Catharsis of Baroque-modern Physics treatises

Baltic Trip, Cruise

2009-07-12T01:49:36Z

Alright! Here's the final installation of my travel diary, completely unedited and not proof-read yet. Deal with it. Anyhow, I'll endeavor to get around to rewriting the parts that are note-like into something more readable/funny. I couldn't post this in installments because we didn't have any Internet onboard, at least none I wanted to pay for. And it's extremely long. Posts of "tl;dr" will be dealt with extreme prejudice.

Day 7 (Embark)
Took a bloody early bus to Dover to catch the ship. Had a nice bus driver, was able to drive the bus direct to the cruise terminal. Managed to not see the White Cliff until actually *on* the cruise ship, but I did see them in their full spendor. Going through ship security got me buzzing on the metal detector, full pat-down. Had to promise Sarah that I would not rack up charges on her card getting stinkin' drunk.

Ship is pretty cool, first time on a cruise. Ship's name is the Nowegan Jewel. 13 decks total, this is supposed to be a more laid back cruise, without formal nights and without assigned dining. Latter does mean that food doesn't come quite as quickly though. Aside from the main two dining rooms, the 24-hour food place and the buffet, all the rest of the theme resutoraunts need additional cover charge. Have room down in the bowels of the ship, Deck 5, interior. Ship largely full of old people and families. Played Wii with some folks abour my age, a couple were from Canada, got my ass kicked at bowling. Nearly all of the crew is not from the USA. Room is small, but livable. My bunk folds down from the wall, over the main bed.

Day 8 (Sea Day)
First full day at sea! Surprisingly, didn't get bored. Chance to sleep in late, wander around aimlessly, read my book, hot tub. Went to a get-together of the folks my mom met on cruise critic, same folks we are touring Russia with. There were a suprising amount of senior staff there to welcome just our ittle group of maybe a dozen and a half, the capitan and 8 or 9 of his senior crew. Night was suprisingly action-packed. Went to the karaoke night, stayed for a long time. Started out slow, with cheesy songs, until I subjected them to a rendition of MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This. That went well. As a side note, karaoke songs that only give you the line and no indication of where you are supposed to be are really bloody hard. Further note, rap is really, really hard to karaoke to. Final note, apparently, white boys can't rap. Or dance like the Hammer. Things did loosen up some after than, with more fun songs. I (Suprising though it may seem) did a few other songs by myself. The next one, and the most fun by far was Smoke on the Water. I've not appreciated having long hair quite as much as when doing that song. Later did Dragonstea Din Stea, also known as the Numa Numa song, to many cheers from anyone who lives on the Internet like me. I helped out in rickroll the Norwegan Jewel, a fact I am infintely proud of. Sadly, they had to cut us all off, so I went upstairs to another louge I hadn't seen before.

These two seem to be the two places I'll be shadowing this trip while on the ship. They were playing fairly standard modern music you might find at a club. Met up with another group fo folks around my age here, hung out with them. Turn out I won't be utterly alone in my age group after all! Anyhow, to compound more astonishments/horrors on your head, I actually danced a bit, it was pretty much just us and a few crew members. I don't dance any better than I rap.

Day 9 (Copenhagen)
Avioded the crush of people leaving the city by not waking up when my mom told me to. Luckily, we didn't book an official excursion, we just wandered around the city. Doing the same thing for every port, except Russia when one will get snatched and made into a Matroiska Doll or something, I'm not clear on the details. Copenhagen was a bit of a dissappointment. It seems like it would be a better place to live than to visit. Saw the famous (so I'm told) Little Mermain statue. Kinda boring. Wandered around the city, through the main pedestrian throughfaire, but lots of things were closed, it being a Monday. Neat little buildings, but didn't tour anything or somesuch. Did try the Danish open-face sandwich, which was quite tasty indeed. Bacon and cold potatoes make a suprisingly good mix. Had the local beer, not bad but nothing special. However, I did have great ice cream.

We ended up coming back to the ship early, feeling a bit guilty, but we pretty much saw everything we wanted to. Tried to go out again in the night, but failed miserably. Both areas so full before were completely deserted, without a single person in either one. The whole ship was deserted, must be the combo of people recovering from the day and prepping for Germany the next day. Did see a fun show with a juggler with a taste for the dramatic.

Day 10 (Warnemunde and Rostock)
Used the same waking up strategy here, but was much longer port, so nobody was worried. A lot of people on the ship decided to go the Berlin, but it is a 2 hour train trip each way, and absurdly expensive to boot. Took a train from the port city of Warnemunde to the bigger city of Rostock instead. Enjoyed Germany a lot more than Copenhagen, but there was much less English around, it being rural Germany and all. Started out having bratwurst and bockwurst for breakfast in the central market square. I'm awesome like that, having German sausage for breakfast. Wandered through the downtown there, neat little stores and a ton of sausage stands. Ice cream too, both here and in Copenhagen. Ben and Jerries is really popular here in Europse apparently too. While we did see a few historical things like the city wall, I really enjoy just walking around and seeing different cultures, which is mostly what I did. There was a small museum there we went into, exhibit on historical childrens toys. Interesting, a toy aircraft from 1940 had the swastika scraped off the toy, in line with the laws in Germany. Toured the church with a truly astounding organ loft. They had a likke picture exhibit on the Holocaust, but couldn't understand the captions. Went back to the market square for lunch, shnitzel this time, grabbing the two most iconic German foods. Finished off with a like, big German beer, but it wasn't all that good, had a very metallic taste to it, but it got etter as my mouth got used to it.

Went back to Warnemunde, walked around that, but was Uber touristy, and a fishing town just to make it worse. Did get to stand on a German beach and feel their sand. Again, pulled an early day and went back to the ship. Great fun was had when I was on the deck watching us leave the harbor. Us, the other smaller ships, and the port itself kept talking back and forth using the ship's horns for a long time. Was really hilarious, it sounded like our immense horn would blare out a greeting and you would hear a chorus of smaller horns around us answering. Saw the best show yet, adults only show with a panel of other comics on the ship, where they were given a word and each gave a definition of it. Very fun, didn't do much after that. Wandered around after, looking for something to do like a couple day ago, but to no avail. Seem to be known by most people my age on the ship now, but they all seems to have come on in big groups, hard to break into. Have Canada Day tommorow! This was pointed out to me not only after the show tonight, but by the people I was playing Wii with a few days ago, and the cool crew member running it, all Canadian.

Day 11 (Sea Day)
Happy Canada Day! Woooo! Didn't do much today, woke up late, say "Quantum of Solace" again. Wierd film. Can't say I mind the bond girl though... Other than that, I just embroiled myself into the Machiavellian intricacies of the passengers about my age. Christ, you wouldn't think that you could have factions, rivalries, alliances, snubbing after only a few scant days. Cruise passengers in the fucking mist, indeed. You'd need to get photos of people and draw an arachnidean map to sort it out. Hrm, you know, this sounds awesome... Facial recognition, database of pictures, build it all into a smart phone with a camera and an easy way to create a web. I'm filing that away for later.

Day 12 (Tallinn, Estonia)
Suprisingly awesome. The sights were pretty meh, building didn't have much zing. Ehh, I should say the *archeitectual* sights, every tour guide, every shop attendant, everyone in the resutoraunts were college age women. Let nobody ever tell you that Eastern European girls are ugly. Spoke more english there than in Germany, was suprised. Awesome, they were having a music festival that only occurs every four years, and we got to hear them practising. They had some interesting folk insturments, one that looks like a hammered dulcimer, but was plucked, one that looked like a bow with jangly things on it that you banged on the ground. Oh, and an entire section of accordians. Was a huge band, probably about 200 members. Went up to the old city, which was pretty cool, quite preserved from the olden days. Bought gifts for everyone there too, make sure to remind you if you see me, I got a fair few. Ooh, and to be adventurous I ordered the sausage platter for lunch, and that was all the description I saw. Was suprisingly tasty for the most part. Had the best beer yet, a dark cherry beer.

NIghtlife was pretty lively, played some Wii with some folks, this group was two Phillipinos and a Canadian. I remain unaffiliated with a group, does mean that I get to hang with just about anyone, but I'm not a core member of any group. The switzerland of the cruise if you will. Later got joined by members of the Canadian faction, as well as a couple of girls that I hadn't seen before. Anyhow, much talking, some dancing, far too late a night to be waking up early the next morning.

Day 13 (St. Petersburg, Russia)
Woke up far too fucking early, as they said it would take forever to get through immigration. Was a long line, but wasn't the several hours of their dire predictions. Met up again with our tour group, small group, 12 members total. A couple canadians, a couple kiwis (New Zealand), about five other Americans, then us three. While, in general, we weren't as decrepit as the rest of the ship, there was only one other my age, a new Zealand girl.

We did a *lot* in Russia, so I hope I remember it all. We stated out going to a little Russian Orthodox church, which was pretty cool. It was definitely still an active church and we got the evil eye from one of the priests when we walked in. The women were supposed to cover thier heads. They continually recite at all times in the church. Plus, there were RUSSIAN KITTIES! Then went to Catharine's palace, which was our big example of tsar archietecture. Dear god, they love gilt. It was on everything. Had a pretty awesome room with the walls faced in amber. Toured thier gardens after that, full of plants. Throughout the whole tour, our guide was peppering us with stories about the tsars and the history of the places we were visiting, but she kept up such a stream of history that there was no way I could follow it all up. Not that I couldn't understand her, but she was always telling us stories and I just couldn't retain it all.

Hrm, think we had lunch then. I did have borsht, which was damned tasty. Had another beer, which, again, was really good. Had a beer in every country yet, and I must say, the German beer really dissapointed. But not their sausages. Mmmm, bratwurst.... Ah, off topic. Anyhow, was overpriced, but tasty. Went to another palace, but just to the garder of this one, which were massive and full of fountains. All the fountains were purely gravity fed, no pumps. There were a few awesome ones that were there just to trick you. A couple where a hidden attendant would turn of jets aimed at you just as you sat on a bench. Another one which looked like a bench under an umbrella, but when you sat down, the fountain started around you, so you had to run through the fountain to get out. One huge one hidden around one of the main path so that the tsar could excuse himself for "important business", then watch as the jets sprayed everyone on the path. One must assume he ran around giggling then.

One of my personal favorites, although extremely short was that we went inside an old Soviet subway station build right after the revolution. We rode for a while, then got off and saw another Soviet station. Supposedly, the Soviets built the stations to be the "worker's palaces" and they decorated them profusely, with crystal columns, statues of Lenin, friezes of noble-looking soldiers and workers, and marble insignias. Sadly, they still use the subways for military transport sometimes, so we could not take pictures. Also sadly, this was really the only Soviet thing we saw, I really wanted to see more stuff from the USSR, but we saw almost exclusively tsar-era stuff. Saw a couple houses of culture, but other than that, not much.

Went to the cathedral of St. Peter (?). Was really impressive, one of the best ones I saw. Fairly austere inside, I was still massive, and they had these truly titanic granite columns out front made out of a single piece of rock. Inside had the most amazing mosaics I have ever seen, with true depth in the pictures and fine enough that you had to get within a few feet to even see that they were mosaics. Even the gradiations of color was astoundingly fine for a mosaics, and these were large, signifigantly taller than I am. As with a bunch of the churches, got looted and shit down by the Soviets, who then turned it into the anti-religion museum, with a huge focault pendulum hanging from the dome. Our guide basically said that they woshipped science instead of religion, which is, you know, a point in favor for the Soviets.

Went souvenir shopping and got my big, fuzzy Russian hat with a hammer and sickle on front! Sadly, as I later figured out, I payed too much for it, but I thought that would be the only place we were shopping. I really wanted one of the army caps with the flat top and Soviet insignia, but none of them fit me... Also, free vodka shots! Had one, no bueno, tasted like burn, and then rubbing alcohol. Cured me of any desire to smuggle Russian vodka onto the ship.

Later that night (and yes, it was a massively long day), we went on a boat tour of the canals. That was pretty neat, nothing exceptionally notable, although we did see the former KGB headquarters of the area. Had a bunch of antenna still on it, so, you know... Sadly, we didn't see the supposed renouned raising of the bridges, because I guess they do it at 1:30. This is supposedly the time to see it, during the "white nights", where the sun does not set.

Back to the ship, to get ready for Russia, part 2. Went out again, and stayed out far too late, again with the Canadian and the two Phillipinos. Was laughing at them, becuase they said that in the phillipinos, it's completely usual to have a bunch of house servants, which just seems like an alien concept to me. Didn't actually stay out that late, but I was already really low on sleep.

Day 14 (St. Petersburg, Russia)
City was called Leningrad before, during the USSR. Oh, and I promise this won't be as long as the last one, shorter day. Started out going to the Hermitage, a massive palace turned into an art museum. Went through a few restored rooms from the palace, and looks at a bunch of paintings. Don't like impressionist, really. Really don't like Van Gogh. Honestly, I was muderously tired this whole time, and was seriously falling asleep while standing up and looking at a painting. Eventually got over it both through time and a judiciously large amount of caffiene. I really should have more to say, but, we just was a ton of paintings, not many amusing stories. Went to lunch to a place that mostly served meat pies, which was really tasty, and much less overpriced than the last place.

Went to another church, don't remember the name, but was in the middle of a large fortree on its own island. The church archietectire wasn't that astounding, but it was completely covered on every surface except the floor in mosaic. Seriously, it was a big church, and the effect was quite impressive. They weren't as detailed as the other mosaics, but the sheep quantity was astounding. I tried to but another hat and flask from a streent vendor here, but I didn't get that Sarah was trying to haggle with the guy, so I threw off her groove. We were going to get it at the next stop, but sadly, no vendors there, so no Russian flask for me.

One more church somewhere in the trip, but I'll be damned if I can remember much of it, other than that it was built to look very secular inside. It was built by a tasr who wanted to promote the supremacy of the state over the church, so the walls were filled with flags from defeated enemies, and the main altar looks like a triumphant gate. I may have this one mixed up with the fortress

Last stop in Russia, the Church of Spilled Blood, where one of the major tsars was killed. He is supposedly the one who implemented a bunch of needed reforms, but it's said that becuase of all the stress that put on the politics, it ignited the revolution. Church was made specifically to commemorate him, and not for general use, so it is full of decorations and such done in semi-precious stone. It did sprinkle some here, but happily, it was the only time. Also, I may (almost certainly) be mixing up the details of some of these churchs, we went to a bloody lot of them.

Get back to the ship, had a snack, and started to write all of this. Also, for full disclosure, I'm not neccesarily writing all of these entries on the day that I'm describing, I generally write a few days when I have some free time. It takes a while, because apparently, I have a lot to say. Not neccesaily a lot of *interesting* things to say. but I'll let the court of puplic opinion hang me there.

Another full night, with more karaoke and hanging about. Have learned that while I may be able to dance (for certain definitions of able), I still don't really like it.

Day 15 (Helsinki)

Port was pretty slow. Went to the big open-air market, but it was blustery, cold, and started to rain. Still, they do love their reindeer there... And fish, but that is less fun. Honestly, the best part of the day was when we realized that Helsinki city hall had free internet. Got a chance to sift through all my emails, more drama from Associated Students, nothing ever changes. Had a nice lunch of Finnish meatballs, which was really tasty, in a good cream sauce. Bought the local delicacy, salty black licorice (which is really not a euphamism, I swear). Actually quite tasty, I'll bring some home for people who want to try.

Nightlife was pretty quiet, had a chance to hang out with Ashley, the New Zealand girl from the Russia tour. Been getting away from the rat race of trying to keep up with the rest of folks around here and their internal politics.

Day 16 (Stockholm, Sweden)

Lots and lots of stuff to do, not near enough time... SRSLY, they only gave us something like 5 or 6 hours. City is quite beautiful, built on a series of islands. We took a hop-on hop-off boat through the city. Had an interesting old town with the characteristic spaghetti-twisting of the streets. Went to the Nobel museum, as this is the city where they give them out. Was an interesting museum, but not for the reasons you may think. They had a small exhibit on the life of Nobel, where they displayed his last will and testament, where he laid out the prizes, which was pretty cool. Also displayed some scientific apparatus from some of the science prizes. Oddly enough (but OK in my eyes) they had very little on the humanities prizes. Anyhow, the really cool part was that they had about half the museum given over to an exhibit on censorship around the world and time, somewhat in the contect of the Peace Prize. My interests being what they are, I really liked this, lots of interesting stories, and it amused me to see that all around the world nationalists have the same arguments, that all foreigners are lazy, anti-[Country of Origin] and shiftless.

After that, I really wanted to eat at the museum in thier cafe where they are supposed to have really awesome ice cream and each chair is signed by a winner of the prize. Sadly, no time, and we were off to the Royal Armory. Honestly, I've seen too many museums at this point, but it was full of old armor and weapons, and I guess it was pretty cool. Ran off to see the changing of the guard, pretty neat. One of the members of the band had a... glockenspiel? The mallet insturment you hold up with one had and play vertically with the other. Next, went to another museum, which the name escapes me right now... ANyhow, I actually liked this one, turns out in the 1600s, Sweden built a huge ship that was nearly the biggest and the best armed on the seas, but the additional gun deck made it a bit top-heavy. On it's maiden voyage, a breeze caught the sails in the harbor and it fell over and sunk. Anyhow, fairly recently they raised the ship and turned it into a museum, with the beautifully preserved ship being the centerpiece. Quite interesting, and makes me want to play Pirates of the Burning Sea again...

Had lunch there, this time having *Swedish* meatballs. The sauce wasn't quite as tasty as the day before, but they included lingonberries, which I really liked with the meatballs. Also had really good bread, and yes, I did notice it. Continuing the grand tradition of drinking a beer in every country, I had a very tasty beer here. Ended up getting the large version of a local, strong beer here. Very nice, but we were running late, and I actually had to chug the last half of my beer. And this was a serious beer, 5.4% and the bottle was 50 ml. Anyhow, back to the ship through the most circuitour route possible due to the ships scheduling being confusing. Actually got my passport stamped here!

[Switch this night with the previous night, I think. That night was the white party]

Now, we got back at 3:30, so we had plenty of time on the ship. And nightlife was... interesting. I deicded to join the karaoke competition. Well, this was interesting. To get and idea of it, they started it all of by offering us all a drink on the house. The first round (And mind you, the only round I was aware of), we got to choose the song we wanted to sing, and I chose Smoke on the Water. Despite my utter lack of singing abitity, the furious air-guitar helped me through. Basically, the judges were effectively doing American Idol, so that was pretty fun too. Now, the second round the judges got to choose the song that they though would be most amusing for us to sing. The guy before me wouldn't even go up. I had to sing Britney Spears "Hit Me One More Time". Luckily for me and anyone in a mile radius, they also included in the gong from the gong show here, so it eventually gave me a respite. Didn't win, but I was being the clown of the show and kept people's interest on it. I did have just about all the judges come up after and thank me for keeping it funny.

But no, the epic of my embarresment didn't end there, oh no. Not by a long shot. So, afterwards, we decided to head up to the Spinaker Lounge, basically the late night lounge. Tonight was the 70s night, with a live band and all. I have learned an important lesson here, that if you before friends with the crew, this isn't always in your favor... So, when Von, one of the crew members I hung out with, tapped me on the shoulder and said to come with him, that he needed one more, I didn't think anything of it. Now, here they offered me another drink, and you'll see why. Now, dear readers, think back to the 70s. What all-together famous song was so prevalent? One with a band of four men. Dressed in ridiculous outfits. Without shirts on. Like construction workers. Or, in my case, an Indian Chief. So after dressing as the Villiage People, we rehearsed for the YMCA, comeplete with crotch thrusts. And yes, for all the ladies out there (and, well, Village People, so perhaps I shouldn't limit that), I was shirtless, wearing an Indian headress. After that they decided that the Indian Chief had to lead the next few dnaces, so there was a conga line and a chorus line led by yours truly. And, really, thats quite enough for one night.

Day 17 (Sea Day)

It being the chance I had to sleep in, I took the opportunity with a vengance and slept in until 4. After that, I really didn't have much time for anything else. Went to the night's entertainment, which was sort of a half as good version of Cirque du Soliel. Was interesting, although the guys were much better than the girls. Sadly, I can't seem to have eye candy and good acrobatics at the same time... Outside of that, spent a lot of time relaxing, reading and the such. Did have a funny last night comic, who was very British. He did do a few musical numbers, and sounded completly American while singing. Came back to the lounge later, watched the dancing for a bit. Talked with some interesting people over late-night snack too.

Day 18 (Sea Day)

Still the middle of the day right now, haven't done much yet. It is real windy out right now, the ship rocking just enough that you feel light-headed, almost drunk, but not enough to get used to a regular swaying. Other than that, not much really happened. Hung out, read books, hung out with a couple of guys from the tour with my mom and Sarah. Had a fun show, starting out kinda fun, I suppose, with a paper airplane competition. I lost very badly, my plane might as well have gone backwards. Was laughing, I caught up with Von, another crew member I knew. Another person I knew, a younger passenger was trying to convince him to play a rematch of basketball. Unfortunatly the weather was windy and wet as a storm. Hell, watching him trying to wheedle Von into playing was more amusing than anything else going on. After my airplane-based failure, the did a show which was basically a talent show with the staff. Most of it boring, but the finale was fun, called "Fountains". About 6 or 7 folks came onto stage, dressed as Romans with a psuedo-Classical background and dramatic music. After heading out in a stately procession, they each took a long swig from thier water jars, and proceeded to emulate a fountain on the person next to the them, all in time to the music. It was great fun, but the best part of it was the reaction of the person being fountained upon, al while they were supposed to look statue-esque. All this after they harrangue us about germs! After that, hung around, said goodbye to quite a few folks, hung out with the tour group folks in the late-night lounge, but didn't stay up too late, being forced to get up at a reasonable time...

Day 19 (Travel Back)
Eh, pretty boring so far. Loooong trip. Taxi to the coach station. 3-hours bus ride to London. 45 mins on the Underground to Heathrow. And now, 11 hour flight back to LA. And I've still got to get back into Santa Barbara. Ah well, not for a few days. I am just about really to be back home, though, lack of Internet, lack of good computer, lack of people I know, and just overall lack of familiar surrounding are taking their toll. Hrm, read Stardust on the way, decent book, but I actually think I like the movie better. Heresy, I know. Litterally just finished watching The Thomas Corwn Affiar. Fun flick, I like heist movies, but I didn't notice before that there was casual nudity. Unusual in an American movie, and very unusual to see on a plane. Then again, this is Air New Zealand, so maybe the social mores are different. Anyhow, I think I'll watch the last bit of Die Another Day, then possible Watchmen (speaking of casual nudity). Oh, and I finished watching the episodes of Oz and James Drink to Britain, which I started on the flight over. Hilarious, British, and full of booze, so I'll have to look it up when I get back. Oh, and that depressing "comedy" I mentioned on the way over is called "Peter's Friends".

Bloody stupid gits! They censored Watchmen! Nooo, showing tits is okay in The Thomas Crown Affair, but here they censored the awesome scene in the starting lineup where the Silk Spectre takes the place of the sailor in the famour WW2 poster. Then they censored the word "whores" when they show them murdered. Got too inscenced, and stopped watching, only slightly ranting about it to those around me. Also, check out Flight of the Concordes, fun comedy show about and really quite unsuccessful New Zealand rock band in New York.

The cruise

2009-06-26T23:20:18Z

Alright, that's it for London, going on the ship tommorow! Won't be able to update much, if at all, as there is no (affordable) Internet on the ship.

Oh, and despite what Firefox thinks, "fuckton" is a fine, well-spelled word.

Days 4, 5 & 6

2009-06-26T23:18:58Z

Day 4 (Wed)

Went on a tour of Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehendge was interesting, seeing something so absurdly old. Oddly, the inital view you get from the enterance is kinda shitty, but you get the full effect at the end of the path. Also included a few burial mounds next to the site. Long trip, 2-3 hours each way. Just barely missed the solstice. Include "slaughter stone", not actually used for slaughter, but turns red when it rains. Went to the roman baths in bath. Was really interesting, with an exceptionally in-depth audio guide. Included commentary by Bill Bryson. Was originally used by the native Britons for worship, then the Romans came in, switched from the goddess Sulis to Sulis-Minerva, and more worshipping. Added the bath area, which was pretty cool to walk around in. After, the Victorians used the spring for its healing properties. I had a chance to drink the waters of the spring. Tasted like bad tap water, so far to miraculous healing. In fact, feel a cold coming on... After, went to pub for dinner with parents, had my requisite meat pie.

Day 5 (Thu)

Tried to go to the theatres, didn't work. Went to St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. The abbey had a lot of history, with a lot of famous people buried there, including Darwin. Site of coronations. Beautiful building, with amazing cielings. Tendancy to try to see everything almost made me late, same way I was almost late leaving the roman baths. St. Paul's was similarily lovely, much more greco-roman. S=Actually didn't seem that much smaller, but was much less dense than Westminster. Did alow us to clip to upper areas of church, Up a fuckton of stairs. I counted. Had a whispering gallery up there, was neat; whisper along the walls, and people quite far along the wall can still hear you. Next level (more stairs by the fuckton, this time cramped and steep) was an outside view, good look at London. Sadly, the tippy-top was closed for renovations (No doubt accesed by, you guessed it, cramped fucktons of stairs). Crypt had Admiral Nelson in it. Nobody else notable, but there were a *lot* to memorials to the armed forces throughout the cathedral, including a few to American troops. Want to buy one of the famous "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster, I think it suits my outlook. Went to get ice cream *next* to Harrods. *In* Harrods was absurdly expensive, and gelato by the same company was half the price just across the street. Went to find local pubs at night, failed miserably, and just found some bars instead. Realized again that I don't like loud, crowded bars.

Day 6 (Fri)

British Museum. Huge museum, full of stuff. Was suprised it was free, everything else in London we've had to pay absurdly for. Conciously suppresed my desire to look at everything in detail, because that would take days. I was getting kinda museumed out, as nearly everything I've done was a sort of museum. Looked at the dishonor medals exhibit, Egyptian, half of the Greek, clocks, and money exhibits in detail. They have an absurdly flimsy excuse why they still have a good half of the Parthenon, since they more-or-less yoinked it from Greece, and they want it back. Ran through most of the rest of the exhibits,just so I could see it all. Went to Hyde Park, only found one person ranting. Were having concert. Lots of police there, had funny hats. Guys had big, round helmet with a point in the front. Women had kinda a bowler hat.

Euro Trip, Days 2 & 3

2009-06-23T21:33:17Z

Day 2

Went to Tower of London and Globe. Tower was a lot of fun, very well done exhibit. They had a special exhibit on one of the Henries, the 8th? Took a tour with the Beefeater, fun tour, good natured tour guide. Saw the crown jewels. Saw a demonstration fo seige weapons. Had not very good greek food. Took a tour of the globe theatre. Interesting, the third globe, first burned down, second shut down and destryed by the puritans. Thatch roof, saw documents back and forth about how had it was to get that approved in London. Saw drum practise for As You Like It, but decided to not actually see that play. Lots of hunger afterwords, eventually sent Sarah to get food, brough back buger and suprisingly tasty chicken pita. Like the ginger beer here, very strong and tastes a lot like ginger.

Day 3

Went to science museum and Harrods. Science museum was a disappointment, went to see Wallace and Grommit exhibit only, but was but on by the British patent office. Too much about the patents, etc. Harrdos was a lot of fun. Saw suits that were far too expensive, arounf 1200 quid. Toy area was the most fun, much less stuffy than the rest of Harrods, with staff members displaying and demonstrating toys. Had a section on bulletproof clothing. Interesting, but far too expensive, much cheaper to just buy a custom-fitted vest. Had afternoon tea with Earl Grey and clotted cream, extrememly tasty. The food courts there are amazing, browsed for a long time, about an hour in the food courts alone. Bought chocolate, ginger and 99%. Went on a pub crawl in Leicester Square. Was a lot of fun, as had a chance to try several different bitters, but being tired makes my alcohol tolerance go way, way down. Only had 3 pints and an order of chips, and I was only just able to head on the tube home without looking too suspicious. Also, tis day and lasts are both written right after getting home from said bar crawl, sdo please excuse and obvious grammatical errors.

Baltic Trip, Day 1

2009-06-21T23:14:55Z

Left for plane, afternoon. Was still running late and had to help vacuum upstairs. Finished off last of house food, watched last half of Priness Bride. Plane was very nice, Air New Zealand. Watched 3 movies, Fish Called Wanda, Spinal Tap, [film with stephen fry and hugh laurie]. Last was far too depressing for a comedy movie. Haven't seen the first two in a long while. Tried to watch Pink Panther, but both version were broken. Watched an episode of Flight of the Concordes, interesting show, not sure if I'd watch it regularily. Watch 1.5 episodes of some show about 2 guys touring Britain, brinking booze. Was a lot of fun, will have to watch more, watch the others on ride back home. Food was excellent for airline food, kept feeding us, fattening us up. Offered tea or coffee after every meal. Full bar for free, took advantage of that with a breakfast scotch, although terrible stuff. On-movie games were superlame.

Arrived in London, lots of fun.terminals at Heathrow look very strange, like space station parts or sewage line with windows. Forgot to bring any pounds. Will have to put some on with plently of English cooking. Long terminal, but had moving walkways. Customs was dead easy, just walked through, no one even there. Picked up an Oyster Card, managed to butcher name of Leicester Square (pronouced Lei-ster) managed to not head the famous "Mind the Gap" message when first boarding. No shortage of american restoraunts (sp), Hard Rock Cafe, Rainforest Cafe, Hollywood something. Staying at Clapham. Hotel very near to Tube Station, also right across from Calpham Commons, great big park. Getting used to cars on the wrong side of street, have to look opposite way when crossing street. Lots of Indian food, Clapham seems like it was only just become a neighborhood, the shops all look somewhat new. The indian food is indeed tasty, and ginger beer is damned fine. Went to Tesco's, UK supermarket. Got cash out without any knowledge of how much it cost me, I'll check in morning. Have to try random British food. Longest day of year, missed the awesome Stonehenge festival on solstice, when stones line up. Birthday tommorow.

Intermission (Afternoon Nap)

Hotel is very strange, obviously a converted row house. Far too many doors, and the hallways twist and turn like a rabbit's warren. Went to Leicester square proper. Was a lot of fun, lots of interesting pubs, including one advertising itse;f as having no sports. Will have to try that one out sometime. Stayed light until something like 9:30, felt strange. Just wandered around, taking in the sights. Going to try to head to a few pubs tommorow. Also, seeing Tower of London and Globe Theatre tommorow. Might possibly see "As You Like It"

Baltic Trip

2009-06-21T23:14:27Z

Hey, since I won't be able to keep up much communication with people stateside (although I do get internet in my hotel in London) I'll keep a general log of what I do. It will first be posted in the "Cliff-notes" version, just a raw dump of my notes so I don't forget anything. Later, I'll update it and make it easier to read. If you are frustrated because I'm not saying something horribly obvious, or I'm not going to the proper attractions, let me know.

Politics

2008-09-24T00:39:38Z

I'm bored at work. Tired of debugging this thrice-damned PHP code. So, my politics. I'm writing this because I feel like writing it, some of it is boring personal details, and all of it is blatantly self-centered. Yeah, I probably should put my long, no-doubt rambling, rant under a cut, but NO CUT FOR JOO!

Hrm, history... I dunno when I started getting interested in politics to start with, but I know I only really got active and vocal round about the middle of Bush's first term. I went to a fair number of anti-Iraq protests, never got into any real confrontations with the police there, though it was very close a few times. At that time I was pretty run-of-the-mill liberal. That was also about the time I started Venice High's GSA, but this post is about greater politics than that.

I've met quite a few people with very different viewpoints who I've got a chance to talk to in depth. When I was taking a Japanese class at SMC, I met with and talked quite frequently with a hard-core communist. He had very extreme views, even for me at the time, but I learned a lot. Being in YRUU means you get inundated with liberals. Both my dad and Amy are quite Democratic, while my mom and Sarah seem more reserved about politics, and Sarah holds views that put her outside any mainstream political party. I read a few Ayn Rand books (Decent writer, scarily insane politics) and Heinlein (less insane). I had a lot of chances to debate with Katharine during our relationship, giving me good insight on the very libertarian viewpoint. Hrm, Danielle's dad gave me a lot of fun debate, in particular there is a very extensive debate on this livejournal about nuclear power with him. Hrm, I'm sure there are more, can't think of them offhand.

Now, actual politics, these days. I hold beliefs that don't fit with any political party well, essentially. If I had to describe myself, probably sane libertarian, maybe add constitutionalist on there. So, for social matters, in brief, do what you will as long as you do not infringe on the rights of others. There are limitations, there are always limitations to anyone but the most fanatical political beliefs. However, you should be held responsible for the choices you make, which I hold personally as well as politically. For example, go ahead and shoot up whatever drugs you want, but as soon as you commit a crime, come down on you like a ton of bricks, being high, addicted, drunk is not an excuse.

Economically, I follow the Keynesnian model of economics, largely that a properly regulated free market is the ideal way to have a national economy. Notably, however (and this is largely what differentiates me from other libertarians) regulation is a necessity. A full explanation can and has filled books, but breaking up unfair monopolies for instance. Also, public services are a necessity, for several reasons. Some goods, like roads, water supply, fire, etc., are far, far more efficient and effective when held collectively. Also, capitalism requires an intelligent, well-educated populace, so schools and universities are necessary. Safety nets are also useful, generally in a more limited amount than is offered here and now. People make mistakes, and those mistakes should not doom them, it helps everybody to have these kind of people get back on track and become productive.

Now, these social services require money, and that is eternally the sticking point for people. Who to tax, and in what proportion and amount? Libertarians often progressive tax rates on the wealthy as punished the most productive members of society. (As a side note, the taxes really aren't that bad for the wealthy, long-term investments are not taxed heavily, and rich people often have their wealth in investments) My argument for progressive taxing is simple, you want to tax luxuries. Taxing necessities is impractical, and rich people spend far more of their money proportionally on luxuries than poor people. Hence, progressive income tax rates form a way to effectively tax luxuries. A federal sales tax would work at that more directly, but would have to be graduated. Now, for a few specific points:

Gun Control. This is a position I have changed completely in a relatively short time. I now think guns should be legal to buy and use. Mind you, licensing, wait periods, all good ideas still. Essentially, the gun may enable more violent crimes, but them those crimes should be punished for what they are.

First Amendment: This has always been my personal crusade. No time to get into it now, but I consider first amendment rights to be crucial to the us, and are currently under attack on several fronts.

Nuclear Power: See other discussion on this here livejournal. In short, I think nuclear power is a very viable energy source. The massive construction subsidies need to stop, but it is far better than fossil fueled power, and alternative power cannot get near full power requirements now. France does it well.

GMO Food: Good idea. Conflicted on labeling requirement. More information to the consumer is always good, but DAMN, consumers are military-grade stupid on this issue. It's safe. Unfortunately, the debate is muddied with Monsanto, who is absurdly shady, but GMO is not Monsanto.

Affirmative Action: A bad idea for a great many reasons. Again, no space here to get into it.

Subsidies: Stop them. Damn near all of them. Subsidies are useful only in very specific circumstances, and only temporarily. Notably, massive farming subsidies need to stop. People say this will eliminate family farms and possibly all American farming. OK, go right ahead. If other countries can do it cheaper (some restriction apply, blah blah) then import from them. More money all around!

Meh, there are obviously more issues, and I could expand any of those much, much greater.

Now, as for the election, who to vote for? Well, socially the answer is clear, while Obama is not perfect, he is far, far more permissive on social rights than McCain. However, what about the economy? Plenty of libertarians consistently vote Republican because they agree with them on economic policy. Not so much. Old school, pre voodoo, Republicans may have actually been economic consaervatives, ya know, taxing little, spending little. However, recent republican would be laughable if they weren't destroying the country. Pro Tip, tax a little, spend a lot does not make for a good economy. And the numbers bear this out; by any metric you choose, the economy does better under Democrats, more jobs, better jobs, lower inflation, etc. Additionally, Democrats actually send *less* than Republicans overall, Federal deficits are massively larger under Republicans, even if you take out the financial abortion of Reagan.

So, the choice economically is not between liberalism and conservatism, it's between competence and foolishness. Republicans and Libertarians are deluding themselves if they actually believe that the Republicans are conservative economically. No matter how any times the mantra is spoken the numbers (which I can dig up, or you can too) don't lie. I'll be voting for Obama, even discounting all else, Obama is far more aligned with my views.

Awesome

2008-04-01T22:33:47Z

The newest version of the GURPS role-playing game have rules and complete effects of having your character eat babies. Awesome.

That is all.

Boot Rear Rootbeer

2008-02-06T19:43:11Z

Hey! Another root beer for ya'll! And, no, I've got no plans to write about my personal life. It's been waaaay too long since I updated anything substantial, and I would miss stupidly big and important things were I to post. Reply in a comment with a questions if you wish. Better yet, talk to me on AIM or call me, eh? Anyways, root beer...

Boot Rear Rootbeer

Following the general trend of vaguely manly root beer designs, this oversized bottle has three cowboys on it. Why? Because it's Boor Rear, that's why! Also, puns. Root beer is biiig on puns. Anyways, no to that actually useful stuff. The basic flavor of this particular root beer is sweet, with a strong honey flavor. With that in mind, it makes for a very smooth rootbeer, but one that has to be chilled before drinking it. Warm root beer tend to make sweet flavors syrupy. The flavor is well rounded, again, focusing on the honey taste, with fairly light carbonation. I quite enjoyed it, but I think the large bottle works against it, by the end of the bottle, you've had just a little too much sugar. I prefer my rootbeer with a little more of a "kick" of sorts, not harsh, no, with with something to balance the sweet flavor. This root beer doesn't really have that, but still manages to keep the honey flavor largely under control.

Final Grade: B

Holiday gifts and such!

2007-12-25T06:07:08Z

Oh, alright, I suppose I can call then Christmas gifts. Even though the only people in my family who aren't atheist are an extremely lax Jew and a former Pagan. 'natch.

Stuff I got for others

2 Mangas (Linden)
RC Helicoper (Dad)
Darwinia [Computer Game] (Dad)
When I was Your Age T-shirt (Dad)
Serenity [DVD] (Amy)
Some Music CD (Sarah)
2 Books by George RR Martin (Mom)

Stuff That I got (far more important)

Misc:
Pluto Never Forget T-shirt (Amy)
Very Nice Hiking Boots (Dad)
2 Pairs Hiking Socks (Dad)
Waterproof Map of the Desolation Wilderness (Dad)
Promise of a future sword frog (Linden)
More Stuff from other later (Mom, Sarah, Dad's Family)

Kitchen Stuff:
Cake Storer (Amy)
Castle Cake Mold (Amy)
French Rolling Pin (Amy)
Large Salad Bowl (Amy)
Cooking Blowtorch (Amy)

Stuff I Got For Myself
Ooh, this is a long list. I went a bit wild. It's awesome having money.

Kitchen Stuff:
6 Large (8 Qt.) Clear Food Containers with lids [Oh so expensive, but worth it for flour and the like]
2 Flour Scoops
Wooden Spatula
Tongs
Box Grater
2 Half Sheets Pans [18-Gauge Aluminum with raised sides. You could kill someone with these pans. Awesome]
4 Cup Angled Measuring Cup
Set of Dry Measure Cups
12 inch Cast Iron Skillet

Books:
Starship Troopers [Robert Heinlein]
The Color of Magic [Terry Pratchett]
Forty Signs of Rain [Kim Stanley Robinson]
The Years of Rice and Salt [Kim Stanley Robinson]
Fifty Degrees Below [Kim Stanley Robinson]
Neverwhere [Neil Gaiman]
Stardust [Neil Gaiman]
The Illuminatus! Trilogy [Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson]

Misc:
Jade Empire [Computer Game]
Galactic Civilizations [Computer Game]
Sword Cleaning and Polishing Kit [Yeah! Now I won't have to go whine and beg people for theirs!]

Oh man, remember when...

2007-11-20T19:09:18Z

I was just puttering around the tubes as I am want to do, and came across something that made me so, incredibly nostalgic. The Way Things Work. I remember back when I was a wee kid, reading this book for hours, again and again. It's a wondrous book, explaining a variety of machines with the help of cute little mammoths explaining the concepts. Sounds hokey, but it comes off good. Oh man...

Is there anything of yours that makes you incurable, illogically nostalgic for "the good ole' days", whatever they may be?

masterofmuppets @ 2007-11-04T19:54:00

2007-11-05T03:55:32Z

Well, that's it then. More than five years, and it was the best five years of my life. I'll miss you, Danielle.

Reving up the old rant engine

2007-09-25T00:10:38Z

Here is another one of my famed, overly-long rants about politics. This one is about affirative action and how it eats babies. Cute, cuddly babies. Keep in mind it is a rough draft, and written sort of between being a speech and being an essay.

"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Recognize that? That is a line from the famous "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr. In this speech, he envisions a land in which people are judged on whom they are, not what color their skin is. Martin Luther King Jr. devoted his life to creating a better world for his children, a world of equality. Since his time, conditions have improved drastically, but there still remains one dark blot unashamedly promoting racial discrimination at a systemic level; Affirmative Action.

In the guise of helping others, proponents of affirmative action do no more than demean those who they claim to help, while creating an intensely unfair environment counter to all notions of equality this country is known for. I bring to your attention the specific case of college admissions; not because they are the only case of affirmative action, but it is wide-spread and well documented. In many schools, these programs can be boiled down to assigning extra "points" to minority races, similar to points assigned to good grades or a well-written admission essay. Or, to put it more succinctly, a minority applicant can be accepted over a majority applicant even if they do not fit the same standard. Any university who uses such tactics and claims to have fair, balanced admission is absurd. Such a system lacks any sense of justice for those who have worked hard to achieve the often rigorous admission standards of a school. By allowing this to happen, we sanction discrimination all over again, where one applicant is accepted over another based solely on the color of their skin. Furthermore, this is insulting to applicants who are minorities. By giving them arbitrary extra points, the university is effectively telling them that they are not smart enough to get in on their own merits; that they need a hand up to get in. Once a student is accepted to a university, they are placed on merit, they are tested on merit, they graduate based on merit, let them be admitted based on merit as well. Affirmative action does nothing but further foster racial divisions, as we recreate walls of legal difference between ethnicities.

A common argument the proponents of affirmative action recite is that admission standards are inherently racist, that standardized tests push an Anglo-Saxon agenda. Ridiculous. I will not claim that there have not been problems in the past, nothing is perfect; the "regatta" example pops to mind. Also, there are stark gaps in the scores of different ethnicities. There are those who would claim that the SAT uses only white analogies, that all the reading is based on Caucasian principles, that the essays are unfairly biased against non-whites. Alright, fine, let’s accept that for a moment. If that is the case, then there should be a large difference in verbal scores between, say, Caucasian test takers and African American test takers. And there is, the mean score differ by 93 points, unarguably a significant difference. Alright, well, what's the difference in math, a subject that cannot have cultural bias? 107 points. Wait, what? So, there was actually less difference in the supposedly biased section of the SAT? This demonstrates an important fallacy that recurs again and again. Correlation Is Not Causation. Just as if I got a bad test grade on a rainy day, water doesn't cause bad grades any more than being black causes bad SAT scores. There exists an underlying cause behind the scores, not just the color of your skin.

Some claim that it is necessary to combat racism that has happened before, that racism still exists, so we need affirmative action to fight racism. This is no more than a straw man argument; no sane person would claim that racism never existed, nor that it still exists today, but this is not an argument for affirmative action. There is a gap in university admissions for minorities, and this is a problem, but we cannot fix it by patching it over with a cut-rate solution like affirmative action and go on whistling merrily at our good work. These inequalities must be reduced, and problems have been identified that can be fixed. A large majority of these problems can be traced back to poor primary education and low income, which are themselves correlated. These are legitimate problems that require real thought and effort; a solution will be difficult and long, but pasting over the problems will only exacerbate the problem.

Everybody wants an equal America, an American where everyone can compete fairly, with the best person coming out on top, regardless of how wealthy they are, who their parents were, or the color of their skin. I am sure that those who created Affirmative Action policies had the best of intentions, but it is time to realize that it has failed. Affirmative action has been tried and found lacking. Let us put aside such moribund ideas and work to truly solve the problem with racism in the United States, to help disadvantaged children grow to their highest potential, to ensure an equal primary education that will lead to an equal secondary education.

Facebook purge

2007-09-05T21:17:12Z

I am doing a Stalin-esque purge of my Facebook friends, as it shows 150 friends, and I know I'm not friends with that many people. I'm mostly saying this here just in case someone gets deleted who doesn't want to. Basically, my criteria is that I must have talked to you in the past year at least, or was a good friend of before. Specifically, I am deleting most everyone from Venice High and before, from Open People's Party, and from Anacapa 1100s. Just thought you'd like ta' know.

UPDATE: SCA friends are safe, as are current and last year roommates.

My gaming con was fun, details forthcoming when/if I feel like it.

On other news, I forgot my Physics Nalgene bottle while running a games, left $40 worth of brand new games at the con and my bike got stolen over the weekend.

Another Anti-meme

2007-08-10T17:56:05Z

This one so because good answers will be far too detailed to work as a meme. But, I will get to that much later, after I have a chance to expound loquaciously. For an introduction, I've been reading a fair amount of political and economic work recently and have been thinking about idea societies. On particular thing I've seen is that democracy is not a good governmental choice. What it does is ensure mediocrity, with democracy, you will never get excellent societies or leaders, but neither will you get wretched leaders. The main reason for this is that while people may know what they want, the vast majority don't have the skills to make that happen. The idea of a representative democracy is designed to help that, but it is flawed in that candidates are painfully rarely chosen for their abilities in leadership, much more for popularities sake.

So, my ideal society is a meritocratic elitism. In short, this is a society in which the best in various fields are given accordingly higher social status, and that the few best and smartest are given power over the populace. In order for this to work, great efforts must be made to identify talent and cultivate it, while making sure that aristocracy does not evolve. To be absolutely clear, by aristocracy, I mean a class of people who promote their fellows and conserve power among the class, which is against the principles of meritocracy. Certainly there will be the class of people who are the best, and these people will have the power, it just must be maintained that only the best keep power.

Some particular notes about all this: First of all, the single most dismaying trend I have found in democracy and recent United States is anti-elitism. The idea that our leader must be a common man will common skill and tastes is absurd; I demand that my leader be smarter, better skilled, and more elite than I. If they are going to lead me, they had better be! Secondly, the system above, when executed correctly, is more populist than it may originally appear. For instance, for it to work correctly, all people must get excellent initial schooling, at least until it can be conclusively determined who is the best, who will then go to specialized schools. Along these lines, I don't think the trend toward college schooling is a good idea at all; Certainly some disciplines require such advanced training, and those who with to learn for it's own sake should be encouraged, but the vast majority of jobs don't need such training, and I would like to see the return of trade schools in a much larger fashion. It's absurd how many jobs require a college education for no real reason. Specifically, colleges should focus on the more cerebral disciplines, such as the UC system does, while the practical disciplines should be split off into many, smaller, specialized trade schools. Even things like practical medical training, music, computer programming should be split off, as for the most part these disciplines don;t benefit from a broad education near as much as areas like medical research, computer science (Entirely different from programming, despite what universities may think...), or academic research.

Anyways, as for that question I promised waaaay up in paragraph one, if you could institute an ideal society, what would it be? Answer this either with regard to how human nature is, or if you could mold human nature as well (for example, communism works ideally, except that is goes against quite a bit of human nature).

yeah....

2007-08-07T17:47:24Z

From the makers of SimCity, the Sims, and other fine simulation products, come SimHealth! Ever wanted to experience health care management in the RAW? Ever dreamed of managing your very own HMO complete with action packed malpractice suits? Then come one, come all, to SimHealth, the world's first, last, and only health care simulation!

Ya know, I really, REALLY wish this product did not exist. But it does. Oh, yes, it does. My god, man, what in the seven layers of hell was Will Wright smoking? ...It must be mine.

I haven't had a good rant in a while...

2007-07-25T16:53:52Z

I hate care ethics. I detest care ethics. I loath care ethics. I just wanted to make sure you all have a sufficient idea of the depth of my feelings. But first, a disclaimer; I am not a philosopher, I don't have an extremely in-depth knowledge of all this, most of my knowledge comes from my introduction to ethics class and some putting around on the Internet. However, I am not debating fine minutiae of care ethics; I believe that the fundamental theory is wretchedly evil.

But first, a slight introduction. For those who don't know what care ethics is, it is a system of ethics proposed by feminist writers, inspired by psychologist Carol Gilligan. It emphasizes relationships with regard to ethics, basically stating that the closer your relationship you have with someone, the higher their ethical worth is.

This is a terrible method of deciding what is right and wrong. Not only does it condone base cronyism and nepotism, it states that it is your moral duty! It throws any concept of impartiality or fairness out, and shows no moral worth to those you do not know. It is repugnant that, according to care ethics, a stranger on the street has no moral value. You don't know him, you don't care about him, so it is your moral duty to push the interests of friends and family above them. The rest of us have a name for this kind of behavior; corruption.

I will not deny that this is, in fact, *how* people act, but that should never be the criterion for how people *should* act. By following care ethics, you should act in the best interest of those you like, not those who do good for the world, not the man on the street, not the community as a whole. While my ethics class did not go into great detail on the theories, it was very broad, and I found interesting idea from many branches that should be combined into a good system of ethics. Care ethics represents the antithesis of all that. Feelings and emotions do *not* lead to good ethics, which is not to say that emotions are bad, but if doing what you felt like was the always the right thing to do, there would be no need for ethics at all. My point is that emotions need to be overcome at least sometimes to do the right thing. You need to overcome greed to help feed the homeless, apathy to go volunteer. Not to mention, although a widespread issue, care ethics give no reason *why* this is the right thing to do, which is important when dealing with such metaphysical constructs.

Another issue, not directly related to care ethics at all, but the reason is was created. Those who started the movement were trying to create a "feminist" ethical system, away from the male dominance. While I will not deny that the vast majority of ethical philosophers were men, basing a system around that is worthy or ridicule. Feminine ethical systems are just as ridiculous as masculine ethical system, what manner of genitalia you have has no relevance on what is right or wrong. Saying that this in necessary, is just whining; these people give no reason why it's bad that the previous systems were made by men, nor if they are prejudiced at all. They seem to just do it for the sake of it.

I will admit that my ethical system is quite different than most, but I am not pushing that. Care ethics goes against many beliefs that people hold, from fair trials to charity work. This is not a valid theory, very little can be learned from; perhaps an an example of what people do, and entirely different question from what they ought to do.

Hot Chocolate

2007-07-09T16:44:07Z

Hmmm, the drink machine invariably deliveres a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike hot chocolate. The button says hot chocolate, it looks like hot chocolate, smells like hot chocolate, but tastes utterly peculiar. Almost tangy, without a lick of chocolate flavor. This intrigues me.

WAY more physics than you want...

2007-06-12T09:20:50Z

Mostly I'm writing this to myself, but if other more physically inclined people want to comment, go ahead...

It seems that using the principles of Mechanical Chaos Theory and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Relations, one can get a very interesting result. Assume you have a driven, damped harmonic oscillator, like a pendulum. Now, using heisenburg's Uncertainty relation, for delta theta and delta p theta, that is the change in the angle and the change in the momentum in the direction of theta. Using some real-world mass, find a set of two initial condition for the pendulum (position and velocity) that cannot be distinguished with a constant mass and are as far away from each other as possible (i.e. take Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle to be equal to Plank's Constant). Choose a driving force for the pendulum such that the drive strength falls into chaos. That was all setup, now what I'm intrigued by is that it appears that after a very large number of repetitions (I think), the uncertainty will be multiplied such that is shows up macroscopically and even to a point in which the position of the pendulum is unknowable, i.e. delta theta is greater than 2 pi. This would seem to suggest that such a situation is inherently non-deterministic, and would show a situation in which quantum irregularities show up on a more comprehensible scale. On a more sci-fi level, because the Uncertainty Relations are "built-in" to the universe, it would be impossible in any way shape or form to know where the pendulum is in the future. Also, I think (although I am *much* less clear on this) that this would create a "limit" on the fractals shown in Poincare section of the pendulum. At a sufficient granularity of the diagram, further cycles would be uncertain, and the fractal nature of the diagram would be lost.

Hmm, I will have to explore this further. Preferable not at 2:30 in the morn'. And the day before a final. A final not in Physics.

Route to Chaos: Bad Roleplaying Supplement or Technical Physics Term?

2007-06-12T08:04:26Z

Place your votes here! In other news, I need to study more...

Maaaaaaaasss Linkage!

2007-06-07T07:47:10Z

Hello all! Found a rather hilarious webcomic today, how I love that StumbleUpon. Anyways, here's a link t a particularly good one. Just for reference, the rest are even more non PC, so the easily shocked probably should not go. Or do, it will be funny to watch you get all indignant. On that note, an area I will not get into here, I think most PC stuff is bullshit. Some is valid, purely and obviously derogatory terms used in a derogatory manner should not be tolerated, but most is just stupid. It just consists of endless, pointless baffles around honesty, but perhaps that's just because I'm and emotionless cyborg.

Psychologcial Egoism: 1 Everyone Else: Who cares?

2007-06-04T10:01:34Z

Alright! Now science itself is on my side when it comes to philosophy! Check out this article discussing a study showing that altruism is hardwired into the brain. I'm thinking this is providing a pretty clear picture in favor of psychological egoism. For those who don't know, while a full philosophical discussion could take a while (a discussion I will be more than willing to undertake when it is not 3 in the morn...) primarily my philosophy is aggressively naturalistic; there is nothing supernatural about anything, there is no God, emotions are hardwired, ethics are a byproduct of societal and physical natural selection, etc. One must note that this does not explain *what* is ethical (Nothing is inherently ethical), but what people perceive as being ethical. This does lead to thorny issues, the most notable is the complete and utter lack of free will, but I would argue that psychological egoism does not violate the laws of logic. As this study shows, direct proof can be found, and I would posit that experiments to prove it false are fundamentally flawed; such a theory is the only completely naturalistic theory, other ethical theories rely on some overarching and supernatural sense of right and wrong, with no way to explain where that came from. Psychological Egoism does explain that, from science, from evolution, from brain chemistry, from natural causes in a natural world.

Google...

2007-05-31T19:23:47Z

Wow... Just, wow... Check this video out, it's pretty hilarious for all the wrong reasons. Google is brilliant at creating new technical stuff, but they REALLY, REALLY need to not let their engineers dress in giant yellow boxes and act really badly in their promotional videos...

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/index.html

Space Is One Cold Muthafucka

2007-05-21T18:55:49Z

A short movie found while tooling about the tubes. Quite hilarious and very well done.

Old Negro Space Program

Wow...

2007-05-20T23:03:17Z

I just reaffirmed to myself just how fucked up I am. I saw Pi last night all the way through for the first time (A trippy movie, even more so because I watched it in the wee hours of the morn) and what did I think about the main character?

"Damn, he's lucky". Not, I'd imagine, the response the filmmakers were going for. The monomaniacal focus he had, I wish I had that. In effect, watching Pi inspired me to go do more math. There is something seriously wrong with me.