We left Chiang Mai by plane to Bangkok to go meet my brother and his wife Ana. It was good to see him and finally meet Ana, and long overdue. After a fun evening with them eating by the river and having a few drinks (purchased by them), I felt unusually bloated and full. This wasn't that unusual as I consumed a copious amount of food and beer, but something was different about this feeling. When I got into the taxi on the way home I started sweating profusely (even more profusely than usual) and felt dizzy. By then end of the taxi ride I was doing all I could to not belch forth whatever demons were in my stomach (something i'm pretty good at; both the holding in of, and expulsion of stomach demons).
We made it to our hostel, and I went straight to the lavatory. I prayed to the porcelin god for a few minutes, but none were answered, so I grabbed the rubber-maid trash bin on the way out and took it to my room. Moments after, I began a chorus of contrapuntal convulsions, likely looking like a cat coughing up a hair ball, but sounding much more violent and loud. Luckily the trash bin had a plastic bag lining. The next 6 hours were spent in the bathroom, alternating between oral and anal explosions. Anita felt fine. Good times.
The next day I felt much better, but my appetite for food was destroyed. Best diet ever. We caught the train to Vientianne, Laos, that evening. The train itself was something that was probably state of the art 50 years ago. It was very well put together but seemed shabby with age and the lack of newer facilities. It was comfortable in a Russian sub kind of way. It was a 14 hour journey, but we had sleeper seats (I had bottom bunk) so it wasn't too bad. At the border we received our visa, took a 30 minute taxi to Vientianne, and checked in. No a bad trip considering I was recovering from a stomach flu and it was 14 hours.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Finished in Chiang Mai
Anita just finished her 5 week massage course, and we are off to Pai now.
The cool things I did in Chiang Mai:
- Lit some latern baloons. These light paper lanterns capture the hot gases from the candle until they are bouyent enough to take off into the sky. It looks very cool to see something take flight from only hot air, and I have never seen it on such a small scale before. Once it takes off, it looks quite nice as it rises into the night sky, an orange dot against the blue black. There will be a festival where hundreds of them are released in a few days, so that will be good to check out.
- Finally finished a demo for my RPG book, Plutocracy 2060. It ended up being 203 pages long. I printed out 10 copies, and am looking into some E-publishing. Now it's on to the truly massive amount of spelling and grammar mistakes.
- Went to a fish spa. Garra rufa is a tiny fish species that eats away at the dead skin on your body. So, a fish spa is a place where you put your legs (or your whole body) into a pool filled with the little suckers and they immediately begin to nibble away all your detritis. It's extremely bizarre seeing scores of these things surrounding your legs, giving you an extremely intense tickling feeling. Anita and I sat there laughing for about 15 minutes until we got used to it for the last 30 mintues. Pretty cool experiance.
- Went to an herbal steam bath. Very hot, hard to breath, and somewhat uncomfortable. Felt nice and clean when I was done though.
Thats about all the touristy things we have done there, since Anita wanted to rest on the weekends and I was more than happy to plug away at my RPG. Now, its back to backpacking for a while.
The cool things I did in Chiang Mai:
- Lit some latern baloons. These light paper lanterns capture the hot gases from the candle until they are bouyent enough to take off into the sky. It looks very cool to see something take flight from only hot air, and I have never seen it on such a small scale before. Once it takes off, it looks quite nice as it rises into the night sky, an orange dot against the blue black. There will be a festival where hundreds of them are released in a few days, so that will be good to check out.
- Finally finished a demo for my RPG book, Plutocracy 2060. It ended up being 203 pages long. I printed out 10 copies, and am looking into some E-publishing. Now it's on to the truly massive amount of spelling and grammar mistakes.
- Went to a fish spa. Garra rufa is a tiny fish species that eats away at the dead skin on your body. So, a fish spa is a place where you put your legs (or your whole body) into a pool filled with the little suckers and they immediately begin to nibble away all your detritis. It's extremely bizarre seeing scores of these things surrounding your legs, giving you an extremely intense tickling feeling. Anita and I sat there laughing for about 15 minutes until we got used to it for the last 30 mintues. Pretty cool experiance.
- Went to an herbal steam bath. Very hot, hard to breath, and somewhat uncomfortable. Felt nice and clean when I was done though.
Thats about all the touristy things we have done there, since Anita wanted to rest on the weekends and I was more than happy to plug away at my RPG. Now, its back to backpacking for a while.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Chang Mai
Life has been very low key and relaxing since we have come to Chang Mai. We found an awesome guest house that only charged 200 dollars a month, and I worked out a deal where I get unlimited access to their computer room for the month for 20 dollars (which is a SUPER good deal as its the nicest cybercafe I've seen here).
Anita is taking a 5 week massage course here, and she is pretty stoked about it. I'm happy to as it has given me a chance to finish the RPG book I've been working on for about 7 years now.
My days here are always the same, so I'll talk about the routine I've been following for the past four weeks.
8:30-9:30 -I wake up. Anita has gone to school, and I begin my day by showering usually. Though lately I have been so excited about getting my ideas about the book into words I skip the shower 50% of the time.
9:30-10:00 - I eat a delicious breakfast. Its either bacon, eggs, toast, and tea, green curry soup, chicken masala, or red curry vegetables and rice. It usually costs about 4$. Then I go to a juice vender that sells freshly squeezed orange juice and I buy a 500ml bottle for one dollar. Freshly squeezed orange juice is fan-bloody-tastic. I get it in the morning, an hour or so after it has been squeezed. I love how cheap it is here.
10:00-4:00 - I work on my RPG book, Plutocracy 2060. Thats right. I spend 5 or 6 hours a day typing out ideas and rules concerning the RPG game. I've been a writing fiend lately. In the past 4 weeks, I have spent about 150 hours working on the game.
4:30-5:00 - I watch the end of "Grey's Anatomy". Its a show about doctors who act like teenagers.
5:00 -10:00 I go for an early supper with Anita. In the evening we either go for a movie, watch T.V. that I have downloaded, or go exploring.
10:00 - bed time
It may sound boring, but I have been having an awesome time.
Anita is taking a 5 week massage course here, and she is pretty stoked about it. I'm happy to as it has given me a chance to finish the RPG book I've been working on for about 7 years now.
My days here are always the same, so I'll talk about the routine I've been following for the past four weeks.
8:30-9:30 -I wake up. Anita has gone to school, and I begin my day by showering usually. Though lately I have been so excited about getting my ideas about the book into words I skip the shower 50% of the time.
9:30-10:00 - I eat a delicious breakfast. Its either bacon, eggs, toast, and tea, green curry soup, chicken masala, or red curry vegetables and rice. It usually costs about 4$. Then I go to a juice vender that sells freshly squeezed orange juice and I buy a 500ml bottle for one dollar. Freshly squeezed orange juice is fan-bloody-tastic. I get it in the morning, an hour or so after it has been squeezed. I love how cheap it is here.
10:00-4:00 - I work on my RPG book, Plutocracy 2060. Thats right. I spend 5 or 6 hours a day typing out ideas and rules concerning the RPG game. I've been a writing fiend lately. In the past 4 weeks, I have spent about 150 hours working on the game.
4:30-5:00 - I watch the end of "Grey's Anatomy". Its a show about doctors who act like teenagers.
5:00 -10:00 I go for an early supper with Anita. In the evening we either go for a movie, watch T.V. that I have downloaded, or go exploring.
10:00 - bed time
It may sound boring, but I have been having an awesome time.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Kanchanaburi
We set off from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi in a moderately pleasant bus. The 2.5 hour trip went by fast and we got an overweight lady to take us to our hotel in her bicycle taxi. Its amazing that she could be overweight with that job, pulling an extra 200kg or so more than what one normally has when biking, and doing it many times throughout the day.
After a 10 minute ride we arrived at our hostel. It looked very small from the street, but discovered that it went about 250 meters in, all the way to the river. After descending some stairs we walked across a long walk way 2 meters above swampy algae and weed filled water. On either side of the walk way were 2 levels of bamboo bungalows, Swiss Family Robinson style. Ours was at the very end of the walkway facing the river, which was nice. It was very private and had a definite "I'm in Thailand!" feel. We had a nice porch were we could sit and watch the river while having a drink. It was late, so we didn't do much that night, we just ate and read books. That night Anita became very concerned about largish creepy crawlies shuffling about room so she couldn't sleep, but I didn't hear much and slept fine.
The Next day we went to a 1-day Thai cooking course we signed up for. The lady spoke very expressively, which helped us get through any poor English quite easily. There were 6 people in total in our group, a young British man, an older Aussie, and a young couple people from the Netherlands. First, we went to the traditional market to look at ingrediants. It was a very raw place, with things like skinned frogs, but nothing we were not prepared for. After we got to the kitchen we made pad thai, green curry chicken, spicy chicken salad, thai fried rice, and tom yam (spicy soup). We kicked ass at making all the dishes, but of course she held our hand while making them and we will likely screw them up when we try to replicate them at home. Our green curry in particular was awesome. I scalded my mouth quite badly when trying to taste it, leaving a painful burn in my left inner cheek for the next week or so.
The next day was animal day, dubbed such because we were going on an elephant ride trek, and to go to the tiger temple (yes, a temple with many tigers). The elephant ride was awesome. We had a huge elephant and a very experianced elephant trainer who let me ride atop the head of the elephant. It was even more fun when the elephants went for a bath in a clear river, with us atop of them. Whenever the elephants dunked, we went under as well. We soaped up and scrubbed their heads with rough brushes before other dunkings. It was good fun. Later in the day we went to a Buddhist temple where they have been taking care of orphaned tigers for decades. Now, just as Buddha would have wanted, the are used to draw in hundreds of tourists every day to take robotically calculated photos while touching them. It was fun touch them for a couple of seconds before being escourted to the next 10 second photo op. All in all, the elephant ride was much better, as it was less crowded and more personal.
The next day we departed on a 13 hour journey to Chang Mai (and we saw a huge iguana just outside of our bungalow on the walkway when we awoke early that morning, probably 1.5 meters head to tail, it scurried away when it saw us).
After a 10 minute ride we arrived at our hostel. It looked very small from the street, but discovered that it went about 250 meters in, all the way to the river. After descending some stairs we walked across a long walk way 2 meters above swampy algae and weed filled water. On either side of the walk way were 2 levels of bamboo bungalows, Swiss Family Robinson style. Ours was at the very end of the walkway facing the river, which was nice. It was very private and had a definite "I'm in Thailand!" feel. We had a nice porch were we could sit and watch the river while having a drink. It was late, so we didn't do much that night, we just ate and read books. That night Anita became very concerned about largish creepy crawlies shuffling about room so she couldn't sleep, but I didn't hear much and slept fine.
The Next day we went to a 1-day Thai cooking course we signed up for. The lady spoke very expressively, which helped us get through any poor English quite easily. There were 6 people in total in our group, a young British man, an older Aussie, and a young couple people from the Netherlands. First, we went to the traditional market to look at ingrediants. It was a very raw place, with things like skinned frogs, but nothing we were not prepared for. After we got to the kitchen we made pad thai, green curry chicken, spicy chicken salad, thai fried rice, and tom yam (spicy soup). We kicked ass at making all the dishes, but of course she held our hand while making them and we will likely screw them up when we try to replicate them at home. Our green curry in particular was awesome. I scalded my mouth quite badly when trying to taste it, leaving a painful burn in my left inner cheek for the next week or so.
The next day was animal day, dubbed such because we were going on an elephant ride trek, and to go to the tiger temple (yes, a temple with many tigers). The elephant ride was awesome. We had a huge elephant and a very experianced elephant trainer who let me ride atop the head of the elephant. It was even more fun when the elephants went for a bath in a clear river, with us atop of them. Whenever the elephants dunked, we went under as well. We soaped up and scrubbed their heads with rough brushes before other dunkings. It was good fun. Later in the day we went to a Buddhist temple where they have been taking care of orphaned tigers for decades. Now, just as Buddha would have wanted, the are used to draw in hundreds of tourists every day to take robotically calculated photos while touching them. It was fun touch them for a couple of seconds before being escourted to the next 10 second photo op. All in all, the elephant ride was much better, as it was less crowded and more personal.
The next day we departed on a 13 hour journey to Chang Mai (and we saw a huge iguana just outside of our bungalow on the walkway when we awoke early that morning, probably 1.5 meters head to tail, it scurried away when it saw us).
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Thailand part I - Bangkok
We flew into Bangkok from KL and landed without incident. There was the usual crowd of transportation services ready to take you into town for inflated prices, but we bargained one of them down to less than 1/2 his original asking price, which felt good.
Our hostel was a nice place, a midrange hostel with aircon (we are addicted to it) and hot water. It provided internet service and boasted a pleasant garden and pond outside, as well as an ashtray in the shape of "predator's" head, which I appreciated despite not using it.
Also good was the location. The street is famous for food stalls and sold some delicious curries and other traditional Thai dishes for about 1 dollar.
On one day there we checked out all the traditional Buddhist temples and statues, including the largest Buddha in the world. It was enjoyable despite the heat, and we got some good exercise and culture out of it. We wanted to end the day with a forensic museum whose claim to fame is the possession of a bloody shirt of a man who was stabbed to death with a dildo, but couldn't find it after looking for it for a long time, so we ate dinner instead.
On another day we went to see "Bangkok Dangerous", a terrible movie. The most entertaining part was Nicolas Cage's absurd hair. It was an excellent time. Why you ask? Because we reclined in very comfortable electronically controlled lazy boys under blankets. Yep, its the only way to watch movies I am now convinced.
After a couple of more days of checking out the sights, reading books, watching movies, and drinking expensive coffees we decided to go see a Muay Thai fight.
Muay Thai is perhaps the most vicious of all striking martial arts. It allows knees and head butts as well as punching and kicking, making the moves much more unpredictable. We went all out and got some ringside tickets, so we could taste the blood spatter more discerningly. I started downing beers to enjoy a little of the ol' ultra-violence with my glossy globes. The music played is dis harmonic and comes from what sounds to be some wind instrument. If you've seen a Thai fight on TV then you know what I'm talking about. It really gives you an anxious hyper feeling which lends to violent behavior. The first few fights were very light weight, but that didn't stop the crowd from shouting their bets with raised fists and crescendoing "Owwww"s every time a hit was landed. The best fight of the night was very evenly fought. One fighter won because he lacerated his opponents eyebrow with a vicious elbow, causing him to leak everywhere which each additional hit. Over the next few minutes the sanguine fluid was spattered across the mat and his back like Nosferatu's Pollack painting.
All in all our time in Bangkok was good, but I would say its not marketed towards couples as much as groups of rabid men.
Our hostel was a nice place, a midrange hostel with aircon (we are addicted to it) and hot water. It provided internet service and boasted a pleasant garden and pond outside, as well as an ashtray in the shape of "predator's" head, which I appreciated despite not using it.
Also good was the location. The street is famous for food stalls and sold some delicious curries and other traditional Thai dishes for about 1 dollar.
On one day there we checked out all the traditional Buddhist temples and statues, including the largest Buddha in the world. It was enjoyable despite the heat, and we got some good exercise and culture out of it. We wanted to end the day with a forensic museum whose claim to fame is the possession of a bloody shirt of a man who was stabbed to death with a dildo, but couldn't find it after looking for it for a long time, so we ate dinner instead.
On another day we went to see "Bangkok Dangerous", a terrible movie. The most entertaining part was Nicolas Cage's absurd hair. It was an excellent time. Why you ask? Because we reclined in very comfortable electronically controlled lazy boys under blankets. Yep, its the only way to watch movies I am now convinced.
After a couple of more days of checking out the sights, reading books, watching movies, and drinking expensive coffees we decided to go see a Muay Thai fight.
Muay Thai is perhaps the most vicious of all striking martial arts. It allows knees and head butts as well as punching and kicking, making the moves much more unpredictable. We went all out and got some ringside tickets, so we could taste the blood spatter more discerningly. I started downing beers to enjoy a little of the ol' ultra-violence with my glossy globes. The music played is dis harmonic and comes from what sounds to be some wind instrument. If you've seen a Thai fight on TV then you know what I'm talking about. It really gives you an anxious hyper feeling which lends to violent behavior. The first few fights were very light weight, but that didn't stop the crowd from shouting their bets with raised fists and crescendoing "Owwww"s every time a hit was landed. The best fight of the night was very evenly fought. One fighter won because he lacerated his opponents eyebrow with a vicious elbow, causing him to leak everywhere which each additional hit. Over the next few minutes the sanguine fluid was spattered across the mat and his back like Nosferatu's Pollack painting.
All in all our time in Bangkok was good, but I would say its not marketed towards couples as much as groups of rabid men.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Books I've read recently
I've read more books in the last 1.5 months than I have in the last 3 years, so I figured that I would mention them and my opinions of them, since they have been on my mind a lot as I travel.
In order of reading:
"Does Anything Eat Wasps?" Mick O'Hare
This is an interesting book for those who like to say "Did you know that blah blah blah...". I often like to do that, and its alienated me with strangers (especially girls) many many times. Anyway, the book is full of obscure scientific trivia and I enjoyed it.
"A Short History of Nearly Everything", Bill Bryson
This is another good book for trivia, and follows a brief history of scientific development, paying particular attention to the egos who developed the theories. A good book but a bit too biographical for me. I wanted more on the theories, but didn't need quite as much biographical and historical context. Still good book though.
"Permutation City", Greg Egan
A book about "mind downloading" and the nature of consciousness and reality. Very good book, though the last bits were less interesting than the first parts for me and seemed to have a couple of incoherent ideas (I won't include spoilers). It maybe bit off more than it can chew by including too many grand themes. Great writing and contains an almost intimidating amount of hard science and philosophy (typical of Greg Egan's work). In any case, an fascinating book I would recommend to almost all of my friends.
"The End of Faith", Sam Harris
A very well argued book, and I find it hard to disagree with almost all of his points (though there's a few bits in consciousness and his hard consequentialist ethics I find difficult to accept). Also, though he clearly acknowledges that there may be faith based secular societies that can have disastrous effects, he focuses much more narrowly on specific religions. In my mind a few short pages are not enough to describe historical disastors of faith based secular societies such as Pol Pot's, Kim Jung Il's, Hitler's, Stalin's, etc... It would have made him more immune to criticism I think to include more writing on this. However, his points are no less true or resounding, despite his focus on religion.
"1984", George Orwell
I've finally got around to reading it. What hasn't been said about this book already? Great book, and shows a sobering picture of society where big brother has completely overridden civil liberties. Recently reading that Fox News edits their own transcripts to correct mistakes that were actually made sickened me all the more, as it was one of the most horrifying aspects of 1984 (for example, when O'Reilly reverses the account of the Malmandy Massacre on TV twice, but the transcript doesn't reflect this, or their repeated attempts to manipulate Wikipedia on a variety of issues). It takes some serious "doublethink" to support those kinds of things.
"Blood Music", Greg Bear
Amazing book, one of my favorites. I can't believe it was written in 1984. Its one of the first "Grey Goo" sci-fi books that were written regarding nanites. Great writing and a great exploration of biotechnology and physics. I've made a mental note to read more Greg Bear books.
"Fairyland", Paul J. McAuley
This book has some very cool ideas. Its plot centers on the creation of bioengineered humans that end up resembling the mythical fae of European ilk in a variety of ways. Its an idea book, but I found the character's to be lacking depth and for that reason I can't say its an excellent book. Though after reading George R. Martin, most other author's characters seem a little less defined.
"The Electric Church", Jeff Somers
A pretty cool cyberpunk book involving a lot of action and gritty descriptions. A nice change of pace from the "hard sci-fi" I have been reading, but I have to say it was a little pulpy. An enjoyable read, but not one of my favs, and doesn't delve too deep.
"50 Philosophy Ideas you Really Need to Know", Ben Dupre
After not reading any philosophy for a while, I needed a relatively light and comprehensive fix. Its a great run down on many of the major ideas and problems out there in philosophy and a good reference or spring board to look up more specific or in depth books on topics and questions that interest you. Its all available online of course, but having a paper book in your hands is easier. Good stuff.
"Metaphysics: The Big Questions" Van Inwagen & Zimmerman
A metaphysics anthology used in university classes. Its the first time in my life I've been reading a university textbook outside of university. It takes much longer to read this than other books, as it involves a lot of re-reading and underlining, etc... Philosophers love their jargon. Seems like a great anthology and I've finished one section (personal identity/mind-body relationship). Here are the essays Ive read so far:
-"Holes", Lewis
-"On What there is", Quine
-"Beyond Being and Non-Being", Chisholm
-"Universals", Russell
-"Universals as Attributes", Armstrong
-"Which Physical Thing am I?", Chisholm
-"Personal Identity: A Materialist Account", Shoemaker
-"An Argument for Animalism", Olson
-"Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons", Parfit
-"Personal Identity: The Dualist Theory", Swinburne
-"The Causal Theory of Mind", Armstrong
-"The Puzzle of Conscious Experience", Chalmers
-"Neutral Monism", Russell
They were all good reads, and all seemed to make pretty good points, but without going into too much detail, there were always some thought experiment or other that made most of them problematic.
The most entertaining one, "Which Physical Thing am I?" by Chisholm, claims our identity lies in an indivisible subatomic particle. Hehe. And yep, its at least logically possible, and escapes some of the problems other accounts for identity have. I think its partially tongue in cheek.
To me, the exception is Parfit's account, which seems unassailable, but has a much weaker account of personal identity by espousing the materialist "bundles of thought" account, similar to Hume, and near identical to a central idea in Buddhism, the "empty self". However, this is not a desireable account of personal identity for many, as it tries to eliminate ego from the picture.
Swinburne's argument for dualism almost left me angry, for it seems to leave out some very important justifications that I think he needs to make in order for his premises to be true. In the end, unless I'm missing something, he seems to say that the logical possibility of dualism entails the reality of dualism, which seems pretty fucking dumbass to me for a variety of reasons (the most obvious of which are that the logical possibility for materialism or idealism are also true). Also, he completely misunderstands Parfit's account of personal identity as far as I understand Parfit. He makes good points along the way, but his conclusion seems to come out of no where. I'll have to read it again, I must have missed something (or he is a christian and NEEDS dualism to be true, so he argues from his conclusion backwards....).
"Axiomatic", Greg Egan
An amazing collection of his short stories, each exploring on perplexing problem or implication in science or philosophy. One of the best short stories I have ever read is contained within, called "Learning to be Me". Truly inspirational and I highly recommend anyone to read it.
"Good Omens", Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Very funny and entertaining book that takes the piss out of the revelations section of the bible. Its about the apocalypse, angels, demons, and humans. Good book.
In order of reading:
"Does Anything Eat Wasps?" Mick O'Hare
This is an interesting book for those who like to say "Did you know that blah blah blah...". I often like to do that, and its alienated me with strangers (especially girls) many many times. Anyway, the book is full of obscure scientific trivia and I enjoyed it.
"A Short History of Nearly Everything", Bill Bryson
This is another good book for trivia, and follows a brief history of scientific development, paying particular attention to the egos who developed the theories. A good book but a bit too biographical for me. I wanted more on the theories, but didn't need quite as much biographical and historical context. Still good book though.
"Permutation City", Greg Egan
A book about "mind downloading" and the nature of consciousness and reality. Very good book, though the last bits were less interesting than the first parts for me and seemed to have a couple of incoherent ideas (I won't include spoilers). It maybe bit off more than it can chew by including too many grand themes. Great writing and contains an almost intimidating amount of hard science and philosophy (typical of Greg Egan's work). In any case, an fascinating book I would recommend to almost all of my friends.
"The End of Faith", Sam Harris
A very well argued book, and I find it hard to disagree with almost all of his points (though there's a few bits in consciousness and his hard consequentialist ethics I find difficult to accept). Also, though he clearly acknowledges that there may be faith based secular societies that can have disastrous effects, he focuses much more narrowly on specific religions. In my mind a few short pages are not enough to describe historical disastors of faith based secular societies such as Pol Pot's, Kim Jung Il's, Hitler's, Stalin's, etc... It would have made him more immune to criticism I think to include more writing on this. However, his points are no less true or resounding, despite his focus on religion.
"1984", George Orwell
I've finally got around to reading it. What hasn't been said about this book already? Great book, and shows a sobering picture of society where big brother has completely overridden civil liberties. Recently reading that Fox News edits their own transcripts to correct mistakes that were actually made sickened me all the more, as it was one of the most horrifying aspects of 1984 (for example, when O'Reilly reverses the account of the Malmandy Massacre on TV twice, but the transcript doesn't reflect this, or their repeated attempts to manipulate Wikipedia on a variety of issues). It takes some serious "doublethink" to support those kinds of things.
"Blood Music", Greg Bear
Amazing book, one of my favorites. I can't believe it was written in 1984. Its one of the first "Grey Goo" sci-fi books that were written regarding nanites. Great writing and a great exploration of biotechnology and physics. I've made a mental note to read more Greg Bear books.
"Fairyland", Paul J. McAuley
This book has some very cool ideas. Its plot centers on the creation of bioengineered humans that end up resembling the mythical fae of European ilk in a variety of ways. Its an idea book, but I found the character's to be lacking depth and for that reason I can't say its an excellent book. Though after reading George R. Martin, most other author's characters seem a little less defined.
"The Electric Church", Jeff Somers
A pretty cool cyberpunk book involving a lot of action and gritty descriptions. A nice change of pace from the "hard sci-fi" I have been reading, but I have to say it was a little pulpy. An enjoyable read, but not one of my favs, and doesn't delve too deep.
"50 Philosophy Ideas you Really Need to Know", Ben Dupre
After not reading any philosophy for a while, I needed a relatively light and comprehensive fix. Its a great run down on many of the major ideas and problems out there in philosophy and a good reference or spring board to look up more specific or in depth books on topics and questions that interest you. Its all available online of course, but having a paper book in your hands is easier. Good stuff.
"Metaphysics: The Big Questions" Van Inwagen & Zimmerman
A metaphysics anthology used in university classes. Its the first time in my life I've been reading a university textbook outside of university. It takes much longer to read this than other books, as it involves a lot of re-reading and underlining, etc... Philosophers love their jargon. Seems like a great anthology and I've finished one section (personal identity/mind-body relationship). Here are the essays Ive read so far:
-"Holes", Lewis
-"On What there is", Quine
-"Beyond Being and Non-Being", Chisholm
-"Universals", Russell
-"Universals as Attributes", Armstrong
-"Which Physical Thing am I?", Chisholm
-"Personal Identity: A Materialist Account", Shoemaker
-"An Argument for Animalism", Olson
-"Divided Minds and the Nature of Persons", Parfit
-"Personal Identity: The Dualist Theory", Swinburne
-"The Causal Theory of Mind", Armstrong
-"The Puzzle of Conscious Experience", Chalmers
-"Neutral Monism", Russell
They were all good reads, and all seemed to make pretty good points, but without going into too much detail, there were always some thought experiment or other that made most of them problematic.
The most entertaining one, "Which Physical Thing am I?" by Chisholm, claims our identity lies in an indivisible subatomic particle. Hehe. And yep, its at least logically possible, and escapes some of the problems other accounts for identity have. I think its partially tongue in cheek.
To me, the exception is Parfit's account, which seems unassailable, but has a much weaker account of personal identity by espousing the materialist "bundles of thought" account, similar to Hume, and near identical to a central idea in Buddhism, the "empty self". However, this is not a desireable account of personal identity for many, as it tries to eliminate ego from the picture.
Swinburne's argument for dualism almost left me angry, for it seems to leave out some very important justifications that I think he needs to make in order for his premises to be true. In the end, unless I'm missing something, he seems to say that the logical possibility of dualism entails the reality of dualism, which seems pretty fucking dumbass to me for a variety of reasons (the most obvious of which are that the logical possibility for materialism or idealism are also true). Also, he completely misunderstands Parfit's account of personal identity as far as I understand Parfit. He makes good points along the way, but his conclusion seems to come out of no where. I'll have to read it again, I must have missed something (or he is a christian and NEEDS dualism to be true, so he argues from his conclusion backwards....).
"Axiomatic", Greg Egan
An amazing collection of his short stories, each exploring on perplexing problem or implication in science or philosophy. One of the best short stories I have ever read is contained within, called "Learning to be Me". Truly inspirational and I highly recommend anyone to read it.
"Good Omens", Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Very funny and entertaining book that takes the piss out of the revelations section of the bible. Its about the apocalypse, angels, demons, and humans. Good book.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Malaysia
We entered Malaysia via bus from Singapore and were surprised at how fast the trip was. After spending over 24 hours aboard buses and vans in Indonesia it was pleasant to find we could go from one country to the next in a mere 5 hours. The bus company we took made much publicity that Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) took the bus at some point in history, and they had photos to prove it.
Kuala Lumpur is a great city, and out of all of the "big cities" i've visited so far, its right up at the top. It has an even more multi-cultural feel than Singapore and despite being a Muslim nation, there appeared to be no harsh judgement towards any type of behavior or style of dress. On the same street you'd see a woman in a ninja-style black burkha walking a few feet from a Chinese woman in Daisy Dukes, heels and a tight belly shirt, an Indian Siek with a turban and a business suit, followed by an emo kid wearing the latest fashions, sporting a lip ring and hair combed over one eye. Those are merely a few of many customes and styles you could see walking down the street. Also, their Hindu and Buddhist roots were celebrated (as they were in Indonesia as well) , a practice not exactly encouraged by literal Islam. It was refreshing to get a dose of such tolerant Muslim culture.
The food there was fantastic, and we ate at a great restaurant that was close to our hostel nearly every day. It served up huge portions of tasty Malaysian, Indian and Chinese food (we mostly got Indian food) for around 2.50$ a plate. One of my favorite restaurants of all time for sure.
In the city we checked out the butterfly park (very cool, and got to see a praying mantis devour a huge butterfly), the petronas towers (buildings formerly known as the biggest), the Batu Caves (home to Hindu temples and statues), and a couple of very very large shopping malls.
After a few days in KL we set off the the Cameron highlands, an area sporting wonderful natural scenery and freaky insect wildlife. After a swervy high speed bus ride we arrived and checked into our hotel. The climate in the highlands was very different than any other place we had been to in Asia, it was much coller. It was very nice to finally have some cool weather, as I was beggining to regret packing my long sleeve shirt and jeans.
In the highlands we went to a tea plantation and factory. The plantation looked rather breath taking, the rolling hills of the highlands looked tucked in by a gigantic green blanket of tea trees. I have never seen inanimate earth look so cozy. We also went to a strawberry farm and enjoyed some nice tarts and a strawberry lassi. Another fun place was an insect and reptile zoo that displayed some of the local flora and fauna. The highlands have those cool walking-stick and leaf insects that blend in so well, so we spent some enjoyable minutes trying to spot all of them in a glass encased habitat. I also got a cool pic with a snake stretching quite vertically atop my head. We went for a short trek into the jungle as well, but could see any of the giant millipedes or tarantulas, so Anita was happy about that. After a quiet and comfortable few days in the highlands, we set off for Thailand, Bangkok.
Kuala Lumpur is a great city, and out of all of the "big cities" i've visited so far, its right up at the top. It has an even more multi-cultural feel than Singapore and despite being a Muslim nation, there appeared to be no harsh judgement towards any type of behavior or style of dress. On the same street you'd see a woman in a ninja-style black burkha walking a few feet from a Chinese woman in Daisy Dukes, heels and a tight belly shirt, an Indian Siek with a turban and a business suit, followed by an emo kid wearing the latest fashions, sporting a lip ring and hair combed over one eye. Those are merely a few of many customes and styles you could see walking down the street. Also, their Hindu and Buddhist roots were celebrated (as they were in Indonesia as well) , a practice not exactly encouraged by literal Islam. It was refreshing to get a dose of such tolerant Muslim culture.
The food there was fantastic, and we ate at a great restaurant that was close to our hostel nearly every day. It served up huge portions of tasty Malaysian, Indian and Chinese food (we mostly got Indian food) for around 2.50$ a plate. One of my favorite restaurants of all time for sure.
In the city we checked out the butterfly park (very cool, and got to see a praying mantis devour a huge butterfly), the petronas towers (buildings formerly known as the biggest), the Batu Caves (home to Hindu temples and statues), and a couple of very very large shopping malls.
After a few days in KL we set off the the Cameron highlands, an area sporting wonderful natural scenery and freaky insect wildlife. After a swervy high speed bus ride we arrived and checked into our hotel. The climate in the highlands was very different than any other place we had been to in Asia, it was much coller. It was very nice to finally have some cool weather, as I was beggining to regret packing my long sleeve shirt and jeans.
In the highlands we went to a tea plantation and factory. The plantation looked rather breath taking, the rolling hills of the highlands looked tucked in by a gigantic green blanket of tea trees. I have never seen inanimate earth look so cozy. We also went to a strawberry farm and enjoyed some nice tarts and a strawberry lassi. Another fun place was an insect and reptile zoo that displayed some of the local flora and fauna. The highlands have those cool walking-stick and leaf insects that blend in so well, so we spent some enjoyable minutes trying to spot all of them in a glass encased habitat. I also got a cool pic with a snake stretching quite vertically atop my head. We went for a short trek into the jungle as well, but could see any of the giant millipedes or tarantulas, so Anita was happy about that. After a quiet and comfortable few days in the highlands, we set off for Thailand, Bangkok.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)