Warpfish Stories

Offered for contemplation...

jhan@warpfish.com — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:39:01 GMT

An article from the Economist, included here because I think it's in the paid section. Offered for contemplation, from those who wish to about the evolution of literacy in a digital age.

Here's a line that stood out for me: In Mr Federman’s view, the quest for truth has given way to the quest for making sense of the world as experienced.

From literacy to digiracy

THE Macintosh has a lot to answer for. The first time your correspondent clapped eyes on its graphical user interface (GUI), he realised the game was up. The use of icons instead of written words seemed the final admission that we had given up trying to read and write, and had entered a post-literate age.

The Apple Macintosh wasn’t the first computer to have a GUI based on windows, icons, menus and pointing devices (known collectively as “wimp”). Back in the early 1970s, Xerox pioneered most of the wimp features with its legendary Alto personal computer for researchers, and later its Star computer for office use.

But Apple brought the dumbed-down pictorial interface to the rest of the world. And once Microsoft followed suit, by grafting a friendly Windows face on its crusty old MS-DOS operating system, it became the norm.

No question, without a wimpy GUI, computers would never have become as popular as they are today. The command-line interface—with its forbidding prompt and blinking cursor—required mastering a whole catechism of arcane instructions that only a priesthood of computerdom could cherish.

When “root@computername:~# shutdown -h now” could be replaced by a simple click of a mouse to switch off a computer, novices of all ages and backgrounds could climb aboard the digital bandwagon.

The flight from literacy to digiracy didn’t stop there. The printed word has fought a rear-guard action against not only computers and television, but also a whole horde of digital upstarts from DVDs and video games to mobile phones, iPods, YouTube and now the mobile internet. Meanwhile, newspapers, magazines and books have faded to shadows of their former selves, as a post-literate generation finds its facts and fun elsewhere.

According to Mark Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University and author of “The Dumbest Generation”, leisure reading among American 15-to-17-year-olds fell from 18 minutes a day in 1981 to seven in 2003. Electronic media, of one sort or another, now occupy every spare moment.

Mr Bauerlein fears that, far from opening new vistas for learning and awareness, digital technology has fostered a level of public ignorance that now threatens not just our competitive wellbeing but our democracy as well.

To some extent, government statistics bear him out. Proficiency scores in reading, writing, science and mathematics for American teenagers in their last year of high school all fell between 1992 and 2005. Only one in three children left high school able to read proficiently. Only one in four could write a coherent paragraph.

Cultural observers bemoan the way electronic media—with their demand for spectacle and brevity—have shortened our attention spans. But as a blogger on Eastgate.com noted recently, that equates brevity with debased taste, and sees patience for long stories as a mark of high culture. But if brevity is to be deplored, what should we make of haiku, sonnets, and ink-brush calligraphy?

On the other side of the coin, lengthy sagas are not the sole prerogative of the literary elite. Pop culture has its share of huge tales—witness the Harry Potter canon. Indeed, for every pared-down presentation pumped out by the electronic media, an engaging narrative can be found.

None more so than Michael Straczynski’s television masterpiece, “Babylon 5”—a single narrative, conceived, written and produced essentially by one person, spanning 80 hours of performance spread over five years. That’s the equivalent of 40 full-length feature films, or a handful of books by Dickens.

Literacy may be under attack from electronic media, but that’s actually nothing new. In fact, the assault on the written word began not with the Macintosh computer in 1984, but with Samuel Morse’s demonstration of the telegraph in 1844—an innovation a colleague on The Economist insists, quite correctly, on calling the “Victorian internet”.

In an essay on why Johnny and Janey can’t read (and why Mr and Ms Smith can’t teach), Mark Federman of the McLuhan Programme in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto, argued that the telegraph was the first to “undo” the effects of the written word.

Where the phonetic alphabet separated the sound of a word from its meaning; and encoded that sound in symbols we call letters; and combined those symbols into hierarchical groupings called words, sentences, paragraphs and, ultimately, books; the telegraph recombined those symbols with sound—enabling the instantaneous transmission of information from person to person across vast distances.

If the telegraph was the starting point, Mr Federman reckons we are probably half way through a 300-year transition out of the world of mass literacy. That world began when Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press in 1455, and gave birth along the way to the Reformation, the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment, the Scientific Method, and finally the Industrial Revolution—not to mention the modern era of newspapers, universal education and, yes, mass literacy.

Why 300 years? Because that’s how long it takes to reform social institutions. It’s the period needed for a generation to cease hearing about the way things used to be done from great-grandparents, who had heard about such things from their own great-grandparents.

So, where in this brave new world of post-literacy are we heading? Er, not sure...

What little we know is that our sources of trusted wisdom are eroding fast. When academics pay to have their findings published, invent results or ignore conflicting data to keep a sponsor’s money flowing, it’s hard to view our learned institutions as sources of reliable information.

Nowadays, we seem to put greater faith in the wisdom of crowds. Hence our trust of Google, which ranks a web page by how many other pages are linked to it, and how many other searchers view the page in question. In doing so, we prize the confidence of our peers above that of experts.

In Mr Federman’s view, the quest for truth has given way to the quest for making sense of the world as experienced. For anyone under the age of 20, the world being experienced is one where the internet has always existed, and where everyone who matters is only a click, speed dial or text message away. “Tomorrow’s adults,” says Mr Federman, “live in a world of ubiquitous connectivity and pervasive proximity.” Their direct experience of the world is wholly different from yours or mine.

So, no surprise that when we incarcerate teenagers of today in traditional classroom settings, they react with predictable disinterest and flunk their literacy tests. They are skilled in making sense not of a body of known content, but of contexts that are continually changing.

Teachers must recognise that our pedagogical tools are inconsistent with the skills needed to survive in a world where people are always connected to everyone and everything. In such a world, learning to think for oneself could well be more important than simply learning to read and write.

Everybody keeps drinking the kool-aid...

jhan@warpfish.com — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:04:12 GMT

Everybody knows drinking the kool-aid is bad, but, they keep on drinking it because of all the time they've already invested in drinking it. Until the entire system grinds to a halt.

Analysis: appeals court unlikely to fix software patent mess

This is a serious problem in the software industry, and I think anybody who actually works on software thinks software patents were a bad idea. The only people who don't are people hoping to make a quick buck on it -- but, it's now gotten so complicated, there's no guarantee of success (see what happened to SCO), and so, only the lawyers profit from it.

The scary thing for me to read is that, if this analysis is correct (and it certainly seems correct) is that everybody involved (other than the IP trolls) realize that this is a horrible idea, that the end result is only going to be that the entire I.T. industry seizes up -- but nobody wants to pull the trigger on the concept, because of all the sunk costs, even though the only end result can be disaster, because they keep hoping for some miracle that will let them be king of the castle in the end.

*shakes head* And, in the meantime, my ability to do my job just gets harder and harder and harder.

Always two sides to the story...

jhan@warpfish.com — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:53:39 GMT

A followup to the Drew article that I posted earlier today:

Experts Say MySpace Suicide Indictment Sets 'Scary' Legal Precedent

This may be the perfect example of the difference between law and justice, and what happens when there's a chance somebody might sneak through the cracks.

Still having trouble coding...

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:48:19 GMT

Still having trouble coding, which means I spend too much time reading Internet posts.

Lori Drew Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case -- Updated -- the things people do to each other
Report: Government's Cyber Security Plan Is Riddled With New Spying Programs -- is anybody surprised? Really? While it's about time that governments figure out that the Internet infrastructure is now as vital to national security as the highway system or the telephone network, is anybody really surprised there's more stuff in there than just securing networks, and that they're going to pay too much for it? It's the government.

This last one I've included here, because I want a copy of it no matter what happens.

Selling Your Life For A Quarter at a Time by Tim Barcz

Look at the things you have on right now. Your shirt, your shoes, you pants, and maybe your watch. Do you remember the day you got them? Do you remember some meaningless details about that day and/or the time when you got them. For me, the watch I wear, was a huge purchase. It's a GPS capable watch that I use when running. I remember buying it and having it delivered to my brother's house in Arizona because I was going to be running a marathon the next day and I wanted to have the watch for it.

I'm asking you these questions and telling you about one specific example for me, because just the other day, I saw one of the saddest things I think I've seen in awhile.

I live on a quiet cul de sac. We have varied ages of people in our neighborhood. Newlyweds to retirees, young bachelors to single elderly women. Occasionally my wife will bake something and we'll take it across the street to two separate elderly people who live alone, who we've taken it upon ourselves to greet, spoil with food, and help when needed. One in particular, Carl, is friendly as can be. Carl is 94, living on his own, and his mind is sharp. I used to see him walking every day. He would walk from his house to a bridge nearby and back, the equivalent of maybe 100-150 yards.

About a week ago, my wife and I noticed a lot of commotion at Carl's house. We wondered to ourselves what was going on. A day later, a "For Sale by owner" sign was up. When we questioned one of the people at Carl's house, we found out "Carl had a relapse." Having no idea "relapse" meant for Carl, we inferred that he was now in a nursing home or some sort of assisted living.

Last Saturday we again noticed a lot of people over at Carl's house. This time though there was a new sign out front in addition to the "For Sale by owner", this one read "Tag Sale". Sarah and I walked over and looked through the garage and then followed some other patrons into the house. I was somewhat suprised at what I saw. Everything was in it's place, where Carl had presumably left it. Only now, on each item there was a piece of masking tape indicating a price. We looked around, feeling odd the whole time. The difficult part for me was entering Carl's room. There in his closet, a nice suit, for a few bucks. Shoes, nice, black, obviously cared for by their shining exterior were on sale for 50 cents. There on the shelf in the closet, a hat. The kind of hat you don't see anymore and only seems appropriate on men over 70 years old. The same hat I see my grandfather wearing to church on Sunday mornings in pictures. The hat, a mere 25 cents.

I didn't purchase anything, it didn't feel right. And after visiting the bedroom, I wanted to leave. There were plenty of other people there, eating up the good deals, not slowing enough realize their good deals were someone's life being liquidated. It was just all too sad, that somewhere, Carl was "relapsing", away from the home he's lived in for years, away from his things, which were being sold for a quarter at a time.

How tired geeks view the world...

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:26:27 GMT

I'm catching up on the world (and, as always, there seems to be a ton of crap to catch up on), when this headline from Slashdot caught my eye:

IBM Touts Supercomputers for the Enterprise

First thought: "Oh, I wonder if it's some sort of product placement deal for the new Star Trek film."

Then: "No, that can't be right, it must be some sort of aircraft carrier upgrade."

Then: "Oh geeze, I wonder if there really is some sort of NASA deal going on here. I didn't think spaceships needed that much computing power..."

Then a pause for about thirty seconds as my tired brain tries to find a gear before I start reading the article. "Oh. THAT Enterprise."

Whoops.

This is why, even though I desperately need to code as much as possible to stay afloat, I rarely write anything useful before lunch.

Scratch My Back with a Hacksaw

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:49:40 GMT

The best lines from Mike Lange, calling the Pittsburgh Penguins, on the TSN Top Ten. With a shoutout to meganbnl on this one....: NHL: Top 10 Mike Lange Calls

I really like the "beat him like a rented mule" line. (8-)

The Big Red Switch

jhan@warpfish.com — Wed, 14 May 2008 03:50:43 GMT

The Big Red Switch aka the Big Red Mushroom of Death.

It's an icon of machine rooms everywhere, the big red button, sometimes under a protective case, sometimes not, that's meant to kill power in the room or activate the fire extinguishers in an emergency. I've never had reason to slam the button. But somebody here did: The Big Red Switch really was big and red -- and yes, I do get a small feeling of awe that somebody actually had a chance to hit the button for a legitimate reason. I think it's part of the geek code.

The End of Everything

jhan@warpfish.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:49:38 GMT

The End of Everything

What I find most interesting about this article isn't the projected end of everything (which is very interesting), but the comments below, mostly of people who really can't or won't deal with the idea that everything eventually ends. Not just the usual religious line of arguments, but claims that the physics is flawed, that human technology would find a way to have humanity survive, basically hanging their hat on any possible explanation, any possible belief that the universe will not end in endless darkness.

Now maybe the theory is right, maybe it isn't -- how the universe ends evolves as a theory, just like most everything else in science. Regardless, watching people fear the darkness, that brings me comfort in the sense that I know other people share my fears. But it also makes me very uneasy because, as I've alluded to in other posts, we have to deal with the world as it is, not the way we want it to be. Getting through life successfully is tough enough as it is; we make it that much tougher when we lie to ourselves.

Edited to add: A commenter pointed out that the main issue with this article may not be the knowledge it presents, but the fact that it's counter-intuitive and not well supported. I can't do much about the counter-intuitiveness (the science involved at this level IS counter-intuitive, as anybody who's dealt with either quantum mechanics or general relativity even at a lay level will know), but I can add some support here from some quick research. I just grabbed some articles from Wikipedia; people can google this stuff if they want the horrific details.

The Decline of a Constituency

jhan@warpfish.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:40:10 GMT

What most people ignore, especially the "white, blue collar" people involved, is that the concept of the traditional 9-5, 35 year corporate manufacturing job is disappearing from the Western world. It's a harsh reality, especially to the people caught up in the wave of change who all of a sudden find themselves with obsolescent or obsolete skills, but this has been the way things have been going since the 80s, and they will fight that change with all their power, holding the clock back, blaming anything and everything except harsh reality.

It's denial, because you can't fight reality -- you can only accept it. The thing is, the sooner you accept reality, the sooner you can DO something about it, as opposed to making it worse when reality finally kicks your ass. (For example, if the Transmission plant in Windsor had taken the opportunity several years to shut down and re-tool for a year, they might be in a position to produce these new generation transmission that GM needs -- but, if I remember events correctly, the union fought the layoffs that would have required, and so, now the entire plant is gone.)

Economies evolve. Countries evolve. This may be the last hurrah of the manufacturing sector as a power broker in politics, but, it's a hurrah of the 20th Century, not the 21st Century. Much as how the power of the rural vote is only preserved by current districting schemes and agricultural subsidies, the manufacturing sector will (if it hasn't already), become a very loud vocal minority, but a minority nonetheless, their power only preserved by government action.

What worries most about this isn't aid to manufacturing sectors -- I think a core manufacturing sector SHOULD be preserved at all costs, for strategic reasons if nothing else -- but it's what people might do to aid the manufacturing sector at the expense of the rest of us. You can work with a delusion quite a while until it turns around to kick you in the butt, and a lot of damage can happen in that time. George W. Bush's foreign policy stands as a great example of that.

Always Prepared to Fight the Last War

jhan@warpfish.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:26:20 GMT

Gates Wants Weapons to Be Useful in Current Conflicts

Which means the next war is going to be a massive conventional conflict where U.S. Army soldiers are going to be carrying small arms trying to stop enemy armour in an unfriendly sky.

*shakes head* Read your history, Mr. Gates.

Random Links

jhan@warpfish.com — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:54:25 GMT

Paranoia is universal -- an article about the supposed actions of secret German agents in World War 2: The Germans are coming!
Birth Clock -- I find the concept behind this sculpture fascinating. Though, I wonder what the karma value is if you break the sculpture, and the clock doesn't start. I once had the karmic centre of my universe shut down and get turned into a Swiss Chalet, which really doesn't do good things to your outlook of the world. Luckily, it was over 10 years ago, and I've pretty much gotten over it. Well, mostly. (8-)

A Bad Day for Video Review

jhan@warpfish.com — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:52:45 GMT

You live with bad calls when you play sports. You deal with it. You have to deal with it, because referees and judges are human beings too. But, because leagues recognize they are human beings, they put in systems like video review, to try and catch the worst mistakes.

The thing is, video review judges are human too.

There was one during the Pittsburgh/Philadelphia game which was done correctly according to the rules, but, I think it was the wrong call. Logically, if you could see the puck poking out the end of the trapper, and the trapper is over the red line, then the puck must be way over the red line, as the trapper is 16" long and the puck only 3" long. But, according to the rule book, you need to see it conclusively in order to overturn the call on the ice. Therefore, it was the right call. Logically, however, it wasn't. (Consider this a non-threatening example of the difference between 'law' and 'justice.')

But the really bad one was yesterday's U.S. / Finland game, where Finland was awarded a goal when it was obvious the puck had gone in through the SIDE of the net. It was about as conclusive evidence as you could get, and the call on the ice ("Goal") still stood. Even some of the Finnish players, after they saw the replay, shook their heads and wondered how they got away with that one. At least the IIHF owned up to it, and fired the replay judge after the game.

But man, at the international level -- you would like to think your judges are a little more competent than that. It's already risky enough that a mistaken call made in the heat in the moment could decide games -- adding mistakes born of sheer ignorance or incompetence is just asking for trouble.

Moral of the story: there is no such thing as perfection. And no matter what systems you put in place to deal with human frailty, as long as there's a human being anywhere in the loop, mistakes are going to be made.

Leadership and Character

jhan@warpfish.com — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:20:56 GMT

As this is an equal opportunity Live Journal: Why McCain could win the White House

What I think about most of all is item 4, the subject of race. Whether you want to admit it or not, it's an issue. It's the silent 800lbs gorilla in the room. Now, I'm not going to get into an argument about it right now -- I'm not even sure I'm even qualified to discuss it, given that I'm a member of a 'third party' as it were. (Or, perhaps, that makes me the most qualified to discuss it, as I've been both discriminated for and against. Anyway.)

The one thing I've always wondered about, is whether or not the United States is emotionally and intellectually mature enough to accept a leader who's not a white male? I've read Blink. What I think of most is of the study of Orchestra conductors, how results skewed toward 50-50 in terms of gender profile only when auditions became blind, and that, consistently, it wouldn't have been 'gender' that was a reason why a candidate wasn't selected, but power, poise, emotional response of there music. These are similar to those undefinable factors that go into that magical word 'leadership' which is important in a candidate, and yet is so hard to judge. It's almost an excuse word, in a way, justifying lack of support for those you hate, and justifying support for those you love, even if there is very little objective evidence backing your point of view.

You see it all the time in sports -- is Sean Avery a leader of his team or an annoying pest? Hell, is Sidney Crosby a leader, or a crybaby? I think fans and sports athletes would have differing opinions, especially on differing teams in differing cities.

So, what I'm worried about is this -- once again, this won't be an issue election. This is going to be a character, leadership election. This is going to be an 'excuse' election. And the United States can't afford that, right now. Not if you want to do something more than muddle through the next four years, like you've muddled through the last eight.

Keyboard Pants...

jhan@warpfish.com — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:18:51 GMT

Keyboard Pants

*shakes head*

sigh

jhan@warpfish.com — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:47:04 GMT

Burma junta claims UN aid as its own

You know, I shouldn't care, as long as something gets somewhere. But you know that not all the aid is being distributed, and it's being done haphazardly. You know that it's being done to further the purposes of a political regime that has already demonstrated how ruthless they will be to ensure their own survival.

And I've always, always had a pet peeve involving people who take credit for other people's hard work or generosity. It demonstrates complete lack of respect for what other people have done, and it just freaking drives me batty.

Showing respect is obviously not one of the government of Burma's / Myanmar's strong points.

I've read a lot of yucky things in this life...

jhan@warpfish.com — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:03:59 GMT

I've read and seen a lot of bad things in this life. Thankfully, much more of the read than the seen. And when you read history, you know there are tons of ways for human beings to hurt each other.

But on the list of things that have happened in my lifetime, the actions of the Myanmar/Burmese government have to rank pretty damn freaking low.

UN suspends aid to Burma

The headline is somewhat misleading -- the UN has suspended aid, but that's because the military government in the region has confiscated all supplies and equipment already in the ground, is refusing outside experts and volunteers to come in, and is saying the 'best way the aid can be distributed is through our own military.'

And what reports that are getting out (which aren't many, because of the control the junta has on the press and on the regions) is that very little of the stuff is being distributed; most of the aid is aiding the military in maintaining control of the country.

I think I just added a bunch of people to my "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" list...

Fair play still exists

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:05:51 GMT

Fair play still exists, and thank God for that. Thanks to intenselaura for tossing this my way...

Opponents carry injured home run hitter around the bases

I needed a reminder of this truth: "It is still a beautiful world, for all the evil in it. Let us not lose sight of that, no matter how dark the future may seem."

One of the reasons why I continue to play music...

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:01:25 GMT

Sometimes, it's hard to play music (or do any sort of art thing), when you see the real professionals and talented amateurs do it, and you think "Sweet Jesus, why the hell do I bother? I'm never going to be that good."

Today, however, I saw something on a friend's blog, which reminded me that even professional musicians like BNL can't do everything perfectly in a single take. Though, after seeing the Double Dippers show on S&D 3, you would think I would have been reminded of this earlier. (8-)

Keep playing, performing, dancing and singing. In the end, it's not about what other people think of what you do -- it's about what you think of what you do.

Why I Don't Work For Myself

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:17:55 GMT

People at various times over the past ten years have asked why I don't go into business for myself. I've always taken it as a compliment, that the people involved think that I've somehow got the intelligence and drive and discipline to work for myself.

But I've always known inside that I'm missing some key skills to make it work. And reading this (Entrepreneurship - A Reckoning) only underlies it even more. I can't market myself or products very well, I don't disseminate very well, and I just lack the idealism that an entrepreneur needs to get off the ground. My ability to see potential problems and adjust course accordingly works great when you're an I.T. manager, but, you need a certain willful blindness when working for yourself. Otherwise, the stress of knowing most businesses implode in the first 5 years will just kill you.

Why You Don't Cheat

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:35:14 GMT

Ex-Patriots Assistant Sends the N.F.L. Eight Tapes

Having signals analysis like this is an advantage, but not decisive. Even if you had perfect knowledge of the play coming next, you would still have to execute -- and, if you guessed perfectly two or three times in a row, odds are the opposing team would do something about it and adjust. It's important to note that, as far as I know, no coach of a team that the Patriot's spied on believed that knowledge of signals was the deciding factor in their games.

Regardless though, this was against league rules. Now that there's growing evidence that the Patriots cheated here, the question is where else they might have cheated?

This stupid act of arrogance (why cheat if the advantage won't be decisive) will forever tarnish Belichick's accomplishments, because you don't know what the hell else he might have done. You will always have to wonder if he really is the great football coach that everybody thought he was, or if he was just more ruthless than the rest?

Agree to Disagree

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:24:14 GMT

You know, if a group of people can't frigging come to a compromise over a UI function in a stupid IM program, how the bloody hell can we achieve compromise on anything else?

Pidgin Controversy Triggers Fork

This is coming up again...

jhan@warpfish.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:22:57 GMT

This is coming up again and again, and now that it looks like Obama is going to be the nominee, I strongly suspect efforts to spread this are going to double.

The only real way to fight bad information is with good information. The problem is, it's easy to smear somebody with a single line, and the proof of innocence might be many pages long. Doubly hard if people want to believe the bad information, whether out of prejudice, willful ignorance, or actual malicious intent, and so won't take the time to consider proof, because it's obviously 'false and misleading.'

Report: Hoax Anti-Obama E-Mails Still Fool Dumb White Guys

Hopefully, I'm wrong about this -- that this will be a campaign fought on important issues, like the military and foreign policy and the economy. The last two Presidential elections were about character, and, the person with the 'better' character won -- and where is the United States now? Character is no replacement for actual competence.

Emergency Party Button

jhan@warpfish.com — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:13:25 GMT

Emergency Party Button

Just push the big red button. Well, okay, watch the guy push the big red button.

You know you want to....

Hidden Agendas...

jhan@warpfish.com — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:58:08 GMT

Harper Tories refuse to discuss international push to have Canada enrich uranium

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me a hundred times...?

Another issue the Harper government has decided they know better than Canadians in general. What I don't get is why they even try to keep most of this stuff secret -- 9 times out of 10, it'll get out, somehow.

Of course, with the Liberals effectively leaderless right now (damnit Dion, grow a freaking pair), there really isn't much alternative to Harper right now. Layton seems to have calmed down again, but, I admit I'm governed by my fears in this case, remembering Bob Rae's thought that "We learned too late that the politics of opposition are not the same as the politics of government. The politics of protest are not the politics of power." And I'm not convinced Layton understands that.

Justice

jhan@warpfish.com — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:49:34 GMT

Cyclone food aid scarce I was raised believing that good is stronger than evil, and that good will always win.

Of course, I grew up and realized that definitions of good, evil, and win are flexible. I realized that human beings in their pursuit of those definitions will mess up even if they have reasonably coherent definitions of all three terms. That, for the most part, we human beings on this planet are guided by moral context and relative thought, even if we believe that what we believe is absolute truth.

It made for a much darker viewpoint of the world. In particular, for me, for a man who believes in an omnipotent, omniscient God, it's hard to deal with the idea that regimes like Burma/Myanmar's continue to exist, that there's a meaning, a reason for that much suffering to have a beneficial existence for all of humanity. Or other countries; I recently read about stuff going on in the Congo that made my teeth grit. Or other time periods; history is full of examples of human suffering created by greed, fear, and stupidity.

It's one of the things I constantly wrestle with in terms of my relationship with God. I don't get His sense of justice both in the large and the small. The only way I've been able to reconcile things in my own mind is to guess that He just wants us to figure things out on our own, that it's up to us to find a path to Him. The authority of free will comes with the responsibility of free will. There is no such thing as 'chosen people' or 'belief system.' These are structures people put into place to insulate themselves from the consequences of their actions. No, there is simply us, our choices, our responsibilities, our consciences. And whatever consequences that come, either in this life or the next, either secular or sacred.

I, personally, wouldn't have it any other way. I've quoted in the past that I would rather damn myself to hell then be condemned to heaven. And nothing over the past several years has changed that sentiment.

But there are days, there are days, where I get very tired and very sad and wish God would just wave a magic wand and fix all this crap. For myself, for my family, for my friends, for people I know, for strangers, for the world in general.

Warpfish Stories

Offered for contemplation...

Everybody keeps drinking the kool-aid...

Always two sides to the story...

Still having trouble coding...

How tired geeks view the world...

Scratch My Back with a Hacksaw

The Big Red Switch

The End of Everything

The Decline of a Constituency

Always Prepared to Fight the Last War

Random Links

A Bad Day for Video Review

Leadership and Character

Keyboard Pants...

*sigh*

I've read a lot of yucky things in this life...

Fair play still exists

One of the reasons why I continue to play music...

Why I Don't Work For Myself

Why You Don't Cheat

Agree to Disagree

This is coming up again...

Emergency Party Button

Hidden Agendas...

Justice

sigh