Occasionally I take photographs of total strangers (but only with their consent)

I was coming back from work today when I passed someone walking down the street playing the accordion in traditional Swiss garb. I asked her if it would be weird if I took a picture (it's not every day you see someone walking down the street playing the accordion). On closer inspection it turned out not to be Swiss garb but just really fashionable clothes. She said she lived in the neighborhood and it just seemed like a nice day to play the accordion.

"Well, thanks for sharing your accordion skills with the world"
"Thanks for appreciating"

I realize I should feel weird about doing things like this, but really I'm just a little kid with a toy camera.

"Ethics is the method by which the soul binds itself to the Good"

I've been doing a lot of religious studying this week. Last Friday, I went to a Shabat at the campus Jewish center, on Sunday I attended the morning service at the Unitarian Universalist church, and yesterday I went to a panel discussion with ten representatives from different religions. And now I start research for a paper on a particular religion's concept of the creation of the universe.

I had gone to one Shabat before this Sunday but didn't really take much from it because it was almost entirely in Hebrew. This Friday I followed up the service with a visit to Rabbi Schlomo's house (the Rabbi who hands out pamphlets outside the Dining Center). I've decided the Jewish Identity has a lot in common with the Modernist mentality because it is about alienation. One of the Jews at the lesson explained to me that to be a Jew was to live in exile. Even the Jews who lived in the Holy Land still felt a strong sense of spiritual exile, that is, alienation of the soul from God. Another aspect of Jewish life is the focus on the pain and suffering of religious brothers, which is expressed through an internal focus whether it be individually with an emphasis on private study of the Torah and Talmud or culture-wide with an immutability of tradition and an impenetrability of community. This made sense to me because I associate a strong sense of self (identity) with alienation and with suffering.

I attended the Universalist service with Sean, Daniel and Aimee at the church in Green Hills. It began with the children's choir singing not about some textual Bible story or specific religious concept, but about using their imagination. In fact all the songs in the hymn book were about using the mind through rational or creative thought to find God. It was definitely a service that seemed to bring about the better aspects of mankind. My only problem with it was that since their ideology is so open and accepting there is very little to focus on. Their entire creed fit inside the order of service, which means they have no strong, absolute concept of good that they preach. Instead religious stories are studied from an almost-academic perspective. The sermon was about the Ancient Chinese story of Creation, and the preacher described teaching Sunday school lessons of God as if he were a part of a tale, not too different from a Mother Goose story. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

The religious panel last night was very enlightening. There were representatives Ba'hai, Hindu, Mormon, Protestant, Catholic, Islamic, Atheist, Jewish, Jainist and Buddhist faiths. I thought the Jainist and Ba'hai representatives did an excellent job, and I even learned something about the Protestant faith I didn't know. The atheist representative however did not know how to answer the question and instead started swearing about taxes and Jack Benny(?).

And remember that resolution I made a while back to learn more about Hinduism? Well guess what I'm writing my cosmology project on. Anyhow, I'm now really late for class

Linux has no Blue Screen of Death--it just dies

Wednesday night I had a philosophy paper to finish before my 8am morning class. Which made it the perfect time to erase my hard drive. Yes, even the mighty Linux is not impossible to crash.

***Skip this part if you don't want nerdy techno-babble***

I had opened up Linux's automatic update system to import plugins from the multiverse spectrum, which includes updates outside Linux's approved web servers and programs list. This gives a lot more updates, but it means not all of them are compatible. The computer froze up while compiling one of these. When I rebooted, my kernel was totally gone. In tears, I called up Vanderbilt's ITS help desk, only to find out that no one there knows how to handle Linux. I have nothing.

***Okay you can start reading again***

I was not even able to start the paper until after 3am. Luckily I had my old Ubuntu live CD in my desk drawer, which means I wrote my paper on about 650 megs of Operating System and entirely in gedit. I finished the paper despite all this 'cause I'm a trooper like that. My professor was very understanding when I explained the reason the font was Courier New instead of Times New Roman and there were no headers, footers or citations. I was planning on going to the Apple store this weekend and buying Leopard so I would have a plan B if Linux flakes out again, but my paycheck was late so I'm still running my laptop on a Live disk (gross). I'm also refusing to reinstall the same distribution I had before, which, puts me in a precarious position, system-wise.

Why are things like this looked down upon by conservatives?

I had an interesting experience on Saturday night--my friend Downs invited me to this concert that was being held at the yoga source downtown. It struck me as an odd place for a concert, but that didn't really deter me. In the entranceway before the standing room there was a giant closet/changing space where everyone was encouraged to put their jackets, cell phones and other loose objects. In the concert hall proper (if you could call it that) the hundred or so people that had arrived before us were all sitting cross-legged on the hardwood floor or on one of the prayer mats that the sponsors were handing out. The band, called Samavayah, consisted of two percussionists, two sitar players a lead chanter, and a dancer (I think--it was kind of hard to see). The kirtan-style music was all in a call-and-response format, so the group would project maybe six Hindi words on the screen behind them, explain their meanings in English and then repeat them for the entirety of a twenty-minute song. Most people chanted along with their eyes closed, but by the end of the performance, the audience was dancing and singing in full unity with the musicians. It was an extremely energetic experience. Another one of the people in our party said the sounds inspired to him to see images in the air around him; if you had been there, this would not have surprised you a bit. Would attend again.

Laser beams, Collard greens, and Jelly Beans

On or about 12:17 this afternoon, I realized that I have now missed half of my astronomy lectures so far this semester, which amounts to somewhere in the general vicinity of $472 down the University toilet. Ugh. It was because I stayed up late last night. It was generally a busy day, to say the least.

I had to rush from my Art class (which ends at 4) to the bus that drove everyone to the polls (which left campus at 4) in order to vote. *By the way, even though it was super-exciting to exercise my duty as a citizen, I could not prevent Hilary Clinton form winning the state of Tennessee* At five o'clock I had to attend a Mannafit, which was a benefit dinner for this Central American relief agency. This event lasted much longer than I was comfortable with. Also the tables were decorated with live goldfish, which made me quite angry, and I think I ate a little bit of meat, which made me almost throw up.

Back in my room, just when I decided to forgo watching the West coast returns in favor of my 80 pages of English reading, who should show up but the Tornadoes. Yes we had quite a storm last night if you missed it, and the RAs in my dorm had everyone sit in the first-floor hallway away from the windows until the storm warning expired. *My friends at Union University are safe but say the campus is a total mess* As I get back to room, I'm almost ready to start with the homework when Daniel suddenly decides to shave his head. I somehow got wrapped up in that for a bit (It's not everyday you get to see someone shave his own head).

The good news is I wrote my first program in Unix today! Granted I had a step-by-step tutorial to rely on, but it still made me happy.