well, i got up this morning and decided (as usual) to grab some coffee and i found myself driving to the tim's close to my place - i figured i could drive-thru it up - and to my dismay, well, and alarm, i found the line up was actually causing traffic in the street! this is how much people are addicted to tim's coffee... i find it amazing.
so then i had to come to school and get coffee - which i did... and anyway, then i rolled up my rim (after having finished drinking cold, watered down coffee.. it was nasty....) and it said: please play again - so then a thought came to my mind... what if we could "roll up the rim" on exams? it'd be like a raffle to see if you could get an automatic pass or something.. i think that'd be pretty cool... and i imagine that students would go for it, and the university could make tons of money, and then maybe they can lower tuition and higher less angry librarians, and raise the entrance average so that we don't get idiot arts students watching movies loudly in the library... freaks!
anyway... those are my thoughts... coffee makes people crrraazy.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
things i learnt yesterday
- in terms of food additives, the term "contaminant" does not include insect fragments, rodent hairs and other extraneous matter
- ok.. so... what about whiskers?
- smoking and deep sea fishing are more dangerous than food additives
oh - and a survey!
i want you all to say - phonetically : eee-pine (like pine tree) - frein ... now faster, eeepinefrein
question: if you are a forth year (honors) life science student (like a biochemist maybe...) and you pronounce "epinephrine", "eeepinefriene", should you be allowed to graduate?
leave a yes or a no in the comments section
The above is not at all, in any way, shape or form, based on a true story, or on the life of a close friend/classmate of mine. Any similarities you might see are surely a figment of your crrrazy imagination and not a reflection on me writing about someone else.
sneaky study
The phone rings.
"Hi?"
"Hey. It's me."
"Heeey, where are you?"
Nonchalant: "In the hospital."
"Oh my God! Are you ok?!"
"Hi?"
"Hey. It's me."
"Heeey, where are you?"
Nonchalant: "In the hospital."
"Oh my God! Are you ok?!"
It was this conversation that got me sneaking into the body repair facility late at night - sometimes as late as 8pm - to study. One little secret vertical passageway would take me up to the 13th floor - the others didn't have a number 13 button - and there I would find small furnished cubbyholes that were build for the more frugal body mechanic (mec) student. At one end there was a chapel so that you could pray you didn't fail exams... and at the other end... well... I haven't the guts to venture that far (I ordered guts on ebay, but they got lost in the mail)... There were even wash facilities with two doors, so that a creepy mec could never corner you - it would take two creepy mecs to do so!
I would sneak to this place witha friend or two (the cubbyholes you sickos not the wash facilities!) ...and close the door and read my books in peace. In peace from the trivium students watching funny people on their light books in the book repositories; in peace from gates being randomly locked; and from scary, angry cleaning staff that slam your desk when you are writing and say "oops! Sorry, I guess I pushed that chair in too hard" three times over! The only problem: I am not a mec.
I would always look over my shoulder to see if someone was coming to tell me to leave the premises. I was sure that I was wearing a gigantic sign on my back saying "theorist" but it was just the exact same letters embroidered onto the back of my new zip-up.
Then one day when I was alone in my cubbyhole, I heard steps approaching quickly... then slowing down... then stopped in front of my door. The doorhandle turned - I looked up, ready to pack my books and to throw in my towel in this battle of life - and a lady stuck her head in, saw I was there, and said "oh, sorry" and left. Today, I have gained a place to study.
In your face, university!
I would sneak to this place witha friend or two (the cubbyholes you sickos not the wash facilities!) ...and close the door and read my books in peace. In peace from the trivium students watching funny people on their light books in the book repositories; in peace from gates being randomly locked; and from scary, angry cleaning staff that slam your desk when you are writing and say "oops! Sorry, I guess I pushed that chair in too hard" three times over! The only problem: I am not a mec.
I would always look over my shoulder to see if someone was coming to tell me to leave the premises. I was sure that I was wearing a gigantic sign on my back saying "theorist" but it was just the exact same letters embroidered onto the back of my new zip-up.
Then one day when I was alone in my cubbyhole, I heard steps approaching quickly... then slowing down... then stopped in front of my door. The doorhandle turned - I looked up, ready to pack my books and to throw in my towel in this battle of life - and a lady stuck her head in, saw I was there, and said "oh, sorry" and left. Today, I have gained a place to study.
In your face, university!
Friday, April 13, 2007
well, i must say....
that i am very much wanting to write but never having much to say.... it's like filling radio silence. i was on my friend's radio show once.... and i was at a total loss for what to say, so i was like don't tell them i'm here! needless to say, i was introduced, i said a very lenthy "hullo" and then quickly gave her a track to play (oh harry and the potters! *tear*) this is kinda like that - you see a blank screen and you think, what the heck am i going to do with this.... unfortunately for both you and i.... the answer is not much. sigh
anyway, i'm at school right now, in the main library - frustrated out of my mind that i got locked out of the building that houses my locker and one of my reserve textbooks. baaah tell me: what kind of university shuts down at 5pm during final examinations and then proceeds to lock doors to its health sciences building?! you'd think they'd care about the med and dent students more than the arts students (the arts building is still open). and extended hours - i laugh at your lame attempt to convince me of that.. here i am, sitting in the main library with arts students who spend more time laughing and watching videos (without headphones) than studying... you know what? i'm going home. with a 3 year old and parents on my case - even my house is quieter and less hectic than these people.
i have other less appropriate words for this university... but i'll end this blogpost here.
and they wonder why we get such low grades... IDIOTS!
anyway, i'm at school right now, in the main library - frustrated out of my mind that i got locked out of the building that houses my locker and one of my reserve textbooks. baaah tell me: what kind of university shuts down at 5pm during final examinations and then proceeds to lock doors to its health sciences building?! you'd think they'd care about the med and dent students more than the arts students (the arts building is still open). and extended hours - i laugh at your lame attempt to convince me of that.. here i am, sitting in the main library with arts students who spend more time laughing and watching videos (without headphones) than studying... you know what? i'm going home. with a 3 year old and parents on my case - even my house is quieter and less hectic than these people.
i have other less appropriate words for this university... but i'll end this blogpost here.
and they wonder why we get such low grades... IDIOTS!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
aha! THIS is what i need to do with my life!
I gotta work out. I keep saying it all the time. I keep saying I gotta start working out. It's been about two months since I've worked out. And I just don't have the time. Which uh..is odd. Because I have the time to go out to dinner. And uh..and watch tv. And get a bone density test. And uh.. try to figure out what my phone number spells in words.
- Ellen DeGeneres
- Ellen DeGeneres
So I'm wondering how many of you can see a cool little handwritten font, instead of the usual times or whatever that I've been using. If you can see it, please let me know. If not... sigh, back to the drawing board it will be for me. In any case, I've discovered a new found love - web design. That's right, my friends, I think I shall drop out of school, forget science and what not - and devote my life to making cool web pages and photography like every other sorry student out there. Take THAT my 100% final!
Also, for those of you who CAN read this font - I wish very much that my real hand writing can look like this. I actually have a doctor's scrawl... I attribute this to my inability to think straight - it ends up affecting everything because I can't keep up with the profs and their crazy talk eheh. Today, I was told by a very kind friend of a friend that bad handwriting is the mark of a genius. Sigh... I also wish that I were somewhat a genius.
Apparently, I'm also not very genius at making this whole blog font thing work - so far this font is not showing up for anyone... I should've listened in grade 7 when they taught us the basics!
Anyway, I should get back to studying about sulfites...
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
today's learning
well, i've been studying some more - and so i have a few fun facts for you all (ahah, say that 10 times fast!)
- if you hear: "nitrile levels increased following glucosinolate consumption" that means: "we gave them a toxic dinner, and then measured the amount of poison in their bodies
- ok, so i'm taking a food additives and toxicants class. at one point we were learning about isothiocyanates, a compound which can become the poison cyanide in the body. the prof gave us a list of reasons why it is bad for us, and then has at the bottom of that list, a bullet stating that the effects of this compound on humans is not known, as no one's really looked into studying it. so now, here's my question for you - if we're talking about food toxicants, wouldn't it be normal to expect that we'd want to know what the compound does to a human? just a thought. maybe we don't... i dunno..
- oh, and for all you lab rats out there - remember, do not, i repeat DO NOT autoclave your food. i realize that you want to get rid of tannins just as much as i do - but autoclaves are not the right means to that end.
- oh, and if you want to peel a potato, it's never been easier - a simple alkali steamer will go pop, and there goes the peel claen and easy. no more hand cramps from peeling during those wonderful family-dinner holidays all women hate...
and now, a piece of advice for those of you who like to text. most cell phones (or mobiles for those of us not in north america) are now equipped with a silent function, in which you can push buttons all you want without making touch-tone phone sounds.
and that's all for now...
Sunday, April 08, 2007
bits of info
so i was studying today (surprise, surprise...) and i came across a few things in my notes that i thought might be of some interest to you:
- cyclamates, a type of non-nutritive (which also means non-caloric) sweetener, are also useful as a means to cause testicular atrophy - remember that for the next time he cheats on you! :P
- chemically synthesized also seems to mean "not found in nature". get that.
- there is such a thing as "chinese restaurant syndrome" - it's when you go insane and convince yourself that Chinese food is bad for you.
- gossypol - which is cotton-seed oil - can work as a male contraceptive. it also causes major organ failure.. but that's beside the point - just think, a male contraceptive. no more pill, patch, iud, etc for the woman... brilliant.. although, can men handle the responsibility?
quotations of the day
here are some quotations i read today that i thought were pretty cool...
Therefore, you must thank God that He has bestowed upon you the blessing of life and existence in the human kingdom. Strive diligently to acquire virtues befitting your degree and station. Be as lights of the world which cannot be hid and which have no setting in the horizons of darkness.
and...
Therefore you should put forward your most earnest efforts toward the acquisition of the sciences and arts. The greater your attainment, the higher your standard in the divine purpose. The man of science is perceiving and endowed with vision whereas he who is ignorant and neglectful of this development is blind. The investigating mind is attentive, alive; the mind callous and indifferent is deaf and dead.
Therefore, you must thank God that He has bestowed upon you the blessing of life and existence in the human kingdom. Strive diligently to acquire virtues befitting your degree and station. Be as lights of the world which cannot be hid and which have no setting in the horizons of darkness.
and...
Therefore you should put forward your most earnest efforts toward the acquisition of the sciences and arts. The greater your attainment, the higher your standard in the divine purpose. The man of science is perceiving and endowed with vision whereas he who is ignorant and neglectful of this development is blind. The investigating mind is attentive, alive; the mind callous and indifferent is deaf and dead.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
the standard question
well, my life has become a matter of procrastination, and as such, i deem it necessary to write as many blog posts as is required to compel me to study out of boredom of blogposting. you, the reader, naturally, may desire to destroy me because of such horrible ramblings as are on this blog.. however, i must say, i'm not the kind of person that puts up a fight... so.. anyway, that is a digression...
needless to say, last night i was presented with a case in which a friend compared getting stuck in traffic to going runnin with the old man... (ahah, the way that is worded it sounds like the old man can't actually run and is slower than the don valley parkway - BUT! ...read on.. eheh) she was saying that she always has really good excuses for why she isn't doing something she should be doing. i suggested to her that not doing homework to go running with the pops is slightly different than being stuck in traffic and extremely late to pick up one's date. the question, i said, is a matter of having a control to compare to, and in this case, all the variables are different... and that, dear reader, is not the way an experiment is done.
so, we go on to our topic of being funny. i would suggest that our control be a lack of funny. an empty vector of sorts. in the case of a student, it would entail a set of class notes devoid of any absurdity or wit. in the case of an employee it would be a grey cubicle. in such cases, anything out of the ordinary can be used as humor... and therefore, anyone could make it funny. so there's no fun in that! eheh
what is often hilarious is irony. take today... people were driving past me on the freeway... probably yelling profanities at the old idiot driving that... anyway, you get the point. i - one of the most speed-loving creatures on this earth - had to drive slowly! like a normal old person. it was painful. see, now that's funny. oh, and the reason for this actually stems from my impatience... i ended up breaking part of my putt putt - and so now he has a nearly mirror-less driver :P anyway: moral of this story: i need a car that can withstand my need for a rush.
hmm.... kinda like the type of guy i need... ahem...
you know though, there is an inherent flaw in the need for a control - you always need something to compare the variable to - and so you never know absolutely "this is the answer", you just have a series of guesses that lead you to believe "this".
anyway... i need some feedback on something so that i can poke fun at it! now if this were a lecture.... :P
needless to say, last night i was presented with a case in which a friend compared getting stuck in traffic to going runnin with the old man... (ahah, the way that is worded it sounds like the old man can't actually run and is slower than the don valley parkway - BUT! ...read on.. eheh) she was saying that she always has really good excuses for why she isn't doing something she should be doing. i suggested to her that not doing homework to go running with the pops is slightly different than being stuck in traffic and extremely late to pick up one's date. the question, i said, is a matter of having a control to compare to, and in this case, all the variables are different... and that, dear reader, is not the way an experiment is done.
so, we go on to our topic of being funny. i would suggest that our control be a lack of funny. an empty vector of sorts. in the case of a student, it would entail a set of class notes devoid of any absurdity or wit. in the case of an employee it would be a grey cubicle. in such cases, anything out of the ordinary can be used as humor... and therefore, anyone could make it funny. so there's no fun in that! eheh
what is often hilarious is irony. take today... people were driving past me on the freeway... probably yelling profanities at the old idiot driving that... anyway, you get the point. i - one of the most speed-loving creatures on this earth - had to drive slowly! like a normal old person. it was painful. see, now that's funny. oh, and the reason for this actually stems from my impatience... i ended up breaking part of my putt putt - and so now he has a nearly mirror-less driver :P anyway: moral of this story: i need a car that can withstand my need for a rush.
hmm.... kinda like the type of guy i need... ahem...
you know though, there is an inherent flaw in the need for a control - you always need something to compare the variable to - and so you never know absolutely "this is the answer", you just have a series of guesses that lead you to believe "this".
anyway... i need some feedback on something so that i can poke fun at it! now if this were a lecture.... :P
right so i forgot to say...
for those of you who actually read this blog and then go so far as to read the comments, you may have noticed comments regarding monkey sex and its funniness. after hearing back from the involved parties about the situation which led to comments regarding monkey sex i feel it my duty to write a message to you.
the situation in question involved an analysis of canadian blood services' recent questionnaire change. the new questionnaire makes some interesting assumptions. i'm not too sure what conclusions they can draw from the form; however, i did check out the info sheet on "what you need to know to give blood". it would seem that they are now being precautious to the extent of discrimination. now, i won't go into the details - i suggest you take a look at it for yourself, it's really quite funny.. but one of the questions on the questionnaire is if you have ever worked with monkeys or come into contact with the bodily fluids of monkeys in your past or present job. hence, the monkey sex.
i find it amusing to think that cbs needs to ask such interesting questions in such public places as the tunnel at my university - could you imagine sitting in a hallway with hundreds of students bustling by, your friends standing around you and you checking off a box and the nurse being like "i'm sorry, you don't fit our criteria for eligible blood donors" for a reason such as you having been in France. amazing.
excuse me if i'm not surprised at why we don't have enough donors - i'm suprised that we have any donors at all! the way the questionnaire is set up - i am barely eligible because i've been travelling outside of canada (not including the US) in the past 3 years - yeah, like inner city NYC is safer than a little irish village.
anyway, so ends my rant...
the above all being said, i understand that cbs is trying to cut back on cost of testing blood and throwing away infected blood, etc - and promoting the health of those individuals requiring blood, which really could be any of us. my purpose in the above commentary is merely that i find the subject of their questions and their implications rather curious and i am stating that. that is all.
the situation in question involved an analysis of canadian blood services' recent questionnaire change. the new questionnaire makes some interesting assumptions. i'm not too sure what conclusions they can draw from the form; however, i did check out the info sheet on "what you need to know to give blood". it would seem that they are now being precautious to the extent of discrimination. now, i won't go into the details - i suggest you take a look at it for yourself, it's really quite funny.. but one of the questions on the questionnaire is if you have ever worked with monkeys or come into contact with the bodily fluids of monkeys in your past or present job. hence, the monkey sex.
i find it amusing to think that cbs needs to ask such interesting questions in such public places as the tunnel at my university - could you imagine sitting in a hallway with hundreds of students bustling by, your friends standing around you and you checking off a box and the nurse being like "i'm sorry, you don't fit our criteria for eligible blood donors" for a reason such as you having been in France. amazing.
excuse me if i'm not surprised at why we don't have enough donors - i'm suprised that we have any donors at all! the way the questionnaire is set up - i am barely eligible because i've been travelling outside of canada (not including the US) in the past 3 years - yeah, like inner city NYC is safer than a little irish village.
anyway, so ends my rant...
the above all being said, i understand that cbs is trying to cut back on cost of testing blood and throwing away infected blood, etc - and promoting the health of those individuals requiring blood, which really could be any of us. my purpose in the above commentary is merely that i find the subject of their questions and their implications rather curious and i am stating that. that is all.
phew - what a crazy post!
so the last blog post involved me trying to be funny... and well, impressing one of my readers (which worked) however, it has taken me a few days to recover from various comments that i have received such as "this blog wasted my life" and "you're a sell-out, tah" and other such mean things.
is it that bad to want to make someone smile? to be funny? to fit into this world?
after a few tearful nights... i have decided to continue on my funny tangents...
ok, so if anyone knows how to make an online survey and insert it into a blog post, that would be great - in the meantime, i will share my initial hypotheses on the questions posed in my previous blog post. they are as follows:
so in looking at these questions, it would be wonderfully spectacular if you could post back your own answers and thoughts, and then we could create a bit of a dialogue. just remember - this is my blog and therefore everything you write here will be under my name.. i might acknowledge you if i think your contribution was important... but probably not.
anyway, so i think that about covers the introduction... and you'll have to wait for the experiment to incubate for a few hours before i can analyze them and then give them back to you.
and... i also have a little bit of work to do so... i'll post more later!
is it that bad to want to make someone smile? to be funny? to fit into this world?
after a few tearful nights... i have decided to continue on my funny tangents...
ok, so if anyone knows how to make an online survey and insert it into a blog post, that would be great - in the meantime, i will share my initial hypotheses on the questions posed in my previous blog post. they are as follows:
- how you write funny things into a blog post?
- is it possible to be funny in a blog post?
- what constitutes "funny"?
- how can we make a "funny" standard?
so in looking at these questions, it would be wonderfully spectacular if you could post back your own answers and thoughts, and then we could create a bit of a dialogue. just remember - this is my blog and therefore everything you write here will be under my name.. i might acknowledge you if i think your contribution was important... but probably not.
anyway, so i think that about covers the introduction... and you'll have to wait for the experiment to incubate for a few hours before i can analyze them and then give them back to you.
and... i also have a little bit of work to do so... i'll post more later!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
apparently serious haji is just not funny
I've been the class joke for a long... loooong time - but my ridiculous self comes out more in small group situations in which i am permitted to joke.
in university, this self became allowable the day the BSA president said to me: "Tahereh, your minutes are boring. Make them funny." And since that day, the minutes were semi-funny.
The peak of the funny came this past term - when that same prez ended up in my classes everyday. What God could've been thinking I am not sure - but the result is that all of our notes now are riddled with the most absurd comments. I have maintained for years that I have ADD - this term has only proved that point to me.
So, today, I was excited to point out my blog to the prez - here on out to be called Figs. Figs read the previous blog post and the regret from having wasted a full 30 seconds to read was clear. "T-money," she says. "This is not funny. I expected your blog to be funny." And she was thinking, I thought she was funny - who is this un-funny writer? Has T-money been lying to me about her funniness? And so began Figs' questioning of my integrity...
And so here I am, in the library, falling asleep - worried that my Figs is not amused enough at my ponderances. One must ask oneself: how can you write funny things on a blog post? Is this possible? What method can we go by to examine what counts as funny and what does not?
Like DNA microarrays, I think that we might require some sort of funny-standard by which we can compare all humourous forms of expression.
I'm also wondering what Figs could find as funny. My biochemistry and chemistry notes mostly have sarcastic or absurd comments/questions written on them. For example: today in chemistry we learnt that the scientific method is a load of garbage; all of the drugs we learnt about today were the result of either accidents in the lab, or mistakes that we now have regulations against. (Flemming for example, discovered penicillin because he left his lab's windows open when he went on vacation - so when he came back, and all his bacteria were dead, he was confused, and then discoverd penicillin.) So basically, the modern lab is made so that you can't win a Nobel prize - no one these days is allowed to be stupid enough to do so.
Anyway, back to the question of the funny - there are also different types of funny... like satire or sarcasm (I recently saw a cartoon of a squirrel arguing with a guy working at Starschmucks - the guy says to him: it's customary to leave a tip, sir - and the squirrel says back: so's heterosexuality, but that doesn't seem to faze you!) - but usually these forms of funny are insulting to others (as the above is) and so it's not very good... then there's stupid funny - like Zoolander (I think this one speaks for itself).. there's cute funny (like a shirt my brother bought for my little sister that says on it: It wasn't me, it was my evil sister - with a picture of two stick figure girls, one with a happy face and one with an angry face) then there's painful funny - like a bad fall... as I am prone to do... (eek! slip and slide!) or shake your head funny (like "overheard at" websites).
And then, there's bad blogposts like this one, specifically designed to make you shake your head and say wow, that kid's an idiot - and then think, well.. either that, or she's a major geek! - take your pick...
smiling yet?
in university, this self became allowable the day the BSA president said to me: "Tahereh, your minutes are boring. Make them funny." And since that day, the minutes were semi-funny.
The peak of the funny came this past term - when that same prez ended up in my classes everyday. What God could've been thinking I am not sure - but the result is that all of our notes now are riddled with the most absurd comments. I have maintained for years that I have ADD - this term has only proved that point to me.
So, today, I was excited to point out my blog to the prez - here on out to be called Figs. Figs read the previous blog post and the regret from having wasted a full 30 seconds to read was clear. "T-money," she says. "This is not funny. I expected your blog to be funny." And she was thinking, I thought she was funny - who is this un-funny writer? Has T-money been lying to me about her funniness? And so began Figs' questioning of my integrity...
And so here I am, in the library, falling asleep - worried that my Figs is not amused enough at my ponderances. One must ask oneself: how can you write funny things on a blog post? Is this possible? What method can we go by to examine what counts as funny and what does not?
Like DNA microarrays, I think that we might require some sort of funny-standard by which we can compare all humourous forms of expression.
I'm also wondering what Figs could find as funny. My biochemistry and chemistry notes mostly have sarcastic or absurd comments/questions written on them. For example: today in chemistry we learnt that the scientific method is a load of garbage; all of the drugs we learnt about today were the result of either accidents in the lab, or mistakes that we now have regulations against. (Flemming for example, discovered penicillin because he left his lab's windows open when he went on vacation - so when he came back, and all his bacteria were dead, he was confused, and then discoverd penicillin.) So basically, the modern lab is made so that you can't win a Nobel prize - no one these days is allowed to be stupid enough to do so.
Anyway, back to the question of the funny - there are also different types of funny... like satire or sarcasm (I recently saw a cartoon of a squirrel arguing with a guy working at Starschmucks - the guy says to him: it's customary to leave a tip, sir - and the squirrel says back: so's heterosexuality, but that doesn't seem to faze you!) - but usually these forms of funny are insulting to others (as the above is) and so it's not very good... then there's stupid funny - like Zoolander (I think this one speaks for itself).. there's cute funny (like a shirt my brother bought for my little sister that says on it: It wasn't me, it was my evil sister - with a picture of two stick figure girls, one with a happy face and one with an angry face) then there's painful funny - like a bad fall... as I am prone to do... (eek! slip and slide!) or shake your head funny (like "overheard at" websites).
And then, there's bad blogposts like this one, specifically designed to make you shake your head and say wow, that kid's an idiot - and then think, well.. either that, or she's a major geek! - take your pick...
smiling yet?
Sunday, April 01, 2007
a blog post to begin a new wave of blog posts
so, i've been told that i should start posting again.... and well, today, it is cloudy out, and i am studying-ish, so i thought, why not?
i've pulled out the old laptop from underneath an inch of dust (kidding, it sits on my desk and is almost always on) - and well, here i am.. typing absolute nonsense.
let's see...
to be honest, i haven't posted anything in ages because i've been experiencing a bout of writer's block. however, i think one of the reasons why i've been so unsettled this past little while is that my little blog outlet was missing... so maybe this'll help. maybe not... we'll just have to see.
i have gotten to read a few books over the past year, and they are a lot different than the books i used to read. latest additions to my bookshelf (other than the books i've been reading for french class): the tipping point (malcolm gladwell), and the world is flat: a brief history of the twenty-first century (thomas l. friedman)- yes, you read correctly - the twenty-first century. brilliant books, actually. the former deals with the question of trends and social behavior changes - and how to induce them to a certain extent, and the latter discusses the changes that are going on in the world from a global level.
i find it really interesting to read about our world and the social forces that are currently at play. i'm sure some people really do not care - and i can understand to a certain extent why they would not care - but for me, i see things going downhill... taking a nose dive fast and it needs to change. now, here there are two ways of reflecting on the path of disintegration that humanity is on - the first involves looking at social structures and individuals separately, and pointing the finger (and solutions) at one or the other; the second looks at social structures and individuals in an integrated manner: namely, that one influences the other in a type of dialectic.
ok, so i know that at this point, my ST would say: YHS - we're lost in your junkyard of thought - so i'll make a statement: i think that if we're to change society and make it follow a less self-destructive trend, we need to look at how we can affect both individuals and the social structures that these individuals are a part of - ourselves included.
take for example, blogging. as i recall, when i was in high school, blogging started out as a type of online diary type of thing, where you could write your "deep thoughts" for a group of people to see. when i started blogging last year, i decided to make it more of a forum for my observations on society and my environment, than about my personal life - and so have many, many people. it's gotten to the point where bloggers (the more hardcore ones - i'm nowhere near that!) actually have an effect on our society. news agencies are beginning to realize that they have competition. heck - dan rather should've watched his back a bit more closely...eheh - anyway, i'm on a tangent (to learn more about what i'm taking about, just go read some of friedman's book) but the thing is that our structure in society - that we go grab a newspaper, or turn on the TV, or radio for news - is changing. people are learning that there is this whole new side to the world that they can see through the eyes of individual bloggers, rather than through the lenses of news broadcasting agencies (which may i add are all owned by a handful of individuals) and so these news broadcasting agencies are starting to change their approach to news. BBC is a great example. they now have an open forum in which people can comment on world events, and share pictures and videos that they may have - but the reality is that the influence of bloggers on the traditional news agency (TNA) and the reaction of the TNA on the bloggers, will lead bloggers to do more things that will affect the TNA's - and you see, it's like a feedback loop that is constantly expanding (for all you geeks out there - this is called a positive feedback loop)
so if we're out to change the world - we need to affect both individuals and social structures - and i think it's a lot easier than we think it is... and that's part of the reason why i'm not so worried about it all - i'm doing a lot to make sure it does change, but i'm not worried if you know what i mean.
and those are my thoughts for today....
i've pulled out the old laptop from underneath an inch of dust (kidding, it sits on my desk and is almost always on) - and well, here i am.. typing absolute nonsense.
let's see...
to be honest, i haven't posted anything in ages because i've been experiencing a bout of writer's block. however, i think one of the reasons why i've been so unsettled this past little while is that my little blog outlet was missing... so maybe this'll help. maybe not... we'll just have to see.
i have gotten to read a few books over the past year, and they are a lot different than the books i used to read. latest additions to my bookshelf (other than the books i've been reading for french class): the tipping point (malcolm gladwell), and the world is flat: a brief history of the twenty-first century (thomas l. friedman)- yes, you read correctly - the twenty-first century. brilliant books, actually. the former deals with the question of trends and social behavior changes - and how to induce them to a certain extent, and the latter discusses the changes that are going on in the world from a global level.
i find it really interesting to read about our world and the social forces that are currently at play. i'm sure some people really do not care - and i can understand to a certain extent why they would not care - but for me, i see things going downhill... taking a nose dive fast and it needs to change. now, here there are two ways of reflecting on the path of disintegration that humanity is on - the first involves looking at social structures and individuals separately, and pointing the finger (and solutions) at one or the other; the second looks at social structures and individuals in an integrated manner: namely, that one influences the other in a type of dialectic.
ok, so i know that at this point, my ST would say: YHS - we're lost in your junkyard of thought - so i'll make a statement: i think that if we're to change society and make it follow a less self-destructive trend, we need to look at how we can affect both individuals and the social structures that these individuals are a part of - ourselves included.
take for example, blogging. as i recall, when i was in high school, blogging started out as a type of online diary type of thing, where you could write your "deep thoughts" for a group of people to see. when i started blogging last year, i decided to make it more of a forum for my observations on society and my environment, than about my personal life - and so have many, many people. it's gotten to the point where bloggers (the more hardcore ones - i'm nowhere near that!) actually have an effect on our society. news agencies are beginning to realize that they have competition. heck - dan rather should've watched his back a bit more closely...eheh - anyway, i'm on a tangent (to learn more about what i'm taking about, just go read some of friedman's book) but the thing is that our structure in society - that we go grab a newspaper, or turn on the TV, or radio for news - is changing. people are learning that there is this whole new side to the world that they can see through the eyes of individual bloggers, rather than through the lenses of news broadcasting agencies (which may i add are all owned by a handful of individuals) and so these news broadcasting agencies are starting to change their approach to news. BBC is a great example. they now have an open forum in which people can comment on world events, and share pictures and videos that they may have - but the reality is that the influence of bloggers on the traditional news agency (TNA) and the reaction of the TNA on the bloggers, will lead bloggers to do more things that will affect the TNA's - and you see, it's like a feedback loop that is constantly expanding (for all you geeks out there - this is called a positive feedback loop)
so if we're out to change the world - we need to affect both individuals and social structures - and i think it's a lot easier than we think it is... and that's part of the reason why i'm not so worried about it all - i'm doing a lot to make sure it does change, but i'm not worried if you know what i mean.
and those are my thoughts for today....
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