You're Doing It Wrong.

A Philadelphia high schooler says she was humiliated after her teacher told her to remove a Mitt Romney T-shirt she was wearing, comparing it to “wearing a KKK shirt.”

Seriously? Freedom of speech works both ways. And articles like this really don't help the cause.

And regardless of the many, many things things which Romney/Ryan are wrong about, they are not the equivalent to the KKK. I mean, are you bloody kidding me?

Article reported by Dan Stamm and Claudia Rivero, published by NBC Philadelphia.

The Importance of Monsters

"5 Reasons Humanity Desperately Wants Monsters To Be Real"

Definitely not an uplifting article, but an important one, especially given how true it is. We need other people to be monsters, to de-humanize them - so we have a reason to be the worst kind of human we all crave.

Read the article, David Wong (editor of Cracked) makes a very good argument.

Article written by David Wong, and published by Cracked.com

He Doesn't Even Need to Try

It's pretty clear that this video sunk Romney's campaign, which was failing in the water already. Sure, seeing that Obama is going to win makes me feel great, and optimistic about America's future ... but something about this ad, and the contest it symbolizes, bothers me.

Aside of the relentless attacks, false claims, ridiculous sound bites, and the fact that we've had a presidential campaign that lasted almost two years, I mean. 

Mainly, Obama didn't even need to try. There was no national debate about the truly major issues facing our country, no subtlety, no serious discussion of what direction the States is going in, whether in terms of domestic goals, or foreign policy, not to mention the massive culture war that is going on. People chose out of fear of the other side, and never really listened to what either candidate had to say. It really doesn't bode well when there isn't an effective opposition in government, either - which is precisely what the Republicans have become. An ineffectual opposition, concerned with ... well, I'm not really sure. In fact, I'm not sure what either the Democrats or the Republicans stand for, except to say "we're not them!"

I'm not going to wax nostalgic for "the good ol' days", because of course politics is always a dirty business. But a one-party state isn't a good idea, either - complacency is the death of any state, and I definitely don't want that.

My Brain Hates ... Me? Or Was It Another Guy?

A Cracked article following in the fine tradition of Cracked.com in pointing out precisely how our body and mind screws with us; specifically, through the formation of bad habits.

Sitting here at 3am, it's clear that #5 is especially dangerous for graduate students - "Your Brain Thinks Your Future Self Is a Different Person"

If this is the case, then not only does my present self not want my future self to have a good night sleep (so you know, I'm writing this at 3am), it apparently also hates my future self.

What a coincidence! As it so happens, my future self (soon to be my contemporary self) hates my past self, too. Everybody wins!

This really reminds me of the Calvin & Hobbes comic, where Calvin attempts, through time travel, to convince his future self that he should do his homework - but the future Calvin convinces him that his past self is the one to blame. Of course, they all end up fighting (and thus hurting each other), and 3 versions of Hobbes get the last laugh.


"5 Ways Your Brain Tricks You Into Sticking With Bad Habits" was written by Dennis Hoag and published by Cracked.com

Comic image is from Calvin & Hobbes, copyright Bill Watterson, and presented courtesy of the Calvin & Hobbes Wiki

A Glass House I Wouldn't Throw Stones At

A 8,000 sq. foot glass house

One of my hobbies is architecture - not just in a historical sense, but also in the form of daily appreciation. I really enjoy looking at unique homes and buildings, no matter the period or style of architecture - Robarts Library, of course, being a notable exception. The only thing I'd use that building for is to defend against the zombie apocalypse. But this house looks awesome - entirely glass, but in a very clever way. The architect, Tom Phifer, got around the problem of privacy with a glass house by constructing a platform-like subterranean structure built as the base of a hill, with massive floor to ceiling windows on every side, with a beautiful, entirely glass pavilion on top which gives 360 degree views.

This is the house when looked at from street level

 And here's the platform on top, with skylights that blend in with the grass.


Article written by Colleen Kane of CNBC, courtesy of Yahoo! News

Oh, Tourists. Yes, That Includes You.

Oh, tourists. Was walking around the Old Town today, and I came across a couple of large groups of British tourists. I'm rather happy that, due to the huge proliferation of British tourists in Europe during the last decade (thanks, RyanAir!), most people here and elsewhere have forgotten that Americans used to hold a monopoly on the "loud, obnoxious drunkards" crown. Makes going around Europe a bit easier for me. Of course, we're still the Imperialist Pigs With No Culture, but being from NYC somewhat cancels that out - except in Toronto, naturally. Envy and jealousy makes 'em meaner.

I saw the first group while at the Subway on ul. Bracka. They were talking really loudly about how difficult it was to be tourists in Krakow, and Scottish tourists in particular - here are some gems:

"The girls never paid attention to us!" Gee, I wonder why?

"That fuckin' Polish guy, he didn't know the difference between Scottish and British" You know, I could actually see that as a compliment. Though I imagine Manchester would punch me for saying that.

"And that French guy, he just dropped off the hash [we paid for] and didn't want to smoke with us, how fuckin' rude of him! Only because we're from Scotland" I had (and still have) no response to that, except to laugh hysterically. Thankfully, they didn't notice the tears running from my eyes while I tried to hold it in.

All the while two guys in their group are taking pictures constantly, especially of the ice machine, which had the trademark 'Scotsman'. Seriously, they took 5 pictures of it.

This was quite amusing to listen to, but seeing these packs of British men reminded me of conversations I had with Malgosia K. and others on the subject of tourist behavior. Specifically, why travel and eat and the same damn place you could eat at while at home?! It used to be McDonalds (and it still is), now it's Subway. I never understood that - if you're going to take the time and money to travel somewhere, why not eat the local food? Or at least try eating something that you can't get as often at home? Or just try something different? It's not like you're living there - if you live in a place, I completely understand eating at places which remind you of home. But after just a weekend away? No sense whatsoever, talk about a waste.

The other group I came across was at ul. Gołębia 3; as opposed to the first group, which was probably Scottish teenagers, this group was almost exclusively English professionals, and they were complaining that Poland didn't have more beers like their favorite bitters from back home. Another major point of contention for me - why go to another country if you're going to expect the same stuff that you got at home?! As Henio was saying yesterday, it's like going abroad and complaining that the toilet paper doesn't have as many different colors as your home version. That man explains these things far better than I ever will.

The Difficulties of Making Friends

Why Is it Hard to Make Friends Over 30

While a lot of this article was clearly not meant for me, nevertheless I found it illuminating, as well as enjoyable. Much of the article revolve around marriage and children - two aspects of life which don't apply to me, naturally, but given that many of my friends are either married or in relationships akin to marriage, it did help to explain some of their behavior. Specifically, the concept of having to find friends "as couples" - probably showing off some of my own ignorance, but that part made no sense to me. Why can't you find (or make) friends on your own? That said, given how often I move around, the article appealed to me personally in many ways, though I did have a number of criticisms.

What the article said about careers being all-consuming was fascinating to me, especially since I have met so many people over the years who fall into that category; I certainly don't. I suppose because of my own approach to my career, I have found it difficult to relate to people who cannot make friends due to their own careers. Ditto on people who have "set" social groups - why eschew making new friends just because you seem like you have enough? In any case, it was good to see a different perspective, and to try to understand that aspect a bit more.

The part that really appealed to me was simply the challenge of making new friends when everyone around you already seems like they're set for friends. This was the experience I had in Toronto when I first moved there, and to say that I didn't like it would be an understatement. It was a similar experience for me in college also; it was difficult to make new friends (outside of the Polish Club) after the first year because everyone had their friends already made. My first year in college was a catastrophe in many ways, and I was keen to move on from it. Since I was walking around with not nearly as many friends, however, I stood out, or at least felt that I did. I also haven't held on to most of the friends I made in college; sure, I'm in contact with many of them, but they were definitely what the article called "situational friendships". Going away for a year from Toronto also revealed some of my close friends as instead being somewhat situational, but after Rochester I expected that.

This brings me to a major criticism I had of the article; it does not dwell nearly enough on how people make it hard for themselves to make new friends. In my experience, making friendships is a conscious choice, and what the article does is create excuse after excuse. Only once does it address the issue of people changing as they get older, and becoming less patient with people who are very different. For me, that is the key barrier to friendship - people are often lazy when it comes to making friends, or simply unwilling. That is the key problem in Toronto, and NYC also - people become so set in their ways that they are unwilling to change. Their lifestyles, whether unconsciously or by design, become so crowded that they cannot fit anyone new in. That sort of static lifestyle is dangerous, in my opinion - we need to be able to change. You never know when the life you've carefully crafted for yourself will come crashing down. The article addresses that, but only through divorce, and even then doesn't offer many alternatives.

My friends and friendships are really important to me, and from the article, it sounds like marriage makes it truly difficult to make new friends. I wonder if all marriages are so hostile to making new friends as the ones described in the article - if so, count me out! To be fair, I don't think marriage as a concept is to blame for this - I think how people approach their marriage and how it should impact their social life is the culprit. For me, a successful marriage is between two people with (close to) independent social spheres, in addition to the one they share together.

The article is courtesy of Rabbi Tyson's facebook feed. It was originally written by Alex Williams and published in the New York Times.

Ctrl + V

Today I applied for a couple of vacant TA positions at the history department, so I had to update the CV ... I just hope I (and my colleagues) aren't as bad as Slackenerny! The comic has made a number of jokes about just how much Ph.D. students copy and paste over the years, and most of them are uncomfortably accurate. Being a PhD means that half the time you're recycling old material; most of this recycling is expected, like re-using old lectures or using old papers as the basis for lectures, study guides, and so on; sometimes, though, the recycling heads into areas we don't want to talk about.

Comic is courtesy of Jorge Cham of PHD Comics. 

Obama the Socialist? Not Even Close

Milos Forman, director of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus”, responds.

"Now, years later, I hear the word “socialist” being tossed around by the likes of Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and others. President Obama, they warn, is a socialist. The critics cry, “Obamacare is socialism!” They falsely equate Western European-style socialism, and its government provision of social insurance and health care, with Marxist-Leninist totalitarianism. It offends me, and cheapens the experience of millions who lived, and continue to live, under brutal forms of socialism"

An excellent rebuttal to the rhetoric used by Obama's detractors. Their tactics are cheap, and merely serves to reinforce the weakness of their own arguments; this is unfortunate, mostly because there are good arguments to use against Obama, but by using this rhetoric they diminish their own chances of success.

Forman goes further to say:

"What we need is not to strive for a perfect social justice — which never existed and never will — but for social harmony. Harmony in music is, by its nature, exhilarating and soothing. In an orchestra, the different players and instruments perform together, in support of an overall melody. 

Today, our democracy, a miraculous gathering of diverse players, desperately needs such unity. If all participants play fair and strive for the common good, we can achieve a harmony that eluded the doctrinaire socialist projects. But if just one section, or even one player, is out of tune, the music will disintegrate into cacophony." 

Well said. 

This opinion piece was written by Milos Forman,and published in the New York Times.

On Being Offended

Jim Norton On Offending People, Apologizing To Steve Martin & Why He Likes Westboro Baptist Church 

I hate the culture of being offended that is developing in the States, and exists full-blown in Canada. It's stifling our discussions and our creativity. Which is why I love quotes like this:

"Here’s what being offended is, it’s a phony sense of empowerment. People have lost this ability to go, “Wow, I didn’t like that, that bothered me. I won’t watch that again.” People have lost the ability to just not like something and walk away. People now feel that if they object to something, nobody else should enjoy it either. It’s because we’ve seen enough people say they’re sorry, we’ve seen enough people fired where people now feel that, “if I’m offended, I voice my offense, people have to listen to me.”

It’s a really weird self-centered attention-seeking device people use. So I never buy the offense. … I think 90% of it is a lie. People say, “I don’t like stereotypes.” Bullshit. You don’t like negative stereotypes. People don’t mind positive stereotypes. People don’t mind positive assumptions. It’s only negative assumptions about them. So their outrage is so arbitrary. And I’m embarrassed for us as a free society that we actually want people punished for saying things we don’t like. The liberals are bad and the conservatives are bad. The liberals say things like “Well, that’s homophobic, that’s racist.” And the conservatives say things like, “You’re attacking our religion. You’re attacking family values.” Both sides are equally fraudulent when it comes to supporting unpopular speech. It’s easy to support popular speech. We’re supposed to stick up for things that do bother people. The rest of us are supposed to rally around and defend people’s rights to say what they want to say. That’s why I like the Westboro Baptist Church. I think they’re repulsive people. I think their message is repulsive. But I think they are good for society because it shows exactly what we will tolerate in a free-thinking society. Even pigs like that, and they are pigs."

Walking Away is a concept which is rapidly disappearing,  as is supporting free speech in all its forms, even when you don't like it; especially when you don't like it. Hence why Canada and the UK don't have free speech, and the US is losing it, if it hasn't lost it already.

Article courtesy of Fark.com; Interview was between Jim Norton and Carol Hartsell, and published by the Huffington Post.

Toronto Deputy Mayor channels Cat Stevens ...

“Downtown not the place to raise kids, says Toronto Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday”

Believe it or not, Holyday actually says " ... but where do the children play?" at one point. I love that song, but it's a seriously dumb idea. Of course kids can grow up downtown, they should grow up downtown. Are they going to learn about life living in the suburbs? I think not. Raising a kid at King & John is kind of like raising a kid on Herald Square; I wouldn't do it, but I can see the kid having a grand 'ol time.

Living downtown is a challenging, exciting place for a kid to grow up, and I see them learning a lot from the experience - if the parents are up to the task, naturally. You have to be much more engaged with your child if you choose to raise them in an urban environment. Not all parents like being that engaged, though. Sucks for their kids, really. 

I'm thinking, though, about exactly why people would be so convinced that you can't raise kids in an urban setting - and here's the funny thing. To raise a kid in the city, you have to trust yourself, trust your kid (when they get to that point), and trust the people you live around. People don't like doing that - they don't want to watch their kids, they don't want to trust their kids, and they definitely don't want to trust the people around them.


Article courtesy of Randy McDonald over at A Bit More Detail; original written by Daniel Dale and published in the Toronto Star.

And Finally, a Man Stood Up

Heiny blasted as the Olympic Beer

I am so happy about this, you cannot imagine. Finally, someone stands up to Heineken because of the horrible beer it is. The article emphasizes the British-European divide, and his desire for a truly 'British Olympic Games', but we know it's because Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland simply cannot stand bad beer.

Article courtesy of Fark.com; written by Neil Gerrard and published by Caterer and Hotelkeeper.

Greetings and Salutations!

Welcome to my blog, glad you could make it. I'll be posting whatever random links I come across during my daily procrastination from writing and research, as well as the ideas that rush into my brain while reading them. Definitely not promising that you'll get any earth-shattering revelations or great ideas from this blog, but if at the very least you're entertained, or better yet, provoked to think about the topic a bit more, then I'm happy.

Not gonna lie - I kvetch. A lot. A seemingly endless series of kvetching, in fact. Many people I know see it as my defining character trait, which I'm pretty sure isn't meant as a compliment. But here's the rub - in my own estimation I'm actually a pretty happy person, and I really enjoy my life. My attitude behind my kvetching is this: if this is what I'm complaining about, then I have it pretty damn good.

That's where the blog title comes from, by the way - back in college, when I really was an unhappy person (and worse, I kinda knew it), I would refer to myself as "A Brooklynite in Exile", which I liked then (as now) as a moniker. But things have changed quite a bit since I was a mopey freshman, so if I were to write a response to my 18 year old self, it would be this: "If I am in fact a Brooklynite in exile, then I gotta say ... its been a damn fine exile."

Enjoy!