"What the fuck am I doing all the way out here man?", woah, did I just say that out loud?
"Wait, WOAH, you're inside of my head maaan, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!" replied Jahon while lifting his head up from some kind of meditation that he was in. We were in Panama, in a park on the shore during the night. I was standing on the concrete walkway elevated above the giant rocks that were loudly breaking the waves and he was sitting down on a bench. I was high on weed. We had just both come to the conclusion, respectively, that we exhausted our curiosity for travelling for the time being.
No, wait, wait, I snap out of it, I am no longer in Panama. I am in the loony bin, the nut house, psyche ward at Our Lady of Peace in Louisville, Kentucky. I am staring at a turned off T.V. in the common area. A typical bright lights hospital hallway, I was sitting in one of the twenty heavy chairs. They were brown with curved edges and plastic, so patients couldn't use them as weapons. "How long had I been talking to my self while in this trance-like-travel-back-in-to-the-past in my own mind?" I glance at the security cameras and wonder if any of the staff had been studying me while I was talking to my self. It was after all, the highest security floor I was on; where the catatonics, the schizophrenics and the bi-polar's with psychotic and suicidal tendencies came for healing.
A patient walked by me in a slow dragging-her-feet kind of way and stared at my shoes. She inquired why I had no laces, was it because I attempted suicide? I explained to her briefly that those were Sperry's which were slip-on's and the holes for the laces were fake. I also explained to her that I was there to interpret for another patient whom spoke Spanish. She, hummed and walked away.
Why did I recall so vividly that sentence and that conversation with Jahon? "What the fuck am I doing all the way out here man?" I realized that this time in reverse, that sentence meant my thirst for travelling had been reawakened and it was time to go somewhere. My brother had been pushing me to visit him in Okinawa and so, it became the logical choice.
I found a cheap ticket with Cathay Pacific for $850. I had no previous experience with this company, and rightfully so. Their route is mostly Asia and they just recently started flying out of U.S. I also found out that they are voted the number one Airline company in the world! Apparently in an instance where a malfunction sent one of their planes crashing downwards, one of the pilots expertly maneuvered the plane to land safely. This gave me a vote of confidence to forget all those recent Airplane crashes they've been showing on the news and go ahead and buy a ticket. They are also very flexible on changing your ticket. You can change your flight dates just two hours prior to your originally scheduled flight for just $100.
My flight to Okinawa was going well and I dozed off watching Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. I woke up to everyone screaming on the plane while we were descending at a crashing speed. As we got closer to the ground I felt the plane rattling, I heard a boom and then darkness. I woke up in some kind of sunny jungle where I was in line to pick my next human avatar on a giant organic like transparent screen which floated between two palm trees. I exclaimed "AHA! Just as I suspected, resurrection!" I had to pick looks, attributes and statistic for my avatar which had limits. For example, if I picked to be really good looking, I had to forego a bit in the confidence department. I am not exactly sure why, right now, but at that time I picked to be a Jesus looking Arab from Babylon with long hair. As I re-spawned on earth I decided to seek out my mother from my previous life in order to let her known that death wasn't so bad and that I still loved her and remembered her. I woke up to Larry David saying "that's preeeeettty good, pretty good", still on the same airplane with about eight hours to our destination.
I briefly pondered life and death after my airplane dream. I usually have weird airplane dreams. It seems like there is no good death. If you lead a boring life, or simply are lucky, you are rewarded with a heart attack or stroke. Do they hurt less than being decapitated? Or shot? A few seconds of extreme pain can seem like hours, as attested by cops whom go through the training of being tazed. So dying in a crashing airplane, no matter how gruesome of a view to the survivors, is probably less amount of time in pain than someone dying from a heart attack. While at the last moment, the last breath, we all probably suffer the same pain. Therefore, this all confirmed, for me, choosing to fly on a new adventure was a good idea.
To be continued...
1/6/15
AT&T next: We'll make you an offer you can't refuse.
Recently I had the misfortune of breaking my phone. My sweet Samsung Galaxy SIII had slipped out of my hands from about four feet of height and fell on some concrete. This happened to me many times but alas this last time was one too many and my poor sweet device lost its ability to transmit information to it's screen. My contract had expired with AT&T so I knew I could get a new phone for about $200 to $300 so long as I renewed the contract.
I went in to an AT&T store with the hopes that I'd be walking out with a brand new Samsung product so long as I signed a new contract. As soon as I started talking about purchasing a new phone to one of their sales rep, he immediately started pushing the at&t next plan. The at&t next plan is basically not signing a contract but instead paying for your phone $20+ on your monthly bill. Kind of like leasing to buy.
When I asked about the "classic" 2 year contract agreement and discount, the sales rep informed me that those were no good because it would add a $25 fee to my bill monthly and advised me instead to stick to the at&t next plan. Huh? What? Add $25 to my plan?
My conversation:
Me: Why would you add $25 to my plan if I am signing a two year agreement?
Sales rep: Because you are not in contract right now so your $25 discount is being applied to your bill and when you sign a new contract you will lose the discount and will be charged towards your phone so it's better to get the at&t next plan.
Me: I am getting a discount? Which part of my account is getting a $25 discount???
Sales rep: Well, your data, uhhh, your phone bill, you are getting a $25 discount because you are not in contract.
Me: *Walks out of store*
Does this make any sense? You sign a contract and they charge you more???? No, it makes no sense.
I spoke to a customer service rep over the internet just to make sure that this was true and indeed, it is true. If you don't understand what I am talking about, to put it in layman's terms, they made up a bogus $25 fee to charge you monthly if you sign a "classic" two year agreement (although you already paid $200-$300 for the new phone) just so they can push (and so it seems more affordable) for their alternate new "at&t next" agreement in which you are basically leasing to own the phone at $20+ a month for whatever amount of months you agree to.
Needles to say, I just had my old Samsung GSIII repaired by some random store I googled up. Hopefully, one day I won't have to use at&t's service, but for right now, due to my job I depend on good coverage and that part has always been good.
Regardless of that last, "only", good part ; with all my heart, fuck at&t http://mashable.com/2014/10/08/att-ftc-cramming-settlement/
8/20/14
Here's the deal...
...I hate technology. I have an HP Photosmart scanner/printer combo, here's some advice; don't ever buy a scanner/printer combo or anything from HP for that matter. I've printed plenty of shit through it, very slowly mind you. Last night, for the first time ever, I try to scan a paper and it worked, once, ONCE.
For my job I have to scan invoices. I have about thirty invoices on a deadline to be scanned. I try scanning my second piece of paper and lo and behold "Scanner error, try turning printer on and off to resolve issue". How about try turning it off and on thirty times? That's right I barely had any sleep trying to get the piece of shit to work. God I hate technology. It's like supposed to make our lives EAAASIIEEEER, except life is already easy and we don't need it.
GAH, so what do I do next? I try downloading an app on my android, a scanning app. Turboscan, apparently it works on iphones, except it doesn't work the same on android. Apparently you can't adjust DPI or file size/quality on android and you can on iphone. A very necessary thing for my job. I only paid to find this out. So what do I do? I go on the play store to leave a review and kindly let them know that this app is nothing short of a steaming pile of feculence. The developer writes a response to my review which for some reason the play store won't let me see (because it's like technology). However, judging by how they responded to everyone else's reviews I would say they told me to e-mail their tech support. I guess you're not paid enough to copy/paste, or maybe you'd rather send a passive aggressive fuck you to the reviewer for being kind to your baby.
Did I mention I hate technology? Anyway, now I am supper short on time, so I get an iphone from my parents to get turboscan because according to my co-workers it has all the desired features on it and in order to purchase it, the app store asks me for the app store id, which my parents don't fucking know because my brother set it up for them and he is in Japan stuffing his face with sushi and fucking whales while I struggle with technology.
GAHHHH, I am so angry I could throw this computer out the window. This fucknig computer, amidst all my woes with the scanner and phones and shit, I decide to calm down by making a song (about how much I hate technology) through fruity loops on this computer and guess what? This computer spits in my face. That's right, I record the damn instrumental and then for whatever reason it wouldn't record my voice. Does that make any sense? I tried googling if it makes any sense but AVG had hijacked my browser and everything took three times longer to google making me quit life. I don't know maybe upgrading to windows 8.1 wasn't such a great idea.
Here's the deal, I hate technology. Today on the way to various appointments I got caught by every single red light. Did I mention how much I hate being in the car? What am I doing in the car? All this technology, for what? So I can go to work, so I can study shit, so I can get more money, so I can get a better car, so I can get a better phone, so I can get a better computer, so I can get a better TV, so I can get a better job... Is that EASIER life?
Did I ever mention not too long ago I spent some time in a hostel in the jungles of Capurgana? Owned by a very intelligent french girl whom offered me a job there? All I did in Capurgana is lay in a hamock, get up to go buy some lentils to cook and swim. I did also help the french girl fix some pipes, no pun intended, which is why she offered me the job. That's easy life, did I mention they almost don't have internet there and they have no cars, only horses? Capuuurrrrgana, that's eaaaasssyyyyy life. What the fuck am I doing here?
I seriously need some sleep.
For my job I have to scan invoices. I have about thirty invoices on a deadline to be scanned. I try scanning my second piece of paper and lo and behold "Scanner error, try turning printer on and off to resolve issue". How about try turning it off and on thirty times? That's right I barely had any sleep trying to get the piece of shit to work. God I hate technology. It's like supposed to make our lives EAAASIIEEEER, except life is already easy and we don't need it.
GAH, so what do I do next? I try downloading an app on my android, a scanning app. Turboscan, apparently it works on iphones, except it doesn't work the same on android. Apparently you can't adjust DPI or file size/quality on android and you can on iphone. A very necessary thing for my job. I only paid to find this out. So what do I do? I go on the play store to leave a review and kindly let them know that this app is nothing short of a steaming pile of feculence. The developer writes a response to my review which for some reason the play store won't let me see (because it's like technology). However, judging by how they responded to everyone else's reviews I would say they told me to e-mail their tech support. I guess you're not paid enough to copy/paste, or maybe you'd rather send a passive aggressive fuck you to the reviewer for being kind to your baby.
Did I mention I hate technology? Anyway, now I am supper short on time, so I get an iphone from my parents to get turboscan because according to my co-workers it has all the desired features on it and in order to purchase it, the app store asks me for the app store id, which my parents don't fucking know because my brother set it up for them and he is in Japan stuffing his face with sushi and fucking whales while I struggle with technology.
GAHHHH, I am so angry I could throw this computer out the window. This fucknig computer, amidst all my woes with the scanner and phones and shit, I decide to calm down by making a song (about how much I hate technology) through fruity loops on this computer and guess what? This computer spits in my face. That's right, I record the damn instrumental and then for whatever reason it wouldn't record my voice. Does that make any sense? I tried googling if it makes any sense but AVG had hijacked my browser and everything took three times longer to google making me quit life. I don't know maybe upgrading to windows 8.1 wasn't such a great idea.
Here's the deal, I hate technology. Today on the way to various appointments I got caught by every single red light. Did I mention how much I hate being in the car? What am I doing in the car? All this technology, for what? So I can go to work, so I can study shit, so I can get more money, so I can get a better car, so I can get a better phone, so I can get a better computer, so I can get a better TV, so I can get a better job... Is that EASIER life?
Did I ever mention not too long ago I spent some time in a hostel in the jungles of Capurgana? Owned by a very intelligent french girl whom offered me a job there? All I did in Capurgana is lay in a hamock, get up to go buy some lentils to cook and swim. I did also help the french girl fix some pipes, no pun intended, which is why she offered me the job. That's easy life, did I mention they almost don't have internet there and they have no cars, only horses? Capuuurrrrgana, that's eaaaasssyyyyy life. What the fuck am I doing here?
I seriously need some sleep.
7/1/13
Nostradumbass
I had recently made a post, in which I made an attempt at predicting what the future will look like. After posting it and reading it later on, it had dawned on me that it might come off as some sort of conspiracy theory due to the fact that I write in such a disorganized and disconnected manner.
I pretty much do think that in the future smartphones will come in the form of little nano technology implants. Except, unlike conspiracy theorists, I don't think it will be anything forced upon us. It will be considered an upgrade. We will be lining up to have them implanted in our brains willingly. It will restructure our entire society. Learning of new information will be done via software loading and schools will be there only for hands on practice.
But who cares about the future, and that brings me to now. Looking back at my old post, I still hadn't sold my blackberry stocks till a few days after. Even then, so long as my money was still involved in that company I couldn't make a purely objective post. My cousin made it a good point in calling it an (ad) venture. Now that I am no longer the stock owner of the shittiest smartphone maker on earth, I can tell you, fuck money. Seriously, if you are making enough to have a good life, which I am, why worry about it. The only time people should worry about it is if you can't provide a roof and food for your family.
This blog will go back to providing satirical insight in to my daily life encounters.
Speaking of life and work, I keep carrying around this book that has for a cover an old drawing of muslims on horses from the crusades. Everyone wants to know what it's about. I always feel stupid explaining that its about a muslim monk from a certain sect trying to save his brother from his death and is constantly given moral dillemas through the process. So I just started telling them that it's sci-fi, like the crusades, with muslims, except on spaceships with lasers. Actually, the real explanation is less stupid, but I can't handle peoples prejudiced sweat over what I am reading.
Every now and then I have to listen to some co-worker talk about Jesus. Which is ok, Jesus was a pretty cool guy in my book but the institution and it's followers is what scares me. Most of the time, I let them talk, while spacing out and nodding my head but this co-worker just couldn't handle me being an atheist (and i am not even that, but that's not important). So the conversation went something like this;
Have you been to church before?
Yes, for the nutcracker, but I was thrown out for unruly conduct when I was a kid
Oh, my yeah (she gets teary eyed at this point), you should come and check out my church sometime because Jesus
Yeah, I find Jesus to be a pretty cool guy, but I think the institution is there just for the money.
Well, our church isn't like that, you should talk to my pastor, he breaks it down so it isn't all up there, so you can understand
Oh yeah because I wouldn't be able to understand otherwise
My pastor saved me because before I started going to this church, I use to lead a bad life and I got shot at and had to run away from this guy
Yeah, i've never been shot at and I was never part of a church or religion.
At this point she had to go to the restroom but not without a promise to give me her churches information. Needless to say I left before she came back. But, this is a perfect example of why I hate religion. This self impossing of I am better than you, therefore I am saving you even though you don't realise it. The same way that they saved each other during the crusades.
What kind of a god is it that these people believe in anyway? When I think of god, I think of a motherly or fatherly force, one that teaches me through karma. One that you know, doesn't want me walking around being anoying to everyone else about how my father is better than their father. Maybe one that just wants me to live my life the best way I can for my self and for those around me. That is taught through good motherly nurture. Not through ancient scriptures written by the hands of men.
What is their god? One who sends you in to a pit of fire for touching your self? That gives trick questions to Abraham, cause otherwise he wouldn't know not to kill his son? That sounds like a pretty demented father to me.
And what is the point of convincing someone else? Don't you get it? As soon as you start convincing me that you are better than me because of your religion, you are telling me you are making me an outsider because you are part of a different faction. You are directly responsible for dividing people. If you truly believed in Jesus, you would NEVER mention it unless someone pried really hard to find out. Instead you would only focus on doing good and shut the fuck up about your self.
One thing I will say, that religion has given, besides teaching Shaniqua at my job that she shouldn't get shot at, is art. With that said I give you my latest piece.
I call it "Yeshua Ha'ha Nostry". I did this piece on my Samsung Galaxy S3. Watch this blog for more doodles finger painted on my phone.
I pretty much do think that in the future smartphones will come in the form of little nano technology implants. Except, unlike conspiracy theorists, I don't think it will be anything forced upon us. It will be considered an upgrade. We will be lining up to have them implanted in our brains willingly. It will restructure our entire society. Learning of new information will be done via software loading and schools will be there only for hands on practice.
But who cares about the future, and that brings me to now. Looking back at my old post, I still hadn't sold my blackberry stocks till a few days after. Even then, so long as my money was still involved in that company I couldn't make a purely objective post. My cousin made it a good point in calling it an (ad) venture. Now that I am no longer the stock owner of the shittiest smartphone maker on earth, I can tell you, fuck money. Seriously, if you are making enough to have a good life, which I am, why worry about it. The only time people should worry about it is if you can't provide a roof and food for your family.
This blog will go back to providing satirical insight in to my daily life encounters.
Speaking of life and work, I keep carrying around this book that has for a cover an old drawing of muslims on horses from the crusades. Everyone wants to know what it's about. I always feel stupid explaining that its about a muslim monk from a certain sect trying to save his brother from his death and is constantly given moral dillemas through the process. So I just started telling them that it's sci-fi, like the crusades, with muslims, except on spaceships with lasers. Actually, the real explanation is less stupid, but I can't handle peoples prejudiced sweat over what I am reading.
Every now and then I have to listen to some co-worker talk about Jesus. Which is ok, Jesus was a pretty cool guy in my book but the institution and it's followers is what scares me. Most of the time, I let them talk, while spacing out and nodding my head but this co-worker just couldn't handle me being an atheist (and i am not even that, but that's not important). So the conversation went something like this;
Have you been to church before?
Yes, for the nutcracker, but I was thrown out for unruly conduct when I was a kid
Oh, my yeah (she gets teary eyed at this point), you should come and check out my church sometime because Jesus
Yeah, I find Jesus to be a pretty cool guy, but I think the institution is there just for the money.
Well, our church isn't like that, you should talk to my pastor, he breaks it down so it isn't all up there, so you can understand
Oh yeah because I wouldn't be able to understand otherwise
My pastor saved me because before I started going to this church, I use to lead a bad life and I got shot at and had to run away from this guy
Yeah, i've never been shot at and I was never part of a church or religion.
At this point she had to go to the restroom but not without a promise to give me her churches information. Needless to say I left before she came back. But, this is a perfect example of why I hate religion. This self impossing of I am better than you, therefore I am saving you even though you don't realise it. The same way that they saved each other during the crusades.
What kind of a god is it that these people believe in anyway? When I think of god, I think of a motherly or fatherly force, one that teaches me through karma. One that you know, doesn't want me walking around being anoying to everyone else about how my father is better than their father. Maybe one that just wants me to live my life the best way I can for my self and for those around me. That is taught through good motherly nurture. Not through ancient scriptures written by the hands of men.
What is their god? One who sends you in to a pit of fire for touching your self? That gives trick questions to Abraham, cause otherwise he wouldn't know not to kill his son? That sounds like a pretty demented father to me.
And what is the point of convincing someone else? Don't you get it? As soon as you start convincing me that you are better than me because of your religion, you are telling me you are making me an outsider because you are part of a different faction. You are directly responsible for dividing people. If you truly believed in Jesus, you would NEVER mention it unless someone pried really hard to find out. Instead you would only focus on doing good and shut the fuck up about your self.
One thing I will say, that religion has given, besides teaching Shaniqua at my job that she shouldn't get shot at, is art. With that said I give you my latest piece.
I call it "Yeshua Ha'ha Nostry". I did this piece on my Samsung Galaxy S3. Watch this blog for more doodles finger painted on my phone.
6/24/13
The Future? Now!
When I was a kid I use to play pen and paper role playing games. One of my favourite ones has to be "Cybepunk". As opposed to other role playing games that I've played, this one, I consider the most useful for expanding creative possibilities within our own realm. That, coupled with the book "Brave New World" and other theories (whose authors I can't recall right now but if I do I will link) has given me ideas of what I perceive as the future, which, mind you the most exciting part is developing right now. Within the last decade and the next one, we are witnessing the biggest evolution for man kind. We are on the brink of major change and I will further explain why.
The Human Network
If you've noticed within the last decade, with the development of the smartphone (hence my obsession with them), humans have been shifting from privacy, to complete transparency. Not everyone is on board, but with each new generation there is a younger and younger crowd with smartphones and on social networks. It gets weird, people are getting in to trouble, sharing things they shouldn't. Getting fired, getting in to fights, getting famous, all in the name of transparency. The older crowd, might be in denial, but what this is truly all pointing to; we are creating one collective. In the future we will all be completely accessible and transparent to each other at all times.
Google Glass is Paving the Way
In reference to "google glass", I have to admit, that is one ugly head contraption that I will never ever put on my melon. It is too ugly and too impractical for mainstream consumers. However, it paves the way for further evolution of smart communication devices.
I believe it will give way to the next successful device in such category which will be a lens, with the same concept, powered by nano technology, which once inserted in to the eye will project a screen visible to the lens wearer and other lens wearers around should they choose to engage and the OS will be able to be controlled via other nano technology glued to our fingertips with (invisible?) silicone.
Further down the road I expect nano chips to be inserted in to the brain at birth at which point we will be able to communicate with our thoughts with anyone at any time. Part of these chips will also function kind of like the modern smart phone with all kinds of tools like internet, search, maps...etc.
Brave New World
Anyone that has read Alduous Huxley's novel, has to admit that they have witnessed little traces of scary changes (albeit the absence of futuristic communication devices). We have to admit, that entertainment is getting stupider and stupider. Reality television and new movies coming out have shifted very much from depth and plot to over saturation of straight to the point artificial action. It is pure mindless entertainment. None cares whether the latest action (rock)star has a motive for blowing up anything, or saying a punch line, so long as it's cool and flashy and the antagonist is not so cool. None cares if in a reality series a woman is being a bitch because she is suffering from depression/mental illness due to being abandoned as a child, what we want to see is her fighting another women (verbally or physically).
I will admit, I am generalizing a bit in that last paragraph. But, further evidence can be found on social networks. I have not used twitter, but if I was to reference Facebook, more people are interested in posting pictures of them with duckface and liking cat videos than exchanging useful information. Other evidence, is also in how people use their smartphones. In my previous post I talked about how most of the lower class citizens use it more for video games than anything else.
The other thing that worries me, is the much faster development when it comes to entertainment than anything else. We are coming out with 4D televisions, and yet our space program hasn't REALLY improved that much since the 80's (from what I've found out, please feel free to prove me wrong in the comments section).
So, we stand on the brink of a brave new world. We could go in two directions (so long as the catastrophic third one doesn't occur). The first direction would be that we turn in to a purely (not mindless, but more mind-not-necessary) consumer and entertainment driven society as described in Aldous novel. The second direction could be if the powers to be, shift more focus on education, science and the space program we could potentially still turn in to a Star Trek type of society and fulfill our need to explore space. When I say, powers to be, I refer to the collective of the future.
Gadgets
When we think about the brave new world, we also have to consider the evolution of entertainment and social interaction. The advances in quantum computing will also give way to advanced artificial intelligence with which men will be able to interact in different forms. Will it be robots? What about holograms? What about fuckable holograms? Will people even need to meet to have sexual relations?
This gives question to moral dilemmas as well. What if someone invents a hologram belt that you can wear which projects a different person over your self? Will it be allowed to go out in to the street with one of those on? What if for example your wife sometimes wanted you to wear this belt during sex? Would this be considered a type of cheating? There is also a possibility that you never have to touch another human being sexually. That, you fuck a hologram which uses some type of nano technology to induce the feeling of touch and also to collect sperm to be donated to a giant sperm bank for cloning.
What if you are envious that perhaps your limbs are not as good enough as robotic ones? Will you be allowed to replace them with this? I know, I am throwing too many questions out there and too many possibilities. What I have learned reading Cyberpunk, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Brave New World is that science follows fiction and it is an exciting time to be a here witnessing these changes.
The Human Network
If you've noticed within the last decade, with the development of the smartphone (hence my obsession with them), humans have been shifting from privacy, to complete transparency. Not everyone is on board, but with each new generation there is a younger and younger crowd with smartphones and on social networks. It gets weird, people are getting in to trouble, sharing things they shouldn't. Getting fired, getting in to fights, getting famous, all in the name of transparency. The older crowd, might be in denial, but what this is truly all pointing to; we are creating one collective. In the future we will all be completely accessible and transparent to each other at all times.
Google Glass is Paving the Way
In reference to "google glass", I have to admit, that is one ugly head contraption that I will never ever put on my melon. It is too ugly and too impractical for mainstream consumers. However, it paves the way for further evolution of smart communication devices.
I believe it will give way to the next successful device in such category which will be a lens, with the same concept, powered by nano technology, which once inserted in to the eye will project a screen visible to the lens wearer and other lens wearers around should they choose to engage and the OS will be able to be controlled via other nano technology glued to our fingertips with (invisible?) silicone.
Further down the road I expect nano chips to be inserted in to the brain at birth at which point we will be able to communicate with our thoughts with anyone at any time. Part of these chips will also function kind of like the modern smart phone with all kinds of tools like internet, search, maps...etc.
Brave New World
Anyone that has read Alduous Huxley's novel, has to admit that they have witnessed little traces of scary changes (albeit the absence of futuristic communication devices). We have to admit, that entertainment is getting stupider and stupider. Reality television and new movies coming out have shifted very much from depth and plot to over saturation of straight to the point artificial action. It is pure mindless entertainment. None cares whether the latest action (rock)star has a motive for blowing up anything, or saying a punch line, so long as it's cool and flashy and the antagonist is not so cool. None cares if in a reality series a woman is being a bitch because she is suffering from depression/mental illness due to being abandoned as a child, what we want to see is her fighting another women (verbally or physically).
I will admit, I am generalizing a bit in that last paragraph. But, further evidence can be found on social networks. I have not used twitter, but if I was to reference Facebook, more people are interested in posting pictures of them with duckface and liking cat videos than exchanging useful information. Other evidence, is also in how people use their smartphones. In my previous post I talked about how most of the lower class citizens use it more for video games than anything else.
The other thing that worries me, is the much faster development when it comes to entertainment than anything else. We are coming out with 4D televisions, and yet our space program hasn't REALLY improved that much since the 80's (from what I've found out, please feel free to prove me wrong in the comments section).
So, we stand on the brink of a brave new world. We could go in two directions (so long as the catastrophic third one doesn't occur). The first direction would be that we turn in to a purely (not mindless, but more mind-not-necessary) consumer and entertainment driven society as described in Aldous novel. The second direction could be if the powers to be, shift more focus on education, science and the space program we could potentially still turn in to a Star Trek type of society and fulfill our need to explore space. When I say, powers to be, I refer to the collective of the future.
Gadgets
When we think about the brave new world, we also have to consider the evolution of entertainment and social interaction. The advances in quantum computing will also give way to advanced artificial intelligence with which men will be able to interact in different forms. Will it be robots? What about holograms? What about fuckable holograms? Will people even need to meet to have sexual relations?
This gives question to moral dilemmas as well. What if someone invents a hologram belt that you can wear which projects a different person over your self? Will it be allowed to go out in to the street with one of those on? What if for example your wife sometimes wanted you to wear this belt during sex? Would this be considered a type of cheating? There is also a possibility that you never have to touch another human being sexually. That, you fuck a hologram which uses some type of nano technology to induce the feeling of touch and also to collect sperm to be donated to a giant sperm bank for cloning.
What if you are envious that perhaps your limbs are not as good enough as robotic ones? Will you be allowed to replace them with this? I know, I am throwing too many questions out there and too many possibilities. What I have learned reading Cyberpunk, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Brave New World is that science follows fiction and it is an exciting time to be a here witnessing these changes.
6/12/13
Blackberry, Wall Street, Samsung Galaxy S3 and other perversions
I have recently, and when I say recently, I mean six months ago decided to throw my self in to the trenches of wall street and invest in a company. That company is blackberry. Having said that, I will try to make this as little biased as I can. To prove that, I will express my many disappointments with blackberry (once upon a time known as research in motion) and yet I will also explain why I chose them.
I will begin by saying that I have no previous experience investing in any business and much less in wall street. What I thought was as naive as any wanna-be hippy turn in to business man; "Hey, here is a company I like, I will invest and the company will grow so long as this product is good". Little did I know what I was getting my self in to. I went from not caring about cell phones to turning in to a full fledged fanboy, that is until recently.
Let me begin with the year 2008 and sincerely at that time I had no interest in smart phones what so ever. I owned a samsung flip phone prior to that and that was good enough. Then, in 2008, my brother found a brand new unopened blackberry 9000 on the steps of a hotel and he himself being an Iphone kind of guy decided to give to me as a present. I took it and soon enough it proved to be a great tool.
The keyboard proved to be great for typing out long txts and it helped me greatly in starting out in the interpreting business. I remember a great app it had called "Fancytran", which helped me translate a few words I could not remember while interpreting for the first time in a courtroom. The app not only gave me a large choice of different translated words to choose from but also included pictures in case I was confused. The bast part was I could use this tool while looking away because my brain had memorized all the physical keystrokes to get to the app and type out the words.
Blackberry was truly great with the whole memorizing where each physical key was and getting things done in a matter of seconds. Not to say the camera had a dedicated button and that was great for a sneaky guy such as my self. I remember recording many people without them knowing. And the fun I had recording certain insane co-workers for comedic purposes without them knowing was even better.
That is until it started falling apart. About a year later the volume button and on and off buttons stopped functioning. Then the sound gave up and I started having the dreadful hour glass continuously turning until I took the battery out and placed it back in. I still gotten around it because I knew which heavy applications not to use to not have the hour glass happen. Still it happened every now and then, but I lived with it until last year when I decided to get a Samsung Galaxy S3.
However, as many problems as I had with the blackberry, I've never seen anything as ridiculous as the android. You constantly have to be thinking about the phone. "Uhhh, did I turn off all the apps so the battery doesn't drain?" "Uhhh is my data secure since google is known for storing peoples data" "Uhhh should I use this thing to do my banking, I hope I don't have malware and none steals my password". Then, the worst part is the apps. The big thing now a days is "my phones peen is bigger because it has a 800,000 apps available". Do you know how many of those apps are useful if you are a serious individual? But even the ones for entertainment suck so bad, you wind up using the browser instead of most of them. Facebook app? Some of the main features are not there and they are on browser. Youtube app? The video resolution most of the time is better on the browser. I've used my brothers Iphone 5 and the typing experience is just so much better than on my Galaxy. The Galaxy S3 is just ergonomically not fitting for my hands, and I have big hands. It's slippery back makes it hard to hold and type with one hand, not to say that the screen edge is too close to the actual phone edge which makes it really hard to reach with the thumb with which hand you are holding it with. Don't get me wrong, the galaxy S3 is a great product as a mini tablet for entertainment. As a phone for productivity and communication, it's terrible.
The productivity on the Samsung G3 is slow due to the amount of clicks I have to do before getting to the screen of the app that I need. While, as I mentioned, on a blackberry with physical buttons, everything was just so much easier to get to when I had it memorized. Speed dial, for example, is either non existent on android, or perhaps I haven't figured it out yet. The worst part of Samsung Galaxy S3 is all the gimicky motion activation that functions only half the time. For example, you are supposed to be able to, while txting someone, just put the phone up to your ear and its supposed to automatically dial that person. You can imagine how stupid you feel when you put it to your ear and just sit waiting there only to figure out this time it didn't work. I've heard similar things about the Samsung Galaxy S4, where the eye scrolling doesn't really work and people end up using their necks heavily to swing their heads like idiots only to figure out it would of been easier to use their finger to scroll the screen.
Back to Wall Street
Either way, despite blackberry's ease of use for getting things done as a tool, the problems I had at the time turned me off their products. After trying Samsung Galaxy S3 for a while now, that has turned me off their product. So why didn't I invest in something better? Like the Iphone? Because Apple's stock was already high and if I was to get some sweet mula I had to invest in something with cheaper stock. I knew blackberry was way down and they had just announced a brand new operating system; The Blackberry 10 based off of QNX. After reading about it for a while, turns out QNX is much more stable then their previous operating systems (BB7), because apparently a whole lot of the automotive industry and airplane industry uses it in conjunction with their hardware because it virtually never crashes (or so I am told). Not only that, but it's a completely new OS with redesigned intuitive functions. For example it's all based on swipes, built to keep productivity going. No need to close one app, you just swipe from one side to another and you are on the app screen to choose another app. All the txt, e-mails, communicating software is in one spot.
With a new CEO, Throstein Heins, cutting costs, new software and brand new design of phones this company seemed to have a shot again. I decided to invest in blackberry, not only because the stock was cheap with a new product on the horizon, but because they are the ONLY company that has not stored user information for whatever known purposes (at least to my knowledge, both apple and google had been on trial for this). I can't comment on Windows Phones. Only, I hadn't factored in the competition, fan boys of other brands and wall street would pose a major head ache to deal with, turning me in to a blackberry fanboy my self for a while.
After the new all touch blackberry Z10 came out, I was so baffled at the negativity in United States that for a bit I thought it was some kind of conspiracy. But really, all it comes down to is people own stock in other companies. As soon as the Z10 came out I went to an AT&T store knowing fully well all the functions of the new blackberry 10 OS and the Z10 phone, but I pretended like I didn't. I asked a rep and he blatantly lied to me about the phones functions. I went to bestbuy and they didn't even have the phone out on display. In fact, they wouldn't even let me play with it unless I bought one and told me I could either buy it or look at other phones on display.
The worst part was reviews. One review says battery lasts all day, another says only a couple of hours. The camera is a bit grainy and bad when it's dark. Well, no shit, all phone camera's suck in the dark. The list of common smart phone problems was attributed to the Z10 as if though it was exclusive. "Oh the phone gets hot when you use the camera for too long". Do you know how hot the Samsung Galaxy S3 gets after using camera for 30 mins straight? So hot I think the plastic will melt. These are common smart phone problems.
Then come the Wall Street hyenas. These are people in charge of stock or tech advising sites that use the fame of their websites to manipulate stock by using a play on words. Why do they manipulate stock in negative ways? There are these things called "options" which is pretty much like investing in stock except it's like gambling because you have to guess if the stock is going to be above or below a certain amount. The more it goes beyond the point in the direction that you bet your money on, the more money you make.
So, for example, if there is a slew of good news for blackberry, all of a sudden one of these websites will come out with a twist on news titles; "Samsung deals major blow to blackberry" and you will read the actual story and you will realize that what this gentleman is talking about is a new security measure announcement made by Samsung for their products. Just an announcement! How is this a blow to anything? A blow would be if the product had already come out and tech industry experts deemed it better and more secure than a blackberry and a bunch of companies ditched blackberry for samsung. But that doesn't matter, just an announcement is enough for a headline to smear blackberry's ability to compete in the market for tech security.
Other websites would pretend to do reviews and yet focus mainly on miss-information. One of the main trends is using a pic of a blackberry phone from 2008 and talk about it as if the new OS was the same as the old one. Then, shift the focus completely to the number of apps, as if that automatically makes it somehow more useful. Even recently, if a certain app has finally become available for the new OS, they will still say that it's not. Why? Because it's easy to pretend like you didn't know or spread false information about something that is already not popular.
Companies with uncertain futures while awaiting quarterly earning reports make it easy for "analysts" (see also wall street hyenas) to manipulate stock. A few negative headlines WILL drive the stock down. Websites such as seeking alpha, motley fool, forbes, financial post, the register and a slew of other ones control the stock of such companies. They claim to have inside information of numbers, but there is no inside information, it's all fabricated for the purpose of manipulating the stock.
Of course, whether you are willing or not, to protect your investment you start posting back on these websites with your own logic. Surely, slowly, whether you want it or not, little by little you turn in to a fanboy and now you are convincing everyone on what a fabulous phone this is. And yet, it's just a phone and should never ever take away so much of our energy and our dedication.
It's not just me. I walk around my work place and I find my co-workers, mostly nurses from poor backgrounds sitting there on their $700 phone playing some kind of fruit game ALL DAY LONG talking about how much they love their phone. Really? You "love" your phone? I wonder if the apollo space program astronauts "loved" their 16 bit computer or was it just a tool for what was supposed to be for the bettering of mankind? I wish I could snatch their phone up and give them a good book instead, but I think that would be regarded as communism.
A few weeks back I had stumbled upon an article about the security issue with apple's unlocking main screen. Apparently someone figured out how to bypass the main password screen to get in to someones phone if you had it there physically. The fanboy defense was really blindly strong on this one. I've never read more ridiculous comments like "oh who needs a password protection anyway if you've got nothing to hide". Really? Really you idiot? Who needs a feature of a product that I am buying it for? Luckily apple fixed this one since then and I am glad because I do consider apple a great company.
Then there is google. Messing up news searches in order to screw with the competition. Today, just like my blackberry fanboy ass has used to for a few months now, I do a news search on google for blackberry. What do I find? Oh, two negative articles about blackberry from february. How is it possible that they end up on my front news google search page for blackberry? One was that former CEO Jim Balsillie selling all his stock off, and the other I can't remember. And guess what? Commenting has been disabled on the articles since february.
I find my self thinking lately, this is not worth it. Wall Street is not worth it, and nothing is worth the money of the time I have spent becoming a fanboy for a phone company. I could have spent more time reading books, science and perhaps working towards a degree that would allow me to work in the tech industry as opposed to letting my greed turn me in to a stupid fanboy. Because I truly don't care about any certain phone manufacturer, but I do care about science and innovation and I give up. I will be selling my stock soon, just so I don't have to think about it anymore. But, I will be getting rid of this samsung galaxy s3 and getting the new Q10. Because, I am loyal to companies that don't store my information without my consent for unknown purposes and due to the new redesigned and more stable OS I am willing to give them another shot as my second brain. I dont need a T.V. in my pocket, I need something to keep me productive.
2/1/12
Pain
I was once asked to describe the feeling of pain, and when I thought about it deeply, I could only come up with objects that cause pain and what they might feel like. Yet, to describe pain is impossible by it's self.
The other day, while working at the clinic I was asked by an older gentleman to help him out at the pharmacy.
"Those women down there at the window, they always give me trouble!" he says. I had been interpreting for him earlier in the day. A very pleasant older gentleman. He is of Romani descent.
He was in pain. See, just the day before, he was released from a hospital, where he was hospitalized over night. The night prior to that he was hospitalized for three days in another hospital. He, like many elderly people is suffering from diabetes. He had a wound on his foot and it got infected and swollen to the point where they wanted to amputate (people with diabetes have to be careful with any wounds on feet as they get easily infected). He didn't like that idea so he left that hospital for another one, where (even worse) they wanted to amputate all the way up to his knee, so he left that hospital too.
"Two years ago I had same problem and Dr.Johns (fake Dr name for privacy issues) sent me to a specialist, podiatrist that fix it" he said in broken English. Sure enough, the good doctor remembered. The doc also stated that he is not sure that it will work this time but he will send him anyway.
His foot, when he took off the bandages, was of dark purple color at the toes getting lighter towards his shin. It was swollen on all sides to one and a half the size of a normal foot like a balloon waiting to burst at any moment with such force that it would send the green fungus infected nails flying and ripping in to any objects in their path like ninja shurikens.
Anyway, back to pain here. He told me he was in excruciating pain and the ladies in the pharmacy at the window always give him trouble when he tries to get his prescription of vicodin. This little bottle that he was waiving in his hand, he stated that he needed before any other medication. Sure enough, he recruits me for his cause and I get mad that they are giving him trouble too. This is an elderly gentleman here and how dare they give him trouble?
When we get to the window, he gets in to it with the lady;
"Why you always give me trouble"
"Sir, the physician that wrote this prescription is no longer practicing therefore the refills are invalid"
"But, why you smile in my face while you say this, why you happy"
"Because you have an appointment in two days and you can get a new prescription"
"Yes, you happy to make me feel bad"
Just to make sure, I pick up the prescription and check the label to see who the doctor is that prescribed it. I glance over to see the medication and it starts with "vi" and in my mind I am finishing it with "codin" and yet there is a few screws not wanting to pull in that direction. As those screws are jammed at the end of "vi" by an "a" and I am pulling for "cooo" and now the few cerebral iron screws are steaming trying to pump enough energy to take the mind in two different directions as the jam bursts and it comes up with "viaacodiaaaagraaa" and now I realize that what I am wanting to read is different than what it states on the little bottle. Wait, wtf? "viagra"? VIAGRA????
"Hey man, this is not vicodin, this is viagra"
"oh yes, viagra I need"
"Wait a minute, I thought this was for pain"
"yes, wife, you know big pain, have to satisfy first, I get vicodin later"
He is in pain...
The other day, while working at the clinic I was asked by an older gentleman to help him out at the pharmacy.
"Those women down there at the window, they always give me trouble!" he says. I had been interpreting for him earlier in the day. A very pleasant older gentleman. He is of Romani descent.
He was in pain. See, just the day before, he was released from a hospital, where he was hospitalized over night. The night prior to that he was hospitalized for three days in another hospital. He, like many elderly people is suffering from diabetes. He had a wound on his foot and it got infected and swollen to the point where they wanted to amputate (people with diabetes have to be careful with any wounds on feet as they get easily infected). He didn't like that idea so he left that hospital for another one, where (even worse) they wanted to amputate all the way up to his knee, so he left that hospital too.
"Two years ago I had same problem and Dr.Johns (fake Dr name for privacy issues) sent me to a specialist, podiatrist that fix it" he said in broken English. Sure enough, the good doctor remembered. The doc also stated that he is not sure that it will work this time but he will send him anyway.
His foot, when he took off the bandages, was of dark purple color at the toes getting lighter towards his shin. It was swollen on all sides to one and a half the size of a normal foot like a balloon waiting to burst at any moment with such force that it would send the green fungus infected nails flying and ripping in to any objects in their path like ninja shurikens.
Anyway, back to pain here. He told me he was in excruciating pain and the ladies in the pharmacy at the window always give him trouble when he tries to get his prescription of vicodin. This little bottle that he was waiving in his hand, he stated that he needed before any other medication. Sure enough, he recruits me for his cause and I get mad that they are giving him trouble too. This is an elderly gentleman here and how dare they give him trouble?
When we get to the window, he gets in to it with the lady;
"Why you always give me trouble"
"Sir, the physician that wrote this prescription is no longer practicing therefore the refills are invalid"
"But, why you smile in my face while you say this, why you happy"
"Because you have an appointment in two days and you can get a new prescription"
"Yes, you happy to make me feel bad"
Just to make sure, I pick up the prescription and check the label to see who the doctor is that prescribed it. I glance over to see the medication and it starts with "vi" and in my mind I am finishing it with "codin" and yet there is a few screws not wanting to pull in that direction. As those screws are jammed at the end of "vi" by an "a" and I am pulling for "cooo" and now the few cerebral iron screws are steaming trying to pump enough energy to take the mind in two different directions as the jam bursts and it comes up with "viaacodiaaaagraaa" and now I realize that what I am wanting to read is different than what it states on the little bottle. Wait, wtf? "viagra"? VIAGRA????
"Hey man, this is not vicodin, this is viagra"
"oh yes, viagra I need"
"Wait a minute, I thought this was for pain"
"yes, wife, you know big pain, have to satisfy first, I get vicodin later"
He is in pain...
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