Murftown

Uh oh...oh no!

2010-10-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Watch this guy "make an ass of himself", so to speak:

Being with the way that your energy flows

2010-09-29T15:12:00.000-07:00

Some people celebrate the discharge of energy. But some people have gotten so in the habit of giving up energy for things they care about, that now they feel it's more important to learn how to conserve energy. I have been feeling this lately--that I am glad I learned how to celebrate my energy, and how to give it, but I also need to learn good habits about charging up.

I gave a lot of energy recently to something I cared a lot about that I thought was beautiful and important. My recently-self-imposed stigma started to kick in, the voice in my head that says "Sure, you're always willing to devote a bunch of your energy, even if it's not doing any good. You are at risk of depleting your energy if you keep doing this." I have been listening to this somewhat negative voice in the hopes of learning the positive lesson of moderating and building up my energy so I can participate on higher energy levels.

But the lesson for today is that it's still ok to celebrate and give energy for things I care about, as long as I know why I am doing it. Today I do not judge myself for the energy I have devoted to the beautiful entity I wanted to align myself with. Instead, I celebrate this donation, especially since it was given up to a new, important discovery. If I gave the same energy every day in a routine automatic way, with diminishing returns--that would be another story. That would mean I need to learn better habits and boundaries for being responsible with my energy.

I hope all your energy flows smoothly in ways that you feel are good and true to your soul. I want all the energy at all levels to synchronize into a sweeter and sweeter harmony that can support and nurture more and more.

Bless you and thanks for reading.

Munching plants and learning science and bitching about vocab, oh my

2009-02-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

I've been eating from plants that I find outside, some of them taste very bitter and some not nearly so bitter. I was trying to find out why...I think basically bitterness corresponds to toxicity, so if you want to avoid eating poisonous plants but you still want to go around carefree and try things without consulting a reference guide, that might be a good rule of thumb (but this is not advice for you to do so).

I found the following article while questing about--check it out. Says some sorta interesting things about the science of taste, as well as mentioning the toxicity thing I just talked about. But what I wanted to point out was something about the way we often use language when we are studying science. The figure on the left explains the parts within parts within parts, the grand mechanism that allows you to taste:

"The tongue is covered with bumps called papillae." So far so good. They always have to add some weird vocab though, don't they?

"Each papilla contains multiple taste buds." Fine.

"Taste buds are filled with gustatory cells." This is where I complain.

No one uses the word "gustatory". Never. But it means "taste". So the taste buds have "gustatory cells". Taste cells, cells that taste. But if kids study this in school they'll learn the big word "gustatory", along with the big word "papillae", instead of learning the simple, helpful concept that "Even though we all know we have taste buds that let us taste, it's really a hierarchy of big parts made of smaller parts made of smaller parts. There are bumps on your tongue--taste bumps. They have little budding things on them--taste buds. These are filled with cells that do the tasting--taste cells. So there's a hierarchical organization that has naturally grown along with the rest of you, in order that you may taste your food."

Learning more about music

2009-02-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

Keith Jarrett is a crazy guy, he gets on the piano and freshness flows out. He had a fro in the 70s and was jammin on rhodes in weird ways, but mostly he won't touch an electric piano and mostly he's a big fan of Western harmony. He's got a very in-depth communion with harmony and melody going on, most pianists never get that fluent, but he's also not stuck in the mind--he's deep in the flow, no rambling thoughts going on while the music is in motion. Here's Eva Cassidy singing Autumn Leaves, slow and gentle, and now listen to Keith Jarrett Trio play the same song, sped up and swung, with all sorts of harmonic divergences and elaborations.

I want to teach more music. I like teaching music. And I think music is for everybody.

What does reincarnation feel like

2008-11-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

Lots of people believe in reincarnation, and they say they know stuff about their past lives. And everyone has been going through a lot of lives and they keep having to come back and do another one for some reason. And the Universe is trying to teach you things through your many lives so that you will be ready to move on to something else that isn't so strange. And in the short term, this life seems so detailed, you can get absorbed in this particular job, this particular relationship, this particular hobby or situation, this particular way of thinking and feeling, but in the long term you have been coming back again and again, suffering again and again, and falling in the same holes many times. You are getting frantic because when you leave your human brain and body time doesn't exist, so you see the whole jungle of your thousands of lives all at once, all the pain and confusion, like Homer Simpson: "doh! doh! doh! doh! doh!", you are rushing through lives hoping you can get out of this mess somehow, but you're dreading that it is just an infinite loop of pain.

The Bitch Is Back

2008-11-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have a block against writing in this blog. But maybe now I can just do it without even thinking.

Listening to Elton John's "The Bitch Is Back". (YouTube) (lyrics) These are interesting lyrics...quite challenging to authority:

eat meat on friday that's alright
even like steak on a saturday night
I can bitch the best at your social do's
I get high in the evening sniffing pots of glue

Elton and Tina Turner did this song together at one point! (YouTube) Notice what she sings instead of the sniffing glue bit...something like:

I can bitch the best at your social do's
I get high just thinking 'bout the things you do

Oof, just like that, a bold challenge to conventional thinking has been truncated into a gimp love song. A gimp love song is a song that pretends to be about love but doesn't have the power of an actual love song, one that comes from the songwriter's life experience. A love song teaches you about love, but a gimp love song just writhes around pathetically on the floor in front of you, trying to get pity. Don't give in!

This truncation, this censorship, muffling, gagging phenomenon, of a song's beautiful difficult message being smothered, of a wild animal being defanged so he's not a threat at the circus...this thing reminds me of what Ani DiFranco says about hip hop in her song Serpentine: (YouTube, around 5:45) (lyrics)

and the music industry mafia is pimping girl power
sniping off sharp-shooter singles from their styrofoam towers,
and hip-hop is tied up in the back room with a logo stuffed in its mouth
cause the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house

But the point of my writing this is not to bitch about censorship. It's to meditate on the change in the lyrics, and the underlying change in the meaning of the song. The first lyric, "I can bitch the best at your social do's/I get high in the evening sniffing pots of glue" is a brave confession that all is not as it seems in society. The eccentric genius who's the life of the party and everybody's darling is very often sought after precisely because s/he has taken a very different path than most people in society. But the new lyric, "I can bitch the best at your social do's/I get high just thinkin' 'bout the things you do", seems to me almost a complete non-sequitur. It seems strange because love doesn't make you more egotistical, it destroys your ego the more you let it...and these lyrics seem quite egotistical, so why suddenly act like the whole verse is about love? That's why it becomes a gimp love song instead of a real love song.

By the way, I just realized that Can You Feel the Love Tonight has super-awesome lyrics. That's an example of a real love song. There are tons of real love songs, but they just seem cheesy or superficial depending on how you listen to them. When you're in love they make the most sense.

Time to write something

2008-01-14T04:48:00.000-08:00

It's oily in the morning and I'm spending the night at Michael Palma's grandpa's house. I slept for a bit but that changed to raiding the fridge for things to sip on (milk, oj, sweet tea), which in turn changed to reading an autobiography of Osho, and now I am listening to music softly (myself jamming with Aaron Allen on bass) as I write. I really enjoy the stuff we recorded that day, it is very playful.

The Osho autobiography is making me laugh out loud, hopefully not loud enough to wake anyone. I'll go ahead and wager right now that whoever you are, it is in your best interest to go thumb through several books by Osho as soon as possible. They're all essentially the same, just transcripts of him talking off the top of his head. There's a man with a sense of humor, and as William James pointed out, humor is one and the same as consciousness and understanding ("common sense", as he called it).

Don't worry, be happy.

Poem

2007-12-20T11:00:00.001-08:00

People are afraid.
They want to make sure they will be covered
in the event of a fire.

Don't they know that the world is already on fire?

A fire is a process of turning cold materials into heat and light.
For an eternity the materials are cold, then for a brief instant they are warm, radiant.
The fire is life, you do not try to force it to keep burning.
And as with life, you can smother a fire, crush it, kill it,
but you cannot destroy the beautiful natural laws
that promise us that warm, brilliant fire will come to us again and again,
whenever given the chance.

Like a strange, rich fire we are also burning,
also turning cold materials into bright, ephemeral glimpses
of the otherwise dark world around us.

Because we are a fire we are not for hire.
Looking at life you can understand its ways, and understanding will bring immeasurable benefit.
But in almost every interaction I see
people trying to change fire, trying to force it!

People are playing God, a God who doesn't understand anything about life--
but all you have to do is play.

A beautiful, creative, 35-year-old woman sits alone in a cubicle, seething.
She has been trying to help someone do something impossible,
because it has been documented that it is possible.
She is under the gun, she faces hours of toil without compensation.
She drags her feet through a life that is no longer hers, and dreams of the past and the future.

Perhaps moreso than helping customers do impossible things that no one understands,
she would be better suited to helping her husband and children to see
what is possible.

But the natural law of the fire of life is banished from this house.

A couple cubicles from this woman resides a descendant of a great U.S. president.
This man is burningly brilliant; his mind is a perpetual motion machine.
Unlike his sad colleague he enjoys his work, and he's very good at it.
Closing tickets from dawn till dusk, he focuses his brilliance
on helping his company save face.

Get this man alone and you can get a glimpse of what his mind really wants to do.
When he has a free moment he spends it learning everything!
But as things are his mind stands shackled,
trading a precious brilliance for a salary and "encouragement".

My friend, you are a fire, and if you are allowed to burn
then we will have another Sun.

But the natural law of the fire of life is banished from this house.

People are playing God, a God who doesn't understand anything about life--
but all you have to do is play.

from Wikitaba

Everyman

2007-07-31T06:26:00.000-07:00

I'm in my 2nd day of adopting the Everyman sleep schedule, a polyphasic schedule designed to be a little more accommodating to those with jobs and other commitments. Here's my schedule right now:

"Core sleep" from midnight to 3 AM.
3 20-minute naps at 8 AM, 1 PM and 8 PM, give or take an hour or so.

That's 4 hours total, which doesn't sound like much, but so far I feel great! I'll try to update every once in a while as I continue to sleep this way.

Flight

2007-07-26T14:44:00.001-07:00

Vision, Actualization. and the Crushing Weight of the World

2007-05-26T19:40:00.001-07:00

Great Ideas are a Dime a Dozen

If you're like me, you have no shortage of good ideas. Every day you are struck with some vision that you are convinced is revolutionary and promises huge value. But how many of these dreams come true? How many of the wonderful ideas on your list (for many of us do keep a list) actually get implemented, gain traction and live on to confirm your convictions?

I love ideas, and I think they are very important. All the great revolutions in human history were founded on key ideas: The American Revolution was founded on the ideas of freedom, equality and democracy; the Internet came into being when someone combined the technology of networking 2 computers together with the ideas of generalization and universality; Wikipedia sprung from someone's precocious grasp of openness, trust and collaboration. And so on and so forth.

But without skilled and determined execution, ideas are nothing. Great ideas, like air, are very important, but, also like air, they are not in short supply. Ideas are not the bottleneck; it is the good, thoughtful orchestration and execution of those ideas that we so often lack and so sorely need, if we are to mold the world in our vision.

What Often Happens

You have a great idea. Perhaps you are by yourself, just thinking, or perhaps you are with a friend discussing something. Whatever the case, epiphany strikes. You are excited about it. You know it can change things for the better. Right at that moment you have a clear understanding of why your idea is so great, and you feel that you could communicate it to anyone and make them just as excited as you are.
You have a "honeymoon phase". For a while, this idea is all you can think about. You know that it is important, very important. You are surprised, even outraged, that such a great idea hasn't already been implemented. All your other interests and responsibilities seem mundane in comparison to pursuing this great idea. You bring it up in conversation, with mixed results, and you find that other people may not be as excited as you are, after all.
Something disappointing happens. Somewhere along the way, thinking about the idea becomes exhausting and overwhelming. Perhaps you have started implementing it, and have hit a road-block. You are finding it difficult to articulate to others (and even yourself) why you have been so excited all this time. Other great ideas creep into your mind, giving you guilty thoughts of infidelity: "This other idea seems just as good or better than this one, why have I been spending all my time on this, anyway?" Little by little, your zealous grasp on your great idea loosens, until at last it sinks into the ether of your subconscious and you get on with your life.

Lather, rinse and repeat.

Sound familiar? It does to me. I suffer through this cyclical drama constantly, and the degree to which my ideas actually get implemented is the degree to which I exercise discipline and good faith in my relationships with them.

A Confession: In fact, this cycle is going on right now as I write this blog entry. An idea crystallized for me the other day regarding ways to think about ideas, and I knew I would like to write about it. But as I try to put these lofty thoughts into words, I am confronted with mundane obstacles; the weight and clumsiness of the English language (at least when I use it!); the opportunity cost of spending a Saturday evening writing; the struggle to remain pumped about an initially exciting concept as I am forced to live with it through 1 or 2 long hours of trying to put it down on paper. Just another day in the life.

An Analogy

You can think of your relationships with your ideas just like your relationships with people, especially romantic ones. There is an exciting initial encounter, a euphoric "honeymoon phase", followed by lots and lots of time. A carefree fling or fiery romance can be weighed down or snuffed out by mundane differences, logistical considerations and, of course, competition for your attention by other potential mates. As you've probably noticed, the story here is the same as the one above.

This analogy is useful because we are already know (at least theoretically) how to overcome these obstacles in relationships with people. We've heard it all before: You need to work on your relationship. You need to be willing to put aside time for it, balance it with the rest of your life. You need to be honest in your relationship; it must be grounded in truth and openness, and if it really isn't working, you must be prepared to let it go. That being said, you need to be steadfast and strong, understand that love is a roller-coaster, yadda yadda yadda.

My claim is that, to the extent that this is good advice about relationships with people, all these concepts should apply to our relationships with our ideas as well. All the same techniques apply: Put aside time for reflection on your idea. When mundane obstacles strike and your attitude gets stale, remember the "good times" and recapture your excitement. Have a little restraint when it comes to romping around with other ideas.

So get over your infatuation with invention--great ideas are a dime a dozen. If you keep an open, curious mind, you will always have a supply of good ideas; what really matters is that you are able to put sustained care, effort and critical thought into making your ideas a reality. This steadfast care for your ideas is how we will change the world.

Followup to "Global Warming Adventure"

2006-08-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

A while back, we explored some criticisms of the ideas espoused in An Inconvenient Truth. (If you haven't already, you can read the original "Global Warming Adventure" post here.) Most notably, we looked at an ad aired by the CEI discrediting the claim that polar glaciers are melting. At the time I wrote an email to an author of one of the scientific papers cited by the ad. The author I wrote, Ola, did not reply, but another co-author, Kirill, did. Below is a transcript of the email conversation we had. For context, I will start with my initial message to Ola:

Dear Ola Johannessen:
Thank you for your research and publication on www.sciencemag.org, regarding the Greenland ice. Below is a link to the publication:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1115356v1

I have some questions I'd like to ask to help understand this publication better.

Your paper says that that the average measured altitude of certain "already high" regions of Greenland is increasing, while the average measured altitude of certain "already lower" regions is decreasing, but not by so much. The "spatially averaged increase" is positive, which to many readers of your report indicates that Greenland is growing and not shrinking.

My understanding of the alleged melting of Greenland is as follows: Pools of meltwater are appearing in many areas of Greenland. These pools have a tendency to "burrow" to the bottom of the ice, but the presence of a given pool of melt water should not affect your average measured altitude until it has burrowed all the way through to the bottom, allowing melted ice a way to run off of the glacier. Avalanches are occuring, especially near the shores of Greenland; ice is running off of Greenland and into the ocean. This decreases the mass of Greenland, but does not decrease your average measured altitude of your "low" (below 1500 m) region of Greenland, since the "lower" avalanched ice is not measured after the avalanche due to being in the ocean. In fact, since the lowest regions are the ones that tend to slide off into the ocean and cease to be measured, I would expect said average altitude of the REMAINING region below 1500 m to INCREASE as a result of avalanche.

Is my understanding sound? To me this means that, even as you make these truthful observations about measurements, Greenland may still be losing mass at an arbitrarily high rate. Do you think Greenland is losing mass?

Thank you for your considerate and speedy response.
Ryan Murphy

Dear Ryan Murphy,

Thank you for your attention to our paper.
However your understanding of ice sheet processes is not sound. The lowest regions are NOT the ones that tend to slide off into the ocean. Actually WHOLE ice sheet is flowing to their margins. This is the main process, which result in ice loosing through iceberg calving. Therefore both ice mass and ice elevation are depends on several factors: 1) ice flow velocity, 2) surface ice melting and water runoff over ice sheet margins, and 3) snow accumulation (precipitation).

Best regards,
Kirill.

Thank you for your reply! Would you tell me please if Greenland is losing or gaining mass from year to year?

Ryan

Yes. There are interannual variations of mass resulted from changes in precipitation and summer melting on the surface.

Kirill.

So is it clear to scientists that Greenland is specifically LOSING mass over the years?

It is clear that Greenland loosing mass over the ice sheet margins and growing in interior regions during the last decades. But there are different estimates of the overall change obtained using different methods and datasets.

Ok, thanks. That makes sense. Thank you for your patience with me! I have just a few more questions.

1. Your report's abstract talks about altitude measurements, but never about mass. In your studies, did you learn anything about the mass gained from precipitation versus the mass lost from melting and iceberg formation? Are you familiar with the scientific community's work in determining whether Greenland has a net loss in mass? The following 2 sources suggest the net change in Greenland's mass is negative. Do you and/or your team think these sources' findings are correct?

"Climate Change, the Scientific Basis." Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2001

"News: Greenland Ice Loss Doubles in Past Decade, Raising Sea Level Faster." Jet Propulsion Laboratory news release, Thursday, 16 February 2006.

2. Your findings are the result of analyzed data from 1992 to 2003. Have you or your team analyzed similar data from years after 2003? If so, what are your findings?

Thank you so much!
Ryan

We reported only assessment of elevation change, but not mass change. It may be estimated by calculating the product of thickness change, area and snow density. However there are debates concerning the value of snow density that should be selected for mass balance assessment (from 0.3g/m3 to 0.9 g/m3). (See for example, Zwally, et. al, 2005. Mass change of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and shelves and contributions to sea-level rise: 1992-2002. J. of Glac., 51(175), 509-527.)

Yes, there are different estimates of Greenland mass balance. Each of them has their advantages and disadvantages. These discrepancies imply necessity of further investigations.

ERS satellite altimeter measurements do not available over Greenland after 2003, but data from other sources will be used to prolong time series.

Regards,
Kirill.

Can you send me a link to a scientific study that concludes that Greenland's net change in mass in recent years has been positive?

(Sends a scientific paper as an attachment.) They used the same dataset, but with some improvements regarding accounting for snow densification, and including the margin areas in their analysis.

The paper Kirill sent me is available here.

Ok, so what do we make of this conversation? Well, some might suggest that Kirill was being evasive. He seemed reticent to give direct answers to very direct questions like "Do you think Greenland is losing mass?" and "Do you and/or your team think [the findings from the sources I cited] are correct?" But I don't think that's the conclusion to draw from this. Kirill is a scientist, and scientists are very careful not to claim things that are not carefully and scientifically backed up, so I don't blame him for not giving me his personal opinion on the matter. On the contrary, it was most cooperative of him to continue talking to me for so long, and to send me that paper.

But what to make of the paper! Well, it reported the following:

From 1992 to 2002, Greenland gained mass at an average rate of 11 billion tons a year. Antarctica lost mass at 31 billion tons a year. Overall, the two polar ice sheets lost mass.
Both ice sheets gained mass in the middle due to precipitation, and lost mass closer to the outside due to melting and due to icebergs forming and sliding into the ocean. Global warming causes both greater precipitation and greater melting/iceberg formation. The paper's findings were very much in keeping with the idea that the Earth is getting warmer.

Here are some relevant quotes from the paper:

"Expected responses of the ice sheets to climate warming
are both growth in thickness of the inland ice areas, due to
increasing precipitation, and thinning near the margins, due
to increasing surface melting."

"Clearly, [mass gain and loss due to precipitation, melting and iceberg calving] are expected to change, perhaps at a greater rate than has been predicted, as recent measurements of increased outflow and increasing precipitation in Greenland may be indicating."

"Although the finding of near balance in Greenland might be interpreted to mitigate concern about the future contributions of the ice sheets to sea-level rise, the findings indicate that significant climate-induced changes are taking place...The extent to which the competing processes of inland growth will continue to balance coastal shrinkage, until shrinkage under the predicted climate warming becomes dominant, will be seen as observations continue and model predictions are validated or improved."

The paper used data from 1992 to 2002, so it doesn't have anything to say about the record ice meltage that occurred last year. Other papers (see Wikipedia for details) suggest that Greenland has been losing mass since at least 1996. From Wikipeda:

"IPCC [IPCC, 2001] estimates the accumulation to 520 ± 26 Gigatonnes of ice per year, runoff and bottom melting to 297±32 Gt/yr and 32±3 Gt/yr, respectively, and iceberg production to 235±33 Gt/yr. On balance, they estimate -44 ± 53 Gt/yr, which means that on average the ice sheet may currently be melting, though it can't be determined for sure. The most recent research using data from 1996 to 2005 shows that the ice sheet is thinning even faster than supposed in [IPCC, 2001]. According to the study, in 1996 Greenland was losing about 96 km^3 per year in mass from its ice sheet. In 2005, this had increased to about 220 cubic km^3 a year due to rapid thinning near its coasts [JPL, 2006]."

To help make sense of this, let's convert km^3 into gigatons:

Ice has a density of 0.917 g/cm^3 (917 kg/m^3) at 0 degrees Celcius. At Greenland's temperatures it will be denser, so this will be a conservative estimate.

Let's start with 1 km^3 of ice, and try to get gigatons.
1 km^3 = 1,000,000,000 m^3 = 917,000,000,000 kg = 917,000,000 tons = 0.917 gigatons

So JPL suggests that Greenland lost 200 billion tons of its mass last year, while the paper Kirill sent me suggests that Greenland gained 11 billion tons a year from 1992 to 2002.

Ruh roh...

The Words of a Hero

2006-07-30T16:53:00.000-07:00

In times of trouble it's essential for well-meaning humans to cultivate their sense of Hero. After hearing him speak in this and a few other contexts, I have found a hero in the Democratic Rep. from Ohio Dennis Kucinich:

Send me your heroes, political and otherwise! Tell me about the people that you admire, the people who inspire you to put more into your life. Tell me what makes them so dear to you, and what you have taken from the examples they've set.

Readers' Heroes
Post a comment about a hero of yours, and I will add him/her to this gallery.

Lloyd Doggett

Al Gore

George Lakoff

Dennis Kucinich

Robert Scheer

Studs Terkel

Jim Wallis

Matthew Willis

MoveOn.org-ers, show how much you care about a unified Democratic Party!

2006-07-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

I posted this comment on the MoveOn.org ActionForum today:

Unify the Party and Strategize

It's nice to talk about all the issues we care about and wish we could address, but we're competing with a party (the GOP) that prioritizes retention of power over legitimate consideration of issues. While we shouldn't adopt these twisted priorities ourselves, we can at least learn enough from our esteemed opponents to realize the importance of refining and focusing our platform, conveying our noble stances to the country in irrefutable layman's terms, and employing thoughtful and effective psychology when we debate with those who disagree with us.

Check out George Lakoff's Think Tank! I think he has the right idea. http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org

So far the comment has been very well-received. At the time of my writing this, it has received 4 votes, all of which agree with my view as strongly as possible.

Help me spur the Democrats into a better-focused approach to the game that is American politics. Go to the ActionForum now and put your support behind my comment!

You may have to search a little to find my post. The links I'm giving you should get you close, but you might have to hit "Next 50" once or twice. Refer to the Update below for more details that may help you in find it.

Once again, here is the link.

Thank you!
Ryan

Update:
21/21 voters agree!
Average importance assigned: 4.5/5

Recent Comment #3475 as of 3:14 AM on Saturday, August 26th.
Go there and give me your support!

Using Firefox? Subscribe to my Site Feed!

2006-07-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

If you're using Firefox, you can easily create a Live Bookmark that will dynamically update itself to include all the latest Murftown posts! Talk about convenient. Here's what you do:

1. In Firefox, go to my blog. If you're reading this you're probably already there.

2. You'll see this cool orange icon appear at the right side of the address bar (where you typed in the address). Click the icon.

3. A window will pop up that says "Add Live Bookmark". Click OK.

Now you have a bookmark that will always show you the latest Murftown posts. You can do this with lots of other blogs and publications, too. I hope it makes things more convenient!

If you're using IE, dump it for a better browser. Get the Fox that Rox!

Strong Words

2006-07-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

An Excerpt from the 2004 Republican Party Platform

Our Party’s 2004 platform addresses the major issues facing America in the first decade of the 21st century:

Winning the War on Terror …
because our government’s most solemn duty is to keep its citizens safe.

Ushering in an Ownership Era …
because a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit will keep our economy strong and provide more opportunities for workers and families.

Building an Innovative Economy to Compete in the World …
because America can compete with anyone, anywhere, thanks to our entrepreneurs and risk-takerswho keep us on the cutting edge of technology and commerce.

Strengthening Our Communities …
because our children deserve to grow up in an America in which all their hopes and dreams can come true.

Protecting Our Families …
because we respect the family’s role as a touchstone of stability and strength in an ever-changing world.

This platform makes clear that the American people will have a choice on November 2nd.

A choice between strength and uncertainty.

A choice between results and rhetoric.

A choice between optimism and pessimism.

A choice between opportunity and dependence.

A choice between freedom and fear.

And a choice between moving forward and turning back.

The 2004 Republican Party Platform makes clear:

We choose strength.

We choose results.

We choose optimism.

We choose opportunity.

We choose freedom.

And we choose moving forward with President Bush. A man of courage and compassion, of integrity and action.

The GOP writes some strong stuff, huh? I bet none of you Democrats out there realized you were choosing uncertainty, rhetoric, pessimism, dependence, fear and turning back.

And now, a terrifying message from Al Gore.

2006-07-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hear me roar!

2006-07-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

"I am a machine powered by spiritual energy."

These are the words I've recently found to explain my current take on life. I am propelled through the activities of each day by the spiritual harmony in my life: my positive view of myself, my ability to be good to and care for my friends and family, the affirmations of my beliefs that I find each day in the words and actions of my heroes. Without this everpresent harmony, I would very quickly collapse, and cease to live an enjoyable and productive life. My evil twin, Wurftown, is here to help me explore this further:

Wurftown: So you care about making money, right?
Murftown: Yes.
W: You care about having lots of friends and having a good love life?
M: Sure.
W: You want people to like you and admire you!
M: Guilty as charged!
W: I bet you even want a lot of power! You want to influence people, and, in certain cases, you want people to start acting like you.
M: Fair enough.
W: (Whispers guiltily) I want those too!
M: That's ok.
W: Well, it's hard to get those things...seems like so much work! And you have to be pretty...tricky!
M: (Surprised) Tricky!
W: (Smiles slyly) Yeah, tricky! You know what I mean: If you want to get rich, maybe you have to learn how to be a tricky stock-player or a shrewd businessman. If you want lots of friends and girls you need to alternately flatter them and make them feel insecure and needy, not to mention come up with lots of jokes so they'll think you're smart! To be admired you have to put up an admirable front. And don't get me started on power! You have to bribe and shmooze people night and day!
M: Really...
W: It's so frustrating! I can't be bothered with this oppressive daily grind! But still, sometimes I really want all those things.
M: You want them pretty badly?
W: Yeah!!
M: Hmmm. So the hope of achieving those goals is a pretty strong motivating force in your life?
W: I guess...
M: Huh. Well what else could be motivating you?
W: I dunno...
M: Ok...well, why don't you walk me through a typical day in your life.
W: Ok, so I get up--and it's really hard to get up, because it feels better to lay in bed. But I force myself up, slog to the shower, etc., etc., sometimes I eat some stuff, and I go to work. (I work in a button factory.) I work really hard and do a really kicka** job pushing buttons--that really knocks the socks off my colleagues and my boss! It feels so great to impress people like that! But lately there's this guy Stan who's been cheesing me off, big time! He thinks he's so great because he pushes more buttons than I do, and sometimes he even throws levers. He's not even that smart! But everyone loves him anyway. I hate it.
M: Ok...
W: Basically, life's a big drag! I do all this hard work, and I'm not even getting anywhere.
M: Yeah, it sounds like a drag! You do all that work, and then Stan effectively undoes it.
W: Exactly.
M: Because you're just trying to make money, win friends and influence people, and it doesn't seem like you really care about anyone, including yourself.
W: In real life, I'd get really upset at this point, but luckily this is a blog entry.
M: Right! So, you don't care about anyone, and you don't care about your work. And that makes me really sad, because you're my brother, and I love you and want you to be happy. You can't be happy if you don't care about anything.
W: Uh-huh...
M: In a certain way, you're a lot stronger than I am. If I had your outlook on life, there's no way I could even drag myself out of bed, let alone do all that exemplary buttonpushing you do every day. I'd be like an SUV running on fumes. And a guy can't fume forever.
W: So you're saying I need fuel?
M: Damn right you do!
W: Where do I get it?
M: You clean up your life! You start caring about yourself! Then you start caring about your friends! Then you start caring about your work! Once you, your attitude and your life are things you're proud of, you'll have no end of energy!

We are machines powered by spiritual energy.

Not greed. Not fear. Spiritual energy.

How do people like Thomas Edison, Teddy Roosevelt, Mohandas Ghandi and Steve Jobs accomplish so much in their lifetimes? By not caring about anything, and brute-forcing themselves through? By caring only about themselves, and, even then, only deeply enough to pursue surface goals in respose to surface needs?

I don't think so. Throughout their lives, they let the river of their love and spiritual energy flow.

And in letting the river flow, they moved mountains.

Global Warming Adventure

2006-07-18T04:05:00.000-07:00

I recently saw An Inconvenient Truth, which I recommend to everyone. For those of you who don't know anything about it, it is a documentary that discusses global warming. The title refers to the idea that global warming is an inconvenient truth, and that, because of the inconvenience, many people are denying, ignoring or questioning the truth. Al Gore is the star of the film, and I think he did a wonderful job communicating this important message in an honest and clear way.

Roger Ebert, the film critic, wrote in his review:
"In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to."

Please see the film as soon as you can, and bring all your friends. Also go to www.climatecrisis.net to see how you can help out in this most important of all efforts.

But I wouldn't have called this entry an "Adventure" if it were just a movie recommendation. I have a story to tell.

Reading about the film on Wikipedia, I learned that there is an organization called the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), and that they have aired 3 ads in an effort to discredit the film and its claims. The ads can be found here:
http://www.cei.org/pages/co2.cfm
"They call it pollution--we call it life!"

Particularly watch the one about the glaciers. Someone on YouTube felt strongly enough to record a video response. I felt strongly too: what were these people talking about? What are these scientific reports they are referring to? Well, I checked them out. CEI was kind enough to link to the articles from their website. Here is the one I was most interested in:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1115356v1

Now, I don't know much about Science magazine (the journal in which the article appears). I gather from Wikipedia that it is quite a reputable publication. But the article seems strange. (Granted, I've only been able to read the abstract.) I had this reaction, which I emailed to one of the co-authors of the report, Ola Johannessen:

Dear Ola Johannessen:

Thank you for your research and publication on www.sciencemag.org, regarding the Greenland ice. Below is a link to the publication:

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1115356v1

I have some questions I'd like to ask to help understand this publication better.

Your paper says that that the average measured altitude of certain "already high" regions of Greenland is increasing, while the average measured altitude of certain "already lower" regions is decreasing, but not by so much. The "spatially averaged increase" is positive, which to many readers of your report indicates that Greenland is growing and not shrinking.

My understanding of the alleged melting of Greenland is as follows: Pools of meltwater are appearing in many areas of Greenland. These pools have a tendency to "burrow" to the bottom of the ice, but the presence of a given pool of melt water should not affect your average measured altitude until it has burrowed all the way through to the bottom, allowing melted ice a way to run off of the glacier. Avalanches are occuring, especially near the shores of Greenland; ice is running off of Greenland and into the ocean. This decreases the mass of Greenland, but does not decrease your average measured altitude of your "low" (below 1500 m) region of Greenland, since the "lower" avalanched ice is not measured after the avalanche due to being in the ocean. In fact, since the lowest regions are the ones that tend to slide off into the ocean and cease to be measured, I would expect said average altitude of the REMAINING region below 1500 m to INCREASE as a result of avalanche.

Is my understanding sound? To me this means that, even as you make these truthful observations about measurements, Greenland may still be losing mass at an arbitrarily high rate. Do you think Greenland is losing mass?

Thank you for your considerate and speedy response.
Ryan Murphy

I will be sure to keep you all posted on Ola's reply, if any.

The importance of intense truthfulness regarding matters of our planet's health is so obvious that it shouldn't need mentioning. I wish I felt that the situation is in good hands, that the people in charge care about the Earth as much as I do, and that at the very least they won't deliberately deceive me. But right now I don't feel that way.

I'll appreciate your reactions and comments! Thanks for joining me in exploring this strange and important mystery.

Trish Woke Up

2006-05-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

Trish woke up at a quarter to 3
she looked at the night sky, then she looked at me
she rolled over, sighed and tried to get back to sleep
her eyes opened wide inside, and she began to dream:

There's always something there to remind me
of the way things always used to be.

So hold my hand as we walk through the sand
our eyes gaze straight ahead as we damn the Man
her lips speak words, all I see is her skin
on fire, on fire, neglect my desire again:

There's always something there to remind me
of the way things always should have been.

(And everyone's so concerned.
Everyone's just a mess.
Everyone's been so worried
about you.)

If you walk this way, careful what you say
don't you rain on my parade
cuz all these truths and dares hung over spikes and snares
by a rope so easily frayed
and it's so easy to be afraid...

So hold my hand and forget the sand
look into my eyes, never mind the man
her lips speak words and I love the Sound
on fire, on fire, a wall comes crashing down:

There's always something there to remind me
what it is that makes the world go round.

Pop Quiz

2006-05-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Time for a random philosophical question!

Let's say you're really pumped about life because you're the best in the world at something you can help a lot of people with and make plenty of money on the side. Which of the following realizations is most devastating?

A. You're not really the best in the world. In fact, lots of people are just as good as you are.

B. You're not really helping people by doing this thing you're doing. No one really cares.

C. You can't actually make money doing it.

Let me know what you guys think! I'm really curious.

Paranoid Somnambuloid

2006-05-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and checked my email, only to find something that disheartened me greatly. My singer friend that I've been gigging with sent out an email to announce a gig next Thursday featuring herself as part of a jazz trio. This had been a quasi-regular gig with a regular group we built together out of my friends from school, but suddenly, unaccountably, she had chosen another pianist. I am a calm, not-so-jealous type of person, so I resisted the urge to send her a confrontational email; I even resisted the urge to have a crummy day. But, on some level, it hurt nonetheless.

"But hey," I told myself, "it's not a big deal. You have other gigs. You have a great paying gig with a great trio coming up this Friday, and another one next Thursday, and..."

"...next Thursday...?"

Suddenly I remembered that I had been offered the very gig in question, and had had to turn it down because of a conflicting job.

(Oh, snap.)

How steeply inclined we can be to turn our perceptions of the world against us! This was a great reminder that my friends are friends for real, and that the world is not really out to get me.

: )

1st Post!

2006-05-02T10:05:00.002-07:00

I decided to try out Blogger because I wasn't really digging Xanga's looks. I haven't written to a blog in a long time, and I need a nice place for my words to go.