!! DO NOT MAIL YOUR BALLOT!!

ALL BALLOTS MUST BE DROPPED AT THE COURTHOUSE. IF YOU MAIL THEM AT THIS POINT THEY WILL NOT COUNT! Pass it on.

Friends With Benefits

This is our group narrative project for the Video class.

"Probably the Funniest Cat Video You'll Ever See!"

I never really liked cats, but this video raised them up a notch. They're frieking hilarious. A friend and I were watching a bunch of silly animal videos when I was all doped up on oxicodone last week. It was interesting that almost all of them shared footage that was also used in other videos. Some clips were in almost every video. There is a whole genre out there of just collecting other people's footage and editing it into a montage. I was thinking about doing my own "The Best Sarah Palin Montage You've Ever Seen!" I could even play Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, throw some witty and snide comments in and make my own news show! The live audience and the guests would be a problem.

Join the International Traveling Community

I'm pretty stoked about joining this site. Have alot of work to do to develop my profile, but how great will it be to host people from around the globe at my house while I'm in school? And then be able to travel anywhere and stay with really cool people on the journey? I think I may have given some in Interactive the impression that you have to pay $25 to join. The site is completely free. Verification is just an extra measure of security that is available, to assure people you are who you say. Only 11 out of the 88 couchsufers in Durango have paid the fee and only 9 have been fully verified. Here's the site:

Couchsurfing.com

Brain Drain

Well, 69 is definitely my favorite way to boost brain power, especially if combined with 73, 75, and 71. No explanation needed!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about here's the link:

Boost Your Brain Power

I feel as though I at least attempt many of the items on this list on a regular basis, just because they seem like healthy things to do. But doing one thing at a time has really been my focus recently. I feel like I'm most effective when I focus all of my energies on one task - even if it's a menial one. When I try to do too many things at once, like I'm Microsoft Windows or something - it all ends up being half-assed. I know that's probably obvious, but I find myself too often trying to balance too many things in one moment of time. So I guess it's really about time management. Focus all of my energy on writing the paper, then posting on the blog, then doing physical therapy, then searching for good new music, then focus on making some bread. Instead of trying to do all or most of them at the same time, some sort of ADD juggling act, which I seem to be fond of. It's amazing what my mind can actually accomplish when I focus on something. I think that's the secret with the monkey game (see last post). It just takes focus. I don't think you can perform very well if you are talking on the phone or cutting your toenails while trying to remember what flashes on the screen for an instant. First you have to let your mind take a mental polaroid, quickly absorbing the big picture and then immediately take note of as many individual numbers as you can, the high and lo, and the order. If your eye doesn't catch a number but you remember where 1, 6, 8, and 9 are, then you can take a pretty good guess at where that other number goes. So simplify and focus on what's in front of you - what's happening right now.

Beat the Chimp

Alright, so another one from the brain homework for interactive, but they're interesting. I only got 2 right the first time, then 4 but after a few I was hitting 7 consistently and 8 once. A few more tries I may be smarter than a monkey.



Test Yourself Against The Monkey

Homunculus

"The little man in the brain." So this is a representation of the proportional amount of sensory and motory space in the brain devoted to each body part. It's interesting that alot of people when asked wheter they would lose a hand or foot answer hand (except for artists and musicians) because they fear losing mobility. But this picture makes it obvious, they're your MVPs. Imagine if humanity had tried to develop the modern world without hands. Surprised the junk is so small, at least on the sensory side - not at the lack of motor skill though.

We are the Machine

I really enjoyed A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. Actually had a long conversation with my sister about it; she is working on her undergrad right now and applying to med school. She has found that medical schools these days would often rather have students get their bachelor's in art or the humanities then the traditional biology or other science. And it is precisely for the reason Pink argues: "Empathy is moving to the forefront of the medical profession. It is giving way to a new generation of health care professionals...who can combine rule-based detachment with emotion-based empathy into a whole new medicine."
The idea that the right-brain is going to be the key to success in the brave new world is interesting. First, you have to assume the definition of success. He seems to put an emphasis on where the money is flowing - how to survive and climb to the top in the new age. And I think his argument is valid, concerning the basic principle of supply and demand. There are alot more and alot cheaper options for performing left brain tasks - "Abundance, Asia, and Automation." There is so much crap to go around that quality and price are now pretty much assumed. Having a design that stands out is key. And just as manufacturing has been farmed out to other countries, so now are left-brain jobs. Computers may be the most convincing reason, as they are almost to the point where our left brains will never even stand a chance competing against them. So if you want to succeed in the capitalist economy of America or the first world, you need to develop the right brain. The six necessary skills addressed are design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. Does this mean that the nerds and geeks, the Bill Gates and the left-brainers who have been at the top are going to be the rebellious "starving artists" of the future? Will poets and artists be sellouts? But the world is changing rapidly in many ways. The world is quickly becoming connected as never before. Maybe the old paradigms and hierarchies of difference can also be replaced. Maybe that's wishful thinking.
I like his conclusion that the meaning of life is to pursue happiness. What else are you going to do? And honestly what does everybody do? Even most who deny themselves or perscecute their bodies in the name of religion or whatever do it because they expect a greater happiness down the road. I agree with Dr. Firestone, quoted by Pink: "You're not going to find the meaning of life hidden under a rock written by someone else. You'll only find it by giving meaning to life from inside yourself."
Also I think we should start a Durango laughter club. It would be hilarious. It seems that some feel it could even usher in world peace. Here's a video of a laughter club - now an international movement that was started in India by Dr. Kataria.

In Case You Wanted Some Good News

The Real Crisis is Ecological
The current financial meltdown is small in comparison to the ongoing ecological disaster.
Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:42 am — Posted by Abdul 3 comments truecosteconomics nature finance environment economy crisis capitalism

Photo: Gunter Rambow.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BBC’s environmental correspondent reports:

The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study.

It puts the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion.

The figure comes from adding the value of the various services that forests perform, such as providing clean water and absorbing carbon dioxide.

The study, headed by a Deutsche Bank economist, parallels the Stern Review into the economics of climate change.

It has been discussed during many sessions here at the World Conservation Congress.

Some conservationists see it as a new way of persuading policymakers to fund nature protection rather than allowing the decline in ecosystems and species, highlighted in the release on Monday of the Red List of Threatened Species, to continue.

Capital losses

Speaking to BBC News on the fringes of the congress, study leader Pavan Sukhdev emphasised that the cost of natural decline dwarfs losses on the financial markets.

“It’s not only greater but it’s also continuous, it’s been happening every year, year after year,” he told BBC News.

“So whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-$1.5 trillion, the reality is that at today’s rate we are losing natural capital at least between $2-$5 trillion every year.”

The review that Mr Sukhdev leads, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (Teeb), was initiated by Germany under its recent EU presidency, with the European Commission providing funding.

The first phase concluded in May when the team released its finding that forest decline could be costing about 7% of global GDP. The second phase will expand the scope to other natural systems.

Stern message


Key to understanding his conclusions is that as forests decline, nature stops providing services which it used to provide essentially for free.

So the human economy either has to provide them instead, perhaps through building reservoirs, building facilities to sequester carbon dioxide, or farming foods that were once naturally available.

Or we have to do without them; either way, there is a financial cost.


Oh yeah, the environment.
Great Website too.
For the rest of the story here's the link:

http://http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters_blog/real_crisis_ecological.html

Family Guy

Personally, I think Family Guy is one of the funniest shows ever. I like this clip because it is told almost completely visually, just a little bit of dialogue at the beginning to set the scene. Watching part of No Country For Old Men earlier, I realized that I really like relatively quiet movies that are told with pictures instead of words. I've seen a few movies from foreign producers and from different eras particularly that felt more free for artistic expression, leaving lots of quiet empty space for the audience to soak things in. I like when a movie does not feel the need to explain everything with dialogue.

Cartoon Parkour

The thing I love about cartoons is that you can do whatever you want with them, as far as your imagination wants to go. You can have grannies leap and bound over tall buildings and run down a guy on a bike!

Caper of the Cat Burglar

Cat Burglar

Here's a link for my "Create Your Own Adventure" YouTube video. I was going for kind of a video game / parkour video / skate video style. My good friend Sam Redman just rolled back into town from Flagstaff; he's an amazing climber - very agile and ninja like, and so is Garrett. Initially, I just had a lame chase scene scripted all from first person (Blair Witch style), because I couldn't get people. But Sam and Garrett were stoked about the project, because they love parkour videos, running up buildings, and anything ninja. So it turned out to be fun and something that belonged to a group of us with vested interest. Of course the whole no sleep for 3 days thing was definitely not fun.

If you click the link above you can start at YouTube and not be interrupted, or you can just click below and it will direct you to YouTube at the next clip.

Is McCain hiding something? PTSD or just a short fuse?

I'm sure someone has already posted this, and people have been discussing it. But I was unaware of all the people that have spoken out with concern for McCain's temper. Our country is on the brink of disaster right now and I think we need leadership from someone who can keep a cool head when shit hits the fan. Neither president can fix this country. No president, no single person can. And congress holds the purse anyway. So I don't think Obama is going to be this country's messiah, but I do feel that McCain / Palin is another step down a path that has proven to be disastrous and destructive.

The Corporatocracy

This is my first experimental video, for the Video Production class. Just practicing uploading videos to YouTube.