This is life

A month in

2009-06-17T16:40:00.001-07:00

I've been in Dawson for a little over a month now, so I'm starting to get a good feel for things around here. Work is work; I really don't like it, but it'll do for now I suppose. I'm not sure what I'd do if I weren't working here, though going to hang out with Gerry in Tofino sounds pretty appealing. I'm going to stick this out as long as I can, but it's wearing pretty thin.

Dawson itself is pretty good; weather is almost always nice and it's a really relaxed place to live. I'm definitely not looking forward to having night again; 24 hour light just seems normal to me now, and it opens up a lot of possibilities to hang out outside at night. The people I work with are pretty cool too, though I definitely miss my friends from home, and riding. The internet here is so-so at best (we are just stealing it I suppose...) so I can't get online as often as I'd like; it's really starting to curb my internet addiction, which is good. The area surrounding Dawson is quite beautiful. Last week I went camping for a night in Tombstone Territorial Park, which was amazing. Also, just across the Yukon River the highway to Fairbanks goes across mountain ridges and is an incredible drive. I hope to get to explore more over the next month and get some pics of the sights.

Pics

2009-05-26T17:04:00.000-07:00

Finally got some (the second half) of my pictures up on my Picasa.

The Great White North

2009-05-14T10:26:00.001-07:00

After 12 days and 8200km we finally reached Dawson City, Yukon. The drive was amazing (sometimes boring...) but we saw lots and took even more pictures. I hope to get the pics up within the next few days as there are lots to look at. I live in a dorm style building here in Dawson and have roommates, all of which seem quite nice. The sun didn't set last night until about 12:45am, which was odd, but night is only going to get shorter. Hopefully I'll have pictures for you to see within a day or two; ta ta for now.

Antsy

2009-01-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

I've firmly decided to head back down to the other hemisphere the moment I finish school (alas, still 10 months away...). I'm not exactly sure what my plans will be once arriving, but I do intend to cover the south and east of Oz, Tasmania, and hit New Zealand all over again. I can't even put into words how excited I am to go back to New Zealand; I admit that I'm quite stoked to see more of Australia, but to be completely honest the animals there scare me. New Zealand and Tasmania are almost entirely safe (animal wise), which makes trekking alone a lot more appealing. I'm so excited to spend time in a rain forest again (especially temperate) that I'm already having trouble concentrating on everything before my trip.

Hey Aquinas! Fuck you!

2009-01-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

I've had my head buried in much of Thomas Aquinas's work over the last two weeks, and I have to say, he was a moron. Any reasonable person knows you cannot base a theory off of an assumption, as doing so will render the argument circular. Aquinas seems to have a problem dealing with circularity in arguments. One cannot simply state that there is natural, divine, or eternal law and go from there; one must prove that these things exist before basing theorems around them. Aquinas's second faux-pas is equating human behavior and human instinct as fact. Human's are not inherently good, nor are they inherently bad, nor are they inherently anything; human behavior is extremely dynamic is cannot be used as a fixed point in any sort of theorem. Aquinas's last, but most major error is assuming the existence of god. I understand (to a certain degree) that persecution for heresy was an extremely serious matter in the 13th century and feigning religious faith was a fairly common practice (Hobbes did it, hell, even Einstein did it). This religious equivalent of playing dead is understandable, but a Christian ethical/political theorist certainly is not. If the bible or the idea of god were to be removed from Aquinas's work it wouldn't even have enough fiber to stay together. My point is that basing an entire academic framework on a foundation of religion is about as foolish as it gets; at least find something reasonably truthful to work from.

Well, are you?

2008-11-19T20:23:00.000-08:00

Are you looking forward to anything? I'm not looking forward to a single thing - not a single thing.

VENT

2008-11-14T17:18:00.001-08:00

I just tried to set up an auction on ebay EIGHT TIMES and every single time the form I had to fill out froze/refreshed/disappeared. My advice to you, ebay, is to fix your fucking forms. I'm not even going to bother now.

Maybe it's not all over?

2008-11-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

Obama won the election; maybe the world isn't over just yet... though it may be coming. I'm quite prepared to live in the woods and eat carrots and blueberries if need be.

Things really are more tempting when they're off limits; at least it seems like they are. Maybe instead of being 'more tempting' one's temptation just grows because it can't be released. I'm not looking for a psychological answer (unless it's neurological, and it'll be some time - if ever - before that happens). Regardless of the cause of this effect, it's insanity inducing and makes my heart rate double even when it's something relatively simple...

If you're feeling down or stressed out, go look at some demotivational posters; they win.

I guess we'll see on Tuesday

2008-11-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com/

So stupid...

2008-10-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

I like to complain and point out faults/holes in everything.

That being said, Gail Shea becoming the minister of Fisheries and Oceans is ridiculous. I've heard the argument that this is great because she 'grew up in a fishing family'. Oh really? Wow... that... doesn't matter? How about someone who is an expert in oceanography, marine biology or even something like the economics of the fishing industry. All of the cabinet members are just people, not specialized in anything. I surmise that the reason there aren't highly educated specialists in politics is because highly educated people are too smart to fall into the peanut gallery that is our 'democratic system'.

In a semi-related story, it seems barely anyone knows what's wrong with the American/Canadian/some European economies. The problem wasn't mismanagement, or ludicrous salaries (though those are related to the problem): the problem is capitalism. I'll freely admit that before this economic downturn I didn't pay attention to, nor know anything about economics. Since this issue is all over the place I've been reading up (and we talk about it constantly in my radical philosophy class). The more I read, the more I see that capitalism, the way we use the term, is doomed to fail. Ever increasing productivity (and therefore profit) without ever increasing wages to follow suite causes people to borrow (from the people who are making the excess profit, at that). These top few make more and more, the rest make the same, or slightly less while their debt grows and grows; doesn't take a PhD in economics to see that this is going to fail. The problem lies in the workers not having a say in the companies they are a part of; obviously the fate of the worker is not a high priority with the omni-evil board of directors. The answer is communism; Google does it, many other silicon valley giants do it, hell, my brother's business (silverorange) does it and all these examples show the success of such a system.

Another cause of this teetering of this poorly engineered giant is the freedom given to the banks; the banks don't have a 100% reserve requirement for the loans they give out... are you fucking kidding me?

This will literally make you lol

2008-10-21T12:57:00.001-07:00

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMOdPT7VzQE&eurl=http://subrosabrand.blogspot.com/

Are you jockin' me!?

2008-10-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

Pants, jeans... I just want a pair that fits me, is fairly slim, and is stretchy; 30x36 is hard to come by.

Now this is what I'm talking about

2008-10-08T08:44:00.001-07:00

Check it

Marx is not a scientist

2008-10-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

So far this semester much of my time has been spent debating and trying to define what exactly science is. This seems like a simple question at a glance, but the more one thinks about it, the more complicated the question at hand becomes. After some practice the identification of pseudo-scientific theories becomes more simple, and more interesting. It wasn't long into one of my classes that both Freud and Marx were thrown into the pit-which-is-not-science (I know that they both have many theories, and this is a gross generalization, but it fits them for the most part). One of the biggest issues with the theories of the aforementioned is that they are (for the most part) non-falsifiable. This means that no matter what observations are made, or theories created, they cannot disprove the statements of the theories in question. This may seem as a strong point, but it really shows that the theories say nothing at all. A Marxist can open any newspaper at any given time through history and find countless examples to 'verify' Marxist theory; the same can be said for a neo-Freudian. I can't find the actual quote at the moment, but Emile Cioran once wrote something along the lines of: Something written for everyone, can say nothing. This applies well in this situation; these non-falsifiable theories just point out things that are obvious throughout the world. If I were to create a theory stating that the sun will set a length of time after it rises I would be 100% correct, but I wouldn't be saying anything; as one of my profs would say, it's true, but uninteresting. If a theory can absorb and digest any concern thrown at it, or cannot conceivably be disproven (arguable with these cases) than it is not a scientific theory at all. Something I was recently reading stated that Einstein's theory of relativity is a genuine scientific theory because it can be disproved (if one was to propel an object at a rate higher than that of light, which the LHC has shown to be impossible, therefore backing Einstein's theory). Also, measurements taken during the 1919 solar eclipse showed that mass does in fact distort space(time). In summary, theories that allow for everything, prove nothing.

There are many more reasons for my accusations towards Marx (e.g. his colossal misunderstanding/generalizing of human behavior), but I don't really feel like going in to that at the moment.

DO IT

2008-10-04T08:44:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs to go see Bill Mahar's new movie "Religulous" - fantastic flick. Funny as hell, with a great message.

Fuck frugal

2008-10-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

Don't be cheap; people hate cheap people.

2008-10-02T12:41:00.001-07:00

Where the hell is my male birth control pill/patch/injection/implant? It's 2008 and we're using outdated methods of birth control (other than the pill). I've been doing some reading and it seems the biggest issue with the male pill is whether or not men are interested in it... ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!!? I'll be the first in line, and I think I can say without any worry that all my friends would follow suite. Most guys my age don't want kids (at our age) just as much as women our age don't, if not more so. Frankly I don't want kids period, but don't really want to get a vasectomy (I could change my mind at some point) so a pill/injection/whatever would be FANTASTIC. Not only would you would not have to worry about the female taking the pill, but you'd now have a second line of defense - goodbye unwanted pregnancy. Pharmacutical companies, I'm looking at you (call me).

2008-09-27T15:51:00.001-07:00

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=PH6xCT2aTSo&eurl=http://www.houseofcassette.com/lifestyle/2008/09/24/street-art-inflatable-bag-monsters/

Why Scandinavia rocks

2008-09-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

Not many people know how killer Scandinavian countries are. I've never been to Europe, let alone northern Europe, but from what I read, those countries really kick ass. From their forward thinking governments, to their unbelievable beautiful settings and large average incomes. When I say that they have forward thinking governments, this is what I mean:

"The same relaxed attitude toward public safety that we experienced yesterday with road construction carried on to the grand waterfall Gullfoss: the idea seems to be that if you are an idiot, you probably deserve to die, and they’re not going to stand in your way. Which means that you have complete and total access to the waterfall, and can walk right up to its edge:"

This is a quote from Peter Rukavina's blog (http://ruk.ca/article/4987) referring to access to a large waterfall in Iceland. That is EXACTLY how 'safety' of this sort should be treated. In North America, there would be armed guards, three fences, and more than enough shit to ruin the entire experience. Not only do they allow a completely intimate experience at the falls, but they increase their average IQ while at it; beautiful.

Things I recommend

2008-09-22T08:10:00.001-07:00

-Google image search (or regular search) beautiful/amazing photos. You'll see a lot of amazing things. I've found there are innumerable amazing photos/landscapes of Iceland.

-Go to New Zealand. I haven't really been many places, but this place is incredible. While you're there, spend as much time mountain climbing ('tramping') in the mountains/rain forest as possible.

-Don't spread yourself too thin. I think it's better to do too little, than too much. If you have free time, read a book.

-Read some Aldous Huxley - he's an incredible writer, and will provoke thoughts you'd never considered possible

-Find out what you believe. Your principles are quite possibly the most important part of 'you' - take lots of time to read, think, and ask questions about what you believe. I know so many people who tell me they don't think about 'that kind of stuff' - they ought to, it's all you really have.

-Don't fake anything, plain and simple. This also means not being vague in what you say - say what you mean, and mean what you say (cliche, but think about it, and do it).

Good enough isn't good enough

2008-09-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

I hate when things are 'good enough'. Most of my friends are quite aware how much I hate when things aren't just so. Things on my bike have to be 100% perfect for me to enjoy myself when riding it. My clothes fit 'good enough', but not the way I want them to fit, and it drives me fucking insane. I guess my point with this little rant is do things right, or fuck off.

Next complaint about life...

I have no money. Now I realize that the most common answer to this is 'get a job', but I think it's a little more complicated than that (for me, at least). I hate work, and when I say this, I mean I hate work more than any other person ever has. I would be perfectly content never working a day in my life. This mindset is completely foreign to my parents generation, and even many in my own. I guess I could stand work if I felt I was doing something of worth; something that will change things.

That reminds me that I'm trying different ways of making money at the moment. Right now my soul is for sale on ebay - http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=220282876608 - check it out. I think if this sale goes decently (over $50?) I might put my conscience up next, or perhaps my morals. If I get around to it I'm going to put a few of my paintings up there too; can't hurt. Eric suggested that he and I take up organized crime, which really isn't that bad of an idea.

*walk into generic business*

Eric: Want to buy our insurance?

Secretary: Insurance for what?

*I hit the nearest person in the head with a crowbar*

Eric: Insurance that Pat doesn't do that to you or your family. Little Timmy is in grade two now, isn't he?

See? We win. Easy as that.

There's no point to this post

2008-07-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

...

Boom

2008-06-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

http://explosm.net/comics/393/

Sweaty fools

2008-06-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Dance like there's nobody watching. Those are some of my dad's favorite words, and I must say I don't fall far from the tree in this respect. Over the last few weekends I've been a dancin' fool on several occasions (twice at Windom Earle shows, and at Skratch Bastid last night). There are few things in life as fun as getting together with your amigos and busting stupid moves in a big sweaty crowd. House parties are good for this, but some bars aren't bad either. Baba's is pretty loose and will let you get freaky with your shirt off, which is nice as it gets hot in there. One thing that's not too cool about these festivi are the drunken idiots that just get in the way/break things, and the people who don't like getting other peoples' sweat all over them, and getting bumped into. If you're going to get into a situation like this (especially a Windom Earle show) expect to get drenched with sweat; not only yours, but that of the people around you too. And about the bumping into people, I don't like getting smashed by moshing idiots (people only mosh because they can't dance, FYI) anymore than anyone else, but if you're in a crowd of dancing people, expect to get bumped into sometimes, and get your feet stepped on a fair bit. What I'm really saying is, if you can't stand the heat, get off the dance floor.

Ok

2008-06-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

I need to straighten something out for some people 'out there'. When you get an email or Facebook message saying that if 15,000,000 people join a group, or forward this gas prices will lower, or some kid will get a new kidney, or you'll get an ipod in the mail. If you believe any of these, you deserve to get attacked by an awe-wielding kid on a bus. I have no idea why anyone would believe any of these; why the hell would any of these things come about, especially from any of these pointless online activities? Gas companies aren't going to lower gas prices because 13498573589475934758943498673495450376235 people joined some Facebook group; why would they? We're all going to continue to buy gas, and it's not like they think the public enjoys 'high' gas prices; they know we are cheap. Bill Gates will not mail you a dollar for every person you forward this email to; he doesn't care about you, and chances are, if you're on of the people that believes those emails, no one at all cares about you.