Jay Jay and The Funky Schoolbus

need something interesting to look at?

2006-12-13T23:20:00.000-05:00

*cough*

www.tableofquestions.blogspot.com

*cough*

food makes me happy

2006-11-23T16:12:00.000-05:00

you know what my sister does before thanksgiving?
finds pictures of herself to frame and put around the house

you know what i do before thanksgiving?
watch eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

:-)

1,200 Patents

2006-11-20T19:05:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of Nikola Tesla. He was a cool guy. There were over 1,200 patents to his name when he died in 1943. He knew six languages by the time he was 18. He invented a 'death ray' (particle gun), and gave pieces of how to build it to all the major world powers, thus making them be peaceful with each other so no one country could control such a deadly weapon. He predicted ideas such as the internet and television decades before anything like them surfaced. I think Nikola Tesla was a pretty cool guy.

I blog for myself, mostly.

Mazal Tov

2006-11-11T19:08:00.000-05:00

today was good.
I had way too much to drink.
although none of it was alcohol.
i think i will start wearing suits more often.
i was called dapper, which is good i guess.
that is all.

My Tank Is Fight!

2006-11-05T15:28:00.000-05:00

Remember remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder and treason
should ever be forgot.

My Cup Is Full, and I Feel Okay

2006-11-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

I was reading this Pitchfork interview with the singer from the Decemberists, and found this quuuite funny:

Pitchfork: You play a lot of covers, I'm curious about the spirit in which you approach these covers, whether it's more revisionist or more direct. In your cover of Joanna Newsom's "Bridges & Balloons" for instance, you change, perhaps inadvertently, a couple key words that really affect the meaning of the song. When she says "brace and buoy the living room," it sounds as if you're saying "brace and boil," which obviously changes the implications of that line a lot.

CM: I just fucked it up. I think I was drunk when I recorded it.

Seriously Pitchfork Media. Chill the fuck out. Aziz Ansari, on the other hand...

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD

2006-10-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

What I Have Learned Today

2006-10-06T22:31:00.000-04:00

Today, I have learned that if you are a pedophile, always bring a gun to your "play dates." That way, when the guy from Dateline and all of those cops go to arrest you, you can just kill them instead.

Here is some stuff I have done this week:

(I thought this last one looked really cool. The original photo is here)

Also, I added one new song at the Funk Schoolbus site. The first half, at least, is quite relaxing to play as a loop. The second half ... well I can sum it up in two words: PAN FLUTE.

Coolest Video You'll See For A While

2006-09-08T18:04:00.000-04:00

Check this out. It's a movie that was all with the burst mode on a digital camera. It's only like, 3 minutes and it is very cool, so watch it.

Snakes On A Plane: Now With More Snakes!

2006-08-23T23:39:00.000-04:00

*Insert lame jokes about snakes here*

And that's about it for this post, as introductions go....

There are 3 types of people dealing with Snakes On A Plane:

1. "The Casual Snake-er"

This person has heard of the movie (Who hasn't?), but frankly wants nothing to do with it. They think it will be complete rubbish. I mean the premise is right in the title. For Pete's sake!

2. "The Snake Handler"

If you come across this fellow, they will know about the movie. They will have seen the movie. But on the other hand ..... they'll probably only see it like once or twice. They might talk about it ... but they haven't caught "Snake Fever" (This is quite different from the condition on is brought into when encountering a snake's deadly neurotoxin).

3."Samuel L. Jackson" (The L is for "Loves his fuckin' snakes!)

This person will not be encountered for the next couple months. Chances are that they have quit whatever job (If any) that they previously held, to live in the movie theaters and watch SoaP (Because who has the time to write out full movie titles these days anyway?). Unfortunately for them, SoaP will eventually have to leave theaters. At this point they will steal the reel of film and bring it home to watch it until they perish. These folk are as rare as sentences on blogs that are trying to look semi-proffessional (*cough* *cough*) that end without proper punctuation

Now in my opinion, I was definitely a "Snake-Handler" (Also known as Snake-Wrangler in certain parts of Australia). I was very excited to see the movie. But going into it, I knew it would be either a sinker, or a floater. I'm not really sure which one is good in this idiom, seeing as they both reference shit. But let's just assume that sinker means bad, and floater is good. Anyhow, it was definitely a floater. There was so much possibility for error. It was a story about snakes being on a plane. How they managed to drag it out for an hour and forty minutes, I have no clue. But I do know that I was on the edge of my fucking seat the whole time.

Pros:

The audience is a lot of fun while watching the movie. There are certain lines (Motherfucking snakes on my motherfucking plane, etc.) that get the audience riled up.
There were moments of cheesiness, but that is what you go into the theater expecting. They keep the movie fun, rather than an hour and forty minutes of pure snakes on a plane. Who would want that?
Great casting. The guy from Anchorman (You know, the one who abused the women? Yeah, that one) is back as the pilot. And he's lookin for more sexual harrassment lawsuits than ever!
Do I even need to mention Samuel Fucking Jackson?

Cons:

The only bad thing that I could say about this film is that some of the acting is a bit sub-par. But I don't know if serious acting belongs in a movie about snakes ... on a plane.

If I had to sum up this post in 3 words...

Go See It!

Thanks To Alex Chubbuck For This

2006-08-23T02:18:00.000-04:00

I now have an official banner, thanks to Alex Chubbuck.

Room In Transition

2006-08-16T23:50:00.000-04:00

(Of the two, it will end up being the color that is not blue)

Breaking News!

2006-07-08T22:39:00.000-04:00

ALL of the new Mars Volta album, Amputechture, has been leaked. Check it out here. John Frusciante plays on every single song. I have not listened to every track so far, but everything I have heard has been amazing. Cedric's vocals have been crazy and the solos are really good. I will review it in full when I get back from camp (see last post).

See, this is piracy at its best. Yeah, I know, I did download it, but I will now buy it and recommend it to many many people. You're welcome, The Mars Volta.

I Completely Stole This Post

2006-07-08T22:04:00.000-04:00

Check this shit out, it is awesome. I tried copying and pasting but the font was small, and I am lazy.

Oh yeah, I will be in camp from now till July 23rd, possibly August 5th. So write me or email me or something and I'll be happy.

Aaron Marks
PO Box 38
Orson, PA 18449

I Hate Myspace

2006-07-06T12:31:00.000-04:00

So as I was checking my e-mail this morning, and I see that I had a new Myspace message from "Nevada Cannon Street Team." I think to myself "Who are the Nevadad Cannon Street Team?" Well Aaron's mind, I'm glad you asked!

It turns out the Nevada Cannon Street Team are "Street Team" from Nevada, that promote this band "Cannon." Now I didn't listen to the band Cannon, but as their message said, I will promote the band for them. Here is the message they left -

(Click the picture to see what they said ... Trust me, it's funny shit)

Superman Returns

2006-07-04T11:32:00.000-04:00

If I had to review this movie in two words , it would be "Television Show." Why television show you ask? Because in a movie, what holds everything together? It's the storyline. And the storyline that Superman Returns brought to the table was well, no better than a television show.

In a normal sitcom, the storyline runs in an "A" Story and "B" Story format. There is one important story, and then another lesser story that are both going on in the show. While they both deal with the same characters, they're rarely intertwined (And when a show comes along that can successfully bring the two together, such as Seinfeld, it's a huge hit).

This is exactly what Superman felt like to me. There was your A Story, which in this movie happened to be his conflict with Lois having a kid and a new man. So it ended up being that The Man Of Steel's conflict with Lex Luthor ended up taking the role of the B Story.

Now in my mind, this is totally wrong. He is The Man Of Steel, not the "Man Of Worry About His Relationships." Yes, Lois Lane does and should play an integral part in any Superman story, but here it seemed that he was being less of a hero and more of a regular guy. I read an interview with director Bryan Singer in USA Today the other day, and he was talking about how he wanted Superman to be more easy to relate to than he had been in previous years. Now I think there's nothing wrong with trying to get the audience to better relate to a character, but if you can't do it by any means better than having two stories that are completely unrelated until the last 30 minutes of the movie, you should just stick with what you know works. I think they would have been better off focusing more on writing a more villainous plot for Luthor (Having him try to build a new continent with crystals ... I mean come on, he can get more badass than that), and then tying in Lois after so the story flows much better. It seemed like there were two seperate writing teams who at the end of finishing the script went "Oh shit maybe we should be working on this together."

So all in all I would actually say it was good. Not great, not something I'd say was a good Superman Movie, but it is a film that you can sit down and watch, and not really notice that it's not great. The main problem I think was the hype this movie got. It was supposed to be Superman Returning from a long break and it was supposed to be epic; that's where it let me down.

Pros:

Technically done very well
Cool reference to the old films in the opening credits
Kevin Spacey was awesome as Lex Luthor
There were some great scenes

Cons

The two stories seemed distant from one another till the end of the film
Lex Luthor seemed was timid and not nearly as badass as he needed to be
Superman looked very plasticy in some of the scenes

Happy July 4th

Pictures From Europe

2006-07-02T22:02:00.000-04:00

The following are some of the pictures I took whilst in Europe. I took a lot of pictures so I couldn't host them all online. What I have posted on this blog are just highlights. Almost all of the pictures that I took can be found here, or here as a slideshow

Venice

2006-07-02T21:51:00.000-04:00

Venice was the best city so there are quite a few photos to highlight; bear with me, the other posts are shorter I swear.

Slovenia

2006-07-02T21:38:00.000-04:00

These pictures are the last of the low resolution. Flickr does not let you upload that many photos per month, so all the ones you have seen (and will see in this set) were low resolution. But it's better than nothing. Everything that follows is much better.

Salzburg

2006-06-30T18:53:00.000-04:00

Munich

2006-06-30T17:15:00.000-04:00

Switzerland

2006-06-30T16:35:00.000-04:00

I tried to do captions for these, but the formatting on Blogger is difficult, and I have jetlag and do not feel like doing HTML. If you want captions ... call me, and I can tell you what's in my head for each picture. And feel free to click on each picture to zoom in to get the full 5.1 megapixels of image; these low resolutions do not do them justice. Also, that way I'll feel my (a.k.a. my mom's) money was spent well on the camera.

That is all for here. I actually have like, 300 pictures though in case you are interested. Just instant message me (wallydacatzzz) and I can send them to you there, where it does not take forever to upload.

A Quick Update

2006-06-19T16:10:00.000-04:00

Well it is 10:07 here, and there is not much to do. I think I may be playing poker later with my family. Until then, I will provide you with an update of today.

I woke up and was not subjected to the horrible breakfast of yesterday. I made it through the morning free of disgusting meals. Then we proceeded to drive through Slovenia, and reached the Postojna Caves. I believe they are some of the biggest in Europe, but I may be wrong. It was very cold, and we met some folks from Illinois. They reminded me of the movie Vegas Vacation. They (the caves) were quite amazing, but again, something that needs pictures to fully appreciate. I will post some when I get home.

Then we ate and drove to the capital of Slovenia. Here it is like many American college towns. Nice, a lot of young people, etc. There is a large castle which is what I believe we are doing tomorrow.

I finally got a picture of some of the food. Tonight I had turkey with lettuce and potatoes. Yet right on top of the turkey they dropped a sunny side up egg. It was interesting. They also did this with pizza. You will see later in pictures.

I must go now. Maybe for a walk, maybe to win some money.

Regards,
Aaron J.

Meine Reise Hat Gute Vorspeise

2006-06-18T17:42:00.000-04:00

re-reading this, i realized a deal of this sounds odd/creepy. let me preface it with this then - it was like 2 am when i wrote this, and i was thinking like a crazy european at the time.

Hello to those who read this ( I think it is safe to say that that pretty much means Alex Chubbuck, and maybe another person or two ), I am currently writing from Piran, Slovenia. On this keyboard the y and z are switched, so from now on this post will have switched z and y. Also, no apostrophe. Tough luck.

Europe so far has been verz amaying. The flight left at 4 US time, so we ended up getting into Italz at 6 A.M. their time. Thez did not have a terminal at the airport, so we got off of one of those staircases that drive to the plane. It made me feel like The Beatles. Then we drove for three hours in a a train to Venice. In Venice, the streets were made of water. We did a lot of walking. When I get back home I will make a post with all mz pictures. Thez will show zou the arcitechture ( I just took 1 minute trzing to remember how to spell that word and then remembered this has spell check ... damnit it will not work on this shittz computer. It is wrong. I will fix it later. ) . Then zesterdaz we drove for 4 hours to Slovenia.

Being here scares me slightlz, onlz because I think the movie Hostel. Mz hobbies do not include being tortured for monez. Seeing as I am American, I go for a lot of monez around here (As being tortured goes). There is a great beach here. We are right on the Adriatic Sea, which is beautiful. I will post pictures later. However, there is no sandz beach. There is a lot of concrete, and some rocks. Not nice rocks, but the kind that hurt. A lot. So we went on the beach that is made of concrete. There are, however, to balance out the uglz looking beach, manz beautiful women. It also happens to be that manz of these women go topless on the beach. At first I thought Wow, America should reallz be more like Europe. Then I remembered mz manz zears of having gone to the Jersez shore. Now if zou go to the Jersez shore and see some of the women that visit that beach ... I think zou zou will know whz I retracted mz previous thought. I realiyed that I should move to Europe, because the beautiful girls in America are like the not so beautiful ones here (Bz comparison, of course). With that logic, here I can get manz good looking American women! I think that exclamation made it seem like I was trzing to tell a joke ... I was not, I was just excited at the prospect of getting manz beautiful women. Manz beautiful, topless, women.

The food here is amazing. Did zou notice that? Anzwaz, I will trz to take some pictures. The fish has been caught fresh each daz from no less that 100 meters awaz from the resturant. That makes for some good qualitz fish. I mistzped good and said god. I dont know if it is the qualitz fish that god eats. He probablz has better fish than this. I have eaten manz octopi, squid, and these little fish that look at zou with ezes that saz I was just killed. Dont eat me. As it turns out, I actuallz dont eat those ones. There is not much meat to get, and it is difficult to retrieve at that.

I must go now, for it is nearing midnight here, 6 o clock U S and A time.

Best Wishes,
Aaron

postscript; go out and read the book King Dork. It is bz the lead singer of The Mister T Experience, and is a good read.

This Album Is Awesome

2006-06-10T20:10:00.000-04:00

It's a mix between Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album. Definitely check it out. If you can not find it, ask me and I will burn you a copy.

Verizon Preps Child Locator Service For Monday Release

2006-06-09T21:28:00.000-04:00

Verizon Wireless will formally introduce a child locator service called Chaperone on Monday. The location based service ties in with the LG Migo handset which went on sale in December 2005. Location data is accessible from a website or directly on a compatible handset through a BREW application.

read more | digg story

New 2 CENTIMETER Thick HDTV- 37 Inches and Only 2 Pounds!

2006-06-09T17:31:00.000-04:00

Toronto-based electronics company, iFire, has created a new phosphor-based form of flat-panel high-definition television that they say is a "true hang on the wall." Their 37-inch HDTV set is two-centimeters thick and weighs less than 2.2 pounds.

read more | digg story

Drop the Joystick and Back Away

2006-06-09T13:15:00.000-04:00

Video games may look innocent, but they can be as addictive as gambling or drugs — and just as hard to kick, says Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants.

read more | digg story

Use The Right Font, Get Good Grades!

2006-06-07T20:35:00.000-04:00

Interesting article on the effect of one font versus another - evidently certain fonts can help you get better grades!

read more | digg story

Top 10 Coolest BBQ Grills

2006-06-07T19:49:00.000-04:00

Grills shaped like a pig? A grill powered by a HEMI engine? A grill so big two grown adults can stand up in it? Check em out here.

read more | digg story

Crazy Video - Catch A Ball Of Water Without Spilling A Drop!

2006-06-07T19:45:00.000-04:00

Drinking water in space, floating food, air swimming and other space adventures. On June 7 in San Francisco, Dr. Greg Olsen tells the SID conference about his life in the International Space Station.

read more | digg story

iPod Clone Plays MP3 / WMA

2006-06-06T23:43:00.000-04:00

This Ipodish like looking MP 058 player does support MP3 and WMA making it more functional than the original and it is suppose to play eight to twelve hours.

read more | digg story

Help Title A Book On "Wikinomics"!

2006-06-05T17:35:00.000-04:00

Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams are publishing a new book on collaboration called Wikinomics and they're seeking help in choosing a title. They've set up a neat little site where you can suggest titles, comment, vote, etc. Interesting take on peer production and collaboration!

read more | digg story

Finally, A Decent Way To Make Cash Off Your Blog!

2006-06-04T22:55:00.000-04:00

A new service selling bloggers' posts to newspapers and magazines is being launched by citizen photoreporting agency Scoopt.

read more | digg story

Thousands of Government Workers Prepare For Attack Larger Than 9/11

2006-06-04T14:23:00.000-04:00

On Monday, June 19, about 4,000 government workers representing more than 50 federal agencies from the State Department to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will say goodbye to their families and set off for dozens of classified emergency facilities for the largest "continuity of government" exercise ever conducted.

read more | digg story

Bungie Bringing Halo 3 Documentary

2006-06-03T23:29:00.000-04:00

It was supposed to be a surprise, but since the man himself gave it away, we can in fact reveal that we have a documentary short that shows the process and people involved in making the E3 trailer, complete with some never before seen scenes (think angles, really) from the trailer.

read more | digg story

The Billion Dollar Treasure-Finding Robot Is Proved The Real Deal

2006-06-03T23:25:00.000-04:00

The seemingly physics-defying robot nicknamed Arturito -- yes, it's supposed to sound like R2D2 - has undergone and passed scientific testing, proving it's the real deal. For whom, you ask: The eager businesspeople who are throwing tons of cash at Salinas to get their hands on one.

read more | digg story

China's Longest River To "Go Under"?

2006-06-02T17:24:00.000-04:00

The Yangtze, China's longest river, is "cancerous" with pollution, reports in the country's state media have said. Environmental experts fear pollution from untreated agricultural and industrial waste could turn the Yangtze into a "dead river" within five years.

read more | digg story

Dissecting The iRiver Clix

2006-06-02T16:45:00.000-04:00

So you just got the new iRiver clix and you cannot wait to crack this mass or electronics open? The task is a bit easier than it may look. All you will need is Swiss Army knife and small Phillips and flat head screw drivers and a little bit of patience and you will be staring at your micro components in no time.

read more | digg story

San Fransisco To Add More Than 50 Hybrid Buses

2006-06-01T22:58:00.000-04:00

San Francisco will add more than 50 diesel-electric hybrid buses to its municipal transportation service by the end of this year. CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos shows us the first vehicle, and a driver talks about the bus's performance.

read more | digg story

Amazing "Mad Max" vehicles in Iraq

2006-06-01T18:56:00.000-04:00

here's a soldier in Iraq who's been posting some crazy pictures of American SUVs and pickup trucks that have been modified by civilian security contractors for use as gun trucks. They're insane, in a 'Mad Max at the Wal-Mart parking lot' kind of way.

read more | digg story

Crashing The Wiretappers Ball

2006-06-01T10:32:00.000-04:00

They were government officials, telephone company honchos, military officers, three-letter-agency spooks and cops, all brought together by salesmen dealing in the modern equipment of surveillance. It was my job to learn what they were up to.

read more | digg story

The Broken Laptop I Sold on Ebay

2006-05-31T21:27:00.000-04:00

"After selling a broken laptop on Ebay..the buyer was pleasantly surprised to find Amir didnâ��t wipe the hard drive. The purchaser then created a blog and posted several unflattering photos and details of Amirâ��s life..."

read more | digg story

Africa: Don't Count Them Out Of The Web 2.0 Boom!

2006-05-31T18:07:00.000-04:00

Nicholas Ochiel is allowing signups for Cheeseforge, a web-based application for managing your budget(s). What's interesting is that this is an African-based startup - no Silicon Valley footprint here.

read more | digg story

Dropping The F Bomb - And It's Legal Effects

2006-05-31T17:46:00.000-04:00

The University of Ohio's Christopher M Fairman has published a scholarly paper called "Fuck" : This Article is as simple and provocative as its title suggests: it explores the legal implications of the word fuck. "

read more | digg story

China Oil Exec Sentenced To Death (With No Subversion Involved!)

2006-05-31T17:09:00.000-04:00

A leading Chinese oil executive was sentenced to death for embezzling nearly 37 million yuan (4.6 million dollars) and accepting another 4.8 million yuan in bribes, state press reported Saturday

read more | digg story

Apple Gets Rolling On New Recycling Program

2006-05-31T16:40:00.000-04:00

After announcing their free computer take-back program in April -- just in time for Earth Day -- Apple is finally getting the program off the ground and are now accepting any old Mac or PC with the purchase of a new Mac!

read more | digg story

Meet New (Random) Friends at Fo.rtuito.us

2006-05-30T17:06:00.000-04:00

When you register at Fo.rtuito.us it randomly introduces you to another member. You have four days to interact with that member via anonymous email to see if you can become friends. If after those four days both people decide they would like to stay friends, they are added to your permanent friends list. You are then introduced to another person.

read more | digg story

Vista's P2P Filesharing System Screenshots

2006-05-30T16:32:00.000-04:00

Windows MeetingSpace (formerly named Windows Collaboration) allows people with Windows Vista laptops to share files, such as presentations with other nearby Vista laptops. The files being shared can also be transferred as a "handout."

read more | digg story

Photoshop Mhonday

2006-05-29T22:02:00.000-04:00

http://www.somethingawful.com/index.php?a=3829

Pic: Yahoo Advertising On Google?

2006-05-29T21:44:00.000-04:00

"Tonight my mate informed me that Google Maps now includes Australian streets, so I did a quick search to have a play and something interesting happened." Check out the sponsored link on the bottom. Interesting, eh?

read more | digg story

Iranian Nuke Dispute: It's a Game

2006-05-29T21:18:00.000-04:00

It's not only in the US that games find inspiration in newspaper headlines. Over in Iran, schoolchildren in the Union of Islamic Student Societies designed a computer game that follows an Iranian special forces hero out to save one of the country's best atomic scientists, who was captured by U.S. forces.

read more | digg story

America : An Impatient Nation?

2006-05-29T20:28:00.000-04:00

An Associated Press poll has found an impatient nation. To get to the point without further ado, it's a nation that gets antsy after five minutes on hold on the phone and 15 minutes max in a line. So say people in the survey.

read more | digg story

How Nintendo Won The Next-Gen Console Race

2006-05-29T01:43:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows anything (some people), know that the Wii has a remote, which is being referenced to as the "Wiimote." By calling it the Wii, Nintendo has made the greatest marketing move in history. Remember those kids, back in school, who could never pronounce their R's? It was always "Aw you going to buy that?", or "Hand me the Weemote!" Maybe you were one of them? Well, finally, they have gained acceptance!

"Whatcha playin with there Rick?"
"Oh, just my Wiimote."
"Wow, there is nothing wrong with your speech at all!"
And to his self, Rick thinks "I have finally gained acceptance."

Assuming every kid with a speech impediment now will buy a Wii, Nintendo will be rollin in da cash. Rollin.

The Original Mac Ads - With Bill Gates's Approval?

2006-05-29T01:30:00.000-04:00

One of the original Macintosh brochures, featuring a response from (a young) Bill Gates. "It takes something new, and captures people's imaginations. Macintosh meets that standard." - Bill Gates

read more | digg story

Is it Still Possible to Find Pirates Gold?

2006-05-28T18:29:00.000-04:00

There's still plenty of Pirate Gold to be found! Even if you don't find it, you'll at least have a good time poking around some of the most exotic, untouched places left on the planet.

read more | digg story

X-Men 3 earns $107 mil in fourth-biggest opening weekend

2006-05-28T18:27:00.000-04:00

X-Men: The Last Stand takes in a startling amount in its first weekend, including $45.5 mil on Friday, the second-biggest opening day in history.

read more | digg story

This Made My Day

2006-05-28T15:38:00.000-04:00

So this morning I went to a church (for the 2nd time I think?), and it was quite fun. Then I got to go get a digital camera for the trip I'm going on in June. So I get home and I'm like "Man, how can this day get any better?"
So I get on the computer and go on Digg, and evidently I submitted the top dugg story of the day (First time I've ever been on the front page)! Kevin Rose dugg it too. Maybe I will get on Diggnation? That would make my week indeed.

Conundrum

2006-04-29T18:50:00.000-04:00

Here's one for you -

Kids who are too cool to listen to the radio are also too cool to listen to bands that anybody knows about. If they do not listen to the radio, how would they know if "their band" became popular?

Tool's New Album Is Ridiculous

2006-04-23T18:54:00.000-04:00

I don't know how Tool's new album got out more than 2 week's early ... but I am enjoying it immensely. They said it was going to be their heaviest record, and it seems to be proving true. I'm not done it yet ... but it's really amazing so far. It sounds fairly similar to Lateralus in style. So for all of you who hated Lateralus ... tough luck. But listen to it anyway. It's really good.

Download it here

/edit/ yeah sorry I forgot to include this. The password is waterblogging.blogspot.com

Critical Thinking Paper

2006-04-16T23:55:00.000-04:00

It is finished!
If you have a few minutes to spare, read and critique? Cuba is oh so interesting.

Aaron Marks
Period 2
12/20/05

Knowledge

Ever since he became the head of Cuba in 1959, Fidel Castro has had his own personal agenda for the country. His main goal was for Cuba to become a perfect Socialist nation. One of the things that he has put on the back burner is human rights. Human rights are defined as the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, regardless of legal jurisdiction, ethnicity, or nationality. Although there is still a vast amount of debate regarding which rights the term Human Rights encompasses, it is understood to include one’s right to well being, freedom of speech, freedom of ideas, and freedom to express those ideas, regardless of their position on the government.
Because Fidel Castro has not expressed any concern for human rights, the people of Cuba have been suffering ever since he came into power. As even Fidel Castro believes, the only way to bring about change is to do something drastic. Thus, the rest of the world should impose an embargo on Cuba until they improve their policy regarding human rights.

Comprehension

Even in the time before Castro came into power, there were issues with human rights in Cuba. People in Cuba mostly came from one of two ethnicities: Spanish or African. The country was severely segregated. The segregation extended to such public places as bathrooms, beaches, and streets. Even the former President of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista, was forbidden from joining the Havana Yacht Club, one of the most exclusive upper class clubs in Cuba. In general, whites were favored over blacks.
Once Castro seized power, the situation became even worse. One basic human right is the freedom to think, speak, and express your beliefs. Freedom of religion is a prime example of this, and is near-always accepted as being a basic human right. The Cuban government clearly denied this right when they seized all religious materials without compensation. They then declared that every citizen must be atheist. This policy was in effect until 1992. In current times, there is some religion allowed in Cuba. Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998, and publicly condemned Castro. There were also 14 priests allowed to settle in the country. Other religions such as Judaism are now allowed to hold public services in the country. Even though the country has made some reforms, the citizens are still not happy. Of the ten-thousand Jews who were in Cuba in 1959, the majority have felt it necessary to immigrate to Israel.
The Cuban government gives itself the power to control all of the press, speech, assembly, association, and movement in the country. They believe that nothing should be allowed to be an obstacle in the way of achieving a perfect Socialist state. They even appoint themselves the power to indefinitely jail a citizen if there is any suspicion that they will commit a crime in the future. The Cuban Constitution of 1976 states:
“None of the freedoms which are recognized for citizens can be exercised contrary to what is established in the Constitution and by law, or contrary to the existence and objectives of the socialist state, or contrary to the decision of the Cuban people to build socialism and communism. Violations of this principle can be punished by law.”(The Situation of Human Rights In Cuba, 1)
The Cuban government has exercised this right in an extreme fashion. The exact number of people executed for counterrevolutionary activities is not known for sure. The Association for the Study of Cuban Economy estimates that the number is somewhere in the range of 15,000 to 18,000. The board of directors of this association is mainly comprised of Cuban exiles, so naturally there would be some bias in conducting the study. They mainly used records from the US State Department and the Organization of American States. The Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century, on the other hand, says that in all there were somewhere between 5,000 and 12,000 executions. In either case, these are dramatic numbers that show just how far the Cuban government is willing to go to achieve the Socialist state. "The Cuban Constitution of 1976 is derived from an old Stalinist Soviet document (circa 1936) and, like the U.N. Charter of Rights, grants citizens rights that are illusory and, frankly, not worth the paper they are written on." (Faria, 1)

Application

An example of the way in which an embargo can affect a country’s behavior is the embargo that The United States imposed on Cuba. This is an economic, commercial, and financial embargo that was imposed on February 7, 1962. It is still in effect today, making it one of the longest lasting trade embargos in history.
At first, The United States supported the Cuban Revolution. But after Cuba started seizing American owned property, tensions built between Cuba and America. The Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile crisis certainly did not help. After the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the U.S. stopped giving Cuba preferential trade prices for its sugar and crude oil. In further years, this escalated, and many other restrictions were imposed including a ban on travel to Cuba, and a ban on the use of American money in Cuba.
To date, the estimated cost to Cuba of the U.S. embargo is seventy billion dollars. There is estimated to be a one point two billion dollar loss annually to US exporters, but the benefit of not having to be involved with Cuba has justified the losses. After the embargo was initiated, Cuba relied heavily on cheap goods provided to it by the Soviet Union and the Comecon nations. If the whole world were to impose the embargo, Cuba would have nowhere to turn for goods. This would force them to bring about change.

Analysis

To truly understand the effect that a worldwide embargo would have on Cuba, one must examine a case similar to that which is at hand. The closest thing to Cuba’s current situation is the predicament that Libya was in from 1969 until 2004. In 1969, Colonel Muammar Abu Minyar al-Qadhafi became the leader of Libya through a military coup. His system of government, known as the Third Universal Theory, is very similar to Fidel Castro’s. It is a combination of Socialism and Islam, although Socialism seems to be the main focus. It is supposed to be “A unique form of direct democracy.” (Libya, 1) Seeing as their systems of government are comparable, we can learn a vast amount about Cuba’s situation from what happened in Libya.
Seeing himself as a revolutionary, Qadhafi was always working to promote his ideology throughout Africa. He tried to do this through supporting terrorist organizations. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, he used the country’s oil funds to try to end capitalism. What Qadhafi was trying to do is similar to what Castro is doing in his homeland. He uses his essentially unlimited power to spread propaganda, promoting his ideas throughout Cuba.
In 1986 the United States imposed an embargo on Libya, due in part to deterioration of relations, but more directly to the bombing of a German nightclub by three Libyans. Then in 1988, Pan AM Flight 103 was bombed while flying over Lockerbie, Scotland. Two Libyans were held accountable for this act. This resulted in the United Nations imposing heavy sanctions on Libya. These sanctions restricted the trade of arms and air equipment, but more importantly, oil. Because oil accounts for ninety-five percent of Libya’s export earnings (Libya, 1), cutting off their oil supply is essentially doing the same thing an economic embargo would do. They would lose nearly one hundred percent of their export earnings. Most of their imports would be rendered useless, as the main things that they need are arms which have been banned by the UN. What happened to Libya is almost exactly the proposed plan for what is to happen to Cuba; from this, we can receive insight as to what will happen in Cuba if the plan goes into action.
Libya did not make much reform until 1999. It was at this time that they extradited the two terrorists responsible for the bombing of Pan AM Flight 103. Then, in 2004, the U.S. embargo and U.N. sanctions were lifted. This was due to the cooperation of Libya in making reparations to the families of those killed in the plane bombing, and to the government for discontinuing their plans to develop weapons of mass destruction. This would be the desired result of a worldwide embargo on Cuba. Response would not have to be immediate, though. Initially, there might even be a negative effect. But eventually they would reform their human rights policies. Even Fidel Castro would not be able to deal with the 9.25 billion dollars (Cuba, 1) that Cuba receives from imports and exports.

Synthesis

Trying to solve such a great problem as the human rights situation in Cuba is no easy task. The solution must meet a few specific requirements if it is to avoid failure. A worldwide embargo is the solution that best fits all of the requirements, and that will at the same time prove to be effective. Most importantly, an embargo is nonviolent. To engage in a military assault would be sending a mixed message; we are against human rights violations, yet want to bomb their people. It is also a plan that is agreeable by all nations of the world. Fidel Castro has persecuted most cultures of the world to some extent; no one would question a plan that could help people of their homeland.
A solution to such a vast problem must also be well thought out. Each detail must be taken care of. Like many other embargoes, this endeavor would happen in stages. This would prove to be effective because it will not hit Cuba so hard in such a short time that they feel it necessary to retaliate. It would also allow them to improve their human rights policy before they become completely economically cut off. The first products to be cut off would those that are most imperative to the Cuban economy, yet not necessary for human survival. They would most likely be things such as oil and mining supplies. “External financing has helped growth in the mining, oil, construction, and tourism sectors.”(Cuba, 1) Those countries that are imposing the embargo, however, would also benefit from the stages aspect of the embargo. Once Cuba is completely cut off, we could no longer economically benefit from them. If they still had partial access to our goods, then we would still have partial access to theirs.
After they had been mostly to completely economically disconnected from the rest of the world, Cuba would start talks with the United Nations, or another major world power. In these talks, they could decide exactly what conditions need to be met before the embargo is lifted. Cuba would need to officially declare that they are making an effort to improve their human rights policy, revise their constitution, and show physical evidence that change has been made. Similar to how it would be imposed, the embargo would be lifted in stages. As they make progress on their human rights policy, Cuba would become more and more connected to the world economy. We would allow the trade of smaller, less important goods at first, and eventually lead up to larger, more necessary goods. This would provide for a seamless transition into a healthy relationship between Cuba and the world.

Evaluation

It has become fairly evident that Cuba is in need of help when it comes to their human rights situation. It is necessary for the rest of the world to help them if they are ever going to improve. Unlike most situations in the world, this problem can not be fixed by simply intervening, and taking diplomatic or militaristic action. In essence, what we must do is help them by hurting them.
I believe that imposing an embargo on Cuba would be a good thing for them, and for the rest of the world. So often in modern times, we only help a country in need when there are ulterior motives. We may try to liberate a people, only to be searching for oil. We can try to get rid of a mad political leader to help its people, when we are actually trying to make sure we do not fall under fire from nuclear weapons. While these may be statements of opinion, one thing is a fact; if we try to help Cuba’s citizens, we will actually be helping out a country in need for the sake of helping out a country in need. We may even lose some money in the process, but Cuba will be closer to being a major world nation.

Works Cited

The Situation Of Human Rights In Cuba Seventh Report. 4 October 1983. Inter-American Commission On Human Rights. 16 April 16, 2006. .

Faria Jr., Miguel A. The Fall of Fidel Castro (Part III): The Sequel. 17 July 2001. NewsMax.com. 16 April 2006. .

Libya. 29 March 2006. The World Factbook. 16 April 16, 2006. .

Cuba. 29 March 2006. The World Factbook. 16 April 16, 2006. .

2 Cool 4 School

2006-04-06T20:00:00.000-04:00

Wheelz: The Epic

Although "The N Word" Is Said In This Post, I Am Not, And Never Will Be Racist

2006-04-02T16:27:00.000-04:00

It looks like Blogger is not updating my site well. I made a post last night, yet it doesn't show up when I go to my site. Well there's some goodness coming to you, the nonexistant reader, if you can manage to find the lost posts.

So I was at work and Devin is all "What's your favorite hip-hop song?" (Which Mr. Ortiz would be quite offended at. Hip-hop is a culture, not a style of music!) So I say that it's "We Don't Care" by Kanye West. So we break into song, but in the beggining I say "And all my people say...," in stead of "All my niggas say...," which he says is the correct lyric. So he keeps bugging me to say nigga, and that it's not offensive and blah blah blah. But I'm like "No way!" But it turns out he had a bag of Snicker's popables, and promised me a few if I said nigga. So I said it when it was really quiet and no one was around. But then he's all "Hey everybody, Aaron said nigga!" And then he's all "Yeah now Courtney and Chantell hate you."
I'm not sure if they do cause they didn't act mad or anything ... but it's still akward. It's one of those things I'll never know and think of on my deathbed. See how much trouble Kanye West causes?

I Think The Only Time I Post Is When My Weekend Has Not Been Fun Filled

2006-04-01T22:48:00.000-05:00

The title says it all. I've been playing Oblivion a lot lately. Can I really say lately ... I did just get it on Wednesday. But it's insane. Fucking insane. I think there might be a robber or something downstairs. Maybe it's just dad ... who knows. He makes a lot of noise in the kitchen. Too much noise, for a visit to the kitchen. Maybe he's having an affair with the bread! Ah this is going to be weird if someone I know reads this and then brings it up in conversation. If that person is you, don't ever bring this up! Or ... else.

What's the big deal about Rent? Like, yeah it's a musical. But everyone makes such a huge deal about it, yet the only justification people give for it being so good is "Well if it's not amazing then how come so many people like it?!"
To which I respond by punching them in the fucking face.

Can you get fired for telling sexist jokes at work? I think it might be harrassment or something. Today I heard this one:

Why do women never wear watches?
Because there's always a clock in the kitchen!

Speaking of shit that is not funny, here is a joke that has never produced laughter:

A priest, a rabbi, and a nonreligious person are flying across the Atlantic Ocean, all for different reasons. There is engine trouble, and one of the wings catches on fire. The plane starts to go down. Luckily, there are anough parachutes for everyone. Evacuation is orderly.

Damn the (School) System

2006-03-18T16:18:00.000-05:00

I think now is the only time I ever have, or will wish I was home-schooled. For if I was, this week would have been filled with Harry and the Potters and Motion City Soundtrack. In stead, it was filled with jazz band rehearsal and my sister in the middle school's musical.

Is it wrong that I never have a problem with going to school / doing the work / tests /etc., but I always dislike the extracurricular activities that I choose to do?

V for Vendetta was really good. Like I went in to the movie thinking "Alright, another comic based movie. Probably gonna be like Sin City, or X Men. " But it totally ended up being a Beauty and the Beast sort of movie. Where the Beast blows up Parliament.

-aaron

I Didn't Believe It At First Either...

2006-02-13T20:32:00.000-05:00

I thought it was George that was the not-so-bright one! Evidently Cheney goes around shooting his fellow huntingfolk. And I totally have documentation proving that it was intentional...

"To the vice president's credit, he did own up to it. On FOX News he said the fault was his, he can't blame anybody else. Boy, it's amazing, the only time you get accountability out of this administration is when they are actually holding a smoking gun." --Bill Maher

Procrastination Nation

2006-02-13T00:15:00.000-05:00

So I was supposed to read Things Fall Apart ....

But I decided it was definitely more important to figure out what grades I need to pull for the next semester to get straight A's for the year. 95.5 in English? Yeah, right.

" Procrastination predicts higher levels of consumption of alcohol among those people who drink. Procrastinators drink more than they intend to—a manifestation of generalized problems in self-regulation. That is over and above the effect of avoidant coping styles that underlie procrastination and lead to disengagement via substance abuse. "

I fear I may be an alcoholic when I grow up...

http://www.psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20030823-000001.html

Damn My Youth!

2006-02-12T21:57:00.000-05:00

So Electric 6 are playing a show this Thursday. And it's only 12 dollars. How perfect is that? No school Friday so Thursday's great. But it's fucking for those of 21 years of age or more! Does anyone wanna pull one of those 'Buy a really tall coat and stand on each others shoulders' kinda deals? It would be cute and Lil' Rascally. If so:

Buy tickets here!

¡Paranoia! Cha-Cha-Cha

2006-02-02T23:04:00.000-05:00

So what if every day, people who you've never met, seen, or heard of watch you. They watch what you say, what you wear, what you eat, who you talk to. Every aspect of your life. While you may not know it, this can be happening all around you, every minute of every day.

It's really surprising how little we know about our own lives. Trust is really a meaningless concept, right? Who can you really trust? People say you can trust yourself, but who knows. How sure are you that all of the memories that you have are real? How do you know that you didn't do something horrific, but trained yourself to forget it? We've all had a moment where we question wheter something happened, or whether it was a dream. Maybe it was a story that someone else told us! Eventually, your memories and your thoughts become seamless; one idea of what may or may not have happened in your lifetime.

I think realizing this has caused me to become paranoid. The idea that has been floating around in my head for the past couple of months, is that my life is quite possibly a television show (or something of that nature) for an outside world, a world that I do not know exists. I'm not sure whether I fully believe it or not right now. I think that it's definitely possible, and that possibility is scary. Writing it down, it seems absurd. Saying it out loud seems even more absurd. But rationally thinking about it, it makes so much sense!

If you have ever seen the movie The Truman Show (If you haven't, I recommend you go rent it, it's a great movie), you will probably understand what I am talking about a lot more (so right now you're probably thinking "Oh he saw the movie so now he stole that idea," but my perception of it is completely different. Read on :-). So basically, we accept the world we live in. How often do you actually question any part of reality? We all accept that we live on the planet Earth in The Milky Way Galaxy. But you don't really know that! Whenever you go on a plane, you take it for granted that you are flying hundreds of miles to sunny California, London, wherever. For all you know, you are flying in circles above your hometown while they change 'the set of the show.' Everything could be a set up for a purpose. They say humans look for a purpose, a meaning to life. Well maybe that's it. That the purpose is to provide the entertainment for the outside world. To be drones for someone else's use.

Ok, so check it. I wrote those previous paragraphs a week or so ago, and was planning on elaborating on my idea. But in the past week I've come to some new conclusions:

So the whole previous idea runs on the fact you accept what you experience as truth because it is all you have ever experienced. But it seems as though you do have to accept some things. For example, the other day I was watching television. I was flipping through channels when I noticed that I had a rotation of about 5 or so channels that I watch, and none of the others. Like there are about 170 channels, and I probably never watch 80 % of them. So you have to think, there is so much stuff that you have seen. Not stuff that "may not exist because you don't know for sure," but things that you know exist : Books, television, people, houses, etc.

But you will never experience 99% of it! There'll be books you don't read, houses you don't visit, and so on. But nonetheless, they are there. So why would it be there for any other reason than to serve other people? Yes it is possible that if existence was just a set up that they could have created all of these things to give the illusion of a real environment. But it really wouldn't be necessary. They could stick you in a minimal environment and say "That's how things are." And you would have to believe it. So everything does really serve a purpose.

And although this may be depressing, your life probably isn't interesting enough to keep people occupied. Almost everyone has a routine. Not necessarily a daily routine or anything, but an order of set things they do. You might work through the week, and on the weekend you hang out with friends. While those might slightly change, they will pretty much stay the same.

Who would want to watch that?! Honestly. It would get quite old after a few weeks. I think the only people who would watch it would be hillbillies/country folk. And even if the whole other world were like that, would it not make them question as to why their lives aren't as exciting as the one in the show? So then they would all become members of the cast, as then they would get to lead the exciting life that is the show.

That led me to think "What if it is everybody that is part of the show?" What if God created us so he could look down and have all the entertainment he ever needed? All the countries are characters. It's like Palestine and Israel are rivals. Britain and America are like sweethearts. And Mexico is the neighbor next door who always comes over for dinner uninvited (sorry about the last one, but I just saw a border patrol recruiting commercial and it made me laugh).

O.K. I've been working on this post way too long. 3 weeks .... you get the point.

First Post

2006-01-31T22:51:00.000-05:00

Fuck ..... this is difficult. Everyone wants to make a post as soon as the start a new weblog, me being no exception. But of course there is never really anything to say! O.K., new blog. Fantastic. Sorry if this post does not meet expectations.

In real news though, Alex, Andrew, and I have got down "Shake Hands With Beef." In two practices! It sounds pretty good, too. Alex's singing ... not so much. Hope to have a recording soon.