The Bad Omen in Zambia

First, Blood Diamond is an amazing film. To be fair, it wasn't perfect acting. And the camera work would have been much more apt under the guiding hand of Ridley Scott. But the writing/story-line was amazing. A good movie if you can ignore some of the technical aspects.

In other news, the title of this post is linked to a rather funny story about a bad omen in Zambia (a correspondence piece from the BBC, for those BBC-fanatics in the crowd). I wasn't intentionally looking up depressing facts about Africa, but their co-existence in my phenomenological experience today couldn't be overlooked when creating this post...you know how it is: coincidence turns to omen pretty quick.

Namaste'.

The Excuses We Make

It's amazing what we'll come up with to keep us from working out. For example, at the beginning of this academic year I bought a combination master lock so that I could keep my stuff safe when I went to work out. Naturally, I took the combination to this lock, committed it to memory, and then promptly ate the piece of paper it was printed on. Two weeks later, I couldn't quite recall whether the 10 went before the 26, or to the right of the 33.

The result; I haven't worked out in awhile.

The good news, though, is that since Christmas (when my parents bought me a nice glass-top, digital, body% measuring scale), I've dropped nearly 10 lbs. To those friends who haven't seen me in a couple months, don't worry: this isn't to say I look famished or that I have that sunken look some vegetarians get about them. On the contrary, it was no secret I kept a little in reserve around the midsection and a good deal of that is what is gone now. As mentioned, I haven't been working out (at least, no cardiovascular, though I do have some weights in my apartment), but obviously my dietary practices have changed fairly dramatically in the past 3 or 4 months. Given, I started the whole vegetarian thing right after Thanksgiving, but it took awhile to get get out of the junk-food-veg phase. Once I started cooking actual meals for myself and stopped relying on overly-processed broccoli and cheese hot pockets (namely, after the first of the year), I saw the bulk of that weight drop.

Anyways, though I know you love to hear about my current physique (you know I'd post pictures, but this isn't that type of blog), the main point of this post is to tell all those of you out there who similarly absolutely can't manage to work out because you, too, have forgotten your master lock combination, there is hope! The title of this post is linked to the first site googled under "lost combination for master lock". It's a process I knew to exist from my lock-picking days a couple years back, but I'd forgotten the exact details of it. Don't worry, despite the deceptive descriptive language the author of said page utilizes, this is very much not a hard process to figure out. And, though it may take a little trial and error when you get to the end-game, it goes a lot quicker than you'd imagine. Running through the digits of my own lock's locked final minutes literally took, uh, minutes. And, for the 3 or 4 bucks a master lock costs, I'd rather spend 10 minutes playing the game of figuring out its combination. Good luck if you need to use it...if not, we'll see what tomorrow's gym session brings about. I'll keep you updated (I might even create a new label...but let's not get ahead of ourselves).

P.S. Thanks goes out to Brad B. for mentioning the idea of motivating your own work-outs by making them public on your blog. Thanks for the idea.

The Riddle of Epicurus

Labels: Humor, Philosophy

The Tetrapharmakos:
(The Four-Part Cure)

Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death;
What is good is easy to get, and
What is terrible is easy to endure.

(Philodemus, Herculaneum Papyrus, 1005, 4.9-14)

Drunken Counterfactuals

Labels: Humor, Philosophy

[The following is adapted and rewritten from a comment made by Adam W. I take no credit for originality of the humor.]

A Counterfactual is the drunk guy at the bar who loses a fight, yet preserves his pride by asserting that:

Well, if x [counterfactual antecedent], I *hic-up* coulda beat 'em. *puke*

Some likely candidates for x in this instance are:
: I wasn't so drunk
: his wife wasn't watching
: I was mad enough. . . but he wasn't worth it
: he hadn't a-sucker punched me
: he hadn't had his buddies there
&c. . .

Statements about such "states of affairs" certainly have no referent. Thus, they have nothing that makes them true. But the drunken counterfactual's drunken buddies would readily agree with the counterfactual's belief that, if it wasn't for the way things really are, he'd be a badass.

Making Vegan Pizza

Just a cool video if you're in to that sort of thing...but you gotta admit, this looks good.

Just some randomness

Labels: Humor

Perhaps, but not just now

Labels: JBP, Philosophy

Perhaps at some point in the new future I will complain and grumble about the absurdities that confiscate my life. If you're curious, in the meantime, I've linked the title of this post to a post 366 days ago on this same topic.

However, I wanted to take a brief aside to point out something I found rather humorous. In studying for these comps, we've been fairly kind to one another by providing our own versions of outlines for the topics at hand. These outlines, by no means, include sufficient information alone to pass the tests, but they're helpful in recalling previous knowledge and in organizing one's thoughts. What kills me is that in the middle of an incredibly detailed outline of Descartes' second meditation, amidst lines of text of definitive information and rational process, of the nurturing self, sensing self, and rational self, is a line stuck in which says "Descartes is really pulling this out of his ass." I can only imagine the state of mind of the individual, whomever it was, who wrote that. Because, honestly, I can only imagine the state of my mind at present.

I hope all the NIU kids had a great Spring Break. I know I did!

With Honors

Labels: Literature, Philosophy

I took this ethics comp this morning; I have the history comp to take on Monday. And, though nearly completely unrelated to the studying of said comps, I haven't had a good night's sleep in at least three weeks...even for me. Two unrelated aspects of my life which, unfortunately for the readers of DW, lead me to existential angst (insert an emoticon for "morose"). I say this is unfortunate for your reading pleasure because, alas, I am left to give you quotes from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. The first one you'll remember from that classic Joe Pesci and Brendan Fraser film, With Honors;

"You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self."

"Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash'd babe, and am not contain'd between my hat and boots"

"To elaborate is no avail, learn'd and unlearn'd feel that it is so. […] I and this mystery here we stand."

"These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me,
If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing,
If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing,
If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.
This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is,
This the common air that bathes the globe."

"I exist as I am, that is enough,
If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
And if each and all be aware I sit content."

*-All quotes from the poem "Song of Myself".

Testing...One, Two, Three

Trust me, I have been considering this issue of my recent trend of thoughts; I don't mean to be preachy or in your face about these issues. But I do think they're important. So, I've got new tag: "Vegan". Unfortunately, these tags are placed at the bottom of the post (though, I think I might be able to fix that and put them right under the title...we'll see). If you don't care to read or see about issues involving animal cruelty, the vegetarian/vegan diet, or health issues, I'll try to make it as easy as possible to identify that thread of divergent thought. However, to the post at hand, I found this video and I think it's both incredibly well done and on message.

The GradCafe

I got curious a couple posts back as to how people were coming across my site. Given, my friends either have the page bookmarked or google "divergent world" when they want to get back here. However, when making fun of the random "fruit loops scrambled letters" google in a comment awhile back, I also noticed a trend. Because I've been blogging about the application process, a lot of hits have been pointing people to my site about admissions, philosophy, grad programs, etc. In turn, I decided to take a look around, and I came across this really good site for application updates. TheGradCafe.com has a continuously updating list of notification letters. If you click on the title of this post, it'll take you to a week-long spectrum of program notifications beginning with the letter 'P' (Philosophy is a couple slots down). Here you can submit notification updates and view whether other people have heard from the schools you're applying to. There's also a column for how the notification was received (phone, e-mail, postal, etc). Quite a few people have been submitting for philosophy, which is good. Of course, quite a few of those have been rejected, which is bad. But any news is good news at this stage in the game. As you can see in the sidebar to the right, I've only got 7 schools left to hear from. Ohio state sent rejections about a week ago and Rutgers did as well, but I don't know how heavily I'd rely on that information (I checked the website and Rutgers has me listed as "No Decision"). But I guess it's just good to see some relevant information now and then. Anyways, for those of you who stumble across my site trying to find more relevant information, the gradcafe is the place for it. Good luck to you and, as my friend recently suggested, "加油" (literally, "add oil"; cultural idiom of encouragement in Chinese).

This Veggie Thing

I try not to make a big deal out of it. With the exception of BRL (who actually went vegetarian first), not too many people are subjected to my comments and musing about my dietary habits. Sure, I may hint at it from time to time or bring it up when relevant to the situation at hand...and yes, sometimes I post disgusting videos of factory farming. But all-in-all, I don't think it's any more of an issue or imposition than any other hobby I might have taken up.

However, it's also not simply a hobby. It's a way of life. It's not a choice. God made me this way...or...I mean...

What brings this up is a recent conversation I had. After mentioned that I'd be making a dinner based on a meal ASH made for us while we were in NOLA, in passing I said I'd be substituting super firm tofu for chicken, to which the reply was, "So, you're still on that veggie kick, huh?"

The kicker is, this isn't a phase I'm going through. Given, like a lot of people, I too went through a vegetarian phase when I was younger. And yes, like most 8 year olds, I grew out of it. However, that was the classic testing of limits and simply attempting to be unique. But actually becoming a vegetarian was the product of a rational decision well analyzed with due attention to long-term health. I'm pretty much in this for the long-haul.

Now don't get me wrong. With the exception of this little tirade, I'm not what's referred to as a "vegan freak." Oddly, I am, for all intensive purposes, vegan. I use soy milk in cooking and on cereal and I don't eat eggs. However, I also don't freak out if the cookie I'm eating used eggs in the batter or if a soup was thickened with milk. And, for the most part, simply because a soup used chicken stock or the noodles were cooked in turkey broth, that's not a big deal to me. Yes, I wear a leather belt. Yes, I wear leather shoes. But, to be fair, the health benefits are superordinate to the ethical treatment of animals...and those items were bought pre-veganism. In general, though, anytime I have control over the situation, I'll refrain from eating animals or using their by-products.

But the meal itself ended up tasting great. The tofu soaked up quite a bit of the pineapple flavor, which was good, but almost counterproductive. Perhaps next time I'll sear the tofu first with a cumin rub to delineate the different tastes. Also, I underestimated the pepper needs. I only used one green bell pepper; I'm thinking next time I'll use two, one green and one orange. I did sub-out a red onion for the yellow, which I think worked extremely well. Finally, I think it needs something of a sauce. I'm thinking a mango salsa. Anyways, I'm going to try to practice on that a bit so that I can cook it for my non-veggie friends sometime. That and scrambled tofu...Mmmmm.

Ok, that was my one rant on the subject.

Fin.

Death Walks Beside Me

"Death walks beside me. He is my brother, my shieldman, and my slave. When you face me, you face us both, and Death shall have his way."

A quote ASH sent my way.

The Grump(y old man's) Stump (lectures)

I realize that I will be a grumpy old man giving stump lectures. In fact, it's my financial plan.

A couple of my closest friends have blogs on financial matters. On this subject, I truly am speechless. This is one of the (albeit few) areas in my life that I have no doubt people look at me and think, "Jeez, how dense can he be? This isn't that hard." But for me, it just never makes sense. I understand the basic idea of investing, but there's still a lot of acronyms I can't place. Sure, I'll still be comfortable; yes, I'd like to buy a house, make improvements, and buy/sell my way up to better houses and perhaps multiple properties; I also have no doubt I'll have a 401(b) (ASH, correct me if I'm wrong on that one) once I start my career as a professor.

But as MS and I were talking about on the drive back up from NOLA, being filthy rich and retiring at the age of 35 -- which I fully expect a handful of my friends to be capable of -- never appealed to me. I'd rather have a job that I love like a hobby and keep working till my death. And what better job to attain that goal than a college professor. I'd make a good curmudgeon.

Do I need a better financial plan than that? Well, here it is. I'm not sure how true this is -- as previously hinted to, I highly doubt it applies to my close circle -- but I think most people end up practically investing such that in their retirement years they're able to live on 60-80% of their pre-retirement income from investments. I heard that somewhere, but I can't cite it. Intuitively, though, it seems fairly close to real-world (i.e. not intelligentsia) goals. So my plan? To not retire. I know, sounds crazy. But think about my career path. Sure, I'll probably be without weekends for the next 10 years or so; an office in my place of residence will be a requirement. Publish or perish, right? But after all is said and done, once I've attained tenure, been department chair once or twice, chaired dissertations a few more than that, and given a few lecture tours through Eastern Europe (or, preferably, Eastern Asia), I can relax a little into the job. Because, without all those young-man's-game items, at the base of my career I have 15 hours a week at the job: 9 or so hours of class lecturing, 3 hours in the office, and a few hours here and there in meetings. But I'm going to be a fit, healthy, and vibrant old son-of-a-bitch. I have no doubt I'll make it up and down stairs and still have the cognitive capacity to teach, what will end up being predominantly the same material I've had taught for over half a century, well into my 90's. So by age 65 or so, my "retirement" will still consist of 100% my pre-retirement income without ever touching my investments (after all, I'll need to leave my 2.5 something of an inheritance, right?). Gotta love tenure.

So, to my money-savvy friends (and anyone else who wishes to comment) how's that for financial planning? Am I far off base?

Apps Update

An after-thought note before I begin(again): I was curious as to whether this blog was easily found on the net. I don't put too much personal information up here -- then again, I don't know that I want to advertise my list of pending schools to the mass public. So, I googled my name. Using my full first name & last, there weren't too many relevant hits (a couple pings from documents here at NIU). However, using my nickname and last, something interesting occurred. In the first three hits (when viewing the brief blurb down below the title of the address), you learn that (1) I'm a grad assistant at NIU with a B.S. in philosophy and psychology, (2) I was chair of a paper presentation followed by presenting my own paper at the NIU philosophy conference of 2006, and (3) oddly enough, you learn that I was an Eagle Scout (thanks to the Elks magazine). So, I guess it's not a bad thing if people google me. NRZ put up a stumble upon comment about this blog, so at about 8 or 9 hits down, you learn about Divergent World. But it does get very irrelevant before that point. Anyways, just an interesting fact finding mission. What do you learn when your name is googled? Feel free to leave a comment. And without further ado, here's the actual post for today.

I figured it was time for an update regarding my application status. As you'll notice, not too many drastic changes. I did end up getting rejection letters from Stanford and Princeton. Unfortunate, as those were two in my top five. But, as they were in my top five, I knew my chances. I still have 12 applications out in the field, in addition to Madison having contacted me yesterday to notify me that I was officially wait-listed. However, SM, who has been my source for all things political in this application process, mentioned the other day a theory that I think is fairly right-on. She said that, predominantly, the schools we'd applied to have already sent out their acceptance letters and rejection letters; if we haven't heard from a school, we're essentially on the "unofficial" wait-list. Essentially, the schools would wait until perhaps the second or third batch of offers to also send out the official notification of being wait-listed. Of course, it's about that time that we need to know something, so I should be expecting to get the official notification for either acceptance, rejection, or wait-list before too long. Well, without further ado, here's the official break-down.

• Accepted
• UC Davis
• Officially Wait-Listed
• Madison, WI
  
• Pending
• Rutgers
• UC Berkeley
• Harvard
• Amherst
• Ohio State
• CU Boulder
• UC Riverside
• College Park
• Wash U
  
• Carnegie-Mellon
  
• Rejected
  
• Stanford
• Princeton
• Pittsburgh
  
• Cornell
• Duke
• Chapel Hill
• UC Irvine, LPS
• UC Irvine, Philosophy

Another one bites the dust. Pittsburgh has just been moved to the rejection pile.

A Classic Novel

You scored as A classic novel. Almost everyone showers praise upon you for your depth and enduring relevance. According to your acolytes, everything you say is timeless, erudite and meaingful. Of course, none of them actually listen to you. Nobody listens to you at all, but it's fashionable to claim you as a friend. Fond of obscure words, antiquated notions and libraries, you never have a problem finding someone to hang out with. The fact that they end up using you to balance their kitchen tables is an unfortunate side effect, but you're used to being used for others' benefit. Oh the burden of being Great. A classic novel 96% A college textbook 79% A paperback romance novel 71% Poetry 64% An electronics user's manual 57% A coloring book 43% The back of a froot loops box 21%

Leci n'est pas une pipe.

I've been having a lot of Magritte days lately. I can't look out the window (to the soul) without reality stretching tight at the seems. Sometimes I think it's a fault of the previous sickness; a lack of concentration or just a "sick-day" mentality towards responsibilities. But then, for all intensive care purposes, I've been fairly well well for awhile now. So I guess I'm just going crazy. Damn it.