Archive for March, 2007
This, with the Iranians. When the House of Saud steps out on us, we are in some shit. The final question may be who do the MNCs side with? This is certainly not good news.
Want to help fight poverty in developing nations? It is not too hard. I haven’t done it yet myself but plan to. Kiva.org might be one of the best outcomes of the internet yet. It allows you to finance an entrepreneur in developing nation with a small amount of money. In theory, you will be paid back. In practice, I don’t really care if I am paid back. I’m more concerned that I help fight the crime that is poverty. And this, to my entrepreneur heart, is the cat’s jammies.
If you are interested in this cause and want more information, there is a NYTimes op-ed piece by Nicholas D. Kristof entitled, “You, Too, Can Be a Banker to the Poor.“
Here is a fascinating article on free will. Prior to performing an action, our brain accumulates an electron charge that, when discharged, causes us to act. Apparently, before you make a conscious decision to do something, electrons start to buildup in the region of the brain that is responsible for said action. You actually make a conscious decision to do something after the buildup has started. This implies that we aren’t really making decisions at all. We are only justifying what we did by thinking that we meant to do it.
Here are some of my amateur musings on the subject:
1) Could a decision to do something be made well in advance of the electron buildup? If I am driving down the street and need to turn left, don’t I make that decision about halfway down the block? My decision is only put into action when needed. Therefore the electron buildup is done near the time to turn, but the actual decision to turn is made before that.
2) I have been wondering recently why I do the things that I do when I do them. For instance, this Saturday I wanted to get a coffee but I also wanted to work. So I am working, staying focused, and then bam I was out the door without really making a decision to go get a coffee. My work left half done. This kind of thing happens more often than I like, and I am trying to understand. I wonder if this could be related to the electron buildup. Maybe I have a slow electron leak in my Decisionator 3000 that is causing that action potential to be reached and causing me to get a coffee in the middle of doing something.
3) Here are some question about brains to ponder. Do people with higher IQs have more electricity in their brain? It seems that if electricity is the fundamental way that a brain transmits information that a smart person would have more information being transmitted and therefore more electricity? Or do smart people have more sensitive responses to changes in the level of electrical impulses? Further, do certain activities require more power? Does my brain require more power to type than to speak? If so, what is the breakdown of percentage of brain power needed for certain functions?
I’ve started a (new) blog — http://lenthousiaste.blogspot.com/ — and would love to have you check it out.
And on the topic of posting entries to this blog, I would like to acknowledge all of you lurkers, the readers but not active participators. As one of the long-distance friends who enjoys the conversation and the pot-lucky feeling of this blog, I see this has an awesome way for us to all keep in touch and share ideas, inspirations, gripes, and adventures. I talked to a couple of the readers-not-writers while visiting Lawrence a couple of weeks ago and got the impression that some may feel shy about writing a post. I say go for it! Sign up with wordpress, get a login and password, and get involved!
If you all have other ideas about the uses and coolness of the coop blog, let’s discuss. I personally like the idea of high-brow and low-brow topics rubbing shoulders, of debate and verbal sparring, of tangents and rants taking over the comments section. How about you?
Where did you graduate H.S.
City, State
Where else have you lived?
Age
Were you raised in a military family?
After graduation if you had a free choice to live in the continental United States—free from the usual constraints of income and job availability—where would you choose to live?
Sunday April 8 at the Granasty the quality band Galactic will play. They will also be at Waka, so if you want to start your jam a little early this year go see them. Preview at: www.galacticfunk.com So as not to be too Lawrence-centric I should note that they’ll be in Minneapolis April 11 (though I don’t think Ms. Minneapolis would love them), in Denver on April 6th at the Ogden Theater, and not in California.
Is it windows-down, radio-cranked weather there yet? What will be in heavy rotation on your stereo? In other words (Modest Mouse’s words): “Evil home stereo, what good songs do you know?” And does anyone have their new disc yet? Mine’s on the way, but the reviews have been sour…
Hi all. For those who do not know me, my name is Mark Chandler and I went to high school with Trevor. Trevor has been encouraging me to post something for awhile, but I’ve had reservations about posting something just for the sake of it. So, I waited until I actually had something that I felt strongly about (see below).
I had a conversation with a woman from work today in which she made a broad generalization that bothered me. It didn’t bother me so much at the time it was said, as it did when I had time to ponder the statement. The subject of the conversation was pertaining to her relationships with men and the statement that was made was something along the lines of “men are unable to express their feelings in the same way as women. Women say what is on their mind, while men keep their emotions bottled up. A woman has to pry in order to receive any meaningful expression from a man.” This is the broad generalization that was made. It’s not exactly a novel statement, as I suppose everyone reading this has heard similar generalizations made on this subject.
It is my firm belief that this societally accepted principle of men being unable to express their feelings is an antiquated one possibly based upon generations of men that came before mine. I’m a 27-yr-old man, and it seems to me, or at least I want to believe, that this widely accepted “truth” is not true as it relates to men of my generation (or it is at least not AS true). No one has to force me to express myself and my feelings are regularly conveyed to close friends and loved ones. I can share my innermost feelings in a romantic relationship with a woman that I love and avoid feeling that this somehow makes me weaker or less “manly.” I can tell a male friend or relative that I love him without feeling strange about it or that this expression is in any way unacceptable. Obviously, there will always be men who are unable to express their feelings in a way that is contentable for those to whom he has a close relationship. However, I would assess that men of my generation are at the very least more advanced in this regard than the men of past generations.
My father and I have a relationship in which he generally expresses his love for me through his actions. For example, my father is an accountant and continues to do my taxes every year, and I am happy to let him, because a) I don’t really want to do them, b) I don’t want to screw them up, and c) I don’t want to pay someone from H&R Block to do them for me. Also, I will occasionally drive my car back home. Every time that I have done this, from college until now, without fail by the end of my visit, my car always has one or all of the following things: an oil change, a fresh wash, a full tank of gas. These are just a couple of the ways that my father expresses his love for me without actually saying the words, or giving me a hug. However, he will say the words back to me if I say them first. He will hug me back if I instigate the hug. I share all of this information about my relationship with my father, because it has been my observation that his expression of love toward my mother is very much the same (this having been said without actually knowing what words are expressed when he and my mother are alone together). So, while I have absolutely no doubt that my father loves his family, I would probably categorize him as the type of man to whom my friend at work was referring.
The reason for sharing this story about my father is that he is my frame of reference in terms of an older man and his ability, or lack thereof, to share his emotions. Is this a learned behavior? Quite possibly, as I tend to recall that my grandfather was a relatively dispassionate man. It is my belief that my father is able to orally express his emotions in a healthier way than my grandfather, and I, in a healthier way than my father. A Chandler men’s evolution of emotion-expressing, if you will.
Now, I realize that I have placed all men of my generation into one lump category, and that the more logical explanation is that everyone is different. Some men, regardless of generation, are more easily able to express themselves than others, for whatever reason. For the sake of this post, however, I am lumping men into categories based on age because I am interested in what others might think about the idea that certain generations are more or less reserved in terms of their expression of feelings.
The questions I would pose to you after reading this post are as follows: Is there an ample amount of evidence based on your experience in our culture to back up the sweeping statement that “men are unable to adequately express their emotions”? If so, do you believe there is a difference among generations of men, or do men of all generations fall into the category of those who are unable to share their feelings with loved ones? To what degree is a man’s ability to express his emotions based on what he has learned from his father or father figure(s)? Are women truly more advanced than men when it comes to sharing feelings, or is this just another stereotype that has been perpetuated through the years?
Or not so very nice, 40% of Japanese report to not have had sex in the past month. That’s not much sexy time. The Japanese are having sex 45 times a year. The world average is 103 times a year. Maybe that’ll help put your sex life in perspective. For those math impaired in the group, that means 103 orgasm a year for men and zero orgasms for women. Ha – oh how I love playing up old stereo types.
Seriously, is this real? Can someone please convince me that this doesn’t really exist? Please, please, please, please, please tell me that this isn’t real. Please.
The ugliest dog ever. See it here.
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