I Don't Know What the Problem Is, But I'm Told There IS a Problem

For every person who voted for Obama because he represented change, but couldn't articulate what that change was, there was someone on the other side of the aisle that thought the same thing about Palin / McCain that had the same problem.

The problem with marketing is that we are fed these ideas and concepts: change, independence, unity, freedom, cutting spending, bringing in spending, cap-and-trade, etc. But absent articulable substance, they are just words ("articulable" being a legal term) and they mean absolutely nothing without context.

I'm not really just firing from the hip with this thing. Instead, I'm just pointing out the problem with movements (and they exist on both sides). People blindly follow like sheep, rather than backing things with facts. And they become radical about these notions and impassioned, but cannot support these notions with any substance whatsoever. And it's problematic because it starts the cycle of ignorance (or perpetuates it).

One of the best things anyone has ever said to me in the form of commentary comes from my friend Tony. "Just because the person says it with the most conviction, it doesn't mean they're right."



With that being said, don't follow a movement unless you know the facts.

via straight bangin

Led Zeppelin - Bring It On Home

One of my all time favorite Zeppelin songs.

Jimmy Fallon as Niel Young - The Fresh Prince of Bell Aire Theme Song

Groove Armada - Hands of Time

Things I Miss

• Fall days, skateboarding throughout Stockton - I've never felt so free from everything; and it was all so new and exciting
• Fall days golfing in Massachusetts - there's nothing more beautiful than fall in New England, and nothing more invigorating than being out with some of your best friends doing something you all loved; and the Fall - the leaves turn, the breeze is perfect, the weather is just crisp enough. It's almost enough to make me move back - or regret leaving. I emphasize "almost."
• Dinners with my family and Lobo - nothing beats a home-cooked meal by mom. Ever.
• The sound of silence - sitting on my skateboard, outside of my house, just taking in life.
• The free time to write - I used to write a ton. Now the moments to creatively write are few and far between.

Beirut - Nantes

Often times I post music more for the song, rather than the visual (oftentimes there are no visuals, just a still frame with a song). But this is the exception. This is awesome. The song builds as the production progresses. Beirut is quickly gaining my love.

KG - Dope

The Sounds - Home Is Where Your Heart Is

couldn't have picked a lamer picture to put the music to?

Lies! They Must Be Lies

So the "news" is trying to tell me that there was some "advanced" surgery that took place in Australia. The so-called facts are that the doctors had to work for 32 hours to separate the conjoined twins' "brain tissue," in a difficult procedure. Oh, and the twins were rescued from an orphanage in Bangladesh apparently.

Okay, so lets just go ahead and debunk this story before it gets legs and people start thinking that socialized health care can work.

1) 32 hours of surgery? Yeah, okay, well these doctors don't have any incentive to work hard because they're in this socialized system that refuses to reward their hard work. So there's no way that a doctor in a socialized system is going to work more than 8 hours, let alone 32.

2) separating brain tissue? That sounds complicated. And we all know that in a socialized health care system the smart people are also the ones that are driven by wealth. And since there's no incentive for a doctor to make money in such a system, there's no way these doctors could handle such a procedure. Cause the smart people aren't doctors, they're the ones off capitalizing on capitalism (do you like the word play?)

3) Orphanage? Bangladesh? I know, this has got to be made up, because there's no way a bunch of doctors are going to go use their talents to help some orphans even in a socialized system. That sounds too compassionate. Nice try fake-newscast. But this guys isn't fooled. Were these even real doctors? I mean, complicated surgery in a socialized system, compassion for those who can't afford the surgery themselves. There are a lot of things going on that I can't fathom.

4) Australia? This is how I know it's fake. Maybe if this happened at like Johns Hopkins or something, but I know that this type of advanced surgery doesn't happen in other countries. It's impossible. You know why? Cause they're all socialized so there's no incentives to have more advanced health care. They have to wait for an awesome purely (ha!) capitalistic society like ours to make such advancements. You know, in all reality, the true story is that these twins were on some waiting list for months and they never got the care they needed. Yeah, that's right, cause that's how socialized health care systems work. They don't! ZING!

I wish there was a sarcasm font.

via Yahoo

Beirut - Postcards from Italy