Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Hurricane Kyle: The little storm system that just couldn’t and how it came to be the Acadian Peninsula’s event of the decade.

Three concise points.

First: I want to apologize to Disparate Thought’s devoted readers – I know of three – who have stressed their displeasure – I know of two – for not posting sooner. Reasons: First: Pre Hurricane Kyle weather disrupted the already shitty French Canadian internet. Second: My steadfast attention span was directed toward the download and subsequent repeated watching of Battlestar Galactica, seasons three and four, in a not-so-closet-sci-fi-geek-manor you have all come to know. Three sub points. First: Battlestar Galactica is the most intelligent show on any type of audio-visual medium. Second: That is really not saying much. Third: Do not let the second point dissuade you from checking out the sci-fi drama sensation now. Third: My priority for the last four days off work – due to the three day moose hunting season and the ensuing Labatt’s Blue induced floppy headed French Canadian small arms Canadian DNR controlled Bullwinkocide – was to lounge around the chalet naked since there is now just a sole occupant. Frankly, it would just be disturbing to type naked. Second: The urge to post something of meaning today dwindled along with my caffeine buzz. Potential future posts. First: Cutting Through Big Pharma’s Deliciously Evil Goodness. Second: The Natural Evolution of a Scientist: The inverse relationship between education and religious belief. Third: Politics: We’re all wrong, but Sarah Palin is still an Idiot. Third: Today’s post is going to be a one-day, three-part blogisode summarizing First: The Acadian Peninsula. First: Geography. Second: Culture. Third: My – yet to be determined if I’m really joking – hatred for it. Second: CATEGORY 5: POSEIDON’S ATLANTIC FARMER’S BLOW (must be due to the gays, right neocons?) Third: Anticlimax: It’s alright Poseiden; it happens to all Greek Gods at one point or another.

State tuned for Episode 1

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Response to Self-Titled

Self-Titled is located in Blog Archive under New Project

Here lies altruism
RIP
By Laura Palmer

It took me a long time to digest your thoughts. I think because I value compassion, empathy, and altruism above most other things in life. I have lived the last 25 years of my life rooted in benevolence; constantly thinking in terms of the self-less acts for others. I sent a card to my grandma at 8 just because I was thinking of her. I frequently put change in the meter next to mine. I thank the pilot every time I get off the plane. I send 14 pieces of mail a month simply to tell others they matter.

Reading your words, three to seven times, cause me to question my motivations. Your examples, while valid, were bigger than me. I’m a terrible volunteer. In contrast to my constant need to put other people’s feelings ahead of my own (in part out of benevolence, in part out of fear of my own feelings, but we’ll address that later) I hate volunteering. And as I thought more about just why I hate volunteering, I came up with some of the same reasons you described. I completely agree that people volunteer for themselves. Katrina was horrific, the tsunami devastating, the earthquakes unreal, but no one helped because it was “the right thing to do.” You said that “compassion is a defensive trait to reduce the unpleasant feeling of empathy; compassion being a mental awareness of suffering.” I agree with you here, but to take it one step further…Compassion is compare + passion and I think that it’s not just empathy, it’s the I-have-it-better-than-you feeling. (which might be what you were implying by empathy.)

“The compassion she eventually felt came from and is a defense of the same feeling: guilt. That’s right; I’m claiming all (or most) volunteer work is a result of the often unconscious self-serving need to diminish guilt. Is this bad? This can be debated, but it at the very least drives good causes.”

Maybe you’re right here. Maybe all good deeds are based in guilt. But here is what struck me after reading your thoughts:

Is altruism dead?

1- Have we really become so cynical that we believe selfless acts of benevolence have ceased to exist or have they truly ceased to exist in reality?
2- Does is really matter if altruism is relevant as long as people are contributing to the betterment of others…in other words does motive matter if good comes out of it?
3- Where did the phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” come from?


Because I’m already late with my response, I’ll leave you to ponder these three questions, perhaps we can come back to them when we’re fresh outta thoughts.

0.00000000001 Cubic Meters/Kg/Seconds Squared on Your MotherF#$@#*n Head!

Do you understand the effect Isaac Newton's revolutionary ideas still have on you at this moment? Or, as the gravitational constant in the title suggests, do you understand the gravity of the situation? (Ugh..Christ that's so cliche).

If you were not aware, let me summarize two headlines from yesterday that were pushed under the figurative rug. Please refer to http://www.wn.com/.
  • Pakistani troops open fired on two US helicopters for crossing the Afghan border into Pakistani Airspace. The soldiers were following orders from President Musharraf.


  • Bolstering a new military partnership, a squadron of the Russian Navy set sail for Venezuela and Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, travelled to Russia to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, or perhaps more importantly, Prime Minister Valdimir Putin.
My Rorschach response says, "Gee golly, sure am glad we currently have such a diplomatic foreign policy. Looks like we're all gonna have a gay old time!" I'm going to make a radical statement and say at this moment, I am not proud to call myself an American. Oh come on, throw the tomatoes and cabbage. I can already hear em, "Why don't you move to Russia?" Well before you get the cross ready, let me elaborate. I am not proud of our current diplomatic strategies of use Depleted Uranium first and ask questions later. I am not proud of bible-thumping neo conservatives. I am not proud that we don't allow gay marriage. I am not proud of our hegemony. I am not proud that a woman's right to her own body is still being debated. I am not proud that the taxpayers now have to pay trillions of dollars to bail out Fannie Mae for abusing the very system that should have been regulating it, but due to the conservative slippery-slope phobia of socialism, it was able to run rampant for years until the conservatives had no choice, but to federalize. The irony, we have socialized more of the U.S. than Venezuela. Eat that you masturbating-to-the-thought-of-laissez-faire-capitalism conservative bastards.

My pride in the United States is a derivative of the idea of our country, not our actions. I will always lay claim to the U.S. (well never say never) and never (ha) be one of those travelers who is afraid to say they are American. I will always get pissed off when I see a bunch of Mexican high school kids in California fly the Mexican flag above an upside down American flag. I even think English should be the primary language, enough said. I think capitalism is actually a great system for driving innovation and higher quality of life, but aspects of socialism should not be burned at the stake. And I definitely think we need an entire overhaul of our foreign policy even if that means we (Americans) need to swallow our pride for a couple of decades.

For whatever reason - ignorance, fascism, or just bad luck - Bush's policies have not worked. Guess what people? MCCAIN HAS THE SAME GODDAMN POLICIES!!! If a + b = shit pile, and the sum of c and d = the sum of a and b, then c and d are going to produce the same shit pile! The idea of a McCain/Palin foreign policy is potentially more frightening than Monkey Bush and Darth Cheney. You know what though? Upon additional investigation, it appears McCain and Palin should be given more credit. I mean with a nickname like Maverick, a hair-trigger temper and hardline on Russia, what could possibly go wrong? Oh and Palin. Don't worry about Palin's foreign policy experience, which she sums up in an interview on ABC with Charlie Gibson:

Charlie Gibson, "What insight into Russian actions particularly in the last couple weeks does the proximity of the state give you?

Sarah Palin, "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually SEE Russia from land in Alaska."

Charlie Gibson, "But what insight does that give you into what they're doing in Georgia.

Sarah Palin, "I'm giving you that perspective of how small our world is."

......Oh My (Insert Chosen Mythological Character Here).....

Here is an absolutely hilarious and scathing review of Sarah Palin from none other than Matttt Damonnnn. Even though Hollywood actors are inherently self-righteous, he does make a couple valid points. **Disclaimer** The following should be viewed for entertainment purposes only.





How is it that Bush - ergo McCain - claim to be conservative, but carry out such a radical foreign policy? Well, according to http://www.conservapedia.com/, a conservative is one who adheres to principles of limited government, personal responsibility and moral values. Limited government, huh? [Iraq War, Patriot Act, Wall-Street bailouts (reciprocity due to their skewed ideas of limited government)]. Moral values, huh? [What the fuck would your Jesus do? You oh so often talk for him, but have you read his teachings? Think your Jesus would be all for preemptive wars? Think your Jesus would be for your torture techniques? (Whoops forgot. It's not torture it's just roughing up. Sorry Johnny Maverick. Evidently you weren't tortured in the Hanoi Hilton, rather just roughed up). Since "No other encyclopedic resource on the internet is free of corruption by liberal untruths," we can safely conclude that Bush - ergo McCain - is not conservative, at least in terms of foreign policy. Guess who has a conservative foreign policy? That's right, Barack Obama. Here is an interesting article discussing the pragmatic approach Obama has on foreign policy; the pragmatic, conservative foreign policy we desperately need at the moment.http://www.dmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?nm=Core+Pages&type=gen&mod=Core+Pages&tier=3&gid=B33A5C6E2CF04C9596A3EF81822D9F8E
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I fully understand that international relationships are comprised of unfathomable nonlinear dynamics. This, in conjunction with our evolutionary habits, creates a fertile ground for war. Armed conflict will undoubtedly be around until there is only a singular human left. However, before you are so anxious to send someone else to combat a situation for your ideologies, lets do a little exercise. Just for sake of perspective-driven thinking, pretend that the only way for you to be pro-war on anything, YOU YOURSELF have to risk your life for that cause. Meditate on this for a moment. Do you still agree with Iraq? Would you even want to be fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.?
The irony is the majority of people in agreement with these causes are the ProLifeRightWingChristians.

Spreading Christian Love

Can A Christian Marry An Agnostic?

I am 25 and have been dating the most wonderful guy for the last 3 years. I am a christian and he is agnostic. He treats me so wonderful and there is not a bad bone in his body, he respects my faith. He wants us to get engaged, can I marry an unbeliever and continue to lead him toward salvation?
----------------------------
Moderator - The Word of God says no. In addition the Word of God states a Christian shouldn't be dating a nonbeliever in the first place. Please read II Corinthians 6:14-15.
----------------------------
*Shaking head in hands* LOL. Fucking Ridiculous. Way to spread the love. I say she marry a fat, verbally abusive Christian fundamentalist who cherry picks bible versus to justify his mosogynist manifesto.

A Few Visuals...

...that may have had an impact on me in the last months.

Southside

Columbia River Gorge


Santa Barbara

Great Ideas In Humanity

Bridge to Nowhere...or to Prince Edward



Halifax








Mt. Hood



Salmon Roe



Portland Market

Sunday, September 21, 2008

New Project

These days of prosperity have introduced all sorts of initiative to explore new forms of thought. One such initiative is a dialogue between myself and a friend, whom on many levels is an intellectual superior. Subject can be anything and choice is rotated every other week. Below is the first segment. The response will be posted in the next week pending author permission.


Self-Titled

Last night I was doing what I always do up here post-work, post-workout, post-dinner and post-shower; I was lying in bed with my computer sipping chamomile tea. Trying to come up with a thought this week, surfing the internet and trying not to get distracted by the hushed, yet raucous music in my ears, I thought of my travels and whether or not I could identify an intrinsic value that projected onto others through my experience. Of course the idea that traveling creates new perspective, strips ignorance and enhances and fosters a compassionate worldview is quite valid as seen through sociological observations, which I can corroborate through my own experience. Only speaking for myself, this result is detached from my actual motives that, for all intense and purposes, are much more self-serving than initially understood. All of my travel has been motivated by gaining personal experience or money. Don’t get me wrong, self-serving is not always negative and is a strong component of self-development. It did, however, start my philosophical wheels and resulted in three distinct questions placed here in order of evolution:

1) How can I incorporate more humanities into future travels?
2) Is the compassion that influenced the above question self-serving?
3) Is it possible to, and if so how can I, foster a non self-serving, sincere concern for the contentment of my friends? Or, is it possible to have broader depth in concern for the happiness of my friends than my own? Would I want this? Is this still an unconscious desire for a reciprocal karmic effect?

The first question is obvious in that the need for volunteers regardless of location is more ubiquitous than neo-cons on Fox News. The second question is more complex, but confident the answer is true compassion transcends ego and does not involve the self. However, if this true compassion does not come from the self, where does it come from? In short, I think it actually does derive from the self, is self-serving for the majority of us, but is capable of coming from outside the self. In honor of the timeless ‘post hoc ergo proctor hoc,’ it is my belief that compassion originates in this manner: experience (pain and pleasure) -> thought -> feeling (empathy) ->/guilt\ sub feeling (compassion) -> action. Using this paradigm, it is obvious that compassion originates deep within the self. What I did not include is that the feeling of empathy – which in this context is not synonymous with compassion, but is the mental projection of ‘putting your self in one’s shoes’ – always has an immediate negative, self-limiting effect. (DISCLAIMER: I do think there is a time and a place for empathy, can be positive and has the ability to aid in the development of the self, as well as a harmonious society).Using this logic, compassion is a defensive trait to reduce the unpleasant feeling of empathy; compassion being a mental awareness of suffering. Let’s look at a practical example.

Hurricane Katrina, the Volunteer and the Nihilist

I’m going down there to volunteer. Why? I want to help. Why do you want to help? Those people are suffering. What about their suffering makes you want to help?
I want to pay back to society. Why? I’ve been dealt a good hand and they haven’t. Why does that good hand influence you to help? (If you dissect the Volunteer’s last statement from a logical standpoint, you will notice that she implies at some point along the analysis there is something wrong about having a good hand vs. others with bad hands. This disconnect is guilt). The compassion she eventually felt came from and is a defense of the same feeling: guilt. That’s right; I’m claiming all (or most) volunteer work is a result of the often unconscious self-serving need to diminish guilt. Is this bad? This can be debated, but it at the very least drives good causes.

To answer question 2), at the basic unconscious level, compassion is self-serving. How the hell am I ever to be truly concerned with Laura’s (you for example) contentment from a non selfish platform? What motivates me to listen to her problems and actually hear what she is saying? Well I care about you, right? Where does that care come from?

If you trace it back far enough you will find it comes from guilt from empathy from our conditioned past. To rephrase question 3), is it possible to demonstrate an unfiltered, unadulterated compassion and concern for YOUR wellbeing that does not stem from my subconscious, but rather from a compassion that stems from nothing, but the present moment? Anticlimactically, no we can not. Despite how religious, spiritual or pure, we are still very much physical entities that are influenced by our blue print (genetics) and nature (experience). However, we are very much capable of doing the next best thing and that is simply recognizing the origins of our thought, urges and actions.

Psychological recognition is much easier said than done. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s been a major hub for intellectual debate and study for thousands of years. With that in mind, the task is quite daunting and questionably worth the time. Live in the present as much as you can. Since this present moment is all there is and ever will be, understand that the past is nothing more than a biased view of the present and the future is an interpolation based on our skewed idea of history. Hone your mental abilities to disregard the past or in other words take mental thought out all together. When I’m listening to you I do my best to concentrate on the sound and inflection of the words, take conscious note of my surroundings, feel my breathing and just listen without bias (as much as possible). I may offer advice here and there, but that’s secondary to feeling what you have to say just for the sake of feeling. To not empathize with your situation, but to void every thought, memory, emotion out of my being and just listen; to create a blank template for you to confide in. As soon as all superficialities are stripped from thought – fostering an understanding for the temporary and fleeting nature of our form – we can learn to put the happiness of others before ourselves. It is said this will bring true happiness. With that in mind, try not to do it for yourself ;)

Is it possible to foster compassion for my friends that is not self serving? This is yet to be determined due to the complexities of the human consciousness. Can I create broader depth and meaning in terms of happiness and contentment for my friends? Absolutely.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Mission Statement (To Myself): Why Did I Sellout The Right?

If you're thinking I'm talking about the political and religious right, you are more wrong than when God gave George W. Bush Divine directives on foreign policy in the middle east. You are more wrong than Pat Robertson attributing Hurricane Katrina with homosexuality. You are more wrong than the megalomaniacal god of the Old Testament. You are more wrong than the physiological effects of overdosing on fiber. You are more wrong than that Jen-girl who tried to make out with me during Schindler's List; more to do with Seinfeldian Theory than Freudian Theory. You are more wrong than the socio-evolutionary correlation between density of cranial hair and virility. The right I speak of is actually the creative hemisphere of my brain that has been suffocated for the last decade.

Whether or not the characteristics of the respective lobes are more dominate than the others is beside the point. The primary outlet for my creativity in the last ten years could be defined as: The momentous effect of allowing irrational thoughts to sabotage my life (resulting in a perpetual apathy that clouded everything until that culminating moment). For sake of clarity, the time before that moment will be referred to as Pre Moment Satisfaction (PMS), and the time after that moment will be referred to as Sudden Enlightenment Culminating in Satisfaction, or SECS.

Obviously PMS was not pleasant, but as soon as I experienced SECS, everything opened up. There wasn't a singular feeling of comfort knowing that everything was going to be ok, rather an understanding that the concept of O.K. only exists in my mind. There was only an ok if I wanted there to be an ok. There was no good nor bad until there was meaning attached to moment. Very existential, huh? Anyway, soon after the initial SECS moment, I began to experience SECS on a regular basis. The SECS started out slow at first, but soon I was experiencing SECS all the time. Ironically, most of the SECS was with myself, often times I had SECS with someone and once I even had sex, shit, I mean SECS, with multiple partners simultaneously! It is my belief that the majority of us has SECS at least once and the experience greatly varies for each person. Sometimes we go a long time without SECS, this period for me was known as PMS. PMS prevented my ability to foster any type of creativity in my life. Since that initial SECS, the cognitive pressure has been building up and looking for a release - a massive release, and a BLOGSPOT WAS CREATED!

I am not an artist of any type; I cannot read music and my brush stroke is more of a brush jab. The art I refer to is an ability to impart something completely unique - in form and order - to the universe for sake of nothing other than doing something different. That's what art is isn't it? Therein lies my fundamental problem with creativity and art. With a right brain that has sufficient stagnation for mosquito breeding and in a world of influence, is it possible to create something completely unique in form? Hasn't everything already been done? Remember the episode of the The Twighlight Zone with the tiny civilization that sprouts in the pitri dish; then done again by the Outer Limits; then done again with Lisa's lost tooth in The Simpsons; then done again in South Park with Cartman's fish tank, the semen and the brine shrimp. So let me rephrase, is it possible to create something completely unique in order? I'm confident I can take an idea from you, that guy in the corner and the satirist and come up with an originalish thought. Just remember, everything I create, rearrange, plagiarize - call it what you will - is a result of my interaction with you.

Everything I create is a testament to you. That's right, YOU. I came into this world, not with a blue print, but with a first draft. When the smoke cleared, I was the proud owner of 23 chromosomes from my mother and 23 chromosomes from my father. Used chromosomes to say the least. Here I was, this jelly-covered used car; not even a rough draft, but a first draft. Despite everything imparted on me by my parents; my alcoholism, abusive nature, affinity for dendraphila -- my dad is a perverted botanist -- I keep on stumbling on. I didn't realize it at the time, but there was another aspect to my mental development, you! Nature, experience, SECS, call it what you will, every interaction I have had with you, no matter how minute, has had an effect on my brain chemistry; just as I have had you. You are an integral in my equation; just as I am in yours. We are but pinballs bouncing in the night. Enough of the melodrama already. Articles of faith aside, we are all used cars. I don't want to be a used car anymore. I want something more than my analytical career. *Low, ominous voice**I want a blog.

Whether my cognition is analogous to a used car or not, there are parts of my mind that are eager for exploration and refinement. Jake why are you making this public though? Hell I dunno. Maybe my ego wants to impart something tangible on the universe. Maybe I have some strange preoccupation with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and want to be proactive. Maybe it's trendy. Whatever the reason, I've been looking for an outlet and for the time being this is it. A stream-of-consciousness platform to express my opinions and frustrations until the towel can stand up on its own.

Love and Logic