The trigger could be a U.S. attack on Iran, which seems to be in the works and may take place before the November presidential election. Disgusting and corrupt corporate media outlets like the Washington Post are again beating the drums for war on behalf of the financiers and Israel as they did in the run-up to the war against Iraq.

Will We See the End of Empire in Our Time?

It was a warm night when we had the dinner. My old man was talking about the intricacies of the legal system, specifilcally as it relates to legalities and morals. As he continued on, I knew from the moment he said those words, something was not right.

“And with you as defense counsel, she was able to walk?”

“That was the decision of the court!”

“Dad, you know morality aside, you did a very good job. And that’s why I went to the sciences/engineering first. But this time, I’m being forced to learn the system you guys seem to be playing with.”

“That’s the way it is, law can be complicated or very simple. Why don’t get yourself enrolled at a law school. Drop that accounting classes you’re taking.”

“You’re absolutely right, dad. I will drop accounting and find something along your interest. The family’s interest.”

 ”And you agree with this, Mom? I’m not doing a cross-ex here, I just want a real honest-to-goodness answer.”

“Uh-huh. “

I received the latest copy of Condé Nast Portfolio yesterday and read about the article Stiglitz wrote. In there he advocated for the homeowner’s version of Chapter 11, though I did not see any term relating to writedowns. He’s saying he wants to eliminate the asset by Chapter 11, not writing it down based on percentage.

As a homeowner myself, I see this as definitely the cure, especially tailored for the ones who are in the grinder at the moment. Those who walked-away will probably never get their homes back, but those who are still hanging in there waiting for a savior, a solution based on Stiglitz could possibly work.

How? The next president should enact a law targetting those numbers.

Then, there’s another angle into it that needs to be considered. According to a Stiglitz book I read a few years back, rule of law and trust are some of the main ingredients needed to have a sound and vibrant market. Take one away and the market will probably tailspin. Fixing the mess by revamping the law could restore trust in the market. Something to the effect of a New New Deal FDR-style could be taken.

And then there’s the issue of spending. Have you seen the NASA MMO RFP? It came to me as some sort of a message that budgets are being slashed, held tight by some unknown fear. Again, why would a government agency tighten its belt as if things are going to the great depression? We’ve been there before and we know the solution: SPEND, SPEND, SPEND.

Well, finally, after several years of spending time tutoring this student he is now as-they-say passed all the Computer Science requirements last term and has been approved to attend the graduation ceremonies. The last subject he took was really fun, he did manage to ace most of them and got an A minus, not bad for a subject that had a lot of C and C++ programming, along with tons of OpenGL and Matrix concepts.

I’m happy for him after all that painstaking sessions he had to go through. He’ll probably never forget those moments when he felt like he was about to give, yet he still went on trying his best to pass the subject. I would humiliate him for getting a passing mark and he would always get pissed and not return any calls after that, yet we somehow he managed to get-along and continue the sessions.

He’s definitely happy that he’s preparing for a vacation soon.

It has been several days and stuff has happened, let me write them down in no particular order

Marketing Stuff

It’s really hard pulling a stunt with basically no money involved. Ask anyone you meet on the street about buzzing with no money backing and you’ll definitely get lol’ed out of the street. Anyway, my partner-in-crime seems to be playing the role of a heckler in the peanut gallery. I just wished he would see the situation in a different angle. But then, I re-iterated I will not part with my hard-earned dinero with the suggestion he was trying to make. No way, Jose. Not with that kind of idea.

I made a bet with him that if things worked-out pretty good for this no-money-involved marketing plan, the money generated from that campaign will all funnel into my account. He gave another laugh but this time he agreed to join-in and pledged his support creating more content. I told him I’ll have to buy a monk’s habit to prove my point.

A New Model for 태 권 도 

I was chatting with this guy while playing in the gym and told him about the status quo of TKD (태권도)  and how it should flow in a different direction. He started getting serious about it and found out he wanted to explore that area. We’ve been talking lightly about it for several months now and word spread around to several people with a few verbalizing their interest. Yesterday night, he gave me his email and mentioned some concrete plans on how he would like to move the concept forward. Again, I re-iterated the commitment he was about to make and said “This stuff is cool, let’s make it happen sooner.”

Someone (can’t mention his name) overheard the conversation and said “I do MMA, let’s do it now.” And I replied “Whoa, not too fast there my friend, there is a place and time for this. Let’s act like gentlemen here.” He winked at me and gave a grin, “come on, let’s get this thing going, here’s my email.”

“Everyone will sign a waiver.” Exactly the point, why would one get in and not sign a waiver. And secondly, once this thing gets in motion “there will be no more talk about this.”

The symbol is a syllable having the English pronunciation ‘DO’ meaning ‘The Way Of’ more commonly found in the Hanggul script. Practitioners are basically taught by guides or teachers who by years of learning have mastered the art. Success or enlightenement is said to be achieved when the mind and body join into one, where form are no longer form but part of the spirit that move body. One mind and body is Zen.

But, what does that symbol have to do with this blog? Am I supposed to reveal the mastery of a certain art? Certainly not…for I am no master.

Western thought, originally were pretty much Aristotelian. So obvious that, the Greek civilization made a huge impression in the formation of western thought and it still considered a major influence as of today. Grammar and empiricism played a crucial part of the western thought. Intelligence bounded not by Zen but by connection of symbols with other symbols, forming a vast network of collections supported by empiricism.

Along the line, Baconianism crept-in to supplant the old structure paving the way to a new kind of thinking. Baconianism is now the major driving force of everything I see here, now.

Where will it go next? And what kind of new thinking will this generation rally up to?

Maybe this is it?