11.30.2004
Hello...
I just got an account on the supercomputer here at school. I got a nifty badge that changes numbers every 60 seconds. Check it out @ www.arsc.edu
I just got an account on the supercomputer here at school. I got a nifty badge that changes numbers every 60 seconds. Check it out @ www.arsc.edu
11.27.2004
the adrenaline pumps as they count down the minutes.
some still peeking through the frost of their car window, seeing a line of those that began a few minutes before they could. if only the car would have started at the the first try, if the child would have just tied their shoe without having to recite each step as it came, if i had just sped up alittle on the yellow light instead of slowing in preparation of the red. maybe i could be at the front of that line.
for me the morning walk on the day after thanksgiving is the opposite of the walk a few weeks earlier on deer hunting opener. the normally peaceful walk through town on deer hunting opener is even more peaceful, the town is near silent, rarely does the sound of a vehicle interrupt me from the music in my headphones, or the drifting to that place my mind likes to retreat to once i'm out my front door.
but yesterday morning becomes more like walking through town in the middle of the day. cars in lines, the more repetitive, thump,thump as cars pass over the section separators on the bridge, and the cautious watching for cars, in their unguided search though parking lots for that one spot ten feet closer.
god bless america
some still peeking through the frost of their car window, seeing a line of those that began a few minutes before they could. if only the car would have started at the the first try, if the child would have just tied their shoe without having to recite each step as it came, if i had just sped up alittle on the yellow light instead of slowing in preparation of the red. maybe i could be at the front of that line.
for me the morning walk on the day after thanksgiving is the opposite of the walk a few weeks earlier on deer hunting opener. the normally peaceful walk through town on deer hunting opener is even more peaceful, the town is near silent, rarely does the sound of a vehicle interrupt me from the music in my headphones, or the drifting to that place my mind likes to retreat to once i'm out my front door.
but yesterday morning becomes more like walking through town in the middle of the day. cars in lines, the more repetitive, thump,thump as cars pass over the section separators on the bridge, and the cautious watching for cars, in their unguided search though parking lots for that one spot ten feet closer.
god bless america
11.26.2004
A long day. Way too much time has been spent frustrated....working out the kinks.
Off to Brainerd tomorrow....
Off to Brainerd tomorrow....
11.25.2004
I have decided to abandon the BBS in favor of the blog style comment system.
I still can't get the little delete trashcan to appear though.... :(
I still can't get the little delete trashcan to appear though.... :(
11.18.2004
And then last night i had that strange dream
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought they were just being rewarded
For treating others as they like to be treated
For obeying stop signs and curing diseases
For mailing letters with the address of the sender
Now we can swim any day in november
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping
(now we can swim any day in november)
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping in
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping in
----the postal service
Where everything was exactly how it seemed
Where concerns about the world getting warmer
The people thought they were just being rewarded
For treating others as they like to be treated
For obeying stop signs and curing diseases
For mailing letters with the address of the sender
Now we can swim any day in november
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping
(now we can swim any day in november)
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping in
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping
Dont wake me i plan on sleeping in
----the postal service
11.17.2004
Well... I have been thinking about Chad's previous post, and the recent ones prior to that.
I admit that I do not really wish to respond to the posts, but I feel as though I should; that silence on the matters raised would be tacit or implicit approval. I feel as though posts I have made in the past have been ineffective at changing any minds, but I feel prompted to say something regardless. I hope that people who read this will at least entertain the ideas I bring up, and in particular might entertain the idea that we on some level have things at least partially wrong. Being fallible and easily influenced by our respective sources of information, it is easy to charge ahead rather blindly, rejecting out of hand information that runs counter to our case-hardened perspectives and accepting information that supports those same perspectives.
I think that the Pro-war/pro-life question was directed particularly at me because of my past expressions on the abortion issue, so I will tackle it as best I can again.
On a superficial level, it seems as though the two ideas are polar opposites, mutually exclusive. By embracing one, you are rejecting the other. Unfortunately, it is not quite so simple. I don't think that you will find anyone in the US (or at least very few) who would describe themselves as "pro-war", at least at the level they describe themselves as "pro-life". I have never met anyone who supported a war in any way other than reluctantly. Variations of reluctance abound, with some being far more reluctant than others. Yet they are only matters of degree, only disputes of justifications. There are times when war is necessary. If this particular case (Iraq) is or is not necessary is beyond the scope of what I am trying to say here. I think that it is beyond the scope of our collective knowledge. I have said before that we have no idea what information was presented to our leadership: we may each have made the same decision that they did... we don't and can't know. By negating the question one could ask how you can simultaneously support pacifism and abortion. Proponents of either would take issue with that.
Further, the question that Chad asked is ill-posed, and is in fact begging the question. It is like asking "Have you quit beating your wife?". To reject war in general because innocents and children are killed is analogous to rejecting driving automobiles because they do the same. Indeed, the automobile analogy can be stressed until broken, but war and driving can be conducted in similar manners (they can be done recklessly, dangerously, carelessly, or out of necessity or because of a moral compunction to do so).
In this particular instance (Fallujah), a few things need to be remembered. Innocent people were given ample time to escape. People knew for weeks that attacks were coming, and nearly all of the city left. Those that didn't assumed the risks that staying would bring. I believe it was negligent to stay in the face of that kind of danger, but it is not for me to say. The US military tried its best to avoid civilian casualties (most of the pictures of the "aborted" children I saw showed them wounded, though very much alive, in US medical facilities. Indeed, a still picture tells us nothing of what their condition was previous to the battle, or how they got into US hands), but in war, especially this kind of war, there are bound to be some. This does not lessen the ugliness of the experience, but it is a simple fact.
It is kind of odd... When I saw the images, I was struck by the knowledge that I have seen worse things. At various points I have seen rather gruesome images of motorcycle crashes, shootings, autopsies, Nazi medical tests, concentration camp images, etc. They were not "pornographic" displays of violence a la` Hollywood movies, but were simply there. Like these they had little or no caption because none was really needed. It kind of drove home to me that, yes, war IS ugly, horrible, terrible, dehumanizing, almost beyond imagination. I wish as much as anybody or more so that this sort of thing will never happen again. I envision myself and my family in these situations (my brother-in-law is in Afghanistan at the moment, so my family IS in this type of situation) , and my heart goes out to those on both sides. But yet I realize that war is, at times, necessary, and in a general sense will never truly go away. There is a long and philosophical discussion that could be launched into now, but that is something else that is beyond the scope of what I am trying to say.
Tonight I reread an essay (really a transcript of a speech) that CS Lewis gave to a university crowd entitled "Why I am not a Pacifist" from his book "The Weight of Glory". I would beg everybody reading this to get that book and read it (and all his other stuff for that matter). It has some extremely good points that are very relevant for our day. He says in a far more intelligent and articulate way than I the things I am trying to get across.
I will close with a comment about previous links....
I read the previous posts talking about Tim LaHaye and "Christian Reconstructionism", and was extremely disappointed. I am not going to go to bat for Tim LaHaye, because I think he can and should fend for himself. But I do think that the articles completely missed the mark on Christian theology and general worldview. It is amazing to me that people take seriously a non-Christian viewpoint on Christian theology from someone who is not a theologian. People wade in way over their head way too quickly in these matters.
"Given how fundamentalists see the modern world, they may as well be living in Iraq or Syria, with whom they share approximately the same Bronze Age religious tenets. They believe in God, Rumsfeld's Holy War and their absolute duty as God's chosen nation to kick Muslim ass up one side and down the other. In other words, just because millions of Christians appear to be dangerously nuts does not mean they are marginal. "
I thought this was particularly disappointing. It shows a complete misunderstanding of Christianity, Islam, and the reasons why (Christian) "fundamentalists" think the way they do, and in a bigger sense, WHAT they actually think.
In this sense, we (Christians, and by extraction, me) in fact lost the election, because 40% of the population blames whatever problems the US may have on us (Christians).
Please consider what I have said here. I hope that I have articulated my viewpoint well enough to be understood. You don't have to agree with me, but I hope that I have at least prompted a little thought.
I admit that I do not really wish to respond to the posts, but I feel as though I should; that silence on the matters raised would be tacit or implicit approval. I feel as though posts I have made in the past have been ineffective at changing any minds, but I feel prompted to say something regardless. I hope that people who read this will at least entertain the ideas I bring up, and in particular might entertain the idea that we on some level have things at least partially wrong. Being fallible and easily influenced by our respective sources of information, it is easy to charge ahead rather blindly, rejecting out of hand information that runs counter to our case-hardened perspectives and accepting information that supports those same perspectives.
I think that the Pro-war/pro-life question was directed particularly at me because of my past expressions on the abortion issue, so I will tackle it as best I can again.
On a superficial level, it seems as though the two ideas are polar opposites, mutually exclusive. By embracing one, you are rejecting the other. Unfortunately, it is not quite so simple. I don't think that you will find anyone in the US (or at least very few) who would describe themselves as "pro-war", at least at the level they describe themselves as "pro-life". I have never met anyone who supported a war in any way other than reluctantly. Variations of reluctance abound, with some being far more reluctant than others. Yet they are only matters of degree, only disputes of justifications. There are times when war is necessary. If this particular case (Iraq) is or is not necessary is beyond the scope of what I am trying to say here. I think that it is beyond the scope of our collective knowledge. I have said before that we have no idea what information was presented to our leadership: we may each have made the same decision that they did... we don't and can't know. By negating the question one could ask how you can simultaneously support pacifism and abortion. Proponents of either would take issue with that.
Further, the question that Chad asked is ill-posed, and is in fact begging the question. It is like asking "Have you quit beating your wife?". To reject war in general because innocents and children are killed is analogous to rejecting driving automobiles because they do the same. Indeed, the automobile analogy can be stressed until broken, but war and driving can be conducted in similar manners (they can be done recklessly, dangerously, carelessly, or out of necessity or because of a moral compunction to do so).
In this particular instance (Fallujah), a few things need to be remembered. Innocent people were given ample time to escape. People knew for weeks that attacks were coming, and nearly all of the city left. Those that didn't assumed the risks that staying would bring. I believe it was negligent to stay in the face of that kind of danger, but it is not for me to say. The US military tried its best to avoid civilian casualties (most of the pictures of the "aborted" children I saw showed them wounded, though very much alive, in US medical facilities. Indeed, a still picture tells us nothing of what their condition was previous to the battle, or how they got into US hands), but in war, especially this kind of war, there are bound to be some. This does not lessen the ugliness of the experience, but it is a simple fact.
It is kind of odd... When I saw the images, I was struck by the knowledge that I have seen worse things. At various points I have seen rather gruesome images of motorcycle crashes, shootings, autopsies, Nazi medical tests, concentration camp images, etc. They were not "pornographic" displays of violence a la` Hollywood movies, but were simply there. Like these they had little or no caption because none was really needed. It kind of drove home to me that, yes, war IS ugly, horrible, terrible, dehumanizing, almost beyond imagination. I wish as much as anybody or more so that this sort of thing will never happen again. I envision myself and my family in these situations (my brother-in-law is in Afghanistan at the moment, so my family IS in this type of situation) , and my heart goes out to those on both sides. But yet I realize that war is, at times, necessary, and in a general sense will never truly go away. There is a long and philosophical discussion that could be launched into now, but that is something else that is beyond the scope of what I am trying to say.
Tonight I reread an essay (really a transcript of a speech) that CS Lewis gave to a university crowd entitled "Why I am not a Pacifist" from his book "The Weight of Glory". I would beg everybody reading this to get that book and read it (and all his other stuff for that matter). It has some extremely good points that are very relevant for our day. He says in a far more intelligent and articulate way than I the things I am trying to get across.
I will close with a comment about previous links....
I read the previous posts talking about Tim LaHaye and "Christian Reconstructionism", and was extremely disappointed. I am not going to go to bat for Tim LaHaye, because I think he can and should fend for himself. But I do think that the articles completely missed the mark on Christian theology and general worldview. It is amazing to me that people take seriously a non-Christian viewpoint on Christian theology from someone who is not a theologian. People wade in way over their head way too quickly in these matters.
"Given how fundamentalists see the modern world, they may as well be living in Iraq or Syria, with whom they share approximately the same Bronze Age religious tenets. They believe in God, Rumsfeld's Holy War and their absolute duty as God's chosen nation to kick Muslim ass up one side and down the other. In other words, just because millions of Christians appear to be dangerously nuts does not mean they are marginal. "
I thought this was particularly disappointing. It shows a complete misunderstanding of Christianity, Islam, and the reasons why (Christian) "fundamentalists" think the way they do, and in a bigger sense, WHAT they actually think.
In this sense, we (Christians, and by extraction, me) in fact lost the election, because 40% of the population blames whatever problems the US may have on us (Christians).
Please consider what I have said here. I hope that I have articulated my viewpoint well enough to be understood. You don't have to agree with me, but I hope that I have at least prompted a little thought.
11.16.2004
Hello all...
I just joined something I think is kind of cool. I was part of SETI@home back in the heyday when it seemed to matter. I was just reading about using distributed computing to solve protien folding problems related to the Human Genome Project, and thought I would get back into it. Basically creates a massive Beowulf cluster. Cool stuff... read about the smallpox drug computations they did recently.
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/
Don't be turned off by the over-cheeriness... I just thought it was kind of cool.
I just joined something I think is kind of cool. I was part of SETI@home back in the heyday when it seemed to matter. I was just reading about using distributed computing to solve protien folding problems related to the Human Genome Project, and thought I would get back into it. Basically creates a massive Beowulf cluster. Cool stuff... read about the smallpox drug computations they did recently.
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/
Don't be turned off by the over-cheeriness... I just thought it was kind of cool.
11.15.2004
Masters of War.....
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
11.14.2004
then wider you open your eyes, the closer you are to finding hopelessness.
and once you've seen it, and felt it
it can't be ignored
just close your eyes and smile
and once you've seen it, and felt it
it can't be ignored
just close your eyes and smile
Mike Malloy is on Air America Radio. He is a patriot. He lives in Georgia. In the heart of the ignorance. The Christian Reconstructionist movement is alive. 2 of the 4 companies that built the hardware/software for the voting machines are run by advocates of that group.
Randi Rhodes, Bev Harris, Greg Palast, Mike Malloy.
We are aware of what is going on. 8 million fucking people voted electronically. it can't be audited. Somehow in Franklin county Ohio (the deciding state) Bush got 4,258 votes in Gahanna.... only 638 people voted there.
Mike Malloy witnessed the test run in 2002. Max Cleland the long time Dem Senator from GA was unseated. He was polling %14 points up on his opponent. The exit polls showed his victory..... every precinct in GA that year was touchscreen. EVERY SINGLE precinct. A democratic governor was unseated by a republican.
DO your own research.
Listen to Mike Malloy archives: www.whiterosesociety.org
I edited some clips:
MikeMalloy.on.bobjones.letter.mp3 (Mike reads a congratulatory letter from Bob Jones to George Bush.
MikeMalloy.110304.edited firsthouron.mp3 (Stop licking your fucking wounds you Democrats. We're not going to rebuild the Democratic Party....This is the end....)
Randi Rhodes, Bev Harris, Greg Palast, Mike Malloy.
We are aware of what is going on. 8 million fucking people voted electronically. it can't be audited. Somehow in Franklin county Ohio (the deciding state) Bush got 4,258 votes in Gahanna.... only 638 people voted there.
Mike Malloy witnessed the test run in 2002. Max Cleland the long time Dem Senator from GA was unseated. He was polling %14 points up on his opponent. The exit polls showed his victory..... every precinct in GA that year was touchscreen. EVERY SINGLE precinct. A democratic governor was unseated by a republican.
DO your own research.
Listen to Mike Malloy archives: www.whiterosesociety.org
I edited some clips:
MikeMalloy.on.bobjones.letter.mp3 (Mike reads a congratulatory letter from Bob Jones to George Bush.
MikeMalloy.110304.edited firsthouron.mp3 (Stop licking your fucking wounds you Democrats. We're not going to rebuild the Democratic Party....This is the end....)
11.12.2004
(haha, speaking of apologies and embarrassment, this is the correct link)
Apologies, embarrassment, we still want to be your friends:
Sorry EveryBODY
Apologies, embarrassment, we still want to be your friends:
Sorry EveryBODY
11.09.2004
The bacteria cultures were divided into two groups, one group (A) received prayer while the other (B) didn't. The prayer was as follows: "Dear Lord, please allow the bacteria in Group A to unlock the antibiotic-resistant genes that You saw fit to give them at the time of Creation. Amen.
11.08.2004
well. the election is over. Andrew Veal felt strongly about the outcome.
4 Days After Kerry's Concession:
Bush will spend his political capital.
With Arafat on his death bed.
Martial Law is declared in Iraq.
100,000 Iraqi's are dead.
he has the arrogance:
"I just, I cannot speak strongly enough about how we must collectively get after those who kill in the name of some kind of false religion," Bush said.
....... They are trying to bring about Old Testament style Armageddon.
Fuck.
4 Days After Kerry's Concession:
Bush will spend his political capital.
With Arafat on his death bed.
Martial Law is declared in Iraq.
100,000 Iraqi's are dead.
he has the arrogance:
"I just, I cannot speak strongly enough about how we must collectively get after those who kill in the name of some kind of false religion," Bush said.
....... They are trying to bring about Old Testament style Armageddon.
Fuck.
11.06.2004
Black Box Voting (.ORG) is conducting the largest Freedom of Information action in history. At 8:30 p.m. Election Night, Black Box Voting blanketed the U.S. with the first in a series of public records requests, to obtain internal computer logs and other documents from 3,000 individual counties and townships. Networks called the election before anyone bothered to perform even the most rudimentary audit.
why the FUCK are these central voting computers open to outside access?
why the FUCK are these central voting computers open to outside access?
11.05.2004
election days perfect circle release is a wonderful album, mostly of covers, but also includes a "pet" alteration and an original "passive" that seems to be the tapeworm project
i think my feeling of detachment has grown now again
but i'm comfortable here for the most part
the news becomes more of an ignorable reality tv show
and just keep walking as i have
but i'm comfortable here for the most part
the news becomes more of an ignorable reality tv show
and just keep walking as i have
11.04.2004
Well...
There has been a maked silence about the election lately, here and on the BBS. Thoughts?
I was happy that at least there was a decision. I think by and large it was a fair election from the things I have heard, and I am thankful that there is not a lengthy legal battle to "appoint" a winner. I hope that everybody can pull together again and tone down the rhetoric of the last couple of years.
What did you guys think/say/do on election night?
I watched TV until 4:30 am EST, which was only 12:30 here. They kept saying there was going to be a winner, after the next commercial break. I swallowed that one for a little while, but gave up and went to bed. Mostly watched the events from my cube and laptop from school. I heard a bit of Bush's victory speech on the radio on the bus as I rode to school. Heard only that Kerry had conceeded, but not what he said.
I am trying to import landsat imagery from some files I downloaded. Fairly large files, so it is taking a while. One project is to try to accurately measure snow depth and snow water equivalent (how much water is in a column of snow), using passive microwave satellite images. The landsat stuff is to classify land cover types into a few classes (basically lakes and everything else) to try to make the current algorithm more accurate. My other project is to take the MODIS daily snow cover product and remove clouds and track break-up and freeze-up dates on large lakes (Great bear lake, great slave lake) in the canadian arctic. It is somewhat interesting. not as thrilling as i had hoped, but not bad.
There has been a maked silence about the election lately, here and on the BBS. Thoughts?
I was happy that at least there was a decision. I think by and large it was a fair election from the things I have heard, and I am thankful that there is not a lengthy legal battle to "appoint" a winner. I hope that everybody can pull together again and tone down the rhetoric of the last couple of years.
What did you guys think/say/do on election night?
I watched TV until 4:30 am EST, which was only 12:30 here. They kept saying there was going to be a winner, after the next commercial break. I swallowed that one for a little while, but gave up and went to bed. Mostly watched the events from my cube and laptop from school. I heard a bit of Bush's victory speech on the radio on the bus as I rode to school. Heard only that Kerry had conceeded, but not what he said.
I am trying to import landsat imagery from some files I downloaded. Fairly large files, so it is taking a while. One project is to try to accurately measure snow depth and snow water equivalent (how much water is in a column of snow), using passive microwave satellite images. The landsat stuff is to classify land cover types into a few classes (basically lakes and everything else) to try to make the current algorithm more accurate. My other project is to take the MODIS daily snow cover product and remove clouds and track break-up and freeze-up dates on large lakes (Great bear lake, great slave lake) in the canadian arctic. It is somewhat interesting. not as thrilling as i had hoped, but not bad.
11.03.2004
"if god is truly just, i tremble for the fate of my country" T. Jefferson
11.01.2004
fun with superstition
in the world of football, on election year, if washington dc's team (the redskins) win thier game on the weekend before the presidential election the incumbent party holds office. if they lose, it switches parties. oddly this has been correct for all 16 presidential elections sence they started.
yesterday they got beat by the packers
go kerry : )
in the world of football, on election year, if washington dc's team (the redskins) win thier game on the weekend before the presidential election the incumbent party holds office. if they lose, it switches parties. oddly this has been correct for all 16 presidential elections sence they started.
yesterday they got beat by the packers
go kerry : )
