Oh, the Irony

Does anyone else find this picture the least bit ironic? The placement of the "Choose to Reduce" sign couldn't have been a more stark contrast to the trash can filled to the brim with the foam bowls, plates, and containers which cannot be recycled... despite the misleading, feel-good "recyclable" icon. (A couple years ago I tracked down one of people on site who deals with this, who informed me that after they have been contaminated, there's no choice but to toss them straight into the landfill. They can only recycle the foam used for packaging material.)

This is a typical scene in the cafeteria at the end of lunch time, every day.

What's not shown in this shot are the two other almost-filled trash cans to the left of the recycle bins. The other trash cans are actually blocking the reusable dish return carousel... as if to say "who needs that, anyway?"

Of course the implication of this scene is that people must get their lunch in foam containers, and eat it in the cafeteria dining area. Otherwise the foam would be in everyone's individual trash cans next to their desk. So my question is, why are people getting "to go" containers and sitting down and eating with them in the cafeteria, then throwing them away?! It makes no sense, and we need to find the root cause.

The only rational explanation I can think of is that the cafeteria ran out of reusable dishware. I can't imagine that anyone would actually want to eat out of a piece of foam. Even if they are taking this stuff "to go", there isn't a good excuse for the waste: there are plenty of dish drop-off areas.

I'm going to go sulk now.

Rest in Peace, Larry

Here lies Larry the Lizard. Larry passed away today (Sunday June 24th, 2007).

Larry was a brave reptile, who valiantly slayed the pests in our back yard. Until this afternoon, when he was tragically "played with" by our new puppy, Luna, who apparently didn't realize that she can't bite the lizard as hard as she bites Gimli when she plays with him.

I buried him in this little lizard grave, marked with some clay soil and rocks. Then Andrea and I paid our respects by holding a short funeral service.

In life, Larry served our back yard well. I hope I have properly honored his ultimate sacrifice. Larry, you will be missed.

My take on Religion

To me, the concept that unifies (and at the same time, some might argue, makes meaningless) all religions is this:

The definition of god (or any other higher consciousness/power that we can not perceive) is that which has the ability to influence what we perceive to be random.

That solves the problem of free will, intelligent design vs. evolution, ... et cetera. And it doesn't require anything complicated like an all-powerful God, yet still lets you believe one exists, if you want to. You can think you're part of this consciousness if you believe in free will, or not part of it if you believe we're all just "moist robots", reacting to stimuli as it comes in. Or you can believe in the Mischievous Pixie Queen. It doesn't matter, because it's all the same: that which has the power to influence perceived randomness.

Maybe you think your God has other super-cool powers, like causing huge floods and turning water into wine. That stuff might have just been made up to make your God sound cooler than the other competing Gods... but it still doesn't matter, because nothing within the realm of physical possibility is off-limits! If all that water really turned into wine due to some fluke of quantum physics, maybe the guy who did it was just really in touch with his consciousness and could influence randomness at his whim. Either that, or they lied in that precious book of yours. Pick one.

Now that everyone's happy, let's move on to real world issues that affect people, instead of arguing over meaningless concepts. I would appreciate that.

So, to summarize: God == Consciousness == Influence of Randomness. Problem solved.

Phrase of the Day

Today as I was walking back to my office from the cafeteria, pondering Kantian ethics, I came up with an idea for a phrase that needs to guide humanity.

Knowledge not shared is knowledge that is permanently lost.

I wrote that on my whiteboard when I got back. And it is truly the only way I think we will survive as a species.

If sharing knowledge (let's assume knowledge about productive concepts, like planting an organic garden in your local climate) became a universal law of nature, nothing but good could come of it.