Why I think Math Problem Sets are more annoying than Essays.

If you accidentally prove something false on your homework that should be true, it would cause mathematics to collapse in on itself.

thank you, science.

You know, I’m not always the biggest fan of science.  I mean, you know, sometimes chemically flavored food scares me.  And, I mean, you know, some kinds of juice really creep me out.  And, growing organs?  Cool, but creepy.  Knocking genes out?  Science fiction?  No, my friend, Science FACT.

But there is one thing that science did RIGHT.  and that’s Loaded Baked Potato Pringles.

They actually taste like a loaded baked potato.  How did they do that?  I don’t even know.

Final thoughts on Juno:  Frustratingly cute.

part 2.

After a long, irritating series of phone calls, I was able to block my card and get a new one.  I still don’t know my account number.  Apparently, in order to know that, I already have to know it?  I’m not sure.  I’m getting my new card delivered on Tuesday by UPS.  Problem?  UPS can’t deliver to me in here unless I’m actually *here*.  Which means another trip down to, you know, 81st and whatever.  Great.

thank you for banking with citibank.

So, I was getting food at the dining hall, and I handed the woman my card.  Then, it was gone.  So either the woman stole it [which, you know, I don't think she did.  That's kind of arbitrary.] or the girl in front of it took it by mistake when the woman behind the cash register accidentally handed it to her.  The girl walked away by the time we realized neither of us had the card.

So, I got a free lunch.  Who says there’s no such thing?

So now the problem.  I need to cancel my card, right?  Well, I call citibank lost or stolen cards hotline, and they ask me to input my account number.  Well, on all my bills [online and otherwise] it only shows the last four numbers.  I don’t know where I put my checks [since I literally never use them.] and the account number doesn’t exist elsewhere.

So, I call customer service.  The automated voice thing does not allow me even past the first few questions before it asks me for my debit card number.  I don’t have my debit card.  I don’t know the number.

So, really, this is an exercise in not fucking up for me — but, honestly, citibank should be a bit more user-friendly.  I’m sure that NO ONE has ever lost a debit card before, but, honestly now.  Making it completely impossible to stop it or even contact citibank is ridiculous.  There isn’t even an option to wait for a human on the phone, as far as I can tell.  And the website is a joke.  They don’t even have an FAQ for what to do.

Ugh.  This is so irritating.  I have to literally sit back powerless.  So frustrating.

oh, so, good.

“Not that you lied to me but that I no longer believe you – that is what has distressed me.”

Or any of its many-and-varied translations, I feel, is probably one of Nietzsche’s most applicable quote.  Much more than god being dead, much more than staring into an abyss, and slightly more than the way we should treat women.

Its beauty comes out from under its shell in a sparkling coat of sequins when we realize that we can replace “lied” with just about anything — and, after minor alterations, produce a statement that is just as powerful.

In general, we have:

It’s not what you did to me that has upset me, but, rather, the fact that I can no longer trust you.

Powerful stuff.

it’s a slight of hand

Are you kidding me?  53 degrees?  Monday?  Well, weather.com says that it’s only going to be 43.  Either way, awesome.

Now egyptian essay.  I’m going to fail it.

egyptology.

My favorite thing about egyptology is that there probably isn’t enough textual or archaeological evidence to be able to refute the claim that the Nubians were sexploited by the Egyptians.

This is gonna be a tough paper.

Heat!

For all’ya’ll who thought I was playin’ about my heat, I got this under my door this morning:

(fascism).

Whenever I work on a project for a long time, I tend to try to explain it to lots of people. When they don’t get it [because of my random rambling and my awkward method of proof by "it's trivial!"] I try to think of easy examples that “are like” (or “approximate”. ugh.) the point that I’m trying to make.

One of my many-and-varied ideas is that the “ideal” form of capitalism — or, rather, the form that capitalism approaches if we consider division of labor increasing, and need for man-power decreasing — is a kind of strange state, indeed.

This state can be seen by a kind of limit approximation: first, we start with Adam Smith’s whole hub-a-loo about the division of labor and all — where labor gets spread out, and workers become more specialized at one particular “part” of work. Machines come along, which are able to link many parts of the job together, as well as take the place of workers for a considerable amount of the work. Now, here’s where everyone else goes one way, and I [completely missing the point] go another — I feel that capitalism, in this way, approaches a kind of end-state where factories will exist to power other factories [for example, one factory can use machines and minimal manpower to manufacture food for a factory that converts manpower and minimal machinery into parts for the first factory.] because in this way, there is no overproduction as all parts are used and are otherwise useless. Surplus is a myth, then.

So, anyhow, this end-state can be thought of as two factories: Factory A makes parts for Factory B, which, in turn, makes parts for Factory A. Ad infinitum. Ideal capitalism. But, we notice something here: that Factory A NEEDS and IS NEEDED BY Factory B, and vice versa. Man, in this case, becomes subservient to the needs of machine, and, in fact, Man is not even really needed at all in the true end-state! But, at every moment BEFORE this end-state, manpower exists in the form of the worker — it must have the worker completely dominated by instilling the idea of the NECESSITY of the existence of these factories.

In diagram form, we can have arrows to who needs who. So A ==> B means “A needs B”.

Factory A <==> Factory B

Capitalism’s End State ==> Domination of Worker.

Capitalism’s End State ==> Idea of Factory’s Necessity instilled on Workers.

Capitalism wants Workers ==> Means to Live (?) ==> Factories (?).

Okay, so. A lot of people have been telling me that it is completely unrealistic to consider two factories making parts for each other — and it is. It’s also an extremely negative view of this end-state capitalism [which I, for some reason, keep calling Ideal Fascism].

But ideal fascism isn’t restricted to just negative implications of capitalistic destruction.

I guess a good question would be, what else can a factory [or a machine?] make?

Let’s let the product be Orgasm and the producer be a Human.

Let’s, in fact, name them. Human A = Jeff, Human B = Judy, to be heteronormative. Jeff [hopefully] gives Judy Orgasms, and, in return, receives Orgasms. The other-way-around is also true. Is this an example of ideal fascism?  No, because of masturbation and polyamory [in the loosest sense of the word], Jeff doesn’t REQUIRE Judy and ONLY Judy to get his rocks off. How can we get rid of masturbation and polyamory then? With a form-substitute for capitalism, maybe. (Make’em a sin?)

There. Fascism never felt so good.

let it be known.

Today is the first day I rode my bike without using my hands on a straight road.  I know it doesn’t sound impressive — but it totally is.