All I Need To Know I Learned From Rush

New World Man Cleans Up

2012-02-01T11:18:00.000-08:00

I've been physically ill lately and also overwhelmed by the accumulation of digital detritus over the last few years, so for 2012 I am clearing out all of the unnecessary bullshit, and getting back to nature, zen, and the uneventful life. This lyric came to mind:

from "New World Man"

He's got a problem with his poisons
But you know he'll find a cure
He's cleaning up his systems
To keep his nature pure

Happy Rush Day! :-)

I can't stop thinking big...

2010-07-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btoEgIlhbUc

"In a world where I feel so small, I can't stop thinking big."

Thinking about Smart Mobs, and...

2008-04-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

Thinking about Smart Mobs, and Swarms, and Shibuya Crossing, and Urbanism, and....

from "The Camera Eye"

Grim faced and forbidding
Their faces closed tight
An angular mass of New Yorkers
Pacing in rhythm
Race the oncoming night
They chase through the streets of Manhattan
Head first humanity
Pause at a light
Then flow through the streets of the city

...

Righteous America

2006-11-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well, now that any citizen of the U.S. can be detained without cause, charge, or hearing, the country that the revolutionaries fought to create, and that my grandfather fought in WWII to protect, is now officially relegated to the dustbin of history.

And here's Rush, on topic as usual:

from "Witch Hunt"

The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
To beat and burn and kill

They say there are strangers who threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness too dangerous
In our theaters and bookstore shelves
That those who know what's best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves

Quick to judge
Quick to anger
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear walk hand in hand...

...

Let The Fray Begin

2006-09-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

from "By-Tor and the Snow Dog":

Square for battle
Let the fray begin

...

All I Need to Know I Learned From Alex Zivojinovich

2006-04-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

This guy has taught me a lot... especially about avoiding taser-wielding asshole cops in Naples, Florida and getting your woman to shave her pubes.

Middletown Dreams

2006-04-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

from "Middletown Dreams":

Dreams flow across the heartland
Feeding on the fires
Dreams transport desires
Drive you when you're down
Dreams transport the ones who need to get out of town

It's understood
By every single person
Who'd be elsewhere if they could
So far so good
And life's not unpleasant
In their little neighborhood

They dream in Middletown

Change. It's all at once frightening and exciting. Some people choose to follow their dreams. Others never explore them either out of fear or laziness. Following your dream usually means giving up something, or everything, to follow it. And for a few of us, change happens all by itself, without asking our permission and we are left with no choice but to leave everything we have known behind. This presents the opportunity to follow those long forgotten dreams. Otherwise we might have stayed at home and been content in our little neighborhoods.

Update: 1/15/10: I lived in Middletown for 3 years. Delaware.

Wheels Within Wheels

2006-04-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

from "Natural Science":

"All the busy little creatures
Chasing out their destinies.
Living in their pools,
They soon forget about the sea.

Wheels within wheels in a spiral array,
A pattern so grand and complex..."

yeah, good stuff

...

Lessons

2006-01-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

from "Lessons":

Sweet memories
Flashing very quickly by
Reminding me
And giving me a reason why
I know that
My goal is more than a thought
I'll be there
When I teach what I've been taught
And I've been taught...

...

The Real Relation

2005-12-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

from "Limelight"

Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation
The underlying theme

...

Vital Signs

2005-11-18T19:39:00.000-08:00

I am working on a Ph.D. in Complexity theory. We study systems with external perturbations and internal incoherence which can both lead to systemic change or be resisted by the system's own order. These complex ordered systems (dissipative structures) balance on the "edge of chaos" in a state of perpetual disequilbrium, or constant change (oxymoron). Complex systems are made up of many interacting parts which create an emergent order that interfaces" with its environment.

So you can see why it strikes me as funny that one of the important Rush songs in my formative years is "Vital Signs":

"Vital Signs"

Unstable condition
A symptom of life
In mental and environmental change
Atmospheric disturbance
The feverish flux
Of human interface and interchange

The impulse is pure
Sometimes our circuits get shorted
By external interference
Signals get crossed
And the balance distorted
By internal incoherence

...

The Spaces In Between

2005-10-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

"Just between us,
I think it's time for us to recognize
The differences we sometimes fear to show.

Just between us,
I think it's time for us to realize
The spaces in between
Leave room
For you and I to grow."

--Entre Nous

I actually used this in writing a statement of my teaching philosophy.

Getting Started

2005-10-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

I set up this blog because I realized that all I need to know I learned from the rock band Rush.

This blog is a place to continually post about that recurrent phenomenon.

If you want to blog here too, just email me and I'll add you.