Right, I drink it for my heath. Yeah, uh, my health.

(don’t mind my shaking, anxiety and bloodshot eyes)

Coffee Cuts Diabetes Risk

So long MeFi.

After reading Evan Izers statement about leaving MetaFilter, I’ve decided to follow his lead. I’ve been considering leaving for a while as the quality of discussion got worse and worse. People like Evan are one of the reasons I didn’t leave sooner. I’m planning on collecting my MetaFilter postings and compiling them into a timeline, my thinking has changed a great deal over the past year, and the things I contributed to MetaFilter should be a revealing look at where my mind has wandered.

Anyway there you go, I’m done too. Sorry Matt.

Famous Curves Index. I’m not going to pretend I have a clue about even one or two of these, but they’re fascinating to read and think about.

Several months ago I had the good fortune of meeting Adolfo Rozelfeld, a digital/video artist and photographer living in Argentina. He now has some of his work online (parts of the site aren’t finished).

Adolfo’s work is beautiful. So far, four fragments from his Paradigma video series are online as well as a small collection of photographs. The first video from Paradigma about stairs is amazing but they’re all worth watching. And all the people in the photo portraits have much cooler furniture and apartments than I do.

I generally don’t believe people are evil. There are exceptions of course, but in most cases most people try to do the right thing. Sometimes the foundations used for judging the right thing are unfortunately at odds with the rest of society. Most often though, good people simply fail to understand the consequences of well intended actions. It’s no fun to watch.

I’ve known Gilbert Flores for over a decade and throughout that time his creative vision and dedication have remained solid. As good as his work is, he’s equally as inspiring as a person. Gilbert has earned every drop of success that comes his way, and I’m convinced he’s still in the early stages of a very long and prosperous career.

Glimmer*
Paintings & Drawings
by New York Artist Gilbert Flores

October 19th – November 16th
Fluxion Gallery, Omaha NE

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about morality, ethics and what the foundations of those ideas are. The past few days I’ve been dwelling specifically on how or if morality relates to history and past events.

History can not be fixed. No amount of reparations, acknowledgments or apologies can right past wrongs. Apologies can go back forever, no matter what people, country or group is cited. We need to learn from history and not repeat it’s mistakes. That rule applies as much to the aggressor as the victim. Moral judgment only looks backwards for guidance on how to deal with what is yet to come. So what is the role of prosecution and punishment? Is there statute of limitations?

Divine morality is fundamentally worthless in a multi-cultural world. How can someone argue against an opinion which is claimed to come down from the highest conceivable place? However there is a point where the secular foundation of morality parallels the basis of religious morality. Self-preservation trumps all other moral foundations. Religions divide people, when two religious groups clash, no matter what each claims, their moral foundations are not based in divinity, except as their belief in divinity functions to enjoinder their defense against another group who would see them destroyed. Divine morality uses literal interpretations of holy books to justify their own position, when in most cases, those positions actually justify themselves. There is no chosen people, each of us is a chosen person.

Today I found this quote from the 18th century Ukrainian Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav:

If you won’t be better tomorrow then you were today, then what need do you have for tomorrow?

To which I ask, “What need do you have for yesterday?”

The answer seems obvious. Yesterday is the benchmark of our progress. History should be learned from, not dwelt over.