http://failblog.org

I wish there were ways to quantify really abstract ideas. I want to be able to substantiate or allay the the theory I'm about to pose with some convincing statistics.

So yesterday I was studying for a test with a girl I had never really talked to before. She, like almost every other person in that class, had put much more effort into studying and preparation than I had and  I wanted to make sure that she would be able to get in contact with her if I needed to. So I did an action that triggered an equally introspective and outside world analysis a few minutes later. At the moment that could have proved potentially awkward if I had asked for her number, I realized this situation for what it was or could be, and I did NOTHING. Well, ostensibly I did nothing, but at that moment I realized that I could just facebook friend her as soon as I got home. Wow. Through technology I was able to cop out. The very loaded action of asking for a phone number was averted through a simple click.

My theory is thus: we well connected Americans are constantly compromising depth. The thing is, I do not necessarily think that there is any less depth out there. I just think that it's being spread out all around us. A good illustrating parallel to this would be our generation and knowledge. We know a lot about a little. Using things like Wikipedia, we can easily find out a detailed summary about almost anything we want. And we often do.  I'm not sure if it's for better or worse either, but that's my theory. QED?

Song of the day: Golden Age by TV on the Radio

just listen

Is that...Harry Potter? Harry, what do we know about the business cycle?

This is a formal challenge for Rubin to keep up with his blog. I'll be damned if I become the guy who is made fun of all the time for being nostalgic and blogging.

GOD DAMNIT RUBIN! Those words mean a lot to me because they sum up everything I want out of life. Here's how:

A few falls ago Rubin and I embarked on a journey and that journey was called Grim's econ class. I'm really glad that I chose to take that path because now I look at it with a sort of fondness, those were the days that I had the privilege of suffering through econ. The thing that made it so fun, and this is the reason for this anecdote, is that Grim hated Rubin. And although he never said "God damnit Rubin," we always assumed that those words were forever in his mind whenever he would ask Rubin a class. Now, partly because I truly enjoy reflecting back on those days and partly because I feel this claim needs some anecdotal evidence, I will share with you one of my favorite Grim-Rubin moments. 

It was parent's weekend at Loom Chaff and everyone's parents were in attendance for our econ class. The audience, needless to say, was one that was very impressionable, proud, and in their own respective rights, quite successful. In fact, this was in the Goldman Sachs era of sheer dominance and we happened to have a VP in attendance. The stakes were high. Most of the kids in the class were spending the day with their parents for the first time in months and were trying to impress them with whatever knowledge they could muster up about economic issues. This was also probably Rubin's first day with his parents in months- despite his day student staus, but that is just a normality of the household; I digress. I also should mention the fact that at Loom Chaff, on parents weekend, there was sort of a tradition of teachers asking nothing but easy questions so that we students would look good  in front of our parents. Teachers were known for having you raise your right hand if you knew the correct answer and the left if you didn't. Either way you had the opportunity of looking good. And the same was in Grim's class. Everyone that day got easy questions, and although he did not do the hand thing, if you didn't know the answer- unlike every other day in class- he wouldn't call on you. But for some reason, fuck that, we all know the reason, Grim decided to single out Rubin on one question that he hadn't raised his hand for. The usual "umm umm umm" mixed in with the classic reddening of the face ensued; I think some random boarder bailed him out, but the message sent was clear:

Grim wanted Rubin to feel embarassed. Grim did not like Rubin.

While this story may illustrate an extreme extent of Grim's cruelty, it would definitely suffice to say that we were worried every day we entered that class. Sitting through those classes was rarely fun in and of itself. What makes me able to look back on that experience with such fondness is the fact that there were so many things that became funny for no real reason. It became a joke  how late Rubin and I could show up to first period. Maybe this was because it wasn't me and I wasn't ever really worried about not passing, but probably the most entertaining part of econ was the fact that Rubin was convinced he was not going to pass the class spring semester. The funny thing was that our response wasn't to study harder, it was to just joke about and to contemplate what would happen if Rubin did, in fact, receive an F. Many a conversation was devoted to this. And i guess now that everything has ended well, we can look back on it and laugh. 

This kind of stuff is all I want in life. I don't mind working hard and going through shit to get to where I want to be, I just really want to be able to look back on it and smile. Just like this blog post, even now I'm looking back on it and laughing at how cheesy this overall message is, but I don't care. I kind of feel like Zach Braff and that end of a Scrubs episode.  Tsall good tho, I'm smiling right now and that's all that matters.

interesting night. 

Hackneyed, Banal, and Trite

TODAY...is the first day, of the rest of my life.

Daily Routine by Animal collective

What are we going to do with all of this information? If by some miracle I continue this blog for even 5 years, when will I be able to read it? Since a lot of people blog or keep online journals for the sake of documenting history, I just wonder when we will be able to view all of it. And if we, as I'm sure will turn out to be the case, realize that we will not be able to play back all of these memories, are these private memories going to be for public viewing, just so that there can be eyes to witness what has been documented? 

The purpose of this article in the Onion was to make fun of people's obsession with Barack Obama's historic presidency. In so doing, I think it touched upon a rather important idea that is the central theme of this blog post, which is the accessibility of information storage with this generation. Maybe this isn't an attempt to keep everything on record, it's just like having a life ipod- which is to say that you have the accessibility to all of your memories even though you will most likely never view them, similar to the way that no one listens to most of the songs on their ipod. I just wonder what will become of all this stuff. And as much as we think it may, this stuff will not last forever- that show Life After Humans on the History Channel (an interesting network choice) shows that after humans these records won't last that long. 

Song of the day:

9 Crimes by Damien Rice (the live youtube version from Abbey Road is the best)

Information doesn't scare me...yet. Two things that come off the top of my head make me a little nervous about my future sentiments toward information, technology and knowledge: the fact that the more we know, the more we realize we don't know; and the fact that technology is allowing us to greater realize mutual destruction. Hobbes theorized in his work, The Leviathan that we need a greater figure of government because man is weak due to the fact that anyone could destroy anyone- whether that be through gaining numbers against another or by some other means. This fear encompasses that other means. The fact that the US government has the technology to read a license plate from space scares me because although it means we have a very secure military, it also means that in the wrong hands, technology has the capability of enormous privacy infringement. When my privacy is lost I have all the reason to be suspicious and scared. Since it is, at least to my knowledge (i probably wouldn't want to know if it were otherwise) still in the right hands, these kinds of technological capabilities do not scare me, they only make me wary of the powers that be.

What brought me to thinking about this topic was a trip with my sister to a science museum in Baltimore today. We were in a planetarium watching a show on dark matter and the narrator basically said that we only understand 5% of the matter that comprises the universe. The matter. Not the structures, the matter. So all we have come to know in this world- our laws of everything being made up of protons, neutrons and electrons- falls short by 95%. The reason behind my fear of science and knowledge in general has to be the fact that we are beginning to realize that the more we know, the more we do not know. I guess one could argue that what we don't know is constant and what we do know is only increasing, so it is merely our ignorance and the bliss that comes with it, that is what I am feeling. The discipline of science is based on empirical findings and to know that most of the research that needs to be done to understand the world lies in the future, for me, makes science a place where I am not able to store my confidence or trust. This is all of course in addition to the fact that the knowledge in science changes or leads to changing conclusions as time progresses.  I love science/knowledge/technology/information, but the fact that it may not always love me freaks me out.

That is what Maryland does!

I'm writing this post from Maryland. I'm having difficulty getting online, or else I would have written earlier this vacation. Definitely in the blogging mood. But in the words of Kenny "Special-K" Fisher: "No thanks, no time." All I have to say right now is that the seafood is amazing.

I wonder how much we identify with those we choose to help whenever we choose to help them. I wonder if it is that, or is it pity that causes us to look upon someone and want to help them. Could it be the fact that we feel obligated to do some charitable activities every once and a while or is it the fact that we are looking for some sort of reward from either an outside source or the resulting inward feeling of accomplishment or meaning.

I'm asking these questions because of a New York Times article I saw that was concerning corporations and individuals trying to illuminate Africa. I think it's safe to say that it is almost becoming a culturally cool thing to do, give back to the third world. I can't quite put my finger on why people would want to do this for a number of reasons. One thing I think of is why some societies and cultures would want to help preserve a culture that they really do not stand anything to gain from while others would be so bent on destroying it. Why are there regimes in the Congo that want to destroy entire races of people and effectively destroy their own homeland while there are other groups across an ocean that have invested so much in helping. I know from a corporate standpoint, it is definitely beneficial and good press to look like a humanitarian organization, but I am still asking why. Why is our society so into helping these people. One conclusion that I have come up with is that, while it is true that we are helping these people, we are also hurting them at the same time. The evils that we are bringing upon these people often are not as clear or widely talked about because they're taboos and issues that we simply choose to ignore. I am just as guilty as everyone else for the very same reason that we are all guilty- inadvertent benefit and failure to realize, identify, and renounce the injustices made every day. Now the one that we would all have difficulty doing at first would probably be the first part- just because it is hard to calculate and understand. I'm honestly not sure what the extend of these injustices are, but I hope I would not be considered presumptuous in suggesting that these issues are not worth noting. Because this idea is so abstract, it cannot be the basis of why we do what we do. It is just something to keep in the back of the mind. It also does not detract from the idea that people are helping, it can just be an indication of the extent to which we would be inconvenienced to help others. If our true assistance of the Third World required us to give up the things we hold dear, I wonder how "cool" it would be to do it. 

I guess this gets into another point. I'm picturing a Whole Foods Market and the people who go there in my head as I write this paragraph. It tends to be a more well-off group of people who go to Whole Foods, primarily because of the prices. They have excess money to buy everything organic and they can afford to worry about how many pesticides are put into their food or how much it saves their carbon footprint or how few animals were hurt in the making of the product. I have no problem with this, but it is these efforts that come from excess resources. Those people who are less well-off in America do not shop at Whole Foods because they are simply not looking to save the world through their spending, they are trying to get the best deal that can best feed their family. So tying this back to my first point, maybe some of the reason people give is because it is a status symbol. If you have enough to give away, you surely must have enough for yourself. I don't want to suggest that those who have money give more or those who have less give less, because that is not necessarily the case. I'm only stating that this could be a trend because it is now the cool thing to do when you have money. Being more conscious about the world around you is now becoming an issue and a true sector that others will gladly judge you by. I didn't answer the first question in the first sentence I posed, but I guess I'll get to that later. I sort of took the idea and ran with it. Word.

Song of the day:

If Rap Gets Jealous by K'naan

This table is still there from the weekend. I'm going to reserve my comment on it for now, just because I feel it would be best. Word.

Mouthwash by Kate Nash

Insert Title Here

Facebook album titles...I wonder how much you can really tell about a person based on their facebook album titles. I think you can tell something about someone first of all based on whether or not they feel the need to have a creative or funny or painfully hackneyed cliche as the title. Another insightful cue could be the amount of titled albums that one has on his/her facebook: if we're nearing 20 I think it's safe to say that this person, while they may have a life (as too well documented online), spends way too much time and care on the fbizzle. So with that being said, how does one go about understanding those who have a normal amount of photos and albums? I have no idea. All I can say is that I think that there is something to these names. It makes life artistic in a way. People take all these pictures- which usually are taken while they're drunk- and they put a title on it. It's like a metaphorical bow on their present to facebook and the resulting rest of the world. They're either trying to sum up the night in a few words, quote their favorite line, or maybe even just get some sort of statement out that they think would be a great addition to their overall profile. One reason why I think these titles are so important is that they are being published. What you add to your facebook matters because your closest friends see you and judge you based on what you have up. So everything up there becomes your art and your presentation to the world. It's not some essay or a piece of art that you are titling it is other's perceptions of your life that you are titling and that is something that tends to bring out the creativity in people. People want to impress others and I think this is an interesting medium. I could be wrong, but I think this is rather interesting. 

Song of the day: Brothersport by Animal Collective