Total Eclipse

From a socio-historical point of view, the 20th century ended somewhere around 1989-92 with the fall of the Berlin Walls and the disintegration of the communist bloc, and the 21st century begins with September 11th, 2001. The 90′s belong in a different period altogether, where the contextual question on everyone’s lips was “Fukuyama or Huntington?” [...]

Today in Metaphysics Lab I had an argument with the tutor against conceivability arguments. It is a common form of argument and phrasing in general in the field of metaphysics to speak of “possible worlds”. This may seem as intuitive as “is it conceivable that there is a logically possible world where I did not [...]

The following is a translation of a paper I wrote for my Techno-Utopia & Cyberculture course from 2 semesters ago. Enjoy: The issue of Personal Identity is a complex subject, which raises many difficult questions. What is a Person? That which thinks the thoughts I have? Is it identical to my body? Is it my [...]

Tom n’ Jerry cartoons get a makeover. It seems the latest program in revisionist Orwellian historiography is to edit out scenes in vintage cartoons in which the main characters smoke, in a manner which is not depicted as a blatant mistake or wrongdoing. Villians in the show will still be allowed to keep their fags. [...]

For the past day or so I’ve been scouring the net for information on the current grim meathook state of affairs. I’ve been reading both Israeli and Lebanese independant blogs and webzines. I find it fascinating. Some Lebanese blogs have been getting comments in the hundreds. Surpringly, for the most part, discourse has been heated, [...]

I am a foreigner everywhere. Current events make me sick to my stomach. I really do try and avoid any contact with mainstream media, because it has this nauseating effect on me. I get my news from boingboing and Fortean Times and that’s usually enough. But once in a while, I get this masochistic urge [...]

Last night a street rave was “blown” (as the expression in Hebrew goes) by the police. The rave was organized by some anarcho-communist punks, with all sorts of live performances, art installations and whatnot. You’d even get a discount if you brought food and supplies for the needie. Though witness reports seem a bit confusing, [...]

Cory Doctorow has recently posted a couple of interesting posts having to deal with ‘fanfiction’ on the best blog on all of the internets, BoingBoing. There is a notion of “original” work compared with “derivative” work, and the legal differences between these supposed separate states of affair. Creators hold intellectual property rights to their works [...]

regurgitated from my livejournal, too busy to write new content. I don’t remember the day I first connected to the internet. Strange, as in retrospect, it was quite a landmark day, worthy of a flashbulb memory. Like I have of The Day Rabin was Assasinated. Oddly enough, I remember that when Rabin was shot, I [...]

This is a paper I wrote for my course in Order, Chaos and Complexity (given by the wonderfully -talented but stingy on the grade Dr. Yoav Ben-Dov, who I wholeheartedly recommend studying with if you ever have the chance). I figured since it was in English, I may as well post it here for posterity. [...]