10.01.2008
never-ending financial story NEFS
kiplinger (finally! someone!) has decent advice to normal people about what they can do in the current meltdown. i'm not a big stock-owner myself... my 401k is unfortunately invested in far muckier mire. however, i do think this is the first evidence i've seen of someone trying to appeal to common sense and rationality in financial matters-- something that has been sore lacking of late.
9.26.2008
8.29.2008
how i spent my summer vacation
researching my city:
boarding the water taxi
skimming the waves of new york harbor
hanging around p.s. 1
site: pedestrian pier at 70th+hudson river
lonely gantry
study model
final model
8.06.2008
death // life
a common approach to sociological history is to presuppose that one is a future archaeologist, discovering remnants of one's own civilization. what will they make of our laptop computers? what will they make of our plastic? how will we communicate with this future version of us?
i have always thought that this "thought technique" is helpful only in a very schematic sense; sort of the same way i regard adam smith's "the rational actor". i think a healthy dose of skepticism is required to separate the important layers where the presupposition is applicable from the rest of the situation, where it is not. it is important to analyze the breakdown of the schematic-- why it works schematically but not in real life.
for example, i think it is useful to consider "future archaeologists" when thinking about sustainable living habits and planetary stewardship: large picture, long range, effects within a small range of variability. i do not support this standpoint when it backs theories of human cultural events or sociological change. this is unacceptable precisely because the historical organization of humanity has been a consistently tangentially changing treatment of itself. change is the very basis for our culture and the change can not be predicted in terms of past trends. and this analogy is particularly vexing because our civilization is unlikely to be so completely eradicated as to produce future archaeologists that fail to recognize a single shard of today's humanity.
so, all that aside for a moment. what if humans found a way to dependably capture immortality? i'm mostly interested in our treatment of the past and how we've projected it onto the future... namely, we respect our ancestry and predecessors because they are dead and we will also soon be dead. it is that cyclic aspect of death and life that keeps humanity invested in the past. speaking about death as an essential element of humanity, helene cixous says the hopelessness of grief and the destitution of death are the most urgent reason for not renouncing our human heritage. "our lost pains are our ultimate goods, our silence renders a sound beyond the ear."
if humans were immortal would we forget our connection to humanity's past? and if that were the case, a "future archaeologist" could very well come across the remnants of our civilization with consternation. it is more likely that our civilization will re-transform itself so completely as to fail to recognize our own motherland. that's the scary part about the impending post-modern global apocalypse that we're so obsessed with talking about lately... not that we'll be wiped out completely so much as that we will change so cataclysmically that our own past will be incomprehensible.
i have always thought that this "thought technique" is helpful only in a very schematic sense; sort of the same way i regard adam smith's "the rational actor". i think a healthy dose of skepticism is required to separate the important layers where the presupposition is applicable from the rest of the situation, where it is not. it is important to analyze the breakdown of the schematic-- why it works schematically but not in real life.
for example, i think it is useful to consider "future archaeologists" when thinking about sustainable living habits and planetary stewardship: large picture, long range, effects within a small range of variability. i do not support this standpoint when it backs theories of human cultural events or sociological change. this is unacceptable precisely because the historical organization of humanity has been a consistently tangentially changing treatment of itself. change is the very basis for our culture and the change can not be predicted in terms of past trends. and this analogy is particularly vexing because our civilization is unlikely to be so completely eradicated as to produce future archaeologists that fail to recognize a single shard of today's humanity.
so, all that aside for a moment. what if humans found a way to dependably capture immortality? i'm mostly interested in our treatment of the past and how we've projected it onto the future... namely, we respect our ancestry and predecessors because they are dead and we will also soon be dead. it is that cyclic aspect of death and life that keeps humanity invested in the past. speaking about death as an essential element of humanity, helene cixous says the hopelessness of grief and the destitution of death are the most urgent reason for not renouncing our human heritage. "our lost pains are our ultimate goods, our silence renders a sound beyond the ear."
if humans were immortal would we forget our connection to humanity's past? and if that were the case, a "future archaeologist" could very well come across the remnants of our civilization with consternation. it is more likely that our civilization will re-transform itself so completely as to fail to recognize our own motherland. that's the scary part about the impending post-modern global apocalypse that we're so obsessed with talking about lately... not that we'll be wiped out completely so much as that we will change so cataclysmically that our own past will be incomprehensible.
5.24.2008
visiting the pacific northwest
and despite expected weather blahs, it's quite nice. heading out to the SIFF tomorrow which looks sort of promising.
BUT! this is the thing of note... SPANK ROCK IS FEATURED IN A SALAD DRESSING COMMERCIAL!!!! FOR WISHBONE BRAND SALAD DRESSING'S NEW HEALTHY LINE THAT IS "PACKED WITH DELICIOUS CHUNKS OF VEGETABLES..."
i'll dispense with the caps. you can check it here! i almost never watch tv and i choked on my beverage when this commercial came on. after all, spank rock is so DELICIOUSLY filthy-mouthed. i like them because they have a song-- /coke & wet bitch guns nigga holla/ <-- and that line is pretty much the extent of the lyrics. it's pretty genius with some kickin beats and not at all mentally coordinated with salad-dressing-buying-habits.
BUT! this is the thing of note... SPANK ROCK IS FEATURED IN A SALAD DRESSING COMMERCIAL!!!! FOR WISHBONE BRAND SALAD DRESSING'S NEW HEALTHY LINE THAT IS "PACKED WITH DELICIOUS CHUNKS OF VEGETABLES..."
i'll dispense with the caps. you can check it here! i almost never watch tv and i choked on my beverage when this commercial came on. after all, spank rock is so DELICIOUSLY filthy-mouthed. i like them because they have a song-- /coke & wet bitch guns nigga holla/ <-- and that line is pretty much the extent of the lyrics. it's pretty genius with some kickin beats and not at all mentally coordinated with salad-dressing-buying-habits.
5.13.2008
new product
finally, the contact solution you've been waiting for! cleans, sterilizes and rinses your contact lenses with the added bonus of beta carotene!
for too long, the only natural way to improve your eyesight was to "eat more carrots"... tired of carrot crunching? want better eyesight? try our new contact solution plus beta carotene! cleanses as well as the expensive brands, but adds a little bonus: better vision!
in a new non-staining formula!
for too long, the only natural way to improve your eyesight was to "eat more carrots"... tired of carrot crunching? want better eyesight? try our new contact solution plus beta carotene! cleanses as well as the expensive brands, but adds a little bonus: better vision!
in a new non-staining formula!
4.24.2008
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