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By Keith, March 6, 2010 1:18 am

I don’t do different things to be different.  I do different things because different is often far more interesting.  That’s why I joined a new social networking site that couldn’t be more different than Facebook.    You could say it’s a lot like Twitter, but it’s definitely NOT Twitter.  I joined t.sina.com.cn, a Chinese social network.

Why would I do this?  Why does it seem that I have forsaken Facebook and Twitter for a social site in a foreign language?  For me, there is great appeal in talking to people quite unlike myself and unlike most of the people I see and communicate with every day.  I feel the need to be exposed to a different culture, and if I can’t afford to travel right now (because of Godzilla), I might as well put the web to good use.

I’m not on Sina to collect friends.  I’m unlikely to ever rise above 20 due to the language gap.  I was surprised to have any reciprocal ”fans” (what followers or friends are called on this site) at all when I logged on this afternoon.  After all, I had just created my account Thursday night, becoming a fan of only a few handfuls of promising people.  Some who have become reciprocal fans have noted how few Americans are on Sina.

There are no virtual farms or other games to play or spam messages.  It’s basic communication, something I have missed in American social networks, and now I am enjoying something different.

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By Keith, February 27, 2010 3:33 pm

The IOC will probably send a take-down letter for this post, because I used the word “Olympic” in the title.  F-em!  I’m watching their stupid Olympics, and gosh darn it, I’m going to blog about it too!

Other than Olympic hockey and short track speed skating, the winter games are quite boring.  We need to zazz them up a bit.  Take ski jumping for example.  What is there to see besides the guy’s hand twitching a little?  They should make it more like the Red Bull Flugtag!  Dress the jumpers up in some sort of costume.  I’d definitely watch a pterodactyl swooping down the slope, gracefully soaring into the air, then splashing into a lake of slush!

We need to fix biathlon too.  Anyone can ski, then shoot stationary targets, then ski some more.  We need to make it more of an outdoorsy woodsy survivalisty sport.  I propose we change it to marathon biathlon deer harvesting.  Basically, athletes would ski out into a designated wildlife preserve where they would have to track, shoot, field dress, and haul out a white tail deer.  Just to keep things interesting, several hungry grizzly bears (the shooting of which will earn a lifetime ban) should also be living in the area and given the scent of each skier.

Can anyone really say that they enjoy watching moguls skiing?  Sure it’s funny when a skier screws up their silly little helicopter jump and crumples into a heap on the landing, but it’s not polite to laugh at such things.  Let’s take the thrills (and spills) to a new level.  I give you freestyle mogul pole-dancing.  All of the excitement of moguls and jumps, but instead of the goofy little tricks off the jump, the skiers must perform a sexy double spin on a pole in order to stick the landing and finish their run.  National or ethnic stripper attire would be completely optional, but could certainly help the judges with the scoring.

Grecko-Roman (i.e. togas) ice fishing.  Need I say more?  Basically, the athletes must ski onto a frozen lake dressed only in a toga.  First athlete to cross the finish line with 10 regulation size fish wins gold.  How they amass those 10 fish is up to them.  No weapons of any sort may be used.

Snowboard cross needs to be fixed too.  Riders should be allowed to wear a satchel full of (pre-inspected for size and consistency) snowballs.  Halfway down the course, a line across the track would indicate that snowballs may be thrown at competing riders.  The snowballs would contain a colored dye that stains the clothes of a clouted rider.  Points for each clout add time to the run of a rider who’s been hit.  I think you can see how this would vastly improve snowboard cross.

Pairs ice moshing is a little like traditional ice dancing, but instead of sleep-inducing classical music, some sort of metal-core or death metal would be the norm.  Two pairs of skaters would compete at the same time.  Just like traditional ice dancing, pairs would pretend to skate along with the music, but in ice moshing, the goal is to knock down the opposing skater of the same sex.   Skaters may not touch an opponent of the opposite sex.  The skater who initiates contact (i.e. is judged to be more under control) with a skater of the opposite sex will earn a disqualification.  A fall would be defined as any body part other than a hand touching the ice.  If either skater in a pair falls three times, they lose the match.  For pairs ice moshing, I envision a round-robin tournament format with lots of sling-shot maneuvers and violent collisions.  On the podium, teams receive metals instead of medals, because it sounds very slightly more cooler.

You may now continue ignoring the Winter Olympics.

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By Keith, February 5, 2010 12:31 pm

“In order to make an omelet, you must first break a few eggs.”   The omelet metaphor has been used many times to justify sacrifice in the present to achieve a goal in the near future, however, when looked at closely, the omelet metaphor crumbles like a dried, empty eggshell.

Due to its implicit use of force, the omelet metaphor smacks of violent coercion and implies that in order to achieve goals, sacrifice is required of someone either voluntarily, by force, or by threat of force.  It implies the need to pound people into submission and seems to justify the use of force to break people to one’s will.  I completely disagree with the omelet metaphor.  Most of the time, if one thinks first of breaking eggs, opportunities for more creative solutions are ignored.  It seems that if modern man would learn to compromise and solve problems creatively so much more could be accomplished than by breaking and destroying as a first resort.  The Omelet metaphor no longer seems apt.

Another reason I don’t like the metaphor is that the sacrifice described therein is never being made by the person using it.  Most people who have sacrificed something for a greater good do not feel the need to make excuses to others for their own sacrifice.  In reality, they need make no statement to defend their decision or to clear their conscience.  For example, a man who cuts off his own foot to escape a trap is breaking his own eggs in order to survive, but I doubt he would feel compelled to use that phrase.  No one would need to ask his justification.  His reasoning is clear.  It’s when that phrase is used to justify someone else’s forced sacrifice that it rubs me wrong.  Most people use the omelet metaphor to explain to others why someone else must sacrifice for a “greater good.”

Breaking down the words of this phrase, we find that they don’t really mean what they are intended to mean.  By their very nature, eggs (if fertilized) represent potential offspring; they represent the future.  It doesn’t make sense to me to call the eggs (or the potential animal in the egg form) a sacrifice, because the eggs in the shell are not of much use as such.  When making an omelet, one is merely taking an otherwise useless object (an unfertilized egg) and transforming it into something useful.  Even the stated goal of the metaphor, an omelet, seems short-term, short-sighted, and hardly worth the sacrifice of future chickens (turtles, or dinosaurs, whatever offspring might come from them).  Certainly the loss to the person breaking the eggs is far less than the loss to the mother of the unhatched eggs or to the families of those who are sacrificed.

By their very nature, eggs represent potential offspring.  It doesn’t make sense to call the eggs (or the animal in the egg form) a sacrifice, if as you say, the eggs in the shell are not of any use.  Basically, I’m arguing against the idea that people or the use (primarily in military actions) of people as a resource without fully appreciating the value of life is a great mistake.  So to devalue potential life within an egg to make an omelet is to say “We are sacrificing future eggs, future omelets, and future chickens (or whatever the animal is that laid the egg) for the here and now, for our immediate gratification.  I don’t think that metaphor makes sense in 99.9% of the situations I’ve ever heard it.

I understand the impossibility of converting everyone to pacifism.  It’s pointless to teach pacifism.  Teaching all people the true value of EVERY human life (it is all each of us truly has) on this planet is paramount.  Teaching people that killing for religious reasons is not acceptable.  Teaching people that killing innocent civilians for ANY reason is ever justifiable is atrocious, because doing so is tantamount to saying that some human lives are disposable.  I would also suggest that the human race must teach every child empathy, the ability to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and understand the situations others find themselves in, sometimes as a direct result of their environment/upbringing/culture.  Until that happens, someone will always be happy breaking someone else’s eggs to make an omelet.

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By Keith, January 30, 2010 1:19 pm

I haven’t anything to say to the world today.  The world seems to have little interest in hearing opinions based on observable facts and logic.  The world wants ambiguous statements of truth, wholly untestable and unassailable slogans, and tautologies.  This blogger is fresh out of those.

These terror filled days run on dogma, urban myth, and conspiracy theory.  Big pharma and those fat-cat Wall Street bankers threaten our very way of life with their gay marriage and abortion mongering.  Thank god we have our patriotic Supreme Court to step into the breach to defend the good name of corporate interests in these times of crisis and uncertainty.  Our government truly is our steadfast, unwavering bastion of truth, freedom, and the common good.

Amen.

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By Keith, January 29, 2010 8:55 pm

For the most part, friends are great.  (I am Keith’s limiting statement.)  Yes, friends are wonderful, but they are not all the same.  Does that mean that BFF’s are better than casual Facebook acquaintances?  Sure does, but that’s not what I’m writing about.

This post is about what friendship means to me.  There are lots of sappy sickly sweet greeting cards (I am Keith’s gag reflex) that yammer on about friendship in obscenely lofty language.  This will not be that.  Friendship is too subtle for such heavy handed treatment.

I say that friendship is subtle because we sometimes find ourselves becoming friends with people without intending to.  We work with a person long enough or spend time in classes or playing sports with them, or we game with them online, and before we realize it, we feel comfortable around this person.  We let our guard down, begin to trust, and before we know it. BAM! New friend.

It’s not only trust that makes someone a friend.  For me to befriend someone, it also requires high levels of honesty, comfort, sharing, empathy, forgiveness, and common interests.  All of these ingredients in varying amounts seem to determine the value of someone’s friendship. The weight we give to each ingredient is, of course, different from person to person and completely subjective.

We are not all the same. Certainly all of us look for specific traits whether or not we are aware of it. Take honestly for instance. I’d wager that someone like Dick Cheney might value loyalty far more than honestly. So much that he can remain friends with someone who would lie to protect him. Not all of our friends have the same trains in all of the same combinations.

Where am I going with this? I’m stating my recent reevaluation of my what the word “friend” now means to me. In doing so, I pay no mind to the dictionary’s treatment of it.  I’m ignoring my inner cynicism and expanding my ideas about it’s meaning. Here we go…

HONESTY
Above all other things, honesty in all things is paramount to me.  I would rather hear the ugliest of truths than the most beautiful falsehood. When we lie to people (including ourselves) we disrespect and devalue them. Lying, even a white lie, is a degradation. My friends should always interact with me honestly and should expect the same in return.

TRUST
We all need to trust others on occasion, and I don’t believe you can have friends without trust. People who divulge personal information entrusted to them are not my friends or won’t be for long. I’ve heard gossips say in their defense that the person shouldn’t have told them the information if they didn’t want anyone else to know. I don’t accept such bullocks, and I don’t treat my friends with such contempt and disrespect. Your friends are not your information sources.

COMFORT
My comfort level when in the presence of another person is a strong influence on the level of friendship I’ll have with someone. If you’re a person who says or does things that make me feel uncomfortable, we probably will never achieve BFF status.  If you don’t know (but do care) if you make your friends uncomfortable, maybe you should ask them for an honest answer.

SHARING
I value sharing with friends, but I don’t mean “sharing” in the material sense. I don’t want for things from my friends. I desire a sharing of ideas, thoughts, opinions, and the like. Sharing time is certainly nice too. Friends of mine should feel free to speak their mind, agree, disagree, or remain indifferent, secure in the belief that sharing such things strengthens our friendship. Even if we disagree, we’ll at least gain insight of each other’s thought process.

EMPATHY/COMPASSION
Empathy and compassion are just manly ways to say “love” or “caring” about each other. Even someone as emotionally stunted reserved as me must admit to caring/loving empathizing with or having compassion for his friends at least a little bit. The truth is that it’s a lot, but I choose not to wear it on my sleeve. Friends should show that they care about each other. My way to do this often involves doing technical tasks for or giving help and my time (which is extremely valuable to me) to those I care for.  Tech support counts!  Along with my love/caring empathy and compassion goes understanding.  I do my best to understand and empathize with my friends. I hope they will reciprocate, but I know it’s not always easy.

FORGIVENESS
Without exception, every one of us makes mistakes. Friends will forgive you. There are limits to forgiveness, of course, but when you recognize that a friend is truly sorry, forgive them and move on.   Life is far too short for holding onto +10 grudges of destructive unhappiness.

SHARED INTERESTS
There seems to be a strong correlation between having shared interests and friendship. Frequently people meet through and bond over those interests they have in common. Such is the case with he friends I have online. Although I’ve never met some of them offline, they are real friends nonetheless.

As someone with very few close friends in the offline world, I can attest that it takes relatively little effort to make friends online.   However, once a friend is made, the effort is well invested in keeping and improving friendships with those you hold most dear, online or offline.  (I am Keith’s post-blog regret.)