Dime pues…
- :12 Razgnevannyh Muzhchin;
The initial menagerie of virtuous, facetious, and despondent jurors, develops into a thought provoking study on jurisprudence. These 12 blossom into rich portraits of Russian and Chechen life that provide deep insight into the tribulations of both jury and defendant.
As they sober up after the initial fervor of confinement, the 12 are faced with both the virtues and repercussions of thoughtful deliberation.
A fantastic piece of cinema.
- :reality;
Sometime this evening I was watching the news and a photo of a gunman who had been involved in an incident in Silver Spring, MD was displayed. The man looked eerily familiar. I didn’t know much about the incident but I was shocked to find out that I recognized the gunman! After some thought the reality hit me, as I posted online:
Holy shit. I think I knew the guy.
http://www.meetup.com/socratescafe1/members/7792020/
Is that him? He has shown up to the philosophy group a lot.
Before you assume much else, “Lee” is very extreme when it comes to making statements. We do a pretty good job of correcting him and trying to include him in our discussions but it doesn’t always work.
We generally discuss general topics and, which few exceptions, most of what he contributes is pretty extreme and tangential. I’ve even tried to talk with him one on one but it is VERY hard to keep the discussion on track as his statements are all over the place. He was never mean or anything. His ideas are just very extreme and make it hard to discuss certain topics.
If that wasn’t him he’ll probably want to kick my ass for the accusation, or at the very least. Sorry dude but you say some irrational shit man:p
The following is the post that I made on the group message board after digesting what happened today:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/01/maryland.discovery.channel/index.html
It appears that this was group member “Lee.”
While his statements were generally quite extreme and absolute in nature, I never expected this from him. Needless to say I was quite shocked when I saw his picture plastered all over the news.
I don’t care to say anything bad and won’t. I am quite proud of the group in that we treated him with respect and provided him every courtesy, allowing him to contribute to the discussion. Lee had been with us for a while and had become the essential “other view point” of almost every discussion, and perhaps todays events might provide insight as to why.
While there might be the desire to close our minds and our hearts, I advise us to keep them open now more than ever. Good philosophical discussion is hard to find and Alex does a wonderful job of providing us with this venue to think and discuss the world, and the world within, in a safe environment from, and for, everyone.
-David
Link: http://www.meetup.com/socratescafe1/messages/boards/thread/9670375/0/#37462310
Here is a posting that he made on the message board last month
http://www.meetup.com/socratescafe1/messages/boards/thread/9450076
He was NOT happy that the latest meetings had been cancelled. And we were all so glad that the organizer had finally gotten a job (Which resulted in the cancelled meetings)
I hope this doesn’t hurt our group too much. We have some amazing discussions and were always nice to Lee and always gave him a turn to speak just like everyone else. We treated him with respect and it seemed like he liked joining us there We kind of enjoyed his rants as well as they were REALLY hard to incorporate into the discussion.
Lee: “Typical Rant…”
Group: *awkward silence*
Alex: “Okay…..so….”All I can really think about is the fantastic job that our moderator has done with the philosophical group. At no time then or since did I expect to be harmed by Lee due to the respect and tolerance that we showed him.
Strange days indeed.
- :Winter Party;
ice foaming around nightly sodium at a distance
in darkness clouds expelled one by two close byhands beyond numbness
mind past pain
eyes lost in dazed thought
tasks impatient yielding to times’ graceout there I hear their boots
out there I know it is I they seek
men intent on hate
men with purpose
men without justificationhands at the ready
minds beyond mercy
reveling in the lieIf only the darkness would forever abide
If only the darkness would forever keep me alive
- OMG…I ran 8 Miles
wait… 9.77 miles? really? REALLY? OMG.
*faints*
- SELECT
DECLARE @usage int;
DECLARE @PricePerKilowatt Float;SET @usage = 303;
SET @PricePerKilowatt = $.0776;SELECT @usage AS [Energy Usage (KWh)], @PricePerKilowatt AS [Price Per Kilowatt ($)],@usage*@PricePerKilowatt AS [Cost ($)]
GO
- :Last Night with Conan;
Conan’s show ended on the 20th and I wanted to save these clips as they pretty much defined how great his show was:
- :Brooks was here;

"Actor James Whitmore, pictured in December 2006, had a 60-year career on stage, in films and on television."
- :the inconsequential;
I just saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
The film was very good and at the end I felt as if I had simply observed a mildly interesting life.
The events seemed to have been forgotten with respect for the entire experience.
At the end I had not much to say, and felt rather content with the simple conclusion.
It did leave me to thinking though, but in generalities and nothing specific:Life is many times lived expectant of death.
As youth and innocence wind down, with even our humanity sometimes failing,
many of us wait for it and wait to go silently when it calls.
We fall in line, into routine, expecting the expected and waiting for it all to end,
preparing for the inevitable capitulation of the soul to the flesh.As we wait, we are sometimes lucky enough to peer into our thoughts in the past,
and remember what we did not know, and what did not limit us.If we are so fortunate, we are shown a world without boundary, with endless hope, and without abandon.
It is at this time that we can reflect, and new thoughts, beautiful ones, can be born.And then the question is posed from the heart to the soul: do we choose to live, or do we choose to continue to die?
And it answers, “…
- :perhaps the once-invisible man;
In the face of my elders I try to see it
Instead I mostly see the pain that they’ve seen
that they’ve been victims of
that they’ve dealtIn the mirror, I sometimes stand there silently
trying to judge what I seeI see it
I see an understanding for it
How it has come to be over a lifetime
I see the once-invisible manThere will be a people on the Mall today
A whole of sea of them on the Mall today
Of all the eyes on the crowd, most will be focused on one
A once-invisible man
A ROYGBIVDr. King once spoke of a triumph on that stage as a black man
Today one man will lead us to through part of that triumph
A once-invisible man
A ROYGBIVSo many tell us what to see in our ourselves
What to believe when we look in a mirrorToday, perhaps, reflections will change
Today, as many of us look in the mirror
perhaps many more of us will see it
perhaps many more of us will see a once-invisible man or woman
perhaps many more of us will see a ROYGBIV
- Another tune
More of my guitar and a 4 track recorder at work


