Words few

Approach the minutiae of life with child-like joviality and curiosity, for only then can you appreciate what it means to live.

Dearth

Some (a hopeful number) may be wondering why I have not been updating this blog as frequently as I used to, especially now that I have graduated from college. Well, to be quite frank, my summer has been full of two things: working, and writing.

I got a job (not the most enjoyable nor the most profitable, but it gives a bit of money), and I have been writing a book.

Yes, a book. B-O-O-K. It's a thing with more words than your average blog post.

At this point, I've written ~35000 words, though I feel that I am not even halfway done. To be concise about the plot, in case you were wondering, it's a bit of science fiction that I have had on my mind for the past several years. I actually started out writing another story, but hit the writer's block wall so hard that I rebounded and headed in the opposite direction. Considering that I've been writing for a little more than a month, I feel quite impressed with myself, though the story might be a trite pile of crap.

I guess we'll see how it turns out in the end. Hopefully I'll finish it before I move to London.

Oh, and if I didn't mention it, I'm moving to London at the end of September. Woo. Wait, not excited enough.



There we go.

Anyway, if you were at all curious about what I have been doing (and I really don't know why you would be, I'm about as interesting as a snail race), that's it.

And no, you can't read it. Yet.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg

Rant.

Several notable things happened this past week: Roger Clemens was cleared of perjury charges, and I got paid, finally.

Why should I write about Roger Clemens? Exactly. What the hell should I give a damn about him lying to Congress? Hell, why should he or anyone have to testify in front of Congress about steroid use in baseball?
The United States Congress is the lawmaking body of the country. What business they have in investigating steroid use in the MLB is beyond me. They might argue that because the MLB is related to interstate commerce, and thus under the purview of the Congress, but, I can't stress this enough, it has no bearing whatsoever on the functioning of this country. None. Too much time and money has been wasted on the circus-like hearings of former MLB players while there are so many other national issues to be dealt with. That being said, how long have these investigations been going on? I remember this going back to 2006 or so, though I'm sure it may have come up before then. How come the damn bankers who traded in derivatives haven't been arrested and tried? How come Dick Cheney never had to face major scrutiny because of his private security force or his unwillingness to cooperate with multiple investigations of the executive branch because he claimed "legislative exemption?"
Pitiful. Pardon my French, but fucking pitiful. A country that spends so much focus on a non-issue is disheartening and deserves scorn.

Now, onto a lighter issue, my recent paycheck: A quarter of my money was taken for taxes. A quarter. Out of a minimum wage salary. This is absurd. Minimum wage is not a survivable wage, especially when it is taxed. If Republicans are so big on tax cuts, then cut taxes for those who actually need the damn money rather than people who make over $500K.

There, rant is done.

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Regressive Taxation

I'm all for taxation. No, seriously, if a portion of my money goes towards social services that are both necessary and that I can use later in life, why not support taxation? Sure, there are those people who demand all their money, "they earned it," but without taxation, I'd hesitate to think about what would happen if your house were on fire.

That being said, some taxation is ridiculous, namely a tax on people who earn only minimum wage. Minimum wage, on average, nets a person only ~$15,000 per year. That is, for someone who only goes through the minimal amount of shopping, barely enough to survive. What I find appalling, however, is that some people make that in a month and don't pay taxes at all.

I make minimum wage at my part-time job. Unfortunately, it's not a great job that gives me many hours (even though I would love some more), so I've applied to a second job that will probably also pay me minimum wage if I am hired. I need all the money I can get, seeing as I will be in London this October, studying for my Master's degree. Sadly, I am not on track to make much at all.

What is the point of taking money out of the hands of people who need it the most? I realize that many taxes for lower income-earners are mandated at the state level, but still, it is quite unreasonable to tax those who rely on every single cent. I'd call it class warfare, but it seems that it's only class warfare if people with too much money are taxed.

That's my two cents, now give it back to me since I need to save my money for later.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg

Nowhere Man

If you were hit in the head with a brick and spent the last year in a coma, then you'd have a viable reason as to why you haven't heard anything about the Arab Spring. As of right now, the Arab Spring, as a whole movement, is probably the largest pro-democracy movement the world has ever seen. As of right now, the formerly dictatorial regimes in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, and Libya have all fallen, whether it was through public pressure or rebel insurgency. Also as of right now, many countries still face huge public opposition, notably Syria, Lebanon, and Bahrain.

I suppose the question I want to ask is, does NATO's intervention in Libya to help overthrow Moammar Ghaddafi create a precedent?

To put it in more eloquent terms, because of the supposed mission in Libya where NATO promised to arm and defend civilians with the express purpose of ending the human rights abuses in Libya, is it now incumbent upon NATO to intervene in other countries in the middle of their Arab Spring uprising?

(Unfortunately, the 2nd half of this did not save, so I'll try to reconstruct what I wrote from memory.)

In my opinion, yes, NATO has the obligation of intervention in the Arab Spring, especially in cases where there are gross human rights violations. In Syria right now, there have been multiple cases reported of the Syrian army massacring entire villages, shelling towns with mortars, entering houses and gunning down families, etc.

So, what is the difference between Libya and Syria? What do they have in common?

• A dictator? [Yes.]
• A rebel army? [Yup.]
• Human rights violations? [Definitely.]
• International condemnation? [As always.]
  
• A large oil cache? [Uh huh.]

So what is the difference between then and now? Elections. The US is the principle actor in NATO, typically authorizing and overseeing its actions. Obama knows that he has lost a good share of his support over the past 4 years due to his inability to close Guantanamo Bay, his support of nuclear energy, bailouts, etc. He also knows that if he takes action against Syria, the Republicans, to the malaise and exasperation of the non-FOX viewers, will lambaste him for "wasting tax dollars" or some other reason. (I'm quite sure that if a Republican were in office and were to take action against Syria, they would justify it as "ensuring democracy" or whatnot. Partisanship is tiresome.)

If I were President Obama, I would have done away with his ill-advised attempts at partisanship years ago and acted like the man who had so much promise so long ago and who was given the Nobel Peace Prize simply for not being George Bush. The Republicans will berate you no matter what. And, you know what, you're the president; you have access to the greatest resources in the world. Use them. Sway the American people.

Since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been intransigent and unwilling to yield, it falls upon the international community to act on behalf of the people being massacred, especially NATO, since there is now the idea that the large democratic countries will support democratic movements.

So, NATO should at least show the same support for the Syrian rebels that they showed for the Libyan ones, just to show that for once, election-time doesn't predominate above what should be done.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg

Why Facebook is the Stupidest Investment You Could Make (Right Now)

Facebook, the ubiquitous social network, star of the movie "The Social Network," and black hole on which people spend way too much time (including myself), became a publicly-traded company this past week. Yes, that's right kids, your parents can own a small percentage of that webpage where you stash all your raunchy photos and stalk your ex-girlfriends (or boyfriends, not discriminating) from afar. Unfortunately for Mr. Mark Zuckerberg and his book of faces, the stock price hasn't risen since a slight increase on day 1 of public trading.

If it wasn't obvious to everyone else but me, Facebook is not a company that is geared to make money. It is a company that relies mainly on advertising for revenue; aside from that, it has no product to sell and no outlooks as to other products it might release. Zucks recently stated that the company could come out with their own phone, though because the smartphone market is so saturated and dominated by a few major companies (Apple, Google, etc.), the prospects for a Facebook phone raising their dwindling stock price (now at $31; highest level: $40) are about as good as world peace befalling Earth tomorrow. Ain't gonna happen, sadly.

Facebook, fortunately, has the capacity to be an advertising giant; as of right now, an estimated 800,000,000 people have accounts (including myself, sadly). That being said, one still has to gauge the effectiveness of the advertisements on the target audience; I'll use myself as an example. On Facebook, I set my birthday as 7 December, 1941 (Pearl Harbour strike, for those of you who have never read a history book). So, looking at my ads right now, I have one asking me if I'd like to enter a nursing home and if I'm over 40 and single. Well, I may not be over 40, but I am single, so ladies, and this might be crazy, but I'm single, so call me maybe.

If Facebook hopes to succeed as a publicly-traded company, they need to take the Google approach and diversify. Google started out as a simple search engine and has grown to become one of the leading technology companies in the world. They only hire the best and brightest, which has helped to accelerate their company growth. As of right now, Facebook is just a social network, and one that I'll hopefully leave after this game of Words With Friends.

If Facebook's stock drops too low, then expect something crazy or bold to happen. Hitting the half-price mark from where it started only conveys that the company was a red herring and is worth about as much as a single internet server. At that point, Zucky will have to make some tough decisions about his company's future. Can they compete against Google? Can a single social network really become a marketable company? Will Mark Zuckerberg ever find true love?

I honestly expect, somewhere down the line, that Google will buy out Facebook for controlling share of the company. It might end up being the only option for the Zuckmeister as investors realise just how worthless his big internet billboard is. If you want good investments, look into small companies that just started, read their portfolios, and see if they actually have marketable worth.

I know this was a little different from my usual spiel, but I love railing against Facebook.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg

Contrivances

I'm not sure what to write, really. Yesterday, I graduated from Rutgers in a big procession full of pomp and excitement and a sense of ludicrousness. Having a commencement speaker talk about how rich he was certainly did not ease the incendiary sun above, which promptly burned my face, giving me the appearance of perpetually being embarrassed about something. He wasn't inspirational except to those who want to dominate the business world, and since that is most certainly not me, I essentially spent a good two hours being roasted like a pig at a luau. Whoop de doo. I feel especially sorry for the graduates wearing black robes (business school, I believe, which may actually be fitting and slightly ironic (no offence to my business school friends)), as I removed my robe, rolled up the legs of my pants, and put the university commencement program magazine on my head to block the sun, and that STILL didn't protect me. Damn my pallid, semi-transparent skin.

After that was the actual political science graduation. I must say, it was truly remarkable being able to assemble all those incredibly useless, expendable, indecisive people in one place and have the whole process go off relatively expeditiously. (I joke. Or do I? I've become a new level of the word "sardonic.")

One would think that, with a name shared by several notable people, i.e. an athlete and a rather famous inventor, that the name would be not commonly mispronounced, especially in a state where the athlete is pretty well-renowned. One would also think that writing out one's name phonetically on the name card would exempt me from having my name mispronounced, just like so many frustrating past teachers and substitute teachers and various others have done, squinting at my three-letter name, furrowing their brows, staring into the letters as if they would pronounce themselves, but, nope. It's almost as if the universe decided, "hey, let's poke fun at this kid just one more time at the last possible chance that would definitely make him look ridiculous in front of his peers." And so they did. As soon as I heard the mispronunciation of the first syllable, I shook my head and walked on with an expression tantamount to having just thrown up.

It certainly wasn't the greatest day of my life, nor was it the worst. It was just another day, honestly. I mentally checked out months ago, probably around the time I was accepted into graduate school. My grades certainly reflect this: for a class where I could bring a cheat sheet to both the midterm and final exams, I received a B. What's more, I'm pretty sure that my professor gave me the B out of some laughable pity because of my graduating status. The professor was a good guy, he legitimately liked what he taught, but even so, I couldn't bring myself to care much about folklore. Or, really, at all. Sorry professor, but I'd rather be tickled by a cactus than watch another movie about trains or singing cowboys.

There was a point after the whole proceeding where I sequestered myself from the brouhaha and sat on a bench adjacent to a nice stone path that I had walked on often to get to class. I had to take in this place just once more, just absorb the towering trees that created a verdant cover from the sun, look out over the small, arched stone wall to the river, see a view that I might not ever see from that perspective again. That place had evolved from my residence into a home. I even designated a tree my favourite, a silent, isolated spot my own; this place had become familiar in the most intimate way, and I am not ashamed to say that I loved it all.

One might say that my experience is not unique to me, that every student feels the same sense of withdrawal and immediate nostalgia that I am feeling what millions upon millions have felt. The only problem is, no two people will ever be completely the same. Everyone will always have a unique story to share, a different emotional connection to make to a place, so no, my grief is not the same as everyone else's. My feelings are built upon my own unique experiences at Rutgers, god damn it, and therefore everything I feel is my own and will always be uniquely mine. No one will ever feel the exact same thing, so this is a moot point of condolence. All that can be said is "move on," and that is all anyone can really ever do.

And so, here I am on the cusp of the beginning of all things, debating whether or not my real life will begin. I think I'll make it so, otherwise, I'll be perpetually waiting for an opportunity that will never present itself.

The person who waits for his life to always begin should be the instigating factor in that life. So, graduates of all, don't wait for opportunities; seek them out, take advantage of their benefits and learn from their failings, and never, ever be satisfied. There is always more to do, more to learn, and new adventures right around the bend.

This little opus makes me think that I might have been a better commencement speaker than the rich guy who talked about how he made his money. I guess political science did do one thing for me: it primed me for a tiddly bit of arrogance. Eh, I'll live.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg