fugitives and refugees

by chuck palahniuk. this guy is the author of fight club, choke, and lullaby (none of which i've actually read - yet). but he lives in portland, and this book is basically a list of things to do here, interspersed with zany stories about all the weird people in portland (there's lots). so, rather than a book review, this serves as a list of "things to do in portland"

* visit USS Blueback
* visit the self-cleaning house
* tour the underground shanghai tunnels
* watch or participate in adult soap-box derby - August 10
* drive on timberline highway: driving down from the lodge turn right under the first ski lift post.
* fire department ride-along
* monk for a month at the Trappist Abbey in Lafayette
* visit OMSI - museum of science and industry
* watch the drama at eviction court: Multonomah County Courthouse Room 120 M-F 9am
*restaurants that chuck likes: alibi, delta cafe, fuller's, le happy, western culinary institute (6 course meal for $20), wild abandon
* visit mount gleall castle: 2591 sw buckingham ave
* ride to sauvie island
* see the real knife from psycho at movie madness
* galleries: BICC at OHSC, Art Gym at Marylhurst, Cooley Gallery at Reed, Archer Gallery at Clark College.
* see the mills used for grinding my steel cut oatmeal at bob's red mill
* the smallest park in the world: mill end park at sw front and taylor
* other parks: Columbia Gorge Hotel, Maryhill Museum, bishop's close (11800 sw military lane), elk rock island, the grotto at rocky butte, the recycled gardens, rooftop sculpture garden (9th floor mark o. hatfield courthouse).

the holographic universe

by michael talbot. this is a fun forray into the grand theory of everything. basically, everything is a hologram acording to physicist David Bohm ("Wholeness and the Implicate Order"): waves interfere with each other to form images, objects, everything. that which we can perceive is the explicate order and that which we cannot is the implicate. the implicate contains the explicate, and the boundaries are also constantly wavering. the interesting thing about a hologram is that every part of the hologram contains all parts of itself. therefore if you take a piece of holographic film and split it in half, the image does not split, but remains as two whole images. the results are quite profound: the normal distinctions we draw don't actually exist. you and i don't exist as separate entities but are just an interference pattern from the same cosmic unity. moreover, time doesn't exist in the linear sense that we think it does, the "past" and "future" are equally accessible as the present.

talbot starts from the interesting results of quantum mechanics (nonlocality, uncertainty, conscious observer effect) and moves on to note findings in not only physics, but neurobiology, dreaming, psychokinesis, near death experiences, out of body experiences, religious miracles, reincarnation, psychic powers, and even ghosts. see? fun! what's more interesting is that people are starting to study things like psychokinesis and the results are startling - it seems that we all have the ability (at least to some degree) to control and effect the world around us with our beliefs and minds.

moreover, there is a bias or trend in science to discount these experiences as not testable or verifiable, which means they are often not studied or simply ignored. it has also been shown that the belief of the scientist running the "new agey" experiments influences the actual results of the experiment. children often experience these "other dimensions" more often than adults perhaps because adults have had so much conditioning as to what "is possible."

some interesting notes:
*an ink drop spun in a glycerine tube undergoes reverse entropy
* stigmata is manifest through deep belief: stigmatists portray wounds on the palms instead of the more accurate location of the wrists. this is likely due to artistic interpretation of crucifiction occuring on the palm.
*when we dream, we typically have access to information that is beyond our waking knowledge (i.e., we can learn new things when dreaming).
*in chinese medicine, the method of mapping the entire body to the foot, or the ear is an example of a hologram
* people being able to see with with the tips of their fingers, ear lobes, tip of the nose, and even, yes, armpits.
* Immanuel Kant's *Dreams of a Spirit-Seer* an account of Swedenborg: "we are constituted by the intersection of two flows: one direct from the divine, and one indirect from the divine through our environment."
* The Conibo Indians of the Peruvian Amazon use of ayahuasca ("soul vine") - a hallucinogenic plant that when taken transports even lay people to exceedingly similar dimensions that the Conibo shamans visit regularly.

Personality Test

these are fun. and probably meaningless.

Extraversion |||||||||||| 46%
Stability |||||||||||| 50%
Orderliness |||||||||||||| 60%
Accommodation |||||||||||||||| 63%
Interdependence |||||||||||||||| 70%
Intellectual |||||||||||||||||||| 83%
Mystical |||||||||||||||||||| 83%
Artistic |||||||||| 36%
Religious |||||||||||| 43%
Hedonism |||| 16%
Materialism |||||| 30%
Narcissism |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Adventurousness |||||||||||||||| 70%
Work ethic |||||||||||| 50%
Self absorbed |||||||||||| 43%
Conflict seeking |||||| 30%
Need to dominate |||||| 30%

Romantic |||||||||||||||| 70%
Avoidant |||||||||||||||| 63%
Anti-authority |||||| 30%
Wealth |||||||||||| 50%
Dependency |||||||||| 36%
Change averse |||||||||| 36%
Cautiousness |||||| 30%
Individuality |||||| 23%
Sexuality |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Peter pan complex |||||||||||| 50%
Physical security |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Physical fitness |||||||||||||||||||| 84%
Histrionic |||||||||||| 43%
Paranoia |||||||||||| 43%
Vanity |||||||||||||| 56%
Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||||| 76%
Female cliche |||| 16%

Siddhartha

"I am telling you what I have discovered. Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it. In every truth the opposite is equally true. A truth can only be expressed and enveloped in words if it is one-sided. Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided, only half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity. But the world around us, is never one sided. Never is a man or a deed wholly Samsara or wholly Nirvana; never is a man wholly a saint or a sinner. This only seems so because we suffer the illusion that time is something real. Time is not real."

3rd anniversary

The Iraq War began four years ago March 18th. Here are the numbers:

Minimum Iraqi Dead: 33638
American Dead: 2311

Total Minimum Dead: 35,949

Portland is holding protests on March 19 and I intend on joining them. If you don't support this war, I encourage you to get out in your town and vote with your feet. Stand up and be counted and call for change.

it's getting hot in here...

Probably the single most atrocious act the Bush administration has committed is ignoring the worldwide scientific evidence that the world is warming up, it is our fault , and we're not doing anything about it.. It's not sad that we will cease to exist as a species. Everything that lives must die. What is sad is that if we and the rest of the planet cease to exist because we didn't change our behavior to be more in tune with the laws of nature and we could have done so. Don't wait for the government to sign on to these treaties. Don't wait for Ford to come out with a green car. Take action, yourself, now.

why we fight

a film by Eugene Jarecki. This documentary explores the idea that America is controlled by what President Eisenhower saw as a growing "industrial-military complex." That is, since WWII America has used the industrial revolution primarily to build the biggest army in the history of the world. This is not news. What is interesting about this film is how it explores the motivation for war from a business perspective (the defense industry operates on an average profit margin of 25% and is rife with sweetheart deals) and the ideologies that purport that America should be the lone super-power in the world. Most Americans don't know why we are at war in Iraq, yet it is tolerated. Just as it was tolerated in any previous war - the original reasons for going to war eventually evaporate in a cloud of lies and secrecy.

Who is to blame? We are, essentially. We elect congress and they sit idly, ignoring these problems. So called "liberal democrats" constantly support funding of defense contractors because their constituents are employed by these same contracts. The contractors intentionally distribute the manufacture of their goods across the states to build political clout.

The federal budget for 2007 is 2.2 trillion dollars. Depending on what you're counting as military expenditure (and I'm inclined to agree with the latter number) somewhere between 20-50% of federal taxes are spent on the military. I pay $246 a month in federal taxes. This means that I'm donating somewhere between $50 - $123 a month to kill and influence people. That makes me physically ill.

The real reason we're in Iraq? To extend American imperialism. How does one do that? Insure that the military remains strong. Iraq is a strategic target in that it contains the world's second largest oil reserves. This oil is for your cars, sure, but its also to secure our place as the number one super-power. If the oil goes away, so does the ability for us to operate our armed forces.

What are we afraid of? What do we think will be taken away from us if we are suddenly not the superpower we are now?

If you disagree with me, you should be able to answer this question.

Cal Rugby!

A funny thing happened when I was in New Zealand hitch-hiking around the south island. I was standing literally in the middle of nowhere. There was a car about every 30 minutes and I wasn't getting picked up. After an hour (although you wouldn't bat an eye at an 0-2 record in the states, its worth mentioning that the kiwis always pick you up), this small RV pulls up and two americans ask where i'm headed. We're going to the same place so I jump in. These two guys turn out to go to Cal and are on the Rugby team! Even when you're down under its a small world. I'll hopefully be in seattle at the end of march to watch them cream washington.

Here's their schedule.

administration spying

so, i'm concerned about all this hubub about the administration spying without warrants. i'm not a lawyer. i have no idea whether it was illegal or not, and at some point that will be decided. but i do know that if it isn't illegal, it sure as hell should be. we have these checks and balances in place for a purpose, and the spirit of the law as i understand it is that this type of warantless spying should be illegal. if there was a loophole that was exploited i sure hope we close it. and quick.

still life with woodpecker

by tom robbins. this has truly been a year of tom robbins. and he is genius. still. this is my friend sam's favorite book of all time and i read it on his recommendation. it did not disappoint. there are a lot of really great nuggets in here, and i bookmarked many pages to remind me, but instead of quoting them all i'll just say go read it your damn self and be your own explorer. its better when we're told that there's gold in them thar hills and we risk finding it ourselves. even if it turns out to be fool's gold.

2005

happy new year everyone! i feel so blessed to have had the year i did. i was going to write something summarizing 2005, but every time i try words aren't cutting it.

best to you all in 2006.

christmas ships

my boss invited me out on his big boat for the annual running of the portland christmas ships. basically a bunch of boats cruise up and down the willamette river at night with a bunch of lights on their boats. there's food and drink and good times. it was freezing cold but we had a really beautiful clear night. there were about 14 boats in total. portland is such a beautiful city and seeing it from the water and cruising underneath all the bridges was a real treat.

i've posted some pictures of the ships and my new face. people were worried after those last pictures, but as you can see, its healing nicely.

happy holidays everyone!

the kite runner

by Khaled Hosseini. This book is on the NYT bestseller list and has been for awhile, and for good reason. Though the overall devices and structure that Hosseini uses are a bit simplistic for my tastes, the subject matter was riveting and haunting. His descriptive powers are intense - actually his non-descripritve powers are intense. Instead of detailing horror he alludes to it just enough to send your imagination flying off into the possibilities and as the novel climaxed I found myself more and more wanting to put it down because it seemed a bit too terrible. But I was engrossed, and would highly recommend the read. While the middle east is in the news spotlight daily, this novel serves as an important cultural and humane insight that is so often lacking in the daily orgy of journo-politicking of the region.

my new favorite site

just when you thought the internet wasn't impressive anymore, another example of collective amazingness emerges.

the most important posting

i met a beautiful canadian couple while travelling in new zealand (and we randomly ran into each other in thailand too) named laura and chris. as it turns out, chris personally knows one of the peace workers who were recently kidnapped in Iraq.

please take 30 seconds and sign this petition by clicking here.

i've included chris' email here:

You know that I do not like to send email blasts with frivolous messages, but this is very personal and important, so please take a look at this forward and the link below.

Many of you will know that four peace workers were recently kidnapped in Iraq. It just so happens that I (Chris) know one of them well from my days at Columbus Boys' Camp and Sault Ste. Marie. His name is James Loney and he has been an advocate for peace and social change locally in Toronto and globally as well. Knowing that's being held captive has really brought the horror of the Iraq war home. The charges laid against him for spying are absurd and we must do something to help.

We've all felt helpless with this war, and now Lara and I are hoping that by signing the petition and sending an email to the Muslim media outlets, we can make differenc ein the war. By freeing Jim we are allowing him, and others that are as brave as he, to continue their work with the real victims of the war, the poor and forgotten in Iraq.

Jim was the kind of guy who helped the poorest of the poor. One summer at Columbus Boys' Camp, where we helped underpriviledged boys in the GTA, Jim felt so passionate about helping even needier boys, that he went to the inner city in New York. He brought back a group of kids who needed our kind of love and care. That's just the kind of person he is, selfless and kind. Please take a few minutes to help him out.

turkey day smackdown

so i woke up on monday afternoon in the ER with people stitching my face together. painfully. i didn't know how i got there, but when i asked they said i fell off my bike. i hit a pothole they said. the only thing i remember is going to bed sunday night. the next thing i know i'm in the ER. weird. i'm ok, minus the scars and swelling and concussion. if you have a strong stomach you can see what i looked like the day after here.

happy thanksgiving everyone.

i'm thankful i'm alive.

why density?

being raised in suburbia i sometimes long for the backyard to throw the frisbee around (or in the fall, a football). then i remember that i've read things and walk my ass down to the park.

from Better Dead than Red:

The population of New York City is larger than that of 39 states. But because dense apartment housing is more energy efficient, New York City uses less energy than any state. Conversely, suburban living--with its cars, highways, and single-family houses flanked by pesticide-soaked lawns--saps energy and devastates the ecosystem.

strangers on a train

if there was ever a time to support cheap, efficient forms of transportation, you'd think now is the time. Apparently, the administration doesn't think so. From the New York Times editorial today:

The sudden firing by the Amtrak board of David Gunn, the best president in years of the nation's only passenger railroad, was a body blow to anybody who cares about long-range passenger trains.

Mr. Gunn has done a masterly job in the last three years of holding down costs without dismantling the railroad. That, apparently, was his problem. Mr. Gunn was trying to save Amtrak, but the Bush administration wants to privatize it, bit by bit.

The battle between Mr. Gunn and Amtrak board members - all of them appointed by President Bush - intensified in recent weeks when the board took steps to break off the more profitable Northeast Corridor, putting it into its own division and sharing its control and costs with the states. Senator Frank Lautenberg, Democrat of New Jersey, called it a "fire sale" intended to break up the nation's railroad system.

So last week Senator Lautenberg and Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, managed to get a 93-to-6 vote to authorize $11.6 billion for passenger rail service in the next six years - as close to an all-out endorsement of Amtrak as you can get.

But while senators were trying to help Amtrak move forward, its board took a step backward. It complained yesterday that Mr. Gunn - who has greatly increased ridership, improved management and upgraded equipment - was moving too slowly. After his firing, Mr. Gunn said, "Obviously what their goal is, and it's been their goal from the beginning, is to liquidate the company."

For Amtrak's 25 million passengers, this should be a call to arms. Amtrak should be a public transportation trust. It will never be self-sufficient, nor show a conventional profit, any more than the airline industry can fly without federal help. The Bush administration long ago threatened to disassemble Amtrak. Yesterday it began at the executive suite.

autumn

the weather is definitely changing here in portland, and so i thought i'd share something from the Neijing, the classical text of chinese medicine:

In the three months of autumn all things in nature reach their full maturity. The grains ripen and harvesting occurs. The heavenly energy cools, as does the weather. The wind begins to stir. This is the changing or pivoting point when the yang, or active, phase turns into its opposite, the yin, or passive, phase. One should retire with the sunset and arise with the dawn. Just as the weather of autumn turns harsh, so does the emotional climate. It is therefore important to remain calm and peaceful, refraining from depression so that one can make the transition to winter smoothly. this is the time to gather one's spirit and energy, be more focused, and not allow desires to run wild. One must keep the lung energy full, clean, and quiet. This means practicing breathing exercises to enhance lung qi*. Also, one should refrain from both smoking and grief, the emotion of the lung. This will prevent kidney or digestive problems in the winter. If this natural order is violated, damage will occur in the lungs, resulting in diarrhea with undigested food in the winter. This compromises the body to store in the winter.

*a simple and effective breathing exercise is to sit upright and breathing through the nose, imagining energy beginning at the perinium crawling up the back of the spine to the top of the head on an in-breath and on the out-breath tracing down the front midline of the body to the genitals. touch the tongue to the top of the palette to complete the loop. you will find that you generate saliva while doing this. this is the good stuff and should be swallowed in three tiny sips as it occurs.

happy halloween!

halloween is one of my most favorite holidays.
i went to some hipster house party where a couple cool bands (narwhal and show me the pink) rocked the house.
i dressed up as a cast and had people sign me with various colored pens.
best signage, "have a great summer!"
my pumpkin is also pretty decent this year.