Recalled to Life

Highly Literate Lyrics (a request)

2009-08-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

The Mountain Goats are a sort of indie band from North Carolina (wikipedia). I'm a really big fan of them. Hell I almost bought their music.

Some of my favorite songs: This Year, No Children, Up The Wolves (mp3 download)

Anyways, people like to describe their songs as having "Highly literate lyrics". You might also say "pretentious". I like that their songs sound pretentious. I enjoy that aspect of the band. The singer even enunciates his words. Students learning English in foreign countries could probably understand what he's singing.

My request is, do you people out their have any bands you like that you would describe as literate and educated?

Monster Blood Tattoo

2009-04-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

So do you like reading young adult/kids books? I do! It's my sister's fault, she's a children's librarian. She recommended a book to me months ago and I stuck it on my GoodReads to-read list and forgot about it.

Foundling, by D.M. Cornish. It's pretty good so far, but what's so cool about the book is that the author created a huge world and has obviously thought out every aspect of it. The back of the book has numerous detailed maps, and at first your mind might think, "Tolkien," but then you flip the page and see drawings of musketmen and ironclad battleships.

It's all very impressive, because unlike some books *cough*Eragon*cough* you don't feel like he's ripping off someone else in an attempt to try to be original. The cultures in the story sort of meld alchemy and fantasy with the industrial revolution.

I think they could make an MMORPG about it...

Tilting Planet

2009-04-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

The night before last I had a really weird dream. The only part I can remember is seeing a map of the world where all the continents were in the wrong place on the map, as if the poles had shifted so that the north pole is on Europe. It terrified me. It unnerved me so much that in real life I have a hard time looking at maps if I think about that dream. Sweet dreams!

Ave Cunicule, sapor plenus.

2009-04-12T23:45:00.001-07:00

In commemoration of this year's Easter, and it's mascot, the bunny, I've decided to rewrite a latin prayer some of you might know. I don't claim the grammar is perfect. Enjoy.

Ave Cunicule, sapor plenus,
Dominus tecum,
benedictus tu in agris,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui, socolata.
Sanctus Cuniculus, pater ovorum deliciosorum,
liba pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora liquationis tuae.
Amen.

Hail Rabbit, full of flavor,
The Lord is with you,
blessed are you among the fields,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, chocolate.
Holy Rabbit, father of the delicious eggs,
nibble for us sinners, now, and in the hour of your melting.
Amen.

Don't ask me how a male bunny has a womb that lays eggs, it's a miracle or something.

Breakfast and Moving

2009-03-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

I took my mom to breakfast today for her birthday. We went to Cup and Saucer, a place on Hawthorne. The prices are decent and the potatoes are amazing. Like, just awesome. We talked about how my sisters and I are interested in weird things. Lucy wants to be a neuro-psychologist or something, she loves to watch how people's brains tick. Jess is a librarian, having just finished her masters degree in... being a librarian. And I'm doing computer science with a bit of linguistics on the side. This from a family who's parents never went to college.

Also, today I'm officially moved back into a real bedroom. Why is moving so much fun? I think it's because it's like a fresh start, or because we get to rearrange things. And there's such a clear purpose. I'm still sad Jess is gone, but having a door might make up for her absence in some small way.

Spring

2009-03-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

It's spring now, oh happy day! Except that I'm coughing and sick and miserable. Spring is all about rebirth right? Well rebirth me damn you! *cough*

On a side note, I've come up with a new way to remember the difference between it's and its. It's is 'it is' and its is 'of it'. The way I remember it, is that 'being' is more important than possessing something. So 'being' gets preference for having an apostrophe. It's an easy way to remember the rule, har har.

Home Media Server

2009-03-17T21:10:00.000-07:00

I'm itching for a home media server. Over and over again my family needs to watch something from the computer on the TV. Sometimes the Blockbuster online service sends Disk 2 before Disk 1 or maybe ABC.com is only playing the latest 4 episodes of season 5 of Lost on their website. I'm called upon to fix these problems.

I'm always stuck thinking: If only I had a dedicated media server and cheap little linux boxes attached to each TV, life would be so much easier. Anyone in the house could just sit down and watch movies and TV shows with no hassle. My family could just go, "Hey Joe I need episodes 4-9 of whatever show", and then 30 minutes later I would just say, "Alright, the first episodes done, go ahead and watch it."

*sigh* If only I had the money to waste. Someday.... someday.

My very own room

2009-03-15T13:28:00.000-07:00

My sister stole my bedroom this last summer. Actually, me and my two sisters all live at home right now. I've been living out in the family room. Got a privacy screen though, so it's all good.

Jess will moving out soon though, and I'll get my room back. I'm conflicted, because it'll be nice to have my room back, but I'll miss her. She sort of keeps me sane. I have nice memories of discussing the inner workings of library catalogs and talking about children's books she's reading for school (or for fun).

I'd rather continue to not have a bedroom than have her move out I guess is what I'm saying.

Phone Calls

2009-03-14T16:13:00.001-07:00

There's something slightly terrifying about calling someone on the phone that you don't know very well. As you type the numbers in you feel a sense of dread, and when you press Talk you know you can't turn back. You've made a commitment. A small voice in the back of your head hopes that they don't pick up and you'll be free of this leap into the unknown.

I think there's something primal about it. It's like walking around a corner, you have no idea what will be on the other side, and the unknown can scare us.

Song for when you're scared

2009-03-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

I just found this song by Ze Frank, and I couldn't help but like it. I think if I'd just listened to it I would have hated it, because it's really corny. But the look on his face while he's walking down the street is priceless. You can tell people are looking at him like he's crazy for walking down the street singing to his camera.

End of Term

2009-03-13T16:27:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to spring break. Time to pursue some kind of project, I hope. Maybe some bike riding if it's warm out, perhaps hang out with some friends I never see... *cough*Fletch*cough*

I have a humble little Trimet Bus-Arrival tracker program for my cell phone I've been working on that I might finish. Ahh, that makes me nostalgic for my younger days. Back when the world teemed with opportunity, and when I had no commitments or even close friends to distract me. Back when I completed from start to finish in 3 days a nice little video game for my Ti-89 calculator, called Nibbles. On spring break too! My sophomore year of highschool.

I often think back to those days and feel sad, because I never really followed up on it. Never made a serious commitment to a software project. Maybe this year I will?

On Curiosity and Motivation

2009-03-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

I go through periods. For a while I explore the meaning of life, for a while I explore how technology affects our world, for a while I explore history, for a while I do this, do that. They're like standing orders. I make them my mission in life. They go on for weeks, months or years. They go behind all my other priorities, but they're there, and they get my idle time. And there's plenty of idle time.

I'd actually describe these standing orders as my main motivation in life. The constant, but slow, sifting through different parts of my own life and of the world give me some meaning I guess. It's curiosity really.

I'm serious though, when I say it's my main motivation, curiosity. God help me the day I no longer want to learn about things.

On The Benefits of Europa Universalis III

2009-03-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

You know, I've never told you about my favorite game ever. You? Who are you anyways? Why do you read my blog?

The game is Europa Universalis III. If you love in depth strategy and games that take untold amounts of time to finish, then it might just be for you. For all the virtues of the game as entertainment, I'm actually not going to talk about it like it's just a game. Today I'm going to talk about how it has affected my life. After a brief explination of what the game is:

The game can start as early as the year 1400, and ends in 1820, and you can be any country in the world... At any time in between those two dates. You can literally scroll through time and watch as the map changes over the years. Watch Castille form Spain, then watch as they get some land in the Netherlands some years later. The history it presents is painstakingly accurate. Then you choose a country, and watch as a new and unique history unfolds around you. You stare at this map the entire game.

Game for history nerds obviously, right? Not necesarrily. I certainly wasn't one before EUIII. This is my story of how EUIII has acted as a springboard for my personal education (the best kind of education).

Let's start from the beginning. I've always been interested in history, but I really didn't know much. My friend Fletch told me to get the game, and I did, grudgingly. I thought, "Let's see what pointless game fletch wants me to get into now." The first country I chose was the Ottoman Empire. Now, at that time, I was unnaware who the Ottomans were, I just had vague recolections of them being conquerers, but I had no notion of their culture, history, or any context whatsoever really.

My second game was as Castille, which is the western half of Spain, if you did not know. I didn't know! I had no idea Spain wasn't always just Spain. It was split between Aragon, Castille, Navara, Granada etc. This was the first of innumerable instances of me learning something. I proceeded to attack Granada and wipe them out. What happened later that day is the most significant part though.

I'd gained an interest in Spanish history. A passing interest, sure, but an interest. I connected with the country I was playing as of course. So I went on wikipedia and found out that Granada was in fact the last remnents of the Muslims in Spain, and the spanish had been slowly booting them out of their lands for hundreds of years.

The point here is that I learned something because I played a video game.

In the couple of years following this, my knowledge has exploded beyond anything they would even try to teach you in school. And once you start learning stuff, it's just a gateway drug. You suddenly want to keep learning, and you can't stop.

One of the biggest effects of playing this game is my knowledge of geography. I actually know where places are now. Pre-EU, I wouldn't have been able to tell you where any of the following are: Tunisia, Constantinople, Rome, Valencia, Germany, Poland, Austria, (insert any european nation besides england and france and spain, here). The list keeps going. It's not like I have some wonderful memory, I just stared at that map for so long that it's etched into my memory.

When Russia invaded Georgia last year, I didn't hear the news and go, "G...eorgia? There's a country.... where the hell is Georgia?", I instead thought, "Oh Georgia, that little Eastern Orthodox country in the caucases that always gets it's ass kicked by muslim hordes in EU.

And because of EU, I have a world map next to my bed. I didn't play this game because I was a history nerd, I'm a history nerd because I played this game.

On Catholic Schooling

2009-03-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that I want my kids to go to a Catholic.

I went to Holy Family Catholic school in Portland from K-8th grade, and I am thankful for it, in many different ways. The education was amazing, of course. There was only one class in each grade. I.e., there was only one first grade class, of about 25 kids. There were under 300 kids in the whole school. When I got into public highschool, freshman year felt was a joke. (except for the Sabin-Schellenberg center, which made my first year of college seem like a joke in comparison).

At Holy Family, I was never once picked on, and I was a NERD. I never saw anyone else being picked on either. I found out that all the scenes in movies and shows with kids getting picked on in school were actually true, only once I started meeting friends who went to public school, years later. I had one bad teacher, who made kids (including me) cry when we didn't do well at math or some such thing. But she meant well, and I came to like her later on.

So "Catholic school sounds pretty good Joe!" I hear you saying, but then that little voice nags at you saying such things as, "But...religion... being taught to my child scares me." I understand, don't worry. There isn't a lot of friendliness toward non-secular stuff these days. You might even not like the Pope! "How can I send my child to a school that is controlled by the Pope, a man who's I disagree with on well thought out and elegantly-spoken theological grounds?"

Don't worry friend, I'll clear things up for you. I was raised in a Orthodox church, and educated in a Catholic church. I can assure you that being raised with religion is NOT detrimental to any part of my body or mind. I'm not even christian. I wont speak ill of specific non-Catholic christian sects, but I can assure you that Holy Family was open to religious diversity, devoted to education, the teaching of science, and did not have stern Nuns with yardsticks.

I am thankful to the education in religion specifically. Because of my Catholic perspective on science, I was actually shocked when I found out at the age of 12 or so, that there were people who DIDN'T believe in evolution, or believed that evolution and religion were somehow at odds with eachother. I remember watching TV with my parents and asking them why anyone why someone would think religion conflicted with science.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that Catholic school does not turn you into a theist, is not run by crazy people, is friendly to religions, is friendly toward science, and gave me the best damn education I could have asked for.

I should also mention that my parents went deep into debt just so me and my sisters could go to the school. This was after they worked out a deal with the school to receive a discount. How can I live with myself if I don't show the same level of commitment to my own future childrens' education?

Hallucinations in Latin

2009-02-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

(I wrote this weeks ago, but apparently just saved it as a draft. I've finished it up and posted for your viewing pleasure. I'm no longer sick fyi)

I've been sick the last few day, pretty annoying really. This morning, however, it took on a interesting aspect.

After a few hours asleep, I woke up into this sort of half dream. I felt that I had no body, or rather that my body was nothing more than swirling insubstantial Jello. I kind of felt like I was under my blankets, but mostly I just felt like I didn't exist. It was not pleasant. It wasn't one of those "cool" out of body experiences, it was was being trapped in limbo.

The weirdest part, however, was what I thought I was. I had the strangest sensation that if I rolled one way, my swirling jello self was in the shape of English, and if I rolled the other, I was in the shape of Latin. I'd like to remind you that I was kind of hallucinating. I really don't know latin. What I mean is that, you can imagine a language to be a vast structure of interconnected beams and braces holding eachother up, causing things to look a certain way. In spanish, objects (nouns) have genders. In english, we don't. This changes, subtly, how our minds percieve the world. When I rolled to one side, I felt like I was in the english language, and the Latin language while on my other side.

Best Books of 2008

2009-01-12T00:34:00.000-08:00

My sister put up her Best of 2008 list, so I thought I'd do the same, even though I only read a paltry 25 or so books last year. (I was impressed with myself when I realized I'd read that many, I know, sad). You can see these books at my Good Reads profile, by the way. So here goes:

Best Read Audio Book: Wow, I can't choose between the Hitchhiker's Guide series read by the author himself or The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume One: The Pox Party (The full title). Douglas Adams was the perfect person to bring his own characters alive, and speak his own dry British humor. However, Octavian Nothing was read so eloquently and wonderfully that I decided to wait for the audio book for the sequel to come out before reading it.

Best Non-Fiction: Band of Brothers. Makes you appreciate what happens to soldiers in war.

Best Audio Book To Listen To While Riding The Train: A Scanner Darkly, recently made into a movie, was such a mind-fuck, excuse my language. I mean it in a good way, but listening to that book in one sitting while on a train made for a deeply disturbing train ride. I felt like I was being sucked into the drugged out, lost, incoherent minds of the characters.

Books that are now on my Favorite Books Ever list:

The Dune Trilogy. I remember reading the books as being an almost spiritual experience, I'll never forget it.
No Country for Old Men. One of the few books that has a movie that does it justice. Reading it was a very moving experience, and it's one of those books where you finish it and you're pretty sure you've just learned something but you don't know what.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The combination of a good political message and hard sci-fi goodness made it a unique foray into the purpose and failings of governments. *cough*LibertarianismIsGood*cough*

Awesome Election Night Outcome

2008-11-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

Last night was a great night for Oregonians. Er, Oregonians in my county. The Library District got passed. Funding is now secure for our libraries. I was honestly worried how things would turn out, but all is well. I've become so cynical lately, that I almost didn't think people would vote yes on it. It's...refreshing, and nice.

I'm still cynical however because despite my deepest desires, either of the candidates got chosen for president. *sigh*

I guess it's a bit of a good moment for equality advocates, since we almost got a black president. Shame he's only half black guys, but maybe you can do better next time.

Hilarious and creepy.

2008-10-28T03:14:00.000-07:00

I've been brushing up on my LegoRobot comics tonight. They're crude and disgusting, revolting in many different kinds of ways, but some of them are just so funny that you can't help but admire them.

Take #60 for example, I was literally laughing for minutes after reading it.

And then on a completely different tangent, he comes up with numbers #71 through #75. The depth and disturbing vividness of this creation is just incredible. It is the stuff of nightmares, and yet the twist at the end is unexpectedly hearth warming.

I just thought I'd share it with you before going to bed

Columbus Day -- A Speech

2008-10-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

On this most holy of days, we as American's celebrate the anniversary of an Italian man funded by Castille and Aragon (Later known as Spain) who, in scientific folly, misjudged the circumference of the Earth and found some islands in the Atlantic that no one cares about. After making a few more voyages, thus discovering a few more unimportant Caribbean islands, and talking to some natives in Panama, he became a governor somewhere, was arrested, and later became a crazy person. Having not seen North America, except for the area around Honduras, he then died of a heart attack at some point.

Oh how, in pride and justification, do we now bestow this day upon him, to honor his great and many deeds relating to South America and the Caribbean. As citizens of these United States of North America, how could we ever forget this momentous anniversary, pertaining so fully to our history and culture, so intertwined with our own lives.

(The effect of this is greater if you speak it aloud, in a serious, and solemn tone.)

Rare Books and a Hebrew Lord

2008-10-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

After school I visited Powell's, as I'm prone to do these days. Naturally, the first order of business was to treat the great store like an un-lending library and find a book, sit in the cafe, read it, drink coffee, and return it to it's shelf upon completion.

I've been reading a book by John Shelby Spong called This Hebrew Lord online for a while, on and off. So I decided to finish it with the real thing in front of me. Spong, as it turns out has a whole row and a half to himself in the Red Room. This book had a very significant effect on me and my views of Christianity. It de-mystified Jesus for me and made me connect with him on a very human level. I'm by no means a Christian, but it seems to me that everyone who fancies himself a follower should read this book, and maybe help themselves see Jesus and the world in a new light.

High praise and lofty promises for a single book I know, but it can't hurt to read it.

After that I remembered that there was a rare book room, and that it had been closed the last time I was there, so I went up to see it. Going through the door for the first time felt kind of ominous, like I was going into a solemn church service or entering a cemetery. Old wooden shelves with even older books on them slowly made impressions on me. At first I felt like I shouldn't even be allowed to breath on them, let alone touch them and read them. When I finally broke my self imposed taboo I picked up "A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada", published in 1829. The book felt holy. I guess it was the whole atmosphere of the room, and the book's age, (and it's $250 price tag!) that made such a huge impression me, but it was an incredible feeling.

Well I'm done with that grandiose and emotion recounting, heh. They weren't all old books though, there was a first edition paperback of Howl by Allen Ginsberg behind a glass case for $2500. $2500 for 57 page pocket book you can get on amazon for less than it costs to ship it.

Thoughts on the Trimet Bus

2008-10-02T01:16:00.000-07:00

The place where truly all men are equals. What ever mask you may wear, all your flaws are there laid out for others to see. What ever your perceived stature in life, the ride humbles us all. No man can call himself greater, because in that most spartan of transports we are all laid low; inadequate, and human.

A few words about Pirates

2008-09-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

So I'd like to talk seriously about piracy for a moment.

Piracy is when a crew of men, probably connected with a modern crime syndicate, decide to steal product from a vessel, seize the vessel itself, or take the crew hostage. In modern piracy it is rare that actual murder happens, but injury does occur. Pirates have been known to attack UN relief effort ships. How low is that?

So when a man watches an episode of Lost on his computer, do we really want to call that piracy? I mean, it does stroke the ego, and give us a good laugh, but really? Really?

I can take consolation in that fact that, soon, the older generation will be dead or geriatric., and the silliness of persecuting young innocent "pirates" can be looked back upon as we do upon how our former hippy parents were frowned upon as being dirty, lazy, drugged out do nothings. Or terrorists, even. Many people of our parents generation took part in genuinely violent efforts to save their country from the government they felt was unjust. While they were perhaps naive, and hurt innocent people in the process, I commend their message.

Do what it takes to save your liberties in oppressive times.

Luckily, all our parents had to do to change an entire generation of people was to smoke some pot and listen to some weird music. Similarly, pirates have the simple job of watching movies, playing DRM restricted games (without such restrictions *COUGH*SPORE*COUGH*), and listening to a bit of weird music.

So, I say to you solemnly,
Fuck the RIAA,
Do what you want 'cause a Pirate is free,
and not least of all: God Speed, I salute you.

Here's a few tips:

Pick a bittorrent client

A beginner's guide to bittorrent

How to talk like a pirate

Rambling

2008-06-08T03:37:00.000-07:00

Yup yup, schools over for me in a week. Then it's off to making money and finding stuff to do in my free time.

I'll kind of miss OIT... but I wont miss Klamath Falls in any way.

In other news, Top Ramen is good.

As you can see, I'm already finding stuff to do in my free time.

Poor Soviets

2008-05-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm down the in the school library and we have a big globe map here. It's a map of 1954. A bit outdated, but I really enjoy seeing French West Africa on the map, along with countries like... Korea. Just, Korea. No north or south.

Anyways, the Soviet Union really got screwed over when it fell apart. Over a dozen countries I think, used to be part of it. Hell, they almost used to surround the Caspian Sea. Now look at Russia. But a shadow of it's former self. *sigh* It's sad, I know.

Helvetica

2008-05-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

Helvetica, yes the font. Possibly the most boring subject ever?. Not so. It apparently has an interesting history and large cultural impact in western countries. It was designed in the 50s by the swiss to be neutral, fittingly enough.

There is a documentary on it called Helvetica [imdb page]. I rather enjoyed it.

My sister was made to watch in school and recommended it to me, mostly because it was so unintentionally funny. I've never seen an old man so impassioned about a typeface before. It's inspiring.

"Can you imagine how bracing and thrilling that was? That must have seemed
like you had crawled through the desert with your mouth just caked with filthy
dust and then someone's offering you a clear refreshing distilled icy glass of
water to kind of clear away all this horrible burden of history."

Yes, about the font. I know, it's pretty amazing.