M.A.N About Town

January 27, 2010

Apple

Filed under: Uncategorized — sleepyoreo @ 6:49 pm

It would appear, after reading about the specifications of the new Apple iPad that the worlds most innovative company has finally faltered. Apple is a brilliant company, the instigators of the revolution; yet as a life long computer user, programmer, and builder I have never been seduced by Apple computers.

Apple makes computers for people that don’t understand computers. I make this claim and people jump up to argue with me because they are in love with the clean intuitive design, the ease of use, the lack of viruses, the innovate interfaces.. I could go on. As far as the computer goes, that is simply window dressing. Apple makes people fall in love with the whole so that they are able to neglect the parts, after all, who cares about the chipset or the mainboard? People who understand computuers.

Obviously I’m stereotyping here, because there are some uber geeks that use Apples, but ask your average Mac user what chip set they are running, what speed their RAM is,or how their hard drive is setup and you will receive and answer like, “Oh, I have a MacBook Pro, the new one.” The migration to Cloud Computing is leading to a vast ignorance in regards to computers. It is application ready, press the button and start using applications. Most people simply don’t know how a computer works, they just know how to use it. Apple covets and breeds users, endlessly trapped in the upgrade cycle.

This was a different argument completely back when Apple was utilizing a completely different architecture all together (one vastly superior for multitasking actually), but it all changed when they began sourcing the same semiconductors as PCs. Most call it the Apple Tax

The MacBook Pro situation is worse, especially when you factor in the oh-so-viable option of a $1700 last-gen MBP delivering the same basic performance as the current $2500 model. But even when you consider the $2000 config against the $2500 one, the pricier one holds more value: Double the RAM, video memory, L2 cache and more storage/speed. It’s almost dumb to get the $2000 one. Except for the fact you’re now talking about a $2500 computer. – Gizmodo

I can take a PC and build it exactly how I want it hardware wise. I can upgrade it, I can overclock it, I can mod the case, I can control everything. I simply cannot do this on a Mac, and I am going to pay more for it because it comes prettier (out of the box).

If you look at the history of Apple, you can see that it was started by Hackers. People that had limited funds and extensive know how, who were interested in developing machines for others who understood computers. They used to even include the schematic of the entire computer when you purchased it! Now it is different, if you try to change anything the warranty is voided. At this point, you can find people who understand computers using both Apple and Non-Apple operating systems just because they are both so prevalent – however many of them are using hackintoshes (custom built PCs running apple software).

Calling oneself a geek or a hacker used to have an air of elitism to it. You had to take time to read manuals, understand the software limitations and abilities; you had to actually learn. Now the applications are so easy to use, anyone can create a song, make a movie, start a blog. It is genius when you think about it, they have been able to expand to every demographic of user with one exception, people who understand computers.

December 22, 2009

10 things learned or Ways I’ve changed in 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — sleepyoreo @ 1:27 pm

I was going over some of my older posts today thinking about how much my opinions have changed over the years on a variety topics.

10. I’m not against breast augmentation as I was a few years ago. These days I think it is your body, do what you want with it. I can respect that.

9. To focus much more on happiness rather than the future, success, or money is healthy. Naturally because of my personal evolution, like my friend Kram, financial independence is and has always been a huge goal for me.

8. I was telling the other day about how much I used to pray, and how religious I was. Casting off this illogical coil has been a huge benefit to my mental well being. I try to control my disdain for those that believe in creationism, and it has become less of an issue, like a parent who’s child believes in Santa Claus.

7. Vegans are morons – and their argument is seriously flawed. . Just because pigs have teeth similar to our own or factory farming is terrible does not mean we should just stop doing what we’ve evolved to do. I rant about this all the time. I still think sugar is evil, but I tend to not worry as much about my diet as I used too. This is a bad thing.

6. You are the 5 people you spend the most time with this one is huge. As much as I’ve felt in the past that my resolve is iron clad, we humans are like sponges.

5. The world is full of things we are not designed to utilize, the majority of our own design. It’s all poison..HF-CS, hallucinogens, stimulants, the Jonas brothers..etc.. The best life is one lived free, with a clear mind and body. For me this was a huge one this year, freeing myself of things in the past I negated as having a huge effect really cured a great deal of depression.

4. Scotch is the drink of lions, warriors, and kings. I never understood scotch when I was younger. Many things are hard to appreciate when you don’t understand them, but when they click the halo of enlightenment is bliss. As a man ages, he should drink less, and drink better. That’s it.

3. Spearfishing, or hunting of any kind is fantastic. Jacques Cousteau said that civilization is about farming replacing hunting, which I can appreciate – but if you can’t farm, then go hunt.

2. The man makes the man, but the clothes make him better. I actually shop for clothes now, something I’ve not done since the first day of 7th grade.

1. Los Angeles is unlike any other place in the United States. It is the perfect place for people to live that don’t know what they want to do. Once you figure it out, if it isn’t art related, then it is usually time to leave.

October 19, 2009

The Nobility of Truth

Filed under: drugs, food — Tags: , , , — sleepyoreo @ 11:39 am

I took an Intro to Buddhism class in the twilight of my college years. I had a pretty good understanding of the religion however the class went in depth; I was largely uninterested due to the instruction coming from a lame brained grad student. As I continue my never ending quest for the perfect tattoo, I was reading some Buddhist tenets and I recalled my main qualm with the religion.

In the eightfold path, practitioners are asked to a lot of “right” things. Some of them make sense.  ”Do not become intoxicated to the point where you can’t control your speech or actions.” – If anything is ever said about my personal philosophy, they will say that it borrowed a great deal from Buddhism. I do however detract a great deal from “Do not kill other living things or ask that they be killed for you.”

I read an article about the issues with meat, and I watched F0od Inc with its depiction of the terrifying horrors of factory farming. Yet frankly, in my best Gordon Gecko voice, “Meat is good.”

I think people have started to realize in this century that there is no need for carbohydrates in our diet, they just taste great. Meat has become a great deal less healthy with all the genetic engineering we’ve done to it, but refusing to eat it is like not breathing air because it’s polluted.

I advocate vastly reducing or eliminating the intake of grains for almost everyone. Far more than the fat in the foods we eat, it’s the excess carbohydrates from our starch and sugar-loaded diet that’s making people fat and unhealthy, and leading to epidemic levels of a host of diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

It was only with the advent of agriculture a mere 10,000 years ago, or 500 generations ago, that humans began ingesting large amounts of sugar and starch in the form of grains (and potatoes) into their diets. Indeed, 99.99% of our genes were formed before the advent of agriculture; in biological terms, our bodies are still those of hunter-gatherers.

Societies where the transition from a primarily meat/vegetation diet to one high in cereals show a reduced lifespan and stature, increases in infant mortality and infectious disease, and higher nutritional deficiencies. We haven’t suddenly evolved mechanisms to incorporate the high carbohydrates from starch and sugar-rich foods into our diet. -Dr. Joseph Mercola

Anyone who thinks otherwise I would urge to study the history of Homo Sapiens. Yes, we might of never reached civility without the population densities derived from the advent of agriculture – but we where weaned on meat. We have evolved to chase it, to hunt it, to digest it, yes some vegetables are great too – soy excluded!

I remember when I was a child and my father would torment me with Sci-Fi flicks; animals getting enlarged to astronomical proportions. We would watch massive house cats chasing around terrified owners and a home sized Fido eating little Jimmy. He would always comment, “What, do you think they wouldn’t eat us? We will even eat each other given the right circumstances.”

One cannot ignore the true nature of what we are as humans, no matter how much we effectively change the course of our evolutions. Given society, the rules deviate from simply the strong survive – but our bodies like meat. Besides, you know steak tastes great, even if you’ve convinced yourself you “just don’t like the taste.”

October 12, 2009

Athleticism

Filed under: Funny, exercize — Tags: , , , , , , — sleepyoreo @ 8:56 pm

So i’m watching Football this season, which is one of my favorite things to do since I acquired a love for the sport in college. Growing up, my father was never into sports and while I would watch a little basketball with my mother I was largely of the same mind.  That was until someone tossed me a rugby ball my first fall semester of college in Central Florida.

I was always a larger kid. I read somewhere that grip strength as a child is largely indicative of strength at maturity. My father used to always tell me he marveled at my ability to rip out my sisters hair or pick up heavy objects. Anything where strength was a factor I would always stand out. Yet I began to gain weight from spending most of my time at less active geek pursuits, and my abilities became uncommon in the face of my advancing peers. I didn’t like soccer because I couldn’t use my hands, and I was just clueless at football – I couldn’t stand wearing all the padding and sweaty helmets. I was always top pick playing park football but never showed any promise in high school.

When I discovered Rugby it was like an awakening – here was a sport where I could utilize everything: speed, strength, and endurance. Great Rugby players are multi-talented, and Rugby draws on all human strengths. It is like a game of real time chess. No one can do the tackling for you; everyone runs, tackles, passes, and uses the boot to a certain degree. I love football, but I prefer Rugby.

I bring all this up because when I look at football, and this offense called the Wildcat formation, I can’t help but think of Rugby. The athletes that make it possible have multiple skills, running backs that can pass, and quarterbacks that block. In rugby the coach only talks to his team at the half, the players look to their captain and think in real time on the field. Look at the drift towards the No-Huddle offense and the increase in calling Audibles. Americans took Rugby and turned it into football, but it seems like natural evolution of the game is drifting towards it’s roots.

October 8, 2009

The most dangerous plaything

Filed under: Funny, ponder, sex, women — Tags: , , , , , , , — sleepyoreo @ 7:53 pm

The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Every so often I will meet a woman who I am impressed with. She is put together, she is clean, she is emotionally stable, and she has a sense of humor. She has books other than foolish fiction on her shelves, she works out, her DVD collection does not include Beerfest, and her vices are within her control. On the surface it appears that she is without a tragic flaw like enriched white bread in her cupboards or Kraft mac and cheese in her pantry. Yet I find that this type of woman is almost always not attracted to me.

There is a great salon.com article about how women form love maps early on in life, that they have a certain type of man they are attracted too. I think the same is true for men to a certain degree.

Apparently smell, money, and birth control have something to do with it. Men always ask me about my size, how long I’ve been working out, etc. I always comment that I feel my size has been more a hindrance than a source of attraction. Whatever it is the women that I like want, I surely don’t have it. People have commented that I should stop indulging the ones that I don’t like; that would be like a lion not eating sleeping gazelles.

To be fair, I suppose I rarely ask any women out, and I hear that merely trying is half the battle. I prefer to see my prey wounded and bleeding before I approach. Further in the article it is indicated that the number of premarital sex partners is a good predictor of infidelity post-marriage.

Which is why I’ve decided to resort to cave age tactics of clubbing and hair dragging.

Kidding. Sort of ;)

September 28, 2009

The price of tea in China

Filed under: ponder — Tags: , , , , , , — sleepyoreo @ 9:39 pm

I love this phrase, heard it on Mad Men and then in conversation the other day.  So in the spirit of random:

I was having a conversation with our resident town crier at my restaurant job the other day when he made an interesting observation. People are neither polite nor kind anymore these days.

I have always prided myself on the fact that I am never rude to anyone, I don’t see the point of it being rude. He highlighted the Kanye West incident, Rep. Joe Wilson yelling at the President, etc. L.A times talked about it like it was some new affliction leading to the decline of civility. I think it has to do with proximity. People in the Midwest and remote areas are much friendlier because they have to cope with one another far less frequently.

In other randomness, I was fascinated to discover that several people I know, who I would consider rather hairy abhor hair on others. I remember as a child being amazed that my late grandmother had a mustache. Apparently a high fat levels promote increased levels of circulating insulin causing the ovaries to produce androgen. Hirsutism is another reason to not be fat.

Lastly, a great quote from Timothy Leary, an extremely fascinating person: Before his first experiments with mushrooms, Leary had described his life of 35 years disparagingly, writing he had been “an anonymous institutional employee who drove to work each morning in a long line of commuter cars and drove home each night and drank martinis … like several million middle-class, liberal, intellectual robots.”

September 22, 2009

I really need too __

Filed under: exercize, food, ponder, school — Tags: , — sleepyoreo @ 2:38 am

I try not to use this phrase in conversation, in passing, or frankly at all. The reason being that I simply can’t stand to hear other people say the phrase. It is one of those things people just like to say when they recognize the importance of something, they have some small interest or motivation regarding whatever it may be, but ultimately they won’t do it. It’s like conversation filler.

I tweeted this out there the other day: there are many things you want to be doing, but what are you actually doing? When I was in finance such a great deal of importance was placed on the business plan. Where are your mile stones, how will you get there, what steps will you take, when will you throw in the towel? That last question doesn’t exist in L.A because the answer is you just keep dreaming until it happens.

I hear this statement from people all the time when I discuss calories, diet, and my exercise habits. Almost as if people feel the need to rationalize their own choices with the choices of others. Everyone wants to say “yeah, I really need to get in the gym/exercise/diet/eat healthy/learn to cook/ etc..” but in reality they will never do it.

My theory is that with few exceptions, people don’t change unless they are forced too. People reject change because it is uncomfortable, and it usually isn’t absolutely necessary. I notice it is always the most out of shape people who say these things as well; usually they have a rehearsed explanation (excuse) that they like to give. I just nod my head and say nothing because there is no excuse really, just something that we tell ourselves. I read something in the APA talked about how there is a high correlation between physical arousal in men with how aroused they say they are. So keep telling yourself whatever it is you are telling yourself. But, do you really believe it?

I’ve become just a bit more humble as I’ve gotten older. I like to attribute this to the wisdom gained from past failures (lessons), yet I think a large share of the credit goes to the fact that I don’t like to help people who won’t help themselves, so I keep my mouth shut. I believe that I am amongst the last generation to grow up with exposure to a time when information was not ubiquitous. The only limits are talent and motivation, and history has proved that talent is by far the marginal factor in the equation.

In short, there are no excuses. So be honest in that you just don’t care enough about it, whatever it is. Don’t get me wrong, I acknowledge that there is nothing wrong with that, we are all different. Just don’t mention it like you are actually going to change someday, be honest or be quiet.

September 20, 2009

But who cares?

Filed under: ponder, school, update — Tags: , — sleepyoreo @ 8:05 pm

So I got a ride home the other day from a friend at work because the bane of my existence, my vehicle was experiencing technical difficulty. She asked, “So what do you blog about?” I immediately answered, “whatever comes to mind, anything, finance, rants, etc.” She looked at me and said unconvincingly, “oh I bet you are a good ranter.”

I’m not so sure about that. A couple people in the past few weeks told me that it wasn’t such a great idea to be oh so gloomy all the time. Recession, we all know we are in one, and it probably isn’t going to end anytime soon. Be optimistic I’m told, after all, there are green shoots…..

Maybe I should stop harping on it, twittering about it, setting my Facebook status to economic data. I suppose so, but I am so interested in the economy. I feel like most people just aren’t aware the consequences of events like of credit contraction (wow, that sounded geeky). I talked about commodities last month and this month, NY Times is talking about the same thing.

I talk to friends and associates and I feel like people are buying the propaganda that things are dramatically improving. My mother tells me that I am the town crier, screaming the end is near while everyone else goes on with their lives. In L.A people really don’t seem to care about the economy all that much. I asked someone to guess my age yesterday and they said 38; only 15 years off. I suppose that should be reason for worry when looks it pays to be attractive.

I need to figure out what I should pursue next. I am bored;  I am adrift with all the dreamers. Never before I have I been surrounded by so many people so willing to dwell on unrealistic expectations, living mediocre lives in the meantime. A friend and professor of Marketing told me I should go back to school, and I am beginning to think she is right.

September 4, 2009

cult of los angeles

Filed under: Uncategorized — sleepyoreo @ 12:04 pm

L.A is a very cult like.

What do I mean by this? For starters the food culture here, it’s gimmicky. The hottest things are driving around in trucks tweeting, which I think is fabulous yet a part of me feels like it wouldn’t be so popular if it merely was an unassuming storefront. Restaurants are corporations, with followers and multiple locations.

Fashion. I’m sorry, but I don’t get the sneakerhead thing – to me a 30 year old man should not be wearing the same thing grade school children wear in multicolored sneakers. I don’t have more than 2 pairs of any shoe, let alone 40. I don’t care if a hip hop designer spray painted them. I LOVE when if I go to a club/bar and they won’t let us in because someone in my party is wearing sneakers.

Scientology – I need not comment on how they own Hollywood.

Using internal Scientology documents such as “Sea Organization Flag Order 343B. 30 May, 1977,” and others, Kent writes, “In considerable detail the RPF document laid out the framework of forcible confinement, physical and social maltreatment, intensive reindoctrination, and forced confessions that were (and are) central to the program’s operation” (Brainwashing in Scientology’s Rehabilitation Project Force, November 7, 1997).

A recently rediscovered friend of mine asked me for my thoughts on L.A and I thought I would repost here. L.A is sprawling and diverse, it can take hours to travel its endless superhighways. There are so many freeways I don’t even know all of their names. You can find any city in L.A, but the mood is universal. Everything is chill, you rarely have to worry about the way you look going anywhere, it is come as you are, everywhere. If perchance you see someone wearing a suit and tie you instantly know they aren’t from SoCal. It reminds me of those old western towns; colossal flashy billboards yet when you look behind them you see they are propped up by balsa wood and empty. It is a land of dreamers, people come here to escape reality, to start over. No one tells you here to cease chasing your dreams, even if you are 37 and still waiting tables, hoping to be discovered. The people from SoCal love it here; while they might consider school or a sojourn on the east coast they would never want to live anywhere else.

The stereotypes are so true; the valley girl, the tanned surfer, the Venice beach hippy commune, the orange county cougar. There is no wake up call, only endless casting calls full of 1000s of the same person who thinks for some reason he is different than all the rest. L.A is behind the rest of the world and could care less. Frank Llyod Wright said it best, if the world were tipped over on it’s side, everything loose would end up in L.A.


August 25, 2009

Innocent until proven guilty~ False until proven true

Filed under: ponder, school, wikipedia addiction — Tags: — sleepyoreo @ 1:34 pm

Erosion is a natural force, it changes things even if they refuse to change. One of the most profound things I was ever taught about change was that often it can move far to slow to be noticeable. This has been a tenet for me because I have learned it in so many different disciplines.

When I was a child I was fascinated by Bonsai and its principles. The idea of a task forever unfinished, incomplete, that a branch can die and the tree can grow around it. I was encouraged by the fact that I was to “train” the branches rather than let them grow awry.  The bonsai is forever a student. Yet people are complacent to stop learning.

I always ask people, “What ideas do you subscribe to now that are older than a few hundred years?” Chances are the things people list are demonstrable, or have some scientific backing. If they lack either of these, then why believe them?

I had a conversation with a friend the other night in which I highlighted the fact that I am not against so many of the commonly held beliefs of society (which was a lie ;) ). I merely reject the notion that people stop questioning ideas.

“Belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence.” – Robert Anton Wilson

I could tattoo that on my body somewhere it rings so true. With time, any belief can fall to the wayside. Think about things that you’ve believed for years and years. True, the wisdom of your former generations should not be ignored, yet I constantly muse that the groundless ideas we hold sacrosanct today will be looked upon as lunacy be future generations. Recall, the Nobel Prize was awarded for the Lobotomy procedure, and despite some scientific backing that wasn’t such a great idea.

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