I have my secret thing with the secret company tomorrow. It's barely a secret, actually, since my boss already knows. I'm pretty nervous, but I definitely intend to post a full review here afterwards, if only because I know it will increase my page views.... :)

In other news, only about a half dozen people have downloaded my songs off of here. This is unsurprising, but still a bit disappointing. The original point of putting them up here was so that I would be inspired to compose/record more, because I would have an outlet for my creative output. Well for the first couple weeks that I had the songs up, that was definitely true. But nowadays, I've seemed to have a built-in creative drive, where I'm composing and recording almost every day with no thought to posting any of it. And that's a fantastic feeling!

I've always considered myself 'Liberal' in political views.

However, I just read the following footnote on page 18 of The Monk and the Philosopher (which is a very interesting book and deserves its own post):

'Liberalism' means in Europe almost the opposite of what it means in America. Thinkers considered liberal in Europe are John Locke, Adam Smith, Alexis de Tocqueville, and John Stuart Mill.

Damn! That's always what I've thought I meant when I've said I'm liberal. That I believe in, you know, Liberty. Freedom. That we have free will. That our government has been established to protect our Freedom and never to take it away.

But I guess that means I can't be 'socially' liberal at the same time? Because that would entail big government and lots of social programs, which would be against the ideals of Smith and Locke?

ARGGH, I wish I had taken a BASIC polisci course in college. It's times like these when I feel just woefully undereducated.

I hate the federal government, but I love America. That's the way I truly feel. I love the American people, I love the ideals of freedom and liberty on which we were founded. I hate unchecked Capitalism and privatization of public lands and resources. I love the fact that we have a highway system, a post system, the internet, and clean running water almost everywhere. I hate the fact that we don't have health care, that social security is bankrupt, that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.

I hate George W. Bush. He's a fucking asshole; and absolute idiot and a clueless anti-leader. Him and his cronies are quite literally ruining America. But as this article from LiveScience points out, presidential power has been growing for decades, and George W. Bush is only the latest manifestation of an Executive Branch that is out of control.

As Jefferson pointed out "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes" (Declaration of Independence). So whatever is wrong with America, it would not be prudent to throw the whole Grand Experiment out the window. However, we must not let our leaders (Bush in particular, also the Supreme Court) trample on the traditions and precedents that have made our country great.

So like I said, I hate the federal government.

But I fucking LOVE America.

Happy Independence Day! Fuck the Brits! :)

The first line of the Tao Te Ching, roughly translated, is "The Tao that can be known is not the true Tao". I struggled a lot with that last night, but the following paragraphs, ripped wholesale from Stan Rosenthal's introduction to his Tao Teh Ching 'translation', helped a great deal.

Consider a thing such as a strawberry. If we wish to find the word 'strawberry', we look in a dictionary; if we wish to find a description of a strawberry, we look in an encyclopaedia. But if we are hungry, we do not go to the library, but to the field where fine strawberries may be found. If we do not know where there is such a field, we might seek guidance as to where fine strawberries may be found. A book on the Tao is like such a guide.

It can point us in the direction of the strawberry patch, but cannot provide the fruit itself. It can give an idea of the taste of Tao, but of itself, has no taste to compare with direct experience of the Tao.

Consider now three things: There is the universal principle which enables all things to be, and to flourish naturally; there is the name 'Tao', by which that universal principle is known; and there are words which describe the manifestations of the Tao.

Pretty hefty title for a blog post.

I was talking to my roommate Frank today about all sorts of different things, and I came to two conclusions, which I will now share:

1. I really want to go to Wikimania 2007. Unfortunately, "Wikimania 2007, the third annual international Wikimedia conference, will be held August 3-5 in Taipei, Taiwan at Chien Tan Overseas Youth Activity Center (CTOYAC)."
2. If you want to make the world a better place, first focus on 'your corner' of the world. This doesn't mean you should be selfish and only do things to benefit yourself. But maybe that wouldn't hurt, either. If you think of karma as the doctrine "Whatever good or bad you do in the world is reflected in yourself" then the corollary is "Whatever good or bad you do to yourself is reflected in the world". Also, focussing on 'your corner' means not forcing yourself to act or forcing yourself upon a situation. This doesn't mean being lazy! It's simply taoism, 'going with the flow'. Leave your mind open to helping situations that you are familiar with, and when the appropriate time comes to act you will recognize it and benefit all involved.

I agree with Socrates, who stated:

"My opinion is more or less this: no wise man believes that anyone sins willingly or willingly perpetrates any base or evil act; they know very well that every base or evil action is committed involuntarily."

So really, I'm once and for all rejecting the Puritan work ethic. My belief is that an effective strategy for doing good works and therefore 'making the world a better place' is to "do what you can, with what you have, where you are." (Theodore Roosevelt).