Category Archives: Logic

Logic: trying to make the world make sense, and make it valid

Logic, Social

Tips for the Social Media Geek

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Increasing Geekitude

Some tips to accelerate your nerd/geekiness online to make you further increase the efficiency in whatever you do (probably Facebook & Twitter).


Multi-Task (dual screen)
– pretty simple; two screens allows you to do and see more. For the graphic artist, it allows you to look at Photoshop on one monitor, and view stock footage on Bridge on the other monitor. It is also good for learning tutorials – have the video tutorial playing on one side, practice the teachings on the other monitor – generally it just increases the level of productivity.


Smartphone
– pretty much any device that allows you to do e-mail, browse the web, social network, and etc. There are many devices on the market for you to choose from; iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, etc. Think of the phone as your personal device that manages your communications and engagements with the world. No longer is the computer/laptop needed as the device to do such management.


Googlesphere
Google is not only a search engine, but essentially they are an advertising platform that delivers targeted ads via their many products and services. As such, they offer these services usually free, and they are quite useful as they are built on ‘cloud computing’ and are usually able to interface with your mobile device.

Google Calendar
Gmail
Google Docs
Google Maps
Google Reader (manages RSS feeds/blogs)


Time Management Skills
– all these tools are great, but are useless unless you don’t learn how to manage your time properly. Blocking out times, and even people to work on projects/items may be necessary. Sometimes it is best to start with a good ‘ol pencil and paper to itemize what needs to be done, develop a timeline, and then put such plan into action.

With these tips, you should be well on your way to being more efficiency and productive, hopefully.
.::LiBM::>

Hip-Hop, Logic

Simile vs Metaphors

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Similes vs. Metaphors

No matter what your opinion is on the current state of hip-hop; whether we are in the ‘golden era’, or the ‘trash era’, one thing is for sure – hip-hop displays a fondness for literary devices, specifically that of simile’s and metaphors. Thinking about it, no other genre uses as much different metaphors & simile’s throughout a song – though, the abstract depth and reasoning behind the literary devices may vary across genres. Which is why, to ‘get’ hip-hop; you really have to listen and have knowledge to comprehend what the rapper is talking about – well, that used to be the old rules.   Here is where it gets murky (in my opinion), metaphors have an edge over simile’s in that it requires more thought and knowledge to process – a simile just likens object A to object B, and usually uses the operand word ‘like’ to indicate the comparison. Whereas metaphors those the same thing almost, except the objects are concepts, which when it is compared, creates new meanings and inferences. The underground rappers are known to favor the frequent use of metaphors in their songs – while mainstream rappers do not use them as much.

So with that, the question is posed, does usage of devices indicate the rapper’s intelligence and/or the intelligence of their audience? One component of music, successful music, is its ability to connect with the audience – there is a reason why known lyricists like Talib Kweli, Canibus, Joe Budden, and a slew of other talented MC’s never get those big budget marketing dollars. While, rappers like Drake, Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, pretty much get anything they want in terms of marketing dollars for videos, tours, etc. The blatant anomalies that have walked the fine line, the tight rope act of ‘dumbing it down’, but not too much to lose the ‘real hip-hop crowd’, would have to be Eminem, Nas, and Jay-Z; who have openly admitted that they had to ‘dumb down’ their lyrics in order to remain on their respective major labels. So is it the usage of literary devices determine one’s audience? Would using a bunch of simile’s get you a Joe Budden audience? Would using a bunch of metaphors get you a Gucci crowd? I believe the answer is ‘NO, like the opposite of ‘YES’, as their exist a correlation between commercial rap/underground rap and similes/metaphors – just listen to a commercial track, and there is no deep thought behind it. Your brain will not work overtime to process; commercial rap songs are very sing-songy, like a nursery rhyme (see, I just made a simile!). Let’s take a look at some popular songs from Lil Wayne and Joe Budden:
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Joe Budden – Broken Wings

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Drake, Lil Wayne – I’m Going In

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Some difficulty with these popular usages of simile’s are that one has to understand the reference – that reference is usually from pop or hood culture, but besides that, nothing else. And maybe, that is what music should be – a passive experience that is soothing, relaxing, comfortable. Because I mean, after a long day of work/school, do you really want to explore abstract concepts and ideas? I mean, that is like running a track backwards in a race – you will always lose, right?

.:: LiBM::.

Logic, Social

Prolonged Chapter

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Managing Doubt and your own Expectations

Self-doubt is a real bitch; and its a tricky issue because usually the self-doubt comes from others. Or better yet, it comes from how you perceive how others think of you. Then its a spiraling effect of self-doubt from with-in, and with-out; until it leads to a state of timidness and procrastination. As you become afraid of doing something that you may or may not be too sure of, because of what someone may or may not think. Our own projections can then become a hindrance. I really don’t know or pretend to know what the cure is – the easiest thing to say is ‘Ignore the self-doubt’, easier said than done when you got the voices of your self and your peers spewing negative phrases – and for some reason in the mind, it is amplified to the ‘Nth’ degree.
For months I wanted to update this blog with a more streamlined look, but my self-doubt kept prohibiting me, first I was like, “what’s the value, no one comments on it”, but maybe they don’t comment because the mechanism to comment isn’t quite clear. I made up a plethora of other excuses too that I won’t bore you with, but I am happy that I have come to a place where I am washing away the dirt of my self-doubt. Take this is as one of those new-age affirmations of self-will and determination, or a ploy by me to commit to something because I have published it on this world wide web, but I will remove this self-doubt, and finally just ‘do the damn thing’.

New facelift coming soon … I think, lol

Interrogative, Logic

Into the Fold

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Back into the Fold

Back into the fold could stand for many things; returning to a state of normalcy – which could be either + or -, depending on how you frame it. My normalcy is always somewhat variable – meaning a constant change of things/events. With many projects on the go, the management of them is challenging, but exciting at the same time – even more exciting when momentum seems to be going positively.
Stress is a factor in all projects, and at least one of my situations has been resolved – Biz partners can be a challenging bunch; especially when one majors in Bullshitis and is difficult just for the sake of being difficult – gotta cut those cancers out. Its odd that just coming to a decision and affirmation to stick to a certain position can be very relieving.
So I guess coming ‘back into the fold’, can also mean returning to a state of progression – internally and externally.  There is an ironic simplicity when dealing with the difficult … follows a Director term, ‘cut’.

All the events in life are an experience; you can choose to learn or just be passive about the event.

.:: LiBM ::.

Hip-Hop, Logic, videos

All music is ‘Emo’

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Joe Budden = Emo

An interesting dialogue by Joe Budden and his first-person perspective video as they talk about music being emotional – regardless of how shallow or deep your favorite artist may be, at the end of the day, all music brings an emotion. Joe Budden may bring some real life/struggle emotion, while Soulja Boy may make you feel like getting up and dance in the club – either way, it all comes down to the feelings.

Kind of a long video for the Internet finicky crowd, but you’ll learn something at the end of it.  Side note: they really shouldn’t be talking so foul in front of the little kid … SMH

.:: LiBM ::.

Logic

Agentic State Imagery

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Agentic State Imagery

Can’t Blame ’em right?

The agentic state theory suggests, wherein, as per Milgram, the essence of obedience consists in the fact that a person comes to view himself as the instrument for carrying out another person’s wishes, and he therefore no longer sees himself as responsible for his actions. Once this critical shift of viewpoint has occurred in the person, all of the essential features of obedience follow.

I have never been a big proponent on denying self accountability & responsibility for one’s actions; you know when you hear, “Its not Jimmy’s fault that he robbed the bank, his friends made him do it” – I always kind of denied those explanations, however with everything in life, their seems to be a multi-causal reason for everyone’s actions. Many constant & variable factors can influence anyone or anything – and when dealing with peer pressure and the psychology of groups & group behaviors, the Agentic state theory may play a pivotal role in explaining some behaviors.

So let’s play blame the group or the individual?

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.::LiBM::.

Logic

Fallacy of Equivocation

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Fallacies in Reasoning: Equivocation

Its funny how the certain usage of a word or phrase can alter the meaning of one’s intentions – some of us commit the fallacy of equivocation purposely – to f–k with the heads of the people that we are dealing with, or some use it ignorantly, not knowing what they are doing as a result of cultural differences or lack of knowledge. Either way, it may beneficial to be able to identify equivocation as it is classified as both a formal and informal fallacy – it is the misleading use of a term with more than one meaning or sense (by glossing over which meaning is intended at a particular time). It is often confused with amphiboly; however, equivocation is ambiguity arising from the misleading use of a word and amphiboly is ambiguity arising from misleading use of punctuation or syntax. It is evident after I read up on Equivocation, it is evident that this line of reasoning is adopted and embraced by politicians to either twist & persuade their constiuents.

Semantic shift

The fallacy of equivocation is often used with words that have a strong emotional content and many meanings. These meanings often coincide within proper context, but the fallacious arguer does a semantic shift, slowly changing the context as they go in such a way to achieve equivocation by treating distinct meanings of the word as equivalent.
In English language, one equivocation is with the word “man”, which can mean both “member of species Homo sapiens” and “male member of species Homo sapiens”. A well-known equivocation is
“Do women need to worry about man-eating sharks?”
where “man-eating” is taken as “devouring only male human beings”.

Fallacious reasoning

Equivocation is the use in a syllogism (a logical chain of reasoning) of a term several times, but giving the term a different meaning each time. For example:
A feather is light.
What is light cannot be dark.
Therefore, a feather cannot be dark.
In this use of equivocation, the word “light” is first used as the opposite of “heavy”, but then used as a synonym of “bright” (the fallacy usually becomes obvious as soon as one tries to translate this argument into another language). Because the “middle term” of this syllogism is not one term, but two separate ones masquerading as one (all feathers are indeed “not heavy”, but is not true that all feathers are “bright”), this type of equivocation is actually an example of the fallacy of four terms.

Metaphor

A separate case of equivocation is metaphor:
All jackasses have long ears.
Carl is a jackass.
Therefore, Carl has long ears.
Here the equivocation is the metaphorical use of “jackass” to imply a stupid or obnoxious person instead of a male donkey.

Logic, politics, Social

The Vocal Minority

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The Vocal Minority

Ringing loudly from a few

A little Abstract: Simply put, minority groups – lifestyles, cultural, racial, were disadvantaged because their concerns went unheard in the general public – primarily due to the availability of distributional channels; back in the day, the only way to really rally, garner support were through newspapers, TV (if you could get the airtime), and word of mouth. In times of social unrest throughout the world, the ‘grassroots’ campaign has been the movement of choice for sparking change and voicing dissent – from the pamphlets that used to be passed around in the dens preceding the Spanish revolution to speak of injustices, to the rallies that started in the deep south in the U.S. circa 1960’s that spread across the nation – it has shown us that the minority, though small, can be very vocal in expressing their dissent.

Enter the digital age with communications passing at lightning speeds; grassroots groups can now quickly spread their message around – gaining members, support, and exposure. The most recent and salient example of this would be Obama’s 2008 U.S. presidential campaign as the mastermind of his campaign utilized the power of social network’s to connect with people; the campaign was able to quickly organize rallies and spread campaign messages to thousands of people instantly. It is said that it is because of Obama’s clever use of grassroots movement ‘mentality’ that lead him to victory in the election – in an election that everyone initially thought he had no chance in winning.

Essentially, most grassroots movements focus around inequity; the imbalance of a system – and the movements try to disrupt and/or change the lifestyle of the majority. Some of the movements I support, but for some …. I don’t know. These movements are very vocal, but their cause – I can’t identify with and/or subscribe, or I just don’t get the logic in how they expressed themselves. There are even full sites that give guides and tutorials on how to start Grassroots sites (click here) with plenty of resources.

The Doubters

No need to explain what doubt is; should be a universal concept as we experience everyday in our lives. Whenever you have an event, or a belief, there will always be two points of view – the Advocators and the Doubters. Let’s examine the Doubters; specifically in the light of substantial empirical evidence. Call them ignorant, believers, or motivationally driven, these people pronounce an opposing stance in the face of adversity; such as those that don’t believe in the moon landing by NASA. Maybe call them the ‘conspirators’ actually, as they cast doubt and mystery behind many of life’s popular events; and they gain traction via social networking sites and mobile technology to amplify their belief.

I only dread as the world gets increasingly smaller with communications, that the world on a whole, will be much louder – get your earmuffs out.

Economics, Logic

Cheap vs Frugal, pt 2

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Cheap vs Frugal, pt 2

Examples of the difference

This post expands on the battle between being cheap and frugal – as many of my friends, colleagues have attested that I am cheap. They are categorically wrong. To be cheap means to consciously decide products/services of inferior quality. To be frugal means to be careful in the usage of one’s resources. As to not rehash the first post (click here), I have thought of clear distinguishing examples that will help those that are wrongfully accused of being cheap, when they are actually frugal:

Bringing Outside food/beverages into the Movie Theatres

-Now this is just being smart, $5 for a bag of popcorn?!? $3 for a bag of candy?!? Bringing in your own treats from the dollar store does not only save you money, but is being a smart consumer.

Buying No Name Brands vs Brand Names

– In some cases the difference is minimal, and if you can’t distinguish the difference, then it makes no sense to spend an extra few cents to a dollar just to have a ‘name brand’; specifically I am referring to grocery items. However, if you do have a general disdain and find the products of no name products to lack a certain taste/quality than a brand name – then sure, go ahead and go for the name brand. But choosing an equally comparative brand is not cheap, it is being frugal.

Event Parking

– I live in Toronto, where they like to charge enormous amounts of money for parking in the downtown core – many big cities have a similar and worse situation. So what is walking a few blocks to your event if it is going to save you money in the long run? That $15 flat rate parking is only a cost for easy convenience; while the $5 parking lot down the street or the free parking (a few more blocks away) will make you do something that you should already be doing – exercise! Get your ‘walk on’ and save a few bucks, be frugal, don’t waste your money.

Be Frugal NOT Cheap! Like moi!

.:: LiBM ::.