Michael's space

I like a little nonsense in my life

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:21:20 Z

To all my nonsensical friends

The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

All You Zombies Hide Your Faces…

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:43:13 Z

Despite the push for change and the promise of hope, we still have significant hurdles before us as a country and as a global community. We are watching the whole world die, and we’re not doing anything about it.

The economic crisis has not been adequately explained to the multitudes. What the hell does all the economic jargon mean? Most people have no idea what it means when we’re trillions of dollars in debt. Most people don’t understand what it means when house values are falling. Most people don’t understand what it means when the Dow loses 4000 points over a few months.

We have once again left the fate of our world to people who are mostly unaffected by this crisis. Do you think anyone in Congress is going to start car pooling, give up one of their several houses, take a pay cut *gasp*, pack their lunch, cancel their netflix account, turn the thermostat down to 64F, stop flying in private jets, take no vacations?

The answer is a resounding and defiant NO! The people making all of these deals and bailouts are not worrying whether they need to start looking on monster.com for a new, lesser paying job. The people making these decisions are not worried about their jobs being outsourced. The people making these decisions have already made all of their money, and they continue to profit while the rest of the world dies.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am getting more angry by the day. As we see people killing themselves and their families, people living in the streets, people starving and people dying, what are we going to do? There is an answer to every problem, unfortunately, we are not getting any answers, just more problems created by rash and impulsive decisions.

I want congress to stop worrying about Detroit and worry about the rest of the country. I want congress to stop bailing out banks, and start firing the people who’ve caused the economy to sink. I want congress to ensure the American people that this will not happen again. But as we’ve seen and we are seeing, those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. And here we go around the mulberry bush. We are in a depression, so no matter how anyone sugar coats it, We the people are the ones who will ultimately suffer.

We should never allow our country to suffer for the poor decisions of greedy people. The banks who collapsed our economy with sub-prime lending and predatory lending practices should not only be allowed to fail, but they should be investigated and hopefully prosecuted so that it cannot happen again.

the cake is a lie.

Wake up America, no one in Washington truly has your back. We must break this cycle of bipartisan mediocrity. There are answers, there are alternatives. We need someone in Washington to hear our voices and not the voice of your local oil, tobacco or health insurance lobbyist.

Its easy to say “Yes we can”. Its harder to get to the point where we can say, “Yes we did”.

Technorati Tags: politics,economy,president,obama,banks,bipartisan,dow,depression,sorrow

Ontological Postulations

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:05:51 Z

Ontology [n]: the study of the state of being.

Recently, I had a discussion with friends about the ontology of prominent religious icons, namely Jesus, Buddha, Moses and Mohammed. The idea is to show an ontological relationship at a spiritual level, demonstrating the similarities between the disparate religions. Why? Because on the the biggest issues facing our civilization, everyone on this planet, is the perception of differences between races and creeds.

Because I’m a coder, I have encountered Ontology in two separate disciplines, philosophy and computer science. Both are essentially the same, however in computer science Ontology is applied to entities and data, where as from a philosophical perspective it is applied to a general form of objects and concepts in our collective reality. It is very interesting from a coder’s perspective the duality of existing in the philosophical ontology yet creating objects in an information ontology. It all comes down to organizing things into categories of similarity and their relationships to one another, in networked fashion. And furthermore, since i’ve done my fair share of work with artificial neural networks and studied a fair amount of how the brain’s neural connections function, it is fascinating to me how we have been able to “port” ourselves into the world of machines, still artificially. And we can use these neural networks to perform ontological functions, both on the computer and in our brains, demonstrating that the discipline of Ontology is fundamental to intelligent operation.

Back to the prophets. At a high-level, Jesus, Buddha, Moses and Mohammed share a common trait of being the “voice of god” to the rest of us; God being a higher being or a force like the Tao. There are of course many others you could put into this Ontology, such as L. Ron Hubbard. These are the prophet functions and religions form around them, each with a different interpretation of the order of our universe. However, when you get down to it, is there only one fundamental truth and do any of these religions have it right?

So using the Ontology, we can begin to construct a matrix to show where the religions are common and perhaps something new will emerge, because at present we’ve allowed our spiritual differences disrupt the potential for global harmony. Global harmony is absolutely essential for we as the natives of Earth to progress beyond our current states of technology, to learn to harness greater energy sources and truly “slip the surly bonds of earth and touch the face of God”? However, how can we possibly achieve global harmony when we are blowing each other up over bits of dirt and flammable sludge? There are too many irrelevant differences between our respective country, my friends. There is no immediate answer, other than each of us beginning from within and letting a new thing form with open minds and open hearts, hoping for the best.

But, the one thing that I have found in common between the many religions I have studied is that all of them have some variation of the Golden Rule. “Do unto others” which is a pretty good start.

Technorati Tags: ontology,war,jesus,buddha,politics,philosophy,religion

I Know the Pieces Fit, Cuz I Watched them Tumble Down

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:49:41 Z

You know, there’s been a lot of talk about change in our government, how we need a new direction for our country. Unfortunately, what gets lost in the elections is the non-political aspects of life. Everyone gets wrapped up in the Us vs. Them syndrome between Democrats and Republicans. But what about the rest of our daily lives.

What’s going on in the world? Its falling apart, bit by bit. “things fall apart—the center cannot hold” – Yeats
We have a war, economic crisis, famine, disease and a great big helping of apathy. I’ve noticed it on so many levels now. Movies are just a series of remakes now, with very little original work coming out. Music seems to be stuck in a formula. Fiction isn’t really vogue now as we all are obsessed with reality shows. We don’t celebrate holidays like we used to. [Though I’m still hoping for Victorian-style Christmas to return once again] I could go on and on.

One really disturbing trend I’ve seen is the increased violence in our media. Movies are especially cruel and violent now. Lets take the movie “The Strangers” or the “Saw” movies, or even worse, “Hostel” which is based on a true story. All I can really ascertain from this is that we as a society are angry, and we are angry with so many things that we search for something to quell this rage. I didn’t really put two and two together until I found myself at the Nine Inch Nails concert last week, with 50,000 people from my era of music, grunge, screaming “Terrible Lie” at the top of my lungs to an angry, frenetic beat. And i didn’t realize til today, that I’ve been angry too, and I am not sure I know the answer why.

But just because its all falling apart, doesn’t mean it can’t be put back together again. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, that when we are united for a common goal we can achieve anything. But now that the election is over we will go back to our respective lives, slowly becoming discontent with this president, as we invariably do, and then in four more years we will be back into the vicious cycle of he said/she said, negative ad campaigns, and revisiting the same old, unresolved issues we’ve been revisiting for decades. Why not keep the momentum? Why don’t we try to get happy again? These people we elect work for us. It doesn’t really matter who is in there, because the will of the people can make wonderful things happen. Let’s make them do their jobs and make this country a better place. Better than its ever been.

The first step is admitting you/we have a problem. We do have many problems and we can fix them. We are constantly looking for someone to blame, someone to pay, someone to fix it for us. But this just isn’t going to happen. We should stop praying for someone to save us and save ourselves. Its time to start doing and stop theorizing/philosophizing. Stop looking to hold someone accountable, and be accountable.

So today, I leave you with this for your own search for answers:

”And he piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.” – Moby Dick

Are we hunting a white whale?

And remember, “There is no emotion, there is only peace.” – Jedi Orthodox Code [Yeah, sorry, couldn’t help myself]

Waking Dreams

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 16:46:34 Z

“Your guess is as good as mine.” – “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face”/Coldplay

It has actually been very nice the last few days now that the election is behind us. At the end of the day, it really didn’t matter who won because we needed to change, we needed to move on with something brighter than what we’ve seen the last 8 years. Now the question is, are we seeing the twilight or the dawn?

One of the most important aspects of this election, that gives hope, is the fact that it was decisive. There was not ambiguity, there was no real polarization. The entire country raised up in one voice and expected change, needed change, and it happened. Now, I have to admit, that I wasn’t really happy with either candidate. Both had really great strengths and really big weaknesses, in my opinion. President Elect Obama is not very experienced, where McCain was probably too experienced. And the list can go on. But, one major aspect I see is that the country can now begin to heal. The economic turmoil will subside, there’s no reason to believe otherwise. We all were drunk with greed, and it happens to all great civilizations. Hopefully as January rolls around, and we have a new president to provide a vision for us all to believe in, we will see our great country enter the beginning of a new age of enlightenment.

The darkest hour is always right before dawn and I think that hour is now ending. We can get through this together. Step back and look around, what are you doing? Where are you going? What do you want your life to be? It is never too late to make a change, believe in magic again. I believe that things are going to change here, for the better. We just have to believe and be patient, working together to build a new future.

How to Explore the Universe

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:03:53 Z

"As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain. And as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality." -- Albert Einstein

I've spent the last few months watching the History Channel's original series, "The Universe". I really enjoyed it, but its over now. All it really does is create more questions for which there are no answers, not yet, maybe never. I highly recommend that everyone watch it. Its not nearly enough to simply understand that we live on a blue planet floating around a big ball of fire. Its not nearly enough to understand that there are 8 other planets, [yes, 8, for nostalgia's sake], racing around the sun with us. Its not nearly enough to know that you are a small person, microscopic, compared to the vast near infinity of our universe.

I've read the following books, which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in understanding our crazy existence:

The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
Parallel Worlds - Michio Kaku
The Fabric Of the Cosmos - Brian Greene
Relativity - Albert Einstein
On the Shoulder of Giants - Stephen Hawking
Chaos - James Gleick
Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking
God Created the Integers - Stephen Hawking
The Tao of Physics - Fritjof Capra
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tze
What the Bleep Do We Know - Betsy Chasse

And the list continues to grow, as odd as it may seem. Its like an addiction, understanding the universe. Because the more you understand, the more you wonder about where you fit into it all. It really is a puzzle. Science, Religion, Consciousness, Existence. All of it is inexorably linked in time, space and wonder. These are the things I've only just become to know. But how does one start exploring the universe? From within, of course.

Many years ago, a friend of mine handed me a book and told me to read it. I was stressed all the time and allowing petty stupid things to get to me. He reminded me that I was keeping myself from enlightenment. He was right. The book was "Illusions" by Richard Bach. At first, I braced myself for some freaky new age perspective on life. But, I was riveted by the book. I read in in just over 5 hours, cover to cover. I won't ruin it for you, because its a book that simply has to be experienced from a personal perspective. Just read it and let your mind wander through the clouds. Most everyone I've recommended it to ever since, has found varying degrees of advice from the book, once the message sinks in.

What's the message? It's different for each person. For me, it reminded me that there was a time when all of this was much different. We've forgotten that we don't need to be living this way. We haven't remembered that life is not about competing, which is what all of our problems boil down to. We are competing for material things and non-material things, money, land, love. Its really crazy when you think about it in such a general way. Absurd even. I mean, what's the point in shooting someone for something that's not aware that you're even there? A book, a car, a house, they have no bearing on the flow of time and space. They are simply mostly hollow constructs created by the reality engine that is the human condition. We create this world to suit our needs. Physically, mentally and spiritually. This is a simple, undeniable fact -- when you need it to be.

We all move freely through this vast ocean of dark and light energy with stars cresting on the waves of its undulating surface. Gentle and smooth if viewed deistically. The universe is the most beautiful item in all the universe.

So this is where I began. Understanding who I was, and exploring the possibility that there was something more to the notion of creating and understanding my reality.

How can you wake up from a nightmare if you are not asleep?

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 16:38:28 Z

Its interesting how art imitates life. Have you ever been watching a movie or tv and realize that what you are watching is really some reflection of your own life? Not just factors, but its as if the movie was written based on your life? Its an odd experience because when you start to identify with the character, you're thinking to yourself, "Why doesn't he do something?".

So, what is the universe saying to you at that moment? is your attention being brought to something dire? something that could irrevocably change the path of your life? or is it simply a stab at your bad decisions? because, regardless of what you think, you created it. you brought yourself to this particular point of your life. are you living a nightmare?

i've had days where is seems that a chain of events has been set in motion and i am unable to break myself from the cycle. things happening at work, home and my social interactions that cause me great distress. the immediate reaction is to claim that i am being victimized by the cosmos or god. "why me?" of course, the question should not be "why me?" but "why did I do this to me?". If you break the problem down far enough, you'll realize that everything happening to you, good or bad, is completely your choice. you made the choices on the path, and every action simply must have a reaction. fundamental laws of the universe that cannot be sidestepped.

so, where does that leave you, me and the others? we have to learn how to conciously change our paths. we have to learn that we are not victims. the universe is a blank canvas awaiting an idea, a creative thought. we are all creators. why do you think you have free will? free will, as luxurious as it is, also comes with responsibility. if you are free to do what you want, then you are also free to make mistakes. and you made the mistake.

are you getting it yet?

i like fog

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 02:12:51 Z

Tonight the air is warm, very warm for December in Virginia. The red oaks haven't quite dropped all their leaves. There is an light drizzle, coming in odd short intervals, stirring up a thick fog that weaves between the trees like a ghostly stream. The moon has waned to a crest once more, drowned out by the iridescent twinkle of the Christmas lights dangling still from tree limbs and molding. The most interesting aspect of the experience is the dulled silence. Its almost as if the world pauses for a moment to let you take in your surroundings. For me it is like a zen moment, as odd as it sounds. I have rushing memories of all stages of my life; Child, adolescent, adolescent, adolescent [I am male after all]. And It makes me feel young again, content with the paths I've chosen in my life, despite the bumps and turns and all that jazz.

It seems at times I feel that I've grown up too fast, I'm never truly sure of my decisions. At times, I feel like I'm following a dust devil across some vast plain, no particular path, just a wide open field. I feel that I've been weaving this odd web of connections, moving all over the place, trying different jobs, having many different friends and loves. I feel good that I can remember all the people I've interacted with and how I've incorporated something from each of those people into my life. A saying, a joke, a story, a memory. Sometimes, I feel we don't all don't give ourselves enough credit on how wonderful each of us is. Truly the ghost in the machine. The older I get the more I realize that the thought of oblivion is simply absurd. It is easier for their to be nothing than something. The universe and the multiverses have no purpose to exist for without us. Something created all of this stuff. Either it was some high form that willed itself into existence, or we are creating it every day. The ultimate game.

I play a lot of games. Why do we play games? Usually to escape the current life we are in. We either want to escape from something or to something. Games let us be heroes, mutants, angels, demons, magicians, warriors, hobbits, aliens, elves, dwarves and, the coup de gras, we can be human simulations! [Sims 2 is a great game, however, there is something deeply disturbing about playing a game where I have to get a job, do house cleaning, care for virtual babies and kids, not to mention now we can tend pets. Hmmm… I've played this game before. Its called LIFE.] So.. to put it in context, we can never know where we stand in the order of things while we are within the simulation. [s-im-u-la-tion: the construction of a mathematical model to reproduce the characteristics of a phenomenon, system, or process in order to infer information or solve problems] So what problem is the universe solving?

And then we drop into the chaos of fog. Do universes form in the fog?

Try not, do or do not. There is no try

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 01:10:49 Z

Orthodox Jedi Code

There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no chaos: there is harmony.
There is no death; there is the Force.

Source Wikipedia

It is interesting the more I delve into the mysteries of the universe from my own personal perspective. I know I'm not the first to say it, however, there seems to be a converage of science and spirituality on a singular type of force that binds the universe in many ways. It is clear that we cannot fully understand many aspects of the seen universe. There are even more things about the unseen universe that we cannot begin to fathom. Eleven Dimensional space-time; now there's something you can't truly wrap your head around. Uncertainty principle, the fact that we cannot know where electrons are definitively.

But when you start to investigate the truly interesting aspects of the universe, such as string theory and m-theory, you start to notice something almost inconceivable emerge. The notion that we are all connected at the most absolute fundamental level. And, when you go further, you realize that nothing in the universe is at all substantial. Einstein stated that energy and matter are interchangeable. Most of us really didn't begin to understand that. What does that mean? But without getting too far down that topic, it also makes us wondering about our own energy and how it is affecting and affected.

Life is very exciting. It's hard to take a moment to look at it that way. Each day presents a new challenge and we can either despair or learn. We can despair for the dreariness of our lives, or we can learn from our past and move on. We can feel victimized, or we can be in control. It's a very simple thing that we tend to complicate. We are eternal fish swimming from place to place on the waves of energy that is existence. And, it's very simple to see that we've answered our own fundamental questions, but we tend to ignore that the answer is right in front of us. You can float, or you can swim, or you can sink. If you float, letting others drive your destiny, don't complain when you don't end up where you wanted to be. If you swim, charting your own course through the waters of space-time, don't blame anyone but yourself for a wrong turn. And if you sink, refusing to move and pick a path due fear, sloth or stubbornness, you can move whenever you want.

There was no beginning, there is no end. It's hard to conceive. But there are infinite universes, so there are infinite possibilities. So, all you have to do is dream and let the rest unfold.

like trees in november

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 03:01:53 Z

One of my favorite books is "Watership Down" by Richard Adams. I've seen the film many times and read the book twice, in addition to the "Tales from Watership down" published a few years ago. One like that I found particularly memorable was a line spoken by Pipkin. Speaking of the cowslip's warren, he utters these words as a metaphor to describe a general malaise that seemed to overwhelm them while they lunched. And I find it memorable because it's an elegant and pleasant way of describing something unpleasant. The trees were falling into a forced slumber at the hands of Mother Nature.

It's easy to spy this around you even now, as we head past the cold rains of November into the holiday season. I've remembered it this way since I was very young. I have found that there are certain situations, memories that I wish to relive over and over again. Ultimately, I find an opportunity to indulge myself by reliving or reaffirming the memory. One instance I can remember recently was my Monday on my way to work. The sky was overcast, like a day from "The Fall of the House of Usher"; Poe would have enjoyed it. The roads were littered with leaves from the multitude of red oaks in our area. The wind was blowing a devil's wind lightly, leaning the trees with mild force. I could remember days as a boy, traveling through the woods near my house, paper birches and a variety of pines. We would play "Army games" near the wetlands in our sandy, in-ground fort. Wooden rifles, army shovels from the surplus store, flannel shirts and jean jackets, we would play from the minute school was out until we lost our nerve as night fell. Halloween tales of the Jersey Devil still fresh in our minds, we hurried home at twilight.

It seems many people I meet have significant personal experiences tied to Autumn days. What is it about this particular time of year makes each of us reflective? I noticed that I personally tend to become reminiscent just before Halloween, and it lasts until February. And the memories are never unhappy, mostly time when I was a child, like a chapter out of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes." Does it feel the same for you? The smell of leaves, the first fires stirring in chimneys all around and the whispering winds of the seasons.

This past Monday felt a lot like those November day, but instead of playing army I was off to work to deal with technology and office politics, much like being in the sandy fort again with my useless wooden rifle. The warm wet air brushing my jacket aside as I get the mail when I get home and the sun dipping below the houses across the street remind me that I'd better hurry home before it gets dark.

Life in the Matrix

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:29:48 Z

so, how do you like living in the matrix?

when you break it all down, the science, the spirituality, the philosophy, the biology and the realization, the universe that we live in is just one facet of a closed matrix like system. we create it the way we wish, though we don't realize how much control we actually have over it. we resign ourselves to letting the world drive us, instead of us driving the universe. some of us do anyway.

we've been able to described most of the parameters driving our matrix, through quantum and classical physics. we understand that at the base everything is, at its most simple form, energy. those things you think are so solid are actually nothing but an impulse in the fabric of space time, and though it seems solid and immutable, it only lasts for a brief instant in the grand time line.

what does this wall mean? well, that's really a question that only you can answer. really. its not some cop-out, its merely the truth. are you unhappy with your life? you did it to yourself. stop praying for someone to save you and start saving yourself. we're all recovering prisoners, mental patients. we've been told for our entire lives that you can't, you shouldn't, you mustn't. we've also been told that there is no such thing as magic, there's no god above and you're limited by the will of the masses.

this is entirely untrue.

how do you begin to see that you're in the matrix?

you have to want to see beyond your own learned ignorance.

Realists Anonymous

Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:53:48 Z

Its easy to be caught up in the "why me" syndrome. We completely accept that our fate is driven by those around us, often forgetting that we are the ones in control of our destiny.

The universe, god, the force of will, reality, quantum physics… all of this is designed by our own interactions with the stuff of conscious reality. Its easier for each of us to blame the universe, others, god, the devil for our deficiencies and our woes. We rarely just stop and say, "I'm just not going to allow this to happen." Or "I'm going to make this better".

I am a recovering realist. I've allowed myself to be bound by reality for too long, accepting what I perceived as the inevitable. But, once I make the conscious decision to change these things, I can start to see that reality is my tool. If I don't like a situation, I have to think about changing it, focusing on what it is that I want the universe to create for me. There are no predefined paths. Only the paths we forage for ourselves through the wilderness of possibility.

Am I losing my mind?

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 23:11:26 Z

we have so many screwed up things happening in the world.
people rioting because the pope quoted from some text in the 14th century,
people abducting new born children,
deadly spinach,
dateline making better headway with internet predators than the justice department,
al qaeda sneaking around making threats to the pope now,
but don't worry, willie nelson is in louisiana.

where did we go wrong with the world, with the news and the way we treat one another?

what i find even more distressing is the amount of emphasis we are putting on the will of god.
fundamental extremists demanding that one side or the other switch to their respective religion.

there are so many perceptions of god on the planet, so many claim to understand his will. it seems more evident now, more than ever that we simply have no understanding of what god even is. this is such an old argument, but i feel compelled to visit the possibilities based on new scientific theory and deeper understanding of the human condition. aristotle posed the argument of the unmovable mover 2500 years ago, hypothesising about the one object, or being, that started the first movement in all of existence, [not the universe, but in the multitude of universes on past infinity]. this object, or being, simply moved, beginning not only existence, but the very measure of time. this object therefore had the ability to begin time, which suggests control of time. could this be the god particle? or is it the first conciousness, or perhaps the only conciousness? if it exists beyond time, then it exists beyond us, and we can't even imagine what it might be like, the sheer magnatude of it all is well beyond most of us to even begin to question.

so, i find it amusing that we would ever profess to understand anything about god, let alone that he has a will for us to war. the fundamental question here is: what sense does it make for us to kill one another in the name of a being we can't begin to understand?

the raven and the wolf - the parable [revised]

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 21:20:30 Z

the lone gray wolf, seeing only his second autumn, came across a copse of trees hidden deep within the great wood of his ancestors. for eons the wolfs had lived in the wood, following the way began by the lupine gods, the wolven titans now known as the 'dire ones'. he contemplated the words of the elder wolf of his father's blood, warning him not to venture too far beyond the strange rivers of the south. the elder warned of the death hidden in the shadows, creeping closer with each passing of the night mother. he had to stick to the path of the elders to reach his sojourn place.

as he entered the small clearing, amid the trees, he spied a large raven perched upon a boulder in the center of the clearing, feasting on a bat carcass. he could immediately feel the gaze of the raven's large emerald eye, calculating the young wolves movements. the wolf, known to his pack as yip-raal, sat at the edge of the clearing, remembering the stories he'd heard as a cub about the wisdom of the ravens.

'speak, pup,' the raven cawed at yip-raal. 'i see the questions in your eyes.'

the young wolf was rather taken aback by this, meeting a raven who spoke his tongue. he hestitated, studying the odd bird, irritated at being called a pup by such a fragile creature.

'yes, i see your fear as well, swirling in those blue eyes like a pool at the bottom of a waterfall. but you needn't fear me, pup.'

'i am not a pup, friend raven.' yip-raal replied with wolfish sarcasm. 'i am on the path of the sojourn. i have come of age.'

the raven looked down on the wolf continuing as if he didn't speak, 'peace among our kinds is mingled in the dirt at your feet, bloodsoaked, stained with our shadows. he coaked his head to the side, eyeing the wolf more closely, with a palpable feeling of sincerity, glinting in the late day sun. 'however, we too have seen death coming from the lengthening shadows of the harvesting time.'

'what IS this death?' yip-raal growled in an impatient tone. 'i've heard nothing but dreams and myths. the scent is strange to me, this 'unknown' death of which everyone speaks!'

'Kill them all,' the bird croaked in a strange voice, startling the wolf at the abrupt tone and the foreign sounds. the raven flapped his wings to get the wolf's attention once more. 'man, young pup. the men of the south have unleased some new kinds of evils in the world. none which have been seen before.' the raven flapped his wings and leapt to a low-hanging branch of an ancient oak nearer the wolf.

yip-raal sniffed the autumn air, the symphony of scents filling his nose. there was a strangeness to the breeze. the air was cold, causing his skin to twitch beneath his thick gray coat. 'what is this place?' he asked before looking back to the raven, who was swallowing the bottom half of a yellow caterpillar, the other half held to the branch with a clawed foot.

'this is a sacred place to my kind, friend wolf. your questions have allowed you to see it here. only the enlightened may enter this clearing.'

'raven, you are confusing me,' the wolf growled once more with irritation. 'i implore you to speak plainly.'

'yip-raal. that is your name, is it not?' the raven asked before gulping down the other half of the caterpillar.

'that is the name of my childhood. i am nameless until i've returned from the place my ancestors.' the wolf motioned with his head towards the southwest. 'the cliffs of the dire ones.'

'and the quickest path is to cross the forbidden river to the south, into the source of the evil.' the raven nodded sagely. 'you could be back to your pack before the first snowflake hit the tree tops. but, if you take the path of your elders, you will be forced to weather out the winter from shelter to shelter.' the raven shook his head from side to side. 'impatience can be deadly.'

the wolf flicked his tale back and forth quickly in agitation. 'tell me what lies beyond. what is the evil?'

the raven suddenly took flight, heading upwards towards the top of a large cedar. 'come back at first light.'

the wolf growled frustrated after the raven, starting to pace in circles, contemplating.

[to be continued -- these two animals are considered endangered. for more information, click the animal name wolf or raven ]

and so we travel the staircase to hell and back

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 14:42:25 Z

each day one can simply turn on the television and be reminded of the sorrow in the world. each day we remind ourselves of how awful the world is. i find it disturbing that if you take the ratio of good stories to bad stories on the news, you'll find that by and large, we really only want to see the bad stories.

what does this mean? well it means that the world really isn't as terrible as we make ourselves think it is. we thrive on misfortune for some reason. perhaps we are investigating the depths of our mortality. when we look around at the other misfortunes we can say, "thank god that's not me".

however, what is the point? or more importantly, what is my point. we need to be cognizant of the negative thoughts and influences around us. this is not some new age negativity spiel. this is a simple logical thought. negative thoughts surrounding us on a day to day basis will eventually affect us adversely. if we already have a propensity to feel negative, then why continue to surround ourselves with such things?

just my two cents for the day.

just one more thing

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 21:45:16 Z

where did our sense of priorities vanish to?

too many places we have trodden and befallen

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 21:38:23 Z

we urge ever forward, trampling the world beneath our nikes as we move. we are a tempest of hypocrisy. i hate that we cannot reach an common resolution towards our common home. we bicker and twitter amongst ourselves, forgetting it really means nothing. we are as free to move as those around us. we constrain, we chain, we imprison, we occupy. but we aren't truly enabling for the sake of enablement.

can you dig it? a little lost?

too bad. i don't have time to help anyone but myself.

so sad tales we tell amidst the fallen trees

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 21:00:05 Z

intelligent design, while a much more appealing theory than evolution for some, seems to be an act of desperation on the part of the spiritual community. though, in my opinion, it seems as if we've simple down graded god's position in our thoughts. now, god doesn't have to love you. we can't prove this 'god love' we've heard about for centuries. we're returning to an almost roman and greek view of god, or the gods. now god may have created us on a whim, and now, we're unimportant. one can argue this by looking at the general level of unhappiness in the world. god doesn't need to care anymore. perhaps we are nothing more than an intelligent experiment. running in a maze for bits of materialism. and perhaps he is just at a higher level than us in the cosmic chain, observing us until we are no longer remarkable. now we must strive for happiness. perhaps we will find happiness without god, or perhaps we will finally understand god. it is the one mystery we may never solve, but it will keep us occupied for the rest of eternity.

here's an interesting experiment for us mice, if we could do it with an unwavering confidence in the data we collect. to simply poll a random sample from the world population, and ask," are you really happy?"

if you were to break it all down into a scale from 1 through 8 and we span the range of major emotions, collecting a rating for each at a random interval throughout the day, we could eventually start to seen trends in the data, perhaps even down to a particular day, possibly hour by hour. over time, the algorithm could then start predicting your current or future mood for the day, perhaps giving you the opportunity to do something to counteract negative emotions. "user, you are going to be angry in 2 minutes 23 seconds. please determine risk mitigation."

that would be down right creepy. soon, the computer could very well be telling us what to do. completing the cycle. extending our reality to an automated personal assistant. we could see passed the surface, into the smokey depths of the realms of Id. can we discover what our primitive mind is thinking behinds the bars of morality and sanity?

intelligent design: the cheshire cat smiles

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 00:14:29 Z

Quote

‘Intelligent design’ faces first big court test - Science - MSNBC.com

this is all so radically hippocritical on the part of the evolutionists. how can they fight intelligent design when it is no less viable than evolution.

dum dee dum dum dum

between coffee and sleep

Fri, 25 Feb 2005 23:39:27 Z

sometimes we ponder what the purpose of all this is. that first cup of coffee in the morning is the best. that moment before you fall off into a deep restful slumber is equally as good. what do you do between those two things?

i do everything i possibly can. somedays i think i want to do something different, so usually i pick up a new hobby. one can never have too many hobbies. some would easily argue that you can only do a few things well. of course, I would answer, you are only limited by what your imagination and will. a writer once said, if you want to fly, just learn to do it. its like anything else. we take so many things for granted between coffee and sleep. sometimes i am guilty of being caught up in the minutia of the day. money, its a drag. there are those that say, "we are destroying the planet, save it now! do something!", as they drive down the road in a new hummer. there are those that say, "we must save us from ourselves. you cannot make the decisions, we must do it for you.", on their way to meet their mistress for a drink at the local pub.

what does all this mean? probably nothing. its probably safe to say, for the most part, we are all hypocrites in our own individual way. "sheeple" as i heard one day. its seems very appropriate, and i'm sure orwell would approve. we could ask ourselves what animal we represent, and more often than not, you find that you are all of them, depending on the situation. "What a piece of work is man!", and he delights me not. we try to make ourselves look more than we are. IM IN CONTROL! aren't I? there are so few people truly in control of their lives. but not because they are any more special that you or me. if you want something, you just have to do it. nothing, NOTHING, is free. you are owed nothing, and you owe nothing. the simple fact is, there is no purpose. if you are here, live. stop looking for purpose to the point you are blind. the purpose is merely to BE.