Mobile Blogging

Well this is neat. Through some reckless technology self-education, I have found how to do blog posts on my cell phone. I have now entered the realm of mobile blogging. Technology is fascinating, isn't it? Cool.

Time Stops

I wrote this on parts of time, and I forgot where I was going with it: 

The present is the first to grasp because it deals with immediacy. The present is the point in which the future becomes the past. You can never really be present, because our concept of future is transitioning to the past as soon as you think about it. So then, the present is more or less indescribable without the future or the past. 

The past is what has happened, and at this point in society, is unalterable (save reporting, which I won't touch on here). 

The future is a true unknown. There are the best laid plans of mice and men, but nothing is certain. The future is that which will occur depending on the continuity of existence. 

So can you really be present? No. The present is the point that future transitions to the past. So where do we exist in all of that? Do we exist on that point? Possibly a step behind it? Or maybe time isn't enough to define our existence, like speed isn't enough to describe velocity (velocity also needs a direction). We can only say we were at some point in time. We can't describe if we're "present," and we aren't certain enough in the continuity of existence to say that we will be at some point in the future. We only know that we were. We don't know if we are or if we will be. 

The reason I bring this up is to question what kind of authority we can claim on predicting the future, assessing the "present," or analyzing the past. I say we have none, but we do it anyway to try and make sense of things. Making sense of things is one of our chief ambitions in life. It is not in human nature to accept absurdity. Take a little reading trip into existentialism, however, and you'll see the call to embrace the absurdness of life. It's a compelling argument, considering how little we grasp of our man-made concept called time. 

Thank you, Explosions In the Sky, for providing music that makes me grab a few books and think about complicated subjects like time or morality at odd hours. 

RP

To Do Before Shipping Out

I'm going to comprise a list of things I plan to accomplish before I ship out in April. 

The first entry:

Get back to my song-making love and produce an album.

An all jazz album. 

Collaborators are welcome. 

I'm shooting for 10 tracks. 

OCRemix.org

Ok, enough politics for now. 

Instead, you should check out the songs at Overclocked Remix. It's a collection of video game songs remixed every which way imaginable. They are stellar. Search by game, then by song in that game. Of course, the Super Mario Bros. section is brimming with really good remixes. I had a Sega back in the day, so the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 collection brings back memories (while also helping me vibe on some really quality music). Some remixes are a miss, but they are few and far between as all submissions are reviewed by a panel of judges before being added. It's all royalty free, too. 

Another quality song to check out would be Chrono Trigger. Hours of good listening there. 

RP

CHANGE -- Serious Change, or Change from Bush?

So by now, even reported by Fox News, it's widely seen that Barack Obama will win this presidential election. Personally. I was through with this election about 3 weeks ago. I voted today. I voted primarily Republican, because I trust the incumbent candidates (Rep. Sam Johnson gave me a nomination to the U.S. Air Force Academy back in high school, and is the ranking senior member on the Armed Forces Committee in the House). 

In the presidential race, I voted Libertarian because I could not in good conscience vote for either McCain or Obama. I know my other party vote helps add to less than 1% of Texas voters, thereby negligibly affecting the electoral votes from my state. But still, I would not vote straight ticket on my first election just because it would be easier. I would not vote for a campaign that lost sight of its ideals right from the start. I would not vote for Obama's campaign, which simply capitalized on how bad the Bush presidency was. Obama's message of change, as pointed out by prominent Democratic analyst James Cargill of CNN, was simply one of change from Bush. Not significant, awe-inspiring change that I hear people saying he's going to do. Just change from what we've had. John Kerry could bring the same change. Obama just made stupid people think that his change was a bit bigger. 

So Obama is our next president, most likely. As a member of the US Military, I have sworn an oath to obey and carry out all of his commands once he takes office. I will still stay true to that. But I just don't believe in him, anymore than I wouldn't believe in McCain. Like most American voters, I'm losing my faith in our candidates. Then it makes me wonder why the presidential is so big, and we're not talking as much about the incumbent Democratic Congress (with worse approval ratings than Bush) getting larger, or who Obama would appoint to the Supreme Court (the 3rd part of that whole checks and balances thing). Obama is going to have to deal with at least the courts to get his "change" to occur. The Democratic Congress will have to show the American public that more Democrats will equal better production. They're going to have to prove to the American public that with this newly entrusted power, they'll be able to raise our taxes and make that money worthwhile. 

I just don't see any of that happening. The Democrats banked on a bad Republican run, and now have 2/3 of our Federal Government in the wings. But to me, that just sets them up for an even bigger fall than after Bush. The Dems have 2 years before the next set of elections, and Obama has 4 years before his term is up. If nothing happens during that time, expect even bigger sweeping changes to the other side. 

RP