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Dr. Jackson is his ascended illusion form

Why do enlightened beings always wear sweaters? Perhaps when someone achieves ascension to higher planes of existence they also upgrade their fashion sense. It makes sense. Sweaters are comfortable and they keep you warm. What about the V-Neck? That usually says that one is not afraid of showing his/her throat chakra. I guess a V-Neck Sweater makes more sense than a leather jacket or trench-coat. Why doesn’t Dr. Daniel Jackson just wear a robe? Maybe he isn’t quite ascended enough to sport a robe. Or maybe since so many of the villains in Stargate SG-1 wore hooded robes like Sokar and Anubis, it would make sense for a good guy to wear something different.

The "Like" button is doing a lot more than just showing opinions

The “Like” button on Facebook has become a cultural icon for our generation. It is a way that people can instantly give their approval and/or association with a thought, picture, quote or meme. It may seem like an innocent and small aspect of our online society. But in fact the Like button is having a profound effect on how people think and act on both conscious and subconscious levels. The best way to investigate this subject is through a thought experiment. Imagine yourself as someone who is regularly checking his/her Facebook profile. Let’s make the assumption that the reason(s) that you may be using Facebook is either for entertainment, boredom, money making purposes, social interaction or all of the above. Ok, so now you are on your main status and update page, and you see what other people are saying. What comments and images do you think you are going to click on or take the time to read the most? The ones that will probably catch your eye will be the ones that either have the most “comments” and/or the most “Likes” or thumbs up. The simple reasoning for this is because if someone else took the time to read or comment or approve of something, then it would be more worthy of your attention. While reading you start to ascribe a sort of value to comments or pictures that have the most “likes.”

Something happens when you decide to write on your wall. Do you usually get a lot of comments on what you have to say? Do people give you the thumbs up and press the “Like” button? Let’s say you write about how your day went. And your comment was something like this, “Work was tolerable, but my boss fired Jim and now I am fearful of my job.” And for the sake of this thought experiment, no one commented on this and no one pressed the “Like” button. Does this mean this was a bad status update, or was this useless information? No. It just means that no one showed an interest in this comment and didn’t want to add any extra attention to this issue. So let’s now say you wrote a status update that said, “I went to Starbucks and I’m so thirsty that I just drank 2! Count ’em TWO venti lattes! Now I’m goona barf.” Well, your friends read this wall update on their friend feed and most of them had a good chuckle. So a few friends wrote comments, joking around with you. And several other friends clicked the, “Like” button. What just happened here? Not only were you given more attention and feedback from your peers, but you also got one thing that you desired from Facebook in the first place: Social Interaction. So by writing a more witty and interesting wall update, you achieved one of your online goals. Thus, you have been rewarded for your form of communication.

Yet we don’t just use Facebook once a day. Most users log in and spend over 30 minutes per day if not more and check it often. I myself keep my Facebook page open while I’m writing in case someone wants to get a hold of me or if there are any notifications on my communications. So there are many chances for people to write things and either get or not get feedback. So if you think about it, over time you are being evaluated hundreds if not thousands of times on what you say and how you contribute. And the simplest form of judgment on your actions is of course, the “Like” button. After using Facebook for a few months one can begin to learn patterns in how people react to information and what will garner “Likes.” But what is really going on here? Are we putting spin on our interactions to gain more approval and affinity from our peers? I don’t think so. We are actually being reshaped behaviorally using Pavlovian methods. But the interesting part is that we are reshaping our behaviors both consciously and subconsciously. The conscious part is that we push the “Like” button on information that we have an affinity with or agree with, and thus propagate the usage of such a button. And the subconscious part is that we gradually reshape the patterns of our actions to cater to getting more “Likes” from other people. Thus we are molding our online personalities to become more attractive to the attention of other online personalities that are shaped by the very same trends and forces.

Since the online social networking groups are connected through vast webs, even the most unique and stalwart of individuals will become tempered by the temptation of online acceptance and popularity. This factor is multiplied when the user wants to gain notoriety for the purpose of promoting his/her idea or business.  Now there is a more rapid expansion and evolution of personality shaping on the internet. We are already witnessing memes getting spread faster than wildfire. It seems like even the standard media sources like the TV News and Newspapers pay tribute to often silly internet phenomenon like Double Rainbows and others. The end result is that our culture and especially our behavior is being self-regulated and almost policed for no other reason than getting attention. People used to have to write music or books in order to get 15 minutes of fame. Now someone can make a YouTube video about makeup and get tens of thousands of Facebook fans overnight.

Thus we aren’t the same people anymore since we’ve started to use Facebook. Similarly to the substance “D” in the film A Scanner Darkly: There’s no withdrawal from Facebook. You’re either “ON” it, or else you haven’t tried it yet.

So my main concern about the Like button is that we used to have our behavior primarily modified by our parents, then by the education system. Then the media became a larger factor in influencing behavior. But now people are modifying their own behavior wholesale. The real danger in this is that we are setting ourselves up more manipulation and suggestion on such a huge scale that we could have artificial and subliminal memes integrated into our collective psyche literally overnight without anyone knowing the difference. One thing that comes to mind is this new trend of people constantly, “Checking In” to stores and places they visit and transmitting that information via Facebook. This blatant disregard for security and personal privacy really worries me. What if you live alone? Couldn’t someone rob your apartment or house super easy by finding out when you check into McDonald’s on Main street? Afterwords you can check into the police station downtown saying, “I got my ass robbed!” – Jim Smooth just checked into Police Station 2013 Downtown 2 hours ago.

-Tyler

Everybody knows Caffeine is a drug. It does psychoactive stuff to your brain and the rest of your body. Click here to find out more about caffeine. But what many people don’t realize is that not only is caffeine a drug that changes how your mind and body works, but that caffeine is a scam. I have worked in about 4 coffee shops in my lifetime and I have witnessed the effects of caffeine on people first hand. And I have come to realize something. The addictive nature isn’t the main part of the scam with caffeine, the true scam is how the drug tricks the user into thinking he or she is gaining energy. Now you may be thinking, “What are you talking about? I drink coffee every day. It totally gives me energy.” Well sir, in fact it’s not. It’s just tricking your delicate brain into thinking you have energy. What’s the difference? The difference is that your body is still enduring fatigue when you are tired, and when you drink coffee it masks that fatigue. But when the effects of the caffeine wears off, your body is still tired, if not more so. And the first reaction to this feeling of tiredness usually is, “I need some coffee to wake up!”

Now here’s where the scam comes in. Caffeine is a totally socially acceptable stimulant. So while cigarettes are generally accepted in the USA as something that kills you. Caffeine is considered a normal part of everyday life. I for the most part drink coffee or espresso or tea as part of an almost daily ritual. When I don’t do it I feel a little off. A little cloudy. And it can be a single sip of a latte that changes my entire mood. I am totally scammed by this stuff. But here’s the main part of the scam. People have become socially programmed to thinking that feeling awake, alert, and ready to work is the preferred way to feel. Why do we want to feel awake? Because that’s how you get work done, especially work that you don’t actually want to do. And double especially tedious work that requires concentration. And triple especially work that you hate.

Do you remember what you used to drink while writing school papers? I bet it was caffeinated. What about when you want to get sexual with your partner? Do you want to drink a cup of coffee? Not usually. I bet you would want to either drink alcohol or else not drink anything at all.

So for there to be a successful scam, there needs to be a con-man and a mark. The mark is usually the dude who gets scammed. And the con-man is the guy who get’s what he wants by defrauding the mark. And there are sometimes shills who stick around for the ride and help the scam go along by agreeing with the con-man or by pretending to get scammed themselves.   You are going to hate this part. The ultimate part of The Caffeine Scam is that the average person is a little bit greedy. Now I’m not talking about financial greed here, the greed I’m talking about is greed about time. People want more of it. And caffeine is a substance that can make you feel like you have more alert time, more awake time. So what do coffee shops do? They stay open pretty late. People get work done at coffee shops because caffeine is associated with productivity. COME ON, productivity? We’re talking about a substance that is created by plants in order to kill bugs! Caffeine is a natural pesticide. We are drinking plant poison in order to get buzzed. We are defrauding ourselves out of much needed rest.

Think about what would happen if the caffeine was not in our food and drinks for a week or so. People would go nuts! Imagine office workers and worst of all, COPS WITHOUT CAFFEINE. No thank you. This is basically a Scam to keep people working and buzzed all day so they do tedious things for years. The funny part is, even though I know this is a total scam, I drink coffee or espresso every day. It is kind of like being mugged by the same guy everyday. You know he is going to mug you when you reach 4th street and Vine. But it gives you a little rush in the morning so you go the same way anyway. This who caffeine process is masochistic at best.

One time I was working at a coffee shop and some dude walked into the store and ordered a large cup of 13 shots of espresso. I was a little confused. “Did you know that you can basically explode from the inside out if you do this too often?” I thought to myself. I asked my co-worker how I was supposed to ring up 13 shots on the register and he told me that the customer usually only got charged for 3 or 4 shots. I was like, “Are you kidding me? This man obviously has a problem.” Then I saw his teeth. My teeth have gotten yellowed by my coffee intake. But this gentleman’s teeth were cracked and falling apart and were literally yellow-grey and stained with coffee. His skin was blotchy and all messed up. He looked like he was decrepifying right before my very eyes. I felt sorry for him and I didn’t even want to sell to him because I felt like I was helping to feed his problem. But I remember I sold him the drink anyway because I needed the job for the money and I didn’t want to get fired. That made me an accomplice.

Why do some people tip at a coffee shop like they are at a bar? It’s not because they are nice. It’s because they’re addicted.

Ever wonder why coffee is free for employees in many cases? It’s because it gets you buzzed and you work a little harder.

Sad Truth

The funny part is, most of the employees that I meet who work at coffee shops are extremely nice and fun people. That makes going to coffee shops and spending money a lot of fun. It’s the people that seal the deal on the whole experience. It’s one thing to get buzzed by a beverage, but it is another thing to talk with friendly people at the same time. I don’t know if you ever played the game, “The Sims” but in that game if you drank coffee your energy levels would increase at the expense of your bladder statistics. If you drank too much espresso you were at risk of peeing in your pants which I found disturbing whenever that happened to my character. But if you can increase your energy levels and also increase your social levels at the same time then the whole ritual of getting coffee is good for someone who is trying to be productive and advance through life. Well, real life isn’t that different. One reason why I go to coffee shops and have such a great time talking with the employees and baristas is because social aptitude and swagger is something that needs to be practiced. If you don’t talk to people for extended periods of time you get a little rusty with your social skills. That’s why hermits are often such uncomfortable people.

Here’s something funny. Some people actually get migraines when they don’t get their caffeine. What’s the third ingredient in many migraine medicines? You guessed it! Caffeine. We have entire populations hooked on an relatively unregulated substance that has withdrawal symptoms. Why get a population hooked to something like opium and have them chill in lounges and dens all day when you can get an entire working planet addicted to caffeine and keep them productive at the same time.

Caffeine is in most sodas. What is the point of putting that in soda? It doesn’t make it taste better. I think the point is like this…If you are going to drink a can full of liquefied sugar, why not make it fizz, and while we’re at it, why not make it addictive too. Fizzy addictive sugar.

I was going to write a paragraph on how caffeine is a giant conspiracy but I think I’ll need some coffee for that.

-Tyler

On July 12th, 2010 the Senate will once again vote on the Unemployment Benefits Extension issue. This is a very important issue because there are currently over 1 million people that will be effected by the decision of the senate. This bill has been voted down more than once over the past couple months. Republicans have been voting against it because they feel that the bill will add to the nation debt. And it probably will, between 37 – 45 billion dollars worth. But the Democrats are saying that the loss of the Unemployment Benefits will be bad for the economy and that people are suffering. So there is going to be another vote on the issue July 12th. What is interesting about the issue is that Republicans and Democrats are debating whether or not to extend unemployment benefits, but the reality is that this bill will not actually solve the real problem even if it is passed. The real problem is that there aren’t as many jobs out there in many sectors of the workforce and that the jobs that are left are being fought over with great competition.

But if the bill is not passed I think that the government will be sending us a pretty clear message that they want to see rapid transformation of the economy.  The reason why I say this is because having people stay on unemployment isn’t going to fix the problem. It will just delay the inevitable. But it is pretty clear right now that people generally want this bill passed, people who need unemployment and those who have jobs alike. What really needs to happen is that there needs to be a surge of growth in the American economy. But that isn’t very likely to happen. What I foresee happening is that the bill will probably pass in order to appease the United States populace and the inherent problems of the system will continue. These problems include how automation is making the workplace more efficient but there is not replacement of jobs in other sectors with equal or higher wages. The growing national debt is going to make people loose faith in the economic system so all sectors of speculative financial investment will be dubious at best. So people who have money will be less likely to spend it and there will be less multiplication of wealth using Fractional Reserve Banking.

So I’m predicting that the bill will pass on July 12th and that our economy will still continue to decay. Eventually the prices of goods and services in the USA will become so cheap due to competition and the drop in the cost of labor, that businesses will eventually start to flourish again in 20 or so years. But in the meantime people will still have money to pay for food and housing with their unemployment.

But I’m not completely sure the bill will pass, I could be wrong. If it doesn’t pass we will probably see a double dip in the recession and the decay I mentioned earlier will happen sooner but it probably won’t take as long for the economy to flourish again.

There is another thing that could happen if the bill is not passed. If people loose their benefits and there is an impending double dip to the recession, there could be a large Metal War. I tried looking up “Metal War” on wikipedia and I couldn’t find anything. But I’m sure I didn’t make this word up. Just in case I did, here’s my definition: A Metal War is a large war fought using tanks, ships, small arms, and heavy weapons. This kind of war boosts the economy of the participants because it requires maximum employment in order to sustain the construction of weapons and armor. These tanks and planes and the like need to be constantly replaced and so consumption continues on a massive scale. A Metal War varies greatly from a nuclear war because it doesn’t use nukes or other huge devastating weapons, to do so would shorten the duration of the war. Also a Metal War utilizes less, “surgical strikes” and focuses more on large groups of troops fighting in open areas.

If the unemployment bill isn’t passed the USA will watch as its citizens become more desperate for work and growth. And our opinions will become more malleable when we are hungry and disenfranchised. If this bill isn’t passed don’t be surprised if we start seeing more propaganda in the media demonizing other countries. A metal war will probably be on the horizon either for the USA directly, or for other nations by proxy.

Here are some interesting links that talk about the unemployment issue:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/32621/20100705/unemployment.htm

http://all247news.com/unemployment-extension-will-people-remember-come-november/1426/