21.1.08

all that i'm going to say...

is that the underdog rises again, go giants...

[shalom...]

20.1.08

here is another ode...

to the bumper sticker:

dear miss, who has the bumper sticker that reads 'next time you think that you are perfect, try walking on water.'

i assume that you are making some reference to christ. with that in mind...

what is perfection? some sort of actuality of existence, maybe? let's go with your assumption that christ did/does exist.

i am able, as a human being, to only attain a certain amount of existence. and once i attain that...i am perfect. i am unable to move beyond that. you might as well be saying...if you think that you are perfect, turn into an elm tree. meaning, that it is not in my nature to 'walk on water.'

so with the nature that i am given, i am unable to attain that. i am unable to move beyond. to defy my nature. so it is in christ's nature to 'walk on water.' what if he didn't do that? would he be defying his nature? and what if he did defy his nature? wow. that's a heavy one.

and to all the 'christ sticker' fans out there...you know who you are. the ones with all the christ stickers. the ones with the christ vanity plates (who i hate the most)...i'm not going to find salvation from being behind you in traffic, and reading your freaking stickers. so stop. i don't care that you're a jesus freak, because that is what you are saying. and if you are able to simplify your deepest beliefs, the core of your beliefs, the core of who you are...to a simple bumper sticker of a few words...you are pathetic, in the deepest sense.

by the way...i am perfect...but what is perfection?

[shalom...]

18.1.08

this is an open letter to...

the guy that has the bumper sticker on his car that reads 'don't put my flag on your foreign car'.

dear sir,
forgive my ignorance, but have you ever heard the phrase 'free market economy'. this is where i have the freedom (you do know what that means?) to buy and purchase goods and services. the other thing that helps out this idea, is that we live in a capitalistic economy. again that whole freedom thing of buying and selling goods comes into play. basically...if i have a good or service to provide, i am able to sell that product to the buying public. they are then free to buy it, or not.

this is because the purchaser as the right to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' it is also, because of this notion, that if the purchaser believes that my product will make them happy, they are free (oops, there's that word again) to buy my product.

so as i begin to research products that i would like to buy (in this case a car), i am looking for a car that will benefit me the most. what becomes the most utilitous object of my purchase. i do a lot of driving so an suv will not work for me. so i find a car that gets the most gas milage. and it so happens to be the vw jetta with the tdi. therefore i have made a purchase that has made me the happiest out of all other purchases (as far as cars go).

it just so happens that it comes from germany. it's not that i was looking for a german car (although they all are pretty sweet). now if there was an american car company that came out with something close in quality, milage; i might have looked at it. however that is not the case. i know that i don't have to worry about the engine for, about, two hundred thousand miles. i get damn good milage, for the driving that i do. now, my question to you...what american car does that?

so if anything...maybe i am more 'american' (whatever that means) than you. because i practice my freedom, as opposed to being led around like a blind pig.

so i will now pick up an american flag, put it on my car; and then when i see you again, i'm going to get in front of you, and then slow down a little just to make sure you are able to see it.

thank you.

[shalom...]

13.1.08

go Giants...

that's it...

i have to write a textbook. and make sure somehow that my textbook is able to be used in many different universities and colleges. that's a money maker. oh, no, i don't want to do it for the 'advancement of knowledge'. but money.

two examples:

first: i teach a logic course, and at all the places of higher learning that i have taught at all use the same logic book. now every, say, five or so years, a new edition comes out. now this is an 'entry' level book. so what has changed? nothing. the author changes some logic problems. maybe a few words. and bam. cash flow.

second: i'm teaching a comparative world religion class this semester. now i haven't taught it in about a year and a half. i was informed that there is a new edition out. i begin to go through it to check the new edition versus the old, and consequently my notes; and what do i notice? in the previous edition chapter two is labeled 'oral religions', and in the new one 'indigenous religions'. so the author goes through chapter two, and changes the word 'oral' to 'indigenous', and bam. new edition. cash flow. now there maybe other changes, but that is a far as i have gotten; but still...

however; i even tell students that if you are able to get your hands on the last edition...go for it.

[shalom...]

11.1.08

as some...

of you know; i am (in simplest terms) a philosophical practitioner, and for those that don't know...

a quick description of this is using philosophy to counsel people with philosophical issues. as prof. marinoff states 'therapy for the sane.' if you will. to use philosophy to work through issues that come up in life. there has become a void in therapy that psychology has a hard time filling. such things as questions of morals, ethics, belief systems. these are things that philosophers are trained in, and understand. we understand the structures of arguments. we understand these types of problems. hell, we understand the structures of problems. just look at the stuff we read. so we are able to deconstruct problems, and find solutions, ways of looking at problems, etc.

well, it has been in the back of my mind, for the past year now, to promote myself this way. to add this as an aspect of my life, meaning to 'put a sign out' as it were, and promote myself as such. website. business cards. the whole deal. i've just never have gotten around to it. time. strategy. promotion. sell your self type of thing, and a salesman i am not.

i've also been wondering what to call myself. i have settled with the term philosophical practitioner. i say this, because i am not able to call myself a philosophical therapist. legally i am unable to call it therapy. or even philosophical counseling. for these words are 'legally binded' by their respective 'certifications'.

so i hear the phrase life coach; which seems pretty popular on the west coast; so why not a philosophical life coach? but the term 'life coach' seems too hokey to me.

so i am hoping, some time, to get this started. maybe find some people to help me along with this.

[shalom...]

10.1.08

lord, mr. ford...

what have you done?

'well, i'm not a man appointed judge
to bear ill-will and hold a grudge
but i think it's time i said me a few choice words
all about that demon automobile
a metal box with the polyglass wheel
the end result to the dream of henry ford'


as the 'environmental' war wages...a motor company in india has come out with this little number. i would say that this car goes back to the dream of mr. ford. an affordable car for everyone.

the car makes sense, however it wouldn't go over in america; because the base model doesn't come with a radio, or air conditioning. and again it comes back to that whole concept of americans believing that they are owed something, without working for it. anyway...

the mileage is great, around fifty miles per gallon. what other car gets that?

oh, right...the tdi in my driveway.

in this fuel conscious market, the car manufactures are boosting up numbers of late twenties or early thirties; however there are cars that do more. hybrid cars do not do more. are not better. are not 'helping' the problem. these cars are only good for quick city driving when you are running under or around twenty-five miles per hour, for when it is working off of the battery. other than that, highway, over thirty miles per hour...you're running gasoline. just like others. with shitty mileage.

speaking of mileage...this little vehicle gets a reportedly seventy miles per gallon. i'll give you a minute to absorb that...

yes, seventy. miles. per. gallon.

here's a solution. here's your answer to miles per gallon. now if you notice that this link was to vw in the u.k. so what does that tell you...it's not available in the u.s. why? the only thing i am able to think of is the diesel fuel itself. i'm not sure if diesel fuel is different here than it is across the pond. if this is not an issue...i want this car. i just hope that when my tdi 'dies' it will be available here. if not, i wonder if i would be able to get one set over?

people who complain about fuel mileage do not take a look at diesel fuel. it's a cleaner burning fuel. more efficient. my engine will probably go for over two hundred thousand miles. now what other car is able to do that without worry?

5.1.08

i am one...

of those guys (though i rarely admit it) that will follow the work of a given artist, mostly music. one artist in particular, that i have followed since, shit, eighty-nine; and that would be mike patton.

i came across patton back in the day when his then band, faith no more, second album came out the real thing. i read a review of it, and picked it up, and this was before the video's. and i've followed his work ever since. all his bands...fantomas, tomahawk, peeping tom, his work with kaada, with dillinger escape plan, maldoror, and even his voice work that he has done.

so it's no wonder that i find a lot of good stuff from his label ipecac, and keeping up with what his is doing in the movies with scores and voice overs. nice.

patton is one of those people that i consider to be a true artist. i know that sounds 'corny' coming from me, but his stuff is alway original and different from what he put out before, and he is constantly re-inventing himself. so if you're looking for some new/different music (and i know that annette is) check out ipecac records for something new and different.

[shalom...]

4.1.08

as the election...

draws near, i have come across a quote from plato:

'there will be no end to the troubles of states, or indeed of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers.'

i have said this before in a sense. now i'm not advocating that i, as a philosopher, ought to rule. rather what i argue for, or at least have examined, is that the majority of the candidates have all gotten degrees in law, and now i am noticing that there is at least one (that i know of) that is a minister in some way (but that's not what i want to speak of now). however in dealing with these lawyers; what is the lawyers goal?

to win the case. to argue for their point of view. not what the truth may be. but rather what will benefit them. to win the case. or in this sense to get re-elected. to 'spin' the truth in a way that will benefit them. to find loop holes in things. to get around the truth.

in hobbes' opus the leviathan, which is mostly a political work, he begins with an understanding of what the governing govern...man. to begin with an understanding of the nature of man. ask a politician what they govern, and what is the nature of that. that would be fun, to hear that answer.

[shalom...]