2 Short Animations

Reposted from Earlier: Some Statistics about Animals

Breakdown of Animals Killed and Tortured

Animals Killed in USA for Food:
Yearly: 10,000,000,000 (10 billion)
Monthly: 833,333,333 (833 million)
Weekly: 192,307,692 (192 million)
Daily: 27,397,260 (27 million)
Hourly: 1,141,552 (1 million)
Minute: 19,025 (19 thousand)
Second: 317 (3 hundred)

This is for food only and in the USA only!

Animals Experimented on in USA (Dogs only) [Cats only] {with pain & suffering, without anesthesia} NOTE--THESE NUMBERS DO NOT INCLUDE RATS, MICE, BIRDS, ETC. (WHICH ARE THE MOST POPULAR TEST SUBJECTS):
Yearly: 1,416,643 (69,516) [25,560] {104,202}
Monthly: 118,053 (5,793) [2,130] {8,683}
Weekly: 27,243 (1,336) [491] {2,003}
Daily: 3,881 (190) [70] {285}
Hourly: 161 (8) [3] {12}
Minute: 2.7 (.11) () {.2}

Most are euthanized after experimentation.
A dog is killed in the USA every 2 hours with pain, without anesthesia.
6 cats are killed every day in the USA with pain, without anesthesia.
Every 5 minutes in the USA an animal is experimented on with pain, without anesthesia.

Animals Experimented on WORLDWIDE:
Yearly: 115,000,000 (115 million)
Monthly: 9,583,333 (9.5 million)
Weekly: 2,211,538 (2 million)
Daily: 315,068 (315 thousand)
Hourly: 13,127 (13 thousand)
Minute: 218 (2 hundred)
Second: 4

4 animals per second, meaning every 4 seconds one is tortured w/ pain, w/o anesthesia.
Includes about same stats as in USA (using cats, dogs, etc., with over 7% of testing being performed with pain, without anesthesia.

YEARLY RESULTS TAKEN FROM THE FOLLOWING:
Dr Hadwen Trust and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection
USDA-NASS
USDA

It's About Time

Given my interest in the philosophy of time, the following strikes me as especially intriguing.

Previous to 1883, almost every city (and even some villages) had no standardized time of which to go off, so those traveling across the country by train would have to reset their watches to the local time as many as 200 times on a single trip, in order to keep up with schedules. However, on November 18, 1883, the Railroad imposed a uniform time to which all stations must adhere. These were the four standardized time-zones that we still have today. Not soon after, the rest of the world followed suit and 24 time-zones in all were imposed, separating the different regions on the Earth. Until then, time - in its most elementary, and commonsense notion - was relative.

And the recent earthquake (2010) in Chile has reminded us once again about the relativity of time. The quake was so powerful, in fact, that it altered the Earth's axis - only to a miniscule degree, but nonetheless, enough that it shorted the Earth's days by a measurable amount (about 1.26 nanoseconds). See that story HERE.

Nevertheless, we are reminded just how dependent our conception of time is on the surrounding (albeit expansive) environment. Indeed, the Mayans had a different notion of time than we have - a much more complex notion at that. The commonsense view perceives time as linear, one dimensional, and asymmetrical. The scientific view holds that time is meshed with space, inseparable, and in some aspects probably not as asymmetrical as our simple minds comprehend it to be.

Needless to say, I find the concept of 'time' to be very fascinating. And I wonder if better understanding the nature of the universe will force us to eliminate time (and space) from our ontology altogether.

Neuroscience and Moral Responsibility

Interesting read (or listen): click HERE!

Engaged, Studying for the GRE, & (hopefully) Grad School

This is my first post (barring the preceding post) in a while.

I've not too much to say other than what seems to consume the majority of my life right now, which is: (i) my brand new engagement to the lovely Paige Hamblin; (ii) studying for the GRE; and (iii) preparing for graduate school.

To briefly recap - in order to (hopefully) put me back in blogging mode:

(i)
I returned from Philadelphia on June 19 - after spending two weeks at UPenn's summer workshop in Cognitive (Neuro)Science - and Paige, in her very nervous and cute nature, proposed marriage. And yes, I accepted her proposal. We tentatively (but more likely than not) plan to be married on June 24, 2011. It will be very low-key and awesome.

(ii)
I've especially not much to say about the GRE - other than it consumes me (currently). I spend 4-6 hours a day studying for this piece of garbage, which most assuredly does not project any real propensity for one's ability to succeed in graduate school. But, nonetheless, I play the game. I am progressing rather slowly, and have set the bar rather high. I've scheduled to take the test on July 26th (three weeks from today), and my goal is to hit a score of 1450 (or at least hit 700 in each of the two major sections). This probably will *not* be the case, however, and I'm sure - if I am still blogging in the future - I will express frustration about my less-than-goal-oriented-score, and plan to retake this horrid exam. Regardless, for now, I stay optimistic in my time-wasting studies.

(iii)
Grad school is (hopefully) approaching - I will send out applications this December. Details on that remain forthcoming.

On Blogging

The following seem true to me (at least to some capacity):

i. I do quite poorly at keeping up with my blog.
ii. I really like reading past blogs - especially posts from two or more years ago.
iii. Blogs seem to portray a sort of evolution through life.
iv. I feel like blogging, to a certain extent, helps me to think things through in a less passive manner.

therefore,

v. I should (and probably will) start blogging on a semi-regular basis, once again.

I cannot promise I will keep up with it, although that is my wish, so without further ado... see the above post.

RIP

R.I.P. Nolan. I don't know why it comes to this so often, but I'm certain you could have pulled through whatever it was.

My Story of Nature

Two years ago, I was lying under the big tree in my front yard and staring up at the leaves - which had been falling to the ground. I was hoping to see a leaf fall from the tree, but after twenty minutes of anticipation, no luck. I began talking to the tree - believing full well that it could not hear me - and said: "Tree, if you can hear me, drop just one leaf from your branch for me to see, so I can believe that we have a real connection in this world." And less than 3 seconds after I said this to the tree - after 20 minutes of waiting to see a leaf fall - the tree let a leaf loose and I watched as it fluttered down and landed on my chest. I immediately stood up, thanked the tree, and went in to secure the leaf in a safe place (inside a Robert Frost book of mine). I have not seen the leaf since then - until today.

Four days ago, on Monday, October 5, my best friend, Mr. Mick, was hit and killed by a car in front of my house. It has shaken the very foundation of my view of reality. Long story short, to help cope with this immense loss, pain, and sadness, Paige and I have been collecting flowers every single day to put on Mick's grave - which is in our back yard - while constantly talking to him as well. I don't believe he can hear us, because I don't believe in any sentient afterlife; however, I assured Paige that Mick, being a cat and all, could not understand what we were saying to him while he was alive, so the fact that he cannot understand us now makes no difference to me. So I continue to talk to Mick, outward and openly, with the faint hope that doing so matters in some way - that some spark of our connection allows such utterances to be well-received, somehow.

Today, Friday, October 9th, Paige and I were planning to cut another sunflower from my front yard to put on Mick's grave. But just before doing so, I remembered the leaf I had tucked away inside my Robert Frost book two years previous. I remembered what the leaf stood for: My connection with nature. My connection with a tree, that although not sentient, could drop a leaf to my chest if I asked appropriately. I thought about my utterances to - my one-way conversations with - my no-longer-sentient friend, Mick, and I realized that it was once again time for that fallen leaf to serve as a connector for myself and my fallen best friend. Paige and I walked out to where Mick's body rests, and I pushed some dirt from the surface of the ground, placed the leaf (which was still in perfect shape) beneath the soil, and told my no-longer-sentient friend that I miss him and love him. While walking back into my house I knew... although Mick cannot understand the words I speak to him, the connection is still there.

I no longer need such a memento, which once hid within my Robert Frost book, to remember such connections. Like Mick (and with Mick), I buried the leaf forever, yet I will continue to speak to my best friend, and will stay connected to him always.

Life: A Story

Life, an exceptionally foreboding domicile, wrought with the absence of silence, eternity PEERING through you as each instant decays. She whispers… you can Feel it [TASTE], an ever-preening presence begging for that… [A TASTE] – she knows you, she knows you have it – the way in which you have it.

She Wants It

DEATHhhhhhh: drawn out of my every pore – my being – defiant in nature, of life, defiant of herself. Her tongue flickers speaks [^tastes]. She [smells] you immortal. Her. Breath. Less. Lungs.

wondering: “what now?”

Her tongue flickers… again. [TASTE], she craves it like sex. Like émigré, drawing foreign blood with her pencils – a [SIGHT] unseen, like air departing… forever.

And who’s to tell her ‘ no ‘ ?

ɹǝɥ ɟo ǝɯ spuıɯǝɹ ǝɟıן

But, who am I? tocr, tocr, tocr, to critique – WHO AM I to gaze?

We paint each other backwards. Her, fresh, lilacs light up

up the room. With fingertip embraces and Sistine eyes

devouring the very SOUL which resides within my

bleed. blood. I bleed for her safety (amusement)

with both hands trembling, staring to the sky

she wants to [FEEL] it, to [HEAR] it, to…

contain it within her whimsy. a dream

and me. standing here. alone. here

SCREAMING!!!!!! silent

barren desolate. amalgam

THIS was my vision of her, of us – death, like a horseless carriage barreling down the turnpike of disaster.

ME – reaching for the ropes, but none sufficed to steer this bird… down down down down

HER – remembering me this way.

Lips sealed together, concealing secrets within one, eternal kiss. And

Life. An exceptionally foreboding domicile.

Wrought with THE ABSENCE OF silence.

Peering Whispering ever-Preening

KNOWING –

thewaylifeshouldbedrapedwithinconundrum[smelling]oftomorrowbreathingintoTHEEND

A Few Movies that I didn't realize were Filmed (at least partially) in Utah

The Way of the Gun
There's Something About Mary
Forrest Gump
2001 Space Odyssey
Easy Rider
Dumb and Dumber (I knew this already, but I still want to list it)
Galaxy Quest
To Wong Foo...
etc...

Photographic Experiment 1: Facing West IS ONLINE

See pictures HERE

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.