Ramblings of a Rover

manually installing my roll function

2011-09-29T22:43:00.000-07:00

In my instructions, I am assuming you are using Gnome and that you have never used Linux before.

I created a command-line program to simulate the rolling of a dice. It is used by typing "roll nds" where "n" is the number of dice to roll and "s" is the number of sides on the dice. This follows the Dungeons and Dragons syntax. So, roll 3d6 will output the result of rolling 3 six sided die, as well as the sum of the face values. To install it you will need to download it from my website

You can now run the program in the command line by opening a terminal [Applications->Accessories->Terminal] then navigating to the file's directory using the "cd" function. cd stands for change directory. Probably, "cd Downloads". Then, you can type "./roll nds".

You don't have to do all that.

To make this easier, open to your home directory [Places->Home Folder] and press CTRL+h. This will toggle the setting for showing/hiding hidden files. A file will be hidden if it begins with a period. You should create a folder and name it ".bin" This name is an arbitrary convention and you can change it if you want, but then also change it everywhere else it will be used. Now, find your ".bashrc" file in your home directory and add the following lines:

# set PATH so it includes user's
# private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/.bin" ] ; then
PATH="${PATH}:$HOME/.bin"
fi

Put the roll executable in the .bin folder. You will be able to type "roll nds" in the command line no matter what directory you are in and the program will run just like any other command line function. You can now also manually install other simple programs simply by dropping them into the ".bin" folder.

Two Levels of Understanding The Gods and The Three Functions

2011-09-05T00:28:00.000-07:00

We all have a part of each of the gods and goddesses within us, yet at the same time they transcend each of us. They are within us like a root, and extend to all of us as a folk due to genetic transference. On all levels of understanding, there is a three part structure. I will explain: As a folk-society, we have people of three functions. The leaders, the protectors, and the producers. Each of us feels most content while fulfilling one of these roles. Of course each of them is quite satisfying and enjoyable and we do all three, but at one of them--I believe--we naturally excel at. Those who tend toward Odin are the leaders, those who tend toward Thor are the protectors, and those who tend toward Frey are the producers.
Within the individual, the three functions are our primary abilities: mental, physical, and reproductive.
Odin is literally the master of inspiration, and our source of consciousness and awareness. Within the individual this is our unique spark of consciousness. Unique in that each spark of us has our own point of view that is completely subjective. Subjective being completely within the self, as opposed to objective which is outside the self. There is more to say about that. But briefly, Odians seek to follow the example of Odin's ordeal on Yggdrasil. He gives himself to himself in exchange for hidden knowledge: the runes.
Thor is the protector of Asgard. Within the individual he is the fulfiller of our true wills: he is the urge we have to live and do. Beyond the individual he is the source of the urge we have to help our family and friends continue living and do whatever it is they are doing. Driving this urge is force of will and, hopefully, directing it is the inspiration of Odin.
Frey's men are those who are not necessarily prone toward dynamic action, nor exceptional thought, but whom women find irresistible. Within the individual he is our urge to reproduce, and our physical ability to do so. In general the Aesir are gods of consciousness, while the Vanir are gods of physical nature. In one sense we are the outcome of the physical nature of consciousness.
There are many other types beyond the basic three, like different flavours of--but still falling within--the three functions. For example Tyr's men are like Thor's men, but with the specific emphasis on willingness to sacrifice themself for the cause. And again they are all within us, and there is no reason to shun one god for favor of another.
And I havn't even mentioned the woman's point-of-view.

gnome-blackjack

2011-09-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

I finally updated to Natty today. I had tried out Unity before using my thumb drive. But as soon as I tried moving the dock bar to the opposite side of the screen and was unable to, I had decided not to upgrade. I gave it another try, but Gnome fits my work style perfectly. It's exactly what I would write if I were to create my own desktop manager.
From previous upgrades I knew to be ready to reset all my repositories, and get a list of all my installed software, to be ready to hunt down lost goodies. But, this time the process was less painful.

One thing I lost though was Blackjack from the gnome-blackjack package. I received a notification that there was no available version, though it was in the database. I did a quick search and found the package on launchpad, downloaded it, and manually installed it.

Troll Raider Day 18

2011-08-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

This is the 18th day. The past few days have been spent working on the town/dungeon generator. I made a test.c file to try my hand at implementing a binary space partitioning tree. I was fun, but my town map is so small that it always produces the same thing. I then thought about alternative methods: I made a few 3x3 character tiles and thought about creating an algorithm based on directional move ability. For the town at least, I thought about just using the algorithm I had in place to begin with, since most of the time it created sufficient maps. Now I'm thinking of changing it a bit so that I first find the centers of the buildings such that they are a certain distance apart. And then, expand them outward up to that distance minus one unit.
I am going to stop posting about this so regularly, now. Instead I plan to write about some other topics.

Troll Raider Day 15

2011-08-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

I created unequip, drop, pickup, and destroy item functions. Discovered, found, and fixed a display bug. Restructured the command input methods, and consolidated the sub command inputs into a single function. I put a skip-a-turn boolian in place, but so far it is unused. I'll need to set up a way to test more items before I can worry about how many turns it takes to perform the various equipment manipulations. So far I've just made it free to drop an equipped non-armor item. Sometime during all this I uploaded a newer version to github.
Right now I'm working on a new town/dungeon map generator.

Troll Raider Day 12

2011-08-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

All I did yesterday was begin implementing an inventory command, and initialize the player's inventory to "empty". Today, I began working on sub commands for the inventory command: beginning with equip an item, then drop. Between working on them I inverted the flow of message text in the bottom window, and added some more items. I split the inventory screen into two windows, one to display inventory and one to display equipped items.
Since my video from day 9 didn't upload, here's a new one from today:

Troll Raider Day 10

2011-08-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

After cleaning the house and yard, and doing some reading, I worked on making my new window appear as I wanted. Then I was able to confirm that my items were not all being initialized at all. So I put in an else-if statement that returned an error on success. I ran the program and I got no message; There was no report of success nor of failure! Examining the loop, I found that I was using a value r to iterate, and a different value i to dereference. So each time I was trying to get a new item, I was overwriting the first one. I changed r to i. Problem solved!
Now I'm going to work on rewriting the generation algorithm using a grid based methodology, at least for the village and buildings.

Troll Raider (was 7DRL0) Day 9

2011-08-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'm going to call it early today, on the 9th day. I'll make a short clip for YouTube and then play a game for a change. I made a new window for displaying lists and getting sub commands. So far it is only activated by the debug command, to list all the levels items. It needs some work.

I solved the character input bug! I ran the game a few times and put all the output into a text file. Then I went through it and found that after we reach the appropriate section of items I no longer check the item's type, since I already know how many of each type exist. So I added a couple lines to skip the item's type entry if we are processing the appropriate section, and now the game initializes without outputting any errors. Tomorrow--If I have time--I'll focus on the problem of second item failure. I'll have to check all the item member values for initialization, and see if it is only the names that are failing.

Troll Raider (was 7DRL0) Day 8

2011-08-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

I worked on rewriting the entire init_itm() function, going through it line by line. Separating every compound if statement and nesting them, putting in warnings for any contingency. I also put in an #ifdef to allow to easily compile a debug or regular version, and made a new datafile with only one entry. And, I skipped ahead to the chapter on gdb in one of the books I'm reading: Programming with GNU Software.

Everything seems to work fine, except that when I use the regular datafile the second item to read from the file receives a non alphabetic character when reading in an item's name. And, when I use the debug data file the second item does not report failure but instead terminates the item.name string immediately. I checked all the entries in the datafile, and they are all of appropriate format and length. I'm going to double check the way my in game debug command reports information, and maybe give it its own window (I'll need that for displaying an item menu anyway, I think). Then run the game a few times and record all the items that fail. Then I'll check these items one by one by putting them into the debug data file. Once I solve the problem of character input, I'll be able to find the problem of second item failure.

7DRL0 - Day 7

2011-08-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

Well, I must admit that I was not successful in completing my first 7-day Roguelike. I worked on my init_item() function as much as I could today. It went from returning an error message, to causing a segmentation fault, and now I've gotten it into an infinite loop. I've placed in a pause and barf statements, and tomorrow--day 8--I will go through it line by line either on paper or with Matlab.

I uploaded the last saved running compile, which was from day 5, as well as my current source code on GitHub.

I've been compiling it using Ubuntu with the command

gcc -Wall -lncurses -lm 7drl0.c

I'm happy with how far I got. I learned a lot, use lots of new functions, and had fun.
I will continue to post progress here. But for now, good night.

7DRL0 - Day 6

2011-08-20T00:42:00.000-07:00

Today I had another late start. I spent most of the day cleaning house. I tinkered with my village hut generating algorithm for a while, trying to get it to work like I want. Eventually decided to let it alone for now. Next, I began working on item generation. I had a text data file already made, so I just created a parsing algorithm. And, now I'm working out the last of it's bugs.
One error that I received was from the following line:

m = atoi( fgetc(datafile) );

The problem was that atoi() takes a character pointer--string--as it's argument, but fgetc() returns an integer. I got around the compile-time error by changing the line to:

m = atoi( (char*)fgetc(datafile) );

But, I wasn't sure if atoi would handle that appropriately. So instead, I created a two character string b and then used the lines:

b[0] = fgetc(datafile); b[1] = '\0';
m = atoi(b);

It works, but if a more experienced programmer is reading this: please comment, and tell me if the typecast would also work. Thanks!
Anyway, now I'm getting the following run-time error:

ERROR: Unexpected Input From "Itm.dat" file [ -1 ]

Which means that the fgetc is returning -1. After I fix this, I'm going to bed.
I have one more day to get something working. But--oh, well--if I don't make it, I'll try for a 9dRL. And if it's still not playable then I'll aim for next month's roguelike release party. :^]

7DRL0 - Day 5

2011-08-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

Last night I couldn't figure out why I was having a segmentation fault. I got around the problem, for now, by giving the player a default name and commenting out the request for name input. I traced the error to the following line:

if( fgets(nam, (RT_SUB_COLS - 2), stdin ) == NULL )
exit(error("ERROR: fgets failed to get string", (RT_SUB_COLS - 2)));

nam was defined as:

char nam[RT_SUB_COLS - 2];

The program fails before it can exit with my error message. :^(

I began working on map generation, beginning with the village, and updating input command processing as necessary. I am going to have the player start in a village with n huts and one castle. The huts will share a map and the castle will have 3 tower levels, 3 dungeon levels, and a ground level. I'm making theses numbers adjustable, but based on my calculations this should be more than enough for the player to handle. Right now the player can wander arround a town with only doors, and enter any door to go into the shared huts map.

I'm working on a function for filling a rectangle with walls. I think that I'm wasting lots of time trying to figure out stuff that is well known to seasoned roguelike developers, but I don't mind if I don't finish completely before the time limit. This is my first roguelike, the first time I'm using curses, and the most ambitious project I've undertaken so far. I have already gotten farther than I could have imagined.

7DRL0 - Day 4

2011-08-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

Well, today was less productive than I had hoped. I'm having my mid-week crisis, lol. It's nerve wracking each time I work on this, because everything "works" before I go to bed. And then each day I break it and fix it again, over and over. Each time it comes out a little closer to what I'm aiming for. But, there is always a moment when I think I won't be able to fix it, and that I'll have to start again from a previous version. It's kinda like inverse whittling, from my point of view.
Anyway, right now I am working on fixing a segmentation fault I've been having. But since it's officially day five now, I figured I'd post about day four before I get too tired.
I had a late start. I spent most of the day thinking, trying to figure out in my mind and on paper exactly what I wanted to do--and what I could do. Eventually, I imagined myself playing the completed game. And, once I could do that, things started falling into place. I had to take my sons to a WIC appointment, and then I began coding. I got the right-hand-display to show the player's name and most of the stats. I let the rng start spewing random numbers rather than just maximums. And did some other minor code cleaning, before it got too gunked up with notes and todo comments.
I may post again before I finish day 5, about the specific problems I'm facing. But for now: I'm going to get back to work... This is fun!

P.S.: I'm loving my error handling function:

int error( char* msg, int ref )
{
fprintf( stderr, "\n %s [ %d ]\n", msg, ref );
return FAIL;
}/* end error func */

7DRL0 - Day 3

2011-08-16T22:20:00.000-07:00

Today, my first goal was to decide on content genre. While mulling on that, I worked on fixing-up everything I did yesterday. I organized my functions and definitions into different header files, and re-wrote some functions to delegate tasks to other functions. It get's hard to work with, and less reusable, when a function tries to do too much on its own.
I set up permanent walls on the boundary of the map, and made my bottom window display output as I desired.
As far as genre goes: I had already dumped the science fiction idea, and was thinking about a western. I have so many Ideas for a western, and I have yet to find a western RL, so that was appealing. But in order to meet my deadline, I decided not to go with that this time. Maybe next time. While roughhousing with my kids outside I came up with an idea, and eventually settled on it:
As man eating trolls your family has been doing well for generations living by preying on the nearby villagers. But recently a band heroes has shown up to protect the puny humans. They are hunting down your family, and exterminating your race. You must find and protect n trolls from the hero on each lv, where n is the level that you're on, by killing him before he kills you all. Alternatively the hero is getting stronger and fleeing, and you are chasing him down for killing your kid. Using sense of smell and/or hearing etc... In either case you're also starving. Each person you kill adds to your food supply which goes down in proportion to the quantity of family members you've saved. Maybe, each innocent (easy opponent) you kill spawns an exponentially stronger hero opponent. I've got some more ideas about implementing starvation, and it's effects. But, I won't bore you with the details just yet.
I've just got a couple more hours today, and I've been working on dynamic string input. I think I may skip that for now, since it is not really necessary and has been taking too much time. I just wanted to try an idea I had. For now, I'll just use a buffer like every body else. Instead I'll try to get the rest of the player character's info displayed on the right window.
I made a couple videos, but I'm not going to bother uploading them. Sorry. Thanks for reading.

7DRL0 - Day 2

2011-08-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

My goals from day 1 were to set up data file read-in, set up curses windows, make a test map, and to get @ walking around. Today I was successful!
Instead of using a test map data file, though, I merely made all locations visible floors for now. I uploaded a video of the progress, because this is my first rougelike. It's sentimentally special, because Angband was one of my inspirations to study programming.

Tonight I need to decide on my content genre: western, or classic fantasy, or something else. You can vote on facebook at [NO_MORE]. Then I can spend some time working on mechanics and cmd input. I guess in general, implementing combat is the primary goal for progressing. Thanks for reading!

7DRL0 - Day 1

2011-08-15T01:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (2011-08-14) I began working on my first 7DRL. I'm using C with ncurses, and beginning without any pre-written code except a couple macros for dynamic memory allocation and a couple functions ( for pausing and stream flushing ). I've got some content ideas, but I'm not to worried about that part yet; I'm focused on getting something working first.

I plan to post daily updates here.

So far it's been fun; I've already discovered several new types bugs I've never encountered before, mostly concerning bit fields :^)

My goals for tomorrow are:
-to set up data file read-in,
-set up curses windows,
-make a test map, and
-get @ walking around.

Acceleration Due to Earth's Gravity

2011-03-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

Introduction and Aim:
Our aim was to measure the acceleration due to the Earth's gravity by timing the free fall of a ball starting from rest using a stopwatch. The acceleration due to gravity can be related to the height and time of the
fall with equation 1.

h =(1/2)(g)(t)^2 --> 2h = (g)(t)^2 --> g = 2(h)/(t)^2
Equation 1: Acceleration due to gravity g(h,t)

After calculating this value, we will compare it to the accepted value of 9.8 m/s2 or—if necessary—more precisely 9.80665 m/s2. We can calculate the expected value for t of h by solving equation 1 for t using the accepted value for g. This produces equation 2.

t = sqrt(2h/9.81)
Equation 2

From the height that we dropped our ball this ideal t value was calculated to be approximately 0.659 seconds. However, "A measurement without its uncertainty is meaningless" (1). Because the formula for g—equation 1—is a function of two variables, we calculate its uncertainty with a formula for the propagation of uncertainties (2).

This formula for the uncertainty of g—equation 3—depends on the uncertainty in the measurements of heightand time.
If the measurement of height is h ± c then using a triangular PDF u(h) =
a/26 = 2c/26 = c/6
But because of the way we measured h—as the difference between two distances—there are two uncertainties.
These are combined to find the total uncertainty.
For the uncertainty in t we use the experimental standard deviation of the mean.
Rather than use this formula in equation 5b, we used the STDEV( ) function of our spreadsheet software, and then divided by the square root of the total quantity of times recorded. The total time for the fall is the timing of the fall plus the reaction time, so there are two uncertainties calculated with the formula in figure 5.
As well as the uncertainty in the calibration of the stopwatch.
It is hoped that the value we calculate for g is within the expected range of uncertainty.

Apparatus and Method:
The items needed for the experiment were a golf ball, a meter stick, and a stopwatch. With the meter stick, an appropriate height was chosen to drop the golf ball from. One person would drop the ball while another would hit the stopwatch when the ball dropped and again when it hit the ground. After doing the experiment, it was considered that the error of human reaction time far outweigh the overall time, and huge swings due to error could have been made.
The experiment was partly repeated, this time using two stopwatches which one person would start by pressing their buttons together, the other two people would then only hit their stopwatch once. One person would hit the button on the watch when he let the ball drop. The other would do the same to his watch in reaction to the ball hitting the ground.
Yet another way that the experiment was done was having one person hold the ball in one hand and the stopwatch in the other. With their eyes closed, they would hit the watch on the drop and listen for the ball to hit the ground, stopping the watch at that time. We also attempted to record the fall using several cameras, however
the ball fell too swiftly for the cameras employed to capture the action. Several trials of each method were preformed to find the one with the best timing and least amount of human error. In the end, the initial method was the one we went with for the experiment.

Data and Results:
The heart of this investigation lies in the data collected and the following tables, charts, and figures contain that data. The data has been arranged to determine whether or not our measurements are consistent with the accepted value of gravitational acceleration. Equation 1 was used to determine the value of gravity.
The data collection was comprised of a measurement of a standard drop height, a measurement of reaction time, and a measurement of drop time for a standard golf ball. Chart 1 displays the histogram made from the collection of drop times. It can be seen that after only 50 points of data, the chart is beginning to resemble something that would fit the bell-shaped Gaussian curve. The drop times were compiled in a spreadsheet, separated with the available tools and turned into a histogram. These tools also made it easy to quickly evaluate the arithmetic mean as well as the standard deviation of the mean for both the reaction time and drop time. The mean values can be found in Table 1, along with the drop height used to collect the data, as well as the value for gravity found by using equation 1.

Table 2 contains the uncertainty budget associated with the drop height. Listed are the standard uncertainties associated with both ends of the measuring device. We actually began the measurement at 10 cm, so it is as though we had made two measurements for h, each contributing to the overall uncertainty.

Table 3 contains the uncertainty budget for the drop time. Listed are the uncertainty associated with the scatter of drop times, the reaction time, and an estimated calibration of the stop watch. It was estimated to be accurate within 0.1%.

Upon compiling all of the uncertainties associated with the investigation, a final uncertainty was calculated to determine the validity of the data. Using the equation 3, an uncertainty was calculated for the acceleration of gravity, based upon the data and data collection methods used. The value for time is the sum of the mean drop time and mean reaction time, as described in the introduction. The calculation and result may be seen in figure 1.
The uncertainty for the value of gravity is 0.47 m/s2. Given that the universally accepted value of gravity is 9.81 m/s2, our calculated value of g should have been between 9.34 and 10.28.

Analysis, Interpretation, and Discussion:
The value of 9.8 for gravitational acceleration is widely used and accepted, but replicating that number has proven to be a bit of a challenge. Given the experimental tools available, and the limited experience of the individuals performing the investigation, our final result was different than the excepted value. Some investigation into the methods reveal that a better data collection strategy may have been in order.
The first and most obvious source of uncertainty is the accuracy of the timing method and the data that it provided. Before beginning the investigation it was determined that the ideal number that needed to be achieved was 0.659 seconds to coincide with the accepted gravitational acceleration value. When summing the
reaction time value and the mean drop time value a number of 0.631 seconds is the result. That is a difference of only 0.028 seconds. That is about 10% of our timer’s reaction time and it is the chief culprit in skewing our number. It is larger than the standard uncertainty of the timing in this investigation, but it is in reality a very
small deviation. When looking at the experiment objectively it is easily understood how our final result is off by over 1 m/s2 given that this imperfection in our method and data.
The second source of uncertainty is the timer’s reaction time. Ours was calculated to be 0.22 seconds, which falls well within the parameters of normal reaction times3. However, the bigger issue is the consistency of the timer's reactions. A single lapse in timing can skew the data severely. There were a limited number of
timings taken so there is less opportunity for the data to correct itself as well.
This investigation may provide more information about the ability of humans to take accurate measurements than the value for gravitational acceleration.

Conclusion and Recommendations:
It was our aim to measure the acceleration due to gravity, in the hopes that we would be able to do so within some degree of accuracy. Furthermore, we were expected to accurately calculate the propagation of uncertainties. These calculations are essential to a knowledge of the accuracy of the measurement. And, as professor Walter Lewin of MIT repeatedly states: “A measurement without knowledge of its uncertainty is completely meaningless.” (4)
Based on our experimental data, we calculated the acceleration of gravity to be 10.69 ± 0.47. That is a range of 10.22 to 11.16. The accepted value of this acceleration does not fall within this range. Even with gross uncertainties, if they are correctly taken into consideration, the accepted value should be within the range of uncertainty. The range will become wider to compensate for the larger uncertainty.
However, since we believe that our uncertainty was calculated correctly, it must be that one or more of the values used in the calculation is incorrect. The variables in question are g, h, and t. These are the variables that make up equation 1. The accepted value of g is not in question. And, since g is a function of h and t, our
value of h and/or t must be wrong. We are pretty sure that h was measured accurately. That leaves t. Thus, the method we employed in collecting the data for time must be flawed.
Our second method for gathering time data, using two stopwatches, produces better results even with only 19 data points. This method produces an average drop time of 0.653 , which results in a calculated g of 9.98, or more correctly 10.0 ± 2.4 . Table 4 displays the summary data for this set, just as table 1 did for the
previous data.
Another difference in this dataset is that the reaction time was calculated differently. To produce the previous reaction time we timed 5 drops with a meter stick and calculated the true time based on the kinematice quation. With this new data set we had one person initiate two stopwatch timers. Then hand one stopwatch to the person doing the timing. The initial person would snap his fingers and stop his stopwatch, and the timer would stop his in reaction to the finger snap and/or the beep of the timer button.
The uncertainty budget for the h of both sets is the same. And the new uncertainty budget for the t of this set appears in table 5, followed by the calculation for the uncertainty of g in figure 2. Chart 2, on the final page, displays the frequency histogram of the new data set.
We did not continue with this method of data collection due to a miscalculation in evaluating g with equation 1. It was found that this method was worse than the previous method, and so it was abandoned. It is unfortunate that we did not double check our calculation, because it has become obvious that this method was in
fact superior. It also does not require the addition of reaction time to the drop time, an adjustment we were not unanimous of making.
The uncertainty calculated in figure 2 is quite conservative, due to the method of calculating reaction time. Rounding to the appropriate significant figures produces 10.0 ± 2.4, a range that 9.8 definitely falls within.
If we use the previous reaction time the uncertainty for this g becomes 1.3, creating a range of 8.7 to 11.3.
Within which the accepted value of g still falls.
In future experiments we will continue gathering data, if no obvious flaw is found in its collection, even when it seems to be producing incorrect results. It may even be beneficial to avoid intermediate calculations altogether until we have completed the data collection. We will also routinely double check each others calculations. These lessons—hard learned—are the real goal of doing this experiment, rather than merely verifying the already accepted value of the acceleration due to gravity.

One Day of the Year to See THings from A New Point Of View

2011-03-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

TIMES UP! DO IT YOURSELF NOW.

Roll The Bones - PHY&231 - Lab02 Report

2010-11-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

This was written collaboratively by Jason Hubbard, Chris Smith, and myself for PHY&331 @ Everett Community College

Introduction and Aim:
The probability of something happening is equivalent to the number of ways it can occur divided by the number of possible occurrences. In order to explore the relationship between probability and actual events we have compared the probability of die roll combinations to the actual combinations that occur when two six sided dice are rolled. There are 11 possible total values, ranging from 2 to 12, and a total of 36 possible combinations. Table 1 provides a list of these values, along with the combinations that make them up, their frequency, and the probability based on the formula above.

Apparatus and Method:
The set-up required to complete this experiment was quite simple. A pair of standard six-sided dice and a laptop equipped with spreadsheet software were the only items required to complete this investigation. A single set of dice were rolled 100 times consecutively and each value recorded into a spreadsheet. The values for frequency and average were calculated by functions found within Microsoft Excel and were used to create some of the graphs in this report. OpenOffice.org Calc was used to create the others. The “data analysis” feature within Excel was used to sort the data used to create the histogram corresponding to the roll values in figure 3.

Data and Results:
The results of our investigation differed slightly from what the probability function would suggest but nothing out of the ordinary. A spreadsheet containing the total roll for all 100 rolls, as well as the running average, and mode are supplied in Table 3.
Figure 1 shows the most frequent roll value taken over one hundred rolls of the dice. For the first 20 rolls the most frequent value was 4 and then became 8, became 4 once more at 23 rolls and then was back to 8 and stayed that way throughout the rest of the values.
Figure 2 depicts the running average of the roll value. As can be seen here, this graph follows pretty close to the expected pattern, not varying very far from 7, which theoretically has the highest frequency.
Figure 3 takes into account frequency of each roll value at different intervals and compares them on a single graph. The intervals used for this comparison were 10 rolls, 50 rolls, and 100 rolls. In looking at the frequency numbers taken over 100 rolls, the data is fairly close to what would be anticipated. When looking at the values after 10 rolls the frequency is not predictable. The frequency begins to align with what can be predicted after 50 rolls and even closer yet after 100 rolls. If the investigation were to continue to 500 or 1000 rolls, the graphs would probably align even more with the expected frequencies.

Figure 4 displays the histograms for Rolled and Predicted frequency side by side. Each Row indicates the frequency of the indicated total value, 2 through 12. Histogram 1 shows the rolled frequency, while Histogram 2 is the predicted one. Table 2 displays this informations numerically.

Analysis, Interpretation, and Discussion:
The numbers 11 and 12 came up exactly as predicted. With the numbers 2 though 6 showing more variation, but still not too far off ( within ±3 ) It is not surprising that 8 was the most frequently rolled value, as it has a high probability. Both it and 10 showed up 4 more times than predicted. The number that did not roll nearly as much as would be suspected was 7. The difference between what was rolled and what was predicted is twice that of the next largest difference, showing up a surprising 8 times less than expected. The total of 7, having the highest probability of all possible combinations, should have been rolled the most but was not. The average deviation from what was predicted was about 2.6, or 3 if we are to round to the nearest integer. This was calculated by adding the absolute value of the differences between the frequencies and dividing by 11, and is equal to the standard deviation calculated using OpenOffice.org Calc.
Visually, the histograms in Figure 4 indicate that the rolled frequencies were approaching what we expected. It is a bit skewed to the left. But, taking just the right side (from the total values of 8 to 12) the graph definitely fits the Gaussian pattern we expect. If we look just at the left there still is a gradual rise, if a bit non-uniform. We expect that this would even out if we were to continue rolling. Looking back to figure 3 we see that the frequency histogram began skewed to the right after 10 rolls. Then by 50 rolls, the histogram takes on the form of two Gaussian distributions centered about 4 and 8.
By 100 rolls, the skewness had shifted to the left, and we can still see remnants of the merging “hills”. This pattern may be related to the way the dice were rolled. Without sufficient room to move freely within the hand, or sufficient space to roll and bounce, the dice roll may become dependent upon the placement of the dice in the hand, and thus to some subjective extent, upon the previously rolled total. If this is the case then further experiments will determine optimal placement of the dice. However the results of such experiments would be completely subjective, and thus useless to anyone else—unless its just to tell them: “It worked!” The pattern could alternatively or additionally be due to wear on the dice.
The frequency distribution was becoming more normal as the quantity of rolls increased, as indicated by the skewness swaying from side to side. We predict that it would balance out after 50 or so more rolls of the dice. Looking at Figure 2, which shows the running average, we see that the average quickly zeros-in on 7 and then remains relatively constant. This shows that even though the number seven didn't come up as often as we'd expect, the overall average of our numbers still approached the most probable value.

Conclusion and Recommendations:
Because our data didn't fit the predicted frequency distribution perfectly, yet sill averaged near what was expected, we conclude that we can make predictions about the probability (P) of an event based on the outcomes (O) of a sufficient quantity (N) of sample events. Mathematically:

P = O / N

Here we should further clarify that (O) is the quantity of successful events, and (N) is the total quantity of events. Where a success is defined by what you are trying to predict the probability of. In the case of the probability of rolling a total of 2, a success is rolling a 2. Anything else has failed to be 2.
Because we can make predictions about the probability (P) of an event based on the outcomes (O) of a sufficient quantity (N) of sample events, we can make predictions about the outcome (O) based on the probability (P) times the total number (N) of sample events:

O = P x N .

Overall, we found that actual events followed closely to what was expected, with some variation. But at the same time we saw that, despite the odds, sometimes the unexpected happens. . . or the expected fails to happen. Sometimes these variations seem drastic in the moment—like while playing craps at a casino—but given enough sample events the failures begin to outweigh the successes, and the house always wins.

Music: Slowstyle.it - Gothic X-Mas

2010-10-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

Free music for professional licensing

Defend Us From Alien Attack!

2010-09-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Defend us from ...
Added: 26 August 2010
By: MJames

REM Edgean

2010-05-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

Social Change

2009-11-23T09:45:00.001-08:00

The change I am most anxious to see in society is a realization that tolerance does not necessitate assimilation. The opposite--that assimilation is necessary for tolerance--says that in order for a straight man to tolerate a gay one he must become gay, the gay man must become straight, or they both must become bi; or, in order for a woman to tolerate a man she must become a man, he must become a woman, or they must both become hermaphrodites; for a Christian to tolerate a Pagan he or she must become one, the Pagan must be converted, or they both have to abandon their religions. While that last example may have been true in the past, I hope that trend to change. Because, then a Christian can tolerate me without abandoning his or her religion, and I can be tolerant without having to be "converted". /*CUT*/ This is my main purpose in the change I desire, but even more I also seek an undoing of the assimilation that took place during the Christianization of the Germanic people, which coincided with "the less obvious process of the Germanization of Western Christianity" (Russell, J.C., 1994)./*CUT*/
Robert Park's ecological theory states that "assimilation is bound to occur as accommodation and cooperation allow trust and understanding to develop" (Brym and Lie, 2007). However, trust and understanding may be necessary--but they are *not* sufficient--for assimilation.
James VanHise indicates that, "in some places we also see 'special interest' groups that believe in tolerance and cooperation as well as greater autonomy....striving to define their individuality and gain more control over their lives" (2005). One such group may be the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). According to their mission statement they seek "defend and sustain individual rights at America's increasingly repressive and partisan colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience—the essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity" ("Foundation," 2009). They offer to "protect the unprotected and to educate the public and communities of concerned Americans about the threats to these rights on our campuses and about the means to preserve them" (2009). However, before I accept their leadership in promoting my cause I must check that the leaders haven't employed "frame alignment" in order to recruit people like me into joining a group with goals conflicting with any other of my values. A cursory inspection reveals that FIRE doesn't conflict with my values, however they seem to be more focused on "abuses of power on campuses across the nation" ("Mission", 2009).
I believe that what people believe has an effect on their experiences, which is how they define reality. So, in order to experience any real change, beliefs must be altered. Education is the way beliefs are altered. In this way FIRE may help, because it ensures that I can promote my views in defence of religious freedom and tolerance without fear of negative repercussions.

References

Brym, R.J. & Lie, J. (2007). Sociology: Your compass for a new world (Brief Ed.). Belmont CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

"Foundation for Individual Rights in Education." (2009). Description retrieved from the Social Change Websites directory at .

"Mission." (2009). Retrieved August 12, 2009 from the F.I.R.E. website at .

VanHise, J. (20 Mar 2005) "Disintegration AND Dis-Integration." Retrieved Aug 12, 2009 from the Fragments Web site at .

my Responses to Questions about Inequality

2009-11-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

"Do you think some people expect to be discriminated and consequently they feel they are when maybe they are not being discriminated at all?"
PETTIT, L.

Yes, I do. But, I also believe that many people discriminate without being aware of it. So, it is hard to determine that someone is merely expecting to be discriminated against, based on the intentions or beliefs of the other person.
In many cases, I believe, the expectation of being discriminated against creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. And the persons actions may contribute to the negative stereotype they believe they have been put into (and thus put themselves into).
In the movie Crash, discussed in our text, the rapper Ludacris plays a character who--sometimes comically--sees racism everywhere. When Sandra Bullock clings to Brendan Fraser's arm when she sees Ludacris, he interprets the action as prejudice and proceeds to steal her car at gun point. Later, when Matt Dillon (as officer Ryan) pulls over the black couple--contrary to what our text reported--there was no evidence of that he thought she was white. She accused him of thinking she was white, and pulling them over because he didn't like a white woman giving head to a black man (public fellatio being one of the reasons he pulled them over).
In the same movie, Brendan Fraser plays a politician who, having just been car-jacked by two black guys, is worried about losing the "black vote" and ultimately decides that the public needs a picture of him "pinning a medal on a black man." Many of his comments are quite racist, and the scene ultimately shows the unconscious nature of some forms of prejudice.
-------------

"Being a member of the Asian minority but assimilated into American culture, it is undeniable that more than once, I have experienced racial prejudice. It is obvious that racial discrimination exists in our society although America has come a long ways into more acceptance
of the different races. Why is it that, despite the passage of different laws such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act, 1968 Civil Rights Act, Affirmative Action to name a few, laws that "help establish equality between whites and blacks" (Brym & Lie, 2007),black leaders and some members of the African American community always use the race card when they are trying to advance their agenda or when there is a crime/ arrest against a black person? Do you think that they are trying to manipulate our society to their advantage?"
DARLING, TRINIDAD

Being an underdog has its advantages. If people want to maintain their power, and being viewed as a victim gives them power, then it is in their best interest to continue being viewed as a victim. Thus, laws that seek to balance past discrimination by offering benefits to the victims actually promote inequality. Inequality is promoted in two ways: on one hand, by maintaining the role of victim to be exploited. And on another by forcing the non-victims to fulfil higher standards to maintain their power. If being equally qualified will ensure that I do not get the job, then I must be more qualified to get the same job.
-------------

"As stated in the Brym & Lie textbook “race and ethnicity are rooted in social structure, not in biology and culture” (Brym & Lie, 2007). So my question is can race be a human biological variation? If you researched deep into this would you find that race can statistically associate with some kind of human genetic variation?"
RUCHEL, A.

I'm not sure that I understand your question. If race is not rooted in biology then race is not a biological variation. However, this seems too simple of an answer. Are you seeking a correlation between genetic variations and social structure? If there is such a connection
then even if race is defined by social structure then it is also defined by genetics by implication.
Personally, I reject the notion that race is not biological. A race consists of all the descendants of a common ancestor. The transition of genetic material from one generation to the next *is* a biological function.
The idea that the human species is one race is not a scientific one, it is religious. These "scientists" have been looking for Adam and Eve, with the assumption that they exist.

References
Bry, R.J. & Lie, J. (2007). Sociology: Your Compass for a New World (Brief Ed.). Belmont CA: Tomson Wadsworth.

My Responses to Questions about Religion

2009-11-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

"It is often believed that science and religion are opposed to each other. If this were the case, one would expect that a rise in scientific discovery and theory would directly result in a major decline in religion in a society. Over the last 50 years, the United States has been the leader in scientific discovery in fields such as biology/medicine and astrophysics/understanding of the universe. However, such advancements have not led to a massive decline in religion in the United States because a vast majority either still consider themselves religious or have some belief in God. Why do you think religious beliefs still thrive within a scientifically advancing culture?"
TORSETH, ERIK

An increase in the use of the scientific method *has* resulted in a decline in the power of religion. With the re-emergence of science ushered in during the 11th century by the scholastics, who sought to prove a re-interpretation of the bible through logical reasoning,
the political authority of the church was threatened.
This aspect of the conflict between science and religion is not addressed by your question, which focuses more on belief than power. An increase of scientific discovery, I believe, does not necessitate a decrease of religious belief because science does not eliminate mystery. "Scientists spend their time trying to 'figure out' the 'secrets of nature.' The fact that there is, much to most scientist's chagrin, a great deal of the Mystery in what they are trying to do is revealed by the curious, but well-known and uncontested phenomenon that occurs whenever one of these scientists unravels a 'secret of nature.' The first thing that happens is that a myriad
of 'new secrets' present themselves to be unravelled. The scientist is not creating the Known, but the Unknown" (Flowers, 1996).

References
Flowers, S.E. (1996). Runarmal I: The Runa-Talks Summer 1991ev. Smithville: Runa-Raven Press.
------------

"In the PBS series Faith and Reason, Salman Rushdie points out his view: "Morality is previous to religion" and defines morality as "something intrinsic in us which wishes to distinguish between right and wrong." Given that piece, why is it that people will still conform to extreme religious acts and behaviors knowing well that they're contradicting the morality that is at stake? (e.g. Ayatollah issuing a fatwa)"
TAT, PHALLA

Morality, being the instinctive urge to determine what is right or wrong, doesn't imply that everyone with that urge will come up with the same answers. That is why people behave differently (sometimes "extremely" differently), because their morality has given them
different morals. No one believes that their actions are wrong, because rightness and wrongness are subjective. (I can illustrate this with an example of something universally considered bad: a virus. To us a virus is bad, and an anti-virus good. But, to the virus the opposite is true.) So, to answer your question: people don't behave in ways contradictory to morality. Even when they do question the morality of their actions, they will behave in ways they believe are immoral to satisfy a perceived higher purpose, or for the greater good.
------------

"is it right to have many Gods to worship?"
UNKNOWN

The "rightness" of polytheism is completely subjective, so my initial response to your question is an unqualified yes! Because I worship many gods (and goddesses), I believe it is right. However this question can be considered more objectively by asking "is it right to tolerate people having many Gods to worship?" or "is it right to tolerate different religions?"
It's easy for me to say "yes," but by agreeing that religious diversity should be tolerated am I being intolerant of religions that do not promote religious diversity, that is universal religions (such as Christianity)? Universal religions are almost always monotheistic, except in eclectic cases (such as Wicca). Monotheism is by its very nature intolerant of polytheism, while polytheistic societies are, by their nature, tolerant of monotheism. This has led to "holy wars," where monotheistic cultures preform genocide on polytheistic cultures and other monotheists alike.
"Around the world, the rise of the monotheism was accompanied by intolerance and persecution. In a world where it was accepted that there were many Gods and Goddesses, religious wars were hardly possible. It was assumed that each pantheon had a special relationship with a particular tribe, race, or nation. No single deity or collection of deities demanded the right to rule all mankind; Gods and Goddesses were not particularly transferable from one group to another.
Monotheism changed all that. If there was only one God, the Gods of the tribe across the river became demons, usurping the devotion that should go to the One True God. The followers of those Gods were now devil worshippers, and they must be killed for their heresy. Conquest, previously justified by greed, now had a new motivation - righteousness! It was the beginning of a bloody phase of human history that continues down to the present" (McNallen, 2007).
For a long time I was blissfully unaware of this conflict, being polytheistic and thus tolerant of religious diversity, until I read a scholarly article by James Kurt in HIST101 last quarter: "The protagonists of the contemporary version of the Enlightenment may think that they will create a global and universal civilization, both abroad and at home, but the evidence is accumulating that they have instead opened the doors to the barbarians, both without (e.g., Islamic terrorists) and within (e.g., pagan disregard for the dignity of human life). The best defence against the new barbarians will be found in the Christian religion. With the Christian tradition, Western civilization became the most creative, indeed the highest, civilization in human history. Without the Christian tradition, Western civilization could come to nothing. With a revival of the Christian tradition, Western civilization will not only prevail over the new barbarians, but it will become more truly civilized than it is today" (Kurth, 2004).
I was shocked; them's fightin' words. For a long time I was confused about the reference to "pagan disregard for the dignity of human life." Then I realized that he was refering to the right-to-life/pro-choice issue. I don't consider this an issue I have the right to comment upon, because I am a man, and no man should tell a woman what she can or can't do with her own body.
To conclude: promote your beliefs but don't enforce them. If they are sound they will not need to be enforced. If monotheists can accept that idea, then monotheists need not be intolerant of religious diversity, and I again can feel safe.

Kurth, J. (2004). Western Civilization, Our Tradition. The Intercollegiate Review. 5-13.

McNallen, S. (2007). A World with Many Gods. Retrieved July 24th 2009 from the Asatru Folk Assembly website at .

Teenagers

2009-11-13T00:53:00.000-08:00

Teen-hood is the time when an individual considers him or herself an adult, while other adults consider still consider him or her a child. This conflict is the root of all the effects teen-hood has on both family and society. Many parents behave under the assumption that respect has to be earned, and that they have already earned it. Thus rebellious teenagers who do not respect their parents wishes are believed to be disrespectful, and not deserving of respect themselves (that is: because they didn't earn it). On the flip side however, the parents who demand the respect that they feel they have earned aren't realizing that respect is earned reciprocally. You can only earn respect by being respectful. And expecting a teenager to "respect" a parent's wishes without having their own ideas taken into account is disrespectful, and thus not deserving of respect.
The transition from child to adult, is a transition from dependence to independence. It has nothing to do directly with maturity or age. Teen-age-hood is the time frame that most people are expected to develop their independence. But once the time-frame has passed an individual departs teenage-hood, regardless of his or her maturity or level of independence. Thus the idea of teen-hood is merely resistance to developing autonomy, or a resistance of the parents to a loss of power.
I believe that the idea of teenage-hood as a time frame separate from adulthood and childhood is dwindling, as many teenagers become more rebellious and leave the home earlier and earlier. For my part, I will foster independence in my children, and when the time comes that they are "teenagers" my job as parent will be at an end, and what will remain is the relationship of friend. Even now, with my oldest child in his toddler years, I do not give orders without explaining why. And when he disobeys, as long as his not in danger, I am proud of his little rebellions. I have to constantly ask myself "am I dictating rules for his benefit or my own?" Whenever I say "don't" I must be able to also answer "why?" And "why" cannot begin with "because I don't want."
People sometimes tell me "you have to be a parent not a friend." That's absurd! That's like telling a marine that he or she has to be a soldier but not a fighter.

My Analysis of a Research Plan

2009-11-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

"I want to research the correlation between music preference and life satisfaction. I am going to take a survey of teenagers in King County. I will ask them questions about their music preferences, the frequency of their listening, and how they would rate the importance of having their favorite music playing as compared to the importance of other environmental conditions. I will also ask them to indicate their level of life satisfaction on a scale of one to ten."

A major problem with this plan is that by focusing on finding a correlation I may fall into a fallacious claim of causality. Everything that exists does so in relation to all else in existence, so anything may be found to be (and is) correlative. I must try to find, then, not merely that they are correlative but i/how/i they are. Clarke states that "today, fieldwork research focuses on one or two specific questions, even as social scientists recognize the connections exist between the many social arenas of a culture" (2009). I suggest that our questions must be more specific i/because/i of the holistic connection between all aspects of culture. Rather than use the quantitative method of survey it would be better to employ a qualitative method, such as an interview. An interview is more in line with our goal. "Qualitative methods . . . have a completely different goal [than quantitative]: depth of understanding human experience. In my interview I must ask what the subject perceives as the cause of their satisfaction (or lack thereof), as well as the degree on a ten-point scale.
A second problem is the stratification of my sample. I claim to be researching the correlation between music preference and life satisfaction, but in reality I am only researching this correlation among teenagers in King County. My subjects should be stratified. "'Stratified' means that the basic characteristics of the desired population are repeated in my sample" (Farb, 2009). In redefining the question to be more specific the problem of stratification will become less difficult to overcome. For example: I may decide to test the influence of a specific music preference on the degree to which the preference is important to the individual, and how this relates to the subject's feelings of satisfaction with life. In this case my sample will be stratified to represent the population of people with the specific musical preference.
Another problem is that since "research subjects should provide informed and voluntary consent," some participants who are highly opinionated about their musical preference may over (or under) state their level of satisfaction in order to bias the results in favor of whatever outcome they desire (Research Ethics Guidelines, 2009). This is less of a problem though, because feelings of satisfaction are so subjective that by misstating it an individual may have actually changed their point of view to fit with the desired reality by the same process as positive/negative affirmations. Additionally the results of the interviews may be compared to statistics about the musical preference of suicide victims.

Clarke, C. (2009, June 21). Fieldwork and Social Sciences. Online Lecture for Sociology 101 through Everett Community College, WA.

Farb, B. (2009, June 21). Tools of Doubt (as promised!) Online Lecture for Sociology 101 through Everett Community College, WA.

Farb, B. (2009, June 21). A Different Way of Knowing: Qualitative Methods. Online Lecture for Sociology 101 through Everett Community College, WA.

Research Ethics Guidelines. (2009). Retrieved June 26, 2008 from the University of Alberta's Department of Sociology website:
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/sociology/nav02.cfm?nav02=26170&nav01=26154

Ending World Poverty through Trade?

2009-10-27T10:43:00.001-07:00

While Brym and Lie define globalization as an increasing awareness of the pre-existing interdependence of various cultures around the world, this view doesn't fully address the homogenizing effect of globalizing forces, such as the World Trade Organization. In addition to recognizing the pre-existing relationship between various cultures, globalization also includes promoting an increase in interdependence; and thus a decrease in independence. As I have stated before, there seems to be two opposite paths to reducing cultural conflict: respect for boundaries and removal of them. Globalizing forces have the goal of removing boundaries. The WTO's "in brief" guide states this in unconditional terms: "By lowering trade barriers, the WTO’s system also breaks down other barriers between peoples and nations" ("World Trade Organization," 2008). The removal of boundaries is offered by globalizing entities as a means of reducing conflict, when this is in fact a conflict tactic. The goal of breaking down barriers is one of conquest and assimilation, for exploitation.

A lowering of trade barriers is one of the aims of what Brym and Lie term "neoliberal globalization" (2007). The other aspect of neoliberal globalization is a reduction in the authority of local government. "Neoliberal globalization is a policy that promotes private control of industry and minimal government interference in the running of the economy. Advocates of neoliberal globalization also support foreign investment and the removal of taxes, tariffs, and restrictive regulations that discourage the international buying and selling of goods and services" (Brym & Lie, 2007). In this new age of conquest, every nation in the world is the target of economic strong-arm tactics. As Peter Costantini points out, "The provisions and interpretations articulating these principles [of the WTO: promoting the value of "trade" (profit) over all else] impede nations from enforcing their own laws to protect the public good" (Costantini, 2001).

With economic control of the worlds governments, the WTO will in effect become the new world government. Thus the globalization of the economy is intimately linked with the globalization of government. Just as the Pope in medieval times rose in power over medieval governments through religious sanctions, modern corporate CEOs are similarly gaining power. Historically, the papal abuse of power led to the attempted "separation of church and state". In the future will there be an attempt to separate economy and state? I believe that either separation is equally ludicrous. In a democracy every citizen has a the right to vote. Because every citizen will vote based on what they believe, there can be no separation between a church (which is a social organization based on belief) and the votes (which--in theory--directly influence "the state"). Thus the globalization of government is intimately linked with globalization of religion.

Regionalization as the argument against the importance of the homogenizing effect of globalization, is actually evidence for the homogenizing effect. "The argument here is that the institutional and cultural integration of countries often falls far short of covering the whole world" (Brym & Lie, 2007). That is like saying that when I turned on my car and wasn't instantly transported to the grocery store, that I'm not going to the grocery store. Even though now that my car is on, I am driving toward the grocery store. Regionalization is the road to globalization. To differentiate between globalization in Brym and Lie's sense: becoming aware of global relationships (turning on the car), and in the sense I have been writing: globalization of economy, government, and religion (driving to the store) I will call the promotion of "driving to the store" universalism, thus the process of it will have to be called universalization.

As an alternative to unwieldy and exploitive universal governments, religions, and thus also economies--which promote the breaking down of cultural barriers--I propose respect for boundaries. Respect will lessen the conflict between cultures. A lack of respect is ethnocentric, and denies the less powerful culture it's right to be different. This takes the form of allowing various governments to decide how they will handle the local economy without outside manipulation. In the United States, this may be a reduction of federal authority in favor of the state. The people of various religions should be able to decide how they will be governed based on their religious values. A modern example of this would be Israel, but all religions should be allowed this right including Christianity (in its various forms, including Mormonism), Islam, and various pagan and tribal/folk religions world wide. People without religious beliefs may organize themselves based on whatever from of government they wish.

One barrier to this ideal is universal religions which promote the removal of boundaries for the promotion of the "one true" religion. Religious factors aren't less of a problem than before, so much as economic factors are more of a problem than before.

References

Brym, R.J. & Lie, J. (2007). Sociology: Your compass for a new world (Brief Ed.). Belmont CA: Tomson Wadsworth.

Costantini, P. (2001). What's wrong with the WTO? A guide to where the mines are buried. Retrieved from the speakeasy.org website July 29, 2009 at .

"World Trade Organization." (2008). In Brief. PDF publication retrieved from the WTO website July 29, at .

The Nightmare of Modern Life and The Post-Modern Dream

2009-10-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

“The Industrial Revolution was the change from agriculture and craftsmanship to mass production and mechanical manufacturing. It changed the very nature of work, the kind of activity that would fill each day, the skills that were necessary to survival, the definition of each person’s worth” (Farb “Papa” 2009).

Even before the Industrial Revolution there have been instances of anomie which pushed changes in social structure. One example of this is the spread of Christianity. “After Christianity moved beyond its original Judeo-Hellenistic sociocultural environment, the primary factors contributing toward its acceptance is a given geographical area were the presence of a Jewish community, substantial exposure to Christianity, and an anomic urban social structure” (Russell, 1994). Even before that, the decline of the Greek polis paved the way for tyrants to overthrow the existing aristocrats. This was initially beneficial, but when it got out of hand democracy emerged to compensate. As democracy expanded and became increasingly unwieldy it devolved into a representative democracy, which became the Roman Empire. The social anomie of which was fertile ground for Christianity to grow.
As Christianity grew and became unwieldy, the developing anomie spurred the re-emergence of scientific reasoning during the Enlightenment. During this time scholastics sought to prove religious “truths” logically. This re-interpretation of “divine” law didn't go over too well with the Christian authorities, whose power was being undermined. But with the democratic revolution and the corresponding separation of church and state, scientific thinking was freed to replace religion, initiating the process Max Weber would term “rationalization” ( Qtd. In Farb “One More” 2009).
So far I have been focusing my analysis on Western Civilization, because it is intimately connected to sociology. According to Kurth the three main traditions that gave birth to Western Culture are: the classical culture of Greece and Rome, the Cristian religion, and the Enlightenment of the modern era (2001). Farb acknowledges this connection, and warns against the “glorification” of Western societies: “I'm afraid to admit that this bias is still evident in sociology. Much of the research has been done in the West, and often non-Western research is presented only for contrast, to illuminate the West more clearly. Sociologists are aware of this bias and are striving to reach beyond it, but it's still a work in progress” (“Sociology had Two Parents” 2009). I hope to contribute to this work, at least in the time that I spend in this class. For me the purpose of studying Western society is to help illuminate my own traditional Germanic culture, which was consumed by Western Civilization through Christianization. Russell posits that Christianity—and, I suspect, Western Civilization—was as much Germanized as barbarian Germanic society was Christianized—and “civilized” (1994).
From its inception, Western Civilization has been dominated by the desire for an ideal universal society. Each time it spreads too large, the resultant anomie must be compensated for by social revolutions. These revolutions take the form of turning to the past for solutions (hence the root “revolve”). I personally am experiencing alienation from my “Western heritage,” correlative to the globalization of the economy, PNAC ( Project For The New American Century) control of our country's foreign policy, and ongoing “crusades” against the Middle East. But, I take heart in the post-modern revolution. On one hand this may be seen as a compensation for modern lack of “faith,” by combining science and religion (again, but this time without the rigid structure of Christianity). However, even post-modernism poses some problems.
Post-modernism can be seen in different forms. “The most recognized form of Postmodernism [is] Deconstructionism” (al-Ya'alina 2009). This solution involves throwing out everything we know—or think we know—and starting over from scratch. This form poses obvious logistical problems. Two other forms are what al-Ya'alina calls “critical postmodernism” and “reconstructionism.” These both contrast with deconstructionism by agreeing that some aspects of modern life are salvageable (such as the scientific method). Where they differ is in their stance on syncretism. “Critical Postmodernism . . . is by its nature syncretic. Building an idealized worldview from combining the strengths of Modern and Premodern worldviews involves not picking one specific tradition and modifying it to modern sensibilities [reconstruction] . . . but rather finding the strengths and universals from as broad a variety of cultures and traditions as possible.” (2009). The problem with critical post-modernism is that it perpetuates the universalistic movement, which—I believe—is the contributing factor to the anomic inter-cultural conflict among the “sub”-cultures of modern society.
For me “modern” life is a nightmare, but it is not one in which I have no control. By advocating post-modern reconstructionism, and real tolerance (as opposed to assimilation or syncretism), I can realize my dream of revolutionizing Western society into one in which I belong. If not then I must separate, and find a new home independent of universalistic influences. One of these must happen soon, because, as Ritzer points out, “all the trends are in the direction of the greater spread of McDonald's or greater spread of the process of McDonaldisation” (Interview, 1997).

References

al-Ya'alina, B. (2006, June 21). Critical Pagan Postmodernism: An Overview. Cup of Wonder 5. Retrieved July 1, 2009 from .

Farb, B. (2008, June 29). Sociology Had Two Parents. Online Lecture for Sociology 101 through Everett Community College, WA.

Farb, B. (2008, June 29). One More Son. Online Lecture for Sociology 101 through Everett Community College, WA.

Farb, B. (2008, June 29). “Papa” Industrial Revolution. Online Lecture for Sociology 101 through Everett Community College, WA.

Interview transcripts: George Ritzer. (1997). Retrieved June 30, 2009 from the Mcspotlight Website:

Kurth, J. (2009, May 9). Global Triumph or Western Twilight? Orbis 45.3. Retrieved May 9, 2009 from Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Everett Community Coll. LM C, WA.

Russell, J. (1994) The Germanization of Early Medieval Christianity: A Sociohistorical Approach to Religious Transformation. Oxford University Press.

Old, Alone in a Nursing Home: an Exercise of The Sociological Imagination

2009-10-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

Farb defines the sociological imagination as the ability of "seeing everything in terms of the social forces that shape it" (2009). In order to exercise this ability we must first form a distinction between the interdependent subjective "troubles" of an individual, and the objective "issues" of individuals as a collective. Mills provides this distinction: "A trouble is a private matter: values cherished by an individual are felt by [him or] her to be threatened. . . . An issue is a public matter: some value cherished by publics is felt to be threatened" (1959). The interdependence between the two is the specific value being threatened. Starting with the dependent variable of a private trouble we may identify a value, or the values, being threatened. Once an endangered value has been identified, a public issue may be defined--as the independent variable--by examining the social forces which threaten the value. It must be a social force which threatens the value, because if it were an internal force the problem would not be an issue, merely natural resistance to a change in point of view or personal circumstance, which would pass relativity easily.
I will begin my analysis by imagining an individual growing old, alone in a nursing home. What is the trouble here? Growing old--I don't imagine--is the trouble, though it may be correlated to the underlying issue. Being alone, and being confined to a nursing home are the problems. Here is where the imaginative aspect of the analysis comes to bear; I must imagine a variety of causes for this problem. Someone may be alone due to a lack of living family members who care or have time to spend. Someone may be confined to a nursing home due to a lack of living family members who care or have room. I identify the values as time, family relationships, and space.
Time is most often consumed by work, which is how an individual interacts with the social force of the economy. The reduction of the value of the family (or genetic) relationship may have many social factors, one of which--I believe--is correlated with the force threatening the final value: space. A lack of space may be due to overpopulation. Overpopulation may cause many people to seek new homes, often abroad. Economic tides may also sweep people from one place to another, which was our first social force. Due to the diminishing availability of "virgin" land, diverse people are forced to co-exist in closer and closer proximity, and to work together for survival in politically organized multi-national states (such as the United States). With this arises the so-called "diversity issue." The issue is in essence: how to resolve the cultural conflicts which often arise from miscommunication due to subconscious prejudice or from conscious intolerance. Last quarter I took a diversity class, where I was given the opportunity to discover that "there seems to be two opposite paths for resolving cultural conflict: respect for boundaries, and removal of boundaries" (2009). The removal of boundaries, or assimilation of cultures, has historically been used by various social forces as it's cutting edge, especially within Western Civilization.
One of the major forces of social assimilation is universal religion, as opposed to folk religion. Universal religion necessitates a reduction of the value of ancestry and genetic relationships, from a religious world view to merely a hereditary title--or worse, to a confusing morass of unknown qualities. To replace this value comes greed, or if you prefer "profit." This leads to more time spent under the influence of the social force of the economy (work-aholicism). These values, and the social forces supporting or threatening them, are all interconnected. And, it is only with the sociological imagination that we may separate them momentarily for analysis before they are drawn back together along the web-work of interconnections. As a solution to these issues, I propose the return of pre-Christian folk religion and the promotion of a holistic understanding of culture involving respect for cultural boundaries (rather than assimilation). This is what Buckley, Cleary, and Moynihan call "radical traditionalism":
It [being a rational traditionalist] means to reject the modern, materialist reign of “quantity over quality,” the absence of any meaningful
spiritual values, environmental devastation, the mechanization and over-specialization of urban life, and the imperialism of corporate
monoculture, with its vulgar “values” of progress and efficiency. It means to yearn for the small, homogeneous tribal societies that flourished
before Christianity—societies in which every aspect of life was integrated into a holistic system (2002).

References

Buckley, J., Cleary, C., and Moynihan, M. (Eds.). (2002). Tyr: Myth--Culture--Tradition. Atlanta: Ultra.

Farb, B. (2009, June 23). Will sociology stay with you 20 years from now? Online Lecture for Sociology 101 through Everett Community College, WA.

Mills, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. London: Oxford University Press.

Vergaray, R. (2009, June 11). Ruminations on English 102D. Writing assignment for English 102D through Everett Community College, WA.

Paradise Now: and a Model of Intercultural Film

2009-10-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

In order to arrive at a satisfactory definition of the term, intercultural film, a differentiation needs to be made between what the term must mean and what it may mean. Then the variations in definition may be tested by applying them to what is being defined, in this case an intercultural film called Paradise Now. If—when applied in this manner—a variation is shown to be false, contradictory, or unnecessary it is eliminated. What remains is either the satisfactory definition sought or nothing—indicating that the movie does not fit any definition of intercultural film. In essence: by analyzing the term, intercultural film, and a specific film initially assumed to fit the term, it may be found that the specific film is indeed an intercultural film, and which variation of definition (or combination thereof) makes it so. This process creates a model of intercultural film, which not only identifies intercultural film, but helps to locate and decode the meaning of the film. This byproduct of understanding is the true value of applying this model.
Film is a medium of communication. Thus, intercultural film is a specific form of intercultural communication. A textbook for the study of interpersonal communication, Looking Out/Looking In, defines communication as “a transactional process involving participants who occupy different but overlapping environments and create relationships through the exchange of messages, many of which are affected by external, physiological, and psychological noise" (Adler and Proctor 14). Film is recognizable as a medium of communication on many levels. On one level, there is the process of the movie watcher—viewing the film in the environment before the screen—receiving a message from the movie makers—from the environment of the set. The overlap of environments is the film itself. On another level the film makers, representing their culture, are sending messages to the viewers, collectively representing various cultures. This level emphasizes that film is a linear form of communication, as opposed to conversational, and that the subjective “noise” of the viewer isn't taken into account for the definition.
Inter- is a prefix which signifies inter-action, that is: action between more than one. In this case the action is between cultures. There are various ways this interaction can take place within the medium of film. One of them defines the cultural interaction which constitutes an intercultural film. Laura U. Marks, in The Skin of Film, writes that “'intercultural' indicates a context that cannot be defined to a single culture. It also suggests movement between one culture and another, thus implying diachrony and the possibility of transformation. 'Intercultural' means that a work is not the property of any single culture, but mediates in at least two directions” (6). This clearly identifies the essential nature of communication to this model. All transformation comes from communication, from the chemical reactions between the basic units of physical existence to the “chemistry” individuals have with each other which transforms their relationship. Diachrony, or “change occurring over time” (“Diachrony”), is one of the principals of communication (Adler and Proctor 15). All communication takes place in the context of the dyadic history of previous communications. According to the pragmatic model of communication, the self-concept is formed by this history (Rowley 1). The self-concept is the basis of encoding the messages to be communicated. Thus to decode the message we must take into account the self-concept and history of interactions between the encoder, the target audience, and the cultures represented on screen.
However, this still is not enough to define intercultural film. Film—as a medium of communication—is available almost universally. Thus all movies would be said to be intercultural without further clarification. The definition must either be refined by emphasizing 1) the necessity of a cross-cultural target audience—as opposed to the audience being only members of the film maker's same culture—or 2) that the message of the film itself must be regarding the interaction between two or more cultures, or both.
A third possible refinement would be that the film itself must contain messages from more than one culture. This refinement has two possible pitfalls. First: If one culture is the main contributer and the other secondary as Laura U. Marks indicates: “It [the term 'intercultural'] implies a dynamic relationship between a dominant 'host' culture and a minority culture” (7) then by the definitions of the previous refinements this is either redundant or contradictory. If the dominant culture's target audience is the minority (and vice-a-versa), it is redundant to the first refinement (of a cross-cultural target audience). If the dominant culture's audience is itself (not cross-cultural) then the film is only intercultural if it contains a message pertaining to the interaction between the cultures involved (which is redundant to the second refinement). The second pitfall to the third refinement is that if the individual cultures of the filmmakers all contribute equally to the messages of the film—none of them dominant or submissive—the target audience will either be made up the same cultures or another culture. If the target is another culture or cultures then it is again redundant to the first refinement (of a cross-cultural target audience). If the target audience consists of the same cultures, and there is no additional culture interacting within the content of the film (the second refinement), then there is no cultural interaction—and thus it is not an intercultural film.
If Paradise Now is an example of an intercultural film, then it will satisfy one or more of these definitions. It may then be conclude which variation(s) define it as an intercultural film. Besides identifying intercultural film, this model must have the practical application of locating and decoding the message(s) of a film. This may be done by identifying the target audience, and taking into account the dyadic history of interactions between it's culture and that of the message encoder(s). This will reveal the jargon used between these cultures to symbolically express expectations. When it is known what a message was expected to mean, then the meaning of the message will be known. The importance of interpreting meaning is not lost on Corrigan: “Any film at any point in history might describe a family, a war, or the conflict between races, but the way these are shown, and the reasons they are shown in a particular way, can vary greatly. These variations, through which a subject is given a specific meaning or meanings, are a large part of what analysis is concerned with” (22). If target audience is not used to define intercultural film, it will be used it to interpret the meaning of the film. In either case it is an essential component of the model, and the starting place of it's application of the model to Paradise Now.
Another importance of the message and, more specifically, the symbolism (or language) used to express the message is that the use of specific symbolism (or language) is one of the four essential aspects of the differentiation of culture proposed by Stephen Edred Flowers in The Idea of Integral Culture. He writes:
Symbolic, or ethical, culture is entirely invisible and super-sensible. We know about it
through its manifestations in the other three branches of culture: ethnic, material, and
linguistic.
The symbolic culture is most perfectly encoded in the linguistic culture. This amounts
largely to the language code spoken and understood by the members of a given culture.
But the linguistic code, its phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics also constitute
a complex semiotic code by which members of the culture understand the world and
express themselves to other parts of the world. (13)
Language is how the culture of the target audience is determined. Paradise Now is filmed is in Arabic with English, French, and Spanish subtitles, and it was first released in Germany at the Berlin International Film Festival (“Release”). Though the dialogue of the film is presented in Arabic, this is mainly for the effect of realism, and the target audience is primarily European viewers.
To test the first refinement, the film maker's culture must be determined. In an interview Hany Abu-Assad, director of Paradise Now, lists the nationalities of the movies “producing entities”: “a Palestinian director and a Dutch, two Germans, an Israeli and a French Producer. . . . . The crew consisted of people from Palestine, The Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Israel and UK” (“Conversation” 1). The messages of the film are coming from more than one culture. If the separate cultures of the filmmakers are equal contributers to the messages of the film—none of them dominant or submissive—then by the second pitfall, because the collective cultures of the film makers have the target audience of the same collective cultures, the film would not be considered an intercultural film. This indicates two things: 1) that one of the cultures of the collective filmmakers is the dominant contributer to the meaning of the message, and 2) that the distinction of the film itself containing messages from multiple cultures is indeed redundant.
The dominant culture is determined by comparing its contributions to the meaning of the film with the contributions of the other culture(s). These messages aren't necessarily being contributed intentionally, but according to Stephen Edred Flowers and the theory of “linguistic relativism,” the way they are expressed is nevertheless affected by the sender's cultural world-view (Adler and Proctor 189). The major themes of the movie, besides the obvious questioning of suicide bombing, is friendship, voice (or being heard), and honor vs shame. All of these overlap, but the predominant message is that there is another, unheard side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The need of a voice is addressed in Paradise Now when Said asks Suha, “Why talk? To get your pity? To entertain people whose life is a bit better?” He is rhetorically asking her about the purpose of the movie itself, rather than about the purpose of telling her about his life. The true purpose isn't merely to entertain, nor to arouse pity. It is to be heard. The authenticity of this message is unmistakable in the scene where Khalid is recording his martyr video:
By the end of take one, where Ali makes the speech, one of the organizers [of real
suicide bombings] stopped us. I thought: now it is over. But he just wanted to show Ali
how to hold his gun correctly. There was no protest over the humor [of the camera
breaking down] at all. Later I realized that in reality things like this happen. It wasn't
irregular to them. (“Conversation” 3)
The theme of friendship and loyalty is emphasized in the beginning of this scene with close up shot/reverse shots of the two friends—showing Said's reactions to Khalid's speech—and in the end when the everyone walks away from the frustrated Khalid except Said. The need of honor, as opposed to shame, is evident in Paradise Now, when Said tells Khalid that he would rather let an Israeli soldier “break both [his legs] rather than be so humiliated [as to choose which one].” His need of honor, as opposed to the shame of his father's betrayal, is his motivation throughout the movie.
In order to preserve the authenticity of the message Hany Abu-Assad, chose Arabic-speaking actors. Other elements of mise-en-scene were also used to create authenticity. The set for much of the movie was located in Nablus, in the northern West Bank, one of the Israeli-occupied territories. “We took these ridiculous risks [of filming in Nablus] to make sure the film would be as close to reality as possible and to have an authentic look and feel. . . . This was one of the film's concepts; putting actors in the real surroundings in order to create a moment of truth with the actor” (“Conversation” 2-3). The photographic qualities of 35mm film was used to distinguish the movie from the propaganda of media footage, typically filmed digitally (“Conversation” 2).
The film is a response to the need to be heard. Martyrs have respond to the need with explosions. The film is presented as an alternative to suicidal violence, but both assert the necessity of honor (as opposed to shame), friendship/loyalty, and freedom. Phyllis Bennis, a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies, concurs: “Palestinians want dignity, human rights, equality, and a state of their own” (21). The film gives a European view of an essentially Palestinian message, to discover the reasoning behind suicide bombing, and offering a sympathetic “human face” to suicide bombers. Paradise Now is both a message from one culture to another, and message about the interaction of these cultures. The cultures the film is about are also the cultures of the target audience and film makers, so the first refinement (a cross-cultural target audience) is found to be false, and what is left is the definition of intercultural film: a motion picture regarding the interaction between two or more cultures.

Works Cited
Adler, Ronald B., and Russell F. Proctor II. Looking Out/Looking In. 12th ed. Belmont: Thomson, 2007.
Bennis, Phyllis. Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer. Northampton: Olive Branch,
2007.
“A Conversation With Hany Abu-Assad.” Paradise Now the Movie .Com. 2009. Warner Bros. Entertainment. 31 May 2009. .
Corrigan, Timothy J. A Short Guide to Writing About Film. 6th ed. New York: Pearson, 2007.
"Diachrony." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th ed. 2003. Houghton 30 May 2009. .
Flowers, Stephen Edred. “The Idea of Integral Culture: A Model for a Revolt Against the Modern
World.” Tyr: Myth—Culture—Tradition. Ed. Joshua Buckley, Collin Cleary, and Michael
Moynihan. Vol 1. Atlanta: Ultra, 2002. 11-21.
Marks, Laura U. The Skin of the Film. Durham: Duke UP, 2000. Google Book Search. 30 May 2009. .
Paradise Now. Dir. Hany Abu-Assad. Warner, 2005.
“Release dates for Paradise Now.” 2009. Internet Movie Database. 2 Jun 2009.
.
Rowley, Richard D. “Pragmatic Communication Model.” 1999. Aligning Action. 17 Aug 2001. Mt. San Jacinto Coll. 31 May 2009. .

An Annotated Bibliography on Anti-Semitism

2009-10-13T01:12:00.000-07:00

Reflection
Research is what I do for fun. I approached this assignment as a new way to play my favorite game with the added complexity that I felt the need to watch what I say, and to scrutinize both the sources I found and the content of these sources extra carefully. Typical of many Norse Pagans in “America” today, I have been compelled to to keep silent my criticism of Israel for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic. This is compounded by the use of my religion's holy symbols by anti-Semitic organizations. From the incorporation of our three and four fold holy signs—namely the swastika and triskilion—into Nazi propaganda, to modern use of the valknut and Thor's hammer by white supremacists, our symbols have been used to add raw numinous power to messages of intolerance.
I experienced a maelstrom of emotions while researching for this assignment. I was angry about the blatant injustice of the Zionist occupation of Palestine, and my inability to do anything about it despite my country's promises of “democracy.” But, the more I read about the persecution of the Jews throughout history, especially by Christians, the more I began to Identify with them in their plight. I have felt the need of fleeing America and finding some place to found a Pagan Nation, just as the Zionists felt the need to found Israel in Palestine. Unlike the Zionists, however, we have no military force to carve us a place.
I learned a lot from this assignment both about anti-Semitism and the MLA format. I sought to go the extra mile with my citations, to get hard to find sources of a wide variety. I explored the MLA format to it's boundaries, and found it delightful and intriguing. I had some trouble with the microfilm: when I returned to find out the specific fiche and grid numbers I discovered that the reel had been misfiled. The librarian told me that just putting “microfilm” should be enough information for someone to find the resource.
I can't wait to obtain a copy of the seventh edition, and to begin to re-write my journal to properly document its quotations. I had already owned the 2nd edition, and I was glad for this class to help me transition to referring to the new book. Although I did not remove the binding, I took notes in my handbook and can now quickly find the information I need by using the table of contents for section 5 (beginning on page 139), the index, and an intuitive sense. My fingers have memorized the position of key sections, due to repetitive referencing, that I can practically open the book to the page I'm looking for. I also remember which side of the page to refer to, and the order of the information's presentation, that no matter where I open up to I know which direction to turn and how far.
Most of my reflection about anti-Semitism has been included in the citations, and the order of the citations seems to synchronistically aid in showing the progression of my understanding. I assimilated all the proposed forms of anti-Semitism into four basic, overlapping groups: 1) ethnic or racial discrimination, including the pre-Christian persecution during Classical age of Western civilization, as well as that of the Nazis in Germany, and the neo-Nazis. This overlaps with 2) Denial—specifically of the Holocaust, and the Jewish role of the Bible. Which in turn overlaps with 3) Christian religious anti-Semitism. The 4th one covers the so-called “new” anti-Semitism, yet overlaps with “traditional” accusations of Jewish control. The “Report on Global Anti-Semitism” of the U.S. Department of State focuses on this form, which includes accusations of Jewish control of the media, money, or government, as well as Muslim antisemitism and subjective criticism of Israeli policies.
This understanding, along with a technical overview of the term provided by Ben Halpern, and the 3-D test of anti-Semitism provided by Natan Sharansky, provided the meat of what I learned.
A note on the spelling of anti-Semitism: Chanes suggests that the use of a hyphen and upper case S emphasizes Semitism as a racially defined group rather than linguistic, and that “such a usage gives the antisemites a victory right off the mark” (xviii). Meanwhile Sharansky finds that denial of the legitimacy of the Jews as a people is itself antisemitic. Throughout my citations I use the same spelling as that of the specific author.

Annotated Bibliography
ADL: Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism. 2009. Anti-Defamation League. 9 May 2009. . The Anti-Defamation League is a non-profit civil rights agency founded in 1913. The league “defends the security of Israel and Jews worldwide” by offering educational programs and monitoring the Internet, among other things. They maintain an encyclopedia of American extremists , a collection of pictures of extremist symbols, logos, and tattoos , and a searchable database of resources for law enforcement personnel . Anyone can anonymously report incidents of anti-Semitic harassment or vandalism with an on-line form. On browsing this site, I noted that many of my religious holy symbols have been adopted by racist groups. Thankfully, the ADL includes disclaimers in its references to these symbols that the context of their use must be taken into account to avoid labeling non-racist Neopagans as anti-Semites. Unfortunately, due to the fear now associated with the swastika, it is not listed here with disclaimer as a pagan symbol co-opted by extremists, and we may never recover it for legitimate public use.
Altschiller, Donald. Hate Crimes : A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1999. NetLibrary. Everett Community Coll. LMC, WA. 10 May 2009. . This book—available in electronic format—provides some examples of crimes in America, motivated by hate. The section on “Jewish Americans,” beginning on page 6, lists some striking examples of anti-Semitism in America. The author, a Jew who himself has been the victim of “Hate Crime,” offers these examples from the victim's point of view. In one case this obscures the other side of the story. We are told that the request of a Jew to buy a black-owned record store lead to picketing and eventually bloodshed in 1995. We are not told how the decline of a business transaction lead to picketing, only that the bloodshed was motivated by hate. In other examples he offers more indication of the perpetrators point of view. For example in 1915 a Jewish factory owner was hung by a mob after being accused of murdering a 14 year old female employee.
Atkins, Stephen E. “Anti-Semitism.” Encyclopedia of Modern American Extremists and Extremist
Groups. Westport: Greenwood P, 2002. This article provides a brief overview of the ideology of various extremist organizations, such as the American Nazi Party, the Institute for Historical Review, and Christian Identity. Anti-Semitism appears in three forms in these groups. They are: denial of the holocaust, rejection of the Jewish role in the Bible, and accusations of Jewish control of money or government. There are cross references to specific leaders and their extremist organizations, and also a list of suggested readings.
Austin, Charles. “Scholars Debate the Influence of Luther on Anti-Semitism.” New York Times 16 Oct. 1983, late city final ed.: sec. 1: 37. Microfilm. Beginning in 1969, Lutheran and Jewish theologians held conferences to discuss Martin Luther's (not King) anti-Semitic writings. In the sixth meeting, held in the beginning of October, '83, they discussed how these writings may have had an effect on modern anti-Semitism. Luther at first sought to convert the Jews to Protestant Christianity, as allies against Rome, then later changed his tune. Some scholars say that his anti-Semitic writings were too obscure to have an effect on recent anti-Semites. Others argue that his ideas and those of modern anti-Semites are too coincidental for there to be a dichotomy. It seems to me that the real issue behind this discussion is that if the anti-Semitic ideas coincided without direct contact this fact could be used as “proof” of said ideas by anti- Semitic propagandists.
Chanes, Jerome A. Antisemitism: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004. This comprehensive book defines antisemitism as “all forms of hostility manifested toward the Jews throughout history that results from no legitimate cause” (2). Chanes begins with information on the etymology of the word antisemitism. It appeared in 1879 to replace the term “Jew- hatred”. Although the root of the word is semitic—which designated a linguistic group—the term refers only to the Jews and not to the other semitic races. Antisemitism is further defined by identifying its six stages: 1) the pre-Christian persecution of Jewish ethnicity in Classical culture, 2) Christian religious antisemitism, 3) Muslim antisemitism, 4) political, social, and economic antisemitism during the Enlightenment, 5) racial antisemitism, which culminated in Nazism, and 6) modern Israelophobia. This book contains a time-line of antisemitism from 586 BCE to 2001 CE, biographical information on both Jews and antisemites throughout history (including Henry Ford, Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther, Karl Marx, and others), an alphabetical listing of countries throughout the world with notes on contemporary as well as historical antisemitism, and an extensive annotated bibliography.
Dolan, Edward F. Anti-Semitism. New York: Watts, 1985. This relatively short book proposes that most anti-Semitic attitudes are based on false premises and misunderstandings, and that most of the ideas behind anti-Semitism have come from an archaic and unenlightened age. Dolan differentiates between a “strict” definition and a “loose” definition of anti-Semitism. The strict definition refers to anti-Semitism as a tool wielded by powers that be, while the loose one refers to “a general cultural and personal prejudice toward and discrimination against the Jews” (9). These “strict” vs “loose” definitions reflect the Jane Bennett equation: “POWER +
PREJUDICE = RACISM.” This book was written before the emergence of the so-called “new” anti-Semitism.
Halpern, Ben. “What Is Antisemitism?” Modern Judaism 1 (1981): 251-62. JSTOR. Everett Community Coll. LMC, WA. 04 May 2009. . Ben Halpern notes that after World War II, since the Nazis called themselves “antisemites”, other “Jew-haters” have rejected the term to avoid being classified as “mass-murderers.” This, along with the semantic ploy of anti-Jewish Arabs (who say that they cannot be antisemitic since they too are Semites) has contributed to a confusion about the meaning of the term. To untangle the meaning Halpern devised a detailed mapping sentence of antisemitism, based on common usage of the term. After discussing the elements of antisemitism outlined in the map, he defines nine generalizations as guidelines for using the term. 1) Antisemitism may be used of people whose self concept includes hatred of the Jews. 2) A group is antisemitic when it is more hostile to the Jews than normal. I am not responsible for this sentence, that is what it says. 3) Leading members of antisemitic groups are also antisemitic, but may be for either extrinsic or intrinsic reasons. 4) Antisemites who are not members of antisemitic groups are antisemitic for intrinsic reasons. 5) Members of antisemitic groups who are not responsible for their participation are not antisemites. 6) Tolerant people identify with some elements of antisemitism, those who do not are “philosemites." 7) “The basis of tolerance towards 'the Jews' is a fading perception of them as a threat,” (12). 8) “The basis of philosemitism is a positive perception of 'Jewish' values” (12). 9) People may be tolerant or philosemitic for either intrinsic or extrinsic reasons. This work is useful for defining the technical use of the term, antisemitism, based on the semantic study of a broad survey of its popular use.
Hate.com: Extremists on the Internet. Videocassette. HBO, 2001. This video highlights various white Christian extremist groups who have increased their audience by going on-line. It includes clips from personal interviews with white supremest group leaders, members, and others. These sometimes gave me the feeling that they were being taken out of context. The interviewees are obviously responding to questions, the contents of which we are never informed. Despite this, the video allows us to hear, from their own mouths, the beliefs of contemporary anti-Semites. It also illustrates how the use of the Internet has allowed racist leaders to deny responsibility for the actions of their followers, who violently attack minorities as “lone wolfs.”
Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf. Trans. James Murphey. Boring: CPA, 1942. Hitler is undoubtedly the most well known anti-Semite throughout history. He began this book while in prison for high treason, after the “beer hall putsch.” The title of the book means “my struggle,” and originally Hitler wanted to call it “Four and a Half Years of struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice.” Hitler claims that he was initially skeptical of the anti-Semitic propaganda that he encountered, until he began to analyze the Zionist propaganda where he found “fictitious conflict between the Zionists and the Liberal Jews” (42). His belief that “the Jew readily adjusted himself to this [religious] form of anti-Semitism and found its continuance more profitable to him than its abolition would be” urged him to focus on the Jews as a race (77). In addition to this books historical value, Hitler's ideology is maintained today by anti-Semites
who are called neo-Nazis. This fact makes his book a valuable source for analyzing neo-Nazi
groups, despite its antiquity.
Laqueur, Walter. The Changing Face of Anti-Semitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2006. This book focuses on the historical religious aspects of anti- Semitism. It proposes that hostility toward Judaism inevitably came from its rejection of the two major religions of Christianity and Islam. Prior to that, Jews were despised for their intolerant monotheism which clashed with the polytheistic Greek and Roman ideologies. During World War II, religious antisemitism persisted. The Jews were seen as “a community of alien morality and values, hostile to Christianity” (108). But then it also manifested economically, and eventually racially. Walter points out that the term “antisemitism” was used at least two decades before Wilhelm Marr popularized it in 1879. The so-called “new antisemitism,” beginning in the 1970s, has the goal of reducing Jewish influence, rather than racial elimination. As the title suggests, this book aids in understanding how antisemitism has changed from its traditional religious basis to its new political one.
“Palestinian Territories Slideshow.” World Conflicts Today. 2007. ProQuest. Everett Community Coll. LMC, WA. 10 May 2009 . This PowerPoint slide show offers an objective look at the growing territorial dispute between the Jews and Arabs in Palestine. Arab resistance to the influx of Zionist Jews, and Jewish terrorism aimed at the British administration of Palestine, prompted the UN to partition the country into unequal sectors, favoring the Jews with the larger portion. War broke out, and the Jews kicked the Arabs out of the Jewish sectors as well as some of their own. The surrounding Arab nations retaliated unsuccessfully and lost even more territory. Some years later the Israelis invaded and took the remaining Arab sectors. The UN ordered them withdraw, but they refused. This conflict has steadily progressed to today, with no end in sight. This information helps us to understand Arabic anti-Semitism.
Protocols of Zion. Dir. Marc Levin. DVD. THINKFilm, 2006. In this documentary, Marc Levin—a Jew— seeks to debunk the authenticity of a 100 year old book titled the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” He first became aware of it after 9/11 when many people began to say that no Jews died in the attack on the twin towers, because they were responsible for it. This book was supposed to prove that the Jews have the hidden agenda of world domination. He interviews various people on the street often capturing antisemites saying ignorant or contradictory things. The film isn't structured to address the book as a serious work, but instead seeks to show it as an absurd mockery only believed by fools and idiots. After interviewing seemingly random people, and often trailing off the subject to talk about his personal life, Levin finally concludes that the conspiracy of Jewish world domination “is rooted in the 2000 year old deicide charge that the Jews killed Christ.” In the end he interviews the medical examiner in charge of identifying the human remains of 2/11, who informs him that hundred of Jew died in the attack. It seems to me that this film was more of a pet project, for the director to go out and have some fun. The subject of the book was more of a tangled side story vaguely connected to the real issue of the film: did Jews die during the attack on the World Trade Center? For my purposes, I prefer a more objective and to-the-point analysis.
“Report on Global Anti-Semitism.” U.S. Department of State. 5 Jan. 2005. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. 9 May 2009. . This report was submitted by the Department of State to the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on International Relations on December 30, 2004. For its purposes, Anti-Semitism is defined as hatred toward individual Jews—or Jews as a group—based on religion, ethnicity, or both. It lists the four main sources of contemporary anti-Semitism as: 1)”Traditional” accusations of Jewish control of government, media, international business, and the finance, 2) subjective criticism of Israeli policies, 3) persistent conflict between Jews and the growing Muslim population in Europe, compounded by “developments in Israel and the occupied territories, and more recently in Iraq,” and 4) “Criticism of both the United States and globalization that spills over to Israel, and to Jews in general who are identified with both.” This report details acts of anti-Semitism throughout the world from July '03 to mid December of the next year. It is organized by country in alphabetical order.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. Anti-Semite and Jew. Trans. George J. Becker. New York: Schocken, 1976. Referring to anti-Semitism as an opinion is an attempt to legitimize anti-Semitism under the pretense of freedom of opinion. Jean-Paul Sartre refuses to “characterize as opinion a doctrine that is aimed directly at particular persons and that seeks to suppress their rights or to exterminate them” (9). Instead, he classifies anti-Semitism as a passion. As such, it is not based on reason, but on irrational conclusions based on an anti-Semitic predisposition. He proposes that a Jew is not defined by race, religion, or nationality, but that “the Jew is one whom other men consider a Jew” (69). He concludes that it is not Judaism which stirs up anti-Semitism, but anti-Semitism is what defines the Jew. This conclusion itself has been labeled classically anti- Semitic by the “3-D test” (see Sharansky), because it denies the legitimacy of the Jewish people.
Schickedanz, Arno. “Zionism.” German Propaganda Archive. Trans. Randall Bytwerk. 2001. Calvin Coll. 11 May 2009. . Trans. of “Der Zionismus.” Der Schulungsbrief 3 (1936): 149-50. This article, originally printed in a Nazi periodical, posits that Zionism is not merely “an attempt at 'national renewal,'” but instead “an effort to establish a unified Jewish leadership as well as Jewish rule over the world” (3). To defend this belief he quotes various Zionists stating that not all Jews will move to Palestine, and argues that Palestine, as “the promised land” is seen as indispensable to fulfilling their prophecy (see Jeremiah 16:14-16). That not all the Jews will move to Palestine does not show that they seek to rule the world. In fact, the prophecy states that the Jews will receive the “land given unto their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:15)—that is: all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates. Though, in Jeremiah 16:19, it implies that the Gentiles will come to the Jews in their Zion for guidance and forgiveness. [Should I have included a citation of the Bible?]
Sharansky, Natan. "Antisemitism in 3-D." Forward [New York] 21 Jan. 2005: 9. Ethnic
NewsWatch. ProQuest. Everett Community Coll. LMC, WA. 10 May 2009. . This article defines traditional antisemitism as being aimed at either the Jewish religion or the Jewish people, while the new antisemitism is aimed at the Jewish state. Sharansky offers a “3-D test” to differentiate between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism. The 3 three elements of the test are: 1) demonization, 2) double standards, and 3) delegitimization. Demonization is identifying the Jews as the embodiment of evil. The test for double standards requires asking “do similar policies pursued by other governments produce similar criticism?” Sharansky suggests that while traditionally antisemites denied the legitimacy of the Jewish religion and/or people, new antisemites deny the legitimacy of the state. One of his examples to illustrate antisemitism itself displays a double-standard by “demonizing” the Nazis. “Those who draw such analogies [between Nazis and Israelis] ... are deliberately depicting modern-day Israel as the embodiment of evil.” Despite the poorly chosen example, I believe this is a good test to make sure my own views are not labeled antisemitic.

REM Edgéan Vanvølkéstin Vølknér

2009-06-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

Hnefatafl_almost final draft

2009-03-18T03:29:00.000-07:00

Hnefatafl:
Cultural Values Bring to light a Forgotten Rule
Hnefatafl is the original board game game of the Vikings. No written records survive to catalog the protocol of play. The rules of Hnefatafl have been re-created based on similar surviving Scandinavian games, and other post-period records. Variations in game mechanics, as today, were the norm even when the game was popular. “'House rules' were the only rules of these games traditionally” (Callen 6). Recorded below are the rules I observe. Despite variation, there are two universally recognized constancies in the game's mechanics: 1) the ratio of 2:1 attacking units to defenders, and 2) an odd number of columns and rows on the playing grid. I believe that traditionally there was an additional constancy revealing a hidden aspect of the game overlooked by most modern Hnefatafl players.
The earliest literary mention of the game is found in the Voluspa, the first poem of the Poetic Edda, stanza 60. Lee M. Hollander translates: “ Then in the grass the golden figures, the far-famed ones, will be found again, which they had owned in olden days” (12). Thanks to my sister, Sandra, I have now found this game, which my ancestors had owned in olden days. She gave me a home-made Hnefatafl board for Christmas. The square board, made of sand colored paper taped to cardboard, folds in half, and is held closed by a green ribbon. Upon opening, the playing surface displays an 11 by 11 grid of colored paper tiles. The four corner tiles are black. In the center, a diamond made of a dozen brown tiles is pierced by the peach colored middle-most square. The center five tiles of all four sides, and the middle tile on the next row inward, are sand speckled white. The rest are blue. In all, there are 24 white, and 12 brown tiles which designate the starting position of the game pieces.
The King (Old Norse Hnefi: “fist”) begins on his throne in middle of the diamond. In my game, the king is represented by an image of a golden crown. No other piece may occupy the throne, nor the four black corners. The King's objective is to escape to one of those corner squares. Once he leaves his throne, he cannot come to rest again on it. Each brown tile of the diamond designates the starting position of one of the kings retinue, represented by burly cartoon Vikings wielding axes and shields. The King and his men are surrounded by an ocean of blue tiles, and 24 opposing pieces positioned on the white tiles as if lying in wait to pounce upon their prey. My attacking tokens are pieces of paper printed with the image of Viking ships.
The game simulates a Viking raid; The attacking player always initiates the game. Players take turns moving one piece at a time. The pieces move the same way as rooks do in chess. Pieces are removed from the board in the method known as custodial capture. That is: to remove an enemy unit from play you must surround it on opposite sides with two of your pieces. You may, however, move between two enemy pieces safely. Tiles that only the King may occupy also may be used to pin the pieces in a capture. The object of the raiders is to capture the King; the object of the King is to escape.
There is an imbalance in the odds of winning for each side. If a computer played this game against itself the king would always escape. In his book The Greatest Games of All Time, Matthew Costello points this out while referring to Tablut, a Finnish game from which a majority of the rules of Hnefatafl have been extrapolated. “Tablut involves two unequal forces, which appropriately represented the small Swedish army facing the mighty Russian army during those [Swedish-Muscovite] wars. But like the geese [in Fox and Geese], the Swedes can always win” (12). I find it hard to believe that this blaring imbalance was left unchecked by the folk who developed the game. The game would not have become so popular if the only way to win—as in tic-tac-toe—was by an improbable blunder made by the opponent.
Smittberger, in New Rules for Classic Games, offers some optional guidelines to balance play without modifying the known stipulations.
One such solution is by bidding: Players take turns bidding on how many moves it will take them to win the game. The lowest bidder gets the king. ... If that player does not escape [within the amount of turns claimed] ... the other player wins. Another workaround is to play a two- round match, in which players switch sides after the first round. If the king escapes both rounds, the winner is the player whose king escaped in the fewest turns (qt wikipedia 6).
I argue that Smittberger's second method of balancing play was originally a consistent rule: that the first one to fail as the defender was the looser, possibly with the exception that if the king wins both times it is a draw no mater how many moves it took. This suggests that the game was meant to test each individual as the attacker. Thus, two rounds are necessary for one game. “Because the game is uneven, it is good etiquette to play two games, switching sides” (Nicée 5). This illustrates that the Viking point of view is as the attacker (to go a-viking meant to go raiding), and that the test is against near impossible odds.
In Hervarar Saga, Odin—disguised as Gestumblindi—asks King Heidrek a riddle. The deductions King Heidrek make to decipher the riddle suggest that the sides were distinguished by light and dark, and that the defender was the dark side.

What wives are they: their weaponless lord they smite down and slay? All day long the darker defend but the fairer ones go forward. King Heidrek, guess my riddle.

Good riddle, Gestumblindi—I’ve got it. It’s a game of hnettafl[sic]. The darker pieces defend the king, and the white ones attack (tr Tunstall 45).

Most references to Hnefatafl depict the defending force as the dark side, as alluded to in Odin's riddle. “A king was placed in the center protected by dark-colored guards. Around the outside of the border stood light-colored attackers whose goal was to capture the king” (King 9). The light-haired, fair-skinned Vikings would identify with the light colored pieces.
I find significance in the opening formation of the defending units. The diamond shape reminds me of :o: Ingwaz, the twenty-second rune in the elder futhark. It represents a sacred enclosure—specifically the womb—and the gestational period necessary for transformation. This gestation is reflected in the strategic hesitation needed to successfully defeat the king. As the attacker, If you avoid making captures early in the game the defending units may block their own king (Harrington 30).
Another aspect of strategy with cultural importance is that “The defender should try to capture as many attackers as possible to clear an escape route, while not trying too hard to protect his own men since they, too, can block the King's escape” (Nicée 6). This reflects the ethical values of the comitatus or Männerbund. Littleton, in The New Comparative Mythology, defines comitatus as: “a band of young warriors led by a chief or king which was distinct from the other strata of society and which exhibited in battle a remarkable recklessness and esprit de corps” (quoted Russel 117). This social class of martial specialists is a “uniquely Indo-European phenomenon” (quoted Russel 116). The political system of the Vikings was an institution known as sacral kingship. Sacral kingship was somewhat like feudalism in that there was “an obligation to render
military service to the king or feudal superior.”(From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48) But, any free man could own land.
There was no dichotomy between politics and religion then, as exists today. The king was given divine authority by his alleged lineage from Odin. He held the luck (Old Norse hamingja), and hence the prosperity, of his kingdom—and all its citizens—in his hands. The citizens all contributed to the store of hamingja creating a reciprocal relationship based on mutual need and support. The main currency of luck was—and I believe still is—acts of heroism. All acts of heroism stem from one defining virtue: courage. “On the field of battle it is a disgrace to a chief to be surpassed in courage by his followers, and to the followers not to equal the courage of their chief. And to leave a battle alive after their chief has fallen means lifelong infamy and shame” (Tacitus 113).
Ethical values held by members of the comitatus reveal a forgotten rule universal to all variations of this game. You can easily test my interpretation by making a board of your own, and trying each variant with friends and family members. Whether you come to agree with me or not, you may follow my guidelines, or get into the true spirit of the game and create your own “house rules.”

Hnefatafl_rough draft

2009-03-17T23:13:00.000-07:00

Hnefatafl:
How cultural values bring to light a forgotten rule
Hnefatafl is the original board game game of the Vikings. There are no surviving written records cataloging the protocol of play. The rules of Hnefatafl have been re-created based on similar surviving Scandinavian games, and other post-period records. Variations in game mechanics, as today, were the norm even when the game was popular. “'House rules' were the only rules of these games traditionally” (Callen 6). Recorded below are the rules I observe. Despite variation, there are two universally recognized constancies in the game's mechanics: 1) the ratio of 2:1 attacking units to defenders, and 2) an odd number of columns and rows on the playing grid. I believe that traditionally there was an additional constancy, revealing a hidden aspect of the game overlooked by most modern Hnefatafl players.
The earliest literary mention of the game is found in the Voluspa, the first poem of the Poetic Edda, stanza 60. Lee M. Hollander translates: “ Then in the grass the golden figures, the far-famed ones, will be found again, which they had owned in olden days” (12). My initial reaction upon reading this verse was the thought that I am finding them again now, which my ancestors had known in olden days. In Carolyne Larrington's translation we read, “There afterwards will be found in the grass the wonderful golden chequers” (12). In either case the original word for what is found in the grass is töflur. Henry Adams Bellows translates this as tables (25). In Iceland tafl is the word used for chess (Taylor 143). In any case töflur refers to the game in its entirety.
My sister, Sandra, gave me a home-made Hnefatafl board for Christmas. The square board, made of sand colored paper taped to cardboard, folds in half, and is held closed by a green ribbon. Upon opening, the playing surface displays an 11 by 11 grid of colored paper tiles. The four corner tiles are black. In the center, a diamond made of a dozen brown tiles is pierced by the peach colored middle-most square. The center five tiles of all four sides, and the middle tile on the next row inward, are sand speckled white. The rest are blue. In all, there are 24 white, and 12 brown tiles which designate the starting position of the game pieces.
The King (Old Norse Hnefi: “fist”) begins on his throne in middle of the diamond. In my game the king is represented by an image of a golden crown. No other piece may occupy the throne, nor the four black corners. It is the King's objective to escape to one of those corner squares. Once he leaves his throne he cannot come to rest again on it. Each brown tile of the diamond designates the starting position of one of the kings retinue, represented by burly cartoon Vikings wielding axes and shields. The King and his men are surrounded by an ocean of blue tiles, and 24 opposing pieces positioned on the white tiles as if lying in wait to pounce upon their prey. My attacking tokens are pieces of paper printed with the image of Viking ships.
The game simulates a Viking raid; The attacking player always initiates the game. Players take turns moving one piece at a time. The pieces move the same way as rooks do in chess. Pieces are removed from the board in the method known as custodial capture. That is: when you position your pieces to be on two opposite sides of an enemy piece the enemy piece is removed. You may, however, move between two enemy pieces safely. Tiles that only the King may occupy also may be used to pin the pieces in a capture. The object of the raiders is to capture the King; the object of the King is to escape.
There is an imbalance in the odds of winning for each side. If a computer played this game against itself the king would always escape. In his book The Greatest Games of All Time, Maththew Costello points this out while referring to Tablut, a Finnish game from which a majority of the rules of Hnefatafl have been extrapolated. “Tablut involves two unequal forces, which appropriately represented the small Swedish army facing the mighty Russian army during those [Swedish-Muscovite] wars. But like the geese [in Fox and Geese], the Swedes can always win” (12). I find it hard to believe that this blaring imbalance was left unchecked by the folk who developed the game. The game would not have become so popular if the only way to win—like tic-tac-toe—was by an improbable blunder of the opponent.
Smittberger, in New Rules for Classic Games, offers some optional guidelines to balance play without modifying the known stipulations.
One such solution is by bidding: Players take turns bidding on how many moves it will take them to win the game. The lowest bidder gets the king. ... If that player does not escape [within the amount of turns claimed] ... the other player wins. Another workaround is to play a two- round match, in which players switch sides after the first round. If the king escapes both rounds, the winner is the player whose king escaped in the fewest turns (qt wikipedia 6).
I argue that Smittberger's second method of balancing play was originally a consistent rule: that the first one to fail as the defender was the looser, possibly with the exception that if the king wins both times it is a draw no mater how many moves it took. This suggests that the game was meant to test each individual as the attacker. Thus, two rounds are necessary for one game. “Because the game is uneven, it is good etiquette to play two games, switching sides” (Nicée 5). This shows the Viking point of view is as the attacker (to go a-viking meant to go raiding), and that the test is against near impossible odds.
In Hervarar Saga, Odin—disguised as Gestumblindi—asks King Heidrek a riddle. The deductions King Heidrek make to decipher the riddle suggest that the sides were distinguished by light and dark, and that the defender was the dark side.

What wives are they: their weaponless lord they smite down and slay? All day long the darker defend but the fairer ones go forward. King Heidrek, guess my riddle.

Good riddle, Gestumblindi—I’ve got it. It’s a game of hnettafl[sic]. The darker pieces defend the king, and the white ones attack (tr Tunstall 45).

Most references to Hnefatafl depict the defending force as the dark side, as alluded to in Odin's riddle. “A king was placed in the center protected by dark-colored guards. Around the outside of the border stood light-colored attackers whose goal was to capture the king” (King 9). The Vikings, being light-haired and fair skinned, would identify with the light colored pieces.
I find significance in the opening formation of the defending units. The diamond shape reminds me of :o: Ingwaz, the twenty-second rune in the elder futhark. It represents a sacred enclosure, specifically the womb and the gestational period necessary for transformation. This gestation is reflected in the strategy needed to successfully defeat the king. As the attacker, If you avoid making captures early in the game the defending units may block their own king (Harrington 30).
Another aspect of strategy with cultural importance is that “The defender should try to capture as many attackers as possible to clear an escape route, while not trying too hard to protect his own men since they, too, can block the King's escape” (Nicée 6). This reflects the ethical values of the comitatus or Männerbund. The comitatus is defined by Littleton, in The New Comparative Mythology, as: “a band of young warriors led by a chief or king which was distinct from the other strata of society and which exhibited in battle a remarkable recklessness and esprit de corps” (quoted Russel 117). This social class of martial specialists, is a “uniquely Indo-European phenomenon” (quoted Russel 116). The political system of the Vikings was an institution known as sacral kingship. Sacral kingship was somewhat like feudalism in that there was “an obligation to render
military service to the king or feudal superior.”(From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48) But, any free man could own land.
There was no dichotomy between politics and religion then, as there is today. The king was given divine authority by direct lineage from Odin. He held the luck (Old Norse hamingja), and hence the prosperity, of his kingdom, and all its citizens, in his hands. The citizens all contributed to the store of hamingja, making it a reciprocal relationship based on mutual need and support. The main currency of luck was—and I believe still is—acts of heroism. All acts of heroism stem from one defining virtue: courage. “On the field of battle it is a disgrace to a chief to be surpassed in courage by his followers, and to the followers not to equal the courage of their chief. And to leave a battle alive after their chief has fallen means lifelong infamy and shame” (Tacitus 113).

for a conclusion do you think I should restate the rules and leave it at that or what? Do you notice any grammar errors? Does it flow? And make sense?

Gender Role Reversal

2009-01-25T00:59:00.000-08:00

I awoke without noticing the change. When I stumbled into the bathroom to relieve my swollen bladder, I had the feeling that something was different. Rather, it was what I didn't feel that notified me of the change. I stood groping momentarily, then finally looked down.
Oh, no! My masculine self-concept was based on obsolete information.
Sitting down to pee isn't nearly as degrading as I had imagined. I tried shaking my hips as I hovered over the toilet, but the last drips went down my leg. I finally conceded to wasting two squares of toilet paper. Thankfully, it wasn't “that time of the month,” or I never would have deserted the sanctuary of that bathroom.
I was not patient in removing my bra. ( How could I have slept in that thing? ) After putting away my scissors, I tore through my wife's drawers in search of a sports-bra. Maybe I had a self-serving bias, but I thought my legs were delightfully marvelous. Still, I opted for pants rather than waste my time shaving. I meditated on my wife's makeup, and decided to use just a little mascara. But, as I put it on, I was walloped by an overwhelming urge to apply more, more, more!
I masked, lined, and shadowed my eyes. I glossed my lips. I suffocated every pore on my face with foundation, cover-up, and blush. Then I washed it off and experimented with yet more. With each application my self-esteem grew palatably stronger.
By the time I was done, I was Wonder Woman.
With my new face, I presented myself out the front door. I tried not to strut, but my usual gait wasn't designed for this body. And my new mammary organs were heaving me off balance. As I walked I became aware of a whole new selection of perceptions.
I smelled differently. As I walked by a musky young man, my heart rate hiccuped and my faced flushed. It was a good thing I was wearing so much makeup. Flowers seemed to draw me to them like a bee. I heard differently. When another woman spoke I understood what she meant!
Abruptly, a waterfall of emotions cascaded down on me, and I was awash in waves of foreboding. I opened my handbag (It's not a purse!), and withdrew my cellphone. I dialed a number, and when there was an answer I said, “I have to talk to you!”

Short Writing Assignment #1: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary

2009-01-17T11:11:00.000-08:00

A special fruit is regularly harvested from the younger specinines of this species. It has a synthetic peel which is applied to the subject prior to the production of the pulpy flesh of the fruit.
When the time comes to harvest the fruit, the subject notifies the harvester with a specific hand gesture, or by attempting to harvest the fruit on his own. The latter is often responded to either by laughter (at the subject's expense due to his poor harvesting ability), or by anger (if the harvester's job seems to be threatened by an unusually adept attempt).
In the former case, the harvester confirms that the fruit is ready, by lifting the subject to his/her nose and smelling the rear half of the fruit for a scent indicating ripeness. If further confirmation is necessary the harvester will squeeze the other half of the fruit, and can determine by it's firmness whether or not the fruit is ready for harvesting.
Optionally, the harvester may check the pulp's consistency by inserting an appendage under the peel, and collecting a small sample.
When it is apparent that the fruit is indeed ready to be harvested, the harvester begins by removing the husks covering the subject's legs. Often times there are many layers of these colourful husks, especially if the weather is cold. Once all the husks are set aside, the fruit is carefully peeled away from the trunk of the subject. And any residual pulp is removed with great care and efficiency. The use of special cloths soaked in a sterilising solution is almost always enforced for this purpose.
Often times the harvester will descry the future, and current health, of the subject by examining the colour and consistency of the pulp.
The fruit is then tightly wraped and placed in it's designated recepticle. And a new synthetic peel is applied, with the addition of various ointments (as prescribed by the descryer). The old husks -- or, if soiled by juices or spilled pulp, new husks -- are then arranged to enclose the new fruit.
How they prepare this fruit for it's presumed consumption has not yet been determined.

------------------
Can you guess what I am really describing? No one in my class -- not even the teacher -- could guess. (Though the teacher did come close).

More Violence

2008-11-20T01:28:00.000-08:00

On Jan 3rd at 3am one of my "friends" was at my house drunk. He was yelling at a couple of guys down the street. He asked me for a bat, so I gave him CHIP, which is what I named a club that one of my friends gave me made out of a pipe.
I heard the window to the front door smash and came out of my room with a large heavy fire poker. My "friend" kept closing the door when I tried to go outside and confront them, and hiding behind the door.
Finally, when one of them said something vulgar to Morgan I forced open the door and advanced. I expected my "friend" to back me up.
I hit the closest one with the fire poker across the head, dropped it and jumped on the next one. I hear Morgan yelling, "He's going to Kill you!" at them in a mocking tone. The guy I was wrestling was pulling my hair and afterwards clumps of it were coming out.
I was maneuvering to keep him between me and the first guy, who had picked up the fire poker.
My "friend" was no where to be seen.
Apparently the guy with the fire poker managed to hit me on the arm, I latter surmised, because I had a mark on my left bicep which matched. Large heavy fire pokers are a bit unwieldy, I do not advise using one as a swinging weapon, thrusting maybe.
Anyway he ordered his friend to get up. Who backed off and I stood up facing the guy with the fire poker, daring him with my eyes to try to hit me.
One of my roommates told me to go back inside, which I reluctantly did.
Eventually the cops came but no one filed any charges.

Previously while visiting one of my friends at his apartment, one of my other "friends" said that some drunk guy was beating up his girlfriend who was pregnant. I went out to stop it. The reporter, his girlfriend, and another girl followed me.
The drunk guy started hitting my "friend's" girlfriend with his shirt, I stepped up and said "Hey!"
He got in my face and started yelling at me inches from my face. I put my hands up in a mock defensive motion aligning my right palm with his centerline. Then in a fluid motion I hit him under the chin with my elbow, knocking his head back, swung my fist down into the side of his neck, then yanked him forward and to the left with both hands by his head, directing him to the ground. I put him in a choke hold and began yelling at him. He was bleeding from that elbow strike and chocking loudly.
Eventually I let him up and he seemed like he had had enough, but then he punched me. So I took him down again after boxing him up a little.
Finally he'd had enough and he hugged me. He was yelling, still, at everyone else that he had no respect for any of them, but me.
We went back to our friends apartment, and told him about it. He went out to talk to the guy, who shoved him down, still acting belligerent. I was going to go fight some more but my host asked me not to, he didn't want to be evicted. So I didn't.
The guy got arrested latter on that nite. And a few days latter some people yelled to me across Broadway, "Hey you're the guy who beat up ..." They said his name but I don't remember it anyway. They said they saw him in jail all beat up. They recognized me by my black kilt.

An Eye Lie Kit

2008-11-03T03:27:00.000-08:00

Hail oh! Ho ease eat gone tada eye? Am dew in juice fan ass loan us way con dew sings dot air hey pee toad oo toak ill tame, lake white end is lan gage dot ah reef ear tow oz "An Eye Lie Kit." Am tin glan ail off ear mob add eye. Tea tar in andy board air off san it eye, way tint ooze nap. Mas a nitty goose buck doda la end off now air. Day won two keel may boo am in vin sea ball. Wake ant rye tug et at an eff dis un ease oat oh wake en juice bay peel, add on car. Ack old rye twit dis foe air eff adden uh near en dan sup lye off pap ear buddah on lie hab dis boo kuch two feel wit ram lin war dez.

"Telepathy"

2008-10-31T02:05:00.000-07:00

"One person can feel another's (unwanted) sexual interest even when nothing (physical) ever really happens, most people know the icky feeling of being 'undressed' or violated by someone looking at them (icky if you don't want it from that person)... its no different from sensing another's joy, or sadness, or being 'infected' with their anxiety, pain, or anger. Sexual vibes are an erotic form of emotional contagion..."pg212 Passionate Marriage, by David Schnarch, Ph.D.

"Consciousness ins a symptom of disease." ch32 The Book of Lies, by Aleister Crowley

In Response to my CCO

2008-10-31T01:41:00.000-07:00

In response to an interrogation by my probation officer -- who also is a "mental-health" profesional" I wrote: (but I never gave it to him)

I don't hear voices "in my head." I am the Voice in my head -- actually I am above my head. When I don't control the voice I don't hear it in my head, it comes from my mouth and I hear it in my ears NOT my head. The only sound "in my head" is the juicy squishing of my brains when I shake my head.
The reason I say I Am the Voice in my head, floating above, is: this body was not originally mine. But now I possess it.
Hearing my mother call me when she wasn't home is due to her thinking about me. I have also heard my father thinking about me. Usually he's yelling though, or sad.
As for seeing things that others don't: I have seen ghosts on numerous occasions in the past. I saw a girl run down the stairs into the bathroom. I thought it was my sister. But nobody in the bathroom -- empty, dark.
I saw someone -- a silhouette --walking up behind me in the reflection in the computer monitor. I turned, startled, my hand raised in the sign of mano-figa. Nothing. [Both of these were while I lived in Bonney Lake, with my parents].
I am drawn to mirrors, I always catch myself looking at my body reflected in a mirror. If there is a mirror I unconsciously will stand before it. But I am always afraid I will see a troll or goblin or zombie looking over my shoulder, or about to take me, that is steal my body.
I've stolen it and now I must fight to keep it.
Beto is just a baby. He is my father and my son, but he's a naughty boy, full of lusts -- only seeking sensation satisfaction. Pain, pleasure.
I saw the ghost of a dog named Bear. My Dual, who is my best friend in a fit of passion-Rage drew a curse on the wall. I showed him how to improve it to make it more powerful, and aesthetic; within a week Bear died and everyone in the house had been evicted; within a week of that I was walking down the highway, where he was hit. He was there looking for his body.
I felt him -- didn't see him, yet. I led him to the house to show him where his body was buried.
As I approached the house the shadow-form of Bear came out from behind the car. He had no head. I was startled and he stopped approaching. I -- scared -- looked away and walked quickly.
The tree I walked under reached down and pet me gently. I say reached down because I had ducked low enough that it should not have touched me. I turned and smiled. She waved at me -- there was no wind. I hugged the tree -- she was an apple tree. I felt overwhelmed with love for/with the tree. I felt like I was going to become one with the tree. ...
Latter I tried to hang myself in that tree. I miss her.
Now I see glimpses or flickers of "shadow people." Some I think are Chris -- who was murdered by some kids while I was incarcerated. ...
Some I think is a reflection, or manifestation or Jim. He is HildigerR's brother, son of Beto. If HildigerR's son is Beto, Jim's son is a shadow. ?
I believe in "brain waves" and telepathy. Because it is proven to me. Everyone is "telepathic" [that is sensitive to brain-waves] they only think the though is there own. We live with the misconception that our thoughts are ours alone. The majority of thought that enters our minds are originated in an other's mind. Some are simultaneous.
Telepathy then is the ability to tell the difference from original thoughts and contracted ones. & the ability to project thoughts into another's mind and will: "Sending" or infecting.
When I said I heard singing, but it was a long story -- that has to do with the succubus who gave birth to HildigerR (and Jim?).

Beto and Her

2008-10-29T04:32:00.000-07:00

I don't like to talk, I am a writer. I think clearly only with a pen:
My body is named Beto, that is what I was called before in my childhood, before I became fully conscious. I was in despair, in a land where everyone was vampires, draining me, killing me. So I made a spell to bring true love, not knowing what true love is. What I really wanted was joy--what I needed was love--so It works out. So She came. First in a dream. She is my true love. She is a succubus. I called her simply HER. She is Death. Death is my true love, she will never cheat me.
She was lonely too. Death's true love is Life. Beto, as my body, is life, and since Life and Death live (or shall I say ARE) in different "worlds" we could never be united, unless Death joins life and gets a body.
If Life joins Death--the normal way of unification--life becomes dead. And so she is still alone because she is ONE. But life is the illusion of not being alone.
So I promised to find her a body so we could live together and die again together.
For a while she came only in dreams, always manifesting as a "ghost" or a corpse.
Then I saw her while I was awake.
I projected a piece of myself with a continually concentrated visualization, as a sort-of "astral" body for Her. But that was draining, so I made for her a body out of a "paper doll", and went looking for Her a fleshly body.
I met my (now ex)wife, and thought I loved her. So I burned the paper doll and Death, my true love, floated away from e trapped in smoke.
My wife joined the Marines and we became disamored.
I was in California, Looking for love, and one of my friends put Mandrake root on some herbs for us to smoke.
Mandrake =
Narcotic --sleep/dreams/subconcious
Emetic --Cleansing
Poisnous --Deadly
Aphrodisiac --Love
When I smoked it She came back to me, and she came into me, and we gave birth to a son. I jokingly call him "Jim"... He is the manifestation of strife and turmoil and he is anti-social. He is Void, Nothingness. He seeks to destroy life and death. He is The Fear. He was conceived when I burned the paper doll and born when she returned.
When I first met Her HildigerR was conceived. And when I projected Her an astral body He was born.
HildigerR is god. He is Me, my true[higher] self.
Beto wasn't my original body. I had no body. But Beto gave me life, and now I have this body.
There is "sibling rivalry" betweeen HildigerR and "Jim". Both vie for the attention of our parents.
HildigerR pulls them together. Jim pulls them apart.
DEATH GIVES BIRTH TO LIFE;
LIFE MAKES DEATH POSSIBLE.
PAIN= communication of life
ORGASM= communication of death

November 29th 2004

2008-10-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

I had a psychological evaluation on the 22nd to see if I am eligible for SSI, and because of court orders. Anyway they have to do more tests to rule out bi-polar, schizophrenia, and/or a dissociative disorder. I told them:
I often loose conscious control of myself. I get dizzy at odd moments, and sometimes I get tunnel vision and black out. But usually I just feel separated from my body, like my body is a little kid dragging me around like a balloon, while I watch from afar do as it pleases.
Sometimes I just daze off, mindlessly and I just sit there, or stand there, and I don't see anything -- theres just nothing. I catch myself doing this and snap out of it, but I am afraid one day I just wont come out of it.
What's worse is my body keeps doing things while I'm not paying attention.
I feel like a constant battle for control. ... Because originally it wasn't my body. I was lonely and afraid. I couldn't sleep. I felt physically sick like I would through up, and I was sweating, and my heart was beating so hard and fast it felt like it was shaking.
I was floating in space, with nobody and nothing as far as I could see in any direction. No way to control which way I floated. And I knew the earth was galaxies away, I'll never reach it, I'll never reach anything, I'll just float alone, blank, empty for ever.
I felt like this is all a dream, or illusion and one day I'll wake up to the Real World and it will be hell. I'll be all alone and I won't be able to sleep again and dream everyone back. So what I did was go into a deeper sleep and I found someone there. She was my girlfriend. She is a Succubus I call HER.
And in exchange for releasing my true will and attracting my every desire I promised to find her a body, so she could come into my world and we could be united.
I thought I'd find her in physical form in a female body and I could marry her and live "happily ever after."
But instead she came into my body.
And we had a child named HildigerR--That's me-- and now that the transformation is complete I need to become one again, because that is the purpose: separation->transformation->re-integration. HER is Death, my True Love--she will never cheat me. She lives in each of us--we all have our own death. Death is the source of life.
We all are separated from our Love into life, where we constantly search for and fear Death. Life is transformation, we all one day will be re-integrated with Death.
And in turn Death is separation from life, so in Death we can transform to then be re-integrated with life. It's and endless cycle.
The transformation is endless.
But I feel that this phase of my evolution is complete. I need to pull myself back together, back under control.
Each of us, potentially is our own god. I worship myself, and I seek my Love/Death.
I am also my own priest, communicating my true will (God's Will) to my body, mind, self. But I am rebelling against my self--in a self-destructive pattern of trying to satisfy temporary lusts for sensation or attention.
I'd rather be afraid and alone than out of control. But I just want to get along with myself so I can always work as a team.

Memorial

2008-10-22T03:08:00.000-07:00

I made a set of Runes out of cardboard for while I was in jail. When I got free on Aug 4th I found out that a friend of mine was murdered in the park in Ponderosa.
He was attacked from behind, beat senseless, then stabbed six times. Before he died he got a hold of the knife and stabbed one of them in the leg.
His name was Chrisopther Cay Ballou, we all knew him as Chris English, or Booger. He was born Aug 21, 1986. Died October 15, 2004. I drew 9 runes at the place he was murdered and left the whole set there at the memorial, along with a necklace, some bits of horn that I had gotten at the Rainbow Gathering, and some other things.

Jera-Othala-Isa
Berkana-Thurisaz-Ansuz
Uroz-Manas-Eihwaz

Ranting and then A Poem (from jail)

2008-10-09T03:52:00.006-07:00

Ranting:
Maynard sings, "Consequences dictate your course of action. It's only wrong if you get caught."
Donna Tart in pg 460 of The Secret History: "... a Hindu Saint being able to slay a thousand on the battlefield and it not being a sin unless he felt remorse."

Remorse is when you catch yourself.

The Cristian "demons," by which people may be "possessed" are nothing more than Emotions, and states of consciousness, which we call upon and Use for our will.
And "Guilt" is the "Damnation" they try to impose -- remorse for what you have done, and Not done.
They claim that doing psychedelics opens you to possession by the devil. They mean: opens you to the flow of Odrarir (inspiration). Mental Health "Professionals" claim that psychedelics cause mental "disorders", such as bi-polar -- which means that you have sensitive feelings which change.

Poem:
(note:this is one of the nicer more gentle poems I wrote in jail, still it is neither)

I've been siting here with too much time,
and no self-medication to ease my mind.
And I'm thinking, though I'm Guilty,
Remorse seems to me more filthy.
So I laugh, and loose my Wrath!
And I bathe in the blood of swine.
Their souls I reap, their lives are mine.

Jaw bones and broken homes
Doom and Death and Gore
I'll kill them all before I die,
And I know no one who will cry.

They stole from me my blood and kin.
And I don't care if its a sin:
I'll make them pay, soon one day.

Twenty-four bones for my Garden of Revenge
I'll build myself a sacred bone-henge!
And slyly stalk my squealing prey.
Lets make them pay! MAKE THEM PAY!

Killing, Killing: Blood is spilling.
RedRum and 151
cherry hearts and toothpick spears
I'll awaken their every fears!

My will like spiders
spinning sin like silk;
Greedy fangs drip evil milk.

My veins are pumping squirming snakes!
Venom Rage flows as my loves he Takes!

Do you hear those Hissing Lies?
Can you hear the woeful cries?
Watch and see as someone Dies!
Someone whom I Despise!

Rampant Revenge and Hate
my detested lust I sate.

Psychophrenia

2008-10-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

Whoever suggested that you only see what you want to see, never saw what I've seen. I've seen things no sane person can see and remain sane. (I think I was being overly dramatic when I wrote this.) Worse, I've done things no one--even I--would wish to see! But necessity overrules any imaginary moral rule. And when my desire remains unsatisfied another part of me takes over.
Jim Morrison said, "The logical extension of ego is god."
Everyone with an ego is his own god; And everyone who exists has an ego--however small--or else they would not exist. Ego is I as separate from that which is not I. A chair has an ego, which it expresses by communicating its existence, such as when you sit on it and don't fall through it to the ground or absorb it into your own Self.
But I have many, overlapping egos. I am not only my own god, but priest, worshiper, and DEVIL. Within my complex personality is a universe of many mes.
We don't all agree, or even get along.
I am a constant battle for control.
Usually I Am in control, but sometimes another I takes over. And this other I does bad things. To satisfy this other I's lust, a third I does something bad for Other I. Something far less evil than Other I, myself would do.
Our word "Evil" comes from the Old Norse word "Ilska", from this root come the word "Ill." Someone's accusation that "You're Sick!" (like when you say something disgusting) is akin to calling you evil.
I never considered myself "evil", but I suppose it depends on your point of view. A virus is evil to us, but it's vaccine is evil to it. Sometimes it is good to be evil--even necissary.
Other I likes to make me cry. And I invariably make me mad. So third I is always trying to maintain a balance. Sometimes it's hard to tell which I is Me, maybe all at once are.
I was asleep. One of us woke up; but I was still asleep--or rather half asleep? The crows woke me up, chanting, "Gala, Gala!" I gala-ed back, laughing. Then I stood up, which woke me up. "Shut Up!" I yelled at myself. "Go back to sleep!" I pointed to the the mattress in the tent. But I was stubborn.
"Go the **** to sleep!" Lay down! LAY DOWN! If you don't lay down I'm going to... Fine!" I punched myself.
My vision was swimming, spinning as I punched myself until I collapsed. Grabbing my hair I repeatedly slammed my head into the cold ground.
I started crying. I slapped myself. "You stupid pansy! You little *****! Cry-baby!"
I retreated to the mattress, clamped my hand over my mouth and screamed at myself, "Shut-Up!"
Over and over I screamed that muffled plea, trapped in a vicious, perpetual circle of trying to shut up. Until finally a friend, awakened by my racket, came outside and distracted me.
Other I is a terrible thief. Third I justifies this by saying, "I may be a lier, but I'm not a thief." This makes us feel better about it because we're telling the truth by lying.
Even I find pleasure in that.
A quote from one of my songs: "One day I realized that my truth is full of lies, so I changed my point of view and now all my lies are true."
Some things I've been told I've done, but don't remember doing it. And other, and third I wont fess up. I don't know who to believe.
There are times, however, when I get along with me. And if someone pisses all of us off, Look Out! There may be no I in teem, but theres one hell of a teem in I.

Interesting Fight

2008-10-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

I was sitting there in the plaza in Arcata, by the drinking fountain, drunk, hitting on a girl. Some chump walked up to the group of us, he was drunk as well. He said, "F*** You, You F***ing Hippies!" Nick said, "I'm not a hippie, I don't want to dread my hair." He flipped Nick off and said, "Shut up." This guy was being loud and obnoxious all day, I was annoyed and fed up, so I siad, "YOU should shut up."
He punched me. I stood up, took off my coat, spread my arms, and said, "Hit me again!" I said this because he hadn't hit me hard enough to make me angry, and I was just getting up to fight as a matter of duty. He was jumping around, and he looked startled. "Come on, don't be affraid. Hit me!" He obliged.
I goaded him on, trying to get riled up, but he just didn't hit hard enough. Sure, I was bleeding, but I needed to feel that heaviness in my skull, not just grazing blows. I didn't even notice that I was bleeding. Eventually I lunged and directed his head toward the pavement. Then held him in cross-side position with my shoulder in his throat and his arms pinned by my knees on one side and my elbow on the other.
Some of his friends pulled me off. He hugged me and told me I was cool. I told him he talked too much.
That was that--until, I was standing with Nick by a store on the corner, North of the plaza talking to somebody. He walked up and asked, "You talking ****?" I said "No. Just telling him what happened." He threatened to beat us all up saying its his block. I said if he wants someone to beat up-- here I am. And as long as I'm alive and here its a free block, if he don't want me here he'll have to kill me."
He talked more trash. Until I said, bluntly, "You hit like a girl." He tried to prove me wrong. I got him back on the pavement, and he curled up into the fetal position. I hit him repetitiously.
Somebody ran up and kicked me in the head. I grabbed his leg and was drug halfway across the street, then let go.
The ****-talker said, "The cops are coming, the cops are coming!" And began to help me up. Halfway he hit me again. Then kicked me in the nuts. (Luckily my sparing partner David has kicked me there so much that it really don't hurt anymore. -- One time he kicked me in the nuts 4 times in sequence, and I lay down between each round, the last time I passed out.)
His friends pulled him away, tried to convince me to move on--I walked to the end of the sidewalk after him. He returned and tackled me, holding my hand in his teeth so I couldn't hit him, and punching me. His friends dragged him away again.
Nick has other things to say about what happened--but this is all I remember. And I heard latter what other people said about it, they kind of twisted what happened and made me out to be some sort of legend.

04.19.04 - Death of a Princess

2008-10-02T01:44:00.000-07:00

Past:
This morning Princess Toadstool ate some thorns. I tried to stop her, but she was set on eating those thorns. I told her that it's bad luck. Then I said "Fine! Eat thorns and Die!" Latter that day Ivar was holding her. She jumped out of the carrier and he didn't notice. He stepped on her. She was twitching and kicking, painfully, trying to get her squashed face unstuck from the concrete. I told him to finish her off, but he said he couldn't and walked away. I put my heel over her head, turned away and killed her. For a few seconds she still twitched and I feared that I squished her for naught, but then she quieted and was still. I can still feel her crunch under my foot. For a while she was still warm. I wrapped her in my altar cloth.

Asatru video

2008-09-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Faith is where you find it Bart

April 9th-18th, 2004

2008-09-25T00:25:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to have a lawyer by the 8th, but I skipped town instead. 3 friends and I went to Oregon. In Portland we went to the Saturday market to try and pick up some company for a hotel-party. I ran into Nick with who had a rabbit (Patch Adams) and a dog (Kisses). Ivar and I pick up 2 girls and our comrades took them to get the hotel. So Ivar, Nick and I start playing hakey-sack, after cruising some more. Two girls walk up to Nick and ask him to buy a pipe for them. Afterwards one of the girls decides to join in the party.
The other two girls decided not to stay.
We drank a mixed drink called "Liquid Cocain" (which is 151, Rumpelminz, and Jegermeister), in a really expensive hotel.
I don't remember that night, but I was told that I tried to jump from the 15th story window, in the room we were in. Ivar pulled me back in by my feet and I hit my head on the heater, breaking it. I told him to hit me in the face. He did. So I stood up and started punching him. He said, "What are you doing?" I said I don't know. He told me that I told him to hit me in the face. I said "I told you to hit me in the face?" and started laughing hysterically. I broke all the glasses. Our friend who paid for everything told me to stop because we'll get into trouble. I said, "No we wont." Downed my drink and then smashed the glass. Then I grabbed Ivar and wrestled with him on the broken glass. The radio was playing rap "music" and I pulled it out of the wall smashed it and started jumping on it laughing hysterically.
These events are not in chronological order, and who knows what else I did. At one point I got kicked out of the room and some hours latter returned with a pizza.

"Drunk I became, dead drunk, forsooth, when I was with wise Fjalar;
That bout is best from which back fetches each man his mind full clear."
stanza 14, Havamal (Hollander's Translation)

Nick gave me the rabbit, I changed her name to Princess Toadstool. One of our party returned to WA, and then the car broke down on highway 101, we walked a while and then camped. The next day we split into 3 groups to hitchhike. Ivar and the girl went together, Nick went with his dog, and I went with our remaining friend. Ivar and the girl got picked up first. They came and got me, leaving the girl with my companion. The lady who gave us a ride bought Ivar some new pants, and me some rabbit food and a harness, and carrier; Also she fed us. She was very nice. We all met up in Arcata, CA.
On April 18th I woke up because Kisses was tugging on the rabbit who was harnessed to me. At first I thought she was dead, but I felt a heartbeat, so I warmed her up and soothed her. She wasn't as active the rest of the day, but she lived.

Star Controller

2008-09-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

One of my videos was recently posted on the "Star Controller" blog by Anthony Suarez. You can see it at http://starcontroller.com/?p=345

Lets take a break from history

2008-09-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

I put some videos on YouTube.
The latest one is a screen capture of me playing StarControl 1 with DosBox. I plan to make a series of it first practicing with each alien ship then going through the missions.

Jung's Map of the Soul

2008-09-13T01:20:00.000-07:00

by Murray Stein pg 78 reads:
"In progression, libido is utilized for adaptation to life and the world. The person uses it for functioning in the world, and can spend it freely on chosen activities. This person is experiencing a positive flow of psychic energy. But suppose this person fails an important exam or gets shunted aside in a corporate shake-up, or loses a beloved mate or child. [or has his rune-staves stolen by the pigs.]
"Progression of libido may come to a stop, life ceases its forward momentum, and the flow of energy reverses direction. It goes into regression and disappears into the unconscious, where it activates complexes... The person is torn by inner conflict and becomes paralyzed. During progression, the polarities within the self balance each other and generate energy that moves forward. ... In regression on the other hand, the flow of energy goes back into the psychic system and becomes unavailable for adaptation... Jung noted that when en energy is not spent adapting to the world and is not moving in a progressive way, it activates the complexes and increases their energy potential in the degree to which the ego looses available energy. This is the Law of Conservation of energy as it applies to the psyche. The energy does not disappear from the system but rather disappears from consciousness. And this results typically in states of depression, crippling ambivalence, internal conflict, uncertainty, doubt, questioning, and loss of motivation."

The theft of my runes is a direct cause of my current "mental-health problems."
Stein continues:
"While progression fosters adaptation to the world, regression leads paradoxically to new possibilities for development. Regression activates the inner world. When the inner world has been activated, a person is forced to deal with it and latter to make a new adaptation to life that takes the result into account. That movement toward inner adaptation eventually leads to a fresh outer adaptation when the libido once again begins moving in the direction of progression."

So maybe that spell worked some good after all! Only now that I am making new rune-staves, is my power returning. I'll not let the pigs win by suffering at their hands, but use the opportunity to grow and become stronger. When I first wrote about this I mentioned that I think that my new staves are the cause of my current progression, not the meds they had me on. I wasn't taking the anti-psychotics anymore anyway. However there was some trouble with those staves as well and I went back into regression. I now have another new set and I feel slightly closer to the sense of power that I had back then, but I still have a long way to go.

"There is a magical oath whereby the adept vows to interpret everything in life as a direct personal message, which means to understand even the smallest detail of everyday life as being 'loaded with meaning.'" pg 208 Secrets of the G.S.M.

When you believe in something you create synchronicity. Such as when I believed that the cops put a tracking device in my neck, and that they were following me around, and showing up all the time. I was affraid it might be true, and so it seemed. But I don't want it to be true. So I'm trapped in the Wizard's First Rule.
In the first book of Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" novels, "The Wizard's First Rule." pg 560, The main character learns what the first rule is:
"Wizards first rule: people are stupid. ... given proper motivation, almost anyone will belive almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will belive a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, an yet they are confident they can, and so are easyer to fool."

One day I realized
that my truth was full of lies
so I changed my point-of-view
and now all my lies are true.
-that is from a song I wrote

I Never did get my Runes Back.

2008-09-11T01:01:00.000-07:00

When I was carving the bind-rune of my name on the hilt of my skinning knife, in Elma during October '03, a howling wind blew the door open. I was startled and said, "Helga ve thetta ok hindra alla Ilska!" Which means: Hallow the hold and hinder all evil. The wind then promptly blew the door shut! I made sure it was firmly latched and said it again.
I chukled to myself aloud, when it started raining just as I loaded Laguz, singing and staining. Laguz represents water.
I burned sandalwood incense and cinnamon. I called on the Dwarves just as I did with FrithVard (my first ritual knife). I put my makeshift GandR (wand) made of the spine from the first rough copy of my GaldorBook (from which most of these have been exerpted), with the altercloth, my runes (this was before they were taken from me and never returned), and my meditation cards.
When I was writing this all down for the first time, while listening to The Yellow Submarine Album by the Beatles, the cd started skipping. It said: "Nothing that do-da-da-do-do-s-s-s-s-s-s..." It sounded really eerie. More on this after.
I think the last thing I used my skinning knife for was to carve Laguz on a piece of wood to throw into the bloodthirsty Sacramento river. It had been going around that at that time there were an unusual amount of drownings and that the river itself was hungry. I had teasingly let a blood soild napkin drop off a bridge saying, "Thats all you'll get from me." I was carving Laguz to communicate to the river that watter is life, and sort of make peace with it.
I lost my skinning knife to the security officers at the bus station in Cleavland, OH, on Christmas day. I was taking the bus from California to Connecticut, to wait for my ex-wife to get out of boot-camp. As I departed that place I listened to Freya Aswynns CD, to her curse that she sings over and over, concentrating on sending it to them, who steall sacred objects.
An interesting thing: In the dream I had the night before I left Cali, my skinning knife had broken and all the trees wanted me to use them to fashion a new handle.

In Arcata, CA I was sitting in front of the place where they give meals to the hungry, waiting to get in, when an Oriental kid walked up to me, and without a word, pulled a bag of mushrooms out of his pocket and gave me a handfull. He seemed reluctant to give any to Nick for some reason, though he did, but only a tiny bit. I gave Nick some of mine to even it out, then ate mine and didn't eat anything else. Nick ate at the feed then ate his.
These were what you might call "Magic-Mushrooms" and as I was beginning to experience the effects of my nerotransmiters sending signals along previously unused paths (or at least less-used paths), I went to the plaza. There were a bunch of people there.
This girl walked up to me. I knew she was going to walk up to be before she did and I was about to sit down but just stood there waiting for her to think about it and then do it, and then I waited for her to say something before I acknowleged her. She asked me if I had a lighter. I think she already had one. ... She told us that she had just eaten some mushrooms. I hadn't even mentioned that I had, and she didn't seem to belive me when I told her. I think I seemed to calm and in control. But thats how it always is for me; I've seen other peole though start to do stupid things. Every body is different.
She wanted to travel with us, and when she said that she didn't need to pack because she trusted "God to provided for me," I thought she meant me.
Anyway I left Nick playing Hakeysack and went to our camp and listened to music.
I listened to the Beatles, Yellow Submarine.

"How does it feel to be one of the Beutifull People? Now that you know who you are, what do you want to be? And have you traveled very far? Far as the eye can see. How does it feel to be one of the Beutifull People? How often have you been there? Often enough to know. What did you see when you were there? Nothing that doesn't show."

"Only he is aware Who hath Wandered Much,
af far hath been afield,
What manner of men be he whom he Meets,
if himself be not wanting in wit."
Havamal, stz 18.

"Spend my days with a woman unkind. Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine. Made up my mind. Make a new start. Goin' to California with an achin in my heart. Someone told me theres a girl out there. With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair."
Going to California by Led Zeppelin

The Gift of Sores and Thorns

2008-09-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

In February 2004 I made a bind-rune and drew it on my left wrist. It consisted of Gebo, which looks like this: X, and represents a gift or exchange. Each of its four arms made up the other runes: Nauthiz, Thurisaz, Kenaz, Wunjo. Latter I added another variation of kenaz to the thurisaz which compounded that arm to conatain wunjo, ingwaz, gebo (twice), thurisaz (twice), kenaz (thrice), fehu, ansuz, berkana, and uroz, in these combinations: Ansuz & Fehu : Wunjo & Kenaz : Birkana & Ingwaz : Gebo (twice) and so on. I activated it in my prefered method, which I am not at liberty to discuss.
I really made a mistake with this spell. "Thorn (Thurisaz) is very sharp; for every thegn who grasps it, it is harmful, and exceedingly cruel to every man who lies upon it."
"Thurs causes the sickness of women; few are cheeful from misfortune."
"Sore (kenaz) is the curse of children; Grief makes a man pale."
These are quotes from the Rune-Poems.
My friend Ivar Ilska also drew this on his wrist and had this to say about it in hindsight:
"Have HildigerR and I switched karma and dream? I made many mistakes throughout the time I have spent in this body. I've collected a karma I didn't understand for a long time. Maynard says, 'Consequences dictate your course of action it doesn't mater whats right it's only wrong if you get caught.' But karma always catches up to you. Maybe!? It seems I came to a realization. Almost perfectly sequentially it looks like Beto is receiving my karma and I am living his dream.
[His spell] Basically states that I need to give myself the gift of sores and thorns and like it. He used it thinking of it as a love spell. Since then he's become much angrier and much more furtive with his aggression. And on top of that the dream that he created for himself I lived out in full sequence in just 3 days.
I don't know what started the merging of our minds but our bodies are showing definite symptoms of energy bonding (or binding). I'm still not sure if this is from the stave we wore that he made or if we're being imposed upon by an outside force that has yet to manifest itself on this plane. Or maybe we haven't found the door so we can learn the way of the necessary impending mystery as to step through and wipe the slate clean.??"
On THURSday, March 11th, 2004 I bought a six-pack for my friend *****, even though I was underage, and he, Ivar, and I drank it. I picked a thorn from a rose and ate it with a draught, thinking to increase the power of Thurs. Elvis gave me a Neut that he had cought and I wanted to keep it as a pet. I carried it all the way to the house we were staying and it jumped out of my hands just as we were passing through Ivar's girlfriend's yard, right next door to where we were staying. I couldn't find it. And it set me off. I stomped on a computer game that I was in the middle of, and that made me angrier. I went outside to scream my rage to the sky. "I am going to kill you!" and "**** You, you ****ing ****!" A dog that normally barks viciously at me when I pass cowered in fear when I looked at it!
I got arrested.

Fetch Wife

2008-09-07T01:45:00.000-07:00

While working at an RV park in Elma, WA-- and before I was fully conscious of exactly what I was seeking I prepared and activated a rune-script to dispel alienation. The result has been a steady evolution in my consciousness of what exactly I wanted. It also brought some new discoveries and advancement in general on many levels.
I'm not going to put the rune-script here for display but a literal translation would be: "I, as separate from that which is not I, the wise one, who is known as Battle Spear, seek toward the unknown. Battle Spear carves the Runes. Battle Spear Avenges. I, as separate from that which is not I, guard love. I, as separate from that which is not I, guard peace. I, as separate from that which is not I, guard the world. New Love, New Love, New Love!"
Incorporated into this was three bind-runes and seven solitary runes which made up the driving force behind the script.

Uroz - To draw new situations into my life.
Nauthiz - Love magic, to find a lover.
Thurisaz - New Beginnings/ To push the issue in love magic.
Kenaz - Fresh starts/ Love, Stability, Passion/ Strengthen script.
Gebo - Love & Sex Magic/ Increase Power/ Partnerships.
Fehu - Hasten affairs/ Sending engergy to do my will.
Wunjo - Fullfillment/ "Happily ever after".

On a red candle, while rose incense burned, I carved the runes. I meant to switch the position of Thurisaz and Kenaz but forgot! Bad mistake.

Results:
Imediate banishing of alienation. I met a guy named **** who invited me to his trailer, where I met his Wife and daughter. I began running into him more often, and we began hanging out almost every day. Another person named **** let me borrow his guitar so that I could tune it for him. I did, and I played some songs and as a direct result came to realizations of what I seek in a mate. And the nature of my relationship with my (now ex) wife, and other women, and women in general. Which I will relate to you shortly.
I invited **** over for dinner, and tought some songs to ****. I also met a guy named ******* and his girlfriend. All of this happened suddenly after a long time of extreem boredom, lonliness, and anger. During which time it seemed that everything was not going my way. Then I did the second "Love-Spell" and imediately things started working. In fact I left the trailor while the candle was still burning, and that was when I met *******. It was still burning when I returned. I also found a cat, that followed me around. I let it stay with me, but It wouldn't leve me alone, so I kicked it out. But then let it come back. Eventually the cat's owner noticed it and I returned it.

The second "Love-Spell":
"I, as separate from that which is not I, the wise one, who is known as Battle Spear, Seek toward The Mystery and I, as separate from that which is not I, Battle Spear carve The Runes."
fehu,nauthiz,uroz(bound) : kenaz : nauthiz : gebo : thurisaz : wunjo : ingwaz,gebo,othala(bound)

What I realized is that my wife (now ex) is not the person, or type of person I seek.
I desire/need a Beutiful, Amazing woman who is as amazed by me as I am by her. Who delights in me, as I deligt in her. Who desires and persues my happyness, as I desire and persue hers. Who will seek toward The Mystery with me, and be a breeder for the heros of Valhalla with me, and wax in evolution of conciousness. (There was more that I must edit out)

In Old Norse Runa means (feminine) "Secret advisor." ... This is the one "who whispers in your ear." This is always an erotically symbolic entity -- and is usually perceived as a contra-sexual being. That is, for men it usualy is seen as a female ... for women a man ... urging you to evolve to a higher level and become. The reason for this is that she (or he) is lonely and you can only be reunited with her (or him) once you become part of her (or his) world ... Remakably and miraculously, this inner Runa-- for some who find themselves on The Quest -- will be found in the outer world in flesly form. [this is from Edred Thorsson's Runarmal I pg 38-9]

I am looking for my Runa.

Odin said, "A spell I know which to none I will tell, neither maid nor man's wife. It is best kept secret if but one know it. This speak I last of my spells but only to her in whose arms I lie, or else to my sister also."
I called to my Runa to find me. I then I went searching. My travels took me to California then across the continent and back.
What I have finally learned now is that I was searching outside myself for what I had always had with me. But my travels were necessary for me to come to that conclusion and to gain a better connection with and understanding of My Runa/"Guardian Angel"/Fetch/Valkyrie.

The Past (Revisited)

2008-09-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

DELETED

Police Report

2008-09-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

On 3-10-04, at about 2309 hours, Dep. Hansen and I were dispatched to a trouble unknown call in the area of 10105-229th Ave. E. Radio dispatch informed us that an unknown male was yelling obcenities and stating that he was going to shoot and kill someone.
{I never stated that I would shoot anyone, I didn't have a gun, what I yelled was "I am gong to kill you!" and "**** you! You ****ing ****!"}
We arrived in the area at about 2312 hours, same date. We began to drive down 100th St Ct E from 229th Ave. E. As I swept my spotlight to my left, I saw a white male, wearing only blue jeans. He had a small ponytail and the sides of his head were shaved. As soon as my spotlight hit him, he turned away from me and dove into some brush under a tree.
{Actually he put the spotlight on me after I dove into the tree, and as soon as the spotlight hit me I was gone--over the fence.}
I exited my vehicle and yelled "Police, Stop!" Dep. Hansen and myself started towards the subject, with both of us identifying ourselves as the police and asking that he stay where he was. The subject then began running through the brush in a north-easerly direction. He jumped a fence into a backyard. I followed him but soon lost sight of him. I could hear him continuing to run eastward through the brush.
{I was wearing a shirt but I lost it on some barbed wire while continuing eastward.}
I informed dispatch radio of the suject discription and they relayed that information to Bonney Lake PD units arriving on seene to assist. After several minutes, I was informed that BLPD officer Hoag had detained a subject matching that description in the 23100 block of Entwhistle Rd E.
{Hoag told me that if I do anything he would "kick my ass." I was trying to retrive a handcuff key which I had droped between the seats when I was getting it from where it was taped to the inside of my belt.}
I went to that location and immediately recognized the detained person who had run from me. I placed him under arrest for obstruction. A search incident to arrest revealed a "brass knuckles" weapon in his front right jeans pocket. {Actually they never told me what I was under arrest for, and searched me before the narrator even showed up. They also found my runes. As soon as they took them I said, "Those are part of my religion." They said, "Oh yeah, what's your religion?" I said, "I worship myself." They laughed, and I said no more. They also found a pice of paper stating:
Who
Am I
To Tell You
Who
I Am
They read it and said, "Very philosphical."}
... I said, "Hey baydo, why did you run from me?" He stated "How do you know me, man?"
{I should have followed the advice on my paper and not responded to any name but the one I gave them, my "legal" name. Because he was looking for me for another case for which he had only a poor discription and my childhood nickname as leads.}

Update

2008-08-30T02:32:00.000-07:00

I have added more pictures to my website. If you visit it please subscribe to updates because I will no longer be posting updates on this blog.

The sayings of Har 5-10

2008-08-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

Of his wit there is need who wanders wide,
a dull wit will do at home;
At the witless man the wise shall laugh
When among such men he sits.

To be bright of brain let no man boast,
But take good heed of his tongue;
To the silent and wise does ill come seldom
when he goes as guest to a house;
(More faithful a friend you never will find
Than a shrewd head on thy shoulders.)

The wary guest who goes to the feast,
In silent attention sits;
With his ears he hears, with his eyes he watches,
Thus wary are wise men all.

Happy the one who wins for himself
Favor and praises fair;
for hard it is one's help to seek
from the mind of another man.

Happy the man who wins while he lives
Wisdom and prase as well,
For ill led is oft who asks for help
from the mind of another man.

A better burden may no man bear
than a shrewed head on thy shoulders;
It is better than wealth on unknown ways,
And will shield when unsheltered thou art.

The Past (2003)

2008-08-27T04:18:00.000-07:00

On Thanksgiving I worked selling flowers on the side of the road in Bonney Lake, which provided money for lots of alcohol. Drunk, I declared "I'm walking to Connecticut! Tomorrow!" My friend Nick said, "I'm going with you. But lets go south first, to California. I've always wanted to try surfing."
Two days latter we we started walking.
We got to California on December 1st, and set up camp behind a lumber yard in Arcata. We stayed for six days and then decided to continue on. I got a map from a phonebook and kept track of the route we hitchiked.

On the 12th we arrived in Sacramento. The "Valley-of-mental-health" as it was called by the first person we talked to, while at Caesar Chaves Park. (He was arguing with an invisible guy named Jim).
We slept behind a bench at the Amtrack Station.
Anyway, lots of things happened while I traveled in California, and originally I intended to post it here. But now that I think about it I don't think it would be appropriate.

Sorry.

A Link to My HomePage

2008-08-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Visit my homepage.

Subjective Universe

2008-08-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

I had to delete this post. Sorry.

Seriously Though

2008-08-08T01:19:00.000-07:00

Last night I stayed up till about 3 in the moring playing AlephOne with my brother over the internet.
This is my brother (with my son (my son is the baby b.t.w) ). AlephOne is a FPS [First Person Shooter] game engine based on Bungie's Marathon Trilogy. We grew up playing Marathon together on our PowerMacs.
Now that the source-code has been released as open source it has been ported to Windows and Linux.
And is FREE to download @ http://source.bungie.org/get/
For me, this is very good news, because I use Ubuntu Linux. I can now play the 2 most important computer games from my childhood on my computer.
The other game is Angband, which is also FREE @ {the_URL_will_be_added_at_a_decent_time_of_the_day}.
... ...
For that matter more ramblings will be added at a decent time of day. For now good night.

This is the begining

2008-08-08T01:13:00.000-07:00

Roving Days:
I've been a wild rover for many a year, I spent all me money on whiskey and beer...
Now:
I go to A.A. five times each week.
Future:
I will not talk of this again on this blog.