This is a german word pronounced to rhyme with say ..."Kite Diced...Zite Giced".
Anyway, as most people happen to know it means something like "the current state of things" or the "status quo" or the "prevailing spirit of the moment". See, it's so much simpler to just say Zeitgeist.
Browsing yewchube, which is my duty as a human being, I found segments of this movie until I saw some hot girl post the whole link.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
And for your amusement the hot girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuKg5XV6b3g&mode=related&search=
I am pretty sure she is Canadian.
I hope you find the movie as thought provoking and interesting as I did.
It is somewhat sensationalist for entertainment value, though it contains good questions and compelling arguments for your consideration.
=sw
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Jena
These are my thoughts on what I understand about what is happening in Jena, LA.
It is my understanding that there is a shade tree on the property of a highschool. I have heard that the tree was planted by 2 young women, one black and one white, many years ago as a symbol of racial harmony.
I know what highschool can be like. Kids can be cruel and irrational as they test the limits of their power in social situations. In an atmosphere like that, some students had it in their heads that the shade tree was somehow to be for whites only, echoing long outlawed segregation.
When an African-American student raised concern about the issue in an assembly, the school officials stated that they could, of course, sit whereever they please. Thereafter, some white students hung nooses from the tree.
The weight of history hangs over this kind of behavior, especially a symbol like a noose which was used to carry out arbitrary and summary executions of many black Americans over many years. It was not so long ago that such things took place.
I have a coworker who grew up in central Virginia. He still remembers many stories he heard as a kid and some first hand incidents he witnessed where the father of an African American friend or neighbor was dragged from his home into the street and beaten.
Free American men women and children have been falsely accused, bombed during church, torn from their families and insulted, abused and murdered. A 14 year old black boy in the south was once drowned in a river for merely whistling at a white woman.
Racially motivated hangings (also sometimes referred to as lynchings) carried out by violent mobs have taken place in the past. These occurences where not so long ago in history and frequent enough to be common knowledge.
The use of such a symbol of repression as a noose, and the history behind such symbol is a cruel and violent, abhorrent act all its own. It is more than a prank. Legally it ought to be considered at least harassment if not a death threat. It is something terribly serious in our culture to communicate in such a way to a people who have had a history of injustice and harm done to them. Not to mention years of slavery preceeding the segregation times.
The kids who admitted to placing the nooses have yet to be charged.
Teenagers get in fights. These things will happen. Especially when injustices are carried out against them in these Highschool social battles. Apparently some fights took place surrounding these events. These involved bloodied bruised faces and even allegations of attempted murder. There were apparently many fights with many subjected to harm on both sides of the racial divide.
It seems that only African American youths were actually charged in the assault cases. One of these young men was being held in jail and now that his conviction has been overturned by a judge is still in jail.
That seems highly irregular.
This is a civil society. I don't think it's wrong to prosecute assault. Yet, in light of the egregious nature of the extenuating circumstances that led to the violent backlash, it should be understood that these 6 young men, who actually were charged, had a justified outrage.
All parties to the fighting should be cited. Also, those who have now admitted to hanging the nooses should be charged with something befitting the utter disregard for decency and the social contract in which they have engaged. Couldn't there be a "disturbing the peace", "inciting riots" or other applicable charge filed against those kids?
It looks awfully skewed that not one of the arrested parties happens to be caucasian.
I believe it is clear that use of a violent symbol that threatens death, invoking real and horrifying actual events from the not too distant past is far more serious an offense than some teenage fist fighting, even if the fights were started by these morally wronged young men.
=sw
It is my understanding that there is a shade tree on the property of a highschool. I have heard that the tree was planted by 2 young women, one black and one white, many years ago as a symbol of racial harmony.
I know what highschool can be like. Kids can be cruel and irrational as they test the limits of their power in social situations. In an atmosphere like that, some students had it in their heads that the shade tree was somehow to be for whites only, echoing long outlawed segregation.
When an African-American student raised concern about the issue in an assembly, the school officials stated that they could, of course, sit whereever they please. Thereafter, some white students hung nooses from the tree.
The weight of history hangs over this kind of behavior, especially a symbol like a noose which was used to carry out arbitrary and summary executions of many black Americans over many years. It was not so long ago that such things took place.
I have a coworker who grew up in central Virginia. He still remembers many stories he heard as a kid and some first hand incidents he witnessed where the father of an African American friend or neighbor was dragged from his home into the street and beaten.
Free American men women and children have been falsely accused, bombed during church, torn from their families and insulted, abused and murdered. A 14 year old black boy in the south was once drowned in a river for merely whistling at a white woman.
Racially motivated hangings (also sometimes referred to as lynchings) carried out by violent mobs have taken place in the past. These occurences where not so long ago in history and frequent enough to be common knowledge.
The use of such a symbol of repression as a noose, and the history behind such symbol is a cruel and violent, abhorrent act all its own. It is more than a prank. Legally it ought to be considered at least harassment if not a death threat. It is something terribly serious in our culture to communicate in such a way to a people who have had a history of injustice and harm done to them. Not to mention years of slavery preceeding the segregation times.
The kids who admitted to placing the nooses have yet to be charged.
Teenagers get in fights. These things will happen. Especially when injustices are carried out against them in these Highschool social battles. Apparently some fights took place surrounding these events. These involved bloodied bruised faces and even allegations of attempted murder. There were apparently many fights with many subjected to harm on both sides of the racial divide.
It seems that only African American youths were actually charged in the assault cases. One of these young men was being held in jail and now that his conviction has been overturned by a judge is still in jail.
That seems highly irregular.
This is a civil society. I don't think it's wrong to prosecute assault. Yet, in light of the egregious nature of the extenuating circumstances that led to the violent backlash, it should be understood that these 6 young men, who actually were charged, had a justified outrage.
All parties to the fighting should be cited. Also, those who have now admitted to hanging the nooses should be charged with something befitting the utter disregard for decency and the social contract in which they have engaged. Couldn't there be a "disturbing the peace", "inciting riots" or other applicable charge filed against those kids?
It looks awfully skewed that not one of the arrested parties happens to be caucasian.
I believe it is clear that use of a violent symbol that threatens death, invoking real and horrifying actual events from the not too distant past is far more serious an offense than some teenage fist fighting, even if the fights were started by these morally wronged young men.
=sw
Monday, September 17, 2007
Hey Diddle Diddle with the Kitty in the Middle
I saw Aerosmith with a band called "The Blackhearts" over the weekend.
I had thought I was going to see "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts" open the show...though it turned out to be an early 80's punk/clash like band fronted by a woman with a hot voice whose name was "Joan Jett" who, for your information, is simply the lead singer of a band called "The Blackhearts" from New York. If you don't get it right soon we are going to have to hit you in the face with awesome rock and roll! "Yah, Oh yeah".
Yes they finally played everything we know well like that "I don't give a damn on my bad reputation" song. That "I love rock and roll so put another dime in the juke box baby!!!" song. It's ok that the money amount sounds wrong, it was always just a euphemism anyway. Also "Crimson and Clover" over and over...I mean just once.
Joan Jett had 2 side stage bleachers of American armed forces V.I.P.s. She was able to honor their spirit of service while criticizing the government in a song for their opaque nature during the Bush administration...she even played some sound clips of the Whitehouse spokesman being deliberately confusing...and of George Bush failing to use the "fool me once shame on you...fool me twice shame on me" phrase correctly.
On to Aerosmith. First, this band is still really great. They play well, put on a great show with a lot of charisma. Much of the rock and roll charisma comes from Steven Tyler who is not afraid to be funny. They proudly employ his mouth as a band member all its own. There are a lots of shots where the stage cameras are zoomed in to his mouth which gets projected on 3 huge screens. It's funny and great and very "rock and roll" all at once.
Their show started with a retro style video showing their international destinations with a clip of a B29 flying from place to place and an old news-reel like voice talking about the major cities and destinations around the globe. That ended with...and now...the band arrives at the "rockinest" town of them all "Bristow!!!" (Bristow Virginia being the small town where the Nissan Pavillion concert venue is located outside Washington, D.C. It was so damn funny.
During "Pink", one of the big famous Aerosmith tracks...he actually wears a pink feather boa...(something you'd usually expect to see at an Erasure concert). Right at the beginning Tyler shouted to an audience member "get off the phone"...classic.
While they played a good solid 2 hours or so, they didn't seem to play end to end hits. It was more like...rock and roll moments interspersed with big familiar hits. This is noodle rock and they noodled around more than an Italian pasta maker. I guess the die hard fans know what they want to hear.
I did enjoy the big famous songs. My expectation for the show was that I would hear "Love in an Elevator" and then I'd go home happy. It was their first song...so the show went well for me and a Heineken Keg-can and a small group of friends.
=sw
I had thought I was going to see "Joan Jett and the Blackhearts" open the show...though it turned out to be an early 80's punk/clash like band fronted by a woman with a hot voice whose name was "Joan Jett" who, for your information, is simply the lead singer of a band called "The Blackhearts" from New York. If you don't get it right soon we are going to have to hit you in the face with awesome rock and roll! "Yah, Oh yeah".
Yes they finally played everything we know well like that "I don't give a damn on my bad reputation" song. That "I love rock and roll so put another dime in the juke box baby!!!" song. It's ok that the money amount sounds wrong, it was always just a euphemism anyway. Also "Crimson and Clover" over and over...I mean just once.
Joan Jett had 2 side stage bleachers of American armed forces V.I.P.s. She was able to honor their spirit of service while criticizing the government in a song for their opaque nature during the Bush administration...she even played some sound clips of the Whitehouse spokesman being deliberately confusing...and of George Bush failing to use the "fool me once shame on you...fool me twice shame on me" phrase correctly.
On to Aerosmith. First, this band is still really great. They play well, put on a great show with a lot of charisma. Much of the rock and roll charisma comes from Steven Tyler who is not afraid to be funny. They proudly employ his mouth as a band member all its own. There are a lots of shots where the stage cameras are zoomed in to his mouth which gets projected on 3 huge screens. It's funny and great and very "rock and roll" all at once.
Their show started with a retro style video showing their international destinations with a clip of a B29 flying from place to place and an old news-reel like voice talking about the major cities and destinations around the globe. That ended with...and now...the band arrives at the "rockinest" town of them all "Bristow!!!" (Bristow Virginia being the small town where the Nissan Pavillion concert venue is located outside Washington, D.C. It was so damn funny.
During "Pink", one of the big famous Aerosmith tracks...he actually wears a pink feather boa...(something you'd usually expect to see at an Erasure concert). Right at the beginning Tyler shouted to an audience member "get off the phone"...classic.
While they played a good solid 2 hours or so, they didn't seem to play end to end hits. It was more like...rock and roll moments interspersed with big familiar hits. This is noodle rock and they noodled around more than an Italian pasta maker. I guess the die hard fans know what they want to hear.
I did enjoy the big famous songs. My expectation for the show was that I would hear "Love in an Elevator" and then I'd go home happy. It was their first song...so the show went well for me and a Heineken Keg-can and a small group of friends.
=sw
Friday, September 14, 2007
A Killer App for the Opera browser
I use Pandora for music at work. I think Pandora is so handy and brilliant. It's like a satellite radio on your desktop. Here is a screenshot, I recommend clicking on it to see the full resolution view.
I use the Opera web browser to play pandora. I can cinch up the page to just be around my Pandora player view and Opera remembers where I was (at Pandora's site playing music), how I sized the window and where I put it on the screen (Mac OS X). This means I can quit Opera and reopen it and it positions my Pandora window and begins playing music again, Just like an app. This is Opera 9.21.
It's also helpful if I have to use my browser, say Firefox, in a proxy for work. I often need to quit Firefox or re-point its proxy for work uses. All of this would interrupt my Pandora player, so having it in another browser is very handy. Especially one with the behavior of Opera.
Pandora introduces me to music I might like I might never have heard and Opera makes it work almost like a music application. It is an excellent experience for sure.
=sw
I use the Opera web browser to play pandora. I can cinch up the page to just be around my Pandora player view and Opera remembers where I was (at Pandora's site playing music), how I sized the window and where I put it on the screen (Mac OS X). This means I can quit Opera and reopen it and it positions my Pandora window and begins playing music again, Just like an app. This is Opera 9.21.
It's also helpful if I have to use my browser, say Firefox, in a proxy for work. I often need to quit Firefox or re-point its proxy for work uses. All of this would interrupt my Pandora player, so having it in another browser is very handy. Especially one with the behavior of Opera.
Pandora introduces me to music I might like I might never have heard and Opera makes it work almost like a music application. It is an excellent experience for sure.
=sw
Monday, September 10, 2007
My September 11th Tribute to New York City 6 years on...
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man, no time to talk.
Music loud and women warm.
I've been kicked around since I was born.
And now it's all right, it's O.K.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man.
Whether you're a brother
Or whether you're a mother,
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Feel the city breakin'
And ev'rybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Well now, I get low and I get high
And if I can't get either I really try.
Got the wings of heaven on my shoes
I'm a dancin' man and I just can't lose.
You know it's all right, it's O.K.
I'll live to see another day.
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man.
Whether you're a brother
Or whether you're a mother,
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Feel the city breakin'
And ev'rybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Life goin' nowhere.
Somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Life goin' nowhere.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Stayin' alive
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man, no time to talk.
Music loud and women warm.
I've been kicked around since I was born.
And now it's all right, it's O.K.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man.
Whether you're a brother
Or whether you're a mother,
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Feel the city breakin'
And ev'rybody shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Life goin' nowhere.
Somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Life goin' nowhere.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Stayin' alive
Life goin' nowhere.
Somebody help me.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Life goin' nowhere.
Somebody help me, yeah.
Stayin' alive
-Bee Gees
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Mexicans Without Borders
In my area there is group that bears the name "Mexicans Without Borders". This appears to be borrowed from the venerable "Doctors Without Borders" group whose humanitarian spirit is captured in the name.
A name like "Mexicans Without Borders" seems to suggest nothing noble or humanitarian at all. It seems to suggest that Mexicans are allowed to freely migrate all over North America or perhaps where ever they please, with a complete disregard for the rule of law and social contracts. Never mind that the narrowly nationalist name disregards the existence and concerns of anyone not from Mexico.
I always like to overemphasize this: I like Mexicans. I like Central and South Americans among whose people I have some friends. I do not like anyone who disregards the law and carries out antisocial behavior against others. So I don't like the kidnappers, drug dealers, rebel militants or gangs from these areas or from anywhere. I don't approve of the illegal behavior of illegal immigrants to my country and I don't approve of people who support and encourage illegal activity.
I know that produce may cost more when only legal workers harvest it. I think that the market will adjust. The U.S. may need to allow more workers in legally if they are needed and if they respect the terms and conditions of their visa or eventual citizenship.
There should not be illegal immigration. There should be orderly, legal immigration.
Mexico has borders. Many of them established by the Mexican-American war. We have already decided this war, there is no need to have it again.
For the first time this week I understood something better. While watching Peter Navarro discuss some of his books on a public TV station, I came to understand the role China plays in Mexican illegal immigration and in other world problems.
China does not play on the same field as Europe and the United States. It seems that China seeks to aggressively acquire and control resources and assets around the world through deal making. This takes those resources off the free market and as Mr. Navarro says, is a highly confrontational way of working in the world.
It may be that the manufacturing economy of China hits Mexican workers and economies even harder and earlier than it impacts Americas labor markets. This intense pressure contributes to migration to seek work and livelihood.
We are one world after all. Yet, people coming to the U.S. should have respect for our laws, not boldly flout them...or even disregard or disobey them. If the new rule is that anyone can go anywhere, I may just settle on some beach front property in Mexico and see how that works. I have a feeling Mexico would enforce their immigration laws. I think we should do nothing less.
=sw
A name like "Mexicans Without Borders" seems to suggest nothing noble or humanitarian at all. It seems to suggest that Mexicans are allowed to freely migrate all over North America or perhaps where ever they please, with a complete disregard for the rule of law and social contracts. Never mind that the narrowly nationalist name disregards the existence and concerns of anyone not from Mexico.
I always like to overemphasize this: I like Mexicans. I like Central and South Americans among whose people I have some friends. I do not like anyone who disregards the law and carries out antisocial behavior against others. So I don't like the kidnappers, drug dealers, rebel militants or gangs from these areas or from anywhere. I don't approve of the illegal behavior of illegal immigrants to my country and I don't approve of people who support and encourage illegal activity.
I know that produce may cost more when only legal workers harvest it. I think that the market will adjust. The U.S. may need to allow more workers in legally if they are needed and if they respect the terms and conditions of their visa or eventual citizenship.
There should not be illegal immigration. There should be orderly, legal immigration.
Mexico has borders. Many of them established by the Mexican-American war. We have already decided this war, there is no need to have it again.
For the first time this week I understood something better. While watching Peter Navarro discuss some of his books on a public TV station, I came to understand the role China plays in Mexican illegal immigration and in other world problems.
China does not play on the same field as Europe and the United States. It seems that China seeks to aggressively acquire and control resources and assets around the world through deal making. This takes those resources off the free market and as Mr. Navarro says, is a highly confrontational way of working in the world.
It may be that the manufacturing economy of China hits Mexican workers and economies even harder and earlier than it impacts Americas labor markets. This intense pressure contributes to migration to seek work and livelihood.
We are one world after all. Yet, people coming to the U.S. should have respect for our laws, not boldly flout them...or even disregard or disobey them. If the new rule is that anyone can go anywhere, I may just settle on some beach front property in Mexico and see how that works. I have a feeling Mexico would enforce their immigration laws. I think we should do nothing less.
=sw
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