Random wisdom glued to the bumpers of our manually steered careening two ton missiles…er cars. There was another bumper sticker next to this one but I didn’t get a snap before the light changed, it read:
“Mission accomplished my ass!”
Archives For Culture
All crews throw your set up!
Going nuclear, yeeehaaa!
Smile, babies and immis are cute!
My Lawyer this one is for you!
A colleague of mine posted one of these videos about an interesting theory (a book) called “The Black Swan” and I picked up on it on my Facebook friend stream. The theory of the Black Swan really captured my imagination because I am an economist by degree, I really love Chaos Theory and I have never heard anyone talking about this particular. These videos are worth your time, check them out, if you like then follow the links.
The REAL Maverick: Present Economy worse than Depression
Youtube Video description: “Interview with Nassim Nicholas Taleb, famous economist and author of “The Black Swan” and Dr. Mandelbrot, professor of Mathematics. Both say that the present economy more serious than the Great Depression, and the economy during the American Revolution.“
Nassim Nicholas Taleb – What is a “Black Swan?”
Interesting no? You can find another full lecture here on FORA.tv if you want to hear more. Logically Nassim’s Theory of the Black Swan really makes too much sense, and intuitively speaking I am pretty sure that the theory is sound.
We as humans have a tendency to dumb things down into more comprehensible terms for our own comfort because it is easier then learning or explaining something more infinitely complex. Do you really believe that economics can be dumbed down into simple linear thinking, regressions, basic logic and reason? Or should we consider that many more things in this universe exist and can effect our realities in absolutely unpredictable ways? Furthermore how does our grouping and simplifying of things truely effect the decisions that people, leaders and companies make?
Let me know your thoughts as I will be posting more on my views on this in the near future.
This is a cool 8 bit music video called “Starlight” by a Japanese 8 bit band called YMCK that you should check out.
I saw YMCK perform live with my friends Alexis and John at the Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture 2008 festival in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center. It would be great to see them at a smaller venue where I could get up closer to the stage.
Ninjas are awesome. Pirates are not. Period. . .I mean do Pirates get their own day? Didn’t think so.
This video just one of the many reasons why I love Ninjas. Intelligent, crafty, deceptive and Gangstaaa! Who knew? Thought that these Ninjas were out-manned and surrounded by a whole fleet of Pirates? No seriously what were you thinking? Ok, if Pirates are so great then why don’t they have a rad super awesome podcast called “Ask a Pirate?” Yeah they don’t. Exactly! I mean look what happens to Pirates:
Happy Day of the Ninja everyone…and as Ask A Ninja would say:
“I look forward to killing you soon.”
So yeah I think that the title of this blog posting says it all…
There was come decent commentary on iPhone Savior with some supporting articles on ABC and the NY Daily News. Since I am not a fan of rehashing check out the above links for more commentary and watch these two videos:
And another Walmart customer may have lost her baby because of this incident which makes me very sad (speaking from the father perspective):
Some open questions about this event:
- Is Walmart liable for not providing enough security to protect its own employees and patrons?
- Can Walmart even be legally charged & what is the legal precedence for this in regards to corporations?
- Can a mob of people even be legally prosecuted for this crime?
- How can events like this be prevented in the future, given Walmart has no crystal ball?
- Should it so how much should the family of the victims receive?
- How can we change the culture that encourages or allows for this kind of behavior?
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment, link to sources if you have facts.
Here this the main reason why I do not participate in consumerist holidays or events. Both the power and stupidity of “the herd” or “the crowd” mentality is absolutely amazing to me!
Besides, if you think about what your hourly wage is, how much time you have to spend waiting in line or fighting (I guess now it is moshing) with other people to get products then you would realize that you gained absolutely nothing by shopping on Black Friday. The cost in time, transportation, parking, getting up early, the hassle of dealing with other people and now the risk of injury/dying = simply not worth it. Perhaps next year Walmart will think about hiring concert security to ensure the safety of its customers on Black Friday from now on.
I think people really need to stop and ask themselves: is it worth dying or getting killed or killing someone else (directly or indirectly) to get a flat screen TV for $100 cheaper or a bag of waffles for five bucks? If you don’t already know the answer this question, please stop reading this blog and go shopping 
I will leave you with the Walmart motto “Save Money. Live Better” though it can be kind of hard to do either of these when you are six feet under!
I have decided to write a series of three articles about my insights into the VT Campus Shootings during the days right after the event as it unfolds and post them.
Part I – Why I Am Not Surprised That This Has Happened
I heard the news of the Virginia Tech massacre as it occurred yesterday and I was not surprised in the least that it occurred. Though I should have been shocked, given what I know about and have experienced through being a part of American culture in Virginia, our dysfunctional family systems, broke morals and broken public school systems…I can not say I am surprised at all. I have no respect for Cho Seung-Hui because I believe that our lives are made of events and choices, things happen and you choose how you deal with them. Needless to say he made the wrong choice. I am sure Cho showed signs that went ignored, because most individuals that desperate give at least a few warning signs before they go postal. These shootings could have just as easily been my school (George Mason), UVA, AU, GWU, UM or any college campus in America.
To The Parents Of The Victims
My thoughts, prayers, empathy is for the wounded survivors, witnesses and families who will suffer the emotional/physical scars, the profound effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) for years (perhaps lifetimes) to come as a result of that one incident. As a new parent and an individual who suffered from PTSD for nearly a decade, I cannot begin to imagine the unbearable grief the sixty some parents of the dead students have experienced in the last 48 hours.
College is No Stroll in The Park for Anyone
Anyone who has been to College knows that it can be a stressful, challenging, confusing, time of immense change and development. Many people don’t make it through freshman year much less all the way to graduation. Students feel the pressure to excel, achieve, succeed in a setting where the standards of success are set in terms that other individuals have defined. At the same time they are trying to find their way, learn who they are, what they enjoy, what they want to do and how to get there. On top of that students are trying to find time to deal with family expectations, issues and develop life long relationships. There is also the social competition and clicks that, in that environment appear to determine who you are and what your worth is to other people. Many individuals cannot, or do not want exist inside of such a system. College can be even more stressful then High School, so why are we shocked when Columbine style mass shootings begin to occur Colleges?
What Has Changed About The Culture In America Since Columbine?
In the last eight years what has changed in American culture? Not much. The movies, TV, music, video games are still as violent as they were back then. We still have drugs, gangs and now we even have a preemptive war of unjustified aggression that sets a bad example for our children. We still have a prevalence of divorce, absentee parents and latch key kids that grow up with a TV for a Mom and a gaming console for a Dad. We have exclusive social cultures based on conformity to arbitrary standards, gang cultures, gun cultures, and violence as a part of everyday life. Still shocked about the shootings? The reality is that there has not been a rapid decline in any of the variables that feed into an incident like this. So how rational is it to expect a different outcome?
To be continued….
Observations:
Why is everybody in the media looking to blame the school security or president for this? It will not bring the kids back.
Within 24 hours the politics in DC have already begun and I imagine the law writers are already hard a work trying to chip another freedom away from us in the form of gun regulations.
Every major reporter from DC is already in Blacksburg trying to interview anybody that they can.
Every news station is running the story over and over and over again even when there is no real new news to report
