something

> Recent Entries
> Archive
> Friends
> User Info
> Aelfrice Web - coming soon
> previous 50 entries

Advertisement

July 15th, 2008


10:14 pm - Livejournal, stay alive!

Your result for The Sublime Philosophical Crap Test...

N-S-R

You scored 100% Non-Reductionism, 11% Epistemological Absolutism, and 11% Moral Objectivism!

You are an N-S-R: a metaphysical Non-Reductionist, an epistemological Skeptic, and a moral Relativist. If you are simply dying inside to figure out what all this mumbo-jumbo means, then simply continue reading.




Metaphysics: Non-Reductionism (Idealism or Realism)
In metaphysics, my test measures your tendency towards Reductionism or Non-Reductionism. As a Non-Reductionist, you recognize that reality is not necessarily simple or unified, and you thus tend to produce a robust ontology instead of carelessly shaving away hypothetical entities that reflect our philosophical experiences. My test recognizes two types of Non-Reductionists: Idealists and Realists.


1. Idealists believe that reality is fundamentally unknowable. All we can ever know is the world of sense experience, thought, and other phenomena which are only distorted reflections of an ultimate (or noumenal) reality. Kant, one of the most significant philosophers in history, theorized that human beings perceive reality in such a way that they impose their own mental frameworks and categories upon reality, fully distorting it. Reality for Kant is unconceptualized and not subject to any of the categories our minds apply to it. Idealists are non-reductionists because they recognize that the distinction between phenomenal reality and ultimate reality cannot be so easily discarded or unified into a single reality. They are separate and distinct, and there is no reason to suppose the one mirrors the other. Major philosophical idealists include Kant and Fichte.


If your views are different from the above, then you may be a Realist.
2. Realists deny the validity of sloppy metaphysical reductions, because they feel that there is no reason to suspect that reality reflects principles of parsimony or simplicity. Realism is the most common-sensical of the metaphysical views. It doesn't see reality as a unity or as reducible to matter or mind, nor does it see reality as divided into a phenomenal world of experience and an unknowable noumenal world of things-in-themselves. Realist metaphysics emphasizes that reality is for the most part composed of the things we observe and think. On the question of the existence of universals, for instance, a realist will assert that while universals do not physically exist, the relations they describe in particulars are as real as the particular things themselves, giving universals a type of reality. Thus, no reduction is made. On the mind-body problem, realists tend to believe that minds and bodies both exist, and the philosophical problems involved in reducing mind to matter or matter to mind are too great to warrant such a reduction. Finally, realists deny that reality is ultimately a Unity or Absolute, though they recognize that reality can be viewed as a Unity when we consider the real relations between the parts as constituting this unity--but it doesn't mean that the world isn't also made up of particular things. Aristotle and Popper are famous realists.


*****




Epistemology: Skepticism (Idealism or Subjectivism)
In regards to epistemology, my test measures your tendency towards Absolutism or Skepticism. As an epistemological Skeptic, you believe that ultimate reality cannot be known in any objective way. The two categories of Skeptics that my test recognizes are Idealists and Subjectivists.


1. Epistemological Idealists believe that knowledge of ultimate reality is impossible. All we can ever have knowledge about is the world of phenomenal human experience, but there is no reason to suspect that reality mirrors our perceptions and thoughts, according to Idealists. Idealists, then, tend to see truth not as a correspondence between propositions and reality--reality is, after all, fundamentally unknowable--but as a coherence between a whole system of propositions taken to be true. We cannot escape from language or our conceptualized world of phenomena, so we are unable to reference propositions to facts and must instead determine their truth by comparing them to other propositions we hold to be true. As a result of such an idealism, knowledge of any ultimate reality is taken to be impossible, hence the Skeptical tendency of idealism. All our pursuits of knowledge, science included, can only reflect a phenomenal reality that is of our own making. Famous idealists include Kant and Fichte.


If the above did not sound skeptical or idealistic enough to reflect your own views, then you are most likely a Subjectivist.
2. Epistemological Subjectivists, like idealists, believe that all our knowledge is ultimately of our own making because it is filtered through our subjective perceptions. Unlike an idealist, though, a subjectivist doesn't believe in any universal categories of "truth" that apply to the phenomenal world, because each individual can create his own truth. Either that, or he will hold that society or custom creates its own forms of truth. A subjectivist will tend to regard scientific inquiry as a game of sorts--science does not reveal truths about reality, but only gives scientists pseudo-solutions to pseudo-problems of the scientific community's own devising. It is a type of puzzle-solving, but the puzzle isn't of reality. The definition of truth to a subjectivist may be one that recognizes a proposition's usefulness to an individual. William James is one such subjectivist, who believes that we can "will to believe" certain propositions so long as we would find them useful. The example he gives is being found in a situation where you must leap over a chasm in order to survive. The true belief, in such a situation, is that the leap will be successful--this truth is certainly more useful to us, and in believing the truth we become more willing to commit to the jump and make it successful. So, in essence, knowledge of reality is possible for a subjectivist because they never make reference to any objective reality existing outside of our own perceptions and beliefs--we can have knowledge of reality through having knowledge of ourselves, and that is all that we should ask for. Famous subjectivists include Kuhn, Feyarabend, and James. Another famed critic of Absolutism is Hume.


*****




Ethics: Relativism (Subjectivism or Emotivism)
My test measures one's tendency towards moral Objectivism or moral Relativism in regards to ethics. As a moral Relativist, you tend to see moral choices as describing a subject's reaction to a moral object or situation, and not as a property of the moral object itself. You may also feel that moral words are meaningless because they do not address any empirical fact about the world. My test recognizes two types of moral relativists--Subjectivists and Emotivists.


1. Subjectivists see individual or collective desires as defining a situation's or object's moral worth. Thus, the subject, not the object itself, determines the value. Subjectivists recognize that social rules, customs, and morality have been wide-ranging and quite varied throughout history among various cultures. As a result, Subjectivism doesn't attempt to issue hard and fast rules for judging the moral worth of things. Instead, it recognizes that what we consider "good" and "right" is not bound by any discernable rule. There is no one trait that makes an act good or right, because so many different kinds of things have been called good and right. In regards to the definition of "good" or "right", a Subjectivist will tend to define it as whatever a particular person or group of people desire. They do not define it merely as "happiness" or "pleasure", for instance, because sometimes we desire to do things that do not produce pleasure, and because we don't consider all pleasurable things good. Furthermore, Subjectivists recognize the validity of consequentialism in that sometimes we refer to consequences as good and bad--but they also recognize that our intentions behind an action, or the means to the end, can also determine an act's moral worth. Again, there is no one rule to determine these things. Hence the relativism of moral Subjectivism. The most well-known of the subjectivists is Nietzsche.


If that didn't sound like your position, then you are probably the other variety of moral Relativist--the Emotivist.
Emotivists are moral Relativists only in a very slanted sense, because they actually deny that words about morality have any meaning at all. An Emotivist would probably accept Hume's argument that it is impossible to derive an "ought" from an "is"--no factual state of affairs can logically entail any sort of moral action. Furthermore, a emotivist's emphasis on scientific (and hence empirical) verification and testing quickly leads to the conclusion that concepts such as "good" and "right" don't really describe any real qualities or relations. Science is never concerned with whether a particular state of affairs is moral or right or good--and an emotivist feels much the same way. Morality is thus neither objective or subjective for the emotivist--it is without any meaning at all, a sort of vague ontological fiction that is merely a symbol for our emotional responses to certain events. Famous emotivists include Ayer and other positivists associated with the Vienna Circle.


*****


As you can see, when your philosophical position is narrowed down there are so many potential categories that an OKCupid test cannot account for them all. But, taken as very broad categories or philosophical styles, you are best characterized as an N-S-R. Your exact philosophical opposite would be an R-A-O.


About the Author



Saint_gasoline is a crazed madman who spends all of his time writing OKCupid tests and ranting about philosophy and science. If you are interested in reading more of his insane ramblings, or seeing his deliciously trite webcomic, go to SaintGasoline.com.

Take The Sublime Philosophical Crap Test at HelloQuizzy


(Leave a comment)

March 31st, 2008


04:30 pm - Was I fired?
I will find out tomorrow. Tonight? There will be a lot of drinking. If anyone still uses this, meet me for tacos and beer @ the Lincoln Park Pub in Tremont tonight around 9:30pm.
Current Mood: [mood icon] awake

(Leave a comment)

February 15th, 2008


06:17 pm - Ouch
Ouch. I just had emergency dental surgery to remove an infected wisdom tooth. A grand, down the drain, in an hour.

About my love... I don't know. Maybe he was just pretending when he said he was into me. I called him back twice yesterday and he didn't bite. He didn't call today, either. It was worth a shot. Maybe I need to let go. Why are gay men either fucking stupid, vapid sex whores or emotionally unavailable?

Damn it. I havn't felt smitten in five or six years nor has anyone showed any interest.

This is the vicodin talking. I'd better stop now before I complain about being a poor, lonely, weirdo. You shouldn't know about that.
Current Mood: [mood icon] melancholy

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

February 14th, 2008


12:19 am
And it's Valentine's Day. I am falling in love on Valentine's Day. I need to make this epic.

OMG

(Leave a comment)

February 13th, 2008


11:53 pm
I'm falling in love, I think. I'll be sure later.

I don't remeber it being this disorienting. Am I delusional or insane?

I'm certainly the former, thinking that anyone reads Livejournal.
Current Mood: [mood icon] giddy

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

February 4th, 2008


12:14 am
Yay! I got to meet Susie Essman from Curb Your Enthusiasm today. I asked her to call me a Big, Fat Fuck and she screamed "You Big, Fat, Four-Eyed Fuck!" I can die a happy man.

Working for a comedy club has its moments. Meeting comedians and actors makes me feel more a part of the fantasies in my head.

I almost asked a cute boy out tonight. I fully intend to, still. He was beat up by some strangers today at a bus stop. My heart was melting for Ryan the cute pianist, food-expediter. Poor baby. It didn't seem right to ask him out when he was angry, hurt, and holding back tears. I will do it as soon as I get the chance.

All I do is work these days. I worked almost sixty hours this week. I don't even feel worn out. This is a totally new experience for me. I hope it lasts.
Current Mood: [mood icon] flirty

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

October 20th, 2007


03:05 am
Here is me checking in to the hive-mind of human conglomerate cruelty. I don't exist, for sure. I do, however, try.

It is quite appropriate that I come to one of the dumps to lay down my own martyr's story. This is the song I have been quite the good little boy in my frustrating attempts at concealment. Being an American queer, I owe it to Lincon and all the old poofs to carry on the tradition of optimism. I will do so, to my grave, perversely wished to be far-away and meaningful.

Of course, I am only playing my part. I am, in all likelyhood, the least suited to play the role of Bryan Carney. Yet, the world loves a fool and I aim to please. Yes, my only goal is to please. Do not be mislead by pallor and frowns. Inside, there is joy in my heart at never being noticed.

One has to be careful nowadays. There are rescue wolves circling any sounds of malcontent or morbid fascination. Even the dour poets humble themselves before the doctors of wholesomeness. The cries of suicidal intent, meekly shouted into microphones or made into screeds, such as this, are all by men with faith in therapy and redemption.

I am different from them. I won't be a part of such vanity. I am merely playing my role.

In the safety of my childhood prescription, I was made used to being punched and humiliated by the crowd. I was conditioned to hide my literal scars and then smile, each step more fabulous then the next.

Now, I realize life is this pharmacy and I go for my medicine. I have no allusions of good-will. I have only a decaying body, a shamefull, impotent piece of meat between my legs, and a pathological need for men to reaffirm this. They do, daily. They do it, unwillingly. I take from them what I need and yet they wish me well.

If I don't die a hedonist, I will a monastic faggot.

If I seem sad, I am. Please don't feel awkward or ashamed of your success around me. Look at me, mock me, and move on.

(Leave a comment)

August 24th, 2007


02:57 pm
1) Camping this weekend. Call Amy and Jesse @ 330 998 4306

2)
'Gays Too Precious To Risk In Combat,' Says General

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

August 14th, 2007


02:07 am
although the evidence will convict us all
ridiculous, amoral, nonagency;
to earn a good soul and let credence precede
his claim, though the evidence will convict us all

I hope to be a humanitarian, one day
then I will never be afraid.
I am not a humanitarian because there was no cause
for lack of reason, evidence will convict us all

I am ashamed I am insane
yet I hold the eraser
still, I won't budge;
I won't do; it will convict us all

for the high epigrammatic banter
we wish to evidence; divine!
most human lives, euphoric concubines
waiting, yet the evidence will convict us all

you are a pathetic, you are an addict
dixit "it will convict"
your culture was too much a contingent thing
for necessity will convict you all

you will be forgotten, don't bother
again, disgust
you will, in conversation, affect your warrant
but you don't know what will die then

Although the evidence will convict us all,
it will have been said, before the singularity
why did we clutter the space
Ah, but now I need bread

But, for me, this report is not a comfort
I will not sleep well tonight
The dancing flesh-bags in my dreams
will continue to portray the way the world ought to be

my dream will kill me, in the end
my sad visions of maudlin decay
I see switches covered in swatches holding court with mad kings
will destroy us, like every asshole says will convict us all.

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

August 12th, 2007


08:16 pm

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

August 4th, 2007


10:07 pm - Phew, it's over!
The Cleveland International Piano Competition, that is.

Since last wednesday, I have been spending a lot of time listening to the competition from my car or from the venue. I went to two sessions of the preliminary rounds, one semi-final, and both concerto rounds with the Cleveland Orchestra. The awards were just announced and the order is, to me, mostly correct. Ghindin won first, which is understandable after his impressive Rach 3. Moutouzkine should have been given the second for his good Waldstein Sonata.

My overall impression of the competition is favorable. Besides being the largest award for the winner, the Cleveland Orchestra lends its acclaim. The good turnout and healthy endowment of the competition should combine with the others to ensure its survival.

For Cleveland, this is a wonderful gift. This city needs art that is not amusical rambling or weak poetry.

I hope to go to the winners' recital tomorrow, as my piano teacher gave me some box seats.


Meanwhile, still...

...smoking
...party to an immoral, illegal occupation of sovereign tribes in Iraq
...spending my days learning Clementi and Haydn Sonatinas
...delivering pizzas in the evenings
...pretty certain there is no objective anything in this reason-forsaken evolutionary contingency called existence
...turning more cynical, responding to the common man, the deceived vulgus
...trying to read Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics
...ashamed to be witnessing the evolution of the state, loss of liberties, and the gradual Orwellian shift (the panopticon par excellence)

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

July 25th, 2007


11:46 pm - faltering
I made it 23 hours.

Amanda, your advice was prescient. However, I thought publicizing quitting would make it easier. Now it's just self-flagellation.

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

12:33 am - stopped smoking
As of today, July 25th, 2007, 12:15am, I am a non-smoker. Smoking is smelly, expensive, and deadly.

I smoked one last cigarette and then I destroyed the rest of the pack. I threw away my lighters and matches. Tomorrow, I will clean out the car ashtray and get rid of the tobacco smell. I will draw up some signs as reminders. I'd hate to wake up tomorrow, drive to the store, and light up before I remembered what I decided.

I had to throw out my other smoking paraphernalia, too. I don't see myself being successful unless I break the oral fixation. The other smokables will just have to be put aside.

I never wanted to quit until now and I'm not sure what changed. It may be that smoking is no longer a social activity with most of my friends nor with any business in the State of Ohio.

I think I'd rather not test my luck with smoking friends. I'll be sticking with the non-smokers until I get some experience as one.

In terms of replacement, I will be chewing tooth-picks and taking walks when cravings come. Also, I think some chocolate would be a good reward for the first week.

Are there any suggestions from those who have quit?
Current Mood: [mood icon] anxious

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

July 22nd, 2007


05:13 am
RIP Tammy Faye. I laughed when Fallwell died. I cried for you. I don't know if you are guilty of taking all those millions. I think you had a killer sense of humor and made all the fags happy. Thanks.

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

July 18th, 2007


03:46 am - Liberal! Liberal! Say it with me, dear, little one.
If I could share with my compatriots one thing, in a big, show-and-tell, it would be the misinformation being pandered about concerning what is going on in the US Senate, right NOW.

ABC, CNN, Fox, Reuters, AP, McClatchy, and NBC are framing the nature of today's debate in, yet again, an obstructionist Democrat parade of lies. One way to sustain debate in parliamentary systems is to neither table a motion nor vote. This is called a filibuster. It is a tactic to delay an incipient vote, ostensibly about to pass, by using one's parliamentary right to demand a larger majority, such as 3/4 or 3/5, to close debate and move to a vote.

Now, people, 2+2 may equal five, and love is war, yet you journalists are so desperate that you are blatantly contradicting a real fact. It is one thing to use faulty logic to make your word association game of coercion possible. It is quite another thing to SAY black is white.

Life will go on and the people will continue to ignor one fact: deregulation is dedemocratization

There is no such thing as journalism in a real country.

(Leave a comment)

July 9th, 2007


03:10 am - People are nuts.
Mister Rogers was my first friend. Don't mess with my deceased buddy.

This man showed me that it was good to be creative and compassionate.

Is nothing sacred?

read more | digg story

(Leave a comment)

June 18th, 2007


02:43 am - my favorite fugue

(Leave a comment)

June 17th, 2007


04:45 am - solidarity
I am in the middle of watching Michael Moore's "sicko."

I have also never felt so betrayed by the American Ideology I was fed. It saddens me that we, as a progesssive people, can treat the least among us so poorly.

This movie shows the striking difference of social views between us and other industrial countries, who actually have a working democracy.

Getting to the point where politicians are barred from profiting from their state employ seems the only solution. This will not happen in the US.

The minute I get up from my demoralized slumber and find the means I am going to defect from this country and move my life elsewhere. What american ideals are left?

What is there, in america, for one who thinks the idea of amassing personal identity (and necessary security) through wealth accumulation is immoral, delusional, and counter-productive to the good of the state and the common man?

I want to live my life in a liberal democracy, and support its continuation. Being an American is antithetical, in real life, to that lofty tower.

Fuck America.

I know there is starvation and poverty in every corner of the earth. How can I look at my neighbors, in my rich suburb, with anything but derision? They, the ones who drive their three hummers, eat shit because they can't afford not to, as insane?

My solution has been to retreat from the sickness, all around. I want no part of it. I want my Castalia and my art. I am doing nothing for the world, that which I get my definition from. It is no wonder that nobody sees the answer as solidarity. They have no time to reflect.

I want out

Tomorrow, I will probably wake and forget all these things. There is the chance I won't.

Most likely, I will only grow more disconcerted and angst-ridden. Paralyzed.

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

June 15th, 2007


09:22 pm
Lately, I've been thinking, in my misanthropic way, that I have just been whittling my tools down to fit into precise receptacles. My tools are now ready to fine-tune a decent, old wall-clock. I can even do some aesthetic work, to repair the gilding and the painting.

Now I find this clock has ripped a hole from the wall. I need to patch the holes to secure the clock.

I can patch this hole with my precision instruments, but it will take me 100X as long as a man with the right tools.

Is this a deceit?

Please, World, don't make me 100X the fool.

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

June 12th, 2007


02:30 am - dragging myself
is all I've been doing. It's been hard to breath some days. What's new?

RIP Richard Rorty

You're some of the sanest stuff I've held on to, lately. You are giving me a new appreciation for community. You have made the insanity of metaphysics apparent.[1] You do this while buiding up an awareness, also new to me, of the importance of solidarity building actions and things. I thank you for this sanity.

The piano is where I have been spending too much time. I am always aware of how narcissistic and selfish I am being. This enjoyment will be the death of me. The world doesn't need more pianists. The world needs nurses and doctors to heal pain. It is a travesty that I should want something but need its antithesis. Music keeps me busy, ignorant of my pain.

Some claim music saves lives. In the respect that music gives me a reason to keep on going, it is a plus. Apropos of the state of the world plus me, I cannot venture an analysis.

With a Grand Sigh,
Bryan

[1] Phil! You must read all the books I have been reading. Our conversations, sporadic and oblique they may be, obfuscation aside, have aided, and mirrored, my own discoveries. Very important to me. yes!
Current Mood: declarative
Current Music: bach and he's driving me crazy

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

May 31st, 2007


12:03 pm - mid-term goal stating
I have a new goal.

This is not my goal to be enrolled in school this fall, working towards a nursing degree.

I have decided to learn all 15 two-part inventions of JS Bach. Next I will decide if I want to learn all 15 sinfonias.

My reason is that, since listening to recordings of the 30, and playing a few myself, I have advanced far in my endevour for musical fluency. My ability to improvise a subject and counter-subject seems to have born out of this. This music gets me higher than any sex, drugs, or rock & roll ever could. This is music that makes my mind burn. I think it's time, as I can sight read one voice well.

When I started lessons with my teacher, Barbara Klonowsi, I had some definate goals. At one year of practice, I wanted to play an Invention. I did at nine months. It has been eleven months since I began lessons. I think my next was Chopin etudes at three years.

Logged in LJ, thence made real.

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

May 26th, 2007


04:30 pm - Man of my dreams & Stickers
Last night I shared a hotel room with John Krasinski, star of the Hit TV Show, "The Office"(c).

Despite my railing against television, I have seen every episode of the American The Office. I so am rooting for Pam and Jim to get together!




Swoon

I don't want to say what we did, because you shouldn't kiss and tell (heheh*/wrists*ehehe)



I just littered my new car with bumper stickers. They are:

~Celebtate Diversity (with rainbow bachground)
~Kill Your Television
~Darwin Loves You
~Separate Church and State
~The War on Drugs us Fucking Stupid
~All Gods Fail

and, in the place where the Ichthys was removed, a [cliche]Flying Spaghetti Monster[/cliche] plate. It's probably shows just how out-dated I am. I should just bite the bullet and get an Invisible Pink Unicorn decal. I, before all things, am an IPU devotee. When you have contemplated the paradox of invisibility and pinkness, ye shall know the IPU.
Current Mood: [mood icon] bouncy
Current Music: Schumann's oratorio "Das Paradies und die Peri"

(7 comments | Leave a comment)

03:49 pm

(Leave a comment)

12:54 am - innocent nature video
"Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bade thee feed
By the stream and o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, wooly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?"



Current Mood: better

(Leave a comment)

May 24th, 2007


02:12 pm






Etc... ...http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2823158&thread_type=voteresults&ok=1

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

May 22nd, 2007


11:33 pm - Drive-Bys
Hip-Hop is for the uneducated. These poets are so feeble-minded that they need some pulse to organize and give validity to their thoughts. It's like a whore's cot and Keats. I'm sure they went together, very loudly. The drunk and the stoned will think anything's divine.

If you watch TV every day, you are a wastrel.

Immersion in the vast sea of western music will destroy your taste for the common.

The Smiths (or the music of your youthful rebellion and self-discovery) can withstand said immersion.

Resist this urge to classify. You can't erect walls and remember your reasons for doing so, at the same time.

If you haven't had sex, a date, or romantic interchange in over four years, you probably never will.

If so, you will be lonely yet free. You will seek out the works of sad germans and they will bring solace. Goethe, oh Goethe!

(edited some nasties)
Current Mood: [mood icon] apathetic

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

May 18th, 2007


04:28 pm - My first posting of a recording.
People always ask me, when they learn that I am an adult beginner at the piano, to post some of my music.  Before I knew how far I'd like to go I would heartily agree.  When I started learning with a teacher I began to dislike my improvisations and didn't want to share them.  To humor my friends, I am going to start posting the pieces, however amateurish they be, to my LJ, for feedback.  Should that be feedbach?

Posting number one:

J.S. Bach's fourth two-part invention

These inventions were instructional pieces that, I believe, were first collected for WF Bach.  Bach later added to them and formed a collection of fifteen two-part "Inventions" and fifteen three-part "Sinfonias."  Though instructional, I find them to be hauntingly beautiful.  Being within my grasp now makes them even more exciting.  If you like polyphonic or fugal baroque keyboard music, I would suggest you check out Glenn Gould's Sony recordings of the Inventions and Sinfonias.

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

May 16th, 2007


05:35 pm - 'omage to 'itchens (take that, alliteration)

Something about Xtopher Hitchens really turns me on in all sorts of ways.

I was introduced to him via his unpopular, to me, stance on intervention with theistic regimes.  He was always for the ouster of Hussein when it was widely viewed as foolish among the intelligentsia.  He was one of the few who stood up for it on principle, based on an historical study of American intervention and its affect on the intervened.  He views America as a source of hope for the world, drawing upon the strength if its republic and ideological purity. 

I still respect him, to the excusion of his compatiots, at the time.  It isn't because his obstinancy that I do so but because I believe his vision of Hussein and his strongmen types is still appropriate.  I disagree with him, as far as the implementation of these principles.  We can't live with these "genocidal, expansionist, theocracies" but can we do away with them?  I think Iraq isn't in a unique position, being the cornerstone of a shaky middle east.  Each stone is being pulled by separate rational, or irrational, center.  This is the case with indonesia, though it's not strictly georaphic proximity there.

There is a difference between these many axes of evil and western republics.  I think it's faulty to separate the religious movement from the regime.

I suppose I don't want to have been an "appeaser," when I look back, twenty years hence.  But how do we deal with empires of destiny?  Is it immoral to force the wills of the republics on the wills of the Islamic states?  It seems that this is a macrocosmic instance of what happened in arabia 1400 years ago.  Islam was a uniter within that closed system.  It is still a uniter, for those on the side of the uniting.

No Blood for Oil; Get out of Iraq, NOW!; and Impeach Bu$h;  but what happens after?  Our blood has been spilled and we own that mess, over there!  This is all so confusing.  I need to retract my pacifist stance, it seems, for me to integrate a new historical context.

Here are some interesting resources for Hitchens' views:

Hitchens' collected essays, updated frequently

A reveling debate between Hitchens and Sharpton on God

Hitchens on Falwell

Better yet, a collection of videos

You ought to check out his book on Jefferson, Letters to a Young Contarian, and, especially, Why Orwell Matters

Better yet, still, check out all his Amazon books

I'm of meet [info]thd3 for [info]richterscale's recital @ the Cleveland Institute of Music.  I hear the program is a Beethoven sonata, Schumann's Arabesque, and a Schubert sonata.


Current Music: Faure's op.50 pavan

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

May 15th, 2007


05:38 pm - Voice Post:
VoicePost Help
84K 0:25
“[edit]
considering all the fallwell apologies I have heard, I now think that was a harsh declaration. I can't deny the welling of happiness that showed itself
[/edit]”

Transcribed by: [info]pismire

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

12:46 am - Screw anger. I could have been Cold, Dark Matter.
This is an interesting talk by the authors of the book, "A View from the Center of the Universe."



Current Mood: [mood icon] refreshed

(Leave a comment)

May 11th, 2007


02:28 am
I heart the castrati that will never be.



(1 comment | Leave a comment)

May 9th, 2007


10:54 pm - Voice Post
VoicePost Help
136K 0:42
(no transcription available)

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

May 7th, 2007


08:20 pm - Fight Normative Culture
Amy, this is for you, me, and everyone else.

Subversive Tactics of Neurologically Diverse Cultures
Current Music: Bruckner, Anton - Bruckner, String Quintet in F - i Gemassigt

(Leave a comment)

05:33 pm
So I have this journal for five years and only now post regularly. I find that nobody is around. WTF? Where is everyone? My own recollection isn't the only reason I post here. What happened to my "friends" page? Where are you?
Current Music: alkan - ii marche funèbre (gibbons)

(6 comments | Leave a comment)

05:28 pm - soreness
Another test... this time of a new journal updater.

I have been helping my friend Mark fix up his house and my whole body is sore. Yesterday we were roofing and my job was to carry the shingles to the roof. I hate shingles.

I finally bought aelfrice.com, after years of wanting to. I used godaddy's engine to put up a placeholder of sorts to get me going. It has my LJ embedded. very poorly, and will contain a few pages of resources once I refamiliarize myself with website design. I haven't put a page together since high school and HTML. I get the feeling that things are a little more advanced now.

I did finish Schopenhauer's two essays "The Wisdom of Life" and "Counsels and Maxims." They are both from "Parerga und Paralipomena." I have a few other books from this collection so I should just get it. It's a collection of essays which are the sum of his last two decades of life.

I started Hume's "Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding." This will take me a while. It has exposed more gaps in my understanding of analytical philosphy. I at least, now, have some direction to follow.
Current Music: alkan - (gibbons) - Op.39 #4 symphonic etude

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

May 4th, 2007


10:05 pm - Israel SUCKS! There!
I want to go on the record and say that I detest the state of Israel. I am led, now, to believe that my gut feeling, after 9/11, was correct. Israeli influence had much to do with the drum-beat for retaliatory military action in response to 9/11.

Yout think we spend 3 billion, every year, in foreign aid just because we care? That is 1/5th of out total yearly foreign aid spending. 160 billion has been spent since the october war. (edit, since WWII)

I am sick of supporting a terrorist state.

This is all prompted by my reading of forum posts on 9/11/2001 and the days immediately after. I am led to believe that I was born more able to see the future than most people. Artistic types were turned into weak sheep. I am so sad. I was right in my understanding of potential US retaliation and it's affect on the middle east. If I, a high school/college drop-out, can accurately predict human actions, why can't those who are highly paid?

People will be the ruin of us and I will be here to watch! . ! . ! . ! . !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! _________________

(9 comments | Leave a comment)

May 3rd, 2007


10:58 pm
Kitties and Star Trek! Yay!

http://granades.com/2007/05/02/loltrek/

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

05:23 am - This hurts

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

May 2nd, 2007


04:50 pm - sadness
I'm a horrible writer who thinks alliteration is always appreciated.

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

May 1st, 2007


04:47 pm - Hilarious

(5 comments | Leave a comment)

April 29th, 2007


01:15 am - The Chavez and Chomsky Chiasma
There was a time, no more than three years ago, that I bought the line cast by some very able american thinkers. Chomsky and Zinn's pupulism, while deserving of a nod, so far as they provide a different viewpoint from the daily churn, which is intoxicating, they ought not be praised for the disservice they do to the defiant, eager for the truth. IMO, Chavez, a despot in his own very stylized manner, is quilty of manipulation of the malleable minds of the masses, deperate for recompense. He's guilty of many more things, as I'm sure will be belived after his ouster.

Ever catch the "documentary" he made of the coup attempt a few years ago? I have. It's a great show, specifically flavored for an american's distaste of his own deference to the base allure of progress.

An excellent critique of latin populist rulers:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/files/story3805.php

On a trivial note, I just picked up a new car. It's a 2002 Ford Taurus. Very low miles for its age and a fair deal. I was looking at pony cars and convertibles but realized I should get the most dependable and practical for Cleveland winters.
Current Mood: [mood icon] content
Current Music: Mozart Bassoon Concerto Eb KV 191

(Leave a comment)

April 28th, 2007


01:55 pm - Media List, Continued
Here we go, again:

Eliot's "Middlemarch" There's very little chance I'm going to finish this, so I don't seem to be scared of it. I have never understood victorian literature. I was just too dense. Her voice is very modern and the townspeople are my neighbors and friends. I can't say more than this, yet. Surprisingly accessible writing. Her genius is very apparent.

Schopenhauer's "Studies in Pessimism" This is the work that has occupied my mind the last week. Neurons are, subtly, being rearranged up there, I swear. I've never been so comfortable with oblivion and so resolved in my asceticism, to the detriment of my contribution to society. The Chapter, "On Immortality," is the best summation of my understanding of my own psychology and the reason for my sour-grapes attitude on the pleasures of man. I had always thought I was prohibited from enjoying the normal things by some defect of character and my self-esteem, a result of past action, fear, and lethargy. Now I can walk tall and reject what I will; deny whatever form will takes.

From the chapter, "On Immortality:"

"_Philalethes_. 'Think what you're doing! When you say _I, I, I_ want
to exist, it is not you alone that says this. Everything says it,
absolutely everything that has the faintest trace of consciousness. It
follows, then, that this desire of yours is just the part of you that
is _not individual_--the part that is common to all things without
distinction. It is the cry, not of the individual, but of existence
itself; it is the intrinsic element in everything that exists, nay, it
is the cause of anything existing at all. This desire craves for, and
so is satisfied with, nothing less than existence in general--not any
definite individual existence. No! that is not its aim. It seems to be
so only because this desire--this _Will_--attains consciousness only
in the individual, and therefore looks as though it were concerned
with nothing but the individual. There lies the illusion--an illusion,
it is true, in which the individual is held fast: but, if he reflects,
he can break the fetters and set himself free. It is only indirectly,
I say, that the individual has this violent craving for existence. It
is _the Will to Live_ which is the real and direct aspirant--alike and
identical in all things. Since, then, existence is the free work, nay,
the mere reflection of the will, where existence is, there, too,
must be will; and for the moment the will finds its satisfaction in
existence itself; so far, I mean, as that which never rests, but
presses forward eternally, can ever find any satisfaction at all.
The will is careless of the individual: the individual is not its
business; although, as I have said, this seems to be the case, because
the individual has no direct consciousness of will except in himself.
The effect of this is to make the individual careful to maintain his
own existence; and if this were not so, there would be no surety
for the preservation of the species. From all this it is clear that
individuality is not a form of perfection, but rather of limitation;
and so to be freed from it is not loss but gain. Trouble yourself no
more about the matter. Once thoroughly recognize what you are, what
your existence really is, namely, the universal will to live, and the
whole question will seem to you childish, and most ridiculous!'"


Finished up "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. This little book took me over a year to finish. And no, I didn't like it. I resent it.

TBC

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

April 27th, 2007


12:22 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/arts/music/27cnd-Rostropovichcnd.html

Rostropovich died.

(Leave a comment)

11:53 am - Democrats, Debates
Who is this nut, Mike Gravel? I think he rocks. Kucinich/Gravel '08!
Current Music: Kabalevsky, op. 46, Sonata #3

(Leave a comment)

01:34 am - Amazon Evil and Media List
I just was strolling by to read a review and now I am seven books richer, a lot poorer. FTSOLJC:

Piano Servicing, Tuning, Rebuilding...; Reblitz.
Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity; R Rorty.
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician; C Wolff.
The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims, and,
Essays and Aphorisms; Schopenhauer.
An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding; Hume.

I know what I'll be doing for the next little while.

I thought it would be a good idea to start a record of some of the media that I masticate. I hope it will add some permanency to it all.

I'm a little curious, myself. Just how much crap do I muse over and never reference again?

(peruses the cluttered mess of coffee-stained scratch paper, music, books, and underwear)

What I've been reading:

reread Cat's cradle and Slaughterhouse Five after KV's death

Finished up Carl Sagan's Demon Haunted World - I got the feeling, with this book, that scientists really are surprised that peeple are easily mislead and people, easily, like to mislead. Really? Other than that, its broad range kept me intrigued.

Not really a book, but I've been reading through my old, high school math books. It's been so long that I used anything but simple geometry, fractions, ratios, and arithmetic that I felt pretty bad trying to graph a function and failing. It's all a matter of practice, I suppose.

Bach: Life and Letters and the Forkel biography

Cicero's essays and letters. I came across De Amicitia and was reminded of Latin. That's another thing which requires practice that hasn't been practiced for a couple years. I've been keeping Cassell's dictionary at hand a lot, lately. Vocabulary is the first thing to go, after the more useful grammar functions. I think Latin is a skill I should just give up on. I only thought of it as preparatory in the first place. There's the reast of my life for getting more acquainted.

I spend a lot of time with my music. I'm working on Bach's fourth 2 part invention in d minor, the first in C, and the eighth in F. I love counterpoint but I stumble a lot trying to read two lines at once. I'm not a good sight reader and end up memorizing right away. I can, if I'm into it, figure out things pretty quick. I need to practice sight reading more. Again, why? Why? It's the thing I love most, now, so I'll probably put a lot of time into it. My priorities are fucked up.

I see Czerny and Hanon and their excercises every day, as well.

I try a new piece every couple of days. I rarely put much energy into it because there are all the songs from the method books I use in my lessons I need to learn. They are usually short but fun.

I watch the Daily Show, the Colbert Report almost nightly.

I watch about 15 minutes of slanted political videos every day, from CrooksandLiars.com

I watch about 15 minutes of Fox News most nights.

I hate it when I have to watch TV national news at dinner time. I can only stand Moyers' "Now," and Frontline nowadays.

I read The local papers for fourty-five minutes a week.

I spend about a couple hours a week in Wikipedia

I search for things in google for many more hours a week

I read, daily, the NTY website, Huffingtonpost.com, the piano world forums, Doly Kos blogs, and Digg/Slashdot. I love me some populism and pundits.

How could I forget the crazy mad "The Learning Company" lectures I've been stealing from the internets. Since midwinter I've gone through: Bach and the High Baroque, How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, Mahler: Life and times, Beethoven: Life and times, Liszt: life and times, Tchikovsky: life and times, Mozart: Life and Times, and The Chamber Music of Mozart. Oh... How to Listen to and Understand Great Opera. Let's not forget Bethoven's Piano Sonatas. All of these were done by Professor Robert Greenberg of UCLA Berkely. I got sick of his jokes and mannerisms after the hundreds of hours, literally, that I spent with him. Hundreds of hours.

And... ...I wonder where my energy goes. Extremely little TV can only explain a little.

There's more. This list is getting longer and turning into something entirely else. I'll continue it soon.
Current Mood: [mood icon] accomplished
Current Music: rain showers

(9 comments | Leave a comment)

April 22nd, 2007


04:15 am - brought to you by the numbers 1, 5, and 8
1.61803398874989484820458683436563811772030917980576286213544862270526046281890
244970720720418939113748475408807538689175212663386222353693179318006076672635
443338908659593958290563832266131992829026788067520876689250171169620703222104
321626954862629631361443814975870122034080588795445474924618569536486444924104
432077134494704956584678850987433944221254487706647809158846074998871240076521
705751797883416625624940758906970400028121042762177111777805315317141011704666
599146697987317613560067087480710131795236894275219484353056783002287856997829
778347845878228911097625003026961561700250464338243776486102838312683303724292
675263116533924731671112115881863851331620384005222165791286675294654906811317
159934323597349498509040947621322298101726107059611645629909816290555208524790
352406020172799747175342777592778625619432082750513121815628551222480939471234
145170223735805772786160086883829523045926478780178899219902707769038953219681
9861514378031499741106926088674296226757560523172777520353613936
Current Mood: [mood icon] indescribable
Current Music: working on BWV 775, so it's in my head

(5 comments | Leave a comment)

April 15th, 2007


05:34 pm - No more bees, no more people.
It's really scaring me, this so-called CCD. [colony collapse disorder]

Are we not concerned that up to 70 percent of all the bee colonies have disappeared?

There will be no food. Billions will die. Give it a few years.

[EDIT]

go here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

and check out the references.

[/EDIT]

[reedit]

this calmed me

http://www.biotunes.org/bioblog/2007/04/cell-phone-use-and-bees.html

[/reedit]
Current Mood: [mood icon] distressed

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

April 12th, 2007


03:31 pm
goodbye KV

the world lost an honest person

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

November 9th, 2006


05:45 pm - Stop sucking my cock, Ken Mehlman!
Now that I'm a high-ranking member of the republican party, I just don't know why people can't stop sucking my cock...

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34118

It's time for the American body politic to forcibly out the hypocritical gay scum who shill for orthodoxies, reactionaries, and the Republicans.

I'm reminded of the many queer priests who informed me homosexuality was a sin. I learned early on, in my Catholic Youth, that although these queers were preaching the objective moral disorder and sublimation line, the leadership, by the number of gays in it, were also sending a message to the closeted gay kids: the correct decision to make is to join up. I have no doubts that the Log Cabin Republicans have had similar backgrounds.
Current Mood: [mood icon] amused
Current Music: Gould: Haydn piano sonata in E flat, #49

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

July 20th, 2006


01:37 am - Fuck people
Ever been shot at? I just was. It may as well have not been a pellet gun for the way I feel.

It's been a few years since I've been called a faggot from a passing auto. I feel just the same: powerless, angry, and hurt.

All I could do was ride around on my bike and look for the fucking cowards' SUV. I hate SUVs. I hate guns. I hate ghetto thug losers who are taking over my hometown. I hate crowds. I hate fun at the expense of others. I hate violent people and wish them pain. I hate aggresive people and wish them pain. I hate aggresive males who see me as a target at bars. I hate that I jump to stereotypes to explain things. ARRRGGGGHHH.

Thanks for listening to me rant. All my friends are asleep or not there, altogether. I'm gonna go file a police report tomorrow. Maybe that will help me feel less violated.

Is there anything else I should do? for the welts or my ego?
Current Mood: [mood icon] infuriated

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

> previous 50 entries
> Go to Top
LiveJournal.com