Today I was standing on line in a grocery store waiting patiently for the woman ahead of me to finish her transaction. As she was paying, I noticed that she was scribbling in a checkbook. Checks?! People still use those things? People still accept those things? I don’t know which surprised me more. I guess if I dig way back in my memories, I can vaguely recall images of my mother handing a check to the person at the register, but dang, that was a long time ago.

I stopped myself. What was I thinking? I was born and raised in an age where people carried cash and regularly engaged in paper transactions. I remember when “happy meal” and “value meal” were new to our lexicon of common phrases, I remember when they didn’t exist. I remember when a Walkman played tapes and when a basic Discman would cost at least $130. My mom used to go to our local AAA to get directions when we were going on a road trip. I remember when VCRs were nearly a basic necessity and personal computers were not. I remember when it would’ve been shocking to find a movie ticket with a price in the double digits and gas at more than $1.93/gallon was unheard of. I remember when rich people had cellphones the size of my head and a teenager was happy to be allowed to use their parents’ land line.

Give me some more time to recall life and I’m sure I could go on for pages like this. Science fiction from the mid and early 1900s predicted that we’d have personal robots, regular space travel, and tons of other crazy advances. Most of those stories ended up having little success as prophecies and predictions, but our society has still gone through a level of change that is pretty much on par with what they predicted back then. Think of all the things that were common during your childhood that are obsolete now. Your children will grow up having never had first hand experience with those things unless they decide at some point in their lifetimes to mess with vintage. Vintage. Our childhoods are vintage. It’s funny, as you live through these changes, they don’t seem very monumental, but when you take a step back and compare this moment to one 20 years ago, there has been a world of change. A world of change.

A lot of people tend to throw the term they around. “They want us to be ignorant.” “They control the media.” And just to clarify, when I say a lot of people, I mean myself. From the frequent talk about they it would seem that there is some mysterious entity known as They who is responsible for most of the bad things going on in the world. This is not the case and when I talk about they, this is not what I mean to imply. Who they refers to can vary depending on the context. They can be the government, the hegemony, or the church just to name a few possibilities. The specific target of the word in a given context is usually not specified because people generally know – clarification is unnecessary. Usually. I often use they to refer to the biggest players in the free market. I don’t often explain why they are a they, so here’s my explanation.

In its most ideal form, capitalism relies on the idea that supply and demand will serve to regulate a free market. Its pretty simple – if people want it, they’ll buy it, if they don’t, they won’t. The problem in practice has been that everyone doesn’t play by the rules. The market is full of misinformation, misdirection and manipulation. If we all had the acclaimed protestant work ethic, capitalism might actually work the way its supposed to, but we don’t. Because of the nature of the market, those with looser ethics will rise higher and faster than those who maintain a strict moral code in business. Those who don’t mind making low quality products save money on manufacturing and they sell more replacements. Those who don’t mind lying to people gain customers who would not otherwise want their products. Those who don’t mind taking advantage of people make more money by jacking up the prices on necessities. In addition to the free markets bias toward the greedy, immoral marketers are helped by each other. For example, it would hurt a drug manufacturer’s business if some wealthy good Samaritan began marketing cheap drugs, so it is in his interest to ensure that only people who share his (lack of) morals are allowed into the market and that others are blocked from entering the market.

That is bad enough as it is, but in recent years we are seeing more and more evidence of an additional tool in the arsenal of unscrupulous capitalists. In the past men have lied about and changed products in order to make more sales. Today they also change the consumers. The free market itself has put them in the position to do this. For the reasons stated above, a class of people who are both smart and immoral has risen to the top of the market. (Dave Chapelle might say “They’re rich bitch!”) In the United States, money is tightly linked to government and power. Politicians are regularly up for sale. Causes with the most paid lobbyists in our nation’s capital are the ones that get catered to by laws. With a small amount of effort, the market’s elite place themselves among the ranks of the most powerful men in the country. With their resources, the market’s elite are also able to spread themselves across the market. Most large companies own significant parts of other large companies. It is said time and time again that all these large corporations are in bed with each other. It is true. My favorite example (since I’m a tech geek) is Microsoft and Apple. They are seen as direct competitors in the computer and software market, but many people forget that several years ago, MS invested 10 million dollars in Apple to keep them afloat. Bill Gates is making money off of ipods and itunes! This is not an uncommon occurrence in the business world. Often it spans industries. A communications company might own a portion of a media company for example. The end result of all this is that the market’s elite class is extremely powerful. Its members have a hand in most aspects of our public lives. They make our food and medicine, through books they control our education, they own entertainment and news media, and they have a lot of control over government and legislation. With this power, they do their best to make us into better consumers.

Everywhere you look, you can find people making the attempt to dumb us down. The radio plays the same music over and over. Television’s pace grows faster and faster, serving shorter and shorter attention spans. The majority of content on television and radio is tailored not to inspire thought. When is the last time a political song got regular play on a major station? We are bombarded with lyrics and images that urge us to have fun, embrace vices, and concern ourselves with appearance. Products are advertised by emphasizing their ease of use, quickness and simplicity as opposed to features and quality. We are being trained to accept shoddy workmanship. We are being trained to be impulsive and shallow. We are being trained to eschew education and knowledge. Educated, thoughtful people with high expectations do not make good consumers. They are less inclined to buy things they don’t truly need or want. Between them, they have a wider variety of interests, so it is harder to target them with specific products. It is far cheaper to make one thing and sell it to everyone than it would be to cater to a bunch of different interests. In addition to making better consumers, trained in this way, we are far less likely to significantly oppose the system and people that sustain and benefit from this process.

They is the elite of the market. The prosperity of they depends upon the ignorance, gullibility, apathy, and addiction of us. However, I do not personally believe that the process is simple. They is not some individual organism or council of fellow conspirators any more than The Average Man is the guy next door to you. There does not need to be some unified council for this to work. They are united by a common goal. The greedy don’t need to confer with the greedy in order to decide on a course of action. The course of action is obvious – whatever benefits the self. Teamwork doesn’t come about because of race, culture, or secret organizations. It comes from necessity. This is not a conspiracy theory because a conspiracy is unnecessary. Smart and greedy is a deadly combination – they don’t just think in the moment. They lay down the groundwork to gain more money and power in the future. The greedy will always do what they can get away with. The problem is that the more they can get away with, the more they will be able to get away with.

The question is how did this current cycle of power gaining power begin. I believe that the problem doesn’t lie in capitalism in itself, but in the scope of capitalism. A few years ago I read a paper by Max Weber (I think it was Max Weber) talking about separation of spheres. I don’t remember the whole paper and I don’t think I agreed with everything he said, but I think his idea of spheres makes a lot of sense. There should be separation of the spheres. The market should be free to some degree, but politics, health, and education should not ever be part of the free market. Influence, medicine and knowledge should not be commodities to be bought and sold. These are the basic necessities to equalization of opportunity. As long as these belong to the market, we will not be starting off on a level playing field. They will continue to gain in power.

The question remains – how can we unseat them. This is a difficult question and hopefully I’ll be putting some ideas out in the future. For now, at least we know who they are.

It really does. There is not much twilight when you’re surrounded by tall buildings. If you don’t find an open space to enjoy it, you will not get to experience that beautiful amber sunlight that shines on us for a short period of time twice a day. Do not expect to walk in it, because a few steps in the wrong direction and you will find yourself in the shade. The city can be oppressive at times. Some of the best parts of the day are barely present because tall buildings block them from view. These buildings dwarf men – they make you realize that you’re a small part of a large world. That is something we should all recognize, but there is something almost unwholesome about it when the objects doing the dwarfing are big ugly slabs of metal stuffed concrete. There is plenty of beauty in our creations. I won’t deny that we’ve achieved wonders with our architecture, but buildings can be like people. Sometimes you only look skin deep, and they are beautiful. Then you look at what they are doing, and they become ugly. Our buildings are separating us from the, from the sun. Concrete is separating us from the soil, from grass and trees. Lately I even feel separated from the air and breeze. I step out of a climate controlled office onto a sterile but dirty street and I am alternately accosted by exhaust and cigarette smoke. Where is my breath of fresh air? ‘Waiting to exhale’ should have been a movie about industrialization.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love being in the city. There is always something going on in the city. People are creative by nature, so when you’re surrounded by people, you’re surrounded by creativity. If I was an only child, I would blame this feeling on that, but I’m not so I can’t. I want the best of both worlds. I want to keep the energy and creativity that I’m surrounded with, but I also want more raw materials. I want to be able to look out of one window and see the achievements of man and look out the other and see the beauty of untouched nature. I even want a third window where I can see gardens and fountains and manicured lawns – nature tamed.

Do people who have spent their entire lives in the city get the same feeling or is this just the suburban coming out of me? Maybe I just need to spend a day in the woods somewhere.

In one class I took, there was a girl who would always talk about avoiding the dichotomy that is constantly imposed on alternate theories and ideas in academia. While I usually disagreed with whatever specific point she was making at the moment, I thought she was spot on with the whole dichotomy thing. It’s not just true for Academia. Way too often, people feel that something is or has to be one way or the other. (Let’s get the cliché out of the way as soon as possible.) We tend to see things in black or white and all the grays get lost in humongous blind spots. This affects many aspects of our lives, often negatively.

Not very long ago, it was generally accepted that men had a certain role and women had a certain role. Sometime in the 1900s (I want to say 1960s but I don’t know why that number comes to my head and don’t feel like looking it up) the feminism movement was born. Women fought to get treatment and consideration similar to what men received. It was time to change what was accepted – women are smart, women are strong, women are independent. Feminism went from non-existent to revolutionary to the norm. Now in many cultures in the US, it is not only accepted but expected that women get jobs and contribute to the family’s finances. The old image of wives being barefoot pregnant women washing dishes became old fashioned. All well and good, except for one problem. Some women like to be barefoot (or maybe slippered) and pregnant washing dishes. Very often, these women get looked at as weak, subservient and even traitorous to the cause. Other times these women force themselves into the “strong independent” lifestyle and end up single, childless and unhappy.

How did we go from a society where it was seen as necessary that women be a certain way to a society where women are villainized for being that way? We seem to have skipped over the middle ground that was the goal (I hope) of the women’s rights movement. The fight was not to get women out of the kitchen and the delivery room, it was to let them out. Meaning, if a women wants to keep the same old role, that’s ok too.

Despite the widespread expectation for women to be working women, the gender-status issue is far from dormant and peaceful. There are many men that complain about women thinking they can do anything. I constantly hear comments like “they want us to treat them equal, but then they get mad if I don’t hold a door” from some men. Others claim that we should respect and elevate woman because woman is the creator and without her we’d have no life. Then there are the women who claim that they are in some way better than men or their burden is greater because they carry children for 9 months and bleed periodically during the other months. There are the biblical arguments – Eve made Adam sin and woman came from man. Yeah, I’m leaving tons of arguments and nuances out of this, but hopefully you get my point.

All these arguments and claims always leave me feeling like something’s missing. Why does there have to be this competition? Why must men and women have set gender related roles? Does it matter who cooks and cleans as long as it gets done? Don’t we need a man AND a woman to make life? We are like two wheels on a bike arguing about who is more necessary for movement. Without either one of us, we aren’t going anywhere. Not only do both wheels need to be present, they need to work together to achieve motion. Down with the dichotomy!

I was in a conversation on this topic with a bunch a friends some time ago. One friend of mine proposed a very different interpretation of the Adam and Eve story. Instead of assigning significance to who came first, he found the most important thing to be that man and woman came from one being. If Eve came from Adam’s body then without her a piece of him is missing. Man without woman is incomplete and woman without man is incomplete. That’s how I’ve always felt, but I loved the fact that he linked that to the Adam and Eve story. We are meant to cooperate with and support each other. Without that union, we are unable to create. Men and women should approach each other as individuals and creators. Any person you interact with is a crucial part of the miracle of life. Respect them for that. Forget the notion of gender roles. A lot of men are physically stronger than lot women. That doesn’t make us better. Perhaps men and women think differently (that’s a different debate). If we do, that’s not a reason to elevate one way over another it’s an opportunity to combine our strengths so we can have all bases covered. Anyone can nurture if they set their heart on it. We need to stop this senseless argument and nurture each other.

Down with the dichotomy! Let’s meet on the gray and be complete.

This is a repost from my Yahoo! 360 blog

Friday February 10, 2006

Have you ever been pulled over by the police for a relatively minor offense or had them knock on your door to tell you to turn down your music? I’ve been in a few situations like that, and one thing that always shocks me is the attitude of the police. More often than not, they seem to be needlessly forceful and abrasive. At times, I’m sure that approaching lawbreakers in that way is necessary in order to maintain a position of authority, but the fact is, not all lawbreakers are unreasonable criminals dead set against cooperating with law enforcement. Why is it that if you are being cooperative they continue to be so aggressive and disrespectful? The generally accepted answer to this question is that they are in love with their sense of power and must constantly remind themselves that they are above civilians.

What never made sense to me was the overwhelming number of “power-happy” cops out there. Is human nature so easily warped by power that such an overwhelming number of people in positions of power get intoxicated by it? I consider myself a realist when it comes to things like this, but I’m not able to take such a bleak view of human nature. This has been one of those problems that’s remained unresolved for me. Recently I had a breakthrough. It’s not that they’re power happy, they are prejudiced. And before you start making comments on my ability of stating the obvious, I don’t mean racist. In my experiences with “power happy” cops, they’ve always treated me (or the person they were interacting with when I was just an observer) as if I was being contrary and difficult even if I was doing my best to be cooperative. My theory now is that they act that way because they expect me to be contrary and difficult.

Have you ever seen one of the sitcoms where the guy who is used to getting turned down asks a girl out on a date? He’s so sure he’ll get a “no” that when she says “yes”, he continues to talk as if she said “no” for a few moments after she answers. That is exactly what is happening here. I can understand why they would expect me to act a certain way – I’m sure they deal with a lot of people who are difficult. They enter situations with such a high expectation for people to act that way that they become completely blind to how people actually are acting.

Now I’d like to stop right here to say that I am fully aware that this is not the case for all cops and even for the cops whose behavior this does help to explain, it is not the only factor. Many other kinds of prejudice (racism, classism, etc), moods, personalities, stress, etc. contributes to the ways they act. I am also not trying to absolve them of guilt. While it is understandable, such prejudice is very unacceptable in someone who is supposed to “protect and serve.” There are two main things to take from this theory. First, on a practical level, it can help when dealing with police and other authority figures – it always helps to have an understanding of a person’s motivations when interacting with them.

Secondly, this can be slightly abstracted from law enforcement. This habitual prejudice doesn’t just show up in police, it’s also evident in other government officials, customer service professionals, and in ourselves. It is part of a cycle of assumptions that makes everyone’s lives much more difficult. Person A expects a hard time from person B, so A approaches B with an attitude. B reacts badly to the attitude, reaffirming A’s prejudice and giving B a reason to have a prejudice for person A and others in similar positions. Rinse and repeat. As much as we like to talk about treating everyone equally and considering every person as an individual, we naturally tend to group people. (Here comes the realist) I believe that grouping and stereotyping people is inherent to human nature – we’re not going to end prejudice, ever. It’s as natural as hunger. What separates us from beasts is the fact that hunger doesn’t have to be our main or only motivation. The same holds true for prejudice. The more we are aware of our own prejudices and the different forms they take, the more we can make conscious decisions about them. Sometimes they are there for a reason – it helps to be prepared for what you expect to face, other times they are a hindrance. As with all things, a balance is required.

This is a repost from my Yahoo! 360 blog

Monday January 30, 2006

Wow. I come into contact with a very diverse set of people, and one thing I’ve noticed a few times is that intelligent people have a tendency to be social idiots. People who can understand complex mathematical concepts or read C++ like it’s their first language seem to have trouble choosing appropriate ways to interact with fellow human beings. My assumption was that they spent so much time on their math or science that they were not used to interactions with people. Of course that theory was always flawed because I know plenty of artists and musicians who will disappear from society for months at a time to pursue their work yet can still have a normal conversation. But, I had no other theories to go on…until now.

To quote Slashdot , “The BBC is reporting that a leading scientist in area of Developmental Psychopathology, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, is indicating that there is good chance that there is a scientific basis to the observed phenomenon that children with highly analytical parents are more likely to be autistic. He believes the genes which make someone analytical may also impair their social and communication skills.”

Check out the article. It’s an interesting read. Remember though – the evidence is far from conclusive and correlation does not necessarily point to cause and effect.

This is a repost from my Yahoo! 360 blog. Follow the link to see the pic.

Thursday January 26, 2006

Like the pic? The dancers come out in the middle of the week. Leave the weekend for the “Amateur Drinkers.”

I go out a lot. (House music all night long) Many people I know look at me and ask questions like “How do you have so much energy?” I’ve been getting this question for years just because I go out and dance. When I look at some of the people around me when I’m out, it starts to make sense. On average, people around my age don’t seem to have a lot of energy. People get up and dance for two songs and then they have to take a rest. It’s no wonder they want to know my secret.

Here’s my secret: Energy is like money – you have to spend it to make it. It’s as simple as that. How can you have the energy to dance? Go out and dance. How can you have the energy to ride a bike? Ride a bike. Need energy for a martial art….you get the point. People constantly blame age for lack of stamina and endurance, but age has little to do with it. One of the best dancers I know is in his mid thirties. Somehow he finds the energy to keep a black belt in Kenpo teach two Capoeira classes and do things you didn’t think were possible on the dance floor. I’ve seen men in their 60s and beyond who are active Capoeristas. One thing these people all have in common is they keep doing what they do. When you stop being active, that’s when your metabolism slows, you put on weight, and your lungs seem to shrink to half their original size. When you stay active, it affects many different areas of your life. You’ll probably live better and throughout the day you’ll feel better, physically and mentally. And, there are so many ways to stay active. If you don’t like one, try another. If you’re a focused and/or loner type, you can workout at home, ride a bike or jog. If you prefer to work out with other people, join a gym, a dance class or check out your local community organizations and rec centers for various classes. If you can fit it in, do multiple things. No matter what your interests and budget, there is a way for you to be active. If you’re not active now, it’ll be hard to start, but once your body begins to get accustomed to the new demands on it, you will feel great. If you are active now, you’re ahead of the game, just make sure you stay active.

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Ok, I hope you enjoyed our intermission, time for our second topic. I figured I could lump these together because this is slightly related to what I just wrote. It’s a pet peeve of mine. LEARN CLUB ETTIQUETE.

1) Dance floors are for dancing. They are not for talking on the phone. They are not for having group conversations. They are not for standing. If you are not dancing, get out of the way.
2) No matter how much you want to get to the bathroom, bar, or wherever the hell else you’re going, other people exist. Walking into someone really fast will not make your body pass through theirs. Look where you’re going.
3) On a related note, once you see someone in the way, do not push them out of your way. Step up to them and pause so they have a chance to see you trying to get by and move out of your way. If their back is to you, gently tap their shoulder or something to let them know you are there. Guys, this does not mean grab a girl’s ass.
4) On another related note, be aware of your body and its surroundings. We are not ostriches. People still exist even if we don’t see them. Look behind you before you back up. If someone is there, don’t back up. The same holds for moving sideways and forward.
5) If you see a circle of people watching one person dance, do not walk through it. Walk around the edge AFTER you’ve looked to make sure you won’t be walking into the path of whoever is doing what they’re doing. Trust me, its better that way. If all those people were dancing at the same time instead of one by one, there would be no room for you on the dance floor.
6) If you like the way someone dances and feel the need to tell them, tell them. ONCE.
7) Related note – don’t say stupid sh**t. you do not owe it to anyone to dance as well as them. Don’t apologize to people because you don’t think you dance as well as them. That’s annoying. If you’re white, don’t go up to a black person that dances really well and say “I’m just a white boy with no rhythm.” That’s stupid.
Drink your drink. Don’t spill it. Liquor and beer all over the dance floor makes it slippery, dangerous and just plain unpleasant. If you can’t dance without spilling your drink, drink it first or rest it someplace nearby where you can watch it as you dance. If you’re not dancing and you’re still spilling your drink, it’s time to stop drinking.

Hmmm…That’s all I can think of for now. If you have any more, let me know.

This is a repost from my Yahoo! 360 blog.

Monday January 23, 2006

I think written curse words have more impact when they’re partly censored, don’t you?

Nowadays, it’s far more normal for a person to be computer savvy then just a few years ago. Still, for most people, there is a mysterious fog surrounding the world of hackers. Hackers are these mysterious guys with glasses and B.O. who, once they are in front of the computer, have powers rivaling those of God. That’s what the conception is anyway. Hackers know how to use obscure vulnerabilities and take advantage off software features to break into and manipulate systems.

Well, here’s a little demystification. One of the most common forms of hacking does not necessarily involve computers at all. The easiest, and probably surest, way to gain access to restricted systems or information is a process known as “Social Engineering.” Don’t get scared off by the jargon, that’s just a fancy way of saying “tricking people.” For example, when I was in college, suppose I wanted to get onto a professor’s computer to change someone’s grade. I could have studied up on hacking and tried to crack the security, break into the database and changed the grade. That would’ve been the hard way. The easy way would be to walk into the department office, say “I’m here from the computing center. I’m supposed to look at ____’s computer, “sit down at the professor’s computer and change the grade. I know for a fact this would have worked because I did it numerous times. Not the grade changing part, but I did work for the computing center. It always amazed me when I first started that people who didn’t know me from Tyrone Bigguns would let me walk into their offices and mess around on their computers, sometimes even walking out with their computers – all with no kind of identification.

There is a virus going around that’s supposed to delete a bunch of files on Feb 3rd. Is it a sophisticated virus that dodges network security to infect computers? No. It’s a simple thing that doesn’t use advanced technology to get on computers; it uses promises of free porn. Tons of people get aggravated with the amount of spam that clutters their inboxes, yet some of those same people help fill my inbox because they think Bill Gates might somehow track that e-mail that promises payments of 1 million dollars and they believe he might have the funds to pay each of the millions of people who have received and forwarded it.

Be on your guard. Hacking is not some supernatural phenomenon that you can’t avoid, it’s generally a simple thing that you can avoid with a little thought and awareness. If you really need your porn, get on the web and find it yourself. Be sure about who you let on your computer. Think about those e-mails before you send them. If someone is offering to sell you something, don’t buy. If you really want what they’re selling you can track it down and get it from a reputable source. Protect your identity and information.