var title = 'CKA Forums Blogs Feed'; var url = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/view/recent_blogs.html'; var site_url = 'http://www.canadaka.net/forums'; var site_desc = 'Canadian forums with a focus on politics and current events. The CKA forums are the most active & largest non-partisan Canadian forums online.'; var time = 'Wed, 23 May 2012 23:24:54 -0700'; var data = new Array(); data[0] = new Array(); data[0]['title'] = 'TERROR in SYRIA'; data[0]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/samkorn/terror_in_syria_b-3276.html'; data[0]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/samkorn/terror_in_syria_b-3276.html'; data[0]['username'] = 'samkorn'; data[0]['blog_id'] = '3276'; data[0]['blog_message'] = 'Syrian president Bashar Assad repeatedly blames the massacres of his people on "terrorists", even as his army continues to indiscriminately shell and bombard Syrian population centres, and armed thugs loyal to his regime kill civilians almost at will.

Official United Nations sources put the death toll in the year-old Syrian uprising at more than 9,000, which includes hundreds of innocent women and children. Two-hundred thousand terrified Syrian civilians have already been displaced from their homes, and 30,000 have fled for their lives to neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Over 1,000,000 Syrians are facing the imminent threat of hunger and starvation.

In order to stem the tide of people trying to leave the country, Syrian soldiers have apparently planted landmines along border areas, which will likely result in even more fatalities.

In a recent American television interview with Barbara Walters, President Assad pretended there was nothing of any substance really going on in Syria, denied any wrongdoing and claimed that anybody who would kill his own citizens must be "crazy".

Terrorism is defined as being the use of force or violence by a person or group against people or property with the intention of intimidating, co-ercing, causing terror and fear, for ideological and/or political reasons.

Hence, by his own admission and by definition, Bashar Assad, his cohorts and his military have either gone completely mad and/or are committing what seem to be vile acts of terror against the Syrian populace.

Who, therefore, are the REAL terrorists in this tragic situation? Well, if it walks like a duck, looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then....'; data[0]['blog_time'] = 'Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:39:01 -0700'; data[1] = new Array(); data[1]['title'] = 'Job Hunting'; data[1]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/job_hunting_b-3274.html'; data[1]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/job_hunting_b-3274.html'; data[1]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[1]['blog_id'] = '3274'; data[1]['blog_message'] = 'I cannot imagine an experience more carefully designed to undermine self-confidence and self-esteem as modern job hunting.

Compile some data about your work history so that you can be judged based on how past employers have judged you. Make it verifiable, because you can't be trusted. But put a positive spin on everything so that you can compete with more capable liars. If you make a good impression, you win the opportunity to be judged in person based on whatever a superficial, 5-minute interview can gleen. If you do well there, you win the opportunity to take a drug test and, if you pass, be awkward in a new, high-pressure setting for a month or two while utterly failing to learn people's names. Good luck!

Things are a little worse for me as a loner. I don't keep in contact with former coworkers, so coming up with work references is awkward and difficult; when I do, they tend to leave the job shortly after me. I don't know a lot of people, so I don't have a contact anywhere. My difficulty with the whole job hunting process ensures a job history full of the kind of menial jobs that overlook a job history full of menial jobs. It's a bootstrapping failure; no one will give a chance to a guy who hasn't made something of a chance before, so there's no way to get that first chance. I've been a cashier at five different jobs, but I still have to prove I can run a cash register at every new place.

I've never been lousy at anything I've put my mind to. I'm good with customers. I can figure stuff out myself. I don't balk at hard work, or miss work. I'm honest to a fault. I ask for more hours, not more dollars per hour. I actually take pride in doing the work others don't want to do. The idea of my coming in hung over or failing a drug test is just laughable. Where's space for that on the form? I'm not applying for the space program, I'm applying at neighborhood grocery stores and gas stations. Are these not virtues? Can I get some credit for any of this?...

[ Continued ]'; data[1]['blog_time'] = 'Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:03:27 -0800'; data[2] = new Array(); data[2]['title'] = 'Irrelevancy - StarBursts'; data[2]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/irrelevancy_starbursts_b-3273.html'; data[2]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/irrelevancy_starbursts_b-3273.html'; data[2]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[2]['blog_id'] = '3273'; data[2]['blog_message'] = 'There hasn't been a blog entry for a while, so enjoy this YouTube video instead.'; data[2]['blog_time'] = 'Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:53:43 -0800'; data[3] = new Array(); data[3]['title'] = 'Live and Learn'; data[3]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/live_and_learn_b-3272.html'; data[3]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/live_and_learn_b-3272.html'; data[3]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[3]['blog_id'] = '3272'; data[3]['blog_message'] = 'Our days are numbered. There is a lot that can be done in a lifetime, but for the very few of us who create something of timeless value it is very hard to ensure it will survive us.

Many of us will have children, who perhaps might perhaps be willing and able to carry on our work. Others of us will find like-minded young people to mentor. The latter method is statistically more dependable, but neither can be realistically expected continue exactly as we would have done.

If our work needs stability, it needs a recorded philosophy of it's design and operation to encourage consistency. Memories fade and flex, but records endure. It is probably wise for our successors to do the same.

May God bless me with so valuable a work to do.'; data[3]['blog_time'] = 'Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:59:02 -0800'; data[4] = new Array(); data[4]['title'] = 'What is Life for?'; data[4]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/what_is_life_for_b-3271.html'; data[4]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/what_is_life_for_b-3271.html'; data[4]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[4]['blog_id'] = '3271'; data[4]['blog_message'] = 'We all have time to spend and activities we spend it on. Some of those activities are fun in themselves, and we do some becomes they have consequences we like. Some rare joys are both fun and beneficial, and some compulsory behaviors are neither. At it's most basic, life is a perpetual choice between what feels good and what has wanted consequences. We choose how to spend our lives without truly knowing the proper balance to strike between momentary hedonism and practical planning. Some of us believe that our lives are a test, where we are rewarded or punished for the mix we live and choose. In that sense, to live is to choose.

Since we witness not only our own lives but also, though less deeply, the lives of those around us, life is also moral philosophy. The way we live is inherently advice to those around us, an argument that making similar choices will probably result in similar outcomes. In that sense, to live is to preach.

We all live in conditions that are less than our fondest desires. We have to make sacrifices and gambles in our attempts to avoid pain and seek pleasure, and we always come up short in some way. Sometimes the consequences are brutal, and other times they are only boring or discouraging or good but not great. We are free to choose, but not ensured positive or predictable outcomes. In that sense, to live is to suffer.

As new moments and new conditions replaces the old ones, we are continually faced with the questions of life. Answering those unanswerable questions is what life is for.'; data[4]['blog_time'] = 'Sat, 31 Dec 2011 06:44:49 -0800'; data[5] = new Array(); data[5]['title'] = 'Counter Culture'; data[5]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/counter_culture_b-3270.html'; data[5]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/counter_culture_b-3270.html'; data[5]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[5]['blog_id'] = '3270'; data[5]['blog_message'] = 'If there's something about you that is unique among all the people around you, whether it's a physical trait or a belief or a habit, there are only a couple things you can do about it. You can hold it back and conform. You can flaunt it in defiance of the norm. You can dismiss it as a minor fashion choice. Another option is to start a community of people who share that uniqueness, an island of shared identity in an ocean of conformity.

Anyone who has been to school has seen that kind of cliquish grouping, but in the vast diversity of global society we know we don't see them all. Each of these groups must decide how to deal with the people outside their group, people who inherently disagree and diverge from the members of the group. They must confront the fundamental psychological dilemma of the self vs. the other, not as an individual but as a society. That means laws and principles, a foreign policy of sorts, and a decision: can we be who we are and express our individuality in the presence of these others?

If they decide they cannot be themselves in the greater world, they must isolate themselves or lose their defining trait. These isolated societies have popped up and faded away all through history; some famous examples include the Greek Amazons, the Dead Sea Scrolls' society, the Druze of Syria and Lebanon, 18th Century Japan, and the Amish and Mennonite societies. Various aboriginal cultures across the world live in similar circumstances, though more often geographic and historical forces (eg, colonialism) than internal decisions. Many of these isolated cultures, such as the utopian communities of the 1840s or the communist communes and fundamentalist cults of the 20th century, were not able to endure more than a generation because they did not manage to replace their population as their founders aged and eventually died. Others have suffered severe hardship or lost their self-sufficiency and risk losing their identity due to creeping encroachment...

[ Continued ]'; data[5]['blog_time'] = 'Fri, 23 Dec 2011 05:06:18 -0800'; data[6] = new Array(); data[6]['title'] = 'HTML'; data[6]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/html_b-3269.html'; data[6]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/html_b-3269.html'; data[6]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[6]['blog_id'] = '3269'; data[6]['blog_message'] = 'I did some research into the HTML standard. I think I came up with the most complete HTML tag list anywhere.

To the five or six people who care: you're welcome.'; data[6]['blog_time'] = 'Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:46:59 -0800'; data[7] = new Array(); data[7]['title'] = 'Feelings'; data[7]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/feelings_b-3268.html'; data[7]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/feelings_b-3268.html'; data[7]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[7]['blog_id'] = '3268'; data[7]['blog_message'] = 'Something is wrong in John's life. Maybe it's a little bit his fault, but a lot of it was outside of his control, too. His life has clearly and materially been rendered worse than before. Should he feel crappy about it? If you could flip a switch and make all his bad feelings about the event go away, would doing so be the right thing to do?

The most obvious analysis says, "Yes, of course you should stop suffering whenever you can." Obviously, he'd be better off feeling better than feeling worse. But if he feels better even though the facts clearly do not support his happiness, doesn't that denial make him kind of insane? Is he going to be able to find the motivation to fix his objectively lousy situation if he percieves no emotional signal that things ought to be better?

In other words, is it better to be a blissful idiot or a miserable genius? Is that a decision we really have to make?

This thought arises from a forum discussion I had with a poster named Andy. He tells me that it's fundamentally better for the poor to recieve saving alms from a rigid, unfeeling bureaucracy than from a heartfelt benefactor because the recipient doesn't feel guilty taking money from a emotionless political machine. The unemployed shouldn't have to feel bad about being unemployed, the homeless for being homeless. Is he right? Is the emotional protection of denial a positive thing?

There is some relativity in play. Being delighted about your uninsured belongings burning away to nothing is dramatic enough to be strong evidence of crazy, but so is suicide strong evidence that denial for emotional's sake has it's place. What if you only feel neutral? In good times and in bad, on your wedding day and the day you bury your child, if you feel basically the same isn't that evidence of madness? If your emotions don't reflect your actual situation, there's something wrong. Without some feeling, emotional or tangible, to cause your motivations, what's to stop you from...

[ Continued ]'; data[7]['blog_time'] = 'Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:53:02 -0800'; data[8] = new Array(); data[8]['title'] = 'The Facts'; data[8]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/the_facts_b-3267.html'; data[8]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/the_facts_b-3267.html'; data[8]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[8]['blog_id'] = '3267'; data[8]['blog_message'] = 'The right way to find the solution to a problem is to get together all the relevant facts, find the theory that best fits those facts, and act however will get you the best outcome according to that theory.

The most obvious problem with this idealistic approach is that getting all the relevant facts gets progressively harder the more important the problem is. If you're taking a math quiz, you can be pretty sure you have all the facts you need right away. If you're trying to catch a serial killer before he strikes again, it's impossible to get enough information fast enough. Most of life, especially the important parts, will be guesswork. It's important to learn how to do research, both the quick and the deep, but life is a sequence of "good enough" evidence and best guesses.

That is why other people matter. Other people know more than you about almost everything, and you know more than any specific other person about something. Even if everyone's judgement and talents were identical (which, of course, they're not), even if we didn't need social contact (which, of course, we do), we'd still need each other's expertise and experience to get the best out of life.

That's two different approaches to greatness: the specialist and the leader. Specialists study in preparation to address problems, but leaders decide when it's time. Specialists always want to debate a little longer because the worst thing a specialist can be is wrong. Leaders want things decided quickly because the worst thing a leader can be is too late.

Both groups need the other; even if the leader is a specialist, they need specialists in every other field and someone keeping up with their own field while they're distracted by leading. For any significantly ambitious goal, you have to have a team.'; data[8]['blog_time'] = 'Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:56:25 -0800'; data[9] = new Array(); data[9]['title'] = 'The Holiday Season'; data[9]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/the_holiday_season_b-3266.html'; data[9]['url'] = 'http://www.canadaka.net/blog/Psudo/the_holiday_season_b-3266.html'; data[9]['username'] = 'Psudo'; data[9]['blog_id'] = '3266'; data[9]['blog_message'] = 'Here is a list of holidays in or near December, 2011 with short descriptions. This really should have been posted weeks ago, but I didn't have a blog then.

December is:
Holidays Spanning Multiple Days: