It Matters: Einstein's Dreams

I just need to get something off my chest; these blogs suck. I see absolutely no point in them. Okay, sure we get busy work that makes us relate things and explain a bunch of other things that don't really matter to us. I cannot speak for everyone, but I, for one, get nothing out of blogging these blogs. Like I said, we connect things. Big whoop. I'm pretty sure everyone in the class can do that without wasting their time on a blog that they will never use again, or even look at again. If you think that we're practicing some essential skill, that's fine. I just don't see it; it's pointless. It doesn't matter (it's a little joke, see title).

Anywho.

I also don't see why the novel, Einstein's Dreams, matters. I've only read the first assignment thus far, so maybe it'll make more sense later on. The reason I've only done the first assignment is that I'm lazy. I would've read it before writing this thing, but seeing as how this is due in a couple hours, I'll do this now and read the book later.
It's not like I don't understand the concepts of Einstein's Dreams (or maybe I don't, we haven't talked about it yet), but I'd like to see the scientific back-up to these dreams before I accept his theories about time.
Like, where the hell does he get the idea that I will be writing this blog all the time? Basically, in the novel, it says that one event will continue to happen. So when two people have their first kiss and the cherish the shit out of it, he's surprised because the two don't know that the event will happen again and again.
This must be happening in other worlds, I assume. But where does he get the idea that other worlds exist? And that carry-it-forward thing doesn't make sense either. This theory basically says that there are three possibilities whenever we're confronted with a decision, just like there are three dimensions. In the book, it says that a man is deciding whether to go see a woman. Option one is that he goes to see her, falls in love and has super awesome passionate sex. Option two is that he goes and is disappointed. Option three is that he doesn't go at all. These are all happening, but in separate worlds. Every decision has three possibilities, so there are an infinite number of worlds.
But what defines a decision? Is it only when there's a major decision like to pull the plug or not? Or what if I have an itch and I decide to scratch it or not? Is that a decision?
If every little decision has three possibilities has three possibilities, and is always happening, doesn't that mean there are an infinite number of worlds? If there are an infinite number of worlds, then how come I haven't met another me yet? There's a possibility in another world, that I'm a super mad scientist prodigy at the age of 18, and that I've found a way to go to other worlds/demensions. If there are an infinite number of worlds, then this is happening as we... speak? type? and one of me would make it their goal to meet every single one of me to tell them about the existence of other worlds/demensions.
I haven't met another me yet.
If I could see something to back his theories up, I'd be more obliged to accept them. But until I see me number 2, or I see something scientific, I won't buy this. Until then, I won't see how this matters. It doesn't matter to me.
Okay, I figure you won't give me the full points unless I agree with you on something and tell you that it matters. Here you go.
We're learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and we watched the protests in Egypt. They connect because they're trying to free themselves from an oppressive system. MLK was fighting to end segregation and gain equality, Egytians are fighting to throw their president out of office. Cool. That matters.
Oh, by the way... you said that you thought Yemen is going to be the next Middle Eastern country to protest its government. I'd like to know why you think that. I don't know much about Yemen, but I do know that Yemen has the highest population of Al-Qaeda members. I'm think they'd have something to say about that. I don't know whether they'd be for or against it, or stay out of it completely, but you didn't go on to give any evidence as to why you think Yemen would be the next country to protest its government. That matters.

Metacognition: First Semester of Senior Humanities

Apparently I'm supposed to write about what I learned/thought about in my first semseter of Humanities. But to be honest, I don't think I learned much. Maybe it was because I didn't pay as close of attention as I could have, maybe it was because I didn't do all the assignments, or maybe because there just wasn't anything that I found to be particularly interesting or worthy of learning.

What I expected from Humanities was an easy-going class where we explored various forms of art such as writing, video and such, which we did. But there was too much work for me to really get anything out of it. There was always a blog, a mindbook entry, a forty page reading section, or some other assignment due that I think really took away from what we were supposed to be learning. I am no teacher, so I don't have a valid opinion on the work-load or anything, but I think it could have been lightened.

Some areas could have taken less time, while some others definitely could have used more. Now, I'm going to Oakton, so there's no need for me to write a college essay, but I noticed that several students were displeased by the lack of time that was spent on college essays. Sure the students could go in for extra help, but some students have conflicting schedules with teachers and the only time they have to learn about the college essay is in class. I think we spent maybe two days on the college essay. 100 minutes.

I guess what I learned from Humanities wasn't so much to do with my education, but I learned more about the students in my class and the way they think. It is kind of a divergent thinking class, and some students just weren't able to do certain assignments/tasks without being led by the nose to get where they needed to be. This is part of why I don't think there was enough time spent on the college essay. Many of the students who had trouble were the same students who were linear thinkers and needed a seeing eye dog to do their assignments. I can't blame them fully, because it is not completely their fault. That's just how they've learned to learn.

I know I'm sounding like I think I'm superior than others, but I know I'm not. There are kids going to nice, expensive colleges. I am going to Oakton. Not to say that Oakton is a bad school, but I am going there because my grades are so poor that I have no other option. Just so you all know, I'm not dumb... I just don't do my shit.

All in all, I didn't learn anything profitable from Humanities. Sorry Mr. Allen.

- Seacrest Out

Metacognition: QE Essay

I pretty much wrote my QE essay in a couple of days. I didn't do the first section of it, and I half-assed the second section in one day. I definitely had the time to do it, but procrastination always gets the best of me. My thought process through the whole process was, "I'll do it tomorrow, naww I'll do it tomorrow, oh shit...". Again, as I've said in previous blogs, I wish I could concentrate on one thing for an extended period of time and avoid procrastination. Of course, this isn't going to happen any time soon.

Blogging Around

I commented on one of Rayn's posts about the Susan Sontag essay. It basically said that American's were ignorant and that Susan Sontag is the man.

My response:

Hey bud. Since you commented on one of my little ditties, I thought I'd return the favor with a comment or two of my own.
Comment the first: I understand and agree that the media skews a story in order to get the people believe what they want them to believe.
Comment the second: It isn't purely an American thing, though. This happens all around the world, in all countries. The way I see it, most news stations, newspapers, magazines, etc. are not there to give people the facts. They are a business, out there just to make money. It doesn't matter what they say, so long as they get a good buck out of it. Example: the Mosque on Ground Zero. It is neither a Mosque, nor is it on Ground Zero. But that's what the media says so that we can get a kick out of it and get all pissy.
Comment the third: There are three sides to a story: your side, my side, and what really happened.

- Seacrest Out

I also commented on Liz(zie's?) post about the big transitive property that you've introduced us to with the whole "being inside someone's mind who was in someone else's mind" and whatnot.

I said:

I thought I'd return the favor.

1. A while ago I was thinking about the question, "Do we ever cease to exist?". I will explain why this is relevant; hold your horses. My answer was no, the reason being that in one way or another, we've all impacted someone's life in some way. This influences who they are, even in the seemingly most insignificant ways at times. If we are able to shape people's thinking, beliefs, etc. then there's no way we can cease to exist. Basically, it's the transitive property. Being inside someone's mind who was in another person's mind who was in another person's mind, is the same thing that I was pondering a while back. And yes, what you said made sense.

Comment the second: Thank you for commenting on my blog. I actually really appreciate it.

- Seacrest Out

                                                                                                                                                    - Seacrest Out

- Quote of the day: "Interpret the law as aging with its eyesight failing"

Metacognition: Junior Final Exam Essay

I'm not really sure that I have a coherent thought process to explain to you, but I shall try nevertheless. One thing you have to understand about my mind is that I don't understand it. It just plays leapfrog with all the topics swirling around in there. The frequency of the leaping depends on how invested I am in a certain topic at a certain time, and most of the time I'm not very invested in anything (except for the ladies, that is something which I work full time), thus the number of frogs in which my mind leaps are not few or far between.

by the way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnp-23dyKR0

I've noticed that my posts have been rather serious or bitchy lately, so I'll try to make this one a little more fun (hence the link). I'm actually sorry about the amount of bitching I've been doing lately; I've been on my period.

Anywho, I should continue on about my thought process. Yes. Well. Okay. Hmm. Got it. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooo, with all things I tend to procrastinate. This was no different for my final exam essay for English, my junior year. It was the typical bull shit where you have to relate three of the books you'd read that year in English and tie them together to one central theme.

You know what? I'm tired and don't feel like blogging anymore. You've seen how my mind works. This should suffice for this assignment. I guess the only thing I'd like my mind to do is to be able to focus on something for an extended period of time, regardless of my emotional attatchment to it.

By the way I've seen four skunks this weekend. I ran away from all of them.

                                                                                                              - Seacrest Out

Quote of the day: "It's true that tactless teem totem-poles turn tolerence to tired tabboo"

Best of Week: Creativity

Writing this little ditty once or twice a week is cool with me, but it's not cool when the topics suck. If anyone is reading this (which I doubt), let me explain. I'm not blogging for the joy of it, or to relieve myself of some stress which can only be conquered by therapeutic writing. I probably (no, definitely) wouldn't be doing this unless I had to. As part of my Humanities grade, I'm required, by law, to post a blog somewhere between once and twice a week about some predetermined topic. I don't get a whole lot of choice on what I get to write about. Today, I get to write about what the best/most interesting idea was in class this week. The thing is, I don't want to write about this. It's not that I don't want to write altogether, though; I'd just rather write about more important things on my mind. Dear God, this post is brooding and full of angst! Enough of this; on to the main course.

Okay, so this week we learned a lot about creativity. I find this a bit ironic, because I've always felt that creativity wasn't a learned skill, I thought people just had it. Let me rephrase that. It's not so much that we've been learning about creativity, so much as how to be creative. I'm pretty sure learning how to be creative defeats the purpose of being creative entirely... If everyone "learns" to be creative, then who will actually be creative? Will we all be? Or will the original creative people have to step up their game and try to out-create the rest of these learned creators?

I apologize dearly for the length of this entry, but I didn't find anything to be the best of the week. I just found a little something that I could potentially bitch about.

                                                                                                                   - Seacrest Out

As promised, your quote of the week!

"I see that twice a day, every five minutes"

Wrap your brain around that one.

Connection

Gather ‘round children!      

With the passing of the nine-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, I guess it would be an appropriate time to reflect. No?

            In Humanities class, this is what we’ve been doing for the past week or so, and it’s raised some questions. Before I ask away, though, I feel it necessary to tell you what led me to these questions; without this information I’d leave you all wondering what the hell I’m talking about, and in the process fail you as your lord and blogger.

            In class, we were given a packet full of articles written one week after the horrific events of that day, nine years ago. All of them attempted to explain what happened from each of their respective perspectives (is this redundant?), most of which had a tone of grieving disbelief of the mass murder committed. There was one article, though, written by Susan Sontag, which had a tone of disbelief not that of the mass murder but the idiocy and ignorance of Americans.

            Nine years ago, we believed these attacks were completely unwarranted, that these attacks were random deeds of the evil Islam. A week later, Sontag proposes that this is untrue, and that we provoked these attacks with the bombings of Iraq and our abuse of power in the Middle East. How dare she criticize our government? How dare she criticize us? We could not have possibly provoked this, and we most certainly are not stupid. America is the land of opportunity and freedom. This has to be the most unpatriotic individual America has seen since Benedict Arnold.

            I’d like to put a little spin on this, if I may. Yes, Susan Sontag was labeled unpatriotic. Was this true? Absolutely not (well, this is just my opinion; feel free to feel however you feel). What the pilgrims came to America for was freedom of religion; and what the First Amendment was made for was freedom of speech, to be able to criticize the government. We pride ourselves on those freedoms today, still. What Sontag did was not unpatriotic at all; in fact, it was the most patriotic thing someone can do. She called us out on our ignorance, and what did we do? We called her out on her patriotism and we denounced it. What she did was both incredible and brave; she was able to assess the situation within a week of the terrorist attacks and let the world know how she viewed it. She let us know that the terrorists weren’t cowards, that we weren’t so innocent, and from what I’ve been able to conclude is that the word “terrorist” is not the right word. If anything, they should have been hailed as heroes. I mean, we consider the Founding Father’s heroes, when technically they were terrorists as well. It seems to be that we only use words that are convenient to us, and not the words that truly describe what is really happening (one day I will hopefully have a rant about words, but for now I must stay on topic and continue with this blog). Long story short – Susan Sontag was the most patriotic person at the time.

            Nine years later, a pastor named Terry Jones decides it’s a great time to be intolerant. September 11, 2010, Burn a Quran Day. I hope you know about this, because I’m not going to talk about what happened specifically. Basically, he didn’t go through with it, but I was more interested in people’s reactions. Right away, it made me think of Susan Sontag, the way he was basically demonized by Americans and Muslims alike. I got to thinking then, are we jumping to conclusions like we did nine years ago? Is he actually being patriotic? He was using his right to free speech, and freedom of expression. The thing is though, that there’s a point when freedom of speech and expression goes too far. That point is when it violates other people’s rights. I mentioned that the pilgrims came to America to fight religious oppression in England, earlier in the essay and this is where it comes in. What Jones was doing, was attempting to abolish Islam by saying it was “the work of the devil”. He was denying Muslims of their right to practice their religion; this is unconstitutional and unethical if you didn’t pick up on that. If you’d like to talk about this with me, feel free.

             I connected these two people because they were both heavily scrutinized about something that stemmed from the same thing. Unfortunately, Jones was being extremely unpatriotic and intolerant, while Sontag was the opposite.

            I’m tired, and I’ve been tired for some time now. I apologize if the second half of this blog wasn’t up to par, but I got sidetracked for about an hour and lost my train of thought. This is when I became tired and getting the infamous “writers block”. Again, sorry.

            Well, I shall leave you with this: Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

-          Seacrest Out

P.S. – Starting with my next blog, I will start posting quotes of the week. I will choose these quotes from wherever I find something interesting. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them.