Hope people had a good sunday - I just got back from rock climbing. My friend Chris Lau was in town for the weekend (he just got a new job - email him a congrats ), and he's a big rockclimber. It's a good workout. I think I'm going to try to do it on a regular basis.
Tonight, I went down to Deep Ellum (bar/restauraunt district in downtown dallas) with my sister and my friend Austin. We had overpriced yet pedestrian sushi. Afterwards, we hung out at a cafe. In the courtyard outside behind the cafe, there was a punk/metal band playing and girls with cowboy hats moshing... . .. .... . I'm ready to go back to (either) coast.

On the positive side, I had a $5 milkshake at the cafe. It was yum yum - it was a chocolate and bananna milkshake with finely crushed expresso beans in it. Me'thinks I might not sleep for a while.

On another note, I watched a 3 day overdue DVD of Taxi Driver, another classic I had been meaning to see. Very good - very intersting... quite violent. It's interesting that the main theme in that movie is loneliness. It's kinda reflecting what I'm feeling these days (hence the need to move back to (either) coast). LSAT is in 2 weeks though - after I bust my ass and kick it's ass, I'll either move to SF, Boston, or at least go visit down in Austin more often.

Damnit!

I thought I had a great job lined up and ready to go. Not surprisingly, after the company's (company's name withheld) stock dropped by 40% or so, they're considering a hiring freeze. In the best case, the decision will be pushed back by a week. Pshah! On a different note, I got a call today from the Public Policy Institute of California, which had received a circulated copy of the resume I sent to the Federal Reserve Bank in SF. There's actually a really interesting Research Associate position for which they're looking for someone. It's definately in the new direction that I want my life to take... unfortunately, the salary they would be offering is 40% that of other jobs I'd likely be getting in the technology industry. I think I'm going to go for this - it's just that whatever reservations I have about people who sell out, it's still tempting.

Anyways, I saw my first Kurosawa film, Yojimbo tonight. Being such a famous and renoun director, I had high expectations of this movie. However, for the first half-hour or so, my family and I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be a comedy, or if it was just bad - I almost got up and left. However, by the end of the movie, I came to realize what makes Kurosawa such a legend (I won't delve too deep into that). I think my inital reaction was a result of an unfamiliarity with the style, characters and environment of 18th century Japan. Then again, the elements that made me most appreciate the movie was his portrayal of the human values and emotions that transcend culture. In any case, two thumbs up. I'm going to try to rent The_Seven_Samurai, Kurosawa's best know film, next time...

Just released v0.2 of heehorse.com. Homepage, Geek-diaspora, and Amherst's Planworld is now all integrated with my newly expanded content management system. If you're a computer-dork like me, you'll appreciate all this. If you're not, you'll just think I'm a big computer dork.

=)

-dan

So we have declared 'War on Terrorism'. I am a bit confused by this. What does Bush and the whole country mean exactly when we are fighting a 'War on Terrorism'? The obvious immediate answer is 'Oh - we want to rid the world of terrorism. We are going to find every terrorist and kill them, or otherwise destroy their terrorist organization.' Sounds good, right. However, I was thinking that today, and it occured to me - wait... that can't possibly be right. Indeed Osama Bin Laden's organization based in Afganistan spread throughout 60 countries are terrorists, and nobody (except perhaps the Taliban) would have qualms, or moral objections to us boming them to hell and back again until there is no more Bin Laden or Bin Laden terrorist network. However, by my above definition of a 'War on Terrorism', this would barely have scratched the surface. Besides Bin Laden, and whatever Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorist groups there may be in the middle east, what about the IRA in Northern Ireland? Or the Basque nationals in Spain? Or the Xinjiang sepratists in China? Or the Chechen rebels in Russia? Or the Quebec separatists in Canada? Or the Sikh in India? (... the list goes on) Oh dear - all of these groups use terrorist based tatics (okay, I'm not sure about Quebec). By our above definition of our war, we would have to destroy them too, or at least complete irrecoverably dismantle their organizations. Yes, with the will we might be capable of doing that, but we'd hardly get support from Britian, or Spain, or... ... For there would be huge political, and indeed moral obstacles in many of these cases. So suddenly our definition of a 'War on Terrorism' seems to be in trouble.

While I have some ideas, I don't thing this nation, having declared 'War on Terrorism' has quite defined yet what exactly this war is, what the goals are, and who the enemy is. However, I think it's essential that we clear this up in our heads before we go marching on. Otherwise, there may not be closure when we achieve the intended goal (presumibly to punish/destroy the criminals in this terrorist attack and to prevent future attacks of this kind/magnitude). Worse yet, we may achieve our intended goal and then keep going, not realizing that we\'ve accomplished what we meant to do in the first place.


How do I think this 'War on Terrorism' should be defined? For a most noble and moral war, the enemy should be 'The present and future use of terrorist acts as a method to achieve politial or other goals'. The 'War' would be conducted by increasing vigilance and security to the point that any terrorist attack would be un-accomplishable. However, this type of war, however noble, would not be feasable, and would be too costly in terms of resources and in terms of the sacrafice of civil liberties.
...
Instead, to me, the 'War on Terrorism' would be to completely and utterly destroy the terrorist organization(s) responsible for these recent attacks. Call me bloodlust, but I want the bastards who did this to our cities and our people to be punished. Beyond that, I would like to see an international, multi-lateral and permanent organization set up to monitor, protect against, and punish (if necessary) worldwide terrorism - be it in the middle east, northern ireland or elsewhere. Furthermore, this organization would attempt to provide recourse for afflicted miniority groups to express themselves and to perhaps gain political concessions, be it via international law/justice, or other means. This would not only combat the effects of terrorism, but also its causes.


In any case, the key is that there needs to be concensus around the nation about what this war is really about, and this vision must be communicated to our allies and our enemies. Then, we will be able to get something done.

Anyways, aside from my political musings, I had a extremely productive day. I sumitted over half a dozen resumes - mainly to econ research and econ consulting positions. Afterwards, I hopped on over to the library and took a complete LSAT test, although by the end I was so tired and hungry, I did little more than draw scan-tron christmas trees. After dinner, I went out with my Dallas bud, Austin Lin, to catch the dollar-movie showing of Kiss of the Dragon. That Jet Li I tell you... Overall, my most productive day in a long time, I tell you. Tomorrow going rock climbing... g'night all, and I hope everyone from SF to Boston to London are doing well. Pray for my Amherst classmate Maurita Tam. We know she's tucked away in some hospital somewhere, and that she'll be back among her family and friends in no time.

luv, HH