Inhumanity in Hinckly, Utah

Dogs/Cats euthanized by being shot in the head wander into woman's yard and die slow, painful death. Many dog corpses piled in mass grave, many still wearing collars, etc. Check out story - we should SERIOUSLY take this on as a project and get this inhumane practice ended ASAP.


http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-hinckley-strays-shot,0,6584876.story

HINCKLEY, Utah - Residents in the small town of Hinckley, Utah are speaking out against the city's animal control policy. The mayor of Hinckley says after strays are held for 72 hours, they are shot. Critics call it an archaic and cruel form of animal control. Hinckley resident Suzanne Folsom said, "It's so sick and its so very very wrong." According to city officials and residents, the dogs and cats are taken to a fenced-in sewage pond on the outskirts of town, shot and their bodies left in an open pit.

Tamra Hanks says her property touches the site, and that cats wounded from bullets have crossed through her property, only to die a slow and painful death. Hanks said, "It's probably one of the worst things I've ever seen." As to the dogs in the massive grave, "They had collars on them. They were people's pets."

Mayor Donald Brown says the city's policy is efficient and cost-effective. It is legal to shoot dogs and cats in Utah if done humanely with one bullet to the head. City maintenance supervisor Stephen Beagley said, "I have never a time when it took more than one bullet." The city denied any allegations that the animals suffered from their policy.

The Humane Society of Utah is weighing in on this issue. The executive director, Gene Baierschmidt, says the only humane form of euthanasia is through lethal injection. "Something like this it's just unacceptable," said Baierschmidt.

Even if the city is following the law Folsom and Hanks say the city should be held to a higher standard. Folsom said, "There's so many dogs and cats in this pit. Its wrong." Hanks agreed, saying, "Somebody needs to finally stand up and say, you can't do this. It's not right."

TOMORROW IS THE DAY!

Tomorrow (Thursday, Sept. 10) an unknown few will embark on a photographic experiment, wherein many people from around the country - and possibly the world - will all snap a shot of the Western Horizon at exactly 7:40 PM (USA mountain time). The resulting pictures will be emailed to jorgen1225@gmail.com, where they will then be posted this Saturday at my other collaborative blog (The Ubiquitousness of Beauty), which is located here: http://theubiquitousnessofbeauty.blogspot.com

I will be sure to post here when the pictures are online there. So, let's hope this 'experiment' goes well.

For more details, you can see the facebook events page HERE.

The Universe in a Single Atom

Although I remain very busy this semester - and with each day only seeming busier - I don't have too much free time to read what I want to read.

I continue to further my understanding of Philosophy of Time, but I think I am going to begin studying Buddhism at a deeper level again.

It has been almost a year now since I was in Wayne Hanewicz's Buddhist Philosophy course (a course he is teaching once again in Spring 2011, mind you), and the timing feels right to delve back into that direction. While in the course, we were set to read four books. However, we ran out of time before coming to the fourth book - that being the book pictured on the right: "The Universe in a Single Atom". I've thumbed through this book now an then, and it will certainly be a fascinating read. So, if I find myself with some free time in the coming days and weeks, I hope to read this book with careful attention. And, though I've not yet read it, I recommend that others either check this book, or other Buddhist literature (particularly from the Dalai Lama), out. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. It will, at worst, provide some food for thought regarding thinking, time, being, and existence.

Short Poem

Lock me up in heaven
she tells me—
all white and boring.
I’ll paint my way out,
with blood, if necessary.
Brushes create doors,
from which to escape—
an enigma, for all
who are dreaming
of beautiful things:
things like heaven,
things to destroy
with a brush,
an epistle,
an idea.

Quabity Aschwitz!

Season 6 of The Office begins in a little over 3 weeks. YES!

New Semester

Fall semester began last week. I have four semesters remaining and then I am (hopefully) out of Utah and off to graduate school. I, however, once again find myself incredibly busy this fall. I am taking four courses (biology, stats for psychology, ancient philosophy, and a senior seminar in philosophy), I am also working with the Animal Allies Club and the Philosophy Club, I am doing work study with the philosophy dept., I am planning next years Animal Ethics Conference, I am working on an honors CEL (Center of Engaged Learning) project, I am writing (minimally) for the UVU REVIEW (newspaper) and I am reading for Touchstones Literary Journal.

This fall looks promising, though, and I am excited to be progressing academically and helping to organize so many amazing events.

Allllllllllllrrrrrrighhhht.

I fully intend to write on this blog much more often than I have been. So, keep on checking back (if you have been all of this time).

Boulder: Day 2

Not MUCH new to report, I suppose. The second day of class went better than the first. People are getting to know each other and are loosening up. Today (the third day of class) should be even better as far as discussion, etc.

On a negative note, I somehow managed to acquire a GIANT blister on my left foot that goes up between my toes, and now I have a small blood blister on my right foot on account of walking funny to guard my left. Hopefully those will disappear by Saturday so I can go hiking with everyone, but I'm skeptical about that.

Nothing interesting happening. Still missing Paige, cats, family, etc.. Here are some random pictures (the first and third pictures are of the dorms we are staying in).

Boulder: Day 1

So, the idea here is that I am going to try and update about my time in Boulder as much as possible. We'll see how consistent I am with this. Nothing special, maybe just a quick recap of the day (even for my own memory), but if anything particularly interesting happens, I will post it here (maybe with some pictures?).

First off, my dorm room is nothing to brag about. I have one free outlet, and I have three or more things to plug into this outlet at any given time. So I have to juggle between my laptop power adapter, my phone charger, and my alarm clock. The room is smile and kitchen-esque (complete with tile floors, a small fridge and microwave). I have a small desk, a fake closet, a bookshelf and a tiny bed (and no Paige to sleep with).

The pre-first day (yesterday, before classes started) went well. I met everyone and everyone seems nice enough. Not many people share my exact interests (one or two maybe), but it is good to learn of others' interests and learn from them. The campus and surrounding areas are absolutely beautiful. And there are quite a few vegan options close by (including VG Burgers, which I still need to try).

The first day of class went well. A lot of people talking a lot, so it seems a bit fragmented and crowded, and it is, but that was to be expected. Dr. Pasnau was nice and insightful and I enjoyed his lecturing. We had a few interesting discussions in the three hour session and some, albeit fewer, interesting discussion in the later 2 hour session. I don't have much details to give on such discussions, but they concerned Scholastic thoughts regarding identity and Post-Scholastic responses and objections/rejections to such thoughts.

Bob (Pasnau) took us all out to dinner afterwards. We went to 'Old Chicago', which, as it turned out, did NOT have many vegan options and they had to make a special pizza for us vegans (there are three of us, wow!). I've walked around town and seen, well, not much, but some. It's been interesting. I've had a few enlightening conversations so far, with more to certainly come.

However, I do miss Paige, miss home, miss the family and the cats. I am not able to sleep well at all, but I'm getting used to this place. I would really like to attend graduate school here (so far anyway).

Until further notice, that is all.

PS: Here are a few pictures (nothing interesting so far, just the dorm room).

My door is the first (closest) on the left.

My small room for the remaining pictures.

Day At The Capital

(click to see larger)

Songs I Strongly Recommend

The following is a list of songs that I (a) strongly recommend, and (b) have been listening to a lot lately:

[Band:
List of songs by band]

Boards of Canada:
Music is Math
Gyroscope
Peacock Tail
1969

Radiohead:
Lucky
The Tourist
Reckoner
Nude
the entire Hail to the Thief album

Explosion in the Sky:
The Birth and Death of the Day
The Moon is Down
The Only Moment We Were Alone
Catastrophe and the Cure
Welcome, Ghost

Silversun Pickups:
Kissing Families
Lazy Eye
Well Thought Out Twinkles

Two Gallants:
Despite What You've Been Told
Las Cruces Jail
Some Slender Rest

and last but not least

Kings of Leon:
Fans
Use Somebody
Notion
Arizona
Closer
Sex On Fire

...that is all (for now)

I need to start doing more on this thing

But I don't have the time. However, I will most likely begin contributing to this blog much more frequently in a few weeks...







...though I am fairly certain that nobody reads it. However, speaking in literal text to the cyber-universe isn't all bad.

Less than 3 weeks until Boulder

In less than three weeks I am going to Boulder, Colorado (for 3 weeks) to attend the University of Colorado Summer Seminar in Philosophy.

I do not have much else to say as of now.

4 New Kittens!

One of our cats (who we found out was pregnant about 2 days before we were going to make an appointment to spay her) just had four little kittens. People can come visit them if they'd like. They are awesome. One of them looks like a little cow :)

Their birthday: June 1 (same as Brantly's).


And on a side note, yes, I hope to start updating this blog regularly again - though sometimes it shuts down my wireless internet when I come to blogspot??

Unconscious Decision Making

People should read more into unconscious decision making (even if by only searching Google). Forget Freud (well, not entirely), because the new research currently in progress in the field of cognitive science (neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and computational theory) will revolutionize the way you think about the brain/mind.

Topics concerning the Unconscious that I'm currently interested in:

• Illusory Decision Making (what is an actual decision? When is a decision made? Is a decision a “mental process” or a “physical action”? That is, if I decide to click the left button over the right button, but then a moment later I change my mind, did I ever actually make a decision to push the left button or was the only decision the one that led to an action?
• Unconscious Confabulation (how and why we can have false memories?)
• Heuristics for Decision Making (how reliable are these, how do they occur?)
• Unconscious Awareness (can we, as organisms, be aware of things of which we are not conscious?)
• States of Unconsciousness (are there levels of the unconscious mind similar to the levels presumably present in the conscious mind?)
• Unconscious Computation vs. Conscious Computation (is there a difference in how our conscious and unconscious functions? Is the unconscious strictly computational, while our conscious may be something more than that? - think quantum mechanics)
• Unconscious Communication (how does the unconscious mind communicate with the conscious mind?)
• The Evolution of the Unconscious (both physiological – via evolutionary biology – and historically – via how we think about unconsciousness)
• Unconscious Deception (does our unconscious deceive our conscious, or, more likely, does our conscious misperceive the information in the unconscious?)
• Unconscious Deliberation (how does our unconscious prepare decisions for our conscious minds?)
• Unconscious Memories Retrieval (how does our brain intake memories, of which we are unaware, and how is it possible that we can consciously retrieve them?)
• Collective Unconscious (what’s with Jung’s theory?)