[old] reductio ad absurdum

http://shadyq80.kuwaitblogs.com/

2005-03-25T15:34:00.000+03:00

Update your links people :D

eveything has been imported...

You Were Meant For Me

2005-03-23T09:19:00.000+03:00

I hear the clock, it's six a.m.
I feel so far from where I've been
I got my eggs and my pancakes too
I got my maple syrup, everything but you.
I break the yolks, make a smiley face
I kinda like it in my brand new place
I wipe the spots off the mirror
Don't leave the keys in the door
Never put wet towels on the floor anymore' cause
Dreams last so long
even after you're gone
I know you love me
And soon you will see
You were meant for me
And I was meant for you.
I called my momma, she was out for a walk
Consoled a cup of coffee but it didn't wanna talk
So I picked up a paper, it was more bad news
More hearts being broken or people being used
Put on my coat in the pouring rain
I saw a movie it just wasn't the same
'Cause it was happy and I was sad
It made me miss you oh so bad 'cause
Dreams last so long
Even after you're gone
I know you love me
And soon you will see
You were meant for me
And I was meant for you.
I go about my business, I'm doin fine
Besides what would I say if I had you on the line
Same old story, not much to say
Hearts are broken, everyday.
I brush my teeth and put the cap back on
I know you hate it when I leave the light on
I pick a book up. Turn the sheets down.
Take a deep breath and a good look around
Put on my pjs and hop into bed
I'm half alive but I feel mostly dead
I try and tell myself it'll be all right
I just shouldn't think anymore tonight 'cause
Dreams last so long
Even after you're gone
I know you love me
And soon I know you will see
You were meant for me
And I was meant for you

Yeah.... You were meant for me and I was meant for you.

--Jewel

India backs cheap drug clampdown

2005-03-22T22:39:00.000+03:00

The Indian Parliament has moved a step closer to banning domestic firms from manufacturing low-cost generic copies of patented drugs.

Capacity for compassion anyone?

I could go on philosophically about why IP is a bad idea but do I need to?

cheers.

Iran jails blogger for 14 years

2005-03-21T14:07:00.000+03:00

An Iranian weblogger has been jailed for 14 years on charges of spying and aiding foreign counter-revolutionaries.

Old news but worth the post, I think.

Committee to Protect Bloggers. The site keeps track of blogger that have been detained, apparently some of them are from Bahrain...

tee-hee

2005-03-21T08:45:00.000+03:00

Found these two paragraphs on un-veiled.net.

---beginning of quote---

About:
un-veiled.NET was first started by Ananyah as a place where people could speak their minds about certain topics that are seen as taboo or generally not talked about in society. This site gives them the freedom to write articles on topics that not only effect them but which they feel strongly about.

---end of quote---

and then....

---begining of quote---

1. NO personal attacks on people
2. NO articles/comments on Religion as this may offend others
3. When commenting, if you did not like the article, please DO NOT use vulgar language or attack the author.
4. DON'T copy articles and paste them, while claiming they are yours.

---end of quote---

Events this week:

-Dar al Athar is having a lecture on Ibn Batuta tonight @ 7pm.

-Dar al Funoon is showing the photography of Reda Salim from 19/03 to 02/04, 10am to 1pm - 4pm to 8pm

-There is a play called "Art" (I think) that will be playing on the 22nd and 23rd at Hilton Mangaf (speak to them for more details).

-Bait Lothan is hosting the fifth annual photography exhibition starting on 26/03 @ 6:30pm and includes the following lectures through to 30/03
--"Basics of Photography" -Baha'a Aldeen Alqazweeny 27/03 7pm
--"Where Digital Photography lies within the Social Sciences Framework" -Muwfaq Abd Almajeed 28/03 7pm
--"Latest Developments in the world of Digital Photography" -Ashraf Co. 29/03 7pm
--"Portrait Photography" - Bader Nasser Alhaji 30/03 7pm

2005-03-19T08:59:00.000+03:00

Open Wound: Chechnya 1994-2003

quote of the day

2005-03-14T15:11:00.000+03:00

"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is."

Dal Al-Athar al-Islamiyyah Concert--Abdo Dagher

2005-03-14T09:16:00.000+03:00

Today 7pm.

From the brouchure:

"Abdo Dagher was born in Damietta, Egypt in 1936. Abdo taught himself to play the 'ud (Arabic lute) when he was seven. and a performance by a foreign soloist (possibly David Oistrakh) attracted him to the violin when he was ten. He left home at the age of thirteen and had to earn his living by working as a musician. The greatest impact on Abdo Dagher's knowledge and muscial compostiions goes back to the relgious music performed by the Sufi orders, which he learned in his childhood.

"Abdo Dagher moved to Cairo when he was eighteen years old. He worked in a shop for manufacturing musical instruments. In the 1960's, he helped in founding "The Troop for Arabic Music". It was not untill the year 1992 that he started presenting his compositions in concerts of his music outside Egypt including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, France, Italy, Bulgaria, and Qatar. Known as Malik At-Taqasim (Master of Improvisation), Abdo Dagher has a wealth of music in his repertoire but he does not read or write notated music.

"He will be accompanied by a group of guest musicians."

cheers.

Today: Lecture at Kuwait Lawyers' Society 7pm

2005-03-12T09:03:00.000+03:00

"educating women on their political rights"

Speakers

- Dr. Hasan Jawhar
- Dr. Mohammed Abdulghafar Al-Shareef
- Mr. Ali Al-Rashed

open to all.

cheers

2005-02-27T23:04:00.000+03:00

In life you aim to be happy. What do you do when you are unhappy in your own home? You watch the days that pass and you feel as though you are a piece of cloth freshly picked out of the water tub you were being rinsed in and is now ready to be twisted dry. As you twist, your breath is twisted out of you. Being what it is, life, has much strength in those hands. Eventually it gets to the point where you either break or show a stonger resiliance than steel. You push, you unravel. Everything unravels.

I am writing this because I have several freinds that plan on leaving this country for good for various reasons. I hope to hear more of this. Tell me why you would like to leave Kuwait.

peace.

A Gift

2005-02-11T13:48:00.000+03:00

I envy you with your swift and smooth movement, the way you delicately dance along the paths of deserted lives, the way you bring relief to exhausted souls. For the adventures you have been through, for the places you have visited. You are the wind and what am I but a disturbed spirit, whom feels your mercy as you pass by. This is what runs through my mind as I lay back in the car with my hand out the window , relaxing to the cool breeze brushing against my fingertips, it calls to me pulling forcefully at my limb attempting to penetrate it as if to bestow a gift onto me. Am I worthy of such a gift? It sings to me with a calm and mellow tone relaxing me even further. Such a call from a magnificent creation is hared to neglect; I look out the window and see a face form in the distance. The face approaches me, it’s the expression of a child and innocent child. She howls out to me pleading with her mournful cries, and sorrow filled tears. I do not understand her, I concentrate ever so deeply, but nothing can be heard. It hurts her, her pleas become louder and her tears denser. I close my eyes and relax my thoughts, She whispers to me, I can understand her, I feel her breath on my cheek warm and soothing. I open my eye and it is I who is crying now and she fading away with a smile on her face. What she whispered to me ill never tell, but what ill tell you is that I am worthy after all.

------
this is written by a friend of mine that shall remain anonymous.

2005-02-09T19:13:00.000+03:00

+10 shady points for you if you can figure out why this infuriates me.

I realize that perhaps I am providing them with free publicity, but I just cannot let this pass.

cheers

Word of the day

2005-02-09T01:39:00.000+03:00

Motherfucker (also contracted forms mother and mofo and, phonetically, in African American Vernacular English, muthafucka) is a common insult and profanity in the English language and is widely considered obscene and inappropriate. By virtue of its history of usage, motherfucker generally is regarded as African-American in origin. Literally, it accuses one of violating possibly the oldest taboo known to humankind, incest. However, as with most epithets, its use is pejorative, rather than literal. The power of the word was that it attacked one's sense of manhood. The cause of countless barroom brawls and streetfights, it is purported to have sparked at least one prison riot. Regardless of its historical or cultural context, however, many consider motherfucker one of the most offensive profanities. "Delete Expletives", a study published in 2000, found that British people consider it second only to cunt in severity.

Motherfucker has taken on additional meanings through continued use, its evolution being shaped primarily by, again, the African-American community. It has come to mean a formidable or inexorable force, as in the threat: "Payback is a bitch, but revenge is a muthafucka." It is also an expletive expression of disgust or contempt: "Now, ain't that a muthafucka!" Motherfucker also has come to be used in some circles as a general pronoun or synonym for "thing" or "person".

The initials M.F. became a common, more polite substitute for motherfucker, as did the term Maryland farmer in the 1960s and 1970s. The result is an oft-recounted, if apocryphal, tale of the clueless Maryland Farmers Association writing a letter of protest to a prominent African-American in the news. It seems he called a Capitol Hill politician a "jive Maryland farmer," and the association's members were mightily offended.

The growing use of motherfucker in popular culture may mean the term through time has become less offensive to some, but some see its increasing ubiquity as a sign of the general coarsening of society.

[source]

Kuwait Blocking Islamic Web Sites That Incite Violence

2005-02-08T01:50:00.000+03:00

Lovely.

also in the news: Female GIs flash breasts, thong in mud-wrestling contests

Babel Fish

2005-02-07T13:51:00.000+03:00

The Babel fish is small, yellow, leechlike, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centers of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.
Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as a final and clinching proof of the NON-existence of God.
The argument goes like this:
`I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.'
`But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.'
`Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly disappears in a puff of logic.
`Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.
Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best-selling book, "Well, That about Wraps It Up for God."
Meanwhile, the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Follow thy shepherd

2005-02-03T11:23:00.000+03:00

Why not? Has anyone taken the time to think about the advantages of herd mentality? Or perhaps if such behavior is part of the normal progression of human society. We operate under the assumption that in a herd conflicts are minimized. No? Here is what happens, to avoid conflict, a society, as a whole, ascribes itself to a set of rules and regulations that organize its way of life. Societies are built around the coexistence of their consituents.Basically a group of people that decide to live together in peace. And what brings about this peace? Agreement. The constituents agree on these rules and regulations and by doing so dispense with their subjectivity. The result is a group of people living under the same set of laws they agreed upon. What keeps this structure intact is the belief and hope that ever member is adherent to the laws. Thus the mechanism of punishment is invented to counteract any deviation from the laws (since any deviation is a threat to the glue that holds society together--belief in the laws).

I couldn't not help but read/listen to more than several people (some at the Kuwait Graduates Society meeting) point to issues with the education system. It probably doesn't help to teach people to hate the west on a daily basis but shouldn't we also assume that people are capable of independent thought? I have heard the term "brainwashed" thrown around so generously in the past couple of days it's disgusting. They would have you believe that an individual is only capable of acting on what he/she in the manner they are programmed to. "Clearly you have been brainwashed into having those ideas, clearly it is you educational institution that is at fault." No, motherfucker, it is your own fault for taking what is given to you without raising an inkling of doubt or suspicion. Without any question. How do you teach independence of mind? You can't.

Think of it this way: if I were to start teaching a course called "Independence of mind for the ill-informed" and the result is a bunch of independent-minded people, all they have done is sit in my class room, listen to me, and agree. They have reached that state because they were brainwashed into it. Independence of mind, ladies and gentlemen is a personal journey. It is what you can learn from yourself--non other than yourself.

fuck peace :)

Note: Fantastic turnout at yesterday's blogger meeting. Thanks to all that showed up, I had a great time.

2005-01-30T06:05:00.000+03:00

Hours from now the ballot boxes north of here will be open, and along with them the floodgate of controversy. Of course, several hundred people will die, if not of terrorist attacks, then quite possibly of the resulting human stampede scampering across the beleaguered rubble. In the aftermath several groups will claim responsibility, and several groups with exchange blames on the state of unpreparedness of the whole campaign. God I hope this passes over well...

Note: Today is the 30th anniversary of the death of Om Kulthum, had she been alive she would probably throw a hissy fit over what is being aired on the satellite channels...

cheers...

Happy sheep mass-murder day!

2005-01-20T01:05:00.000+03:00

For the love of what?

2005-01-10T23:30:00.000+03:00

What kinds of love are possible? At what point do you decide that you love an individual? Is love a decision to be made? Are you attracted to the ones you love, or do you love the ones you are attracted to? To what extent are love and attraction related? If love is a decision, for what reasons should one love? If love is pure, should there be reasons to love? love of love?

Love of God. Love of Country. Love of Humanity. Love of Life. Love of Self. Love of Nature. Love of another Human. Love of Pleasure. Love of Material. Multiple definitions, or classic case of linguistic perversion?

I remember the point were I lost all feeling, it is the point where I feel I have captured the essence of what it means to love or be in love. I can't really say anything about it being a mutually shared quality (bad wording, I know) i.e. that love involves two people because there certainly has been instances where one individual is far more appreciative of another than the other of him/her. Regardless of whether there may be a relationship present or not. But still it would be wrong to say that loving an individual is appreciating them, although I will grant that appreciation is certainly an ingredient. It is more than just a closeness or a longing. To me what characterizes love is the absence of love. The feeling of losing something and not knowing what it is, why you have lost it, and why it hurts so much when it has indeed been lost. Lose love, and along with it you lost a part of yourself. Then this incredible craving caves in on your emotions. Insatiable craving that only one thing can satiate. They are bastards, but you miss them terribly, you love the bastard in them. You crave it knowing full well it is bad for you. It is an addiction.

cheers.

Note: look back at old blogs to see what topics have been neglected.

fat man needs advice...

2005-01-09T01:49:00.000+03:00

need recommendations on where to go buy gym equipment. Shady is on a mission :)

I'm considering adding an online wieght counter to keep track of the results, so YOU can motivate the shades.

peace

you missed the meeting suckas, no shady love for you.

2005-01-08T01:32:00.000+03:00

It was interesting, and extremely nerdy (here to be taken as an extremely good thing). Topics ranged from ARAMEX is god to how expensive electronics are, to RSS feeds, to the kuwaiti road system, to the unavoidable poiltical bashing, to the fact that McDonlads happy meal toys are of far higher quality than what is offered by Hardees' It was cool, I'd certainly do it again. Thanks, guys.

Words of the day: aposiopesis and eschatology.

I was looking for kwiki but found these instead so enjoy:

infoanarchy.org

disinfopedia.org

oh and make sure you check out delicious. Excellent online bookmarking/tagging site, I think I shall start my own, thank you nibaq.

peace and good night.

2005-01-07T01:58:00.000+03:00

Love is when one is pricked by a needle, and the other feels the pain. Emotional symptoms appear where they shouldn't. Physical symptoms follow. With the same breathlessness they are welcomed, with the same breathlessness they are banished. And then come the darkest days. Desperately filling the void within. Failing to do so even more at every attempt. The void grows. It encompasses all. It eclipses the sun.

yes I know where Germany is, the question is: do you know the location of your asshole?

2005-01-06T01:30:00.000+03:00

second place: Daniel, I really feel that you should go fuck yourself, or her--but definitely not me. (best rejection line in a while, I think)

Well, yes, you guessed it--I watched Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason tonight. I had funny moments and as is customary I go on questioning my existence. Nothing new, just the usual "what do I know and what am I going to do with it in the future etc." and as usual I come to the same, customary, conclusion. I am a moron who has no idea what he's doing; therefore, I will be planting my first Bonsai tomorrow so that in twenty years, if I still find myself answering that same question with that same answer, at least I'd have a Bonsai to show for it.

peace.

Well, now...

2005-01-05T09:47:00.000+03:00

damn its getting difficult to fill up this blog, not for lack of things to say but certainly for lack of better motivation. I will attempt to blog daily regadless of how silly it may sound. Perhaps that will force me to examine my life closer: "gee what is the most interesting thing I have done today?"

Well, it being 10am and all...I just woke up. Didn't even have a dream. Perhaps I should practice my writing skills or post about the steamy encounters I never had...we shall see.

Things that start with W: Where what white how whitish wheatish grey weathered wrecked while wild wild west walks welcomingly whole working writing toiling lethargically whore-ish.

peace.

P.S. HABBY BIRTHDAY POR N. !!!

Thick as Thieves--Natalie Merchant

2005-01-02T14:45:00.000+03:00

remember how it all began
the apple and the fall of man
the price we paid
so the people say
down a path of shame it lead us
dared to bite the hand that fed us
the fairy tale
the moral end
the wheel of fortune
never turns again

the worst of it has come and gone
in the chaos of millennium
in the falling out of the doomsday crowd
their last retreat is moving slow
they burn their bridges as they go
the heretic is beatified
he'll teach the harlot's child to smile

wracked again by indecision
should we make that small incision
testify to the bleeding heart inside?
we cut, we scratched
we rent, we slashed
and when he opened up at last
found a cul-de-sac
deep and black
of smoke and ash

the wicked king of parody
is kissing all his enemies
on the seventh day
of the seventh week
the tyrant's voice is softer now
but just for one forgiving hour
before the rise of his
iron fist again

I've come tonight
I've come to know
the way we are
the way we'll go
come to measure this
the width of the wide abyss

I come to you in restless sleep
where all your dreams turn bitter-sweet
with voodoo doll philosophies
and day-glo holy trinities

the crooked raft that leaves the shore
ferries drunken souls aboard
pilgrims march to Compestela
visions of their saint in yellow

all follow deep in trance
lost in a catatonic dance
know no future
damn the past
blind, warm, ecstatic
safe at last…

________
enjoy.

Good Morning World...

2005-01-02T13:52:00.000+03:00

So many thought lodged at the back of my mind, or so little. That I will never know. Thoughts of things to be happy for, a reason to celebrate time. Still no thoughts come to me. Still no thoughts come to be. Still I say, hello world. Good morning world. Good night world. It may or may not listen.

Thought of a nice poem to write. Forgot it. How nice would it be to write something for all to enjoy. No use now. As much as I try to seclude myself from logic that is when I fall deeper into it.

This, as the rest, is unscripted, unedited. I wanted to say something, just didn't know what, so "hello world" would have to do until I strain my gut.

peace.

Question

2004-12-30T02:34:00.000+03:00

I remember when I went to Lebanon last, they had this tree they called "malikat il-lail" (queen of the night) which produced a fantastic aromma (at night). I am wondering if anyone knew the English/scientific name of this particular tree.

Thanks.

P.S. Natalie Merchant is the shit.

Vonnegut

2004-12-25T17:29:00.000+03:00

I have finished reading Cat's Cradle. It was an interesting read, lots of black humor, lots of satire, lots of nonsensical randomness...I share with you some excerpts

Here "Papa's" last rites are being adminstered

99- DYOT MEET MAT

"Gott mate mutt," crooned Dr. Von Koenigswald.
"Dyot meet mat." echoed "Papa" Monzano.
"God mad mud." was what they'd said, each in his own dialect. I will here abandon the dialects of the litany.

"God got lonesome," said Von Koenigswald.
"God got lonesome."
"So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"
"So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"
"See all I've made,' said God, "the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.'"
"See all I've made,' said God, "the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.'"
"And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around."
"And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around."
"Lucky me, lucky mud."
"Lucky me, lucky mud." Tears were streaming down "Papa's cheeks.
"I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done."
"I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done."
"Nice going God!"
"Nice going God!" "Papa" said it with all his heart.
"Nobody but You could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have."
"Nobody but You could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have."
"I feel very unimportant compared to You."
"I feel very unimportant compared to You."
"The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around."
"The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around."
"I got so much, and most mud got so little."
"I got so much, and most mud got so little."

"Deng you vore da on-oh!" cried Von Koenigswald.
"Tz-yenk voo vore lo yon-yo!" wheezed "Papa."
What they had said was, "Thank you for the honor!"

"Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep."
"Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep."
"What memories for mud to have!"
"What memories for mud to have!"
"What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!"
"What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!"
"I loved everything I saw!"
"I loved everything I saw!"
"Good night."
"Good night."
"I will go to heaven now."
"I will go to heaven now."
"I can hardly wait. . ."
"I can hardly wait. . ."
"To find out for certain what my wampeter was. . ."
"To find out for certain what my wampeter was. . ."
"And who was in my karass. . ."
"And who was in my karass. . ."
"And all the good things our karass did for you. . ."
"And all the good things our karass did for you. . ."
"Amen."
"Amen."
____________

from 110- THE FOURTEENTH BOOK

And I remembered The Fouteenth Book of Bokonon, which I had read in its entirety the night before. The Fourteenth Book was entitled, "What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experiance of the Past Million Years?"

It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consisted of one word and a period.

This is it:
"Nothing."

___________

from 118- THE IRON MAIDEN AND THE OUBLIETTE

In the begining, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.

And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.

"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.
"Certainly," said man.
"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God. And He went away.

___________

from 124- FRANK'S ANT FARM

I walked away from Frank, just as The Books of Bokonon advised me to do. "Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before," Bokonon tells us. "He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."

***************

thats all for now...I will be reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy next...

Feelings...

2004-12-21T03:54:00.000+03:00

It happened while I pondering the significance of my writing style. I chanced upon a thought that it is impossible to describe a feeling without resorting to a metaphor of some sort. That is unless no feeling is described. Thus the best described feeling is the un described one. You feel like crap because of a certain event, you can describe this feeling i.e. "like crap" or you can describe the events precedent to this feeling and hope that does the trick.

But why describe any emotion, personally because it feels better to have it on paper than locked up within. Though the worst are feelings without precedent. Feelings without justification. Feelings you cannot get rid of because you don't know from what source they spout.

I just realized that not only is it difficult to describe emotion without resorting to metaphors/similes but the realm of susceptibility expands to include virtually everything. In particular how do you describe a sound, a smell, or a taste? (while typing this I realized those of us with well tuned ears have knowledge of what an A sounds like...so lets play an experiment...can you compose something without the aid of a musical instrument, and convey that to another individual...Beethoven did....). How do you describe what chicken soup tastes like to a vegetarian?

Perhaps the issue is we have a rather limited language (or a vocabulary perhaps). There are things that are simply beyond description. Yet we try.

I think the next time I have one of those bad emotions I will attempt to capture it in words, hopefully it wont be too bad...

Note: Watched Baraka today and I cant help but note that the more humanity becomes systematized the less human it becomes. When every individual operates as a part of mega-organism in a certain preordained manner can we call him/her an individual?

Need to post something on looks vs brains dilemma..

Site of the day: Visual Thesaurus.

peace

Woman jailed for leaving children

2004-12-17T19:36:00.000+03:00

Reports the BBC.

Now I know it is possibly not thew wisest decision to leave your 12 and 6 year olds in the apartment for a couple of days while you shag at your boyfriend's villa in another country. BUT, how does jailing her make the situation any better. Instead of the comparatively brief siesta away from little Johnny, justice deems in just to separate parent from sibling for a longer period. Lovely.

peace.

Premeditated lying

2004-12-17T08:05:00.000+03:00

I wish I can sit here and write a long deep poetic essay on the virtues of being honest with yourself but god damn it why should I. I realise we live in a conservative society. I realize how promiscuity is looked upon. But god damn it I dont get how you could lie about yourself and still be able to sneak in a good night's sleep. I do not care about an individual's sexual history but what troubles me what makes me cringe and turns my stomach is people who lie about it. Accept that every action has its consequences, accept this to continue, accept that the only thing time brings is a different set of consequences, and accept that the very essence of cowardice is not lying to the masses but lying to oneself.

I said this before but let me repeat it. Freedom is not action in the absence of consequence but action despite it. Only you can set your self free, and only you can imprison it.

peace

The culprit strikes again...

2004-12-16T17:10:00.000+03:00

vandal
Originally uploaded by shadyq80.

check this site. Hope you find it amusing.

Mankind and Money

2004-12-15T01:25:00.000+03:00

I am in one of those moods for the past couple of days that compel me to be disgusted at mankind. I have had these ideas about business for a while but for some reason, watching "The Shipping News" tonight inspired me to write about them.

I have always looked towards business school graduates with some malice. There is perhaps this long standing war between business majors and us engineers but this has nothing to do with it. It never made sense to me how would one build a career out of the act of making money. I never saw anything constructive about it. I always thought that one should always do what they enjoy the most, what would be most self-fulfilling and that money is the bonus you get. Doing something for the sheer purpose of making money seems, to me, a mystery. I wrote this and I know there are people that feel that making money is in itself an enjoyable act but do they realize what their job entails. There is something uncomfortable about a job that requires you to sit down and scheme up plans to delude people into handing over what bonuses they receive from whatever work they have done. (I will admit here that I have been a long time fan of economic theory since I enjoy how it tries to model human behavior with mathematics (I have a big thing for mathematics)).

Now to my point. I feel that in order for any business transaction to take place, it is inevitable that at least one party is lying. Business interactions are interactions between two or more parties where there is an exchange of products, services, and money. I feel that for any such interaction to proceed (in the absence of any coercive action) each side must feel they are gaining something. If this criterion is not met no interaction is possible (I hope, but perhaps someone would like to give me an example of how I could be wrong). Thus each side feels that what they are getting is of higher value than what they are giving away. Thus to make profit you must increase the value of your item with respect to what it is being exchanged with. Thus you feel that what you are giving up is of low value with respect to what you are getting. Consequently, so are they. Both sides are simultaneously lying to each other about the value of what they are about to exchange. Apply this to the job hunting process and you end up with the conclusion that only people who undervalue their work work for someone else. I will stop this rambling here.

Conclusion: profit occurs only when one is either lied to or coerced.

Brutal honesty and some other notes

2004-12-10T01:15:00.000+03:00

Several times I have been described as being an elitist bastard who is brutally honest to the point that it is rude. Now I honestly don't know how to respond to this, I dislike elitism and perhaps if I am to find out what exactly people find elitist about this blog they'd kindly let me know about it. Please do not tell me to change the verbiage or style as this is essentially me and if you don't understand it I suggest you visit dictionary.com or perhaps enroll in their word of the day email list (well that was damn elitist if I say so myself oh well still give me some pointers if you got them).

As for the brutal honesty, well yes guilty as charged. It will only shock you the first time, the next time you will have gotten used to it. I will apologize if I tend to make you feel like poo but I will not apologize or attempt to sugar coat what I say to suite your mood. If you are made of glass, stay away from little boys with rocks.

I honestly don't mean to be mean, I just say what is on my mind perhaps sometimes I regret it, but if you are looking for kinder gentler people, well the world is full of them and let me not deter you from their company. Hence if I have ever called you a bitch, slut, whore, moron, fuck-face, son of illegitimate midgets and other things of that nature and it has hurt your feelings...well I only meant it in the best-est of intentions. Honest. Brutally honest.

Note I

Need to find out what happened to my "minimum wage post"

Note II

Find out more about human instinct and the advent of self-awareness. (Perhaps throw in some Darwinian concepts since I've been doing some reading on that lately).

cheers till next time,
elitist bastard.

My state of mind for the past few days...

2004-12-04T01:02:00.000+03:00

Yes you care. Damnit.

Puzzling state actually, the sickness has reduced my brain to mush and I cannot seem to think anymore; furthermore my ability to incorporate sound effects into a conversation have been enhanced. Seriously though, my mind is blank and it is a good kind of blank. No thoughts. no nothing, it is usually the state you reach after prolonged meditation (or in this case, prolonged medication HAR!).

It is whenever I am encountering such a state that I start to think: is this a good thing or a bad thing? It is good because I simply couldnt care less of what happens around me and my brain is almost like a drawing board before the first stroke of colour. The bad, well that is when I consider what if I am stuck in this state, will I have begin to think again, will I ever reflect again: who am I now that I don't think?

I am in such a state of carelessness that I barely reply when people speak, I simply do not care. Again, this is not the type of "do not care" you come across when you are burnt out of after too many failed attempts to vertically balance a broom on your index finger, this is a "do not care" that is a part of being at peace with myself I guess but puzzling because I do not know what brought it about.

Here ends the crazy man's ramble. Let me know if you do not care. Or perhaps instruct me on how to bring back the rage...

Calling all non-judgmental people...

2004-12-01T23:41:00.000+03:00

I apologize in advance for the lack of cohesiveness that might ensue as I am writing this in a state of utmost medical misery.

These thoughts are inspired by a semi-discussion I had with a friend the other day on claims that there were people who simply did not judge or are not judgmental. I will start by stating my bias against this friend's argument as I think I am the most judgmental bastard that ever existed and I simply cannot see anyways around it.

First is first and thus we must examine what a "judgment" is and proceed to find what it entails to be "judgmental." Thank you dictionary.com for this, a judgment is a "formation of an opinion after consideration or deliberation" or "An opinion or estimate formed after consideration or deliberation" the real definition is longer but I feel these two snippets are sufficient for this discussion. (Note: It would be wise to make distinctions between judgmental and opinionated). Judgmental on the other hand means "Inclined to make judgments, especially moral or personal ones."

How does one go about her life without making judgments (especially moral or personal ones)? (Note: I have no idea what a personal judgment is). In a purely theoretical sense, life is a series of choices being made and unmade. A choice is a preference order on the set of alternatives. This judgment is inherent to the choice making activity. Of course preferring vimto over coffee is not often considered a "judgmental act" hence there are several types of judgments (some of whom are labeled judgmental and others not). But still we must verify of there are occasions where the individual is not prone to making choices (I will leave this open to your comments).

I guess making a judgment in a negative sense involves labeling or categorizing people inaccurately based on some precieved qualities about them. Example, that girl is a bitch because she wears a miniskirt or that dude is evil because he drinks. Now I will not argue as to why this is the case but I would like to point out several toned down versions of these judgements that seem be an essential member of the human mental process. One such judgment is friend or foe identification i.e. you see someone you either recognize them or you don't. Another judgment on the same lines is the "is s/he attractive" judgment (depending on sexual orientation).

No matter how much information you gather on an individual at some point a judgment will be made/corrected.

When you label people as judgmental, you are *labeling* people as judgmental

Being judgmental means there is a discrepancy between how you view yourself and how they view you (usually in a negative sense).

I am mad tired. and I really don't care enough to argue my point: it is of utmost difficulty to view an individual without coming to a conclusion be it negative or positive (or neutral).

--begin cheesiness--
Note: I thank dad for dropping a dozen fresh za3tars on my lap (from lulu'a) while this was being typed, truly an insane dad.
--end cheesiness--

On Freedom

2004-11-25T13:45:00.000+03:00

I think today is an excellent day to share my view on freedom, perhaps it's the coffee....

This is somewhat related to my thoughts on censorship. I reiterate, rallying against the concept of censorship is censorship. You dislike being censored and you want that stopped, well you are rallying against someone else's view, namely that there are things that should be censored.

My idea of freedom is this: freedom is not action in the absence of consequence, it is action despite the consequence. I feel that freedom has been grossly misinterpreted; that having freedom means breaking down the rules and regulations, that freedom reaches its maxim at the state of total anarchy. Well, gentlemen and ladies, I find this particular definition of freedom nonsensical. If you are waiting for a world where people peacefully coexist without the need of any rules, keep waiting. I, on the other hand, recognize that freedom is not something granted to me by a higher authority, it is intrinsic to me. I am born with it, I live by it, and I will die with it between my fists. Authority's job is to distract you from that fact, and mine is to remind you of it.

Today's moral: Strutting in a mini skirt and expecting no attention is like defecating in the middle of the street, coming back half an hour later, and being surprised that you street-side gift is covered in flies.

What do you think?

2004-11-23T23:54:00.000+03:00

Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. -- Robert Frost

as a side note...

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words -- Robert Frost

I should look up this dude too no?

snippets of thought...and some interesting connections

2004-11-23T11:42:00.000+03:00

The artist is not a person endowed with free will who seeks his own ends, but one who allows art to realize its purposes through him. As a human being he may have moods and a will and personal aims, but as an artist he is "man" in a higher sense - he is "collective man," a vehicle and moulder of the unconscious psychic life of mankind. --Carl Jung

I find it extremely interesting that Mr. Jung whose psychological theories eventually lead to the MBTI had written a hefty volume on the symbolism contained in Nietzsche's Zarathustra.

I find it also interesting that Nietzsche crush, Lou Salome, was at some point Freud's little lady. More homework to be done on the two I assure you.

A question came to me as I was reading both kwtia and Q's blogs concerning good news. It seems that all that is conveyed by the news/mass media are the conclusions made by influential decision makers across the globe. I am wondering if it were a, perhaps, a better aid to democracy, that instead of reading about conclusions we would read about the alternatives considered before any decision is made.

This lead to the flash back i believe to Tom Cruise's "Minority Report" where a statement was made concerning the current legal system, which i believe to be insightful, went something like this: you only catch the criminal after the crime is committed, thus there really is no such thing as crime prevention. There is only a system in place to terrorize people into virtuousness.

Random thought: I was thinking of how viable it is to replace cars off the street with bumper cars. Then I thought the car manufacturers would still capitalize on this by producing faster, bigger, deadlier, and more expensive models.

I leave you with this quote:

Marx, Darwin and Freud are the three most crashing bores of the Western World. Simplistic popularization of their ideas has thrust our world into a mental straitjacket from which we can only escape by the most anarchic violence. --William Golding

Anger...(Violent-Post Warning)

2004-11-19T11:47:00.000+03:00

Is it ok to want to rip another human being's jugulars with your dull nails?

This has been a special week of psychological metamorphosis. I feel that I have become increasingly fierce and, more shockingly, I feel that I am perhaps justified in being so.

For the longest time I have believed in leaving people alone to do as they please and in the inherent immorality of punishment/law. This week I had no problems with breaking these long standing tablets.

It started with me rolling down the windows to tell the whole world what I thought about your fucking driving you imbecile. This slowly escalated into yesterdays girl-chaser climax. I was taking out the niece and a bunch of friends out since she was feeling blue and as the night grew darker I was asked to escort one of her friends home. At that moment I couldn't comprehend the logic of it and thought they were just paranoid. Oh how naive.

It didn't take too long for the festivities to begin as Dude #1 thought it would be cool to stop right next to the car my niece and her friend were occupying and get friendly, this is as I was looking to escort...the trip had not yet begun. A quick flick of my wrist in the "what the fuck do you think you're doing buddy" fashion quickly dispensed with that fool.

Dude #2, shit, I didn't even think he'd venture a "hi." He was older than their fathers and looked like a worker returning after a day of hard work. Got rid of him with a couple of blinding flashes from my high light.

Now Dude #3 was especially dear to my heart. He was one of those nice fellas who thought they had a god given right to pimp my daughters because daddy bought him a hot car. He was a persistent motherfucker too. Now as I pulled up next to him with the intent to have a philosophic discourse, if not of mind then of knuckles, the brilliance that was my niece's friend decided to take a turn, keep the dude, and loose me. Needless to say, I was steaming. By the time I got to them the issue had be resolved, I just wish I was there. My fingertips ache.

I know that some of you out there feel, for various hormonal issues, that this is acceptable. Similarly, I declare, that I have an anger problem that needs to be alleviated on your neck every once in a while.

I declare, also, that we need porn in this country so that some of my fellow country men can disburse their seeds on their own fucking lawn and so that I will be prevented from ripping some poor sap's tonsils with my bare fingertips. No tonsillitis and definitely no fucking anesthetic.

Woo-Sah.

"A Poison Tree" --William Blake

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I water'd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with my smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree

Fedora Core 3 vs. FreeBSD 5.2

2004-11-18T14:38:00.000+03:00

I have a long weekend and I'm getting tired of my redhat 9.0. The choice is between an easy "click through" install of infinite boring-ness or a cool whole week long install for ultimate nerdiness and hence coolness.

This may even involve a laptop party!! YAY! (Bring your laptop to one of the many free high bandwidth spots and download gigs and gigs of pure electronic bliss...)

So yeah should I be lazy and install Fedora or be a cool cat and install FreeBSD?

peace.

Please forgive my plagiarism

2004-11-17T04:24:00.000+03:00

I picked this up from a web a while a go...forgot where i found it...enjoy.

--begin quote--

I wouldn't worry too much about your monument, if I were you. If I had my time again, I would pay more regard to those poems of Horace which tell you that you will not have your time again. Life is brief and death kicks at the door impartially. Who knows how many tomorrows the gods will grant us? Now is the time, when you are young, to deck you hair with myrtle, drink the best of the wine, pluck the fruit. Seasons and moons renew themselves but neither noble name nor eloquence, no, nor righteous deeds will restore us.

--end quote--

Finished reading Zarathustra today...it is most excellent.

The notes I keep

2004-11-16T02:47:00.000+03:00

I always carry a pen and a piece of paper to write my thoughts on so as to ease my mind. If I don't, I feel that it gets overcrowded and in the process of trying to remember all the thoughts that past I reach a state of utter confusion. I write to ease my mind, I write to forget.

Here I was experimenting with randomness:

The army of nostalgia beat its feet at the threshold of my psyche. Bitter sweet lemony drink. Published posthumously by a gnome and a catfish. Lyrical justice served. Shriveled scripture, revelations untold.

Here is what was on the paper I had at the concert (unedited):

The logic behind speakers at a concert. There is something about the human sound that just cannot be conveyed by modern technology.

The moment I start deciding on what needs to be said and what is necessary what is not--that is when I become reserved--because talk is irrational.

Layleena--what an idea.

Ideologies cannot be inherited, they must come naturally.

Halima Boland, a case of severe belated adulthood.

peace.

So much for introspection...

2004-11-15T16:22:00.000+03:00

Instead of spending time in front of the sea I will be seeing nancy ajram et al.

Shoot me please.

Funny aside: "Call me when you're done with your period." --this was told to a guy who was "za3lan" from a girl. So demeaning. I love it :)

Watched Amelie tonight...

2004-11-15T02:30:00.000+03:00

"...Faliure teaches us that life is but a draft...a long rehersal for a show that will never play..."

cheers.

Some introspection...

2004-11-14T03:08:00.000+03:00

Tonight I get this creepy feeling that I am slowly detaching myself from the world. That I know less today than I knew yesterday. That I am no longer aware of what is around me. I will take this week's vacation (away from work and the net) as an opportunity to reflect and reassess what is important, I have to do this every once in a while so as to not lose sight of my objectives. I feel I have lost sight of my objectives.

This is truly one of the worst feelings, every once in a while I come to realize how ignorant I am and it scares me. There is simply too much information for me to cover all at once so I tend to alternate. This tends to result in me having multiple life "phases." In each phase I am a distinct identity, with distinct interests, with distinct objectives. A mental metamorphosis. Who know what kind of beast lurks behind this weeks cocoon.

peace.

Blessed Eid

2004-11-13T02:15:00.000+03:00

Blessed eid I come to thee
I come to celebrate gluttony
Though it seems love is abound
Truth be told more food is found.
Forgetful of the days that past
Nothing spiritual is meant to last
Disillusioned little hearts, their bellies swell
Damn our souls to Dante's Hell.

A philosophical exercise, Part I

2004-11-12T14:56:00.000+03:00

I don't know why, I just dislike agreeing with people.

1) One mustn't have riches without labour (I like the british spelling better).

There are perhaps two ways, off the top of my mind, in which this statement could potentially be true. i.e. two ways in which riches can be had without labor. One would be inheritance, the other would be the ever elusive winning lottery ticket. Well in the first one must still be a good daughter/son. The second case still involves running to the store purchasing the ticket, all sorts of random decision making contributing to the gamblers fallacy. Nevermind.

Perhaps this is a suggestion to not steal that which others have worked so hard for. I find the suggestion that stealing is not a laborious activity, frankly, insulting. Stealing is a very tough and rewarding profession, please do not insult it. It is perhaps one of the most "natural" ways of distributing the wealth. Thank you very much.

Then of-course there is this issue of "who told you riches are necessarily material?" In the end all materialistic gains serve to satisfy non-materialistic ends i.e. I make money because it makes me feel incredibly good or I make money so as to feed myself, hunger being a non-materialistic end. (Perhaps a post on the division between material and non?) Your riches be they material or non will require effort so I will propose the correction: One mustn't labour without riches be they material or non.

Utimately I find that riches cannot be kept without labour, and as a consequence greed is labour intensive task. That being said I encourage you to steal, rob, and pillage as you see fit. Beat the greed.

Note: I am using the word "perhaps" too much and I need a substitute.

Further note: I started out wanting to write something about each point but damn that would require too much energy and not enough riches :)

Something I thought I'd share...

2004-11-11T04:27:00.000+03:00

I bought this t-shirt from greece and almost forgot I bought it so here is what was written on it:

Seven things you mustn't have:

- Riches withough Labor
- Politics without Authority
- Enjoyment without Feelings
- Knowledge without Character
- Trade without Honesty
- Science without Humanism
- Worship without Sacrifice

--mahatma gandhi (not sure how accurate it is).

peace.

Ladies and germs, your profiles...

2004-11-10T01:22:00.000+03:00

There are a multitude of sites with profiles on them and I am sure you are familiar with typelogic, Keirsey, and personalitypage. I have refrained from copying down everything to this page but I will put up some summary paragraphs. Let me know if you want a longer post and I will impress you with tremendous feats of plagiarism the likes of which your eyes have never seen.

Note: the paragraphs are extracted from lifexpolore just happens to be my favorite.

First the yappermounths (Extraverts)

ENFP "The Inspirer": Amunki, DnG, Sheba

ENFPs are initiators of change who are keenly perceptive of possibilities, and who energize and stimulate through their contagious enthusiasm. They prefer the start-up phase of a project or relationship, and are tireless in the pursuit of new-found interests. ENFPs are able to anticipate the needs of others and to offer them needed help and appreciation. They bring zest, joy, liveliness, and fun to all aspects of their lives. They are at their best in situations that are fluid and changing, and that allow them to express their creativity and use their charisma.

[source]
[typelogic]
[personalitypage]
[Keirsey]

ENTJ "The Leader": Q, Ineffable79

ENTJs take charge quickly and deal directly with problems, especially in situations that involve confusion and inefficiency. They provide structure to the organizations to which they belong and design strategies to accomplish their personal and organizational goals. They are 'take charge' people who organise their own and others' external environments. They use their resources to find a way to meet the challenge. They are at their best in using their analytical and strategic thinking.

[source]
[typelogic]
[personalitypage]
[Keirsey]

ESFP "The Performer": SheWrites

ESFPs are friendly, outgoing, fun loving and naturally drawn to people. They are quite enthusiastic and exuberant, and are usually well liked by others. They are good at meeting people and helping them enjoy themselves. They are sympathetic toward people and generous with their time and money. At their best, they are able to realistically meet human and situational needs in a fun and lively way.

[source]
[typelogic]
[personalitypage]
[Keirsey]

And the cool people (Because I am one of them...)

INFJ "The Mystic": Rabab

INFJs are future oriented, and direct their insight and inspiration toward the understanding of themselves and thereby human nature. Their work mirrors their integrity, and it needs to reflect their inner ideals. Solitude and an opportunity to concentrate thoroughly on what counts most is important to them. INFJs prefer to quietly exert their influence. They have deeply felt compassion, and they desire harmony with others. INFJs understand the complexities existing within people and among them. They are at their best concentrating on their ideas, ideals, and inspirations.

[source]
[typelogic]
[personalitypage]
[Keirsey]

INFP "The Idealist": kwtia, Peach

INFPs focus deeply on their values, and they devote their lives to pursuing the ideal. They often draw people together around a common purpose and work to find a place for each person within the group. They are creative, and they seek new ideas and possibilities. They quietly push for what is important to them, and they rarely give up. While they have a gentleness about them and a delightful sense of humor, they may be somewhat difficult to get to know and may be overlooked by others. They are at their best making their world more in line with their internal vision of perfection.

[source]
[typelogic]
[personalitypage]
[Keirsey]

INTJ "The Scientist": Purgatory72, mishu1984, shosho, ME ME ME ME MEMEMEMEME! (shady q80)<---HIM

INTJs are strong individualists who seek new angles or novel ways of looking at things. They enjoy coming to new understandings. They are insightful and mentally quick; however, this mental quickness may not always be outwardly apparent to others since they keep a great deal to themselves. They are very determined people who trust their vision of the possibilities, regardless of what others think. They may even be considered the most independent of all of the sixteen personality types. INTJs are at their best in quietly and firmly developing their ideas, theories, and principles.

[source]
[typelogic]
[personalitypage]
[Keirsey]

INTP "The Thinker": Maryam

INTPs are known for their quest for logical purity, which motivates them to examine universal truths and principles. They are constantly asking themselves and others the questions 'Why?' and 'Why not?' Clear and quick thinkers, they are able to focus with great intensity on their interests. They appreciate elegance and efficiency in thought processes and require them, even more so, in their own communications. They may be seen as unwilling to accept what everyone else regards as truth. While often low key in outward appearance and approach, the INTP is 'hard as nails' when challenging a truth. INTPs do not like to deal with the obvious. They are at their best in building conceptual models and developing unusual and complex ideas.

[source]
[typelogic]
[personalitypage]
[Keirsey]

Not-so-random note: I think you should check out the other "types" in your "group" which are deviations in the first and last letters. I find that under different situations I would be wearing different hats (ex. near close friends I will be an extravert. I am sure someone has come up with this "transitional-type" idea and I will research it (along with narcissism and thermodynamics...bleh).

Further note: aaaaHahahahaha, I'm sorry but I just realized something here (my stupidity) I just "told" the test I am an INTJ and the test replied "Yes you are an INTJ." Now why is this impressive (the results, not me), why am I surprised to find my self-description and where does this air of "surreal-ity" come from? Perhaps Jung formulated the Types intuitivly then interviewed members of each type and posted the average as a type descriptor, for all you engineers out there remember when your lab results just couldnt quite come up right and you ended up "fudging" the data at 5:30am... bleh. adios amigos! I got some other stuff to do now.

My apologies, the profiles can wait.

2004-11-09T03:48:00.000+03:00

Until then, here is something I stumbled upon as I was surfing the web: William Faulkner's Nobel Prize speach.

"I decline to accept the end of man." --William Faulkner

I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work--a life's work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand where I am standing.

Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only one question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid: and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed--love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, and victories without hope and worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.

Until he learns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

[source]

MBTI

2004-11-07T02:38:00.000+03:00

Here is the better test.

This is a mate test if it interests you based on the MBTI.

peace.

I'm an INTJ

2004-11-06T01:17:00.000+03:00

Here is how you deal with an INTJ (with special attention to #10):

1) Be willing to back up your statements with facts - or at least some pretty sound reasoning.

2) Don't expect them to respect you or your viewpoints just because you say so. INTJ respect must be earned.

3) Be willing to concede when you are wrong. The average INTJ respects the truth over being "right". Withdraw your erroneous comment and admit your mistake and they will see you as a very reasonable person. Stick to erroneous comments and they will think you are an irrational idiot and treat everything you say as being questionable.

4) Try not to be repetitive. It annoys them.

5) Do not feed them a line of bull.

6) Expect debate. INTJs like to tear ideas apart and prove their worthiness. They will even argue a point they don't actually support for the sake of argument.

7) Do not mistake the strength of your conviction with the strength of your argument. INTJs do not need to believe in a position to argue it or argue it well. Therefore, it will take more than fervor to sway them.

8) Do not be surprised at sarcasm.

9) Remember that INTJs believe in workable solutions. They are extremely open-minded to possibilities, but they will quickly discard any idea that is unfeasible. INTJ open-mindedness means that they are willing to have a go at an idea by trying to pull it apart. This horrifies people who expect oohs and ahhs and reverence. The ultimate INTJ insult to an idea is to ignore it, because that means it's not even interesting enough to deconstruct.

This also means that they will not just accept any viewpoint that is presented to them. The bottom line is "Does it work?" - end discussion.

10) Do not expect INTJs to actually care about how you view them. They already know that they are arrogant bastards with a morbid sense of humor. Telling them the obvious accomplishes nothing.

INTJ is a personality type determined by taking a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator exam. I think it is ridiculously accurate. Take it and you will see...oh and post results! I want to see what exactly am I dealing with :D You can take the long test (more accurate) or the short test (rough estimate).

Oh and here is a Skeptics Dicitionary entry on the test for you skeptics.

My sentiments exactly...

2004-11-05T20:28:00.000+03:00

DSC_0683,
originally uploaded by shadyq80.

I am lazy today so instead of the political ranting that I dislike I will leave you with this picture. Hopefully it wont take you too long to refresh the blog (if it does let me know).

Bushie love.

2004-11-04T20:25:00.000+03:00

I have nothing much to say but here is a movie quote from 25th hour with Edward Norton (go see it).

(Monty walks into the bathroom. He looks in the mirror. In the bottom corner, someone's written Fuck You!)
Monty: Yeah, fuck you, too.
Monty's Reflection: Fuck me? Fuck you! Fuck you and this whole city and everyone in it.
Fuck the panhandlers, grubbing for money, and smiling at me behind my back.
Fuck squeegee men dirtying up the clean windshield of my car. Get a fucking job!
Fuck the Sikhs and the Pakistanis bombing down the avenues in decrepit cabs, curry steaming out their pores and stinking up my day. Terrorists in fucking training. Slow the fuck down!
Fuck the Chelsea boys with their waxed chests and pumped up biceps. Going down on each other in my parks and on my piers, jingling their dicks on my Channel 35.
Fuck the Korean grocers with their pyramids of overpriced fruit and their tulips and roses wrapped in plastic. Ten years in the country, still no speaky English?
Fuck the Russians in Brighton Beach. Mobster thugs sitting in cafés, sipping tea in little glasses, sugar cubes between their teeth. Wheelin' and dealin' and schemin'. Go back where you fucking came from!
Fuck the black-hatted Chassidim, strolling up and down 47th street in their dirty gabardine with their dandruff. Selling South African apartheid diamonds!
Fuck the Wall Street brokers. Self-styled masters of the universe. Michael Douglas, Gordon Gecko wannabe mother fuckers, figuring out new ways to rob hard working people blind. Send those Enron assholes to jail for fucking life! You think Bush and Cheney didn't know about that shit? Give me a fucking break! Tyco! Imclone! Adelphia! Worldcom!
Fuck the Puerto Ricans. 20 to a car, swelling up the welfare rolls, worst fuckin' parade in the city. And don't even get me started on the Dom-in-i-cans, because they make the Puerto Ricans look good.
Fuck the Bensonhurst Italians with their pomaded hair, their nylon warm-up suits, and their St. Anthony medallions. Swinging their, Jason Giambi, Louisville slugger, baseball bats, trying to audition for the Sopranos.
Fuck the Upper East Side wives with their Hermés scarves and their fifty-dollar Balducci artichokes. Overfed faces getting pulled and lifted and stretched, all taut and shiny. You're not fooling anybody, sweetheart!
Fuck the uptown brothers. They never pass the ball, they don't want to play defense, they take fives steps on every lay-up to the hoop. And then they want to turn around and blame everything on the white man. Slavery ended one hundred and thirty seven years ago. Move the fuck on!
Fuck the corrupt cops with their anus violating plungers and their 41 shots, standing behind a blue wall of silence. You betray our trust!
Fuck the priests who put their hands down some innocent child's pants. Fuck the church that protects them, delivering us into evil. And while you're at it, fuck JC! He got off easy! A day on the cross, a weekend in hell, and all the hallelujahs of the legioned angels for eternity! Try seven years in fuckin Otisville, Jay!
Fuck Osama Bin Laden, Alqueda, and backward-ass, cave-dwelling, fundamentalist assholes everywhere. On the names of innocent thousands murdered, I pray you spend the rest of eternity with your seventy-two whores roasting in a jet-fueled fire in hell. You towel headed camel jockeys can kiss my royal, Irish ass!
Fuck Jacob Elinski, whining malcontent.
Fuck Francis Xavier Slaughtery, my best friend, judging me while he stares at my girlfriend's ass.
Fuck Naturel Rivera. I gave her my trust and she stabbed me in the back. Sold me up the river. Fucking bitch.
Fuck my father with his endless grief, standing behind that bar. Sipping on club soda, selling whiskey to firemen and cheering the Bronx Bombers.
Fuck this whole city and everyone in it. From the row houses of Astoria to the penthouses on Park Avenue. From the projects in the Bronx to the lofts in Soho. From the tenements in Alphabet City to the brownstones in Park slope to the split levels in Staten Island. Let an earthquake crumble it. Let the fires rage. Let it burn to fuckin ash then let the waters rise and submerge this whole, rat-infested place.
Monty: No. No, fuck you, Montgomery Brogan. You had it all and then you threw it away, you dumb fuck!
(He takes a breath and tries to rub away the words.)

[source]

It has been a while since I last enjoyed the rain...

2004-11-03T04:02:00.000+03:00

I had one of those spiritual moments as I drove in seclusion. The streets weren't empty but it felt like they were. Rain took a hold of the acoustics while the window wipers played the bass. Old man in recitation of sacred scriptures echoing. Beauty was not in the meaning, beauty was in the emotions usurped. Sacrilegious Dogma. Spiritual Bliss.

I hope your night was as pleasant as mine.

peace.

Quite possibly the most outrageous/hilarious thing I've seen in a while...

2004-11-01T22:35:00.000+03:00

Someone segwaying (quite literally, like on a fucking segway) out of a diwania in dishdasha + qutra + 3gal.

AWSOMENESS!!!

I think I want a segway now.

shady sayz: Marry someone you wouldn't mind ignoring at some point in the future.

Word of the day: Brobdingnagian \brob-ding-NAG-ee-uhn\, adjective: Of extraordinary size; gigantic; enormous.

1984

2004-11-01T01:52:00.000+03:00

All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and
hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close
to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize
their own motives... We know that no one ever seizes power with the
intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One
does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution;
one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The
object of persecution is persecution.

Well that concludes my favorite Orwellian paragraph.

Latest discovery: being independant after the college years is tough.

A quote for you to think about, which just happens to be my favorite:

A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.
--Ludwig Wittgenstein

Blog wh0ring and things of that nature...

2004-10-30T17:07:00.000+03:00

I have about 999999 browser windows open and I'm refreshing at an alarming rate. I have become the supreme altar boy of the kuwaiti blogging underground. It is MADNESS...MADNESS I TELL YOU! I am ashamed. Help me.

Q: shady, why is there a "0" instead of an "o" in the title?
A: well I recently discovered that when I try to access my post I get the following message:

Forbidden
You were denied access because:

Access denied by access control list.

I also discovered URLs with the word GAY are blocked. Don't ask. Thus I would like to start a word ban list awareness party. With each word you submit I bow before you. 'course this may only happening to poor little Fasttelco users like me...in that case ignore the above.

To the left...erm...right you will see a list of logs that I read. Not only is the list here to show how big of a kiss ass I am but also because I just want to be cool and popular. Thanks very much. Actually they are here to enhance my (and your) blog whoring experience. There is also a set of cool links for me (and you) to click on when I'm(you're) waiting for someone to reply to the last comment/post posted. bon appetit!

New favorite verb:

disambiguate

v : state unambiguously or remove ambiguities from; "Can you disambiguate this statement?"

God there are so many uses for this. wow.

Incidentally I am looking for a new verb with the following meaning: to defeat auto-censorship procedures; "The blocked URL has been ------ed." Please, something better than "unblocked."

Today's exercise in creativity: State the best way to entertain yourself through a boring conversation with the loop of string you just found in your pocket.

Before lastly, I know many of you want to see pictures of my messy desk...so here it is in black and white; may god have mercy on your soul if you see it in color.

Lastly, I have installed an invisible webcounter (so no one would notice) on this page so I can see what kind of sick shit you guys browse through before you end up here. Let it be known, however, I support, vehemently, the rights of people to be left alone. This is just an experiment so beware: SHADY Q80 IS WATCHING YOU.

Notes on Cleaning

2004-10-29T19:47:00.000+03:00

It started yesterday with some khubiz khameer + lebnah + za3tar + cbai + 7aleeb (this is the ultimate motivational combo...god it makes me feel so good, if lebnah + za3tar were a woman I'd get hitched).

Then everything came off (the desk ofcourse! :) )

Then the confusion began...weird state of mind I go into when I clean up that could consist of one or more of the following:
- There is always a memory of something attached to every object that comes alive whenever I am in contact with that object...this puts me in a trance.
- No matter how much shit there is to displace there is always more.
- Cleaning is an unbelievable exercise in decision making, sometimes it is frustrating because there are no logical arrangments...it is pretty much as arbitrary as it was before. The subject of asthetics is an amazing one indeed.
- Dust dust dust...cough cough cough

Further To-Do list:
- Need to find a good way of organising my magazines
- A good way of organising paper
- Replace pink waste basket with something more masculine :)
- Improve lighting
- Design/Buy bookshelf
- Get a nice pan/tray/bowl to hold keychain/phone/wallet so I can keep them in one place consistantly.
- Figure out how to place picture mounts without drilling holes (I hate anything permanent includiding drilling walls...just a weird thing with me)
- A way to oganize CDs such that I can see them all at once, I like to pick CDs at random and see what I get...something to enhance that process I suppose
- Setup wireless networking
- A place to put up my boom box + a replacement FM antenna (which I can probably make)
- Borrow mommy's Feng Shui book

Yes I know there are more important things that go on in the world but this is my living space god damnit.

peace.

P.S. pics will be up in my gallery at some point.

Tis a momentous occation...

2004-10-29T01:03:00.000+03:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am about to clean my room.

Thank you for tuning in.

The Political Writings of so and so...

2004-10-26T16:57:00.000+03:00

I can't decide on how much time/space I should allocate to this discussion but futoor is in 20 minutes and this sure beats the hell outta sitting hungry.

I read a couple of blogs and all I see is incessant whining and profuse finger-pointing. Somewhere along the way, it seems, people starting giving so much weight to so-called opinions in such a manner as to have you believe that by stating an opinion you have actually accomplished something.

With all due respect to the all mighty wise man who claimed the pen is mightier than the sword, it isn't. I would really love to believe that it is as I love writing but I just don't feel fucking empowered.

A wiser man than the one above once said "speak softly but carry a big stick" (Teddy Roosevelt). That is the essence of democracy, not this senselessness I keep running into. Speak as loudly as you want but without a god damn bulldozer the old tablets will stay as they are.

This is not an advocation of the old verus the new, nor an affirmation of what occurs outside this blog. This is a suggestion that action is more powerful than any ink left on an obscure canvas. This is an opinion, you have wasted your time.

"You are all unique and can think on your own!"

"Yes, we are all unique and can think on our own!"

~~Intellectual~~ vandalism brought to you by...

Dover Beach

2004-10-26T14:25:00.000+03:00

Got this from Bradbury's F451. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

*edit: I just found out that it was originally by Matthew Arnold and only the last two stanzas where included in F451 the poem in full is included underneath.

Dover Beach -- Matthew Arnold

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits;--on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the �gean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night wind, down the fast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

source: http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem89.html

Spot the gap

2004-10-25T22:14:00.000+03:00

Maybe some of you psych majors can help me out on this one. I worked with my sister to help her son write and essay about what he did in the summer (oh how typical...I remember them and I hate them).

Anyhow I was wondering about the lack of expressiveness in a child's writing is it due to gaps in experience/memory or is the problem attributed to linguistic gaps. Or some other weird theory.

Shady got a gallery

2004-10-25T17:07:00.000+03:00

Well I've been doing a bit of jogging these days. Weather is nice and at 1:00am I practically own the damn beach. Noticed that the waves were blueish greenish...looked like neon signs. Went back home to capture the moment and the results are in my gallery. Oh these were taken at 4:00am I REALLY owned the beach then :)

Blog SPAM!

2004-10-25T01:10:00.000+03:00

Got this in the mail...

An Indian man walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer. He tells the loan officer that he is going to India on business for two weeks and needs to borrow $5,000.
The bank officer tells him that the bank will need some form of security for the loan, so the Indian man hands over the keys to a new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produces the title and everything checks out. The loan officer agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan.
The bank's president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the Indian for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drives the Ferrari into the bank's underground garage and parks it there.
Two weeks later, the Indian returns, repays the $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41.
The loan officer says, "Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely,but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000'"
The Indian replies: "Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $15.41 and expect it to be there when I return'"

College Dynamics...

2004-10-23T21:55:00.000+03:00

Well it has been a cool week here with the blog and it did bring that good "old" feeling of still being in school...god I love it, all these interesting people and their opinions weather I agree with them or not...

Now how do I drag this spirit with me into the workplace, where is it that I can find and job that will tickle my brain cells and enlighten my soul. Of course you could argue that no matter where it is that I choose to work, how enlightened I am is just a function of me without dependence on environmental variables...maybe. Let your voices be heard.

Dude, where's my porn?

2004-10-23T15:33:00.000+03:00

Excuse my laziness as I had meant to comment on Fahrenheit 451 vs. 1984 business earlier. I liked Bradbury a whole lot more the Orwell but in fact the two cannot be compared. Each has a different approach to media control. Orwell talks about there being a high class that forces people into enternal warfare so that their resourced be exhausted on that rather than facing the govenment (I read this a while ago and I may be off).

Bradbury, which I have read more recently, states the reason for censorship was because each cluster of people thought to have held their own beliefs had oposing beliefs that they thought where offensive removed from literature/media. The amount of censored material increased proportionally with these clusters and the opinions they held till people stopped reading books altogether.

Well you really should read Bradbury's Coda which I think is insane (really worth the read and I can't stress this enough).

A thought I will leave you with: is censorship not the expression of an opinion in its own right? and when we do decide to get rid of it are we not only proliferating it?

(note: post favorite part of each book.)

Props to JaCkie for getting me rolling on this one.

WiFi Haiku

2004-10-22T15:24:00.000+03:00

Puppet without strings
Mighty Walls cannot stop me
Googling away

Personal Transformations

2004-10-22T14:29:00.000+03:00

When you are in love with another person, and you change as a result, are you superficial or sacrificing?

How's this for dorky...

2004-10-21T22:45:00.000+03:00

I'm at Lorenzo, Shamiya mall. Blogging.

I feel a wi-fi Haiku coming on...

A little nonsense.

2004-10-21T15:42:00.000+03:00

I was listening to Radiohead's "There there" and the following words came to me. It's not supposed to make any sense.

I'd clone myself
Hollowed inside
human paper mache
senseless turbulence
resounding silence
invading my subconscious

peace.

Paul Erdos

2004-10-20T02:49:00.000+03:00

"A mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems."

Erods had a special vocabulary that he concocted and used consistently in his speech. Some samples are:

Children are Epsilons
Women are Bosses
Men are Slaves
Married Men have been Captured
Alcoholic Drinks are Poison
God is The Supreme Fascist or SF
Music is Noise.

...He belonged to no political party, but had a fierce belief in the freedom of individuals as long as they did no harm to anyone else. All countries who failed to follow this were classified as imperialist and given a name that began with a small letter. For example, the U.S. was samland and the Soviet Union was joedom (after Joseph Stalin). He talked of an organization called the f.b.u--a combination of the F.B.I and O.G.P.U (which later became the K.G.B) and conjectured that their agents were often interchanged.

from

http://www.maa.org/features/erdos.html

Idea of the Day

2004-10-19T16:41:00.000+03:00

Wouldn't it be cool to have one of those blue toilet tablets for human consumption so that people's mounths would turn blue whenever they spew shit.

Another way to connect...

2004-10-19T02:45:00.000+03:00

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved rules for transmitting broadband communications signals over electric power lines, clearing the way for the expansion of high-speed Internet access through home electrical outlets.

The FCC decision was welcomed by Current Communications Group, a partner with Cinergy in a joint venture that began rolling out a high-speed Internet service in Cincinnati earlier this year. It is the first large-scale commercial installation of "broadband over power line" -- BPL -- in the country.

FCC Requires Database

Jay Birnbaum, Current's general counsel, said the agency appears to have addressed complaints from amateur radio operators who suspect that BPL signals are interfering with radio reception or transmissions.

The FCC did not make major changes in the way it regulates the affected airwave spectrum, including existing rules that require sources of radio interference to fix a problem once it's identified, Birnbaum said.

New rules will now require BPL operators to maintain a public database that radio operators can use to identify sources of possible interference. BPL operators must also be able to remotely manage and monitor their systems so that they can determine if they're the source of the problem, he said.

"There are potential sources of interference all over the place," and it can take days or weeks to pin it down, Birnbaum said.
Rollout in Cincinnati

The system that's being installed in Cincinnati won't be affected much, because it was designed to bypass the part of the radio spectrum that's used by amateur radios, he said. That system is expected to be available to more than 40,000 homes by the end of the year and throughout the tri-state in three years.

Cinergy spokesman Steve Brash said the company viewed the FCC ruling as a positive development.

"We've been very comfortable in our tests with our system, which has avoided interference," Brash said. "It seems that the FCC has agreed that the technical issues have been addressed and allows broadband over power line to compete on the merits of its services."

Cinergy has a separate venture with Current to market broadband over power line systems to municipally owned and rural cooperative utilities. That venture is still in a start-up phase, identifying areas with potential and developing the market, and has not been slowed by regulatory uncertainty, he said. "We are on target timewise," Brash said.

The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also issued a statement on Thursday supporting further development of BPL, with minimal regulation, as a means of improving power companies' abilities to monitor and control their electric networks.

from
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Rules-Approved-for-Broadband-over-Power-Lines-37398.html

Welcome to Kuwait

2004-10-18T12:22:00.000+03:00

Well, my stuff arrived from the states today and I'm totally psyched. I miss my books dearly and I cant wait to go back to being a total dork.

Anyhow, here is an observation I made; I went to pick up the stuff from the free trade zone and it seems to me that I had to move from one office to another (three to be specific) to get something signed/stamped so I can go home happy with my bundle of books. The shock started to settle in when I was informed by my friend that I did not need to wait in line for any of this work to happen since I was Kuwaiti. All I had to do is say "salam 3alikum" and hand in the appropriate paper work...voila! all done in a jiffy. If I wasn't Kuwaiti well then tough luck you had to wait hours in line per office to get anything done.

I resisted the temptation to do it until the waiting time got ridiculous, then voila I was out of there with my books and some guilt for taste.

Oh yeah you'd be pleased to know how easy it is to evade security screens on whatever you are bringing into the country. Though it is quite possible that I had missed something.

Emotional Bottleneck

2004-10-17T14:29:00.000+03:00

Let me get started with this narcissism versus loving someone else business. It is quite possible that narcissism may not be the answer to the problem but it is important to identify the problem nevertheless. There seem to be a group of people to whom I attach the label "emotionally bottlenecked" that look to love relationships as the ultimate in miracle drugs (the association between love and being drugged is no mistake, will come to that at some point). Everything is put on hold, they carry the world's weight on their chests waiting for that someone to free them of their miseries.

I simply reject that mentality. I excuses mental/emotional stagnation and places too much hope where hope is undeserved. I find that these people are walking caskets waiting for poor soul to drop right into that emotional blackhole they carry. Where have all the happy people gone?

Pictures...

2004-10-15T11:27:00.000+03:00

Looking for a place to post up some of my photography. I remember this site I used to visit regularly which was community based...kinda like blogger. Any sugestions are appreciated.

peace.

You know whats great about Britan?

2004-10-15T08:08:00.000+03:00

BRITISH TV!!!! Trying to find out if I can get that on the tele down here.

I say this becuuse I have been avoiding the TV set for around 2 years. This started with the observation that I had a shit load of books collecting dust on my book case and that didnt make me happy. To remedy the situation I decided to stop watching TV untill Im done reading. Just around the time Iraq was being invaded, having access only to Fox news (had basic cable), compounded the issues I had with TV. Im sick and tired of putting up with someones else's assessment of the state of the world. Im sick and tired of watching the endless string of bloodbaths.

I apologize if my writing lacks coherence, it happens when I get bombarded with thoughts and the emotions associated with them. All I can say is that brit TV brought back the joy of being a couch potato once again.

I keep wondering whether in the end I will become nothing but an empty cocoon as a result of such bombardment, whether it serves to further fuel my ignorance and disinterest.

I do not want censorship, the press should be as free as the individuals that run it.

I am totally confused.

Check out this awsome movie: NETWORK (1976) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/

Ray Bradbury

2004-10-14T17:11:00.000+03:00

My only regret is that I didnt pay any attention to my high school assignments and neglected to read Fahrenheit 451 at that time, the issue of media control/censorship was simply unimportant to an ignorant little kid. I did manage to read it this month, but before I can say anything about it here is what got me started on Bradbury. Check them out in the order they are given, you wont be disappointed:

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/chapter1.html

The site describes the biking adventures of a woman through chernobyl, when you are done read this short story by Bradbury entitled "There Will Come Soft Rains."

http://members.hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/jaruggiero/softrains/

(Note: not sure if this is the sory in full but this is all I could find.)

The short story is based on the following poem:

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

-- Sara Teasdale

a funny thing called love

2004-10-12T23:16:00.000+03:00

As breifly as possible, love should be erradicated simply because it is the source of all conflicts. Do we not measure how much we love by assessing how much we are willing to sacrifice, fight, and perhaps die for it?

If you get the chance do check out a movie called "before sunset." (Do let me know if you have.)

Dilemma of the Day

2004-10-03T23:57:00.000+03:00

Still not the love yourself speach but that will come at a later time. Here is something that has been bothering me for a while now and please do give me your input on this. Can a vegetarian wear leather shoes?

note to self

2004-10-02T01:05:00.000+03:00

write something on the viability of narcissism as an alternative to marriage.

The cheese is about to be served...

2004-09-30T14:36:00.000+03:00

Perhaps it is too late to ask this of myself but why start a blog? For some time I have been against the idea as it had seemed that the only purpose they serve is to feed one's vanity. Vanity has quite an appetite. Not quite sorry for passing judgments but to start blogging one must assume that the intended audience actually gives a damn. Thus the dilemma of whether I should personalize the blog or whether to keep it as far away from me as possible (if possible at all). Well, I just contradicted myself a few moments ago by posting a public profile didnt I?

In all honesty I stumbled upon a bunch of blogs and thought to myself...damn what an interesting bunch of people, maybe if i had a blog of my own I can be just as interesting. Better yet, I might find myself grappling with the ever elusive interesting conversation and a chance to improve my puny writing skills. Honesty, 5 years of engineering can have a disastrous effect on one's ability to write beautifully irrational mumblings. This begs the question: is it necessarily true that anything clear and concise is devoid of linguistic beauty? Perhaps if I take a clear paragraph and start introducing obscurities into it I shall end up with something less clear but more readable?

would you like some cheese, sir?

2004-09-30T13:40:00.000+03:00

yes please.