Simon's party last night was lively (as normal for his parties), lots of friendly, interesting people. Probably more computer people than previously, which changes the dynamic... more of a wheeling-and-dealing feel than the heavily arts and philosophy oriented crowd.

Got into a weird debate with Leslie. My feeling is that ethics must be the source of morality, while she seemed to feel that morality is any arbitrary set of prejudices adopted by those not willing to work through the ethical underpinning of their actions. I figure that, though most people do not examine the ethical underpinnings of their ideologies, most people creating an ideology do work from an ethical framework (however flawed), and then promulgate that ethics-based ideology. People don't (IMO) generally create a moral code based on what they believe to be unethical... it just wouldn't make sense (ignoring questions of cynical manipulators).

Then we almost got into an argument (or it felt that way to me) over whether it's possible to be a great artist in multiple fields. Fascinating take on it. She's a postmodernist (I've mentioned her before), with a certain contempt for the "masters" of the renaissance, believing that they don't have a clear enough message. She also sees the conceptual post-modern (musical) artists as non-functional because they don't necessarily use harmony and rhythm or (necessarily) speak on an emotional level. I really should have just shut up... just because someone starts discussing design theory doesn't mean I need to jump all over the morsel like a starved terrier...

Ah well, weird vibe again when talking with her... don't know why, just ever so slightly different wavelengths, despite having generally similar views on everything we've talked about so far. Maybe I've become too measured in my ideology? I can't seem to connect with those who are strident and committed.

Neatest observation of the night was as the party was winding down. Simon's sister and her friend (both tall, strikingly beautiful, blonde women) left, and one of the gents who'd been talking with them looked around and noted that there were no women left (there were still 10 men or so). He corrected himself a few seconds later as he realised that one woman was still sitting on a couch (hidden from where he'd been standing). He predicted that she'd be incredibly popular in an hour.

It was fascinating, watching from the kitchen (as we were discussing religion and politics (with Glen, who grew up Jehova's Witness and now strongly condemns all religion)) to see the prediction come true. 5 or 6 men wound up sitting in a semi-circle around the lady, all of them flirting with her, all of them asking for her phone number, email, etceteras. Very dark vibe from that group IMO... maybe just competition... maybe just a testosterone haze... I don't know, almost a tele-evangelical feel, lots of big, bold statements, lots of off-the-wall statements to surprise the audience, strutting and preening, that kind of thing.

The lady (friend of mine) seemed to take it in stride, giving out her email address (but not phone number) evenly among the verbal jousters. She's an attractive, wonderful woman who merits all sorts of attention, but I can't say I often see her mobbed by men all competing to catch her eye. She seemed to be enjoying herself all-in-all, but maybe she was just being polite.

Anyway, off to visit grams now, then try to do some OpenGLContext work this evening.