how to think

so you've got pure imagination which is just u sitting in a chair imagining and day-dreaming; then next you've got imagining except you've had someone tell you something, like a science fiction idea, which turns on your own wheels of imagination, that basically leads to conversation which is such a lost art and it's terrible. kids today learn that the only thing worth anything is what they're shown on tv and such, that THEIR OWN imagination is second rate. that there's no way that their OWN imagination could compete with millions of dollars spent on some Disney film and such; and i'm not knocking filma and all; i love film; it's great fun and can be great for sparking your own imagination. but there's the question: do you let it spark your own imagination, or do you just soak it in like a sponge, let it sit in your head, and think about IT on IT's terms, rather than questioning it, or allowing it to spark your own mind..........and after conversation you have reading where you'll imagine everything based on what you've read; neither the visual or the audio is given to you; you create both audio and video in your mind. the characters voices, any music, what everything looks like; then next is radio (btw: which is one of my favorite words: and my favorite sentance-fragment in the english language is "..............sits chain-smoking at a table"......... so with radio you are given the audio and you create the video; and then there's film where you are given the audio and video, but as of yet not the senses of touch, taste or smell; but most of it is given to you. and i like all of it. i don't hate film. i'm not a snob. i am an intellectual, which i define as someone who likes to think. an intellectual can be stupid or smart or whatever. they just like learning, they see their brain as a place to create, not just absorb

this is what's so goddamned wrong with modern education. our digital world (which i love btw, just as long as it's understood that digital/computer/etc is not an end-all be-all and is not always the best way of doing things. it's a method; it's goddamned wonderful when i can play games with folks online, or talk about shit, or folk......... (ok, that's another favorite word: not "folks" but "folk"; the "s" is redundant and makes a cool word into "just a word"; also "y'all" is great......i'll continue this in next blog)......... in africa can reach the red cross to relay critical information about famine and natural disasters and such (in that order or importance of course.............yes that's called sarcasm, learn it, you won't hate your life or yourself quite so much..........................well at least not your life, yourself might be worth hating, i don't know you well enough to say so

the end of an era

..........so, anyway, i was driving home and i saw a blockbuster in Irvine, CA, smack in the middle of TONS of suburban homes stretching in every direction; and it has a sign that says it's closing but "this store only". which i'm sure is hardly true. the picture here is one i pulled off the net

it's the end of an era; going to the videostore is a thing of the past. downloadable-everything is the future i've envisioned for a long time. in fact i would wager that the next generation of video game consoles (if you can call them that, i expect them to run most everything) probably won't even come with optical drives (i.e. bluray or dvd). yes, i'm serious. i think that these things will be "add-ons" that you can plug in via usb just like portable dvdrw's of today

THAT, downloadable-streaming-everything; and most importantly MOTION CAPTURE is what will drive the next gen of consoles; and i don't believe that we will have a next console until this is possible; which is why i see the ps3 and xbox360 lasting a good nother 3years; as far as nintendo is concerned; they're in a league of their own. they'll continue to cash in on making fun, simple games, they will be 720p this time, but it's gonna be all about doing what they're doing now. making fun casual games for kids and casual gamers.


but i'm waiting till i can play a game on my whatever-box where i swipe my hand which is holding a lightsaber on screen, and also grab things and throw them with my other hand just by reaching out

the Wii showed how incredibly profitable this could be, the kinect and move are improving on it significantly, but it's going to be another jump in hardware capability as well as

pariahradio

will hopefully be starting a podcast called pariahradio; will be me, my dad, my friend billy who is a fellow lyme sufferer, but also one of the most interesting people EVER. he's got life stories that put to shame just about anyone other than hunter thompson. also hopefully a fellow called richard, a friend of my dad, with lots of smart hippie ideas and ideals

a-way, the idea behind the thing, it'll be a podcast at first, is to talk about anything and everything in an intelligent and productive way. if you ever listened to frankwit's podcast, that's sort of the idea. basically i'll probably be using skype, unless anyone has a better idea, conference calling with all of us, recording, editing, and then uploading the podcast. i feel i have things to say, and i tend to forcast things pretty accurately. might do a youtube show just myself too.

all OS's must be open source in the end

ok, so for those who don't know, an OS is shorthand for operating system. windows would be the biggest example of a non-open OS. linux would be the major personal computer competitor to windows in the open-source arena. when it comes to smart-phones, things decided to heat up quickly because a very special company called google got involved; and they created someting called android. they could have kept it all for themselves the way microsoft has, the way apple has with OSX, which is the OS used on the iphone, ipad, and actually the apple laptops and desktops as well.

but i have a theory, and it goes along the lines of "information wants to be free". and that theory is that IN THE END, every operating system has to be open source. why???? simply because if it's not, if it's controlled by a company, and thus controlled by that company's CEO (i.e. monarch) you basically have a company (let's call her microsoft for now) that can basically do whatever they wish. they can cut out other competitors. they can force companies to do things their way. they can pressure companies not to put out drivers for linux so, say, your printer or camera or whatever, doesn't work with linux. because if you were to load up ubuntu linux today, you would see that it's absolutely beautiful. in fact it works beautifully, but there are just a few nagging things, and a lot of that comes from microsoft's need to dominate. well; they're now failing. and apple is becoming the new microsoft. MS did pretty well with the xbox360, but they poured money into it and it's hardly a cash cow, will nintendo sits back and prints yen with both their Wii and handhel DS..........but i digress. microsoft cannot adapt. as far as i know they shutdown their tablet pc devision. for god's sake, tablet pc's are teh future. apple knows that. their going to show them how to do it right (in some ways) with the ipad, just because you can't make it work MICROSOFT, doesn't mean it's a bad idea? they haven't had a real good idea since.............................jesus christ? i really can't remember? basically their holding onto their dominance with windows, which was caused by killing the creative possibilities of others. you know what, fuck you microsoft. people don't understand how much damage you've done to the computing community by hording and shutting down any and all competitors. it's time for you to fucking die. and i think google is a fantastic company to do it. you can bitch all you want about how big their getting but fuck, they came out with a smartphone OS, and it's good, and it's fucking open source. they didn't have to do that. they're not kidding with the whole "don't be evil" thing, it's for real for them. and you know what i think is next: get ready for it......................


Google open-source operating system for personal computers. maybe linux based, maybe unix, who knows, but OS's just CANNOT be fucking OWNED. it's too damn stiffling, too dangerous. they have to be open. they can't be dictated, they can't be goddamn monarchy, they need to be a true capitalistic domain where anyone can create something and have a chance for it to take off

want another prediction: android will kill the iphone. you heard it hear first. no, i'm not kidding. everytime google comes out with a new application it turns out to be the best in class. now they've denied google voice and turn-by-turn nav from the iphone, who knows what's next. sooner or later google will have another killer app that the iphone won't get, and then apple it going to start to cringe.


information may want to be free people, but OPERATING SYSTEMS HAVE TO BE FREE; you simply can't put so much control in the hands of one greey CEO. we have yet to see if google will turn, but unless they get new leadership, or some horrible overthrow, i see them continuing to do what they do best: give the people what they want, what they need. and you know what, they deserve some goddamn credit for it. just like the people behind linux. and not just torvalds; i mean all the people who have brought it to the point where it is now completely usable by most personal users, as well as extremely usable on a system and server level.


i'm not saying everything should be free. hell no. you should pay for your software, but microtransactions have taught us that it doesn't have to be so damn expensive. but the OS, the OS, has to be open. it has to be. do you see what i say? do you see it? my contract on my iphone is almost up. i'll be switching to verizon and an android phone. i'll be able to use multiple programs at the same time (which the lack of that on the ipad is ridiculous)...........and i'll have all the wonderful goodies that google does so well including voice, turn-by-turn etc.


it's time for Microsoft to die; or let me rephrase, it's time for WINDOWS to die. it's time for an open source OS to replace windows as the dominant OS for most normal folk. personally i think google is the company to do it. microsoft, you tried, you tried to control it all, and you succedded, you succeded in stifling the creativity of so many companies that wouldn't do things your way, but it's time to go away, it's time for the people to have an OS owned by the people

peace

Valium saved my life with my pain

so, i've been taking oxycodone and fentanyl o r my pain, but finally a lyme literate doc in orange county, socal (email me at bryanbower AT (between F and H)mail.com



it saved my life. i guess it slowed my nerves down enough so the pain signal was slowed. i was going to kill myself very soon but now i will live. i'm going to a neurologist to check out neurontin and topomax and maybe other CNS depressants.


anyway, i have chronic lyme disease, late stage, at least that's what we think

japanimation ruined art, cartoons, amd saturday mornings

prepare yourself cuz i'm about to unload some hate; ever since i was in highschool and there was the "japanimation" club, which showed anime and what-not during lunchtime, i've learned to despise this type of "art". and the reason is quite simple: it is perfectionistic. and in my vocabulary, "perfection" is a very bad word. basically, everything in anime and the like is perfect; perfect looking people, perfect pets, perfect love. the drawing is so horrifically idealized, but not just idealized, PERFECTIONIZED. i miss the cartoons of my youth; the hand-drawn x-men, the simpsons, even that one with the jungle book characters flying airplanes (go back and watch that thing and you tell me just how much acid they were on when they were able to come up with that idea : ) ). anyway, i need to cut my fingernails which makes typing a pain, but what's infinately more of a reason to stop typing is this: YOU already know what i am saying. you know it. in your core; in your heart, you know. you watch this stuff, you see how this asian idea of "perfection" (and likewise the complete value-less of anything imperfect) has swept through all our cartoons and all art; hell, every kids cartoon i see these days is dripping with this shit. folks, even all the hanna montana garbage and the like wreaks of the same odor: that there IS such a thing as BEST, and that that BEST thing is defined, it is pretty, funny, athletic, exciting, attractive etc. and that is the best, and that is what to shoot for, and everything else is a just a prologue to that best self that you are supposed to be.

this is a philosophy that is far more insidious than all the violence, sex, guns, drugs and war that kids (and everyone else for that matter) are surrounded with in media. the horrific idea that there is only one way to be best, that it is an objective, defined thing. perhaps, and surely in fact, it is easier for simpletons to attach themselves to this ideal because they have such difficulty in defining quality for themselves, but we can NOT allow this to be, or to be tought.

i value, and adore, and love imperfection. there is no pefect, no best, no ideal, set in stone, that we all must strive to look and act and be as close to as possible. it's a horrifically insidious, rampant, and destructive idea. it is the death of originality, it is the crucifixion of those who ask questions, who produce DIFFERENT art, who desire to not be blonde and big eyed and carry a bid sword. this sort of thing slips by because on the outside it may be wholesome and good, but the truth is is that we are teaching our young, and we are learning ourselves, to be SIMILAR, to push toward ONE perfect goal. but the truth is that that goal is not perfect. it is not you, it is not me, it is in fact no one. nor can it be, nor should it be. it's inhuman. "human" is dirt and subjectivity, imperfection, flaws, opinions not wrong or right but simply one's own. there's no dirt in anime, and if there is, it's clean dirt. and that's just wrong. "be who you are" i suppose would be my message, and i hope you'll forgive the after-school-special nature of that statement, but i guess that really is what i'm getting at. i do believe this perfectionism ruins that very important ideal

peace

-uzy

little haiku

of gods and devils both
a mind can play
but the good ones do not choose