Hello children! Apologies for the extended hiatus. I forgot I had a blog.
Down to more important stuff. As many of you know, this summer I am working for L-Dawg, writing an article about war and world order transformation. The highlight of my job is my weekly meeting with the boss, where we discuss all kinds of things, from how stupid sociologists are to how stupid American sports fans are and how stupid jihadists are. It's great.
Peace.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
MITY kids
Hello all! Sorry for the absence...was going home and shit. It was intense.
In other news, I'm back on campus at good ol maca!! And it is full of little middle school fuckers! I hate them. There are alot of them all over the place doing some sort of program. I want to chokeslam one of them in the cafeteria. They're just fuckers.
Peace.
In other news, I'm back on campus at good ol maca!! And it is full of little middle school fuckers! I hate them. There are alot of them all over the place doing some sort of program. I want to chokeslam one of them in the cafeteria. They're just fuckers.
Peace.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Long time no see! aka I hereby update my blog.
Hello children!
Did you like the "adult content" warning as you entered the site? It's kind of annoying.
Today I want to talk about the word "hereby". For some reason, the Dutch use it often. Like VERY often. Here are some examples:
1. (email from PIM, which is a card so that some stuff is free in Maastricht)
etc etc. I have nothing against the word hereby. But I don't think I've ever heard it used before Maas.
Peace.
Did you like the "adult content" warning as you entered the site? It's kind of annoying.
Today I want to talk about the word "hereby". For some reason, the Dutch use it often. Like VERY often. Here are some examples:
1. (email from PIM, which is a card so that some stuff is free in Maastricht)
Dear pimmer,
Hereby you receive the
weekly summary of
pim-activities until
Wednesday 14th of April.
2. (email from the racist prof)
Hello all,
As promised, I hereby confirm the exact chapters from Zimmermann's book Heidegger's Confrontation with Modernity.
Indeed, the chapters 6 and 7 are about Heidegger's connection to Juenger and how he appropriated Juenger's thought, also into his later ideas about technology.
See you on Tuesday.
etc etc. I have nothing against the word hereby. But I don't think I've ever heard it used before Maas.
Peace.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Mario from Italy
Hello kids!
In one of my courses here, we read a lot of 20th century philosophy. It's pretty interesting. This one guy in my class, Mario from Italy, knows ALL of it. More than just the 20th century stuff. Whenever there is silence in the discussion, he goes off on a several minute long speech about something philosophical. And all the time, he's staring at his little computer, with an earpiece in his right ear.
This last Friday, I finally got to sit next to him. I saw he was furiously reading forum entries while the rest of us were discussing Hannah Arendt. Eventually, after a moment of general silence, he looked up and embarked on his usual monologue, this time comparing Arendt and Kant. I took this opportunity to look at his screen. His website full of forums was none other than GayRomeo.com. It was pretty funny. Later, starting at around halfway through the class, he started watching Toni Braxton videos. He did this until the end of class. It was great.
Peace.
In one of my courses here, we read a lot of 20th century philosophy. It's pretty interesting. This one guy in my class, Mario from Italy, knows ALL of it. More than just the 20th century stuff. Whenever there is silence in the discussion, he goes off on a several minute long speech about something philosophical. And all the time, he's staring at his little computer, with an earpiece in his right ear.
This last Friday, I finally got to sit next to him. I saw he was furiously reading forum entries while the rest of us were discussing Hannah Arendt. Eventually, after a moment of general silence, he looked up and embarked on his usual monologue, this time comparing Arendt and Kant. I took this opportunity to look at his screen. His website full of forums was none other than GayRomeo.com. It was pretty funny. Later, starting at around halfway through the class, he started watching Toni Braxton videos. He did this until the end of class. It was great.
Peace.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
Origins
Dear friends and/or fans,
As we all know, we live in a "West" dominated world. One of the things that irks me greatly about this is our ignorance regarding the plural origins of many ideas. Here are some notable examples:
1. Democracy - The world's first republic is largely agreed to be Vaishali (Pali), a city that flourished around the time the Buddha was coming up with his ideas (6th century BC) in India. Vaishali was not unique in the region as far as democratic governance was concerned.
2. Pythagorean Theorem - Discussed by the Egyptians, Chinese, and Indians some 2,000 years before Pythagoras. Algebraic and numerical proofs found in ancient Indian texts at least one hundred years before the birth of Pythagoras. Geometric proofs from much longer before that.
3. Gravity - Discussed in 8th century BC India, 400 years before Aristotle had similar ideas and some 2,000 years before Galilleo. Similarly, the heliocentric model of the solar system, the distance to the sun and moon, the shape of the earth (including a calculation of its circumference), and many other such discoveries can be traced to ancient Indian thinkers, notably Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara II).
The list is quite long but I will stop here because you're probably bored already. Obviously this looks India-biased but that's because I'm Indian and have learned about these specific examples. I don't know if the examples here are the first discussions of these ideas, but they certainly predate the emergence of similar ideas in the "West".
If you are interested in learning more, there is loads of stuff on the internet. Also, read "The Argumentative Indian" by Amartya Sen.
This is quite a bizarre post, but I had to vent after my tutor/professor today claimed that Europeans were racially superior to everyone else, that all philosophy came from Greece and then Europe, that the holocaust wasn't all that bad, that Palestinians are similar to Nazis, and that some racial groups are more intelligent than others.
Cheers.
Peace.
As we all know, we live in a "West" dominated world. One of the things that irks me greatly about this is our ignorance regarding the plural origins of many ideas. Here are some notable examples:
1. Democracy - The world's first republic is largely agreed to be Vaishali (Pali), a city that flourished around the time the Buddha was coming up with his ideas (6th century BC) in India. Vaishali was not unique in the region as far as democratic governance was concerned.
2. Pythagorean Theorem - Discussed by the Egyptians, Chinese, and Indians some 2,000 years before Pythagoras. Algebraic and numerical proofs found in ancient Indian texts at least one hundred years before the birth of Pythagoras. Geometric proofs from much longer before that.
3. Gravity - Discussed in 8th century BC India, 400 years before Aristotle had similar ideas and some 2,000 years before Galilleo. Similarly, the heliocentric model of the solar system, the distance to the sun and moon, the shape of the earth (including a calculation of its circumference), and many other such discoveries can be traced to ancient Indian thinkers, notably Aryabhatta, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara II).
The list is quite long but I will stop here because you're probably bored already. Obviously this looks India-biased but that's because I'm Indian and have learned about these specific examples. I don't know if the examples here are the first discussions of these ideas, but they certainly predate the emergence of similar ideas in the "West".
If you are interested in learning more, there is loads of stuff on the internet. Also, read "The Argumentative Indian" by Amartya Sen.
This is quite a bizarre post, but I had to vent after my tutor/professor today claimed that Europeans were racially superior to everyone else, that all philosophy came from Greece and then Europe, that the holocaust wasn't all that bad, that Palestinians are similar to Nazis, and that some racial groups are more intelligent than others.
Cheers.
Peace.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Samatar et al.
Hello fans! Here are some of my favourite quotes by professors from this semester:
1. "That's the Mollocans, folks, NOT the Moroccans."
- Dean Professor Dr Sir Ahmed Samatar, Ph.D, OBE, CBE, MD, JD
2. "I have made one observation about the Dutch. They are very clean."
- Same Dean.
3. "I hate people. I prefer ideas. That's why I gave up sex." (paraphrased)
- Ibid
4. "I beat up my wife and kids. HAHA!"
- Wiebs Nauta
There are other good ones too but I don't remember. I watched Last King of Scotland last night... pretty intense. I liked it. Except it was irritating that the (fictional) white guy was the hero. That's the problem with this "historical fiction" genre...you never know what's fact and what isn't. So there's probably a bunch of people out there that think this white heroic doctor had a part in bringing down Idi Amin. Great.
In other news, my ex-roommate sent me a package...THANKS MATTTYYYY!!!!! It's a bottle of the (self-proclaimed) rarest Scotch in the world and a Guinness chocolate. Beautiful stuff!
1. "That's the Mollocans, folks, NOT the Moroccans."
- Dean Professor Dr Sir Ahmed Samatar, Ph.D, OBE, CBE, MD, JD
2. "I have made one observation about the Dutch. They are very clean."
- Same Dean.
3. "I hate people. I prefer ideas. That's why I gave up sex." (paraphrased)
- Ibid
4. "I beat up my wife and kids. HAHA!"
- Wiebs Nauta
There are other good ones too but I don't remember. I watched Last King of Scotland last night... pretty intense. I liked it. Except it was irritating that the (fictional) white guy was the hero. That's the problem with this "historical fiction" genre...you never know what's fact and what isn't. So there's probably a bunch of people out there that think this white heroic doctor had a part in bringing down Idi Amin. Great.
In other news, my ex-roommate sent me a package...THANKS MATTTYYYY!!!!! It's a bottle of the (self-proclaimed) rarest Scotch in the world and a Guinness chocolate. Beautiful stuff!
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