Each to His Own

This Is What My Life Has Been Life With Chronic Pain

2011-09-18T18:21:00.002-07:00

The Beginning of the End of Education

2010-09-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

The human being and the computer will soon become inseparable.

IPads to Replace Textbooks for California Students
Year-long trial underway for 400 eighth-graders
By Albert Roman
Epoch Times Staff

The 400 participants are from four school districts throughout California, including Long Beach, Riverside, Fresno, and San Francisco. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES—With the dawn of iBooks in January 2010, it was only a matter of time until Apple and textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) crossed paths.

HMH has created a full curriculum Algebra App for the iPad, called HMH Fuse, and wants to test its effectiveness.

Last week, HMH along with California Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss, Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser, and Algebra 1 textbook author Edward Burger, Ph.D., met at Washington Middle School in Long Beach to announce the start of a year-long trial involving eighth-grade Algebra 1 students who have swapped their textbooks for customized iPads.

The 400 participants are from four school districts throughout California, including Long Beach, Riverside, Fresno, and San Francisco.

Participating teachers have one randomly selected class using the iPads while their other classes continue using the textbook version of the same material.

"Students can receive feedback on practice questions, write and save notes, receive guided instruction, access video lessons, and more with the touch of a finger," according to a recent press release.

"As the digital age reaches our classrooms it will transform education allowing for teaching our students in ways not before imagined, and California is poised to lead the way," said Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss. "This pilot project represents an important step toward embracing a more interactive learning environment that will help our fantastic teachers and school leaders meet the changing needs of California’s students in the 21st-Century economy," said Ms. Reiss in the press release.

Despite the general positivity from the product maker and educators, skeptics wonder if the interactive technology, with all of its features, will be effective or a distraction for teens.

Results of the research findings are expected by fall 2011.

The Tree

2010-08-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

"The alchemist saw the union of opposites under the symbol of the tree, and it is therefore not surprising that the unconscious of the present-day man, who no longer feels at home in his world and can base his existence neither on the past that is no more nor on the future that is yet to be, should hark back to the symbol of the cosmic tree rooted in this world and growing up to heaven -- the tree that is also man. In the history of symbols this tree is described as the way of life itself, a growing into that which eternally is and does not change; which springs from the union of opposites and, by its eternal presence, also makes that union possible. It seems as if it were only through an experience of symbolic reality that man, vainly seeking his own "existence' and making a philosophy out of it, can find his way back to a world in which he is no longer a stranger."
-Carl Jung Aspects of the Feminine

David Brooks is a bitch

2010-07-28T15:33:00.003-07:00

Just saying, he's an emasculated piece of shit.

David Brooks is a bitch

2010-07-28T15:33:00.001-07:00

Just saying, he's an emasculated piece of shit.

On a Park Bench in Roxbury

2010-05-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

"The saddest thing I ever did see
Was a woodpecker pecking on a plastic tree
'Friend' said he to me,
Things just ain't as sweet as they used to be"

Saddest Thing I Have Ever Read

2010-03-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

"In the 1970s a Japanese photographer, Keiki Haginoya, undertook what was to be a lifelong project to compile a photo documentary of children’s play on the streets of Tokyo. He gave up the project in 1996, noting that the spontaneous play and laughter that once filled the city’s streets, alleys and vacant lots had utterly vanished"

From "Playtime Is Over" by David Elkind
New York Times Op-Ed March 26th, 2010

I Doubted Him, I Criticized Him, I Thought He Was Being Stupid For Putting All His Eggs In One Basket, But Kudos To You, Mr. Obama

2010-03-23T19:48:00.001-07:00

Lucid Dream

2010-02-27T09:53:00.001-08:00

5 Worst Inventions

2010-02-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

The Five Worst Inventions In History
Throughout time, we have always strived for more. More strength, more speed, more technology, and more accomplishment. Sadly, these results often come from a desire to do as much as possible with as little effort as possible. This has led to some inventions that seem cool on the outside, but really do nothing more than sap our collective ability to be productive. Welcome to my list of the five worst inventions in history.

5. Sliced bread · All the convenience of bread, only you don't have to waste those precious seconds slicing it beforehand! Sure it makes sandwich creation only take 60 seconds instead of 70, but is that 10 seconds really relevant?

Not only do you lose the admittedly small amount of exercise that cutting the bread affords, but you now are forced to eat bread of a predefined thickness. If you want thicker bread, it's Texas Toast style or nothing. If you want thinner bread, good luck cutting it.

Normally an invention this small wouldn't make a Top 5 list, but this one is special; it paved the way for a period of human laziness. I can't tell you how much our caveman ancestors were fed up with having to slice their own bread. Thank fucking Christ that problem is over with.

4. Handicap doors · Once again, we take a trip down Laziness Boulevard. Only it's not a boulevard, because we don't like having to manage our way over that middle part. In fact, we don't like walking. It's a Laziness Taxi, really, and handicap doors are just another part of it.

Now we don't even have to pull the door open, we just push a button and it magically opens for us. Why was this invention created? So people with a real inability to open and walk through doors, like people in wheelchairs or on crutches or walkers, would be able to get around like everyone else. Sadly, it's turned in to just another way for the average person to be lazy. I believe my thoughts on this invention can be adequately summed up by what I said to someone two weeks ago who pressed the button and waited for the door to open before walking through it:

Or you could use your hand. Don't be so fucking lazy!
I'm not adding that emphasis at the end for fun, either: I spewed those words at him like enraged bile.

3. Escalators · I'll freely admit the elevator is cool. It can take you to the top of a tall building in short order, saving you from tiring yourself out and getting all sweaty from climbing 20 flights of stairs. The escalator, however, is fucking stupid.

Now you don't have to spend seven seconds climbing a flight of stairs any more, you can spend 12 seconds standing in place like a moron! How fucking lazy do you need to be to not want to climb a single flight of stairs? This wasn't even invented for handicapped people: they use the elevator! The escalator was invented because people are too fucking lazy for their own good, and they'd rather have a machine do the work for them.

Now here's the kicker: when an escalator breaks down, it essentially becomes stairs. The people who own the building could let you climb them as such, but what do they do instead? They put up a sign that says Escalator out of service, please use elevator. I cannot express in words how fucking irritated those signs make me.

2. The Internet · What's that, you say? Arguably the most important communication tool in history is the second worst invention? Of course it is! We are so dependant on technology that if the internet were to be shut off tomorrow, society would crumble.

Now, let's think this through: what would happen if the internet was destroyed? Well, all those people wasting their lives playing internet poker, or meticulously increasing their online personas, or watching stupid videos on YouTube would have to find some other way to occupy their days. Let's see, what else could they do... well, being honest for a minute, most would waste their time in front of the television instead of their computer screens. And that brings us to:

1. Television · This has accurately been called the boob tube, and is probably the single largest time-waster on the planet. There is so much lowest-common-denominator drivel on T.V. that it boggles the mind. Why should I give a fuck if twenty people were stupid enough to get marooned on an island on purpose, or if some whore is going to fuck fifteen men at once while claiming to be a "bachelorette?"

The sad truth is that most people waste their entire lives browsing the internet and watching television. What would they do without them? Well, they'd be forced to find ways to entertain themselves.

Holy flying shit, I may be on to something here!

Without the constant deadening stimulation of projected images, we'd be forced to go outside, exercise, be social, maybe read a little, exercise, and find ways to occupy our minds that don't involve planting ourselves in a chair and staring blankly at a screen for hours on end.

"But Chris, without the internet how would you have this website?" I wouldn't. Instead I'd have gone out and found a magazine or periodical, or I'd have started one myself. The message of human stupidity is universal, and it doesn't take the internet or a T.V. show to get my message out there.

Here's a challenge for you: go the next week, from this very moment until next Monday, without using the five things in this list. Buy unsliced bread if you can find it, open doors for yourself, climb the fucking stairs, stay off the internet except as your job or school require, and don't watch T.V. Then come back and try to tell me your life hasn't been enriched in some way from not having to rely on others to provide your entertainment. I guarantee you'll feel better about yourself if you make it.

From www.hownotosuck.com

Running with the Bulls

2009-12-02T18:44:00.001-08:00

Great Album
Sun Cut Flat - Running of the Bulls
Download It For Free at: http://www.mediafire.com/?jjnwfwymgyd

Mess with the Bull II

2009-10-06T12:33:00.001-07:00

Chen Wenling

When You Think of Society, You Think of All the People You Don't Know

2009-08-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

- John Winner Dickenson

Mess With The Bull

2009-08-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

Brian Viveros

Just Some Junk

2009-08-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

Junk sculptures by Brandon Jan Blommaert

Who does good buisness really benefit?

2009-07-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Wall St. Jacks Up Pay After Bailouts
Lawmakers Warn Against Return to Pre-Crisis Levels
Thursday, July 23, 2009

NEW YORK, July 22 -- Wall Street's biggest banks are setting aside billions of dollars more to pay their executives and other employees just months after these firms were rescued with a taxpayer bailout, renewing questions about compensation practices in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

But Wall Street, helped by improving profits, is on track to pay employees as much as, or even more than, it did in the pre-crisis days. So far this year, the top six U.S. banks have set aside $74 billion to pay their employees, up from $60 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Goldman Sachs caused a stir last week when it disclosed it had set aside a record $6.6 billion for compensation expenses in the most recent quarter, bringing the total for the first six months of the year to $11.4 billion. If that pace continues for the rest of the year, Goldman's employees will earn an average of about $773,000, more than double the figure last year and even exceeding the $700,000 paid in 2007.

There is no such thing as Trickle Down Economics. You will not see a penny of this, you will not benefit even the slightest this from this. Instead you will have to deal with corporate interest taking priority over your interest in public matter. In the Middle Ages they used religion to keep the people from taking what is rightfully theirs, now they use a dual attack of commercial distractions, and free-market capitalist dogma. How does it feel to be a modern day serf?

This is a Classic fresh off the presses

2009-07-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

Jay Z - D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)

Preamble: Statement of Purpose

2009-07-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

We the banks
In Order to rob the taxpayers of their money,
suppress dissent,
ensure constant commercial growth,
provide for our stockholders,
promote our general interest
and secure the cooperation of our politicians
do Ordain and establish this constant confusion for the United States of America

Goldman Sachs - organized greed always defeats disorganized democracy

2009-07-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here's to you Henry Paulson

10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job

2009-07-18T16:25:00.001-07:00

10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job
by Steve Pavlina

Just for fun I recently asked Erin, “Now that the kids are in summer school, don’t you think it’s about time you went out and got yourself a job? I hate seeing you wallow in unemployment for so long.”

She smiled and said, “Wow. I have been unemployed a really long time. That’s weird… I like it!”

Neither of us have had jobs since the ’90s (my only job was in 1992), so we’ve been self-employed for quite a while. In our household it’s a running joke for one of us to say to the other, “Maybe you should get a job, derelict!”

It’s like the scene in The Three Stooges where Moe tells Curly to get a job, and Curly backs away, saying, “No, please… not that! Anything but that!”

It’s funny that when people reach a certain age, such as after graduating college, they assume it’s time to go out and get a job. But like many things the masses do, just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. In fact, if you’re reasonably intelligent, getting a job is one of the worst things you can do to support yourself. There are far better ways to make a living than selling yourself into indentured servitude.

Here are some reasons you should do everything in your power to avoid getting a job:

1. Income for dummies.

Getting a job and trading your time for money may seem like a good idea. There’s only one problem with it. It’s stupid! It’s the stupidest way you can possibly generate income! This is truly income for dummies.

Why is getting a job so dumb? Because you only get paid when you’re working. Don’t you see a problem with that, or have you been so thoroughly brainwashed into thinking it’s reasonable and intelligent to only earn income when you’re working? Have you never considered that it might be better to be paid even when you’re not working? Who taught you that you could only earn income while working? Some other brainwashed employee perhaps?

Don’t you think your life would be much easier if you got paid while you were eating, sleeping, and playing with the kids too? Why not get paid 24/7? Get paid whether you work or not. Don’t your plants grow even when you aren’t tending to them? Why not your bank account?

Who cares how many hours you work? Only a handful of people on this entire planet care how much time you spend at the office. Most of us won’t even notice whether you work 6 hours a week or 60. But if you have something of value to provide that matters to us, a number of us will be happy to pull out our wallets and pay you for it. We don’t care about your time — we only care enough to pay for the value we receive. Do you really care how long it took me to write this article? Would you pay me twice as much if it took me 6 hours vs. only 3?

Non-dummies often start out on the traditional income for dummies path. So don’t feel bad if you’re just now realizing you’ve been suckered. Non-dummies eventually realize that trading time for money is indeed extremely dumb and that there must be a better way. And of course there is a better way. The key is to de-couple your value from your time.

Smart people build systems that generate income 24/7, especially passive income. This can include starting a business, building a web site, becoming an investor, or generating royalty income from creative work. The system delivers the ongoing value to people and generates income from it, and once it’s in motion, it runs continuously whether you tend to it or not. From that moment on, the bulk of your time can be invested in increasing your income (by refining your system or spawning new ones) instead of merely maintaining your income.

This web site is an example of such a system. At the time of this writing, it generates about $9000 a month in income for me (update: $40,000 a month as of 10/31/06), and it isn’t my only income stream either. I write each article just once (fixed time investment), and people can extract value from them year after year. The web server delivers the value, and other systems (most of which I didn’t even build and don’t even understand) collect income and deposit it automatically into my bank account. It’s not perfectly passive, but I love writing and would do it for free anyway. But of course it cost me a lot of money to launch this business, right? Um, yeah, $9 is an awful lot these days (to register the domain name). Everything after that was profit.

Sure it takes some upfront time and effort to design and implement your own income-generating systems. But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel — feel free to use existing systems like ad networks and affiliate programs. Once you get going, you won’t have to work so many hours to support yourself. Wouldn’t it be nice to be out having dinner with your spouse, knowing that while you’re eating, you’re earning money? If you want to keep working long hours because you enjoy it, go right ahead. If you want to sit around doing nothing, feel free. As long as your system continues delivering value to others, you’ll keep getting paid whether you’re working or not.

Your local bookstore is filled with books containing workable systems others have already designed, tested, and debugged. Nobody is born knowing how to start a business or generate investment income, but you can easily learn it. How long it takes you to figure it out is irrelevant because the time is going to pass anyway. You might as well emerge at some future point as the owner of income-generating systems as opposed to a lifelong wage slave. This isn’t all or nothing. If your system only generates a few hundred dollars a month, that’s a significant step in the right direction.

2. Limited experience.

You might think it’s important to get a job to gain experience. But that’s like saying you should play golf to get experience playing golf. You gain experience from living, regardless of whether you have a job or not. A job only gives you experience at that job, but you gain ”experience” doing just about anything, so that’s no real benefit at all. Sit around doing nothing for a couple years, and you can call yourself an experienced meditator, philosopher, or politician.

The problem with getting experience from a job is that you usually just repeat the same limited experience over and over. You learn a lot in the beginning and then stagnate. This forces you to miss other experiences that would be much more valuable. And if your limited skill set ever becomes obsolete, then your experience won’t be worth squat. In fact, ask yourself what the experience you’re gaining right now will be worth in 20-30 years. Will your job even exist then?

Consider this. Which experience would you rather gain? The knowledge of how to do a specific job really well — one that you can only monetize by trading your time for money – or the knowledge of how to enjoy financial abundance for the rest of your life without ever needing a job again? Now I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the latter experience. That seems a lot more useful in the real world, wouldn’t you say?

3. Lifelong domestication.

Getting a job is like enrolling in a human domestication program. You learn how to be a good pet.

Look around you. Really look. What do you see? Are these the surroundings of a free human being? Or are you living in a cage for unconscious animals? Have you fallen in love with the color beige?

How’s your obedience training coming along? Does your master reward your good behavior? Do you get disciplined if you fail to obey your master’s commands?

Is there any spark of free will left inside you? Or has your conditioning made you a pet for life?

Humans are not meant to be raised in cages. You poor thing…

4. Too many mouths to feed.

Employee income is the most heavily taxed there is. In the USA you can expect that about half your salary will go to taxes. The tax system is designed to disguise how much you’re really giving up because some of those taxes are paid by your employer, and some are deducted from your paycheck. But you can bet that from your employer’s perspective, all of those taxes are considered part of your pay, as well as any other compensation you receive such as benefits. Even the rent for the office space you consume is considered, so you must generate that much more value to cover it. You might feel supported by your corporate environment, but keep in mind that you’re the one paying for it.

Another chunk of your income goes to owners and investors. That’s a lot of mouths to feed.

It isn’t hard to understand why employees pay the most in taxes relative to their income. After all, who has more control over the tax system? Business owners and investors or employees?

You only get paid a fraction of the real value you generate. Your real salary may be more than triple what you’re paid, but most of that money you’ll never see. It goes straight into other people’s pockets.

What a generous person you are!

5. Way too risky.

Many employees believe getting a job is the safest and most secure way to support themselves.

Morons.

Social conditioning is amazing. It’s so good it can even make people believe the exact opposite of the truth.

Does putting yourself in a position where someone else can turn off all your income just by saying two words (”You’re fired”) sound like a safe and secure situation to you? Does having only one income stream honestly sound more secure than having 10?

The idea that a job is the most secure way to generate income is just silly. You can’t have security if you don’t have control, and employees have the least control of anyone. If you’re an employee, then your real job title should be professional gambler.

6. Having an evil bovine master.

When you run into an idiot in the entrepreneurial world, you can turn around and head the other way. When you run into an idiot in the corporate world, you have to turn around and say, “Sorry, boss.”

Did you know that the word boss comes from the Dutch word baas, which historically means master? Another meaning of the word boss is “a cow or bovine.” And in many video games, the boss is the evil dude that you have to kill at the end of a level.

So if your boss is really your evil bovine master, then what does that make you? Nothing but a turd in the herd.

Who’s your daddy?

7. Begging for money.

When you want to increase your income, do you have to sit up and beg your master for more money? Does it feel good to be thrown some extra Scooby Snacks now and then?

Or are you free to decide how much you get paid without needing anyone’s permission but your own?

If you have a business and one customer says “no” to you, you simply say “next.”

8. An inbred social life.

Many people treat their jobs as their primary social outlet. They hang out with the same people working in the same field. Such incestuous relations are social dead ends. An exciting day includes deep conversations about the company’s switch from Sparkletts to Arrowhead, the delay of Microsoft’s latest operating system, and the unexpected delivery of more Bic pens. Consider what it would be like to go outside and talk to strangers. Ooooh… scary! Better stay inside where it’s safe.

If one of your co-slaves gets sold to another master, do you lose a friend? If you work in a male-dominated field, does that mean you never get to talk to women above the rank of receptionist? Why not decide for yourself whom to socialize with instead of letting your master decide for you? Believe it or not, there are locations on this planet where free people congregate. Just be wary of those jobless folk — they’re a crazy bunch!

9. Loss of freedom.

It takes a lot of effort to tame a human being into an employee. The first thing you have to do is break the human’s independent will. A good way to do this is to give them a weighty policy manual filled with nonsensical rules and regulations. This leads the new employee to become more obedient, fearing that s/he could be disciplined at any minute for something incomprehensible. Thus, the employee will likely conclude it’s safest to simply obey the master’s commands without question. Stir in some office politics for good measure, and we’ve got a freshly minted mind slave.

As part of their obedience training, employees must be taught how to dress, talk, move, and so on. We can’t very well have employees thinking for themselves, now can we? That would ruin everything.

God forbid you should put a plant on your desk when it’s against the company policy. Oh no, it’s the end of the world! Cindy has a plant on her desk! Summon the enforcers! Send Cindy back for another round of sterility training!

Free human beings think such rules and regulations are silly of course. The only policy they need is: “Be smart. Be nice. Do what you love. Have fun.”

10. Becoming a coward.

Have you noticed that employed people have an almost endless capacity to whine about problems at their companies? But they don’t really want solutions – they just want to vent and make excuses why it’s all someone else’s fault. It’s as if getting a job somehow drains all the free will out of people and turns them into spineless cowards. If you can’t call your boss a jerk now and then without fear of getting fired, you’re no longer free. You’ve become your master’s property.

When you work around cowards all day long, don’t you think it’s going to rub off on you? Of course it will. It’s only a matter of time before you sacrifice the noblest parts of your humanity on the altar of fear: first courage… then honesty… then honor and integrity… and finally your independent will. You sold your humanity for nothing but an illusion. And now your greatest fear is discovering the truth of what you’ve become.

I don’t care how badly you’ve been beaten down. It is never too late to regain your courage. Never!

Still want a job?

If you’re currently a well-conditioned, well-behaved employee, your most likely reaction to the above will be defensiveness. It’s all part of the conditioning. But consider that if the above didn’t have a grain of truth to it, you wouldn’t have an emotional reaction at all. This is only a reminder of what you already know. You can deny your cage all you want, but the cage is still there. Perhaps this all happened so gradually that you never noticed it until now… like a lobster enjoying a nice warm bath.

If any of this makes you mad, that’s a step in the right direction. Anger is a higher level of consciousness than apathy, so it’s a lot better than being numb all the time. Any emotion — even confusion — is better than apathy. If you work through your feelings instead of repressing them, you’ll soon emerge on the doorstep of courage. And when that happens, you’ll have the will to actually do something about your situation and start living like the powerful human being you were meant to be instead of the domesticated pet you’ve been trained to be.

Happily jobless

What’s the alternative to getting a job? The alternative is to remain happily jobless for life and to generate income through other means. Realize that you earn income by providing value — not time – so find a way to provide your best value to others, and charge a fair price for it. One of the simplest and most accessible ways is to start your own business. Whatever work you’d otherwise do via employment, find a way to provide that same value directly to those who will benefit most from it. It takes a bit more time to get going, but your freedom is easily worth the initial investment of time and energy. Then you can buy your own Scooby Snacks for a change.

And of course everything you learn along the way, you can share with others to generate even more value. So even your mistakes can be monetized.

One of the greatest fears you’ll confront is that you may not have any real value to offer others. Maybe being an employee and getting paid by the hour is the best you can do. Maybe you just aren’t worth that much. That line of thinking is all just part of your conditioning. It’s absolute nonsense. As you begin to dump such brainwashing, you’ll soon recognize that you have the ability to provide enormous value to others and that people will gladly pay you for it. There’s only one thing that prevents you from seeing this truth — fear.

All you really need is the courage to be yourself. Your real value is rooted in who you are, not what you do. The only thing you need actually do is express your real self to the world. You’ve been told all sort of lies as to why you can’t do that. But you’ll never know true happiness and fulfillment until you summon the courage to do it anyway.

The next time someone says to you, “Get a job,” I suggest you reply as Curly did: ”No, please… not that! Anything but that!” Then poke him right in the eyes.

You already know deep down that getting a job isn’t what you want. So don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise. Learn to trust your inner wisdom, even if the whole world says you’re wrong and foolish for doing so. Years from now you’ll look back and realize it was one of the best decisions you ever made.

Final thoughts

While I wouldn’t recommend starting on online business for everyone, for many people it’s one of the best ways to generate income without a job. It has certainly worked disgustingly well for me. If you’re interested in learning more about this option, please check out Build Your Own Successful Online Business for details.

Wooster and Crateman

2009-07-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

Wooster Collective

and Crateman

In the Words of Lady Pink

2009-07-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

Rebellion is a healthy thing. It keeps our civilization from becoming stagnant. It keeps the art world from becoming stagnant. It questions the status quo and it keeps it on its toes. Why should art be sanctioned by permission, inside a neat little gallery or museum or something? Why can't art just be the expression of human wherever the hell they please? - Lady Pink

I'm Beginning to See Why Nietszche Had This Obsession with Tragedy

2009-07-06T00:25:00.001-07:00

“The alchemists spent years in their laboratories, observing the fire that purified the metals. They spent so much time close to the fire that gradually they gave up the vanities of the world. They discovered that the purification of the metals had led to a purification of themselves.”
What the alchemists then realized was that the metals became impure when taken out of the fire and left over time. In their frustration over their inability to create eternal purity the alchemists gave up their quest and went to drinking.
One of the alchemists began to reconsider his hopelessness. He started to think about his work and he discovered that though he could not create eternal purity he could create beauty through the metals in the fire. He then put down his beverage and went back to the laboratory.
The alchemist took great pleasure in the beauty he could create. However, it began to remind him of the most beautiful thing in the world, a young girl. He became depressed at the thought that he had sacrificed that beauty for his work. He then went back to the the other alchemists who were hopeless drunks.
The alchemist knew that he could have neither the purity he wanted nor beauty he wanted. So, he figured what was there left to do except through himself in the fire. But just as he was about to toss himself into the flames the alchemist remembered that neither he not any other alchemist would see the beauty of his destruction or the temporary state of total purity that he would obtain. As he was about to step away and reconsider his decision he lost his balance and fell, becoming engulfed in fire.

I've Recognized, Slam Poetry is Dope

2009-06-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

And if you didn't realize, this is the verse from 'Gold Digger.'

We Lost Something Special Today

2009-06-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

For The Record, This Is One Of The Greatest Men To Ever Live

2009-06-12T15:10:00.001-07:00

Malcom X

The only reason why people condemn what he says as morally wrong is because they know that a crosshair would be aimed at their head, if even anything but slightest acknowledgment of its truth were made.

Royale De Luxe

2009-06-09T13:42:00.001-07:00

Very Few Artists Take This Stance

2009-06-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

We've got much more control than money. You can't get everything. We live in a society where money is what people want, so they can't get the control. We chose. Control is freedom. People say we're control freaks, but control is controlling your destiny without controlling other people. We're not trying to manipulate other people, just controlling what we do ourselves. Controlling what we do is being free. People should stop thinking that an artist that controls what he does is a bad thing. A lot of artists today are just victims, not having control, and they're not free. And that's pathetic. If you start being dependent on money, then money has to reach a point to fit your expenses. - Daft Punk, around the release of their first album Homework

To the Realists-

2009-06-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

You sober people who feel well armed against passion and fantasies and would like to turn your emptiness into a matter of pride and an ornament: you call yourselves realists and hint that world really is the way it appears to you. As if reality stood unveiled before you only, and you yourselves were perhaps the best part of it. - Nietzche

We are, all of us, growing volcanoes that appraoch the hour of their eruption, but how near or distant that is, nobody knows- not even God. - Nietzche

2009-06-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

A Truly Unique Moment in History

2009-06-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

For Easy Access

2009-05-30T21:49:00.001-07:00

I Know What You Like! from Ryan Leslie on Vimeo.

Ryan Leslie

A Better Use for Fruits and Vegetables

2009-05-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

Brilliant

2009-05-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

Modern Shakespeare

Eyes Wide Shut- Stanely Kubrick

Thanks Ari!

2009-05-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer

The Story of Our Lives

2009-05-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

"It was the same everywhere! Everywhere they looked for "freedom" and "luck" in the past, out of sheer dread of their present responsibilities and future course. They drank and caroused for a few years and then they slunk away to become serious-minded gentlemen in the service of our state."
Demain by Herman Hesse

What are you going to do with yourself?
I think I'll get a predictable, stable, but well paying job, and settle into a complacent bourgeoisie lifestyle after a short flare of releasing youthful energy.

The Bird Fights its Way Out of the Egg. The Egg is the World. Who Would be Born MUST First Destroy a World. The Bird Flies to God. That God's Name is

2009-05-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

Demian - Herman Hesse

Herman Hesse and Trent Reznor

2009-05-12T10:53:00.001-07:00

Demian by Herman Hesse

Best read while listening to Nine Inch Nails in the background:
Everything by them
Ghosts I-IV

Door Decorations

2009-05-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Who really matters?

2009-05-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

"Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is wondrous, and worthy of every consideration. In each individual the spirit has become flesh, in each man the creation suffers, within each one a redeemer is nailed to the cross."
-Damien, Herman Hesse

Yea... This One's Worth Reading

2009-05-07T20:38:00.000-07:00

Civilization and its Discontents Sigmund Freud

For All Your Moods

2009-05-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

"Happiness, in the reduced sense in which we recognize it as possible, is a problem of the economics of the individual's libido."
-Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents

Energy

2009-04-30T11:58:00.000-07:00

One of the Best Monologues Ever Written!!!!

2009-04-23T10:03:00.001-07:00

Sun and Steel - Yukio Mishima

Absolutely Bizarre!!!

2009-04-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

In the nearly two years since it was first unveiled to the world, the Child-robot with Biomimetic Body, or CB2, has been developing social skills by interacting with humans and watching their facial expressions, according to its creators at Osaka University.

Comprised of robotics engineers, brain specialists, psychologists and other experts, the research team has been teaching the android to think like a baby by having it evaluate facial expressions and classify them into basic categories, such as happiness and sadness.

The 130-centimter (4 ft 4 in) tall, 33-kilogram (73 lb) robot is equipped with eye cameras that record emotional expressions. Designed to learn like an infant, the robot can memorize facial expressions and match them with physical sensations, which it detects via 197 pressure sensors under a suit of soft, silicone skin.

In addition to watching faces, CB2 has been learning to walk. With 51 pneumatic “muscles,” the little android can now amble through a room more smoothly than it could nearly two years ago, though it still requires the aid of a human.

Within two years, the researchers hope the robot will gain the intelligence of a two-year-old child and the ability to speak in basic sentences. In the coming decades, the researchers expect to develop a “robo species” that has learning abilities somewhere between those of humans and chimps.

Crazy Creative

2009-04-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Muhammad Ali - photographs from his life

Bob Dylan - Made from tape from a cassette

Jim Morrison - Made from tape from a cassette

Salvador Dali -Photos of his paintings to create his portrait

Art by Iri5

It's Amazing how the Right Words can Express Something so Perfectly

2009-03-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

"Time and the world, money and power belong to the small people, and the shallow people. To the rest, to the real men belongs nothing. Nothing but death."

Maybe this is the Best of All Possible Worlds...

2009-03-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

Whoever is Making These Things, Keep Them Coming!

2009-03-05T11:35:00.001-08:00

Khoda from Reza Dolatabadi on Vimeo.

He's in a World of His Own

2009-02-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

ALEXANDRE DURET-LUTZ

God Bless Who Made This

2009-02-21T08:31:00.001-08:00

Yankee Gal from Yankee Team on Vimeo.
Yankee Gal

And the Latter Has Led Me to Discover This

2009-02-20T10:14:00.001-08:00

Jean-Michel Basquiat
New York City Street Artist
"I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is."

Here is Some Facinating Art

2009-02-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

Fupete

Born in 1975, Livorno, Italy
"I live and work in the countryside of Tuscany
I draw and paint to save me"

The Collapse of Dubai

2009-02-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down
Bryan Denton for The New York Times

An abandoned car in a parking garage in Dubai. One report said 3,000 cars were sitting abandoned at the Dubai Airport.

Now, like many of the foreign workers who make up 90 percent of the population here, she has been laid off and faces the prospect of being forced to leave this Persian Gulf city — or worse.

“I’m really scared of what could happen, because I bought property here,” said Sofia, who asked that her last name be withheld because she is still hunting for a new job. “If I can’t pay it off, I was told I could end up in debtors’ prison.”

With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology taped to the windshield.

The government says the real number is much lower. But the stories contain at least a grain of truth: jobless people here lose their work visas and then must leave the country within a month. That in turn reduces spending, creates housing vacancies and lowers real estate prices, in a downward spiral that has left parts of Dubai — once hailed as the economic superpower of the Middle East — looking like a ghost town.

No one knows how bad things have become, though it is clear that tens of thousands have left, real estate prices have crashed and scores of Dubai’s major construction projects have been suspended or canceled. But with the government unwilling to provide data, rumors are bound to flourish, damaging confidence and further undermining the economy.

Instead of moving toward greater transparency, the emirates seem to be moving in the other direction. A new draft media law would make it a crime to damage the country’s reputation or economy, punishable by fines of up to 1 million dirhams (about $272,000). Some say it is already having a chilling effect on reporting about the crisis.

Last month, local newspapers reported that Dubai was canceling 1,500 work visas every day, citing unnamed government officials. Asked about the number, Humaid bin Dimas, a spokesman for Dubai’s Labor Ministry, said he would not confirm or deny it and refused to comment further. Some say the true figure is much higher.

“At the moment there is a readiness to believe the worst,” said Simon Williams, HSBC bank’s chief economist in Dubai. “And the limits on data make it difficult to counter the rumors.”

Some things are clear: real estate prices, which rose dramatically during Dubai’s six-year boom, have dropped 30 percent or more over the past two or three months in some parts of the city. Last week, Moody’s Investor’s Service announced that it might downgrade its ratings on six of Dubai’s most prominent state-owned companies, citing a deterioration in the economic outlook. So many used luxury cars are for sale , they are sometimes sold for 40 percent less than the asking price two months ago, car dealers say. Dubai’s roads, usually thick with traffic at this time of year, are now mostly clear.

Some analysts say the crisis is likely to have long-lasting effects on the seven-member emirates federation, where Dubai has long played rebellious younger brother to oil-rich and more conservative Abu Dhabi. Dubai officials, swallowing their pride, have made clear that they would be open to a bailout, but so far Abu Dhabi has offered assistance only to its own banks.

“Why is Abu Dhabi allowing its neighbor to have its international reputation trashed, when it could bail out Dubai’s banks and restore confidence?” said Christopher M. Davidson, who predicted the current crisis in “Dubai: The Vulnerability of Success,” a book published last year. “Perhaps the plan is to centralize the U.A.E.” under Abu Dhabi’s control, he mused, in a move that would sharply curtail Dubai’s independence and perhaps change its signature freewheeling style.

But Dubai, unlike Abu Dhabi or nearby Qatar and Saudi Arabia, does not have its own oil, and had built its reputation on real estate, finance and tourism. Now, many expatriates here talk about Dubai as though it were a con game all along. Lurid rumors spread quickly: the Palm Jumeira, an artificial island that is one of this city’s trademark developments, is said to be sinking, and when you turn the faucets in the hotels built atop it, only cockroaches come out.

“Is it going to get better? They tell you that, but I don’t know what to believe anymore,” said Sofia, who still hopes to find a job before her time runs out. “People are really panicking quickly.”

Hamza Thiab, a 27-year-old Iraqi who moved here from Baghdad in 2005, lost his job with an engineering firm six weeks ago. He has until the end of February to find a job, or he must leave. “I’ve been looking for a new job for three months, and I’ve only had two interviews,” he said. “Before, you used to open up the papers here and see dozens of jobs. The minimum for a civil engineer with four years’ experience used to be 15,000 dirhams a month. Now, the maximum you’ll get is 8,000,” or about $2,000.

Mr. Thiab was sitting in a Costa Coffee Shop in the Ibn Battuta mall, where most of the customers seemed to be single men sitting alone, dolefully drinking coffee at midday. If he fails to find a job, he will have to go to Jordan, where he has family members — Iraq is still too dangerous, he says — though the situation is no better there. Before that, he will have to borrow money from his father to pay off the more than $12,000 he still owes on a bank loan for his Honda Civic. Iraqi friends bought fancier cars and are now, with no job, struggling to sell them.

“Before, so many of us were living a good life here,” Mr. Thiab said. “Now we cannot pay our loans. We are all just sleeping, smoking, drinking coffee and having headaches because of the situation.”

Lights, Sound... Image

2009-02-12T10:24:00.001-08:00

SCINTILLATION from Xavier Chassaing on Vimeo.

How We Fit

2009-02-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

God didn't create personalities to fit into reality like a puzzle piece. We're all a little tightly squeezed, a little overlapped, or we just don't feel a firm grip on the world.

Imogen Heap is a Genius

2009-02-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

Synonymous Statements

2009-02-08T17:31:00.001-08:00

Be Like Water, Trust in God, Lose Oneself...
These are all statements which refer to the same state of being...
This advice is the only advice you'll ever need in your life...
But, this advice takes a lifetime to understand...

It is impossible to know what it is to be like water, or know what it is to trust in God...
There is only Being Like Water and Trusting in God...
There is no knowledge of such things...
It is only a momentary state of being...

-/---/-../.-/-.--//..//..../.-/...-/.//-../../.../-.-./---/...-/./.-././-..//--/-.--/..././.-../..-./

2009-02-06T11:21:00.001-08:00

The Original Outcast

2009-02-05T14:33:00.000-08:00

J.D. Salinger

Great Book

P.S. Rumor has it that he's been writing books, but not publishing them. When he dies they're going to be published.

Park and Read

2009-02-05T13:23:00.001-08:00

St. Louis Public Library Parking Lot

A View from Below

2009-02-04T11:02:00.000-08:00

Daily Pictures

Photographs

2009-02-04T10:48:00.001-08:00

-Anonymous

Best Site on the Web

2009-02-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

StumbleUpon

I Often Dream of Sheep as Well

2009-02-03T10:09:00.001-08:00

Marc Chagall - I am the Village

It Was a Good One

2009-02-01T19:49:00.001-08:00

It's not just another building

2009-01-30T12:42:00.001-08:00

Frank Gehry, a master of architecture

His Works:

Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain

"Dancing House" in Prague, Czech Republic

The Gehry Tower in Hannover, Germany

Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California

Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington

Stata Center at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Call It

2009-01-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

Heads

Tails

The Coin Spontaneously Disappears

An Atomic Bomb is Dropped on The Exact Location You Are Standing

It Turns Out It Wasn't A Coin at All, It Was A Magic Castle and you've been Delusional the Whole Time

Gravity Does Not Cause the Coin to Fall to the Ground, but Instead the Coin
Continuously Accelerates Upward into Space

You As the Observer Go Completely Blind and Deaf Due to a Solar Flare and You Never See What the Outcome Was

The Coin Lands on Its Side

Let's Play

2009-01-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

Face It

2009-01-10T22:03:00.000-08:00

I'd like to propose a toast, to Facebook. This goes out to all the people budding into each other's personal lives, to all the stalkers and talkers, to all those that can't help but show off their moments of social greatness for the rest of their world to laugh in uncomfortable awkwardness at pictures that scream: "I CAN HAVE FUN TOO!!!" and let's not forget those who just can't figure out how to use it: the failed self marketers, the bad profile picture, the desperate plea in a wall post, those that still don't know how to show face. Because that's what it's all about isn't it. Nothing validates one's existence like receiving a message on a cell phone that says, "Jackie responded to your picture comment: 'Thanks, I'll keep that in mind next time.'" Think of all the things we would be doing instead of Facebook, instead of advancing our cause of self affirmation. And for those who have it, more power to you, let the rest of us bask in your glory and popularity because truly you are one of God's blessed creature. We could work hard our whole lives, but never will we know the feeling of being poked by 3 different people every day. What bliss that must be?
Of course we NEED it, how else would we keep in touch with our old friends. People that would otherwise slip our minds. People that we can always reminisce with about the good ol' times.
I don't want to live life, I want to facebook life!!!

Nonsense

2009-01-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Whose to find his way out of the place where he stays?
Don't believe what you hear cause it wasn't clear.
Examine me, prop me up, put your hand up my back.
My lips won't move, no matter the tact.

I've always found ventriloquism to be low brow.
On a stage, can't face the crowd.
It's crazy, isn't it?

Prescribe me the pill if I lack some pep in my step.
No citizen is any good unless they're full...

Of bullshit...

Why democracy, because its the American way?
Vote because I said so.

Buy me, I'm brand new, I'll fix your life.
Put me in your office and just let me sit tight.
How do you do Mr. President?

At the end of the day its all fun and games.
Nobody gets hurt, just their pockets.
And with every good fortune we become just a little weaker.
God's blessing is that we still haven't realized it.

Written 50 Years Ago, but it's still shockingly true today

2009-01-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

The Hidden Persuaders - Vince Packard

"Executive planners changed from being maker-minded to market-minded. The president of National Sales Executives in fact exclaimed: 'Capitalism is dead-consumerism is king!'" (15).

When historians look back 50 years from now, they are going to make the distinction between industrial capitalism and commercial consumerism. Make the distinction yourself, we don't live in a capitalist system, we live in a consumerist system. Firms don't supply demand, they CREATE demand.

The biggest difference between the marketing of the 1950's and the marketing of today is the penetration of the marketers. In 50 years they have perfected their technique and they have over time shaped the moral fabric of our values. We have become more and more superficial, more and more materialistic, and its no accident. According to the AAP, kids in the United States see 40,000 commercials each year. That's about half a million commercials by the time a kid is teenager. Half a million commercials that are designed to subconsciously manipulate the viewer. If that's not brainwashing, what is?

Evil is Entropy?

2008-12-31T16:21:00.000-08:00

Is God On the Side of Good?

2008-12-26T22:28:00.000-08:00

The Supernatural

2008-12-25T22:47:00.000-08:00

The concept of the Supernatural is illegitimate. By definition what happens is a natural occurrence. Thus, nothing can happen that is supernatural. Ultimately, this is an issue of reference frame. From an ignorant reference frame, an unexplained event may not seem to have a natural cause, thus is it explained through supernatural cause. However, from a more enlightened reference frame, an explanation (which may not even be rational, but regardless it will be natural) which is a result of nature will be attributed as the cause. This even applies to theories such as synchronicity. Synchronicity seems supernatural given our knowledge of the universe, but this is only because we have limited knowledge of the universe. This is not to dismiss God, but simply to deduce that God is not supernatural. If God, spirituality, and metaphysics seems supernatural (which they do) it is because we have limited knowledge of them. As stated before this is particularly true of God which is "that which we have limited knowledge towards."

Thank You Eric Reitan!

2008-12-25T22:44:00.000-08:00

Finally someone has put Dawkins in his place.

Not Sure What Volkswagon is Getting at Here, But I Like It

2008-12-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

VOLKSWAGON SURREAL CAMPAIGN

Advertising Agency: DDB, Berlin, Germany
Chief Creative Officer: Amir Kassaei
Executive Creative Directors: Stefan Schulte, Bert Peulecke
Creative Directors: Ludwig Berndl, Kristoffer Heilemann
Art Directors: Marian Grabmayer, Marcus Intek
Illustrator: Kirill Chudinskiy
Account Manager: Kathrin Thiele

Every Person Should Read This Book, It Should Be Required Reading in High School

2008-12-19T21:16:00.000-08:00

For embelishement,

ReThink This

2008-12-17T07:27:00.000-08:00

This is in response to Matthew Apler's book The God Part of the Brain. In it he biologically explains spiritual experiences, and accurately so. However, he then makes the conclusion based on this that because a spiritual experience has a physical explanation, it has no truth to it.

If a psychological mechanism can exist to alter reality in order to increase the survival of an individual (as he argues is the purpose of the transcendental mechanism).
Then, the transcendenal mechanism may be an illusion.
and, the ego mechanism may be an illusion.
If the ego mechanism and the transcendenal mechansim are mutually exclusive.
It is impossible to determine if the transcendental reality is the illusion or if the ego reality is the illusion.
As for the experience itself is concerned.
There is no defnite way to dtermine if any experience has truth in itself because experiences are only within one's own realm of consciousness.
Thus, the explanation of a physical mechanism behind an epxerience cannot disqualify the truth of that experience.

Can Spirituality and Rationality Coexist?

2008-12-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

Does a physical explanation of a spiritual experience disqualify that experience? Is there any reason to believe that how we percieve the world in a wakened state is any more real than in a trance state?

An Open Letter to Atheists: There's No Need to Hate on God

2008-12-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

I am not writing this to prove the existence of God. I have not “proved” his existence, but reinvented the understanding of God. Mankind has always tried to understand God on an explicit level. We’ve personified him, we’ve given him powers, we’ve made him into a man that had a life on Earth, we’ve decided that he wants to be pleased by the actions we take in this life and we’ve decided the actions to take to please him. We’ve been painting a picture of God, but who has seen God? No one has, so of course the picture has been inaccurate.
In response to this misunderstanding, you have gone to the opposite extreme. You deny the existence of God, you ridicule any belief in him, and you claim you have a replacement for God. The atheist argument is this: logic is the only right way to understand the universe. Only ideas that can be supported logically should be acknowledged. Since you see no logical reason to believe in God, since God seems to be an idea which is juxtaposed to logic you decided that the idea of God should not be acknowledged.
But, once God is properly understood, it becomes clear that God is a result of our reasoning. God is a fundamental component of the human mind. I say human because God is not a legitimate concept if our reasoning is not limited. But, if you had no limitations on your reasoning, you would be God(the omnipotent one).
God, like everything else in your reality is an idea. Before we decide what the idea of God is we have to understand what an idea is. This is because God is a unique idea with a unique place in our reality. The one thing you have to know about ideas before understanding God is that there are a certain set of ideas in our mind are more primitive than others. They are the primary ideas, they are the ideas which we use to understand and create every other idea. These are the building blocks of our reality. Because of this we cannot define these ideas like we can define the ideas that are based upon them. A few examples of these ideas are: life, death, and love.
There is something I want you to notice about these ideas. They are all the subjects of our forms of art, and they are also all integral parts of our religions. These are ideas which are always associated with God. This is because we can’t make sense of them on the explicit level for reasons just explained. Instead we understand them through expression and ritual.
As for the idea that is to be discussed here: God. God is the idea of “that which cannot be understood.” This is why we associate him with the mysteries of our reality. This is why he cannot be understood on a logical level. However, if we think about the concept of God logically, his existence makes logical sense, even though we cannot prove him logically. If God could be defined, then the idea of God would be false because the idea by definition is “that which can’t be defined,” and if God can’t be defined, then the idea of God is logically legitimate. What this means is that God is a logically legitimate concept that cannot be proven. God is essentially the idea that makes the logical system of our minds incomplete. All logical systems are incomplete in their ability to prove everything that is true, our minds are no exception.
If you understand God in this way, there are many ethical, ontological, and epistemological consequences that result from this understanding. The bottom line is that we should stop worrying about whether God exists, and start trying to understand his place in our reality. whether God exists, and just let him be.

The Extent of Greatness

2008-12-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

If a mountain is big enough, such as Mt. McKinley pictured here, it can create its own localized weather.

Mandala

2008-12-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

808's and Heartbreak

2008-11-24T17:35:00.000-08:00

Kanye, Thank you for creating one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard.

The Fidelity Cycle

2008-11-20T13:37:00.001-08:00

Human Nature isn't Good or Evil, it's Conditional

2008-11-20T11:55:00.000-08:00

The Form of God

2008-11-20T06:59:00.001-08:00

-If the mind is composed of forms,
-and of these forms there are forms which are of the most basic nature,
-these forms cannot be described because they are the forms in which descriptions are based
-and one of these forms is related to uncertainty
-and this form is "the form which cannot be known" in its form
-this form can never in itself be defined by its own definition
-therefore this form is true, but cannot be defined
-Consider, this form is what the concept of God is based upon
-This form is "God"
-This form can never be known
-God can never been known
-Therefore, God is what can never be known

What is God?

2008-11-16T21:53:00.003-08:00

In our mind there are axiom Forms. None of them can be described because they are ideas which we use to base descriptions upon. For example, freedom, and love. These are ideas which we can feel, but we cannot explicityly define them. One of these Forms is the feeling associated with that which is uncertain. That Form is God.
Interesting, God is the conceptual parallel of the statment "G" in Godel's incompleteness principle. This form in our minds is that which can't be defined. God is the concept which makes our logic incomplete, much like the statement "G" makes the system it is based upon incomplete.
God is what we cannot know, by its definition itself. It isn't what we don't know, it is the that which is outside the limitation of our state of mind and being.
It is impossible to deny the existence of God, because God is an implicit form in your own mind. However, by defining God as this, the existence of God does not effect anything in your life.

Change Starts with the Individual

2008-10-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

America is in a critical time right now. Everyone in the country wants a new direction and wants to re-establish American greatness. God Bless Barack Obama for his vision and leadership, but he can only do so much. The change America needs can only be brought upon if each of us do our part. Each of us need to be responsible, competent, educated and healthy. Even if it just meant that we returned to the average weight per person that we had in 1990 we would create 1 trillion dollars in productivity. That's just the beginning. No government program can compensate for individual intiative.

Lose Yourself

2008-10-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

All attatchment is based from the attatchment to the ego. Often times people are misled when they are told to "let something go." Ultimately, what they need to let go is their idea of self. It's just be like water all over again. There is no "I."

P.S. If my Fight Club scene analysis didn't make sense, this concept is what I was talking about.

"Only In Losing Everything, are We Free to Do Anything"

2008-10-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

"You have to give up, you have to know, not think, but know that your are going to die"
-Tyler Durgen

I first saw this clip over a year ago and I'd been trying to understand since. Sure, I could classify the philisophical prinicpals that it is based on, and expalin why it was such a crucial part of the movie. But, I still never quite knew what the "sacrifice" Tyler Durgen was, or what he meant by "our model for God." I think I get it now.
When we avoid pain, when we avoid confrontation with our reality and when we avoid the acceptance of death we are dimishing our humanity. The chemical burn is on all of us. If we face it, and give up, then are we free to live without denying the reality that it is not there. However, it is so much easier to block it out and fantasize that we are somewhere else and this is not our reality. That is a lower form of existance, that is what those "dead people" do.
Tyler says that "God is all probability hates you." This is not a sacreligious statement. It instead of acknowledging the truth that God will always bring suffering upon you. To me, hate and love in this context are meaningless, God is God, but I understand why he says that now.

Until You Are Tested, Everything You Have Means Nothing

2008-10-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Then

Now

Love Bomb

2008-09-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

-Danil Kryvoruchko

How do you know the afterlife isn't just a big pankcake breakfast?

2008-08-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

Life is Music

2008-08-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

Music is rhythm, harmony, and melody.
Life is what is day to day, season to season, and life is an unfolding story.
Our day to day life is our rhythm.
Our season is our harmony.
Our melody is our story.

Denial: "I'll See It When I Believe It"

2008-08-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

We Have Been Domesticated by God

2008-08-22T21:30:00.001-07:00

What is Motivation?

2008-08-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Where Worlds Collide

2008-08-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Good Life

2008-08-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

At the end of Kanye's performance of "Good Life" he kept repeating the hook and chorus and having the audience sing it back. I'm talking about like 10 or more times. More times, than I think the audience even wanted. At first, it just seems like he's doing this for showmanship, and audience interaction, but I've been thinking about and I've realized that the reason why he had us repeat the words so many times is to really understand them. These are words that I've often sang along with the record but never really thought about them. After Kanye's performance, I appreciate them and understand much closer to what I think he intended them to mean.
It's not that there's a different interpretation that I have. The interpretation of what they mean has always been clear. But, I never felt the emotion in them like I do now.

"I, I go for mine, I've got to shine, now throw your hands up in the sky."
"Is the good life better than the life I lived when I thought I was gonna go crazy?
And now my grandmama ain't the only one calling me baby.
So, if you feeling me now put your hands up in the sky and say
Ooo, I'm good."
-Kanye West