All is new and all is old

Here we are. Another year is dying before our eyes and it is time for the traditional look back on the past twelve months. And as I'm trying to find a word (or two) to qualify the year that has just passed, the only thing that comes to mind is frantic. It started off at a leisurely pace, but by the time the first third was done, I was back to running back and forth between ten million activities. Though it doesn't make for a very healthy lifestyle, I can't say I hate it. I guess that by keeping busy you make sure that you're never bored and there's always something new to discover (even though you might also sometimes feel like you're close to losing your mind).

Another theme that came out strongly this year was creativity, discovery, emerveillement and, if I may say so, dreams. It was a year for pushing the boundaries of what is possible, for remembering what is like to be a kid, for letting yourself bask in wonder. And though the ups and downs were huge, I had a wonderful time through it all.

2011 also marked my official and definitive break-up with tequila (it's not you babe, it's me!) and it saw me crossing over to the dark side (I decided to buy... a purse. Shhhhh!!! No one has to know!!).

I dedicated 2011 to selfishness and self-discovery. Now I think it's time for self-improvement. So I'm dedicating 2012 to discipline and knowledge. I want to take my time. RDI had a commercial where they said that for the new year, they wish everyone to make a difference in the lives of their loved ones. Well, I'm not going so far, but I want to make a difference in my life. So, while taking the risk of sounding cliché, here's to better habits!

Happy New Year everyone!

How fairytale stories ruin girls' lives

The theme for me is love and the lack of it. We all want that and we don't know how to get it, and everything we do is some kind of attempt to capture it for ourselves.

Romance and marriage are socially constructed ideas enforced through popular fiction, sappy romance novels and movies and not to mention wannabe rock songs by former heartthrob Bon Jovi. How can a poor innocent little girl defend herself from this assault on her senses, her feelings and her very core which with enough training and brainwashing will flock like a moth to an electric light bulb to the dreamy but also unrealistic ideals of romance? The truth is no guy will run after you just because you are hurting to stop you from running away; if you publicly declare your love for him in front of complete strangers while using a microphone and a spotlight, he will run, not sigh; and men frankly care more about their goddamn ego than about what you might be feeling. Some people say that they are addicted to porn and that after watching it they might feel sullied and ashamed of themselves. Well, I feel that way…. after watching romantic comedies. Because they enforce a twisted reflection of reality and they leave you pinning after something that does not exist. Kind of like advertising creates a distorted vision of women and their role in society, these stories create a distortion of what a real relationship is like. And the truth is that it doesn’t end with the marriage or with the two people discovering they are in love with each other. Life goes on afterward and sooner or later it becomes ugly and messy and you fight and you want to strangle each other and then you don’t care anymore and you start taking each other for granted and “I love you” becomes just another way of saying goodbye and you wake up one morning and ask yourself what the hell you are doing with that stranger that you don’t love anymore and of whom you don’t understand the slightest thing. And that is when you have to make the hardest decision ever: do I stick with it and try to make it work despite everything at least for the sake of all those years that we spent together and which I don’t want to have been in vain, or do I just pick up my things and start over again. The problem with the way that these movies depict relationships is that they give you the idea that everything is supposed to always be good and happy and dreamy and that people always learn their lessons when they make mistakes. And that’s not how life is. And when life departs from that fantasy people tell themselves that their partner just isn’t right for them and that they just need to keep looking. And they keep looking and keep looking. But it’s impossible to ever find that perfection in reality. Because people aren’t perfect. And as long as we focus on our needs and on how the other person makes US feel, we’ll never manage to be happy or functional in a relationship. I saw this one movie where this guy brings his fiancée and her parents home to meet his parents. And after a fight, the groom is sitting on the porch with his father and his future father-in-law and the advice that they give him is that he needs to decide whether he wants to be right or whether he wants to be happy in his relationship because he can’t have both. That was actually kind of cute. But I never see the same being said to women… because despite our all-mightiness, we can’t take it. We want to see humble, selfless men who are so in love with us that they would be willing to throw their life away just to be with us. And that everything will be alright just as long as we love each other. But love is not enough sometimes. Sometimes I wonder whether love is even a requirement. People have fought so long against arranged marriages because they are not based on love. But what is love? And why would it be an absolute requirement for a happy life? What about respect and friendship and trust? One philosopher once said that true love is what is left after the feeling of being in love disappears. After the butterflies and the heart flutters and the light-headedness go away. What do we have left after that? What do most couple have if you take away the lust and the sex and the flirtatious excitement of new beginnings? Is it comfort? Is it understanding? Is it traditions? Is it inside jokes? Is it shared experiences? Or is it just plain nothingness? Le vide? The sad part is that the movies that actually speak of real life and real relationships, well frankly, they’re so depressing that you don’t really want to see them. Take Blue Valentine for example. That was a painful movie to watch. But it speaks volumes about how couples can become estranged and how even your best efforts are not enough sometimes. But I don’t know one person who would want to watch it on a Friday evening. Because we all want to see the happy and positive side of relationships. Sometimes with the risk of becoming blind to their other facets.

We are all brainwashed nowadays. Men with porn and women with romantic comedies. But where is the true world in all that?

Battles and virtues

Funny how we end up despising that which we are. When every move we make is somehow scrutinized, we just spend our lives perfecting our masks in an effort to make them look natural and real. Maybe it might be easier to be ourselves in a foreign land where no one knows us and where we can just blend in the crowd. Let's be honest for just one second here. While we might act all strong and confident, in the end there's always that lonely night when your true face is revealed and it shows the one feeling that you try to hide so much: fear. Life is scary like hell. And I don't think that there's a particular moment when it stops. Routine is the only thing that might put an end to the fear. When you've gone through the motions so often that it becomes a mechanical mindless act, when you can predict every single twitch that comes next, that is when you stop being afraid. That is also when you stop being alive. While humans might generally be averse to fear, it is also what keeps us focused and lucid. Nothing is more exhilarating than making a choice to face your fears and to let yourself fall into the unknown. Fear is an integral part of life and it makes us evolve. Without it, we become simple shells blown away by the wind.

Then again, you need to choose your battles. There is a reason why people are afraid of standing in front of a running train and that is a fear that should NOT be faced!

I also think that something interesting comes out when you do something that you're afraid of, so I try to take things that I'm not sure that I can do. And this was certainly one of them. I didn't feel like I was right for this at all, and I wondered how to find truth in a fairy tale.

Ryan Gosling

The Grinch that stole Christmas

The older I get, the more the idea of Christmas escapes me. With every passing year the magic wears off more and more and I can't seem to get into the so called "Christmas spirit". The excitement disappeared and left only annoyance, frustration and pure coldness. I don't even know what this time of the year is supposed to feel like anymore. Objectively speaking what is Christmas? Last minute shopping in crowded malls where everyone is pushing and pulling and where you are running to get presents in a pre-established amount of time. Crappy sentimental stories (either real or invented) that are supposed to remind us of our humanity by shamelessly pulling at our heartstrings without any real regard for the issue at hand. Sort of like a general fad... hey it's Christmas so this is the one time of the year that we absolutely HAVE TO repeat to you ad nauseaum how love is the only real salvation for this world (in the absence of Jesus for the nonbelievers... though when you think about it, it comes down to the same thing since Jesus was probably THE initial hippie). People asking you for money at every street corner so it's basically a daily guilt trip whenever you take the metro. Commercials trying to convince you for the n-th time that absolute happiness CAN be found in a bottle of shaving cream and that your brother in law who can't stand the sight of you will have no choice but to love you for all eternity if you also get him a pack for Christmas. Dreary suppers where you hear the same stories and same jokes over and over again.

Ironically, the first time I actually felt a semblance of holiday cheer this year was when I heard this song earlier even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the season especially when you actually listen to the lyrics. But at this point, even a sterile and tasteless Christmas spirit is better than none. It's funny how memories and images can get imprinted onto music. I see my late godmother's yard filled with snow with the dark green bushes contrasting sharply. The sky is cloudy but it gives a bluish hue to the scenery that is soothing. It's early morning and absolutely desert and quiet. And that's it. An almost postcard entrance.



Does that mean that I would rather spend Christmas by myself? Maybe it's a good thing that I'm leaving soon. Funny how the solitude is what attracts me most about Paris. Everything is very scary in this move, but ironically, it is the idea that I will be alone and in peace that keeps me sane. I think the Big Bang Theory might be rubbing off on me and I'm slowly becoming Sheldon Cooper...

Quotes

I dropped the "of the month" since it's been a looooong time since I haven't kept up with it...

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.

Newt Gingrich

Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.

John Wooden

Penser autrement

Maybe I only find this good because of the late hour and because I'm falling asleep. But anyway, it's cute.

La vie ne se résume pas au nombre de souffles que vous prenez, mais au nombre de moments qui vous coupent le souffle.

Il faut avoir 20 ans pour critiquer le monde avec desinvolture

Bon, mini pause entre deux examens et je suis allée faire un peu de catch-up sur les chroniques de Benoit Lefebvre (pas trop eu le temps de le lire ce semestre). Et que vois-je dans la liste des titres? "Hier encore, j'avais 20 ans...". Hahaha! À part pour la coincidence due au fait que je chantais cette chanson ce matin en étudiant pour mon examen d'économie (c'était supposé me donner de l'entrain? pas trop sure... c'était plus la pensée "shit mon examen est dans 5 heures et j'ai encore 5 chapitres à étudier ET il faut que je mange quelque chose ET il faut que j'amène mon cul à l'université".... ouip, ça! ça motive toujours! Mais je divague comme d'habitude), il y a toujours l'attrait du au fait qu'on parle de mon groupe d'âge. Bref, ce que j'essaye de dire est que j'ai été attirée comme un moustique vers une lampe électrique.

Comme n'importe quel adulte qui essaye de nous faire grâce de sa sagesse, la chronique est très intéressante et il y a des parties qui ramènent des odeurs de vérité et de déjà-vu. Oui à 20 ans on a une opinion sur tout et on veut la faire valoir. Oui à 20 ans on pense qu'on sait tout. Dans la même optique qu'à 10 ou 15 ans on se trouve vieux, trop vieux pour le peu de droits qu'on a, à 20 on trouve qu'on a passé le plus dur et qu'enfin nous voilà adultes! Pfff, c'est une illusion dont on ne peut s'échapper. Je suis sure que les "adultes" de 30 ou 40 ans se dotent des mêmes ambitions et si l'humanité n'aurait pas été aussi obsédée par la jeunesse, Charles Aznavour chanterait "Hier encore, j'avais 40 ans" (à son âge, il pourrait les chanter toutes!). La maturité ou l'expérience de vie ne peut être évaluée qu'avec la comparaison. La vie n'est qu'un cheminement et ce qu'on gagne en maturité on perd en idéalisme et en vigueur. Plus on avance, plus on mélange les nuances et le noir et le blanc devient de plus en plus gris. Oui je connais très bien le fixisme du JAMAIS. Mais le fait est que chaque être humain est jeté dans ce monde confus et bizarre sans aucun repère autre que ceux donnés par ses parents et son éducation. Et tout va bien pour un moment jusqu'à quand on lui enseigne qu'il ne faut prendre rien pour acquis et qu'il faut tout regarder d'un oeil critique. Et là il ne sait plus quoi ou qui croire et il sent la terre qui fuit sous ses pieds. Et sa soif d'absolu ne peut être apaisée avec des nuances de gris. Alors en prenant le risque d'avoir tort, il s'accroche à JAMAIS et à TOUJOURS. Simplement parce que les humains ont besoin de réponses qui n'existent pas ou qu'ils n'ont pas encore les capacités de comprendre.

Hier encore, j'avais 20 ans, je gaspillais le temps en croyant l'arrêter et pour le retenir même le devancer, je n'ai fait que courir et me suis essoufflé. Ignorant le passé, conjuguant au futur, je précédais de moi toute conversation et donnais mon avis que je voulais le beau pour critiquer le monde avec désinvolture.

All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds

Some might consider it sad to live by what Voltaire described (or more like ridiculed) as being a fallacy. But when your life acquires a faster pace than Candide, you have no choice but to embrace optimism, not because this is the best of all possible worlds, but simply because you do not have the time to dwell on losses. What's more, when one door closes, another opens and every option presents advantages and disadvantages that are not always comparable. So why bother? I often find myself unconsciously repeating this mantra to myself. All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Because life is made up of too many losses to dwell on them (unless your losses include a butt cheek, almost getting burned alive and being sold into slavery... can't really see the bright side of that).

Life is not about taking the easy way out

Un organ mic si prost

Si totusi mi-e frica. Am toata viata inaintea mea, dar ma gandesc la toti cei pe care i-am pierdut. Oameni la care tin mult. Oameni la care tin cu disperare. Oameni la care ma gandesc dupa ani fara vesti si fara contact. Si mi se strange inima la gandul ca poate pentru ei eu nu mai exist. Mi-e frica si mi-e dor. Dar taci inima mica. Organ nesuferit si prost. Visele sunt mai presus de sentimente. Ce rost sa traiesc in trecut? Ei nu au nevoie de mine. Si nici eu nu am nevoie de ei. Dar atunci de ce mi se strange inima cand ma gandesc la ei? Taci organ mic si prost.

Un cumulo nimbus plange fulgi de zapada cand e prea frig

In fiecare an, perioada asta imi evoca nostalgie si speranta.

Nostalgia inocentei pierdute si a anilor care m-au lasat ca amantii nepasatori care nu privesc niciodata in urma. Care iti iau tot ce ai mai pur de dat si te lasa doar cu cinismul idealistului deziluzionat si poate cu o durere de spate si de genunchi.

Speranta unei epifani care imi va dovedi ca totul are un sens, ca exista o logica chiar prefabricata de imaginatia unui copil in delir care il vede pe Dumnezeu chiar daca nu crede in El.

Vreau sa visez si sa zbor pe aripile vantului. Vreau sa ma intoxic cu nebunia vietii. Vreau sa fiu vrajita de puritatea luminii. Vreau sa-mi simt inima care mi se opreste in gat. Vreau sa gust catifeaua care mi se topeste in gura. Intr-un final, vreau sa ma intorc in timp si sa ma intoxic din nou cu arome de pe alte taramuri.

Iar daca planurile vor fi sa se destrame precum le cere natura lor capricioasa, atunci vreau sa ma pierd in infinit cu un zambet pe fata. Daca e sa dau fail, macar sa fie un epic fail!

Quote of the month

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

Albert Einstein

Greek comedy/tragedy

I knew that politicians were idiots who only tried to save their own asses, but the Greeks are redefining the concept of idiocy and bringing it to a whole new level.

So last week, the EU decided to cut half of Greece's debt and also to award it with the second half of its loan (in exchange for more austerity measures and more EU meddling in Greek business of course). All this in a desperate effort to avoid the entire Eurozone project from blowing up into their faces. And what does the Greek prime minister decide on Monday? That he is going to hold a referendum to see if the population agrees with these measures... From a democratic standpoint, cheers to him! From a political, economical, stability point of view, he's a freakin' moron! Referendums take time to be approved, to be organized and to be held, and then to be analyzed. The Greeks don't have time! And now the Germans might back out on the deal.

Soooo shall we say we are back to square one?

All that pain gone down the drain (and to begin with, the solution was a crappy one which only brought temporary relief, but a crappy solution is better than no solution). All because one idiot wanted to shift the blame from his back to someone else. What a f*****g moron!


Oh and this is entirely unrelated (well it's still about Grece), but I laughed very hard when I saw this:











America produced Steve Jobs.
Greece produced No Jobs.

I know, I know, it's very insensitive on both sides, but I couldn't help myself.

I can has cheeseburger now?

You sometimes get to a point in your life when you start to reevaluate your priorities. Because when you're constantly tired and constantly rushing to get things done, there's obviously a lack of efficiency somewhere. And today I have come to the conclusion that I'm doing it all wrong. What exactly? No clue. But when you love what you're learning and it interests you and you're all fired up about it but no output is coming you have to come to one of two conclusions: 1) maybe you're not as good as you thought you were and what you thought was intelligence well maybe it's just arrogance; or 2) you're incapable of conveying that fire and those smarts to the outside world (which in a sens is worse than being an idiot). Either way, I'm doing something wrong here.

After months of stalling, I finally started reading The seven habits of highly effective people and though I'm not very far into it, there was something that caught my attention. At one point, the author is talking about the tale of the goose that lays golden eggs and how, in order to keep enjoying the eggs, you need to care equally about the goose as well as the eggs. Kind of like farmers in Malawi who keep sowing their land year after year after year because they never have enough to eat and eventually the soil becomes so depleted in nutrients that production starts decreasing every year more and more and they just become more and more poor. They need to eventually get fertilizer in order to enrich their land (aka take care of the goose) in order for their crops to become sufficient. Anyway, leaving aside the metaphors, it is true that I have been neglecting my goose these past few years. You push yourself to the edge in order to get everything done and afterward you are too blasé and too tired to keep going so you need to take some time off. But the time off then causes you to fall behind in everything else so you need to again push yourself and etc. and etc. and etc. Spinning cycle that never ends. And what does that leave me with? A fucked up back, quite unattractive dark circles under my eyes, those extra pounds which will never go away if I never eat properly and no applicable knowledge that would show that I actually didn't waste my time in school. So shall we say loss-loss?

In the end the point is that something needs to change. I think that after a year dedicated to self-discovery and selfishness (I was selfish that's for sure... how much did I discover? Well, not a total waste of time, but I still have a long way to go), the next one should be dedicated to proper habits. After all, Aristotle did say that we are what we repeatedly do.

Problem is that all I want to do right now is watch last night's Fringe episode. I can has cheeseburger now?

Durerea lipsei de cauza

Ok, 10 minute pentru o reflexie vite-vite là. Exista anumiti oameni pentru care orice s-ar intampla, in orice situatie s-ar afla, nu se pot simti niciodata impacati. Cel mai bun exemplu este acel al romanului care emigreaza in strainatate si anume in America. Cand era un cetatean ordinar al dulcei Romanii, invidia traiul dinamic, instarit si plin de posibilitati al americanilor. Odata devenit un detinator de carte verde, se uita cu nostalgie spre patria lui de origine, spre durerile acelor oameni care era compatriotii lui odata si invidiaza viata din ei care se zbate sa supravietuiasca, valorile lor pastrate din stramosi si care pana la o adica sunt si ale lui. Si in adancul lui, vrea sa faca parte din rascoala, vrea sa rada cu ai lui de bancurile facute pe seama politicienilor.

Adevarul este ca intotdeauna e mai usor sa visezi la posibilitati decat sa traiesti cu realitati. Si cand nu tii la ceva concret, vantul te va bate intotdeauna in afara drumului tau.

Erratum

I was looking through a previous post and I realized I made a mistake. In The day the world stopped making sense, I wrote that the faster you go, the more time contracts. Actually, at high speeds, time dilates and it is space which contracts. However, this incident reminded me of the famous twin paradox where one brother stays on Earth and the other embarks on a spaceship traveling close to the speed of light. When the astronaut came back, he realized that his brother on Earth aged much more than he had because time passed much slower on the spaceship than on Earth. The paradox consists in the fact that for the brother who stayed on Earth (let's call him Stan) it was his twin (who we shall name Bob) who was moving and therefore Stan saw the clock on the spaceship as counting time at a slower pace. However, Bob was at rest in the reference frame which was the ship and for him, it was Stan who was moving and therefore, he saw clocks on Earth as being slower (kind of like when two metros are stopped in a station and when one begins to move, you're not quite sure which one is moving and which one is at rest; all you know is that they're moving relative to each other). So that constitutes a paradox because, for Stan, Bob should be younger and, for Bob, Stan should be younger. But the way that physicists have explained it is that when Bob made a U-turn in order to return towards Earth he accelerated (you need to accelerate to change directions) and at that moment he changed reference frames and that requires a clock adjustment (relativity only considers inertial reference frames therefore by accelerating, you leave your initial reference frame). Therefore the paradox does not exist because you are now comparing apples and oranges. What I don't get though, when Bob left the Earth, didn't he have to accelerate as well? Why are we only talking about the U-turn as being an acceleration.... I need to discuss this with someone.

You can leave your hat... eugh... socks on

Thea ma amuza tot timpul cu alegerile ei muzicale hahaha!!

Two sides of an equation

Bai da' chiar ca e greu! Sunt femeie deci pot! Stai.
Totusi o sa-ncerc eu sa-ti soptesc: Te iub..coughcoughcough

Ce-i drep de multe ori noi femeile ne credem high and mighty dar la o adica nu suntem mai bune ca si barbatii!

Late anniversary

You know, I just realized that a week ago this blog had entered the third year since its inception!! Oh the horror! The HORRORRRR!!! I'm starting to forget my own anniversaries!! It is kind of sad, but I guess it comes with the overly busy schedule. Anyway, I'm sorry "Eyes through the glass"! This will not happen again I promise! (and now I'm starting to talk to a virtual creation of my own... I think that's how insanity starts to set in...).

Aaaaanyway, a few words on this (late) memorable occasion... This has been a crazy but incredible year and the next one promises to be even more so (if I have my way with it). I would like to thank my loving family for all their support. I would also like to thank my producer Bob who... no wait, wrong speech!!

I guess that what I'm trying to say is that this place is o cratima care te trage de limba si iti da aripi sa zbori deasupra oceanului involburat; un loc pentru a-mi purifica gandurile si a pune ordine in amalgamul confuz care ma inconjoara zi de zi chiar cu riscul de a transfera dezordinea aici. All the while risking Hegelian alienation, this blog stands as a separate entity traveling time and space with fractions of me embedded within. Nu stiu de ce, dar imi vine in minte un episod cand Cris vorbea de aberatii hahaha! Ma intreb de ce :P

This is madness! This. Is. SPARTA!!!!

Following the latest economic news on Europe sometimes makes you feel like you are entering some sort of a parody of how societies and economic systems are supposed to work. When you follow the news on a regular basis, you constantly have the felling that the end of the world is near. Whether it's revolts and civil wars or terrorist attacks or economic crises or just good old mother nature, there's always something to keep you on the edge of your seat. And if everything is fine and dandy for you or your neighbors, then there are over 100 other countries where things can be shitty and what with globalization and our financial system there's always a way in which that can screw you over.

It sometimes makes me wonder whether we as humans should have the right to lead something as fragile, as complex and as big as a country. They say that everyone can make mistakes and as humans it is natural that we make mistakes. However, when your mistake involves millions of other people in the street, then we should question whether that natural characteristic has the right to exist within political or economic systems. We should question whether any changes in policies or structures should ever be made. In physics, they make over 16,000 runs of the same experiment before they even begin to question the validity of their theories. In that perspective, who the hell ever thought that the Eurozone would be a good idea? Probably the same schmuck who thought sub-prime mortgages would work out alright.

Alright, I might complain a lot, but the truth is that while we might feel like grand men who are setting the foundations for better societies, in the end, we are just children building sand castles on the beach and any minute now the wave is going to come and wipe away a decade's worth of efforts. And how can we even phantom to talk about global economies when more than half of the people on this Earth don't understand the slightest thing about their neighbors and much less about someone living at the other end of the globe. We have many dreams about how this world could be, but we fail to see the full implications of our plans. And how can we? It would be like trying to predict the weather that we would be experiencing 10 years from now.

It is in moments such as these that we wish we had someone who knew what he was doing. An actual adult. But the only thing that ever came close to an adult-figure was God. And God is either dead or he doesn't understand shit about the economy. Then again, neither do we...

Cirque du Soleil

History of money

Autarky: Countries are self-sufficient and do not trade with each other

Legal tender: medium of payment recognized by a country's legal system

Troc/Barter: Exchange of products of similar value (prehistoric Europe)

Problems:

1. Valuation: hard to find equivalent between dissimilar products such as, for example, wheat and wood on which all participants to the trade taking place would agree upon (two people won't value the same product the same way based on personal preferences, background, etc);
2. Timing issue: a cattle herder wanting vegetables has to find a farmer willing to exchange his tomatoes for cattle (if the farmer wants honey, then the herder is screwed! Well, not really, but he has to find someone else...)
3. Storing: some products such as food cannot be kept for a long time for future purchases
   

Gold and Silver money: value of currency is defined by intrinsic value and weight of metal used in composition (ancient Greece, Rome and medieval Europe)

Problems:

1. Through use, the coins could end up loosing part of their metal thus loosing their value (debasing)
   
2. Metal could be voluntarily scratched off from the coins in an effort to gain (debasing)
   
3. Gold and silver coins could be melted and mixed with alloys and then re-transformed into coins (debasing)
   
4. Cumbersome to carry.
   

Receipts, bills of exchange and promissory notes: paper issued by international bankers upon the receipt of gold or silver coins and convertible back into coins at sight upon presentation of note; primarily used by travelers in order to avoid theft (started in the Xth century in Italy and spread into Europe; still used until the XIXth century)

Banknotes: same concept as promissory notes, though these are issued by banks when one makes a deposit or a loan. Is used as an exchange medium between particulars as an alternative to coins based on the assumption that the note can be exchanged with gold and silver coins at the bank. Basis of today's monetary system and money creation. As notes often circulated for a long time without being reclaimed, a bank could lend more money than it actually had as deposits. (started out in VIIth century China and spread out in Europe in the XIVth century).

Bill of credit: paper issued by governments similar to banknotes. Provincial governments exchange these notes with gold and silver coins in order to pay their obligations (somewhat similar to treasury bills from this perspective). Bearers can then use them to pay taxes (started in XVIIIth century America)

Problems with paper money:

1. No fixed value and is therefore susceptible to devaluation when a country suffers from inflation.
2. No intrinsic value and therefore is only useful as long as people have confidence that it will be accepted as a means of payment or that it can easily be converted into gold or silver coins
3. Banks suffered frequent runs by customers who lost confidence in the value of their notes and who tried to convert them into treasury coins. However, as banks lend a big percentage of their deposits, they don't have sufficient funds to face such a scenario and they would often be forced to declare bankruptcy.
   

Fiat money: paper issued by an official institution (usually a central bank) and whose value is given by government regulation or law and is not backed up by gold or treasury coins.

In order to solve the confidence crisis, governments assigned the production of notes to a unique official institution (usually a central bank). The time of implementation of this system varied greatly from one country to another. The first central bank was created in Sweden in the XVIIth century, while in Brazil this only happened after World War Two. The purpose of central banks was to restore the public's confidence in the banking system and also to fight inflation. Up until the 1950's (1970's in the case of the US), the notes printed by central banks were still convertible into gold at a predetermined rate. The gold standard was eventually dropped as it imposed many restrictions upon loans and commercial activities and this brought about fiat money.

Electronic money: as with initial bank notes, individuals nowadays rarely retire the full amount of their deposit with a bank. Payments are primarily made through checks or bank transfers. Therefore, deposits are used to make loans which then will be used to make other deposits. This process creates liquidity through banks' electronic recordings on their balance sheets. What's more, with the growing popularity of credit and debit cards, paper money is rarely used anymore and some even predict its extinction in favor of "electronic money".

The day the world stopped making sense

Well I might just be stating the obvious here, but just let me get this out first: WHHHHAAAAATTTTTT???

Alright, moving on.

1 neutrino. 1 experiment. 16,000 runs. 1 conclusion: somewhere along the line, someone screwed up. Now the question is who?

I'm not making much sense am I? Alright, here it is.

One of the most important concepts in modern physics is the fact that the maximum velocity (or is it speed? hmm that does put things into perspective...) that can be reached in the universe is 3 * 10^8 m/s or the speed of light or if you will, the speed reached by a photon in a vacuum. But a recent experiment done at CERN in conjunction with a lab in Italy revealed that when they sent a muon neutrino from one lab to the other, it had arrived 60 ns faster than light would have. And that does not make sense on so many levels. First of all, neutrinos have a mass (albeit a very small one) while photons do not. So inertia would predict that it is impossible to accelerate a particle so as to give it the speed of light because the more it is accelerated, the more massive it becomes, the more it will oppose further acceleration, etc. Also, at the speed of light, time is supposed to stop. Does that mean that by going faster, you go back in time? No, no, no! The faster you go, the more time contracts. But it can't contract more than 0....

So it all boils down to this: either the experiment at CERN was somehow flawed and the results are wrong, either Einstein screwed up and the last 100 years of physics need to be revised. Either way, an institution that I profoundly respect fails (because Einstein is an institution within himself!).

And this has nothing to do with the topic, but did you know that Einstein means "one stone" in German? One stone in the foundation of modern physics? One stone gone astray? One stone traveling through space-time at the speed of light?

People never learn

You know you have crossed over to the dark side when your idea of a relaxing Sunday night consists of watching a documentary on the 2008 banking crisis.

Leaving that aside, Krach: les dessous de la crise économique mondiale is fairly fascinating as it explains how the crisis came to be. And when you later on read that people at UBS are worried that they won't get their bonuses and that their scandal will cause tighter regulations on the industry, well you're not as surprised that we ended up in this shithole. And let's just say that it'll be a miracle if we don't fall into another economic crisis.

On a lighter note, once it all passes, we can safely laugh about it!



Did you see it? Did you? Did you? Hint: it's the subscript under the Bank of Evil sign towards the end.

Quote of the month

Faites que le rêve dévore votre vie afin que la vie ne dévore pas votre rêve.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Memories

Sail on the highway, into the darkness, away form the city's many lights, guided only by the starry sky.

Letter to unwanted guests

Dear Irene,

Thanks so much for stopping by, but how about another time?

A dancer's world

And just because I think this video is awesome and these guys are too cool!

Having fun in Montreal, Canada from Gianinni Semedo Moreira on Vimeo.

All I want to say is that they don't really care about us

Theories and thrills

First step towards proving my theory that if you really, truly and whole heartily want something you will get it.

Get into a German class at Concordia University (NOT an easy feat when you're last minute and a co-op student and have to go through all the red tape). Done!!

Les 4 phases de la vie d'un étudiant

Phase 1: Ayant fini le secondaire et ne sachant pas quoi faire avec sa vie, tu te dis que ce n'est pas bien grave puisque tu as toujours le CEGEP pour le découvrir.

Phase 2: Ayant fini le CEGEP et ne sachant toujours pas quoi faire avec sa vie, tu te dis que bah ça peut être pire et que 3 ans d'université te donnent du temps en masse pour réfléchir à la prochaine étape et qu'à la fin tu sauras surement par où te diriger.

Phase 3: La fin de l'université approchant à grands pas, tu te trouves DANS LA MERDE, puisque t'es pas plus proche de savoir comment tu gagneras ta vie que tu l'étais il y a 4 ans à la fin de ton secondaire.

Donc la question suivante se pose: quand sommes-nous supposés savoir que faire de notre vie? Est-ce qu'il y a une date limite pour trouver la réponse à cette ultime question existentielle? En voyant des gens qui se cherchent encore rendus à 30 ans, je me dis que peut-être pas...

Phase 4: Arriver à la conclusion que la vie n'est qu'une suite d'essaies et erreurs et qu'avec un peu de chance on tombe sur la bonne variante avant 30 ans. Sinon, on est DANS LA MERDE.

"Amintiri din copilarie" ou les déficiences d'un enfant face au mois de septembre

Souvent je trouve une source de fierté dans mon habileté à être immature et enfantine. Dans mes envies de sauter partout et de chanter dans la rue malgré les regards des gens autour. Et puis au diable l'opinion publique! C'est bien pour ça que je n'irai jamais en politique (oui, bon, d'autres raisons aussi,, mais je divague...).

Par contre, j'observe un truc remarquable avec le passage du temps (parce que oui, je vieillis malgré moi). Dans les dernières années, tout a changé si vite autour de moi, que ce soit les gens, les conditions ou les situations. Et ça me terrifiait! Chaque mois de septembre j'avais une peur bleue de commencer une nouvelle année, de devoir encore socialiser avec des gens qui m'étaient inconnus. Et pour deux-trois semaines je redevenais l'enfant qui va à son premier cours d'école et qui essaye de rester aussi immobile que possible dans son banc pour attirer le moins d'attention possible. Et tu espères que le tout passera plus vite et que tu seras bientôt de retour chez toi (parce que prier pour que ce soit moins pénible c'est vraiment demander un peu trop).

Mais voilà que depuis quelques mois, ces cycles, ces changements, ces gens qui partent de ma vie, eh bien, ça ne me fait plus peur. Un peu comme avec le vent frisquet par une belle soirée d'été qui peut devenir même agréable lorsque tu décides de l'accepter comme une partie intégrale du paysage. Un peu comme le fait d'être pris dans la pluie et, une fois que tu es complètement mouillée, tu peux choisir d'arrêter de courir pour trouver un abri et juste savourer la sensation des gouttes d'eau sur ta peau. Un peu comme le fait de lâcher prise et juste se laisser emporter par le courant de l'eau. Tel un enfant, je n'aime pas perdre mes amis et j'ai peur de parler avec les gens que je ne connais pas. Mais tel un adulte, j'apprends à ne plus m'accrocher au passé et à ne plus me cacher de la vie.

Le changement peut être agréable lorsqu'on décide de ne pas s'y opposer. Le changement nous fait évoluer (parce qu'aussi surprenant que ça puisse l'être, l'évolution intellectuelle ne vient pas juste avec les lectures de Sartre et de Marx). Alors bienvenue la vie avec tes tournures inespérées et tes caprices. Bienvenue le mois de septembre que je n'hairai plus à présent (par contre je me réserve toujours le droit de hair le dimanche soir et le lundi matin.... on ne peut pas tout avoir dans la vie, non?). Et surtout, bienvenue le vent et le courant, mes nouveaux fidèles amis que je chérirai et à qui je ferai confiance pour m'amener par dessus des océans et des temps.

J'adore être un enfant et l'innocence qu'on peut ressentir dans la jeunesse. Mais parfois j'ai très hâte d'évoluer...

The equivalent exchange principle

In the past week, England has been assaulted by violent riots which have shocked the world and many theories have been put forward to explain this phenomenon. In the following article, Rebekah Hebbert explains these recent events by a lack of morality and the prevalence of relativism in western societies. And while I don't believe in pure relativism, here is however the rational outlook on the situation.

While Miss Hebbert is coherent, she makes one assumption which is at the basis of her argument with which I don't agree. She mixes relativism with anarchy when she says that doing no harm is an arbitrary moral principle. That is not true. If you are an extreme supporter of relativism, you believe that every person has the right to choose what they want to believe. It also comes with the principle that no belief is more important or has more value than any other. And if you are to take Descartes' principle of "I think therefore I am", you equate a person's existence or being with their cognitive activity and therefore their beliefs (I make here the assumption that all beliefs are the product of a rational process and while that is an entirely different argument, I do think that to be true for every person believes what they do either because of their education, their past, their disposition, etc.). Therefore, if all beliefs are equal, all people are equal. And if you respect all beliefs, you must respect all people and their right to live out their beliefs. And for that, you must not harm them. Relativism represents a person's freedom to think and to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't overlap with that of someone else and the difficulty stands in determining where one freedom ends and another one starts (material and physical damage on the other hand are way across the line so it's not hard to figure out that me hurting you or breaking into your house and stealing is not supported by a relativist philosophy). You can look at relativism as a continuum where everyone is connected and I can only push so far without bumping into the person next to me. Anarchy on the other hand is quite egocentric and does not consider others. It is individual freedom pushed to the extreme without taking into account the others around.

I believe that what happened in England is a mix of all the reasons mentioned in the article. Yes society is relativistic and yes conflicting points of view can stand side by side. However, the "do no harm" imperative has been respected because relativism holds it in high esteem. But when figures of authority such as policemen and business people break it by abusing their position, the equality of people principle comes into place. Therefore, if those in authority believe that hurting those in a lesser position is alright, then that last group of people will come to the conclusion that such a belief is valid for them as well. And here the continuum and connectivity breaks and we slip into anarchy. But this only happened because those in authority chose to break relativist principles in the first place. Kind of like Newton's 3rd law that states that if you exert a force on an object, that object will exert an equal and opposite force on you.

However, I have to say that pure relativism is impossible to attain in any society because stereotypes and prejudice exist, thus putting an imbalance in the perceived value of a person and his or her beliefs. For example, if I were to believe that people who are unemployed are in this situation because they are lazy and I were to consider laziness as a bad thing, then I would come to see these people as a bad thing for society and this would decrease their value as a person and the value of their beliefs in my eyes. But you see, if I were a pure relativist, I would never harm them because I would consider that there is no absolute truth so I cannot be sure that I am right and, in the offset chance that I am wrong, me harming them would become objectionable. So if we think about it, it is not relativism that is in cause here, but, on the contrary, the fact that people think that there is an absolute truth and that they possess it. Therefore, they would excuse harming others by saying that they work in the name of truth and goodness or if they are conscious that what they are doing is bad, then they would see it as just payback for a wrong that they have been done in the past (like the death penalty for criminals).

This situation in England started because a man who was being arrested by the police got killed in the process (we had something similar in Canada when a young black got killed by the police in Montreal North). Therefore, the policemen stereotype and their targets want justice for the wrong that they perceived has been done to them. Which brings us to the conclusion that, like I mentioned earlier, the problem is not relativism, but the belief in an absolute truth which is based not on reason, but on emotion, stereotypes and prejudice.

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost". That is the principle of equivalent exchange. If, for whatever reason, the scale points in favor of a group, all equilibrium is lost and sooner or later revolt will come in order to restore the balance (thesis and antithesis bring about synthesis like good old Marx said). The only damper on this particular revolt is that it was done impulsively and as a means to vent out accumulated frustrations and to get even. Therefore, instead of restoring any balance, it will achieve the exact opposite as the government's response seems to be a turn towards absolute control (actually, it kind of reminds me of the US' attitude towards communists during the Cold War). All that to say that we still have a long way to go until equivalent exchange will be respected (in England as well as everywhere else in the world; look at the Middle East or the civil wars over elections in Africa). But for that, we must recognize our problems for what they are. Not a question of philosophy or morality. But an imbalance of power and wealth that is not always distributed based on individual effort alone. Life's not fair, true! But we must strive to make it as fair as possible.

Larry's quest

Meet Larry. Larry was quite alike his peers in every single way. Literally. He was down to version 89.5623.AxznF.005 and all his 1.53*10^17 counterparts were genetically identical to him. Of course, he lost a couple along the way for some strange reason. He was never able to figure out why they disappeared from the colony in such large numbers, but that was something he was investigating on the side.

Maybe the narrative calls for a small backtrack here in order give a few more precisions on our little friend Mr. L. For little he was. Quite little actually. So little that you couldn't even see him. Yes, Larry was a unique strain of an E-coli bacterium that called home petri dish L5 in Lab H-415 of the Acme Labs research facility. Lab H-415 was known for its top secret experiments and was primarily made famous when researchers managed to condition two white mice to sing and dance at a specific tone of bell.

But this was all beyond Larry's comprehension. For him, existence resumed itself to finding nutrients, growing and duplicating. Finding nutrients, growing and duplicating, finding nutrients, growing and duplicating. It was an endless cycle, but that he did not mind. It was a cycle that he knew well and that he liked. He couldn't quite say when it all started or what he came from. Whenever he replicated, he felt his insides splitting and opening up.

It was not a pleasant process, that he would concede, but once it was done, it left him feeling relieved, but somewhat starving for companionship. For no matter how many versions accumulated, they remained, inexorably, versions of himself. His own organism segregated in many different parts but without an inkling of difference. For, if solitude is defined by the act of not having anyone but yourself as a companion, Larry was the loneliest creature that ever came to be. If he were to ask a question, no answer would ever come except for the reverberations of his own thoughts from the general collectivity or the crowd as he liked to call them. His thoughts were their thoughts, his questions, their questions. It was a never ending conversation with himself, an echo that he could not escape. Sometimes he even wondered if his reflections were in fact his own or if he was sometimes a part of the echo that bothered him so. The truth was that he was the crowd and the crowd was him. Like yin and yang, they were separate all the while forming a single entity.

But all this changed one day. It all started with a strong vibration and then a subtle change in the air. Larry could not quite say what had happened. It felt like replication, but somewhat more odd. And then he saw it. A version he could not recognize in the crowd. He thought he might be mistaken, but that was not possible for he knew all versions of himself and their versions and their versions' versions. Was this it? The change he was hoping so desperately for? His salvation? Finally, a mutation in the genes? But no.

As he got closer to the bizarre creature, he saw that the differences were too flagrant for them to be the product of one error in the code. The rod shape was replaced with round grape-like forms that aggregated in a small cluster. Maybe a malformation of the membrane? But no. That answer did not feel right and he could sense his versions in the crowd agreeing. Therefore, only one conclusion was left. This was an entirely foreign organism that had penetrated their midst! And the implications of this realization were huge!

It meant that their cozy petri dish was not the beginning, nor the end. It did not define reality in its entirety. It mean that there was something else out there. Something bigger that encompassed all that he knew and even more. And that idea intoxicated him. He wanted to know it, to see it, to experience it, all of it, at that moment precisely! He wanted to discover every inch of it with all that it had to offer!

And wouldn't it be amazing if Larry could do just that? Wouldn't it be amazing if Larry could discover the lab that surrounded his little petri dish? If he could see the scientists walking in and out, discussing their experiments, eating their lunches, venting their frustrations for 6 month's work gone down the drain? If he could see the two white mice three labs down the hall? And then, wouldn't it be amazing if he could comprehend all that?



On a somewhat less scientific note, but still in the same sense of looking out towards a greater world and reality, if you manage to bear with the mosquitoes, go out in your backyard tonight and catch the peak of the Perseid meteor shower! They should be there all night and despite the full moon, I'm sure that with a little patience it's possible to see them. In any case that's where I'm headed! They say you can make a wish when you see a shooting star. Does it still count when there are roughly 3 of them every 2 minutes and you are waiting for them to come?

We thank you for your application, but unfortunately we do not accept Shreks within our midst

In a long series of things that don't make sense in this world, I recently discovered this dating website called Beautiful People (thank you MIS class!) where the basic concept is simple. You sign up, fill in all sorts of information about yourself and you are required to put up a picture (actually this is the first step after entering your name and e-mail). And in the following 48 hours, members of the site vote if they should keep you or not. And if they decide not, then you're out. As simple as that.

So if I get this right, you can be able to see my picture once, see what my height and weight is (luckily they don't ask for bra size), and decide if you never want to see me again?? Of course, the site is called "Beautiful People" so we don't want to be bothered with fat or, God forbid, UGLY people!! Actually, this past June, the website was attacked by the "Shrek" virus that allowed applicants to bypass the voting system and therefore be granted access directly. Once this was found out, from the 35,000 members that were concerned by this breach, the company ended up throwing out 30,000 because they didn't fit the bill (see article for more details).

Granted, from a business and marketing perspective, this site is genius! It offers its users a built-in filter which saves its members time since they don't have to bother with unattractive people. What's more, it confers exclusivity and prestige to those who actually get in (and who doesn't like to be part of a private party?). However, from a social point of view, what does this site teach us? Be shallow, focus on looks and as for those who don't fit your standards of physical beauty, push them to the back of your mind where you don't see them, you don't have to deal with them and as far as you're concerned, they pretty much don't exist. What does this promote? Segregation, discrimination and an overall excessive focus on looks.

But people are making money out of this so all is good. And actually, following this business model, I propose that the creators of this site take the next step in diversifying their product. Similarly to car companies that provide the luxury class and the economy class of their vehicles (Infiniti and Nissan, Lexus and Toyota, Acura and Honda), well I think that they should start working on UglyPeople.com. Think about it! This could be huge! Their selling pitch could be "you didn't make it to the top, but don't despair, because you still have a shot at the bottom!" They could even put some barriers to entry in order to make it seem more appealing. They could only accept people with a missing limb (or part of a limb... like a finger or a toe... or a nail) or those with visible scars on their faces. And then they could make a website for average people who didn't get into either of the two previous ones. And another one for single parents. And people over 40. And people under a certain level of income. And immigrants. And then we can all be happily isolated in our own little social bubbles where no one will ever come to disturb us or challenge us or make us think that life could be somehow different.

Somewhat on the same topic, here is a TED talk about how search engines' algorithms can lead us to a similar bubble where certain topics and websites will never ever reach us.

Bai inteligentule!

It's ironic how my head is buzzing with thoughts but I can't seem to be able to write any of them down. I'm always too busy, always too tired. This will have to do in the mean time...

Les gens qui m'impressionnent

I love my job! Especially when I get to meet people like this :D



There's something about dancers and athletes that leaves me completely amazed. Maybe it's the grace and the fluidity of their body. Maybe because they're so physical when I'm... not. Either way, every time I get to see them I'm like a child at Christmas :D.

En attendant la mescaline, l'euphorie vient aussi à l'état naturel

Dans mes temps perdus
Dans ma soif de vérité
Je me demande souvent à quoi ça sert
De toujours remettre au lendemain
Nos rêves et nos projets
D'une meilleure humanité
Ou juste le désir égoiste
De voir, de connaitre
De faire l’expérience de l’absolu
De sentir que le temps s'arrête
Le moment d'un instant
Et immortaliser ce battement de coeur
La caresse du vent
Les étoiles et la lune
La nuit noire
Peuplée de sapins et de tilleuls
Et le ciel
Éternel et infini

J'ai ce désir qui me consume
Qui m'enflamme et qui me brule
Ce désir qui me porte sur les ailes du vent
Mon éternel amant
Ce désir enivrant et étourdissant
Qui me pousse à continuer tout en rêvassant

La vie est belle, tellement belle!
Lorsqu'on se détache du quotidien...

Go ask the dust for any answers

Viata e trista uneori cand te gandesti la tot ceea ce ai fi putut sa faci, la tot ceea ce ai pierdut. Degeaba esti destept, frumos sau carismatic, dar daca nu stii ce vrei, sunt toate calitati irosite de natura. E trist cand vezi oamenii vorbind despre viata lor cu pasiune in ochi si cand tu simti doar un vid imens pe care incerci sa-l eviti prin diverse activitati care te tin ocupat, dar care nu iti aduc nici o oarecare satisfactie. E trist cand singura motivatie pe care o ai e idea evadarii.

Asi vrea sa fiu o particula dintr-un val sau un cumulo-nimbus efemer care nu se intreaba de ce. Care exista pentru sigurul motiv ca este, fara ca verbul "a fi" sa aiba nevoie de explicatii. Care nu face decizii, bune sau gresite. Care nu traieste cu regrete sau cu teama. Realizez acum ca cei care spun ca nu au nici un regret sunt pur si simplu cei care nu au trait destul ca sa ajunga sa regrete ceva.

Doina unei seri de vara

De la beat,
Carciuma viu
Merg pe gard,
De drum ma tiu
Nici o vaca nu ma latra,
Nici un caine nu ma-mpunge
Pana acasa, numai dracu stie,
Eu, cum voi ajunge.

Les ridiculités du système publique

J'ai ri tellement, mais tellement fort en voyant ça qu'à un moment donné j'ai du faire pause sur le vidéo pour pouvoir respirer. Mais je devrais pas rire parce qu'en fait c'est très triste. Mais mon dieu c'est tellement ridicule que c'en est hillarant!

Time to say goodbye

L'instinct intellectuel ou La nature humaine

Qui est trop lucide pour adorer le sera également pour démolir, ou il ne démolira que ses... révoltes; car à quoi bon se révolter pour retrouver ensuite l'univers intact? Monologue dérisoire. On s'insurge contre la justice et l'injustice, contre la paix et la guerre, contre ses semblables et contre les dieux. Puis, on en vient à penser que le dernier des gâteux est peut-être plus sage que Prométhée. Cependant on n'arrive pas à étouffer en soi un cri insurrectionnel, et on continue de tempêter à propos de tout et de rien: automatisme pitoyable qui explique pourquoi nous sommes tous des Lucifers de statistique.

[...]

L'intellectuel fatigué résume les difformités et les vices d'un monde à la dérive. Il n'agit pas, il pâtit; s'il se tourne vers l'idée de tolérance, il n'y trouve pas l'excitant dont il aurait besoin. La terreur, elle, le lui fournit, de même que les doctrines dont elle est l'aboutissement. En est-il la première victime? Il ne s'en plaindra pas. Seule le séduit la force qui le broie. Vouloir être libre c'est vouloir être soi, de cheminer dans l'incertain, d'errer à travers les vérités. "Mettez-moi les chaînes de l'Illusion", soupire-t-il, tandis qu'il dit adieu aux pérégrinations de la Connaissance. C'est ainisi qu'il se jettera tête baissée dans n'importe quelle mythologie qui lui assurera la protection et la paix du joug. Déclinant l'honneur d'assumer ses propres anxiétés, il s'engagera en des entreprises dont il escomptera des sensations qu'il ne saurait puiser en lui-même, de sorte que les excès de sa lassitude affermiront les tyrannies. Églises, idéologies, polices, cherchez-en l'origine dans l'horreur qu'il nourrit pour sa propre lucidité plutôt que dans la stupidité des masses. Cet avorton se transforme, au nom d'une utopie de jean-foutre, en fossoyeur de l'intellect, et, persuadé de faire oeuvre utile, prostitue l' "abêtissez-vous", devise tragique d'un solitaire.

Cioran - La tentation d'exister

Cimitirul eroilor

E ceva poetic despre o flacara care arde in ploaie. Care, in ciuda intemperiilor, greutatilor si obstacolelor, ramane eternela. E ceva admirabil despre aceasta perseverenta. Si aici, focul, vesnicul tiran si distrugator, devine victima timpului si a circumstantelor, iar martirul lui un simbol al sufletelor pure care s-au dat pentru continuitatea unui ideal. Insa aparentele sunt inselatoare. Pe de-aproape poezia pute a petrol.

Yes this is a cult

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Praise the brave and the insane
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Pray the crowds will remain



God I missed going to shows! This was amazing!!

Pop Stars

Should be studying... instead I'm listening to Nickelback and stumbling upon this hahaha

Crash course in philosophy

According to the philosopher Jagger, you can't always get what you want...

House MD

Reason as the foundation of the universe?

I believe in reason. If I could have a religion in this world, it would probably be reason and logic. I also believe in the laws of physics, chemistry, biology and yes natural selection. I believe in evolution. Up until now, I never saw a contradiction between these beliefs. However, I recently read an article about a speech pronounced by the Cardinal Ratzinger (the current Pope) over 10 years ago and suddenly, my belief system started to develop internal contradictions. This is even more ironic considering that I don't believe in religion or in God. So, in that case, how can a religious argument make me, not doubt my previous beliefs, but somehow make me reorganize them. Well, I have to hand it to Ratzi (I think Ratzinger sounds cooler than Benedict... besides the fact that there were I don't know how many Benedicts before him so that makes him just another one in the pile, Ratzinger makes me think of a rat of the type that you find in the movie Ratatouille... cute, adorable and witty... but anyway, leaving aside the sacrileges and coming back to the subject at hand). Here is the excerpt of his speech that managed to shut up the die-hard scientist with a constant rebuttal in me (for a moment in any case):


La question qu'il faut poser ici, va à vrai dire plus en profondeur : il s'agit de savoir si la doctrine de l'évolution peut se présenter comme une théorie universelle de tout le réel, au delà de laquelle des questions ultérieures sur l'origine et la nature des choses ne sont plus permises ni même nécessaires, ou si de telles questions dernières ne dépassent pas au fond le domaine de la recherche ouverte aux sciences naturelles.
Je voudrais poser la question de façon encore plus concrète. Tout est-il dit avec un type de réponses tel que nous le trouvons par exemple chez Popper dans la formulation suivante : La vie comme nous la connaissons consiste en des "corps" physiques (mieux des processus et des structures), qui résolvent des problèmes.
C'est ce que les différentes espèces ont "appris" par la sélection naturelle, c'est-à-dire par la méthode de reproduction plus variation ; une méthode qui, de son côté, fut apprise selon la même méthode. C'est une régression, mais elle n'est pas infinie... En fin de compte il en va d'une alternative qui ne se laisse plus résoudre simplement par les sciences naturelles ni non plus au fond par la philosophie. Il en va de la question de savoir si la raison ou le rationnel se trouve ou non au commencement de toutes les choses et à leur fondement.
Il en va de la question de savoir si le réel a surgi sur la base du hasard et de la nécessité (ou, avec Popper, suivant Butler, du luck et cunning [heureux hasard et prévision]), et donc de ce qui est sans raison, si, en d'autres termes, la raison est un produit latéral accidentel de l'irrationnel et est finalement aussi insignifiant dans l'océan de l'irrationnel, ou si reste vrai ce qui constitue la conviction fondamentale de la foi chrétienne et de sa philosophie : In principio erat Verbum - au commencement de toutes les choses il y a la force créatrice de la raison. La foi chrétienne est aujourd'hui comme hier l'option pour la priorité de la raison et du rationnel.


Ouf you got me there Ratzi! So natural selection is based on random variation and adaptation. True. Natural selection is the basis of evolution. True. Evolution explains the origins of man. True. Man is a rational being. True (in most cases). Random variation, through its unpredictable nature and its reliance on chance alone, is the antithesis of reason. True. Therefore, reason was born from a lack of reason and is the accidental byproduct of an irrational universe. Based on that premise, Christianity is the embodiment of reason for it presents a world created by a rational being as opposed to an irrational universe who developed reason only as a side project.

Weeeeeeelll the beginning is good, my problem is with what follows next. You know, like the lack of an actual tangible and rational proof of your rational being? Or the lack of rational premises to your arguments? Anyway, leaving old arguments aside, Ratzinger is right on one thing. The main question here is whether reason is at the basis of the world. In a sense, this can seem a bit of a superfluous question for, pardon my familiar language, who the hell cares if the intent of our being here is rational or not as long as we are here, we are functional and we are rational and able to understand our origins. That would be judging the question a bit too quickly. In the same logic we could say why should we try to understand the functioning of the universe or of black holes or even the origins of the universe because it really doesn't affect us or our present condition. Because it's a mental exercise. It satisfies our natural curiosity. So bear with me here.

Anyway, coming back to the question at hand, is the origin or the universe rational or irrational? Well, if we accept evolution and quantum mechanics as some of the basic theories explaining our world, then we must also accept the conclusion that the universe spans from irrationality. This is further supported by chaos theories and the second law of thermodynamics which propose the increase of entropy as the universe evolves. Therefore, the universe is not organized and cannot be the product of reason. Reason is a glitch that somehow got inserted into the fabric of the cosmos and brought us, rational beings, at the top of the evolutionary curve. And you know, that does not diminish in any way the power or the appeal of reason. If it's not the basis of our origins, it is what got us here. It is what makes us special and different from the other components of nature. Note that this does not make us better than the rest of the food chain, for decisions made based on cold hard reason may end up being atrocious and make us seem more inhumane than a worm. And anyway, that pertains to another discussion.

Therefore, Ratzi, I disagree with your conclusion and your assumption that Christianity is rational because it proposes a rational view of the creation of the universe is preposterous if only for the reason that you assume that the universe must be rational from beginning 'till end. It is not. Sorry. But you get brownie points for trying!

As a side note (and I promise that with this I'm done), the ending of the article is really touching:


La tentative pour redonner, en cette crise de l'humanité, un sens compréhensif à la notion de Christianisme comme religio vera, doit pour ainsi dire miser pareillement sur l'orthopraxie et sur l'orthodoxie. Son contenu devra consister, au plus profond, aujourd'hui - à vrai dire comme autrefois - en ce que l'amour et la raison coincident en tant que piliers fondamentaux proprement dits du réel : la raison véritable est l'amour et l'amour est la raison véritable. Dans leur unité, ils sont le fondement véritable et le but de tout le réel.


The purpose of humanity is love and reason and in Christianity they form a whole. It's cute actually. And it kind of got me thinking that maybe a cold hard (true) reality is not preferable to a loving and caring (fake) reality. I know that in a previous post I talked about how humanity doesn't need Christianity anymore because its lessons have been absorbed into popular culture and the legal system (charity, the concept of not stealing or killing, social care, etc.). But maybe a society that believes too hard in the survival of the fittest can regress from these principles and go back to a caveman-like social and political organization. Anyway, I don't really have time to get into this, but it is a fascinating question that is worth exploring.

And that concludes my article. Happy Easter everyone!

De-maturing

Because being mature is boring!

Random rant/comment/musing

Korean wannabe Backstreet Boys, but the choreography is nicely timed with the song and the water part is just amazing! So overall, yeah I guess it's pretty cool (well obviously I think it's cool cause otherwise it wouldn't be here).



Aaaaaand, just because this is an amazing song (yeah I'm starting to repeat myself) and it kind of resonated through part of my day.



As a side note, I wonder if it looks suspicious if you wear a scarf all day long (at home as well as outside), everyday, for one to two weeks? Hmmm well I guess this theory will get to be tested in the following days. Here's to hoping people are innocent and without a sense of observation... (deep down I really don't care... what I got in exchange was waaaaaaay worth it)

Eu cu cine votez?

Ca si in Romania, alegerile in Canada fac circ degeaba si cheltuie bani fara ca sa rezolve mare lucru (se mai pot asemana si cu unele comisi de pe aici... Comission Bastarache anyone?). In orice caz, federalele se apropie à grands pas si in seara asta am avut traditionalul Débat des chefs care in general se poate descrie ca si o arena cu patru papagali care o tin fiecare cu placa lui si repeta aceleasi strofe uzate.

Michael Ignatieff care a tot dat in Harper cu avioanele lui si cu "mega-prison-urile" pe care vrea sa le constuiasca.

Harpy (how we so affectionately call him) care se facea ca ploua cand i se punea o intrebare embarassanta si o tinea cu dezvoltarea economica si cu bugetul lui care ar fi rezolvat totul, dar doamnelor si domnilor, vedeti, opozitia ni l-a blocat deci nu e vina noastra ca in momentul de fata nu facem nimic (totusi, simpatia mea merge la el pentru ca imi imaginez ca au cam curs apele pe el in seara asta... poate de aia tot bea apa. On the other hand, sunt gata sa pariez ca avea calmante in apa aia ca altfel nu stiu cum a reusit sa-si pastreze zambetul toata seara cand toti ceilalti sareau pe el ca si cainii infometati la un ciolan pe strada).

Apoi il avem pe Gilles Duceppe care ne-a facut un curs de istorie si care ne-a plimbat de la al doilea razboi mondial pana la repatrierea constitutiei si cum Quebecul saracul a suferit in toate astea (totusi, a facut poante bune, deci nu a fost completely useless. "Bien sur que le Quebec se tient débout à l'UNESCO, c'est parce qu'il a pas de siège pour s'assoir" hahahaha trop fort!).

Si, in sfarsit, Jack Layton care e super cute cu bastonul lui cu tot si care la un moment dat am ajuns sa-l vizualizez facand tururi in jurul celorlalti trei candidati cu zambetul ala putin naiv al lui si cu o pancarta pe care scrie "Vote NPD". In orice caz, tipul lua orice ocazie pe care o avea ca sa-si vanda partidul (daca a ajuns pana sa ceara la fidelii Blocului sa voteze pentru el ca sa-l dea jos pe Harpy...).

Intr-un fel imi aduce aminte de scheciul lui Florin Piersic despre castravetele. De fapt asta se aplica la toti patru candidati... Vorbim de cultura? Ah dar o stabilitate economica favorizeaza cultura si partidul conservator s-a luptat pentru stabilitatea economica in Canada. Da, eu sunt mandru de valorile canadiene, iar eu si partidul liberal suntem pentru a le proteja impotriva americanizarii ceea ce domnul Harper nu o face cu planurile lui de a construi mega-inchisori. Oamenii nu ar trebui sa aiba dreptul sa vorbeasca franceza la locul de munca in Quebec, ar trebui sa fie o obligatie. De ce ati dat 6 miliarde la industria automobila in Ontario cand la industria forestiera din Quebec abia i-ati dat cateva milioane? Si de ce Quebecul este singura provincie care nu a semnat constitutia (*pentru ca sunt prosti, aroganti si incapatanati, de aia*)? Familia este importanta pentru noi si de aceea trebuie sa votati NPD iar eu sunt mandru de originile mele montrealeze si NPD-ul a incercat intotdeauna sa protejeze limba franceza in Canada, deci votati NPD. Poftim doamna Paillé? Sunteti in somaj? NPD-ul considera ca aceasta situatie este inacceptabila si va face tot posibilul ca sa va amelioreze conditia, deci votati NPD. Iar crastravetele este un fruct dicotiledonat de culoare galben-verzui, el face parte din familia curcubitaceelor, are tulpina in forma de vrej, se inmulteste prin seminte si are 98% apa. Gata!



Poate ca pana la urma ar trebui sa votam cu tanti Muguette Paillé...

Comment faire des affaires efficacement

Metaphors

As a little drop of water added to a quantity of wine is completely dispersed and takes on the color and taste of wine, as red-hot iron becomes like molten fire losing its original form, as air when it is inundated with the sun’s light is transformed into total splendor and clarity so that it no longer seems illuminated but, rather, seems to be light itself, so I felt myself die of tender liquefaction, and I had only the strength left to murmur the words of the psalm: “Behold my bosom is like new wine, sealed, which bursts new vessels,” and suddenly I saw a brilliant light and in it a saffron-colored form which flamed up in a sweet and shining fire, and that splendid light spread through all the shining fire, and this shining fire through that golden form and that brilliant light and that shining fire through the whole form.

Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose

All the world I've seen before me passing by

I can be incredibly slow sometimes. Coming from that perspective, it might somehow be explained why it took me 4 years to figure out that Serj Tankian was one of the singers of SOAD. I guess it comes with the whole enjoy the music, don't give a crap about the band attitude. Anyway, in an effort to further my procrastination, here's ATWA and BYOB.

Canadian Dream (because Americans are not the only ones who dream)

Just because it says "cause everything moves real slow when it's forty below" hahahaha!! Vive le Canada libre! (yes I know I'm committing a sacrilege just by saying that... if only I cared...)

The dilemma of a crook

Hypothetical situation: Person A buys from Person B for $5000 a large plastic bag (one of those Glad types) filled with 100% pure marijuana. Some time after the transaction, Person A realizes that the Glad bag contains only 50% of marijuana, while the remaining 50% is oregano. In other words, Person A got screwed over.

Question: Should Person A sue Person B for dishonesty and fraud due to the fact that Person A was mislead into buying a product that did not live up to the advertised characteristics?


If your answer was no, then I foresee brilliant legal careers ahead of each and every one of you.

R.R. - Lawyer at day, teacher at night

Puritatea limbajului sau Cratima

De dimineata eram in cautarea unui motiv ca sa nu merg la curs si am ramas impotmolita cu o carte proaspat importata din biblioteca parintilor din Romania. Cartea era departe de a fi o opera clasica si nu ma asteptam la mai mult decat o romanta de doi bani a la Danielle Steele. Nu credeam ca o sa ma ocupe mai mult de cinci minute. Si asa s-a dus o pagina, doua, trei, zece, treizeci, saptezeci, o suta. Da, mesajul era interesant si nu chiar atat de frivol precum credeam eu initial, dar ceea ce m-a lipit de canapea si m-a facut sa uit orele si ceaiul meu care se racea cu nepasare era limbajul, cuvintele care se insirau intr-o sonoritate atat de pura pe care o uitasem. O sonoritate pe care nu o poti recunoaste decat odata ce ai pierdut-o si apoi o vezi prin ochii unui strain. In viata mea de zi cu zi, am pierdut puritatea de exprimare fie in romana, in engleza sau in franceza, iar graba si lipsa de efort m-au dus la o lene limbvistica unde toate se amesteca fara scrupule si fara mila. De ce sa mai pierzi vremea sa cauti cuvantul care iti exprima sentimentul exact cand poti pur si simplu sa vorbesti o frangleza brodata printre paragrafele limbii romane? Si pana la urma, nu e drept ca nu toate cuvintele se pot traduce exact dintr-o limba in alta? Cand ai ajuns la un sistem de gandire poliglot fara a avea totusi o cunostinta aprofunzita a fiecarei limbi, aceasta situatie devine o problema. Dar de ce sa ne mai batem capul cand de fapt tot te faci inteles si cand ii intrebi pe oameni "de ce capoteaza" si cand le spui mai tarziu ca "povestea e funny". Eh poate ca merge, dar e la fel de precis ca si biologii care se uita cate celule au intr-un colt de microscop si apoi extrapoleaza ca sa afle cate celule au in total in mostra de tesut. Aproximarea e valabila, dar nu te simti impacat la suflet cu rezultatul.

In fine, eu ma indepartez ca de obicei de la subiect, dar ce vroiam sa spun este ca mi-e dor de acest limbaj pe care il simt ca incetul cu incetul moare in mine pentru ca nu il aud si nu il folosesc. In ambele cazuri este vina mea pentru ca multa vreme nu mi-a pasat. Dar simt din ce in ce mai mult o nostalgie care ma impinge spre el. De fiecare data cand il citesc pe Iepu pe Facebook, simt ceva care renaste in mine. O flacara pentru acel limbaj si acea tara parasita de toti si pe calea pierzarii. Intr-un fel, il admir pe baiatul asta. Cand toti vor sa plece, el se incapataneaza si declara fara indoiala ca niciunde nu ar putea fi mai fericit decat in Timisoara lui natala. Poate e doar idealismul unui copil naiv. Fie. E totusi frumos de observat. Si nu cred ca am auzit pe nimeni altcineva folosind un cuvant (inutil cum ar fi el intr-o conversatie) cu o sonoritate de nemaipomenit: "cratima". Ok, probabil ca numai un prof de romana ar putea sa se scoata intr-o discutie vorbind de cratima, dar mi se pare ca are echilibrul perfect intre consoane si vocale, intre sunete dure si melodioase.

Si cred ca voi pune capat aici delirului meu pentru ca am epuizat tot ce aveam de zis pe subiect. Deci, in concluzie, nu amestecati limbile si folositi cratime!

Rencontres... aux arrêts d'autobus

Question: est-ce que j'ai un signe dans le front qui dit "personne perdue dans la vie desésperement à la recherche de réponses"? Je sais bien que je le suis, mais je pensais pas que c'était aussi évident que ça, ni que j'avais l'air aussi desésperée (fyi, je ne le suis pas... j'ai une methode, il me faut juste du temps pour la mettre en pratique et trouver mes réponses). En attendant l'autobus à l'arrêt, il y avait une madame qui est venue me parler d'une conférence ou reunion ou peu importe comment on la cathégorise, sur comment éloigner les malédictions. Ok, peut-être qu'elle donnait ses flyers à tout le monde qu'elle voyait, mais il faut quand même faire un minimum de selection parce que, dans mon cas, c'était franchement du gaspillage de papier et de temps (j'essayais très fort de pas rire dans sa face quand elle m'expliquait qu'est-ce que c'était une malédiction). Mais sans rire, j'essaye de comprendre pourquoi les gens essayent de m'amèner à une certaine forme de spiritualité (que ce soit des inconnus ou des amis). Oui j'ai besoin de réponses, mais je doute que je les trouverai dans le surnaturel. Parlez-moi de statistiques, de probabilités, de physique, de biologie, d'astronomie, venez avec de la logique et des faits scientifiques, mais s'il vous plait lache-moi avec les dieux et le hocus-pocus. En fin de compte peut-être que j'irai voir le pasteur Fidele T. de la madame. Ça fait longtemps que j'ai pas ri un bon coup.

Perfect, Complicated, Don't get it...

There's something I don't understand. When you are in a relationship, there's this suffocating need to be perfect. Like when you know you have an appointment with the dentist, you all of a sudden start flossing. All year long, that small plastic box of dental floss has been gathering dust on your bathroom sink, but the minute you get a call from your dentist to schedule a cleanup, you start flossing religiously every night before going to bed and if you had time, you'd even do it in the morning. As though that would make up for a year of meat scraps gathering between your molars. The same way, when you start dating someone, all of a sudden, you start seeing the mess in your room, you feel bad about wasting a day of study, you start reconsidering your vocabulary (well not really, but you can almost feel the hesitation in your throat when you say "shit"). You want to appear mature, intelligent, knowledgeable, but at the same time fun and easygoing. I'm sorry, is that even possible in the world we live in? There is no such thing as a perfect being. But we tend towards it and even more when we are dating someone. But why? Shouldn't we want to be in relationships so that we can be ourselves? With all our imperfections, our doubts, our fears, our mess (after all, that's just us expressing the nature of the world... a higher entropy makes daddy universe happy). Is it because dating someone makes you think, this is it. This is the rest of my life, so all the things I put aside for later, all the things I said I'd do, all the things I said I'd be, well it's now or never. Kinda like when you get close to graduating and, well, you never did that exchange, you never got involved in a case competition, you never participated in a student association, you never went to that many networking sessions, and it's now or never. You feel the pressure to grow up and be the best you'll ever be. It slowly erases the uncertainty of the future and with it the possibilities that keep you sane and able to sleep at night. Man, I don't want to grow up! I don't want to pick a career! The future is scary because I've been putting it off for such a long time and now the deadline is slowly coming to an end. So you soon have to hand in your life's essay but you haven't even written the intro yet. Eh merde alors! I don't want to botch this one up. I might get away with botching up an extended essay or a history essay or a lab report or a business plan, but not this. Because I'm the one grading it this time and I sure as hell won't pass myself with this lack of effort and motivation. And that was one too many school metaphors. Oooookkk, time to go to that dentist appointment now!