Archive for 'thoughts' Category
2008.11.20
Observations from Paris about Paris
I’ve been here a while and I’ve… Notice things. Things that are so noticeable even I noticed them. That’s notable.
The context: it’s mid-November, the skies have been overcast and it’s mildly chilly, perhaps in the high 40s or low 50s.
Parisians are bundled up like the it’s an ice age. I’ve never seen so many scarves and hats. But the scarves and hats are of the highest designer fashion. In fact almost all of the clothing I’ve seen looks like the person bought it that morning at some boutique store and put it on for the day and will throw it away that night. Outside of Paris fashion diminishes. People there look like they might have worn their clothes for more than one day.
Cars lack bumper stickers here. As opposed to America where you can often tell a person’s political affiliation, the causes they subscribe to, and the kind of humor they espouse (or blatantly lack) here you can’t tell anything by the back of their car.
The French have more bookstores than in America. I don’t know if they read more because I haven’t actually seen a single person reading a book yet, but they definitely devote more shelf space to books. The book section in Carrefour, France’s equivalent to WalMart, is larger than most bookstores in America. Quite shocking.
Also shocking, at least it would be to many Americans, is the fact that there is a huge appreciation for comic books and that comics featuring nudity are placed low enough for children to reach for them. I don’t think they are placed that way to entice children, but I was rather surprised to see boobs at about the level of my knees.
The French also seem to love Japanese manga. I hardly saw any American comics, and of that even less of the superhero genre.
There seems to be less casual humor around here. I sat outside for about 20 minutes the other day watching people pass on the street. I saw a grand total of four people out of the hundreds going by that had a smile, either walking on their own or talking in groups. People’s eyes are far from dead, but I can’t imagine what is going on behind them. If they were happy I couldn’t tell, even by their body language. It’s kinda weird.
No pictures yet (as I mentioned I wanted to do in my last post). Apologies for that…
1 Comment | Catergorized: books life manga paris thoughts2008.10.12
Questions About the Bailout
I know the economy is so vast and complex that if anyone claims they know what is going on I am instantly skeptical about them
So not too long ago Congress approved the Bush Administration’s $700,000,000,000 bailout package…
1: Why? Isn’t this the same administration that believes in free markets and laissez-faire economics? That regulation is ALWAYS bad?
2: Let me get this straight… We’re going to give money to the same banks that fscked everything up… so they can turn around and loan me -with interest!- money I already paid in taxes? My own money?
3: I won’t claim to be the wisest person on the planet about the economy. I know the economy is so vast and complex that if anyone claims they know what is going on I am instantly skeptical about them. And Bush’s administration claims to magically “know” this will save everyone? Congress claims that after great deliberation and modification of the original terms they agree?
4: I thought we already had some craptastic economic stimulus package that was supposed to “fix” this problem? I got $600 just a few months ago and was encouraged by Bush to spend it. Instead I put it into savings. After all, it was my tax money in the first place. I can’t help but wonder if I ruined the economy by not spending it.
5: Can anyone explain to me where all this money is coming from? Because our country is already so far in the red it will take years to dig out of it (if we can even get people responsible enough to do the hard work).
This thing is pissing me off more than I expected. I’m already seeing businesses going out of business. Maybe they were struggling already, I don’t know. I’m already seeing more and more houses up for sale. I have the feeling that soon I’ll start seeing less traffic on the roads, more people on the streets, more crime as people get desperate, more competition for fewer jobs, prices for everyday items like food going up…
How did anyone prepare for the Great Depression?
1 Comment | Catergorized: grrr thoughts2008.10.05
Prime Number Currency
So here’s an idea that came out of celebrating our friend Dave’s birthday. Amazing what drunk talk can net you…
Our current monetary system is systemetized around base-10, meaning that you have divisions of 10 as the coins and paper notes in America.
Coins: 1, 5, 10, 25
Bills: 1, 5, 10, 20
Mind you I’m not rich so I’m not including the $1 coin or $100 bills (or more). Those are, on the whole the most common divisions of money in most countries, with the possible exception of replacing the 25 cent coin with a 20 cent coin.
But what if all currency were replaced with only prime numbers? These are the first twenty: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71. What if we only allowed coins for every other number, and bills for the alternate?
Coins: 3, 7, 13, 19, 29, etc.
Bills: 2, 5, 11, 17, 23, 31, etc.
I feel we should have a one cent or one dollar, too, though “1″ is not by many definitions a prime number. Imagine the chaos that would ensue from using prime numbers, especially if a law were passed mandating that change from a purchase must be made in the fewest number of coins and bills as possible? And the insane math issues so many people would have until they got use to it all?
Personally I love the idea. Not only would it make things interesting, but it might even kick start people’s thinking about math in a new, novel fashion. When I’m ruler of the world I will mandate prime number currency, and metric for everything else except kitchens, where traditional English measures will rule. How much more confusing can we make the world?
2 Comments | Catergorized: thoughts2008.09.22
Liberal Versus Progressive
Reading this article by Wick Allison, while very interesting of itself, got me thinking about how Conservatives are always ranting against Liberals (though not the topic of the article itself). Mr. Allison gives an interesting definition of Liberalism.
Liberalism always seemed to me to be a system of “oughts.” We ought to do this or that because it’s the right thing to do, regardless of whether it works or not. It is a doctrine based on intentions, not results, on feeling good rather than doing good.
I’ve said it before: I’m not a Liberal. I’m a Progressive. But what does that mean to me? I think both would be considered “left of center” if you want to use the very bad, linear view of politics. So how are they different?
Both ideas deal with what ought to be. There ought to be equality of the sexes, the races, the sexual orientations, economic prosperity, healthy and educated citizens, etc. The difference between Liberal and Progressive is subtle and it deals with reality and time, with culture/society as a crucible.
Liberalism dreams up the end goal and immediately tries to implement it, regardless of real world elements that oppose it or make the goal simply unattainable. Therefore liberals often fail in attaining their goals despite their best intentions. They cannot simply wish something into reality and make it so. You can think of it as trying to force a round peg into a square hole. Maybe the peg should fit into the hole but it just won’t and wanting it to fit doesn’t change the reality of the situation. The only way to make it “work” right now is to bang it with a hammer… until something breaks.
Progressives think of an end goal and make plans, step by step, to bring that end goal into reality. Instead of going straight to the end goal they take things in stages. This takes patience which Liberalism inherently lacks. Each incremental stage of change is designed so that society understands the change and benefits. When the next step is taken the previous step is already a part of the culture. Society sees the new changes as a normal continuation… A progression. You still have the round peg and square hole, but you use some tools to make the hole a bit rounder and less squarish, and later you might lathe the peg to be a little smaller. Eventually you could have them fit easily though you no longer have a “square” hole or exactly the same peg.
My thoughts haven’t exactly gelled with this idea, but I think it’s rather valid. Liberals are, in a sense, quite extreme in that their method is to skip to the end and the end justifies the means. Progressives know that the means justify the ends, and that it has to be taken in stages. In this sense I can almost hear Mr. Allison in his article calling the current batch of “so-called conservatives” the most Liberal of them all.
7 Comments | Catergorized: political thoughts2008.09.17
The Right to Bear Arms
Here’s a question, the answer of which I’m still pondering… Does the “right to bear arms” (the 2nd Amendment) have any relevance in a first world country?
I can sort of see it in a third world country, where the rule of law is lax if not non-existent. I can even see it in a second world country in which the government is often corrupt, tyrannical and fluctuating often between types of government. But in the first world? What’s the point?
Understand that I’m not ranting against the 2nd Amendment. This is a philosophical, social and political question that I haven’t yet seen or heard anyone discuss.
6 Comments | Catergorized: political rights thoughts2008.09.04
Free Range Kids
Quite a long time ago I lamented the fact that children today seem so protected from the world (of mostly imagined danger) that they are losing all sense of adventure. They don’t get to play outside as much (and they’re getting fat because of it). They seem to live in parentally controlled environments… Safe, clean, and somewhat sterile.
When I was a kid we didn’t have bicycle helmets. Heck, we only wore shin guards playing soccer because we were told we had to have them. We walked to school, and not the cliche “two miles uphill both ways in the snow” but seriously at least half a mile. We walked to and from our friends houses alone and sometimes after dark. We played in the woods. We made treehouses out of found (and sometimes stolen) planks of wood and nails, and swung from ropes over creeks. We never had to sneak out of the house because it was expected that we’d go out and play. We didn’t have arranged “play dates” at proscribed hours, we were simply told to go out and play after we did our homework and to be home by dinner time.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to grow up as a kid today. I don’t know when young parents got so protective of their children that they started to stifle them. Maybe it was when a few kids died falling off a bike (a helmet could have saved them!) or maybe when some pervert kidnapped a kid when they were at the playground (the parent should have never let them out of their sight!). Maybe when the newspapers and newscasters tried to garner every ounce of interest out of some murderer blaming his problems on his childhood when he got lost and was oh so scared or maybe some stupid marketer making parents paranoid that the little scrape on their child’s knee would lead to infection and eventual amputation of the leg.
I don’t know but I sincerely hope that if/when I have kids I raise them differently. And it’s refreshing to see that other people, people with kids themselves, see this issue in the same way. If you’re curious about their stories I suggest going to Free Range Kids. Start here and then dig into some of the entries, especially the comments. I miss my childhood adventures. I wouldn’t want my kids to not have the opportunity to miss their own.
1 Comment | Catergorized: memories thoughts2008.05.22
Sometimes We Forget How Small We Are
Sometimes we think we’re such big, important creatures in the scheme of things. Perhaps in some sense we are, but we also forget our literal size in the vastness of the universe. There’s a scene at the beginning of the movie Contact that I love. It starts with a shot of Earth and moves back and away, slowly at first, passing the Moon, and the Planets, then the Oort Cloud… Eventually the camera takes us through the Milky Way, out of the galaxy and past many others. It’s rather humbling. I found an animated GIF to which I had a similar, though less dramatic, reaction. It’s a large file (1.2MB) so give it a chance to load.
1 Comment | Catergorized: science thoughts2008.04.22
Are Allergies Getting To You?
Is it my imagination or is every year that passes getting worse and worse for people with allergies? When I was a kid I didn’t know anyone with allergies. A few adults like, unfortunately, my Mom, but none of us kids. Sure we got chicken pox and colds and stuff like that, but I’d never even heard of allergies to freaking peanuts until I was far into adulthood myself. If any of us were allergic to peanuts when I was a kid we would all be dead because the cafeteria had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at least weekly. Hmm… I take it back; I remember one kind of allergy. Bee stings. I remember one kid was allergic to bee stings and had to carry some syringe with him all the time. We thought it was weird and exotic and cool even though I had a deadly fear of needles. To my knowledge he never was stung since he learned of his allergy.
These days, though, everyone seems allergic to something. Pollen, dust, cats, dogs, wool, antibiotics, any number of foods… I can’t express how happy I am that I have none of these problems. It seems everyday someone is complaining about allergies of one kind or another. Every year their numbers seem to be getting larger, their attacks and reactions to our common environment worse. Is it my imagination or are things really getting worse for people with allergies? Is this the new evolution, slowly weeding people out based on their physical intolerance to the world around them?
5 Comments | Catergorized: life science thoughts2008.03.06
Reforming Business Patents
I’m all for copyrights and patents… as long as they are fair. Both have been abused to the point of needing serious reform. I’ve been ranting about the need for reform for a long time now. Our Founding Fathers thought both were extremely important and build them into our Consitution.
The Congress shall have Power To… promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
Now comes news that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will hear a case that could over turn patents for methodology. This is one of those things that allows me to get a patent for tying my shoes (so long as I can show I have a new method of tying them). Interestingly, I didn’t know this form of patent was relatively new (just under 10 years old).
I still think Congress is the one that will have to do the long term reformation of our patent and copyright laws, but we’re a long ways away so long as the “people” with money (corporations, businesses, lobbying and industry groups, etc) keep buying the various members of Congress to vote their way. Still, in the meantime this is some of the best news I’ve read in a while on this issue. Even better will be when they kill this methodology patent.
No Comments | Catergorized: rights thoughts2008.02.06
The Most Terrifying Video
Actually, I don’t find it the most terrifying video in the world, but it does do a pretty good job of explaining logically why we should join together and fight global warming. The creator/narrator asks the viewer to poke holes in his theory. Go watch it (link above; a bit over 9 minutes long but quick) and then read on here.
1: Most people are not logical. You cannot appeal to their sense of the rational. If that were the case the conservative movement would have never gotten to where it has been in the past decade and more.
2: If you have the notion that maybe it would be better to wipe the slate clean (I’m am not of this bent) then, really, you want the world to turn into an ecological catastrophe.
All that being said, I agree with what he says! It makes far more sense to assume global warming is happening and do something about it than to sit on our butts and do nothing at all. It’s an argument I often make, actually. Even if it was impossible for global warming to happen I still think that we should reduce or eliminate our dependence on oil (for energy, for transportation, for manufacture, for products, etc). The Middle East is fscked up and will only get worse before it gets better. We’re not helping by pumping our money into the region (purchasing oil) and throwing our weight around (maintaining the flow of oil).
Thanks to the Polecat for the link!
No Comments | Catergorized: grrr life science thoughts
