Truth is Hidden

The penultimate day at work. Tomorrow will be a half-day since the Swedes all have their Christmas on Thursday.

Just got back from the Systembolaget through streets of gently falling snow. 630 crowns for the booze! Actually, the beer is quite affordable--it's the wine and schnapps that really hurts.

Still, it's Jul. Gota drink yourself stupid at Jul.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

I'm increasingly convinced those who claim there can be no morality without god are correct. Or rather, you can have any number of internally consistent moralities, which divide things into "moral" and "immoral" categories in any combination, but there's no compelling non-instrumental reason to prefer the moral to the immoral or the right to the wrong. (And instrumental reasons all ultimately reduce to "do what is preferred by those with power".) Gods are then invented to fake a "those with power" to lend instrumentality to a morality.

Accordingly, I suspect that a similar "those" are correct that Enlightenment values are run on the fumes of Christianity, and that should the latter finally evaporate the former will be left without support. Man may have natural rights, but why respect them? You can empathize with the pain and subjugation of the oppressed, but you can just as easily empathize with the triumph and glorification of their equally human oppressors. Maybe the ends don't justify the means; but why insist the means be justified? All that's left is instrumentality and inertia, and as far as that goes, elite dominance is hella more stable and self-supporting than egalitarianism.

On a related note, I think the real distinction between the sciences and the humanities is that the former proceed on the grounds of logic and the latter of rhetoric, and the claim of the humanities to a logical base is an unfortunate and ridiculous pretense ultimately attributable to Western philosophy's embrace of Plato over the superior Sophists. Which is in turn largely a result of the coincidences of preservation. Darn.

It was lovely to walk home from work last night along a snowy high street. It looked sooooo Xmas-cardy.

Then I saw the elf-cops. Two of them.

I almost never see cops on the beat around here. Despite the fact I live a couple hundred metres from the central cop-shop they prefer to prowl around the streets in the local equivalent to panda cars. But here we had two Polis, a bloke and a very cute elf-lady cop with beautiful bone-structure. They were both in their rather ugly paramilitary uniforms--all jump-boots and forage caps--and they were both packing heat.

I know we're all more blasé about these things these days. We're familiar with British rozzers toting HK submachineguns at airports and government buildings, but I'm still not used to it. The whole cops-with-guns thing continues to unnerve me.

Shouldn't be allowed.

A trend common today is the domination of one group by another. We could think of it as monarchy, oligarchy, or pathocracy - but the main theme is that the body politic of the world is controlled and directed by a small, extremely wealthy minority. This isn't conspiracy theory, it's conspiracy fact. It doesn't take much to see the US government being manipulated by corporate interests: Katrina, Iraq, Afghanistan, the swine flu vaccine craze, the bailout of Wall Street - all of these events 'happened' however anytime the government attempts to do something that benefits the people - universal health care, educational reform, equal rights legislation - there are stumbling blocks.

The core of this issue is psychopathy, narcissism and other severe psychological illnesses. These illnesses, unlike virtually all others in the field, are not dehabilitating to their carriers. Especially in the case of psychopathy, they are actually enabling - they use their particular psychological makeup to manipulate, traumatize, disarm and control the minds and emotions of those around them. This manipulation has been well documented, some have described it almost as if they were 'under a spell' which is interesting because Lobaczewski refers to a particular type of deviant as a spell binder.

Spellbinders are generally the carriers of various pathological factors, some characteropathies, and some inherited anomalies (such as psychopathy). They are characterized by pathological egotism. Such a person is forced by some internal causes to make an early choice between two possibilities: the first is forcing other people to think and experience things in a manner similar to his own; the second is a feeling of being lonely and different, a pathological misfit in social life. Sometimes the choice is either snake-charming or suicide.

Triumphant repression of self-critical or unpleasant concepts from the field of consciousness gradually gives rise to the phenomena of conversive thinking, or paralogistics, paramoralisms (these three are basically what we refer to as 'spin' in the media) and the use of reversive blockades (outright lying). They stream so profusely from the mind and mouth of the spellbinder that they flood the average person's mind. Everything becomes subordinated to the spellbinder's over compensatory conviction that they are exceptional, sometime even messianic.

Here's an example of conversive thinking, it's also a good show of subconscious selection and substitution of information. It starts at about 3:15 in the video, but note how Tucker Carlson cannot hear exactly what Jon says, and how he regurgitates, twists and reinterprets the conversation. If you continue, his co-host does the same thing and Jon makes excellent points as both hosts continue to evade the points and redirect the conversation.



With that in mind, I want to bring the conversation to a familiar ground for all of you, that is equal rights. This is something being fought for, very hard, all over the world right now, and it represents our ever-present struggle against The Sky People, er uhm, psychopaths and their brain-washed minions.

Here in the United States gays and lesbians, all over the country, are denied basic rights. We are denied the freedom to choose our spouse as we see fit, we're denied public acknowledgment and legal status as a married couple. Millions more are denied health care, and even more still are denied gainful employment, educational opportunities, some even basic necessities like food, water and shelter.

Taking a step back, looking at the situation globally, billions more are denied the ability to live peacefully. Their homes were/are destroyed, their farms, their families. Some are even abducted, tortured - either literally or in a much more twisted form such as sex slavery. The corporate and intelligence apparatus of the United States uses its power to dominate, control and extract resources from poorer, defenseless regions. Africa is a classic example. Iraq and its abundant oil supply another. Speaking of oil, Iran is being threatened almost daily by the Axis of Evil for its audacity to deny the global corporate elite 'their will be done'.

Take a further step back, we are not isolated in time, but We, as gay men and women fighting for our rights of self determination and self rule are in solidarity with the civil rights movement of the 60s. We share the same struggle the Vietnamese did to defend their homes and villages from a ruthless, psychotic corporate soulless aggressor. We are the heretics persecuted during the Inquisition, We are the Jews, Gays and Gypsies slaughtered during the Holocaust. Each time, our enemy has been one and the same - Psychopaths, and their minions.

We are one people, with one desire - to live our lives in peace. We will determine our own fates, our own destinies and We will not be dominated by a coterie of soulless, conscienceless beings.

To quote a good friend, "the same people that deny us equal rights today were denying African Americans rights in the past, and in fact were responsible for slavery. It's the same people denying Iraqis and Afghanis the right to self-sovereignty and the millions of civilians that have been killed the right to live. Not to mention the insane amount of overseas military bases denying those countries the right to not be threatened and influenced by the presence of another nation's military at all times. It is the same people that are denying the general population the right to make up their own minds about things like 911 and instead tell them what they should think and who to blame with no evidence. It is the same group that denies us the right to keep the original meanings of words and instead twists the meanings to suit their needs (like freedom and democracy). It is the same group that denies us the right to think critically and objectively by crippling mass education and controlling the media.

Fighting for all of those rights is important, but as is increasingly obvious, while one hand giveth the other taketh away. It is not enough for good people everywhere to just fight for those rights, we must address the problem at the source - the psychopaths that continue to create new ways to limit and deny the rights of each individual, while at the same time proclaiming how 'free' we are, just to keep us believing it."

Mature cheddar cheese and ginger biscuits together.

Who knew?

Three inches of snow and Malmö is looking very Christmassy. The snow is floating gently down the way it's supposed to in the movies. The world is snow-quiet outside. Lovely.

And supermodel HR lady and her impossibly handsome Iranian husband are coming round later for glögg and to make 'Lucy Cat' buns in a marathon Christmas cooking session.

Nice.

The known universe in six minutes

Every so often I see a movie that is more then a movie. It takes you on a journey, you share the lives of the characters, their thoughts, feelings, and actions. You learn what they learn, change as they change, and at the end of it you're different then you were before. That, in brief, was my experience watching Avatar. We're taken to Pandora, a distant planet far away, yet somehow closer then we could ever imagine.

Jake Sully is a marine, damaged by life, without the use of his legs. His assignment is to befriend the Na'vi, the native population of Pandora, and use his position to acquire influence and intel. Humans, or the Sky People, are on Pandora to mine 'unobtanium', a rare ore that sells for millions a kilo - and they want the unobtanium underneath a particular Na'vi village. We watch Jake learn to 'see' as the Na'vi do, to understand that all life is connected. To live with the environment, and not just in it. He undergoes a pivotal character transformation, and is reborn in the process.

The experience is not so different from the Alchemical concept of rebirth. To empty your cup, to die, and to become more then what you were. He sheds his old persona as his journey shows him a new life, and a new world that he never knew existed. We share his struggle and in it, we can also learn to see as the Na'vi do, to understand and to live as they do.

Many will be drawn to it's action, other's it's beautiful CGI and cinematography, and both are top notch when it comes to film-making. The acting is also incredible, you really do experience the feelings of the characters, and I'm completely blown away by the fact that they were mostly computer-generated. I also saw the film in Digital 3D which made the experience vibrant and alive in a way that's hard to describe.

I laughed, I cried, and in the end I hope that I will remember the thoughts and feelings that I had throughout the film. It's obvious that Cameron's message is about us, and not some distant alien planet. The human spirit is what's being fought for, our conscience is stirred, and we feel, see and live the evil of the Sky People. What many will not understand is that we are the Sky People, but we can also choose to be the Na'vi. The choice exists every moment, and when we make it, regardless of how small it may seem, or how insignificant the apparent consequences, we become more then what we are - and that can change the world.

As Jeremy said, 'yay for little old ladies'. We are going to try and arrange some flowers for her, or something. The Cats Protection League would not give out addresses but my sister Fiona asked for hers to be passed along to the lady who looked after Fishbed. Hopefully she will get in touch and we can send our thanks.

Also 'yay for cat chipping'. It clearly works. Apparently Fishbed was handed in yesterday morning. Fiona picked up the messages on her phone and mobile after lunch, and the cat was at my parents' home by 3pm.

When I spoke to Mum last night, Fishbed was hidden under the dining room sideboard. But he was safe. He was in a room with food and a bed and a warm radiator. Mum has much experience with rescued strays and knows the drill. It could be a week before he emerges, but that's okay.

What a lovely Christmas present?

This year, I expect I'll again spend the 25th by sleeping in late, getting lunch at a Chinese restaurant (or maybe Japanese if any sushi places are open), and then working for half the day. If anyone wants to join in on any of that (haha), let me know.

New Year's eve and/or day will probably be spent at home with the cats, some champagne, and later some tea and migraine medication for the headache the alcohol will give me. Maybe some indian food and/or fondue too... Hmm.

This is pretty freaky - a mutated bipedal dog.

Yay, almost was run over this morning on the way to work - was pretty spaced out and wandered out right in front of a fast-moving car (that tested its breaks). I think I was daydreaming. Also, apparently houseguest GooglePgh is moving out and getting its own place. Huh.

Today: Stumbled across Indo-European Ablaut, which is one of the most fascinating things in the world. I'm skeptical about the ability to recreate ancient languages based on quirks of modern ones, but even though it's slightly sketchy, we don't have a better means. Particularly interesting is that features like this point at a theoretical reason why and how we (or at least I) are tempted to irregularise words with vowel shifts, and how people often come to agreement about such conjugations when they're not explicitly used in modern society. It's a kind of 「linguistic primality」, which is itself an amusing idea.

One of the few things more interesting than the early-middle stages of when a thought-framework begins to form to approach a new problem domain is setting aside enough of oneself to watch that happen (somewhat less interesting is taking it meta one more level). The base-level moment of insight and then the working out the basic new framework and its implications are sweet, but monitoring the shifts in mental gears while wondering about the nature of insight, problems, and frameworks is delicious. (new programming languages, a video game of sufficient complexity (this is why games like Civ, RPGs, and the like tend to be more engaging than other game types - the more complex the better), carpentry, etc).

As is traditional for this time of year, I ponder happiness, but then conclude that I'm treading Freud's ground too much and stop partway through and mark the section as private. Yay.
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Political disenheartenment:( Read more... )

I have not seen another person for many hours, here in my office. This is probably because of a combination of the elevator being quirky (not wanting to go up to floors 6-9) and the holidays. I've some things I really want to get done for work today, but I'm tempted to head to a coffeeshop to do them (maybe the Beehive or T'd'O - I need to have more landscapes in my life than home, office, Té Café, and random long hikes outside)

On the upside, it looks like Té Café may start having tea tastings events (maybe once a month), which are equally awesome in most of the same ways as wine tastings (not having those is one of the few downsides of having most alcohol in PA go through state liquor stores).

It is absolutely adorable how many websites go to great effort to try to prevent people from downloading music they're sending to them in full.

I was just popping out to the System in the Hansa Compagniet to buy some beer when a tearful and overwhelmed Moto rang me to tell me that Fishbed has been found!

Apparently he's alive and well and in good shape. He's been living in a shed nearby my sister's place for a while, and fed by some old lady. With winter coming on she thought it too cold for him to survive there and turned him into an animal shelter. He's chipped and so Fiona was soon contacted.

Now with Alfie settled down with Artie, Fi and Rob didn't want to take on another cat, so my parents are going to take Fishbed in.

Fantastic news! And it means we get to see the lil' fella this Christmas!

Stupid, stupid smelly cat. I want to give him a hug, okay?

Eddie Izzard is on at the Malmo arena today and I don't have a ticket.

Tags: comedy

Sony Suck?! No way, homey! Sucking is not an option!!

Here's a rather fun promo for the PlayStation 1 that Namco released in 1995. And it's certainly true that some of these games did not suck.

http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/1995-namco-playstation-promo/336378

I particularly enjoy where the announcer loses it on Air Combat (aka Ace Combat for those of us who are fans of the franchise):

It has air-to-air combat,
Air-to-ground combat,
Air-to-sea combat,
Air-to-Michael Jordan combat...

WHOOSH! Fox Fifteen! Anti-Michael Jordan missile away!

Unlike yesterday's blizzardy conditions, today we have gentle snow falling. Nice snow.

And it seems to have brought an awful lot of slinky elf-women out onto the streets. Walking to work along the icy pavements this morning I nearly banana-skinned three times as my neck craned around.

Another thing: it is now freezing outside but the apartment is lovely and snug. Not too warm--just a comfortable temperature with no draught.

And the heating is free, provided courtesy of the building water heating system. Just part of the revelation of how tiny our bills are here compared to England.

The Swedes really have cracked this coping-with-the-cold lark. I'd be unsurprised if there turned out to be a law about minimum heating standards.

It's just like England. A light smattering of snow--just three centimetres overnight--and the whole of Skåne is thrown into chaos.

All the Swedes from Stockholm and points north just laugh at this.

So Tiger Woods. I can appreciate that that's interesting enough to keep in the news, but I don't buy the news pegs they're hanging it on, that this could be some sort of crippling blow to his image. I mean, you know who watches golf, and pays attention to golfing endorsers?

Golfers.

Rich male executives and professionals in the habit of disappearing for a few hours in the middle of the day and coming back freshly showered, or flying off on weekend vacations without their family.

And the idea is that these people are going to lose respect for him for keeping mistresses in addition to his trophy wife?

Seriously.