Too Late, Trotsky

Economics 101 - TV Party

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:53:52 -0500

Previously, my professor has mentioned to the class that he does not own a television. Instead, as readers of this blog know from the lesson “Homework,” he reads copious amounts of stuff. Today someone asked what he does instead of watch the boob tube.

Well, that set him on a rant.

“Did you know that your brain starts functioning properly when you stop watching television for three months? When I go to a friend’s house and watch I can feel my brain start to change. It gets slow, shallow, and superficial. You can’t process the phenomena around you.” He stopped the rant to talk about the textbook material, but not for long. Soon after we started talking about the text, he asked about freedom in the post-9/11 Western culture. He then mentioned that all libraries in the United States must provide information to the federal government.
For example, if I was to walk into my public library at home and check out a copy of the Qur’an, the library’s system will send my personal information (name, address, phone number, other books I’ve checked out, etc, etc) to the FBI. Simply because I checked out a book. Slightly ‘Big Brother’-y, n’est pas?
Yet anyone can get information on the internet without having the federal government immediately contacted. As my professor said, “Any hobo can post something online, go to the public library and print off a New York Times article, hold it up, and say, “Look!”“

Then we rolled back around to the television rant. He told us the main goal of the class wasn’t just to study Macroeconomics, it was to “get our brains to process things the right way.” He then mentioned that the first two months without television are kind of like going through withdrawals.

“I know I’m talking to the number one television culture in the world and I know to you I’m just the crazy German guy right now. I had a professor tell me to do the same thing I’m telling you to do, and I thought he was a nutcase. So I know.”

The moral of the story is that once you stop watching television, buy your books because the library is part of an overarching government conspiracy to spy on the American people. Either that or read the books while in the library and don’t check them out. Also, get outside and walk around.

"My Way" by Christoph Niemann

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:21:38 -0500

"My Way" by Christoph Niemann

"I got the reinvested dividend from Comcast and Kimberly Clark, gonna pick up check go to post..."

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:16:02 -0500

“I got the reinvested dividend from Comcast and Kimberly Clark, gonna pick up check go to post office, have lunch with mom, go to home Depot, maybe Bed Bath and Beyond if I have time, I don’t know…
okay maybe one beer bong because it tastes so good when it hits your throat.”

- Dad, referencing Old School while telling me his plans for the day.

rd67: Hawaiian Volcano Landscape post by jchip8

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:09:06 -0500

rd67:

Hawaiian Volcano Landscape
post by jchip8

Economics 101 - Bullshitting

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:23:00 -0500

In class the other day, we got our midterm exams back. The professor gave us some time in class to correct our answers so we could go over them as a class. One of the questions was a “define this term, then explain how it works” kind of thing. As we went over the answers, as usual, our professor got sidetracked and gave us all a life tip.

He explained (I’m paraphrasing here) that if a question starts with a term, define the fuck out of it. If you don’t, you’re basically telling the person grading the answer that, right off the bat, you have no idea what you’re talking about. This takes away from your argument and you look like an idiot.

He’s right. Sometimes I’ll answer a question without defining the terms right at the beginning, and halfway through I’ll realize I’m just bullshitting. It hasn’t hurt me too much just yet, but I’m getting to the point where I actually need to know what I’m talking about.

But until then, I’ll stick with the bullshit.

“Hip to be Square” by Huey Lewis and the News

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:35:39 -0500

“Hip to be Square” by Huey Lewis and the News

thedailywhat: Infographic of the Day: As with most everything...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:57:11 -0500

thedailywhat:

Infographic of the Day: As with most everything in life, famous movie quotes cannot help but submit to the ameliorating power of charts and graphs.

[flowingdata.]

Voice over Narration

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:24:42 -0500

Voice over Narration:

My attempt to watch all 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and blog about the films and my experience.

fuckyesmaps: itsnathan:sarettestahnke:sylvia:(via...

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:34:53 -0500

fuckyesmaps:

itsnathan:sarettestahnke:sylvia:(via wcdonaldsvalue)

30 Rare Star Wars Photos

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:04:52 -0500

30 Rare Star Wars Photos

purpleboots: ontologicalterrorist: feralnostalgia: constantflu...

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:41:30 -0500

purpleboots:

ontologicalterrorist:

feralnostalgia:

constantflux:

whisperingwillow:treehuggingarchitect:

This, my friends, is what I like to call awesome. It’s a wildlife overpass….kind of like a pedestrian bridge, only the pedestrians it caters to are the four legged kinds. Deer, elk, moose, wolf, and lynx alike, as well as their kin, will use this little bridge to safely cross the human road, what was once a barrier.

Alberta, Canada, 1999 Photography by Joel Sartore

This is so that episode from the first season of The West Wing when it’s “Big Block of Cheese Day.”

Economics 101 - Homework

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:24:00 -0500

Upon my arrival to class today, I was holding the Time Magazine I had received in the mail this morning. I sat down and flipped through a few pages, and as I did, my professor inquired if there was “anything relevant to the class in there.” I said maybe, and that I hadn’t really looked at it yet. He then asked, “what is that, People magazine?” to which I replied, “hahaha what!?” This led to a five minute conversation between me and my professor which ended with a brief critical analysis of how Time Magazine keeps commercial readers while still appealing to intellectual readers.

Soon after, my backpack exploded as he started lecturing and I dug out my notebook, textbook, and pen. After class lecture, my fellow students filed out of the room while I still rushed to jam my shit back into my bag.

I ended up being the last person to leave, and my professor asked what my major was. I told him it was English and he replied that it was “real important stuff.” Because obviously, unlike economists, English majors do important things that matter. All elitism aside, he asked me who my favorite author was and it being a monday and all, I blanked. I just completely lost any thoughts that were swimming around my head. I said that, “I really like F. Scott Fitzgerald” because I do, and then I said “Tolstoy” like a moron. In reality, I have read about ten pages of Tolstoy’s War and Peace. I really did like those ten pages, though, and I meant what I said. My professor asked if I had ever read anything by Dostoyevsky, and I said no, but they’re on my list of books I need to read (which they are). He told me to check out The Brothers Karamazov, which I have on my bookshelf. I said I would, and headed to lunch.

Long story short, I’m considering this my new homework assignment for my economics class, which is weird considering that other than this class, I have books to read in every other class I’m taking.

I have a feeling I’ll probably finish the Dostoyevsky before any other ones I’m supposed to read.

Conversation I Actually Had with My Mother When I Told Her I Bought Light-Up Sneakers

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:00:00 -0500

Me: Hey, I bought new sneakers!
Mom: That's great. What kind?
Me: Well, I got a pair of little kids shoes because I fit in them.
Mom: Good, your shoes from now on will be cheaper.
Me: Not if they light up!
Mom: No you did not.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you...

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:55:10 -0500

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

- Albert Einstein

Video

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:25:59 -0500

"Oil can give us food, like biscuits."

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:31:50 -0500

“Oil can give us food, like biscuits.”

- Little Kid’s Test Answer

thediamondmind: Hair-Portraits of the presidents. From left to...

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:59:00 -0500

thediamondmind:

Hair-Portraits of the presidents. From left to right: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama.

“Hair to the Chief”

Conversation I Am Expecting to Have with My Mother When I Tell Her I Bought Light-Up Sneakers

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:24:00 -0500

Me: I bought new sneakers. Did you know that if you're a women's size 6.5 you can fit into little kids size threes?
Mom: No, but that's good. They'll be cheaper.
Me: Not if they light up!
Mom: No you did not.

Blame it on the Dog.

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:36:00 -0500

My dad told me this joke when I called him earlier:

Jim is at dinner with his new girlfriend and her family.
About halfway through the meal, he has to fart. He leans over onto one ass-cheek and squeaks one out. The father looks at the dog and says, “Rusty! Come here!”
Good, He thinks, they think the dog did it. I’m in the clear.
He squeaks another one out, and the father looks at the dog again.
“Rusty! Get over here!”
Jim lets one more fly, and this time, it’s a little noisier than he expected.
“Rusty!” The father says, “Get out of the way! That man’s going to shit on you!”

I’m a 20 year old girl. I just bought these sneakers....

Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:19:16 -0500

I’m a 20 year old girl. I just bought these sneakers. They’re a boy’s size 3.
THEY LIGHT UP.

BEST PURCHASE EVER.