Thursday, October 11, 2007

Random Babbling for 10/11/07

It's been quite a while since I've written down any original thoughts so now seems like a good time to do it.

Tomorrow is my bi-weekly 'Lunch with Human' with a co-worker. It's funny really that the more I get to know people the more I enjoy them. Years ago I loved mathematics because I believed fervently that mathematics was the underpinning of all reality. That you could, if you tried hard enough, predict every event in the universe given a large enough sheet of paper. Then I loved computers because they could do math much more quickly and give you a much bigger 'sheet of paper'. Over the years though, I've come to the sad conclusion that the real world is much more complicated than that and that most of that complexity comes about because of people. I love people with all their unutterable emotions and motivations. It makes me absolutely giddy to unravel a person from their outermost appearances down to the Gordian Knot of their immortal soul. My wife suggested recently that I should go back to school to become a psychologist and I'd jump at the chance if it arose somehow. I can't guarantee that I'd be able to resist the temptation to put 'Psychological Vivisectionist' on my business cards.

After almost two months of geocaching I've come to a few random conclusions. Firstly, I'm not sure I'm amused by other people's caches much any more. After you've pulled ten film canisters from trees hanging by christmas tree hooks it tends to get a bit redundant. I wish people would put some effort into these things rather than just randomly hiding things anywhere that comes to mind in the same cliche way. I am, however, much entertained by placing caches of my own though it is a bit nerve-wracking if you allow yourself to conjure up frantic calls to 911 from random unseen onlookers. I've yet to find a consistent geocaching partner of any kind. My eldest now lives in mortal fear of mosquitoes and everyone else I've gone out now claims disinterest. Time to call Jared again I suppose.

Someone whose blog I read semi-regularly did a mimi about what books she's read this year which put me of a mind to take a look back at my own logs. I was astounded to realize that I've finished at least 3 books every month this year. Usually I get distracted for at least a few months a year and read nothing. Apparently I'm just more amused by my choice of literature as of late. I'm looking forward to the end of year literature wrap-up.

As I was driving for 23 hours last week I listened to some talk radio. Whenever I actually sit and really LISTEN to talk radio, I'm always astounded by just how screwed up we are in this country. But then I hear something that makes me nod my head and say, "yeah, you're exactly right." Some Ohio-local disembodied voice was reporting that the evangelicals were threatening to start a third party if Giuliani got the Republican nomination. His response simply, "Good, go build a third party. We're better off without you." Without the religious influence, he argued, the Republican party would drift back from the extreme right-wing theocracy it represents into something that much more people could agree on. I for one agree with him. The Republicans have some good points on their side. I don't like the welfare system as it stands, I think Government is too big and too wasteful, I don't think we should pull babies halfway out of their mothers and then crush their heads. And the Republicans agree with me on that. Unfortunately, I can't vote for them because they represent a collection of theocratic drones. If a Republican party sans religion can appeal to someone as liberal as I am then they'd win in a landslide.

Alright,that's all I have to say about all of that. Must go now as I have people banging on my window wondering what the 'Word of the Day' is going to be.

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