november's m3

ac and dell - modern love (wasted)
matthew dear - elementary lover (feat. mobius band)
julian lynch - just enough
how to dress well - can't see my own face
bibio - ambivalence avenue
best coast - when i'm with you
the xx - crystalized (the neon lights remix)
delorean - stay close (sun airway remix)
evan voytas - sad, like hearts can be
astrud - nostalgia es una arma
glitch mob - drive it like you stole it (king fantastic remix)
theophilus featuring solange - flying overseas
twin shadow - for now

also:
century of the self series from bbc and...
the ascent of money are some interesting videos...

Camus_The Myth of Sisyphus

Now the main thing is done, I hold certain facts from which I cannot separate. What I know, what is certain, what I cannot deny, what I cannot reject—this is what counts. I can negate everything of that part of me that lives on vague nostalgias, except this desire for unity, this longing to solve, this need for clarity and cohesion. I can refute everything in this world surrounding me that offends or enraptures me, except this chaos, this sovereign chance and this divine equivalence which springs from anarchy. I don't know whether this world has a meaning that transcends it. But I know that I do not know that meaning and that it is impossible for me just now to know it. What can a meaning outside my condition mean to me? I can understand only in human terms. What I touch, what resists me—that is what I understand. And these two certainties—my appetite for the absolute and for unity and the impossibility of reducing this world to a rational and reasonable principle—I also know that I cannot reconcile them. What other truth can I admit without lying, without bringing in a hope I lack and which means nothing within the limits of my condition?

the price of winning v. 2.008

this is what obama and mccain spent in 2008 for their elections. also, included is the uk and australian elections in 2005 and 2010 respectively. lastly, meg whitman (R - CA) has spent nearly $140 this year only to be trailing in the polls. it seems as if money doesn't buy you love or a spot in the cali governer's chair these days. regardless, she used to run ebay (former ceo) so the last thing we need is another rich republican in office anyways. this chart is compliments of bbc. my thoughts obviously do not represent their opinion, but they should.

tontería de una familia real

     yesterday marked a day of an extreme anomaly, a sign of how are world is changing. i have heard colloquially that are world is becoming more conservative. i think this may be true economically and politically, because of concentration power in the united states, europe, and the middle eastern countries that have a stronghold on oil and other important resources. the same can also be said for the political corruption that takes place in many african countries and even potentially, though this is arguably more complicated, in the 'bric' countries. regardless, i think that culturally we are divided in a large way. a large majority are certainly be headed more to the right (led in america by palin and glen beck), but one can certainly make the case that many subcultures are gaining steam and pushing the envelope to the left. a few countries have legalized gay marriage, for example, including my current home country, spain, my favorite countries, norway and sweden, and the country i hope to retire in, portugal. last year, my home state of iowa became one of only five states in the entire u.s. to legalize gay marriage as well. though the above is seemingly tangential it demonstrates that even if tea party conservatism is rampant, some places are beginning to budge on culturally liberal issues. enter the story of the day:
     prince saud bin abdulaziz bin nasir al saud of saudi arabia was arrested earlier this year in the uk, and yesterday was found guilty of murdering his servant. this is incredibly interesting for a variety of reasons. first, i don't believe i have ever heard of a prince being prosecuted for anything illegal before. in fact, he was under the assumption that he had royal immunity to any kind of punishment. well, according to the british judge that sentenced him that certainly was not the case. next, the servant that was beaten to death did not just have a trivial connection to the prince, but was apparently was his manslave. prince saud, whose mom is just one of fifty kids of king saud (who died in 1953), was gay. this blew me away. as you should know, homosexuality in saudi arabia is considered extremely shameful and is, in fact, still illegal and prosecutable under law. furthermore, because he was found guilty in the uk, he must spend 19 years in prison there, where he will subsequently be released and, then, most likely prosecuted in his own country for the "offense" of being gay. it is likely that he will be exiled, barring some miraculous leftist turn in the middle east regarding gay rights, but can seek refuge in the uk if he so chooses.
     thus, what seems astonishing to me is that not only was royalty justly prosecuted, but that he likely left his country to "escape" from his identity and express the true colors of his sexuality. unfortunately, like most rockstars his lavish lifestyle of cocktail parties and champagne baths caught up to him when the power went to his head. let me make it clear it wasn't because he was gay, but rather because he was irresponsibly wealthy and undeniably ignorant. you can break any rule and buy your way out of it, but you just can't kill anyone apparently. i wonder if those in saudi arabia know about what really happened? were they lied to about this anomaly? if they do know what is the word on the street, the talk of the town? do they make a precedent of him? what kind of reparations must be made if they do not so choose to denounce him, which is admittedly optimistic and even more unlikely? is going to prison just a blessing in surprise (use your imagination here)? what is to be of prince saud bin abdulaziz bin nasir al saud, the gay arabian prince? any thoughts?

october's monthly mix of music (m^3)

odisea - cabros
lcd soundsstem - can change
dadalú - asunto de la damas
el gunicho - bombay
ceo - illuminata
sleigh bells - rill rill
the tallest man on earth - king of spain
yacht - i'm in love with the ripper
esdcbcp - voluntud de oro
miike snow - black and blue
smoke city - underwater love
gayngs - the gaudy side of town
james blake - limit to your love

parochial schools

i have been rather critical of my high school education, and today while studying for the gre i stumbled across this word and its definition (one that a study website gave me, though there are admittedly other definitions that supposedly are more appropriate to defining my high school). i thought it was amusing so i thought i'd share it. attached is a picture of what came up after googling parochial schools in iowa. i chuckled.


parochial (adj.) - narrow-minded, concerned with only local matters

the 2nd school listed (beckman high school) would fit that definition quite well. god, i love small towns. 

Speaking of South America...

NPR - Traveling Down the Amazon

I wanted to write about this, but I had a hard enough time not breaking down into tears. Corruption from mining, poisonous mercury spreading cancer, how that gold watch you bought your mom is supporting this, etc. It is a pretty amazing story so I highly suggest you take a listen to this four-part series. 

Wanna dance with a Brazilian?

On a personal note, I have to note that this blog is inspired by an ongoing debate between my 14-year old brother and I about which animal is most likely to take over the world. This will most likely be an ongoing series of posts, which I have in fact already hinted about in my first blog and on Facebook, but I will not admit outright my theory until I know a little more about my species of choice. Robbie's (my brother) choice, however, would be the spider. After doing some searching I found what seems to be the most dangerous spider: the Brazilian Wandering Spider. Theses little guys are a genus broken up into eight assorted species all located in South and Central America, mostly in Brazil, hence the name. Their natural defense mechanism is to "stand up" in an erect position by lifting its two side legs and then starts swaying from side-to-side. This is probably the most deadly dance known to man, because this little arachnoid has the world's most poisonous venom according to the Guinness Book of World Records 2007. Now this is where it just gets mind boggling/bottling....
The venom, a down-right nasty neurotoxin, begins to destroy the nervous system by first inhibiting glutamate release as well as calcium and glutamate reuptake. Eventual asphyxiation kicks in after breathing and muscle control completely shut down. The venom slowly starts excitatory neuronal functioning which increases levels of serotonin causing excruciating pain while your nervous system dwindles. Now the kicker: a propeptide known as Tx2-6 kicks in inducing priapism... so not only are you dying, receiving the worst pain you could have possibly experienced in your entire life, but you also having a raging erection or clitoris stimulation the entire time. Well, wouldn't that be an ironic way to die if you had ED.
If you're worried, you really shouldn't be. Nat Geo puts this stuff on TV to get ratings and I wrote about it because I love creeping my little sister out. These little guys can be found all around the world, but only because they hide in bananas and usually get shipped over seas. They don't typically live long after that. They primarily live on the floors of the rain forest and are actually quite nocturnal. Most bites come from humans bothering them while they're sleeping in boots, logs, or clothes hanging outside (in Central and South America). Even in those situations, only 2.3 percent of cases require anti-venom, and those are mainly relating to bites of small children. On top of this, these spiders can distribute "dry" bites that are simply defense mechanisms to get you out of their space, and they seem to only happen one-third of the time. So, as I said, I wouldn't be too worried, because the chances of you being in Brazil, in the rain forest, during the night, getting bit, having venom injected, and not being able to get an anti-venom seems, well, a little like flipping tails with a double-headed quarter. Until next time my friends...

Cinemated Repetition: Aesthetics over the Decades

Though this post may not be one of my most well-thought out (or scientific), it is a quick little blurb that one may find interesting. It seems to me, in my rather apathetic pursuit of this particular issue, that aesthetics are certainly something that must be subjectively pursued. Scientists have suggested that symmetry and complexity can play a large part in this (e.g. Jacobsen et al. 2006) and have even narrowed down some of the neural correlates. Though, as always, I need to simplify this a bit, the cerebral underpinnings that this study highlights relate to temporal, parietal, and, in my opinion as a sociologist the most important, the frontal lobe. The specific regions pointed out aren't as important as knowing the frontal cortex generally contributes to conscious decision-making and elements of rational choice. Those naive to this subject must note that these specific areas are not the only contributor to these functions, as I will probably note in a later article on neuronal networks, and most certainly interact with parts of the limbic system as well in solidifying how and what you choose. What Jacobsen and colleagues do point out is that beauty and aesthetics are morally and socially influenced. In a study that I think is only inexplicitly, and maybe even tangentially, related. Salganik, Dodds, and Watts (2006) found that music and cultural trends are also largely influenced by those socially connected to us. I find this to be something that is ridiculously obvious, but often denied on the basis of our so-called "individualism" and (falsely conceptualized) agency. The reality is that most of what we think and do probably comes from those around us, the television, and the like. A brief example of this can be found in some of the hottest pop-culture trends, movies, and actor/actresses. Some have recently compared Inception to Italian director Federico Fellini's 1963 classic 8 1/2. Regardless of its apparent connection, which I believe may be only abstractly and/or conceptually linked, there is a performance by a striking French actress named Anouk Aimée. I immediately compared her to my favorite actress of contemporary times, no other than that of, Penelope Cruz. But this is not the first time in recent memory that I have compared big-time cinema stars to that of today's big-screen cuties. One afternoon while watching Doc (1971) with my parents I found that Megan Fox and Hilary Duff had not actually formed a genetic alliance and traveled back in time, but rather Faye Dunaway was just the replica that the two newly rising female phenoms had been forged from (at least pre-plastic surgery Dunaway). Let me provide some quality proof through a general comparison:

Faye Dunaway (circa 1970) and Megan Fox (not in some trashy photo)

I might add that is was rather hard to find an appropriate picture of either which further attests to their similar attributes. Furthermore, pictures do not do this comparability justice. I advise you to see Doc or Bonnie and Clyde to see Faye in action. Anyways, the next one is much better:

Well, what do you guys think? Maybe a little? Here's another one that I just found today, though it hardly counts because it was during the same time epoch. Regardless, one is Italian and the other Scottish so at least its cross-culture... So lastly.... dadadada.... Sean Connery and Fabio Testi:

If you agree with any of these, even a little bit, hear me out. Beauty, much like cultural trends, is something that is fabricated and, more importantly, reproduced. I don't really see that as something good or bad, but maybe just something we need to be conscious of. Look around, see the patterns, and, even more, watch how you influence beauty around your social networks. Is beauty something we can even see anymore with its constant flux between material and spirit, or more scientifically, energy patterns and unconscious processing? Is beauty really all that subjective as I implied at the onset of this post? Where do we say what is ours and what is society's influence and what difference does it really make on decision-making and morality? Just think about it... while you are sitting around watching classics with coffee.

Phytoplankton to Weather Patterns

NPR: Depletion of Phytoplankton (28-7-10)

Though I am admittedly not an expert on these topics, my inquiries have led me to post this interesting, but potentially misleading post. However, these ideas are noteworthy and I ask you to take them with a critical perspective. The attached article, originally swiped from the latest issue of Nature,  talks about how phytoplankton are depleting in the upper layers of 8 of 10 oceans as a direct result of global warming (regardless if it's human caused or not). Though scientists do not fully comprehend the longevity of this particular trend, the phenomenon has caused a drastic decrease of oxegen in our atmosphere (40 percent-- eek!). Don't be scared though, because this is where it gets cool, at least in regards to thinking about how everything is infinitely interconnected. One type of phytoplakton, known as coccolithophores, release a significant amount of dimethyl sulfide, which converts to sulfate. Consequently, the sulfate contributes to cloud condensation nuclei, and, you guessed it, overall cloud cover in our atmosphere. Does this contribute to cooling the whole planet off? Well, yes... and... no! Yes because during the day, cloud cover lowers solar radiation decreasing overall ground temperture. This, however, does not affect each geographical region the same. Some are hotter than others, which may depend on wind patterns, solar flares, various topological influences, etc. This is why, for example, the aggregate world temp is the hottest ever recorded, while spain's average temperture is the coldest in 13 years. Hmmm.... bet you didnt know that, eh? Anyways, the no part: during night the earth naturally cools. This is most prominent when there are no clouds, because long wave radiation, which the earth is giving off, is typically trapped by clouds while not being substituted by the short term waves from the sun. This ends up dramatizing the capping inversion phenomenon from happening in our upper atmosphere and making the ground as well as the air above it colder. That influences weather patterns through out the extent of the day, mainly by determining when and if we will get rain during humid months. This, of course, is a dramatic simplification of meteorological principles, but that is neither my forte nor my intention in posting this. So waht is the point? Phytoplankton, something you can see and certainly don't care at all about, may decide your fate to a large degree. They definetely influence your day, like whether it will rain or not, but also seem to play a huge part in every single breath you take. So take a deep one, but not too deep, because every little thing in this world might change something else, ad infinitum. Next time, I might tell you how ants would be my vote for most likely creature to take over the world.