danielo

Lately I've become acutely aware of how wonderful it feels to be automobile-free. I bicycle a lot, but I also walk and use public transit a fair amount. I now see my automobile for the crutch that it was, and I am grateful to be free of the unnecessary encumbrance. I think I have always envied a life free of physical attachment, but I've only been conscious of myself heading toward that ideal in the past year. In retrospect I am certain that eliminating my automobile addiction was fundamental to this revelation. And I believe it was directly responsible for my discovery of things within myself that, for the first time ever, feel like "me." Perhaps relieving my mind of the stresses associated with object ownership freed it to ply further inward. Or perhaps I'm just a nomad at heart.

This attitude extends beyond transportation, and it occurred to me recently how thrifty my life has become aside from mobility. I have one recliner chair that I purchased new, and it's a decade old. Everything else -- chair, desk, bed, shelves, dresser, television, vcr, dvd player, kitchen appliances, most of my clothes, and more -- are either freebies or yard-sale finds. Unless my bikes were inside, my house could burn down and I wouldn't lose anything that would break my heart. I've been both a homeowner and an automobile owner, and it's a HUGE relief to me to be otherwise now.

I didn't notice changes in my self-awareness in the first year of being car-free, or even the first two years. The automobile addiction itself wasn't the full issue, it turns out. My car was more than a tool of transportation. It was a possession which, like a membership card, preserved my place in a culture of imprisonment carefully disguised as freedom. My addiction was a fundamental part of that disguise, and it may even have been the glue that held together the prison. But it was also merely the tip of an iceberg. It made many other things seems desirable which, seen with clearer eyes, are at best foolish, and at worst downright sinister.

I use the term addiction without apology here, and with a full realization that it will rub many, if not most, automobile drivers the wrong way. I didn't love my car in the way that some people join auto clubs and meet up with others who drive the same model. I didn't drive everywhere when I had the car, and rode my bike and walked sometimes. But the car was always a part of my psyche, and was always factored into every decision I made. It's tempting now, as it was then, to consider the presence of the car to be a convenience. It's only in my recent self-awareness that I see it for it was: a crutch to my existence. It made it possible for me to ignore the path by assuming the destination. It took away from every movement the joy of the actual movement.

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It's not popular to think about the Dalai Lama with logic and historical accuracy. But the truth is more useful for actual Tibetan people than the popular clap-trap. For every celebrity screaming about "freeing" Tibet, there are a hundred Tibetans who are enjoying more freedoms now than when they were under the repressive autocratic regime of the Dalai Lama and his ilk.

A rare accurate perspective about the Dalai Lama, from Skeptiblog: "Dalai Lama - Freedom Fighter or Just a Great Salesman."

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This is my official public notice that from this point forward I am
opting out of the birthday concept in all online communications,
public and private. Specifically affected are all references to, and
effects of, the birthday concept, including but not limited to
acknowledgments of birth date, wishes of cheer pertaining to said
acknowledgment, and responding to similar acknowledgment and/or wishes
from others towards me.
 
For the purposes of this dictum:
 
"Birthday concept" refers to the treatment of a person's date of birth
as a notable date of special acknowledgment or celebration; and
 
"Online" refers to email, instant messaging, social networking, text
messaging, and all forms of electronic communication, and specifically
excludes verbal communications (either in person or by telephone) and
hard-copy written, as in the case of physical cards.
 
Signed electronically on this date by my hand,
The 6th day of March, 2009
Daniel A. "danielo" Foster

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Requesting entrance into a person's abode should be handled with
respect and dignity.
 
Physically knocking on a door is a personal act, and one of respectful
request. It requires an investment of self -- an act that, albeit
slight, involves a little bit of one's substance. It's a knuckled
endeavor. The knock, as an organic outcome of a physical act, has
character. A knock can speak confidently, or it can speak timidly, but
in all cases, it's a personal statement of an intimate nature.
 
On the other hand, the doorbell is a sleazy bastardization. It
reduces all entrance-seekers to one single mechanized sound, one common
intrusively impersonal tone that lacks character. Doorbells are lazy.
Because the doorbell chime is often centered in the residence, the act
of merely pressing a button foists an intrusive noise upon all souls
inside. Doorbells say "Let me in! Let me in!"
 
Down with doorbells!

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I loves me some electronic communication. It's largely because I'm a misanthrope, and prefer my communications with other humans to be as impersonal as possible. I use a few minutes of my cell phone minutes a month, but close to a thousand text messages. If the day comes that artificial intelligence can produce conversations that are indistinguishable from actual human communication, then our species will have reached its zenith -- the perfect human is one with an "off" switch.

I've become a Twitter-er as well. I still don't really "get" Twitter, but I like it for some reason. Aside from the basic, and fundamentally selfish, idea on which Twitter is built, that anyone does, or should, care about the minute-to-minute activities of any particular person, there are some secondary usefullnesses of Twitter. It can be used for scheduling and notification of calendar items, or forwarding messages to other services. Occasionally, it's interesting to get quick live reports from an event someone is attending, or breaking news items, such as from CNN.

There is a new trend of organizing "Tweet-ups," which are real world meetings between people who know each other through Twitter. I can scarcely conceive of a less desireable thing. I don't even much like being around the people I like already. Getting together with people who are little more to me than text blips on a screen with the intention of fomenting more complex relationships makes as much sense as marrying a death row inmate.

If you're following me on Twitter, for the sake of Pete, please don't invite me to a Tweetup.

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For those who believe that life begins at conception*, why isn't the
date of conception celebrated? It seems logical that the beginning
spark of life is a more important event than the transition of life
from womb to world. As such, conception day should be more celebrated
than birth day. Right?
 
(* I do not mean to critique the position or argue for or against it.
In fact, I suspect most who know me would be surprised by my opinion
on the subject. I'm just genuinely curious.)

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