Tuesday, February 28, 2006

return of innocence

So here is the problem:

first we have the attempts to take away the most basic of women's rights. (or earlier last century)

And secondly we have Ave Maria Town, the brain child of Dominos Pizza founder Tom Monaghan where, if Tom has his way, will be devoid of "the pill or the condoms or contraception." He owns the land where Ave Marie Town will sit (and he apparently owns Ave Marie University - it has a shitty law school) and therefore seems to believe that he can completely control the town.

I have no problem with religion. In fact, I think it is one of the greatest things we had to invent. I have no problem with disliking abortion. If I ever came to the conclusion that fetuses are alive, I would be anti-abortion as well. I assume that most would. Being anti-condom use is more difficult. The Vatican has some pretty arguments but ultimately it leads to the conclusion that all people should abstain until marriage whereby they produce babies! babies! babies!

My main problem with the South Dakota ruling and the Ave Maria Town Plan is that it is 'encouraging' moral behavior without understanding that moral behavior requires choice or free will (simplified I know, but the situation makes it simple.) These affected actors, if they cannot have an abortion or buy birth control, are not acting morally. So what is the point?

I have nothing to say on this that hasn't been said. It kinda frustrates me. It is an impossibly complex problem. Originality is the key. So we need original ideas for this problem.

I have one: All males will be made psuedo-sterile at puberty by use of something like one of these(I prefer SMA) (and look what I found. weird.) The sterility device can be removed and reapplied freely. Sex education will be taught aggressively from an early age on (very aggressively) to teach kids about STDs (because this is one of the Vatican's arguments: if you remove the 'kid' deterrent, then sex, and STDs, will be rampant. Damn vatican and their fear of non-abstinence sex education. I hate them so much.) If anyone wants to have kids, the sterility device will be removed. This act will have a legal name and will be like marriage, although people can still get married with the device on.

No wait, this doesn't work. What about women who change their mind after becoming pregnant?

Okay, new plan. Women will be informed of their pregnancy by way of a light somewhere inconspicuous on their body. The womb and egg will have been genetically engineered such that, after the egg is cracked open by the sperm, but before the egg is fertilized, they whole system goes into suspended animation. This is when the light goes on, the appropriate hormones are released and a kicking balloon starts to grow (the women has to be fooled into thinking that the baby is growing (even though she knows it is not) so that the end result is not a shock). At any point up to the nine months, the woman can abort the process. Since there was never a real baby, nobody died (in anyone's mind). If the woman decides to go through with it, then the suspended animation is removed, a period of rapid, but safe and healthy futuristic baby growth occurs (15 minutes or so) and, bang, we have a new kid.

perfect.

well, it doesn't really address the issue of religious folk's dislike of sex out of wedlock, but I can't fix everything.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

spelling

After receiving 4 reports of how my misspellings (or misspellings in my life) are upsetting people (in less than a week), I have come to the realisation that computers and science have destroyed my literary abilities.

or at least, they have destroyed how much I care about language. I have to admit that I have let my spelling ability lapse since I started doing everything on the computer. It is not that I don't know how to spell the words, it is just that I don't think about it as much when I am typing. And, if the communication is informal, I often refrain from using the spell check.

technological crutches - they are somewhat ubiquitous. That, in itself, is an interesting discussion, which can be saved until later.

I guess, based on this deluge of criticism, I will have to throw the crutch away. No more spell check for Matt. Just pure, unadulterated ability. to spell.

Thanks Sahm, Sam, Pat and that asshole tristamshandy9000. god, do I hate that asshole. good thing I don't allow anonymous blogging or I bet that guy would be all over this place.

Monday, February 13, 2006

shit, son

some of my friends are having more fun than others:



check out Enabler's label. some good stuff going on.

now, must work out how not to miss it.

am going to toronto next weekend with the goal of seeing Skeletwinz, which should somewhat recreate the night I am looking for. I wont be surrounded by drunk friends, but I will have negin and she is 10 times as cool as any of you. especially you. man, do I miss drunk friends.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

videos are just great

This may work.



and apparently it does. this really opens up a whole new world for me. I wish I hadn't started with this video but, you know.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

flim flam

I participated in a human rights conference this weekend. Two of the guest speakers (from CAW/MiningWatch and UFCW) were excellent and inspiring. They were not idealists (which all the student participants were) but realists. They knew they could make a difference, but not change the world, and were happy to be doing their part. I think. That is what I got from them anyway.

Of course, with any discussion of human rights, the scarcity issue rears its ugly mug. It is really frustrating that generating an ounce of gold can result in many tons of toxic waste:

Gold extraction produces more waste than any other mining activity. In fact, 99.9% of dug material is useless, as there are only 1 to 3 grams of gold in each ton of rocks. This "micro-gold", so to speak, can be found virtually anywhere, also in Europe. Searching for micro-gold in Europe, however, is out of question, and rightly so. Mining companies, most of which come from Canada, the United States and Australia, engage in gold extraction only where there are no strict environmental laws. Native populations, who depend on land and water for survival, are the victims of mining companies' craving for profit.

Big-scale industrial exploitation of gold sources started at the beginning of the 1970s, with the development of the cyanide gold lye-washing technique. In Nevada, cyanide gold lye-washing was used for the first time by Newmont. Today, industrial gold extraction is unthinkable without cyanide.

Sodium cyanide, a salt of hydrocianic acid, is a quick-effect poison. Dissolved in water, it immediately kills any life form. Cyanide is useful in the process of gold extraction because its molecules alloy to themselves particles of gold that are present in rocks. First, huge piles of ground rocks are imbued with cyanide solution. Subsequently, in a chemical processing plant, gold is refined and divided from the remaining minerals. Huge quantities of cyanide are used in this process: several tons per day, depending on the size of the mine and on the quantity of gold contained in the rocks.

Science came up with one option (although this was discovered in 1998 so who knows what stage it is at now - a cursory glance gives nothing):

Dr Peter Franzmann and Mr Matthew Stott of CSIRO Land and Water and CSIRO Minerals have identified several new species of native microbes able to break down the thiocyanate formed from the cyanide used to extract gold.

The project is funded by the Western Australian Government through its WA Innovation Support Scheme (WAISS), which fosters small innovative enterprises in the State.

Anyway, this is not the point. The point is that, still, even with everything we know, there are mining companies (and we extrapolate out to many different types of companies) destroying entire ecosystems in search of profit. While I can be somewhat swayed by arguments regarding oil/steel etc. - that we really do need these commodities in our modern industrial world, I am not so easily swayed by gold. We don't need gold.

Now, this is pretty naive of me. We have an incredibly interconnected economic system, where gold (jewelry) is an important part and can not easily be cut out. But, there is something that doesn't sit well with a destructive process that does not result in any real gains.

I guess the issue is of selfishness. This is a pretty big issue for me right now. I have no idea how the future will play out, but I assume it is going to be scary. I mean America is planning on selling off its forests to raise money for rural schools. They will get a billion and only sell less than 1% of the forests owned by the government, but still. It seems dangerous. The richest nation in the world should not need to sell off its natural resources for what is a pretty small amount of money. A billion bucks is ~$2.50 from each person in the states. Not much money at all. This seems like a desperate cry for help.

Stats on the american economy:
  • The national personal saving rate has plunged to an average of 1% in 2004, shockingly below the 7% average for the last three decades.
  • The unified federal budget is running a deficit equal to about 3.5% of gross domestic product.
  • Outlays for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, now 8% of gross domestic product, will climb to somewhere near 13% by 2030 as the baby boom generation ages and retires.
  • U.S. current account deficit, a measure of how much more is bought from foreigners than is sold to them, has climbed to 6% of gross domestic product.
Now, maybe there will not be an economic collapse (although many think there will be) but Buffett says that at least 3% of output will be required to pay the interest on the massive amount of money lent to the states. And if the States ever want to get out of debt, it would require a huge decline in U.S. consumption with disastrous consequences for the global economy and the lives of U.S. workers and retirees. If it is not paid off the the already-projected squeeze on health care and education spending just gets worse.

Okay, I am getting off topic, but these disparate things are all connected. I've heard that the fear of nuclear annihilation caused the baby boomers to act strangely, to consume more than they should have because they figured they weren't going to live. Same deal with the babies being born 9 months after 9/11. When humans get scared that their lives are going to end/change-for-the-worse, they do all the things they wanted to do. No regrets. Then, if the world doesn't end then we, unfortunately, have really fucked things up. It seems to me that, for a while now (like 20-30 years), the media has been scaring the shit out of us (global warming, terrorists, etc.) and so we feel (perhaps justifiably) that the world is not going to survive as we know it (ask your friends if they think that our current way of life is sustainable). Therefore we have to live in the moment. Have as much fun as possible. Which, ultimately, leads to a self-fufilling prophecy.

The problem I have is that I am not sure I care. "Why won't somebody think of the children" is a well worn battle cry, but should we think about the children? Maybe it is right (or at least not wrong) that we consume as much as possible. We have all these objective and subjective truths thrown at us all the time. Subjective truths are pretty meaningless. Objective truths can't be known by us and if they are, the person who knows them is likely to be a modern Cassandra.

I'll take the wind out of the next paragraph by stating that I do care about people. Quite a bit. Even strangers. But should I care about other people? Should I care about children/the future? By the by, children don't make people happy. I thought that was strange. Genetic urges to procreate also result in general unhappiness. Our minds suck. I was talking to fenris (in the future) and he is pretty happy that he doesn't believe that we have a future at all. It allows him to act the way he does (although I am not sure exactly how that is - he seems to have his head screwed on pretty well).

Before editing, I did go onto to talk about: Soma, Big Brother, Logan's Run, "Half a Life" and "Benevolent Dictatorship" but I have been typing for a while and they were all sort of badly interconnected and rambly. I will post further thoughts later. This blog thing is fun/stupid-waste-of-time.

I made 4 boxes of Kraft dinner last night. I have food for a week (edit: just finished it. it is sunday. I am gross).

Thursday, February 09, 2006

i wrote an email:

and it was interesting to me. Mainly the space based solar panels and massive deposits on everything. Invest the deposit money and the government has funds for social projects. It is just plain brilliant. I also want to make a documentary on the medical school application process. Anyone interested?

meh,

I wouldn't worry too much about the problems of entitlement (although I do and all the time! although mainly in the I-have-to-be-successful-in-the-eyes-of-others-
because-I-have-been-given-so-much kind of way) or of travelling.

In fact, it seems likely that having a large number of the members of a developed country with true knowledge of how other people live is a beneficial thing. With that knowledge one can act in a, hopefully, beneficial way. If you only know North America, you will probably be much more wasteful because it is easy and acceptable.

You are right in saying that the way we live in the west is much more detrimental to the non-developed countries. That is extremely unfortunate. I find that I cant escape from the guilt of my actions very easily. In fact, waste reduction is the reason I went into chemistry. Only now do I realise that I am completely bored by chemistry. Oh well, at least I tried. And I have always argued that we should not have a garbage service. Seeing waste has to be the best way to convince folk to reduce their waste. I think we should have huge deposits on everything that can be potentially thrown out. Improve recycling techniques, introduce huge deposits so that all waste to scavenged and we will decrease our waste output by a huge amount.

I think we have realised that we have fucked things up already, the waste we produce is not going to decrease any time soon and there is nowhere for it to go. Science (and perhaps the above policy) are the only options. I want to argue pretty forcefully that science will save us. Lots of people, like our beloved Tippi, are not so sure. In fact, I believe he is distinctly unsure. It is hard to argue against (impossible even) because the shit has hit the fan and I can only repeat the "science" mantra. Ray Kurzweil and The Singularity is Near. If so, we have hope. If not, well shit.

It is depressing but, hey, there you go!

In that vein, you might as well travel as much as possible. We are destructive but curious little creatures. Might as well have fun while you can.

matt

ps, we may be able to save ourselves if we can generate lots of energy. The sun is our best source. I suggest a complicated net of space-based solar panels. Beam the energy back. Then we could do what ever we want, because with never ending and non-polluting sources of energy we would be invicible. Well, I would. You would still have the whole Lower Spine issue.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

the uninhibited grace of a dirty squirrel

well kids,

I have spent an extremely unagonizing weekend analyzing the future. I, perhaps, have too much time on my hands. For now. It will undoubtedly change.

I did go out on Friday, which some of you may be happy about. But it may have been a one-off event. It was fun, definitely, but I need a more solid group here. I made a friend who ended up being from Toronto and is totally useless here. If I had realised that earlier I would have focused my friend-making energies on more local people. I did chat with one french guy who had some interesting things to say. I will likely look him up, but he is a ridiculous womaniser (like all french people) so I will not be able to do any sort of bar scene with him. It is just annoying. Making friends with people not directly related to what you are doing is an interesting problem. Much harder to do than expected, although there is definitely an issue of time. I am only here for 3 more months. If I had longer I wouldn't be worrying.

We ended up at a terrible R&B club. I would have left immediately but I found, and thrived in, the marginalized techno section. I don't know how people dance to R&B. One guy had his fingers in his mouth and was pulling down his bottom lip so as to bear his teeth the entire time, which I equated to that terrible "brush your shoulders off" fad. Perhaps someone could enlighten me to why he was doing it. The rest of the people were slowing grinding or trying to dance excitedly to music which didn't encourage excitement. I like listening to rap music, on my own, but I cannot dance to it. Too slow. Repetitive but slow. Repetitive and fast is golden.

My hair is too long for dancing.

My roomate was supposed to take me out last night but I have decided that he is going to be totally useless on that front. Bastard.

Anyway, I seem to be heading down a path towards law school, although I fight it at every turn. My main google searches are along the lines of "lawyers canada hate lives" and "tired of being a lawyer." Still, for the people that like it, it is certainly liked. And I assume I would be a great lawyer. I enjoy arguing. That is enough, right?

The other options are all great but will take time and I am feeling paralyzed by age, which is retarded but the truth. I am pretty sure I will be the oldest undergrad from my high school class (not including those who went back for a second degree). I have done a fair amount since high school and was not discouraged by my status until the love affair with chemistry died (which it did somewhat suddenly in a jellifying experience at godfre's house - sorry godfre, I didn't mean to become jelly). Now I have spent a good chunk of time (and am still spending that time) doing something that bores me. I can only imagine how this feels to career changers in their later years. It must be horrifying and exceedingly difficult to get out.

Luckily, all is not lost yet for chemistry. I always knew that I was interested in computational chemistry but my last two work terms, in an attempt to "branch out," have not been in that field. The boredom may be a result of that. Next semester I will be going to Montreal to work at Merck Frosst in computational chemistry and I am still excited to go there. I am hoping it will reinvigorate my desire to do chemistry.

And I have sorted out all the requirements to go back to school and prepare myself for medical school, which is where all my premed/med school friends say I should be. Of course, they may tell everyone that being in love with their chosen profession. This plan is the most tenuous of them all. At least with law school, if I do well on the LSATs I can be somewhat assured of acceptance.

Med school? forget about it. I assume I would interview well, but all the people I know who are med school bound are at least as awesome as me, if not awesomer. The odds (although I hate calling them that) of getting an interview are small. The odds (now I feel better about the term) of getting in from the interview are still small. It is ridiculous how much is based on the interview (well that is not true, it is important to get a feel for a person outside of what they are able to write in their PS). People have off days or the admissions folk you get could just not like you while different admission people could have needed to have your babies.

Of course there is always furniture design and the clothing store (my dad was not happy about the clothing store idea and therefore that is the path I should probably pursue!).

Now, while this may seem like a ridiculous number of potential paths (and I have not yet mentioned psychology, applied chemistry, architecture school, actuarial science, dentistry and international business - all of which I have looked into.) it is unfortunately completely consistent with my frustrating, frustrating personality. My undergrad is just as scattered: started in business, moved to chemistry and philosophy, finishing in chemistry and economics.

I want to be a renaissance man. I have no desire to focus. In fact, it is anathema to me. I don't want to do it. Of course, I am coming to the realization that it is somewhat impossible. Perhaps journalism would give me the breadth I desire. Add it to the list. I have a certain amount of potential which I am determined not to squander. And I am in the process of figuring out how to do that.

suggestions would be most welcome.