Elbow-licking

Contrary to popular belief, it is actually possible to lick your own elbow.



And here I was thinking that not being able to lick your own elbow was a biological fact. Be warned, though, only about 1% of the human population can do this, so don't go and dislocate your shoulder on my behalf.

The Fate of the Universe

One of the cool things about being in college is being able to listen to cool people speaking about cool stuff. A couple of days ago Dr Wendy Freeman, director of the Carnegie Observatories, gave a lecture about the latest going-ons in astronomy/astrophysics.

You know, stuff about giant Magellan telescopes, Hubble's successor (James Webb), dark matter, quasars, the four dimensions of space, the curvature of space-time, the weight of the universe. Stuff like that. You know, INTERESTING stuff. Right.

A four-dimensional 'tesseract' rotating on ONE axis

Anyway, what's MORE interesting is that apparently the latest research in astrophysics has shown that the universe does not have enough matter to stop the universe from expanding.

*Gasp* The universe is EXPANDING?

Well, yes, astronomers since the 1930s have shown, through observation of objects (stars?) of fluctuating luminosity from other galaxies that... that...

Nevermind, the point is that the scientists say that the universe is expanding, so they MUST be right, RIGHT?

Well, the question that scientists THEN asked is whether the universe would continue to expand FOREVER. Would the universe keep getting larger till kingdom come or, worse yet, 'heat death' (open universe model)? Or would the universe eventually stop expanding, and eventually be of fixed size (flat universe model)? Or, heaven forbid, would the expansion eventually run down and the universe then start to contract (closed universe model), leading eventually to The Big Crunch?




Well, the answer apparently depends on the amount of matter there is in the universe, and the latest research on dark matter has indicated that the universe does NOT, in fact, have enough mass to halt its expansion.

Thus the universe is doomed to grow ever larger, till we are all stretched out like rubber bands on a pair of braces.





Well, at least it's better than the Big Crunch.





In physio-philosophical terms though, that means that our ever so insignificant existence is becoming even less significant. Our presence in this universe is being diluted, at an EXPONENTIAL rate. Sad, isn't it?

There's still hope, though. Dr Freeman said that as of the moment, a number of oscillating models of the universe cannot yet be ruled out. That means it's either we stretch till we can stretch no more, or we are doomed to an eternal bungee jump.




*shrugs* Either way works for me. We're all gonna die anyway.

Ah, cynicism.

Delusions

It comes
It comes!

Fiery fire painless pain
Burning flesh and making rain
Rubbing salt into the wound
Dig out the splinter with a spoon

Gratification! Whereupon hence?
Go now my brother, into!
Into!
The seal
The pit
The fiery fire!

Die, fool!
Ignominious moron
Thinkest thou ruinest I?
I?

Cackling laughter makest me
Chatter-hungry lady be
For the pie before I dine
Drinketh thou with pretty wine

Go now, go now!
Fire, fear, foes!
Anger knows, anger goes
Killeth me and eatest thou

Feed the blood, fan the flame
No more suffering, no more shame
Only left with pitiest pyre
The body hung over the fire

Evil! Evil! Oh, oh!
Nothing, save me, all alone!
Tend to me you cowardly dunce
Faerie lust before the moon

Emptiness without
Reigning within queen
Of hell
Night and darkness
Beats, Time mourns
Forever lost alone, alone

The sun! It burns!
You will feel the flames soon enough
I cannot stop the sickness
And cannot fend of the madness
Consumes me
Overtakes me
Wildness whereupon within!

GO NOW!
Into the fires of damnation
Let heaven mourn

And leave me alone
Leave me alone

Equality

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." The mindset of much of the world nowadays, indeed. It's interesting that "Animal Farm" was written against communism, in support of capitalism, and yet capitalism is as guilty of the above statement as much as communism is. The only difference is that in capitalism, we're open about it. And we couldn't care less.

We call it by different names now. We call it the survival of the fittest. We call it the will to power. Sometimes in a fit of mock humility we even invoke God's name and call ourselves blessed. But the essence of it is the same: we rank people according to their ability. In this one big rat race, all that matters anymore is rank.

Sure, I understand. Some human beings are better than others. They score higher on IQ tests, they get better grades in school, they make more money, they are more successful. Sure. That's the way things are. Human beings are not equal. Some are born innately more successful. Others work harder. Communism ignored this and that's why the system failed.

But what pisses me off is that people throw human worth into the equation. Sure, some people are more successful than others, but successful people are not worth more than the common man. All human lives are of equal value. That has been forgotten in the competition to succeed. We think that by being better than other people, the value of our lives become greater than the lives of others.

In the 1930s, the people of the Western World took the doctrine of the survival of the fittest to heart. They believed that the value of a person was based on how smart he was, and how much he contributed to society. Those who did not "make the grade" were refused immigration, barred from having children, and in some cases even neutered. The measure of the individual was the measure of his performance on an IQ test. This movement was called the eugenics movement.

And in the 1940s, the eugenics movement led directly or indirectly to the massacre of 6 million Jews, Gypsies, and other individuals in the Jewish Holocaust by the Nazis.

After the war, the eugenics movement was recognized as immoral and ethically unsound, and was consequently banned. The world had learned its lesson.

We seem to be forgetting what we have learned, unfortunately. Again we seem to be succumbing to social and political policies that rank individuals based on their intelligence and "contribution to society". Sometimes we call it meritocracy. Sometimes we call it "getting what we deserve". I call it the failure of humanity to rise above petty competition and recognize that we are ALL truly of equal value.

The other famous maxim from Animal Farm is Boxer the horse's anthem, "I Will Work Harder!". Hard work is a good thing, but if competition is all there is, then we might as well all end up just like Boxer:



I will work harder, indeed. But I no longer want to beat the dead horse. Sorry, Boxer.

Brilliant

Forgive me, but as an old Pokemon fan with a rising interest in foreign (and not so foreign) politics, I find this unbearably funny.

What a Man Wants

"I am ready to tell you, at least from my perspective, what a man wants. He wants his children to grow and mature to be wise and capable, independent and self-reliant, and yet he longs to hold them in the palm of his hand as he did on the day of their birth. He wants to be able to subdue his pride and forgive their brusqueness so that he can remain close to them until they see his caring. He wants to be free to express his caring as David did when he cried "Absalom, my son, my son, would that I had died for thee" (1 Samuel 18:33). Although father and son seem made for contention, they derive their highest sense of pride from one another. He wants to admire his daughter's beauty and grace, for each girl child's beauty is unique in the eyes of her father. At the same time, he wants to honor her wit and intellect so that the complete human being that sh becomes is not obscured by artificial sentimentality.

He wants his mate's love and caring without having to ask for it, and he wants to be able to show his love for her without having to be concerned that it undermines the image of his manhood. He hates to see himself as a tearful, weak creature, dependent on others for his sense of affirmation. But he is tired of hiding his tears and turning away to preserve some traditional image of manhood.

I will be more explicit. I am tired of wars. I do not want to be killed or maimed, and I do not enjoy other people dying or being maimed. I want to accept responsibility for what I do and not be blamed for what I did not do. I have always judged my fellow human beings one at a time on the merits of their own behavior, and I demand to be judged as one person on the basis of my own faults and virtues. As such, my race, religion, politics, and sexual preference are nobody's business. I have gotten used to calling myself a man. The title is not pejorative; it is something that I have done for half a century, and I am comfortable with it. If you choose to call yourself something else, that is all right with me, but please leave my definition of myself to me. Any thinking man continues to evolve philosophically- influenced by every person, circumstance, and concept that he is exposed to. I want to continue this growth and come to be what I want to be.

I will not have my values dictated by football coaches. The maxim "Winning is everything" leaves out too much. I will not give up the joy and excitement of competition, but I am joined to all of humanity, so that if I am the victor, then so I am the vanquished. To deny this is to go through life as half a person.

I resent being categorized, and i resent people who place people in categories. To say that men have certain characteristics is valid in a general sense. To say that a man has certain characteristics is only valid with a comprehensive knowledge of the individual. To attribute something to that person on the basis of stereotyping is disruptive of the essential human rights of that individual.

I believe that life is a ship in distress, and that the true task of humanity is to get everyone into the lifeboat. It is unfortunate that so many people divide humanity into us and them, so that the us is somehow better, more easily forgiven and accepted. Them is forever below the salt, clothed in the darker garments of evil. We are currently in the midst of a great revolution, and the half of the human race called female has, after countless centuries of oppression and exploitation, stood up and cried "Nonsense!" The good that will accrue to all of us is immeasurable. The lies and distortions relative to the nature of women have diminished the entire human race. The sooner they are lost in antiquity, the better.

Psychology has given us an expanded understanding of the differences between men and women. Healing techniques attempt to bridge the gap. We have sensitivity training to help men acquire women's skills, and we have assertiveness training to help women acquire men's skills. I hope some innovator will evolve some procedures that can teach the archaic practices of good manners, decency and good will.

I am convinced that the following wars of ambition-- the striving and the stolidness, the silences and the shrugging off of an uuncomfortable sentiment-- a man wants to be seen as good. The term a good man once welded unity, a thoughtful caring person who touched the lives of all around him. To quote Mark Antony (Shakespeare, 1599/1919, Julius Caesar, act 5, scene 5, line 73), "His life was gentle and the qualities so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world-- this was a man.""

-Excerpt from "What Does A Man Want" by Stanley R. Graham, American Psychologist, July 1992, 47(7): 837-841.

Imperfect

I stare at the wall in front of me, and as I stare at it, it becomes something wondrous to behold. It is a wall made out of cement and steel, painted white, and it is beautiful.

A beautiful wall? Preposterous, isn't it? Yet that is the thought that runs through my mind. It is beautiful because it is imperfect. There are chinks in it, depressions here and there, imperfections, crevices, bumps and protrusions. But as I run my finger over it, and feel its texture, its touch, it feels beautiful indeed.

Do you notice how much of our notion of beauty is based on sight? And how shallow that definition of beauty is? The wall before me certainly may not be much to look at, but it feels beautiful to my touch. Silence is the absence of sound, and definitely nothing to look at, but if you close your eyes and concentrate, the sound of silence can be more beautiful than the greatest works of Mozart. And the beauty of an emotion! Ecstatic joy, loving kindness, moving sadness, even numbing grief. Beauty in its purest and most unadulterated form.

But I digress. Looking at the wall in front of me, I realize that much beauty lies in imperfection. I look at a picture, and I see that it is the out-of-place, the quirky, that endears a picture to me. I listen to music, and it is the clashing of two sounds, the harmonious dissonance, that replays itself over and over again in the music of my mind. I take a bite of some peppermint ice-cream, and the clash of mintyness and sweetness clings to my tongue. I get to know a person, and I realize that it is the imperfections, the character flaws, the divergences from the norm that make them so beautifully different. Flaws are as underrated as beauty is overrated.

It is the flawed coin that is prized. It is the splash of colour on an otherwise perfectly white canvas that we esteem so highly, the bright stars in an otherwise perfectly black sky that so overwhelms us with their beauty. A new blade of grass, ruining the perfect snow. A tear falling softly on an otherwise perfect cheek. The howl of a wolf ruining the perfectly quiet night.

Ah, imperfect beauties. The world needs more of those.