Week 1.42857… Digest

Posts from December 13 – 23. Just a quick three.

1. Earning a Quick Buck – Some Thoughts on MLM by David, Dec 13
   

   Having recently become jobless, I was called up by a friend of mine, saying he wanted to introduce me to a company he was working at so that I could earn a little bit of extra cash. BIG BONANZA! You might say, but a combination of several things made me more than a little skeptical about this “job offer”. …

2. Capitalism and You (and I) by Derrick, Dec 13
   

   … To say that the mall is crowded would be an understatement. It is busier than a dockside bordello when the fleet’s at anchor. All sorts of people fill the halls- the young, the old, the handicapped. If Death would glimpse of all who danced with him, he need but gaze about. …

3. What is Existentialism? (A Popperian Exposition) by Kenneth, Dec 23
   

   … Existentialism is an unique epistemological method. Since we cannot refute existentialism, then what was the problem-situation that prompted epistemological irrationalism? Kant’s discovery of the unknowability of the thing-in-itself led to irrationalism as an epistemology. Where does irrationalism come from in rational philosophy? …

Week 0 Digest

Contained within Digest 0 are all posts before December 13 2010- eight of them for your reading pleasure.

1. The Beauty of Language by Derrick, Nov 28
   

   … It is a testament to the power of society that a language can evolve so much over time, with little more than its current state known to the vast majority of people, who are themselves nevertheless bringing about the next evolutions. Indeed, the meaning and significance of language is contained almost solely within the minds of people who live but threescore and ten years, yet it has survived so much of Time, and come out none the worse for it.

2. From Lyrics to Music: Inaugural Post by Zhaohan, Dec 2
   

   … In a generation where ‘good’, commercially viable music is often defined by heavy electronic beats and ready-made hooks and riffs, we run the risk of forgoing good music in our ignorance of good lyrics – or, should I say, good songwriting. …

3. That post-quiz procrastination by Rayner, Dec 7
   

   … And as my mind flits and roams on, I think now – my opinion might still flip around, but for what it’s worth, I do actually think now – that this fat payslip fantasy is all illusory, and I want nothing but a possibility of capturing that flavour of that instant, idly gazing out my window at my first vision of snowfall.

4. Essay Exchange by Adam/Rayner, Dec 9
   

   About a month ago Rayner sent me an essay of his to read about the decline of classical music. I had time on my hands so I wrote a response to it – here are both essays for your edification and discussion. …

5. On Studying Abroad by Elizabeth, Dec 9
   

   … Feelings of alienhood are not always congruent with actual continents. I probably have nothing on the legions of diaspora and displaced people in the world, but my first day feeling as alien in my class of Singaporeans as in an all-British class having to take a patient history in a put-on accent, was quite eye-opening. …

6. In defence of poetry by Zhaohan, Dec 10
   

   … The fact remains that human life has to be nourished with some further beauty, some meaningful insight which stands out against the drabness of the ordinary. In this respect, poetry is no different from the fine arts. It is, however, distinguishable and more immediately relevant to us, being a manifestation of the primary means by which we communicate – language. …

7. Medical Examinations by Elizabeth, Dec 11
   

   … People often ask: what is the meaning of life? I don’t know, but the meaning of that day was that we all remembered to not miss that step in the exam. In the exam itself, and in the future, where the test is someone’s life hanging in the balance, and not just that of depressed medical students. The thought that the trade-off of my momentary pain will potentially be able to allieviate someone else’s in the future makes me, at least, feel relieved. …

8. On Rage by Adam, Dec 12
   

   …I think that the acceptance of reason as a guide to living necessitates accepting the plurality of experience. No One Thing is true – if it is we are incapable of understanding...

That post-quiz procrastination

It’s that post-quiz glow again. This last quiz was math – but it’s always similar, always insidious, always brutal. Hours pass in a flash. Productivity is out, procrastination is in – that’s how it works. Instants of distraction add up, build up into stacks and mountains of work, rising on and on. As it is I turn away in mortification from my clock. Oh clock (I think inwardly): thank gawd you can’t talk or I’d go nuts toting up all hours I’d thrown away.

And all this for what? On occasion (commonly now) I think of all this as foolish futility: nothing but that crass pursuit of a fancy qualification and a straight road to a fat-cat high-paying job. It’s all about dollops of dosh, bright big-city lights (and a fast car’s cool too). And my ocular faculty turns all misty and starry as my mind roams in a fantasy world: a world of payslips almost too big to hold in a hand, gallivanting globally airport to airport (first class, imaginably?) – what wouldn’t I do for that?

And I think of all that as this world turns, on and on, and out my window I might watch all kinds of flora changing colour, turning ruddy and dry, moulting in cold air – if only I had that luxury of looking.

Four days ago it was snowing. I think back on that instant–

waking up

hardly conscious of my limbs flailing about trying to shut off my alarm

groping about for my customary ocular aids

stopping to look – what’s this – what’s that stuff on Calhoun’s rooftop – why’s all that ground sparkling in this dim dawn light? First a spray of raindrops, now light fluff-balls glowing in a morning’s half-dark, tumbling and falling all softly on a diagonal –

And as my mind flits and roams on, I think now – my opinion might still flip around, but for what it’s worth, I do actually think now – that this fat payslip fantasy is all illusory, and I want nothing but a possibility of capturing that flavour of that instant, idly gazing out my window at my first vision of snowfall.

– Rayn-r, 11/11, thrown out onto this blog 12/1