Minds of killers

I'm interested in what happens in the minds of killers, especially those who you can't explain away as psychotics, like people who actively participate in genocides like the holocaust or Rwanda 1994. If we overlook those who merely participate out of fear of becoming victims themselves, it still leaves way too many people who one would never expect to be murderers, but yet takes machettes or guns to neighbors who they know are innocent. What is happening in their minds? What do they think? How do they experience it? Is it a rush of bloodlust? Does it feel like they are possessed? Do they feel taken over by mob emotion? Do they feel rage against another ethnic group? Do they not think at all? What?

Pavlina against religion

Popular self-development guru Steve Pavlina rants against organized religion.

"... when you donate to a major religion, you support its expansion, which means you’re facilitating the enslavement of your fellow humans."

Wow. Bitter much? :-)

I'm with him so far that those with muscles in the mind can possibly make more spiritual progress outside an organized religion, but to cast the religions as the Villain is no better than doing the same thing to "terrorists" or governments or people of another race or culture. It's all the same trap. The problem is not "out there". Villains belong in pulp fiction, not in the mind of a serious seeker.

About being your own man

"Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece."
-- Ralph Charell

Good advice, but isn't it a bit obvious? Like "don't stand in the rain"?

Or rather, people who need that advice, do you think they understand it?

Exotic animals

A white tiger, photographed under water? Say what you want, but this is not a picture anybody could take.
(Photo by Jeff Rayner.)

That's in contrast to one of the last pictures I saw when I was frequenting the local photo club in these parts the year before last. I'd been coming a couple of months, and I'd grown a bit tired of the unventilated presentation room and the general lack of any talk about actual photography amongst the members.

And then they had a judge for the monthly contest who claimed that the title of a picture should be an explanation of that picture, a dead stupid idea. In the end he awarded the first price to a breathtakingly boring picture of a monkey. Sure, the monkey was sitting in the open in India, so maybe it could be regarded as exotic, but monkeys are as common as dogs there, and seriously, the picture could not have been more banal. I got so bored my head hurt, so I stopped going.

Clifford Stoll

Clifford Stoll. A real live wire.

I've only watched part of it yet. But what strikes me is: how can anybody live with hair like that. It would drive me crazy.

FrankenTony

"You're like Tony Robbins, if Tony Robbins was a big, scary, Frankenstein-looking... you're exactly like Tony Robbins." - Spike

Obedience

There was a time when we expected nothing of our children but obedience, as opposed to the present, when we expect everything of them but obedience. -- Anatole Broyard

Hollywood Squares Answers

Hollywood Squares Answers
Samples:

Peter Marshall
What are “dual-purpose cattle” good for that other cattle aren’t?
Paul Lynde
They give milk and cookies — but I don’t recommend the cookies.

Peter Marshall
Imagine you are a child in your mother’s womb, can you detect light?
Paul Lynde
Only during ballet practice.

Peter Marshall
When a couple has a baby, who is responsible for its sex?
Charley Weaver
I’ll lend him the car. The rest is up to him.

Peter Marshall
Before a cow will give you any milk, she has to have something very important. What?
Paul Lynde
An engagement ring.

Peter Marshall
According to Robert Mitchum, one thing has ruined more actors than drinking. What?
Charley Weaver
Not drinking.

Peter Marshall
When the Lone Ranger finished with a case, he left something behind. What?
Paul Lynde
A masked baby.

Internet movie watching forges ahead

Internet movie watching forges ahead.
Why is it only the US which gets fantastic deals like this?

Speedy iPod delivery

My old iPod (first generation which played video) has almost run out of space, and I decided to get a new Classic iPod. So I went to the online Apple Store UK and ordered one, including getting my email address engraved on the back. This was less than 24 hours ago, and here is the machine on my table. Man, that's fast service!

I wonder, though, why Apple still insists on the high-gloss backside on the iPods. Sure, it looks gorgeous when it's pristine, but it only stays pristine until after you've held it once.

Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul

Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul. Philosophical paperback.

Quote from the back cover:
"Why doesn't Batman just kill the Joker and end everyone's misery? Can we hold the Joker morally responsible for his actions? Is Batman better than Superman? If everyone followed Batman's example, would Gotham be a better place? What is the Tao of the Bat?
-- Batman is one of the most complex characters ever to appear in comic books, graphic novels, and on the big screen. What philosophical trials does this superhero confront in order to keep Gotham safe? Combing through seventy years of comic books, television shows, and movies, Batman and Philosophy explores how the Dark Knight grapples with ethical conundrums, moral responsibility, his identity crisis, the moral weight he carries to avenge his murdered parents, and much more. How does this caped crusader measure up against the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Kierkegaard, and Lao Tzu?"

Isn't that just wonderful, Batman mano-a-mano with Kierkegaard. And mentioning Plato and Lao Tzu in the same breath as asking the immortal question "is Batman better than Superman?" Gotta love that.

Don't get me wrong, I've been a Batman fan for nigh 40 years. And there are legit philosophical questions he inspires, some of which were brought up in The Dark Knight Returns, for instance "are the authorities the ones we should follow and obey?" or "will violence and revenge solve anything?" (actually it seems Frank Miller pretty much takes for granted they will, so that one is mine), but this book just seems like it won't really delve into those. I could be wrong, it could be just the back cover text which is silly. It is actually written by professors and not comic book editors.

Pogue on the copyright issue

Pogue on the copyright issue.
(Update: enjoy David's TedTalk copyright spoof song.)

He quotes Steven Poole:

"It [the Slashdot argument] says that books, music, films, software and so on ought to be freely distributed to anyone who wants them, simply because they can be freely distributed.

"What is the writer or musician to do, though, if she can't earn money from her art? Simple, says the Slashdotter: earn your money playing live (if you're one of those musicians who plays live), or selling T-shirts or merchandise, or providing some other kind of 'value-added' service. Many such arguments seem to me to be simple greed disguised in high-falutin' idealism about how 'information wants to be free.'

"…I think the Slashdot argument can actually be disposed of rapidly with one rhetorical question, as follows.

"Oh Mr. Freetard, you work as a programmer, do you? How interesting. So do you perform all your corporate programming duties for free, and earn your keep by selling personally branded mousemats on the side?

"Didn't think so."