Future American Citizenship

Social Citizenship as a concept is almost totally absent in America today. Many Western democracies have accepted the premise that public welfare is a central component to citizenship, but something about American political realities have prevented a similar understanding. However, there may be a way to incorporate the important concepts of social citizenship in such a way that will not offend American sensibilities.

Section 1.
First off, Desmond S. King & Jeremy Waldron endorse nationwide welfare as a component of citizenship for a multitude of reasons in their article “Citizenship, Social Citizenship and Welfare Provision”. They define social citizenship as “more than a simple safety-net; it refers to the universal provision of education, health, social security and welfare benefits (financed through a system of redistributive taxation) available as attributes of citizenship” (418) available to everybody. Social citizenship’s significance is reducing economic influence and social status while enhancing other aspects of citizenship: “securing basic social standards does in fact promote the existence and exercise of other citizen rights” (420) by giving citizens an informed voice, indirectly providing them with time to participate, promoting community identity and a sense of belonging, and fulfilling already established social contracts as in the U.K.
By “providing minimum standards in these areas the state offsets the vagaries of market processes and corrects the gross inequalities of distribution arising from the market” (419) and reduces the punishment of economic failure, something the American public is less than enthusiastic about. This economic inequality has understandably undesirable political entanglements, because ideally “no one must be rich enough to be able to purchase the dependence of another, and none poor enough to be bought in that way…. a citizen should be the one who is in a position to bring his or her own judgment to public issues” (427) and be independent. Economic inequality is also destabilizing in a society, especially in a democracy, because “hungry people must not be let loose in the political forum, for their needs will impel them to make demands that subvert and short-circuit the leisurely course of citizens’ deliberations” (429) and upset the balance of the entire political structure.
Originally, citizens under the Hellenistic republican model “could not act as citizens at all, or could not expect to act well in the political sphere and to make adequate decisions, unless some attention was paid to matters of their wealth, their well-being and their social and economic status” (426). The original Greek citizens had all the petty details taken care for them by their numerous family members and servants, allowing them to dedicate their waking hours to being active participants in the governance of the city-states. This freedom of time was essential to the very concept of citizenship, indeed it was a prerequisite. Obviously, this ideal cannot be justifiably replicated in modern times, but the principal still holds. Citizenship requires a certain amount of freedom from immediate and demanding commitments; be they economic, familial, or otherwise… so that civic duties may be carried out without influence or distraction by trifle economic realities. To further emphasize the importance of equality, the authors quote Marshall who says that social services provide “a general enrichment of the concrete substance of civilized life, a general reduction of risk and insecurity, an equalization between the more and the less fortunate at all levels” (423) and elevate lifestyles across the board without implementing the restrictive social systems of the ancients.
Social services are catalyst for the other essential components of citizenship, maximizing the potential implementation of rights and duties. King and Waldron use education as an example, not only because it contributes “to a person’s own well-being, free education is a social good; in its contribution to her or his political status and capabilities, it is a political right and, indeed, a political duty” (420). Social services prepare and enable citizens to exercise their political rights with informed choices, speak and with minimal influence by others, and lead fully active and healthy lives in their communities.
King and Waldron, when speaking of Britain, argue that “welfare guarantees have been established in this society (for whatever reason) to the claim that they are now part of what we understand by citizenship” (432). Oddly, this is a conservative argument, that the status quo should not be changed abruptly because of tradition. This expectation of welfare provisions is now taken for granted, and “people are willing to take much greater risks when they know that there is a safety net” (434), and adjusted their behaviors accordingly. Because large amount of planning and expectations have hinged upon these public institutions, to drastically change them overnight would be a violation against British citizens and a breaking of a social contract with the government. Any drastic changes would have to be slowly phased in to minimize disruptions and make citizens feel that government is upholding its end of the bargain.

Section 2.
Nancy Fraser and Linda Gordon examine the American political climate in their article “Contract versus Charity: Why Is There No Social Citizenship in the United States?”. In the contemporary United States “the word public is often pejorative” (114) and the conceptions of “welfare are so negative weak and degraded that ‘social citizenship’ here sounds almost oxymoronic” because of the association with people of low civic status.
The American emphasis on civil citizenship overshadows social citizenship entirely, as citizens “pride themselves on a commitment to civil liberties and civil rights” (114) and the attempts to make all citizens equal in the eyes of the law. In fact, “U.S. thinking about social provision has been shaped largely by images drawn from civil citizenship, especially images of contract” (114-115) with the reciprocal exchange and absence of entitlement that contractual agreements bring to mind. In a world of “discrete contractual exchanges of equivalents” (115), the conception of charity arose as freely giving goods or services with no-strings-attached, completely non-contractual. Fraser and Gordon maintain that conception of social citizenship is obscured by the ideas that financial interactions between people are either in the form of contractual exchanges or in the form of charitable gift-giving, and this mindset and language has prevented the idea of welfare rights from taking hold.
The problem is the destruction of the idea of entitlement: “No descent welfare policy can emerge without a vision of honorable entitlement for those who require help” (115). The United States does not recognize this concept, in large part because of its historical lack of aristocracy, considerable work ethic, and the enshrinement of only civic and political rights in the founding documents like the Constitution, especially in regards to property rights. The closest conception to entitlement in the American psyche is the former slave system in the south, where slaves were entitled by their masters to food and shelter. The only other analogue seems to be family life, where ‘dependents’ are entitled to a considerable amount until they are set loose upon the world. All other forms of material gain have fallen into the contract-or-charity dichotomy.
The conception of welfare in the presence of this dichotomy results in the conceptions that either people invest in a system and later get it back (ala Social Security) or “public assistance, where they have no such right, since they are thought to ‘get something for nothing’” (115). So, hostility exists towards the idea of social citizenship because of “the idea that welfare recipients are getting something for nothing while others must work, hence that they are violating standards of equal exchange” (117) and welfare becomes in essence forced charity, or as King & Waldron put it “compulsory charity” (417) The modern conception of charity is as “a pure, unilateral gift, on which the recipient had no clam and for which the donor had no obligation” (123); in fact the recipient was stigmatized for giving nothing back and the donor exalted for requiring nothing in return. Forced charity legitimizes inadequacy and takes away all of the esteem and credit of voluntarily sacrificing, hence the unwillingness to adopt the idea in American society.

Section 3.
Now for the tricky part: how to incorporate welfare provisions into the American citizen identity? The answer is easy: don’t… at least not in commonly understood manner. Social citizenship as currently understood will not be adopted by the American public anytime soon, due to the reasons above. There is too much of a perception of government ineptitude and inefficiency (not unjustified) for welfare to be entitled to all citizens. Not only that, but there is a proud culture and tradition of private charitable organizations in the United States that would be profoundly undermined if social citizenship were enacted, and these charities are far more flexible, reactive, and innovative than public programs can ever hope to be.
Mainly, the problem is taxes. Most Americans don’t like paying taxes, and recoil in horror at the proportionately higher rates that European countries are contributing. Americans see poor quality public services and see them as a waste of money, which leads to under-funding and becomes a self-reinforcing cycle. American emphasis on freedom includes freedom from excessive taxation, and the freedom to choose politicians who promise to lower said taxes. Any proposed solution will have to take this into account.
Then there is the problem of passivity that some argue social citizenship encourages. The argument of recipients being dependant spawning welfare queens is an old one, but in all likelihood many people would be satisfied with the minimum standard of living, becoming less likely to try and improve themselves. This perception, no matter its basis in reality, is too well ingrained for Americans to rapidly accept permanent, unlimited social citizenship entitlements. Passivity is also a risk on the other end of the scale, as paying taxes may be seen completing one’s civic duty and totally fulfilling social obligations. This passivity, the idea that everything else can be taken care of by somebody who is paid to do it, encourages bureaucratic specialization and diminishes all other aspects of citizenship.
So, what welfare provisions are attainable and compatible with American ideals as well as social citizenship? Refer to the old adage: think of the children. They are both future citizens as well as dependants, surely the most deserving of the ideals of social citizenship, indeed usually the targets. Programs demanding ever-increasing high minimum standards of education are hard to disagree with. Creating the civic duty of educating the next generation either publicly, privately, or whatever, would enhance all other aspects of citizenship by giving future citizens intelligent contributions to public policy, future means of supporting themselves, and a community based responsibility that spans the private lives of all procreating adults. This aspect of social citizenship is already well established in America, without stigma, and needs to become a prime focus involving the majority of citizens.
Next to implement would be the right to health, entitling the future adult citizen the healthiest intact body attainable. This would prevent a lifetime of difficulties later on, and is therefore economically justifiable as well as the smart thing to do. Vaccines and other public health requirements have already been institutionalized with minimal outcry, but need to be expanded to ensure the maximized survival, health, and development of the youth into adulthood and citizenship. Also in this component is the food and nutritional needs of the young, slightly dangerous due to fears of overpopulation, but absolutely essential to health. Making eating vegetables part of one’s civic duty seems somewhat ironic, but very practical.
This next welfare provision will easily be the most controversial: that of providing a large, one-time entitlement of tens of thousands of dollars to young adults upon attaining citizenship. Instead of guaranteeing a lifetime minimal standard of living, which Americans would oppose, providing the money upfront allows the new citizens to apply their education for anything they see fit. The one-time entitlement can be used to drive the consumer economy, saved and used slowly over a lifetime, invested in creative and hopefully profitable ways, used for further education, or given away by the wealthy or pious. This is the perfect union of American ingenuity and the idea of social citizenship: maximizing the choice and freedom of the individual while equalizing the distribution of wealth without creating lifetime dependants.
Now that all the needs of the upcoming citizens have been taken care of, what of the worse off of the adult citizens? The American intolerance towards entitlement already established, some public help along these lines should be maintained and expanded. Minimum wages should be connected to inflation and otherwise left alone. Free vaccines and other preventive health measures should be provided to minimize costs further on. The right to cheap public transportation should be written into law so people can explore opportunities everywhere. Service in the military, in whatever form, should be open to everybody as a means of employment. And of course private assistance from family and charities should also be encouraged as a duty not enforced by law but by public sentiment.
Also, don’t forget the impact that having the educational, nutritional, and health care needs of the young provided for takes a great deal of pressure off of the public. Adoption as a practice is certainly much less of a burden, as is the strain of losing ones job or spouse. In fact the whole focus of social citizenship lands squarely on where it belongs: preparing a temporary class of dependants for the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. This touches the lives of everyone while they’re young and anyone involved in raising a child. The number people contributing financially to the system will always be larger than the recipients (barring unprecedented population growth or disaster). And everyone will have a decent chance at success, which is the whole point of social citizenship.

Conclusion
Social citizenship is an important component missing in American politics. The need for education, healthcare, and financial assistance is paramount to the practice of the rights and duties of citizenship. The American obsession with contractual and charity-based economy transactions needs to be adjusted to reemphasize the entitlements of children by adults, perhaps along the lines of nation-wide greater familial responsibilities. Social citizenship can best be adopted by the American public when it focuses on the one universally accepted dependant population of minors, and gives them the best tools available to become healthy, informed, and entrepreneurial adults committed to raising the next generation.

Works Cited




King, Desmond S. Waldron, Jeremy. “Citizenship, Social Citizenship and the
Defence of Welfare Provision” British Journal of Political Science, Vol.18, No.4


Fraser, Nancy. Gordon, Linda. “Contract versus Charity: Why Is There
No Social Citizenship in the United States?” The Citizenship Debate: a reader

Crazy Scheme #47

I have this crazy idea that the Unided States should keep expanding its number of state, because our system is one of the least terrible in the world, and because the more states we have the fewer potential enemies we have. Ultimately I'd like to see the UN replaced by the United States of the World.

So, I've come upon this idea that the next state (the 51st) should be our strongest ally in the world: England!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/G1772

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_state#United_Kingdom

Oh, the ultimate irony of absorbing our former colonial masters into our union. Notice how I said England, not Brittain or the United Kingdom. First off, swallowing the whole population as one state would drastically rewrite the House of Reps. And by first taking England as the 51st state, the option is then given to Scotland to also join or gain its independence. Same to Wales, Northern Ireland, et cetera.

Think about it. Brittain doesn't really want to be part of the European Union, and already fights beside the US in practically every fight we pick. I'm sure they'd love the chance to actually vote and help determine the politics and direction the US takes. Depending on how it works out, the monarchy may end up being officially desolved.

With the absorbtion of the head of the Commonwealth, all of the current and former colonies would also be invited. All of them speak english to one degree or another, and are culturally very similar to America already. Obviously, Canada is the next most obvious, with no real distinctions anymore without the UK affiliation. And Quebec can gain its independence if the rest goes with US. One less border to worry about.

Australia is also a close millitary ally, and probibly would also like more say in American politics as well. Probiby to be split into half a dozen states, but we could absorb it all as its only the size of Texas or NY in population.

New Zealand is also the next natural choice as part of the Commonwealth and close ally of Australia.

Bahamas, Belize, and so on. Countries on the world island of Afro-Eurasia proper should come last, with the most military and political difficulties. Absorbing India would have immense consequences. Probibly best to tackle spanish speaking South America first.


So there you have it, a plan for world domination with minimal bloodshed, and maximum cultural compatability. Actually sounds plausible, don't it?



Lurker
(Moving, moving)

Congressional district reforms

I can't stand congressional districts. They're completely arbitrary, subject to gerryandering and biased rearrangements every 10 years, require plurality vote for reelection, and are accountable only a small fraction of the state.


So, I propose the following reforms:

Have all the districts merge so every congressman is voted statewide.
Voters are given as many votes as there are congressional seats.
Voters distribute all their votes between the various candidates as they see fit, up to the total.

Top candidates get the seats (7 seats, top seven win). This puts all the congressmen in competition with one another, and allows third party candidates to scrape up enough votes statewide to have a decent chance.

Trying to think of a way to incorporate political party voting, but the percentages and cuttoff points seem arbitrary and open to corruption. More to think on.



Lurker

Self-Determination

One of my fundamental beliefs that drives my poltical ideology is that of self-determination. This is a very dangerous and very American ideal because it makes the assertion that people should be able to pursue their own destinies with the least amount of interference from governments, parents, other people, and maybe even economics.

This applies on both an individual level as well as internationally. I have no problem with independence movements as long as they are democratic. If Quebec, Scottland, Palestine, Kurdistan, Taiwan, or Texas were able to get a majority of its population to vote for independance, I'd be all for supporting them, even millitarily.

The American Civil War would still be a tough case using this ideal, because while the Confederate states chose to leave, slavery goes completely against the idea of self-determination. I'd probibly still have invaded and emancipated the slaves, but I don't think I would've forced the confederacy to rejoin the union. But I digress.

On a less grand scale, I'm all for issues like school vouchers, legal immigration, and things like that. Oddly the environmental issue kindof fits in this catagory, with people having a right to clean air and the like.

I'm also against religeous indoctrination (though not moral) of children, because they aren't old enough to fully grasp the concepts. I would probibly push the the confirmation dates up to the age of adulthood, but since religions are unregulated I'm not sure how to enforce that.

On the individual level, I'm all for people getting the full rights of citizenship earlier, like 17 or whenever they graduate from school, when enthusiasm is still pretty high and the mind is mature enough nowadays to make rational decions (not that they always will). So lower all the drinking and gambling ages and legalize everything for adults . But since tatoos and piercings are permanent and the effects of drugs on youths are very damaging, I would heavily enforce these prohibitions until the age of consent, because future adults deserves to have their naturally developed bodies to do with as they see fit. I still remember my sister screaming when she got her ears pierced when she was way too young. This would end contraversial practices such as circumcision and drugging kids with ritalin and other actions with long-term consequences that only the future adult should make.

I'm still working out the abortion angle, but right now it would be free and universal availability of the "morning-after pill" to prevent implantation and give women full short-term control. Successfull implantation implies consent and the woman should carry the baby to term and give it up to adoption if she doesn't want to keep it.




Lurker
(must create Revolutionary Party)

A planet by any other name....

Those of you who know me are expecting me to comment on the Pluto planet "demotion" fiasco. I actually commented on this whole issue of planethood way back in last September (check out the archives!).

I liked the original idea of calling a planet anything massive enough to make itself round and reinstating Ceres into the planet pantheon. However, I'm a minority of one when I say I think JUPITER, SATURN, URANUS, and NEPTUNE should be stripped of their planetary status. They're gas giants. If you can't land on it it's not a planet in my book.

I also didn't really like the idea that the object has to be dominant in it's region (which is what demoted Pluto and quashed Ceres' chances again) or the fact that it has to be orbiting a star (which screws up the status of exoplanets and massive objects like Titan and Earth's moon Luna).

I DO like the fact that astronomers are trying to sub-catagorized the idea of planets. Personally, I think they should use and expand on the Star Trek classifications, since a majority of them are Trekkies anyway, but thats just me.

So, here are what I consider to be the 'planets' of the Sol system:
Earth / Luna
Venus
Mars
Mercury
'Xena' 2003 UB₃₁₃
Pluto / * Charon
'Santa' 2003 EL₆₁
90377 Sedna
50000 Quaoar
1 Ceres

Planets of the Jupiter (Jovian) system:
* Ganymede
* Callisto
* Io
* Europa

Planets of the Saturn (Saturnian?) system:
* Titan
* Rhea
* Iapetus
* Dione

Planets of the Uranus styem:
* Titania
* Oberon
* Ariel
* Umbriel

Planet of the Neptune system:
* Triton


There we go. The Solar system has 8 planets plus 2 double-planets, and 4 sub-systems with four planets each (except Neptune, it only has one) giving us a grand total of 25 at the moment.

Sounds way more complex and terribly unlikely at the moment, but it gives the solar system a grand scope of uncharted mystery, don't it?



Lurker
(Must take over space program)

Zee Plan

During my party last week I made an anouncement: I will be taking one last semester of school as an undergraduate. I'll be taking at least 6 credit hours, and probibly doing 12 just for the heck of it.

Now my appartment contract runs out on Halloween, six weeks prior to the end of said semester. So I'm going to have to find some sort of alternate housing plan or perhaps get an extention on the lease.

Also, I think I'm going to get a job. This may be shocking to hear, as I've been a full time student for about a year now. The reasons are mostly financial, but if I'm graduating I want to have the jump into the formal job market a little less jolting. I don't know where I'll be working yet, but I'm thinking of going back to my prior place of employment or working on campus.


So, by the end of the year, I'll have graduaduated with both my degrees, be homeless, have some $ saved up (if I don't use too much to go see girlfriend), my Dad'll be back from Iraq, and maybe I'll have advanced another degree in Judo. Busy year.

After that, I'm moving. Out of state. To parts unknown. I'm going to try to con my way into graduate school to get my masters degree. If that doesn't work (or get's vetoed by GF), I'll still be moving to start my career someplace. Maybe Washington DC or LA or wherever I can find a job that helps me 'save the world' and still gives me $.


So, thats the plan. I should probibly get a more permanent means of trasportation too.


Lurker

Why we're in Iraq

The Middle East sucks. It's hot, arid, and quite inhospitable in parts. Its full of corrupt governmental leadership with no real democratic proces to remove those governments from power. Not only that, but the region is experiencing a population boom (due to uneducated women) and consequently high unemployment for youths. The religeon and culture focuses agression away from internal stresses and instead on external infidels. Combined with a Middle-ages mindset where the afterlife more important than life and charity economics fostering competition between extremist islamist groups, and you've got a very nasty situation.

So, you need a paradigm shift, where peoples ideas about government and religion are radically adjusted to reflect a new reality. You need tolerance and hope.

Iraq was our big shot at pulling this off. It was ruled by a non-theocracic dictatorship with no real allies, no country would really stand in the way of overthrowing the government. Iraq was fairly technologically advanced, with an educated population, and the highest profile females in the middle east. It also had sizable populations of both branches of Islam, sunni and shiia, as well as a sizable ethnic minority, the Kurds. If there was any place in the middle east to quickly foster a democratic movement Iraq was it.


Buuuut.... It's not working very well. Saddam wasn't oppressive enough to quell all the tribal, ethnic, and religeous rivalries... so the country seems to be sliding in the direction of Yugoslavia. Even worse for the Iraqi's: all the muslim extremists are heading there in hopes of getting Americans, which is good for us in that they're fighting there rather than here but it sucks for them.

So the US is kind of stuck: do we stick it out and help the Iraqi's thru this or do we pull out and hope the violence decreases in our absence? Oddly, in a civil war our presence or absense is almost irrelevant. Bottom line: the US should not leave until exiting makes the situation better than our presence. Since this won't be the case for quite some time, we should remain until that qualification is met, reguardless of the circumstances.



Lurker

Language code in progress

Here is my work-in-progress language/alphabet I call Zeroplus (because the last symbol looks like a zero with a plus sign).

Two hundred and fifty-six symbols in total, encompasing the sixtyish phonetic sounds, numbers, punctuation, mathematical/logic symbols, and most common words and concepts. Not everything is asigned though, still working on that part.

The whole purpose of this is trying to make a universal written language. The current alphabet has ambigous pronounciation, so Zeroplus is going to be very precise. By covering the most common words and concepts in language using a few symbols (or combination of symbols, still working on that too), people can put down their ideas in symbols and be understood, reguardless of what spoken language they use.

Also its purpose is to speed up communication. Typing is never quite as fast as speaking, but by making a messege more compact with fewer symbols and less ambiguity, communication will be much better.


So here it is, one of my many, many side projects....



Lurker
(of course, system excellent for encoding too...)

New Post!

Wow, sorry for the lapse there. I've been busy with finals, traveling out of state, seeing my Dad during his two week break from Iraq, and summer school. Yeesh.

Lets see, there've been several potential topics percalating in my mind in the ensuing time. I wrote a paper on why India should invade North Korea (earn international respect and scare the heck out of Pakistan). I'm a month a way from being done with my two degrees (holding a graduation party the first weekend of August!). I'm contmeplating about whether to continue school, work, or volunteer and if I should move to do so (suggestions and contacts welcome!).

So, yeah... lots of things to talk about...


Lurker
(misses girlfriend)

New Voting System

I wrote a 15 page paper on political voting systems and accountability this last weekend. I didn't find one that really held incumbants to maximum level of accountability, so I'm designing my own system here.

Alright, the first step is a strait up reelect or remove vote for incumbants. If an incumbant fails to get at least 50% then they are removed from office.

Now for the interesting part. Voters choose wether or not to keep their guy in office. Then, no matter which they chose, they vote for which political party/parties they want to get the seat if the guy is kicked out. They just pick the party, not the individual candidate, they want to get the seat.

And they may pick more or one. I'm proposing giving each voter to get a small number of votes, like ten, to distribute however they wish between the parties. If they want to give them all to one party, fine. Distribute between a few, fine. Give 'em to all but one to act as a spoiler, fine. Whichever party has the highest # of votes, then their candidate gets the office.

I also wants to run the primaries at exactly the same time! Voters fill out the main ballot with all their choices, and they also get one party ballot to pick their guy.

This would have the effect of having all the candidates of a party running against the incumbant
while promiting themselves. They would'nt want to attack others running in for their party nominantion for fear of getting fewer votes.

The party of the incumbant also holds its primary, but the incumbant is excluded from running. The party will promote thier guy "just in case" the incumbant is booted.


So thats the system. I think this will make elections much more accountable against incumbants, so if they screw up everyone will point it out and run against them!




Lurker
(Politics is fun!)

Re-editing Lord of the Rings

Finally! I've found a way to remake the Lord of the Rings trilogy more like the book version! I won't be able to put in Tom Bombadil, but i can take out alot of the fluff Peter Jackson put in!

Let me start by saying I own all three extended editions. But with me knowing little about how to capture video, I downloaded copies of the movies (which I already own) in AVI form.

But, Windows Movie Maker wouldn't recognize the codecs, and wouldn't let me down load them.

So, I searched the internet and downloaded many, many codecs. I think the key one was DivX. I'm not sure, I don't want to uninstall anything to find out.

Anyway, I'm currently working my way up the movie timeline. I'm not yet to Rivendell. I've dramatically shortened the party scene, and took out the prologue (i'm moving it to a better place, trust me). And I've already stolen a scene from TTT and used it so far. This is going to be so cool!

So all you LOTR fans and potential movie editors out there, it is possible! My goal is to trim down the whole trilogy to under 8 hours. I think it can be done and be much closer to the book version than Peter Jackson. We'll see!


HAHAHAHA!




Lurker

Ice Age Map

I want to own a globe of the world as it looked during the last ice age: significant glaciers, lower sea levels, radically different coastlines. The world of the previous age of mankind, where most of our history occured and little save cave paintings record it.

Just think for a minute what the world would look like. Would the Gulf of Mexico be an inland sea? How far south would the glaciers reach for the North American interior? What drowned lands would then be above sea level? Would the Black Sea (or even the Mediteranian for that matter) connect to the oceans? Would the deserts of our day be the forrests of previous era?

And would this global map look at all familiar?

Would we find lands now reduced to fiction and legend?


Any help, insight, research, or opinions would be apreciated....


Lurker

Atlantis in The Odyssey

For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about go read the Odyssey:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/homer/ody/index.htm

And the part of the Dialogues of Plato about Atlantis:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/critias.txt

With those bits of info out of the way, here's my 'grade A' paper for my classical literature class. Sorry about the �'s.


Homer�s Odyssey told of the godlike, sea-fairing Phaeacians who lived on the remote isle of Scher�a. As the setting for seven books of the Odyssey, Homer devoted almost as many scenes to this lost idyllic paradise as he did to Ithaca. Given their advanced seafaring technology, their physical remoteness, and their close relationship with the Greek god Poseidon, one cannot help but compare the Phaeacians to another lost advanced island-nation� Atlantis.
Odysseus�s first glimpse of Scher�a from afar, which looked �like a shield on the misty sea,� (Book V, line 281) was comparable to the plain Plato described as �smooth and even, and of an oblong shape� (Plato). He had great trouble making landfall due to the �jutting cliffs,� very similar to Atlantis where �the banks were raised considerably above the water�. He eventually made landfall at the broad mouth of a river, of which Atlantis had several, unlike most Aegean islands.
Odysseus�s first encounter with the culture of the Phaeacians was with Nausicaa, daughter to the king Alcinous. Her description of the lifestyle of the island gave a picture of �security, ease, and elegance of Phaeacian life� (Dimock, 1989). Indeed Homer depicted various scenes featuring locals involve feasting, giving gifts, dancing, singing, and playing sports. Citizens of Atlantis were said to have had more restraint, and �thinking lightly of the possession of gold and other property� and that �they possessed true and in every way great spirits, uniting gentleness with wisdom�. Regardless, both societies were presented as the epitome of culture and as virtual utopias.
The origin of the people on Scher�a was very similar to that of Atlantis, where �Poseidon, receiving for his lot the island of Atlantis, begat children by a mortal woman, and settled them in a part of the island� (Plato). In the Odyssey it was revealed that �Nausithoos, the king who brought the Phaeacians to this remote island� was a �child of Poseidon and Periboia� a mortal (Dimock, 1989). There were differences between the stories, Plato named the girl Cleito, but the similarities were uncanny. Phaeacians were constantly referred to �distant relatives� to the Greek gods and called �kin� just as the Atlanteans are themselves described to have been of �divine nature� due to their ancestor Poseidon.
The Isle of Scher�a was very remote. It took Odysseus eighteen days to reach from Calypso�s Isle by raft. Being so far removed from Greece, their concept of geography was understandably very different. �No place can have seemed more central than the island of Euboia� to the Greeks, which the Phaeacian sailors claimed was the most distant land known (Dimock, 1989). The only hint of location in the Atlantis text is the mention of the island being �outside the Pillars of Heracles� thought to refer to the Atlantic instead of the Mediterranean, certainly far enough removed to justify this altered outlook.
But the speed at which the Phaeacians traversed this distance was unprecedented in its day. The ships described by the Odyssey are practically magical in their abilities: �Phaeacian ships do not have pilots, nor steering oars, as other ships have. They know on their own their passengers� thoughts� (VIII, 603). �Their ships are very fast, fast as a flying bird, or even a thought� (VII, 37-38). Few details are given about Atlantis� ships save that they have twelve hundred in their navy and many goods were transported domestically and from the �foreign cities over which they held sway�.
Some of the most impressive features of Scher�a were her developed harbors. Odysseus �marveled at the harbors and the shapely ships, at the meeting grounds and the long walls capped with palisades� (VII, 47). Massive harbors and extensive waterworks were also hallmarks of the Atlantean infrastructure, albeit with far more allusions to channels and bridges.
The palace of Alcinous surpasses all other mortal structures of the time. Every surface was coated in bronze, silver, or gold. It was filled with priceless godly artwork, glorious furniture, and fifty highly skilled slaves. The courtyard orchard has multiple varieties of fruit that �Never Perishes nor fail, summer or winter� (VII, 125). Two springs run in this courtyard, one to water the crops and the other for public drinking, whereas the Critias has �two springs of water from beneath the earth, one of warm water and the other of cold, and making every variety of food to spring up abundantly from the soil�. Both the Odyssey and the Critias both went to great lengths to describe the bounty and fertility of their respective islands, contrasting greatly to most of Greece. Both describe endless groves, incredible varieties of fruits and game, and cultivation aided by two divinely created springs which only further enhanced the fertility of the land.
The Phaeacians, while peaceful, are no strangers to war. The servant �Eurymedusa had come from Apeire in the curved ships, long ago, and had been chosen from the spoils of war for Alcinous� (VII, 7). This is a reference to a land lost to time, but along with hinted conflicts with the Cyclops and the ferocious speed of their navy, they could have been a truly powerful offensive country. Of course, the military forces described by Critias are far more menacing, with thousands of chariots and an entire warrior class.
The Phaeacians have a prophecy foretelling that Poseidon would �encircle our city within a mountain� (VIII, 615) for giving safe transport to passengers. This is eerily similar to the geography of Atlantis formed when Poseidon �inclosed [sic] the hill in which she [Cleito] dwelt all round, making alternate zones of sea and land larger and smaller, encircling one another�. Or perhaps their prophesy referred to the sinking of the island by an earthquake, the ultimate end of Atlantis that buried her forever.
The Phaeacians prepared to sacrifice bulls to placate the ocean god, just as the Kings of Atlantis sacrificed bulls to at their temple of Poseidon. In fact, both islands describe their temples to Poseidon being centermost in their respective cities, and the most highly decorated. Even their ceremonial equipment was similar when Plato tells of how �they drew from the bowl in golden cups and [of] pouring a libation on the fire� for Poseidon, while the king Alcinous gave Odysseus a similarly described �beautiful cup, pure gold, to remember me by all of his days as he pours wine to Zeus and the other gods� (VIII, 468).
There were other details that wouldn�t quite fit. �Twelve honored kings are lord in Phaeacia� with Alcinous being the 13th (VIII, 422), while Atlantis had ten kings, whose lines started from 5 pairs of male twins. The few names and genealogies given don�t work out either. Neither do the timelines for both stories, with Atlantis being at least nine thousand years ago and Homer�s works less than half that.
But both islands have the same otherworldly feel to them, of some high civilization that was lost to the mists of time and only barely recorded, reduced to the status of a myth. �Neither Homer no the oldest member of his audience can have met in real life a race of people for whom reality was suspended to the degree that it was for the Phaeacians. Therefore, if they ever existed, they must have disappeared long ago� (Dimock, 1989). Both were fertile Utopian societies with advanced seafaring capabilities, descended from Poseidon and ultimately destroyed for displeasing him, reduced to mere echoes across time.

Works Cited


Dimock, George E. The Unity of the Odyssey The University of Massachusetts Press, 1989

Homer. Odyssey. Translation by Stanly Lombardo, Hackett Publishing Co, 2000

Plato, Critias. translated by Benjamin Jowett
http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/critias.txt

United Nations replacement

First off, it should be democracies only. If a government is not voted in by frequent and fair elections, then it shouldn't be alowed to join.

That said, I would have it grow organically like the EU or the United States, voting to uphold some universal values and not to war with member states.

Primary concerns would be trade, environment, conflict resolution, space exploration, and other concerns of a global nature. And thats it. At every turn power must be minimized, capped, and otherwise stunted, for there is no escape from a runaway world government. No place to run.

The New United Nations (NUN) would function like a super-congress, with representatives elected at large from the regions they hail from. There should be no presidential position, for this would be way too dangerous.

I would also put it near the middle east, close conection between Africa and Europe and Asia, because that is where most of the action is.


Lurker
(eh, I'll finish this later)

Tuesdays no more.

I want to change one of the most influential social structures in our society, so fundamental hardly anyone even thinks about it anymore.

The Calender.

More specifically, the number of days in a week.

Curently, the number of days in a week is seven, a prime number difficult to divide. The concept of a 7 day week is a hold over from the lunar calender days, with about 7 days between new and quarter and full moons. Heck, our current weekday names are an amalgam of Norse (Thor's Day, Woden's Day) and other european cultures! Very archaic.

I propose changing the number of days in the week to 6, by dropping Tuesday. I have nothing against that day in particular, but it is statistically the least likely to be somebody's favorite day of the week (and why would it?).

And ta-da! We have a week easily evenly divided in halves and thirds. I did toy with the idea of making a twelve day week, but I think thats messing with peoples concepts of time a little too much.

With a 6 day week, we have 5 weeks a month (6*5=30). And twelve times 30 is 360! A very neat and useful figure. However, we still have those pesky 5 and a quarter days in the year. Lets steal a page from Tolkien and have those days be extra floating holidays, outside the week formula and no body works on them. Now I'm torn whether to have that be the current nonproductive week between Christmas and New Years, or sprinkle them across the calender year.

Now the whole point of this is efficiency. and relaxation. Currently there are 52 weeks and 104 weekend days in the year. My idea would make 60 weeks and 120 weekends in the year! Or, even morefun, we can have jobs where people work 3 days on and 3 off, enabling the widened economic possibilites of regular threeday weekends and enabling someone else to work your exact position while you are gone, simultaneously increasing job output and quality of live. Even better, peoples weekends in whatever form can be staggered, enabling people on their time off to have access to the goods and services of those still working. The economic potentials are enormous!

A couple of problems might be legal documents like the constitution which refer to tuesdays. I'm fine with removing a day with less impact, the concept still holds. Another problem is inertia and practical problems with changing the week, like calenders and watches and computer programs and the like. No prob, we make a date set in stone like 2020, and give people plenty of notice.


So much to do and so little time...


Lurker

Legalize drugs

Yep, some of you have definately heard this rant before. Legalize drugs used for recreational purposes. Way, way too many fairly harmless people are being tossed in jail for this victimless crime.

First off, legalizing drugs would kick a major leg out from under organized crime. Once legalized, reputable people can sell it for a lot less, prices go way down and it no longer becomes as absurdly profitable as it is now.

Many, many crimes are commited by drug addicts to support their habits. With drugs dramatically cheaper and easier to come by, their incentive to steal to support their habit also decreases. Also a good thing. People are more likely to hold down regular jobs since they don't a have a hugely expensive habit they can only indulge in sporatically. Plus, those with uncontrollable habits can get enough to overdose themselves out of existance and end their long term negative contributions to society.

Black market goods are completely unregulated. Making drugs legitimate makes overdosing much less likely and creates a huge source of potential tax revenue.

Narco states loose their major source of funding and druglords fall right and left. Heh heh. This is especially true if the USA starts manufacturing its own drugs. Rebel groups in south american and terrorist organizations like the Taliban lose another source of funding. The world becomes better off.


I'm torn on the issue of making drugs free. That seems a bit excessive, plus it removes potential revinue. I'm envisioning a clinic where people can anonymously check themselves in and self administer drugs to their hearts content while under supervision, and this clinic being the only legitimate drug dispenser. I think that would still create a black market for those afraid of stigma and want to do drugs in their own home. I dunno, something to debate.


So here it is, my reasonings for legalizing drugs (well, leaving out my whole "goverment wasn't given this power in the constitution. Darn overuse of interstate commerce clause" arguement).



Lurker

Full citizenship == High School diploma

Here's one of my more often verbalized rants, but I thought I'd post it here for posterity.


So, I think that a whole bunch of benifits should be attatched to the graduation of High School, so that kids are really, really motivated to graduate. As would immagrants, former dropouts, et cetera.


Basically, with the graduation of High School (or equivalent) people would then recieve the benifits of full citizenship:

driving, marriage privledges (usually gotten at age 16)
right to vote (usually at 18)
rights to drink, smoke, gamble (21)
Plus all the other benifits of legal adulthood (credit cards, running for office, independence, etc.)

And maybe $10,000 or so in new currency, as a means of injecting new money into the economy. They could use this towards furthering their education, or investing, or wasting on drinking, smoking, and gambling. The nice thing about using newly minted money rather than regular money is I don't like monetary redistributions, so this seems like useful ideological loophole for me.


I think would be excellent motivation to learn, perhaps enough to have truly inteligent kids try and progress as fast as they want to get out into the real world.

Of course, I would also seriously try to make the education requirements much higher than they are now, at least as high as citizenship tests on history, law, and whatnot. Definately laying the foundations in personal financing, computer skills, history, legal system, geography, sciences, literacy, mathematics, and all the other crucial skills for life.

I'm also toying with the idea of a year of service in the government, whether in a military, beurocratic, or administrative capacity. Something to both get an insiders look, and far enough from home to get some perspective.

My only concern would be for those who cannot pass the standard for graduation. Would this create an underclass of powerless people?



Lurker
(25!)

solution to prescription drug costs

The largest percent of money for prescritption drugs goes not into production, but into research. Most drug research is fruitless, moneywasting adventures that don't produce products the industry is interested in providing for consumers. Second largest percentage is in advertising, expanding public awareness of their products so people will be more likely to order them.

My solution addresses both these issues, and a couple more.

How do we make prescription drugs much cheaper? By nationalising the research. Yes, have the government toss money into the air for drug research. Its very good at oft fruitless research. Second part? All chemical compostions are public domain. It never made sense to me to patent that sort of intelectual right. So, if everything is public domain, the main concern of drug producers would be to find the cheapest production costs because of the competition with all the other drug producers that would spring up overnight. Gov would be responsable for researching new drugs, testing new drugs, etc. Industry focuses on what it does best, actually manufacturing nessisary drugs as efficiently as possible.


I think it just might work!



Lurker

Where was I?

So I start classes tomarrow. I'm actually excited. I'm graduating this year. Sometime. I'll get back to you.

Anyway, I'm taking an English lit class on old Greek and Roman classics. Stuff I'd like to read anyway. Cool. Plus a political science course on war and peace in the middle east. Fun stuff.

Oh! And my birthday is on the 24th. Of what, I'm not saying.



Anyway, the question of the day is as follows:

If you could only choose one basis for a society, would you base it on-
1. Equality
2. Making the minimum quality of life as high as possible
3. Maximising the total quality of life (highest average)

Now, by quality of life I mean lifespan, comfort level, purchasing power, happiness, etc.

My significant other was torn between the first two. I rejected equality out of hand, because it could be at any level. I'm most attracted to the third option, because it seems the most uninhibited: it can reach the highest heights.


So, I'm curious to hear your thoughts.




Lurker
(Peekaboo)

Crazyness

Too many classes. Ugh.

Between writing papers and girlfriend maintenence, i've been incomunicado with the world.

But with a break coming in after finals, I'll be able to post more often. Really.

Things to post:

Dating strategy
Zeroplus language
National referendum (needs researching)
National Coalition Party platform

And whatever the heck I feel like.





Lurker
(needs an underground city. Best of both worlds)

At War

My father is now in the Middle East, about to begin his year long tour in Iraq.

The war has suddenly become very personal.

This is hard for me. Conceptually, I understand the why we are there and pretty much agree with the whole policy. But I want my father back. Now.

Part of me wanted to injure him so he wouldn't have to go. Part of me wanted to sign up and go with him. If I thought that taking up arms and hunting down terrorists was the most expedient use of my time, I'd be over there in a heartbeat.

I already know I'll end up there sooner or later. After I graduate, I'm going to work to make the world a better place, and G-d knows that Iraq needs all the help it can get.

Ugh, this is frustrating. My Dad, father of 5 and in his 40's is over there and me, I'm still stuck in school.

It shoulda been me.

Actually, it still might....




Lurker

Solution to illegal imigration...?

Zany way to 'solve' illegal imigration problem, combining many of my ideas.

Step 1: find the most defensable line possible way down south in mexico, likely past the edge of the baja.

2: Buy land from Mexico. Billions of dollars. But try to do it in such a way as the money is not wasted on corruption. Enriching the population decreases the economic pressures to go north. And people further south may be satisfied with the alternative of a spanish speaking moderately wealthy nation as opposed to english speaking US.

3. Start building a massive, state of the art wall from coast to coast. Nothing gets thru here without permision. Totally sealable.

4. Carve out new states. Here's the deal: anyone inside the boundry becomes a US citizen, just like in the olden days. Subtext: all illegals should head south into new state areas to recieve benifits of citizenship. Additional insentitve would be to eliminate insentives to remain non-citizens.

5. Massive immigration reform, making it immensly easier to enter country/and or become a citizen. People given id when entering country so they are easily found if they become a problem. We want more people to join our culture and spread our ideals. let them come.

6. With new states, we get more senators, and political power moves further south in the house of reps. Illegals are reduced to a non-issue, because of the massive amnisty, ease of legal entry, impracticality of illegal entry, and so forth. With no illegal human traficing, trafficing of other bad things (drugs, WMD's, etc) is much harder to hide. And the tax base is hugely grown as there are many more people and basically no untaxed labor.

7. Precident set for further expansion of the US. Potential regions for statehood have modern day examples of how to join the USA if they are so inclined.



Now, to spread this idea to others...



Lurker
(Worried for Paris)

Where were we...?

Sorry for the month long absence. Too much school, new girlfriend, moving.... life got in the way...

Now, where were we? Eh, I guess I'll just do some comic reviews. I'll wait for the proposed constitutional amendments next time.


She-Hulk #1 Fun issue, definately stay with it till they hit #100 (in about three issues, long story).

HoM #8 Aftermath issue. By itself, good. Profound changes. Way too long storyline though. Whole thing coulda been done in four issues. Grr.

BP #9 Entertaintin, I guess. Still sort of eh. Not pulling my hair out anymore.

MTU #14 Spider-Man and Invincible. This issue blew me away. Excellent insight, characterization, dialogue. Drat, no way I can drop this series now, especially with Darkhawk, Speedball, and Gravity showing up for the next arc...

Young Avengers #8 Cool. Mention of Josiah X (thought he was forgotten). New Vision has imprints of Iron Lad? Add another personality to the heap. The more I read about Vision, the more he looks like a spy for Immortus all along. It would explain some things...

I guess thats everything for now.



Lurker
(Procrastinating)

Comic book reviews!

Lousy subscriptions. I give up. The $ saved isn't worth the hassle.

So, I gave in and swooped up issues I should've already gotten (plus new stuff):


New Avengers 9, 10: Sentry! Yay! Quite good, if a bit decompressed. Not sure how it jives the the LS though....

New Avengers 11: Ronin! A new, mystery avenger. Is it Daredevil? I'm guessing its Wolverine...

Young Avengers 6: Gosh, its been too long since I read 5. Ends about like I expected. Not sure if I like the name Stature though...

Young Avengers 7: Well, here it is folks, the comics industry first teenage gay couple. Wait till the press hears about this!

Sentry #1 of 8: Yes! This is what I've waited years for! God-like superhero thats just barely sane.

New Warriors #4 of 6: Good characterization. The newwest Warrior has a fun attitude.

Black Pather #8: This has got to be the worst editted book I've ever read. I have no idea how this book fits into the Marvel Universe. There's no conistancy. With Priest there were always more layers and subtext woven into the story than any comic I've seen since. But Hudlin references things that can't possibly have happened, or the timeline is totaly out of whack! Grr...

Defenders #3 of 5: Dripping with sarcasm and pithy remarks. Still not quite what I want from a Defenders comic though...



Lurker
(Poker Night is every Sunday after 6:30!)

Strange lights over Arizona

My sibling called me this evening and asked if there was supposed to be a comet out tonight.

She and many other dezinens of Phoenix saw some sort of lit up clouds over the western horizon for a good ten minutes at least. Looks like an odd shape.

Acording to the news it was a sattelite launch, to study atmospheric phenomenon. Huh.

I'll post more when I learn more.



Lurker
(Charcoal should join the Runaways!)

Water, water everywhere

Ceres, a minor planet in the asteroid belt, may have more freshwater than Earth...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9247925/
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/050907_ceres_planet.html

This is so cool. If true, this would definately be a MAJOR destination for future space exploration. Large amounts of water in a low gravity-well is a great pit stop.

Also, Ceres is the only planetoid I know of that was given full planet status only to lose it later.

For those of you keeping track, here what I consider to be the planets of the Sol system:

Object

System

Radius km

Sid. Period

Sem-Maj. Axis

Eccentricity

Ang. Diam. arcsecs

Gas Giants (not shown)

EARTH	Sun	6371.00 ±0.01	365.256363	1.00000102	0.01670863	-	-
VENUS	Sun	6051.84 ±0.01	224.700800	0.72332982	0.00677192	9.56	65.43
MARS	Sun	3389.92 ±0.04	686.979853	1.52367934	0.09340065	3.48	25.64
GANYMEDE	Jupiter	2631.2 ±1.7	7.154553	1070400	0.0011	1.12	1.85
TITAN	Saturn	2575 ±2	15.945446	1221803	0.0291	0.64	0.89
MERCURY	Sun	2439.7 ±1.0	87.969256	0.38709831	0.20563175	4.53	13.03
CALLISTO	Jupiter	2410.3 ±1.5	16.689018	1882700	0.0074	1.02	1.70
IO	Jupiter	1821.3 ±0.2	1.769138	421800	0.0041	0.78	1.28
LUNA	Earth	1737.5 ±0.1	27.321662	384404.377	0.05554553	1766.39	1974.39
EUROPA	Jupiter	1560.8 ±0.5	3.551181	671100	0.0094	0.66	1.10
2003UB313	Sun	~ 1430 ?	556.5	67.659	0.442	0.04	0.11
TRITON	Neptune	1353.4 ±0.9	5.87685	354759	0.00002	0.12	0.13
PLUTO	Sun	1164 ±22.9	247.92065	39.48168677	0.24880766	0.06	0.11
2005FY9	Sun	~ 900 ?	309.4	45.740	0.155	0.05	0.07
2003VB12	Sun	~ 875	11274.8	502.807	0.849	0.00	0.03
TITANIA	Uranus	788.9 ±1.8	8.705867	436298	0.0014	0.10	0.13
RHEA	Saturn	764 ±4	4.517503	527367	0.0003	0.19	0.26
OBERON	Uranus	761.4 ±2.6	13.463234	583519	0.0016	0.10	0.12
2004DW	Sun	~ 759	247.8	39.453	0.218	0.04	0.07
2003EL61	Sun	~ 750 ?	285.4	43.344	0.189	0.04	0.06
IAPETUS	Saturn	718 ±8	79.330954	3561850	0.0283	0.18	0.25
2002LM60	Sun	630 ±95	286.9	43.502	0.035	0.04	0.04
CHARON	Pluto	621 ±20.6	6.38725	19636	0.0002	0.03	0.06
2002TC302	Sun	~ 602	409.4	55.139	0.293	0.02	0.04
UMBRIEL	Uranus	584.7 ±2.8	4.144176	265998	0.0039	0.08	0.09
ARIEL	Uranus	578.9 ±0.6	2.520379	190945	0.0012	0.08	0.09
DIONE	Saturn	559 ±5	2.736916	377654	0.0022	0.14	0.19
TETHYS	Saturn	529.8 ±1.5	1.887803	294992	0.0001	0.13	0.18
1996TL66	Sun	~ 479	757.3	83.085	0.578	0.01	0.04
CERES	Sun	475.5 ±3.9	1680.71	2.766412164	0.07911582	0.32	0.86

http://www.tenspheres.com/tools/largestlist.htm

Huh, 2003UB313 is the so-called tenth planet. I don't remember there being so many big sun-orbiting bodies though...



Lurker
(Listening to Coast to Coast AM)

Katrina

I'm not sure how I feel about the fallout from Hurricane Katrina. I think either that it hasn't sunk in yet, or maybe I'm numb to it. I dunno. I haven't really seen much news about it since I've been busy all week with school.

The US has lost cities before, but its been about a hundred years since the last I think. And those were from earthquakes and/or fires. It'll be interesting how people will rebuild, assuming they do.

The lawlessnes in the city shouldn't really surprise people. I'm just surprised it isn't worse. And it'll stay this bad until things get back to normal, whatever that new normal may be.

Hopefully this'll wake people up as to how powerful and undpredictable mother nature can be. Levies are dangerous. When they go the floods are fast and deep, and the remnants of the levies slow the drainage. Maybe now Louisiana will cut their losses and allow the Mississippi to change channels away from the city.


See, isn't this more fun? Well, not the hurricane, but the shift in format away from my boring life to relevant subject matters? Comment away!



Lurker
(Way too much reading this semester)

Now, the real fun begins....

...I should be able to post more regularly to this website (hopefully daily) now that school has begun. That is, of course, if I finish scheduling my classes. One of the classes I was supposed to take just happens to be on a different campus. Wish I'd noticed that when I signed up for it. So, I've got to replace it with something quick, because I need to take 18 credit-hours this and next semester or I don't graduate in May.

But other than that, my life has been relatively stress free. I worked my last day at the shipping company friday the week before last. Work was way too far from my new place, required me to get up at 3 in the morning, and probibly wasn't the healthiest for me either. Now I can sleep in. Yay!

That weekend I took a trip south to see most of my old friends. They seemed to have split up into many circles in my absense. All seemed to be doing quite well. Didn't get to see everybody though. Ah well, its probibly for the best.

Next I took a trip to Vegas to see even more friends. That was fun too. I ordered a borg sphere at quarks bar (10 oz of who knows what) and saw the Borg 4D experience. And I astounded my friends one morning when I had 5 plates of food at a breakfast buffet. Didn't make it very far afterwards tho.

So that's my life thus far. Boy this blogging thing is harder than I thought. I haven't even posted my insights on world politics yet, not to mention my reform agenda. And of course, there's that language I'm working on, my magical studies, progress playing Morrowind, plus all the astrophysics and other neat things I'm interested in. Ah, well... I've got all the time in the world...




Lurker
(Pondering an Avengers book with Babylon 5 style politics)

This weeks comics reviews

There's something odd about that title.... Anyway...


Runaways #6. This series is easily becoming my favorite comic book. Great characterization, obscure characters, and Darkhawk!!! Yes, he's back in this issue, with a vengence!

And the revealations this issue.... Cool! Although the benefactor was a bit of a let down, there is seriously some potential here. Now we just need to have Excelsior get a LS or a regular series....


Marvel Team-Up #11. Darn it, I keep trying to drop this series, but it keeps growing on me. Now they brought in Nova(!) for cripes sakes. Mostly dialoge, but it was spot on.


Hercules #5 of 5. Wow, finaly this Limited Series pays off. Great insight into the character. And a really weird read, considering I just bought Hercules Season 1 of the Kevin Sorbo TV series.


Robert Jordan's New Spring #1. Yes, you read that right. The series without an end is publishing a comic about the begining. Very cool. But for $4 an issue I'm not sure I can afford to read about something I've already read twice (In Legends and the full book version). I'm sure my Dad would love to recieve it from me... Hmm....


Well thats it for the reviews. Unless I review the latest issue I read in Essential X-Men vol.3 that is. Hmm. Anyway, I intend to be irregular about doing these, until the page finds its niche.


Via con pollos!
Lurker (Yes, I know it says "Go with chickens" ....Nevermind....)

Gone

I said goodbye to my father. He's on his way to Iraq.

True, he'll be stationed in the states for a few months before going, but he's still not coming home until 2007.

Frankly, I'm a little worried. Not just for my Dad (he is getting up there in years), but also for the Iraqi people. He and I have run thru some scenarios, and he doesn't play war nicely. His first priority is victory, and politics are close to the bottom. In certain situations, he could very well escalate the war over there. We'll see.


The hardest part about the separation is that he won't be around to teach me Judo. He's been doing the sport for decades (well, so have I, but only half his time) and he knows things I've only begun to grasp. In this area at least, I still need him.


So yeah, expect to hear more about Iraq in the next year or two. Definately.



Lurker
(Love you Dad)

I'm back!!!

I have returned from a very long family reunion camping trip. Three days driving each way. Ugh.

But the vacation was really cool. I got to see folks I hadn't been with for years. Good to see them again.

All the more poinent because my Dad is going to Iraq at the end of the month. He'll be gone for over a year. Actually this trip helped my with that, because it'd been longer than that since I'd seen most everybody there.

My cousin went to Iraq for a year, he was one of the first ones to go in. Had some interesting insight into the whole thing.


Well, thats enough for now. I'm going to be posting more often, and about how I'd make the world more to my likeing.




Tally ho!
Lurker

Summer school sucks

Ugh. What a long month. I've been taking Spanish 202 for a summer session just to get it out of the way. It is less than a hassle than a taking normal class would have been, but man it is still time consuming.


Heads up! On sunday night NASA is going to slam a probe into a comet, and it should be visable to people on the west coast with binoculars or telescopes. I'll have more info when its closer.


Morrowind is addictive and way too huge. I could be playing this one for quite a while....


Found an interesting language system that uses about 120 basic concepts to create just about any word or idea. I'll definately be 'borrowing' at least some of this for ZeroPlus:
http://www.kisa.ca/tokipona/index.html


Saw Bush's speech last night. Fairly effective. I'm not sure what would silence his critics. A timeline perhaps? Spelling out exactly what needs to happen in what order (minus dates) would quell some fears of being stuck forever in Iraq.





Lurker
(I wonder if anyone's actualy been to this blog yet.... I need a counter....)

Moving sucks

Long story short(well, shorter at least): I learned on the 9th of this month that the guy who was buying my house changed his mind and decided not to let us live there. So me and my 2 roommates (one of whom had lived there for only 10 days) had less than a week to move.

Hillarity ensues.

So, I end up moving with one of my roommates to a condo (a rather nice one). I'm still unpacking (good heavens my house was full of miscelanous stuff). Aside from a mysterous maple syrup smell, this place is actually quite ideal for me.



Lurker
(Just got Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. So, you might never see me again. Oh well)

Thunderbolts #9 Swordsman Theory

First off, the last issue was great! R-Man is exploding with potential, and is still by some definitions evil.

Anyway, on to Swordsman....










Okay, that stabbing was fake, either a SCREAM-type-I-only-look-like-I'm-hurt or a mindbending vision courtesy of PM's powers. After reading the issue, a question came into my mind: why the hell in issue #1 did Genis fly down, help the T-Bolts, and get knocked into orbit without reacting? It is all a setup. We know PM was behind part of it, I think he was behind all of it. Genis is the Swordsman! It works out so well! You've never seen the two in the same place at the same time!

Either that, or Atlas is the Swordsman, but thats just not as fun.





Lurker
(Pulsar transforms into radiation, and R-Man controls and absorbs radiation, so if they fought...)

Good day to be a warriors fan

There are three, count 'em THREE, NW related comics today!

LAST HERO STANDING LS #2
Both Nova and Speedball make it to the recap page (Nova's on the cover), both are amoung MC2's assembled Avengers, one or both have speaking rolls, and their past membership as Warriors is brought up. With fewer and fewer hero's still standing I expect these two to get more screentime as the series wraps up (Next issue out next week!)


Gravity LS #1
Better than I expected, I must say. Powers not well defined, but are full of potential. I fully expect Black Death to be his roommate. Rage appearence had more oomph than I'm used to. I hope he makes another appearance. Even if not though, I'm buying the rest of the series.


New Warriors LS #1
It works! The art actually works for the story. I'm not totally sold on the whole premise of the series, although it does sorta fit the Warrior agenda. Kinda. I just hope this sells like hotcakes and we get our series back!



Lurker
(Any Spider-Girl readers out there? Does her New Warriors team still exist or was that a one time thing?)

Time well spent

Well, instead of going to california theme parks this weekend, i pretty much stayed home and did nothing. Read that as: waste time on the computer. I discovered that the New Warriors LS is out in stores this Wednesday (YAY!), that there are way too many mods for Baldur's gate ( http://iegmc.mirror.intermedia.com.sg/ ), and that there are more mathematical symbols than I thought, which is going to make ZeroPlus more difficult (perhaps I need to prioritize).

Told you I had diverse interests.

Also, I'm having problems getting my Thief II game to work. I was screwing around with my burner to compile the instalation disc and play disc (and the massive TX2 mod) on one DVD, and now I can't get it to play at all. Finicky system.




Lurker (There, using a portion of one of my zillions of screen names as a signature.)
[Putting off reediting LOTR trilogy to make it more like the books. Meaning half of TTT is toast]

Note to self

Note to self

testing

Second Post! (note to self: need better titles)

I really should be doing homework for summerschool, but this seems less productive.

Now the second post is the vital one. If I start ranting about politics, people will write off the site as purely political. If I work out my frustrations with Wolverine joining the Avengers, I'll be pigeonholed as a comic geek blogger.

So, for purely selfish reasons, I'll post areas that need improvement in my life just as a way of recording them so I'll actually maybe work on them:

Buy and eat vegetables regularly
Record any and all dreams, visions, etc.
Schedule next semester, including new major (I'm dual majoring;)
Find a new job.
Dating would be nice.
Meditate! Work up a routine!
Work on that second degree black belt for Judo. Just a little more....
Get a working copy of ZeroPlus going ( custom language I'm working on)



There we go. Still not confortable posting the more personal stuff, but this is a good start.






(do I need a signature for my own blogsite?)

First Post!

Right then. I've created my blog. Now I just need something insightful to say.

...


um...


...


Hmm... You know, its kind of funny. Fifty years from now, the internet will be absolutely enormous, because anything posted on it can't really be deleted. That is what it was designed for, before it went mainstream. So anything I post here will be available for viewing by posterity, for good or ill.

Perhaps a little background info is in order. I'm about a quarter of a century old, a senior in college, an agnostic (for lack of a better term), non-sexually active, mixed race, American, black belt, news junkie, marvel comics fan, sci-fi/fantasy geek, and spends most of my time reading on the internet or in real life (such as it is).

That said, welcome to my website. I'm not sure what sort of perverse plesure you get out of reading it, but by all means continue. Or not.