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August 26, 2010

A Functional Press

I love how our press is capable of skepticism -- but only when they're writing ledes about ANOTHER country's leader. From an AP piece about Russian President Vladimir Putin:

"Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fired darts from a crossbow at a gray whale off Russia's Far Eastern coast on Wednesday in the latest in a series of man-versus-nature stunts designed to cultivate the image of a macho leader."
Imagine if they showed that kind of domestic literary conciseness. "Obama/Bush hypes war majority of public doesn't support with factually-dubious rhetoric" etc. This country's press is broken. Look at the lead up to any war. Look at the coverage of the financial meltdown. If the AP wrote about Bush/Obama stage shows so precisely, they'd be brought up on charges and accosted as unpatriotic.

Step 1: address corporate financial influence on policy.

Step 2: yell at our press until they remember their job is to report the truth, not some noxious mish-mash of safe, "he said, she said" reporting.

Step 3. Margaritas.

August 24, 2010

From The Streets Of Brazil

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Full collection here

August 09, 2010

Jerry Rice: Stay Afraid

The Hall Of Fame induction ceremony isn't the first place you look for when hunting for insightful life wisdom. Then again, not every year is a player like Jerry Rice inducted. I personally found his comments insightful having grown up in the age of "only positive thoughts" self help rhetoric. Fear. Fear isn't the mind killer, it's apparently the ass kicker:

"I'm here to tell you that the fear of failure is the engine that has driven me throughout my entire life. It flies in the faces of all these sports psychologists who say you have to let go of your fears to be successful and that negative thoughts will diminish performance. But not wanting to disappoint my parents, and later my coaches, teammates and fans, is what pushed me to be successful ... The reason nobody caught me from behind is because I ran scared. People are always surprised how insecure I was. But I was always in search of that perfect game, and I never got it. Even if I caught 10 of 12 passes, or two or three touchdowns in the Super Bowl, I would dwell on the one pass I dropped ... If I have one single regret about my career standing here today, it's that I never took the time to enjoy it.''
SI journalist Peter King calls it "sad" that Rice was so driven that he forgot to appreciate his life, though I'd call it wholly American. And while letting fear dominate your life for the sake of performance is not the most Zen approach to living, you could argue that playing a sport where your head can potentially be ripped off -- and excelling -- isn't exactly the kind of chess board that gives you the luxury of practicing meditative thinking.

A Fair Question, I Think

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August 06, 2010

BP's Early Stage Show

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British Petroleum's early stage show before they got into the oil business.

A Kid Finally Gets It

Interesting. I think maybe that becoming aware of the flaws in the institutional system that you've inhabited might be more valuable than straight A's. Though that's just me. check this out

"Some of you may be thinking, "Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn't you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.

I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer - not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition - a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared."