Remember the good old days?

While looking through Gizmodo, I found this particular gem. There are several obvious problems with this particular product, and it's promises.

One: At most photo places and office places one can get photos printed straight from the SD card.

Two: The photos are going to be really bad, Vivitar makes some fairly cheap cameras.

Three: The expense and chemical waste of film was why the switch to digital was so widely adopted. I'd rather buy 1 SD card once, than a mere 24 shot roll indefinitely.

There are no advantages to the Vivitar camera over even a basic digital camera, and whatever advantages advertised are outright lies.

However, this post is not quite about how silly this commercial is. It's about reminding me that someday I too will be that old man unwilling to adapt to the new age. That commercials touting the nostalgia of using a plastic keyboard to type this blog post will draw me in.

I've feel like I've finally seen the harbinger of the new generation that freak me out, and I don't want anything to do with. In between my episodes of "Venture Brothers" on the Adult Swim websites; I've been seeing the commercial for the movie "The Virginity Hit". I know in my mind that no young generation in America (or perhaps anywhere else) has ever not fooled around in ways that freaked out the older generation. However, these kids are strange.

I thought the younger generation was supposed to have better ideas of gender equality, racial and cultural understanding. I thought that us millennials were the beginning of a new and better America. Instead I see the same objectification of women, exaggeration of middle class lifestyle standards, and group of chummy white folks living in their safe world away from everyone else's problems.

Maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps this movie is just a what it is; a bad movie that no one should care about. Maybe there will be a hope that the children of born under the Bush Administration will be just as good or even better than the ones born under the Reagan Administration. (I was technically Carter)

Spider-man

Marc Bernardin a writer for i09 wrote a compelling bit on the idea of a non-white Spider-man.

My proposal is quite simple. We need a Korean-American New Yorker to play the role. The name doesn't even need to change that much, I kinda like the ring to "Peter Park"

Imagine the idea of a struggling Peter Park trying to make ends meet, with his duty to his family, a nerdy interest in studying physics at ESU, and less than successful attempts to date Mary Jane, Felicia Hardy, and Betty Bryant.

Imagine this as a opportunity to tap into an untapped fan base to have a hot young Asian actor play a role and draw in all the fan girls. People who wouldn't care about comic book movies would come to see the movie just to see an Asian Spider-man.

I can not think of a better time for this to happen. Someone help me pitch this to Marc Webb.

New "murse"

Lately the newest fashion trend seems to be the mythical "murse". Recently my trusty FLCL bag had started to see some wear and tear and it was time I got a new bag to carry my stuff. As much as I'd like to replace it with this, I figured it was about time I dressed like an adult. I'm not going to go into what's in my bag (see: EDC) but I'd like to talk about my new bag I just got.

Picking the right bag for me had a few major parameters which took quite some time to figure out. Here were some of the basic metrics

-Less than 150 dollars

-Dark or Black leather

-14-15 inches in width

-Sturdy construction

-Unique look

-Compartments for EDC items

While searching high and low I ran into a number of problems. The dream bag that I wanted from Fossil was perfect, but way over my price range. I was playing around with the idea of getting a map case for that nostalgia kick, but I figured most of what I found was way too thin what I wanted. So I found this bag on Amazon which looked promising. I came in the mail last week and I've been using it for a few days now.

Cons:

I was a bit disappointed in the color. I thought it'd be more of a black, but it's actually more of a dark chocolate color. Not an unflattering color, but not what I was hoping for either. Secondly, the description said there was a zipper; however, the bag I got has no zipper.

Pros:

It's the perfect size and fits all my things. It feels fairly sturdy, I don't know if it truly is full grain leather or not, but it should be at least as good as canvas. I really like the fact that it has snap buttons. I don't like the idea of having magnets on a laptop bag, I avoid velcro as much as possible, and buckles tend to be more trouble than they're worth. It fits my laptop perfectly, and is fairly comfortable to wear.

I really like messenger bags. I mostly like the ability to be able to wear the bag and swing it around while walking and pull and put stuff in the bag. Perhaps this appeals to my desire to be more mobile. I've stopped using rolling bags and started packing things in a duffel for my trips. When I go anywhere by plane, I try to reduce everything I need to just carry-on. I think gets my to rethink what I really need in this world and it saves on the hassle of having my checked bags getting lost. (BAD bags are truly the best duffel bags one can buy.) It's a form of fantasy really. I preference mobility over comfort, less material things, and the ability to pick up what I have and just go where I'm needed. I feel we all have these guilty little fantasies in our minds what why we do what we do and how they influence our decisions.

The Space between People

Source picture from Penny-Arcade, full comic can be found here.

Perhaps my friend The Pendant can illuminate me, but an interesting article popped up on "City of Ontario v. Quon" and how this reveals a bit on our Supreme Court Justices' grasp of technology.

Take for example this juicy bit I pulled from the transcript on establishing reasonable expectation of privacy.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Again, it depends upon their reasonable expectation. Do any of these other people know about Arch Wireless? Don't they just assume that once they send something to Quon, it's going to Quon?

MR. DAMMEIER: That's -- that is true. I mean, they expect -

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, then they can't have a reasonable expectation of privacy based on the fact that their communication is routed through a communications company.

MR. DAMMEIER: Well, they -- they expect that some company, I'm sure, is going to have to be processing the delivery of this message. And -

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, I didn't -- I wouldn't think that. I thought, you know, you push a button; it goes right to the other thing.

MR. DAMMEIER: Well -

JUSTICE SCALIA: You mean it doesn't go right to the other thing?

(Laughter.)

I imagine the laughter was do to the sarcasm of Justice Scalia and not at the expense of either Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia. I also don't mean to make fun of them, being that this is an important point of contention which has no easy answers with technology. What do we expect to be private, and should we trust such expectations? This blog isn't private, and I am aware that I'm pushing this out there in the public sphere, but many feel that text messages and e-mails are private, but they are barely encoded and run on the same public communication lines. Many computer and mobile phone users don't take the time to think of these things despite their familiarity with interfacing with it. It may seem funny to us, but these particularities are hardly addressed but really should be.

Now that people are getting over the hoopla of the iPad, I remember that I had a tablet PC with a touch screen back in 2006, and it was great. I really loved the thing, it did everything the iPad does now, but had a physical keyboard, a camera and USB and SD card slots. It even had little metal legs in the back that folded out and created it's own stand. So when I got my new netbook for school I left behind the PepperPad back in my parent's home. I figured I could mod it or use it for parts some time in the future. The thing is, since it was so user friendly, I could set it up as a really good e-mail machine for my mom. She doesn't have an e-mail address yet, but she owns her own business and I figured she might like one. So I asked her if she'd like for me to teach her how to use the Pepper Pad to check e-mail she responded with...

No that's okay, I like talking to real people, I don't want to talk to a robot.

I understand that she didn't mean that literally, but I wonder if she feels the same way about talking on her mobile phone, or any phone for that matter. In a sense, she's quite right, most of my generation doesn't feel that way and are perfectly comfortable with the idea that we're communicating through technology and that on either end of all this technology is a real human being. However, without this imaginative leap, we are still interfacing at an inanimate object.

Someone once told me that any technology created before we were born is perfectly natural; any technology made before we were 20 is new and exciting; and any technology made after 40 is dangerous magic. Young or old, there are many assumptions and ideas which we take for granted. I take for granted that when I call someone on my mobile phone, the person on the other end is real, and that no one is making the effort to tap into my wireless signal. Is this the natural order of things? Will I be calling my daughter about IT support to fuse with the core mind? At what point will I myself start saying that this particular use of technology has distance us too far from human interaction.

Palatable Violence

I've been playing around with the word "palatable" lately to give meaning to something that has been bothering me lately. It's not as strong as to say there is a correlation or a link, but it does aptly describe a certain relationship between personal action and media messages. It would be wrong and unfair to say that certain messages no matter how blatant causes people to act violently. This would go against some very highly held beliefs about free will and responsibility which would be difficult to fight against. To make an idea "palatable" would mean to put at ease ideas that may have had some earlier disagreement. It is still the responsibility of the individual to act on such ideas, but the message had made the act feel less distasteful.

My friends and roommates have been clamoring about the new music video by Lady Gaga the hot new sensation who is trying to be Madonna to Adam Lambert's David Bowie.

Now I'm not being anti-Lady Gaga, or that Lady Gaga is "corrupting our youth" as Labor Whip Greg Donnelly would say. This is a part of larger trend which can not blame one individual or even her army of marketing, production, and visual design team. Let's take the simple idea of product placement in which "The Lady" seems to be fond of. No one really thinks...

"Perhaps I might purchase an LG rumor 2 because I saw Lady Gaga use it in that enticing video of hers, also I would like a diet Coke."

However, I do think that the idea of a cellphone with a pull out side keyboard is a more palatable type of phone in which individuals will be more familiar with this design and choose it it available among others. Then companies either in coordination or conspiracy against with the production team of Lady Gaga will provide such a phone at an attractive price point. "Ta da" consumerism wins. In this game, even a 60% success rate would be very lucrative.

So let's expand on this to more scary waters. I've become quite good friends with Dr. Meda Chesney-Lind at the University of Hawai'i. She has been tirelessly doing some excellent research and campaigning against the suspiciously gendered rate of arrests on the national average and in particularly Hawai'i. Her research had showed that "while the total number of arrests declined, females under age 18 had an increase of 6.4% in the ten-year period while arrests of juvenile males declined 5.9%...the trend for drug abuse violations arrests was upward--120% for girls compared to 51.2% for boys. Girls had a greater increase in “other assaults” arrests in the ten years—40.9% for girls and only 4.3% for boys." (Chesney-Lind 2004:7) This is showing a frightening change in rates of arrest for women in only 10 years.

Now one wouldn't be realistically looking for an accurate portrayal of women's prison's in a music video. If that was the case, I'd be attacking the "Dire Straits" for their over simplification of blue collar work, or Genesis for portraying our world leaders as bumbling fools. I do understand that this is supposed to be artistic and just in good fun. However, the message does make the idea of women in prison a palatable concept and we are less inclined to be concerned with any crazy statistical analysis which would indicate a serious exploitation of the women in our society. A reality which is just too horrifying or at the very least a "buzz kill" to an otherwise good time of imagining women wearing fashion made from junk. All the while real people and increasingly women are being abused daily in state funded prisons with reintegration programs cut from the budget due to these economic times.

My EDC

What I regularly carry either in my pockets or "man purse"

One of the things I have been noticing is the prevalance of the concept of EDC or "Every Day Carry". EDC items.com is a fairly comprehensive website on the theory and practice of EDC in the United States. It's not a particularly new concept, people tend to have a common set of tools which they deem useful to their everyday life and this set is a constantly changing arrangement of things which tells quite a bit about a person and the life they live.

In my experience EDC usually involves some active or retired military guy going through his gear which often includes a gun (and a backup gun) They tend to be fairly frightening looks into the mind and mentality of many Americans I and I worry if this is a part of a growing trend. Just hearing Nutnfancy talk about the piercing power of his EDC bullets is wincing.

One of the things about growing up in Virginia is the Open Carry allowance for all Virginians. For the most part, Virginians are allowed to carry a handgun with no permit and few restrictions. Which sounds good in theory, but their is nothing friendly about the sight of a big guy with a pistol out on his belt at the Red Lobster.

This to me is a part of nerd culture which is not often understood as nerd culture. It's a "masculinitized" form of gadget geekery, show and tell on the internet, and promotes and reinforces a mindset of being in battle everyday. Who is the enemy in which one is in fear to carry two guns to go to Arbys? Is this a part of the military culture in the US bleeding into the civilian culture? Is this a part of Barry Glassner's "Culture of Fear"?

Girls in Paris

Photo from Doritos ad 2010

"What I learned from Superbowl ads last night: If you're a henpecked dude with a bitchy wife/girlfriend, buying beer/Dodge Chargers/Dockers khakis/miniature TeeVees/etc. will restore your manliness"

This was a rather inspired quote from a friend of mine on Facebook earlier. The friend in question is somewhat controversial for me. I had a ridiculous crush on her in high school and she didn't seem to give me the time of day. She went to the rival state college, married a Department of State guy, moved to Africa with him, got a divorce and is now living in NoVA YUPy bliss with her new boyfriend... who is also a sociologist.

Other than the obvious problems of the media and the rampantly bad representation of masculinity. One commercial gets to me rather personally.

I understand that the ad is going to be biased, but in its efforts to promote Google as the window to life's opportunities, it simplifies and disinfects the complications of the "international lifestyle" while at the same time pushes some odd ideas.

The history of travel has always been the history of wealthy people going to foreign lands and having sex with the natives. This commercial is a new post-post-modern interpretation of this old colonialist motif. What angers me the most is that the commercial hides the complicated and dirty parts of travel that I have come to respect. It opens up an entire life of going to Paris, seducing and marrying a French girl as something as simple as doing a Google search. It skips the problems of being on the streets of Paris, looking for a job in a town that distrusts Americans, months of doing nothing but washing dishes to pay enough for rent, being rejected by several women, and historically Catholic churches that won't let you have your non-denominational spiritual life-bond ritual. Living a life anywhere involves a lifetime of building trust and knowing the community, not just a simple information and monetary exchange. Unlike what Samantha Brown may lead you to believe, life outside of America isn't just a pretty amusement park for your enjoyment.

Mob Justice

Original photo owned by Summit Entertainment LLC

The story of the village mob taking justice in their own hands is as old as villages themselves. My brother and I had always felt that living in any small town where everyone knew each other would be the worst thing imaginable. Apparently, one of the products of mass communication has produced a virtually world wide village effect.

José Luis Rodriguez's winner of the coveted British Natural History Museum's annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year award had sparked an Internet outcry late last year. There seemed to be two interesting factions between the "proper" photography community furious at the uncultured harassment of obvious trolls, and the Internet community who are furious at the elitist photography community for being so gullible about a fake photo. So it turns out that although the photo wasn't photoshopped, further investigation had shown the photo did turn out to violate the rules of the contest. So Rodriguez was stripped of the title and the £10,000 prize.

For me this is a great example of an almost democratic process of internet communications. I wonder if this would set a precedent in which the "noisy crowd" can overturn decisions in established institutions or even break down their authority altogether. Not that think that "tea-baggers" should be the new wave of democracy, but internet communication to form and create mobs would be interesting to keep an eye on.

Asian women

I found this video through a blog on how this artist seems very off from what cartoon drawing is about. To his defense, "How to draw..." instructionals for beginners are often quite bad and misleading.

I'm more concerned with the problem of his essentalist idea of what constitutes as an "Asian women". He seems to use the word "beautiful" as a descriptor for the physical traits. There is an uncomfortable awkwardness to his presentation of how he draws the figure and even the finished product is rather odd. If he had a similar presentation on how to draw "Black Women" it wouldn't be difficult to call him out as a racists, but for some reason it's socially acceptable for "Asian women"

I guess I'm extra sensitive on the issue of beauty and particular on Asian beauty is from a presentation I saw last night by Dr. Daniel Hamermesh. His argument was that from just looking at an input/output model, it seems that better looking people tend to get paid more, and are more valuable to their employers. What I found somewhat lacking was there was a very positivist and ethnocentric idea of what beauty was and there were little measures taken to take that into account. Obviously beauty is not a static thing nor is it commonly agreed upon in different groups. During the Victorian age, plump pale women were the height of beauty being indicators of being wealthy enough to stay indoors and eat, while tan skinny women were probably "gypsies" or "farm workers". So class is a huge predetermination for beauty and class defines what is beautiful.

What about the beautiful Asian women from poor third world countries that Western men go gaga for? They aren't rich why are they seen as beautiful. Again, as the saying goes, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", and the beholder are wealthy westerners justifying their taste and unaware of the fact their taste becomes an indicator of how wealthy they are. They are wealthy enough to spend time to travel to "exotic" lands and pursue "exotic" women. In the world we live in now, there is no greater indicator of wealth than showing how "globalized" one's taste is.

In the end we are not talking about beauty of perfect tube shaped women which flatter kimono, or long slender necks, or tiny delicate feet. They are not marks of beauty admired by those with power, only the tastes of those in power matter, and they are privileged in society.

Symbolic Analyst

Original photo from Wired Magazine

I don't know when this happened, but it seems that Penny Arcade is producing a webTV show. So far only the two part "pilot" episode has been made. It mostly sets up the premise of the show and goes over the things like how they understand their success, PAX and the birth of Jerry Holkins' daughter. If it wasn't for the fact that these guys are so humble and professional about their work, I'd be quite jealous of their success. But honestly, they're just fantastic people who happen to be living the nerd dream. I've thoroughly enjoyed the PennyArcade PodCast and really look forward to seeing more the show.

What I think was a really great message to me was that when they said on the show that they fully admit how lucky they are. There are a lot of guys that move in together, not attend college and try to start a business together and fail miserably. There are many who want to make it out there as a webcomic artist, and don't nearly have the fame as these two guys. What they have been able to do can not be replicated.

I've been really filling out my literature of great sociological writings and my gallery of references have increased immeasurably. One of which would be Robert Reich's "The Work of Nations" and his understanding of new globalized labor. In his work he describes one of the key professions of our age as the "Symbolic Analyst". Succinctly, Reich understands the profession to include a new exchange of information on a global scale.

...symbolic analytic services can be traded worldwide and thus must compete with foreign providers even in the American market. But they do not enter world commerce as standardized things. Traded instead are the manipulations of symbols - data, words, oral and visual representations. (1993:177)

I wouldn't assume the intention of the folks at Penny Arcade, but in a very organic way, these guys are doing just that. They have mananged to find a work around the tradition system of exchange of education for work, and work for resources, and have made a business out of grasping the nerd world around them and delivering it to a stable audience. They have created a nerd language and capture the experience in a way that is entertaining and meaningful. What is truly remarkable is that they have overcome many of the former blocks to such success.

I think the major component which has allowed this to happen would be the recent cheapness of wide reaching media. We are now in a time when one could reach a very wide audience over the Internet with a personal website with very little in terms of start up financing. I think this is the key component to understanding globalized work. Not to dispute Reich's work, but I think the profession of "symbolic analyst" has always existed; what is different now is that it is much easier for people of modest income to become one where before, one had to be very well placed and very wealthy.

Before, an aspiring comic artist to get out of distributing their comic outside of photocopies sold at the record store would have to appease the publishers at a comic book company or a newspaper. Many times this would require a vetting process and over time only artist who went to expensive art schools or were able to finance themselves would be able to get into the business. Even then, there were influenced by the whim of the publishers, a biased concept of acceptable material, and coerced product placement. Even famous and talented comic writers like Alan Moore, had his fair share of problems with publishers.

With Internet comics, there is less of these constraints and, an audience is generated commonly on the quality of their work. That being said, there are a lot of comics out there, and I would say a great majority of which are very poorly done. Below is a small list of comics that I have thoroughly enjoyed and is produced very well.

Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell: A British comic artist who has a very unique fantasy setting and some excellent character development. The art is very well done with a mix of beautifully detailed work and simple caricatures which don't end up too much like "Teen Titans" in the style.

XKCD by Randall Munroe: An American comic artist who mostly works in stick figures but manages to do them with a certain style and gets by with very witty jokes based on science and nerd relationships. Occasionally he has some objectionable opinions on women, but often they capture perfectly the issues of human interaction in our world today.

Shortpacked by David Willis: Shortpacked is a spin off comic which is part of an entire "Walkyverse" I have not had the time or ability to read the other comics David made, but I am told they were quite impressive. I think what I like most about this comic is the honest representation of working retail.

Hark, a vagrant by Kate Beaton: I'm afraid that I have have fallen in love with a women I have never met. Kate Beaton a Canadian comic artist writes a fantastically funny comic on history and literature. Her references to Canadian history are often great and force me to do a bit of research on the great white north. I think her subtle touches on facial expressions works well with the perfectly set up dialog. Byron's face at the end of this comic makes me laugh everything I look at it.

There are others of course, especially ones that I haven't had the time or inclination to read for whatever reason, but as a whole there is something unique about this business of web based comics.

Christmas wishlist

So it's the time of year when we have things that we want, but the realities of finance and responsible spending preclude our ability to get them. This post is my personal "fantasy wishlist" of things I'd like but realistically would feel guilty spending the money to acquire.

A New Gaming Laptop
The Toshiba Qosmio is really tempting. I've been really tempted to get a few PC games lately and I have never really had a decent gaming computer. DragonAge: Origins has been getting alot of good reviews and I've been very tempted by previews of Starcraft II and Mass Effect II. I've often really liked Toshiba computers and this one in particular have a few features that light up the geek in me. Things like solid state hard drives, multitouch track pads, and light up keyboards are really cool. Unfortunately I already have a Netbook and a dedicated work laptop that I use very much. A third computer would be a bit overboard in luxuries.

A Smartphone
Now that I'm a professional academic always on the go, I've found that I have a need to stay connected 24 hours and have the ability to access information while I'm traveling between WiFi zones. OK, that's mostly a lie. I mostly want a toy that I can play around with Android 2.0 software because I love Google so much and use everything they have (send me a Google Wave invite please.) I've heard alot of good things about the new Droid phone and my Verizon plan is up for a phone upgrade in January. Although this would mean an additional 30 dollars a month in service charges and that I'll be "that guy" that has all these crazy gadgets on his phone. Right now I have the Juke I love it because it's small, red and flips out like a switchblade. How much more phone do I really need.

New Wheels
Right now I my mode of transportation is through my feet. (Or riding The Bus) The idea of having something I can ride to the beach is very tempting. Zipping along on my little two wheeled thing might be fun and appropriate for my new island life. Also there is the raging desire to get an El Camino. For some reason I've been really interested in getting a muscle car, and one with a truck bed would be infinitely useful. (Also it's a freaking El Camino, that's just coolness on four wheels.) But to be honest the cost of gas, parking and other environmental factors are not optimal. I should just get a beach cruiser bike and get awesome abs from all the working out I could be doing.

Japanaphile

The above photo is cropped from the controversial photo of Hanna Montana doing that slanty eyes thing people used to do to me when I was in elementary school.

For those not in the know, the word "weeaboo" was the replacement word for "wapanese" after the world "wapanese" was used so often to insult other users on various online message boards, a filter was set up to block it. The word "weeaboo" itself is a reference to a fairly funny web comic "Perry Bible Fellowship".

I'm not entirely sure, but there seems to be a fairly large taboo with folks who are not Japanese (by ethnicity or nationality) who are highly interested in Japanese people and things. This "anti-weeaboo" sentiment is so strong it creeps in to mainstream media pretty often. The following video is from the new DLC of GTAIV, and although it is a satire of the Japanese animation industry, I feel that it strongly looks down upon the audience of the people interested in such media.



This video seems to be able to be insulting on two fronts.

First, it makes an extremely unfair generalization of Japanese animation as only poorly produced, over sexualized marketing tools. Almost in turn insulting the Japanese as a people as strange others who live weird lives and have weird interests. Reinforcing the long standing tradition of creating the Japanese as the exotic other.

Secondly, it insults the various people who are have an interests in Japanese animation. That surely we can't control what those strange Japanese people make, but why would red blooded Americans want to watch such things unless they were weird too.

This cuts across all facets of life from academic research (Why is that white woman studying geisha?) , political interests (What does that white guy think he's doing in the Japanese Embassy?), dating preferences (Rice Queens), travel (Another trip to Tokyo?) , and consumption ($500 dollars for a sword?) . It seems that there is constantly a strong rejection of people who are interested in Japanese related subjects. (or even just Asia as a whole.) So its a strange line to walk along, would people be more or less forgiving if Miley Cyrus was doing that slanty eyed thing because she wanted to be more Asian. Is it equally racist to love another people's lifestyle?

RFID chips

The use of RFID chips are hardly a new or incredible issue, but it is interesting to see this potentially dangerous technology being used to such a high degree without really knowing how it really works. Several tests at DefCon have shown that it is possible to make a long range reader that extends as far as 2 to 3 feet, and Mythbusters were barred from ever haveing a show on how to hack an RFID chip by several major corporations in cooperations with government agencies. At the same time, more and more companies are using RFID chips, even dermal implantation for clubs.

The video below from the blog Gizmodo shows a very interesting way of studying the range of an RFID chip.

Immaterials: the ghost in the field from timo on Vimeo.

I used to use a Metro Smart card to get around Washington DC and it felt really cool to wave the card to get through the toll gates. There is something very cool about RFID technology that appeals to our generation. Perhaps it's part of the current technological trend of wireless fetishism. We seem to love the idea of having something connect to something else without the need of cables. Perhaps there is a psychological relationship of cables as tethering our technology, when now we attribute "freedom" with having no strings attached to anything. The idea of being bound to anything by physical cords feels trapping, and wireless connections feel free. This relationship of freedom with physical bindings is obviously problematic. This is perhaps from a rejection of an obsolete idea of bondage. The traditional idea of bondage is to be subservient to a particular location. I believe in our desire to escape from any form of locational bondage, we have in turn created a new form of bondage. When I first got my mobile phone, I didn't realize that I was beginning a relationship of bondage. We tend to equate mobile phones with freedom, but for me it meant that no matter where I was, I was on call and reachable. Having a wireless connection didn't free me from physical bondage, it made the chain longer. At least when we were operating in the traditional idea, one could know when they had escaped bondage. Now when our responsibilities can contact us from very far away, we never really are free from their control and really only are "free" at their courtesy for our privacy and personal time.

This is not only a theoretical idea of post-post-modern terms of bondage, but has relevant questions for our age. Say if I a government contractor is assigned a government run blackberry. Do I bill my office for the time I have the devise on? Must I set up a schedule of when I'm on call? Am I beholden to answer my blackberry at any time? Are there different charges if it's an emergency? Can I refuse to carry a blackberry without worry of being replaced?

Back to RFID chips, how much personal choice will there be on implantation? Will there be laws prohibiting covert readers? Would wearing an RFID shield be a violation of federal laws like covering license plates or refusal to show ID? I admit that I think RFID chips have great potential and I enjoy it as a technology, but I wonder if we are moving too fast in its use before we really understand the where this is all going.

Otaku Politics

source photo from MSN

Danny Choo a man I'm extremely jealous of posted a short article concerning THE GREATEST PM THAT EVER EXISTED! (I know I know, he's sexist, a nationalist, friends with "W", and won't recognize his son Yoshinaga Miyamoto, but somehow all is forgiven)

In this article on Koizumi's involvement with the production of the new Ultraman movie, Danny had this to say about the issue of adult interests in anime.

Its things like this which many folks who are not into Japanese culture don't understand and I get asked a lot in interviews by reporters - things like:-

Why do grown Japanese men still watch anime - I used to watch cartoons as a kid but only until I was 12.

Well for a start, folks like this interpret the world on what they consider to be standards that they set themselves. Just because they "don't", they expect others "to not" and anybody who "does" is strange by their definition. What surprises me is that some reporters who should have open minds (to enable them to convey an unbiased message) have the most narrowest minds one can possibly imagine.

Being the type of person that I am, I am often questioned on my abnormal behavior and tastes. I am often quietly offended at other people's concept of what is standard. I once saw a presentation by one of my favorite comicbook writers Marjane Satrapi who commented up until a few years ago she thought that comics were only for children and addled minded adults. It wasn't until she discovered the French "New Wave" comic style in which she realized that this was a uniquely powerful form of literature. For me that is how I normalize my love of comics and cartoons. If being a nerd was a counter culture movement, my call to arms would be "medium not genre". In my experience many who are not fans seems to think that all comics and cartoons have the same themes and any selection of such are representative of the whole. As if you could judge all animation on loonytoons, or all comics on Batman. Not to say that either are bad, but they do not account for all there is to be had in the world. I have experienced too many great works using this medium to make any generalizations on it's credibility. There are plenty of bad stuff out there in all things. Much like there are bad country songs and good country songs, bad vampire novels and good vampire novels, bad landscape oil paintings and good landscape oil paintings. We tend to be very quick to judge others on their interests based on our limited experience of that interests. Perhaps there is nothing unique to nerds about this, but it is interesting to note the social stigma commonly associated with it.

Nerd Tech

When I was in highschool I read the opening to a book on Tombraider. I don't remember what kind of book it was, but I seem to recall it was more than just a strategy guide. The introduction posed the idea that much of what we have gained now in technological innovations are often inspired by fantastic dreams of their creators. For instance the desire to build robots are a certain type is not ever purely out of functional or pragmatic reasons, but from literature the inventor read as a child which sparked a personal obsession. In short, childhood dreams, often turn into adult innovation.

I'm a huge fan of Josh Whedon's Firefly. Many of the commentary on the social world throughout the show speaks to me. It was the type of Sci-Fi I like, I could spend hours discussing ideas of the whole 'verse from the hierarchy of companion guilds, Alliance politics, or core world/outer rim distinctions. That was the beauty of it, it was a large enough world in which we geeks can wallow in its richness and opened the door to greater inquiries.

So Google just released a new bit of software which they call "Google Wave". I am a shameless fan of Google products. I think they're often well designed and is seriously breaking the traditional use of technology by companies. Obviously anyone who is also a fan of Firefly knows the insignificant mention of the core planet technology they also called waves.



I think this was the only mention of how a "wave" worked. I still think in the Firefly 'verse, computer technology was returning to a "mainframe" model. Basically the tablet which young Simon was using is just a device which communicates to a local mainframe for computing power. From the conversation this could be one that serves the entire district. The bulk of the technology that accesses the mainframe gains a sort of timeshare on the processing power. I can imagine Simon's wave was particularly large and taxed the mainframe so much that it "shorted out" anything else that was tapping into the mainframe, like Mr. Tam's office computer. I can only guess that a "dedicated sourebox" would be a dedicated source of processing power to the mainframe just for Simon. Perhaps even switching over to other mainframes throughout the city if the local one didn't allow enough power. Like the difference between buying a condo and buying a timeshare. This would allow Simon greater processing power and an always on connection which with Simon's skills also allow him access to other mainframes throughout the city.

ok enough geeking. (seriously get me started on talking about AR and you'll be here for hours.)

With the popularity of light computers such as netbooks, pocket computers, and cloud computing this may be where we are going towards. I can't wait to be sending waves on my netbook accessing the school WiFi on the campus courtyard.

Nerd Insecurity

Monday's xkcd comic really touched into a personal insecurity of mine; and judging from the xkcd forum discussion, I have quite a bit of company in this issue. I found it quite interesting that there were discussions on both camps on men that felt similarly paranoid about being outed as creepy, and girls assuring guys that short of unwelcome touching or hideously poor hygiene its really ok to approach women.

Riding around the metro myself I do try to be a friendly person. I genuinely don't try to hit on random strangers and infact I find it most difficult if I personally find the other person to be quite attractive. It's easier if I'm making friendly conversation with someone I feel relatively neutral about; but with someone really hot, I get paranoid and second guess my intentions. Something in my mind goes a bit like this.

"Wow she's really hot. I'd like to get to know her."
"You pig, all you want is to get in her pants."
"Well... that's not all I want, I think she's really interesting."
"Well get to know that part and ignore that part for now."
"That's not fair, that's part of the attraction too I can't just drop that under some pretension to be a gentlemen. That's lying and lying is a horrible way to start any relationship."
"Then you do just want to get in her pants after all...

Honestly, it goes on and on like that in my head with every attractive person I meet.

I wonder if nerds are the only ones paranoid about being creepy. I personally attribute it to not wanting to be either the creepy guy who obviously looks emotionally instable, or the jerk who is so aggressive they don't care about treating women like objects and even if they get rejected 19 times out of 20, there is still that one girl that goes for it anyway. This middle ground of acceptable behavior is difficult and even the borders of scale are problematic.

One, people are pretty forgiving of poor social skills. I always forget that. Most people don't have great charm themselves and are willing to accept a modicum of baggage and insecurities in others.

Two, I'm unjustly jealous of the jerk. I disapprove of the behavior, but deep down envy the attention it gets, even if it's purely out of frequency. This idea also treats women like objects in its own way, it takes the agency out of women and places them as merely victims of the ploys of jerks. People make their own choices, men or women, and more often than not they make poor ones and usually because of how they are inside and not through coercion.

But seriously, Rihanna, you are too beautiful, smart and talented to waste time on those losers. Why can't you give me the chance to show you what a true loving and supportive relationship is all about.

marketing to women

Often I write about sexism in game marketing, so I'll try not to beat a dead horse. Although this is a joke I often feel that this is actually how some people feel games should be marketed to girl/women.

Not that games like cooking mama isn't fun, I just don't think there is any reason to market is as a "Girls" game. I think it is a very good gender neutral game, that both men and women can enjoy. Then again I think and know women that genuinely enjoy playing Halo. (and not to impress boys or to humiliate them.)

Another interesting tactic for marketing things to women is the use of magic. TV troupes has an excellent article on "Clark's Law for Girls' Toys". There are several DS and Wii games out there targeted towards young girls and all of a sudden your stylus or Wii-mote is a wand, yet for boys the Wii-mote uses advance gyroscopic computing.

The point is, efforts to have unsubtle marketing for women mostly comes out as crass and often humiliating. Now not all companies do this, "Pony Friends" is a relatively respectful game. Yes the target market is for little girls that love horseys and such, but you're not feeding the horse magic jelly beans or showering it with magical rainbows. You're picking out crap caught in the hoof, which from my friends who do ride horses is a fairly important and vital part of horse care. People will play games out of interests, and well made games that are fun to play will attract more people; no amount of marketing can cover that or impress more girls or boys to play them.

Science

Right now I'm taking the required SOC 606 course on Research Methods and Design. It's one of those courses that everyone that does research goes over and the student's eyes glaze over at the thought of it. Not surprising being that the same cases are often dragged out, Nazi experiments, USPHS racial profiling, Crazy Voyeurs, and of course Yalies and Cardinals doing stupid stuff. Students tend to zone out and tell themselves "yeah yeah, whatever, I'm not a psycho, I'd never do such a thing." (Obviously they should listen better, being that the findings of the last two would prove them wrong.)

I don't think I genuinely enjoy the course, (The idea of reading the CFR or the Belmont report for the 20th time doesn't fill me with glee.) but it does give me a moment of reflection on the the whole process of the scientific method. I like questioning the idea of science. Much like religious faith, I think one's personal relationship with the work of science benefits from a bit of questioning. Its not that I don't believe in science, but I do desire to question its worth.

I've been playing Rock Band lately and have tried to not embarrass myself too much with singing the lyrics to "Still Alive". But with close examination of the song, I really think it has a very interesting message about the idea of science.

We do what we must
because we can.
For the good of all of us.
Except the ones who are dead.
But there's no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
And the Science gets done.
And you make a neat gun.
For the people who are still alive.

Really interesting lines put into the perspective of understanding the legacy of Science. In my favorite sociological book ever, Dr. Donna Haraway explains that science has a very strong messiah mythology. In this includes one of the title characters the OncoMouse, and how we continuously sacrifice it to save us from the sins of humanity.

Although I don't often think of science in this way, I would say we still need to challenge this notion of the validity of scientific research and understand that in its essence all scientific research involves this mythology in some form or another. Science is an emotional part of the curiosity of being human and hopefully for the benefit "for the people who are still alive."

Cyberpunk

My friend from Cyberpunk Review and I once had a very interesting conversation over coffee on this idea we called transnational cultural feedback. (He was a systems analyst and I'm a sociologist so I guess that's logical.) Basically it's the phenomenon of constant generational exchange of culture between various countries where not only do we have one country imitating the other, but the other country imitating the imitation. This interests me in the nature of the conduits which allow for this transfer of culture. Who are the people carrying this culture between nations, and why and what meaning does this culture mean to the carrier. In terms of Pierre Bourdieu, the imitation of culture from one nation to another implies a relationship of reverence to that original culture. Value is attributed to the lifestyle and is imitated in an effort to gain similar status. Continued transfers back and forth implies a shifting of value reverence and activity between the nations.

Obviously the example I would pick out as an excellent case study would be between Japan and the US. Some would say that much of early inspirations of cyberpunk was born out of the heady days of the cold war during the Reagen administration. Fears of nuclear war eminent and a sudden realization of impotence to the frightening rise of Japanese technology. Cyberpunk captured the "what if" scenarios of technology on the human condition and more often than not high technology meant Japan. So many of the technological horror movies (The Terminator) may at least subconsciously derive from fears of Japanese technology.

What is strange is now with the Japanese interests with western culture including science fiction, much of that is in the sub-conscience of the Japanese as well. So when we see a technology research company call themselves cyberdyne and built a powered suit named HAL, we have to pause to think of why such an homage is paid to Western literature. (Read more about HAL here.)

Gamer's Girl

This is perhaps a bit metaphysical but bear with me while I do a blog post on a blog.

There has been quite a bit of discussion on the role of gender and gamers and if playing video games has been a predominately male activity. Should there be games created to reach out to women, (Are such games appropriate or just humiliating?) Are female gamers a new phenomenon or have they always been there all along? Do girls consume games differently than men? Most of the time girl gamers are depicted fairly poorly enforcing stereotypes that girls of any value sexy and interested in what you're interested in. However, there are sources that are trying to bring some seriousness to the idea.

Gamer's Girl is a blog which describes itself as such.

The Gamer's Girl Blog is meant to share stories of humor, support, and wisdom to those who date, have fallen in love with, or are married to a gamer. Much like being a house wife or soldier's wife, being involved with a gamer has its own set of rules, rewards, and challenges.

First of all, I've flipped through a few issues of Military Spouse. There are quite a few inconsistencies of experience and assumptions on the family dynamic and for me acts more as a manual for mythical social norms, than a support magazine. Then again I'm not a a housewife with a husband in Iraq for the third time, so I am unfairly biased. For those who need to seek out a support group even intellectually it does work for those who seek it.

The blog is quite new but seems to be able to update more often than my blog so I must give credit there. Gamer's Girl is about sharing the often comical pros and cons of being in a relationship with a gamer. Most of the time this discussion is quite short and ends up with the same tired joke of men choosing the comfort of games rather than relationships.

This blog brings up important points on the personal experiences of these relationship and tries to not cast it in such black and white terms. I'm quite interested in the blog already and I intend to pay close attention to how it continues to grow.