Blog

Coronavirus II

Posted on March 22, 2020

The winds are changing! Two weeks ago, I thought that flattening the curve was the best strategy we had against COVID-19. I’ve changed my mind. Now, I think that the best strategy is that of the UK’s (the original one they had before they changed it). The economic toll that our attempts to prevent COVID-19 from wrecking havoc on us have wrecked havoc on the economy, which has its own deleterious effects. How many people will commit suicide because theyRead More→

Two types of morals

Posted on March 21, 2020

Just a quick blog for today. There are two types of morals. There are those you do because others do so. And then there are those you do because you have your own standards. Being self-effacing is an example of something that is humble and good only when others do so too. When someone responds to your self-effacement by also putting you down, or by pushing himself up, then being self-effacing is no longer good to do. Many games areRead More→

Coronavirus

Posted on March 20, 2020

Well, I figured I’d start blogging about this too. The coronavirus is a pandemic originating from an exotic animal market in Wuhan, China. It has affected the whole bloody globe. Here are some of the things I’m thinking about right now thanks to it. Well, one thing is how fast opinion changes. One week ago, I had multiple friends who thought it was overblown. Elon Musk also thought that it was overblown. Now, nobody thinks that. This is a reminderRead More→

On the Ethics of Price Gouging

Posted on March 16, 2020

Opportunistic people are buying hoards of hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, soap, and toilet paper with the intent to sell them at a profit on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, and Amazon. Most people feel that this is wrong. BC’s Premier John Horgan said, for example, that “I’m profoundly disappointed with people buying and hoarding, then re-selling online. I think that’s just offensive and most people would bristle on that.” I, on the other hand, am much more conflicted about this. So in thisRead More→

Morality and Group Identity

Posted on March 7, 2020

Over the past 7 months, my core values have churned inside me. They have faced challenges which they could not win against, and thus I have come to doubt their applicability in my own life. I think my issue, and thus also the germ of my solution, is that I thought the same values could apply to all levels of life: political, professional, and the friend levels. This was wrong. I think instead that each level requires a different setRead More→

Why Be Moral?

Posted on January 31, 2020

I debated a couple friends of mine today. The subject was morality’s source. Where does it come from? Why do we believe it? Why should we continue to? I argued that morality is what works – if it facilitates your flourishing, then it is moral. I also said that a belief in God is very useful. If you believe that an all powerful being keeps track of everything you do, then it allows for cosmic justice – nothing goes unrewardedRead More→

Lessons from the Labyrinth in Notre Dame

Posted on December 29, 2019

Last night, I was lucky enough to visit Notre Dame de Reims for the Nuit de la Cathedrale (where you visit the cathedral at night). After three choral performances, some organ recitals, and a movie about St. Jean Vanier, they lit up the labyrinth of the church. Notre Dame’s was a bit different from most because it was projected onto the floor, but as you’ll find out later, this added to the experience in an important way. If you doRead More→

Thouest shan’t escape human nature!

Posted on September 29, 2019

There’s something curious going on in our culture. It seems like sections of it back themselves into the very corners from which they were trying to escape. This happens over and over again, making me think that it’s probably because we don’t understand how human nature is limited, and so therefore if we’re going to change how society grafts onto it, we are also limited in how we do so. Here’s an example. Fifty years ago, the moralists and the polite peopleRead More→

A Peek into the Roman World

Posted on August 7, 2019

I’m currently reading Steven Saylor’s Roma, and it’s an amazing book. It is a fictional story, but it mingles historical events with fictionalized characters to depict history in a memorable way. That’s why I love it. It is, in my opinion, the best introduction out there to Ancient Rome. I’ve listened to podcasts like Duncan’s History of Rome before, but they have always slipped out of my memory to be forgotten, because they aren’t meaningful whatsoever. I hadn’t thought about whatRead More→

Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Posted on August 2, 2019

Even though I have only gotten through a third of the book (in less than 24 hours) I know that Ali’s Infidel is a spectacular autobiography because it seamlessly weaves together different domains of life into one, coherent narrative. I really really like the book because you see the threads that connect sexuality to the patriarchy to politics to abuse and to the development of the individual, and because you also get to see and articulate your own culture back toRead More→

On the obligation of coming out

Posted on July 30, 2019

“Hey Eugene, do you have a girlfriend?” “No, I don’t. I bat for the other team” “What’s this he’s talking about, baseball?” “No, that means I’m gay.” “Hey, Eugene really likes joking doesn’t he!” “I’m serious!” ….. The above occurred between an older relative and myself. She was from India, which has a much more conservative culture. Aunts always like to ask about girlfriends. I decided to answer truthfully. The awkward silence that followed was a form of denial, if notRead More→

A Review of 1984

Posted on July 26, 2019

If I could sum up 1984 in one sentence, here’s what I would say: Hope cannot exist in totalitarian states. This sentence means two things. One is that hope must not be allowed to exist in totalitarian states, and two, that ‘hope’ finds a very short life in totalitarian states. 1984 puts that idea forward by being a tragedy. Our main protagonist ends up betraying his true love, he does not overthrow the government, and his hopes of finding theRead More→

Is all business exploitation?

Posted on July 25, 2019

A few days ago, I was at Crate and Barrel when I saw this: It cost $11.95. In my mind however, I said THEY’RE SELLING THIS FOR TWELVE F***ING DOLLARS?! That’s because I’m new to dropshipping and to business. See, I can buy these for $1.50. Chances are that “chef’n” bought them for less than that, if they bought in bulk. And $1.50’s an awful lot less than 11.95. Now, I understand that businesses need to make a profit. Everyone does.Read More→

Lesson: don’t wait too long to fly

Posted on July 21, 2019

There have been times in my life where I’ve known that I should be moving on and didn’t. I now believe that it’s a mistake to wait, and instead should move on. Here’s an example: I worked at Tim Hortons for about 5 years. By my third year there, I think I knew that I really didn’t like working there. I couldn’t wait for the clock to reach my finish time. The thing that stopped me from moving on wasRead More→

Review: My Cousin Vinny (1992)

Posted on July 19, 2019

I just watched My Cousin Vinny. It was great because of how coherent it was. I loved that. No movies today have that same coherence. Patterns would show up and repeat and build on each other, with much comedic effect. For example, you’d get that style of comedy where two characters are talking with each other but don’t understand the other’s frame of view, whereas the audience understands both and thus laughs. So for example the prison scene where theRead More→