Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
2046....part 3
Whenever anyone asked why I left 2046, I gave them some vague answer
Before...
...when people had secrets they didn't want to share
...they'd climb a mountain
...They'd find a tree and carve a hole in it
...and whisper the secret into the hole
...Then cover it over with mud
That way, nobody else would ever discover it.
- excerpt from 2046, a film by Wong Kar Wai
Before...
...when people had secrets they didn't want to share
...they'd climb a mountain
...They'd find a tree and carve a hole in it
...and whisper the secret into the hole
...Then cover it over with mud
That way, nobody else would ever discover it.
- excerpt from 2046, a film by Wong Kar Wai
Back in Seattle again…again
Well, I’ve made it down. I left Friday Harbor last Tuesday and am settling into the house I’ll be watching for the next month. So far things are looking good. The house is really nice. It has a lot of light and is in a good location in Seattle. Really easy to get around by bus. Also, it’ll be right across the street from one of Sound Transit’s light rail stations (of course, I’ll be living somewhere else by the time it’s up and running, but it’s still cool).
On Thursday, I went to my friends’ house in Redmond to have Thanksgiving dinner, which was really nice. I was glad to see them again.
On Friday (yesterday) I got a call back from one of the bookstores I’d mailed applications to from Friday Harbor. I’ll be interviewing with them in a few days. So, we’ll see how that goes.
Anyway, yeah. This about ends Season 3 of the Killdeer Chronicles. Season 4 will begin within the next few days. I’ll post a link when it’s ready.
On Thursday, I went to my friends’ house in Redmond to have Thanksgiving dinner, which was really nice. I was glad to see them again.
On Friday (yesterday) I got a call back from one of the bookstores I’d mailed applications to from Friday Harbor. I’ll be interviewing with them in a few days. So, we’ll see how that goes.
Anyway, yeah. This about ends Season 3 of the Killdeer Chronicles. Season 4 will begin within the next few days. I’ll post a link when it’s ready.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
End of the line
Well, it seems nothing is lining up for me here in Friday Harbor. So I’m off again to relocate. A friend of a friend in Seattle needs a house sitter for a month. The timing is perfect and the opportunity is great as it will be another chance for me to establish myself in Seattle.
While I couldn’t find any prospects here in Friday Harbor, I have to say this has been the best part of Limbo I’ve been in since my return from Taiwan over a year and a half ago.
Being isolated from the rest of the world (while simultaneously living with one of my best friends) and having very little in the way of material possessions or comforts, I’ve been able to see (again for the first time) what’s really important in life.
So my time was not spent idly. As when I’d returned from Japan in 2005, I’ve once again accomplished more in transition than I ever have when I was settled.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Path of books
The Deviant’s Advantage -> Amusing Ourselves to Death -> Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television -> 1984 -> Brave New World -> Ishmael
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Are HIV and AIDS real?
I’m not sure why, but it just kind of hit me the other day that…well, that there was a lot to be suspicious about regarding the AIDS pandemic.
What struck me first of all, is that in the 22 years since I’d first learned about AIDS, I haven’t known anyone who has contracted AIDS (or HIV), much less died from it. I mean, through 6 degrees of separation, and in that amount of time, I should know someone who has HIV/AIDS, or at least know someone who knows someone who has it.
In that same amount of time (less, really), I’ve known at least five people who have had cancer. Considering the means by which HIV is acquired, it should be much more ubiquitous. Of course, the means by which HIV is acquired also has negative social implications, which could explain why few of us would catch wind of it. (But even so, since the disease has no cure and is life-threatening, the what-have-you would hit the fan eventually.)
I’m still looking for an article I read some time ago from a scientific study that suggests that people’s sexual behavior (what is considered the high risk variety) hasn’t changed significantly in the time since we’ve first learned of AIDS. I’ll keep trying to look for it. But I did argue in my theory behind STD proliferation that it was futile to try to objectively track peoples’ sexual behavior. It’s just not a topic that can be openly discussed in objective, honest terms.
But the reason I bring that article up is that, if it is true that sexual behavior hasn’t changed significantly over the last 20+ years, then, indeed, HIV/AIDS would be a pandemic by now, and socially acceptable or not, we would most likely know someone firsthand who has it or has died from it.
The timing of when AIDS was discovered is also a bit interesting; the early 1980s (in other words, the post-1960s/70s). Most STDs (like syphilis and gonorrhea) have been with the human race a long time. They co-evolved with humans and found their ecological niche in a demographic that would suit them best; one in which people would frequently change sexual partners (see this article for a good explanation os STD ecological niches). In the mutual exclusion principle of ecological niches, no two organisms can occupy the same niche because they would compete for resources and one species would overcome the other for survival.
Now if the sexual behavior of people in the ‘60s and ‘70s was significantly riskier than previous periods in history (I highly doubt it), then that could have reduced the competition between various STDs and opened a niche for AIDS. That’s kind of what I suggested in my STD proliferation theory. Then the outbreak of AIDS would be a simple cause and effect scenario. A consequence of the behavior in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
It’s possible. But, again, there would need to be more evidence of the presence of HIV and AIDS. So I’m suggesting that there is another possibility to the timing of the discovery of AIDS (and why there would be enthusiasm to educate the world about AIDS over other STDs at that time).
The morality that became part of the social construct in the ‘80s would have shown favor for a disease that has consequences for...Hmm...No. This isn’t adding up. What I was going to say is that in essence, HIV and AIDS was invented to inhibit the behavior that went on in the ‘60s and ‘70s so as to help induce the moral standards of those in power at the time. (After all, the ‘80s was like another ‘50s era.)
But the amount of people that would have to be a part of that kind of conspiracy (the worldwide medical community) is just not fathomable. Also, since AIDS is seen to have originated in Africa, it would be no consequence of the ‘60’s and ‘70s (here in the US).
I don’t know. It just seems that the demographic that AIDS affected would have been an ideal leveraging tool to create a social construct in the ‘80s. Perhaps HIV and AIDS are real, but it was blown out of proportion by our leaders to modify our behavior through fear.
That angle aside, even the medical community seems to be having a difficult time agreeing on whether HIV and AIDS are real, or, if they are real, whether they are as fatal as originally thought.
Perhaps HIV and AIDS are real but something the medical community doesn’t have a full grasp on... not unlike consumption (TB) in the past.
Well, that’s all I’ll write for now. I may add more later. For now, I’ll leave a few websites on this topic.
AIDS a Myth? (H-Africa)
AIDS threat: myth or reality? (Wall Street Journal)
What struck me first of all, is that in the 22 years since I’d first learned about AIDS, I haven’t known anyone who has contracted AIDS (or HIV), much less died from it. I mean, through 6 degrees of separation, and in that amount of time, I should know someone who has HIV/AIDS, or at least know someone who knows someone who has it.
In that same amount of time (less, really), I’ve known at least five people who have had cancer. Considering the means by which HIV is acquired, it should be much more ubiquitous. Of course, the means by which HIV is acquired also has negative social implications, which could explain why few of us would catch wind of it. (But even so, since the disease has no cure and is life-threatening, the what-have-you would hit the fan eventually.)
I’m still looking for an article I read some time ago from a scientific study that suggests that people’s sexual behavior (what is considered the high risk variety) hasn’t changed significantly in the time since we’ve first learned of AIDS. I’ll keep trying to look for it. But I did argue in my theory behind STD proliferation that it was futile to try to objectively track peoples’ sexual behavior. It’s just not a topic that can be openly discussed in objective, honest terms.
But the reason I bring that article up is that, if it is true that sexual behavior hasn’t changed significantly over the last 20+ years, then, indeed, HIV/AIDS would be a pandemic by now, and socially acceptable or not, we would most likely know someone firsthand who has it or has died from it.
The timing of when AIDS was discovered is also a bit interesting; the early 1980s (in other words, the post-1960s/70s). Most STDs (like syphilis and gonorrhea) have been with the human race a long time. They co-evolved with humans and found their ecological niche in a demographic that would suit them best; one in which people would frequently change sexual partners (see this article for a good explanation os STD ecological niches). In the mutual exclusion principle of ecological niches, no two organisms can occupy the same niche because they would compete for resources and one species would overcome the other for survival.
Now if the sexual behavior of people in the ‘60s and ‘70s was significantly riskier than previous periods in history (I highly doubt it), then that could have reduced the competition between various STDs and opened a niche for AIDS. That’s kind of what I suggested in my STD proliferation theory. Then the outbreak of AIDS would be a simple cause and effect scenario. A consequence of the behavior in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
It’s possible. But, again, there would need to be more evidence of the presence of HIV and AIDS. So I’m suggesting that there is another possibility to the timing of the discovery of AIDS (and why there would be enthusiasm to educate the world about AIDS over other STDs at that time).
The morality that became part of the social construct in the ‘80s would have shown favor for a disease that has consequences for...Hmm...No. This isn’t adding up. What I was going to say is that in essence, HIV and AIDS was invented to inhibit the behavior that went on in the ‘60s and ‘70s so as to help induce the moral standards of those in power at the time. (After all, the ‘80s was like another ‘50s era.)
But the amount of people that would have to be a part of that kind of conspiracy (the worldwide medical community) is just not fathomable. Also, since AIDS is seen to have originated in Africa, it would be no consequence of the ‘60’s and ‘70s (here in the US).
I don’t know. It just seems that the demographic that AIDS affected would have been an ideal leveraging tool to create a social construct in the ‘80s. Perhaps HIV and AIDS are real, but it was blown out of proportion by our leaders to modify our behavior through fear.
That angle aside, even the medical community seems to be having a difficult time agreeing on whether HIV and AIDS are real, or, if they are real, whether they are as fatal as originally thought.
Perhaps HIV and AIDS are real but something the medical community doesn’t have a full grasp on... not unlike consumption (TB) in the past.
Well, that’s all I’ll write for now. I may add more later. For now, I’ll leave a few websites on this topic.
AIDS a Myth? (H-Africa)
AIDS threat: myth or reality? (Wall Street Journal)
Friday, October 24, 2008
Not at the bottom yet
Well, I feel like I should write something, but I’m not quite sure what to write. I kind of still wanted my blog to be in intermission, but it’s a bit late in the season for that. (Weird…now the seasons are somewhat inhibiting for my blog.)
Um, I would write what I’ve been doing, what didn’t work out, and what my plans are now, but I just…don’t feel like it. I’m kind of tired of writing about what isn’t working out for me.
I can’t seem to find my place here. I can’t see where I fit in. It’s feeling like it was a mistake to come back to the US. But I also know that I couldn’t have stayed where I was. It’s easy to wonder now why I didn’t just take the private lesson that was offered to me, that would have made living financially easier, when I was still in Taiwan. But I knew at the time that that wouldn’t have been enough. Even if I could’ve made more money with teaching, there just wasn’t anything holding me to Taiwan. I know why I came back and, for the most part, I’m happy to be back in the US.
I want to be settled. I want to stay in one place. But it seems the more I want that, the more I’m forced to keep moving somewhere else.
Part of me feels like I’m heading into a downward spiral to nowhere. But part of me also feels like I’m heading towards something important and meaningful.
Um, I would write what I’ve been doing, what didn’t work out, and what my plans are now, but I just…don’t feel like it. I’m kind of tired of writing about what isn’t working out for me.
I can’t seem to find my place here. I can’t see where I fit in. It’s feeling like it was a mistake to come back to the US. But I also know that I couldn’t have stayed where I was. It’s easy to wonder now why I didn’t just take the private lesson that was offered to me, that would have made living financially easier, when I was still in Taiwan. But I knew at the time that that wouldn’t have been enough. Even if I could’ve made more money with teaching, there just wasn’t anything holding me to Taiwan. I know why I came back and, for the most part, I’m happy to be back in the US.
I want to be settled. I want to stay in one place. But it seems the more I want that, the more I’m forced to keep moving somewhere else.
Part of me feels like I’m heading into a downward spiral to nowhere. But part of me also feels like I’m heading towards something important and meaningful.
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