"Make Up" or "Make Believe"
Posted on 2007-01-21 at 15:07
There too he sculptured a broad fallow field
Of soft rish mould, thrice ploughed, and over which
Walked many a ploughman, guiding to and fro
His steers, and when on their return they reached
The border of the field the master came
To meet them, placing in the hands of each
a goblet of rich wine. Then turned they back
Along the furrows, diligent to reach
Their distant end. All dark behind the plough
The ridges lay, a marvel to the sight.
Like the field in the quote above from Homer's Illiad, these women are made into an image of beauty. It is not the dirt in the field we find beautiful nor the woman under the makeup, but rather it is the beauty, even the dignity, that our culture bestows on them that makes them pleasing to us. Aesthetic beauty and moral beauty are not easily distinguished. Like the education of our children, we move purposefully from a natural to a cultural state. It's what we do. We transform nature. We make it in our self-image as we perceive it, and when it gets too hard to do on our own, we ask for help---from ploughmen, makeup artists, painters...and each other.
I was leaving the building for the day. A co-worker was leaving at the same time. When we saw each other standing up, we gave our daily good bye's, put on our coats and left our cubes. Hollywood would have the decency to fade to black at this point, but real life is not so interested in transforming nature. No, we'd said all that needed saying. We both got up and left. Problem is, we both went the same way. So now, we are walking to the parking lot together in an awkward silence. No script was prepared. No protocol readied us for the silent walk out. I said, "So it's not so easy to get rid of me, is it?" We laughed. The moment was rescued from reality and given a cultural context---hence a beauty. As a species, we don't like ugly.
So, what does it mean to say someone is a human? I suppose it depends on who you ask, but I would argue that we are not merely complex bipedal mammal. Being human is more than that. It's about stopping to enjoy a warm fire in a winter chill, it's about having a dream, seeking out the things that are pleasing. Being human is about enjoying the beauty that we, each of us, adds to the world in which we live. I could be crass about the Hollywood makeovers in the video above, but I think I'll just be grateful to the directors, the artists, designers, scriptwriters, and air-brushers who are trying to give us a little bit more beautiful world than the one in which we find ourselves. I don't see anything wrong with that.
LSD and the Zen of Art
Posted on 2007-01-14 at 13:28
The U.S. Government does research on it's citizens with some regularity. We know this. Some of thos experiments are on willing subjects. This is about one of those.
In the late 1950s, the government performed an experiment on an artist. Given a dose of LSD 25, the artist was encouraged create art. The result was a series of 9 drawings, with accompanying notes. The subject of the artwork was the doctor who gave the artist the LSD. Following is a journey into the mind of the artist as he moved through several stages of drug euphoria.
First drawing is done 20 minutes after the first dose (50ug).
An attending doctor observes - Patient chooses to start drawing with charcoal.
The subject of the experiment reports - 'Condition normal... no effect from the drug yet'.
85 minutes after first dose and 20 minutes after a second dose has been administered (50ug + 50ug)
The patient seems euphoric.
'I can see you clearly, so clearly. This... you... it's all ... I'm having a little trouble controlling this pencil. It seems to want to keep going.'
2 hours 30 minutes after first dose.
Patient appears very focus on the business of drawing.
'Outlines seem normal, but very vivid - everything is changing colour. My hand must follow the bold sweep of the lines. I feel as if my consciousness is situated in the part of my body that's now active - my hand, my elbow... my tongue'.
2 hours 32 minutes after first dose.
Patient seems gripped by his pad of paper.
'I'm trying another drawing. The outlines of the model are normal, but now those of my drawing are not. The outline of my hand is going weird too. It's not a very good drawing is it? I give up - I'll try again...'
2 hours 35 minutes after first dose.
Patient follows quickly with another drawing.
'I'll do a drawing in one flourish... without stopping... one line, no break!'
Upon completing the drawing the patient starts laughing, then becomes startled by something on the floor.
2 hours 45 minutes after first dose.
Patient tries to climb into activity box, and is generally agitated - responds slowly to the suggestion he might like to draw some more. He has become largely none verbal.
'I am... everything is... changed... they're calling... your face... interwoven... who is...' Patient mumbles inaudibly to a tune (sounds like 'Thanks for the memory). He changes medium to Tempera.
4 hours 25 minutes after first dose.
Patient retreated to the bunk, spending approximately 2 hours lying, waving his hands in the air. His return to the activity box is sudden and deliberate, changing media to pen and water colour.
'This will be the best drawing, Like the first one, only better. If I'm not careful I'll lose control of my movements, but I won't, because I know. I know' - (this saying is then repeated many times).
Patient makes the last half-a-dozen strokes of the drawing while running back and forth across the room.
5 hours 45 minutes after first dose.
Patient continues to move about the room, intersecting the space in complex variations. It's an hour and a half before he settles down to draw again - he appears over the effects of the drug.
'I can feel my knees again, I think it's starting to wear off. This is a pretty good drawing - this pencil is mighty hard to hold' - (he is holding a crayon).
8 hours after first dose.
Patient sits on bunk bed. He reports the intoxication has worn off except for the occational distorting of our faces. We ask for a final drawing which he performs with little enthusiasm.
'I have nothing to say about this last drawing, it is bad and uninteresting, I want to go home now.'
You can read more about the government's experimentation with LSD here.
Relax. Don't Think. Enjoy.
Posted on 2007-01-13 at 20:38
Click play. You're welcome.
The Boss-Man Watcheth
Posted on 2007-01-12 at 08:41
So, I just found out the boss-man has read my blog...but like on whim because he was bored. D'oh! Well, hopefully he's a fan of egregious cursing, incessant rambling, and the occasional mad llama.
Dear Mr. President
Posted on 2007-01-10 at 20:20
I am deeply concerned about the signing statement that you issued on December 20, 2006, regarding H.R. 6407, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. It raises serious questions about whether the government is reading Americans' first class mail without obtaining a search warrant or other court order as required by statute.
The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act recodified in a different location an existing provision of federal law, without change, that states as follows:
No letter of such a class of domestic origin shall be opened except under authority of a search warrant authorized by law, or by an officer or employee of the Postal Service for the sole purpose of determining an address at which the letter can be delivered, or pursuant to the authorization of the addressee.[1]
In your signing statement, you stated that the executive branch would construe this provision "in a manner consistent, to the maximum extent permissible, with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances, such as to protect human life and safety against hazardous materials, and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection."
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in February 2006 on the National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping program, Senator Leahy asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales whether the executive branch was relying in other contexts on the theory that the Authorization for the Use of Military Force gave it the authority to violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and other statutes. Specifically, Senator Leahy asked: "Did it authorize the opening of first-class mail of U.S. citizens?" The Attorney General attempted to avoid answering the question, but ultimately stated: "Senator, I think that, again, that is not what is going on here. We are only focused on communications, international communications, where one party to the communication is al Qaeda. That is what this program is all about."
You have already confirmed that you have authorized the NSA to conduct surveillance of communications without obtaining the court orders required by FISA. Your December 20, 2006, signing statement now suggests that you believe you have the authority to violate the law with regard to opening regular mail. The American people and Congress are entitled to know whether you have acted on that theory. Please answer the following question: has your administration authorized any government agency to read Americans' first-class mail without obtaining a search warrant, complying with the applicable court order requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or satisfying Postal Service regulations?
I look forward to your expeditious reply.
Sincerely,
Russell D. Feingold
United States Senator
1: A separate regulation, promulgated in 1996, states that the Postal Service can open a piece of mail when there is a credible threat that it contains a bomb or other explosive device. 39 C.F.R. ยง 233.11
Nanoparticle Cancer Therapy
Posted on 2007-01-10 at 08:28
I saw this a week or two ago, and intended to blog about it but forgot. I just saw it hitting more mainstream news and figured for those of you who hadn't yet heard....
Researchers are moving into animal trials with an exciting new cancer treatment. Using hollow nanoparticles that are injected into the body, they have shown in early tests that the nanoparticles will travel the circulatory system and target the blood vessels that feed tumors---effectively cutting the blood supply to the tumor.
Two huge positives fall from this effect. First, constricting the blood supply of a tumor reduces its efficacy and could eliminate it in many cases, and second, becuase the nanoparticles are hollow and so effective at targeting tumors, they can be used to deliver highly specific chemotherapy cocktials to the tumor directly. Currently, though chemotherapy is often effective, it's essentially a form of carpet-bombing the body in the hopes that the cancer dies before the host. Using this technique, the host is minimally affected by the chemotherapy.
So, if you were planning on picking up some cancer sometime soon, I'd highly recommend that you wait about 10 years. I give it that long before our understanding of cancer treatment is revised entirely.
I, personally, have forbidden my family from getting any form of cancer until this treatment hits the streets.
NSFW
Posted on 2007-01-10 at 08:24
"I already know his fuck stick."
~Said By Bryan (context totally irrelevant)
Dear Mr Vernon
Posted on 2007-01-09 at 08:46
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole saturday in detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you're crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are.
You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basketcase, a princess, and a criminal.
Does that answer your question
Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club.
Were you tone deaf?
Posted on 2007-01-09 at 08:37
About a month and a half ago, I posted an entry about an online test for tone deafness. A surprising number of people took the test and mentioned their results to me. Anyway, for that reason, I now link to the aggragated results of the tone deafness test as compiled by the original author of the test. The results were, to me, interesting---especially the bits about race.
UFO Spotted by multiple personnel over O'Hare International Airport
Posted on 2007-01-02 at 08:17
According to the Chicago Tribune, several United Airlines personnel witnessed an unidentified flying object shaped like a saucer hovering low over the airport.
You are already snickering, I'm sure, as did United and the FAA (at least publicly) until the newspaper brought forth multiple witnesses and filed a Freedom of Information Act request for release of records. Suddenly, the FAA and United---both of whom claimed there was no such report or incident---mysteriously found the reports, but explained them as a "weather phenomena".
I see. :-|
So...the people who work with planes on the runway for a living mistook glare from runway lights interacting with the clouds for a saucer shaped flying object that hovered low over the ground, then took off through the cloud cover so fast it left a hole...and not just a little "what was that?" mistake, but a big "it was no earthly craft and I am visibly shaken!" kinda mistake.
Yeah. And Kennedy was shot by a lone gunman too.
Well, I'm sure it'll get forgotten soon enough. Hey it's happened at least two times in very recent history (in the last 5 years), got tons of media attention, then a few dismissive reports later people just forgot. I guess the threat of an unknown craft mucking about in restricted U.S. airspace isn't so terribly important.
Hero or villian: You decide!
Posted on 2007-01-02 at 07:51
I took one of those online quizes (cuz they are fun and I have no life). This one to determine for me which comic book hero I am.
My results:
You are Green Lantern
| Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination. 
|
I also took one to determine which comic book villian I might most identify with.
My results:
You are Lex Luthor
| A brilliant businessman on a quest for world domination and the self-proclaimed greatest criminal mind of our time!
|