Where is my mind?

MBTI-Religio-Correlation

2009-09-19T11:55:00.001-07:00

Never mind that the info is non-scientific. What's your MBTI-religio-correlation?

MBTI Type

My type is: INTJ

Strength of the preferences %

Introverted (44)
Intuitive (62)
Thinking (75)
Judging (1)

I am (allegedly):

moderately expressed introvert
distinctively expressed intuitive personality
distinctively expressed thinking personality
slightly expressed judging personality

Religious Preferences

Secular Humanism (100%)
Unitarian Universalism (93%)
Nontheist (84%)
Liberal Quakers (72%)
Theravada Buddhism (68%)
Neo-Pagan (66%)
Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (62%)
Taoism (52%)
Reform Judaism (51%)
New Age (43%)
Sikhism (36%)
Scientology (33%)
Baha'i Faith (30%)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (30%)
New Thought (30%)
Orthodox Quaker (30%)
Mahayana Buddhism (29%)
Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (24%)
Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (22%)
Eastern Orthodox (20%)
Islam (20%)
Orthodox Judaism (20%)
Roman Catholic (20%) Seventh Day Adventist (18%)
Jainism (14%)
Hinduism (9%)
Jehovah's Witness (0%)

J-Dub fail.

State of my iPod 2009

2009-09-12T10:21:00.001-07:00

Just for fun. A peak inside my iPod as of September 12, 2009. I'm plugged into this thing quite a bit so this really is a window on my mind:

App Collection:

Podcasts:

Audio Books:

Recently Played:

Top 25 Most Played:

One sweet dream

2009-09-06T21:50:00.001-07:00

In anticipation and celebration of the forthcoming RockBand: Beatles, Equality posted his Top 50 Beatles Songs and I have only one quibble. It's missing "You Never Give Me Your Money."

The first Beatles song I remember hearing as a kid is "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" which was part of an 8-Track compilation of mellow AM music that my parents would play. But it wasn't until High School and with the help of a good friend that was nuts about them that I discovered the Beatles for myself. Back then I loved the psychedelia of The White Album and Sgt Peppers. But with many years of life behind me, my tastes have changed--have mellowed--a bit. My top 5:

You Never Give Me Your Money
Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End (always as appendix to "You Never Give Me Your Money")
Eleanor Rigby
Come Together
A Day In The Life

I just love the story-telling in each of these. But "You Never Give Me Your Money" really speaks to me most.

You never give me your money
Your only give me your funny paper
And in the middle of negotiations you break down

I never give you my number
I only give you my situation
And in the middle of investigation I break down.

Out of college money spent
See no future pay no rent.
All the money's gone, nowhere to go.

Any Jobber got the sack,
Monday morning turning back.
Yellow lorry slow, nowhere to go.

But oh - that magic feeling nowhere to go.

One sweet dream
Pick up the bags and get in the limousine.
Soon we'll be away from here.
Step on the gas and wipe that tear away,

One sweet dream came true today, came true today.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
All good children go to heaven.

It's just the "can't turn-back now" bitter-sweetness turned exultant emo at having left a world of pain behind.

Salt

2009-08-31T14:46:00.001-07:00

"Just stick your tongue out, ya little punk. I promise, it's just sugar." But it wasn't. It was a spoon full of salt and the latest round of sibling cruelty that we had devised for our entertainment. Another way to pass the endless days of a gauzy summer.

Like this ...

2009-05-27T23:12:00.001-07:00

Pastel Drawing on hymnal page, by Sister Mary Lisa.

You see so many things these days that the mind tires. But this one woke me up.

Guns 'n Roses

2009-05-15T10:32:00.001-07:00

"People say, 'Oh, it's dangerous to keep weapons in the home or the workplace.' Well, I say it's better to be hurt by someone you know accidentally, than by a stranger, on purpose."

--Dwight Schrute

Strange that we often have more fear of shadows and boogiemen than of clear and present dangers. True in life, love, and faith.

The Gods Calculator

2009-05-15T09:48:00.001-07:00

I picked atheist as my view of the gods, 'cause even if there's a god he's such a douche that half the known universe would kill him on site, which would make him dead, dead, dead. And in the eternal scheme of things, dead once is dead always.

But slightly more seriously, all the evidence points to god being a figment of human imagination. With this kind of evidence one must seriously consider the odds.

Every hard atheist I've ever met is an odds calculator.

Big God, little god, fat GOD, slim, um ... god?

2009-05-15T09:43:00.001-07:00

In our attempts to reconcile what we believe about life, the universe, and everything(TM) we often collect a bundle of so-called god-like aspects which we revere and label as "god." It's an old trick meant to balance what we actually believe with socially accepted language.

But, at what point does strapping the label "god" to your package of beliefs cease to be meaningful?

teh awesome

2009-05-11T13:17:00.001-07:00

Star Trek fans are out of their Vulcan minds! :)

I loved the film. I mean, insomuch as Star Trek is a love affair, this one was the one by which all others will be compared.

My daughter says it's the best movie she's ever seen. That it's better than LoTR ... and you know, that's saying something. We agreed that this film is not in the same class as LoTR but that this was beside the point.

One more observation from my daughter that really cemented our Star Trek dad/daughter bonding: "Zachary Quinto is more Spock than he is Sylar ... and no other Vulcan in the film was as supremely Vulcan (ie, as fit for his Vulcan hair and ears) as Quinto, not even Leonard Nimoy."

Crazy Money

2009-05-06T11:08:00.001-07:00

Michael: How can I get you to stay?
Stanley: Money.
Michael: We all want money. But there is none in the budget so ... tell me why you're really leaving.
Stanley: Money.
Michael: Mo' money, mo' problems, Stanley. You of all people should know that.

--the office

Reminds me of my first job after moving to the Seattle area. I had a line manager who repeatedly expressed unsolicited empathy for how little I was making and how difficult that must be with a family to raise. Never-mind the self-gratification of "feeling sorry" for how little you're paying an employee, or the passive-aggressive motives behind actually putting such concerns into words. What really got me was how this manager responded when I finally got around to asking for a raise:

Me: It's been one hell of a year. I've proven my worth. I think it's time for a raise.
PHB: Wha?
Me: Yeah, remember how you hired me on a try-and-buy arrangement? Are you ready to buy?
PHB: Well, uh, you know people aren't typically motivated primarily by money. So what else can we do for you?
Me: (jaw hanging in disbelief, thinking: "fuck-off?") Um, nothing. Never-mind.

Asking myself: "would I do this job if they weren't paying me?" No. Life is too short. I left to work for a competitor shortly thereafter.

Money is a strange thing. Money + people? Insane.

The Mormon Plane Crash Object Lesson

2009-05-03T18:12:00.001-07:00

It's been around for many years. One of those things among Mormons, like "Pioneer Trek," that's legendary and most church members have met at least one person who has personally experienced it. Hadn't heard much of it in recent years. Perhaps it went underground a bit after September 11, 2001. But just today I've heard two references to this object lesson in Mormon theology. Two separate verifications that the Plane Crash Object Lesson is alive and well. Perhaps making a comeback?

And I thought (a sniggeringly fearful little thought in the back of my mind) that the Dept. of Homeland Security ought to be keeping a file on this, no? Not that I agree with governmental spying on its citizens but, jeebus! -- getting to mormon heaven via a plane crash?

What the ...

Chanson is right, why not do something that's likely to change minds such as The Global Change Game?

I'll tell you why. Just a little guess now, but if my own past beliefs serve as fair context: because Christian fundamentalists believe the world needs to be saved and they don't believe the world can be saved without apocalyptic change. They believe the world was born to be burned. The only true heaven being a post-earthlife reward for enduring in faith and obedience to the end in this "fallen" world.

In sunday school our favorite topic for gobsmacking discussion was the last days. The end-times. We speculated in ambulance-chasing morbidity that perhaps we might live to see the beginning of the end of the world. That in fact there were many signs all around that such times were imminent. And the rewards that would be ours if we remained faithful and true to the end. As a child, I was entranced.

Now they're role-playing plane crashes as the doorway to heaven?

Scary. I'm scaring myself. Shut-up, Matt. Now.

-- --

PS. Here's a link to the Plane Crash object lesson. I think we'll have more to discuss later.

The Members are the Problem

2009-05-03T15:46:00.001-07:00

From the intro to Bob Altemeyer's The Authoritarians:

"Authoritarianism is something authoritarian followers and authoritarian leaders cook up between themselves [...]"

"We know an awful lot about authoritarian followers. In one way or another, hundreds of social scientists have studied them since World War II. We have a pretty good idea of who they are, where they come from, and what makes them tick. By comparison, we know little about authoritarian leaders because we only recently started studying them. That may seem strange, but how hard is it to figure out why someone would like to have massive amounts of power? The psychological mystery has always been, why would someone prefer a dictatorship to freedom? So social scientists have focused on the followers, who are seen as the main, underlying problem."

So as I was reading this I was reminded that I seem to always default to blaming the institutional church and its leaders, preferring to think of the members as unwitting victims. This seems also to be the most common take on discussion boards. I mean, we have loved ones and family who remain true believing members and we certainly don't want to blame them for all the trouble any more than we want to blame ourselves.

So then, we blame the church. It's easy to say: I hate the church for doing this! Not so easy to say the same about the members. Yet, it's worth considering that we may be hacking at a facade while the members grow stronger in their convictions.

Another thought occurred to me as I was typing-out the quotation above. How interesting is it that D&C Section 122 presents the main problem of authority as authority figures abusing their authority, whereas the findings of modern science show this to be the easiest part to understand, perhaps the easiest to defeat. While the real danger, the most perplexing problem, lies in those who abuse themselves and others by over-zealous submission to authority?

I've just begun reading The Authoritarians (thanks Chanson and Jonathan!), hoping there's something to learn here. Some truth that will become apparent such that, in the end, we might save ourselves, families, and friends from ... not form the church ... but from ourselves?

-- --

Update: I've been a fan of Sam Harris for some time, particularly where he points out that religious moderates are to blame for enabling and excusing the excesses of religious extremists. The above, however, seems to take the idea to the next level. And not in search of blame, but in search of understanding and wisdom. That me might actually learn from an understanding of our natures and change where our survival and actualization are concerned.

Pandemicalypse

2009-04-28T23:42:00.001-07:00

You know damn well that it was either this or, well, um, yeah. It had to be this:

Could be one of those things where all we can do is laugh, 'cause it's either sooner we're past it (just another false alarm surrounded by lemming-like madness) or later we're too shocked to even cry.

At any rate, this seems apropos to me ... I don't quite know why:

Pigs (Three Different Ones) (Waters) 11:26

Big man, pig man, ha ha charade you are.
You well heeled big wheel, ha ha charade you are.
And when your hand is on your heart,
You're nearly a good laugh,
Almost a joker,
With your head down in the pig bin,
Saying "Keep on digging."
Pig stain on your fat chin.
What do you hope to find.
When you're down in the pig mine.
You're nearly a laugh,
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry.

Bus stop rat bag, ha ha charade you are.
You fucked up old hag, ha ha charade you are.
You radiate cold shafts of broken glass.
You're nearly a good laugh,
Almost worth a quick grin.
You like the feel of steel,
You're hot stuff with a hatpin,
And good fun with a hand gun.
You're nearly a laugh,
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry.

Hey you, Whitehouse,
Ha ha charade you are.
You house proud town mouse,
Ha ha charade you are
You're trying to keep our feelings off the street.
You're nearly a real treat,
All tight lips and cold feet
And do you feel abused?
.....! .....! .....! .....!
You gotta stem the evil tide,
And keep it all on the inside.
Mary you're nearly a treat,
Mary you're nearly a treat
But you're really a cry.

(Via Slog.)

Most Everything I Learned to Fear About Death Was Taught in Sunday School

2009-04-20T13:54:00.001-07:00

A friend pointed me to this post entitled "Death is a Matter of Opinion," which presents some very interesting thoughts on the existential challenges that we humans face in dealing with the certainty of our own deaths and that of other beings. I highly recommend that you read the whole thing before continuing with my additional thoughts, as the author's points about the eternal nature of what we refer to as our past -- these are quite profound.

What I'd like to highlight here are my thoughts on the following excerpt:

It is only the concept of the future which gives death any measurability. We, as humans, seem invariably afraid of (I would say) our mortality, or rather, the end of our mortal existence. To see this as a negative thing, we have to view death as an "ending."

Many religions deny this by saying there's a continuing to life after death. I disagree that this is necessary to rob death of its power. I think that the "end" of this life is only the end if you evaluate the flow of time forward as an absolute beyond our perception. I feel it is the mortal perception of "yet to come" which makes us so afraid. We rely on a "yet to come" in order to function, make plans, gain things we consider to be "valuable," etc., etc..

...

Our existence has occurred, perhaps, in the weak medium of measurement known as "time," but our immortality occurs the moment we take first breath. Each choice we make reestablishes that immortality. And death -- the "end" -- does nothing to change or shake that in any way.

Death, being defined as an "ending of life," is fallacious at best. It has no grasp, it changes nothing, it has no power. It is simply another aspect of life -- not its ending at all, but a form of existence.

When I was a believer in the dogma of eternal existence as a being of our current type, I once made the comment in LDS Sunday School that death is only significant to the living. Folks vigorously disagreed. I was a little taken back but ultimately understood how the context of Christian faith (and Mormonism in particular) requires that death mean very much to the dead. Yet I was still convinced that the living had much more to fear than the dead.

Now I've come to believe that death is entirely a concern of the living and nothing more.

One thing I'd like to add is that religions in general have capitalized on teaching the eternal nature of the human soul. By doing so they succeed in controlling us now by framing an alleged pre-earth and post-earth existence in such a way that we then feel bound by things utterly outside our control, and subsequently seek to align what we can control--the here and now-- with the precepts of faith. The same faith that, via the circular reasoning of appealing to faith, set the context of our fearful reasoning from the start.

I think much of what we fear about life and death is taught to us by those who cannot know such things. And the net result is that we live as slaves of a manufactured pre-existence, and in fear of what might happen to us or our seed (or our ancestors--for the mormons) should we not do all we can do as framed by dogmas we have accepted.

I think whatever solace that religion may offer in the alleged form of "removing the sting of death" arising from the existential, it wipes-out one-hundred fold with its bondage and fear-mongering via doctrines of pre and post existence.

Survival as a Fitter Truth

2009-04-12T10:52:00.001-07:00

I'm possessed by the "truth is the most precious pearl" concept taught to me as a young Mormon.

I'm constantly holding the sacrifices of my ancestors before me. Those who chose to vacate family, community, culture, tradition, property, comfort, "the known", and life itself in pursuit of "the truth." At once but no longer to reverence the price they paid for "the truth" that I have allegedly inherited, rather the price they paid in exchange for the quest.

I realize that it's likely much more complex than a straight-forward exchange. That human motives are profoundly irrational while being justified with rational arguments. That there's a great danger here of justifying the indefensible.

So would I abandon my family, as my great-great-great-grandfather did, in pursuit of truth? No. I believe that there is a lie ... a self-deception in this exchange.

But would I put myself and my family through hell in pursuit of the truth? Yes, I would.

So long as human families are a framework for the basic needs of the human mind, then I will not exchange truth -- a valid understanding (to the best of our abilities) of the world as it really is -- I will not exchange this for peace and comfort, nor for the gratification of my personal delusions. To do so would be to betray myself and my loved ones to the tyranny, enslavement, and proven destruction that befalls human ignorance.

We humans have survived and prospered to the degree that we have mastered "the truths" of our environment, including "the truths" of our own natures. Such truths have come at great cost and immeasurable pain, perhaps mostly from our ignorant resistance.

To survive and prosper is what I wish for my children. And to fully enjoy the few comforts and pleasures which nature affords us as motivation along the way.

No Mo-Mo LDS General Conference Reductio

2009-04-08T09:06:00.001-07:00

The following is my best attempt to put my core experience of this past weekend's LDS General Conference (and really, all such conferences past) into words, followed by a bit of commentary:

A beautiful, sunny spring afternoon. Puttering about doing Sunday afternoon things. From the other room, the drone of an anglo-male, blue-suited voice. Unintelligible. Gray-noise to whatever object fascinates the moment. Only "the adults" in the house are watching television today.

And then from the gray, a topic that catches my attention: "...choosing not to have children is selfish."

I've heard this before. The idea did not bother me when I was a kid, reaping then the benefits of parental guilt. Of course, God wants us to have children. Having children is hard work; emotionally, socially, and economically draining. Selfless, god-fearing people have children anyway. "The day will come when only the faithful will be willing to have children." A prophetic voice that seemed as rational and certain as the selfish and loathsome aloneness of the outside world.

But now I am a man. I have my own children ... and memories of my own childhood. There are friends and respected associates in the world outside the church, some of whom want children, some of whom do not. I am now intimately acquainted with tragic tales of saints who had more children than they should have ... who had children when they shouldn't have ... who would have been happy to have had fewer or no children at all, but for the guilt. I've learned that, for those who are prepared for and desire such, marriage and children are their own incomprehensibly rich reward. Also the worst nightmare for those who are not prepared and do not want children. We simple beings tend to know this about ourselves and do not need a god to tell us what is best for us. We do not need lessons in guilt and fear to goad us and bully us into making the choice.

Yet this is the church, which has no greater bondage on us than where it holds us by our sexual relationships and fruits: by our children. Without such the church would have the most tentative of holds on our minds. The church knows this.

And so selfishly of its own needs, the church plants the seeds of fear in our minds. Telling us that if we do not bind our sexuality in marriage by the authority and dictates of the church, if we fail to sacrifice self to produce children for the lord of the church, that we are then operating counter to the will of divine goodness. We, being human, desire what is right and good and so are trapped in the church's deceitful snare. For a lifetime. For generations. We perpetuate the lie that the church's needs are greater, more profound, more virtuous, and more accurate than our own.

We all recognize the fear. We may tune it out, like children captured by the moment before us. So that the fear becomes but a droning gray noise coming from the other room on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

I'm pretty sure "the voice out of the gray" was Elder Dallin Oaks. He also said something about dogs being an unacceptable alternative to children. I almost blew milk through my nose when I heard that one. Overstepping a bit there Elder Oaks? Oh, right. Once you've entered the world of manipulating human sexuality, nitpicking about our doggie friends is really quite obvious.

More to the point: Since when do we need god to tell us to have children, particularly out of some sense of obligation? Out of service? Out of all perspective for our mental, emotional, financial and **gasp** sexual resources?

Honestly folks, having children is one of the most selfish things I've ever done. I have very little time or money for anything else. I rely deeply on society to support me. The net result is that my seed goes forward one more generation and my most primal purpose for living is fulfilled.

But they turn it all around and make as if we're all a bunch of selfish ingrates if we fail to have at least one Mormon Assault Vehicle full of babies for Jesus. And having babies for the church is what it's really about. Look at the numbers.

And why does the church seek to control human sexuality, human family, and women in particular? I think, because human sexuality, it's environs, and consequences are where you place the bit if you want to control the beast from birth to death. And woman is the wild and swirling center. Our children are the prize.

Houses of the Holy

2009-03-28T09:57:00.001-07:00

If something/someone is sacred to someone else, do you feel bound by this? Why or why not?

There are things I once held sacred, but no more. Things I still hold sacred: Safeco Field, a walk along the beach, intimate moments with family and friends, the sky by day or night, the autonomy of my own mind. There are people I hold sacred: my parents, my wife, my children. Of all these, I think I would only be offended if my people or my mind were abused by the profane and the ignorant. But then, even now, I feel myself back-sliding on this ... wanting to also include the institutions of human learning, science, medicine, mathematics, etc.

Clearly there's a treacherous slope here.

Most other things and people, however, are fair game for defamation in my opinion. In fact, I often feel compelled to destroy the sacred idols of others -- particularly if others expect me and the rest of the world to share their adoration and reverence. Particularly if folks demand my reverence. Particularly if they threaten me with bodily or metaphysical harm.

For your Sabbath-worshiping pleasure ...

Let me take you to the movies. Can I take you to the show Let me be yours ever truly. Can I make your garden grow.

From the houses of the holy, we can watch the white doves go From the door comes Satan's daughter, and it only goes to show. You know.

There's an angel on my shoulder, In my hand a sword of gold Let me wander in your garden. And the seeds of love I'll sow. You know.

So the world is spinning faster. Are you dizzy when you're stoned Let the music be your master. Will you heed the master's call Oh... Satan and man.

Said there ain't no use in crying. Cause it will only, only drive you mad. Does it hurt to hear them lying? Was this the only world you had? Oh-oh

So let me take you, take you to the movie. Can I take you, baby, to the show. Why don't you let me be yours ever truly. Can I make your garden grow.

You know.

A dollar and change

2009-03-21T15:16:00.001-07:00

So you know things are changing when you spend all the time you once spent blogging doing other things -- and most all of those things are still on the internets.

For me it's Facebook, Twitter, TwitPic, Ping.fm, and now Blip.fm (thanks, John). I've added feeds for most of this stuff in the sidebar so you know I'm still alive, but these are mostly just extensions of what blogging has to offer. Side-acts. Curiosities to find in the row of trailers behind the big tent.

What I'm saying is that I realize there's more to this show. I'm thinking a lot about this lately and may be just about ready to come back. I may be ready to be fearless once again.

But don't hold your breath.

Beer

2009-02-06T22:42:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I'm virtually certain that the past really was more golden.

(Via: Slog who got in from the University of Washington library who got it no doubt from ... The Onion?)

25 Things That May Cause You To Question Your Association With Me

2009-02-01T12:56:00.001-08:00

It's a Facebook meme. Thought I'd share it here as well. Obligation free.

0. In the world of memes, I am the anti-meme. I am where memes go to die. That said, I am also not against cherry-picking a command or two from our meme overlords from time to time ... especially when the vector of said meme is so delightful ... John Remy!!! ... Joe LeBlanc!!!

1. As a kid I developed an unhealthy addiction to Dr. Pepper and Doritos that still haunts me -- though, sadly, the stuff doesn't taste nearly as good as it once did.

2. As a kid I wanted to be a fighter pilot and astronaut. As a teen I wanted to be anyone but me. As a young adult I told people I wanted to be a doctor. As a mid-life crisis I want to be a scientist of ambiguous trade who sails the world in a 41' Hans Christian.

3. In some very significant ways I was much more mature as a kid than I am now.

4. I have an estranged relationship with death and dying.

5. I too am in that elite class of US citizens who voted for Ross Perot in '92. At the time I felt he was the compromise candidate and might have preferred Bo Gritz. Yes, it's true -- at one point in my life my past crescendoed into political lunacy.

6. The same year I voted for Perot I also married Laurie, who changed my heart in many ways not least of which was setting my internal liberal free from the chains of inherited fundamentalist conservatism. Thank you, Laurie.

7. It's been many, many years since I've had dreams like I did as a kid. I was raised in a tradition where dreams have literal connections and meaning in the waking world. Sometime along the way I stopped having these dreams. Sometime later I stopped believing in them. I sleep much better now.

8. I've always loved animals. Having a closer bond of caring and compassion for human beings has been a challenge, though marriage and family has made this much more natural. In both cases, caring so much has often led me to cruelty. I find this facet of my nature profoundly disturbing.

9. There's still a place in my heart for god, if there is a god, but this place has become like a bedroom kept for a lost child.

10. I once joined the military because ... because, I'm not sure. It's complicated. There was the excitement of going airbourne, of the elite, of camaraderie arising from surviving the most mundane and exotic trials as a team. But in the end I learned one key lesson: I could be trained to kill with passion and this scared the bejesus out of me.

11. I have three children who perpetually confound my emotions. I often wonder how I could be their father. It's entirely too much to take-in and so I'm just taking it one day at a time while desperately wishing it were possible to fully comprehend.

12. I love introspection. It seems to me that thinking about and examining self is the only truly consequential laboratory. And I get very annoyed when folks bristle against self-awareness, using terms like "navel-gazing", "mental masturbation", etc. I mostly blame religion for the idea that self is sin.

13. And I love people. I'm fascinated by human society. If I'm allowed the space to interact and communicate in my own way then I'm able to spend a great deal of time and effort on being social. Twitter seems to fit my social mind most truly.

14. I've had several occasions where I might have easily been killed. For a good part of my life I was certain that this was because god had a work for me--some great and profound contribution to his plan. Now I realize that I've just been very, very fortunate. Life is precious and death is beyond anyone's will.

15. Among my earliest memories are those of watching Apollo mission reports on television. Also of sitting in my great-grandmother's lap, looking out the front window, counting cars as they drove by. This woman crossed the American continent by wagon and witnessed men walking on the moon. I also long thought that 'the olden days' were in black and white. Thank the history of video technology for this. Yet, I still often think of life on earth before color television as black and white. Very strange.

16. My first car was a red Toyota Celica. I remember telling my mother that I loved to have shiny, red objects, but preferred to wear blue clothes. I think inside I'm blue in every way and perhaps this explains my attraction to red externals. Heh. Now that's a very strange flow of thought.

17. Buying certain books makes me feel smarter and as if I'm moving toward a goal -- but I very often fail to read these books.

18. I'm supposed to be working right now but am doing this list instead. That's me in a nutshell.

19. I have a natural and undying affinity for blue-collar, underdog, over-achievers. I'm always looking for and cheering for these types. But then I covet the lives and works of the world's elites. I think I might have been an active participant in the French Revolution had I been French and living at the time.

20. In my mind, all those so-called "founding fathers" pale in comparison to Thomas Paine. I think it's an embarrassment that Paine gets so little credit in traditional American history curricula. And I think there are few greater ironies than the modern American conservative's worship of that band of domestic terrorists known through the victor's lens as "the founding fathers."

21. I'm often inclined toward using words that I've read but may not necessarily fully understand or even know how to pronounce. This has led to many awkward moments, including that time when I pronounced "paradigm" as "pear-ah-digg-um". Ouch.

22. Sam Harris really pissed me off when he more or less obliquely defended torture in his book "The End of Faith". Some pills are too bitter to swallow even if wrapped in sweetness.

23. Don't follow me, follow @Tweepl!

24. I'm a fan of the idea of counting from 0. If for no other reason than that it somehow feels like cheating.

Lost in change

2009-01-10T22:14:00.001-08:00

I voted. I subscribed to the Change.gov feed. I proceeded to not read a single item. I unsubscribed to the Change.gov feed. What does it mean?

UPDATE: Subscribed to TheWhiteHouse.gov feed. All better now. Must have been the aggravation at having to wait for the inauguration.

What's that sound?

2009-01-07T10:49:00.001-08:00

People commonly assume that our species has evolved very little since prehistoric times. Yet new studies using genetic information from populations around the globe suggest that the pace of human evolution increased with the advent of agriculture and cities.

If we are still evolving, what might our species look like in a millennium should we survive whatever environmental and social surprises are in store for us? Speculation ranges from the hopeful to the dystopian.

Why is it that the sound of the human mind contemplating its own evolution reminds me of the sound of one hand clapping?

Seriously. It seems to me that worrying about where this train is going and why is as pointless and absurd as pretending that it has never left the station. But the question of what it is and how it works? This is the essence of human being.

Trains and a Buddhist kōan? A mixed metaphor that turns me on.

h/t: D.J. Grothe

iTunes now DRM-free (but the upgrade process is a bitch)

2009-01-06T14:54:00.001-08:00

So I've been pretty quiet about my position on DRM'd media content. Been willing to pay for the iTunes service because it worked for me with or without DRM, though I have upgraded to the DRM-free iTunes Plus items whenever they became available. Mostly because they tended to trickle-in a few at a time and were therefore an easy 'micro-payment' type purchase. I've spent a ton of money on music based on the micro-payment model. A brilliant market model as I am the proof. Then ...

Today Apple announced their move to DRM-free "iTunes Plus" as the default format and made a huge chunk of the library available for upgrade and promised to have the entire iTunes library available in a few months. Great. Only problem is, this throws the micro-payment model out the window as the upgrade can only be done in one step. For me this would be a $110 purchase. This is not how I buy music and I'm very unlikely to pay so much at once.

The net effect: the best (read: most loyal and prolific) iTunes customers get the most inhibitive upgrade process. This is too bad. It breaks the iTunes purchase model and certainly discourages me from making the upgrade to DRM-free.

Maybe there's something in Apple's business model that makes it impossible. But if not, Apple, you guys need to find a way for good customers like me to make the upgrade in a more graduated way. Upgrade by album and songs would be ideal. Until then, you've totally discouraged me from upgrading--from paying you more money. Something I don't mind doing. Thanks.

Update: 1/30/09 Apple has bowed to reason and now allows DRM-free upgrades by song and by album. Good news for me since Apple's continued expansion of the upgradeable library has my total now at $165.

So now, what to set free first? Hmmm ... okay.

Guns 'n Roses - Chinese Democracy
Led Zeppelin - Mothership
Depeche Mode - Violator
Red House Painters - Songs for a Blue Guitar

Questions for Christmas

2009-01-03T21:27:00.001-08:00

For the most part the topics of religion and politics were avoided, but the following questions were raised (not by me) while visiting the family over the holidays:

Is it right that Chris Matthews is allowed to be biased in favor of Barack Obama?
Is Barack Obama really the most liberal (recently former) US senator?
As an IL state senator, did Barack Obama railroad a bill that would have protected babies from murder? In short, is the president elect an avowed baby-killer?

The first question just kinda made me laugh. The second, though I went in defensive mode initially, is really a pointless question for liberals like me. The last turned into a heated debate that went nowhere.

It's going to be an interesting new year.

Almost back ... just one more thing

2008-12-21T16:10:00.001-08:00

See, in my mind I'm back but in reality I still have a road trip to SLC followed by twelve days of holiday festivities followed by a road trip back to Seattle followed by a week at MacWorld ... all with little to no access to wifi (we'll see about MacWorld). Sooooo, eh um, could by that I'm not quite back yet. We'll see.

Cheers to all. I'll try to check back in if I actually make it to SLC.