Happy Buy Nothing Day

The shopping season for christmas has begun with a fatality due to trampling. Three others were injured. Yet another reason not to buy anything today.

I really dislike christmas. It is a celebration of christianity and/or materialism, both of which I would love to see disappear. I loved that the holiday passed essentially unnoticed at Reed, and especially that we didn't have to hear any bloody christmas 'music'.

One of the very few ways in which I wish Bill O'reilly was actually right is that I wish there actually were a war on christmas. Of course, if everyone had my attitude about christmas, the entire economy would collapse (even more).

Update: In addition to the walmart worker trampled to death, there were two shooting deaths in a toys r us. I really don't understand consumer culture.

Iran and blindness

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

~Mahatma Gandhi

Hipsterism

Someone at Reed once pointed out that at home we're all hipsters. In Colorado Springs I complain about the radio (except Pandora, of course), frequently reference bands that no one around me has ever heard of, and do other hipster-ish music snob stuff. Last night I even dreamed of going to an indie rock concert at Reed [sort of. I knew it was Reed and there were a lot of real Reedies there, and the outside looked sort of like Psych 105, but after I had been in for a couple minutes it became an elementary school gym where the seats were oriented the opposite direction. Also, there were voting booths with Reedies voting off to the side during the concert. Dreams are weird.] Sonic Youth was playing, and after the first song they encouraged us to take the set pieces (mostly life-sized cutouts of people that fit together Escher-like and which were each painted a single bright color) after the show. The girl next to me and I agreed that we had to be the best audience ever, so that Sonic Youth would agree to come back and play at Renn Fayre.

Recently, I've been listening to Cake Bake Betty, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Republic
Tigers, Metric, and The
New Pornographers. What
are you all listening to?

Computer

This is the first post from my shiny new computer (I would include a picture of said computer, but the only camera I have is built into its screen). It will take some getting used to to type on the tiny keyboard (the computer's largest dimension is 9"), but otherwise I'm happy with it.

In other news, I almost have my visa. I will spare you the rant on how much I hate bureaucracy and paperwork and the hoops I had to jump through in the application process.

Update: speaking of frustration, I can't get Korean characters to encode correctly on either my computer or my parents'. Grrr.

Dubai is the Future

The party for the most recent opening for a hotel in Dubai was visible from space (I think this term has to be considered short-hand for 'visible from space with the naked eye', given that with Google maps my backyard is visible from space). This hotel is far from my favorite project in Dubai. In fact, the whole building islands in the shape of palm trees and continents as foundations for luxury hotels thing strikes me as Las Vegas-level gaudy and tacky. However, the architecture there is unbelievably amazing. I am very seriously considering architecture school when (if) I get back to the states. Of course, a lot could change between now and that point. As things stand, though, these planned buildings make me salivate (I can't wait to see buildings that belong on the cover of sci-fi novels in real life):

(I'm willing to forgive Donald Trump for his hair and his show if he actually builds this newest Trump Tower [above].)






The picture above shows the three parts of an underwater luxury hotel.

This last one is my favorite. The building will contain hidden wind turbines, which not only power the building and the neighboring buildings, but will also provide the energy for it to be a kinetic sculpture. Each floor is build disconnected to the others and around a central axis, so each floor can spin, creating the cool effects seen above. It's called dynamic architecture, and I hope that Dubai actually ends up making it but also that the idea is utilized in major cities around the world.

World Philosophy Day

Apparently today is World Philosophy Day. Who knew? You'd think they would tell philosophy majors about this sort of thing...

For those interested in my answers to the questions posed in the BBC article they are as follows:

1. This is a bad question because morality is completely subjective. It is up to each particular community to decide what is right and what is wrong.

2. This is a bad question because there is no right or wrong way to define 'same' or 'person', and no objective reality to check your answers against.

3. This is a bad question because skepticism depends upon there being objective truth. You can' t be deceived if all there is is your experience. There would have to be some 'true' way the world is for your experience to deviate from the way the world actually is.

4. Again, bad question. [You can probably see by this point why I don't do philosophy anymore; I think that all philosophical problems are pseudo-problems that don't have real answers because the very questions assume things that are mistaken.] In ordinary conversation and talk about the mental (intentions, desires, beliefs, etc) there is free will. In the context of physics (and, as far as I'm concerned, philosophy), free will is utterly incoherent. [Thanks to Eliot Sitt and Donald Davidson for this answer].

International news

Now that the US election is (mostly) over, I have eased up somewhat on my obsession with politics and have begun reading international news again. BBC world news used to be my homepage, but between traveling and using other people's computers I have been ignoring the world stage.

I had forgotten how fascinating world news can be. Not only did I catch up a bit on the usual news (violence between Sri Lanka's government and its rebels, the degree to which the financial crisis is affecting various countries, etc) but also saw some of the day's more unusual events. People are crazy, and from a wider selection and number of people, you end up with crazier stories. These are from today alone:

Pirates capture Saudi oil tanker -- Piracy has come to mean taking media for free off the internet, at least in ordinary conversation, or about some exceedingly romanticized activity from hundreds of years ago, but we forget that the real thing still happens. I also sometimes forget that fighting over oil isn't just something left wingers accuse the Bush administration of, it is openly occurring on a regular basis. (For more on the current state of oil in the world and the consequences thereof, check out Mark's new website.)

China TV Bans Top Football League -- Some countries are far more intrusive than we Americans with our Libertarian leanings can even imagine. China is refusing to air some football games because the team members sometimes get in fights on the field. Remember when North Korea banned smoking in the whole country to help Kim Jung Il quit himself? Craziness. (Though a smoking ban wouldn't really bother me.)

Sheikh 'Planned Jackson Revival' -- The King of Bahrain's son is suing Michael Jackson for breach of contract after helping the pop star out with his debt and then being stood up. Hilarious.

And the winner for most bizarre news story of the day:

Albino Girl Killed For Body Parts -- Apparently there is a lucrative trade in albino parts in Burundi and Tanzania because they are used by witch doctors for magic potions. Yes, really. This is actually rather similar to a fantasy novel I just started trying to write, except that mine is fiction, and there really is magic in that fictional world.

Earlier this summer, a bunch of my friends got in a debate about the importance of keeping up with national and international news, and we generally concluded that it was most directly important for sounding well informed and to be able to participate in the social activity of discussing world events. However, I now think this leaves out the all important function of reminding oneself that the world is a strange, strange place.