COPENHAGEN MY ASS

world leaders are now in Copenhagen to decide if it's a good idea to spend a huge amount of money in order to limit the global increase in temperatures by less than 2 degrees Celsius.

they are planning to spend untold billions on a goal that's based on a bunch of "what if scenarios" that are far from certain. not to mention towards a future pay off that is much farther from certainty that the premises are.

even if the billions that they plan to save will be successful in limiting the global temperature rise by 2 degrees, there no evidence that this limitation will actually be beneficial or even worth the amount and effort spent.

some people always propose this analogy: that it's better to spend money now and buy insurance that watch your house burn and realize you haven't got protection.

unfortunately, that cannot be applied in the context of influencing climate change through financial intervention.

one, it is not correct that an increase in global temperature is analogous to a catastrophe such as burning one's house. in fact, there is evidence that global COOLING is the climactic event that would be disastrous for most life on earth.

two, it is far from certain that spending billions now will actually "insure" against a potential catastrophe if the rise in temperature exceed 2 degrees. the climate is such a complex system that reducing carbon emissions is only one of the million other factors that affect it. a single large volcanic eruption will cancel out years of CO2 savings from the so-called carbon emissions trading scheme.

in the same analogy as the fire insurance, it's the same as buying fire insurance that will not pay up if the fire is caused by lightning, electrical fault, children playing with fire, crazy neighbors, meteor impact and a million other reasons.

wouldn't it make much more sense if these bunch of band-wagon, publicity-seeking idiots spend the same amount of money on something that can certainly and actually help people right now?

i don't know, something like global poverty and hunger... or even smaller stuff, like controlling malaria.

why work?

A few bits of wisdom on reasons NOT to work...

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
Luke 12:25-26

Take no thought for your life,
What you shall eat;
Nor of the body,
What you shall put on.
Life is more than food,
And the body is more than clothing.
Consider the ravens:
They neither sow nor reap;
They have neither a storehouse nor barn;
And God feeds them.
Aren’t you much more valuable than the birds?
Luke 12:22-24

In The House at Pooh Corner, Christopher Robin has just asked Pooh a question:
“What do you like best in the world, Pooh?”
“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best –“ and then he has to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey WAS a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you begin to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.
--- The Tao of Pooh



The clouds above us join and separate,
The breeze in the courtyard leaves and returns.
Life is like that, so why not relax?
Who can stop us from celebrating?
--- Japanese haiku


You can find teachings from almost every religion and philosophy in the world something of this sort: Just be and everything will be all right. This Principle is most prominent in Taoism and Zen Buddhism but it can be found also in most of the world’s major faiths.
It seems a nice Principle but it also makes you stop and think if it is really feasible. You will begin to think after a while: “If I will just spend my time sitting and contemplating the passing clouds, how the heck would I survive? Would God really send ravens to bring me scraps of bread to eat?”
I think the Principle does NOT suggest that one cease to make a living completely. It only emphasizes that the main reason for our existence in this world is to LIVE and not to make monthly reports, or attend meetings, or worry about things that are beyond our grasp.
Work is essentially time spent for others, be it for your boss, for your co-workers, clients, or for humanity. I believe that when the time spent for others exceed the time spent for oneself, something is amiss in the Order of Things.

We work like mad because our society tries its best to convince us that there is a Great Reward waiting for us somewhere, and that what we have to do is spend our lives working like lunatics to catch up with it. Whether it’s up in the sky, behind the next molecule, or in the executive suite – it’s somehow always further along than we are.

FUN SIMULATION FOR YOUR CITY

TIME FOR A WHUPPING

lenient sentences are just fucking lame! stoning to death should be adopted for hardened criminals. and if there's an aggravating circumstance such as if the criminal is a retard, small stones should be used so death takes longer.

here's just one example taken verbatim from the news:

A TEENAGE burglar who terrorised Melbourne for more than a year, breaking into dozens of homes, has escaped with no jail time, no fine and no conviction.

"I had a good lawyer. My lawyer told me I would probably get off," the 15-year-old has boasted.

Victims of crime supporters and residents are dumbfounded after a Children's Court magistrate put the teen on a youth supervision order.

He admitted to a staggering 65 offences in a 13-month crime spree - committed while he was on probation.

During his rampage he stole about $100,000 worth of property from homes and businesses, including cars, televisions, computers, jewellery and motorbikes.

We cannot report who he is, where he lives, publish a picture or pixelated image of the criminal - because of increasingly severe legal restrictions designed to protect the identity of young offenders.

We are also barred from even naming the court where Magistrate Jane Gibson made her ruling.

The youth's rap sheet included two counts of aggravated burglary, 24 counts of burglary, 24 counts of theft and three counts of intentionally damaging property.

for the judges who hand lenient sentences, i hope you or your families will be victimized by the criminals you so leniently let go. you're a shame to the justice system as much as the fucking criminals are a shame to humanity.

the feeling of sand beneath my feet

The feeling of sand
beneath my feet
would have both sadness
and joy in it.
and it would always hold
an echo of you.

I chose to love you
and I choose to go on
loving you
until every grain of sand
has drifted out
into the sea.


---Theoden smiled. "Live now in blessedness; and when you sit in peace with your pipe, think of me! For never now shall I sit with you in Meduseld, as I promised, or listen to your herb-lore." He closed his eyes, and Merry bowed beside him. - Return of the King, Lord of the Rings

it's time to panic!

well then, swine flu seems to be doing its best to be the pandemic that WHO so reluctantly trying to admit.
and of course, the whole world is trying its fucking best not to appear too panicky -- while actually panicking like there's no tomorrow.
they should panic!! there's no way of knowing if this shit will be the next 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million (and that is the low end of estimates).

still, some pause (and a bit of rationality) needs to be considered. for one, swine flu has infected 25,000 people so far, and killed 150, for a fatality rate of less than 1%. in other words, even if one has swine flu, there's a 99% chance the infected person will survive.

in comparison, the 1918 Spanish flu has a mortality rate of around 3%. SARS has a mortality rate of almost 10%. and both can't even compare to the numbers for malaria. malaria kills one MILLION children every year in Africa alone.

the world doesn't care though (maybe because malaria only kills the POOR). they panic on swine flu and SARS, which kill less people in a year than malaria does in a single DAY.

in fact, even rabies is far more dangerous than swine flu. rabies kills 55,000 PER year, and has a 99.9999% mortality rate (in all of recorded history, only SIX had survived).

nevertheless, as i've said, there's no way of knowing what this shit will bring us. so it's prudent to say that we should PANIC with all the enthusiasm that we can muster.

on perfection

there are at least two kinds of perfection.
one is technical perfection -- that is, perfection that fits perfectly with a very specific and measurable definition of perfection. the other is the opposite (what i call "perceptual perfection", one that does not fit in any technical definition of perfection yet, somehow, feels perfect anyway.
it's best to illustrate the difference through a song, "i feel pretty", from the play "west side story".
here's a technically perfect rendition of the song. click here.
and here's a "'perceptively" perfect rendition of the same song. click here.

each has its own place...