Empire Strikes Back is Life

I love going to bookstores. I try to not go so often because I almost never leave without a book. This has lead to myself owning a stack of books that hits the ceiling, twice. Before the flight home last night Cassie and I stopped by Borders and I found this book by Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. The book was in the Sociology section and mentioned one of the best movies ever made, The Empire Strikes Back.

Now The Empire Strikes Back is simply the best of the Star Wars Sixpentrilogy & and all the spin offs. There is one simple reason for this that rises above all others, the bad guys win. Now Chuck (we’re on a first name basis) has an interesting thought on the effect of this masterpiece on modern society.

You see Luke is this guy who has a rather extensive education in Philosophy and Physical Education (with an interest in political science). He is taught by one of the greatest minds, Yoda (Harvard Professor). So Darth Vader is Luke’s papa. He asks Luke to join the family business (ruling the galaxy). Luke dismisses all this, and thus the capitalist social structure that is the basis of modern society. Luke then packs up and walks (falls) out from his father with his radical friends.

So fast forward (according to Chuck) in the 90s when the fans of Empire decide to go to collage, they major in Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science, and Computer Science. They supported radical political and economic ideas. We all became slackers and made a bunch of bad choices. In the end the Empire wins.

Now I need to rethink the entire scenario. What if Luke said, “Yea, let us overthrow the Empire and rule the galaxy as father and son.” They join together and overthrow the Empire, and together father and son destroy the Empire turn back to the light side; New Republic returns and everyone is happy (without the mess of after Jedi books). Now in Return of the Jedi this happens in a different way. Father and son fight and Luke needs to use the Dark Side to win, so in a way he needs to use the tools of the dark side (capitalism) to win. Vader rejects the Dark Side and embraces the Light Side, then dies. The Emperor dies.

The moral of Star Wars? To overthrow that which we object we much understand and embrace all that we reject instead of avoiding it. The best tool for bringing a system down is using the system itself (a concept later touch upon by the Matrix Trilogy).

Volcanic Lava Plume

Our short stay on the Big Island has been everything that I needed. Volcano Village is quiet and there is enough hiking available at Volcanoes National Park to last weeks. Unfortunately for us thee is no lava visible at this time, but we have seen landscapes that seem like they are from another world. Also, the battery ran out on or camera and e forgot to bring the charger. We did get to see the lava plume, where the lava is hitting the Ocean, but we can only hike to about a mile outside of it. It was still damn cool.

For anyone that is thinking about staying here go to Lotus Garden Cottages B&B, the rooms here are simply the best that I have ever stayed in and the prices are reasonable. It has been a little strange to go on vacation and avoid the beaches (there is a green sand beach here) but we can go to the beach anytime on Oahu, but we can not visit an erupting volcano.

Volcano is an English Word that begins with V

For about eight weeks it has been raining on Oahu. So Cassie and I decided that it was about time to spend some time on another island. We decided that the Big Island would be the best. Plan because we had been to Maui and Kauai has it’s own problems right now. Well it has been raining all day here on Volcano and it is rather cold here as opposed to Oahu, but what a sight the volcano is. It is also quiet which is appreciated. I’ll post some pictures soon enough. The rain prevented us from doing anything real fun like jump into the Volcano.

Need Virgin, apply at the office

For anyone who was wondering Mazzzuabzuub did hear my prayers, I did very well overall in my Finance class. I did promise a virgin to sacrifice to her so if anyon has one let me know.

Law and Truth

I have this (Japanese) Law class that I started this week. As per the usual start of every class we got to spend some time discussing the topic of the class. “What is law?” Well my response was that law is a tool that governments use to maintain their power by regulation, fear, and legitimizing the use of force. According to the professor I have been the first American that has made such a distinction. The primary failure of the class is the text that we are using which displays my primary flaw with academia.

The text claims for a state to develop economically they need the have a legal environment to pursue economic development by making it easy to own property, etc. There are several examples from the United States and Japan (it is after all a Japanese Law class) but the entire book neglects to discuss cases like the People’s Republic of China, 1930’s Germany and the Soviet Union where there were laws that were not promoting a free and open “democracy”.

Most of the books and texts that I have had to read during my long road though academia have been filled with claims that it reveals the truth about something, they all push their point of view using examples that support their view and ignore everything else. There is no truth.

In defense of academia though, everything that is trying to be taught is that there is no truth, or if there is a truth that it is composed of something more than a theory. I pressed the professor and he admitted that he wanted more controversy with the text, but we are a business class and not a law class so I think that the reference went above many peoples heads.

I park there!!

I was watching Lost tonight and there was a scene that was supposed to be in Korea, instead it was Ala Wai canal. I was watching it and thinking hey, that is where I park my car. One interesting thing about island living is that there are a lot of local commercials. In some of these they display the “country” meaning the not city. This just means that it is filmed on the other side of the island. So I watch these and think, “Hey, I drove by there the other day.”

There has been nothing but rain going on about six weeks. The sun will be out in the morning so I think, hey it is going to be a great day to go to the beach. Then it gets cloudy and it rains. This is the opposite of what it was a couple of months ago where it was miserable in the morning and we would think that it was a staying in day, but it ends up to be a wonderful day.

In other news, I got that internship in Japan for sure now. I didn’t even need an interview, I got it through my recommendations from the school and my resume. I’ll be going to Japan now at the end of July.

How important is Greed?

Today was a good day.

We had an owner from one of the Wall Street brokerage houses come and speak to us. At first no one was going to go but I felt a little obligation because he is coming to spend a couple of hours with us while he is vacationing in Hawaii. It turns out that he has hired people from the program in the past and he is always looking at graduates. Only a handful showed up and they missed one of the best lectures of the program. I really pity them.

The lecture was first about how to interview and many of the small things that people look at. There were a few stories that he told us about interviewees screwing up. He asked us a few questions and afterwards he told me to send him a resume, despite the large tattoo on my arm. So next time you see me give me a pat on the back.

Then the kicker, working on Wall Street is something to me that is shallow and for people who want problems. He talked about this too. Yes, it is intellectually stimulating and it earns a lot of money.

It has seemed to me that I have come to a fork in the road. For me I wanted to get an MBA for several reasons, of which is that I felt that it conformed with everything that I believe in. After all learning new things is important and everything that I know is quite possibly wrong. Except that I am learning more that what I know is correct, but ignore it because after all “Greed is Good.” Maybe it is. Greed is definitely important.

In other news it looks that I found my internship in Tokyo Japan for a biotechnology venture capitalist firm. It looks to be 100%. This is a weight off my back, I feel that I have worked really hard and it is paying off.

I heart Star Wars

Everyone who knows me knows that I love Star Wars, but I could never shake the feeling that Han Solo was nothing but a glorified truck driver.

Thoughts about Natural Disasters

Sometimes we don’t take a look at the assumptions of the phrases that we use. I was thinking of the phrase “Natural Disaster.” Hurricanes, Tsunamis, and other natural events are called natural disasters presumably because these are natural events that cause a huge amount of damage. Events like the melting of the polar icecaps and the big hole in the ozone layer are not natural disasters, but are instead man-made disasters. A hurricane that doesn’t cause damage isn’t a natural disaster because there was no “disaster.”

Think about this though, in order to have a disaster then people need to die, made homeless, cities and villages need to be destroyed, etc. These are man made things then. Doesn’t this make all disasters man-made, and thus there are no natural disasters. Humans need to create something first for a disaster to occur. If this is all true do we not create our own disasters?

Hooray for baseball!

Yesterday Bolshevik Studios, the company that some of my class mates and I formed. We were awesome. It was astounding and everyone was wowed. They scrapped together a total of six cents and a paperclip. It was only the presentation for the class. My group didn’t dress up like some of the others, but our professor doesn’t have any money to give us. If you do have some money that you want to invest let me know and you could see our presentation too.

The World Baseball Classic started yesterday, and predictably Japan beat China, and Korea beat Taipei. Japan won with a slaughter rule, which isn’t going good for MLB who is using this entire tournament to try and find a Chinese start to play in the MLB. This would be mainland China where baseball is something new. I really am hoping that baseball catches on in China, not because I’m half Chinese, but instead because it will be good for baseball, which could be one of the best international sports.

Of course the best thing about the World Classic is that baseball started a little early this year.

Greg, that name from the Devil!

Greg is no longer going to be teaching our IT management class. The official reason is that he was only going to be teaching a limited number of classes. The real reason though is that there have been an endless stream of complaints to Dr. Davidson (the real professor) and the administration of the program. Tuesday one of the other student blew up at him and left. Yes, he tends to be overly sensitive, but it was at a moment when he was chewing us out because there were a group of people that came late (and half a class that didn’t even show up for his class). Now really, sometimes things happen and people are late especially here in Honolulu where the traffic around the university is a little unpredictable. Also lecturing the class about the absent people doesn’t earn him any friends. Then to top it all of one of the University professors was right outside and heard all this. Now the result, no more Greg. I swear though that everyone that I know named Greg is a complete ass hole.

Elect Hoover, bring the depression back!!

I feel like I have been running a gauntlet. This week I’m finishing up two classes which meant two finals. We’re starting a new round of classes next week (strategy) and then we’re going to be starting Japan specific classes.

Bush’s approval rating has fallen to 34%. This is low, really low. For comparison Herbert Hoover lost his election to Roosevelt with 39%. Hoover reigned during the start of the great depression and had to put up with unemployment of over 30%. People were embarrassed to show up to hear Hoover speak, but we’re still getting people who are proud of Bush. There are even a few here in Hawaii, but I have noticed that some cars that I see everyday on my way to school have taken the Bush/Cheney sticker off.

Something else interesting, the last one room schoolhouse in the United States has shut down in Ke’anae which is Maui. Many people drive through Ke’anae every year on the Hana road, but many may not even know that they have driven through a town. Those of you who have driven down the Hana road understand that the road itself is rather harsh with twists and turns, dips and hills. These students now need to endure an hour plus bus ride to get to the Hana school.

This is a good example of the difference between a democracy and a republic. In this case the a representative of the school district (which covers all of East Maui) decided that it was best to close the school down. Ke’anae residents almost unanimously protested the decision. In a democracy Ke’anae would of kept their school because the community would have voted that way. In a republic the district elects the supervisor, or elect the person who appoints the supervisor. Small communities like Ke’anae then do no get to fully express their views on the subject. The difference between a republic and a democracy are important because a republic is more open to abuse.

In Texas the republican majority of the government redrew the district lines in an obvious attempt to split mostly democratic districts in half and merge them with republican districts. This means that the Republicans are able reduce the effect of the Democratic vote, and communities are able to less get their voice heard. Today the Great Court of the Land (the Supreme Court if you will) will hear this case. I hope that they make the right decision.

Finally the difference is important because the United States claims publicly to be a democracy, and hell we’re spreading democracy across the globe. No, we’re really spreading Republics across the globe. We don’t have much of a direct voice in what our government does. We have a voice in deciding on the people who decide what the government does, and they really can do whatever they want. I’m not saying that Republics are bad, but in the end Republics are not democracies and people still get marginalized and the fact that the majority rules isn’t always appropriate, especially when the majority is a bunch of idiots.