This post has taken a month to write. It contains events and ideas over the course of this month. There were two working titles, 'alone' and 'parties.' I am not sure of the reasoning behind either anymore. Perhaps it was because Kay was away at nhsmun that time of March, and perhaps I was referring to the Dance. (Post published exactly 2453848.737)
friday 3818 (written soon after)...
only zegers took us to see the acs show. the problem is that this year all my other teachers think their class is the most important, just because theyre ap classes. the show was disney's mulan, but without the singing, and of course the numbers were the best part of that movie. but the show was funny, especially when mulan's (joyce) entire getting-ready-for-the-matchmaker scene consisted of grandma (sharon) putting a necklace on mulan, and saying "there, now you are ready."
either that day, or the following friday or thursday; perhaps that is why I completely forgot about Critical Mass? I can't remember b/c it was a month ago:
one day I hung out after school a while in the hallway with Aliza and everyone else, including I think, alumnus Zach. it was a month ago, but I remember playing a games of set (i think the day we played many types including anti-set and hallie got annoyed was a different day). Then it was just me and Aliza and later Brady, and Twitchy (possibly), playing a form of set where one person picks up a card, and the other people have to find the other cards. I don't remember what I originally called it, but it came to be known as psychic or telepathic set. I have called it mellow set. Aliza has called it communal set. Collective set is already what we call the only set we play at school usually, noncompetitive set that is. And Psychic set was already where one person sees (and calls) a set and someone else picks it up (less popular after initial curiosity). After that (on the same day I think) Brady started a game where you see a set, and don't pick them up. Eventually he'd delt out all the cards. I would call it Meditative set, and it is a form of torture for certain people like hallie. Another day (or possibly the same day), after a game he doesnt shuffle and lays out several sets. And we all meditate, and call how many sets we can see.
It was during our this first telepathic communal set where the atmosphere got really surreal. Aliza said that its not stupid 'o clock yet (stupid 'o clock, approx 2-4am, is the time when everything is funny), but we thought it was for some reason. We were just too happy and having too much fun. And there mightve been a hunter witty conversation going on too, or not. In any case, eventually Aliza realized that we were acting like were were stoned. And immediatly after she realized that actually people get stoned in an attempt to be like us! A great insight to be entered into the Book of Ages (or at least the chonicles of the hall) indeed! Hallie also likes everlasting/eternal/neverending set, where you just keep shuffling the deck when you run out. Its annoying. We may have done this too at the same time.
It was either a later date or much earlier after school that same day that I remarked to Hallie that this must be the only place where you can here 'whom' and 'my bad' in the same sentence (after I just spoke such a sentence of course). Oh, now I remember, it was after Hallie shouts to someone 'whom?' but I misrecognized the tone as '"yes-no-Q" tone instead the other questioning tone which it was. So I thought she was questioning someone's use of whom. I ask her, "did someone use 'whom' incorrectly?" And she says "I used it correctly," which confused me.
Another day alum Zach was here, at a particularly crowded time of day (perhaps btw 7th and 8th period), I started a round of Hava Nashira, and about 25 people joined in the hallway, including Zach. It kept going until 8th started. During this, I notice Puja sitting against the locker wall down aways, looking quite disturbed, but slightly amused? embarrassed? only disturbed on the outside?
This may have been the same day. I made an anti-set, and Michelle K and Puja came to say hi. Zach was definitely there, and, by then at least, Aliza was not (im pretty sure, unless she was playing the following game), and they might've (probably werent) been playing that game with the board made of hexagonal pieces. I didn't put away the cards, and just left with them to see the east river. I didnt mention that I wanted to see the east river to see that foot bridge to Astoria via some island. First we stop at asociated to get something to eat. Of course I have no money, so I have to borrow $6 or so from Puja (I still owe her 8 or so bucks). So she at first dictates that I will eat actual food, not junk food (no twinkies, chips - lunchables are ok barely apparently). But since I actually already ate a real lunch, they let me get a chocolate cake (the best deal there!), a pack of forkes, and a 2 liter bottle of sierra mist. And walked down 96 until the last ave. before the fdr, and up until 100 something, then over to a small drive along fdr up until a small bridge over fdr to a narrow park on the east river. Projects are right across the fdr from the river. Michelle and I climb over a concrete partition (3 ft high) btw a bend in the little drive and the projects' sidewalk. We walk up the ramp, and Puja remarks something along the lines of how next time theyll find out where theyre going beforehand, or maybe that my vague answer will indicate something. We sit on a bench in front of the river, and hang out for 2 to 3 hours, talking, and singing. I eat chocolate cake. I remember I cut really small pieces to pick up with the fork, and Puja thought that was nuts to eat a slice the size of a cube. It wasnt raining, but it was cold, dark, and seemed moist. Michelle begins to eat the frosting of my pieces. On the way back we sing the national anthem, and use the park until 97th, instead of 1st ave. At the corner, while waiting, a car passes with one of Pujas 7s (or a lil sib of mine, but i dont think so), who may or may notve waved.
I will write about cSplash and the Masquerade Dance in another post...
Also, some time before Brick, probably during the weekend, on a sunny day, im coming back from central park on blades, and I decide to go to burger king on 110th. I get there and I remember the building was torn down a year ago, and anyway I couldnt find my wallet, which really scared me. Anyway, I blade up the E broadway sidewalk. Then btw 112th and 113th, who should I run into, but Tess and a friend of hers from Delta (Clair? dont remember). Ive said that people keep calling out my name at random times (ive got this group of lower-termers at school, none of whose names I can hope to remember). So it takes me 10 ft to stop because T-stops arent as fast as Hockey-stops (my dad says he say a roller-hockey-stop when some black kid runs out in front of a blader on amsterdam the other day - this is during spring break). We chat for a while, and I find out shes going to Brick on saturday. Too bad.
20060326
20060318
ties
for more than a hundred years, there was only one way to tie a tie - the Four-in-Hand knot. then at the beginning of last century two more were discovered, the Windsor (aka 'double' Windsor) and the Half-Windsor. and it was another fifty years later that the Pratt was found.
but then this century two physicists decided they werent going to wait another 50 years for the next knot. Thomas Fink and Yong Mao used mathematical modeling to predict all possible ways to tie a necktie. Out the 85 knots they found, 10 of which were found to be aesthetically pleasing and thus suitable for use. 4 out of these 10 were indeed the already discovered knots. we are the first generation to have the opportunity to use the other 6.
all folds are one of three, towards the left, towards the right, and towards the center. out of these, a move could be away from the body or towards. the moves always alternate between away and towards. below are the sequences for each of these knots. L=left, R=right, C=center, T=through. start with the wide end on the right. the plus sign means start with the tie right side out (as in the Windsors and Four-in-Hand) and the first move is towards you. the minus sign means start with the tie inside out (as in the Pratt) and the first move is away from you.
3,1,0,0 - L R C T
4,1,1,1 + L R L C T
5,2,1,0 - L C R L C T
6,2,0,0 + L R C L R C T
7,2,1,1 - L R L C R L C T
7,3,0,1 - L C R C L R C T
8,2,0,2 + L R L C R L R C T
8,3,1,0 + L C R L C R L C T
9,3,0,0 - L R C L R C L R C T
9,4,1,2 - L C R C L C R L C T
the numbers in the parentheses are respectively, number of folds, number of folds towards the center, symmetry between left and right folds, and balance of the tie. the first two numbers name the knot. notice that the 4,1 is the Four-in-Hand, the 5,2 is the Pratt, the 6,2 is the Half-Windsor, and the 8,3 is the Windsor. if you cant figure out what the sequences mean, use these four as an example. another interesting thing is that all the knots here with a symmetry of -1 can be easily undone by pulling the passive (narrow) through the knot. the Windsor and the 3,1 can be undone by simply losening the tie, removing it intact, and then just pulling the two ends! try it!
but thursday between getting home at 5:30 and leaving for dinner at 6:30, there was no time to learn to tie, and my dad is upstate working on his novel in the middle of the woods where there arent any distractions. so some guy at the resaurant felt obligated to do it. 18 people at dinner wouldve been pretty cool if only my date was there too. but the two of us miraculously arrived at semi fashionably late at the same time, which was good because semi always takes a while to get started. but when it did, it was in a word awesome! everyone just looked so damn good, but still recognizable except for one at first. people said the music was too loud, hey, its a dance. and only one person reacted badly to it (i wish her speedy recovery!). my date was like 2.7H, in a red evening dress when everyone else was wearing drab black! almost everyone danced, the girls alot better than us; its funny, except for a few notable exceptions, none of us guys could figure out what to do with out hands if they werent holding someone. there were so many chaperons there, all of which are probably now deeply disturbed. afterwards, everyone milled about outside trying to figure out after-parties.
Random quote:
"It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter."
Marlene Dietrich
¦¦ |¦|¦||| |¦¦|| |¦¦
but then this century two physicists decided they werent going to wait another 50 years for the next knot. Thomas Fink and Yong Mao used mathematical modeling to predict all possible ways to tie a necktie. Out the 85 knots they found, 10 of which were found to be aesthetically pleasing and thus suitable for use. 4 out of these 10 were indeed the already discovered knots. we are the first generation to have the opportunity to use the other 6.
all folds are one of three, towards the left, towards the right, and towards the center. out of these, a move could be away from the body or towards. the moves always alternate between away and towards. below are the sequences for each of these knots. L=left, R=right, C=center, T=through. start with the wide end on the right. the plus sign means start with the tie right side out (as in the Windsors and Four-in-Hand) and the first move is towards you. the minus sign means start with the tie inside out (as in the Pratt) and the first move is away from you.
3,1,0,0 - L R C T
4,1,1,1 + L R L C T
5,2,1,0 - L C R L C T
6,2,0,0 + L R C L R C T
7,2,1,1 - L R L C R L C T
7,3,0,1 - L C R C L R C T
8,2,0,2 + L R L C R L R C T
8,3,1,0 + L C R L C R L C T
9,3,0,0 - L R C L R C L R C T
9,4,1,2 - L C R C L C R L C T
the numbers in the parentheses are respectively, number of folds, number of folds towards the center, symmetry between left and right folds, and balance of the tie. the first two numbers name the knot. notice that the 4,1 is the Four-in-Hand, the 5,2 is the Pratt, the 6,2 is the Half-Windsor, and the 8,3 is the Windsor. if you cant figure out what the sequences mean, use these four as an example. another interesting thing is that all the knots here with a symmetry of -1 can be easily undone by pulling the passive (narrow) through the knot. the Windsor and the 3,1 can be undone by simply losening the tie, removing it intact, and then just pulling the two ends! try it!
but thursday between getting home at 5:30 and leaving for dinner at 6:30, there was no time to learn to tie, and my dad is upstate working on his novel in the middle of the woods where there arent any distractions. so some guy at the resaurant felt obligated to do it. 18 people at dinner wouldve been pretty cool if only my date was there too. but the two of us miraculously arrived at semi fashionably late at the same time, which was good because semi always takes a while to get started. but when it did, it was in a word awesome! everyone just looked so damn good, but still recognizable except for one at first. people said the music was too loud, hey, its a dance. and only one person reacted badly to it (i wish her speedy recovery!). my date was like 2.7H, in a red evening dress when everyone else was wearing drab black! almost everyone danced, the girls alot better than us; its funny, except for a few notable exceptions, none of us guys could figure out what to do with out hands if they werent holding someone. there were so many chaperons there, all of which are probably now deeply disturbed. afterwards, everyone milled about outside trying to figure out after-parties.
Random quote:
"It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter."
Marlene Dietrich
¦¦ |¦|¦||| |¦¦|| |¦¦
change
around here we collect change in this big glass plate thing. and it just piles up and wont go away until we wrap them up in coin rolls and trade them in. but we never have quarters, just useless coins like nickles and dimes. if we just had quarters it would be great, because we seem to think only quarters can feed the meter, take the bus, or dry the laundry. but there is a solution...
how can you at the same time use up useless change, and produce useful change? its simple, just carry seven coins: four pennies, two nickles, and one dime = 24¢, . and no longer will the cashire give you a handful of nickles and dimes for your change. just give them a few out of these six coins that will reduce the change you owe to a multiple of 25¢. in other words, you subtract the change you owe from a multiple of 25¢. if you do it right, they will give you back one to three big, shiny, quarters.
for example, if you owe $4.32, (.32-.25=.07) you give them two pennies and a nickle: ie $5.07, your change will be three quarters.
if you owe $1.99, you give them all seven coins: ie, $2.24, your change will be a quarter.
if you get something difficult to calculate, like owing 43¢, you can work it backwards instead of trying to figure out .43 - .25 . since you know you have 24¢, and if you owed 49¢ youd have to give them all seven coins, subtract: .49 - .43 = .06 --> you have to remove 6¢ (a nickle and a penny) from the change that you give; since you have 4 pennies, 2 nickles, and 1 dime, removing 6¢ will leave: 3 pennies, 1 nickle, and 1 dime. you do not have to calculate how many cents this is.
try it - it works! in fact i feel like buying something right now...
¦¦ |¦|¦||| |¦¦|| |¦¦
how can you at the same time use up useless change, and produce useful change? its simple, just carry seven coins: four pennies, two nickles, and one dime = 24¢, . and no longer will the cashire give you a handful of nickles and dimes for your change. just give them a few out of these six coins that will reduce the change you owe to a multiple of 25¢. in other words, you subtract the change you owe from a multiple of 25¢. if you do it right, they will give you back one to three big, shiny, quarters.
for example, if you owe $4.32, (.32-.25=.07) you give them two pennies and a nickle: ie $5.07, your change will be three quarters.
if you owe $1.99, you give them all seven coins: ie, $2.24, your change will be a quarter.
if you get something difficult to calculate, like owing 43¢, you can work it backwards instead of trying to figure out .43 - .25 . since you know you have 24¢, and if you owed 49¢ youd have to give them all seven coins, subtract: .49 - .43 = .06 --> you have to remove 6¢ (a nickle and a penny) from the change that you give; since you have 4 pennies, 2 nickles, and 1 dime, removing 6¢ will leave: 3 pennies, 1 nickle, and 1 dime. you do not have to calculate how many cents this is.
try it - it works! in fact i feel like buying something right now...
¦¦ |¦|¦||| |¦¦|| |¦¦
20060315
gayatri mantra
ॐ भूर्भुवस्वः ।
तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं ।
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
(a) tát savitúr váreniyam
(b) bhárgo devásya dhīmahi
(c) dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
The Gayatri Mantra is also the 2nd season main title for Battlestar Galactica, another reason bsg03 rocks. Very very haunting. Also spiritually significant. And deeply profound (lol thats redundant b/c profound means deep in latin).
¦¦ |¦|¦|¦¦ |¦¦¦¦ |
तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं ।
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
(a) tát savitúr váreniyam
(b) bhárgo devásya dhīmahi
(c) dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
The Gayatri Mantra is also the 2nd season main title for Battlestar Galactica, another reason bsg03 rocks. Very very haunting. Also spiritually significant. And deeply profound (lol thats redundant b/c profound means deep in latin).
¦¦ |¦|¦|¦¦ |¦¦¦¦ |
opposites
The philosophy of yin and yang (陰陽, 阴阳, yīnyáng, 음양, eumyang, Âm-Dương), with roots in ancient agrarian religions, describes two complementary moving primal forces found in all things in the universe. Yin is the darker element, and Yang the lighter. A plethora of correlations can follow.
In the Classic of Changes (易經, yìjīng), yin is represented by a horizontal broken line, yang by an unbroken line. Here I will rotate everything clockwise (-π/2) for typographical reasons. So 阴=¦, 阳=|.
The Yin and Yang lines can be combined to form 4 possible digrams: ¦¦, ¦|, ||, and |¦. If you combine three lines you can form the familiar 8 trigrams:
¦¦¦ Field (坤 kūn) earth (地)
¦¦| Bound (艮 gèn) mountain (山)
¦|¦ Gorge (坎 kǎn) water (水)
¦|| Ground (巽 xùn) wind (風)
||| Force (乾 qián) heaven (天)
||¦ Open (兌 duì) lake (澤)
|¦| Radiance (離 lí) fire (火)
|¦¦ Shake (震 zhèn) thunder (雷)
As for combinations of two trigrams, there are 64 possible hexagram. The Classic of Changes is a sorta a consultive book of prophecy, interpreting the meaning of each hexagram.
However, returning to the digrams, and moving beyond what others have written... Notice how the first quarter phase of the moon is dark on the left half, while the last quarter is dark on the right. Since Yin is dark and Yang is light, let the two lines of the digram represent the two halves of the moon. Thus the new moon is ¦¦, the first quarter is ¦|, the full moon is ||, the last quarter is |¦. You can then corralate the digrams to the seasons and time of day intuitively (this is something original as far as I can tell):
¦¦ new moon, winter, midnight (子)
¦| first quarter, spring, sunrise (旦)
|| full moon, summer, noon (午)
|¦ last quarter, autumn, sunset (夕)
Pretty cool huh. Now moving onto trigrams, you can also represent a more specific phase of the moon:
¦¦¦ new moon
¦¦| waxing crescent
¦|¦ first quarter
¦|| waxing gibbous
||| full moon
||¦ waning gibbous
|¦| last quarter
|¦¦ waning crescent
These are just little picture representations of what you would see if you looked at the moon, just remember ¦ is dark, | is light. For example, ¦|| just means the moon has some dark on the left, and more light on the right.
Lastly, if you make ¦ 0, and | 1, you can write numbers in binary using yin and yang. For example: 82 equals 1010010 in base 2, which can be written |¦|¦¦|¦.
So for the conclusion of all of this, you could represent today, 15 Mar 2006, which is 84 days since the winter solstice, 16 days since the new moon, and 1 day since the full moon, as:
¦¦ |¦|¦|¦¦ |¦¦¦¦ |
¦¦ means winter, |¦|¦|¦¦ means 84 in binary, |¦¦¦¦ means 16 in binary, | means 1.
In addition we know that today the moon is waning gibbous, so the phase is ||¦.
For another example, you could represent 13 Mar 2006, which is 82 days since the winter solstice, 14 days since the new moon, and 7 days since the first quarter, as:
¦¦ |¦|¦¦|¦ |||¦ |||
¦¦ means winter, |¦|¦¦|¦ means 82 in binary, |||¦ means 14 in binary, ||| means 7 in binary.
In addition we know that today the moon is waxing gibbous, so the phase is ¦||.
For another reason this is cool, it sorta looks like Ancient.
Also, interesting articles I happened to come upon today:
List of strange units of measurement
Mathematical coincidence
In the Classic of Changes (易經, yìjīng), yin is represented by a horizontal broken line, yang by an unbroken line. Here I will rotate everything clockwise (-π/2) for typographical reasons. So 阴=¦, 阳=|.
The Yin and Yang lines can be combined to form 4 possible digrams: ¦¦, ¦|, ||, and |¦. If you combine three lines you can form the familiar 8 trigrams:
¦¦¦ Field (坤 kūn) earth (地)
¦¦| Bound (艮 gèn) mountain (山)
¦|¦ Gorge (坎 kǎn) water (水)
¦|| Ground (巽 xùn) wind (風)
||| Force (乾 qián) heaven (天)
||¦ Open (兌 duì) lake (澤)
|¦| Radiance (離 lí) fire (火)
|¦¦ Shake (震 zhèn) thunder (雷)
As for combinations of two trigrams, there are 64 possible hexagram. The Classic of Changes is a sorta a consultive book of prophecy, interpreting the meaning of each hexagram.
However, returning to the digrams, and moving beyond what others have written... Notice how the first quarter phase of the moon is dark on the left half, while the last quarter is dark on the right. Since Yin is dark and Yang is light, let the two lines of the digram represent the two halves of the moon. Thus the new moon is ¦¦, the first quarter is ¦|, the full moon is ||, the last quarter is |¦. You can then corralate the digrams to the seasons and time of day intuitively (this is something original as far as I can tell):
¦¦ new moon, winter, midnight (子)
¦| first quarter, spring, sunrise (旦)
|| full moon, summer, noon (午)
|¦ last quarter, autumn, sunset (夕)
Pretty cool huh. Now moving onto trigrams, you can also represent a more specific phase of the moon:
¦¦¦ new moon
¦¦| waxing crescent
¦|¦ first quarter
¦|| waxing gibbous
||| full moon
||¦ waning gibbous
|¦| last quarter
|¦¦ waning crescent
These are just little picture representations of what you would see if you looked at the moon, just remember ¦ is dark, | is light. For example, ¦|| just means the moon has some dark on the left, and more light on the right.
Lastly, if you make ¦ 0, and | 1, you can write numbers in binary using yin and yang. For example: 82 equals 1010010 in base 2, which can be written |¦|¦¦|¦.
So for the conclusion of all of this, you could represent today, 15 Mar 2006, which is 84 days since the winter solstice, 16 days since the new moon, and 1 day since the full moon, as:
¦¦ means winter, |¦|¦|¦¦ means 84 in binary, |¦¦¦¦ means 16 in binary, | means 1.
In addition we know that today the moon is waning gibbous, so the phase is ||¦.
For another example, you could represent 13 Mar 2006, which is 82 days since the winter solstice, 14 days since the new moon, and 7 days since the first quarter, as:
¦¦ means winter, |¦|¦¦|¦ means 82 in binary, |||¦ means 14 in binary, ||| means 7 in binary.
In addition we know that today the moon is waxing gibbous, so the phase is ¦||.
For another reason this is cool, it sorta looks like Ancient.
Also, interesting articles I happened to come upon today:
List of strange units of measurement
Mathematical coincidence
20060314
batson
i finally asked puja who that guy was that batson toured with (the problem was i hadnt seen her in like two months, i though she like died). it was ray charles. i can't believe no one except puja knows this, i asked like fifty people, god. also, the picture from the batson bio two months ago (the one google has on cache) before it was updated include things like say which high school he teaches at...
20060311
disclaimer
"Historically, conservatives have been on the wrong side of the big moral issues every time. They were on the wrong side of the slavery issue, they were on the wrong side of the suffrage movement, they were on the wrong side of civil rights.
"How is it that we have allowed them to claim the moral right on the issues that concern us today?"
The Morality of Progressives
Letter from Dan Mulligan to David Beighley
they were on the wrong side of slavery too. the good news is the incorrect old moral standards always lose, eventually. where did slavey go? that issue is no longer contravertial though scripture supports it. even though abortion and the death penalty are contravertial now, they will follow all the other issues, and we will follow all the other modern nations, eventually. i emphasize 'eventually' because historically america is the last to give up the old moral standards, for example slavery.
"How is it that we have allowed them to claim the moral right on the issues that concern us today?"
The Morality of Progressives
Letter from Dan Mulligan to David Beighley
they were on the wrong side of slavery too. the good news is the incorrect old moral standards always lose, eventually. where did slavey go? that issue is no longer contravertial though scripture supports it. even though abortion and the death penalty are contravertial now, they will follow all the other issues, and we will follow all the other modern nations, eventually. i emphasize 'eventually' because historically america is the last to give up the old moral standards, for example slavery.
false arguments
our country is based on the notion of equal and inalienable rights, like life and liberty. we generally accept that prisoners have forfeited their right to liberty. but can you forfeit the right to life? if not, than life is to be placed above liberty, in which case bush can violate all the liberties we have if it protects our lives. not what we wont, right? so by the contrapositive, life must be considered the same as liberty, and thus it too can be forfeited.
we denied the Filipino territories to be incorporated like the western territories were beforehand, because to do so would have been morally wrong. when the western territories were incorporated, it wasnt long until the country began to try to assimilate the natives. we are keeping the Philippines unincorporated to protect their culture.
we are not occupying the Philippines despite their resistance, but because of it. by resisting our attempts to help them, they are confirming that they do not understand our ideals, and are not ready for independence and democracy. if they cooperated, we would have no reason to remain. imposing democracy on people who have not reached it on their own is morally wrong. anyway, if we tried to impose it, they would just vote in a tyranny as that is the popular will of such cultures. and a lack of democracy is far better than a tyranny legitamatized and justified by democracy.
ok, this one is true. i realized something while watching rep, all the singers are caucasian, african-american, south-east-asian-americans, or hispanic. none were east-asian-americans. dont we have a bias mediation or appeals committee for this? you can use hunters affirmative action stance against rep: assuming no ethnicity is inherently superior to another, if a selection does not reflect the constintuency its chosen from, then either society or the selection process has disenfranchised them. since hunters constituency is half asian, rep must also be. and since it is the affirmative action argument, if you disagree youre automatically racist.
we denied the Filipino territories to be incorporated like the western territories were beforehand, because to do so would have been morally wrong. when the western territories were incorporated, it wasnt long until the country began to try to assimilate the natives. we are keeping the Philippines unincorporated to protect their culture.
we are not occupying the Philippines despite their resistance, but because of it. by resisting our attempts to help them, they are confirming that they do not understand our ideals, and are not ready for independence and democracy. if they cooperated, we would have no reason to remain. imposing democracy on people who have not reached it on their own is morally wrong. anyway, if we tried to impose it, they would just vote in a tyranny as that is the popular will of such cultures. and a lack of democracy is far better than a tyranny legitamatized and justified by democracy.
ok, this one is true. i realized something while watching rep, all the singers are caucasian, african-american, south-east-asian-americans, or hispanic. none were east-asian-americans. dont we have a bias mediation or appeals committee for this? you can use hunters affirmative action stance against rep: assuming no ethnicity is inherently superior to another, if a selection does not reflect the constintuency its chosen from, then either society or the selection process has disenfranchised them. since hunters constituency is half asian, rep must also be. and since it is the affirmative action argument, if you disagree youre automatically racist.
20060310
conclusions
i hope the 8 'o clock rep went as well as the 4 'o clock! i wouldve seen it too if it werent for the season finale of three sci-fis (stargate, atlantis, battlestar), for real. and its too bad finales are always cliffhangers, and the next season is in 4 to 7 months.
stargate: basically, the ori begin to invade our galaxy while our team goes to camelot to find a weapon capable of destroying the ori. the funniest part is that every time (it happens twice) that daniel tries to explain to the native villagers that magic doesnt exist, they get teleported.
battlestar: a 90-min episode shown without ads today! starbuck returns from caprica with a cylon priest, who says 1) there is no god, 2) the cylons left the 12 colonies b/c of caprica 6 and 8 who spark a spiritual rethinking. baltar wins election because he supports colonizing new-caprica while president roslin does not. roslin rigs the election b/c she knows that baltar is working with the cylons, but has no proof. adama convinces her to unrig the election. then president baltar orders new-caprica to be colonized, gina detonates the nuclear bomb he gave her. 1 year later the cylons come after picking up the nuclear blast. the virtually-abandoned fleet jumps away, and baltar surrenders humanity to the cylons, the prophesized judgement day. so much more happened, but this is the most important. and everything is set up for season 3.
time magazine calls it the #1 show of 2005. my mom doesnt like it actually because its too realistic (damn perfect actors/writers/directors). and it keeps talking about religion: the cylon God, the pantheon, and mormanism? ive gotten the title sequence, the haunting Gayatri Mantra stuck in my head, which isnt even in our 12-tone scale.
and then the endless ms yao stories/quotes, the best of which today is "...but i dont understand why plant eat people?"
stargate: basically, the ori begin to invade our galaxy while our team goes to camelot to find a weapon capable of destroying the ori. the funniest part is that every time (it happens twice) that daniel tries to explain to the native villagers that magic doesnt exist, they get teleported.
battlestar: a 90-min episode shown without ads today! starbuck returns from caprica with a cylon priest, who says 1) there is no god, 2) the cylons left the 12 colonies b/c of caprica 6 and 8 who spark a spiritual rethinking. baltar wins election because he supports colonizing new-caprica while president roslin does not. roslin rigs the election b/c she knows that baltar is working with the cylons, but has no proof. adama convinces her to unrig the election. then president baltar orders new-caprica to be colonized, gina detonates the nuclear bomb he gave her. 1 year later the cylons come after picking up the nuclear blast. the virtually-abandoned fleet jumps away, and baltar surrenders humanity to the cylons, the prophesized judgement day. so much more happened, but this is the most important. and everything is set up for season 3.
time magazine calls it the #1 show of 2005. my mom doesnt like it actually because its too realistic (damn perfect actors/writers/directors). and it keeps talking about religion: the cylon God, the pantheon, and mormanism? ive gotten the title sequence, the haunting Gayatri Mantra stuck in my head, which isnt even in our 12-tone scale.
and then the endless ms yao stories/quotes, the best of which today is "...but i dont understand why plant eat people?"
20060309
trust busting
results from tuesday's game of Anti-monopoly (the trust busing game!) with my sister:
Matt:
$500 Aluminum
$500 Railroads
$500 Rood
$350 Electric
$350 Oil
-$0 Loans
-----------
$2,200 Net Social Credit
$1,700 Assets
-----------
$3,900 Score
Annaliya:
$700 ITD
$700 Ocean Gas
$500 Tire
$350 Steel
$350 Computers
$350 Auto
$200 Additional Credit
-$0 Loans
-----------
$2,800 Net Social Credit
$5,550 Assets
-----------
$8,350 Score
Matt:
$500 Aluminum
$500 Railroads
$500 Rood
$350 Electric
$350 Oil
-$0 Loans
-----------
$2,200 Net Social Credit
$1,700 Assets
-----------
$3,900 Score
Annaliya:
$700 ITD
$700 Ocean Gas
$500 Tire
$350 Steel
$350 Computers
$350 Auto
$200 Additional Credit
-$0 Loans
-----------
$2,800 Net Social Credit
$5,550 Assets
-----------
$8,350 Score
specials
The New Yorker53646
R L S D F MRM D T R S
L D T LTM M L F D R R D RM
F F M RDR M L D R
Thanks Puja!
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