log entries of timotheus

Posted by mobile phone:
So my buddy Greg just left wednesday to go back to Sacramento. We had a pretty good time, it was good to catch up. We’ve been friends for so long it was exactly like no time had passed. That’s always a good feeling.

Tonight I went to my great aunt’s apartment and helped her fix her universal remote. We spent some time catching up, and it was nice! I’m taking her to the grocery store. We’ll get some shopping done, a little chit and a little chat.

Next week school starts up at Towson State. I’m not enrolled per se, but will be attempting to observe some classes. Either way, I’ve got it set up with my cousin Mike, who also attends. We’ll carpool every tuesday and thursday, 12 to 8. I’ll have lots of time on campus, even with the classes I want to see. I always get a lot more work done when I’m not at home.

I’m planning on September starting my mad levels of work. I will be heading to Sacramento for a visit in the end of September, so I have a big todo list for just 25 days. I look forward to it as a type of cram session.

Now I return you to your regularly scheduled internets.

So, dreams.

In my copious spare time, I’ve been allowed to ponder various.. ponder-worthy topics. One that has been stuck in my head for a while is concerning dreams.

Some people say dreams offer insight to the subconscious mind, others say they are just random synapses firing. I used to hold to the latter theory. After watching an episode of Stargate Atlantis where a person is stuck in a dream, and it’s the sci-fi staple of “Is she really awake or not; what is real”, I had an idea.

It would be fun to play a prank on someone where they think they are dreaming. The scenario isn’t important, but what would cause real confusion would be to replace all written material with the dream letter jibberish that is in most dreams. (Reading things in dreams is very difficult for most people to do. Often you can read it, but as soon as you read it you are forgetting what is said.)

Then I started thinking bigger. What is another explanation I can come up with that allow dreams to make sense? And it came to me. The theory of infinite parallel universes says that every time something can occur, all possible outcomes do occur and are branched out as a separate universes. So, there is a universe out there for every possible outcome of every decision, since the birth of time. So, a whole bunch of universes.

What if dreams are really your brain interfacing into one of these other universes, tying into the ‘you’ in that universe? That would explain why many times things make no logical sense, because maybe the laws of physics or anything can be different in a different universe. Also, having problems reading things makes more sense when you consider it’s another universe.

So how can I explain lucid dreams, you may ask. Well, in a lucid dream you realize you are dreaming, and can change things to your will. I say in that universe, maybe you have mental powers. Or, your counterpart could be mentally unstable, and so you’re seeing things that aren’t ‘real’.

Maybe the connection isn’t exact. So it’s not like you see what your counterpart is seeing at that exact moment. It could be in the future in that universe, which could explain dejavu. (you tapped into a parallel universe that is fairly close to your own, and the time index was off.)

It’s fun to try and fit all the aspects of dreams into this model.

I found this musician on Magnatune. All her stuff is mostly cello arraignments. It’s all pretty neat, kind of has a Myst/Riven vibe to it.

Her song “Maenam” on the album “Hidden Sky” is especially good. You can listen here.

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/sieber-hidden/hifi_play

I’ve also listened to this album and it’s pretty good.

http://magnatune.com/artists/albums/sieber-second/hifi_play

Magnatune is neat because you can buy the digital versions of the albums, and you choose the price, from $5 up to $18. Half of the purchase price goes directly to the musician. It’s all DRM-free of course.

I hope you like.

===== Introduction =====

The system of representative government in the United States has run into a plateau. The politicians that are elected to represent their state or even district have too large a group of citizens to represent. Our population has simply grown too large for this to be an effective method of representation. If a citizen cannot meet his personal representative at least once a year, and talk to them in person to learn about their thoughts on topics, then how can they truly be represented? The result is that the majority of citizens feel like they are out of touch with their government, that our politicians are entirely different creatures than us, and they pretty much do as they please.

There are various ways to fix this. One is to massively increase the number of representatives, though it’s highly possible it will just add to the confusion and slow the process down even more. Another alternative is to fundamentally change the way in which citizens are represented. Utilizing the internets, it is possible to use technology to implement this change.

Simply defined, Self-Representation through Technology (SRT) is a system which allows citizens to either personally vote on every proposed law, bill or act (LBA) Continue reading »

So, today is Saturday. I’ve got a stomach bug or something, not feeling 100%, or even 70%. My body is receiving a failing grade right now. Going to try to be productive today, but when you’re feeling rough it’s not always easy. What do I mean when I say ‘be productive’? Well, that’s easy. I’m basically trying to psyche myself up to do either some web coding, writing, or getting things done around the house, like cleaning.

The last ten days I’ve been doing a lot of reading, which is good. I consider reading to be partially productive, in the sense that I’m adding to my mental codex of writing skills, and I’m learning things to boot. I looked back at June, and I think I only read like two books! That is a travesty of epic proportions. Next up in the book pile is a biography on Freud, “Battle Royale”, and Naruto. I’m to the point now in Naruto where I think I need to watch some of the anime. Oh, and speaking of books, Neal Stephenson has a new book coming out September 9th called “Anathem“. I hate buying new releases in hardcover, but I just don’t know if I can wait for this puppy to be in the local library system.

I’ve been thinking a lot about our current form of government, and I’m putting together a new way of running a government of any size. I might use a wiki to explain how the system works, not sure yet. Right now it is filling up my Moleskin Cahier notepad.

I also brought five books on Calculus down from my upstairs storage, and I’m going through them again. I really am enjoying it, and thinking back to all my school I’ve done, it’s the math in everything that I always liked the most. If I had sacks of money, maybe I would go back to school to get a second degree in Mathematics.

I’d like to take a second to talk about LOTRO, and my absence from the game. First, I think it’s a great game, and a lot of fun. I’ve just been having a problem with video games in general lately. I play them, and I think, “This is cool, but my universe would be better because of this..”. Essentially, why play in a gaming universe when there are dozens of universes in my mind that I want to share with others. Yet, I think books are a fine use of your time, so maybe that is a double standard. I think when my life was more involved with my office job I enjoyed video games more since it was an easy way to escape. Now, I go hiking and exploring for reals! Also, the MMO thing just seems to be bent on taking as much of your time as it possibly can. A game of “Battle For Westnoth” or “Armageddon Empires” seems ok, because there is an end to the game within an hour or two.

I don’t know if that makes sense to you, but it does to me.

I want to blog more, but I’m not promising anything. Ideally, I’d like to update this at least twice a week. I think that is doable. Once on Wednesday, once on the weekend? Maybe.