Countdown to Coachella

Saturday, December 30, 2006

"Zap rat Saddam, sez Prez"

Great title from the New York Daily News, to depict how the President feels about the fate of Saddam. I also read another interesting article criticizing the President for being a little too trigger happy to kill off Saddam.

This comment from the article made me laugh "The US will create the instrument that will render Hussein’s verdict based on the time-honored American principle of “give him a fair trial and hang him.”" (Taken from www.wsws.org). I love 'independent' media just as much as the next, but seriously, I think that too many of them are too worried about pointing out the Bush Admin's faults and not concerned with what the Saddam actually did. You get things like this as a result.

After a quarter century of remorseless brutality to his country and people, he was finally executed as of a few hours ago. Now whether or not the court he went through is just a "puppet-court" (not the "kangaroo court" that Bush didn't want i.e. International Criminal Court) is really entirely speculation.

To be honest, I think the trial was a courtesy (just like most war tribunals are). The fact that he even was given a trial--even though it wasn't really a trial--was miracle enough. I was surprised he was assassinated --like his lawyers--before the trial was complete.

He is indisputably guilty of murder, torture, forced deportation (I know from second hand experience after speaking with a friend who was dropped out in the middle of the desert by Saddam's men and forced to walk for in the desert to Iran with his family) and received what was coming too him. Oh, and let us not forget the 100,000 Kurds in the 1988 Anfal campaign.

It blows my mind when Saddam's lawyer says "... he believes in destiny", and yet was enraged about the position he is in. To me, this is a fine example of Iraqi *cough*US*cough* due process.


Music:
Markus Shulz feat. Carrie Skipper - Never Be The Same Again (REMIXES)
Wonderfully composed track form Florida's Markus Shulz. He used Carrie Skipper for vocals again (we heard her voice in "Time Goes By" last year)! She has an incredible voice that adds to the song making it sound very robust and dynamic. The link is to a RAR for all three mixes, so unzip and enjoy! I hope to hear the Jose Amnesia & Sean Mitiska remix, when Sean will play in SLC at the end of Jan at the circle lounge. The Remixes all compliment each other very well, Mike Shiver did a nice uplifting remix that would work perfect for closing the night.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Coconut Monkey Rocket


One last note:
Click on the image above and download the MP3's for nonsensical grooviness!

Happy Holidays



Merry Christmas & Happy New Years! Hope everyone is enjoying the time spent with family and good friends.

As far as today's subject goes, I thought to share some ideas and books that I found in a book called "Static" (written by many of the same people from "Democracy Now!") I got it from my neighbor while we were both whining about how liberal CNN can be at times, and what a bunch of b*ll*cks they spout out. I've never been one (IMHO) to be overly critical of our President George "The Decider" Bush. Rarely have I been able to come up with appropriate solutions in my own head to fix the complicated problems our nation is facing.

I've also found that many, if not MOST, who monotonously murmur about the injustices of the Iraq war haven't a clue how to solve the problem. Of coarse it is important to address the problem--that is the first step to solving it--however, there have been few that have stood up to give viable solutions. It seems to me Americans are pretentiously expecting some panacea that will fix all our problems. "If we just get out, everything will fix itself", or "Nuke the whole ****** place" was another one I heard.

With rumors of Iraq becoming the next Vietnam floating about, there hasn't been much "deciding" going on from our "DECIDER". Static addresses a lot of the propaganda failures in Iraq, and also the blowback that those failures have sent to the US. While being somewhat politically naive and immature, I still found this book to be incredibly interesting, despite the slandering tone that it uses for our President. It reveals some of the most interesting stories about how Bush Administration has used its muscle to weave a tangled web, in order to choke out media coverage IT deemed inappropriate or unfavorable.

Music:

On a lighter note, just want to promote this again for any of those who haven't cemented their NYE plans.


One word: Giant Maximus
Best Line-up to hit SoCal in a long time....




and I am going to miss it...

Saturday, December 16, 2006

I Dislike Finals...



Music:

Sean Tyas - Phased Out Phriday (Spundae L.A. 12-09-06)
We all know Tyas has done a remix or a rework of a new song, just about every week. A lot of them are great remixes; however, you get a few crappy ones here and there. I hate to always pick the upity happy-go-go music, but this set will make you DANCE! I could barely sit in my chair while listening to this! Technically, it wasn't spot on (little eq errors, and things), but the tracks are just one thumper after another, after another.

Plus this is when he played at a local club (wasn't in town to be able to go). Had I been there I would have stomped craters into the dancefloor. Anyway, I havn't seen a lot of people checking his sets out, so please, just listen to this.

Beware: DON'T burn this as a CD and drive. YOU WILL BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT UNCONTROLLABLY!


TRACKLIST:
01. Carl B Feat. Breaking Benjamin - Diary Of Jane (Sean Tyas Rework) [CD-R]
02. Blake Jarell Meets. Dane Cook - Dude I Just Wanna Dance (Sean Tyas Rework) [CD-R]
03. 8 Wonders VS. Marco V - The Feeling After (Sean Tyas & Bryan Kearney Bootleg Rework) [CD-R]
04. Sean Tyas - Lift (Fuck The Pirates Rework) [CD-R]
05. Insigma - Open Your Eyes (Sean Tyas Got Piano Remix) [ATCR]
06. Will Holland VS. Six Senses - Frantic (Sean Tyas Remix) [Enhanced]
07. Dave202 & Sean Tyas - Torrent (Original Mix) [Armada]
08. Thomas Bronzwaer - Constellation [Vandit]
09. SeluVibra - Divine (Sean Tyas Rework) [Somatic Sense]
10. Mike Foyle - Shipwrecked (Sean Tyas Remix) [Armada]
11. Beats Of Genesis VS. Legend B - Lost In Love 2006 (Sean Tyas Remix) [Thrustgroove]
12. DJ Tatana & Sean Tyas - Children 2006 (Original Mix) [Sirup]
13. Sean Tyas - Mirella (Sean Tyas Rework) [Afterglow]
14. 4 Strings - Take Me Away 2006 (Mac Zimms Remix) [Liquid]
15. Oxia - Domino (Sean Tyas Rework) [CD-R]
16. Dave202 - Generate The Wave [Silicon]
17. Neal Scarborough - Stung On The River (Sean Tyas Remix) [Discover]
18. Activa Pres. Mekk - Restless (Dark Dub Mix) [Discover Dark]
19. DJ Tatana & Sean Tyas - Airwave 2006 (Original Mix) [Sirup]

Saturday, December 09, 2006

The Square Root of Thoughts?

The Department of Homeland Security is not foreign to getting shrapnel blasted into them from the media flak-cannons. Most of the time it's not worth reading; however, there was one article that has caught my attention and is a good laugh.

It has to do with the notion that terrorist thoughts have been quantified into arithmetic formulas--that number into the billions--used to determine the likelihood of a certain place being subject to terrorist attack.

A small clip from the article:
"And now Jim O'Brien, the director of the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security in Clark County, Nev., has discovered another hard-to-fathom DHS notion: a mathematical value purporting to represent the square root of terrorist intent. The figure appears deep in the mind-numbingly complex risk-assessment formulas that the department used in 2006 to decide the likelihood that a place is or will become a terrorist target — an all-important estimate outside the Beltway, because greater slices of the federal anti-terrorism pie go to the locations with the highest scores. Overall, the department awarded $711 million in high-risk urban counter terrorism grants last year.

O’Brien took an active interest in how the government runs its risk-assessment numbers when the department announced this year that it was downgrading Las Vegas from among the highest-risk urban centers to the lowest 25 percent grouping of such potential targets.

That shift put Las Vegas on what’s called a “sustainment” line of funding, which represents a loss of more than $700,000 in federal counterterrorism money. The city — the population center of Clark County — previously had placed among higher risk targets thanks to its highly visible skyline and the vast complement of tourists it attracts.

As O’Brien reviewed the risk-assessment formulas — a series of calculations that runs into the billions — he found himself unable to account for several factors, the terrorist-intent notion principal among them. “I have a Ph.D. I think I understand formulas,” he says. "Take the square root of terrorist intent? Now, give me a break.” The whole notion, O’Brien says, is a contradiction in terms: “How can you quantify what somebody is thinking?""

What ever happened to using common sense? Read the full article here: "Root of All Terror"

In other news:

Still working for the abolish-winter movement. Not much progress as of late. Official petition to follow soon...

Music:

Filo & Peri feat. Fisher - Ordinary Moment (Breakfast & Big Mike Remix)
Wow. You gotta hand it to these two TA's from the east coast. They really knew how to make a bangin' remix of an already epic tune from 2006. Ferry has canned this Ordinary Moments for a while, and it's been a great listen. However, this remix takes the cake--by far--in my opinion. A wonderful listen!!!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Jack-O is Sick-O

Blegh! Looks like I caught the cold that is going around. Boo-urns to that! I tried to be good about washing my hands, but alas, I have come down with the nasty bug. Fever, runny nose, and my sinuses feel as if they are being pumped full of concrete.

Regardless, I chose to continue my thoughts (although admittedly many are just re-hashes of what Jeff Howe has written) on crowdsourcing here:


WHY NOT TO CROWDSOURCE?

Mark Harmel is a soft spoken stock photographer specializing in health care related photos. Lee Foster is also a professional photographer who specializes in photos of U.S. National Parks. While last year they were able to charge a competitive price of $150 a photo; amateurs have made the same thing available on the internet at $1.

The aftershocks of crowdsourcing are rolling in with hordes of motivated amateurs, and they are literally crowding out the professionals in certain fields. Stock photography is the epitome of how crowdsourcing is ferociously crowding out others. Another great example is journalism. The internet is swamped with reliable and legitimate news sources that are composed of people contributing their writings for free.

An additional problem is that crowdsourcing is like a radio which you have to finely tune in order to get a good signal-to-noise ratio. Jeff Howe in an ABC interview estimated that only “between 5% and 10% of what the crowd is actually creating will, in the end, be usable.” Think of it like a prospector hunched over in a knee deep river panning for gold. The time it takes to sift through the utter garbage to find the gold has a cost. Despite the fact that you receive content for free, it usually requires a lot of time to find the golden nugget.

Not only is it difficult to find what you are looking for, but it can often be difficult to implement the information you receive. Without a sound crowdsourcing model much of the good material that is gathered is wasted, because there is a lack of company protocol and infrastructure for implementing it.

SUCCESSFUL CROWDSOURCING STRATEGIES

Crowdsourcing is not as easy as putting a suggestion box on your website asking for good ideas. To achieve a successful model there are many inputs that must be considered before implementation. The tasks or questions must be focused. We all know that vague questions get vague answers. A clearly defined problem will help increase the signal-to-noise ratio allowing for more usable content.

Another way to tune out unnecessary static noise is to implement filters. One of the most popular crowdsourcing filters is (ironically) to use the crowd to filter itself. That means to let the crowd vote on which they think is the best out of all the submissions. This decreases the amount of time and money that is spent on moderation of the crowdsourcing task.

taps into a well of passion about a product that stretches beyond monetary incentives.” In order to truly succeed in a long-term Cash is king and people are always more eager to do something for which they receive payment. However, as said by Jessi Hempel in BusinessWeek “successful crowdsourcingcrowdsourcing projects you must be able to build the participants into an engaging social community.

Next blog we'll cover all the great examples of CS-ing (crowdsourcing, not to be confused with counter-striking . . . )

Music:

Ulrich Schnauss - Nobody's Home
This is a great chill tune that progressively builds up as it goes, and there is a nice little breakdown in the middle with some interesting sounds. Ulrich did a wonderful job with this track. Please give it a listen!

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Milk the Masses


A recent interest for me has been the hotly discussed subject of Crowdsourcing. I have attempted to summarize much of the information concerning it here, but visit this website for more information.

Crowdsourcing is a neologism that is storming the corporate psy
che in full force. For those unacquainted with the relatively new term, crowdsourcing simply defined, represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call. It is a business model that is harnessing the think-power of crowds outside company walls. However, one thing that I really haven't understood correctly is the point at which crowdsourcing and commons-based peer production (CBPP, a term coined by Yale’s Law professor Yochai Benkler) diverge.

A few months ago, nobody had ever heard the term “crowdsourcing”. Now a simple Google search will zip you to over 400,000 returns dealing with crowdsourcing. The genesis of the term crowdsourcing was coined by Jeff Howe and Mark Robinson in an article that was featured in the June 2006 issue of a digital-culture magazine WIRED. In the original article they explored case studies involving large, established companies, and they explained the methods by which they effectively mined and sorted through crowd created content. Jeff stated in his WIRED article that “sending jobs to India and China is so 2003. The new pool of cheap labor: everyday people using their spare cycles to create content, solve problems, even do corporate R & D.”. He showed how companies across various markets were finding new ways of employing cheaper labor.

However, this idea was not entirely new to Jeff and Mark. James Surowiecki's “The Wisdom of the Crowd” was sited as a major reference in the development of the crowdsourcing model. The ideas presented in James’s book, have even deeper roots all the way back to the early Victorian era with Charles Mackay’s “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds”. James argues that large groups of people are often smarter than the elite minds of the few, while Mackay disputes through historical reference that crowd-think does not always equate 1 + 1 to 2.

All of these ideas were incorporated into the current definition and model of what crowdsourcing is and how it is best applied. However, before we understand how we best apply crowdsourcing, we must first understand why so many people are willing to contribute in return for little or nothing.

CROWDSOURCING MINDSET

Lee Foster, a stock photographer affected by crowdsourcing, noted that “there is a huge desire by the public to become part of the media. People want to participate and not just receive their insight and information from the media.” There is a growing feeling of wanting to be connected to the global populace.

We see that more and more the valium of human contact is not limited to physical interactions, but can be had through virtual interactions via the internet. When we feel connected it is soothing, and in some ways it allows people to be valued by others all over the globe.

While this may seem too simple an explanation, I think it still drives home the major cause of free (or cheaply paid) crowd labor. This is evidenced in the fact that technology companies that have fed this desire to contribute have thrived! With the rise of websites such as YouTube, and Wikipedia, it is apparent that people are willing to contribute material for free. Recent technologies have made it easy to share media from the informal music sharing to formal business research techniques.

WHY CROWDSOURCE?

Where can you find a virtually infinite labor force that will work for less than they consciously know their worth? Could the costs associated with this labor force be cheaper than outsourced labor in India and China? The answer to these questions is found in Al Gore’s self-dubbed “creation”, the internet. The online world provides an almost infinite labor source, numerous skill sets, and lifetimes of experience.

What may take a company’s research team several weeks to problem solve, may take another person a few hours. Knowing this, the company allows anyone with an internet connection to perform the task they need completed in return for a rather miniscule reward. Of coarse most of the solutions received are useless; however, the crowd is so big that the businesses are finding exactly what they need despite the deplorable wages. The bottom line here is that crowdsourcing saves companies time and money.

I will continue my thoughts on this subject some other time... Needless to say if you want to check out more of this visit Jeff Howes Blog for heaps more of ideas from the originator.

Music:

I'm Not a Gun - Long Afternoon
If you thought you liked Explosions in the Sky (ever seen Friday Night Lights? Yea, that was them.), you will become absolutely infatuated with this song (like Ham & Tuna fish). The group is composed of Japanese guitarist 西本武 (Takeshi Nishimoto), and minimal techno DJ, John Tejada (true to the Detroit roots). The spacey rock guitar riffs and breakdowns really go hand in hand with the lovely beats that Tejada has spiced the track with. 本当にこれが凄いよ!今ダウンロードして

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

A quick share . . .

Hello all, this is an abbreviated post today due to the pressures of school weighing down pretty heavily. I wanted to share a great speech from Steve Jobs that was given as the Commencement Address at Stanford last year. It is a bit long, but it is a very worth read. It really startled me as to how insightful it was.

::Read Me::

Sunday, November 19, 2006

BT & Kaskade Review

Rarely does a lot of EDM talent come through Salt Lake City, but this past Saturday we got a few talented artists comin through. BT, one of the 'godfathers' so to speak of EDM performed and also Kaskade.

It was at a venue in Salt Lake that is pretty nice. It's called 'The Depot', and has a nice little set up. One thing I really like about it is people actually are curteous enought to smoke outside. Really makes the expereience for me more enjoyable, so I appreciated that little bit a lot. It was my first time at the club, the layout is pretty nice, they have a balcony upstairs n' bar for VIP, but towards the end of the night, they didn't care who was up there.

The main floor was nice, pretty roomy, could hold a lot of people. As far as lighting rig. Not anything real special to be honest. Not he worst, but definately not the best. The warm up DJ was alright, I personally found it a tad bit boring (even for a warm up set).

Kaskade hit the decks at about 11pm, and spun for two hours. He played some good house and I really enjoyed the set, despite having heard most of the songs before. Didn't seem like there were many people there who knew who he was, but regardless he did a great job. The lighting crew kept shining this spotlight on him for some odd reason, and he was getting pissed, so he mixed in the next track, and left the stage to go talk to them... It was kinda funny. After that though, it was fine, and he was getting into his set. He played a few remixes he has done incl. late night alumni, and a Afro - Natural (kaskades remix). He closed with empty streets, and it was a good transition to when BT came on.

BT played a lot of er... interesting tracks. He opened up with some remix of Gary Jules - Mad World (remember that song from Donnie Darko?!?) I liked it a lot, great opener. (see vid). He played a lot of his old tracks which were really cool, threw me for a trip, because I was expecting a lot of the more mellow stuff from his album. However, he was so energitic, BT was jumping and boucning around the whole stage, just having a great time. I think everyone was (although the crowd really thined out around 1:30) getting tired. He also played a remix of some Nirvana track I think, and then the classics started playing at like 1-ish. He played Dreaming, and Flaming June. It was so great to finally heard Flaming June live.

It's such a sick track, hadn't heard it in yeaaaaaaars, but was really glad he dropped it. The bass was kinda overwhelming the whole break down, but regardless it was really fun to hear it live. Encore track was somnubulist, and it was a great night-ender. Awesome!

I can finally cross BT off the 'to-see' list.

Anyway, it was a great night, for those that ever stop in SLC, check out the Depot to see if anyone good is in town. It's one of the nicer venues in Salt Lake. Harry O's is better though, so check that one first. :crazy:


Videos: Sorry it was packed so it shakes a lot.

Gary Jules - Mad World (unknown remix):


Flaming June:


Somnubulist:

Saturday, November 18, 2006

BT & Kaskade!



Going to the DEPOT to see BT (one of the great fathers of EDM), and Kaskade (a new upcoming house DJ). I am so excited to see BT, and hope that he drops a lot of his older tunes that I have never ever had the privelege to hear live.

I am so EXCITED!!! Full review when I get back!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Arise!

ib-del Thoughts: Well, Oil is going back up again, OPEC has finished their meetings, and the price at the New York Mercantile X-change is back to $58.50 a barrel (up 85 cents). Despite the increase, I don't feel like complaining about that today, as I am sitting on 3/4 tank of gas.

Walmart's drug plan is rolling along smoothly, as they are beginning to expand the $4.00 prescription re-fills to 14 new states. CVS and Walgreens have yet to match the prices, but Target has caved and realized that it has to compete. We'll see how long that lasts...

News is rather flat this week, as there has been a lack of time to thoughtfully write out something of worth. Running on little sleep has just been a challenge today, and I have been a bit cranky.

Yet, I still feel the need to sit and type out something creative, so without further adieu;

I have been obsessing over Daft Punk's robot helmets (as pictured above). I am yet to see a better helmet honestly. Stormtroopers, Cylons, Borgs, got nothing on these. My jealousy rages when I see how intensely amazing they are. There are few things that I wouldn't give to be able to have a helmet that cool. The whole concept blows my mind. I have looked all over the internet for intense robot helmets, but to no avail. My conclusion is that they simply don't exist. I would pay good money to get a helmet that cool. Like always props to Daft Punk for their creativity; it sells me. Robots rule.

Music:

A.M. - Arise (Exclusive Hammer & Funabashi Remix)
Here's a quality tune that sported on In Search of Sunrise Vol. 5 (Tiest0rz), that really just rocks. This mix is NOT the original mix that was circulated around, so treasure it!!! NO reconstruction here either; the full mix with the beautiful vocals by the lovely Tiff Lacey. She nailed the vocals on this track, and coupled with the Hammer & Funabashi mix make for a great listening experience; one not to be missed. So happy I finally tracked this down!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

To Network

Coolest shoes ever? Perhaps maybe so...
Crowning the efforts of nearly a year in collaboration, the Arborist is the result of a relationship between House Industries, the lauded east coast typography house, and Medium Design Group. Its silhouette takes the form of a casual men'’s shoe juxtaposed on an athletic sole. The upper is seared with laser prints to reveal a subtle wood grain across the supple suede. The hand sewn edges sandwich the bright leather lining and, viewed edge-on, creates a dynamic tension throughout the upper. The removable footbed reveals another classic print from House.
What other shoes have lasered wood grain! All good things come with a high price, and this is no exception; $105.00.



Coolest T-Shirt Ever? I Think so. Check it out here.


Other news:
School counseling is the one of the most effective ways to get contacts to future employeers. The counselors here at the university have been extremely instumental in helping me plow my career path. In a 15 minute meeting, I managed to get several contacts for people all the way in Japan. I would definitely recommend it to all who are looking to cement their careers with internships and what not. It will prove one of the most time effective solutions for networking. If that doesn't turn out to be fruitful, I would then try and look for Alumni working at possible firms you would consider being employed at.

Del News:
Del Taco Wallpaper of the Month

Saturday, October 07, 2006

よかった!

Interview went well! My interviewers were easy to talk to--which was a plus--but didn't ask me too many of the 'hard' questions that I had slaved over hours preparing for. Trying to line up interviews with UBS for next week, but we'll see if it works out or not. I think they have already cemented the schedule. Regardless, it feels good to be done with this week.

A quick change of pace--I totally hit a birdie in golf. After reluctantly paying $6 (安かったけど。。。)I actually enjoyed playing 9 holes of golf in sandals. There was one hole that I actually birdied on my first real game of golf. Maybe I should pick up golf?


In Recent News:

WalMart is going planning on rolling out their generic drug plan. The giant discount chain, which has used its size to knock down the costs of all things available to purchase, will sell 300 generic drugs for as low as $4 for a one-month supply. What a steal of a deal, no? CVS, and Walgreens stock took a plummet down 5.2% and 1.7% respectively.

Apparently the test-launch in the Everglades has worked so well, they are beefing up their release schedule to have a full roll-out by the end of the year. At first it seemed to me as if WalMart was going to add some competition to the drugmarkets. I was kinda' right in my assumption.

It looks like the list of prescriptions that has been added to the $4 bargain bin, is actually many prescriptions that are already quite inexpensive. Joseph Agnese, an analyst at Standard & Poors put it right when he said, "It is not as significant as it first seems, in our opinion." From what I could gather (without a MD mind you . . .) it is going to be a limited set of drugs. So, the question then becomes, "Publicity stunt or no?"


Music:

Sasha vs Mike Koglin - Enjoy The Gravy (James Zabiela Mashup Mix)
-
Great mashup from Zab's, pretty old, but there are always those that haven't heard it. This mix is actually a rip off of one of his sets, so you can hear the crowd noise (it always pumps me up at least). The sound quality is not as good as the 'unofficial release' that was circulated around; however, it is still very enjoyable.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Le' interview!

I got an interview with Deutsche Bank for an internship in Tokyo tomorrow morning.. There were only 15 spots, and I got one! I am so stoked, but at the same time, a bit nervous (under-exageratoin). Just need to keep things in perspective, and realize it's not the end of the world if you don't get the job you think you want. But... since I am worth the time to interview, I hope that I will be able to land a spot as a summer annalyst. This week is so hectic. Between accounting tests and everything else it is turning out to be a super stressful week. Thank-goodness tomorrow is Thursday, (means one more day till Friday).

No DelIB news for today. No time to go through it.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Lack of Creative Outlets

There has been a total lack of creative writing in the past, so I chose to create this in hopes to keep the creative blood flowing. My management communications class definately does not provide a 'creative' writing outlet.

This LOCO'ness (lack of creative outlets), as I would call it, has even drove me so far as to consider to reupdate my deviantart on occasion. However, this was lame, therefore I chose to create this as my outlet. Myspace (of which I wish the demise of . . .) was not going to be suitable solution, nor was facebook. Both of which have infestations of legions of creepy stalkers who could pass for Gollum; trolling around young girls leaving comments like 'U rrrr hottt!!!' all over.

So, this being the only ingenious band-aid for my LOCO'ness, I will try to update this from time to time, and use it as a creative outlet.

In recent news;
Social Expirments on Craigslist.com were in my opinion a poor reflection of the pathetic sex driven state most of the world finds itself in. If you don't know what I am talking about you can read about it here (read the Sept. 8th entry). Quite honestly, it is a pathetic reflection of how many people destroy potentially wonderful relationships with spouse/children, all for cheap thrills. Is marriage only a date that worked out well enough to legally join two people?

At the other end of the spectrum you have singles that only look for the one night stand. While reading through a BB for investment banking analysts I came across a post for a person wondering how other analysts find time to make friends (IBD analysts work notoriously long hours e.g., 80-100hr work weeks, therefore free time is not a comodity to be wasted carelessly). The posters rarely considered the benefits of long-lasting meaningful relationships. Personally, I would rather have fewer, meaningful relationships; rather than many, shallow interactions. There is much more lasting satisfaction to be derived from these types of relationships that are based on real feelings, rather than temporary desire IMHO.