Looking at the world since 2001, according to WHO & other reports:

• >2,500,000,000 humans living with less than $2 per day (decreasing);
• 50,000,000-70,000,000 deaths per year, of which:
  • >7,000,000 deaths per year due to cancer (increasing)
  • >2,500,000 deaths per year due to HIV/AIDS (variable)
  • >1,000,000 deaths per year due to malaria (variable)
  • >1,000,000 deaths per year due to traffic accidents (variable)
  • >1,000,000 deaths per year due to natural accidents (flood, fire, drownings — variable)
  • >800,000 deaths per year due to suicide
  • >400,000 deaths per year due to nutritional deficiencies (increasing)
  • >150,000 deaths per year due to wars
• and then...
  • <300 deaths total due to mad cow disease (decreasing)
  • ~600 deaths (as of april 2009) due to swine flu (increasing)
  • ~750,000 deaths per year due to nazi holocaust (average between 1933 and 1945)

These numbers were dancing in my head as I was visiting Oświęcim and its surroundings. Hurray for relativity.

Because you asked so nicely, Julieta, I am willing to play along…

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. (Just find "notes" in your applications on fb and create a new note. Cut and paste this paragraph and add your 25 things) You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. Or I want you to know more about me. Something like that.

(yes, this is one of these Facebook chains)

1. During the past 4 years I have transitioned from a powerless and defiant attitude towards injustice, inequality and suffering in the world at large to an overall contemplative attitude. Reading about Taoism did help. However I still feel guilty for not dedicating my energy to fight for others where it is needed.
2. (related) I believe that the civil passivity of a citizen can be compensated by decication towards his social environment (family, friends, working as a teacher, etc); i.e. if I cannot make the world change myself, it is still positive action to actively support others. However I am struggling to justify this position to myself.
3. I love reading and learning, but I find it increasingly difficult to find people whom I can learn from and who can teach the things I specifically want to learn; meanwhile I also realize how much unexpected things there are to learn from pretty much anyone, and I enjoy that as well.
4. Sometime in the last 3 years I have been enlightened by the perception that plants, lichens, mushrooms and the like are multicellular life forms like we are. That there is so much biology in common between a human and the vegetal life forms usually used as mere decorations. This cured me of temptations of spiritual vegetarianism or veganism, as I see the death of animals and vegetables to serve as food for others equally dramatical from a spiritual point of view. Instead, I now feel slightly grateful towards my potential biological food when I see it alive, either animal or vegetal. (no feelings after it's effectively dead)
5. That said, from a practical-economical perspective I also think it does not make sense to eat a piece of meat more than once every week. I do not need it biologically, and growing an amount of animal food is much more environmentally expensive than growing the nutritionally equivalent amount of vegetable food. I recognize that some human activities (say, physical jobs) need more protein input than others; I believe that the production and distribution of meat should be restricted on this basis.
6. I never understood the meaning of “tingly feeling in the stomach” to describe a feeling (I used to imagine ants crawling there), until I saw two guys hugging and kissing out of sheer affection for the first time. Only then could I understand precisely why the media profusely show couples of men and women on screen.
7. I do not have strong feelings towards religion in general. My attitude towards religion is nearly purely rational. I am personally non-religious by total lack of education either for or against it in my young age, and lack of need in my later years. Reading about history and geopolitics made me realize that religions are a peripheral side-effect of the way humans tend to naturally organize themselves into societies; in this sense I do not see any long-lasting rationale behind atheism, except to create a god-less religion where an elite is taken as transcendental reference. I think (and can justify) that most religious dogmas have been elaborately constructed at a time when they were needed for political or overall public health reasons, and that new systems of beliefs need to be constructed over time to stabilize populations. For this reason I despise several religious beliefs that are now outdated, irrelevant and have become potentially dangerous; for example I think that the Catholic support for human reproduction at all costs is irresponsible in our over-populated world. I think many old customs will evolve gradually anyways, even though I know I will not live to see the changes myself. I think that football and otherwise entertainment in the media have taken the role that violent circus games had in the antiquity, and that public executions had in the Middle-Ages; both of which constructed religions have tried to replace by more peaceful rites and habits that can channel the excitement of humans into constructive activities. I avoid televisions for this reason.
8. I love flying, especially flying far. I find the experience of checking in and boarding into a plane exhilarating and it has spurted in my mind long-lasting periods of creativeness. Also, a flight takeoff is the only moment where I reflect what my peers' life would be after I die. Unfortunately lately my relationship with planes has been deteriorated by a light amount of shame for the large environmental footprint of my addiction. I now compensate with trains; while the feeling is there less strong, I can experience it more often especially in the Netherlands. Actually I have an invisible friend with the shape of a tiny plane so small that it is invisible, with the behavior and intellect of an ever trusting puppy, whom I make fly by showing his flight path with my finger as I walk. We have not played together for many years now, but I still think about him every now and then.
9. I am fascinated about information persistence as a basis for historical record. I have an acute perception that the last 30 years of computing are creating an historical “Dark Age”, from which historians of the future will not be able to retrieve our way of life nor our global knowledge. I feel lonely from the total lack of perception of this problem by my peers.
10. I find disguises of economic competition as nationalistic territorial or ideological disputes blatantly dishonest and ridiculous. In particular I think that heated diplomatic relationships entertained for decennia, if not centuries, are an irresponsible waste of energy, time, manpower and possibly lives; nationalists should realize how puny their concerns are compared to the immensity of the Earth (or the universe for whomever has ever looked up there), and/or convert their emotional distress into open commercial negotiations with their neighbors. Of course I do not believe there are simple solutions to all conflicts that are based on practical interest; some disputes may be virtually unsolvable based on the premises put forth by their participants. Take Israel for instance: my understanding is that the ruling leaders of the time basically took a piece of desert they had under their jurisdiction and “gave” it to the Jews, actually not out of sheer generosity but simply because accommodating them anywhere else would be practically more difficult. Conversely, the territory that is now Israel was virtually unused and non-habitable before the Israelis made it viable, and I find dishonest the Palestinians' attempts to disguise their interest in reaping the economical gains of the Israelis' efforts as a dispute over legitimacy. I think there is a lot to be said about these relatively current events in comparison with how the world community at large has accepted, or at least now tolerates, the way the Spaniards installed themselves in South America and how the Puritans colonized North America.
11. I will go to Trance Energy next month, for the 4th or 5th time ever, and I am looking forward to it.
12. When I was 20 I did not see myself live past 25, because I did not know of anything interesting to live through. When I was 25 I did not see myself live past 30, given how short-minded I perceived people become after they turn 30, marry and have kids. Since them I found out that aging is not so bad, and there are plenty of open-minded people to meet and things to do that actually require the extra maturity to enjoy. At the same time I still think people should retire from life when they become a burden to society. I plan to register a will in that sense.
13. (related) while I feel a little sad when someone dies not because of old age, I strongly support the idea that the interruption of autonomous life in organic matter when it has little self potential is not a tragedy when it balances with the well-being of other living individuals who have a longer or more potential future. For example I think that an embryo developing into a child with no support from his family and subject to emotional distress, which later develops into a strongly unbalanced adult, should not be allowed to develop in the first place; and that instead its stem cells should be reused for curing critical diseases that disable people who could otherwise contribute to society (i.e. I do not support "comfort" medicine or curing diseases for otherwise disabled humans). In the same way, I believe we should be immensely grateful towards young people who die relatively stupidly and make their organs available to others in a good shape. At the same time, I am acutely critical of biomedical ethics and I believe the decision to terminate autonomous life should never be taken by single individuals or groups of individual with religious, economic or political interests.
14. I once had purple hair for a while. Then I had it blue. Then silver. Later I turned orange, and I stayed red haired for a while. Now I am looking forward to seeing all my hair turn white, and I hope it happens before I lose it all.
15. I find the sound of spoken Dutch physically attractive. This strongly supports my efforts in learning the language on my own; I realize only now that relatively few foreigners and even natives share this motive and I have troubles connecting with other people because of this. Lately I discovered this attraction also when hearing Frisian.
16. I once heard there are people who arrived in the Netherlands and who do not want to learn how to bike because they find it childish. I am still bothered by the thought, as I totally cannot understand it.
17. I think that journalists, teachers and clerics (either administrative or religious) have the most responsible jobs in society. The first decide what knowledge is worth keeping and its transmission over space; the second are responsible for its transmission over time; the third administrate its archival and regulate its retrieval.
18. I believe that there exist global evil conspiracies of different natures and motives, but I believe those often purported in the media (Jew conspiracy, Illuminati, etc) are not global and have very little scope and influence. Instead, I believe for instance that cats are a highly developed species manipulating humans for its own benefits, and that the biosphere has an overall conscious existence of its own (the Gaia theory). More seriously, I believe there is a fundamental feud between mankind and womankind, that the rise of the Christian church and its misogynistic teachings was a temporary victory of mankind after ages of social ruling by womankind, and that the development of properly functional parthenogenesis or an artificial uterus by one kind will imply the prompt extinction, if not extermination, of the other.
19. I have issues with disposing of unused or unusable items. I feel a sense of responsibility towards the potential uses of any artifact, even uses I cannot myself imagine, supported by the fallacious belief that if I take care of conserving an item (as opposed to e.g. letting it be destroyed with other garbage) someone else, sometime in the near or far future, will be able to benefit from it. My former emotional distress on this topic was alleviated when I learned that it is possible to give unused items away to people who will take care of redistributing them; I now “only” need to solve the practical issue of classifying all the junk and transporting it to the right locations.
20. I think that love, anger, attraction, contempt, jealousy, in general the “mountains and hills” of human emotions are biological “features” built into our chemical processes; they were once necessary to survive, and they now merely regulate our good function in society. They must not be ignored or repressed, like pain should not be ignored, because they are useful and make life overall easier (when not unusually disturbed); however I think that entertaining conscious thoughts, discussions, art or other forms of expression for the sole purpose of showing feelings (as opposed to propagating them where they are needed or conveying a message in combination) is utterly useless and a waste of time and energy.
21. I experienced intense love for someone else and intense love from someone else in two distinct circumstances where it was not reciprocated. I now realize these are two situations that bring an insight on the complexity of human relationships that no amount of abstract education can possibly teach. It also has allowed me to really cherish my friends and my chosen siblings.
22. I don't know, and I care little, about the whereabouts of my biological siblings. However, I spend an inordinate amount of time wondering about the current life situation of other people I have met, especially those I have not stayed in touch with.
23. I am fascinated by body modifications, and I have spent a large amount of time to decide how much I can and want to modify myself. I think that any living being has the inalienable right to decide of its own form, shape and metabolism (as long as it does not cause harm to other individuals or disrupts society, but I think any right is constrained by this restriction).
24. I feel highly privileged to be allowed to live in the Netherlands and work in a University, and I have every intention to make myself worth of it. I had the occasion to test my limits in the past, I now know a balance between my responsibilities and my personal interests, and I intend to let this carry me for the next few years. I am ready to make adjustments as they are needed but I do not feel the need for radical self-desconstructions any more.
25. I procrastinate too much. I should really do something about it, especially given that I know what I should do. I'll start tomorrow, promise.

These are the first 25 things I randomly thought about, I now realize there are some other points that may be more important to state, but well... I guess there's a limit to what can fit on the good ol' net.

I am getting seriously annoyed by this question.

Not because it is somewhat intimate and still part of the social handshake, just between “what's your name?” and “what do you do?”. The latter got me annoyed before but I learned how to cope with it already.

No, the reason why I am getting annoyed is that most people who ask do not realize what they are asking for. Indeed, what most people want to know, for the purpose of getting to know someone better, is a condensate of the following:

• “ where and how have you been educated? ” — i.e. how much do you share my culture;
• “ what is your ethnicity? ” — i.e. what ethnic label can I stick on you;
• “ what is your religion? ” — i.e. what is your moral code;
• “ what is your home? ” — i.e. where do you live and where does your family live;
• “ who are your friends? ” — i.e. what are your credentials in life.

The place of birth, often expected as an answer to the question, is generally irrelevant. Most often you are not actually interested because it does not help knowing the person better. So stop asking for it first! There are many other interesting — and important — aspects to learn about someone before their childhood history. To start a conversation, just keep it simple and honest — “ tell me about you ” is open enough.

Side note: I am also annoyed at Facebook for translating "Hometown" by "Place of birth" in Dutch. This is annoying in so many ways and does not even reflect any social reality in the Netherlands.

centrale verwarming — lek — boren — kanalisering — overstroming — vereniging van eigenaren — kerstvakantie — dons — wol — dekking — kruik — slaapmuts — washandje — vorst — isolatie — afzondering — verkoudheid — longontsteking

... but which another man would:

• Honey, you look tired! take it easy, open your fly and just relax...
• When you're close, just let go! I can take it all!
• Shopping? What for? Beer is enough!
• Honey, your colleagues called and they want you at the bar in 10 minutes. Can I come too?
• Check it out honey, our neighbour next door is strip naked!
• I know it's tight, but please! Just try harder!
• What about you invite your assistant tonight and we have fun together?
• The dishes can wait, let's watch a movie!
• Your car doesn't start? Let me have a look at it...
• You should really consider getting closer to your manager; she could give you this promotion you're waiting for.

In other news:

• The world's richest nation only barely failed to elect a talking corpse now irrelevant in politics and the dumbest potential state leader in the history of modern democracy.
• In other views “The U.S. is the only country in the world where the major candidates for office are chosen by people (in primaries) and not by back-room political machinations. This much democracy give the results legitimacy, but not always quality. After all, they elected Bush twice.”
• That said, if the new president lives up to his expectations, chances are he will not live for long.
• Some other country steps into the show and attempts to boost consumerism to stay afloat in a flawed economic system. Not impressive and possibly selfish.
• While some dangerously misogyinistic cultures remind us of their ideology, some others try to get rid of the cruft. Whether there are strings attached remains to be seen.

• Maurice (1987)
• Torch song trilogy (1988)
• Butch camp (1996)
• It's in the water (1997)
• The talented Mr Ripley (1999)
• Borstal boy (2000)
• Happy Feet (2006)

Werk, werk, werk. Tussen negen en tien uur werk per dag, met weinig thee-pauzes. Elke dag minder energie daarna om wat anders te doen. Behalve de weg naar Albert Heijn, het station en de universiteit ken ik nog bijna niks over mijn buurt en Amsterdam. Geen tijd ervoor.

Nog niet. Het maakt sowieso niet erg uit, want ik vind mijn nieuwe baan en collega's leuk genoeg om van mijn nieuwe situatie te genieten.

Op zaterdag heb ik mijn kat en Albert verhuisd. De enige vindt het weer nog wat te nat. De andere heeft wat meer licht nodig. Maar overal overleven ze allebei.

Dan zaterdagavond ben ik naar Utrecht geweest voor de Cruise Control — het was de eerste keer waar ik de trein terug naar huis kon nemen met een reistijd van minder dan een uur. Gisteren heb ik een vriendin uit Frankrijk ontmoeten die Amsterdam wilde bezoeken — dus kon ik door de stad lopen, ook voor de eerste keer als inwoner.

Vandaag heb ik een paar nieuwe dingen gekregen:

• nieuwe kantoorsleutel en UvA chipsleutel,
• nieuwe werkkamer en bureau,
• nieuwe schrijft en pennetje,
• nieuwe werkplek computer en netwerk aansluiting,
• nieuwe collega's,
• nieuwe bibliotheek van technische literatuur,
• nieuwe kantine,
• nieuwe eindeloos stapel van werktaken,
• nieuwe wanorder in de organisatie van mijn afdeling.

Eindelijk was het een lange werkdag vol ook met nieuwe kennis en nieuwe vragen over mijn project en mijn toekomst in het algemeen.

Maar dan was ik terug, en weer bezig met het opruimen en opbergen van mijn spullen. Na een paar uur werk ben ik bijna klaar: alleen maar twee dozen blijven dicht. Ze zijn vol met keukengoederen.

Een paar dagen geleden heb ik een plekje in de keuken gevraagd maar ik heb nog niks gekregen. Vanavond heb ik een nieuwe "truc" geproefd: ik stelde voor om een inventaris van onze toewijzingen te maken, om wat etiketten later af te drukken en te plakken. Het resultaat: mijn mannelijk huisgenoot en mij gebruiken maar twee rekjes van de bestaande 30 in onze woonkamer. De rest zit nu in het bezit van de drie meisjes.

Het blijkt eruit dat de feministische revolutie nog niet tot ons aangekomen is.

Vandaag (zondag 31/08) ben ik wakker geworden in mijn eigen bed. Het was de eerste keer sinds eind juli. Ik sliep uit, ook voor de eerste keer sinds lang geleden.

Om twaalf uur begon ik uit te pakken, op te ruimen en op te bergen. Na een paar dozen realiseerde ik mij dat ik honger had en dat geen eten (voor mij) in de keuken zat. Echter is de keuken vol met eten, maar ik weet nog niet of het delen van voedsel met mijn huisgenoten toegestaan is. Dus moest wat boodschappen doen: een lastige taak op een zondagmiddag maar ook een gelegenheid om mijn nieuwe buurt te bezoeken.

Eindelijk heb ik een AH winkel gevonden die geopend blijft tot zeven uur. Het moest dé zondagswinkel in de buurt zijn: het stond zo vol met mensen dat ik tegen minstens tien personen erin botste. Op de weg erheen en terug realiseerde ik mij ook dat ik nu in een grote stad woon, door de eindeloze opeenvolging van gelijksoortige woonpanden langs de straat naar de winkel. In deze buurt standen ook panden met meer dan vier verdiepingen, een andere teken van een drukker bevolking.

De tweede deel van de middag was tijd voor schoonmaken. De eerste stap was het inventariseren van onze reinigingsmiddelen. Zoals ik vreesde vond ik een tekort… Na de vakantieperiode verwacht ik dat zo'n studentenhuis wat minder onderhouden was: de drie stofzuigers zijn bijna buiten gebruik, de ene gebroken en de twee andere met volle stofzaken. Natuurlijk kon ik geen vervanging vinden. Dan was het schoonmaken van de grote badkamer, de keuken en de deuren met een kleine spons en een ineffectieve zeep geen aangename taak. Eindelijk had ik meer geluk met het dweilen, want de vloer was al wat schoon en dus was de afwezigheid van vloerzeep geen zware last.

Vandaag heb ik ook kennisgemaakt met mijn derde huisgenoot (alleen maar één moet ik nog ontdekken). Dit snelsprekende meisje informeerde mij over de kosten van onze internet aansluiting, en over het feit dat ik mijn eigen ruimte in de keuken mijzelf moet veroveren. Met haar hulp heb ik een eerste plek van twintig centimeters op een rek gekregen. De rest ga ik bespreken later deze week met de anderen.

Het resultaat van de dag: een grote wanorde in mijn kamer, wat eten klaar in de koelkast en maar drie dozen verlaten om uit te pakken.

Morgen is mijn eerste dag op de Universiteit. Ergens deze week moet ik weer naar Rotterdam om wat meer spullen te halen. Tja, dat ga ik niet vanavond plannen. Nu is weer tijd voor slapen.

The goal was simple: bring the stuff I need to Amsterdam, the rest to a storage space (courtesy of a friend).

Initially I contacted several moving companies. The high price they asked for caused my attention to shift to the (well-intended) advice I was receiving from friends: organize the operation by my own means. In the end, I realize it was a misguided choice…

The costs added up quickly:

• subscribing to a post forwarding service
• buying cardboard boxes
• renting a small vehicle to carry some stuff to storage space
• offering dinner to the two friends helping
• renting a larger vehicle to carry most of the stuff to Amsterdam
• filling a gas tank
• feeding the 3 people on board during the trip
• offering dinner to 3 friends for help afterwards
• hiring some help for the washing machine
• buying train tickets for 5 trips
• storing some stuff at the station
• asking a taxi to help on the last way between my old place and the train station

Note: I do not own a driving license nor a vehicle of my own.

For a grand total of approximately 1200€ — not counting:

• the stress of the organization,
• the time and energy spent packing, unpacking, unbuilding and rebuilding of the furniture,
• the sweat and energy spent carrying bags, boxes and other things on my own back,
• the time spent thinking and acting the move (nearly a work week),
• the strain on the relationship with my friends.

Retrospectively, delegating the entire work to a team of experienced movers would have amounted to around 1000€ without worries…

And yet, I do not feel frustrated. The physical exercise I performed was worth the effort, as it does help me feel healthier and overall more confident in my physical abilities. Involving my friends in my moving may have helped make the transition for them, smoothing their realization that I am actually leaving their usual surroundings for the foreseeable future.

As far as the stereotype about urban gay men approaching their forties goes, Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren do not deceive while adding a pinch of seriousness to their worldly concerns by means of glasses with thick black frames.

I have never been a fashionista myself, and will probably not become one. The thought of spending any significant amount of my time hunting new designs and attending the mass leaves me totally unphased. Yet, a one hour excursion on the third floor of the Barbican Arts Centre in London proved to be both a refreshing and enlightening experience.

A friend, dear among the dearest, brought me to a fashion exhibition in the City of London. He intended this experiment both as an initiation and as a test for my taste — I would hear “I wonder if you will like it” at least thrice before we eventually squeezed the last hours of our trip together in the Barbican Centre.

The key works of Dutch fashion designers Viktor and Rolf were on display in a two-floor exhibition hall. Visitors are there invited to follow a sequence of rooms around a central doll house, where each of the hall's rooms would match a room in the doll house and contain a couple models and a projection screen.

Describing the collection and its qualities would far exceed my vocabulary skills, so I will not dwelve into details here. However, the purpose of this note today is to stay as a reminder of how touched I was by the amount of creative work and creative diversity that was concentrated in these fifty-something models. Unexpected in a fashion exhibit, I felt more respect and admiration for these tailors than I have for many painters in art musea.

Add this to the brutal style of the estate of which the Barbican Centre is part, its stained grey ragged concrete walls and columns contrasting with the lush and lively yet constrained small lake that it contains, and you get a picture of a foreign urban world of sorts — obscurely pure and devoid of irregularities, where nature is enclosed, and where the only form of art is worn somptuously as unique and breathtaking clothes.

I discovered a world of dreams, made for and by them. London is a city of many surprises.

The ability of social networking sites such as FB, Plaxo or Hyves to display information from RSS feeds is an easy way to broadcast to many people.

But then comes the question of where should more personal stuff stay and how can it be communicated. Obviously it cannot be broadcasted in the same way — even if it stays publicly reachable.

The solution: a simple gateway.

Imagine.

Imagine you meet someone. This person wears an eye mask on both eyes, and uses a white cane to find their way around. It does not take long for you to figure out that this person is blind.

Then this person comes up to you, knowing that you have a keen ear for others. This person explains: “I have never seen a picture in my life. Recently, I acquired this camera and I wanted to take pictures of the world around me. Unfortunately, I cannot see the pictures taken by this camera. I am very sad.”

As a kind hearted person, what would be your reaction?

A colleague of mine wisely suggested: it is important to be kind, but this person could be explained clearly and easily that their expectations were not set properly. A camera does not make a blind person able to see pictures, and there is not much more to be said about the situation.

End of round one.

To your other self, now imagine. Imagine you witness the following situation, as an external observer.

It is day in a featureful neighborhood in a friendly city. The day is bright and sunny.

You see a person, otherwise healthy and without unusal traits, holding a camera to take a picture of the scenery.

You notice that the flash is activated as indicated by the pulsing LED indicator. However you can see also that the flash is oriented incorrectly, i.e. pointing in the direction of the person holding the camera instead of the direction of the scenery.

The person actionates the trigger, and receives the light in the face.

After a few minutes it appears clear that the person recovers their sight but expresses their inconfort with the situation to a another passer-by also interested in the situation.

The person and the passer-by talk for a while, apparently discussing the features of the camera. You overhear the passer-by suggesting confidently: “your eyes have expressed pain when you took the picture. Our shared common sense recommends that you mutilate them.”

You observe (with no means to interfere) that the person agrees and dutifully blinds themselves permanently. For the purpose of this “dream” you can let yourself imagine that the mutiliation completed quickly and was relatively painless.

Then this person comes up to you, knowing that you have a keen ear for others. This person explains: “I have never seen a picture in my life. Recently, I acquired this camera and I wanted to take pictures of the world around me. Unfortunately, I cannot see the pictures taken by this camera. I am very sad.”

As a kind hearted person, what would be your reaction?

End of round two.

Statements:

• knowledge and wisdom can help avoid complex situations.
• knowledge makes it more difficult to deal with complex situations.
• lack of curiosity and painful narrow-mindedness can be interchangeable.
• ignorance makes people weak.

Today a friend pointed me to the documentary Earthlings which seems to be already known of everyone but me. A half-enlightening experience: while I was already aware of the issues, and I already knew some facts, the images made my understanding more vivid; an unpleasant but refreshing enhancement.

But still, something in this documentary was bothering me all the way. Now I can see it: the title.

“ Earthlings ”

And the documentary goes over animals, about how humans relate to (and use) other animals. Did they not forget something?

What about the other earthlings?

Turning vegetarian after watching such a documentary completely misses the point. All in all, any human has to learn to deal with fellow living beings. That always involves killing to survive, often in nasty ways for convenience. We should just choose how to minimize the amount of inconvenience for our community of earthlings as a whole.

Topic for this week's discussions: if you were to get a mental picture (or a perception) of each living thing that is used or killed to sustain your own life, where each being would be expressing their opinion by speaking in their own distinct voice (possibly a little squeaky), how would you deal with the situation? Imagine, for example, the opinion of that branch of parsley on the cutting board if it was expressing human-like feelings and consciousness about its fate…

Life is tough.

One day, we will wake up in the morning and see a world devoid of plants. Like the dolphins, they will have left us to our own device.

Today's conversation added to the list of concerns evolving around my mind at the moment:

• will China invade Siberia when oil becomes scarce? or Iran?
• what will be the form of the next conflict between Japan and China?
• who will end up controlling North Korea?
• why doesn't the ECB propose to invest in a deep and far-fetching solution for the American mortgage crisis? Why doesn't China propose either?
• How is the obligation to carry identity documents helping against “terrorism”?
• what will be the long term evolution of the current tendency of governments to alienate citizens into criminals and “protect” them against themselves?

Evidence shows clearly that we will not be able to eat fish in the future unless strong global policing action is taken now. We know already that future generations will never enjoy cod as a popular and usual dish. Still, even so-called “developed” countries make irrational political moves about fishing and short-sightedness combined with global disinterest runs rampant.

Overfishing is a canonical example of a tragedy of the commons. In other words, everyone is responsible, and nobody cares.

A topic I was debating the other day with a new colleague was: why should we care? Another I was debating longer ago with an older friend was: should we take responsibility for other people's actions and reduce our demand for fish to induce a decrease in production?

The conclusion was straightforward: any purely rational approach based on a fundamentally individualistic philosophy (where everyone should be only responsible for their own actions) dictates unsustainable behaviors. This is a logical conclusion, leaving choices to be made:

• not be rational: let God dictate what is “good for you,” possibly reducing your environmental footprint. Possibly effective, but unpredictable.
• empathize with fellow humans worldwide and time-wide (of the future), then take responsibility for other people's actions and act. Likely effective, but equally unlikely to happen within current morals and value systems.
• not do anything.

Choose your future.

In a blog entry a professional photographer from Colorado wonders how same-sex weddings impact his business. The author crams his foot in his mouth very effectively:

Put aside for a moment your own values. Would it hurt or help your business to photograph same-sex commitment ceremonies or weddings?

Regardless of the issue at hand, the storm of comments that followed on MeFi attracted my attention by the sheer number of fallacies and ill-chosen analogies:

• “Should a KKK photographer refuse or accept to photograph black commitment ceremonies or weddings?”
• “Should a black photographer refuse or accept to photograph KKK commitment ceremonies or weddings?”
• “Should a vegetarian photographer have the right to refuse to photograph a wedding reception where fois gras is served?”

Some comments sent me giggling, but I admit my patience was not enough to read past this insightful thought: “Should they have to choose between pissing off God and pissing off a potential client?”

Ethics and businesses? With religion in the middle? Makes me giggle. and sad.

One of my favorites pastimes when procrastinating: looking up unusual ways to travel by train. Using the journey planner with the largest database that I know of, I set myself imaginary goals and I search:

• the longest journey that can be achieved within a day: Marseille-Malmö
• the longest journey in a single night train: Hamburg-Villach, Paris-Barcelona, Amsterdam-Milano
• the longest journey that can be achieved at high speed within a day: Marseille-Berlin via Brussels and Köln
• the longest journey that can be achieved without changing trains: Amsterdam-Moscow
• the longest journey with only one change: Amsterdam-Beijing via Moscow

Removed from the daily reads: Dilbert, Daily WTF, UF. Added: PhD Comics.