tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80716357194809112922024-03-12T20:09:06.150-07:00Each to His OwnUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-87123867832433559522012-08-07T15:58:00.001-07:002012-08-07T15:58:22.113-07:00Street Art<a href="http://futurecho.es/isWO8" target="_blank">Here We Go</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-36175333643721772232012-07-25T19:13:00.001-07:002012-07-25T19:13:28.789-07:00Do It Yourself<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href='http://FuturEcho.es/QUTjk' target='_blank'><br />
<img border="0" height="320" src="http://i.imgur.com/iIllh.jpg" width="255" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-28260094872730000652012-07-01T15:50:00.001-07:002012-07-01T15:50:11.056-07:00About Damn Time We Started Making Buildings that Look Like Trees<a href="http://futurecho.es/7bkz"><img alt='supertrees' src='http://pcdn.500px.net/9070257/05112782c6e309bf8c4e33065004b94165e7bb1c/4.jpg'></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-18668609034783045362012-07-01T15:44:00.001-07:002012-07-01T15:44:42.756-07:00Paper Bird<a href="http://FuturEcho.es/63jNh"><img alt='paper bird' src='http://i.imgur.com/XZovG.jpg'></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-26844756614829601032012-06-22T00:44:00.001-07:002012-06-22T00:44:34.872-07:00Aren't We All Torn Between the Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href='http://FuturEcho.es/dWVgH'><br />
<img border="0" height="164" src="http://i.imgur.com/66viJ.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-29310378677611448752012-06-21T10:02:00.001-07:002012-06-22T00:45:56.508-07:00Really Great Gif<a href="http://futurecho.es/hscEI" target="_blank"><img src="http://i.minus.com/i5u6rgD4MVeKu.gif" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-47725014488963196352011-09-18T18:21:00.004-07:002012-03-30T14:41:05.209-07:00This Is What My Life Has Been Life With Chronic Pain<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--D3q1Tr5DT0/TnaZRv03u_I/AAAAAAAAAWA/Li2Obwjq1lc/s1600/art.chronic.pain%2Bfunnier.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 219px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--D3q1Tr5DT0/TnaZRv03u_I/AAAAAAAAAWA/Li2Obwjq1lc/s400/art.chronic.pain%2Bfunnier.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5653874912385285106" /></a><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-5914514661034399042010-09-14T14:21:00.003-07:002012-03-30T14:41:55.918-07:00The Beginning of the End of Education<span style="font-weight:bold;">The human being and the computer will soon become inseparable.</span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/TI_nxk2wfQI/AAAAAAAAAVE/BdWHbm7t8lM/s1600/IPAD+wall.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 239px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/TI_nxk2wfQI/AAAAAAAAAVE/BdWHbm7t8lM/s400/IPAD+wall.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516882907445099778" /></a><br />IPads to Replace Textbooks for California Students<br />Year-long trial underway for 400 eighth-graders<br />By Albert Roman<br />Epoch Times Staff<br /><br />The 400 participants are from four school districts throughout California, including Long Beach, Riverside, Fresno, and San Francisco. (Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images)<br />LOS ANGELES—With the dawn of iBooks in January 2010, it was only a matter of time until Apple and textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) crossed paths.<br /><br />HMH has created a full curriculum Algebra App for the iPad, called HMH Fuse, and wants to test its effectiveness.<br /><br />Last week, HMH along with California Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss, Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser, and Algebra 1 textbook author Edward Burger, Ph.D., met at Washington Middle School in Long Beach to announce the start of a year-long trial involving eighth-grade Algebra 1 students who have swapped their textbooks for customized iPads.<br /><br />The 400 participants are from four school districts throughout California, including Long Beach, Riverside, Fresno, and San Francisco.<br /><br />Participating teachers have one randomly selected class using the iPads while their other classes continue using the textbook version of the same material.<br /><br />"Students can receive feedback on practice questions, write and save notes, receive guided instruction, access video lessons, and more with the touch of a finger," according to a recent press release.<br /><br />"As the digital age reaches our classrooms it will transform education allowing for teaching our students in ways not before imagined, and California is poised to lead the way," said Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss. "This pilot project represents an important step toward embracing a more interactive learning environment that will help our fantastic teachers and school leaders meet the changing needs of California’s students in the 21st-Century economy," said Ms. Reiss in the press release.<br /><br />Despite the general positivity from the product maker and educators, skeptics wonder if the interactive technology, with all of its features, will be effective or a distraction for teens.<br /><br />Results of the research findings are expected by fall 2011.<br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-46449434010570591942010-08-25T22:44:00.001-07:002012-03-30T14:38:39.460-07:00The Tree"The alchemist saw the union of opposites under the symbol of the tree, and it is therefore not surprising that the unconscious of the present-day man, who no longer feels at home in his world and can base his existence neither on the past that is no more nor on the future that is yet to be, should hark back to the symbol of the cosmic tree rooted in this world and growing up to heaven -- the tree that is also man. In the history of symbols this tree is described as the way of life itself, a growing into that which eternally is and does not change; which springs from the union of opposites and, by its eternal presence, also makes that union possible. It seems as if it were only through an experience of symbolic reality that man, vainly seeking his own "existence' and making a philosophy out of it, can find his way back to a world in which he is no longer a stranger."<br />-Carl Jung <span style="font-style:italic;">Aspects of the Feminine</span><br /><br /><a href='http://futurechoes.com'>Futurechoes</a><br /><a href='http://freetheculture.com'>Freetheculture</a><br /><a href='http://ragechatting.com'>Rage Chatting</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-81408005896562906742010-05-04T07:58:00.002-07:002012-03-30T14:40:38.339-07:00On a Park Bench in Roxbury"The saddest thing I ever did see<br />Was a woodpecker pecking on a plastic tree<br />'Friend' said he to me,<br />Things just ain't as sweet as they used to be"<br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-10959343646482808632010-04-19T07:45:00.002-07:002012-03-30T14:42:05.767-07:00It's Hillarious When I Read About Plans to Use Technology to Counter Global WarmingIf We As A World Do Something Stupid Like Freak Out And Pump Millions of Tons of Sulfer Dioxide Into the Atmosphere It Will Be the End of Humanity.<br />Global Warming May Kill One or Two Billion People, But It Is the Consequence of Our Actions, If It Is Unavoidable Let It Happen, We Will Ultimately Be a Better World Because of It.<br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-10177647242007981562010-03-27T12:34:00.001-07:002012-03-30T14:42:16.445-07:00Saddest Thing I Have Ever Read"In the 1970s a Japanese photographer, Keiki Haginoya, undertook what was to be a lifelong project to compile a photo documentary of children’s play on the streets of Tokyo. He gave up the project in 1996, noting that the spontaneous play and laughter that once filled the city’s streets, alleys and vacant lots had utterly vanished"<br /><br />From "Playtime Is Over" by David Elkind<br />New York Times Op-Ed March 26th, 2010<br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-12756100091869035062010-03-23T19:48:00.002-07:002012-03-30T14:42:32.699-07:00I Doubted Him, I Criticized Him, I Thought He Was Being Stupid For Putting All His Eggs In One Basket, But Kudos To You, Mr. Obama<div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-32391193548659446842010-02-27T09:53:00.002-08:002012-03-30T14:42:39.570-07:00Lucid Dream<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/S4lcIGC-SXI/AAAAAAAAAUI/HChWchDCkGA/s1600-h/L%27Ange_du_Foyeur.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/S4lcIGC-SXI/AAAAAAAAAUI/HChWchDCkGA/s400/L%27Ange_du_Foyeur.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442982918785747314" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-15453092932229834042010-02-18T07:27:00.001-08:002012-03-30T14:42:50.613-07:005 Worst InventionsThe Five Worst Inventions In History<br />Throughout time, we have always strived for more. More strength, more speed, more technology, and more accomplishment. Sadly, these results often come from a desire to do as much as possible with as little effort as possible. This has led to some inventions that seem cool on the outside, but really do nothing more than sap our collective ability to be productive. Welcome to my list of the five worst inventions in history.<br /><br />5. Sliced bread · All the convenience of bread, only you don't have to waste those precious seconds slicing it beforehand! Sure it makes sandwich creation only take 60 seconds instead of 70, but is that 10 seconds really relevant?<br /><br />Not only do you lose the admittedly small amount of exercise that cutting the bread affords, but you now are forced to eat bread of a predefined thickness. If you want thicker bread, it's Texas Toast style or nothing. If you want thinner bread, good luck cutting it.<br /><br />Normally an invention this small wouldn't make a Top 5 list, but this one is special; it paved the way for a period of human laziness. I can't tell you how much our caveman ancestors were fed up with having to slice their own bread. Thank fucking Christ that problem is over with.<br /><br />4. Handicap doors · Once again, we take a trip down Laziness Boulevard. Only it's not a boulevard, because we don't like having to manage our way over that middle part. In fact, we don't like walking. It's a Laziness Taxi, really, and handicap doors are just another part of it.<br /><br />Now we don't even have to pull the door open, we just push a button and it magically opens for us. Why was this invention created? So people with a real inability to open and walk through doors, like people in wheelchairs or on crutches or walkers, would be able to get around like everyone else. Sadly, it's turned in to just another way for the average person to be lazy. I believe my thoughts on this invention can be adequately summed up by what I said to someone two weeks ago who pressed the button and waited for the door to open before walking through it:<br /><br />Or you could use your hand. Don't be so fucking lazy!<br />I'm not adding that emphasis at the end for fun, either: I spewed those words at him like enraged bile.<br /><br />3. Escalators · I'll freely admit the elevator is cool. It can take you to the top of a tall building in short order, saving you from tiring yourself out and getting all sweaty from climbing 20 flights of stairs. The escalator, however, is fucking stupid.<br /><br />Now you don't have to spend seven seconds climbing a flight of stairs any more, you can spend 12 seconds standing in place like a moron! How fucking lazy do you need to be to not want to climb a single flight of stairs? This wasn't even invented for handicapped people: they use the elevator! The escalator was invented because people are too fucking lazy for their own good, and they'd rather have a machine do the work for them.<br /><br />Now here's the kicker: when an escalator breaks down, it essentially becomes stairs. The people who own the building could let you climb them as such, but what do they do instead? They put up a sign that says Escalator out of service, please use elevator. I cannot express in words how fucking irritated those signs make me.<br /><br />2. The Internet · What's that, you say? Arguably the most important communication tool in history is the second worst invention? Of course it is! We are so dependant on technology that if the internet were to be shut off tomorrow, society would crumble.<br /><br />Now, let's think this through: what would happen if the internet was destroyed? Well, all those people wasting their lives playing internet poker, or meticulously increasing their online personas, or watching stupid videos on YouTube would have to find some other way to occupy their days. Let's see, what else could they do... well, being honest for a minute, most would waste their time in front of the television instead of their computer screens. And that brings us to:<br /><br />1. Television · This has accurately been called the boob tube, and is probably the single largest time-waster on the planet. There is so much lowest-common-denominator drivel on T.V. that it boggles the mind. Why should I give a fuck if twenty people were stupid enough to get marooned on an island on purpose, or if some whore is going to fuck fifteen men at once while claiming to be a "bachelorette?"<br /><br />The sad truth is that most people waste their entire lives browsing the internet and watching television. What would they do without them? Well, they'd be forced to find ways to entertain themselves.<br /><br />Holy flying shit, I may be on to something here!<br /><br />Without the constant deadening stimulation of projected images, we'd be forced to go outside, exercise, be social, maybe read a little, exercise, and find ways to occupy our minds that don't involve planting ourselves in a chair and staring blankly at a screen for hours on end.<br /><br />"But Chris, without the internet how would you have this website?" I wouldn't. Instead I'd have gone out and found a magazine or periodical, or I'd have started one myself. The message of human stupidity is universal, and it doesn't take the internet or a T.V. show to get my message out there.<br /><br />Here's a challenge for you: go the next week, from this very moment until next Monday, without using the five things in this list. Buy unsliced bread if you can find it, open doors for yourself, climb the fucking stairs, stay off the internet except as your job or school require, and don't watch T.V. Then come back and try to tell me your life hasn't been enriched in some way from not having to rely on others to provide your entertainment. I guarantee you'll feel better about yourself if you make it.<br /><br />From www.hownotosuck.com<br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-79932405851286559282009-12-02T18:44:00.002-08:002012-03-30T14:42:58.899-07:00Running with the Bulls<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SxcmD7dhliI/AAAAAAAAAT8/e6kxJbyLtRg/s1600-h/Sun+Cut+Flat+Art.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SxcmD7dhliI/AAAAAAAAAT8/e6kxJbyLtRg/s400/Sun+Cut+Flat+Art.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410835326251931170" /></a><br />Great Album<br />Sun Cut Flat - Running of the Bulls<br />Download It For Free at: http://www.mediafire.com/?jjnwfwymgyd<br /><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-35708991768782985292009-10-06T12:33:00.002-07:002012-03-30T14:43:06.634-07:00Mess with the Bull II<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SsubqayEUiI/AAAAAAAAAT0/gXisdO22_v8/s1600-h/Exploding+Bull"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SsubqayEUiI/AAAAAAAAAT0/gXisdO22_v8/s400/Exploding+Bull" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389572532125061666" /></a>Chen Wenling<br /><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-52173804789907680662009-08-31T22:30:00.001-07:002012-03-30T14:43:14.846-07:00When You Think of Society, You Think of All the People You Don't Know- John Winner Dickenson<br /><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-86034109305965069162009-08-11T12:50:00.001-07:002012-03-30T14:43:23.169-07:00Mess With The Bull<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SoHLzq-HV1I/AAAAAAAAATs/nHjlXe_CgMw/s1600-h/viveros6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SoHLzq-HV1I/AAAAAAAAATs/nHjlXe_CgMw/s400/viveros6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368796319370925906" /></a><br />Brian Viveros<br /><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-32114420156316027992009-08-06T09:55:00.001-07:002012-03-30T14:43:31.294-07:00Just Some Junk<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SnsMavdx0tI/AAAAAAAAATU/rHT6HbSxlEY/s1600-h/3106_629446898febe530b8e0e34cc4e0380c.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 398px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SnsMavdx0tI/AAAAAAAAATU/rHT6HbSxlEY/s400/3106_629446898febe530b8e0e34cc4e0380c.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366897034499576530" /></a><br /><br />Junk sculptures by Brandon Jan Blommaert<br /><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-14209512434925608812009-07-23T14:15:00.004-07:002012-03-30T14:46:39.523-07:00Who does good buisness really benefit?<span style="font-style:italic;">Wall St. Jacks Up Pay After Bailouts<br />Lawmakers Warn Against Return to Pre-Crisis Levels<br />Thursday, July 23, 2009<br /><br />NEW YORK, July 22 -- Wall Street's biggest banks are setting aside billions of dollars more to pay their executives and other employees just months after these firms were rescued with a taxpayer bailout, renewing questions about compensation practices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. <br /><br />But Wall Street, helped by improving profits, is on track to pay employees as much as, or even more than, it did in the pre-crisis days. So far this year, the top six U.S. banks have set aside $74 billion to pay their employees, up from $60 billion in the corresponding period last year. <br /><br />Goldman Sachs caused a stir last week when it disclosed it had set aside a record $6.6 billion for compensation expenses in the most recent quarter, bringing the total for the first six months of the year to $11.4 billion. If that pace continues for the rest of the year, Goldman's employees will earn an average of about $773,000, more than double the figure last year and even exceeding the $700,000 paid in 2007.</span><br /><br />There is no such thing as Trickle Down Economics. You will not see a penny of this, you will not benefit even the slightest this from this. Instead you will have to deal with corporate interest taking priority over your interest in public matter. In the Middle Ages they used religion to keep the people from taking what is rightfully theirs, now they use a dual attack of commercial distractions, and free-market capitalist dogma. How does it feel to be a modern day serf?<br /><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" alt='Link to Oasis by Futurechoes' src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><a style='visibility:hidden;display:none;' href='http://futurechoes.com'>Futurechoes</a><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-53111711967754926232009-07-19T13:19:00.002-07:002012-03-30T14:47:05.048-07:00This is a Classic fresh off the presses<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8z13AjI8n4I&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8z13AjI8n4I&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />Jay Z - D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)<br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><a style='visibility:hidden;display:none;' href='http://futurechoes.com'>Futurechoes</a><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-34551743700185406112009-07-19T12:52:00.001-07:002012-03-30T14:47:28.457-07:00Preamble: Statement of PurposeWe the banks<br />In Order to rob the taxpayers of their money,<br />suppress dissent,<br />ensure constant commercial growth,<br />provide for our stockholders,<br />promote our general interest<br />and secure the cooperation of our politicians<br />do Ordain and establish this constant confusion for the United States of America<br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><a style='visibility:hidden;display:none;' href='http://futurechoes.com'>Futurechoes</a><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-82597214283382420752009-07-19T11:52:00.001-07:002012-03-30T14:47:35.961-07:00Goldman Sachs - organized greed always defeats disorganized democracyHere's to you Henry Paulson<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SmNscccCgUI/AAAAAAAAATM/3lDXZc5Wh2g/s1600-h/madgreedspirit.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 396px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_V4epgLU_1Q8/SmNscccCgUI/AAAAAAAAATM/3lDXZc5Wh2g/s400/madgreedspirit.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360247217426956610" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><a style='visibility:hidden;display:none;' href='http://futurechoes.com'>Futurechoes</a><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8071635719480911292.post-3750845520392414362009-07-18T16:25:00.002-07:002012-03-30T14:47:45.848-07:0010 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job<br />by Steve Pavlina <br /><br />Just for fun I recently asked Erin, “Now that the kids are in summer school, don’t you think it’s about time you went out and got yourself a job? I hate seeing you wallow in unemployment for so long.”<br /><br />She smiled and said, “Wow. I have been unemployed a really long time. That’s weird… I like it!”<br /><br />Neither of us have had jobs since the ’90s (my only job was in 1992), so we’ve been self-employed for quite a while. In our household it’s a running joke for one of us to say to the other, “Maybe you should get a job, derelict!”<br /><br />It’s like the scene in The Three Stooges where Moe tells Curly to get a job, and Curly backs away, saying, “No, please… not that! Anything but that!”<br /><br />It’s funny that when people reach a certain age, such as after graduating college, they assume it’s time to go out and get a job. But like many things the masses do, just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. In fact, if you’re reasonably intelligent, getting a job is one of the worst things you can do to support yourself. There are far better ways to make a living than selling yourself into indentured servitude.<br /><br />Here are some reasons you should do everything in your power to avoid getting a job:<br /><br />1. Income for dummies.<br /><br />Getting a job and trading your time for money may seem like a good idea. There’s only one problem with it. It’s stupid! It’s the stupidest way you can possibly generate income! This is truly income for dummies.<br /><br />Why is getting a job so dumb? Because you only get paid when you’re working. Don’t you see a problem with that, or have you been so thoroughly brainwashed into thinking it’s reasonable and intelligent to only earn income when you’re working? Have you never considered that it might be better to be paid even when you’re not working? Who taught you that you could only earn income while working? Some other brainwashed employee perhaps?<br /><br />Don’t you think your life would be much easier if you got paid while you were eating, sleeping, and playing with the kids too? Why not get paid 24/7? Get paid whether you work or not. Don’t your plants grow even when you aren’t tending to them? Why not your bank account?<br /><br />Who cares how many hours you work? Only a handful of people on this entire planet care how much time you spend at the office. Most of us won’t even notice whether you work 6 hours a week or 60. But if you have something of value to provide that matters to us, a number of us will be happy to pull out our wallets and pay you for it. We don’t care about your time — we only care enough to pay for the value we receive. Do you really care how long it took me to write this article? Would you pay me twice as much if it took me 6 hours vs. only 3?<br /><br />Non-dummies often start out on the traditional income for dummies path. So don’t feel bad if you’re just now realizing you’ve been suckered. Non-dummies eventually realize that trading time for money is indeed extremely dumb and that there must be a better way. And of course there is a better way. The key is to de-couple your value from your time.<br /><br />Smart people build systems that generate income 24/7, especially passive income. This can include starting a business, building a web site, becoming an investor, or generating royalty income from creative work. The system delivers the ongoing value to people and generates income from it, and once it’s in motion, it runs continuously whether you tend to it or not. From that moment on, the bulk of your time can be invested in increasing your income (by refining your system or spawning new ones) instead of merely maintaining your income.<br /><br />This web site is an example of such a system. At the time of this writing, it generates about $9000 a month in income for me (update: $40,000 a month as of 10/31/06), and it isn’t my only income stream either. I write each article just once (fixed time investment), and people can extract value from them year after year. The web server delivers the value, and other systems (most of which I didn’t even build and don’t even understand) collect income and deposit it automatically into my bank account. It’s not perfectly passive, but I love writing and would do it for free anyway. But of course it cost me a lot of money to launch this business, right? Um, yeah, $9 is an awful lot these days (to register the domain name). Everything after that was profit.<br /><br />Sure it takes some upfront time and effort to design and implement your own income-generating systems. But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel — feel free to use existing systems like ad networks and affiliate programs. Once you get going, you won’t have to work so many hours to support yourself. Wouldn’t it be nice to be out having dinner with your spouse, knowing that while you’re eating, you’re earning money? If you want to keep working long hours because you enjoy it, go right ahead. If you want to sit around doing nothing, feel free. As long as your system continues delivering value to others, you’ll keep getting paid whether you’re working or not.<br /><br />Your local bookstore is filled with books containing workable systems others have already designed, tested, and debugged. Nobody is born knowing how to start a business or generate investment income, but you can easily learn it. How long it takes you to figure it out is irrelevant because the time is going to pass anyway. You might as well emerge at some future point as the owner of income-generating systems as opposed to a lifelong wage slave. This isn’t all or nothing. If your system only generates a few hundred dollars a month, that’s a significant step in the right direction.<br /><br />2. Limited experience.<br /><br />You might think it’s important to get a job to gain experience. But that’s like saying you should play golf to get experience playing golf. You gain experience from living, regardless of whether you have a job or not. A job only gives you experience at that job, but you gain ”experience” doing just about anything, so that’s no real benefit at all. Sit around doing nothing for a couple years, and you can call yourself an experienced meditator, philosopher, or politician.<br /><br />The problem with getting experience from a job is that you usually just repeat the same limited experience over and over. You learn a lot in the beginning and then stagnate. This forces you to miss other experiences that would be much more valuable. And if your limited skill set ever becomes obsolete, then your experience won’t be worth squat. In fact, ask yourself what the experience you’re gaining right now will be worth in 20-30 years. Will your job even exist then?<br /><br />Consider this. Which experience would you rather gain? The knowledge of how to do a specific job really well — one that you can only monetize by trading your time for money – or the knowledge of how to enjoy financial abundance for the rest of your life without ever needing a job again? Now I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have the latter experience. That seems a lot more useful in the real world, wouldn’t you say?<br /><br />3. Lifelong domestication.<br /><br />Getting a job is like enrolling in a human domestication program. You learn how to be a good pet.<br /><br />Look around you. Really look. What do you see? Are these the surroundings of a free human being? Or are you living in a cage for unconscious animals? Have you fallen in love with the color beige?<br /><br />How’s your obedience training coming along? Does your master reward your good behavior? Do you get disciplined if you fail to obey your master’s commands?<br /><br />Is there any spark of free will left inside you? Or has your conditioning made you a pet for life?<br /><br />Humans are not meant to be raised in cages. You poor thing…<br /><br />4. Too many mouths to feed.<br /><br />Employee income is the most heavily taxed there is. In the USA you can expect that about half your salary will go to taxes. The tax system is designed to disguise how much you’re really giving up because some of those taxes are paid by your employer, and some are deducted from your paycheck. But you can bet that from your employer’s perspective, all of those taxes are considered part of your pay, as well as any other compensation you receive such as benefits. Even the rent for the office space you consume is considered, so you must generate that much more value to cover it. You might feel supported by your corporate environment, but keep in mind that you’re the one paying for it.<br /><br />Another chunk of your income goes to owners and investors. That’s a lot of mouths to feed.<br /><br />It isn’t hard to understand why employees pay the most in taxes relative to their income. After all, who has more control over the tax system? Business owners and investors or employees?<br /><br />You only get paid a fraction of the real value you generate. Your real salary may be more than triple what you’re paid, but most of that money you’ll never see. It goes straight into other people’s pockets.<br /><br />What a generous person you are!<br /><br />5. Way too risky.<br /><br />Many employees believe getting a job is the safest and most secure way to support themselves.<br /><br />Morons.<br /><br />Social conditioning is amazing. It’s so good it can even make people believe the exact opposite of the truth.<br /><br />Does putting yourself in a position where someone else can turn off all your income just by saying two words (”You’re fired”) sound like a safe and secure situation to you? Does having only one income stream honestly sound more secure than having 10?<br /><br />The idea that a job is the most secure way to generate income is just silly. You can’t have security if you don’t have control, and employees have the least control of anyone. If you’re an employee, then your real job title should be professional gambler.<br /><br />6. Having an evil bovine master.<br /><br />When you run into an idiot in the entrepreneurial world, you can turn around and head the other way. When you run into an idiot in the corporate world, you have to turn around and say, “Sorry, boss.”<br /><br />Did you know that the word boss comes from the Dutch word baas, which historically means master? Another meaning of the word boss is “a cow or bovine.” And in many video games, the boss is the evil dude that you have to kill at the end of a level.<br /><br />So if your boss is really your evil bovine master, then what does that make you? Nothing but a turd in the herd.<br /><br />Who’s your daddy?<br /><br />7. Begging for money.<br /><br />When you want to increase your income, do you have to sit up and beg your master for more money? Does it feel good to be thrown some extra Scooby Snacks now and then?<br /><br />Or are you free to decide how much you get paid without needing anyone’s permission but your own?<br /><br />If you have a business and one customer says “no” to you, you simply say “next.”<br /><br />8. An inbred social life.<br /><br />Many people treat their jobs as their primary social outlet. They hang out with the same people working in the same field. Such incestuous relations are social dead ends. An exciting day includes deep conversations about the company’s switch from Sparkletts to Arrowhead, the delay of Microsoft’s latest operating system, and the unexpected delivery of more Bic pens. Consider what it would be like to go outside and talk to strangers. Ooooh… scary! Better stay inside where it’s safe.<br /><br />If one of your co-slaves gets sold to another master, do you lose a friend? If you work in a male-dominated field, does that mean you never get to talk to women above the rank of receptionist? Why not decide for yourself whom to socialize with instead of letting your master decide for you? Believe it or not, there are locations on this planet where free people congregate. Just be wary of those jobless folk — they’re a crazy bunch!<br /><br />9. Loss of freedom.<br /><br />It takes a lot of effort to tame a human being into an employee. The first thing you have to do is break the human’s independent will. A good way to do this is to give them a weighty policy manual filled with nonsensical rules and regulations. This leads the new employee to become more obedient, fearing that s/he could be disciplined at any minute for something incomprehensible. Thus, the employee will likely conclude it’s safest to simply obey the master’s commands without question. Stir in some office politics for good measure, and we’ve got a freshly minted mind slave.<br /><br />As part of their obedience training, employees must be taught how to dress, talk, move, and so on. We can’t very well have employees thinking for themselves, now can we? That would ruin everything.<br /><br />God forbid you should put a plant on your desk when it’s against the company policy. Oh no, it’s the end of the world! Cindy has a plant on her desk! Summon the enforcers! Send Cindy back for another round of sterility training!<br /><br />Free human beings think such rules and regulations are silly of course. The only policy they need is: “Be smart. Be nice. Do what you love. Have fun.”<br /><br />10. Becoming a coward.<br /><br />Have you noticed that employed people have an almost endless capacity to whine about problems at their companies? But they don’t really want solutions – they just want to vent and make excuses why it’s all someone else’s fault. It’s as if getting a job somehow drains all the free will out of people and turns them into spineless cowards. If you can’t call your boss a jerk now and then without fear of getting fired, you’re no longer free. You’ve become your master’s property.<br /><br />When you work around cowards all day long, don’t you think it’s going to rub off on you? Of course it will. It’s only a matter of time before you sacrifice the noblest parts of your humanity on the altar of fear: first courage… then honesty… then honor and integrity… and finally your independent will. You sold your humanity for nothing but an illusion. And now your greatest fear is discovering the truth of what you’ve become.<br /><br />I don’t care how badly you’ve been beaten down. It is never too late to regain your courage. Never!<br /><br />Still want a job?<br /><br />If you’re currently a well-conditioned, well-behaved employee, your most likely reaction to the above will be defensiveness. It’s all part of the conditioning. But consider that if the above didn’t have a grain of truth to it, you wouldn’t have an emotional reaction at all. This is only a reminder of what you already know. You can deny your cage all you want, but the cage is still there. Perhaps this all happened so gradually that you never noticed it until now… like a lobster enjoying a nice warm bath.<br /><br />If any of this makes you mad, that’s a step in the right direction. Anger is a higher level of consciousness than apathy, so it’s a lot better than being numb all the time. Any emotion — even confusion — is better than apathy. If you work through your feelings instead of repressing them, you’ll soon emerge on the doorstep of courage. And when that happens, you’ll have the will to actually do something about your situation and start living like the powerful human being you were meant to be instead of the domesticated pet you’ve been trained to be.<br /><br />Happily jobless<br /><br />What’s the alternative to getting a job? The alternative is to remain happily jobless for life and to generate income through other means. Realize that you earn income by providing value — not time – so find a way to provide your best value to others, and charge a fair price for it. One of the simplest and most accessible ways is to start your own business. Whatever work you’d otherwise do via employment, find a way to provide that same value directly to those who will benefit most from it. It takes a bit more time to get going, but your freedom is easily worth the initial investment of time and energy. Then you can buy your own Scooby Snacks for a change.<br /><br />And of course everything you learn along the way, you can share with others to generate even more value. So even your mistakes can be monetized.<br /><br />One of the greatest fears you’ll confront is that you may not have any real value to offer others. Maybe being an employee and getting paid by the hour is the best you can do. Maybe you just aren’t worth that much. That line of thinking is all just part of your conditioning. It’s absolute nonsense. As you begin to dump such brainwashing, you’ll soon recognize that you have the ability to provide enormous value to others and that people will gladly pay you for it. There’s only one thing that prevents you from seeing this truth — fear.<br /><br />All you really need is the courage to be yourself. Your real value is rooted in who you are, not what you do. The only thing you need actually do is express your real self to the world. You’ve been told all sort of lies as to why you can’t do that. But you’ll never know true happiness and fulfillment until you summon the courage to do it anyway.<br /><br />The next time someone says to you, “Get a job,” I suggest you reply as Curly did: ”No, please… not that! Anything but that!” Then poke him right in the eyes.<br /><br />You already know deep down that getting a job isn’t what you want. So don’t let anyone try to tell you otherwise. Learn to trust your inner wisdom, even if the whole world says you’re wrong and foolish for doing so. Years from now you’ll look back and realize it was one of the best decisions you ever made.<br /><br />Final thoughts<br /><br />While I wouldn’t recommend starting on online business for everyone, for many people it’s one of the best ways to generate income without a job. It has certainly worked disgustingly well for me. If you’re interested in learning more about this option, please check out Build Your Own Successful Online Business for details.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div id="oasis"><br /><script src='http://futurechoes.com/insert.js'></script><br /><img id="oasisbutton" src='http://futurechoes.com/oasis/logos/buttons/black-white.png' onclick="openOasis();"><br /><a style='visibility:hidden;display:none;' href='http://futurechoes.com'>Futurechoes</a><br /><iframe id="oasis_i_frame" name='oasis_i_frame' src='' onload="oasisupdateSource();" height='1' width='1' frameborder='0' style='position:fixed;z-index:0;right:0px;bottom:0px;border:0;'><br /></iframe><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0