The most hilarious way to hell…

My friend Roy sent me this, I laughed for a good ten minutes.  If anyone knows whose picture this is so I can credit them that would be sweet.  Otherwise I’ll wait on the C&D.

Catholics keeping it interesting…

I constantly find myself attracted to Catholic thinkers.  They approach issues in a way quite different from how I do, the challenge is refreshing.  Eve Tushnet is a conservative, catholic, lesbian blogger.  I haven’t read a lot of her stuff yet, but her approach to these is fascinating.  I especially look forward to learning more about her ideas of chaste same-sex love.  A question I’ve wondered about since reading (and reading about) Henri Nouwen.  Her approach seems different from the strict chastity Nouwen chose.

Is this being poetical?

I’ve decided to start writing each sentence as its own paragraph.

I think that will make me more poetic.

It should also increase my efficiency at reaching minimum page counts.

It may negatively affect my grades.

Waking up…

It has been a long week.  I shut down earlier this week and only finally got enough sleep to feel alive again last night.  I’m reading and writing again, but I’ve got a lot of catch up to do.  I need to figure out a healthier way to work.  I need to write about 40 to 50 pages in the next week and a half, and I’m still not done all the research I need to do for these papers.  However these papers are interesting enough that I might be posting some thoughts here in the next few days.

Burnout?

I’ve been doing a lot lately and I have not really had a chance to stop.  Finally, last Sunday, for the first time in my life, I couldn’t pull an all nighter.  This may sound strange to some, but I’ve never been unable to power through and get something done (and thanks to A.D.D. this meant learning how to spend every possible hour doing it).  Now I can’t and don’t even want to accomplish what I need to do.  I looked up burnout on that bastion of medical information and the two biggest things seem to be exhaustion and apathy.  So maybe that is where I’m at, I just don’t have time to be burnt out.

Fixing a broken system.

There is nothing worse than hearing good ideas and knowing they will be ignored.  This is from Microclesia’s A Debased Liberty.

One thing is clear – creating massive amounts of new debt to bail out a failed financial system is insanity. We are buying temporary relief, while further propping up an unsustainable future.

We should instead be focusing our efforts on creating a new kind of capitalism that seeks to immediately prioritize the fundamental needs of all stakeholders, creates airtight disincentive to personal and corporate greed, mandates leverage limits (ALL types of debt: individual, corporate, legislative, equity markets) at conservative levels – while encouraging human creativity towards the development of long-term sustainable systems and energy alternatives.

Someone saw it coming…

Here is a fascinating character.  Peter Shiff was calling the financial crisis in the U.S. as far back as the middle of 2006.  Althouse posted this video and it is eerie to watch.

Proposition 1

Biology is a history, not a science.

Any thoughts?

Some thoughts on Prison.

Michael Santos has an incredible story.  In the Forbes special edition on power he tells his story of power in prison.  He talks about developing a long term vision for reintegration into society (he was senteced to 46 years in 1987, he has earned an “early” release in 2013 through good behavior, read his story and you’ll see just how good).

He also talks about the failures of the prison system in the U.S.  While we in Canada are slightly better the idea of prison is the same no matter what country you are in.

In prison, preservation of the institution trumps the needs of the individual. Unlike any other place in America I know, prison administrators rely on the threat of punishment and coercion rather than the promise of incentives to manage inmates. People who seek power inside prison walls learn to manipulate this environment. Yet as recidivism rates show, those who learn to live in prison simultaneously learn to fail in society.

I’ve often wondered about this.  Prison is punishment, not rehabilitation.  Psychopaths,those who even now psychologists have no idea how to rehabilitate, should be imprisoned, not for punishment (which doesn’t work with them) but for the safety of the wider society.  However, what about those who can be rehabilitated?  I’ll be looking further into Michael Santos’ story.  It seems a shame though that he had to work against the system to rehabilitate himself.  Could his story be used as a model to help prisoner’s reintegrate?  I’ll have more on this in the coming months.

Heroes

I have nothing deep and meaningful so instead I’ll leave you with this, from my friend Matthew’s facebook status on Remembrance Day.

A world that does not honor its heroes does not understand its liberty.

That seems about right.