you are living a lie. artificial grape tastes nothing like grape.

merci james

Thu, 26 May 2005 18:03:29 GMT

1. Total number of books owned:

i have many. i would guess.... ermm... i actually can't guess. i have a wall-unit, and a good third of it are books, the second third consist of cupboards, and then the last third is actually split into 2, so one sixth is a TV, vcr, dvd thing and some strewn DVDs and/or CDs, and the other sixth is pictures and ornament-like things, and then as well there is another bookcase which is completely filled.

2. The last book I bought:

i bought all five volumes of the douglas adam's trilogy of the hitchiker's guide. (buying hype, i know, yuck) but i almost never buy fiction. also that day i bought 'concepts' by jerry fodor.

3. The last book I read:

origins of nazi violence by enzo traverso, and then i read a paper by oliver cox entitled 'caste, class and race'. im reading the fourth harry potter now, because it's all i have had to read. but it's good, and ive become a bit obsessed.

4. 5 books that mean a lot to me:

'the collected works of billy the kid' - Michael Ondaatje
'sexing the cherry' - Jeannette Winterson
'Karl Marx, selected works' - ed.Lawrence H. Simon, the hackett edition, the red one.
'malaise of modernity' - Charles Taylor
'the idea of history' - RG Collingwood

5. Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their LJs.

i wish i knew 5 LJ people...

imjreviews spiderwill yeah_maybe wheelyapplegate

the revenge of the sith....

Wed, 20 Apr 2005 18:40:50 GMT

fuck. and i thought we had taken care of the sith lord with force throat-grip.... (oh cmon, thats kinda funny. poor john paul, he was an old man for christ's sake. [har har] )

just when you think things are going the right way....

damn you benedict XVI, first you take over the republic, start a war of the jedi and now you turn anakin to the darkside? shame on you.

here in your bedroom ounce for ounce.

Wed, 16 Mar 2005 07:09:45 GMT

this comes as a bit of a shock, but it seems that the cbc3 issues have abruptly ended. i am sadenned.

on a better note, i have recenlty rediscovered some of the violent femmes that lee sent me a while back.

'add it up' is by far the best musical work of all time.

feelin' like a preacher-man wearin' a gun around....

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 19:15:58 GMT

oh fuck off.
fucking useless non-foundational foundationalism. i mean, double-yoo tee eff?

die goldman die.
i am nearing completion....

yes ian, i haven't finished yet... and it makes me sad... but not for long!

i know it sounds silly...

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 03:05:01 GMT

but i've been really missing hockey :(

(athough sleeping less) sleepless

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 09:17:38 GMT

did a lot of thinking today.
there are many things i ought to have done.

my most recent outbursts and thrashings of concern may have been some days late. some weeks perhaps.
this might even be it. by it i mean what has, or might have been.

perhaps i have underestimated 'self-interest', and how white its knuckles have been whilest clutching me.
how naive the constructs of altruism, humanitarian good and truth seem now laying uncomfortably horizontal on this couch.

how guilty i am for not even attempting to hold up my end.

http://www.cbcradio3.com/issues/2004_05_21/index.cfm?page=11

i want to believe in the mercy of the world again, make it rain.

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 21:11:48 GMT

and what have we learned in 60 years? obviously nothing.

it's not so much a race issue, but a humanitarian issue that addresses all of those 'isms' of race, class and gender.

it was the primary example of what hate and the ideas of power and supremacy do in their logical ends.

imagine what would happen if the nazis had diverted the amount of effort and money that went into these deathcamps and put more focus on the war against the allies? surely we would have seen a VERY different outcome. it's scary to think that that's how important the extermination of an entire race, entire cultures, entire ideals all had been to the nazi movement. so important they were willing to lose the war for it...

like rwanda, the crisis in the sudan is just as intense and just as seriously detrimental to the human race. http://www.darfurinfo.org/ (don't forget that we're supposed to be celebrating today, the liberation of Auschwitz, the end of genocidal maniacal bullshit). all of this is still so imminent, so blatently in our faces. how long will it take to just come around again in full force?

hey god, i think the tsunami missed, more to the west next time please.

i'd encourage everyone to read up on these things, concerning war, concerning racism, or nationalism, power struggles, and not only in the context of the early half of the 20th century, nazis, hitler, etc. but even before, and in particularly, after it in a very modern way.

it's one thing to say that we can't let these events happen again, and it's another to go about preventing them, and seeing how they've come about. pacifism is just as much about protests and anti-war activism as it is about education, and promoting the ideal of free-will and human right, constantly.

the nooth.

Thu, 13 Jan 2005 22:38:13 GMT

i know i barely knew him, but what i did know of him i will miss very much.
my thoughts are with his family and close friends now, im hoping that everything's going to be as alright as it possibly can be.
it sounds a bit dramatic, but i can honestly say that nathan was one of those people that made me feel as though the human race has hope in getting out of the shitty shitty state that it's in now.
he was authentic and genuinely helpful in every way.
im going to miss our late-night chats.

i wish this was over.....

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 14:43:04 GMT

i hope it's not due at 9:30....

the frayed ends of sanity

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 10:01:48 GMT

http://www.humelinks.com/hume.jpg
http://media.big-boys.com/files01/dudelipsync.swf
http://people.ambrosiasw.com/~andrew/funny/sexychick.jpg
http://www.funny-world-records.com/bicycle-start.jpg
http://www.lowculture.com/archives/images/UH_kerry_reaching.jpg
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/sleep-stages.gif

a day late and a paper short....

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:27:01 GMT

does an epistemological view that supports the ideas of causal morality, and biological determinism count as an epistemological view? im trying to show it does not. i don't know if it's working or not.

epistemology can't just be the search for what knowledge is, or to find out how we use or abuse it, it's part of a much larger project, most closely linked to metaphysics, morality, etc. not to say that knowledge isn't good for knowledge's sake, but the overall project of philosophy, i'd advocate, is intended to find a solution to the problems of capitalist exploitation, and self-interestedness in general, just to name a few. a humanitarian bond, if you will, is what it's all about.

perhaps this is too far out on a limb of the crazy-tree.

go-bots vs. transformers

Tue, 07 Dec 2004 18:00:01 GMT

ugh...

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,65885,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

great. just fucking great.

missiles = bad thingies

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 18:15:31 GMT

please see ian's journal for a wonderful letter to PM Martin, cabinet and other MPs. if everyone would forward one that'd be peachy. please pass it on to anyone who might have an interest. thanks ian!

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ijmreviews/5617.html

incase you're all opposed to outlook (as i am) here are all the addresses. thanks again ian.

pm@pm.gc.ca,Graham.B@parl.gc.ca,news@cbc.ca,Harper.S@parl.gc.ca,Pettigrew.P@parl.gc.ca,globalnational@canada.com,McTeague.D@parl.gc.ca,Layton.J@parl.gc.ca,Fletcher.S@parl.gc.ca,national@cbc.ca,Oconnor.G@parl.gc.ca,McDonough.A@parl.gc.ca,letters@globeandmail.ca

all you need is hate...

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 15:27:59 GMT

a person can only read so much white-supremacist literature.

i am appauled at the plethora of information in support of this subject. it has given me less and less reason to stick with my humanitarian roots and not create a hate organization against hate organizations. i'd personally love to go out 'nazi stomping', and what-not. (although there actually is one already, which is quite well-know called S.H.A.R.P. skin heads against racial prejudice) motherfucking ignorance.

*deep breath* harness the chi, calm blue ocean... solidarity forever, truth for everyone. even the skinheads i guess. oh mighty whiteninja, let them see the err of their ways.

these things of racial exploitation and exclusion can be philosophically proven wrong can't they? im not just talking about MY opinion. i mean, it's a metaphysical truth, isn't it? a human value?

a boldt of lightning

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 20:02:36 GMT

wow. what an exciting day. so refreshing to have good ol' fashioned debate/discussion/conversation with such a well-informed individual such as ryan. i can't say that i agree with what he's all about, but it's so refreshing to hear such conflict... get ryan's here: http://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~stomsons/presentation16.htm

-
here's my critique of ryan's paper-

I have a deep sympathy for the concerns that Ryan brings up in his paper. I too find claims made about the nature of human beings extremely skeptical, weird and icky. The absence of free-will seems to be overtly prominent the deeper and deeper we have gone into the Republic, and I find this problematic as well.
However, there are some major issues that I must bring up with you concerning your stance against the kallipolis, but in particular, your alternative solutions. Although your attempt to jostle Plato is, I think, a justified one and your intentions are in the right place, the method and the reasons for why you wish to dislodge the inevitable ‘Platonic Robot’ (as you call him or it) is unfortunately lacking.
I myself don’t believe that you mean the things that you say. Forgive me if I seem to be putting words in your mouth, but obviously you do ultimately believe that there are things that are true, or have value to them. In fact, you must believe this even to state that you subscribe to ‘ethical nihilism’. You seem to take Socrates’ opinions of art to be incorrect, which alludes to some position that would require you to have a belief that Socrates’ argument is wrong, and subsequently, yours would be necessarily right or true. Therefore, you do in fact admit that some things are true and some things false and moreover, that some things have value and others do not. The mere fact that you can make a case in your paper against Socrates shows this.
I mean no disrespect to you at all Ryan, but I can’t trust that you have been thinking about these things seriously at all. For, in order to commit to something of the nihilist flavor is aspiring of something must greater and much more dangerous than you might realize. This is why I assume that you may not have further looked into this.
Your beef seems to be with Socrates’ account of natural classes, and that they emphasize rationality as the ultimate goal and the eventual good. Your position then, is that to deny the desirous natures of our natural human selves (desire, or appetite as opposite to the rational) is to deny what being human is.
You deny that we ought not to place value in anything at all as human beings, in particular, this rational aspiration. However, you’re clearly making a case for what we ought to value in the end. You’re advocating that the selfish gains of happiness, materialistic things, egoisms, etc. are to be seen as priority, for they are the natural, and therefore the good.
What this leads to is something that is not only very dangerous to the humanitarian good, but it is a detriment to philosophy itself. By denying the metaphysical truths of morality or value, we are left to a ‘survival of the fittest’. Biology dictates our worth and entitlement to those things that are in the interest of the human nature. (As you so eloquently put it, the ‘eating, drinking, shitting, fucking’, etc.) These biological determined attributes of strength, physical, or mental, or what have you, breed classisms, racisms, sexisms, etc. etc. (i.e. all those bad paradigms ending with ‘ism’) is what you’re committing as natural, and as good.
You must take these things as bad things, mustn’t you? You think the subordination of the female gender, for example, is a good and prosperous institution that is worth upholding? or perhaps the actions of our most recent foreign visitor GWB? are his actions good? are they bad? how might you be able to even ascertain a position from either side, if you cannot make any value judgments?
I, of course, am not accusing you of aspiring to such atrocities, but rather am attempting to show the inconsistencies in your argument, for it is clear that you, and I and we as human beings DO make judgments of value, and not just of these self-interested issues either. In fact, you must value something outside of the instrumental realm to even be here.
What are you even doing in a philosophy class if you are in denial of metaphysical and overarching truths? Wouldn’t economics or a commerce program fulfill your natural appetite for selfish gain? Because, just so you know, I hear there’s not a lot of money or babes in philosophy. (no offence dr. tomsons, I think you’re a babe)
My point here is that something else is going on, beyond what you talk about as our instrumental human will, or our egoist power struggles. How is it possible to be creative in a world where these things of materialism, and self-centered power struggles are priority? who is the real robot then? the platonic? or the nihilist - determinist? Don’t ideologies, in general, from liberalisms to communisms, ideas of altruisms or omnipotence, don’t these concepts allude to something greater than the individual human being? something that is outside of our individual self-gain?
These are Plato’s motives, to explain how it is possible that we come up with things like altruisms, or ideologies, and to explain the obvious differences between human beings and other creatures. It is the reason why Socrates identifies the Forms, which, to clarify, are just one example of how he makes a case for the existence of truth.
All of this is not to say that I think you must buy into Plato and the kallipolis, on the contrary, I feel you make an excellent case against him. However, you lack in what your actual ideals are. And please, forgive me if I am completely and utterly missing the boat here.
I in fact would profess that your nihilistic approach to critiquing Plato’s kallipolis is actually not that far off from what Plato eventually maintains and commits to, which is this biologic trap of animalistic desires. What I mean, is in regards to comparing both positions, yours is equally, if not more so, down on free-will.
‘Humanness’ is not causal and appetitive, rather, that is more like ‘animalness’. For there are reasons why you participate in our social contract as it is today, you wear clothing, you adhere to social norms and why you paid so much to participate in this class over the fall term. Although you may not be aware of them, they are metaphysical truths and values that you take as true.

on kant and

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 00:49:39 GMT

i forgot how compelling/wonderful kant is. boy o-boy do i like kant.

also:
i don't care what anyone says, the weakerthans are fucking wicked, no matter how many 18-year-old-tubetop-wearing-highheeled-boot-clad-word-mouthers were at the pyramid on friday night.

extra, extra, read all about it....

Fri, 19 Nov 2004 07:12:56 GMT

well, it's done sortof.

as an aside, lots of gramatical errors, and even discovered one or two sentences that i had intended to take out completely. it's REALLY rough, and needs actually a lot of work still, but i didnt allow myself the time... hmph.

and now, i give you...

"Me, Myself and the Kallipolis: The Apparently Biased and Slanderous Rantings of an Apparently Socialized Democracy-Lover."
http://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~stomsons/presentation11.htm

plz go easy

will, i would be espescially interested to hear what you think about it as i think our paper topics are nearly identicle.

3rr0r!1

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 03:30:46 GMT

i just totally double posted.
im such a n00b. i have fixed it now.
so far from beeing l337. h4x0r B3347CH!!!!!11111111oneone
so sorry.

the new holy trinity: race, class, gender.

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 03:01:51 GMT

well, im about 7 pages from completing my plato junk... im scared. looks like another all-nighter.

for ian: my paper (as of right now) is entitled "Me, Myself, and the Kallipolis: Individuality in a Just City." should be a cracker. i think this paper is a weird blend of my Grade 11 Marx-self and my now Charles Taylor-self. should be interesting, will be posted on the tomsons thing tomorrow. http://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~stomsons/ (if you saskatchewan fellas look at the "presentation schedule" section you'll see my mispelled name at the bottom, for critiquing one Ryan Boldt's presentation on the 2nd.)

too much time wasted today arguing the existence of patriarchy with alden. he's a good lad. but it MUST exist. have i been duped? http://www.menweb.org/paglsomm.htm

too much time wasted listenning to the new tom waits. i am in love with it. as well, i have a weird love-but-don't-wanna-admit-that-i-love relationship with the new yeahyeahyeahs album. clang boom steam.

im not the praying type, but let us bow our heads and say:
Oh great ninja-ish White Ninja of Saskatoon... http://www.whiteninjacomics.com/
Please grant my fingers speed and endurance to complete this paper by this evening.
Grant my eyelids strength to stay open and my mind the wit to 'wing' the whole thing and get me an A.
i will though, as i always do, settle for a B.
amen.

uplink stalking and procrastinating

Tue, 09 Nov 2004 00:08:57 GMT

hi ian, i am watching you.

i procrastinate, therefore, i am.

Sun, 24 Oct 2004 23:33:42 GMT

ever go into a trance-like state when writing papers? you have all these bitchin ideas, but you don't want to read into them because a) that youre lazy and b) you might be wrong? i do.

a summary so far...

im concerned with the importance of truth, and how it is cannot be possible, philosophically, to commit to a position that would claim the foundational fallacies of epistemological views (of the likes of, however, not limited to Descartes). For it is an inherent detriment to philosophy itself as a project.

descartes is a pime specimen to work with anyway, for (at least through my understanding of him) he states clearly his problems with foundations of truth, how nothing is knowable for we can be deceived, etc. etc. later, after everyhting is stripped away, the claim then is that, although nothing appears to be real, physical or mental, what is certain is thought. thinking is an activity, acting things must be real, i think therefore i am, i have an idea of perfection because of my own imperfections, if i am not perfect i am sprung from somethign more perfect than i which is god, god (the perfect) would never deceive me into nothingness for i am from him and EVERYTHING is from him (all possible knowlege is from him), and he is causally caused only by himself. mind gives you free will and rationality, the world gives you the causality that the mind operates therein.

however, one can doubt descartes entire position, right back to its foundations as he had himself done initially.
there must be some kind of leap of faith made, that one trusts that there is thought, or that there is natural claims. these natural claims like "i think" or "there exists thought".
in addition to these, there are also circular tendancies with descartes, for example:
If A then B (if clear and distinct, then it is true knowledge)
If B then C (if knowledge of God (true kn), then God exists)
If C then A (if God exists, then there is clear and distinct true knowledge)
this is the skeptic view, that there are no foundations for knowledge, none that are justifiable. at the very least, you cannot come, in full or in part, to know truth.

blah blah blah.
what im trying to make a case for, is that truth, and an understanding of foundations is necessary for doing philosophy. that, even though there are inherent and obvious problems with foundation-like things, they're necessary. anti-foundation is anti-philosophy (if philosophy is the ongoing project, or search, or love of wisdom). if you dont have conceptions of truth, you don't have anything but wishy-washy biological determinsim. darwinism, materialism, all those bad capitalism things. unless, of course, these things are actually "the good" (which im not willing to accept, because i have a hankering that there is more to it than that)

i know im not making a very good case for this, but i'd like to know what you fellas think. am i on to somethign? are my accounts of descartes decent? do i have lipstick on my teeth?
im quite tired after attending a halloween celebration last ngiht. i went as a killer-bee (complete with antenna, wings, kung-fu bandana and nunchuks) ill post pictures.

i haven't died, therefore i am OR i heart descartes

Thu, 21 Oct 2004 18:16:08 GMT

descartes... descartes....
what do you fellas think would be an interesting topic for descartes' meds?
i myself, happen to be someone who believe that truth does and can exist, and that foundations are real. now, im not sure that i accept the cartesian view, but i would agree that it does have some definite sway, really compelling and interesting arguments. i would like to know what you lads feel, but, more importantly, i would like some help.

oh, by the way saskatoon, way to go on the sink-a-tron, or whatever. ya buncha geeks.

bored

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 16:05:42 GMT

do you ever wonder what makes your skin stay on?
do you ever wish you had less friends? (not meant to sound pompous)
ever wish you could actually learn how to write a philosophy paper?
don't you wish that you didn't notice all the bad things in the world?

i do sometimes.

you are my favorite in the world.

Fri, 01 Oct 2004 14:01:35 GMT

and, it has been a long time.
hello live journal. whatcha knowin'?
so much so much so much.
still alive, still poor, still procrastinating.
in fact, i'm SUCH a procrastinator(sp?) that ive decided to update you instead of writing my plato paper. it's a ridiculous paper anyway, on the republic book 1. i mean, who reads book one anyway? everyone knows, the coolest books are 7 and 10. psh.
and right now i'm hoping that someone will eventually read my journal and say "hey, he's updated it finally" and it would make for an original response in the 'post comment' section. how exquisite.
and now, i'm hoping will had a good tree-planting time in tree-plants-ville. i met a fella named ryan, of whom aparantly accompanied him to the tree birthings. (would it be birthing? or would that be, metaphorically speaking of course, artificial sex with the ground? hmmmm....) ryan is a fun lad, and he is also in this class of plato, although i did not recognize him until yesterday. (we met at a "lake shake" you see, and talked of saskatoon and things).
and james. ahhh james. i am hoping you are well, and that this electronic message finds you as such. i hope that you do not bore of that stale paper smell, and your endless thirst for knowledge is never completely quenched. you are my favorite in the world, even though edmonton is not. espescially the gay end.

how about that debate last night hey? christing george bush and his bumbling monkey stammering.

better than nothing.... what does that even mean?

Sun, 13 Jun 2004 05:18:25 GMT

what is this? a fucking game? christ jesus, what has become of the entire world? so many things so many things so many thigns to say say say. and where to begin?
well, i'm definitely NOT going to begin by talking about that rotten election.

wait, wait, everyone stop. why don't we trick everyone into putting all of this effort into electing a government system that supports their own selfish needs... yes that's it... then we can get into power and wipe our asses with old 2$ bills and get 10 wicked hot francophone concubines each out of the deal... yes... concubines... stephen herpes and fucking paulmart... (in).

dear jack,
look im not a tremendous fan of yours mr. layton, primarily because... well, somehow, i feel you're nearly the on the same level as those guys... and have similar goals... but at least your project is different jack, at least. you might have the mask on but at least it's for a good cause... i guess... *sigh* i just wish that we didn't have to coerce people into being GOOD human beings.
aaron
ps. i wouldn't think that you were so bad if you hadnt have been against bill blaikie...

dear god,
if i force people, against their own will, to do good things... is that wrong? did george w. ask you this question a year and a half ago?
aaron
ps. do you exist even? and why don't i care?

dear the ndp,
i love you. a passionate love. i really dig that whole social democracy thing you've got going on, i think that no matter who leads you, i think you're pretty fucking cool. you know why? ideology my friend. ideology. love you, bye.
aaron
ps. hope you win, see you in the car.