| Vitruvian Mind |
| Life as it should be |
|
Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by Phil.
Categories: Media & Entertainment, Travel & Leisure, Philosophy & Spirituality, Philanthropy & Environment, Arts & Literature, Humor & Pop Culture, Coming Events.
Yes, it’s that time of year again. Time to gather the goggles and glitter. Time to clean out the Camel Back and collect the costumes. Time to prepare ourselves for another week or survival camping on the playa. You guessed it - Burning Man.
At this very moment I am in Reno, NV, fresh from visits to Costco, Wal Mart, and Home Depot. About to grab my boxes and bike from the UPS Depot. Tomorrow the RV, final errands, and then its a half-day eastward journey into the middle of nowhere. Take a left turn after cell phone reception drops out, keep going for another couple hours, and then you’re getting close…
There have been myriad posts on this blog about Burning Man, so I’ll save further explanations here, save one - how to find us if you’re going to be out there. We are heading up the Villains & Virgins crew, which is part of Spanky’s Wine Bar, located at 5:00 and Esplanade. Once you get there, ask for the Pink Panther. If that makes any sense to you, then I’ll see you at the Bordello 
-PP
Posted on August 20th, 2008 by Vitruvius.
Categories: Uncategorized.
Many apologies for the long absence from posting. We have been juggling all of our IT around here, including hosting, moving over to new hardware platforms, a new web group, etc. Everything is working again, and more good things are on the way soon.
Thanks for your patience
Posted on August 12th, 2008 by Mayur.
Categories: History & Politics.
This response from Mayur deserved posting all on its own:
“Perhaps certain men are simply pre-disposed to putting their hand in the cookie jar more than others. Perhaps its simple brain chemistry and evolution to blame.
Newsweek’s recent article on: “His Cheating Brain” offers a slightly different perspective. More specifically: monoamine oxidase A and testosterone may be the true culprits…. I summarize:
1. Many fallen politicians fit a personality type known as a “sensation seeker,” defined in the early 1970s. Sensation seekers crave novel and intense experiences more than other people do, and, as part of that, they tend to have many sexual partners. “They get a bigger kick out of things,” says Marvin Zuckerman, a pioneering psychologist and author of the 2006 book “Sensation Seeking and Risky Behavior.” There’s chemical evidence: sensation seekers have lower levels of monoamine oxidase A, which regulates the brain’s levels of dopamine, the “pleasure” neurotransmitter.
The problem is that they never seem to get enough excitement. “Their experiences have to be either very new or very intense, or both, or else they get very restless,” says Zuckerman. “When things get monotonous, they have to do something else to increase their arousal.” That’s the flipside of finding pleasure more pleasurable: for sensation seekers, boredom is also more boring.
2. Alpha males are high on testosterone, the hormone that underlies almost all the typical traits of the politico-sexual animal: high levels of testosterone make for a high sex drive, a love of risks, aggressiveness and competitiveness. “These people have a strong need to win at games, which is obviously important in power politics,” says Zuckerman.
Although it is still inexcusable behaviour, perhaps this perspective offers our politico-sexual animals a little bit of sympathy?”
Posted on August 8th, 2008 by Phil.
Categories: Philosophy & Spirituality, History & Politics.
What is it about people wanting what they know damn well they can’t have? Yes, this post was inspired by our friend Johnny Edwards getting called out for his extra-marital antics, but that’s just the tip of the tentacle. Having an affair is just about par for the course if you’re a politician, but considering the consequences of getting caught - and they almost always do - it staggers the imagination that so many still can’t keep their hands out of the cookie jar.
Something about human nature leads many people to covet that which they do not have, whether they really want it or not. It’s hard to come across someone that is truly happy with exactly what they have, and doesn’t want anything more. Bijan hit the nail on the head with his posting on happiness. We have access to more technology, more luxury, more of everything material thing than ever before in history - yet people still want more than they ever have before, and are less happy than they used to be. We focus to much on the negative, and need to embrace the positive.
What does it take to be happy? It is about having less and wanting less? Should we all become monks? Probably not. At the end of the day, I don’t know the answer, so the search continues…. For now I’ll just try to be mindful of the difference between needs and desires, be thankful for what I have, and maintain a balanced perspective. I’ll let you know how it goes
Posted on August 1st, 2008 by Bijan.
Categories: Media & Entertainment, Philosophy & Spirituality, History & Politics, Arts & Literature.
What is with the world these days? It is no question that death and violence will always sell like sex. We have an masochistic craving for morbidity and, whether we pretend to ignore it or not, we always take a peek. But what is most shocking, perhaps, is that we are constantly fed such slop not so much from entertainment media, but our own news outlets. Instead of really focusing on the issues that are affecting the state of our nation and world as a whole, we are continuously driving ourselves into a world of depression.
I like The Christian Science Monitor because it displays extremely relevant news. Don’t be frightened by its name - the website strictly states that it is not religious. From their website:
Everything in the Monitor is international and US news and features, except for one religious article that has appeared each day in The Home Forum section since 1908, at the request of the paper’s founder, Mary Baker Eddy.
It is important that we all keep a positive outlook on ourselves and our lives at all times. There are so many scenarios in which the famous FDR “only thing to fear is fear itself” quote is relevant. We will not be able to find our way out of a war, economic crisis and environmental disaster if we simply keep thinking about how sad we are and what a ‘terrible’ world we live in. Failures must be educational and successes must be celebrated.
