Monday, February 2, 2009

25 Random Things About Me

Okay, so my aunt has tagged me on Facebook for this meme, and it's my nephew-ish duty to comply...

Rules:
Whatcha talkin' about? I don't need no rules! I tag none but those that tag themselves.

Really really random things about me:
1) I have a theory about humour where jokes need only amuse myself. I sometimes wonder if people hear me when I burst out laughing for no apparent reason as I'm trying to fall asleep.

2) I am a soft-core pacifist. I've thought a lot about pacifism and just war theory, and I've come to the current, tenative conclusion that there is such a thing as a just war. However, it seems like human war is generally unjust. Practically, I have chosen not to do engineering work for arms companies or governments and I am unwilling to be in direct service of a military. I voted US Pacifist Party in the 2008 US Presidential election.

3) I'm into heavy metal music, like, where the singers scream. I guess I'm falling down a spiral of sensory down-regulation where I need nastier and nastier music to get a kick. But it's a fun downward spiral of sensory down-regulation.

4) I'm in an argument with food. In some ways, I wish I could be middle aged and not have to eat as much. Yeah, it's stupid I know. Don't worry, I'll enjoy my youth.

5) All throughout school and undergrad at university, I wrote in pen because assessements had to be in pen. Now I'm using pencil.

6) I am a highly imaginary person. As a complex number, I would call myself something like 1.7 + j10. Other people are more real, and therefore would feel uncomfortable summarising themselves (or probably anyone) in a single number.

7) I am a city dweller. I grew up in Chicago, a city so big that it scares me when I go back. As a city dweller, I have developed a set of understandings of the world from that perspective. For example, I am opposed to guns and I believe that the 2nd Ammendment in the US constitution should be removed. In the city, there is no reason to have a gun. However, in the country, a gun can be just another sharp tool.

8) I type with more confidence than I handwrite.

9) I studied electrical engineering but I didn't learn electromagnetics.

10) It's been said that if you play guitar you can play bass guitar. I think the general feeling is true, in that if you play guitar it's easier to learn bass than flute, but still bass is a complicated instrument all by itself.

11) I used to dislike the sound of bass drums. I find get a pop/rock bass drum sound that I really liked. Now I don't seem to have that problem.

12) I've come to believe that maths is just a langauge and that it doesn't express fundamental truths about the world.

13) I've also come to believe that philosophy is a process and that it isn't useful for finding fundamental truths about the world.

14) I've found that fundamental truths about the world pretty much have to be assumed before you start doing anything. It seems like no one questions their own existence, even though "I think therefore I am" is actually arbitrary!

15) I've come to truth in Jesus and reject atheism. Atheism is useless and dead. There is no life purpose in atheism except the arbitrary.

16) Ironically, I am working on a project doing predictions of simple time-series sequences (like chaotic oscillators) but I doubt the predictability of most actual things.

17) I have a funny thing on my right wrist that's like a birthmark but not. It helped me learn left from right as a kid. Now I consider it a special feature and an outward reminder of the asymmetry of my body.

18) I regard asymmetry as an important element of art, philisophically speaking. Art should be almost symmetrical, but not quite.

19) I read and reread the Bible but don't get closer to understanding Jesus.

20) I find it aesthetically pleasing to not own a car, but eventually I'll probably want one enough and have enough money to get one.

21) I'm

22) running

23) out

24) of

25) things!

Peter

Friday, January 9, 2009

I Understand

I understand. I understand why people don't like metal sometimes.

I'm listening to Living Sacrifice now. I'm a latecomer to the Living Sacrifice thing. They're an old band. I remember finding them on iTunes in 2005 and thinking "Good guitar parts, but I don't like the vocals."

Listening to them now, my tastes have changed a bit. I can stand it, but even now, it sounds like trash. There is an angry white guy thinking he's so hardcore yelling about Jesus. The guitar parts just sound like trash and the drums sound like they're recorded in a garage. The guitar solos are like the sound of cutting metal.

But you know how people make sculptures out of garbage? That's kinda what I see in Living Sacrifice. They are the sharpest, the hardest, the loudest, the angriest, the most malicious, the ugliest, the nastiest. They are trash. It sounds like trash. It seems like at any moment, the music could degenerate into total noise, and sometimes it does.

I've got "In Memoriam", and some of the tracks are better than others. Some I don't really like, and they are just trash. Others I do like and they are more like extreme 1990's metal with artistic taste, balance and symmetry.

Hey, if you don't like metal, I can understand.

Rock on,
Peter

Thursday, January 8, 2009

It's All Real

I never realised, but all the games about bandicoots are real.

-----

Also, I've been learning Python. I like. Batteries included. Works a charm.

Peter

Friday, January 2, 2009

New Level of Consciousness

I've reached a new level of consciousness! Get yourself a guitar! Quit engineering! Free your mind! Disregard everything I've ever said!

Peter

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Economic and Environmental Crises

There's been a lot of talk about an economic crisis, and there is a growing awareness of the present and existing environmental crisis (or perhaps crises).

I suspect and suggest that the solution to both problems is a heart change. A change from a heart of greed to a heart of charity. A change from a heart of consumption to a heart of stewardship. Change the way you are in order to change what's happening in the world.

I was riding the bus a few months ago and I realised that I was surrounded by people. I suspect that the solutions to the economic crisis will involve more community focus. Individualism costs more. If we have a barn dance, it take less electricity and less heating than if we all sit at home watching TV.

The environmental crisis is really the amalgamation of a number of serious problems facing the earth, both locally and globally. Global warming is a global problem. (I just thought I'd add that genius observation to show how smart I am.) The possums are a problem local to New Zealand. Instead of thinking of the earth as a set of resources to be used for maximum financial gain now, I think we need to start thinking of the earth as an old well-knit sweater of gold. The sweater was made by our grandparents, and we wearit now while it fits us, but we will be passing it on to our children, and their children and so on. If we tear apart the sweater now and get out all the gold, our children won't be able to enjoy it. There is gold there. It is made of gold. But it's important to keep it in one piece.

I suggest that in 2009 that we work on fixing these problems, starting with our own hearts. My own heart needs changing. The lines between good and evil, between freedom and fear, line not between countries and organisations, but between parts of each of our hearts.

Love,
Peter