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9 . 2 5 . 0 7 Crazy month continues. Just some Linkes for now: Don't worry about the Joneses they won't care if you go under Peter Schiff blog CLEWI - this is rich. no pun intended. 8 signs its time to change jobs GAO article comments govexec | WaPo | Gazette MIT student arrest at Logan - another take Gold? ?? 9 . 2 4 . 0 7 September has been a crazy month. Just posting linkes for now: Madison Blog: Soglin Blog Lotta money part II, III, IV, or XX Police Detail in Madison AKA Madtowne Cluster fuck nation? Flikr and advertisement rights 9 . 2 1 . 0 7 September has been a crazy month. Just posting linkes for now: Personality types - 5 (not meyer's brigg) War as theater entertainment Anti-Kickball movement in the District Govexec article and comments Madison, WI 40 years later Euro at $1.40 following the Fed rate cut 9 . 1 8 . 0 7 Busy month/week/days, just a few observations and and some linkes for now: The DOW shot up 250+ today on news of the federal reserve rate being cut from 5.25% to 4.75% - good news for stockholders and people with a lot of debt......bad news for everyone in long run in terms of inflation and the overall strength of the dollar (The Euro is already at an all time high against the dollar) There is also talk about the overall strength of the economy being in bad shape, and there is a recession looming around the corner. It might prove to be a temporary fix and ignoring a much much larger problem. Meanwhile just today the soda machine at work just went from $1.25 to $1.35 coincidence? Linkes for 9/18/2007: Obama Tax plan iteresting ideas Gold at $718/ounce and climbing Glen Grant Threads and Obake stories starbulletin | wiki | hawaiistories 9 . 1 3 . 0 7 Most dreams, if not all are symbolic, especially recurring ones. I've been having a few that were worth noting although I'm in the dark about what they might mean. One is a scene out of an action film, with a protagonist hero being chased by two gunman jumps on a boat sitting in a canal and starts up the engine. when he gets in he realizes that the boat is really a floating enclosed tank containing a 15 foot shark. The two gunman run along side the tank as well, and after they kill the motor they jump inside the boat only to be surprised/eaten by the shark, or meeting another untimely death (drowning, concussion, shooting, you pick). The protagonist then smugly goes on his way and like a movie cliche, he realizes that he has lost braking control of the boat, and a low-lying tunnel is right ahead. He jumps off the boat in time. The shark, of course is set loose and it is revealed that this is a mutant shark that uses its amphibious traits to climb over the canal, and into the street. The protagonist runs along the canal banks, and it is revealed over the loudspeakers in the street that the military is searching for a rouge navy admiral who is on the run. The interesting thing about this with this recurring dream I've played all different characters, the running protagonist, the gunman, even the shark. In last night's dream I was in the role of the general/admiral, and running along the canal embankment past a brown row house, overhearing a mention of a free performance later that evening by to young women walking by, one of whom seemed to notice that I was running from something. Down the street and into an office building, then through the double doors opens a sort of a town square, where people are singing the finale of the free performance, old people, middle aged people, young kids. At this point the dream melded into another recurring dream that has different theme all together, again, different takes and perspectives on a similar event - a free concert in the middle of a town square. This one I've been in the various perspectives, a passerby, a performer of various different ages, a composer of music, a producer handling logistics. Usually when I'm coming from the perspective of the passerby I'm literally "passing by" - on my way from one dream to the next, usually in the middle of a song, or right at the grand finale. In some sense I'm never there for the whole performance, but at the same time I don't feel like I'm missing out on much either. The performance is almost like an afterthought in the dream, which usually ends or fades into something else. The new dream is definitely symbolic, this one I am raising a child who goes from infant to toddler in the course of the dream, roughly an afternoon. I go from being semi-unsure changing diapers and dealing with the usual projectile emergencies, but mostly because we cannot communicate with each other effectively. The strange thins is that she grows older and bigger in the course of dream, which is in a single day. As she grows older I feel more comfortable with the idea of being a father. 9 . 1 1 . 0 7 6th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. I have to wonder how edgier do people still get on this day, for the symbolic meaning and do they change their daily schedule? or do they just go to work like any other day. I did happen to get on the train earlier than usual, not like it makes much of a difference, but one thought that has crossed my mind living out here is to be wary of big crowds of people. The metro has been getting more and more crowded lately, but it is usually during set periods around rush hour. Today it was relatively packed for being before rush hour, I wonder if the date had anything to do with getting people up earlier to work. I got distracted for a bit from studying watching some youtube clips, one was a cnn clip the day after and you could see the tickers underneath talking about events being canceled, rolling casualty reports, and a graphic banner saying "America under attack." It reminded of the tense few days following the attacks when most of the conversations about it was that of shock, surprise, sometimes jumping to anger and calls for retribution. I was back in Honolulu and was listening to a lot of AM radio on my way between work and the court, and it was my first real realization as to how much the right wing had taken over the radio waves who's anger seemed to contrast with the relatively calm demeanor of the TV news casters. The radio folks said that they were angry for America, angry for justice, angry for an explanation to how and why this could have happened. The fact that their views and opinions were being broadcast over the airwaves give them a false sense of credibility, as in time I started hearing the same irrational arguments from some people I would run into in the days after the attack. Some of the other youtube clips going around that I think capture the mindset at the time - 9-11 calls from one of the hijacked planes, and two from people trapped in the burning towers. One more memorable one was a rolling camera showing smoldering flames juxtaposed with the audio of the phone call right up until the point the towers came down. The clips display a swarm of human emotions, at one point the sheer terror comes out in the voice a caller realizes that they are probably going to die in the burning, at one another moment lashing out in anger at the operator, as if yelling at the operator is lucky to be in an air conditioned building far away is going to improve the situation, and that emergency personnel are supposed to climb 100+ flights of stairs in a burning building in a cinch. Then there is the operator who is trying to keep the callers calm, while both probably know the desperate circumstances that are unfolding. What the clips also show is in part the mindset of Americans, pursuing their careers and dreams, in a sense living oblivious to the fact that the very tower they go to work everyday has been a repeated target for terrorist attacks, represents a symbol of American capitalism and economic dominance, fueling the foreign policy that impacts that it has on people in far corners of the world, all out of sight, out of mind. On any given day the trains, elevators, phone lines are supposed to work. When an emergency happens, the fire and police are supposed to get there and do their job. But when the unthinkable happens, things are quickly brought back down to the basic chaos and nothing is for sure anymore. Watching one of these clips in particular I feel very torn, on the one hand I feel horrible for the people on the other line and can't imagine what it would be like to see the world around you literally burning and crashing down. On the other hand I am irritated again at more moments of anger directed at the emergency operator, accusingly as if he or she is doing anything but trying to sort out what has just happened and try to get first responders to the callers locations. In the face of certain death blaming a complete stranger over the phone is an understandably human reaction, but it reeks of "how dare you" or "why did this happen to me?" Then there is the image of the towers crashing down and you hear a gut-wrenching crack over the phone, with the voice screaming out to god in a reminder that all the people stuck in the tower were in fact doomed the entire time. I'm also reminded that the tragedies were documented through American newsmedia and audio don't t make it any less horrific to the loss of life and human suffering that followed in retaliation for 9-11. No clips exist to show us about the people trapped in the burning buildings in the first weeks of the war, or the bombing victims in the years of occupation that followed. 6 years after the attacks of 9-11, and now after 5 years of war waged in its name I am still struggling with what the lessons learned are for Americans as a whole. If talk of an upcoming 3rd war in the middle east is credible and plans are being made, then it is only a matter of time before there might be another set of frantic final 9-11 calls made to an operator in an American city. While this time the lesson of 9-11 would give them a sense of who might've committed these attacks, they still would probably not understand why. Linkes 9/11/2007 NORFED private currency Austin Gold Company Brazen home invasion attempted SA scary. Diego Garcia South Indian base DOD and Co. bling bling Ron Paul Video on youtube |