surging through my veins, the sound of sheer chaos and terror and oblivion and wildness without end, this all-consuming roar that goes faster and faster and faster... by now I am quite awake. And it will not stop. I put my hand to my chest, but don't feel any difference in heart rate. If it is not my heart that is the physiological cause of this panic, what is it?
I have had my share of nightmares, but the fear in those comes from something. For example, last night I dreamed I was being chased by a demonic T-Rex. I was frightened of the T-Rex of course, but when I woke up I realized I wasn't being chased by a T-Rex in reality, and was immediately unafraid. Obviously, it was the T-Rex causing the fear. But this? There is no T-Rex, or any other monster.. it is almost as if it is the fear that is causing the fear.
Tell me what I fear, so that I may be unafraid.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
The Economics of Warcraft
Now is a good time own shares of copper, tin and other common industrial metals. No, not in real life, silly... in World of Warcraft. Apparently the Ahn'Qiraj quest line has raised the demand for common wholesale materials, raising the prices on Auction Houses from Ironforge to Everlook.
You could ...
Whine about rising prices of raw materials for manufacturers:
---
"The economy is totally upside down right now. 20 linen went for 15-20 silver now goes for 2-3 gold. Thorium bars are up almost 1g-2g a piece now. This goes for leather and other materials needed by the so-called 'war effort'. Craftsmen who buy and sell items off AH are just screwed until this war effort is over."
---
Call for price controls:
---
"1.) Without governmental controls (i.e., rationing and price caps) prices will clime dramatically on the war effort goods. If Blizzard is smart they'll come up with a voucher program and AH price caps for the war materials in next week's patch."
---
Refute that argument by extolling free market values:
---
"Blizzard isn't forcing anyone to pay or list those prices. Blizzard didn't create this - the players did by paying. It's that simple. Simple supply and demand. I can't believe how many people can't grasp this concept."
---
"The general rule of thumb is when the costs of your goods outweigh the cost of the product produced, you don't produce said product."
---
Sell goods for ridiculous amounts:
---
"People need to think of the economy as now being on a wartime footing. The price of certain items will go up as there is a new need for them. I think it shows how dynamic a MMORPG economy can be. And once this event is over, prices will settle down again. But for now, this is an opportunity for war profiteers who manage the temporary changes to the economy well to make a lot of money."
---
Moralize about the military-industrial complex:
---
"You're encouraging war profiteering? Whoever said ethics were dead in Azeroth was right."
---
Decry the triumph of capitalistic self-interest over common unity:
---
"The whole server COULD have banded together and said... "Let's open AQ first!!! DROP ALL PRICES TO NOTHING!" I'm sorry to say however, in a capitalist run world in which nearly all of us exist in...we're programmed to respond differently."*
---
Worry about post-war recessions:
---
"However, Blizz did affect the supply in the fact that thousands of people had god knows how many stacks of runecloth saved up ... Now that these stockpiles are gone, it will be interesting to see the price of runecloth after the event is over."
---
Just not give a damn:
---
"'Casual gamers' don't launch tirades about the awful burdens Blizzard puts on their video game commodities market. They don't complain bitterly about the going rate of bear skins in video game land."
---
-Fin!
----
*(I don't see that the prices are deterring people from donating to the war effort, since the demand is mostly price inelastic. Say the quest requires 90,000 bars of copper to be donated to the war drive to trigger the world event- if the price is low, a lot of newbie players will purchase the 90,000 bars, whereas if the price is driven up, a small elite guild of level 60 ubergamers purchases the 90,000 bars. Equity and distribution are irrelevant in this case. Overall quantity demanded is more or less the same.)
Now is a good time own shares of copper, tin and other common industrial metals. No, not in real life, silly... in World of Warcraft. Apparently the Ahn'Qiraj quest line has raised the demand for common wholesale materials, raising the prices on Auction Houses from Ironforge to Everlook.
You could ...
Whine about rising prices of raw materials for manufacturers:
---
"The economy is totally upside down right now. 20 linen went for 15-20 silver now goes for 2-3 gold. Thorium bars are up almost 1g-2g a piece now. This goes for leather and other materials needed by the so-called 'war effort'. Craftsmen who buy and sell items off AH are just screwed until this war effort is over."
---
Call for price controls:
---
"1.) Without governmental controls (i.e., rationing and price caps) prices will clime dramatically on the war effort goods. If Blizzard is smart they'll come up with a voucher program and AH price caps for the war materials in next week's patch."
---
Refute that argument by extolling free market values:
---
"Blizzard isn't forcing anyone to pay or list those prices. Blizzard didn't create this - the players did by paying. It's that simple. Simple supply and demand. I can't believe how many people can't grasp this concept."
---
"The general rule of thumb is when the costs of your goods outweigh the cost of the product produced, you don't produce said product."
---
Sell goods for ridiculous amounts:
---
"People need to think of the economy as now being on a wartime footing. The price of certain items will go up as there is a new need for them. I think it shows how dynamic a MMORPG economy can be. And once this event is over, prices will settle down again. But for now, this is an opportunity for war profiteers who manage the temporary changes to the economy well to make a lot of money."
---
Moralize about the military-industrial complex:
---
"You're encouraging war profiteering? Whoever said ethics were dead in Azeroth was right."
---
Decry the triumph of capitalistic self-interest over common unity:
---
"The whole server COULD have banded together and said... "Let's open AQ first!!! DROP ALL PRICES TO NOTHING!" I'm sorry to say however, in a capitalist run world in which nearly all of us exist in...we're programmed to respond differently."*
---
Worry about post-war recessions:
---
"However, Blizz did affect the supply in the fact that thousands of people had god knows how many stacks of runecloth saved up ... Now that these stockpiles are gone, it will be interesting to see the price of runecloth after the event is over."
---
Just not give a damn:
---
"'Casual gamers' don't launch tirades about the awful burdens Blizzard puts on their video game commodities market. They don't complain bitterly about the going rate of bear skins in video game land."
---
-Fin!
----
*(I don't see that the prices are deterring people from donating to the war effort, since the demand is mostly price inelastic. Say the quest requires 90,000 bars of copper to be donated to the war drive to trigger the world event- if the price is low, a lot of newbie players will purchase the 90,000 bars, whereas if the price is driven up, a small elite guild of level 60 ubergamers purchases the 90,000 bars. Equity and distribution are irrelevant in this case. Overall quantity demanded is more or less the same.)
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
My attempt at being a Googlewhack
Pirahna skateboard!
I pondered the greatness of cultivating a school of pirahnas. They make for great attack pets, I thought. But!
They are very limited on land. (Flop. Flop. Flop.)
No matter!
Give them skateboards!
But!
How will they move?
The answer is obvious.
Telekinesis.
Pirahna skateboard!
I pondered the greatness of cultivating a school of pirahnas. They make for great attack pets, I thought. But!
They are very limited on land. (Flop. Flop. Flop.)
No matter!
Give them skateboards!
But!
How will they move?
The answer is obvious.
Telekinesis.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
For those of you who aren't aware, Penny Arcade is organizing the Child's Play charity again this year, where video gaming fans buy toys for childrens' hospitals around the world, just in time for the holiday season. It was basically started by Gabe and Tycho to show the world that not all video gamers are violent, anti-social assholes, and of course to help sick kids.
It's a really good cause. Plus, one of the hospitals you can donate to is our very own Children's National Medical in D.C. I had surgery there when I was ten. They help you not feel scared, and they're good people.
It's a really good cause. Plus, one of the hospitals you can donate to is our very own Children's National Medical in D.C. I had surgery there when I was ten. They help you not feel scared, and they're good people.
Friday, December 02, 2005
(E-mail to Steve aka Theodrek: December 2nd, 2005)
Hey Steve, I had a dream about you last night. It was really weird; there
were like tattoos all over your face, and you were on fire. It was pretty
badass.
Anyway, how was your Thanksgiving? It snowed for the first time this year
on Thanksgiving night, but it all melted by morning. My holiday was pretty
boring; I went home and basically spent like the whole four days trying to
put together a 900 piece jigsaw puzzle. I still haven't finished. I got to
see my nephew Nathan again- he's two, and he's starting to talk, though
not anything coherent. According to my roommate it snowed again this
morning too, but I missed it.
My apartment is all Christmas decorated now. It's pretty sweet. We
actually still have like this foam skeleton from Halloween hanging from a
noose. We can tell everyone it's Jesus rising from the dead..
(Dang, wrong holiday) Oh well.
Catch ya later,
-Angie
Hey Steve, I had a dream about you last night. It was really weird; there
were like tattoos all over your face, and you were on fire. It was pretty
badass.
Anyway, how was your Thanksgiving? It snowed for the first time this year
on Thanksgiving night, but it all melted by morning. My holiday was pretty
boring; I went home and basically spent like the whole four days trying to
put together a 900 piece jigsaw puzzle. I still haven't finished. I got to
see my nephew Nathan again- he's two, and he's starting to talk, though
not anything coherent. According to my roommate it snowed again this
morning too, but I missed it.
My apartment is all Christmas decorated now. It's pretty sweet. We
actually still have like this foam skeleton from Halloween hanging from a
noose. We can tell everyone it's Jesus rising from the dead..
(Dang, wrong holiday) Oh well.
Catch ya later,
-Angie
Friday, November 25, 2005
Why I Love the West
America gets the shaft a lot, by her own people. We like saying how culture-less and devoid of moral value we are, but I think that's only because we don't notice what we have. We're like cultural fish- do fish know what water is? I've been talking to Matt a lot; the implicit assumption being that he finds Eastern theology and philosophy to be superior to Western thought, though he never says as much. But you wouldn't convert to Buddhism and be pissed off at capitalistic society if you didn't pretty much reject Western thought, no?
I happen to like the West a lot; honestly, I find it a lot easier to be jaded by America (and her ideals) when you live there. Duh. Maybe if you lived in China you'd find being Chinese a real drag. This isn't to rag on anybody, I just think everybody finds everyone else's culture cooler than their own. So: here's my semi-facetious List of Things that're cool or unique about America and/or Western civilization.
- black people. Yeah, Africa also has black people. But only America has African-Americans. Take that, Africa!! Jazz is ours!
- John Locke's social contract
- separation of church and state
- The premise that all citizens have a right to due process, and equal rights under the law
- The concept that the law is a separate entity from the person administering it.
- Representative government.
- Counter culture. In countries over 400 years old, people actually care about respectability, social standing, family honor. I bet in Japan even the Goths are polite. While in other countries, like China, defying social mores is seen as criminally subversive and disgraceful to your family, here, you're just mocked and ostracized. Go tolerance!
- Suburbia. Suburbia has a reputation for being mundane and soulless, but in actuality, it was born from a beautiful dream. Millions of families, weary soldiers, factory women, and resolute immigrants, dreamed of single-family homes with hardwood floors and spacious gardens where their children could play and live a better life. Flowers would be planted, trees climbed, the air fresh in the morning with the birds singing and at night filled with a thousand stars. Did it happen? Well.. like all dreams, for some people, yes, for some people, no, and for some people, they got what they wanted but still weren't happy, and for others, they didn't get what they wanted but were. Nonetheless, suburbia is our soul, and no one else's.
- Cafeteria tater tots. Only in America!
- Social mobility. In China, you knew your place and were content with it. Thus, "All Is Right Under Heaven." In the U.S., it's hard and nearly impossible, but you can claw your way to the top, you greedy bastard.
- John Maynard Keynes: the concept of the government providing economic opportunities for the poor
- The idea that God Loves You (every person infinitely and equally).
- Newgrounds, and other pointless, juvenile, humor.
- Christmas. We are so the best Christmas partiers.
- Modern medicine. Your illness is due to a directly observable cause that could in theory be replicated in a laboratory, not an "imbalance of yin and yang."
- Computers.
- Star Wars.
- embrace and acknowledgement of constant social change
- Tex-Mex. Can you get good Tex Mex in Britain? Well, CAN YOU???
- I have the right to riot.
- Civil Disobedience.
- Dungeons and Dragons.
- What an individual does is fundamentally his/her own decision.
- Romanticism : the pursuit of extraordinary experiences, strong passions and flights of imagination above all, and the Heroic Individual.
- An ideal person is well-rounded, one who proficient in the ways of art, literature, politics, war, natural sciences, ethics, sports, and music. In China, a good person... studies. And works hard.
- love of rebellion and challenging authority. My parents are Chinese, and they get upset whenever a comedian makes fun of George Bush, not because they like Bush, but because making fun of a national leader is "Unseemly." See... see.. this is why Chinese people aren't funny.
- perspective in painting.
- fiction is valuable because it is a representation of general truths, even if the characters act immorally. Art and free speech are forms of expression and should not be censored.
- The concept of news media as an impartial entity separate from a ruling government or other powerful organization.
- The insane idea that good urban planning will somehow improve the masses.
- National identity as a matter of citizenship and obedience to the law, not ethnic or religious background.
- Shopping as a passtime.
- Tourism, the family vacation and roadtrips as a passtime.
- cheese steaks.
America gets the shaft a lot, by her own people. We like saying how culture-less and devoid of moral value we are, but I think that's only because we don't notice what we have. We're like cultural fish- do fish know what water is? I've been talking to Matt a lot; the implicit assumption being that he finds Eastern theology and philosophy to be superior to Western thought, though he never says as much. But you wouldn't convert to Buddhism and be pissed off at capitalistic society if you didn't pretty much reject Western thought, no?
I happen to like the West a lot; honestly, I find it a lot easier to be jaded by America (and her ideals) when you live there. Duh. Maybe if you lived in China you'd find being Chinese a real drag. This isn't to rag on anybody, I just think everybody finds everyone else's culture cooler than their own. So: here's my semi-facetious List of Things that're cool or unique about America and/or Western civilization.
- black people. Yeah, Africa also has black people. But only America has African-Americans. Take that, Africa!! Jazz is ours!
- John Locke's social contract
- separation of church and state
- The premise that all citizens have a right to due process, and equal rights under the law
- The concept that the law is a separate entity from the person administering it.
- Representative government.
- Counter culture. In countries over 400 years old, people actually care about respectability, social standing, family honor. I bet in Japan even the Goths are polite. While in other countries, like China, defying social mores is seen as criminally subversive and disgraceful to your family, here, you're just mocked and ostracized. Go tolerance!
- Suburbia. Suburbia has a reputation for being mundane and soulless, but in actuality, it was born from a beautiful dream. Millions of families, weary soldiers, factory women, and resolute immigrants, dreamed of single-family homes with hardwood floors and spacious gardens where their children could play and live a better life. Flowers would be planted, trees climbed, the air fresh in the morning with the birds singing and at night filled with a thousand stars. Did it happen? Well.. like all dreams, for some people, yes, for some people, no, and for some people, they got what they wanted but still weren't happy, and for others, they didn't get what they wanted but were. Nonetheless, suburbia is our soul, and no one else's.
- Cafeteria tater tots. Only in America!
- Social mobility. In China, you knew your place and were content with it. Thus, "All Is Right Under Heaven." In the U.S., it's hard and nearly impossible, but you can claw your way to the top, you greedy bastard.
- John Maynard Keynes: the concept of the government providing economic opportunities for the poor
- The idea that God Loves You (every person infinitely and equally).
- Newgrounds, and other pointless, juvenile, humor.
- Christmas. We are so the best Christmas partiers.
- Modern medicine. Your illness is due to a directly observable cause that could in theory be replicated in a laboratory, not an "imbalance of yin and yang."
- Computers.
- Star Wars.
- embrace and acknowledgement of constant social change
- Tex-Mex. Can you get good Tex Mex in Britain? Well, CAN YOU???
- I have the right to riot.
- Civil Disobedience.
- Dungeons and Dragons.
- What an individual does is fundamentally his/her own decision.
- Romanticism : the pursuit of extraordinary experiences, strong passions and flights of imagination above all, and the Heroic Individual.
- An ideal person is well-rounded, one who proficient in the ways of art, literature, politics, war, natural sciences, ethics, sports, and music. In China, a good person... studies. And works hard.
- love of rebellion and challenging authority. My parents are Chinese, and they get upset whenever a comedian makes fun of George Bush, not because they like Bush, but because making fun of a national leader is "Unseemly." See... see.. this is why Chinese people aren't funny.
- perspective in painting.
- fiction is valuable because it is a representation of general truths, even if the characters act immorally. Art and free speech are forms of expression and should not be censored.
- The concept of news media as an impartial entity separate from a ruling government or other powerful organization.
- The insane idea that good urban planning will somehow improve the masses.
- National identity as a matter of citizenship and obedience to the law, not ethnic or religious background.
- Shopping as a passtime.
- Tourism, the family vacation and roadtrips as a passtime.
- cheese steaks.
I believe that humans are born rational and noble, and that everything we do should enhance the happiness and virtue of people. I believe in the march of progress that was dreamed of in the Great Enlightenment, that slowly and surely, through rational science and the pursuit of knowledge, through contemplation of beauty and love of goodness, the world is becoming a better place, and that one day everyone will live in perfect happiness. Through civic involvement, public works and charity, bit by bit we better humanity. I believe that through the cultivation of art, music, and literature, I can become a better and more virtuous person.
They call me "agnostic," yet as sure as the ground beneath me, I know that all these things are true. A God may guide us in our development, may create us, may take us when we die. Yet all the things I say above are true, or lightning strike me down.
We are not born evil. We will not be thrown into a fiery Hell. We do not sin for loving the world that we were born to love. I embrace God as my god, but not Jesus Christ.
I am not Christian, but my faith is strong.
(Now stop giving me Jeebus pamphlets, people!!)
They call me "agnostic," yet as sure as the ground beneath me, I know that all these things are true. A God may guide us in our development, may create us, may take us when we die. Yet all the things I say above are true, or lightning strike me down.
We are not born evil. We will not be thrown into a fiery Hell. We do not sin for loving the world that we were born to love. I embrace God as my god, but not Jesus Christ.
I am not Christian, but my faith is strong.
(Now stop giving me Jeebus pamphlets, people!!)
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Apparently the Idaho state House of Representatives has this bit of legislature regarding "Napoleon Dynamite."
...
No words.
...
No words.
Monday, November 21, 2005
| You Are 20 Years Old |
 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. |
| You scored 82 Heterosexuality, 10 Homosexuality, and 39 Asexuality! |
| You are either straight or bisexual (with an interest in the opposite gender) with a moderate to high sex drive. The higher your score in heterosexuality, the more you are attracted to the opposite gender. A higher asexuality score means that you place a bigger emphasis on the emotional aspects of a relationship and less on the physical. |
 |
My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
| Link: The 3-Variable Sexuality Spectrum Test written by kitsunechild on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test |
| This Is My Life, Rated | |
| Life: |  7.7 |
| Mind: |  7.1 |
| Body: | 7.3 |
| Spirit: | 8.2 |
| Friends/Family: |  5 |
| Love: | 6.9 |
| Finance: | 6.9 |
| Take the Rate My Life Quiz | |
Thursday, November 17, 2005
A model of San Francisco.. made out of Jello by artist Liz Hickok.
@___@
For that matter, I don't know if I've linked to it already, but:
Lego High Fantasy
@___@
For that matter, I don't know if I've linked to it already, but:
Lego High Fantasy
Monday, October 24, 2005
Sometimes people are on a political spectrum so wild that one can only speculate. To the visible light reds and blues of the Democrats and Republicans, we can add the ultraviolet glow of Anarchy, the infrared of Communism, and the mind-destroying gamma radiation of Ass Crazy which makes you puke and die. Still others are on the political spectrum frequency that aliens use on people wearing tin foil hats.
Shining examples like a lighthouse in a storm, a fire in the forest, a redneck's tooth...
Ah, yes, Matt! Just to clear things up, Matt is awesome. Just not politically.
Over a series of AIM conversations I have been bludgeoned with a series of political views which are only marginally palatable through a curious paladinly combination of utter conviction and sordid charisma, usually of the "interesting anecotes" variety. Matt, you see, is from the monkey-with-cymbals school of politics: "Look at me, I have a cymbal, look at me, I have a cymbal, look at me, I have a cymbal, aren't I loud?" *clang clang clang clang clang* Yes, Matt is an Anarchist, which, for those of you laymen, is where the Libertarians send their crazy uncles to die.
I have not argued with him extensively on AIM, simply because I am bad at arguing. Bad. Seriously. However, just because I am not articulate does not mean my arguments are wrong. By this logic, since every knows that engineers have no speaking skills, they are wrong about everything. This. Is. Not. True.
However, on my blog, which I rule with an iron fist, I can rebuff and ridicule with impunity.
Example... (shining in the dark)... Matt is annoyed because the online political quiz places him as a "socialist." He is annoyed because he's an anarchist, and doesn't believe in the state. Well, that's fine, I say, but he can't be an anarchist who doesn't believe in the state and supports increased corporate regulation. If anarchy rules, corporations, which are just coalitions of the strong, will just do ... this is highly complex political terminology... "Whatever The Fuck They Want." If he strives to fight against corporate environmental exploitation with less government, he would do better by more clearly defining property rights so that corporations are directly accountable for what they pollute.
Response: "I don't believe in property."
..
You're an anarchist who doesn't believe in property?
"I think people should only be allowed to own what they can carry with them."
... so ok, people don't own anything themselves. Who owns things that can't be carried, like land, the mine, that table over there, that house? Oh, "everyone?" Who gets to use it then? "Everyone?" So you can take a crap on my sofa and I have to clean it up?
Holy shit, Sherlock, we have a word for that...socialism.
Provoking businessmen in the financial district is also silly. There's a small chance that you have made them realize the shallowness of their materialistic lives. Then they'll quit their jobs, run off to a commune or a cabin in the woods and grow hemp while beating on drums. In the meantime, those kids they'd been meaning to put in college with rising tuitions and their aging and ill parents that social security can't provide for and the spouse that's been laid off can go fuck off and die. ... Well, the larger chance by far is that you've just made someone's day marginally worse... worse not in a confrontational, thought-provoking, life-evaluating way, but worse in a, "Crazy hippie punk was yelling at me randomly in the middle of Baltimore" way. At least hoboes go away if you give them money.
Insulting the Riot Police is also a Bad Thing to Do. Now, The Man may command these police to taunt protestors in order to rile them up so they can arrest them, so insulting them is Just Desserts. I don't know. I agree that having police wail on protestors will also give you sympathetic press. Some. However, the "..and then they started hurling molatov cocktails and looting stores" press afterwards isn't worth it. People don't like protestors anyway because it blocks up traffic and creates trash, you don't have to get a reputation as "protestors that stir up violent conflict." It doesn't matter who started it, when people see protestors, they go, "Shit, it's them protestors again."
Shining examples like a lighthouse in a storm, a fire in the forest, a redneck's tooth...
Ah, yes, Matt! Just to clear things up, Matt is awesome. Just not politically.
Over a series of AIM conversations I have been bludgeoned with a series of political views which are only marginally palatable through a curious paladinly combination of utter conviction and sordid charisma, usually of the "interesting anecotes" variety. Matt, you see, is from the monkey-with-cymbals school of politics: "Look at me, I have a cymbal, look at me, I have a cymbal, look at me, I have a cymbal, aren't I loud?" *clang clang clang clang clang* Yes, Matt is an Anarchist, which, for those of you laymen, is where the Libertarians send their crazy uncles to die.
I have not argued with him extensively on AIM, simply because I am bad at arguing. Bad. Seriously. However, just because I am not articulate does not mean my arguments are wrong. By this logic, since every knows that engineers have no speaking skills, they are wrong about everything. This. Is. Not. True.
However, on my blog, which I rule with an iron fist, I can rebuff and ridicule with impunity.
Example... (shining in the dark)... Matt is annoyed because the online political quiz places him as a "socialist." He is annoyed because he's an anarchist, and doesn't believe in the state. Well, that's fine, I say, but he can't be an anarchist who doesn't believe in the state and supports increased corporate regulation. If anarchy rules, corporations, which are just coalitions of the strong, will just do ... this is highly complex political terminology... "Whatever The Fuck They Want." If he strives to fight against corporate environmental exploitation with less government, he would do better by more clearly defining property rights so that corporations are directly accountable for what they pollute.
Response: "I don't believe in property."
..
You're an anarchist who doesn't believe in property?
"I think people should only be allowed to own what they can carry with them."
... so ok, people don't own anything themselves. Who owns things that can't be carried, like land, the mine, that table over there, that house? Oh, "everyone?" Who gets to use it then? "Everyone?" So you can take a crap on my sofa and I have to clean it up?
Holy shit, Sherlock, we have a word for that...socialism.
Provoking businessmen in the financial district is also silly. There's a small chance that you have made them realize the shallowness of their materialistic lives. Then they'll quit their jobs, run off to a commune or a cabin in the woods and grow hemp while beating on drums. In the meantime, those kids they'd been meaning to put in college with rising tuitions and their aging and ill parents that social security can't provide for and the spouse that's been laid off can go fuck off and die. ... Well, the larger chance by far is that you've just made someone's day marginally worse... worse not in a confrontational, thought-provoking, life-evaluating way, but worse in a, "Crazy hippie punk was yelling at me randomly in the middle of Baltimore" way. At least hoboes go away if you give them money.
Insulting the Riot Police is also a Bad Thing to Do. Now, The Man may command these police to taunt protestors in order to rile them up so they can arrest them, so insulting them is Just Desserts. I don't know. I agree that having police wail on protestors will also give you sympathetic press. Some. However, the "..and then they started hurling molatov cocktails and looting stores" press afterwards isn't worth it. People don't like protestors anyway because it blocks up traffic and creates trash, you don't have to get a reputation as "protestors that stir up violent conflict." It doesn't matter who started it, when people see protestors, they go, "Shit, it's them protestors again."
Neoclassical X-TREME!* : Life and Law in Angie-Land
When we hire "public defenders," we should really mean it. The job of the "public defender" is to strive manfully against the prosecutor in the bloody ring of gladiatorial combat, to the entertainment of the jury. (Refreshments will be served). The prosecutor will be armed with a gladius, a helmet, and arm protection, while the public defender will be armed with a net and trident, wearing only a loincloth and an anointment of olive oil over his gleaming body.
This serves two purposes:
1) The "public defender" will now actually have an incentive to, you know, defend, the poor and the weak.
2) It might then actually be fun to do jury duty.
3) Every other country can have their fruity columns, nice inscriptions about Justice, Reason and Enlightenment, and call themselves "neo-classical." We're the only country that's hardcore about it.
*sponsored by Mountainus Dewus. Do the Dew.
When we hire "public defenders," we should really mean it. The job of the "public defender" is to strive manfully against the prosecutor in the bloody ring of gladiatorial combat, to the entertainment of the jury. (Refreshments will be served). The prosecutor will be armed with a gladius, a helmet, and arm protection, while the public defender will be armed with a net and trident, wearing only a loincloth and an anointment of olive oil over his gleaming body.
This serves two purposes:
1) The "public defender" will now actually have an incentive to, you know, defend, the poor and the weak.
2) It might then actually be fun to do jury duty.
3) Every other country can have their fruity columns, nice inscriptions about Justice, Reason and Enlightenment, and call themselves "neo-classical." We're the only country that's hardcore about it.
*sponsored by Mountainus Dewus. Do the Dew.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
| George Washington You scored 66 Wisdom, 69 Tactics, 49 Guts, and 28 Ruthlessness! |
Washington first served as a British officer during the French and Indian War, a war which he inadvertently helped to start. Afterwards, he resigned his post to marry Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow with two children. He was elected to the House of Burgesses and became a revolutionary leader at the outset of the American Revolution, attending both the first and second Continental Congresses. Washington was appointed Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775?83), leading the Americans to victory over the British, although sometimes in not the most scrupulous of ways. After the war, he served as president of the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Because of his central role in the founding of the United States and enduring legacy, Washington is sometimes called the "Father of his Country." |
 |
My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
| Link: The Which Historic General Are You Test written by dasnyds on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test |
| You are a Social Liberal (63% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (38% permissive) You are best described as a:
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test |
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