News Updates

The Green Bay Packers lost their first game in what otherwise looked like a perfect season.  Against the Kansas City Chiefs no less.  Shocking.

The last of my country's soldiers have left Iraq, ending two wars that I have practically grown up with.  The United States fighting in Iraq has been as about as normal for my life as have no-reason-boners. 

Kim Jong Il, possibly one of the modern world's most evil men died last night, cocking all sorts of eyebrowidge around the world for what happens next to that alien-like nation that we call North Korea.

13 days left this year, who knows what can happen?

the best hip hop songs you didn't hear in 2011

the weeknd- high for this



frank ocean- novacane



bonus frank ocean- thinking about you



childish gambino- heartbeat



asap rocky- peso



das racist- brand new dance



bonus das racist- rainbow in the dark



azealia banks- 212



AZEALIA...get at me.

Mmmm Beer

My good pal Brooks and I just bought our home brewing kit from www.northernbrewer.com, hopefully the supplies will have arrived by the time I get back home to Texas for the holidays.

I'm super psyched about this for several reasons:

1) Brooks, Tim, and I have been looking for some sort of off-the-path business venture to get into now that we have all been smacked by the reality that we probably can't fulfill our dreams of being vigilantes, pirates, and professional board-game players.

2) Playing alchemist is a good way for us to learn a craft.  Beer brewing has been around for at least 10,000 years, and evidence of its making is evidenced in nearly every corner of the world.  Man has a passion for beer, and so do we.  Why not learn this solely for the purpose of going in on a hobby?

3) We are aware that we have to be creative and come up with a process and recipe for something that no one else does.  Developing something unique is an idea worth writing home about and something to be proud of.  We know it may be hard to replicate a beer after we have made it through trial and error, but life is often about learning and progressing deductively.

4) It will be fun!  With either success or failure for each batch, we will yield beer that shall be drank...please tell me the problem with that!

The issue now, is once we have our kits, what beer should we make?  We are of course eager to make anything, just because we can, but our other selves will be biting at us to be cautious and calculating so we can find our niche.  We need to come up with a consensus for a style and process that we can feel good about, and feel confident that other people will enjoy. 

Nevertheless, the first step has been made, cheers!

Uhh Whiskey...

Though I'm not used to much merry-making these days in The District, my office recently "inherited" a stock of left over spirits from an event last night.  One was a bottle of single malt whiskey, which comes from the Laphroaig distillery located on a British Isle called Islay, just north of Ireland and southwest of Scotland.

From: http://www.laphroaig.com/whiskies/

I've never been a huge whiskey guy, I know, shame on me, but then again it isn't like I have EVER turned down a shot or glass of it either.  I just prefer other spirits.  I'm not apologizing to you.

This 10 year old scotch comes from a pretty rich history you can read all about here if you are interested, but the reason I am writing about this is because of the pure serendipity of how I have come to be enjoying a glass right now.  And don't worry I'm not spoiling this with a Coke, drinking game, or a bias against the wretched Tudor and Windsor houses of England. 

Besides, I'm convinced that the Laphroaig 10 Year Single Malt Scotch deserves no less than to be sipped gingerly.  The whole event has to be handled like that first time with a girl you really like.  You can't screw it up, and you are working feverishly to put forth a good impression, and at least masking that you are actually caring about her boundaries and alluding to the idea that you are in it for what she likes.  

But unlike a girl...well maybe...this beverage has a peaty flavour to it.  It's definitely rich and has a good smooth bite to it that one would hope for.  Okay, maybe like a girl.  But I recommend this, and though I don't have a super selection of whiskeys that I have had to reference with, I'd still give this spirit a strong 7 out of 10 on taste. 

L'Histoire du Monde!

Herodotus

Just a few thoughts on my favourite subject of history.

History is always going to be about perspectives in my opinion.  I find it hard to argue that there isn't a side or a bias in the research, teaching, or writing of the field of history.  Though I'm not convinced that this is a bad thing because there is always a goal, or answer that is being sought after in its pursuit, even with an agenda.  Yet this phenomena is a testament to how we remember our past.  We fill gaps and change details of the story with anything from what seems logical to simply how we want it remembered, and that alone tells much about the time and place in which we live.  

So you see my dear friend, history doesn't have to be a suffocatingly drawn out discussion about the details of what happened, where, who did it, why, and when...it can be useful to highlight overarching themes, and sometimes this is what is most useful in history's application to issues of today and the future.  It is easy for me to embrace this because I love history, I'm interested in it and find it fascinating.  To be honest I think those that don't heed it are either lazy, don't understand what history really is, are shallow, or are catamites. 

But we must keep in mind that different groups of people throughout the world developed at different paces, in different ways, and from different causes.  It would be flawed then to divide the world up into the traditional periods of time like we do, because it would unjustly categorize stories of civilization.  Take "Industrial Revolution" for example...I mean seriously?  Hello Mr. Enlightened European, meet American Indian with no concept of the wheel, user of stone tools, forager, and worshiper of ancestors.  Yeah, Running Bear should definitely be included during that era. Alas, we've come to expect the Eurocentric bias.

Yet I think that even though history as a field is flawed, what field isn't?  And it's fine going down the path that it is.  The field will continue to evolve and adapt; always churning along towards truths with more accuracy.  I think we must accept that it will never be perfect, but ultimately there is a reason the field has been delineated with time-periods, themes, and regions the way it is: for mere human understanding.  Our brains have been better at categorizing and sorting out the past with these approaches for at least the last 2,500 years (since Herodotus, "Father of History").  I just hope that history will find a way to gain interest for people.

SOLVS SVM

I'm Ryan, and I'm the only person that really exists.  Everyone and everything is an extension of my mind, created around me to be so complex and so unending that it all seems authentic and unique.  People seem like individuals but in reality they are figments with nothing but words and behaviors that are there for me to see and perceive.  They don't actually think or feel, they just react for me, a play preformed by my mind to create the illusion that I am not alone.  People out of sight, touch, sound, or smell are in a fog and not existent, only being recalled to keep my mind sure that the world is genuine.  A person on the street is there because my thoughts put them there, and as I pass them and turn around, they are still there because I've convinced myself that they should be there.  They walk into a cloud when I'm not looking and disappear until the next time my mind re-spawns them in an attempt to make me think they are real.  Surprises, accidents, and fortunes are made in direct order to seem like the arbitrary, but these events, like the people and animals are only in my perception to keep me sane, to keep me connected to something, to keep me breathing, to keep me hopeful.

Rangers Offseason

I'm obsessed. There, I said it. I can't help it, I can't stop thinking about the baseball offseason. The offseason is the most optimistic time for most baseball fans because, simply, there is no baseball being played. There is no data to work with, we are left to think as hopefully as we like and our optimism if left unchecked. Every team's top prospect is rated by Baseball America, every team thinks this is the year that their Chris Davis breaks through. Ultimately, around late May, reality strikes...the Yankees are going to be good, the Mariners aren't. But, in this magical window of the offseason, everything could work.

How do I quantify my obsession...Do I hit refresh on mlbtraderumors.com every 30 minutes? Yes. On a pie chart of my thoughts, would the time I spent thinking about Mark Buehrle vs CJ Wilson look like Pac Man? Yes. Am I asking myself questions that I know the answer to? Possibly. The problem I face as a Rangers fan this offseason is that my optimism is confused. What do the Rangers do? How do we improve a team that was ONE PITCH away? Are massive overhauls needed? What will be done about the massive contract issues looming? We'll see what the organization thinks as the winter unfolds. The implications of this offseason could shape the franchise for the next era of Ranger baseball. It should be fun.

What the NFL can tell us about existential crisis

When helping a friend pick NFL games earlier this week, I couldn't help to feel a familiar feeling. I poured through data to find the team with the best advantage, point differential, time of possession, even 1st downs allowed. As I broke down each match up to look for favorable statistical data, I started to feel a little helpless. What good is all of this research if the starting quarterback breaks his leg on the second play? What if the weather changes and the outcome of the game is altered by a storm? What if aliens land on the fifty yard line? Even the best statistical advantages couldn't help me in certain situations. At some point, my pick would be subject to conditions I couldn't control. Why even pick? I contemplated suicide. Too dramatic, I thought. Smaller steps...ok, what if I made the best decisions based on the data I had and then enjoyed the process of the game, marveled at its twists and turns, and when it was over, appreciated the ride, win or lose? Isn't that a much more rational approach to life? Who knows how our lives really work? Are we a walking set of predetermined decisions? Are we the result of a massive butterfly effect that we can't control? I propose that either way, all we can do is make the best decisions based on the information we have, enjoy where we're at, and appreciate the ride. Oh, and by the way, go Packers.

écouter de la musique

Brueghel's Peasant Dance

The way in which we remember and enjoy music has changed over the last couple of centuries...even more so over the last 20-30 years.  Our music comes with us everywhere on our iPods, phones, laptops, home sound systems, etc.  We create our own life's playlist.  We associate times, places, people, events, weather, smells, and even emotions with a particular tune because we have so much easy-access to music.

Forever in our minds, particular songs can remind us of a time, ranging from the haunting to pure bliss.  Some of these tunes may be ruined forever, scarring us with the memory of a place where we don't wish our minds to go.  Some perhaps make us smile and think of a person or a location in which we yearn to relive over and over again.  And then there are even songs that simply remind us of basic things like a commute, a routine, or maybe a job.

Humans before us didn't have this experience.  I don't think music has lost any of its sacredness, but songs were relegated for very specific, and for most people rare moments.  Access to a wide range of music was also not in the norm.  Thus, a person's perception of music and how they associated it with tangents was likely totally different.  I don't feel regretful for them.  It's humbling; they probably appreciated the small range of tunes they had, and enjoyed them just as much as I do with my favorite songs.  But I realize now how much the dynamics has changed, and this highlights the fact that we are wading into new water in how we perceive music.

So there I was...

Me: A serious question: Do you believe in destiny?  Fate?  Or just something that YOU are meant to do or become?  Let’s hear it!

Her: I still battle with this…But believing in destiny is absolutely just as irrational from an intellectual point of view as believing in God or in anything outside what you can physically see or experience. But if I didn't believe in either of those things, I would have to believe that my life were an arbitrary/coincidental/accidental occurrence. And I can't imagine why I would have my personality and my soul and my way of thinking if it weren't in order to fill some role that I am meant to. It's sort of like that Einstein quote about there being two ways to view the world: as if everything is a miracle, or as though nothing is. I don't know for sure, Ryan, but I am willing to bet on the first. Your turn! What do you think about all of that?

Me:  I differ on the perspective that it has to be either of two ways.  You, and many other minions, refer to the fallacy that something is irrational because it is not tangible.  Ask yourself anthropologist Jr., is it really irrational if human beings all around the world share the common notion that there is something bigger and more sacred than themselves?  That there are places where our ancestors and loved ones go?  Is that ignorant and irrational if there perhaps is a complex in our brain that wires us to imagine such a thing?  I think even atheists want to believe in something, they just need more proof.  I do not think that everything happens for a reason, but I feel that there are currents and flows that lead in a deterministic kind of way.  I don't know if we have destinies, and I'm glad that I don't know; it leaves more room for free will, but at the same time encourages the fact that we may have the ability to be parts of something significant.  And I think that is what humans want.  We want our lives to be significant...that our struggles, works, and experiences matter...to know we left a mark.  This ties back into the belief in something that you can't see, because since most of us are unsure that we are significant while we are living on earth, we hope that there is something beyond us that will resonate and give us the ability to look back and see that we did matter.  

Her: Wouldn't it be sort of nicer if everything were already set in some semblance of a plan? I'm on a date with Library, and this existential crisis is distracting me. 

I can most certainly see "destiny" from your perspective. Especially in terms of the idea of deterministic currents and flows... I don't mean to say that I think every little thing in my life is laid out in some master plan. Of course I can choose what I do on a day-to-day basis... but there's so much we don't have control over. Like, for example, the fact that we exist in the first place. I didn't choose to be here, and no one even told me why I am! But that doesn't change the fact that I am. So that tells me that I'm not the one calling the shots on a the most fundamental level. Which is in large part why I believe in God.
I don't disagree with you that it is part of the human ego to want to be significant and to feel the need to invent the notion of a "purpose" in life. However, in terms of our individual personalities and roles in the lives of others... I feel like everyone in my life has taught me specific things at specific times...  of course that could just be in retrospect that I can assign a role to all of them. But at the very least I think we choose our paths and tend to gravitate toward people on similar paths.  

Also, in nature there is order. Everything is logical and symbiotic on some scale, but sometimes it takes a microscope or an aerial view to see the way things fit together. We're just not able to see exactly how we fit into the grand scheme of things... and therein lies the futile quest to understand it all.
I think the reason I'm a pretty happy person is that on the whole, I think that what we do in life isn't nearly as important as how we do those things. So I try and make my "purpose" to live gratefully and be as kind to others as I can. And that's enough for me. 

Me: Everything you said is wrong.

Her: You just made me laugh out loud on my "date" and now some Asians are staring at me. 

Me: I like the way you think...yet you ran laps around my question without answering it. Do you believe that a person is meant for something or no? A destiny? I like your moral take, but are we just shaped by our experiences in our lives for anything? Or something in particular?

Her: To answer your question, I think we are meant to be the sort of people that we are, and then we decide what to do with that. And that's where a purpose comes along. I suppose that we decide whether to really make use of our lives or not. But the anthropologist in me wonders, would I be saying any of this if I were one of the first Homo sapiens just trying to survive and not get eaten by a lion? Probably not. But then again, life was simpler back then in the good old days. 

DC

Amor Fati

My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it—all idealism is mendaciousness in the face of what is necessary—but love it.
-F.N.

Sometimes things get...

Hey sometimes things get complicated.  This deadmau5 track "Not Exactly" pumps you up for anything, even a visit to the dentist.  I know what you are thinking, what's a dentist?  But listen up, the key to getting any girl you could ever possibly want revolves solely around a pearly white grill.  Brush your teeth, floss, and listen to deadmau5 tracks; but only on your headphones mind you, some chicks are weirded out by house/dance music, so keep that to yourself.  Anyway, do those things and most likely you will find yourself on your way to a new and improved way of life with the ladies.  If it's guys you are into, sorry bro, I don't know anything about that, I only go one way...and that's with ladies.  

Now I really know what you are thinking: "A straight guy listening to dance music?  Come on buddy..."  Don't make me tell you again, the music is there for yourself to get pumped up, to give you the confidence you lost last year when you talked yourself into taking that one chick out for a nice dinner and respecting her boundaries.