I watched part of a Frontline piece on the war in Afhganistan. It's got me thinking again.
I'm glad to know that there are people in the military and government that truly understand the situation there. And they truly do. They've accounted for the economic and infrastructure and other life reasons why the Taliban is likely to beat back the US the same way the beat back the Russians. I'm glad that someone understands this. It makes me feel better knowing that at least some people are not blind eyes open.
It makes me terribly sad that Afghanistan is suffering continued conflict. They have suffered on and off again conflict for the last forty or so years. Their infrastructure, such as roads, buildings, etc. has been decimated to the point of non-existence mostly. And everyone has known war, from the youngest to the oldest. The only stable government they have had in recent memory, the Taliban, have been removed from power, but no stable government has replaced them. It is very easy to understand why the insurgency has gained strength. We do not have a presence in the country capable of winning the war and the longer time goes on, the more frustration will mount and the more the people will side with anyone who can make good on a promise for stability.
So once again, I am wondering why it is that I am again searching for a good paying job to settle my debts and provide me with things. It seems... imbalanced. Completely negligent. Ostentatious.
I suppose I have an obligation to pay off my debts. That is certainly true. That still seems to pale in comparison to the needs of a country besieged. It is the continuation of this American myth that disturbs me. Certainly we all get lost wherever we find ourselves. No one can be globally objective. But even the most basic elements of humility and compassion seem to indicate the necessity for not merely a change, but a completely revamped focus.
Perhaps I am being too...tangential. Perhaps I am looking off the edge of a curve into a darkness that doesn't quite exist. Still, one can't help but feel the weight of the disparity. I live in a country that has not known invasion in 200 years. We have two reminders of conflict with a foreign entity on our soil: Pearl Harbor and 911. These are but paper cuts by comparison to the world at large. We take them quite seriously, but they are not serious in any sort of global context. Our farms have not been mortared, our buildings have not been bombed, we do not carry the lasting limp of war. We have moved freely in the world as imperialists. Setting our tents in other places for periods of time, removing them at our will. But always retreating to the physical and economic island we call home. No one has had, nor now has, the economic might to send troops across the expanse of the oceans bordering our nation and onto our soil. The only nation that has the access and ability to mount such a campaign is Russia, and it is doubtful that they are unified enough to even attempt a full scale assault on America.
It is not a hopeful case for humanity that the richest, most powerful and freest nation the world has yet seen has so many internal problems. The list of internal violence, corruption, and discord within the wall of our house is rather substantial and I've yet to meet anyone not pricked by it. But we are a garden paradise in comparison on many, many levels.
Of course, I'll forget about all this tomorrow. I'll probably bemoan my state of affairs yet again. The stresses of living in a modern cosmopolitan society. Geez. Count your blessings.
-mike
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Christianity versus?
I think I just figured out something, so here's the thing: I really believe Christianity is the truth, and often times christians try to come up with "Christian" solutions to life's problems, but the reality is that we're all very much trying to learn how to be human. I do think that Christianity correctly describes the relationship between God and humanity, but the relationship between one and oneself is not necessarily the fundamental purpose of the Bible (and thus, Christianity). It's not necessarily even the fundamental purpose of God, since even before the fall, God tells people to go and make something of the Earth. i.e., that's *your* job to figure out. In some sense, God may not even entirely "know" how we are supposed to be, if that is something that we have to discover. That's not to say that the rules of God don't still apply, because obviously they do, I'm just exploring a subtle thing here.
This explains something to me.
This explains something to me.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Equilibrium
My father is fond of talking about "looking at the whole picture" when taking on a new purchase or plan or whatever. Say you want to buy a new computer. Well, you can spend $500 and get an Acer from Wal-mart, but that's not taking into consideration that you'll have to spend money on repairs because the parts are too cheap, the lost data because the system crashed, etc.
Well, a different way of looking at this came out the other day: "what is the equilibrium point?" We were talking about installing computer systems [at colleges and universities]. The idea being, if you replace typewriters with computers, what will be the eventual equilibrium point you inevitably reach? Once you head down that path, where will you end up? If you replace typewriters with computers, the next real equilibrium point is a completely networked environment that you rely upon for all of your daily business. If you go down that path, computers will become an integral part of your business. There is no way around this, it will happen.
We as people have a tendency not to think about what the inevitable outcome will be. For instance, sticking with the computer theme, I just recently bought a computer. I built it myself with parts from Newegg (Once you know, you Newegg!) (it's true.) and I had planned for a cost of about $500 dollars. When I got done, I had logged about $750. Why? Because I didn't look for the equilibrium point. I initially bought a case, motherboard, cpu, video card, RAM, hard drive, and power supply. I had planned on using my old optical drives and old OS. Problem was, the new components I bought and the old components I had were not really in equilibrium. In this case, specifically, the video card did not work with my old OS. Neither did I have full functionality of the motherboard. And my old video card wasn't supported by the new motherboard. Basically, none of the parts were swappable old to new. So, I had to order a new OS. And since I was getting a new OS that was 64 bit, my old 32 bit hardware which lacked 64 bit drivers was useless. So I had to get a new optical drive. Additionally, I needed new case fans to cool the new (and hot) hardware.
So for those of you that don't understand all the above gibberish, look at it this way. If you make a change, you may necessitate further changes you didn't envision. Plan accordingly.
(Another example, for all you young men out there: Suppose you find yourself a nice young lady and you ask her to be your wife. And she says yes. Break out the champagne. All's well and good. But...this is a change that will necessitate other changes. Don't suppose that your wife will care as little as you do about what kind of dishes you eat from, what the curtains look like, what the furniture looks like, whether the floor is clean, when you hang out with your friends, and don't neglect the very real correlation between marriage and children. All of this will undoubtedly require changes you have not yet considered. Changes you cannot yet forsee. The next real equilibrium point is most certainly not where you currently are. Plan accordingly.)
Well, a different way of looking at this came out the other day: "what is the equilibrium point?" We were talking about installing computer systems [at colleges and universities]. The idea being, if you replace typewriters with computers, what will be the eventual equilibrium point you inevitably reach? Once you head down that path, where will you end up? If you replace typewriters with computers, the next real equilibrium point is a completely networked environment that you rely upon for all of your daily business. If you go down that path, computers will become an integral part of your business. There is no way around this, it will happen.
We as people have a tendency not to think about what the inevitable outcome will be. For instance, sticking with the computer theme, I just recently bought a computer. I built it myself with parts from Newegg (Once you know, you Newegg!) (it's true.) and I had planned for a cost of about $500 dollars. When I got done, I had logged about $750. Why? Because I didn't look for the equilibrium point. I initially bought a case, motherboard, cpu, video card, RAM, hard drive, and power supply. I had planned on using my old optical drives and old OS. Problem was, the new components I bought and the old components I had were not really in equilibrium. In this case, specifically, the video card did not work with my old OS. Neither did I have full functionality of the motherboard. And my old video card wasn't supported by the new motherboard. Basically, none of the parts were swappable old to new. So, I had to order a new OS. And since I was getting a new OS that was 64 bit, my old 32 bit hardware which lacked 64 bit drivers was useless. So I had to get a new optical drive. Additionally, I needed new case fans to cool the new (and hot) hardware.
So for those of you that don't understand all the above gibberish, look at it this way. If you make a change, you may necessitate further changes you didn't envision. Plan accordingly.
(Another example, for all you young men out there: Suppose you find yourself a nice young lady and you ask her to be your wife. And she says yes. Break out the champagne. All's well and good. But...this is a change that will necessitate other changes. Don't suppose that your wife will care as little as you do about what kind of dishes you eat from, what the curtains look like, what the furniture looks like, whether the floor is clean, when you hang out with your friends, and don't neglect the very real correlation between marriage and children. All of this will undoubtedly require changes you have not yet considered. Changes you cannot yet forsee. The next real equilibrium point is most certainly not where you currently are. Plan accordingly.)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Worrying
I wanted to write this down because is just came up with my mother, and I had a rather succinct answer:
Q: If I'm not worrying, how do I know I've done what I should?
A: Worrying makes you feel as if you done something when you have done nothing, it makes you feel as if you have control when you have none. The better response is to do what is reasonable for you to do and then trust.
Q: If I'm not worrying, how do I know I've done what I should?
A: Worrying makes you feel as if you done something when you have done nothing, it makes you feel as if you have control when you have none. The better response is to do what is reasonable for you to do and then trust.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sundays are for napping
I got my new computer up and running again. It's not pretty by any means, but it's stable and it works. And that's the important thing for now. I'll be much happier when I get a copy of XP on there and I can use the full capabilites of the video card and motherboard, but at least I can get around now.
Tim Gerak from Six Parts Seven has agreed to mix the music I recorded for The Becky Adams EP. So, at long last, I should have an official product. That will make me very happy. In the meantime, I have to finish breaking out the tracks into .wav files for export, which means I need a copy of XP ASAP. I can't really do any serious work until I have that in hand and have my new machine fully functional.
Also, I'm trying to get my new recording equipment fully operational as well. I've got a work-around solution for present, but I have some connectivity issues to overcome still. It'll work though.
I'm not sure what to do about a job yet, although my days in Alva are definitely numbered. Maybe I'll move to the Antari system and join the Separatists.
Tim Gerak from Six Parts Seven has agreed to mix the music I recorded for The Becky Adams EP. So, at long last, I should have an official product. That will make me very happy. In the meantime, I have to finish breaking out the tracks into .wav files for export, which means I need a copy of XP ASAP. I can't really do any serious work until I have that in hand and have my new machine fully functional.
Also, I'm trying to get my new recording equipment fully operational as well. I've got a work-around solution for present, but I have some connectivity issues to overcome still. It'll work though.
I'm not sure what to do about a job yet, although my days in Alva are definitely numbered. Maybe I'll move to the Antari system and join the Separatists.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Oiiii-yaaaaaaa!!!!
I think I'm going to go crazy! aaaah!! Stupid new computer things with buttons and cables and dysfunctional problems!
aiyayayayayayayayayay.
I got everything for my new computer now, got it all up and running, and then found out that the motherboard and video card don't support windows 2000. Oh, it'll work alright. But not well.
I tried to go ahead and just get the data from my old harddrives onto the new harddrive so I could at least put my backup project to bed, but no dice. No sir. Not yet. Apparently, getting this thing to recognize both my SATA and PATA drives is just *tooo* complicated. Aargghh! I feel like an angry man with a hammer...a hammer made out of glass. What the hell good does that do anybody!?! Wah! I think I'm going to eat my shorts!
Anyway, the upshot is that I need a new OS, and possibly need to just spring for a external hdd enclosure and just transfer through USB. Might end up saving me loads of hassle. But that means waiting... waiting!! Waiting!!! What has this world come to!! I have to wait to accomplish anything!?!!? Non, ce n'est pas possible!! Ce n'est pa la vie! Rome was too built in a day!! I pay my taxes, you know!!! I'm going to go suck on my silver spoon!
aiyayayayayayayayayay.
I got everything for my new computer now, got it all up and running, and then found out that the motherboard and video card don't support windows 2000. Oh, it'll work alright. But not well.
I tried to go ahead and just get the data from my old harddrives onto the new harddrive so I could at least put my backup project to bed, but no dice. No sir. Not yet. Apparently, getting this thing to recognize both my SATA and PATA drives is just *tooo* complicated. Aargghh! I feel like an angry man with a hammer...a hammer made out of glass. What the hell good does that do anybody!?! Wah! I think I'm going to eat my shorts!
Anyway, the upshot is that I need a new OS, and possibly need to just spring for a external hdd enclosure and just transfer through USB. Might end up saving me loads of hassle. But that means waiting... waiting!! Waiting!!! What has this world come to!! I have to wait to accomplish anything!?!!? Non, ce n'est pas possible!! Ce n'est pa la vie! Rome was too built in a day!! I pay my taxes, you know!!! I'm going to go suck on my silver spoon!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
521 prompt - Sept. 4
there was this pause.
"It's unclear," he thought, aloud. "Maybe it's not as I'm putting it."
He put down his pen, re-crossed his legs, and felt the greenness of the grass underneath them this time. There was an undercurrent, a similarity, a livingness to these green things that said they were not brown. They had not died, and he noticed it now.
He looked up and paused at the expanse of terrain before him. Yellow flowers in with the grass at the top of the crest, the pause of the drop and the continue of the green and yellow down to skirt the plateaus that arose at the edges and then on beyond to the mud and waters in the middle. A slow trail from animals leading toward the waters just knowable to the left.
"Perhaps this is not as simple as I'm describing."
The assignment had been clear. He was to author a chapter on carrying capacity for an upcoming edition of Rosewill's Ecology. He had been glad for the opportunity to make a little extra doing writing beyond the pages and pages of course notes and lab procedures. Resources were simple mathematics and he had looked forward to the break.
This morning had been nice, and so he had put aside the mathematics in order to spend a little time looking in the eyes of the enemy. It was only half an hours walk, yet he felt many miles from the straight corners of the office. The steno pad had been simply for any insights into what he'd begun at the office. But the winds had changed direction and the scene looked different now.
He uncrossed his legs, set the pen in his shirt pocket, paused, then rolled slowly up, sighed absent-mindedly, and began walking back.
It was time for some Postum.
"It's unclear," he thought, aloud. "Maybe it's not as I'm putting it."
He put down his pen, re-crossed his legs, and felt the greenness of the grass underneath them this time. There was an undercurrent, a similarity, a livingness to these green things that said they were not brown. They had not died, and he noticed it now.
He looked up and paused at the expanse of terrain before him. Yellow flowers in with the grass at the top of the crest, the pause of the drop and the continue of the green and yellow down to skirt the plateaus that arose at the edges and then on beyond to the mud and waters in the middle. A slow trail from animals leading toward the waters just knowable to the left.
"Perhaps this is not as simple as I'm describing."
The assignment had been clear. He was to author a chapter on carrying capacity for an upcoming edition of Rosewill's Ecology. He had been glad for the opportunity to make a little extra doing writing beyond the pages and pages of course notes and lab procedures. Resources were simple mathematics and he had looked forward to the break.
This morning had been nice, and so he had put aside the mathematics in order to spend a little time looking in the eyes of the enemy. It was only half an hours walk, yet he felt many miles from the straight corners of the office. The steno pad had been simply for any insights into what he'd begun at the office. But the winds had changed direction and the scene looked different now.
He uncrossed his legs, set the pen in his shirt pocket, paused, then rolled slowly up, sighed absent-mindedly, and began walking back.
It was time for some Postum.
521 prompt - Aug. 28
Step in.
breathe
Address. Express, being.
follow and lead.
measure, but shortly.
call
respond
again, again
brushstroke, handstroke, visage, step
wait
shortly, but measured
leading and follow
Being, expressed.
Addressed.
breathe
(FINI)
breathe
Address. Express, being.
follow and lead.
measure, but shortly.
call
respond
again, again
brushstroke, handstroke, visage, step
wait
shortly, but measured
leading and follow
Being, expressed.
Addressed.
breathe
(FINI)
And so, on an autumn day, two thousand and eight years counted past the birth of Jesus the Christ...
I've been intrigued by Ben's prompt writing from his 521 Romantic Ecology (which is, somewhat sadly, not the same as Ecology of Romance) graduate course, and due to his graciously sending me a link to the prompts, I shall now commence to haphazardly address these prompts.
For those scoring at home, see:
http://www.wsu.edu/~deblee/EcologyFall2008/blogs.html
cheers,
mike
For those scoring at home, see:
http://www.wsu.edu/~deblee/EcologyFall2008/blogs.html
cheers,
mike
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Boutiques and Bibles
Tonight I took a walk in the early night air around the turnarounds of my parent's neighborhood. It was a perfect night, cool and full of stars. I didn't bother putting on shoes because sometimes it's not worth the time and effort of finding them and putting them on.
I thought about why using the Bible as a template for living and decision making can sometimes be a bad thing. This being juxtaposed to just doing what you think is right or a good idea. I've thought about this before, but something new came to mind tonight. I think that the Bible acts like a connect-the-dots picture describing life and God and everything. It gives the boundaries , but it doesn't give the details. In order to understand the details, you have to actually live with God, you have to relate to, and with, him. God is the one we are to know, love, serve, and project. The Bible is not God. It outlines God, to be sure. There are not gaps in the outline. But it doesn't spend much time on the details. And I think a lot of people, myself included, end up serving the outline rather than the whole. This explains why so many things in life don't seem to fit. If an alien only ever saw my silhouette, they would never understand what a tooth was. They might know it related to me but they wouldn't know how. Of course, if they asked, I could tell them. But without that relationship, they'd be clueless.
Since I lost my job at the salt flat, I've been wondering what to do about a career pursuit. I've thought about performing music, I've thought about doing non-profit work, I've thought about going back to Davey tree, I've thought about environmental/biology work, but I don't know what a good direction is. I've no doubts that whatever I choose now will end up morphing later, but what to choose now...? Tonight, I thought about microphone design. I've ordered an output transformer for my ribbon mic, as an upgrade, and I've been thinking that I might be able to just build more ribbon mics. They are extremely simple designs, so it would be a great place to start.
I found someone who hopefully can mix and master the music I recorded for the Becky Adams EP. Tim Gerak, from Six Parts Seven, has been building a nice studio in Highland Square, and I think he's a good choice. Cheap, but he has a good amount of experience. I'm really hoping this will work out. I wrote him an e-mail, we'll see what happens.
-mike
I thought about why using the Bible as a template for living and decision making can sometimes be a bad thing. This being juxtaposed to just doing what you think is right or a good idea. I've thought about this before, but something new came to mind tonight. I think that the Bible acts like a connect-the-dots picture describing life and God and everything. It gives the boundaries , but it doesn't give the details. In order to understand the details, you have to actually live with God, you have to relate to, and with, him. God is the one we are to know, love, serve, and project. The Bible is not God. It outlines God, to be sure. There are not gaps in the outline. But it doesn't spend much time on the details. And I think a lot of people, myself included, end up serving the outline rather than the whole. This explains why so many things in life don't seem to fit. If an alien only ever saw my silhouette, they would never understand what a tooth was. They might know it related to me but they wouldn't know how. Of course, if they asked, I could tell them. But without that relationship, they'd be clueless.
Since I lost my job at the salt flat, I've been wondering what to do about a career pursuit. I've thought about performing music, I've thought about doing non-profit work, I've thought about going back to Davey tree, I've thought about environmental/biology work, but I don't know what a good direction is. I've no doubts that whatever I choose now will end up morphing later, but what to choose now...? Tonight, I thought about microphone design. I've ordered an output transformer for my ribbon mic, as an upgrade, and I've been thinking that I might be able to just build more ribbon mics. They are extremely simple designs, so it would be a great place to start.
I found someone who hopefully can mix and master the music I recorded for the Becky Adams EP. Tim Gerak, from Six Parts Seven, has been building a nice studio in Highland Square, and I think he's a good choice. Cheap, but he has a good amount of experience. I'm really hoping this will work out. I wrote him an e-mail, we'll see what happens.
-mike
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Well, it's that time again. It's time to blog. It's time to blog a lot. It's time to blog a lot because I'm once again jobless. Yes, these are the days I'll look back upon fondly and think, "what in the world was i doing back then and why isn't my life as awesome now." Naw, with any sort of grace at all, I won't be saying that. In fact, let's make sure I'm not.
I bought a Mackie 1202 VLZ3 mixer off Ebay this week, and for some reason I'm having a hard time remembering, I also bought a $20 guitar amp. I still need to buy a transformer upgrade for the ribbon mic I bought on Ebay a few months ago. Once I do all these things, plus a few more, I may have a half decent sounding recording set-up. Which I will hopefully use well. Now if only I had a room with 15 foot ceilings and a piano.
I also found out today that Tim Gerak from Six Parts Seven has opened up a nice recording studio in Highland Square, Akron, where I used to be, and is offering mastering prices I can afford. So, that's on the burner as well.
I'm almost (almost being a long way from anywhere in particular) done with turning the Audacity projects from two years ago into wav files for export for mixing purposes, so hopefully I will finally, finally, finally have some official output by the new year.
Cheers!
I bought a Mackie 1202 VLZ3 mixer off Ebay this week, and for some reason I'm having a hard time remembering, I also bought a $20 guitar amp. I still need to buy a transformer upgrade for the ribbon mic I bought on Ebay a few months ago. Once I do all these things, plus a few more, I may have a half decent sounding recording set-up. Which I will hopefully use well. Now if only I had a room with 15 foot ceilings and a piano.
I also found out today that Tim Gerak from Six Parts Seven has opened up a nice recording studio in Highland Square, Akron, where I used to be, and is offering mastering prices I can afford. So, that's on the burner as well.
I'm almost (almost being a long way from anywhere in particular) done with turning the Audacity projects from two years ago into wav files for export for mixing purposes, so hopefully I will finally, finally, finally have some official output by the new year.
Cheers!
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