One thing about posts like the one below that excite me so much, is the fact that it's not something I read and am regurgitating. It came about from a discussion on cloning and genetic engineering stream-of-consciousness conversation with a friend of mine. It just sort of came out, and only after did I think that was cool enough to keep, muse over, and post about.

Here goes my egoist side, but I honestly like that about myself, how I can surprise myself with things like this. And even if no one else thinks it's original, and even if these exact ideas (even words) have been used by people before me, at least I know. Cogito ergo sum...in a way.

That excites me.

Discussion this evening that is way too long (and new) for me to type fully, but I wanted to log this little tidbit, the main assertion of the discussion, and something I want to turn around in my head a bit more before I write it down.

What we have in this world is a trinity. A trinity between three forces or ideas that are all at odds with each other.

On one corner we have human desire: capitalist ideals that demand growth, conglomeration, order; the quest for immortality; progress. This encompasses everything that is trying to bring objective order to our existence.

In another corner we have the forces of nature, almost in direct competition: evolution; mutations; entropy; chaos. This is basically the embodiment of nature's desire; her desire to break down order.

And in the third corner, the ideals of religion, which damn the other two and reject them. Religion is a force, only because it permeates so much, and so many belief structures which in turn dictate moral standings. It neither seems to embrace chaos nor order, but instead push both aside for something higher and more important.

Odd little trinity, no?

Ok, it doesn't quite eat people, but a number of people are housed in it for the better part of the day. I just put up some pictures of my department's now-finished office space in the back of our company suite. The purple reference is due to the purple walls we have in our very, very nice room.

Check out the purple office pics here.

CNN.com

Headline: "President Bush formally announced a 10-year, $670 billion 'growth and jobs' economic plan today, calling it 'real money to help pay the bills and push the economy forward.'"

Translation: "President Bush formally announced a 10 year plan to spend more money with no concern for long term consequences, the natural business cycle, or the budget. Instead, this plan is aimed at immediate gain by increased popularity geared only towards the next election." (Not to mention other long term effects that Republicans can't seem to see, like the environment...)

The best and worst movies so far for me from 2002:

best
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Slackers
Death to Smoochy
Panic Room
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Road to Perdition
Signs
Blue Crush
Ghost Ship
8 Mile
Catch Me If You Can

worst
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Reign of Fire
The Sum of All Fears
Queen of the Damned

still to see
About Schmidt
One Hour Photo
The Good Girl
The Hours
Unfaithful
The Pianist
Chicago
Adaptation

A couple selections from a list of the most annoying things from 2002:

Cell Phone Jerks: it's bad enough that people can't drive with these things, but this new breed of asshole with the earpieces that walk in public seemingly shouting to themselves as if they're on an airplane with open windows is enough to make you crazy.

FBI Alerts: Stung by getting caught with their pants down during 9/11, they've resorted to alerting us every single day that "something might happen today" just to cover their ass. [ed. It's actually sad that they have to do this.]

Sniper Experts: As the DC Sniper picked off innocent victims, this daily array of geniuses gave you insight like, "we're pretty sure he likes to shoot people." That's about all the profilers got right.

I also read another thing the other day about how CNN Headline news online has become more like tabloid entertainment than an actual news service. I'll have to agree when I view cnn.com. Instead of getting real world news, most of the time I get to read sensationalist news and soap operas I couldn't care less about, like Wynona Rider's trial, a couple of missing people, and other "entertaining" stories where we can all live through other people's mishaps and heartbreak. Yay! At least espn.com still reports mostly just on sports...

I was reading a below post, and thought I would complete the thought about what things are required to live. The person who sparked this idea said that there were four things required for life: food, water, shelter, and God. I completely disagreed and would have made a different list:

food
water
shelter
something to believe in
someone to love or be loved by

Those were my points, I felt them much more defendable than simply saying God. An easy example of a lot of the important things in life can be found in suicide. Why do people commmit suicide? What suddenly makes death more inviting than living? What can create that deep sense of hopelessness and despair?

At any rate, the firs three are easy. The point about having something to believe in has a lot of implications, but I mean it only to cover the idea that people continue living for a reason. Maybe they believe in an afterlife, a higher plane of existence, or maybe even the simple belief that tomorrow will be better, or that tomorrow' experience will be worth sticking around for. The last point is one that can be argued, and one I put in there because it seems important. We're a social species, and if put on an island, I sometimes wonder if it would be worth living, if you're the only one around. Besides, lack of love (both ways) seems to be an important part of living and being happy. I included the "or" because I think that even if someone isn't loved, they can still fill the "love void" by loving something/someone else, much like a substitute.