Unileaks

Hey everyone... its been almost 2 years since my last post. I have been posting regularly at

http://unileaks.wordpress.com/

where I am 'leaking the truth about the universe'... Not too pretentious, eh?

The Answer to EVERYTHING

In a daydream the other day, everything came together. As I watched pedestrians walking on Yonge street from my balcony, I solved life's riddle. Putting it into words was a little tough, but this is the best I could come up with:

People are a product of their era: an essence, a soul molded by the struggles of their time.

Our identities are the product of a random but unique pairing of genetic and environmental factors

If we were all came to this realization, the divided but once mighty people of Babel would reunite.

War, injustice, greed, aggression would cease.

Perspective, we all need to change our God dammed perspective.

My subsequent posts will break down each of these five statements and shed light on what I mean.

Strip generator

Click Image to make it larger

I found a site through www.lifehacker.com called strip generator (http://stripgenerator.com) that allows anybody to generate quick 3 panels comic strips, feel free to post a link to your own comic strips in the comments!!

Its 2009...

So its 2009. Everybody has an ipod, a smart phone, high speed internet or access to internet via school or a library. We have pretty much flattened the world into a leveled playing field. Globalization has made international collaborations not only possible but favorable. Its 2009 and the world is changing, everybody has a voice, access to information. Do we still need Members of Parliament to vote on our behalf?

Maybe its the quote from the V for Vendetta, where V says that although governments are responsible for atrocities, it is truly the people who are guilty. The people vote for a government and hide behind it when times get tough. Its sort of an easy way out, to relieve oneself of any responsibility. A citizen will vote for his government, disagree on several decisions and merely complains behind closed doors without any further reaction. "The government should be afraid of its people, not the people afraid of their government" (paraphrased from V for Vendetta).

Many US citizens disagreed with the invasion of Iraq. Many in Canada are unsatisfied with sending our troops to Afghanistan or our unwillingness to abide by the Kyoto protocol. Do we really? Do we have the courage to do anything else after complaining? Lets find out. I have the solution: the internet.

How cliche right? Seriously, we elect MPs to represent us in Parliament, but what happens if we disagree with how they vote. Grassroots organizations will say "write to your MP", but how efective is a letter writting campaign once the decision has been made? Can't we have a more direct influence on our government besides our 1 vote every election? I think the internet can be used to get the each citizen's vote on important issues voted in Parliament. In principle, the MP casts his vote based on what the people in his district want. Does an MP actually do this? How does he know what his voters want?

What if there was some sort of online vote for every citizen to participate in several days before Parliament officaly votes on the issue. This way if 58% of a certain district agrees with the deployment of Canadian troops in Pakistan, then that district's MP can confidently vote with the best interest of his people. This sounds more like democracy doesnt it?

For those afraid of voter fraud and hackers, technology alows us to file income tax statements online, many of us trust online banking. Thus, verifying someone's ID online is not a factor anymore in 2009.

What about people whod "don't understand politics"? It is your duty as a responsible citizen to inform yourself. Also, politicians simply need to break down the nature of each issue, debate it if necessary so the population understands what it is voting on. However, if a citizen is still unsure about an issue, he can always vote to "trust the MP" instead of making his own decision on the online poll. People who really dont care could even preset all of their future online votes to be a "vote of confidence in their MP". Be warned... this will take away your right to complain!!!

My biggest fear is lack of interest. However, if the next generation of children is brought up to be active citizens, informed about their country and its policies this should remedy present day apathy. Also once a citizen eventually disagrees with its government then this will encourage more voting next time around. Look at the voter turnout after 8 years of GW Bush! I think a lot of voter apathy in Canada is due to the lack of any real choice. This online voting suggestion makes us all directly involved in Canada's future, in a very tangible way.

Any thoughts?

The social fart

If there is one place that is completely impersonal in urban life, it’s the elevator. There is one simple rule: two is eye contact, three is a frown. Part one of the rule addresses one specific context: if person A is in the elevator and person B walks in it is OK to acknowledge each other's presence with eye contact and the optional head nod. Part two limits the nature of this interaction: if person C comes in, it is proper etiquette to look down at your shoes. If you are feeling particularly social you can look at someone else’s shoe. The more people there are the less likely the chance of eye contact. In the crowded elevator this morning, (its Monday… I know) I was looking at my shoes and thought… this is ridiculous… I looked up to find the other occupants either looking down or at the ceiling. The ceiling? That’s brilliant… shoes get kind of mundane after a while, especially in the winter when your toes are not visible.

The only superstars in the cold cold elevator world are dogs. In a crowded elevator, everybody will look at a dog and someone might even say “what kind of dog is it?” or “what’s his name?” And it becomes like a mini-party in the elevator…

The only other option to instigate some sort of social interaction is the fart. I have thought of this on a few occasions, because whenever there is a strange smell in an elevator things get interesting. Everybody acts casual but subtly looks up and shifts their eyes from side to side trying to figure out who the culprit is. It’s like a murder mystery… everybody is a suspect. If the farter is a skilled criminal he will also look disgusted to hide his guilt. In this case, it is advised to use the "smell gradient". Does it smell more like fart on my right or my left. This helps eliminate suspects.

Enjoy your next elevator ride!

Please Comment!!!

I just realized I had the comments section set to "users only". Now anybody can comment.

For me, the most satisfying thing about writing this blog is the comments and discussions it generates.

Vedanta

I recently stumbled upon the works of Alan Watts, a British philosopher, writer, speaker and guru of comparative religion. He essentially spent different parts of his life learning about all the major religions. His biography includes zen training, a Masters in Christian theology and a stint as a Episcopalian priest. He is best known for his interpretation and explanation of Asian philosophies to the Western world. Reading one of his most well know books (The Book - On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are) I came across an interesting concept I wanted to share: Vedanta. Vedantic philosophy is based on any single book and has 2 simple postulations:

1- Human nature is divine
2- The aim of human life is to realize that human nature is divine

Based on Watts’ book this is my understanding of this philosophy. Everything in the universe that we define has an opposite because without day there is no night, no mountain top if there is no valley, no space if there are no objects. In a nutshell, you would not know what light was if there was no dark. This is the same as the yin-yang concept in Chinese philosophy.
There is however one concept with no counterpart: God. I am choosing the word “God” because I speak English, but this is in no way the same God as Christianity. This is the concept of “God” which encompasses all of creation, the Self of the universe. In this context, God cannot be described since there is no counterpart. Thus, to this extent EVERYTHING is god: you, me the laptop you are using, oxygen molecules, etc. Watts uses a childish analogy to explain this concept: it’s as if God was playing hide and seek with himself through all of his creations: humans, stars, animals, plants, etc. God does this so well that he does not remember doing this and it takes time to remember. Ultimately, one day we will all wake up, stop pretending and realize we are all the same universal self. So when good or bad happens, it’s always “self-inflicted” by the Universal self.

I won’t complicate things with more details. I just thought this concept was pretty mind blowing. It reminds me of another concept I read awhile back which says that since the whole universe is made up of the same matter/atoms/energy, it is all one giant unity. We are a part of it, indistinguishable.

Have a good weekend my atom-brothers...