http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg5AAy1ojtc
I'd encourage all people to watch George Carlin's "It's Bad for Ya", as it expresses many of the ideas that I hold near and dear to my heart and I believe some of his best work. In particular it deals with the identification and calling out of bullshit. This ranges from outright lies (God is watching) to somewhat vague fibs (you have rights).
As I return to campus, I am left with a continually ambiguous situation as must confront not only the nascent offer of renewal and the old threat of repetition and ritual. Basically stupid bullshit. Few wish to return to a den of differential equations and few wish to remain in limbo indefinitely. I believe that most students, on some level, feel a kind of ambiguous, vague terror. I am not intellectually better than my peers and I must believe that I am sufficiently normal mentally to not be considered "crazy". True, we deal not the monster under the bed, for such a beast has a concrete place. It is fluid and elusive. It deals in shadow and confusion and behind walls and masks. I believe that most students choose to avoid a world that is simultaneously confusing and terrifying accepting what I call bullshit and getting into little groups to corroborate their bullshit. For what is a church, but a means of perpetuating what would otherwise be an insane story? I pick not only on religion. Universities are full of group sessions of people getting together to tell each other how right the other is. True, life doesn't seem as harsh if you have a seamless, safe and sanitary narrative. But I choose to differ. To strip bare the inner workings our world; to grab hold lies and bullshit in both hands and strike back is to stare back into a world in which rules are not fair, anying goes and everything doesn't work out in the end.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
The Sage of the Chaparral
I spent the afternoon at the beach flying kites with the prevailing winds. The trip hearkened back to a long and enjoyable tradition of going to the beach and the various activities associates with those trips. In particular, I think of falling asleep to the serenade of the waves and pouncing upon sandcrabs in the surf. I took advantage of both during my short trip, though an unfortunate timing of tides ensured that I caught no small crustaceans and thus has no life forms upon which I could exercise my somewhat sadistic will. Though given that past generations of Shinzaki’s used these guys for bait in fishing, a little poking and brooding with my finger seems hardly cruel.
The main motivation of this trip was the somewhat jarring observation that I return to school in less than two weeks. And along with fish tacos and sleeping outside, at least one trip to the beach seemed like a necessity in my rejuvenation of my inner Californian. My roots in this area run deep and will not wither under pressure from a little (or perhaps a lot) of snow and frost. It is days such as these that I wish that I had chosen to attend UCSD, where I could enjoy flip flops and sunshine all year around. I blend in better into the chaparral landscape of the natural San Diego landscape, where the shrubs grow short and sturdy. San Diego may be dry, but it is no desert. Life grows in its independent paths. The plants eschew extravagant shapes and showings of foliage, but save their strength against an unknown and potentially dry future. They plan, scrimp and save. Wait, hope and then prosper. Green leaves are saved for the brief spurts of rain that the heavens may bless us with. It serves to make these botanical emeralds even more stunning.
Native San Diegian plants such as sage wither when moved to a place like New Jersey. The constant rain rots the roots; the underground tendrils are used to dry frugality. When it rains, God may as well pour salt upon us. The leaves grow pale and sickly with the lack of sunshine and cold weather. The native trees grow tall, flaunting their usage of the massive rain and constant cold. The flowers grow vibrant and vivid in the garden. And life continues on a constant binge of water and room. The sage must be kept indoors, perhaps in a greenhouse, for most of the fall, all of winter and parts of spring. The sage remains shielded from a dizzying and staggering abundance. It inevitability remains a kind of novelty or oddity that has wandered far from home. True, sage forms the tumbleweed, a rolling ball commonly seen in movies moving in desolate and isolated areas. The tumbleweed keeps moving from place to place, learning the knowledge of other lands. The wisest of plants know how to survive with simplicity and frugality. So the sage’s home remains in the hills of Southern California.
The main motivation of this trip was the somewhat jarring observation that I return to school in less than two weeks. And along with fish tacos and sleeping outside, at least one trip to the beach seemed like a necessity in my rejuvenation of my inner Californian. My roots in this area run deep and will not wither under pressure from a little (or perhaps a lot) of snow and frost. It is days such as these that I wish that I had chosen to attend UCSD, where I could enjoy flip flops and sunshine all year around. I blend in better into the chaparral landscape of the natural San Diego landscape, where the shrubs grow short and sturdy. San Diego may be dry, but it is no desert. Life grows in its independent paths. The plants eschew extravagant shapes and showings of foliage, but save their strength against an unknown and potentially dry future. They plan, scrimp and save. Wait, hope and then prosper. Green leaves are saved for the brief spurts of rain that the heavens may bless us with. It serves to make these botanical emeralds even more stunning.
Native San Diegian plants such as sage wither when moved to a place like New Jersey. The constant rain rots the roots; the underground tendrils are used to dry frugality. When it rains, God may as well pour salt upon us. The leaves grow pale and sickly with the lack of sunshine and cold weather. The native trees grow tall, flaunting their usage of the massive rain and constant cold. The flowers grow vibrant and vivid in the garden. And life continues on a constant binge of water and room. The sage must be kept indoors, perhaps in a greenhouse, for most of the fall, all of winter and parts of spring. The sage remains shielded from a dizzying and staggering abundance. It inevitability remains a kind of novelty or oddity that has wandered far from home. True, sage forms the tumbleweed, a rolling ball commonly seen in movies moving in desolate and isolated areas. The tumbleweed keeps moving from place to place, learning the knowledge of other lands. The wisest of plants know how to survive with simplicity and frugality. So the sage’s home remains in the hills of Southern California.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
A Spoonful of Sugar
I've been told by those with more wisdom than I of the virtues of being considerate when speaking. In short, that while one may have offensive, controversial or somewhat abrasive opinions, it is, in principle, possible to coat, massage and otherwise alter these ideas into a form that is palatable for the mass of men to inject. Folk wisdom recommend a spoonfull of sugar to aid in the consumption of bitter medicine. However, what is one to do with opinions that are offensive and otherwise uncomfortable just by their very nature. I consider an opinion that challenges others in such a profound manner that sugar coating the idea would alter its very nature. Am I to cease to hold such opinions? To stop speaking them? How I am condemned to speak my mind. For it is a tonic that still causes pain even when taken with a sweet chaser.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Coming Problems
In continuing with troubling problems deals with a short study that I read today:
http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/iju/vol2n1/sperm.xml
This is among the most terrifying things that I have read in recent memory. And mind you, I just wrote about the increasing influence of a for profit mercenary army in the most powerful armed force on the planet. And at first blush, this seems fairly random. In the past 50 years, sperm count in industrialized nations have dropped dramatically. Very dramatically:
This is from a study done in Edinburgh. Similar trends have been seen in the United States. This drop is much too dramatic for genetics to be the cause. The most likely cause is environmental changes. And the implications hit upon the very survival of the human race. For as people, our most valuable resource lies not in the mountains or water, but with our DNA and it's ability to create copies of itself within ourselves and other organisms via reproduction. If there is no reproduction, then the human race has no future in generation. And if male fertility continues to drop at this rate, then we will be looking at infertility becoming an increasing problem as more and more men will have rapidly decreasing sperm counts. This may seem a weird problem given that we are often concerned about overpopulation and problems associated with high populations, such as pollution and degradation of the environment. Perhaps less people would be a good thing? It is important to look at the proposed causes of this trend.
Given the scope of the problem, it is unlikely that a single, simple cause is responsible. However, one of the main hypothesis has to do with the industrialized world's staggering and sometimes indiscriminate use of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics in pest control. Consider agriculture. Most agricultural practices in the United States are mass production efforts that make heavy use of pesticides to kill off insects, antibiotics to control diseases that run rampant in agricultural efforts that grow only a single crop or product and hormones to stimulate quicker, larger plants and animals. Unfortunately, these toxic compounds get into the food we eat, the water we drink, the oceans we play in (and get fish from), the soil we grow our food in, and often the air we breath. It gets everywhere. And these tend to be quick persistent and quite toxic even at low concentrations. Especially hormones. Hormones' purpose is to control large changes in an organism, such as when a child goes through puberty. These are not the kind of products you want floating around in your food indiscriminately.
And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. The biggest problem is that there is a considerable "lag time" between the increasing concentration of these products in our environment and their most powerful effects. It is easy to overlook the changes at this time, but these effects tend to snowball. Once the effects are visible, we will have so poisoned our environment that we will be powerless to protect ourselves. This is not a problem of a meteor hitting the earth, this amounts to the progressive stripping away of our ability to create a next generation and live in a clean, safe environment. Once we have lost our home and our future, we have nothing.
http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/iju/vol2n1/sperm.xml
This is among the most terrifying things that I have read in recent memory. And mind you, I just wrote about the increasing influence of a for profit mercenary army in the most powerful armed force on the planet. And at first blush, this seems fairly random. In the past 50 years, sperm count in industrialized nations have dropped dramatically. Very dramatically:
This is from a study done in Edinburgh. Similar trends have been seen in the United States. This drop is much too dramatic for genetics to be the cause. The most likely cause is environmental changes. And the implications hit upon the very survival of the human race. For as people, our most valuable resource lies not in the mountains or water, but with our DNA and it's ability to create copies of itself within ourselves and other organisms via reproduction. If there is no reproduction, then the human race has no future in generation. And if male fertility continues to drop at this rate, then we will be looking at infertility becoming an increasing problem as more and more men will have rapidly decreasing sperm counts. This may seem a weird problem given that we are often concerned about overpopulation and problems associated with high populations, such as pollution and degradation of the environment. Perhaps less people would be a good thing? It is important to look at the proposed causes of this trend.
Given the scope of the problem, it is unlikely that a single, simple cause is responsible. However, one of the main hypothesis has to do with the industrialized world's staggering and sometimes indiscriminate use of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics in pest control. Consider agriculture. Most agricultural practices in the United States are mass production efforts that make heavy use of pesticides to kill off insects, antibiotics to control diseases that run rampant in agricultural efforts that grow only a single crop or product and hormones to stimulate quicker, larger plants and animals. Unfortunately, these toxic compounds get into the food we eat, the water we drink, the oceans we play in (and get fish from), the soil we grow our food in, and often the air we breath. It gets everywhere. And these tend to be quick persistent and quite toxic even at low concentrations. Especially hormones. Hormones' purpose is to control large changes in an organism, such as when a child goes through puberty. These are not the kind of products you want floating around in your food indiscriminately.
And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. The biggest problem is that there is a considerable "lag time" between the increasing concentration of these products in our environment and their most powerful effects. It is easy to overlook the changes at this time, but these effects tend to snowball. Once the effects are visible, we will have so poisoned our environment that we will be powerless to protect ourselves. This is not a problem of a meteor hitting the earth, this amounts to the progressive stripping away of our ability to create a next generation and live in a clean, safe environment. Once we have lost our home and our future, we have nothing.
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Blackwater Still Rises
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater:_The_Rise_of_the_World%27s_Most_Powerful_Mercenary_Army
This is a very interesting book that I would highly recommend to anyone living in the US. I thought that if we were going to bomb a sovereign nation with lots of oil and effectively no defensive capacity, we would at least be using our standard military. But it turns out that is not true. A sizable fraction of our guns on the ground are held by mercenaries, so-called “private contractors” and the largest contracting company currently is Blackwater (they changed their name to Xe Services). Estimates put Blackwater involvement in the current Iraq War between 20,000 and 100,000 mercenaries. To put this into perspective, as of July 2009, the United States had about 130,000 official troops deployed in Iraq.
This concerns me. Blackwater mercenaries are not accountable to the Judicial or Legislative branches of government. During the Bush administration, the Executive branch took steps to shield Blackwater from prosecution for allegeded murders of Iraqi civilians. Even with the election of Barrack Obama, prosecution of Blackwater crimes remains extremely slow and a subject Congress remains unwilling to touch. Traditionally, issues such as war and military funding well partly to Congress and the expansion of mercenary force overrides many of the checks and balances that should allegedly protect from abuse of power.
Blackwater is thus allowed to operate largely away from public scrutiny. The government learned after the Vietnam War that if it wanted to conduct a war, it had to sufficiently control and indoctrinate the public to avoid unrest. The draft will never to implement again, partly because it would equal political death for any political party that supported it. But the other reason is that it puts the military into the public sphere. If the country relied upon a draft to get soldiers, the public could effectively stop the war by refusing to serve. This is no good for companies and governments that wish to perpetuate war. In a sense, a private, mercenary army represents the opposite of a public, drafted army. The expression of an allegedly free republic would be an increase in the range of decisions within the public sphere. An army like Blackwater assures that the public has no say in war, as they answer only to their payers, the US government. I have no need to elaborate the fascist implications of a company that controls the military. A contracted mercenary army is obedient and willing to carry out any and all required missions regardless of the moral and ethical implications. By definition of a company, it is all about the bottom line.
It turns out that making war is a very, very lucrative endeavor. Between 2000 and 2006, Blackwater won a half billion dollars in government contracts. I always get concerned when power, military and money come together, as horrible and bloody have been done with and to obtain these things. It also means that such companies have an economic incentive to continuing perpetuate war. This is not limited to mercenary contractors. Companies that make guns, bullets, vehicles, or the supply the army all gain from wartime spending. This is something best explained in President Eisenhower’s farwell address:
“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.”
Though it has been said that “in time of war, laws are silent” (Inter arma silent leges.). If laws are silent, I suppose I should not.
This is a very interesting book that I would highly recommend to anyone living in the US. I thought that if we were going to bomb a sovereign nation with lots of oil and effectively no defensive capacity, we would at least be using our standard military. But it turns out that is not true. A sizable fraction of our guns on the ground are held by mercenaries, so-called “private contractors” and the largest contracting company currently is Blackwater (they changed their name to Xe Services). Estimates put Blackwater involvement in the current Iraq War between 20,000 and 100,000 mercenaries. To put this into perspective, as of July 2009, the United States had about 130,000 official troops deployed in Iraq.
This concerns me. Blackwater mercenaries are not accountable to the Judicial or Legislative branches of government. During the Bush administration, the Executive branch took steps to shield Blackwater from prosecution for allegeded murders of Iraqi civilians. Even with the election of Barrack Obama, prosecution of Blackwater crimes remains extremely slow and a subject Congress remains unwilling to touch. Traditionally, issues such as war and military funding well partly to Congress and the expansion of mercenary force overrides many of the checks and balances that should allegedly protect from abuse of power.
Blackwater is thus allowed to operate largely away from public scrutiny. The government learned after the Vietnam War that if it wanted to conduct a war, it had to sufficiently control and indoctrinate the public to avoid unrest. The draft will never to implement again, partly because it would equal political death for any political party that supported it. But the other reason is that it puts the military into the public sphere. If the country relied upon a draft to get soldiers, the public could effectively stop the war by refusing to serve. This is no good for companies and governments that wish to perpetuate war. In a sense, a private, mercenary army represents the opposite of a public, drafted army. The expression of an allegedly free republic would be an increase in the range of decisions within the public sphere. An army like Blackwater assures that the public has no say in war, as they answer only to their payers, the US government. I have no need to elaborate the fascist implications of a company that controls the military. A contracted mercenary army is obedient and willing to carry out any and all required missions regardless of the moral and ethical implications. By definition of a company, it is all about the bottom line.
It turns out that making war is a very, very lucrative endeavor. Between 2000 and 2006, Blackwater won a half billion dollars in government contracts. I always get concerned when power, military and money come together, as horrible and bloody have been done with and to obtain these things. It also means that such companies have an economic incentive to continuing perpetuate war. This is not limited to mercenary contractors. Companies that make guns, bullets, vehicles, or the supply the army all gain from wartime spending. This is something best explained in President Eisenhower’s farwell address:
“We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.”
Though it has been said that “in time of war, laws are silent” (Inter arma silent leges.). If laws are silent, I suppose I should not.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Juniper Order (Ranger)
I spent a good part of the afternoons hacking through the green tendrils of the juniper bushes outside of my house. I cannot fully explain my compulsion to keep work on these plants. Living in a San Diego summer and in benign neglect, these plants have thrived in spite of our perpetual refusal to take care of our plants. These juniper bushes are a hardy bunch that lives on the heat of the afternoon and an occasional sprinkling of water when we remember. The cutting and shaping of these plants could easily be done by one of the many gardening services available to people in our position. Perhaps my parents never fully adjusted to paying for landscaping. It would have been of relatively little notice if I had chosen to ignore our frontal plants and let them overtake the garden.
In the past years, the shaping and maintenance of these plants fell to my grandfather, who used to work in gardening. However, as he as grown older, the bushes returned to their natural, if uncontrolled, state. Plants that should be neat little green balls unfurl their long fingers, grasping for new lands to tame. It has been much time since I can remember spherical juniper bushes in front of my house. I dragged out a menancing pair of clippers and a few other necessary, though less theatrical tools. The first plant I worked on did not make the neat ball, but instead a misshapen oval, a Baroque pearl in our midst. The long neglect of the plants had made hacking the plants down to a manageable size a handful, not to mention even shaping them into the appropriate spheres. I suppose given enough time and desire, recreating the ideal shapes of the past would have been possible. But the sun was shining. And the newly hacked bush was cut with a nice bend that followed the path of our walkway. The new shape seemed to better harmonize with its environment. And so I went on carving Baroque pearls into the other plants in our front yard.
In the past years, the shaping and maintenance of these plants fell to my grandfather, who used to work in gardening. However, as he as grown older, the bushes returned to their natural, if uncontrolled, state. Plants that should be neat little green balls unfurl their long fingers, grasping for new lands to tame. It has been much time since I can remember spherical juniper bushes in front of my house. I dragged out a menancing pair of clippers and a few other necessary, though less theatrical tools. The first plant I worked on did not make the neat ball, but instead a misshapen oval, a Baroque pearl in our midst. The long neglect of the plants had made hacking the plants down to a manageable size a handful, not to mention even shaping them into the appropriate spheres. I suppose given enough time and desire, recreating the ideal shapes of the past would have been possible. But the sun was shining. And the newly hacked bush was cut with a nice bend that followed the path of our walkway. The new shape seemed to better harmonize with its environment. And so I went on carving Baroque pearls into the other plants in our front yard.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Punch in the Gut
Ever since I was young, I have studied martial arts. The style has changed from time to time, but many of the central principles have remained the same. Many who learn of my background instinctively ask “What would you do if I tried to punch you?”. It’s kind of an odd question as a complete answer requires an understanding of the circumstances and environment. They expect an answer such as “block, punch back, kick your ass, etc”. And these are legitimate options. However, martial artists in general will usually choose options such as “evade, run away, problem solve, etc”; if you can safely get away, why fight?
People usually view this as a cop out. They refine the question to “What would you do if I tried to punch you and you couldn’t run away?” or an even more silly version “What would you do if I punched you and it was 1in away from your face and you didn’t have time to get out of the way?”. The answer is quite obvious, I’m going to get punched. However, I would ask a counter question “Why would you put yourself in a situation when a fist is 1inch away from your face? In fact, why would you put yourself in a situation where someone would be willing and able to attack you?” Perhaps the choices you made prior to put yourself into a situation where a fist is 1 inch away from your fact constitutes a kind of failure in and of themselves. This is a question of circumstances and environment. Are you trapesing around a dark alley in a bad part of town while chatting on your cell phone? Has that guy been following you for 4 blocks? It is often said that karate begins and ends with courtesy. It is not that you will ever knock out an opponent with a polite word, but that consideration and kindness for others can prevent many fights before they happen.
When approaching self-defense, perhaps enemies come from a larger range than merely thugs off the street. In fact, the leading causes of preventable death in the United States are so-called “diseases of affluence” such as heart attack and cancer. You are infinitely more likely to die from an obesity related disorder than to be murdered in the street, and we should address this concern with proportional consideration.
Questions over healthcare continue and I have discussed this in the previous entry. American health care, things like hospital visits, drugs and treatment should be seen as reactive treatment. Drugs are incredible inventions that have saved countless lives. However, anyone knows anything about the pharmaceutical industry knows that drugs are complex, expensive and difficult to make. Decades of research and testing go into creating just one pill that may or may not treat some ailment. To me, this is also the philosophical equivalent to waiting until the fist is 1inch from your face. We should know how to handle such a situation, but we should focus more on knowing how to avoid such a predicament.
Questions over diet and personal health rarely enter into a discussion of healthcare. However, one’s effect on the rest of the healthcare system is considered an external cost. And Congressmen are tepid make political unpopular recommendations on people’s personal lifestyles. I know of no person who enjoys being told what to eat and how to live. As a result, politicians mutter about personal health, but do little to act upon it.
It is odd since it is infinitely cheaper and easier to eat well and exercise than to get a pill to treat obesity. What constitutes a good diet and good lifestyle is worthy of discussion, but beyond the range of this entry (perhaps another day). We know that in American society, health is a problem. While we have spent lots of resources on working on reactive treatments, I believe it is important to consider proactive work in health is more important. I will not wait for the fist to strike; I will start moving now.
People usually view this as a cop out. They refine the question to “What would you do if I tried to punch you and you couldn’t run away?” or an even more silly version “What would you do if I punched you and it was 1in away from your face and you didn’t have time to get out of the way?”. The answer is quite obvious, I’m going to get punched. However, I would ask a counter question “Why would you put yourself in a situation when a fist is 1inch away from your face? In fact, why would you put yourself in a situation where someone would be willing and able to attack you?” Perhaps the choices you made prior to put yourself into a situation where a fist is 1 inch away from your fact constitutes a kind of failure in and of themselves. This is a question of circumstances and environment. Are you trapesing around a dark alley in a bad part of town while chatting on your cell phone? Has that guy been following you for 4 blocks? It is often said that karate begins and ends with courtesy. It is not that you will ever knock out an opponent with a polite word, but that consideration and kindness for others can prevent many fights before they happen.
When approaching self-defense, perhaps enemies come from a larger range than merely thugs off the street. In fact, the leading causes of preventable death in the United States are so-called “diseases of affluence” such as heart attack and cancer. You are infinitely more likely to die from an obesity related disorder than to be murdered in the street, and we should address this concern with proportional consideration.
Questions over healthcare continue and I have discussed this in the previous entry. American health care, things like hospital visits, drugs and treatment should be seen as reactive treatment. Drugs are incredible inventions that have saved countless lives. However, anyone knows anything about the pharmaceutical industry knows that drugs are complex, expensive and difficult to make. Decades of research and testing go into creating just one pill that may or may not treat some ailment. To me, this is also the philosophical equivalent to waiting until the fist is 1inch from your face. We should know how to handle such a situation, but we should focus more on knowing how to avoid such a predicament.
Questions over diet and personal health rarely enter into a discussion of healthcare. However, one’s effect on the rest of the healthcare system is considered an external cost. And Congressmen are tepid make political unpopular recommendations on people’s personal lifestyles. I know of no person who enjoys being told what to eat and how to live. As a result, politicians mutter about personal health, but do little to act upon it.
It is odd since it is infinitely cheaper and easier to eat well and exercise than to get a pill to treat obesity. What constitutes a good diet and good lifestyle is worthy of discussion, but beyond the range of this entry (perhaps another day). We know that in American society, health is a problem. While we have spent lots of resources on working on reactive treatments, I believe it is important to consider proactive work in health is more important. I will not wait for the fist to strike; I will start moving now.
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