tap tap tap ching!

I would like a typewriter.

Duty or Charity?

"...I begin with the assumption that suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad. I think most people will agree about this, although one may reach the same view by different routes. I shall not argue for this view. People can hold all sorts of eccentric positions, and perhaps from some of them it would not follow that death by starvation is in itself bad. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to refute such positions, and so for brevity I will henceforth take this assumption as accepted. Those who disagree need read no further.

My next point is this: if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it. By "without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance" I mean without causing anything else comparably bad to happen, or doing something that is wrong in itself, or failing to promote some moral good, comparable in significance to the bad thing that we can prevent. This principle seems almost as uncontroversial as the last one. It requires us only to prevent what is bad, and to promote what is good, and it requires this of us only when we can do it without sacrificing anything that is, from the moral point of view, comparably important. I could even, as far as the application of my argument to the Bengal emergency is concerned, qualify the point so as to make it: if it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything morally significant, we ought, morally, to do it. An application of this principle would be as follows: if I am walking past a shallow pond and see a child drowning in it, I ought to wade in and pull the child out. This will mean getting my clothes muddy, but this is insignificant, while the death of the child would presumably be a very bad thing.

The uncontroversial appearance of the principle just stated is deceptive. If it were acted upon, even in its qualified form, our lives, our society, and our world would be fundamentally changed. For the principle takes, firstly, no account of proximity or distance. It makes no moral difference whether the person I can help is a neighbor's child ten yards from me or a Bengali whose name I shall never know, ten thousand miles away. Secondly, the principle makes no distinction between cases in which I am the only person who could possibly do anything and cases in which I am just one among millions in the same position..."

From an essay, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" by the controversial Peter Singer.
One of the few things I can agree with him about.

Downtown Ditties

I am in love with the series of books called "Petit Pattern Books," published by a Japanese company BNN. Basically, books with tons of designs, complete with attached CDs of the different patterns in that book so you can manipulate them (if you want) using Photoshop. The creative possibilities are endless, and each book has a unique theme! (See some examples on Amazon).

I found them in the MOCA store after seeing the Murakami exhibit, as well as some really intriguing works by Gordon Matta-Clark. Really enjoyed both exhibits, and the happy colors Murakami used made me quite cheery in turn. How can you be sad when you see something like this?



However, my favorites were definitely Tan Tan Bo Puking and the animation, Planting the Seeds starring Kaikai and KiKi.

Kiki looks exactly like my sister, it's hilarious (minus the third eye).

Overall, a splendid day exploring Los Angeles and museum-ing. Time to go make some stuff.

50 Brasilian Songs You Gotta Listen to Before You Die

From a UK magazine, Jungle Drums, that I picked up in London.

Check out the playlist here.

I love Gene Kelly

It's Always Fair Weather (1955)




Watch the movie; Cyd Charisse's number in the boxing studio is wunderbar.

Also, I know I have lots to update on about Europe. Pictures to come...
Have a very Merry Christmas.

The Adoration of the Shepherds.
Anton Raphael Mengs

(And, read about the real St. Nick)

[Edit: The French subtitles in the clip were unexpected. But a nice touch.]

Moi, a published author?

Sort of.

Educate yourself here.
The 2007 issue of Geneflow, a magazine that promotes awareness of agricultural biodiversity.

There are a few articles I wrote in the climate change special section, and a majority of the remaining articles were penned by Megan. A definite labor of love :)

Important environmental issues affecting...everybody, really.

Czech it out!

mahler's ninth

"Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters,

and let it divide the waters from the waters"