Things I Overhear at Work #2

"Yeah, it's like an aerosol, so you just spray it on your butt when you're wearing a bikini."

I have no idea.

Mere Morality

These are some notes I wrote down while reading the first few sections of C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I have transcribed them here into blogform, so to speak.

After reading the preface, I am already struck by Lewis's cautious, yet purposeful tone. As a layman, he does not attempt to address topics which a should not, and includes only those which will serve the purpose of his writing and be of benefit to the reader. There are lessons to be learned in this, both for the writer and the Christian. Moving on to Lewis's chapter on Moral Law, we can see that Moral Law, according to Lewis, is not an arbitrarily ordained set of rules, nor is it societal "herd instinct," as many a modernist would have us believe. The relativist is stymied in this regard, because to declare that one brand of morality is better than another would be to compare it to some outside standard of morality. Of course, the only option seems to be to label all forms of morality as equals. This, however, breaks down when you begin to examine various divergent forms of morality that are plainly contrary to the way things are supposed to be. Thus, if we are forced to abandon that line of reasoning, we must conclude that there is, in fact, such a thing as Right, or "real morality." However, this Right must not be confused with the Rule of Decent Behaviour. This rule consists of whatever behaviours society happens to approve of. In this instance, there really isn't a "right" behaviour, since the whims of society are subject to change from time to time. Thus, this line of reason might lead us to believe that there is no natural morality, or real Right, and yet the ways in which we are forced to consider the matter compel us to accept the existence of Right.

This is in no way a complete discussion of Lewis's argument, but it was something I was thinking about earlier, and such things are the stuff of this blog.

Forget truth in advertising, I'll settle for interesting.

You have to love the advertising style of the J. Peterman company. Instead of using the ho-hum advertising that many other companies use, they actually paint you a picture, tell you a story, and place their product at the center. This is quite entertaining, not to mention effective. Check out this little scenario concerning a bottle of cologne:

"I was browsing in a Paris antique shop one winter afternoon when a fitted leather train case caught my eye. It contained silver-handled brushes, boot hooks, a straight razor, several silver-stoppered glass bottles... One bottle was different. Encased in yew-wood, with a handwritten date: 1903. Inside the bottle, there was still the faint, intriguing aroma of a gentleman’s cologne. A 'prescription' cologne, custom-made for a rich traveler a century ago. Curiosity was eating at me. I bought the case (the price was shocking) and sent the bottle to a laboratory for analysis. They broke down the residue by gas chromatography. Identified its fingerprint through spectro-photometry. The report said: an 'old woody fougère.' Clean citrus notes, bergamot, 'green notes.' The middle notes: clary sage…cardamom. The dry-down: leather notes, smoky labdanum…elemi, tabac, frankincense. The detective work was impressive. So is the thing itself. Women like the way it smells on a man. Like a symphony that begins loudly, then soon slides into subtle, entangling developments that grow on them. Or so I’ve been told."

Now, doesn't that work better than your average romance-novel-esque cologne advertisment? It's an interesting and unique marketing template, in my opinion. Who wouldn't want to buy a product derived from the last few drops in a strange bottle that was discovered in an French antique shop by a world traveller? What's that, you'd rather buy something from Calvin Klein? Pshaw.

Be Aware

Is there any creature more arrogant and presumptuous than a college student? I think not. The student lives on something that is called a campus, some sort of complex that serves to cut off the student from the world at large. It is within this bubble that the student lives, works, and participates in leisurely activities. Studies and learning are all very good and are not troublesome in general, but the student becomes especially annoying when he or she becomes riled up about this, that, or the other. It is here that the average student is transformed into a fool. A student might take interest in an issue, perhaps something going on in society, and become so excited about said issue that he feels the need to take action. The student will often adopt a rather self-centered attitude, viewing himself as a frontrunner for the future, a new hope of free society and academia, becomes a nuisance. Protests, petitions, meetings, student groups, fliers, fundraisers, and all of this for what? It seems to me that most of the time, this is simply an effort to make the student feel useful while pursuing an education. Students want to matter, they want to be relevant, and yet their attempts to do so are often laughable. They live inside the bubble of academia, among the academics. That is not exactly the real world. But, the students persist. The idealisation of their position as the supposed leaders of a generation compels them to take some sort of action. This idealisation has been more or less ingrained into them. Yes, the children are our future, but not if they are fools. By all means, ignore the wisdom of wiser men, rebel against "the system" by starting a Facebook group to "Save Darfur" or to "raise awareness" for whatever cause you're supporting, and tell me what that accomplishes.

Let's look at this concept of "raising awareness." Awareness, what is it? Being aware? I am supposed to be "aware" of things like gay rights, the war in Iraq, AIDS, Darfur, and the list goes on. BE AWARE, is what I'm told. Very well, I am aware. Now what shall I do with my awareness? If I become any more aware, I dare say that my eyes will pop themselves right out of my head. I want to raise awareness, too. I want everyone to be aware of fish. Not just any fish, mind you. Sardines. Do you know what the fishing industry does to millions of sardines each year? They put them in cans. Tiny little cans. And then they ship them off to countries all over the world, sentencing them to horrible fates. Yes, that's right. Life on a shelf in a grocery store. Is that right? Is that fair? Who speaks for the fish? No one, that's who. So I'm starting a student group for Sardine Awareness at Southwestern University. I'm calling it SA For SU. We want to get the message out so that all of our friends will know about the sardines, and they can tell their friends, and they in turn will tell theirs, and soon, we'll have an entire campus of penniless college students who are aware of the suffering of the sardines. Only then will we have accomplished something.

Knowledge is power, and a bunch of college kids with no experience in the ways of the world, no money, no jobs, and no influence can change the world. As long as they are aware. Be aware.

Note: Although this post is served with a heavy dose of sarcasm, I am being serious as well.

Not the skin of a mole, mind you...

You know you're addicted to Moleskine notebooks when you're walking to class and realise that you have seven of them on your person. Whoa.

Barack Obama is My President

There have been a lot of people saying silly things like, "Well, I might as well move to Canada now that Obama's in power..." Don't be stupid. For one thing, Canada is more liberal than the United States is, you won't fare much better. But on to my real point. Liberals said the same thing when Bush was elected. Remember that? And what did conservatives say? "Oh, don't be such wimps, you're sore losers, that's un-American." Like it or not, Barack Obama is the new leader of YOUR country. You can't say things like, "He's not MY president, I didn't vote for him." That's not the way our country works. Barack Obama is the new representative of the United States to the rest of the world. He will enact policies and pass laws, whether for good or ill. And whether you agree with him or not, he's still your president, and therefore worthy of your respect. As for me, I think that Obama's administration will enable the murder of millions of children. But does that change the fact that Mr. Obama has been placed in a position of authority over me as the leader of my homeland? No, it does not. Let's not resort to childish behaviour, regardless of our views.

"I am a camera, camera..."

I recently purchased a Nikon D60 digital SLR camera, and am so far rather pleased with my purchase.



I've done a lot of research, both before and after my purchase, and I've learned that this is a solid camera, especially for those who are new to DSLR's, like me. One main difference between this camera and Nikon's more expensive models is that a lot of the features are hidden in menu controls, rather than having actual physical controls on the camera body itself. Another thing I've learned is that photography is mainly affected by the skill of the photographer. Even if I had one of Nikon's top models, I'd still be churning out mediocre photos. The D60 is not for anyone who isn't willing to find out how to use the camera properly. The fully automatic modes aren't all that great. You can get all right pictures out of them, but to really harness the capability of the camera and your lens, you should really use the manual modes, which require a little more knowledge about how a camera works. So, if you want a camera for casual purposes, you'd probably do better with an advanced point-and-shoot. And besides, the D60 will cost you around $650, which will get you a great point-and-shoot, one that will probably have more auto-focus capability than the D60. But, for the beginning photographer, like me, it's a really good camera to learn on.

I've also been using Nikon's Capture NX2 RAW processing software, which is really awesome. Since I'm only dealing with RAW, and don't need to make major adjustments, it's a much better option than Photoshop. Plus, it integrates well with iPhoto, making it useful for a Mac user like myself.

Anyhow, enough talk, let's see some pictures. All of these were either taken on campus, or around Georgetown.

(Click to enlarge)








These photos are, of course, much better when they aren't pushed through the meat grinder that is web compression, but hopefully you can get a sense of what I'll be able to do with this camera. I really like it and I think I'll be able to have a lot of fun using it in the future.

The annals of history are the judge

As a young college student, this recent campaign has been abnormally pertinent for me. Not in the sense that there have issues debated which directly affect my way of life, or anything like that. Rather, I have been the target of a specific form of advertising from the Obama campaign. Never before have I seen or heard young people so universally entranced by one candidate. Now, it may be that I just wasn't paying attention in past campaigns, although I do not think that John Kerry or Al Gore provoked any sort of youth rally. The Obama campaign has actually been able to commercialize a politician. It is fashionable to wear an Obama t-shirt or button. I've seen Obama apparel sold in stores at the mall, right alongside Batman posters and Led Zeppelin shirts. I feel like I have not been asked to vote for Obama. Instead, I have been marketed to. That is one thing that bothers me about Obama. I am certain that the man himself would be misrepresented were I to vote based upon the commercialzation. But I cannot help but feel that a vote for Obama would be a vote for a brand. That's essentially what his campaign has turned him into, a brand. When I think of the Obama campaign, the first thing I think of is my peers, all of whom have, in some cases literally, bought into his message. It is more or less assumed that any person my age and in my position would support Mr. Obama, which I find increasingly curious. The Obama campaign really is a fad. That is not to say that all of his supporters are insincere, for I am sure that many of them are. But, I think that many students my age have bought what Obama is selling, so to speak. Reasons I have heard for supporting him are merely parroted from Obama's slogans: He stands for change, he'll clean up the messes that Bush has left. But what does that mean? It's easy to look politically informed without actually knowing what a politician stands for. Indeed, it is easy for a politician to campaign successfully without really disclosing what he truly stands for. I think that many students will become disenchanted with Mr. Obama when the going gets tough. Obama will no doubt have a soaring thrust of popularity for the first few months of his presidency, maybe the first few years. Many will no doubt frantically hold on to the promises of change that were made, regardless of what Mr. Obama actually does. But in the end, I think that many of Obama's young supporters will regret their decision to support him. Let us remind ourselves that many of our greatest leaders have been extremely unpopular, and many still are today. Doing the right thing is not always popular. At this moment in time, defending human life is not the most popular thing to do. But people still do it. No matter what people say about President Bush, he has stuck to his guns. I admire that. He has faced incredible and unwarranted opposition from the rest of the world and from his own countrymen, but he has kept going. I could care less what today's political commentators say about George W. Bush and Barack Obama. I place a much higher value upon what people will say about them twenty years from now. That is the telling factor. See you in 2028.