tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54221727549891411322024-02-18T18:11:46.203-08:00Beneath the UndergroundNobody trying to be Somebody: notes from the studio of an emerging music producer.Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.comBlogger396125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-72543690891470100512023-06-15T02:13:00.003-07:002023-06-15T02:13:23.772-07:00An Open Letter To UFO & ET Believers and Evangelists<p> Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: Show us the ships.</p><p>And not just the ships, but also account for where it came from and how it got here. And why we're not all dead from the introduction of untold biological matter into our ecosystem.</p><p>You have to answer ALL the questions at once, now. </p><p>No more claims to secret knowledge.</p><p>Show us the ships.</p><p>No more elliptical arguments or grammatical sleights of hand.</p><p>Show us. The ships.</p><p>No more special appeals.</p><p>Show. Us. The. Ships.</p><p>There are no ET crafts, friends, I know. I've accepted this reality.</p><p>I've also accepted its rational conclusion: nobody is coming to save us.</p><p>People accuse skeptics of being close-minded, but it's the UFO believers
who seem closed to trying to grasp the true nature of just how vast the
universe really is. </p><p>The fact that <i>we exist at all</i> forces us to accept
one of a few possibilities. </p><p><span> </span>One, maybe we're first. Someone has to be,
and maybe it's us. </p><p><span> </span>Two, maybe interstellar travel is just basically
impossible, or so hard as to be effectively impossible. </p><p><span> </span>Or three, there
really are aliens out there, and somehow despite having hundreds of
millions of years to reach out world, they're only just now arriving,
right at the moment we have the technology to imagine and detect them. </p><p>The level of coincidence in this last option is utterly <em>staggering</em>., but that its invoked so easily speaks to a massive deficiency in our understanding of math. <br /></p><p>Right now, all of us are collectively attempting to dodge the emotional labor of getting our shit together, hence TikTok, "true crime" genres, and the continuing proliferation of drive-through coffee. </p><p>The fact that we exist at all imbues us with the responsibility to act to preserve the lives of generations we'll never know, but more importantly, will never know of us at all.</p><p>We have to save ourselves this time.</p><p>Or show us the ships.<br /></p>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-79356155421440590872023-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:002023-02-01T13:08:18.107-08:00Netflix Is For Rich People<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKliRRBiRNagtAgYppsOzKCxTTfkIweEoEmgDLCxZwt3PDKeou5K4TkPQiYvbQ1FSLG8Dho8SnwUYUpEfMl0fEUJY6HO5E7FQav5O6AK4CC97jlsGdRtkAsXpzkDoN7uCzHZPWGar1fXhm437DabvhobglYnpalN6sx40BEPNLnspug4tjsNAJtk8ew/s861/Netflix%20Tweet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="861" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKliRRBiRNagtAgYppsOzKCxTTfkIweEoEmgDLCxZwt3PDKeou5K4TkPQiYvbQ1FSLG8Dho8SnwUYUpEfMl0fEUJY6HO5E7FQav5O6AK4CC97jlsGdRtkAsXpzkDoN7uCzHZPWGar1fXhm437DabvhobglYnpalN6sx40BEPNLnspug4tjsNAJtk8ew/s320/Netflix%20Tweet.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>This is a new gilded age, and only the gilded shall have streaming.<p></p><p>From Netflix's perspective, "poor" people share passwords and stream lots of content, meaning they are expensive customers.</p><p>The rich, by contrast, pay the same fee but watch FAR less, i.e., they are a more profitable customer.</p><p>Yes, Netflix is ditching its most expensive customers. The poor can go back to YouTube and pay the ad-tax to watch.</p><p>If you can afford to put kids in college, you can afford to give them their own Netflix account.</p><p>Are you in the economic demographic of "Cannot afford two Netflix accounts?"</p><p>I'm sorry that capitalism didn't work out for you, either.</p><p>Tell your elected reps to support a Universal Basic Income.<br /></p>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-696596289111822352022-05-31T20:13:00.002-07:002022-05-31T20:13:39.332-07:00The Top 5 Things Successful Musicians Do<ol style="text-align: left;"><li> Be Born Rich.</li><li><br /></li><li><br /></li><li>.</li><li> </li></ol><p>That's it - just the one thing: Be born rich.</p><p>Barring that, best of luck. <br /></p>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-88806830100851674752020-11-05T13:58:00.000-08:002020-11-05T13:58:27.384-08:00A Near-Majority of Americans are Authoritarian Racists (And They're Just Fine With That)<p> It's one thing to be a racist, but it's another to be <i>called</i> a racist.</p><p>Here's what I'm thinking about as American Democracy collapses under international attack:</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism">American Exceptionalism</a> (wiki link, lots of reading)</p><p><span> </span>My current sense is "most people" think of the US as an outlier nation - above all others in moral foundation and righteousness of action. Because we think of ourselves as a dominant power, we feel we're immune to attack (Russia, China) which is partly why those countries <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_United_States_elections">efforts to influence our elections</a> are working.</p><p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=racism+predicts+trump+support&btnG=">Racism (and Sexism) predict support for Trump</a></p><p><span> </span>A Google Scholar search with lots of results. Key insight: Trump voters love the raw power of racism and sexism. They'll die to uphold white supremacy. Worse, they'll kill, too.</p><p> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism">Narcissism.</a></p><p>This is America's "real problem" however it intersects with the above in ways that predict authoritarian outcomes. To Republicans, "government" = "police" = "state violence." Advertising media amplifies this signal to +1000 overwhelming our ability to create a reality other than theirs.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window">The Overton Window</a></p><p>It has moved to the Right after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine">The Fairness Doctrine</a> was struck down (by Republicans... of course) which makes formerly centrist ideas appear "far left" (i.e., racial justice, police reform, medical care)<br /></p><p>Running thoughts:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>There is no American "left" to speak of, there is only a right wing noise machine that is basically a racist propaganda system. The "left" is a product of right-wing thinking, specifically "there must be an enemy to defeat" + <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_equivalence">false equivalence</a> = "liberals are enemies!"</li><li>Facebook is a right-wing propaganda amplifier and has always been. Yes, they can buy your data from other companies, but getting away from the ecosystem entirely has health benefits that go beyond mental/emotional.</li><li>The sons and daughters of the WWII generation went on to raise a nation of sexist authoritarians who think Hitler might have been onto something in the first place.</li><li>Internet hosting companies who have "de-platformed" neo-nazi groups have never fully answered to how/why they were platformed in the first place...</li></ul><p>TOE's (Theory Of Everything)</p><p> Peak Complexity:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Predictable human response to complexity is seeking (or reducing to) simplest form(s)</li><li>Some things can no longer be reduced (mobile phones, radio technology, internet, etc)</li><li>All national and cultural origin stories are up for examination / deconstruction / annihilation. This is a worldwide existential crisis and predicts pockets of fundamentalist violence.</li><li>Most "entry level" jobs are now specialised (barista) and require specific training or behavioral adherence (i.e, food safety standards).Early entry to the workforce is critical to long-term positive outcomes, and higher bars to entry leave too many behind.<br /></li></ul>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-30005409110474456692020-10-13T21:30:00.005-07:002020-10-13T21:30:42.884-07:00Adobe Audition is NOT for Music Producers<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Adobe_Audition_CC_icon_(2020).svg/512px-Adobe_Audition_CC_icon_(2020).svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="512" height="313" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0e/Adobe_Audition_CC_icon_(2020).svg/512px-Adobe_Audition_CC_icon_(2020).svg.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /> ..and they say so right here in <a href="https://community.adobe.com/t5/audition/using-virtual-instruments-in-adobe-audition-cc-cs-midi/m-p/11046464#M22044">this forum post</a>:<p></p><p></p><blockquote>"Audition is a multitrack audio editor, and doesn't even attempt to cut it as music creation software, as such."</blockquote><p> Yes, the software can be used to edit music clips together, but it does not support VST instruments, the core of how music producers work these days.</p><p>The software also has latency issues that make recording / monitoring in realtime a bit challenging, which again, is only an issue for musicians.</p><p>This is really too bad, and I should have looked up the specifics before doing a subscription, but I'm only out about $40.<br /></p><p></p>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-11930303317023749162020-07-22T20:48:00.001-07:002020-07-22T20:48:16.709-07:00Braindump: Adobe Audition and Headphones on Laptop<div>Here's a quick brain dump re: using Adobe Audition on a laptop (specifically in this case a Raider GE75, but this applies to others that use the RealTek audio hardware/software). In most apps (your web browser, Netflix) when you plug in your headphones, the system automatically connects that audio device and assigns the current audio to that output. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In your experience, you plug in your headset and it "just works."<br /><br />But because Adobe Audition has taken over the system's "master clock" it cannot simply switch audio hardware or outputs - i.e., "hotplug" - so here's the little trick if your headphones don't work in Audition:</div><div><br /></div><div>(*For MSI / Realtek / Raider) <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Plug in your headphones (IN THE CORRECT JACK) and open the Realtek Audio Console.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9TFybSzsednvGZChUAbkqlg64uQrdmS9XNGpErQeYL8KF33oRwBvhNTXfM2eVBXjC-TOwVjGxhZu2-JPLKe5VFeWlO2mcdiSTylNo9UgUFjBDe_EooauUiOU7zOUPJ_FkVxPWN-_eFJ_V/s694/Realtek+Audio.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="556" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9TFybSzsednvGZChUAbkqlg64uQrdmS9XNGpErQeYL8KF33oRwBvhNTXfM2eVBXjC-TOwVjGxhZu2-JPLKe5VFeWlO2mcdiSTylNo9UgUFjBDe_EooauUiOU7zOUPJ_FkVxPWN-_eFJ_V/s320/Realtek+Audio.png" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Take note of the device name underneath the headphones icon, in this case "ReakTek HD Audio 2nd output."</div><div><br /></div><div>Adobe Audition / Edit / Preferences / Audio Hardware --></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjiOZFbjgAT1WWbrEsDTKW__7tAzMSWeMB8JdXBeaTg_YCljwgTNNeLge4vNk2pPOaCNsHRNxccvpp5AeWGTVNHyRYFgYfqIuuzdKnZnOiJK2rni_y4Uyfp9GIPwUPMrtEGTzPG9rnOhAo/s837/Adobe+Audition+Hardware+output.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="837" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjiOZFbjgAT1WWbrEsDTKW__7tAzMSWeMB8JdXBeaTg_YCljwgTNNeLge4vNk2pPOaCNsHRNxccvpp5AeWGTVNHyRYFgYfqIuuzdKnZnOiJK2rni_y4Uyfp9GIPwUPMrtEGTzPG9rnOhAo/s320/Adobe+Audition+Hardware+output.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Drop down the "Default Output" options and select the (now available) headphone output. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>VOILA! You should be hearing your work through your headphones!</div><div><br /></div><div>I hope this helped!<br /></div>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-53892014149776985772020-07-22T08:37:00.001-07:002020-07-22T20:50:33.000-07:00Musicians: It's Ok If You Don't Know Why You're Successful<div>Few things are more confusing and confounding than success. Especially in music where "success" is defined individually yet also collectively in the form of capitalist measures (i.e., sales, followers, etc).</div><div><br /></div><div>My latest acquaintance who's recently reaped some small financial rewards attributed his windfall to "persistence" and "just stayin in the game" and never once investigated his own data to find out what he should repeat. He ended up writing /releasing another single that sounded kinda like the one that was already selling - it didn't. Why? Nobody knows.</div><div><br /></div><div>Success can be terrifying if you don't know why because you also don't know what to repeat. How can you change/refine if you don't know what's working? Instead you just have this static fear that it will disappear without warning - AND IT WILL if you don't know what you're doing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Few areas are as full of mysticism as the professional arts - sans politics maybe - and I'll never understand WHY so many artists are content to remain ignorant of their own formulas.</div><div><br /></div><div>Without exception the folks I see who are continuously successful are not only driven, they are disciplined, gentle, willing to change, and they trust their advisors. They are part of a TEAM and woe to those who fail to recognize the contributions of others to their own successes.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN 'INDEPENDENT' ARTIST!<br /></div></div>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-11458068786563246512020-06-15T11:56:00.001-07:002020-06-15T11:56:25.191-07:00On George Floyd and White Rage<div>Putting this thought down and hoping I'm wrong: it looked personal.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have some firsthand experience with whiteness: I am.</div><div><br /></div><div>It looked personal.</div><div><br /></div><div>That white hot, righteous... rage. I've seen it and felt it. Ask me how I know: I'm white.</div><div><br /></div><div>It felt personal.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't know either of these men and I'm probably wrong about this.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Note: I reserve the right to change my opinion when I feel like it.)<br /></div>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-35648617365864202002020-05-21T17:01:00.000-07:002020-05-21T17:02:21.311-07:00Hello Ladies: My Dating Standards Are In No Way Unreasonable<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcCKa370DdedqZh6gxDQ4PBGK8n0JYorrhCDFPwX7uGJNzCSSM05kmNVQLSPkLfbWShinPUr381Fvl7nCFMkTrIS5yzePLle5r7R23UrxkhRKc2Q0bKwagmaf_zS1L2Gf1-93I7-HjoicV/s1600/11286587943_5133bdc4aa_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1008" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcCKa370DdedqZh6gxDQ4PBGK8n0JYorrhCDFPwX7uGJNzCSSM05kmNVQLSPkLfbWShinPUr381Fvl7nCFMkTrIS5yzePLle5r7R23UrxkhRKc2Q0bKwagmaf_zS1L2Gf1-93I7-HjoicV/s320/11286587943_5133bdc4aa_o.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
Hello ladies, thanks for checking out my profile on this site! Ask me anything! I'm looking forward to meeting you and telling you what a disappointment you are when you don't meet my In No Way Unreasonable Dating Standards. But first, more about ME:<br />
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I'm a laid back cool guy man guy that does guy stuff like FIX SHIT (usually by taking it to another man who I'll pay with your money) and you'll know I'm a MAN'S GUY by how I (don't) dress, more specifically, I'll never wear a dress! Dresses are for ladies and I'M A MAN who's here for the ladies so gay dudes, sorry but I'm not available LOL <i>(See, I know I'm a man's type of guy and that means that any shred of non-manness in you is gonna want to get pregnant by me and unless you're also a solid bro man guy hombre like me, you're just gonna get turned on and come at me, bro!)</i><br />
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Anyway, this profile is for the ladies who like REAL MEN and not FAKE MEN like all those other guys who also happen to be employed but that's just because people are afraid of REAL MEN but they shouldn't be because I'm just a harmless teddy bear GUY that will take care of you and always be gentle unless someone cuts us off in traffic or disagrees with me on social media in which case THAT PERSON should look out because a REAL MAN doesn't take shit from nobody but he does show other people how easily undermined he is and that's what I'll do with you!<br />
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I spend a lot of time doing MANBROGUYDUDE things like man-biking the guy-trails of Dude's Peak in the manscaped jungles of lower Ballsackian County where my uncle grew up and also my dad. So I don't have a lot of time to waste on time wasters but I have just enough to incessantly bother you for attention and validation when my needs demand it.<br />
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Me and my friends are so cool and awesome you won't need any of yours! This is great because I only want to do things I want to do, which involves everything from casual sex to other kinds as well!<br />
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Speaking of sex, I'll demand you're constantly at the sexual ready should I require it, but I won't be able to until after we're married and I'm on your healthcare and seen a doctor! But it'll be so worth it to have kept your non-existent needs in check while we're waiting on the "ALL CLEAR!"<br />
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You'll always know where you stand with me! For instance, is there a hotter woman in the room? Then you won't be standing next to me! Otherwise, your job is to be the hottest woman in the room, which should be easy because my totally reasonable standards mean you'll already be hot just by the fact that I'm dating you! I'm so good for your self-esteem!<br />
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The way I see it, the only unreasonable thing in the world are women that won't date me! That's a joke because I'm not!<br />
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I mean a dilapidated mobile home on some abandoned feral property. Why? I love nature and ecology or something, also this total bitch of a judge said I couldn't live near a school or parks and they just seem noisy to me and REAL MEN LIKE IT QUIET!<br />
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It's the only way to obsess over my insecurities. <br />
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So, tell me more about you? And by "you" I mean specifically "me" and by "tell me more about" I mean I'd like to hear compliments now about how awesome I am. Yes, I'll wait until right after you get back from the ladies room.<br />
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.......Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-91794741465038635522020-05-21T16:42:00.000-07:002020-05-21T16:42:38.485-07:00Facebook is horribleFacebook - (ahem, FACEBOOK) is horrible. I'm not going to rant too much other than to say I've had the oddest feeling this "thing" is working against "us" and for someone else. We're out here trying to build a future and FACEBOOK wants to live in it's prime, which is now our past.<br />
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This is only one hint of how problematic this thing has become as an unregulated corporate institution - remember the disdain they've displayed toward public interrogation - and if it's this bad on the surface, what unimaginable evil have they been up too over there?<br />
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I've lost trust in this platform for a number of small reasons, this simple case makes for Exhibit: Infinity.<br />
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Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-50297026284144125262020-02-07T10:17:00.000-08:002020-02-07T10:17:26.428-08:00Don't Play In TrafficQuick brain dump:<span id="goog_47519406"></span><br />
<span id="goog_47519405"></span><br />
<ul>
<li>Here's a list of things we do in our bedrooms:</li>
<ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCLsvcekKaS38MZHtYkOSge8tceL2jMWUoR_BOvWEZ7dHI8gdbiKKc3F77koG7saDhdxg1-4sy_reRjdfU4YbLhSsmK3GP8lYCMZN0v3Ncte42drYUtlcBqTVyqfuxwqOWhZQiGAkBpCY/s1600/8750f20e3985d4565041ca33f03f-1427909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCLsvcekKaS38MZHtYkOSge8tceL2jMWUoR_BOvWEZ7dHI8gdbiKKc3F77koG7saDhdxg1-4sy_reRjdfU4YbLhSsmK3GP8lYCMZN0v3Ncte42drYUtlcBqTVyqfuxwqOWhZQiGAkBpCY/s200/8750f20e3985d4565041ca33f03f-1427909.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li>Sleep</li>
<li>Fuck</li>
<li>Eat</li>
<li>Relax</li>
<li>Cry</li>
<li>Retreat</li>
<li>Change clothes </li>
<li>Deepthink</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
<li>Here's a list of things we do in our cars:</li>
<ul>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3uQDHdsKL8yWeJq3FlcNy7HM5GcrZ1YJGdvupjnbputI6tRSxxzt8YKXJske-0uo21Rh8KhqXPQijQQivhZUa8VLPceZNrErAP9-EtxZRSyAmvqTcesPF014RMx9oBP97FRN4l_tkWKSO/s1600/road_trip_sleeping_summer_night_truck_canon_way-478661.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3uQDHdsKL8yWeJq3FlcNy7HM5GcrZ1YJGdvupjnbputI6tRSxxzt8YKXJske-0uo21Rh8KhqXPQijQQivhZUa8VLPceZNrErAP9-EtxZRSyAmvqTcesPF014RMx9oBP97FRN4l_tkWKSO/s200/road_trip_sleeping_summer_night_truck_canon_way-478661.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li>Sleep</li>
<li>Fuck</li>
<li>Eat</li>
<li>Relax</li>
<li>Cry</li>
<li>Retreat</li>
<li>Change clothes </li>
<li>Deepthink</li>
<li>Drive</li>
</ul>
</ul>
My point: Our vehicle interiors are emotionally/psychologically connected to our bedrooms via a perception of safety. Our car's interior is one of our safest spaces.<br />
<br />
And like any other safe space, we're uniquely tuned to perceived threats to its safety, and by proxy, our own. In some ways, this invisible stress - the moving of our safe space through an unsafe territory (read: traffic) - is one of the deepest roots of anxiety present like static in the background of our everyday experience. "I hate driving."<br />
<br />
So here's my non-intuitive summary: please don't stop traffic as a means of political protest, unless you've absolutely got the numbers. People can react unpredictably to perceived threats to their safety, and you NEVER know who's behind the proverbial wheel. It is simply not worth the risk (IMHO) to your life. <br />
<br />
(Note: this in NO way forgives the "vehicle as weapon" scenario. That is a different psychology, but tangentially connected. Separate post.)Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-8421928686466460072020-02-04T16:17:00.000-08:002020-02-04T16:17:00.421-08:00New Rules for Democratic CandidatesWe're only a couple of months into 2020 and already the proverbial ground is shifting in the political world, and having read almost 10 tweets hashtagged with #politics, I'm ready to tell Democratic candidates the best strategy (I mean, they're all the best but plural nouns confuse me when I'm short on Red Bull and simultaneously listening to a Joe Rogan podcast)<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Under no circumstances should you accept any campaign donations greater
than $10. As we are well aware, this nation has a proud tradition of
electing candidates that received the highest number of contributions
from "everyday people." Ronald Reagan was famous for only accepting $5
bills from people on the street during his California Gubernatorial
race.</li>
<li> Only hire campaign staff that are willing to work for ramen and
suffering. They should be highly skilled, of course, and above reproach
in every possible way.</li>
<li>If participating in a "caucus", remember to take great care and consideration when selecting a high school gymnasium from which to select a representative of the nation & person who will command the the largest and most vicious military in history. Create an excel spreadsheet of all the regional mascots and accompanying wordage. Sort by proximity to a charter school. Select the one with the worst parking</li>
<li>Compile a histogram timeline of words commonly used in a sexist and diminutive sense regarding women. Examples: Shrill, high pitched, whining, pathetic, bickering, easily manipulated and powerless. Now apply all of these to yourself and your party.</li>
<li>Open a Twitter account and make sure your notifications are audible. That way you can know instantly when a random 17-year old fresh into the foster system needs to hurl sexually specific accusations into your DM's at 3am. He'll be a voter one day, so remember that!</li>
<li>Some voting blocs may demand specific concessions, like watching you fuck a bald eagle. Bear in mind you support "big tent" politics and if it takes a few eagle-fuckers to get you into office so you can finally enact your Great Plan For America, well, then the eagle-fuckers get a voice. Just a less than $10 per individual eagle-fucker voice... </li>
<li>DON'T BE UNELECTABLE: Here are some things that typically earn a candidate the dreaded "unelectable" scarlet letter...</li>
<ul>
<li>Being a woman</li>
<li>Being a Democrat</li>
<li>Being non-white</li>
<li>Speaking languages other than "American"</li>
<li>Having parents from somewhere other than "just up the road"</li>
<li>Complete sentences.</li>
</ul>
<li>Hold no wealth. Homes and steady incomes are for the 1%. To truly represent the "real america" you must suffer more than your constituents. If you've gone to college, be sure to convey you learned nothing.</li>
<li>Listen to your constituents (or their favorite podcast). The corpulent, high-school dropout truck driver who's double-wide sits in floodplain most likely possesses a nuanced grasp of the finer contours of international diplomacy. Just kidding! He likes meth.</li>
</ul>
Final note: NONE of this applies to Republicans. Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-22150824571060264152020-01-16T11:05:00.000-08:002020-01-16T11:16:31.592-08:00Nothing To Marvel AtCleaning out some old boxes and found a story/essay I'd written in elementary school. I was maybe nine years old at the time. The story's arc is pretty simple: space aliens are invading and only specific knowledge of American military hardware can be counted on to save the world (read: America) from whatever thing(s) the invading aliens did different.<br />
<br />
The point of this horrific narrative was I thought it would impress my forebears, in this case not only my immediate father but his paternal power figure as well, aka my Grandfather.<br />
<br />
So I did my best to imagine - at 7 to nine years of age - what story would appeal to both generations of parentage, the final desired outcome being the opening of the elder family's proverbial purse-strings and elevating me (and by proxy my family) from rural poverty to....well, whatever was better than that.<br />
<br />
Which was pretty much everything.<br />
<br />
But I digress. My larger point is this:<br />
<br />
To me, this is what the Marvel franchise films <i>feel</i> like; someone tried to write a story that was meant to impress their elder family for whatever selfish reasons and what ended up on screen was a perfectly predictable outcome of that.Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-54411606408194896292020-01-07T12:41:00.001-08:002020-01-07T12:41:43.032-08:00What does Facebook do with your nude photos?Quick: before you let your brain trick you into the safety of "probably nothing" please take into consideration these facts:<br />
<ul>
<li>software that identifies nude photos has been functioning "in the wild" for over a decade, i.e., it's not new,</li>
<li>software that takes said photos and automatically archives them is hilariously easy to deploy,</li>
<li>why wouldn't a team of misogynists dude-bros create their own unique wank-bank of constantly-updating porn courtesy of blissfully unaware women?</li>
<li>The US political system has a long history of using intimate/private communications to unseat unfavorable actors </li>
</ul>
Now I'm not saying this <i>is</i> happening - that's silly - I'm saying the probability of this being the case is high enough to warrant a "<i>this is probably happening.</i>" I'll leave the implications up to you.<br />
<br />
Facebook is a New Thing, insofar as it doesn't really have an analog in history, which means what we learn from it's eventual demise will be new, too.<br />
<br />
I don't know what Facebook really is, and neither do you. I have this gnawing sensation that it ultimately serves - somehow - a tiny percentage of powerful people in a way that undermines the rest of our ability to enjoy a functioning society. I'm not sure even deleting Facebook is enough to get away from this thing.Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-13679516667630637332019-12-28T02:57:00.000-08:002020-05-21T16:51:32.426-07:00Trump has won.From <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/fifth-circuit-trump-judges-devastating.html" target="_blank">Slate</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In
October, a three-judge panel intervened in a different case challenging
a separate set of Louisiana abortion limitations. The panel <a href="http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/19/19-30353-CV0.pdf">declared</a> that abortion providers lacked standing to challenge much or all of the state’s abortion regime, a ploy that can <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/supreme-court-louisiana-abortion-roe-v-wade.html">insulate anti-abortion laws</a> from judicial review altogether.
<br />
<div class="slate-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="slate.com/_components/slate-paragraph/instances/ck4ncxsqu001g3g60ac9xlte6@published" data-word-count="105">
Republican appointees to the 5<sup>th</sup> Circuit make
little effort to conceal their disgust with abortion. Ho accused women
who terminate their pregnancies of furthering eugenics in <a href="http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/18/18-60868-CV0.pdf">a December concurrence</a>. (His slander of these women is not only offensive but <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/05/clarence-thomas-used-my-book-argue-against-abortion/590455/">factually inaccurate</a>.) Ho also praised the “the millions of Americans who believe in the sanctity of life,” insisting that <i>Roe </i>has
no “basis in constitutional text or original meaning.” He even urged
courts to hold hearings on “fetal pain,” writing: “If courts grant
convicted murderers the right to discovery to mitigate pain from
executions, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be even more solicitous of
innocent babies.”
</div>
</blockquote>
Where justice goes to die.<br />
<br />
It's difficult to communicate how bad this is, as most of us are completely unaware of what a circuit court is, much less the 5th circuit, etc. But none of this is relevant anymore, and short of the icy hand of Death claiming the entire bench during a freak golfing accident, these men have immense power in shaping our day-to-day lives in invisible ways and will continue using it as a blunt hammer against all things different than them.<br />
<br />
In my view today, Donald Trump was the Right's endgame: the summary of 30+ years of long-play gaming of the political system to favor highly focused outcomes from voter suppression to court-stacking, and of course, the endless war on women and by proxy, matriarchy.<br />
<br />
(This may explain the pseudo-feminist fantasy appeal of Ms. Maisel, a character we are led to believe grew up in New York's upscale Jewish culture but also didn't. I digress...)<br />
<br />
I also think contemporary analysis of his "appeal to voters" has been a little too forgiving in its reptilian brain simplicity. His message can be distilled to this: "You can fuck whatever you want."<br />
<br />
This...freedom - an unchaining if you will - of the pure ego from all the lassos so peskily adorned by civil inconveniences like morality, law, etc is such a powerful suggestion from the top of America's Mt. Olympus that its easy to miss. I, too, am guilty of overthinking this.<br />
<br />
Trump's impeachment will most likely plod along well into the next election cycle, cementing the right's hold on critical political infrastructure. This is foregone at this point.<br />
<br />
I am out of answers and energy.<br />
<br />
All I have left are warnings.Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-59230643305437106192019-12-28T01:58:00.000-08:002019-12-28T23:51:25.943-08:00Things are about to get really bad, and then they'll get worse<div class="tr_bq">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
I keep coming back to this quote by <a href="http://dev.autonomedia.org/node/36703" target="_blank">James Howard Kunstler in 2011</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik7yLJVoaVgGfFwzIoiTYPP0b-EMyGUoX_66eK7mT4OVJ88wGEXmU7QfSHN3OsOj47itEjHpfAkZT0d6ZPU6FGtHUqpkZcFfIqUW7ke4y5kZSuvYGLgM3EG5daBJP3U-oHoOt3V2bj0Rco/s1600/twip-04-charlottesville-protest-car-crash-blur-ap-jt-170817_hpMain_5_12x5_992.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="992" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik7yLJVoaVgGfFwzIoiTYPP0b-EMyGUoX_66eK7mT4OVJ88wGEXmU7QfSHN3OsOj47itEjHpfAkZT0d6ZPU6FGtHUqpkZcFfIqUW7ke4y5kZSuvYGLgM3EG5daBJP3U-oHoOt3V2bj0Rco/s320/twip-04-charlottesville-protest-car-crash-blur-ap-jt-170817_hpMain_5_12x5_992.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blood in the streets. #Charlottesville</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"The clowns and villains who run America have accomplished something really epic: they have vanquished meaning. Nobody knows what anything means anymore. Anything goes now. All bets are off. It's not reassuring. It leads to bad things happening like blood in the streets. When nothing means anything anymore, some people will actually strive, make an effort, to reestablish meaning in practical economic and political life, because civilized life is impossible without it. So, in those historic moments when civilization is suspended, people will work like hell to restore meaning. Sometimes though, like Germany in the 1930s, you discover that the suspension of civilization is itself intoxicating, and you ride with that for a while. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
...There are heroes as-yet-sung-and-unsung in America, people who prefer reality over reality TV, people with a taste for meaning in life, which often requires the recognition that some things are true and some not so true, and you're better off with what's true."</blockquote>
And again from 2008(!!!)<br />
<blockquote>
This process is really out of control now. <a href="http://321energy.com/editorials/kunstler/kunstler071608.html">The bottom line is the comprehensive bankruptcy of the United States. The Republican Party under George Bush will be known as the party that wrecked America</a> (release 2.0). Painful as it is, Americans had better get a new "Dream" and fast. It better be a dream based on the way the universe actually works, which is to say an operating procedure run on earnest effort and truthfulness rather than merely trying to get something for nothing and wishing on stars. We might begin symbolically by evacuating Las Vegas and calling in an air strike on the loathsome place -- to register our new reality-based attitude adjustment.<br />
<br />
After that, we've got to get to work re-tooling all the everyday activities of life, including the way we grow our food, the way we raise and deploy capital, the way we do trade and manufacturing, the way we go from point A to point B, the way we educate children, the way we stay healthy, and the way we occupy the landscape. I know, it sounds like a lot, maybe too much. But grok this: we don't have any choice if we want a plausible future on this portion of the North American continent.<br />
<br />
Of course, none of that is likely to happen. Instead, and under the worst imaginable economic conditions, we'll probably embark on a campaign to prop up the un-prop-up-able and sustain the unsustainable -- that is, defend every status quo habit and behavior that we're used to, whether it can be salvaged or not. Of course, this would be a fatal squandering of our dwindling resources, but it it tends, historically, to be the last act of the melodrama in any faltering empire.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNh-zPmBbEx2hGmzOHZAlEtGCgT6MwHt53rJ1plCLN3t1Xoe_90uNiA7R0acgggW3XZEdV4Ch5N80HWEBV3KBhz_ZzxOeBhCWbX8ykEqBfU5uW9PaNHag6tNnZERUtbstTPmJB734S8Hi/s1600/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigNh-zPmBbEx2hGmzOHZAlEtGCgT6MwHt53rJ1plCLN3t1Xoe_90uNiA7R0acgggW3XZEdV4Ch5N80HWEBV3KBhz_ZzxOeBhCWbX8ykEqBfU5uW9PaNHag6tNnZERUtbstTPmJB734S8Hi/s200/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com.jpg" /></a> <br />
<br />
An American corn-pone Hitler. <br />
<br />
The result, pretty soon into that process, will be social breakdown and political upheaval. Every tattoo freak out there who has been prepping for his own starring role in some kind of comic book armageddon will finally get his chance to shine. Lots of people will get hurt and starve. Property will change hands in a disorderly way. And at the end of this process an American corn-pone Hitler may be waiting to set everything and everyone straight.</blockquote>
And now a nod to Hannah Arendt:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglYGpoUykmFTTjKbHkzxVWjGnAaH28YjsAAS13pB_71kJLtmZDqyQkfsdR7Mi3HEYGjKTxNPTOB456P33bebu0eRhVPtGD2LcQBWXCv9ckzOsmavOotJ8To9MJK8nDhIg60WCL5IG9cQPi/s1600/Hannah-Arendt-1963.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1581" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglYGpoUykmFTTjKbHkzxVWjGnAaH28YjsAAS13pB_71kJLtmZDqyQkfsdR7Mi3HEYGjKTxNPTOB456P33bebu0eRhVPtGD2LcQBWXCv9ckzOsmavOotJ8To9MJK8nDhIg60WCL5IG9cQPi/s200/Hannah-Arendt-1963.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>
Arendt had a deep insight into something that we are living through now.
The very categories of truth vs. falsehood and facts vs. lies are in
the process of being obliterated. Consequently, the possibilities for
lying become boundless and frequently meet with little resistance. Lies
are frequently used to deliberately deceive – to present a falsehood as
if it were the truth. This still presupposes a distinction between lies
and factual truth. But Arendt emphasises that something new occurs when
the deceiver comes to believe his own lies. She points out how difficult
it is to lie consistently without coming to believe in the “truth” of
one’s own lies. Many liberals are perplexed that when there is
“fact-checking” – when it is clearly and definitively shown that a lie
is a lie – many people seem unconcerned and indifferent. But Arendt
understood how propaganda really works.<b> “What convinces masses are not
facts, not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system
of which they are presumably a part.”</b> People who feel that they have
been neglected and forgotten yearn for a narrative – even an invented
fictional story – that will make sense of the anxiety they are
experiencing – one that promises some sort of redemption. In such a
situation an authoritarian leader has enormous advantages by exploiting
anxieties and creating a fiction that people want to believe. Argument
and appeal to facts have little effectiveness is the face of such
“persuasive” techniques – amplified by social media that penetrate our
privacy and are so powerful in shaping opinions and beliefs. A fictional
story that promises to solve one’s problems is much more appealing than
facts and “reasonable” arguments. Arendt warns us that these dangers
helped to smooth the way for the success of totalitarian regimes. <a href="https://www.philosophersmag.com/opinion/187-the-urgent-relevance-of-hannah-arendt" target="_blank">These are the dangers that we face today in an alarming fashion.</a></blockquote>
</blockquote>
I want to make a quick - albeit irresponsible - connecting point about modernism / postmodernism. For the purposes of this essay, "modernism" being a shorthand for the idea that "if you work hard enough, you will eventually reach some kind of truth."<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQTBJAMvFvAvg0304egXMCuedEVv96qKikyoXzS55vHCjFtNzVrXPkz4h-LzHZ-Gx9IbuKvoWrBE_8733y0OjZ2IufunlOmv8Q5oGWj0DvSKp7aHXhn7DJ71DWhFMoxcmdDkX6ZY81phpa/s1600/031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQTBJAMvFvAvg0304egXMCuedEVv96qKikyoXzS55vHCjFtNzVrXPkz4h-LzHZ-Gx9IbuKvoWrBE_8733y0OjZ2IufunlOmv8Q5oGWj0DvSKp7aHXhn7DJ71DWhFMoxcmdDkX6ZY81phpa/s200/031.jpg" title="" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">This picture of a cat on a stump is entitled<br />
to the same attention as your<br />
medical fundraiser. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span id="goog_655437376"></span><span id="goog_655437377"></span>Postmodernism, by contrast, holds that ALL MEDIA is inherently equal and ultimately deserves an audience. No single media can be held above another.<br />
<br />
The tension this society is feeling is these two diametrically opposed philosophies battling for dominance in our collective cerebral cortex as we try to solute the insoluble.<br />
<br />
These cannot co-exist, and no, simply saying so in a Facebook comment won't change this.<br />
<br />
<i>Because all media is inherently equal</i>, we cannot make sense of what's true. Even our "news" sites work to distract us from their own work by placing adverts and countless breaks between the paragraphs, <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/evidence-increases-for-reading-on-paper-instead-of-screens/" target="_blank">annihilating the ability to create context or transfer knowledge. </a><br />
<br />
Most of us, given the option, will rate our own reading comprehension level at "collegiate" without once questioning what reading level someone who holds an actual degree might select. We tend to overestimate our own intelligence and relevant skillset(s).<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Typically, metacognition and comprehension performance are highly
related; that is, less skilled comprehenders often fail to adjust their
reading in relation to reading goals and they <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050058/" target="_blank">tend to overestimate</a> their
own comprehension abilities. </blockquote>
</blockquote>
But when tested, most people actually land in the middle-school region of reading and language comprehension. When polled afterwards, most people think the survey/poll/experiment is rigged against them.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://graphs.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Demographics-of-Voters-in-America.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="679" height="200" src="https://graphs.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Demographics-of-Voters-in-America.png" width="169" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Voting matters.<br />
(source: <a href="https://graphs.net/demographics-of-voters-in-america.html" target="_blank">Graphs.net</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Which leads me to practical challenges in voting... <br />
<br />
"The problem" with voting lies in how the system places equal value on votes when voters are mostly unequal. A 23-year old bilingual single mother who's holding down two part time jobs has different political needs than an 86 year old retirement-home resident who can no longer distinguish between times of day or understand how door handles work. And the irony of contemporary culture is both these people will spend 4-6 hours a day in the same building/space but operate under different realities.<br />
<br />
That we are ok being ignorant about these arrangements is one of the many reasons why we've become comfortable (and complicit) in our feeling of powerlessness.<br />
<br />
Working backwards<b><i>, I believe our feeling(s) of powerlessness are driven by a coterie of intersecting forces</i></b>: a political voting system that is paralyzed by our larger cultural inability to arrive at a reasonable consensus about the reality in which we inhabit, driven in part by widespread - and fundamental - misunderstandings about how the world functions.<br />
<br />
And without these agreements, a functioning, civil society becomes really challenging if not impossible after a certain point, and at a time when global warming is driving human migration to historic levels, we are up against a set of challenges that we might be uniquely incapable of meeting because we don't agree which things are true. <b><i>And its the shared truths upon which we build meaning.</i></b><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ZA3lDRFL8Tz8SzuLBaK7Fxw_8Bns0H1QHkB854c7NgJDHX_FiD03GgClmiK5bCgCdRT8WbPHD5E4iwZ9OT_guVFENblBqVnF6Um3Pio8wNULrOu6BvSoAmZ4pgfgFpHKTLLnt7UZtNEu/s1600/131115-hurricane-katrina-bouie_hgrbvo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="1566" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ZA3lDRFL8Tz8SzuLBaK7Fxw_8Bns0H1QHkB854c7NgJDHX_FiD03GgClmiK5bCgCdRT8WbPHD5E4iwZ9OT_guVFENblBqVnF6Um3Pio8wNULrOu6BvSoAmZ4pgfgFpHKTLLnt7UZtNEu/s320/131115-hurricane-katrina-bouie_hgrbvo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of New Orleans by TheDailyBeast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And this is why I think (today) "things" (read: the ability for a functioning government to deliver political goods, ala clean water, electricity, emergency services, law enforcement, etc) are going to get worse for a while - not better. Our current structures of governance seem well-tuned to the needs of historic demographics, but terrible at planning for new ones. (See: Hurricane Katrina) <br />
<br />
Two closing thoughts: 1) I wish I had a clever quip or philosophical quote to summarize all of this with a simple, memetic hot-take, but I don't, and 2) I want to be wrong about all of this.<br />
----------- <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note to readers: I have most likely misunderstood Modernism/Postmodernism and it's probably not the correct reference, so I'm open to editing ideas💖💖</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Suggested Reading:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0312427999/ref=asc_df_0312427999/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312045581420&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6619841371194055589&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032467&hvtargid=pla-454169059128&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=62837065180&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312045581420&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6619841371194055589&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032467&hvtargid=pla-454169059128" target="_blank">Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=hannah+arendt+origins+of+totalitarianism&i=stripbooks&crid=27135J30OI3JV&sprefix=hannah+are%2Cstripbooks%2C234&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_10" target="_blank">Hanna Arendt: The Origins of Totalitarianism</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050058/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Effects of reading goals on reading comprehension, reading rate, and allocation of working memory in children and adolescents with spina bifida meningomyelocele</span></a></span>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-38683483591077573492018-10-30T15:04:00.000-07:002019-12-12T00:36:05.109-08:00Hello Ladies - A Boilerplate Group Introduction for Enlightened Men That Are Definitely Not Here For Sex<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7D635Oa5YnsUZS7qlnaYyJaf52mCdypSA7TGtwIjnYHd5bHTsGYfms5m_ZIKdSAjMgYXySpZi3EUKgXHdMzaqL0Dvd_q4z3Ig3hj5Sqpb0SBgGDhxt734vnjD8O7EipjkndqAkA3H9b_g/s1600/graduate-pig.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7D635Oa5YnsUZS7qlnaYyJaf52mCdypSA7TGtwIjnYHd5bHTsGYfms5m_ZIKdSAjMgYXySpZi3EUKgXHdMzaqL0Dvd_q4z3Ig3hj5Sqpb0SBgGDhxt734vnjD8O7EipjkndqAkA3H9b_g/s320/graduate-pig.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Hello, ladies!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
IRONY!
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I said that because I know I'm not
supposed to say that, but I'm a naughty little boy who's mischievous
energy you won't find unappealing or creepy, ladies!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm enlightened enough to be both
literal and ironic at the same time, ladies!<br />
<br />
Did I mention
this post is for the ladies?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Thank you for inviting me to your group
of many genders, even though this first hello post is for you,
ladies!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm excited to be here! Look at how
many words I'm putting into this post! Did I mention I know you
ladies like to read? I know what you ladies need – it's all I think
about!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Check out these
not-at-all-staged-or-curated photos of me! Don't I look the opposite
of old and desperate? See all these activities I'm busy doing,
ladies?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Gosh, I'm so active I barely had time
to pose for these photos! Lucky for me there just happened to be a
tripod with a camera mounted on it at the exact moment I was jetting
from one activity to the next, probably meeting some ladies!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I posted this next photo because I feel
good in it, and what's the crime in feeling good about yourself,
AMIRITE, ladies?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Speaking of feeling good, ladies....</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
...here's a bunch of words that would
be right at home on a FetLife profile but here they're just intended
as harmless fun because I'm fun and a little bit of a boundary pusher
but also literally I am thinking about doing this incredibly specific
act that actually requires tons of upfront conversations about
consent, which, incidentally I may or may not have a history of being
bad at, so hopefully all these words will serve as a way for me to
segue to “Consent is sexy, AMIRITE, ladies?!”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Oh man, and speaking of sexy, I'll go
right ahead and just volunteer some deeply personal preferences and
needs in hopes of attracting all of you while offending none of you.
Because I also believe in equality, I'm attracted to all ladies,
especially in the bedroom, ladies!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Are there men in this group, ladies?
Don't worry, they are invisible to me as they should be to you. Have
any of them typed this many words for you to read? Of course not,
they're not thinking about your needs the way I am, ladies...</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Oh, did you bring up needs? Because if
you have any needs, ladies, you should feel safe and free to express
them to me so that I alone may meet them on my terms, which will also
be your terms because I will have sensed them beforehand with my
superior male-enlightenment skills. One more note on consent – it's
soooo sexy, right ladies?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'll be DM'ing you soon, ladies!</div>
Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-18618055054346545592017-01-21T12:44:00.000-08:002017-01-21T12:44:33.021-08:00New Song - "I Don't Dream (That Its Over)"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wQSG8oBA5K8/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wQSG8oBA5K8?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br />
I've got a new song out that's currently in video-only form. It's become the #1 post of all time on our official Facebook page.<br />
<br />
Enjoy and we hope to sing for you soon!<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://sptfy.com/4zd" target="_blank">Spotify</a> | <a href="https://goo.gl/mGzTIY" target="_blank">Soundcloud</a> | <a href="https://facebook.com/HeartbreakTimeMachine/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://instagram.com/heartbreak_time_machine/" target="_blank">Instagram</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://squareup.com/store/the-heartbreak-time-machine/" target="_blank">Buy The512EP online </a></div>
Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-66946806768544433462016-10-16T15:38:00.000-07:002016-10-16T17:20:31.540-07:00Everything You Need To Know About The Dakota Pipeline Protests In One Photo<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2016_41/1751591/161014-standing-rock-pipeline-mn-1535_1108b3e670c6ffcc0ba920d1bfdd5beb.nbcnews-ux-600-480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Photo by Jim Seida / NBC News" border="0" src="http://media3.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2016_41/1751591/161014-standing-rock-pipeline-mn-1535_1108b3e670c6ffcc0ba920d1bfdd5beb.nbcnews-ux-600-480.jpg" height="260" title="" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everything is right here.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Assumption #1: You have an opinion about this.<br />
<br />
<br />
Assumption #2: You are mostly misinformed.<br />
<br />
Assumption #3: This is by your own choice.<br />
<br />
Hats off to NBC photographer Jim Seida who captured this perfect image. A man chopping wood (hydrocarbons) framed by a pair of woodpiles (hydrocarbons) in front of a teepee (cultural appropriation?) while automobiles (hydrocarbons) and other tents (oil byproducts) sit in the background.<br />
<br />
Working backwards: the people at this protest have nothing better (employment) to do, so they'll need to survive on the cheap. Thankfully, petroleum byproducts have flooded markets with inexpensive survival products ala tents, campstoves, bottled water, porta-potties, Dodge motor vehicles, and of course, coffee. <i>(Ask any one of these people to give up their cheap coffee and they'll be the first to start welding this fucker together. But that's just an obvious digression...)</i><br />
<br />
... the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2294707" target="_blank">teepee is there for marketing</a>. Because comfortable RV's would send the wrong signal. So they'll have a teepee <i>with all the comforts of an RV</i>...<br />
<br />
..the wood is there for irony and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance" target="_blank">cognitive dissonance</a>. The protectors of the earth haven't bothered to read about <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es062289b" target="_blank">how bad burning wood is for the environment</a> and people who inhale the smoke, but this isn't about global warming: this is narcissism dialed to eleven, or as those in the marketing trades call it, "YouTube."<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At the top of the hill that overlooked the main camp, a woman took a
photo of her young daughter standing against the edge of the scene </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
Below, the muted echo of ax blows could be heard. The drumbeat pulsed on, a horsed whinnied. <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/standing-rock-pipeline-fight-draws-hundreds-north-dakota-plains-n665956" target="_blank">Everything smelled like fire</a>. </blockquote>
A stronger indictment couldn't be made more cleverly. A woman documents (for social media) her identity (via her daughter) while burning every form of energy in their grasp.<br />
<br />
They will lose. Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-15741926650522502892016-09-27T16:08:00.000-07:002016-09-27T16:08:32.918-07:00Casino<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://riversofgrue.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/lucky-7b1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://riversofgrue.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/lucky-7b1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Imagine walking into a casino – with
the usual poor lighting and hypnotic sounds of other people winning –
and as you're walking through you see person after person hitting
their jackpot, some small, some large. Their machines blink and sing
and drop shiny coins. People smile.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You put a couple coins into a nearby
machine and play a few spins, but nothing quite plays out and your
return is minimal at best.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Not quite discouraged, you move to a
different machine (maybe one with a different strategy) and try a few
spins. Once again, the payoff is almost nothing.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Down to your last few coins, you try a
third machine, one that somehow sticks out now that you're down to
your last chance.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You put in your last coins and pull the
lever. The spinners whirl around, their symbols a blur of colors.
Suddenly, the first one clicks in “Lucky 7.” Then the next, Lucky
7 again. And again.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
One by one the little cylinders stop on
the Lucky 7, all across the line.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Jackpot.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
…...Jackpot!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
…...Jackpot??</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The machine remains silent. No
celebratory revelry. No lights. No payout.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You stand there in shock.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Then, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model" target="_blank">Kubler Ross</a> sets in: Denial (this
is not happening!), Anger (WHAT THE ACTUAL GODDAMN FUCK!!),
Bargaining (“Can someone get over here and fix this?”),
Depression (“I'll never be lucky again!”), Acceptance (“Maybe
casinos aren't for me.”) and in some cases, Resolution (Burn down
the casino.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.audubon.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_inline/public/3242358031_0e31cf525e_o.jpg?itok=LaKbZgFO" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://www.audubon.org/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_inline/public/3242358031_0e31cf525e_o.jpg?itok=LaKbZgFO" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There are no factories in Eden.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For children of the suburbs, this
metaphor rings deep and true.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Here are the reasons why:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Suburban children have strong social
incentives as most of the suburban world is comprised of social
interaction. This is because everything is already built in the burbs
– there's no community barnraising, so to speak.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
By design, the means of production are
squirreled away nearer the poorer communities, who's members survive
on utilitarian skills: recreational drug production, vehicle
maintenance, and sex. The result is a disconnect: those raised in the
suburbs may have magical ideas about how the world they live in is
actually put together/functions, and may reasonably assume its a
result of “who you know” rather than <i><b>what you've produced
for who you know.</b></i> That's “The Secret” as understood by
electrical contractor <a href="http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/science/" target="_blank">Benjamin Franklin.</a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ask most suburbanites about their life
goals and the word “Successful!” crashes forth with all the
energy of “Totally gonna do it!” Their success formula goes like
this: (Right Connections) + (Right Parties) + (Aspirational Sex
Partners) x Positivity = Leisure Income.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
They want to walk into that casino, hit
a jackpot on the first machine, then retire to what they've always
aspired to in the first place: pornography producers.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7e/78/17/7e7817916d96b5eab5e528fac7b2dfaa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/7e/78/17/7e7817916d96b5eab5e528fac7b2dfaa.jpg" width="264" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a porn magazine.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And if by “pornography” your brain
thinks “sex” you should rethink how you've been marketed to
market yourself. Ask anyone what they're going to do with their
success money and there's only one response: “Travel.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In the Facebook Age, this means selfies
in other countries, a powerful social totem of class aspiration and
imagined income potential. The porn you will produce is for yourself
in that it will feature you as the subject doing things you will only
do once but represent yourself has “having done.”</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You will need to read those sentences
ten times to let them sink in.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But what if you miss out on the
jackpots and porn? What then? How does the ego cope with steady
elimination of possible identities?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The Answer: by eliminating the need for
multiple identities in the first place.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
How? Learn to build or fix something.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That's all there is to it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And stay out of the casinos.</div>
Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-4949089880589113582016-09-27T13:09:00.000-07:002016-09-27T13:09:38.731-07:00Stream THE512EP on Soundcloud<iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/179635054&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">My EP "THE512EP" is now available for free streaming on Soundcloud. Five *fantastic* songs that you've probably not heard.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Thank you for giving this music a chance. </span>Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-37181211414370398342016-09-16T07:40:00.000-07:002016-09-16T07:40:47.209-07:00The Pepsi Problem: What Political Candidates Can Learn From A Can of Coca-Cola<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1img.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Coca-Cola-Logo-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1img.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Coca-Cola-Logo-2.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There can only be one.</td></tr>
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There's a marketing concept I'm totally making up right now I call "The Pepsi Problem" or "The Pepsi Mistake" depending on how you want to view it. It goes like this:<br />
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Coca-Cola is the #1 brand on the planet. There is almost no human being that does not recognize this symbol. The only 'meme' to be more recognizable is Godzilla.<br />
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Coke's 'proposition' to consumers is simple, and it delivers on that promise in a way no other brand has.<br />
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Here's is Coke's promise: "You are equal."<br />
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Here's how they deliver on that promise: NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO ON THE PLANET, a can of Coca-Cola does not differ in price for the poorest or richest, nor does the product. Rich people cannot buy a different Coca-Cola. Poor people are not sold a lesser-quality product in the same can. It is the most democratically accessible product in the history of humankind.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/58/Pepsi_logo.svg/1280px-Pepsi_logo.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/58/Pepsi_logo.svg/1280px-Pepsi_logo.svg.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Always second best.</td></tr>
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<b><u>The Pepsi Challenge</u></b><br />
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In the late 80's/early 90's, the PEPSI company decided to convert soda drinkers based on the taste of their product and initiated a campaign urging consumers to 'take the challenge!'<br />
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In doing so, Pepsi (unknowingly?) brought Coca-Cola into its universe - its "thought space" - and once there, Coca-Cola was constantly on the minds of PEPSI drinkers.<br />
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Coca-Cola, by contrast, made no comparable mistake: IN THE UNIVERSE OF COCA-COLA, PEPSI DOES NOT EXIST!<br />
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There are no other soft drinks in the Coca-Cola universe. Even soda brands owned by the CC company are advertised as being in the "Coca-Cola Family" and NONE of them are advertised alongside/inside the Coca-Cola logo itself.<br />
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<u><b>Be Coca-Cola and Deliver on Democratic Accessibility</b></u><br />
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Politicians should stop talking about each other - in HRC's case her campaign needs to stop referencing Trump in any way, shape, or form. Trump (PEPSI) cannot exist in their world. Let HIM propose a Pepsi Challenge and let his constituents forever struggle with two personalities in their heads while the HRC camp MUST deliver on the proposition of democratic access: the nation's destitute need to be able to access the same candidate for their proverbial dollar as a billionaire.<br />
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Here are some ideas of pragmatic implementation of this philosophy:<br />
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<ul>
<li>End 'closed-door' meetings as a matter of policy</li>
<li>'Radical Openeness' - web streams of meetings with donors, constituents, etc to deliver the message the candidate does not offer a "different can of Coke" to anyone under any circumstances.</li>
<li>Accountability: Coca-Cola holds its manufacturers to high standards and is able to do so because it maintains LEVERAGE over its production. The company protects its core principles expressed in the brands proposition (democratic access.) Fire anyone that sells access to your office / campaign. </li>
<li>Wipe clean the "Favor Slate" - publicly. All promises made internally prior to this brand reboot must be burned.</li>
<li>Cease references to any other candidates and do not respond to their provocations. 20 Questions for Donald Trump on Twitter was your Pepsi Challenge. Ooops.</li>
<li>Ensure surrogate brands (VP, public-facing staff, etc) know that Coca-Cola is THE ONLY ONE, but keep the brand mark barely visible. Make sure they deliver on YOUR promise and not theirs. If they veer off the core philosophy and don't deliver, fire/replace them because everything you've built depends on it.</li>
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Comments are open. Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-10763834288244640372016-08-23T07:47:00.002-07:002016-08-23T07:47:39.642-07:00When We Slept
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/b1QJ8ijnNxM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b1QJ8ijnNxM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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There's something unique about the
closing credits of so many 70's/80's shows – especially the ones
that ran late at night because the nation went to bed after those
lullabies. It was our cue – see what I did there – to turn out
the lights and turn in.</div>
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TAXI, in particular, with its gentle
bluesy theme gives permission to feel sedate, the perfect coda to a
racous ensemble comedy.</div>
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Today's shows, by contrast, must – by
design – keep the energy up and insist on your watching the ads in
the next episode.</div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UOoYogDuwmw/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UOoYogDuwmw?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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I think there's an opportunity for a network with a different tone to emerge. </div>
Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-16906151571814996892016-08-01T10:06:00.000-07:002016-08-01T10:06:07.482-07:00Heartbreak Time Machine on Instagram<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmnWZ0whYDGLKgBx5LMyKB0xRA_AY9CBXYCvgp6KVqk2f7lc97MF-kq9LbBcFVDhArpSch3tZ236GA2pUxfD8zhEEKQdjNfxy2NP5gvpo4siUq_PCQG6hN1mPW-wNINCcM4ZDDqaWOsPCF/s1600/13701182_10154282797320097_3069848243093062502_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmnWZ0whYDGLKgBx5LMyKB0xRA_AY9CBXYCvgp6KVqk2f7lc97MF-kq9LbBcFVDhArpSch3tZ236GA2pUxfD8zhEEKQdjNfxy2NP5gvpo4siUq_PCQG6hN1mPW-wNINCcM4ZDDqaWOsPCF/s320/13701182_10154282797320097_3069848243093062502_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Concerts In The Park 7/22/16</td></tr>
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We have so many <a href="https://www.instagram.com/heartbreak_time_machine/" target="_blank">more pictures and videos on Instagram</a>. Follow there to see more than what's on the blog/G+ :)Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5422172754989141132.post-88200136597817292912016-08-01T09:58:00.000-07:002016-08-01T10:06:27.915-07:00Heartbreak Time Machine on YouTube<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LA5XDvunCMQ?list=PLD821EsPLW0C1QNdj9Uke-tBV1zUzkZn3" width="560"></iframe><br />
Enjoy my band's latest singles via YouTube.<br />
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Find and follow The Heartbreak Time Machine on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Youtube...all the places.<br />
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Thank you :) Jeremiahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17139137120969063022noreply@blogger.com0