A Day at the Races

Last week Wisconsin held its primary elections. As such, the various candidates have descended upon our town of La Crosse like vultures on a carcass in the Veldt. I know my friends in Washington had their primary last week as well, but it seems the candidates chose Wisconsin as their battleground. In different ways, each candidate had their presence felt. We first knew primary season was coming when dedicated Ron Paul supporters littered campus with literally thousands of fliers for the week preceding the election. I’m sure Dr. Paul would be horrified if he heard about all the pollution caused in his name.

Then came the week before primary. We had representatives from all the candidates. This is where the fun began. It started out with a bang when we found out that former President Bill Clinton would be visiting campus. Although I am not Hilary inclined, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see a former president. The Rec center was packed full for his speech. We barely got a seat even though we showed up almost an hour early. Unfortunately, despite the millions and millions of dollars the Clinton campaign has raised, they can only seem to afford the rights to three songs (I’m a Believer, a Dixie Chicks song, and one other I’d never heard before) which played continuously for the hour before the former President Clinton spoke.

The next day I took a bus downtown to the Radisson where John McCain was giving a town hall meeting. This was also packed to the bursting, although the venue was much, much smaller. Senator McCain came out and gave a speech and answered questions from the audience. It was refreshing to hear him talk about Nuclear power as a potential source of energy. He pointed out that 80% of French energy is Nuclear. He also pointed out that the French have elected a “Pro-American” president, which shows that if you live long enough, anything can happen.

It was very illuminating to hear two different talks in such a short time period. The two candidates were pretty much polar opposites. Senator Clinton is on one end of political spectrum, and Senator McCain is much more centrist. At time they used exact the exact same phrases or ideas, but drew different interpretations of their meaning. These past few weeks have certainly felt like

In other news, research group Mindset Media found that owners of Apple computers are 60% more likely to be arrogant and self centered.

Also, NPR recently released a Podcast on Gordon Gekko, the character from the Oliver Stone film “Wall Street” and the impact he has had both on Capitalists and other economic system believers as part of its series ‘In Character.’ The transcript of the broadcast and a download for the audio can be found at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19105520. It runs about five minutes, so check it out when you get a chance.

The other day I was listening to one of my old-time radio shows and one of the characters recited this poem as a ‘personal mantra.’ I found it very moving and decided to post it.


Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron. 1788–1824

599. We'll go no more a-roving


SO, we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon.

____________

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading.

Sean

P.S. – I’ve changed the settings so that anyone can post comments. You no longer need an account. Some of you emailed me and told me this was a problem last time. Let me know if there are any more problems.

Introduction

Well, I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and think. I would first like to say welcome to my blog, titled “Through the Wilderness.” A few notes about the title. I was fishing around for ideas for the title of the blog when “Through the Wilderness” struck me as an apt title. In pondering further why in the world such a title would fit the blog, I have come to several conclusions. It fits me on a personal level; I love going for a hike through the Olympic or Appalachian Mountains, or even taking a walk through our local wild lands, geocaching or whatever. It fits on a psychological level not just for me but for all mankind. The wilderness has traditionally been a place of change. When the native peoples of Washington State went on their rite of passage, they would head into the wilderness of the Olympic Mountains to seek inspiration from the Thunderbird. When Luke Skywalker began his transformation, it was in the wilderness of Degobah. When Frodo found his courage, it was in the wilderness. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, it was done in the wilderness. Throughout human history, the Wilderness has held us captive, which is why I suppose I to was drawn to it. We are all going through change constantly, through our own wilderness.

Despite my earlier comments, I don’t think this blog will turn into a set of religious diatribes. I am Lutheran so Christianity is a part of my life, but I don’t see myself posting inflammatory remarks about religion or the lack of it and I will do my best to ‘separate church and state’ so to speak. I can’t please everybody, so if you read something you don’t agree with, don’t go huffing off. Instead feel free to comment. I love a good debate.

As for me, I’m an Undergrad student at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse (Go Eagles!). I’m doing a dual degree in Physics and Engineering and am seriously considering adding a Political Science minor to the mayhem. Since my physics training is very linear (no imagination needed!) I get frustrated with my lack of creative outlet. That’s why I’m starting this blog. I need some way to communicate thoughts and ideas. Trust me; you can’t really do that in 100 level physics (or 200 or 300 or 400 level, for that matter). I love computers and Nintendo (PS3 sucks). I am an ardent fan of all of the Star Wars movies and have let that passion spill over into the books I read. I have a huge range of interests, everything from ancient mythology to choice and game theory. I love games that involve strategy and thinking, such as Risk or Myst. I enjoy poker with the guys on Thursday evenings as well. I am also what could be called a professional Boy Scout, spending my summers on the pristine Olympic Peninsula at Camp Parsons summer camp. I’m heading into my fourth year this summer. Many years down the line I hope to own my own amusement park and/or amusement ride design firm.

For the life of me I can’t understand why blogs are so popular. All they really are is an online, public ‘dear diary’ out there for everyone’s perusal. I think my thoughts are interesting enough to at least prompt some discussion. In terms of content, I have a few subsequent blog posts planned out already but after that things will be a bit more off the cuff. If I find the lyrics to a song I find particularly striking I will post it. If you have a longer comment or just want something posted, feel free to email me and we can discuss posting it as a blog entry (no guarantees here).

I know what a pain it is to keep up to date with any sort of online information. Luckily for us, technology is there to help. This blog has an RSS feed attached to it (The link is at the bottom of the page. It says “Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)”). All you need to do is download your favorite RSS reader (aggregator is the technical term). Mine is at http://www.sharpreader.net/. To subscribe to the feed, click on the “Posts (Atom)” link and copy/paste the address into the RSS reader. If you get lost, there are plenty of tutorials out on how to subscribe to a feed. RSS readers are great in general. I have feeds from CNN on Politics, World Headlines, US Headlines, and a feed from Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers Dojo. They all update themselves hourly automatically. Even if you don’t keep up with my blog, these are great ways to stay up to date with general news. If you have the newest Internet Explorer, you have an RSS feeder built into your browser. It is pretty low quality, but you can access it by clicking on the favorites star, then clicking feeds. If you have Facebook, there is an App for RSS feeds. The possibilities are endless. All of this may seem really, really complicated and you may not want to bother, but trust me. RSS feeds are really, really useful. I’ve got my whole family using them now. The whole point of the RSS feed is so that you don’t need to check back every day to find out when the next gripping post is made; the RSS feeder tells you automatically.


To wrap up this inaugural post, I hope you stick around a bit to sample my writing. Think of this as a sort unlimited trial period. Those of you who were actually interested enough to read through this whole post may find it worthwhile to stick around a while. The 2008 Presidential elections alone will provide enough discussion for a good while. I’ll post the first real post by the end of this week.

Thanks for reading!

Until then,

Sean

Welcome to the Jungle

Hello everyone. I guess right now everyone means just me. I have a crapload of tests right now, so I will do a formal start to the blog this weekend. Hopefully by then it won't just be me.