Thursday, March 31, 2011
My Feet Knew the Way
I used to be frustrated by the inevitability of waves. I would hurl myself against them with all my strength, body slapping broad-side into the ambling hill of water, trying with all my might to make an example, set a precedent, assert my sentient dominance over the senseless redundancy of nature. It was a battle of wills and I, being blessed with Will, was the clear favorite.
Naturally, I lost every time. Each wave was followed inexorably by another, and red-chested and infuriated by the ocean’s indifference to my presence, I would gather myself for another offensive.
Tiring of this, I would alter my strategy and resign myself to building sandcastles with moats carefully situated just at the limit of the obliging tide; or constructing palaces for sojourning crabs, nomadic despots who would signal their gratitude for my hospitality with clumsy sideways curtsies. Or something like that.
I was jealous of the older boys on their jet skis, their casual indifference to the forces that stymied me, skimming the surface like sleek cars on an undulating pavement, surgically slicing its skin, as unimpressed with their medium of travel as it was with me, their artificial waves trailing them, spreading out like a slow Japanese fan, criss-crossing at odd angles to their larger, slower cousins.
* * * * *
It’s been decades since I’ve been to the ocean, I realize as I leave the hospital in the cobalt light of the pre-dawn, but my feet remember the way. With a nod to the stoic palms on Cass Street I turn left, and sand supplants cement. I can’t feel its texture through my leather soles but it gives way deferentially under my weight. I don’t break stride, even as the tiny waves make a play for my kneecaps. When the water is deep enough I squat, submerging myself to the neck.
I am weightless. I am a buoy. The ocean cycles around me and through me and I am utterly unobtrusive. It rocks me like a baby, lovingly indifferent to my will. Tonight, I will dream of its momentum.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Word of the moment: Demonym
Demonym: the word you use to refer to somebody from someplace (eg., "American")
Monetizing this blog
Because it's really easy, I just added ads to my blog. I doubt that enough people read me for it to make a difference, but in case I end up making significant bank, here's what I'm going to do - at the end of each calendar year, I'll come up with a list of charities I think are worthwhile. I'll put it up to a vote, and donate 100% to that charity.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Disgusting example of theocratic misogyny
Don't let the opulence fool you - the UAE's legal system is as backwards as Pakistan's or Saudi Arabia's. Regime change is scary business, but that particular region of the world is in desperate need of a liberal movement. We can only hope that when the dust settles in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Tunisia, and throughout the Mideast and Northern Africa, the paradigm will have shifted a few miles to the left.
EDIT: I just read this story about a Bengladeshi girl who, by decree of a local imam, and under the auspices of Sharia, was beaten to death at the age of 14. The crime, for which she received the capital punishment, was being raped by her married uncle. Yes, I phrased that correctly - she was murdered for being raped.
According to the article, such practices are illegal in Bangladesh, an ostensibly moderate Muslim nation. In light of my earlier post, I should stress that the ultimate source of this and related problems is an endemic perversion of values, as opposed to any particular governmental policy. The sweeping changes so desperately needed must therefore come from the ground up: it's a matter of attitude adjustment, not regime change.
EDIT: I just read this story about a Bengladeshi girl who, by decree of a local imam, and under the auspices of Sharia, was beaten to death at the age of 14. The crime, for which she received the capital punishment, was being raped by her married uncle. Yes, I phrased that correctly - she was murdered for being raped.
According to the article, such practices are illegal in Bangladesh, an ostensibly moderate Muslim nation. In light of my earlier post, I should stress that the ultimate source of this and related problems is an endemic perversion of values, as opposed to any particular governmental policy. The sweeping changes so desperately needed must therefore come from the ground up: it's a matter of attitude adjustment, not regime change.
Another reason to hate the TSA
Read this story about a woman fired by the TSA for her religious beliefs. Carole Smith was terminated at the end of a long chain of events set off by coworker Mary Bagnoli's report that "she was afraid of Smith because she was a witch who practiced witchcraft. She accused Smith of following her on the highway one snowy evening after work and casting a spell on the heater of her car, causing it not to work"
Which employee would you sack?
My favorite quotation, from the Wiccan (former) security agent herself: "We don't cast spells. That's not witchcraft. That's Black Magic or Voodoo or something else. to put a spell on the heater of a car, if I had that kind of power, I wouldn't be working for TSA. I would go buy lottery tickets and put a spell on the balls".
Which employee would you sack?
My favorite quotation, from the Wiccan (former) security agent herself: "We don't cast spells. That's not witchcraft. That's Black Magic or Voodoo or something else. to put a spell on the heater of a car, if I had that kind of power, I wouldn't be working for TSA. I would go buy lottery tickets and put a spell on the balls".
Monday, March 28, 2011
Donald Trump's surprisingly good idea
Even if it is a touch idealistic, I'm now going to pay attention to the man. As always, I respect stones.
Via Reddit: http://articles.cnn.com/1999-11-09/politics/trump.rich_1_donald-trump-trump-said-trump-trump-said-the?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS
"It is a winwin for the American people, an idea no conventional politician would have the guts to put forward" - DT
Via Reddit: http://articles.cnn.com/1999-11-09/politics/trump.rich_1_donald-trump-trump-said-trump-trump-said-the?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS
"It is a winwin for the American people, an idea no conventional politician would have the guts to put forward" - DT
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Minimalist mental disorder posters
Promoting awareness of mental disorders? Or exploiting them by making light of them?
Either way, some of these are rather poignant.
Either way, some of these are rather poignant.
Is it just me...
...or is this article criminally idiotic? Please read it and decide for yourself, and if I've made a mistake here, let me know. The pervasive error seems to be a confusion between the proportion of funds allocated to a particular cause with the absolute amount of funding made available. Maybe our hearts would do better to bleed in underdeveloped nations plagued by preventable hunger and curable disease, but how can Salmon claim that donated money does more harm than good?
Salmon also states that "Japan is a wealthy country which is responding to the disaster, among other things, by printing hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of new money. Money is not the bottleneck here: if money is needed, Japan can raise it."
Again, despite my heritage, I'm no expert in economics, but wouldn't an influx of money form outside the country be more helpful than the government printing more? Hasn't the Japanese government's decision to print more money (called "quantitative easing" when that money is then put into foreign bonds and the like, I just learned) in the last few weeks contributed, along with a beleaguered Nikkei, to the steadily falling Yen? Like I said before, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Salmon also states that "Japan is a wealthy country which is responding to the disaster, among other things, by printing hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of new money. Money is not the bottleneck here: if money is needed, Japan can raise it."
Again, despite my heritage, I'm no expert in economics, but wouldn't an influx of money form outside the country be more helpful than the government printing more? Hasn't the Japanese government's decision to print more money (called "quantitative easing" when that money is then put into foreign bonds and the like, I just learned) in the last few weeks contributed, along with a beleaguered Nikkei, to the steadily falling Yen? Like I said before, someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Clever Conceptual Photo Manipulations That Tell a Story
This is a reblog.... not my work and not my writing! - JHD
Clever Conceptual Photo Manipulations That Tell a Story: "
Conceptual photo manipulations are all about depicting an idea, message, or story that a digital artist wants to convey to their viewers. In a conceptual photo manipulation the idea is the primary motive for the piece, not the materials, tools, or techniques that were used during its creation. These works are truly inspirational and tell a story through the characters, landscape, emotions, or through political or social commentary. In this collection you will find a mixed bag of clever conceptual photo manipulations, some of which include a bit of fantasy, surrealism, or humor.
E-mail and texting have made communication instantaneous and easy. But a hand-written letter has a personal touch to it. There is something about ink and paper that an email will simply never replace. This print advertisement for the Australia Post successfully conveys that message.
An excellent example depicting the metaphorical concept of liquid fire. It shows how fire would look if it was made of water.
This print advertisement by Olympus has a great concept and visual. It uses the frozen ice to symbolize that the action has been frozen in time by the camera.
This amusing print advertisement cleverly uses Photoshop to convey its USP.
Have you ever been so tired while reading that you felt the words are falling from the book? Here is a cool visual example of the same.
Creating My Own World in an impressive artistic concept. The ink represents the fluidity of imagination and creativity through which the artist creates fish, birds, butterflies and the world of his own. It has beautiful color, texture and a poetic touch.
It’s hard not to like this cool coffee mug. It is made from the lens of a camera that has been fashioned into a mug. I think the image is the Photoshopped prototype (of the initial concept) of Canon mugs.
The King has an interesting and thought provoking concept drawing parallel between king and pawn. The artist philosophically states that when the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box.
Skinbonsai is a well executed but creepy photo manipulation of bonsai created from body parts.
Poor grapes are looking really scared! This fantastic photo manipulation is humorous and heartwarming at the same time. The attention to the detail is mindboggling and the concept is skillfully executed.
Go Your Own Road has a great concept. It advises you to follow your heart.
It would be cool if you could shake hands with your friend in another country without a long journey or jetlag. International Handshake is an awesome example of an Out of Bounds photo manipulation concept.
This advertisement for Polident Denture Care uses fruit as an object of focus. It shows fruits like apple, pear, sugarcane each with unexpectedly soft interiors. Here it refers to the softness of kiwi fruit when you bite an apple wearing their dentures.
Human emotions are complex. Love is the best/worst feeling to ever have, it can be so diverse at times that you can never be sure that you know all. Though I wonder if you could learn all about love or intricacies of human feelings from books. Simplicity, colors and subject of this photo manipulation is eye-catching.
What would you call them? Eggheads? And are you ready to eat them! It has the wonderful humorous concept. The expression on each of the face and eyes can surely make you laugh.
Choose Your Face has a novel concept and the attention to the details is beyond words, it almost looks real.
This print advertisement for Toyo tires cleverly uses octopus to go with their slogan "Griping Performance".
Sometimes you might have the wrong perception about yourself and that might stress you out. This is a great example that shows how you can use perfectly ordinary objects to make a powerful message.
A fascinating photo manipulation where the woman’s flowing hairs are shown as horses. The peace and calmness on woman’s face and the running wild horses on the other hand symbolizes the constant thought process going on in our mind. Although outwardly we might seem to be calm and relaxed. A very original idea..
An unusual concept showing hands morphed into a mouth and ear. It depicts that everyone wants an ear to voice their opinion.
Lion Show is a print advertisement for Zoo Safari. It has an outstanding concept backed by wonderfully executed visuals to match its slogan "blend in".
An excellent photo manipulation of an artist hand drawing himself.
This is an amazing idea personifying the milk into spirit.
A similar concept as the one shown above but with the positive message. In this print advertisement the milk is personified to symbolize that it helps to support your heart and body.
This powerful Public Interest advertisement campaign successfully illustrates how verbal abuse can be just as horrific as physical violence. It raises awareness of issue of vicious domestic verbal abuse.
This is really a sad love story. It is amazing how you can tell a story with just one object. The old and faded effect gives it an interesting feel. The idea of using fruit to make something that seems so simple and yet universally recognizable is very clever.
A delightful and detailed imagination of city built from a cigarette’s ashes.
Another witty and brilliant piece of conceptual photo manipulation. It says something so philosophical in such a minimal and simple way.
Time Goes By has creative concept of depicting fleeting time.
A public interest advertisement by FEMA for Disaster Management and taking timely actions to reduce the effects of disaster. The concept is very clear and the brick typography is exceptional.
The Monster In The Mirror symbolizes the hidden fear within us. The beautiful girl and the pastel colors makes the artwork more attractive.
This is how a tongue would look if it had a life of it’s own. A creepy and funny concept that can make you chuckle.
An excellent campaign for the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung with visuals depicting political figures and characters. The general idea is that the newspaper digs down through the layers to bring the news and the image accurately brings forth the concept.
An amazing Photoshop work showing woman dressed in fire and solidified lava. The concept is beautifully executed with great attention to details like the clouds, the lava, the debris etc. The color scheme and the firey glow which reflects on the model’s body makes it an outstanding piece of work.
A great piece depicting the harmful health effects of smoking cigarettes and tobacco. It is simple and powerful which makes the message very clear.
An amazing poster illustrating plastic surgery and botox that goes behind a beautiful model’s face.
"
Clever Conceptual Photo Manipulations That Tell a Story: "
Conceptual photo manipulations are all about depicting an idea, message, or story that a digital artist wants to convey to their viewers. In a conceptual photo manipulation the idea is the primary motive for the piece, not the materials, tools, or techniques that were used during its creation. These works are truly inspirational and tell a story through the characters, landscape, emotions, or through political or social commentary. In this collection you will find a mixed bag of clever conceptual photo manipulations, some of which include a bit of fantasy, surrealism, or humor.
Australia Post: Hug
E-mail and texting have made communication instantaneous and easy. But a hand-written letter has a personal touch to it. There is something about ink and paper that an email will simply never replace. This print advertisement for the Australia Post successfully conveys that message.
Liquid Fire
An excellent example depicting the metaphorical concept of liquid fire. It shows how fire would look if it was made of water.
Olympus: Eagle
This print advertisement by Olympus has a great concept and visual. It uses the frozen ice to symbolize that the action has been frozen in time by the camera.
Wakes You up With Every Bite
This amusing print advertisement cleverly uses Photoshop to convey its USP.
Falling Letters
Have you ever been so tired while reading that you felt the words are falling from the book? Here is a cool visual example of the same.
Creating My Own World
Creating My Own World in an impressive artistic concept. The ink represents the fluidity of imagination and creativity through which the artist creates fish, birds, butterflies and the world of his own. It has beautiful color, texture and a poetic touch.
Lens Coffee Mug
It’s hard not to like this cool coffee mug. It is made from the lens of a camera that has been fashioned into a mug. I think the image is the Photoshopped prototype (of the initial concept) of Canon mugs.
The King
The King has an interesting and thought provoking concept drawing parallel between king and pawn. The artist philosophically states that when the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box.
Skinbonsai
Skinbonsai is a well executed but creepy photo manipulation of bonsai created from body parts.
Help
Poor grapes are looking really scared! This fantastic photo manipulation is humorous and heartwarming at the same time. The attention to the detail is mindboggling and the concept is skillfully executed.
Go Your Own Road
Go Your Own Road has a great concept. It advises you to follow your heart.
International Handshake
It would be cool if you could shake hands with your friend in another country without a long journey or jetlag. International Handshake is an awesome example of an Out of Bounds photo manipulation concept.
Apple or Kiwifruit
This advertisement for Polident Denture Care uses fruit as an object of focus. It shows fruits like apple, pear, sugarcane each with unexpectedly soft interiors. Here it refers to the softness of kiwi fruit when you bite an apple wearing their dentures.
Love is a Learning Process
Human emotions are complex. Love is the best/worst feeling to ever have, it can be so diverse at times that you can never be sure that you know all. Though I wonder if you could learn all about love or intricacies of human feelings from books. Simplicity, colors and subject of this photo manipulation is eye-catching.
Eat Me!
What would you call them? Eggheads? And are you ready to eat them! It has the wonderful humorous concept. The expression on each of the face and eyes can surely make you laugh.
Choose Your Face
Choose Your Face has a novel concept and the attention to the details is beyond words, it almost looks real.
Toyo Tires: Octopus
This print advertisement for Toyo tires cleverly uses octopus to go with their slogan "Griping Performance".
Perception
Sometimes you might have the wrong perception about yourself and that might stress you out. This is a great example that shows how you can use perfectly ordinary objects to make a powerful message.
Wild Horses
A fascinating photo manipulation where the woman’s flowing hairs are shown as horses. The peace and calmness on woman’s face and the running wild horses on the other hand symbolizes the constant thought process going on in our mind. Although outwardly we might seem to be calm and relaxed. A very original idea..
Listen
An unusual concept showing hands morphed into a mouth and ear. It depicts that everyone wants an ear to voice their opinion.
Lion show
Lion Show is a print advertisement for Zoo Safari. It has an outstanding concept backed by wonderfully executed visuals to match its slogan "blend in".
Don’t Get Drawn In
An excellent photo manipulation of an artist hand drawing himself.
Spiritual Milk
This is an amazing idea personifying the milk into spirit.
Strength in Every Pour
A similar concept as the one shown above but with the positive message. In this print advertisement the milk is personified to symbolize that it helps to support your heart and body.
Verbal Abuse
This powerful Public Interest advertisement campaign successfully illustrates how verbal abuse can be just as horrific as physical violence. It raises awareness of issue of vicious domestic verbal abuse.
Love Story
This is really a sad love story. It is amazing how you can tell a story with just one object. The old and faded effect gives it an interesting feel. The idea of using fruit to make something that seems so simple and yet universally recognizable is very clever.
Cigar City
A delightful and detailed imagination of city built from a cigarette’s ashes.
Life is Heavy
Another witty and brilliant piece of conceptual photo manipulation. It says something so philosophical in such a minimal and simple way.
Time Goes By
Time Goes By has creative concept of depicting fleeting time.
Reduce the Effects of A Disaster
A public interest advertisement by FEMA for Disaster Management and taking timely actions to reduce the effects of disaster. The concept is very clear and the brick typography is exceptional.
The Monster In The Mirror
The Monster In The Mirror symbolizes the hidden fear within us. The beautiful girl and the pastel colors makes the artwork more attractive.
How does This Make Your Tongue Feel?
This is how a tongue would look if it had a life of it’s own. A creepy and funny concept that can make you chuckle.
The Insight Story
An excellent campaign for the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung with visuals depicting political figures and characters. The general idea is that the newspaper digs down through the layers to bring the news and the image accurately brings forth the concept.
Elements – Fire
An amazing Photoshop work showing woman dressed in fire and solidified lava. The concept is beautifully executed with great attention to details like the clouds, the lava, the debris etc. The color scheme and the firey glow which reflects on the model’s body makes it an outstanding piece of work.
The Poisoned Smoke
A great piece depicting the harmful health effects of smoking cigarettes and tobacco. It is simple and powerful which makes the message very clear.
Surgeon Changes
An amazing poster illustrating plastic surgery and botox that goes behind a beautiful model’s face.
What More Can I Say
"
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Boycott Chik-Fil-A
Here's a new reason in case, you know, the angina wasn't enough.
http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201103220005
http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201103220005
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Pennies in Protest engages in "guerrilla goodness" against a certain evil cult from Kansas
Here is a great article about Pennies in Protest, the best method I've heard of for dealing with Bible-abusing hate-mongerers (this, however is a tempting alternative).
The basic idea is that concerned individuals set up a proxy through which money can be donated to local organizations, such as LGBT advocacy, Jewish charities, etc. - whomever the crazies are targeting. But here's the ruse: donations are made in "dollars per minute of crackpot protests". Get it? The longer they torment the innocent, the more damage they do to their own agenda. It's a Catch-22 that, as far as I can see, they can't escape.
The basic idea is that concerned individuals set up a proxy through which money can be donated to local organizations, such as LGBT advocacy, Jewish charities, etc. - whomever the crazies are targeting. But here's the ruse: donations are made in "dollars per minute of crackpot protests". Get it? The longer they torment the innocent, the more damage they do to their own agenda. It's a Catch-22 that, as far as I can see, they can't escape.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Proving Consciousness
The most difficult problem facing those who study consciousness is that there is absolutely no verifiable evidence that it exists. An entity cannot be identified, much less measured, unless it exerts some causative influence in our observable universe. For example, we infer the existence, and measure the magnitude of mass by observing objects’ gravitational pull on one another, and by watching Newton’s second law in action. We indirectly identify the structures of miniscule proteins by observing the way x-rays scatter when shone through their crystalline forms.
Consciousness has never been shown to exert any causative influence on anything else. As far as we humans collectively can tell, consciousness may well be epiphenomenal, a by-product that plays no part in the ongoing integrative neural processes that generate it. The philosophical construct of the “zombie” illustrates this terrifying idea: imagine a human being who interacts with her fellow humans, talks on the phone, drives a car, shops for groceries, does her taxes, and hugs her children, but does so totally mechanically: she has no awareness and no intention. If you think this sounds impossible, you may be right (although, as I try to argue in this essay, you’d be hard-pressed to prove it), but the notion is easily conceived. Consider sleepwalkers and epileptics: though they are curiously emotionless, they do engage in complex, characteristically human behaviors. Consider the anthropic robots, ubiquitous in science fiction, that we all hope and/or fear will someday join us humans in our lonely sentience. What is it about human behavior that requires an agent, aware of herself and her environment, and intentional in her actions? If IBM’s Watson taught us anything, it’s that it might be less than we think.
Of course, no one is content to throw her hands up in the air, conclude that consciousness is pure epiphenomenon, and then return to her life, a life that is obviously replete with subjective experiences and purposeful decisions. Consciousness, such as it is, must have some influence on the physical world. To claim otherwise would be to directly contradict our most fundamental and cherished beliefs. What is that causal connection? I don’t presume to know, but I would like to offer a glimmer of evidence that such a connection exists. The missing link must satisfy two criteria: it must have tangible consequences, and it must not be possible that anything other than consciousness produced it.
I’m writing this essay surreptitiously as I sit in the back of a departmental seminar. The speaker is a friend of mine, a fellow graduate student who studies the psychology of language. She is quirky and inquisitive, with a flair for asking the type of questions that should have been obvious, but that no one has thought to ask. In other words, she is intelligent, emotional, and quite obviously conscious, but I am not privy to the contents of her consciousness. For all I can prove it, she might be a zombie.
On the other hand, I am privy to the contents of my own consciousness. Again, I can only convey it linguistically: you will never taste my experience. But I do. I may misremember it; I may misunderstand it and misinterpret it and misrepresent it to you now, but I am aware of a conscious experience. Even if my consciousness is an illusion, that illusion itself must be a conscious experience! This has nothing to do with what I can report, a common criterion for consciousness in cognitive psychology. It has everything to do with what I know, and I know, more surely than I could possibly know anything else, that experience is happening.
That knowledge is the missing link. It has tangible consequences: you’re reading them. And it was caused by consciousness: even an illusory experience is an experience. Unfortunately, I cannot prove this to you - a sufficiently advanced algorithm could conceivably have produced this essay – but I can invite you to experience it for yourself.
Consciousness has never been shown to exert any causative influence on anything else. As far as we humans collectively can tell, consciousness may well be epiphenomenal, a by-product that plays no part in the ongoing integrative neural processes that generate it. The philosophical construct of the “zombie” illustrates this terrifying idea: imagine a human being who interacts with her fellow humans, talks on the phone, drives a car, shops for groceries, does her taxes, and hugs her children, but does so totally mechanically: she has no awareness and no intention. If you think this sounds impossible, you may be right (although, as I try to argue in this essay, you’d be hard-pressed to prove it), but the notion is easily conceived. Consider sleepwalkers and epileptics: though they are curiously emotionless, they do engage in complex, characteristically human behaviors. Consider the anthropic robots, ubiquitous in science fiction, that we all hope and/or fear will someday join us humans in our lonely sentience. What is it about human behavior that requires an agent, aware of herself and her environment, and intentional in her actions? If IBM’s Watson taught us anything, it’s that it might be less than we think.
Of course, no one is content to throw her hands up in the air, conclude that consciousness is pure epiphenomenon, and then return to her life, a life that is obviously replete with subjective experiences and purposeful decisions. Consciousness, such as it is, must have some influence on the physical world. To claim otherwise would be to directly contradict our most fundamental and cherished beliefs. What is that causal connection? I don’t presume to know, but I would like to offer a glimmer of evidence that such a connection exists. The missing link must satisfy two criteria: it must have tangible consequences, and it must not be possible that anything other than consciousness produced it.
I’m writing this essay surreptitiously as I sit in the back of a departmental seminar. The speaker is a friend of mine, a fellow graduate student who studies the psychology of language. She is quirky and inquisitive, with a flair for asking the type of questions that should have been obvious, but that no one has thought to ask. In other words, she is intelligent, emotional, and quite obviously conscious, but I am not privy to the contents of her consciousness. For all I can prove it, she might be a zombie.
On the other hand, I am privy to the contents of my own consciousness. Again, I can only convey it linguistically: you will never taste my experience. But I do. I may misremember it; I may misunderstand it and misinterpret it and misrepresent it to you now, but I am aware of a conscious experience. Even if my consciousness is an illusion, that illusion itself must be a conscious experience! This has nothing to do with what I can report, a common criterion for consciousness in cognitive psychology. It has everything to do with what I know, and I know, more surely than I could possibly know anything else, that experience is happening.
That knowledge is the missing link. It has tangible consequences: you’re reading them. And it was caused by consciousness: even an illusory experience is an experience. Unfortunately, I cannot prove this to you - a sufficiently advanced algorithm could conceivably have produced this essay – but I can invite you to experience it for yourself.
Daily Hate III
Speed bumps, people driving slow in the left lane, empty carbs, that feeling you get when you realize you've been staring at a computer screen for three hours and are suddenly aware that your retinas are MELTING, pistachios, steak gristle, carrots, hit and run perps, abuse of power
Little Tybee
I haven't been this excited about a new music find in a long time. They're a combination of so many different styles it's hard to describe. It sounds like a jam session involving a jazz bassist, indie drummer, classical violist, and hip-hop producer. And then some. What's more - they're so obscure it's hard to be sure they even exist - instant indie cred. I'm getting their new album, "Humorous to Bees", as soon as I figure out how to get my hands on it. Stop reading this post and go listen!
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