First, something not serious....

Update

Everything is okay, just haven't posted for awhile. :)

--brio

Reuters Photographer Doctored Photographs

It's funny because I stumbled upon this at a website a few days ago. It seemed almost surreal to think that this can occur. Perhaps I'm naive, but I generally trust the media. Some of it is hogwash, some of it is pure trash opinion, but overall, it balances out to be fairly reliable. I assume that this is more of an aberration than the norm, but it is still frightening.

For those of you not in the know, this Lebanese photographer added the smoke (notice how the plumes look very similar and made the buildings look more "destroyed" than they were.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/08/07/reuters.photog.reut/index.html

--brio

some things i stumbled across during my travels

i think it's funny, but obviously i don't think it's true.



















Symbolic Mutation by Jerry Uelsmann, 1961.

a good night's sleep

had beansprout yesterday for the first time in over 2 weeks. it was great. we played soccer, walked around the pond, watched ducks, danced, read books, and of course ate a nice dinner together. i'm glad she's back, i missed her.

--brio

Around the world in 15 seconds

Well, with this kind of news, you wouldn't want to waste any more time than that...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060807/od_nm/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060804/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/07/31/lonely.nation.ap/index.html

As we continue to abstract our environment with replacements for reality, we are creating a void that drives loneliness in our culture. The phone, email, instant messaging, text messaging, or blogging ;) does not replace our need for human connection. Nothing can replace the benefits of another person's touch as they rest their hand on your arm or their smile in response to a comment or their actual voice in a conversation. Not to mention a good ol' fashioned long hug! Don't forget the reason you're human-- it's easy to lose sight of that in this fast-paced world. Don't be afraid to reach out to someone else if you see they need it.

--brio

Title Source Code

I don't love you much do I

this song has been on almost contiguous repeat for days in my head.

I don’t love you much do I
Just more than human tongue can tell and that's all
I don’t love you much do I
Remember how I kissed you in the hall

Chorus

See how it sparkles in my eyes
I couldn’t hide it if I tried- that’s right
I don’t love you much do I
Just more than anything else in this whole world
I don’t love you much do I
Just more than all the stars in the sky
I don’t love you much do I
I think you hung the moon and that’s alright

Chorus

I don’t love you much do I
You can feel it all the way across the room
I don’t love you much do I
Like the spring doesn’t make the flowers bloom
I don’t love you much do I
I'd follow you to hell and back again
I don’t love you much do I
Just watch me light up when you walk in

Chorus

another screw up

i'm on a rollllllllll. i had planned on taking my org behavior quiz when i came back from the uk so i could watch all the lectures, then take the quiz. i remembered the quiz at 0148 last night (this morning), but it closes at midnight, so that's a big, fat zero in the gradebook.

on another note, i try not to be biased, but i really don't understand the anti-israel sentiment with respect to what is happening in lebanon. the crux of the argument seems to revolve around the fact that israel's response has been disproportionate to hezbollah's. so, hezbollah attacked and kidnapped several soldiers. israel mounted a military campaign that has displaced and killed civilians in retaliation. hezbollah launches 100-200 rockets a day at israeli cities with indiscriminate intent. the difference, i don't think the israeli military is hiding in civilian areas. and guess what, a pseudo-official paramilitary force with political representation that attacks another country, that's called war. and guess what happens in war, some people are accidentally killed-- does anybody really believe that the IDF would kill UN forces intentionally? there is absolutely no benefit. however, it does seem very likely that with the confusion of military operations that it might happen by accident. look at us, we accidentally bombed the chinese embassy in bosnia and we weren't engaged in a high-level conflict; we just made a mistake. as for the civilians being displaced, what do you expect? you're attacking a country, how else do you propose you implement your objectives? they're fighting an enemy that has used the red cross and crescent to transport weapons and soldiers-- are you surprised they're paranoid about vetting the aid supplies? incidentally, i don't recall the israeli mission being to "kill all arabs and eradicate lebanon", whereas, ironically enough, isn't hezbollah's mission the "destruction of the jewish/zionist state"? hmm... i know i have always found a way to reason with genocide. it's very easy to get swept up in this che guevara populist feeling, but the reality is that i think one side really just wants to be left alone, something that hasn't happened since 1948.

--brio

dream

i'm not sure if this is the beginning of it or not, but this is all i can remember right now. i'm out on the sea, i think it's night because everything is dark and the water looks black. i'm with somebody, i think i'm protecting a child, a young boy (i think), maybe 7 or 8 y/o. i don't really remember what he looks like. we're supposed to get somewhere, but we're being pursued and attacked. people everywhere on medium-sized ships are shooting at us. i'm not worried about me, i have a vague sense of invincibility and dream-like power to move very quickly and jump with him far distances. so we're literally leap-frogging on ships and various objects through the ocean toward some destination. i end up leaping to put us on the back of a whale that can travel faster than the ships pursuing us and control him with my mind to stay above water and steer him to where we're going. it's hard to describe what it looks like. water seems to flow upward into this gigantic (rising up to the clouds), shimmering, and glowing see-through mirror. the whale starts to go up in the water and i leap off his back through this portal (?) inside. everywhere i jump i'm able to take him with me by the hand. the inside is a large, very high room with stone stairs leading around the walls up. it feels like i'm in a tower. we get about halfway up when whomever was chasing us gets in and starts shooting at us again. we're caught parallel to them across the room, but on a higher level and they try to climb up both sets of stairs to get us. i'm able to hide us behind some ornament for protection while i engage with some kind of guns. it has a vague matrix feel, but not quite. once, i have them on the defense, i quickly do something to prevent them from following us-- i think i break the floor? and somehow get us up to the next floor. for some reason, i remember the fourth floor, and it felt like the fourth floor, but i don't remember 2 or 3. as soon as i get there, i see people on the other side of a barrier who just look at me. there is a fierce-looking black woman on my side of the barrier, who i know is against me, but i feel tired and tranquil. the room isn't very big. i think the boy goes and sits down on the other side of the room, while i go sit down next to the black woman. i have some sense that she's my enemy, but i can't help but go sit down next to her and she puts her arms around me and i become very drowsy and start to fall asleep. that's when i wake up.

i have no idea what the heck that means. it took me a few minutes after i woke up to put it back together. i did watch desperado and once upon a time in mexico, so it's quite possible that had some influence. as i wrote this, the number 4 seemed to have strong significance, but i don't know why. i used to have very vivid and lucid dreams all of the time, but not much lately. of course, i haven't been sleeping well in quite a while either.

i think this is what the lady looked like: http://lifeofbrio.blogspot.com/2006/04/disbelief.html.

--brio

response...

http://blogs.laweekly.com/fish/better-dead-than-read/
"George Bush announcing the deployment of more than 2000 American troops to the afterlife in the hopes of preventing Fidel Castro from destroying Heaven with communism, a ridiculously high literacy rate and universal healthcare."

cuba’s literacy rate: 97% (2003 est); US literacy rate 99% (2003 est.) ever seen what universal healthcare looks like? in the UK, it takes 3-4 months to schedule serious surgery. and as if the stereotype isn’t funny enough, ever look at the teeth of anyone in universal healthcare? UK, Japan, etc. I think most people would agree that anything the government administers will be at a reduced efficiency, why should healthcare not suffer from this maxim as well?

as for baghdad, we’re committed, we’re stuck. anybody have a suggestion that won’t have some negative result? we leave, the place collapses; we stay, more soldiers die.

sometimes, you let the history go. rationale does not bear much relevance at this point. we're in, people are going to die, and which way forward will prevent the most death while protecting our interests. it sucks, but that's realpolitik and real life.

done!

paper is finished. i'm a little drunk. llama ate well today. doing okay. maybe i'll be in good enough shape to take a run tomorrow morning and start getting back on track physically instead of being a lazy dope. well, if i'm going to get my act together, might as well do the whole shebang: physical, emotional, and spiritual. wouldn't be the first time i've set my sights on lofty heights. meet them or not, i'll be better for the attempt. :)

--brio

real love

you grow old together and you still want to constantly be in touch with them, their hand, their back, their leg, their lips. it's spiritual. not being with them is not being alive. it's the memories, the feelings, and the energy.

--brio

still stuck

1530- back in the apt. still haven't started on my paper. at least i have food in the house.

what now. what should i do.

today is recent roommate'sbirthday (need to come up with a better nickname). don't know where he is, but hope he's having fun.

--brio

off the ledge

I'm practicing for the end of the world
So I took my seatbelt off to go
Through the windshield.
I hope this will cleanse me before the end.
To shed blood, tears, and vomit
And thus be annealed.
While I lay there on an empty road,
I pray that aliens take me.
They'd take me away in their cold ship
To probe and dissect
and extract what I feel.

Let down

Children crying
With my tears
My heart pounds
It's beautiful
So it had to break.
I broke.
i'm ugly
with no god to forsake.
Take it,
It's no use broken.

damn it

i need to get out of this apt. i have a paper i need to write today for org behavior, but when i'm in this kind of funk, it ain't gonna happen. time to snap out of it.

a dog. ouch.

--brio