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Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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3:20 pm - Der Fremde
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Songs of the Month: Duran Duran - Girls on Film, Neil Young - My My Hey Hey, Dobie Gray - Drift Away, The Band - Up on Cripple Creek, RHCP - My Friends, Billy Idol - Flesh for Fantasy, Shpongle - Dorset Perception Films of the Month: There Will Be Blood, Sorcerer, The Fisher King, Patton, Rebecca, Rocky IV, The Stand (miniseries), Oceans Twelve
Books of the Month: Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five, Joseph Heller - Catch 22, Cormac McCarthy - The Road, David Brin - Earth, Walter Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz, W.E.B. Griffin - Brotherhood of War Book 1: The Lieutenants --------
Some personal diarizing herein. Hopefully this will act as a catalyst for more thoughtful, controversial rant-like entries in the near future.
In a nutshell - I spent 2 weeks in Halifax, Nova Scotia visiting my sister. I've been doing a great deal of riding on my motorbike. I'm practicing the trombone and hopefully joining a concert band in the fall. I'm disappointed that my band fell through right when we were half-way through recording. I have another chance to play keyboard in a wedding band, but I can't get together enough money or time to buy a good keyboard and practice. I'm taking 2 grad courses in July and August which will be the last two courses in my masters of education degree. I'm thinking of going to Abu Dhabi to work for six figures tax free, but I'll feel bad leaving behind my girlfriend of 2+ years if it comes to that point. I bought a brand new ACER 8920 laptop and I love it. Been also playing a great deal of Call of Duty World at War on PS3. Plan on going to 2 music festivals this summer. The Kispiox Valley music festival and the Robson Valley music festival. Can't wait!
current mood:  determined
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| Thursday, March 19th, 2009
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1:33 pm - Legitimate Disbelief
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Song of the Day: Porcupine Tree - Is This Trip Really Necessary? -- sublime guitar solo at 1:33 Word of the Day: proclivity, adj; natural or habitual inclination or tendency; propensity,
Quote of the Day; "“My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards the universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image, to be servants of their human interests.” - George Santayana
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My current read is The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever by Christopher Hitchens -- it is essentially a collection of extraordinarily interesting, relevant and well thought out articles from important writers such as Hobbes, Hume, Marx, Darwin, Percy Shelley, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, HL Mencken, Freud, Einstein, Orwell, Bertrand Russell, John Updike, Carl Sagan, Dawkins, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, CHarles Templeton, etc etc.
The introduction by Hitchens himself is undeniably staggering in the gravity of fact that is delivered. I will sum up some of the points he makes that were most curious and poignant to me.
on defense of religion through charitable or humanitarian work -- There is no ethical statement or action performed by a believer that could not have been done by a non-believer.
on the assumption that we cannot have a moral compass if we don't devote ourselves to God -- This is a repulsive idea that is a slap in the face of human self respect. Since when do societies that tolerate murder, theft and purjury survive? This argument says that without 'divine reward or punishment', we cannot be hoped to do right. The Golden Rule is innate in us, except maybe in sociopaths who do not care about others or psychopaths who enjoy cruelty in others.
"Religion was our first attempt at philosophy, just as alchemy was our first attempt at chemistry and astrology the first attempt to make sense of the movements of the heavens."
on intelligent design -- Considering 98% of species became extinct, "what designer or creator is so wasteful and capricious and approximate? What kind of designer is so cruel and indifferent? And -most of all- what kind of designer or creator only chooses to reveal himself to semi-stupefied peasants in desert regions?"
on believers having more to prove than atheists -- Atheists don't dis-prove the existence of a deity, only show that it is lacking in evidence or proof. Theists therefore have the magnanimous task of having to prove the existence of their God- they have to take the quantum leap on not only proving that God exists, but that God intervenes in human affairs.
on only 6000 years of human history -- so, mankind has been around for 150,000 years, and heaven watched with indifference and only decided to intervene and redeem in the last 6000 years? And only in the MIddle East?
on everyone being an atheist (Dawkins) -- Every believer has a God, whether Ra or Shiva in which they don't believe, so therefore everyone is an atheist, but as a true atheist, I believe in one less God than Christians do, for example.
on life being arid, tedious and cynical without the belief in God and afterlife -- nonsense! This is simply denial of the facts. We shouldn't believe that we are an evolved animal with a short lifespan. How can there be an ethical position based on refusing to look facts in the face?
There is more, but I'm having a blast reading this book. The more I read it, the more realize how false and contrived religion actually is, and how much I pity the followers and abhor the leaders of most world religions, especially the ones that proselytize
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| Friday, February 27th, 2009
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5:42 pm - READ THIS ENTRY
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S: Alphone Mouzon - By All Means (feat Herbie Hancock)
w; adroit
q; something by Confucius
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Does anyone else here only write entries either when ya feel overly, extremely clever and insightful or overly melancholy? I find I'm only one extreme or the other on posting, and most recently it's been solely the former.
I'm taking trumpet lessons. I've always wanted to play the damn thing. I already play the trombone, I have a huge head start.
current mood:  Zen
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| Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
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1:49 pm - Nontheism vs Atheism
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Sure, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God, especially one who has revealed Himself to mankind; but I've always wondered about the nomenclature of the word itself. I always felt that there was something missing in the description about how I felt. I never truly felt like one of those hardcore atheists, nor did I feel agnostic, because I'm certainly not hedging my bets. So, I looked into the term, 'nontheist'.
The first recorded use of the term was in 1852 by G.J Holyoake (no pun intended I'm sure); I quote....
"...Atheist is a worn-out word. Both the ancients and the moderns have understood by it one without God, and also without morality. Thus the term connotes more than any well-informed and earnest person accepting it ever included in it; that is, the word carries with it associations of immorality, which have been repudiated by the Atheist as seriously as by the Christian. Non-theism is a term less open to the same misunderstanding, as it implies the simple non-acceptance of the Theist's explanation of the origin and government of the world."
YES! This is exactly how I feel. I'm a nontheist! I believe more in Eastern religions, and the presense of something we cannot understand, nor come even close to explaining, but must learn to live with.
Another quote by Pema Chodron in the context of buddism says:
"Non-theism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves [...] Nontheism is finally realizing there is no babysitter you can count on."
My god is more like the God of Spinoza or Hegel, in that both were denounced in their time for their 'atheism' by theologians of the past because their God was not a Being or an Entity.
I'm agnostic in the sense that because atheists can't fully prove there is no God, and believers can't prove that there is, then there is too much left unknown. I'm not one of those "who gives a shit" agnostics, nor am I one of those "we can't know one way or another" agnostics. I believe there is no God in the way that all the religions of the world have tried to personify Him. I don't believe that anyone has seen God. I don't believe that God has revealed himself in any way. However, I have an understanding of the power of the unknown, and leave it at that. I don't let religion influence the way I live my life in any way.
current music: Colour Haze - Roses
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| Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
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1:51 pm - On Anti-Valentines
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Is it so wrong that a couple decline to celebrate valentines day? Is it possible to enjoy each other's company 365 days a year, yet treat Valentine's Day like any other day? Is it allowed for the man in the relationship to head to the mountains to visit his uncle and go trapping and snowmobiling without his girlfriend? Apparently not!
As quasi-intellectual non conformists, my girlfriend and I made the choice last year not to celebrate, so far that she would feel offended if I bought flowers or chocolates, or anything cliche for her. We were able to stay in, watch movies and relax without falling victim to the valentine's day curse. This year we have planned much the same, although my family has also planned that we visit my uncle on the long weekend, and well, my girlfriend doesn't get along well with my family in the first place, but she also has to work....and she doesn't exactly like roughing it in the wilderness. Regardless, we have a very cordial, understanding, loving relationship that many people are jealous of, don't understand or a combination of both.
My female coworkers at work chastized me for planning to go away, and said that she will harbour resentment because of it; even if I intend to 'make it up' to her. My best friend's girlfriend gave us both a lecture when we were having drinks on Saturday, so much that I snapped at her and told her how dare she give us relationship advice and upset our balance of happiness. People really need to learn to mind their own business - especially when they have no idea what the shit they're talking about.
Bottom line, I've dealt with a lot of bullshit because of Valentine's day, and I will continue to hold my ground. I've known my girlfriend long enough to understand that she's not just playing games; that she feels the same way. Regardless, I will buy her something nice; not something cliche'd, but something useful and interesting like a good book, a gift certificate or a cannister of bear repellent.
current music: Twilightning - Space of Disgrace
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| Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
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3:22 pm - (YYC) Books. Fuck yeah!
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I fired up an Amazon Marketplace account to offload some books. I've also decided that if possible, I will try to buy hardcover books from now on for the collector and resale value on them, unless they're trash lit like Clive Cussler (don't get me wrong, I love Clive Cussler), but there are so many damn copies of his books they're used for toilet paper in some schools. So, if I love the book, I'll keep it for years as a collector's item to be read again and again and still maintain its integrity - yet if I HATE it, then I can hopefully sell it for big bucks on Marketplace or at a used bookstore in town. For example, I sold my hard cover copy of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson for $85.00, aparently it's a collector's item? Shit, I had a hard enough time barely wading through that muskeg of a novel, it was a little heavy, so I actually made money from a book I didn't enjoy. I wouldn't sell Snow Crash, in fact I'm currently reading it again for the 3rd time.
Rogers out.
current music: Clutch - Electric Worry
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| Friday, February 6th, 2009
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12:39 pm - Revolutionizing Learning?
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There's a professor at the University of Ottawa who lost his job because he told his Physics class on the first day that he had already decided everyone's marks, and everyone would be getting an A+. He said it wasn't his place to rank them for future employers or to turn them into "information transfer machines". By releasing them from the pressure to ace the test, he said that he would turn them into actual scientists instead of regurgitating machines. So, the University fired him and banished him from campus, so that when he came to give a lecture on another topic, they had him handcuffed and arrested. The full article is available here.
Now, as an educator myself (I have an M.Ed in ed technology and second language acquisition), I must say that this is one of the most controversial questions that can be asked of educators. This is the 'pro-life' debate in the field of education: should convential assessment practices be abolished?
I have a mixed opinion of this; certainly marks are important motivators, but I also agree that they shouldn't be the bottom line. Nor do I agree they should be thrown out. How can we possibly maintain a high standard of self-discipline and commitment, and know who the slackers are and the achievers are? WIth the teacher to student ratio so poor, it's impossible for everyone to get one on one attention, so there has to be an assessment method to give credibility to your degree.
Having said that, marks shouldn't be everything. I believe post-secondary classes in first year should have marks to weed people out, to determine who can hack the university life, to prove who has the discipline to stick out the 4+ years. Through those years there still needs to be an evaluation system to give people something to strive for, to encourage them to study and memorize, because that is certainly part of learning. However, the system needs to offer more tutorial/lab/practical type elements that either don't have any grades or the grades are determined by effort, participation and creativity instead of the ability to regurgitate information.
Certainly different types of programs require different assessment methods as well; students of languages should be assessed on their ability to communicate effectively, not on their ability to prove perfect grammar and punctuation. Science students should be assessed on their ability to solve real life problems, insetad of a bunch of numbers on a page. History students should be tested on their ability to relate current events to historical events, and predict possible outcomes rather than narrate what happened and when.....ETC.....However, the latter of all the points I just made shouldn't be neglected either. Language students need to know the grammar too, science students need to know a great deal of in depth detail before they can solve problems, and history students must know when and where the events happened before they can analyze them.
All in all, the way things are done is the way they have been done since time immemorial and it works, especially considering the number of people who go through the system. However, to truly be a professional in your field, there has to be a focus not just on marks, but on relating what you study to the real world, and coming up with new ideas on how to understand, evaluate and analyze why it is true. Students need to be challenged to think more critically, not regurtitate. Grades shouldn't be thrown out, but this is a wake-up call to the system. Certainly the overreacted out of fear of the system itself being challenged, but I think that professor had every right to do what he did in the name of change.
current mood:  bookish
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| Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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2:51 pm - The Ozzman
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No, Ozzy Osbourne is not in league with the devil, he did not sell his soul to the devil, and he is not the devil incarnate. This guy has cheated death so many times in the course of his life that a much more reasonable explanation would be that he has 20 guardian angels from heaven watching over him. If that plane crash that killed Randy Rhoads didn't kill him, and all the drugs and insanity and rabies that he got from that bat, or the crash on his ATV or all the coutless other occurances didn't finish him, what possibly could? From a Christian perspective, Ozzy (who is a non-church attending Christian himself) has lived a life of relative moral upkeep despite the complete insanity of the rock and roll lifestyle. The fact that he has inspired millions to become musicians and facilitated so much enjoyment and fraternity through his music is infinitely more commendable than many churches who say they welcome all, yet seek to segregate those who oppose them.
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| Friday, January 23rd, 2009
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4:33 pm - Twitter Updates
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| Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
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4:25 pm - Twitter Updates
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12:24 pm - Lyrical Rhetoric
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I'm trying to write more creative, interesting and clever song lyrics, so I began investigating literary devices other than the obvious ones like similies, metaphors and alliteration. Here's what I came up with.
antanaclasis - repeating a single word with a different meaning each time.
"we all must hang together, or we shall all hang separately" -Benjamin Franklin
"the long cigarette that's long on flavour"-Pall Mall cigarettes ad
chiasmus - relating two clauses to one another through a reversal of structures to make a deeper point.
"ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." -JFK
"all I can say is I've taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me."-Churchill
spoonerism - mixing up sentences either deliberately or by accident by changing morphemes, vowels and consonants
'nucking futs', 'cunning stunts'
"is it kisstomary to cuss the bride?"
malapropism/dogberryism - substitution of an incorrect word for a word with a similar sound.
"She said honesty was the best politics"
"What are you incinerating?..."
double entendres - a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase can be understood either of two ways.
"having an old friend for dinner" -Hannibal Lecter
all those "that's what she said" jokes
---> "moving pictures" - the cover of the rush album is a triple entendre
reification (fallacy) - where an abstraction is treated as if it were concrete.
"holds another's affection", affection is being reified.
"The universe will not allow the human race to die out by accident." (attributes intention to the universe)
The magic of wikipedia has allowed me to browse dozens of similar pages, but these are the main ones that I will try to incorporate in my lyric writing. It is a daunting task to find a theme, work from that theme, incorporate original rhyming patterns and then throw in wit and pun on top. Then to put it all to music.
The last song I wrote is called MIG-69, which is about getting it on in a fighter jet and crashing, and it's full of double entendres with sexual connotation. I rather enjoy it.
current mood:  accomplished
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| Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
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4:34 pm - Twitter Updates
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| Monday, January 19th, 2009
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4:28 pm - Twitter Updates
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| Friday, January 16th, 2009
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4:21 pm - Twitter Updates
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| Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
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4:30 pm - Twitter Updates
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2:09 pm - Taking Flight
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Here is an interesting quote I found about starting work and developing the motivation to continue and succeed. It is indeed a struggle, but I find that once you put your mind to it, forces combine to help you along. Here is the quote from W.H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition:
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would not otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man would have dreamed would come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it. Begin it now."
current mood: motivated
current music: Kingston Wall - Palékastro
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| Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
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4:34 pm - Daily Status Updates
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11:43 am - On specialization
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A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. -Robert A. Heinlein |
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| Monday, January 12th, 2009
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4:25 pm - The Daily Update
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| Friday, January 9th, 2009
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4:20 pm - The Daily Update
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A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein