Category Archives: Social

Attitudes & behaviors in society; looking at the past, present, and future characteristics among people.

Hip-Hop, Social

The United E-Thugs of Internet Soldiers

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Internet Soldiers!

The growth of the E-Thug

They …
Spend all of their time threatening people over the internet to compensate for their ‘lack of a life’ and hatred of humanity for not accepting him.

They …
Are a computer geek that only exists on the internet and thinks he is top sh*t by typing in CAPITALS, swearing excessively and thinking they can beat you down in a fight.

They are the E-Thugs, because they will never think about getting at you in the streets; they exist only in standard unicode web fonts.

BE CAREFUL WHEN you approach these characters they may TWEET you to death, TEAR UP that wall on your FACEBOOK, and simply mess up your MYSPACE … thought they will never breach your physical space … lames!

.:: LiBM ::.

http://www.sneeko.net/images/macros/e-thug.jpg

Popular Culture, Social

Buy Yourself a Personality: Motorcycle

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Buy Yourself a Personality: Motorcycle

I never got what the excitement over motorcycles are; many people find thrills in ‘being one with the road’ and living dangerously as one pothole or rock can be a devastating life-ending accident. I like my life. And which is why I am not a subscriber to the motorbike craze, I am not against motorcycles completely – I recognize their value in fuel consumption, insurance, and their ability to weave through traffic. Many people are willing to fork over 10-40k for a Kawasaki, Honda, or Harley for a mode of transportation that can only be utilized certain times of the year – some people have a lot of disposable income OR are buying some personality for themselves, such as:

Rebel
– just having any kind of bike makes one look like a bad boy – someone who is a rebel against the system. This stereotype is sometimes the furthest thing from the truth as that Kawasaki rider is probably some computer analyst for a multinational corporation

Defiance
– bike riders always seem to have the perception that they defy authority; they don’t follow rules, they break them. The other defiant trait is that bikers weave through traffic and push the speed limit; if you don’t perform such a behavior then you either have gotten a very costly speeding ticket or you are just a ‘poser’ – something that a biker never wants to be seen as (even if it is true).

Gear Head
– it is assumed that any biker is a gear head/bike and car junkie; meaning, they know everything about bikes, cars, how to fix mechanical issues, and so on. Bikers will be seen almost as an authority figure on bikes, and will be asked about the new bikes on the market, questions about torque, horsepower, and other performance and maintenance issues.

Playboy
– it is automatic, one will instantly see a change in their love life. Girls that didn’t think you were hot before will suddenly have a change of heart (Mike Jones Syndrome). And of course, they will want to go for a ‘ride’, and I say give them a physical one, and a metaphorical one … you dig?

 

In all, one of the big things that you get from buying your personality (via the Kawasaki, Yamaha, or Honda) is the ‘cool’ factor. You will get the looks, the stares, the glares, the envy – just be careful, for some that is more lethal than heroine.

 

 

.:: LiBM ::.

Logic, Love, Social, Work

tan(010) – Importance to women is a hard route to MapQuest

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Super Tangent(010)

Night out with friends, prep your route, importance, workplace exit cues

Preamble: Ahhhhhh, feels good to get writing these tangents again – its not that nothing hasn’t been pissing me off (there is never a dry spell of that), just been busy focusing on more topic related posts. There is a correlation I think between tangents/rants (pent up anger and frustration) to producing great content; whether it is art, writing, sports, or singing – frustration seems to affect performance (for some), well for me, looks like it is positvely correlated. So, haters, busters, chumps, pricks, hacks, and lames – keep doing your thing!

Night Out with Friends

Maybe it’s the anti-social nature in me, or maybe it is the years of experience waiting for people, picking up people, people not being ready when they said they will be – but I do not really enjoy the process that preceds going out to the club/lounge with friends. I know there are some folks that bask and really like this stage of going out; but I repel it, try to avoid it as much as possible. My usual experiences usually goes like this: friends get the ‘cheap-bug’ and want me to drive, they are reluctant to pitch in on gas & parking, and then there is the waiting part (see my various posts on ‘time’ to understand that). Recently I have tried to bypass all of the elements that annoy me of the club process by telling my friends that I will meet them at the venue – but somehow that never pans out as expected. Maybe, just maybe, in the future I will pronounce that I will not attend, and then magically appear – thus saving my time, money, and sanity.

 

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Preparing Your Route

Maybe its one of those weird logical things that only make logical sense, but if I were going to an address that I don’t know – I will not ask directions from other people; as usually these directions go somewhat like “turn left after 2 lights, the 4th street turn right, after you see the school go for 2 more blocks then turn left”, and so on. More times than not in those situations, a key count of a light or street is overlooked, which leads to one getting lost. So to avoid those situations, one should search out the directions on Google Maps or MapQuest so that they can print out or write the directions – especially if you have days/weeks advance notice in knowing that you have to be at this specific location. It baffles me that some people who use web communications daily, do not rely on the web to solve a simple problem such as directions. People need to be self-reliant in solving life’s simplest problems, don’t rely on others solving your issues that you could’ve easily solved yourself with a little effort and time management. Step your game up!

 

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Measuring Importance

Women have a hard time in understanding. Period. Wait, that was too ‘black & white’, maybe not ‘period’, because women have no problemo in understanding what is important to them – but lord help you for women trying to UNDERSTAND anything that DOES NOT relate or affect them (ooh, isn’t that ‘selfish’, lol). That is like trying to explain color to a man that was born blind, teaching a dog to speak several human languages, understanding the meaning of life – it is damn near impossible and will take years to accomplish. I don’t think there is more need to elaborate other than that women usually have a tendency (yes, strong stereotypes are being used) to only have concern for themselves, and to f— everything else, everyone, and there desires. So fellas, as I have said many times in tweets, posts, in relationships it seems that you got to sit on your knees, cup your genitals, give up your independence, brain, and pride to your woman – if you truly want to make her happy … (that was sarcasm). Stand up fellas, don’t let these birds peck at you; if you had fear before, get some courage you cowardly Lion – stand up.

Workplace Body Language Cues

This is for all those in the work environment, I am sure you have experienced a million times already. I can’t stand when people don’t pick up on body language cues that I drop, that indicate that: a) I don’t care to sit and ‘chit chat’, b) I have lost interest in the conversation, or c) I really don’t give a f— in engaging in this mindless dialogue. I usually drop cues such as backing away from them, turning my body away from them, begin typing on my workstation again – but it usually doesn’t work as they still talk; talking about what they did last weekend, what they will do this weekend, about the boss, blah blah blah blah. I have to blame myself for this, I have to rant on my behavior because I am a very good attentive listener. I give good attention cues such as nodding head, saying stuff like “oh really?”, “wow”, “ok”, “that’s good”, and so on. Essentially, I may be motivating them to talk more as they are picking up on my verbal responsive cues, and may be ignoring or not even noticing my body language cues … and they say that “Body Language speaks louder than Verbal Language”, well, not in the workplace environment, at least not for me.

.:: LiBM ::.

Logic, politics, Popular Culture, Social

Euphemistic Styles

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Subtle Punk’s

Euphemisms: The new way of insults, respectively

First, the title image probably has no real correlation with this subject (if it is, please comment), I just thought it was funny.  Now, Euphemisms are literal devices in languages; as it provides people to be genuine in the verbal manisfestations of their cognitions with regard for other’s sensitivity. In Laments terms, a euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener. There are all kind of euphemisms from those of a sexual nature, to classism, to racism – all done subtly, and at times without one realizing what is truly being said. Some common and interesting euphemisms are:

“Enhanced Interrogation Technique”
– another term for torture

“Fertility Cente”
– an infertility centre

“Taking the Browns to the Superbowl”
– using the tooilet

“Salad Dodger”
– A more polite term for someone overweight

“Hard Gas”
– Soiling oneself.

“Richard Cranium”
– the short name for ‘richard’ + cranium (head); an insult


Designed by Scritch & Scratch

.:: LiBM ::.

politics, Popular Culture, Social

Defining an Era or Error: CC Jeans & L.A. Gear

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CC Jeans & L.A. Gear

Defining an ERA or ERROR, a sign of the 90’s

Whether it was just a sign of an era or an error of the times, these brands defined the early 90’s for awhile.  Looking back at the lines, esepecially with Cross Color, didn’t anyone tell them to look at a basic color wheel?  A color wheel would of shown what colors do not match, but I guess that was a mute point since Cross Color had a cultural significant meaning behind it (wiki them to find out).  I would say that LRG (Lifted Research Group) is the Cross Color of today; in terms of making clothing with political and social messages – but LRG looks much better than Cross Color ever did (see comparison below).

With L.A. Gear, they were a staple when they launched the shoes that lit up; every kid and teenager wanted to have lights flash everytime they walked.  For awhile, they were giving Nike a run for their money, but the downfall of L.A. Gear may be attributed to over saturation and overall tackiness of the ‘shoes that light up’.  In the end though, L.A. Gear still survives, and even still makes some shoes that light up.  In their prime, they even had the late great Michael Jackson endorsing their shoes.

  

// Cross Color Jeans:
Cross Colours is a clothing brand launched in 1989 by Carl Jones. Launched on the premise of producing “clothes without prejudices” Cross Colours helped establish a fashion market based around black youth. The clothing was used to broadcast political and social messages.

LRG

Cross Color

 

 

// L.A. Gear

 

L.A. Lights: One of L.A. Gear’s most noticeable lines, which came out in early 1992. L.A. Gear began marketing shoes with red LED lights in the heels, and once a wearer’s heel hit the ground the lights would light up and continue to do so with every step. L.A. Gear went further in 1993 by introducing the L.A. Tech line of performance athletic shoes, which moved the light to the rear of the shoe and allowed it to be removed from the heel if the wearer so chose to do that. Although L.A. Gear eventually discontinued this line of shoe, many off-price brands of shoes added lights to their shoes and continue to do so to this day. (A recent line of children’s shoes made by Skechers also featured lights in the shoes).

 

 

 

.:: LiBM ::.

Health, Social

Natural Morphine for Social Media Stressors

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Designed by Ringuchan

Utilize your natural Morphine abilities

The roles of endorphins

A famous line once said that the “end of stress, is death”, and this couldn’t be more true – as from when we are born, stress is all around us; and it is even said that how we respond to stress determines our physiological and mental health. A determinant to our overall health lies in how we respond (cope) in stressful situations; and a stressful situation can be an internal or external stimuli; and the common coping mechanisms are alcohol, illegal and prescription drugs. The latter of the two aim to reduce stress by allowing the receptors in the neural pathways to produce analgesia; which elicits a sense of relaxation – a good feeling. During the hard times of the 80’s in the Reagan Crack eras, with unemployment high like it is now, people got addicted to heroin and other opiate related drugs to cope with the stress; many drug users became addicted to the substance and developed habits that debilitated their personal lives. What many people don’t understand is that your body has the ability to produce the same ‘high’ feeling that xanax or any illegal opium drug can provide – and naturally.

Endorphins

Endorphins are endogenous opioid polypeptide compounds. They are produced by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus in vertebrates during strenuous exercise, excitement, pain, death, and orgasm, and they resemble the opiates in their abilities to produce analgesia and a sense of well-being. Endorphins work as “natural pain relievers”, whose effects may be enhanced by other medications.

The term endorphin rush has been adopted in popular speech to refer to feelings of exhilaration brought on by pain, danger, or other forms of stress, supposedly due to the influence of endorphins. When a nerve impulse reaches the spinal cord, endorphins are released which prevent nerve cells from releasing more pain signals. Immediately after injury, endorphins allow humans to feel a sense of power and control over themselves that allows them to persist with activity for an extended time.

For the Social Media Afficiando

Key differences; naturally producing endorphins by engaging in some sort of physical activity is better than producing endorphins through other adrenaline rushes such as fear, pain, danger – in terms of stress. But even after you had the day from hell, and you hit that gym, do that 1/2 hour on the treadmill, push that iron, the same stressors will be there tomorrow – only difference is that you did not destroy your liver through drinking or damage brain cells through marijuana or crack. So, try to modify the stressors!

For the social media affluent aficionados who are frequently on their iPod, blackberry’s (funny how the plural of blackberry is ‘blackberries’), and on the computers commenting on the many ‘interesting’ occurrences in their lives or the TV show they may be watching; they experience certain levels of stress too – slow internet connections leading to frustration in downloads, e-beef with twitter followers, programming and design stumbling blocks, etc, sometimes the best thing you can do is to remove the stressor for awhile. That means, walk away, put down the iPhone or berry. Take a walk or go to the gym; do something tangible and active … and then tweet about that!

.:: LiBM ::.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endorphins

Logic, Media, Social

Authority Figures and the Social Media World

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Authority and the Social Media World

 
It may have been said best by Bertrand de Jouvenel:
“The phenomenon called authority is at once more ancient and more fundamental than the phenomenon called state; the natural ascendancy of some men over others is the principle of all human organizations and all human advances.”

All societies operate on the concept of authority; as some figure or body of government has the ability and power deliver punishment on individual(s). Since the Roman civilization, authority is used as a deterrence and an instrument of justice; punishing those that break the laws of a society. In contemporary society as it relates to the rule of law, an authority figure would be law enforcement, military, intelligence services – and as we have seen in certain countries, the use of power in punishing others can be very relenting, and even the legitimacy in the authority figures and its ideology can be questioned and revolted by a society (i.e. Iran). However, without a body to enforce the rules and order of a society, then chaos is sure to arise as man can not govern itself freely. There are several differing types of authority according to German Max Weber, they are Rational-legal, traditional, and charismatic.

Social Media Urban Context

“Modern societies depend on legal-rational authority. Government officials are the best example of this form of authority, which is prevalent all over the world.”, however this type of authority is not respected much by the growing industry of ‘Social Media’, as governments find it increasingly difficult to regulate the Internet – the most prime example is the government in Iran who have failed to block certain social media sites; as the people in that country have used technology, specifically the use of IP Proxies, to get around the government crackdown. In Western countries, governments try to establish rules and laws, however much of the enforcement is scattered and not effective as there are many socially unacceptable sites dealing with underage exploits.

“Traditional authority, which derives from long-established customs, habits and social structures. When power passes from one generation to another, then it is known as traditional authority”, as it relates to social media, this is a toss-up: on the one hand it seems that the Internet community on a whole has some group personality traits; groups will isolate those that don’t fit their site ideology, and sometimes delivering disparaging comments will make one very popular. So it can be said that the customs that we develop in the tangible world are being transferred to online interactions. However, the argument can be made that the sense of anonymity and impersonal nature of what the Internet provides, has created a crude and rude culture – that has always existed in the physical world, but the Internet has exacerbated such attitudes into behaviors.

“Charismatic authority is that authority which is derived from “the gift of grace” or when the leader claims that his authority is derived from a “higher power” (e.g. God or natural law or rights) or “inspiration”, that is superior to both the validity of traditional and rational-legal authority and followers accept this and are willing to follow this higher or inspired authority, in the place of the authority that they have hitherto been following. Some of the most prominent examples of charismatic authority can be politicians or leaders, who come from a movie or entertainment background”, couldn’t have been said any better. In this social media realm, many are titled an ‘authority figure’ just on their ‘swag’, their ‘charisma’. This is a falsity, and should be corrected as many people are being handed the magic wand of ‘authority’ when they have no real power other than their popularity – which in some cases can be very powerful in influencing masses. However, they can not really ‘punish’ people other through isolating other people – which can be just as damaging psychologically as a physical blow can be.

The follow-up to this will be a highlight of such ‘authority figures’ … hopefully it will teach us whom has the real power, and whom is just faking it!

.:: LiBM ::.

Entertainment, Logic, Media, Popular Culture, Social

Unconfirmed Sources Confirmed

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Verifying the Unverified Reports for Confirmation

The role of sources in a lightning fast news environment

With the whole aftermath of the passing of the King of Music (no, not ‘King of Pop’, King of Music mofo’s), on June 25, 2009, there will sure be a debate on the issue of ‘unconfirmed’ and ‘confirmed’ reports/sources. Like everyone, I started to receive txt msgs, Blackberry messages, tweets about Michael Jackson being hospitalized; so immediately I wanted validation, my first instinct was to tune to CNN. At CNN they had confirmed that he was hospitalized, in parallel, TMZ was reporting he had already passed via their ‘unconfirmed report’. The BBC, CBC, all rushed to change graphics to that he was ‘dead’, and they cited ‘unconfirmed reports’. However, CNN didn’t follow suit; they did mention the ‘unconfirmed report’, but they always followed up with “CNN has not confirmed”. At this time, BET was already dedicating 106 & Park to MJ, Fox News was saying he passed; all based on an ‘unconfirmed report’; now allegedly not from TMZ, but from the L.A. Times (where their site went down due to traffic).

Unconfirmed vs Confirmed

I deduce that an ‘unconfirmed report’ is little more than ‘hearsay’ or ‘gossip’; originating from someone that is not an ‘official’ or ‘professional’, or has not been validated by secondary and/or external sources. As like many, I was flipping news sources to see any variations and/or similarities in the coverage, then something happened that cemented why CNN can really stand by the moniker ‘The Most Trusted Name in News’, CNN’s I-hate-immigrant-workers Lou Dobbs personality chick had a live interview with the L.A. Coroner’s office that gave the official statement – confirming the ‘unconfirmed’. Of course, as we have all found out, the ‘unconfirmed report’ was accurate
This is important in an ultra fast paced news dimension of tweets, internet, and cable news where information travels lightning quick; one’s sources are paramount in lending validity. I am sure CNN felt mounting pressure to follow their cable news network peers, but doing so would of undermine their journalistic integrity – as I am sure for many news networks and websites, the goal was to get the information first versus getting the information that was correct & confirmed. I have a new respect for CNN as they have help protect the journalism community, as with life as it is with journalism, “A man is nothing without his word”, exchange the obvious with ‘news organization’ and ‘sources’.

 

.:: LiBM ::.

Social

Nerban’s constant flow

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nerdwgraf

Keep Flowing

Tips to keep the mind running

 


Following links in Wikipeda
Just search a random topic in Wikipedia, it could be a historical person/place, a terminology and/or definition, or a product. Enter in the search string and simply follow the links that are on the first page that you view; since Wikipedia references and links pages based on relationships, you can easily and quickly become informed on topics that you had no knowledge of. And we know that the more knowledge is powerful – even though it may be random topics, this technique should keep your interest for a few minutes … maybe hours (depends how much of a nerd you are).

 


Ambidextrous tries
Pretty simple task that is challenging – try to write with your opposite hand. This is an amazing challenge as it takes you back to grade school as you have to practice holding the pen, arching your elbow in the right position, and then trying to increase your writing speed – this is not an easy task. However, the benefits are paramount as you will increase your concentration and focus, and will be able to write with both hands – so if a corrupt regime cuts off one of your arms, you will be able to clearly write your memoirs.

 


Commenting
Some of the funniest and interesting part of the Internet is reading the comments that people post. The voice of the people is sarcastic, crass, lewd, rude, anecdotal, and sometimes very humorous. It seems the anonymity and impersonal communication that the Internet provides has allowed people to say things that they probably normally wouldn’t during face-to-face interactions.

 

.:: LiBM ::.

Cre8ive Abstract, Social

Buy Yourself a Personality – Tattoos

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Buy Yourself a Personality

No personality is uniquely distinct; our personalities are the sum of various parts of our social, biological, and cognitive world. For some it takes years to find out who they really are, but one sure shortcut on getting a personality is by buying it. Saves time, hassles of over-analyzing, and can be implemented very quickly.

One quick time saver is the infamous tattoo; a marking made by inserting ink into the layers of skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons. Tattoos have been around for centuries starting around the Neolithic times and have served many purposes throughout history as a mark for rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts. So it can be said, that the purpose of a tattoo is an expressive communicative symbol that gives insight to one’s personality … or for the sake of ‘buying yourself a personality’, one’s personality can be molded to fit the tattoo of their choice:

The ‘I like cute things’ tat

 
The ‘I like showing off my body’ tat:

 

 
The ‘I am a rebel that defies conventions’ tat

Logic, Social, Technology

tan(009) – Broken earphones cost 5 cents in exams

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Tangent 009 – 5 Cents a bag, phones in exams, earphones

5 Cents a bag

Before, it used to be certain grocery stores that would charge you 5 cents per bag; the tradeoff was that the grocery store offered lower prices and didn’t invest in things like food sampling, bagging your groceries, and the like. Now, all commercial stores imaginable from grocery to retail, now have to charge 5 cents per bag. It is really starting to become a nuisance as I will go to one of my regular stores, shop, and then get shocked when the cashier asks me if I want bags – then I do the usual, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot’ thing, and privately cuss to myself that this is asinine.

Phones in Exams

I am sure that everyone can relate to an exam situation in school where the prof said “everyone turn off or silence your phone”, and half-way through the exam, a loud annoying polyphonic sound emits from some student. The student tries to coyly turn it off, but it never works, and the class is disrupted. Whenever I go into class, exam or not, I have the common sense to say to myself, “ok, its time to turn off or put the phone on vibrate”. I don’t understand how other people can simply forget this common act of courtesy and decency. You have to be an idiot or a moron to not have the foresight that your phone might ring in class, and it would be wise to check before you enter class. Simple respect for the prof and your classmates, you lame.

Earphones

The earphones for your iPod/mp3 player will never function properly for more than 1 year; I think there is an exact science to it. Earphones are designed to only last a few months before one side of the earphones ceases to work properly – one side may not produce sound at all, or it may produce a reduced sound. I have had walkmans, Discmans, various iPods, and over time the earphones will crap out. Always. I never thought of investing in expensive earphones, but I may just have to pay the price to enjoy ‘ear to ear’ continuous sound.

.:: LiBM ::.