ouraboros (original) (raw)

On social causes and compassion	[Aug. 14th, 2009\|01:25 pm]ouraboros
[Current Mood \|contemplative]I finally found someone who expressed perfectly the ambiguous perspective that troubles me so much whenever I get more involved in various forms of social activism. Even though my politics are in alignment with the people I try to work with, eventually some sort of frisson occurs due to my discomfort with the social dynamics that happen in such committed groups, and I find myself unable to sustain my own willingness to continue openly identifying as a member or even supporter of that group.( Read more...Collapse )
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[Aug. 14th, 2009|01:25 pm]ouraboros

[Current Mood** |contemplative]I finally found someone who expressed perfectly the ambiguous perspective that troubles me so much whenever I get more involved in various forms of social activism. Even though my politics are in alignment with the people I try to work with, eventually some sort of frisson occurs due to my discomfort with the social dynamics that happen in such committed groups, and I find myself unable to sustain my own willingness to continue openly identifying as a member or even supporter of that group.( Read more...Collapse )**

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THAT'S an obituary.	[Jul. 8th, 2009\|04:08 pm]ouraboros
As a writing exercise, I once wrote my own obituary, which despite its rather lofty goals (Olympic medalist AND Nobel laureate?!?) I must confess a certain lack of originality when held up against this example.My favorite bit:"Interment is in the family plot at Brinkhaven Hilltop Cemetery in Brinkhaven, Ohio, where she will await an eventual and probable slide down the cliff to the Mohican River below. In lieu of flowers, please pray for the Constitution of the United States."
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THAT'S an obituary.

[Jul. 8th, 2009|04:08 pm]ouraboros

As a writing exercise, I once wrote my own obituary, which despite its rather lofty goals (Olympic medalist AND Nobel laureate?!?) I must confess a certain lack of originality when held up against this example.My favorite bit:"Interment is in the family plot at Brinkhaven Hilltop Cemetery in Brinkhaven, Ohio, where she will await an eventual and probable slide down the cliff to the Mohican River below. In lieu of flowers, please pray for the Constitution of the United States."

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we are all scientists now	[Jul. 4th, 2009\|08:59 pm]ouraboros
This overwhelming urge to stick wonky labels on the axes these psuedo-graphs and a big old title "Republican Economic Recovery Plan" on top of them washes over me......until I realize that maybe only Dr. Stephen Chu would realize it was bunk and Pretty Graphs are all the GOP needs to recover its authority, and whose fault would it be.No thanks.(from whatconsumesme.com. Explanation: Artist 1chord & a fib has created a wonderful series of “infographics” that don’t contain any information. Playing off of information design’s current wave of popularity, the fake infographics maintain all the beauty of the medium but lack actual meaning or content.)
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we are all scientists now

[Jul. 4th, 2009|08:59 pm]ouraboros

This overwhelming urge to stick wonky labels on the axes these psuedo-graphs and a big old title "Republican Economic Recovery Plan" on top of them washes over me......until I realize that maybe only Dr. Stephen Chu would realize it was bunk and Pretty Graphs are all the GOP needs to recover its authority, and whose fault would it be.No thanks.(from whatconsumesme.com. Explanation: Artist 1chord & a fib has created a wonderful series of “infographics” that don’t contain any information. Playing off of information design’s current wave of popularity, the fake infographics maintain all the beauty of the medium but lack actual meaning or content.)

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snark	[Jun. 25th, 2009\|11:51 pm]ouraboros
[Current Mood \|catty]When I heard of Gov. Sanford's "hike on the Appalachian trail" (which will now enter my gallery of non sequitur euphemisms), my first unworthy thought was:"But in these hard economic times, couldn't he have found a qualified American for that job?"
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The torture debate	[May. 1st, 2009\|10:26 am]ouraboros
Lots of stuff out there about why there's even a debate about the use of torture in wartime (contravenes Geneva convention, we don't do that in America, etc.) I'm not going into that.But I haven't seen one point mentioned, and I wonder about that. Specifically, if I as a combatant knew the other side mistreated prisoners -- wouldn't every fighter become a kamikaze at that point? Why would I ever let myself get captured? Every battle becomes a fight to the death. Every misunderstanding, every bit of confusion -- all proceed to annihilation, because there's never any reason to let yourself live past this battle. How can this ever lead to a clear resolution of the conflict, without it becoming an endless conversation of destruction? If the point of a fighter is to "win" the battle, how can you ever declare that you have "won" if the fighting never stops? Worse, the combatants will quickly lose sight of what they are fighting for, and fighting becomes its own purpose. And it will inspire noncombatants to become combatants. This is strategically speaking, MORONIC.This is talking on purely martial terms here. I'm not even touching the moral side of the equation, which to me seems kind of trivially, painfully obvious.
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The torture debate

[May. 1st, 2009|10:26 am]ouraboros

Lots of stuff out there about *why* there's even a debate about the use of torture in wartime (contravenes Geneva convention, we don't do that in America, etc.) I'm not going into that.But I haven't seen one point mentioned, and I wonder about that. Specifically, if I as a combatant *knew* the other side mistreated prisoners -- wouldn't every fighter become a kamikaze at that point? Why would I ever let myself get captured? Every battle becomes a fight to the death. Every misunderstanding, every bit of confusion -- all proceed to annihilation, because there's never any reason to let yourself live past this battle. How can this ever lead to a clear resolution of the conflict, without it becoming an endless conversation of destruction? If the point of a fighter is to "win" the battle, how can you ever declare that you have "won" if the fighting never stops? Worse, the combatants will quickly lose sight of what they are fighting for, and fighting becomes its own purpose. And it will inspire noncombatants to *become* combatants. This is strategically speaking, MORONIC.This is talking on purely martial terms here. I'm not even touching the moral side of the equation, which to me seems kind of trivially, painfully obvious.

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A black swan-proof world	[Apr. 8th, 2009\|03:13 pm]ouraboros
YES.Not like it will ever happen.
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GOP meltdown update: The Real Republican Recovery plan (tm)	[Mar. 31st, 2009\|11:38 am]ouraboros
[Current Mood \|amused]Nate Silver plots it out for us.It's like that Harris cartoon of two scientists looking at a blackboard thicket of equations with a little space in the middle that says, "and here a miracle occurs".
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I found this in the back!	[Mar. 30th, 2009\|11:29 pm]ouraboros
[Current Mood \|sheepish]Maybe it's finally time to paperbackswap.com the book _The Living Together Kit: A Legal Guide for Unmarried couples_.After all, it's only been, er, 2.5 years since the wedding.
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Conflict resolution	[Mar. 17th, 2009\|08:22 pm]ouraboros
So my co-worker was wryly commenting on how good her life was, that this was her idea of conflict: She had been out running around her neighbourhood and encountered a familiar pair of fellow pedestrians -- a pair of older ladies walking their dogs. However, these ladies tended to be engrossed in each other and not the rules of etiquette, so they didn't make room for her. The sidewalk was bounded by hedges, and when my co-worker attempted to go between the ladies in the glimmering twilight, she failed to notice the dog leash. Dog and co-worker fall in a heap. Do the older ladies apologize? Of course not. My co-worker, furious, managed to control herself enough to say through clenched teeth: "Share. The. Sidewalk!"Now she's worried about future likely confrontations.I smiled, and said, no problem!Just. SMILE!Smile like you're up to something. The madder you get, smile even bigger. Smile like the Joker. Smile like your life depends on it. Make no threatening gestures or body language.I guarantee you, 99% of the time the petty tyrants that pass for upstanding citizens WILL back away and leave you alone if you turn a 100KW smile their way, just for them. Which in this case, is all she needs. She's not trying to be understood or make friends. All other primates understand bared teeth as a threat. But in this human society, it's a perfectly non-litigious action. "Your Honor, I was scared because she smiled at me!" See, it doesn't fly.Nonviolent communication is a beautiful thing.
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Conflict resolution

[Mar. 17th, 2009|08:22 pm]ouraboros

So my co-worker was wryly commenting on how good her life was, that this was her idea of conflict: She had been out running around her neighbourhood and encountered a familiar pair of fellow pedestrians -- a pair of older ladies walking their dogs. However, these ladies tended to be engrossed in each other and not the rules of etiquette, so they didn't make room for her. The sidewalk was bounded by hedges, and when my co-worker attempted to go between the ladies in the glimmering twilight, she failed to notice the dog leash. Dog and co-worker fall in a heap. Do the older ladies apologize? Of course not. My co-worker, furious, managed to control herself enough to say through clenched teeth: "Share. The. Sidewalk!"Now she's worried about future likely confrontations.I smiled, and said, no problem!Just. SMILE!Smile like you're up to something. The madder you get, smile even bigger. Smile like the Joker. Smile like your life depends on it. Make no threatening gestures or body language.I guarantee you, 99% of the time the petty tyrants that pass for upstanding citizens WILL back away and leave you alone if you turn a 100KW smile their way, just for them. Which in this case, is all she needs. She's not trying to be understood or make friends. All other primates understand bared teeth as a threat. But in this human society, it's a perfectly non-litigious action. "Your Honor, I was scared because she smiled at me!" See, it doesn't fly.Nonviolent communication is a beautiful thing.

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Observation of the day	[Feb. 26th, 2009\|11:36 am]ouraboros
Creativity is only one mangled metaphor away!I was trying to say either: "That horse has left the barn" or "That ship has sailed".It came out as: "That horse has sailed!" Which of course is now the in-joke for dealing with tense situations, like where you are really trying to get a friend out of "but what did I do wrong at that job interview?" analysis paralysis mode. I'm sure most people have a friend like that now.It's interesting to note how charming people find this verbal tic of mine.
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Observation of the day

[Feb. 26th, 2009|11:36 am]ouraboros

Creativity is only one mangled metaphor away!I was trying to say either: "That horse has left the barn" or "That ship has sailed".It came out as: "That horse has sailed!" Which of course is now the in-joke for dealing with tense situations, like where you are really trying to get a friend out of "but what did I do wrong at that job interview?" analysis paralysis mode. I'm sure most people have a friend like that now.It's interesting to note how charming people find this verbal tic of mine.

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snark	[Jun. 25th, 2009\|11:51 pm]ouraboros
[Current Mood \|catty]When I heard of Gov. Sanford's "hike on the Appalachian trail" (which will now enter my gallery of non sequitur euphemisms), my first unworthy thought was:"But in these hard economic times, couldn't he have found a qualified American for that job?"
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