Saturday, February 9, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Roll Call: Lango-Rizzity
schedule released
who is on the 7am flight march 6th?
time to start thinking about renting a car.
who wants in?
we land at 12:30 and could wait around for other arrivals if needed.
it will probably work out to $60-$80 bucks per person. the shuttle service is $60/person. the ability to stop at a grocery store and have a place to lock our paraphernalia is well worth passing up the shuttle.
please sign here if you wanna hertzshred
love light labia
Thursday, February 7, 2008
STS9...Music...Charity...CNN?
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/07/music.charity/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
Never thought they would appear on CNN...good for them
I finally figured out the percussionists name from this bit. LOL
Never thought they would appear on CNN...good for them
I finally figured out the percussionists name from this bit. LOL
Radio Paradise
Outta Oregon....From THeads to Iron and Wine to Air to String Cheese to Radiohead to Johnny Cash....dank....
larimer county resource guide
dunno if anyone would be intrested... but i created a website for work/school listing the resources availible to help all sorts of folks in the Fort Collins area.
if you ever need to know where you can get food, weatherization or donate time and supplies:
Larimer Resource Guide
if you ever need to know where you can get food, weatherization or donate time and supplies:
Larimer Resource Guide
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Brave New World (video)
Takes about 6 minutes to watch...I'd surely appreciate it if ya'll'd take a look...
As primary-election democracy unfolds, C.I.A. admits practicing torture
What a contrast in values: Even as millions of Americans made their way to polling stations today to exercise their right to vote (in primary elections to determine the major political parties' presidential candidates), in Washington, the C.I.A.'s director, General Michael Hayden was telling the Senate's intelligence committee that the spy agency indeed had practiced the torture technique known as "waterboarding" in the recent past. (As Musharrafesque as it may sound or appear, Hayden is both an active U.S. Air Force officer and the head of a government unit that describes itself as "an independent agency." He showed up before the Senate's committee wearing his military uniform.)
C.I.A. Director Michael Hayden, a U.S. Air Force general, appeared before the Senate's intelligence committee today; he admitted that the agency had practiced the "waterboarding" torture method
Hayden told the congressional body that, in 2002 and 2003, the C.I.A. had waterboarded al-Qaeda suspects Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (the assumed mastermind of the September 2001 attacks), Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The intelligence-agency chief said: "We used it against these three detainees because of the circumstances at the time....There was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were inevitable. And we had limited knowledge about al-Qaeda and its workings. Those two realities have changed." (Guardian)
Over time, so have the circumstances and the effects of George W. Bush's aimless "war on terror"; its egregious disregard for the rule of law as it has conflated fighting terrorism with cheerleading for what Bush has called "liberty" has made it possible and perhaps even likely that, if or when terrorists ever happen to get their hands on any American military personnel or civilians, they might, could or will torture them, too.
Agence France Presse reports that "Hayden's remarks were the first direct, official admission that [C.I.A.] interrogators had used 'waterboarding' in questioning 'war on terror' detainees. They came amid a long-running battle between the [Bush] administration and members of Congress over so-called enhanced or coercive interrogation techniques used by the C.I.A. Attorney General Michael Mukasey told Congress last week that the C.I.A. no longer uses 'waterboarding' and that it was not 'currently' an authorized interrogation technique." He refused to say whether or not waterboarding is or should be considered a form of torture.
In his testimony today, Hayden defended the C.I.A.'s habit of making up its own rules. The spy agency head said it "would make no more sense to apply the Army Field Manual to [the] C.I.A. - the Army Field Manual on interrogations - than it would be to take the Army Field Manual on grooming and apply it to my agency, or the Army Field Manual on recruiting and apply it to my agency, or, for that matter, take the Army Field Manual on sexual orientation and apply it to my agency."
Hayden said al-Qaeda suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - the assumed mastermind of the September 2001 attacks - was one of the detainees who had been tortured
In an op-ed piece in Le Monde, indirectly alluding to trends in the behavior of the U.S. government, its agencies and official representatives, commentator Daniel Vernet notes that all of the leading candidates who are now slugging it out to become the next American president have made leadership a central theme of their campaigns. Vernet points out that Democratic candidate Barack Obama has said that the United States "must lead the world by its acts and by its example." (Translation: Supposedly that kind of thinking would rule out any place for torture in the activities of any U.S.-government agency - depending, of course, on who's really in charge of such agencies.)
| February 05 2008 at 01:20 PM
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Psychedelic Salon
This is a website I came accross today in search of more information about Terence McKenna. I have not had a chance to listen to any of the stuff on this website, but I really enjoyed the few McKenna lectures I've had for the last 2 years but have never bothered to listen to until yesterday. He has some very controversial, interesting and downright outrageous theories about the universe and the way we came to be. I think it fascinating. I feel like an infant in this subject, but i find that thinking about reality in this manner makes me very anxious and excited about something that is too big to put in words...i feel as though something really big is coming. (this is not a 2012 post, although i have no doubt there are many talks about that in the salon) The economy sucks. okay, that sucks, awesome, so... The entire world, including everyone in our own country, has become more and more outraged at what George W. Bush has been doing (and, unfortunately is still doing) over the last 8 years with our country. actually, this whole crisis is probably a great thing because now, we can all make sure that this never happens again. that kind of behavior is no longer acceptable. more importantly, not sustainable. anyway, check out this website for some audio by some interesting folks and if it ends up being no good, at least there's funny pictures
caucus
Obama won in Colorado by a 67% to 32% margin over clinton.... HOLLA
it was cause rod smith was down with him
Classic Hip Hop Albums
I know some of you are haters so you don't have to explore this link if you don't want to. For all of you hip hop lovers, this blahg has a ton of classic albums. Hopefully this will continue to be updated because there could be much more added to this already great list of full discs, free...I had fun downloading album after album, maybe you will to!
Shred.Something.Kid
Monday, February 4, 2008
FBI wants palm prints, eye scans, tattoo mapping
CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) -- The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.
But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans.
The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans.
Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said adding to the database is "important to protect the borders to keep the terrorists out, protect our citizens, our neighbors, our children so they can have good jobs, and have a safe country to live in."
But it's unnerving to privacy experts.
"It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project.
The FBI already has 55 million sets of fingerprints on file. In coming years, the bureau wants to compare palm prints, scars and tattoos, iris eye patterns, and facial shapes. The idea is to combine various pieces of biometric information to positively identify a potential suspect.
A lot will depend on how quickly technology is perfected, according to Thomas Bush, the FBI official in charge of the Clarksburg, West Virginia, facility where the FBI houses its current fingerprint database.
"Fingerprints will still be the big player," Bush, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, told CNN.
But he added, "Whatever the biometric that comes down the road, we need to be able to plug that in and play."
First up, he said, are palm prints. The FBI has already begun collecting images and hopes to soon use these as an additional means of making identifications. Countries that are already using such images find 20 percent of their positive matches come from latent palm prints left at crime scenes, the FBI's Bush said.
The FBI has also started collecting mug shots and pictures of scars and tattoos. These images are being stored for now as the technology is fine-tuned. All of the FBI's biometric data is stored on computers 30-feet underground in the Clarksburg facility.
In addition, the FBI could soon start comparing people's eyes -- specifically the iris, or the colored part of an eye -- as part of its new biometrics program called Next Generation Identification.
Nearby, at West Virginia University's Center for Identification Technology Research, researchers are already testing some of these technologies that will ultimately be used by the FBI.
"The best increase in accuracy will come from fusing different biometrics together," said Bojan Cukic, the co-director of the center.
But while law enforcement officials are excited about the possibilities of these new technologies, privacy advocates are upset the FBI will be collecting so much personal information.
"People who don't think mistakes are going to be made I don't think fly enough," said Steinhardt.
He said thousands of mistakes have been made with the use of the so-called no-fly lists at airports -- and that giving law enforcement widespread data collection techniques should cause major privacy alarms.
"There are real consequences to people," Steinhardt said.
You don't have to be a criminal or a terrorist to be checked against the database. More than 55 percent of the checks the FBI runs involve criminal background checks for people applying for sensitive jobs in government or jobs working with vulnerable people such as children and the elderly, according to the FBI.
The FBI says it hasn't been saving the fingerprints for those checks, but that may change. The FBI plans a so-called "rap-back" service in which an employer could ask the FBI to keep the prints for an employee on file and let the employer know if the person ever has a brush with the law. The FBI says it will first have to clear hurdles with state privacy laws, and people would have to sign waivers allowing their information to be kept.
Critics say people are being forced to give up too much personal information. But Lawrence Hornak, the co-director of the research center at West Virginia University, said it could actually enhance people's privacy.
"It allows you to project your identity as being you," said Hornak. "And it allows people to avoid identity theft, things of that nature."
There remains the question of how reliable these new biometric technologies will be. A 2006 German study looking at facial recognition in a crowded train station found successful matches could be made 60 percent of the time during the day. But when lighting conditions worsened at night, the results shrank to a success rate of 10 to 20 percent.
As work on these technologies continues, researchers are quick to admit what's proven to be the most accurate so far. "Iris technology is perceived today, together with fingerprints, to be the most accurate," said Cukic.
But in the future all kinds of methods may be employed. Some researchers are looking at the way people walk as a possible additional means of identification.
The FBI says it will protect all this personal data and only collect information on criminals and those seeking sensitive jobs.
The ACLU's Steinhardt doesn't believe it will stop there.
"This had started out being a program to track or identify criminals," he said. "Now we're talking about large swaths of the population -- workers, volunteers in youth programs. Eventually, it's going to be everybody."
But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans.
The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10-year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans.
Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said adding to the database is "important to protect the borders to keep the terrorists out, protect our citizens, our neighbors, our children so they can have good jobs, and have a safe country to live in."
But it's unnerving to privacy experts.
"It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project.
The FBI already has 55 million sets of fingerprints on file. In coming years, the bureau wants to compare palm prints, scars and tattoos, iris eye patterns, and facial shapes. The idea is to combine various pieces of biometric information to positively identify a potential suspect.
A lot will depend on how quickly technology is perfected, according to Thomas Bush, the FBI official in charge of the Clarksburg, West Virginia, facility where the FBI houses its current fingerprint database.
"Fingerprints will still be the big player," Bush, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, told CNN.
But he added, "Whatever the biometric that comes down the road, we need to be able to plug that in and play."
First up, he said, are palm prints. The FBI has already begun collecting images and hopes to soon use these as an additional means of making identifications. Countries that are already using such images find 20 percent of their positive matches come from latent palm prints left at crime scenes, the FBI's Bush said.
The FBI has also started collecting mug shots and pictures of scars and tattoos. These images are being stored for now as the technology is fine-tuned. All of the FBI's biometric data is stored on computers 30-feet underground in the Clarksburg facility.
In addition, the FBI could soon start comparing people's eyes -- specifically the iris, or the colored part of an eye -- as part of its new biometrics program called Next Generation Identification.
Nearby, at West Virginia University's Center for Identification Technology Research, researchers are already testing some of these technologies that will ultimately be used by the FBI.
"The best increase in accuracy will come from fusing different biometrics together," said Bojan Cukic, the co-director of the center.
But while law enforcement officials are excited about the possibilities of these new technologies, privacy advocates are upset the FBI will be collecting so much personal information.
"People who don't think mistakes are going to be made I don't think fly enough," said Steinhardt.
He said thousands of mistakes have been made with the use of the so-called no-fly lists at airports -- and that giving law enforcement widespread data collection techniques should cause major privacy alarms.
"There are real consequences to people," Steinhardt said.
You don't have to be a criminal or a terrorist to be checked against the database. More than 55 percent of the checks the FBI runs involve criminal background checks for people applying for sensitive jobs in government or jobs working with vulnerable people such as children and the elderly, according to the FBI.
The FBI says it hasn't been saving the fingerprints for those checks, but that may change. The FBI plans a so-called "rap-back" service in which an employer could ask the FBI to keep the prints for an employee on file and let the employer know if the person ever has a brush with the law. The FBI says it will first have to clear hurdles with state privacy laws, and people would have to sign waivers allowing their information to be kept.
Critics say people are being forced to give up too much personal information. But Lawrence Hornak, the co-director of the research center at West Virginia University, said it could actually enhance people's privacy.
"It allows you to project your identity as being you," said Hornak. "And it allows people to avoid identity theft, things of that nature."
There remains the question of how reliable these new biometric technologies will be. A 2006 German study looking at facial recognition in a crowded train station found successful matches could be made 60 percent of the time during the day. But when lighting conditions worsened at night, the results shrank to a success rate of 10 to 20 percent.
As work on these technologies continues, researchers are quick to admit what's proven to be the most accurate so far. "Iris technology is perceived today, together with fingerprints, to be the most accurate," said Cukic.
But in the future all kinds of methods may be employed. Some researchers are looking at the way people walk as a possible additional means of identification.
The FBI says it will protect all this personal data and only collect information on criminals and those seeking sensitive jobs.
The ACLU's Steinhardt doesn't believe it will stop there.
"This had started out being a program to track or identify criminals," he said. "Now we're talking about large swaths of the population -- workers, volunteers in youth programs. Eventually, it's going to be everybody."
Shaping the Lotus Sutra
Now, Sâriputra, that man, on seeing the house from every side wrapt in a blaze by a great mass of fire, got afraid, frightened, anxious in his mind, and made the following reflection: I myself am able to come out from the burning house through the door, quickly and safely, without being touched or scorched by that
great mass of fire; but my children, those young boys, are staying in the burning house, playing, amusing, and diverting themselves with all sorts of sports. They do not perceive, nor know, nor understand, nor mind that the house is on fire, and do not get afraid. Though scorched by that great mass of fire, and affected with such a mass of pain, they do not mind the pain, nor do they conceive the idea of escaping. Note: this is not meant to mean one thing or another...merely show an interesting parallel...it is especially not meant to say anything about the united states in particular, its not meant to be understood that concretely...the idea of the burning house is the beginning of the lotus sutra, one of buddhism's most popular texts...it is also displayed in its artwork through burning cities.....they also have a very vague understanding of space and time....
The Lifted Lorax by The Man
I hope you all enjoi reading this little story. I have no doubt that you've read it, or had it read to you before, but who doesn't love a little Seuss now and again?
French police deal blow to Microsoft
Hey, so the French government is down to say goodbye to Microsoft in favor of an open source free OS...how long till everything is open source and free?
The Perfect High by Shel Silverstein
There once was a boy named Gimme-Some-Roy... He was nothin' like me or you,
'cause laying back and getting high was all he cared to do.
As a kid, he sat in the cellar...sniffing airplane glue. And then he smoked banana peels, when that was the thing to do. He tried aspirin in Coca-Cola, he breathed helium on the sly, and his life became an endless search to find the perfect high.
But grass just made him wanna lay back and eat chocolate-chip pizza all night,
and the great things he wrote when he was stoned looked like shit in the morning light.
Speed made him wanna rap all day, reds laid him too far back, Cocaine-Rose was sweet to his nose, but the price nearly broke his back.
He tried PCP, he tried THC, but they never quite did the trick. Poppers nearly blew his heart, mushrooms made him sick. Acid made him see the light, but he couldn't remember it long. Hash was a little too weak, and smack was a lot too strong. Quaaludes made him stumble, booze just made him cry, Then he heard of a cat named Baba Fats who knew of the perfect high.
Now, Baba Fats was a hermit cat...lived high up in Nepal, High on a craggy mountain top, up a sheer and icy wall. "Well, hell!" says Roy, "I'm a healthy boy, and I'll crawl or climb or fly,
Till I find that guru who'll give me the clue as to what's the perfect high."
So out and off goes Gimme-Some-Roy, to the land that knows no time, Up a trail no man could conquer, to a cliff no man could climb. For fourteen years he climbed that cliff...back down again he'd slide . . .
He'd sit and cry, then climb some more, pursuing the perfect high.
Grinding his teeth, coughing blood, aching and shaking and weak, Starving and sore, bleeding and tore, he reaches the mountain peak. And his eyes blink red like a snow-blind wolf, and he snarls the snarl of a rat,
As there in repose, and wearing no clothes, sits the god-like Baba Fats.
"What's happenin', Fats?" says Roy with joy, "I've come to state my biz . . .
I hear you're hip to the perfect trip... Please tell me what it is. "For you can see," says Roy to he, "I'm about to die, So for my last ride, tell me, how can I achieve the perfect high?"
"Well, dog my cats!" says Baba Fats. "Another burned out soul, Who's lookin' for an alchemist to turn his trip to gold. It isn't in a dealer's stash, or on a druggist's shelf... Son, if you would find the perfect high, find it in yourself."
"Why, you jive mother-fucker!" says Roy, "I climbed through rain and sleet,
I froze three fingers off my hands, and four toes off my feet! I braved the lair of the polar bear, I've tasted the maggot's kiss. Now, you tell me the high is in myself? What kinda shit is this?
My ears, before they froze off," says Roy, "had heard all kindsa crap; But I didn't climb for fourteen years to hear your sophomore rap. And I didn't climb up here to hear that the high is on the natch, So you tell me where the real stuff is, or I'll kill your guru ass!"
"Okay...okay," says Baba Fats, "You're forcin' it outta me... There is a land beyond the sun that's known as Zabolee. A wretched land of stone and sand, where snakes and buzzards scream, And in this devil's garden blooms the mystic Tzutzu tree.
Now, once every ten years it blooms one flower, as white as the Key West sky,
And he who eats of the Tzutzu flower shall know the perfect high. For the rush comes on like a tidal wave...hits like the blazin' sun. And the high? It lasts forever, and the down don't never come.
But, Zabolee Land is ruled by a giant, who stands twelve cubits high, And with eyes of red in his hundred heads, he awaits the passer-by. And you must slay the red-eyed giant, and swim the river of slime, Where the mucous beasts await to feast on those who journey by. And if you slay the giant and beasts, and swim the slimy sea, There's a blood-drinking witch who sharpens her teeth as she guards the Tzutzu tree."
"Well, to hell with your witches and giants," says Roy, "To hell with the beasts of the sea--
Why, as long as the Tzutzu flower still blooms, hope still blooms for me."
And with tears of joy in his sun-blind eyes, he slips the guru a five, And crawls back down the mountainside, pursuing the perfect high. "Well, that is that," says Baba Fats, sitting back down on his stone, Facing another thousand years of talking to God, alone. "Yes, Lord, it's always the same...old men or bright-eyed youth... It's always easier to sell 'em some shit than it is to tell them the truth."
'cause laying back and getting high was all he cared to do.
As a kid, he sat in the cellar...sniffing airplane glue. And then he smoked banana peels, when that was the thing to do. He tried aspirin in Coca-Cola, he breathed helium on the sly, and his life became an endless search to find the perfect high.
But grass just made him wanna lay back and eat chocolate-chip pizza all night,
and the great things he wrote when he was stoned looked like shit in the morning light.
Speed made him wanna rap all day, reds laid him too far back, Cocaine-Rose was sweet to his nose, but the price nearly broke his back.
He tried PCP, he tried THC, but they never quite did the trick. Poppers nearly blew his heart, mushrooms made him sick. Acid made him see the light, but he couldn't remember it long. Hash was a little too weak, and smack was a lot too strong. Quaaludes made him stumble, booze just made him cry, Then he heard of a cat named Baba Fats who knew of the perfect high.
Now, Baba Fats was a hermit cat...lived high up in Nepal, High on a craggy mountain top, up a sheer and icy wall. "Well, hell!" says Roy, "I'm a healthy boy, and I'll crawl or climb or fly,
Till I find that guru who'll give me the clue as to what's the perfect high."
So out and off goes Gimme-Some-Roy, to the land that knows no time, Up a trail no man could conquer, to a cliff no man could climb. For fourteen years he climbed that cliff...back down again he'd slide . . .
He'd sit and cry, then climb some more, pursuing the perfect high.
Grinding his teeth, coughing blood, aching and shaking and weak, Starving and sore, bleeding and tore, he reaches the mountain peak. And his eyes blink red like a snow-blind wolf, and he snarls the snarl of a rat,
As there in repose, and wearing no clothes, sits the god-like Baba Fats.
"What's happenin', Fats?" says Roy with joy, "I've come to state my biz . . .
I hear you're hip to the perfect trip... Please tell me what it is. "For you can see," says Roy to he, "I'm about to die, So for my last ride, tell me, how can I achieve the perfect high?"
"Well, dog my cats!" says Baba Fats. "Another burned out soul, Who's lookin' for an alchemist to turn his trip to gold. It isn't in a dealer's stash, or on a druggist's shelf... Son, if you would find the perfect high, find it in yourself."
"Why, you jive mother-fucker!" says Roy, "I climbed through rain and sleet,
I froze three fingers off my hands, and four toes off my feet! I braved the lair of the polar bear, I've tasted the maggot's kiss. Now, you tell me the high is in myself? What kinda shit is this?
My ears, before they froze off," says Roy, "had heard all kindsa crap; But I didn't climb for fourteen years to hear your sophomore rap. And I didn't climb up here to hear that the high is on the natch, So you tell me where the real stuff is, or I'll kill your guru ass!"
"Okay...okay," says Baba Fats, "You're forcin' it outta me... There is a land beyond the sun that's known as Zabolee. A wretched land of stone and sand, where snakes and buzzards scream, And in this devil's garden blooms the mystic Tzutzu tree.
Now, once every ten years it blooms one flower, as white as the Key West sky,
And he who eats of the Tzutzu flower shall know the perfect high. For the rush comes on like a tidal wave...hits like the blazin' sun. And the high? It lasts forever, and the down don't never come.
But, Zabolee Land is ruled by a giant, who stands twelve cubits high, And with eyes of red in his hundred heads, he awaits the passer-by. And you must slay the red-eyed giant, and swim the river of slime, Where the mucous beasts await to feast on those who journey by. And if you slay the giant and beasts, and swim the slimy sea, There's a blood-drinking witch who sharpens her teeth as she guards the Tzutzu tree."
"Well, to hell with your witches and giants," says Roy, "To hell with the beasts of the sea--
Why, as long as the Tzutzu flower still blooms, hope still blooms for me."
And with tears of joy in his sun-blind eyes, he slips the guru a five, And crawls back down the mountainside, pursuing the perfect high. "Well, that is that," says Baba Fats, sitting back down on his stone, Facing another thousand years of talking to God, alone. "Yes, Lord, it's always the same...old men or bright-eyed youth... It's always easier to sell 'em some shit than it is to tell them the truth."
On Killing Wooly Mamoths
If I had a nickel for every time I have been talking to some guy or girl about their new romantic interest or their new little electronic toy, I would be, well, rich. When confronted by these mind-numbing situations, I, probably like most people, rarely care
But here we find ourselves, drawling on and on about some bit of mindless minutiae we would never say into a mirror. Don’t get me wrong, I will be the first to admit that I do this all of the time. My point is not that we should refrain from discussing Gary’s enlarged testicle, or Stacie’s fashionable snow booties; my point is that we have an outrageous and exceptional ability to talk about nothing.
Why would this be? One would think that our ancestors would have killed each other off, for the sake of sanity if nothing else. Indeed, how have we survived long enough to build even more little pieces of bling to show off? Is it to entice the other sex (I always did find talking about those booties somewhat sexy), or perhaps is it to explain away an uncomfortable and iniquitous testicle? “Nothing,” if it is that at all, takes up the majority of our conversation.
Some have postulated that we do this because our ancestors were actively engaged in building close-knit communities. This makes sense to me (I do not know about you, but I too would like to have a wingman on that whole wooly mammoth problem). Our ancestral contemporaries, those somewhat brusque and furry-bowed gentlemen and ladies, were mostly keep-to-themselves types. We probably won out mostly because we came up with cool little bits of technology. Or perhaps we were more competitive, not because each individual came up with cool shit, but because we could talk about our cool shit (even when it is not so cool). Imagine, Grandpa Erg probably discussed what kind of bone needle Ug used on his fur-lined mammoth-skin snow booties…and was bored out of his mind.
But this process has evolved; we are ever more able to convey ideas to one another. We have moved on to more complex matters. As we have become increasingly social, we have become increasingly interested in how we fit in with the ‘guys and gals.’ Conversation serves a new use; it can be a barometer for what other people think of you. Often when people are showing off their new car, they are not just reveling in their new status symbol; they are looking for approval from the group. They are making sure you will still come along on the mammoth hunt, or even whether the car will help out with getting your booties off after a mammoth-steak dinner. Think of that next time you feel compelled to tell me about how many inches you lifted your jeep.
Another goal of seemingly useless drivel is our search for empathy. Words have still not caught up to the complexity of the emotions we all feel. Pain, love, hate, and envy are all boiling within every individual, and most people cannot always put words to the whirlwind. But, as we can see from the fact that we depend on the approval others, it is a good thing to understand where big-bad Ug is coming from when he breaks down in tears. An existential crisis makes for awful spear throwing.
This is still a work in process. Most people are not great at expressing emotion, and probably, neither were our ancestors. This might have been the reason cave painting was all the rage for a while. Aside from showing off your adept hand at a charcoal wildebeest, it was a way to express what you thought about that day. If you felt proud in your exploits making a new kind of knife, you could express it to others, and hopefully cave-painting critics would affirm your work. Many people today feel the urge to write poetry or paint a masterpiece as a way to express what cannot always be put into everyday language. Children are genetically predisposed to express their genius in Spaghetti-Os. Our ability to build communities through communication is stronger than ever.
A few philosophers and their nerdy friends have been discussing this concept for a while, namely, the way that we look at the world through language. Wittgenstein and Chomsky (who would probably prefer to be called a linguist…which is why he is a nerd) have talked a great deal about the importance of language and communication. Some argue that people are born with inherent tendency towards language; that we are evolutionarily patterned into thinking of the world in terms of words. Wittgenstein pointed out that we describe events and thoughts in words even to ourselves, and that language is an intractable part of the fabric of life. While these individuals would probably frown upon my cavalier use of their ideas, this could mean that talking to one another, even about nothing, has been selected for by evolution. That inane babble you cannot stand is a normal human trait, we were born to talk.
Music is another example. Advertisers are all too happy to painfully lodge their little jingle in your brain at every turn. My Chemical Romance lyrics may plague you for the rest of your life. One of the reasons we cannot forget these catchy little rhymes is probably that our ancestors used music and rhyme to remember important things, and pass them on to Ug junior. How many of us remember the quadratic formula from that stupid song Mrs. Finckle drilled into your skull during High School? (Not that I do, but I hear some people paid attention). While we may not use the medium in the same way (car salesmen are a somewhat new addition) we retain the abilities that our antecessors evolved to build communities.
One could say that this article is completely inapplicable to the real world, which I admit, is probably true. I doubt I will care next time that a really annoying freckle on the back of Gary’s arm comes up in conversation. In the very least however, we should be aware of the motivations we have; and perhaps you may even have more sympathy for those regaling you with their latest news. In reality, they are just keeping alive a long and boring tradition.
But here we find ourselves, drawling on and on about some bit of mindless minutiae we would never say into a mirror. Don’t get me wrong, I will be the first to admit that I do this all of the time. My point is not that we should refrain from discussing Gary’s enlarged testicle, or Stacie’s fashionable snow booties; my point is that we have an outrageous and exceptional ability to talk about nothing.
Why would this be? One would think that our ancestors would have killed each other off, for the sake of sanity if nothing else. Indeed, how have we survived long enough to build even more little pieces of bling to show off? Is it to entice the other sex (I always did find talking about those booties somewhat sexy), or perhaps is it to explain away an uncomfortable and iniquitous testicle? “Nothing,” if it is that at all, takes up the majority of our conversation.
Some have postulated that we do this because our ancestors were actively engaged in building close-knit communities. This makes sense to me (I do not know about you, but I too would like to have a wingman on that whole wooly mammoth problem). Our ancestral contemporaries, those somewhat brusque and furry-bowed gentlemen and ladies, were mostly keep-to-themselves types. We probably won out mostly because we came up with cool little bits of technology. Or perhaps we were more competitive, not because each individual came up with cool shit, but because we could talk about our cool shit (even when it is not so cool). Imagine, Grandpa Erg probably discussed what kind of bone needle Ug used on his fur-lined mammoth-skin snow booties…and was bored out of his mind.
But this process has evolved; we are ever more able to convey ideas to one another. We have moved on to more complex matters. As we have become increasingly social, we have become increasingly interested in how we fit in with the ‘guys and gals.’ Conversation serves a new use; it can be a barometer for what other people think of you. Often when people are showing off their new car, they are not just reveling in their new status symbol; they are looking for approval from the group. They are making sure you will still come along on the mammoth hunt, or even whether the car will help out with getting your booties off after a mammoth-steak dinner. Think of that next time you feel compelled to tell me about how many inches you lifted your jeep.
Another goal of seemingly useless drivel is our search for empathy. Words have still not caught up to the complexity of the emotions we all feel. Pain, love, hate, and envy are all boiling within every individual, and most people cannot always put words to the whirlwind. But, as we can see from the fact that we depend on the approval others, it is a good thing to understand where big-bad Ug is coming from when he breaks down in tears. An existential crisis makes for awful spear throwing.
This is still a work in process. Most people are not great at expressing emotion, and probably, neither were our ancestors. This might have been the reason cave painting was all the rage for a while. Aside from showing off your adept hand at a charcoal wildebeest, it was a way to express what you thought about that day. If you felt proud in your exploits making a new kind of knife, you could express it to others, and hopefully cave-painting critics would affirm your work. Many people today feel the urge to write poetry or paint a masterpiece as a way to express what cannot always be put into everyday language. Children are genetically predisposed to express their genius in Spaghetti-Os. Our ability to build communities through communication is stronger than ever.
A few philosophers and their nerdy friends have been discussing this concept for a while, namely, the way that we look at the world through language. Wittgenstein and Chomsky (who would probably prefer to be called a linguist…which is why he is a nerd) have talked a great deal about the importance of language and communication. Some argue that people are born with inherent tendency towards language; that we are evolutionarily patterned into thinking of the world in terms of words. Wittgenstein pointed out that we describe events and thoughts in words even to ourselves, and that language is an intractable part of the fabric of life. While these individuals would probably frown upon my cavalier use of their ideas, this could mean that talking to one another, even about nothing, has been selected for by evolution. That inane babble you cannot stand is a normal human trait, we were born to talk.
Music is another example. Advertisers are all too happy to painfully lodge their little jingle in your brain at every turn. My Chemical Romance lyrics may plague you for the rest of your life. One of the reasons we cannot forget these catchy little rhymes is probably that our ancestors used music and rhyme to remember important things, and pass them on to Ug junior. How many of us remember the quadratic formula from that stupid song Mrs. Finckle drilled into your skull during High School? (Not that I do, but I hear some people paid attention). While we may not use the medium in the same way (car salesmen are a somewhat new addition) we retain the abilities that our antecessors evolved to build communities.
One could say that this article is completely inapplicable to the real world, which I admit, is probably true. I doubt I will care next time that a really annoying freckle on the back of Gary’s arm comes up in conversation. In the very least however, we should be aware of the motivations we have; and perhaps you may even have more sympathy for those regaling you with their latest news. In reality, they are just keeping alive a long and boring tradition.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
NASA on Monday will broadcast the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" across the galaxy to Polaris, the North Star.
"Send my love to the aliens," Paul McCartney told NASA through a Beatles historian. "All the best, Paul."
The song, written by McCartney and John Lennon, may have a ticket to ride and will be flying at the speed of light. But it will take 431 years along a long and winding road to reach its final destination. That's because Polaris is 2.5 quadrillion miles away.
NASA loaded an MP3 of the song, just under four minutes in its original version, and will transmit it digitally at 7 p.m. EST Monday from its giant antenna in Madrid, Spain. But if you wanted to hear it on Polaris, you would need an antenna and a receiver to convert it back to music, the same way people receive satellite television.
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