Wall of Text: About bloging, evolution, information, and such.

So, there's some of you that's been reading this blog that probably wonder who the hell I am, and why anything that I say should be listened to. Not that it would come as a surprise to anyone even a bit familiar with the so called blogosphere.
No one will agree with everything you say, just as you wont agree with everything someone says. This goes for identical twins, and in extension also clones.

So, why did I start bloging in the first place? Attention? Fame? Anger? Boredom? All valid reasons to start spewing your metaphysical guts out over the Internet, even though their content might not always be the best.
One thing I think we can all agree on is this: we like to express ourselves. Communication is a vast part of humanity after all, one of the fundamentals of society if you so will.
So that was of course part of it for me. I wanted to make my voice heard. I have no idea if I've succeeded, since none of you bastards ever write anything, but that's ok. I didn't want attention or fame.
I probably felt a bit lonely, needed a good output for emotions. And what I've realized after over a year of sporadic bursts of anger, excitement, sometimes clever phrasing, sometimes pubertal anger. What I've realized is that it focuses my mind. It's like my on-line scheduling system, where I shape my thoughts and opinions into clear crystals so that other will see, whiteout the light getting dimmed.
And that's just part of it.
I'm a idealist. I belive that humanity can do great things if we decide to. Yet I would never call myself unselfish. It's easy to fall into that trap, because it's a quality that takes on an almost... biblical tone. It's a word that people like to connect to idealism I suppose. Which is fine, but I'd never admit to being one.
Mainly because that'd make me a hypocrite asshole, and secondly, I don't think any human being, that could still be counted as a human being, would be totally unselfish.
Let me clarify: I'd love to be totally unselfish. It's a good thing. It's, what I'd call, a sign that we're still evolving. We ignore our survival instinct and work for the better of humanity, even if we have to suffer for it.
It's not gonna happen any time soon with how society looks, unless we drastically alter our lifestyle, even our view of life, personal ideals, and a lot of other things.
Part of the problem, at least in my eyes, is a system based on capitalism. The accumulation of wealth and property trough the production of more property to exchange for wealth.
This is encouraged, even though we don't need a lot of it. Hell, most could easily survive on less than half of what they make. For those of us who've been, and are students (that wasn't spoiled by our parents) know how little you can survive on. Noodles, hard bread, rice, pasta and ketchup. You can easily live like that. I'm quite sure you can also be happy like that if you just ignore all the things you should have. Who says you need a big tv, a car, air conditioning and so on?
I could probably get rid of most of my things, except for a matress and my laptop, and I'd be happy like that. The books I feel I need to read could be borrowed from the library. Food would be pretty cheap if you keep it basic. Rice, pasta, the things I mentioned. In fact, after a while you'd begin to enjoy it.
I know I somtimes do. Sure, it sucks not being able to have a beer or two with your friends, but you know what I'd like to think would happen if they tried it?
You'd end up having conversations for hours. You'd need to discuss things, just because there nothing else to do. No tv, no radio, no video games.
The thing is: What would you discuss if you didn't have anything to discuss? No movies, shows, something on the news. You'd have to think up things yourself, right?
Or, as I'd probably prefer, you activly work to accumulate information.
See, I've been thinking about evolution lately. The purpose of evolution is adapting to the enviroment, right? How do you do that?
By doing two things:
One. You adapt the old fashioned way, trough random mutations that spreads trough the race, in some cases proving beneficial, in some they kill you. Mostly, the bad ones makes sure the individual die, or their offspring die.
Two. We gather information about the world around us, so that we can adapt ourselves and our eviorment using our knowledge. This goes a lot quicker than what you might call classical evolution.
I'd like to belivie that it's this informational evolution that is the basis of our current existant. That we, as a race will spread our ideas, values, discoveries, and all the other things we learn, until we force ourselves to evolve.

By forcing ourselves to evolve I don't mean that we genetically alter our bodies or minds, although that will probably be a reality at some point in time. I mean that we force our minds to evolve to deal with the massive flow of information that will sooner or later become neccesary for us to absorb.
What happens when the worlds history is so long that it would take years to learn just the most basic parts of it? Should we just ignore the parts we deem least important? Who will decide what is least important, and what if it turns out one of these things has an effect on the then present, now future, time?
Of course, this also assumes we haven't decided to let a few develop new technology that the rest of us have no idea how it works. The ideal would be that everyone knew a little about almost everything, and specialised in a few things. Then we'd be able to expand this knowledge to others when they need it.
All of this builds on the thought that information and communication is the cornerstones of human life and civilazation, something I can't say for sure is fact.
I think there's definetly something to it, but there could be something I've overlooked I suppose. I'm still only human, after all.

Secret Service loves McCain/Palin?

At least according to this piece, the Secret Service is preventing journalists from leaving the press area to talk to those attending campaign meetings. Censoring the press is not what I'd call democratic, but then again, making sure you can actually vote, is even more important.
Or maybe they're so ashamed that they're trying to hide the problem? Who knows.

Via Think Progress.

Steal Your Votes Back Americans!

The Structure of Problems

There are a number of different ways a problem might present itself. For instance, it might show up suddenly, and you only have a short time to react to it.
On the other hand it might also be visible for a long time, and you've got a lot of time to prepare to deal with it. It doesn't really matter if you do it now, or later, as long as you do it before it hits.
Then we have the problems that you can see ahead of you a long time before they hit, but which you can only affect by doing something very soon. Act now, or die in 10 years kinda things. Kinda like excessive smoking really.
Then we have the problems we don't see until they're just ahead of us, but we should have tackled years ago.
These are the really dangerous once, since when we give them due attention it's too late. Like standing on the rails of railroad, and looking the wrong way, while you somehow miss the train approaching behind you. Then you turn around and have a train poking you gently (fatally) in the face.

These last kinds of problems would be things like global warming for instance. If we do something now, it wont have effect until in a few decades. On the plus side, human life will continue it's evolution, which I'd venture to guess most people think is a good thing.

Brain food provided by Open the Future.

Palin - The Origins of the Info

Turns out all the things we've heard about Palin, like her checking if she could ban books, firing a sheriff she disagreed with, and almost a chief librarian that was saved because people protested the decision, did not originate from liberal bloggers, communists, hate mongers, or anything else like that. It all came from the observations of a local Alaskan woman, who had gotten interested in local politics a number of years ago, that attends more or less all the City Council meetings. She wrote a long email that ended up going viral, but it was originally intended for a few of her friends who wanted to know who the hell Palin was, essentially. It got passed on, ended up all over the place, and people started discussing it. I'd say she's a very good source, since she's observed Palins political career with her own eyes, and although there's gonna be a few personal opinions in there, those should be easily spotted. In fact, because she voices her opinions in the mail, I'd say it can be considered equal to a news paper article, and I'm talking about a real news paper now, the kind who does the news instead of "celebrity rumors", one sided political propaganda, and similar trash bin travesties. Either way, here's the article about Kilkenny, the woman in question. And here's the letter. There is also a second letter, where someone gives their support to Palin by comparing her to Thatcher, which isn't exactly a compliment in my book, so that's about where I stopped reading.

Financial Collapse Caused by Greed?

I just heard that the very few and very rich Americans have received tax cuts amounting to 680 billion dollars. A number that's uncomfortably close to the 700 billion needed for the bail out.
Anyone able to verify?

The Wallmart Epidemic

This greatly illustrates one of the viruses of the modern world.

Methane: The Doom of Man

Global warming? Turns out global warming was just the spark to light the fuse.

So, yeah, that's it I suppose. Unless scientist comes up with a way to travel trough the high energy areas separating us from other universes, or a quick growing mold that absorbs methane really really fast, we're fucked.
Now I just need to build a Robo-Marx that goes around telling people: "I told you so! But did you listen? Noooo!"
And compose a list of people that has denied the threat of global warming and personally punch them in the face. Or make Robo-Marx do it somehow.
And do lots of drugs to loud obnoxious music while having an orgy.

Dawit Isaaks

Dawit is Sweden's oldest, and from what I'm aware of, only political prisoner. (He's not being held as a political prisoner in Sweden, in case you thought that.)

He was arrested by Eritrea's military police 7 years ago for being one of the owners, and news reporters, of one of the leading papers in the country, and put in jail. He's been there ever since. With him in prison is also about 10 of his colleagues, of whom 4 have died during unlawful detention so far.
No trial, no jury. If you criticize the regime you get "detained indefinitely", it seems.

He came to Sweden around 17 years ago, as a war refugee, and was granted citizenship there. He lived here for 10 years with his family, and returned to his home country once the conflict had come to a rest. If he wanted to stay there or not I don't know, but as long as he is in jail without a fair and correctly performed trial, we can't afford to ignore it, just as little as we can ignore the Guantanamo "Prison", which is just another illegal detention facility.
It is indeed illegal since the people being held there are suspected, not guilty, of terrorism. I know, if they are terrorists they should be put in jail.

But what if they're not?
How the hell do we even know that they are terrorists? If there was evidence of it, then surely there could have been a trial, right?
Or maybe the problem is that since that trial would need to take place in a international court there is the possibility that the defendant would be declared not guilty? If he/she was then detained even after the ruling, that would be a clear violation. But as it is now, it is, somehow, a smaller one. One we can seemingly ignore it seems.

For now, I'd be happy to know that Isaaks is released and able to return to his family. But when that's done, the only legal battle I'll have an interest in here in Sweden would be the FRA-law. And after we get rid of that... Who knows? Maybe I'll try and end up in Gitmo just for the hell of it? I'm quite sure it's possible, and if I did, and could have my innocense proven in my absense, that would at least put a dent in it's already doubtful credibility, right?

Quote of the Day

"Moreover, Don Pederasto's society was part of a general homosexual conspiracy to take over Spain."

From The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity by George L. Mosse

ARE YOU AWAKE

Want a movie that makes you think? Not only that makes you think, but that forces your mind to wander and become part of the movie? Then this might be for you. Then again, if you're the kind of person that can't sit still, it might be for you. Stalker.

Biopunk

What is this strange word I throw in your face all of a sudden? Is it the bastard child of cyberpunk perhaps?
Not an entirely faulty assumption to be honest.
Biopunk is biology performed by people outside of labs, in places fashioned to house there activities, but that was not originally meant to. Like their garage, or a spare closet for instance.
They play around with DNA, crossbreeding the furry things that grow on spoiled food, mixing their own genome with that of a doves to see if things go boom, or they've just discovered something that may give them a braingasm.
Sailing the seven seas of biology, taking what they need to pursue their own goals, outside of the laws and ethics of modern science.
Biopunk may very well be to us what cyberpunk was to the late 80s/early 90s, a prophecy foretelling the future.

Warlord

Some more awesome music, with an at least equally awesome video.

This is Bag Raiders. The song is Fun Punch. I just had an orgasm.

Burma: Only Relevant During Riots

Burma still have elections. This might come as a surprise to you, but there are still elections being held that, more or less, accurately announces the people's choice.
The democratic party NLD (National League for Democracy) has also won this election several times.
Not that it matter's to the military regime, who 1990, when the NDL won an overwhelming victory, killed around 200 people instead of handing power over.
There are still hundreds of political prisoners in jails, as well as Buddhist monks, who made the mistake of openly protesting the regime.
Ms Suu Kyi, the leader of the NLD, has spent the last 20 or so years either in prison or house arrest.
There are now rumors curcinating that she, and her two aids, have gone on a hunger strike. What the goal would be if this rumor is indeed true is unknown.
Meanwhile the regime continues building their new capital city, Abode of Kings, presumably as a monument over their own glory. Who else would be surprised if only the rich, famous and powerful get to love there, while the rest remains in the old capital?

Joe Metro

Sunday

Today

I've just watched documentary about Hunter S. Thompson, the closest thing to the second coming of Jesus we've had so far.
Let me explain, Hunter cared about people. He might not have reported things neutrally so that we could decide for ourselves what we thought, but he did report things from his own heart. And he was damned good at it.
I don't know why I'm so fascinated by Hunter. He was a rock star writer, but I've never really understood the hysteria over musicians. The closest thing I get is a sort of respect and pride over what they're doing. I feel like what they do matters to me, and that's really the only thing you need to achieve as an artist, any sort of artist. Entertainment is secondary if what you do makes someone think for just a moment. Even if they think about something trivial, like the price of gas, you've made them think, which is a lot harder than making people feel.

That also a think that should be required for people going into politics. They need to care about people. Maybe not all people, but at least most people. If you only care about a sliver of the people your going to have an influence over, you've got no business in any position of authority.

China is apparently cracking down hard on anyone with a opinion that differs from the government to make things look nice and tidy during the Olympics. Another proud moment in the history of humanity.

McCain owns 7 homes, consider 28 million dollars to be an alright amount of money, yet media accuses Obama of attacking the American Dream when he criticizes McCain for not knowing how many homes he's got. So, apparently there is no difference between greed and the American Dream these days. What happened with "One nation under God"? Last time I checked greed was a mortal sin, but maybe they've changed the 10 Commandments to fit better in to a society that values income and property over people?

I'd rather live in the loving care of a mad freak, than the uninterested care of a normal person.

In the Future We Grow Plastic Fuel Plants

Lykke Li Kicks It

Everyone's heard Lykke Li by now, but if you haven't seen her live you might not know of her love of hip hop. When I saw her she did Everyday I'm Hustlin by Rick Ross for instance, as well as a bunch of other songs. Now I'm kinda hoping she'll make a hip hop record. Maybe with Saul Williams? That would be something, and would probably kill a few music critics from pure excitement.

Anonymous vs. Scientology 08-08-08

Quote of the Day

"Rick Rape? Is that like getting rick rolled but when clicking on a link, Rick Astley will instead break into your house and have his way with you, while singing Never Gonna Give you Up?"

Russia vs. Georgia

This whole thing seems to get more and more out of hand.
First Georgian forces went into South Ossetia, which is a former part of Georgia, they were apparently trying to hunt down seperatist, but South Ossetia asked for military support from Russia, since they presumable didn't have any means of denying the Georgian to enter their territory. This was eagerly granted, since the Georgian military apparently also managed to kill a few Russian diplomats and military personal stationed there.
So, Russia kicks the Georgian military out, and pursues them into Georgian territory. So far it only seems fair.
The problem, however, is that South Ossetia isn't recognized as a nation by any member of the UN. Instead it's still considered a part of Georgia. Why that is I have no idea, but it's a big part of the problem. It's also apparent that Russia does not seem to agree with this.
So, now Russian troops seem to draw close to the Georgian capital. Clearly overkill, but if their goals was to overthrow the Georgian government it kinda makes sense. Problem is, we can't assume anything about the situation. Since, if it turns out that the Russians where only sending a message to Georgia to stay out of South Ossetia, and we start something over it, we could kick off World War 3.

Bush is claiming that Russia will be internationally isolated it they do not withdraw. Which is of course just an empty threat, thanks to their presence in Iraq.
I've also heard speculations that the US will trade Georgia against an Israeli attack against Iran. Maybe not the most likely scenario, but it is nevertheless a possible factor if Russia do occupy Georgia and the US does nothing.

Personally I'm hoping that Russia is just doing a show of force to show Georgia that they should leave South Osseta alone. Either way, the following days is gonna be interesting.

Forbiden Thoughts

The US and Britain appear to be competing on who can create the first Orwellian society. Sure, Britain's got the cameras everywhere in London, the metal detectors in the subway, but the US got the limited liberties of the population, encouraged spying on your neighbors, and soon: (at least according to this) thought censorship.
Basically, if you have a political, religious, or an other opinion that does not work with the one supported by the government, people will figure out a way stop you. You can't disagree with the government, they were elected after all, people want them to take care of you!
Thing is, if we can't disagree with a government, how will we ever manage to change anything? Isn't politics about change? Cause it seems to me like it's more and more about maintaining an almost dogmatic belief in a political view. There's a difference between convincing yourself that you're right, and finding out what's right.

Writing Fiction

I do this from time to time. Always liked writing and reading when I grew up. So far I've only written short stories, but lately I've been thinking a lot about writing something else. So I've come up with a few ideas that I'm going to try to work on. One is a series of short stories that I'm mostly just working over in my head, but I've got quite a nice structure to it so far I think. The other is more the kind of story that evolves as I work on it. I'm thinking that one might turn into a proper book, or at least a novel. We'll see I suppose. I'm gonna put that on hold for a while though. With school starting soon again, and me still having some things I have to get done before that, writing two books at the same would probably be a bit much. Still, can't study all the time.