Saturday, November 29
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3-D Monitors [LINKS] Monitor technology is often very slow, so any news in that cateogory is big news. A new laptop is out that uses this new 3D technology so that objects appear three dimensional without the use of those goofy glasses. CLICKY
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Friday, November 28
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Dad again [journal] In fairness to my father I'll write a little more about him. The Rolex box in question has been a life-long dream of his, a yearning. It has always been an itch he couldn't scratch, because he had always put his kids before his wishes. Can you imagine putting all four kids through university? On top of that I lived in residence and now he's going to help Brian open a restaurant. Anyways, finally he thought of himself, or at least my mom did, and for his birthday this upcoming December 13th, the Rolex is his present.
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Wednesday, November 26
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Dad, the racist [journal] Before I write this anecdote I feel that I have to include that my father is a good guy and a great father, but like most father's I know, he still make a lot of racist comments. Today he bought a Rolex and since he didn't want my brother to be stuck in traffic, he told him that he'd take the subway the rest of the way home. When I picked him up at the subway he told me, "Good, you're finally here. I was so scared. On the subway there were all these black guys looking at me." Anyways, I smiled because it was more likely he was looking at them. If you had a fat Vietnamese guy with glasses clutching a black bag tightly in his sweaty hands, wouldn't you look at him back?
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Saturday, November 22
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Existentialist [journal] I suppose I'm slow or something but I finally just read about existentialism. Although I do disagree with some of it, I like how it puts a lot of responsibility on the individual. Too many people these days blame everything that happens to them on someone or something else: bad luck, mom, dad, upbringing, how uncle bob looked at you funny. Sure a lot of shit can be thrown your way, but ultimately you--and you alone--make the choices, and you--and you alone--define who you are. That is, I should never pity myself because I am really then just saying how pathetic I am instead of how pathetic my situation is. I will also never let my role define me. When I become a teacher, I will choose freedom not stereotype. Anyways, the only thing I disagree with dem existentialist is how we come to subjectivity. I wrote an email to my edu. phil. teacher so I'll paste it here: To my understanding and for brevity, Existentialists believe that one can
never transcend subjectivity because existence precedes essence; man is
created before he creates his nature. Non-Existentialists believe the
reverse; essence or the concept of man precedes existence and because of
this objectivity can occur (since man should be a certain way). Now I want
to ask if there is a compromise between the two philosophies. Is it possible
for essence to precede existence and still have subjectivity exist? It seems
to me that Existentialists are assuming that man shares a common essence,
and that's why objectivity occurs. What if---yes---we do have an essence
before we exist, but what if each essence is unique? That is, my essence is
different from yours, is different from another. I have a Joe-nature, you
have a Dr. Dunn-nature, and Bob has a Bob-nature. So subjectivity doesn't
come from the fact that we exist and then all create different essences, and
thus everything is subjective. No, essence came first, and subjectivity, in
fact, is because of our different essences.
Is there a philosophy that believes in essence before existence, but
believes in subjectivity?
To answer my own question I could only think of Plato and his idea of
specialization but he simplifies it to only three types of people and that
inherently creates some universals (the men in each group share something).
I am talking about how everyone is born with a predetermined essence, but
each essence is utterly unique. Is there such a compromising philosophy?I read about Satre (atheist division of existentialism) specifically so I'm not too well versed. Here's a SITE if you are interested in reading more about existentialism. I'll probably look into it a bit more also.
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Thursday, November 20
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Pavlov Basketball [journal] I went to see the Raptors play last night. Unfortunately I sat beside a freak with unbelievably large hands. Okay, this wouldn't be so bad if his unbelievably large hands didn't clap unbelievably loud, unbelievably near my ear. It reminded me of Pavlovian conditioning. They had this one experiment with a kid, Albert, who was placed in view of a cute bunny rabbit. The twist came when they smashed god-damn cymbals near his ear to scare the shit out of him. Eventually poor Albert would freak out at the sight of bunnies and even generalized it to any furry animals. Large hands dude made me piss my pants when the Raptors scored and I should have run for cover when Carter made a dunk.
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Sunday, November 16
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Porn Clerk Confessions [link] No one would believe how I found this link anyways, so I won't even bother defending myself. It's a gem of a read and it's the journal writings of a girl who works as a porn clerk. I'll leave paste one entry and you can decide if you like this kind of thing (I find it hilarious and well written): We have a new visitor to the porn section. He's been in twice now. Actually, he's been in at least three times, as he is a registered member, but he's only stood out twice.
He comes in, goes down to the straight porn section, and whips out a hand mirror. Then he applies makeup for about an hour.
Seriously.
No browsing, no chatting people up, no whacking. In, mirror, makeup and out. And again, he's in the straight section.
No one's sure what to do yet.
The last time he was in, two clerks went down to ask him a) what was up and b) to leave. He pointed out that he was a registered member, and that he wasn't stealing, whacking off, or bothering anyone. Since he wasn't hurting anyone, why did he have to leave?
Nobody's thought of an answer yet, and we're not really sure we want to toss him for loitering. He is, after all, just putting on makeup.
But why in our porn section? It has such harsh fluorescent lighting.
I'm sure we'll find out eventually. I can't wait. Heres the LINK.
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Saturday, November 8
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Burn out [journal] I'm really burnt out from school. It's not that the work is hard, because it isn't. It's just the amount of work and all the driving (plus that damn German class). I spend all my free time, to make myself feel better, looking at computer game websites, looking to see what games I'll play once school is done for this term. All I can do is just see what I'll be playing, that vicarious enjoyment is enough because if I wrap my greedy lil hands around a mouse and start playing, I'd never do any work again.
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Gaga digital women [link] Every decade has it's ideal of a beautiful women. Could technology represent this decade's? Miss digital world is a competition in Italy that hopes to define and eventually crown the picture perfect woman. LINK
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Thursday, November 6
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Lottery [journal] I bought a lottery ticket for the first time a few weeks ago. It was for the Canadian Cancer Society. I thought it was for a good cause and, truthfully, the prizes looked damn good. Anyways, please let me indulge myself with a little list of what I'll buy if I won the mil:
1. Put half in the bank
2. Pay off all the tuition my parents covered for me (I'm guessing it's around 50k if you include books and residence)
3. Buy a Rolex and digital camera for pops
4. Buy a St. John dress for mom and rent out a maid for a year
5. Take a trip to Japan with Karen and let her buy all the shoes she can fit in a suitcase (buy the suitcase too). Then when we get home I'll have a lakeshore condo place for us.
6. Buy all the art supplies needed for Brian to get a gallery show going and get him a new cell phone and some kind of miracle cure for his back
7. Rent out a new apartment for mike for a year to get him to leave the house
8. Now for myself it's all about the gadgets: the best computer, laptop, mp3 player, cellphone & digital camera
9. I would get a little something for Tommy, Cliff, Kevin, Patsy, Minho and Nina too of course
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