Mismo's blog show

WHAT WE NEED IS TRUE CAPITALISM

2009-10-30T11:06:00.001-07:00

UNFORTUNATELY MEXICO IS HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON THE US ECONOMY.
THEREFORE EVERY KEY MACROECONOMIC INDICATOR HAS PLUNGED IN THE COURSE OF THE LAST YEAR. THE PESO IS LOOSING GROUND AGAINST THE DOLLAR AND INVESTMENTS ARE FLYING OUT OF THE COUNTRY.
ON TOP OF THAT MEXICO IS A COUNTRY WHERE PRETENTIOUS POLITICIANS AND CORRUPT CORPORATE POWER MAKE THE MATTERS FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON.

I BELIEVE THAT THE RISE OF EASY CREDIT IN THE US WAS FOR THE MOST PART THE MAIN REASON OF THE DEBACLE OF THE US ECONOMY. MEXICO IS IMITATING THAT KIND OF BEHAVIOR, BUT THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT PEOPLE DON'T EARN ANY WHERE CLOSE TO OUR NORTH AMERICAN COUNTERPARTS.
SO PEOPLE TAKE LOANS AND END UP PAYING INTEREST THAT COULD BE TAKING OVER A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF THEIR PAYCHECK.

I DIGRESS, THE PROBLEM WE ARE EXPERIENCING IN MEXICO AND GLOBALLY IS THAT WE HAVE USED ONLY PART OF THE BASIC FUNDAMENTS THAT CAPITALISM WAS BUILT ON. AS KEN WILBER POINTS OUT WE HAVE CONCENTRATED IN THE IT ASPECT OF GROWTH WHICH IS MATERIAL AND TANGIBLE. WHAT WE NEED IS TO RESUSCITATE THE NOTION OF MUTUAL BENEVOLENCE.

THE ECONOMY IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR THAT MOVES THIS WORLD, BUT LETS NOT FORGET THAT ECONOMIC ACTIVITY SHOULD BE WITH PURPOSE. SO FAR NO ONE HAS YET DELIVER A PURPOSE OF GROWING FASTER AND MORE EVERY YEAR. I AM AFRAID THAT IS LIKE THE OLD TALE OF THE BABYLON TOWER. IF WE KEEP ON GROWING WITH OUT OUTLINING THE PURPOSE OF SUCH GROWTH, IT COMES TO MY MIND THAT WE WILL COLLAPSE ON OUR OWN JUST AS THE BABYLONIANS DID.

If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out

2009-08-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

TOE

2009-08-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched two episodes of a documentary about Stephen Hawkins struggle to find a theory of everything. I was really blown away by some of the content, nevertheless I think he is mistaken in naming it theory of everything because it is really about something in particular, namely the creation of the universe.

Einstein also tried to come up with a TOE and he died trying to come up with it. Again he was also focusing on a mathematical way to explain everything which is nonsense.

Ken Wilber is pushing for a more integral theory of everything, but in the end any given theory of "everything" is indeed about everything dealing with certain aspects, but it would never cover everything. For that reason I believe that more than a theory of everything we need solid "general" fundamentals that would allow us the privilege to be fallible in order to make the necessary adaptations to the available knowledge.

In any case, I also believe that since our nature is temporal in essence it would be impossible to uncover things that go far beyond our time line development.
That despite the common say that some intellectuals are ahead of their times, yes is true, but they are ahead of something that they are exposed to. That is we cannot solve problems that we are not aware of... something big coming... Soon?

The latests news!

2009-06-05T06:54:00.000-07:00

1. I burn myself with the iron machine.
2. i came to a sudden halt while ridding my skateboard and I hit the ground pretty hard.
3. It hurts!!!

long long long long lolololololololong gone...

2009-05-29T16:57:00.001-07:00

...And for the millionth time. I am back! I am back and I am an upgraded version. I am proud to say that now I am Mismo 2.0 beta (if you have a Mac then you'll never get me to work ha haha).
What am I up to?
Well now I am trying hard to get a job... maybe hardly trying.
I also managed to conquer my chief editor and now I live with her in downtown.
That in itself is pretty kick ass. Specially this summer because all the construction work around here makes me feel like I am in a bigger city. I only need to see the rats running around to feel like the ultimate cosmopolitan. I swear I had come with the most amazing gags to write about but they have vanished because I did not materialize them... so I have got nothing to deliver for now only words and more words. At this point if you keep reading you can tell that I am getting nowhere...
Let's now take some time to do an introspective exercise:
1. pick a word
2. repeat the word until it makes no sense
3. think about the word so much that you awareness makes you escape the material world
4. welcome to you radical nothingness through which you create and stablish meaning to everything!

I told you! I am coming back hard and more confusing than ever!

Beers, Tests, Swine Flu, and Graduation

2009-04-28T12:45:00.001-07:00

I guess those are the topics that mostly roam my brain... I guess my girlfriend would sat that I spend 99% of the time thinking about being on a boat 9 if you know what I am saying). I am not sure how the finals week is at other Colleges, but here it seems to be inconsistent across disciplines. For example Science students are crazy busy and so are the people taking keystone classes. Business students are pretty calm, unless you are taking accounting. Music and Art majors are for the most part resting out from their senior shows. Me? This year I decided to push my limits to the extreme. I wanted to attend as many social events as possible. I figured it was doable since I have been keeping up with my classes... except finance. In any case I did partied it up on the weekend and I paid the high price of a terrible hungover. So know I am crunching in some precalc and tomorrow I'll have to dominate the art of osmosis to learn everything I know for my test on Thursday.
This picture demonstrates how someone can learn by osmosis. I hope it works!

Legacy

2009-04-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

Tonight current and future members of the homemade crew gathered to chat about next year's ambitions. I stepped in the meeting with the usual irreverence, and I feel bad now ha haha. So as a part of the goodbye to the team I want to spell out my legacy.
When I joined the team I was not so sure how to manage myself to write thingies on a wall for the school. Soon I realized that the site gave me power to raise my concerns and to point out to the bad. YES I COMPLAIN A LOT, AND YES I MANY TIMES DON'T CARE TO REVISE FOR SPELLING OR PERFECT GRAMMAR... believe me I know! In any case the only reason I brought anything to light in this wall was because I love Augsburg. My intentions we purely in the best interest of the College because I want to make of it a better place for the people that are yet to come to this wonderful lab of amazing individuals. In any case this little space only caused so much controversy mainly in selected circles of the school and never broadly and that's cool. I hope someone picks up on that after 05/01/2009

Thanks Homemade and thanks Augsburg.

Ben Folds - Myspace Gig - Learn To Live With What You Are

2009-04-20T16:20:00.000-07:00

Monday

2009-04-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday, April 20, 2009. Unlike any other Monday this is the last Monday I'll ever have undergraduate classes at Augsburg (hopefully). Since I woke up it was a weird feeling to know that I would be living the last week of the 4 year journey I started 3.some years ago.
The past weeks I have been in and out from events to celebrate a number of things. I had to deliver a few word in a couple of them, but I never got to thank everyone that has impacted me in any way during this time. The reason for that is that I did not want to come looking like a movie star thanking my peeps for taking me to the academy awards podium.
In any way here is the list of people and organizations I want to thank from the bottom of my heart. My time at Augsburg and my life would not be the same without everything you have done for me:

The WEC house
CCHP
CSWL
Campus Ministry
Office of the President
Institutional Advancement
Grounds Crew
Facilities Management
Reslife
Library staff
Homemade
Day Admissions
The Enrollement Center
Academic Advising
Administrative Accounting
Business Department
Economics Department
Custodial Services All Over Campus
CGE
Marketing and Communications

SPECIAL THANKS TO
Dianne Detloff
Debra Winsor
Lynn Ellingson
Nate Gorr
Mike Perry
Brian Emerick
Bruce and Cindi Rowe
Fatimah and Sisavanh Panemalaythong
Bruce and Sharon Reichenbach
Orv and Cleta Gingerich
James and Rachel Trelstad-Porter
Marissa Machado
Beth Carlson
Jon Vaughan-Fier
Nancy Guilbeault
Paul and Abigail Pribbenow
Kathleen Tuckner
Jeanne Boeh
Kevin Bowman
John Stein
Boyd Koehler
Elizabeth R Joyce
Martha Truax

Thanks so much Augsburg!

Play it!

2009-04-17T09:17:00.001-07:00

Justice - Planisphere
Uploaded by Noel_anonymouse

Graph O' Day

2009-04-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

see more Funny Graphs

Friday!

2009-04-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

It has been a wild week! I have never imagined I would be required to attend so many events in a short frame of time. It is really nice to get to know some more people at these events. It is also really nice when they feed me well. Last night I had two main dish plates, and I loved it. I will say that Augsburg Seniors really capitalize on food on the last few weeks of school. I am not on a meal plan because I am cool like that, ha haha. My fridge has been empty for a while and it seems that next week will be empty still. Well well maybe this entry is completely nonsense, but that is the consequence of the senior party... which deserves its own post so see you there...

Please someone interview me

2009-04-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ha ha ha. I have been imaging myself over and over again saying my last thoughts about Augsburg. Of course being accompanied by music that I like on the background.

Brutal honesty!

2009-04-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

You might be aware that I have raised questions about the green movement here on campus.Well I have to speak up again. It just really bugs me that it is receiving so much marketing. The most recent Augsburg Now issue is almost entirely devoted to the green initiatives on campus. I think it is bs to give such a weight to it. Why? Because this campus wastes so much energy and water. Furthermore, there are a ton of dorm rooms where there are water leakages. Who is doing anything about that? I mean it is extremely easy to get everyone on the hook to subsidize the wind energy and the hybrid security car. I believe that this hole green gag it is just a hippie trend to try to be avant garde. There are no efforts to address old issues like the ones I mentioned above. I don't want to be mean but you could do more than just do the trendy cool things. Why doesn't someone works on having the school fix some of the heating and colling systems that waste so much energy year to year?
Mismo why don't you do it?
Easy, I am not bragging about how coll the college is because its green initiatives.

Rcap

2009-04-09T11:16:00.001-07:00

I guess I hung my hat for a while. I really wish I could come hard during these few weeks that remain in my Augsburg experience. Reality is that creativity only illuminates who wishes to be illuminated, and I have not been to the task to seek for such brightness. In fact, I guess I been blinded by the light, which lately has made me very passive in ALL of my activities. I can still feel a little Kierkegaardian about life... Oh shit I am late for tabling....

Try to run, try to hide

2009-04-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

Papers, taxes, tests, lab reports, recitals, applications, phone interviews, job interviews, financial aid, all star chandelier royale, drunk karaoke, senior party, organization transition, court citations, spring dinner, budgets, economic forecasts, market rallies, obnoxious bonuses. THE REAL WORLD HAS NEVER BEEN CLOSER TO YOU...

2009 Commencement Coming Soon

College Major: BeerPONG

2009-04-03T00:09:00.000-07:00

Extreme Beer Pong

Check this out!

2009-04-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

Motivation Breakdown

2009-03-31T22:39:00.000-07:00

Fuck! Fuck! and triple Fuck!.
Tonight I feel like being profane. Why? I am fed up with all the shit I have to do. Lately, I feel as if everything I have done during my college time is not going to have an immediate impact on my life after graduation. Maybe I just did not tried hard enough to be placed in a job. BUT seriously how is a person supposed to do well at many different activities at the same time as trying to make a living and enjoying being young. I think that society has progressed too much towards the service sector, which I think it sort of implies that a bubble has been created in the realms of human capital. Every year many more people will be graduating with business majors and given the current situation there won't be enough jobs offered. The problem this time can not be solved to ameliorate the great depression unemployment rate. Back then a "man" could be used to do physical labor or manufacture. What are we going to do now with all the people sitting home with degrees in business? I don;t think many of us are up to the challenge of becoming a construction worker. Even then the pure fact that it is becoming ever harder to get a job suggest that the value of a college education should be waited against the odds of living during times of recession, global recession, or depression. Let me tell you what. If you don't have a solid plan or a good network, college is merely an expensive paper. What about knowledge? Well that is also deemed by the growing general consensus that dictates that in order to help the development of any field one needs credentials...

I am not pessimistic, rather I am pretty fucking realistic.

Stairway to Heaven!!!

2009-03-26T14:12:00.001-07:00

Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven live
Uploaded by quististrepe

Only a few weeks left of school

2009-03-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

it is crunching time for all students at Augsburg. However, there is a distinction among classes. These distinctions can be noted as follows:

You might be a freshman if you find yourself slaking until the very end.
You might be a freshman if your papers have not gone through at least one peer review session
You might be a freshman if all you think about is to meet with your high school friends over the summer

You might be a sophomore if all you do is to complain about how life is hard and insufferable
You might be a sophomore if you are sick and tired of applying for summer jobs

You might be a junior if you are starting to worry about getting closer and closer to experiencing real life.
You might be a junior if all you think about is of getting that internship.

You might be a senior if all you talk about is how tough is to get a job, but still go out and party to celebrate the soon coming graduation
You might be a senior if you have googled "entry level positions in Minneapolis"
You might be a senior if you just realized that real life is all you have been exposed to, now you know that you needed to be more Realistic in post graduation assumptions....

Back to School

2009-03-22T14:42:00.001-07:00

A radical view on income inequality

2009-03-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

Heated debates about the righteousness of the positions of liberal and conservative groups have been obvious in the arena of free markets, taxes and government spending. As we have seen in class, the liberal arguments tend to highlight the positive side of the lower right quadrant while conservatives highlight the negative side of it. It would be common sense to find the equilibrium where these arguments are in harmony. Nevertheless, in the real world this is very hard because several issues with conflict of interest among the people in power.
In this paper we argue for the radical side in regards to the ongoing issue of income inequality.
Our main purpose is to point out that neither liberals nor conservatives have addressed the issue appropriately. The argument we make is that income inequality cannot be treated as a disease that can be cured with government spending nor believing in free markets.
After analyzing the liberal and conservative agendas on the issue we decided to comment on something that at first seems to be out of context but that quickly becomes a solid argument for solving the inequality problem. First of all, with the aid of Ken Wilber’s integral model we briefly analyze some empirical evidence on labor evolution and the relative wage. Secondly we provide with some insights made by the greatest radical political analyst of our times, MIT professor Noam Chomsky. Finally we provide a conclusion and the possible results of our radical agenda.
Empirical evidence supports the idea that as there is more technological progress; there will also be higher wage inequality between people with high school education and higher and those without. One can see this theory in light of the four quadrants developed by Ken Wilber. In addition it is also helpful to look at the relationship between wages of those with high school education and those without education (WH/WL) for the time period from 1960 until 2000.
First, Ken Wilber describes the four stages of mankind going from a foraging economy to informational global economy. Moving from one stage to another, all the quadrants must operate efficiently and be in balance for the economy to operate well. Looking the last centuries, the move from an agrarian early state/empire to the industrial nation states can help us to understand this better. As the industrial revolution evolved in the late 18th century, there was also a move from in the in the lower right quadrant from agrarian to an industrial nation state. However, this imbalance will lead to what Ken Wilber refers to as flatland. This is because it was perceived that these new inventions to produce clothing and other goods cheaply were good for the country. Now, this was a state of flatland as the upper left quadrant was in great imbalance; human being’s hopes and desires were not balanced. One can also include the outer needs of the individual which states that one has to have food and clothing as well as the inner needs of the society which needs shared beliefs and goals. London, England is a great example as it was one of the cities where the industrial revolution first emerged and by 1951 half the population of England lived in London. This is in great contrast to the agrarian economy of England, when most of the people made a living by working on farms.
This is also close related to Maslow’s hierarchy of an individual needs which at the bottom of its pyramid has physiological; the next stage is safety. As referred to previously in this paper, the transition to industrial economy brought a lot of hardship for people identified as low skill workers as there was an imbalance in the adoption of new innovations. As the society gradually developed, diffusion allowed industrialization the economy was allowed to operate more efficiently.
One can now compare the move from an agrarian to industrial society with the move from an industrial to an informational society. The economist Kevin Bowman has done some research on the relative wage of high skilled workers to that of low skilled workers. Bowman’s focuses on the context of economical development from 1960 to 2000, and points out the effects of technological slowdowns on fluctuations of the relative wage. This evidence supports the theory that a move from one stage to another will cause an inequality to increase. The research shows that as there is more technological progress such as in the 1990’s; there will be a greater wage inequality. One can also refer to this as skill biased technological change where the high skilled with high school or more education will benefit in times of more invention and innovation. On the other hand, as average labor productivity increases and as there is greater adoption, the low skilled will benefit because there is a little invention and innovation, or little adoption. Thus, as machines takes over more and more jobs; people will have to be able to operate machines and adjust to new work tasks. In order to this; people need education, this is main reason for the large wage inequality. There are more demand for educated workers which then will drive the wages and creating inequality. In terms of the four quadrants one will have to move in all quadrants; in the lower left to become more centauric, in the upper left to apply vision logic and in the upper right to reach the stage of SF3.
As more education and skills is required to obtain a job, there are more layers of knowledge and skills a person has to cut through in order to learn what is required for a job. Another interesting fact is that college tuition tends to follow the wages of the high skilled workers in an economy. As there is more invention and the high skilled workers wages go up relatively more than those of low skilled workers, so will also the cost of education go up. Thus, in this paper we argue for measures which will make the move from one stage to another more balances as it allows the society to operate more efficiently by taking into account all the needs of the society as described in the four quadrants.
Now, we would like to turn our attention to the underlying issue of this paper. According to Professor Noam Chomsky it is very revealing to analyze the nature of the democratic deficit in the US. Polls have revealed an astonishing 95% of the population whose opinion is that the government does not take into account the general public opinion when legislating new policies. Chomsky goes further by providing the example of the disastrous national healthcare system which has been a widely known concern of the general public for several years. The response to this issue by both republicans and democrats has been poor. Neither of them has addressed the public demands, which clearly illustrates that power first serves the interests of people with vast amounts of wealth. In any case the main point we are trying to raise is that the vast majority of the time both liberal and conservative executive decisions are in favor of few people which does not represent the general public in the US. Thus in order to solve any problems, the imbalance in the realms of political decision making cost benefit analysis must be radically changed.
Another great point that Noam Chomsky is famous to stand for is his analysis on the abuse of double standards. Chomsky has a long career in depicting the innumerable cases where politicians have made use of double standards. The clearest example of the abuse of double standards by politicians is the typical conservative who argues for free markets. Just to come back in the future arguing that the government should subsidize certain industry practices in which the politician or its superiors hold stakes. Similar cases could be made for liberals.
Taking into account Chomsky’s arguments, we can move forward to analyze the issue of income inequality. The basic problem that we argue to be the principal driver of income inequality is the insatiable thirst for economic growth of the wealthy. This unsustainable growth requires the global economy to by pass several negative externalities, which in term make the economy more fragile and susceptible to bubble creations. Furthermore, this phenomenon creates a vicious cycle where the wealthy arbitrarily control the labor market by increasing or decreasing the demand for low skill workers. Let us take our current economic environment, because of the aggressive de regulation of financial market derivatives the entire financial system fell apart. The consequences of this collapse can be summarized as follows:
• People on the top of the income distribution took substantial losses
• People in the “middle class” saw their retirement accounts shrink
• People at the bottom of the income distribution may not have seen any loses comparable to the ones above mentioned
However, the loss of the people at the bottom of the income distribution will be a result of an iteration of the collapse –namely many of these people will be or already have lost their job. In retrospect, the wealthy profited from an exploited financial system and propitiated a collapse of which they took the biggest hit, and now they are passing on the consequences to the general public. Of course we know that the problem is more complicated than what we described above, but we think that the fact that the problem was originated by greed is way undermined.
Reflecting on Chomsky’s ideas, what we have learned in class, and personal experience we have arrived to an agenda that would ameliorate the issue of income inequality. As we have portrayed income inequality is not a surface problem that was solely originated by the discrepancy in the relative wage. It is also a result of an uncontrollable desire to get more, because more is better. Moving away from capitalistic practices has been seen as either communism or socialism thus creating a sort of taboo in people’s minds because those ideologies are almost believed to be evil. Political debates are often destroyed by ad hominem attacks as the words socialism and communism carries negative connotations such as sharing and spreading wealth. These attacks do not allow for a debate to be reasonable and the aim is to put the our argument in bad light.
For that reason we want to make clear that we do not stand up for any of those alternatives, because they have already proven to be ineffective. We believe our agenda to be radical because it transcends the ever ongoing debate between liberals and conservatives. It strikes the root of the problem and it provides an honest forecast of the possible evolution of the economy if applied.
As argued by other radicals we believe that it is essential to create an income ceiling. Secondly we stand for a minimum wage that does a better job at trailing the standards of living. Thirdly, we advocate the implementation of more effective welfare programs.
The imposition of an income ceiling will attack the root of the problem which is the bottom-line greed. A positive externality results from this because if people are not tempted to cheat the system to make more and more profits, we will see a more stable business cycle. We do understand that there are implications about coming up with newer stuff and development. Our response to that is that we already have so many advances to digest, that it would bring a greater payoff to have most of the population to catch up with the current stock of knowledge.
The second point in our agenda is to really push for a minimum wage that effectively trails the changes in standards of living. This will allow for people in the lower sections of the income distribution to build up real assets. It is also true that having a higher wage the transitioning away from welfare will be more plausible.
Finally, we turn our attention to the last point of the Ragli-Monterrubio agenda. Our argument is that welfare is necessary to help people move away from poverty. In doing so, it is crucial to avoid creating dependency. It is here were our radicalism differs from others because we believe that a true change can only be achieved if everyone works towards it. In this case people receiving welfare will be progressively being asked to do something in exchange for the monetary aid. Mostly, we would like to pay this people to learn. Maybe in a more detailed plan there could be a pool of needed professions or tasks that are in scarce demand which the government then could offer to this pool of people. The objective is that gradually this people will be able to get positioned in the labor market thus reaching economic freedom from the government.
We now that the points we offered in our agenda to combat income inequality make people uncomfortable and some other just laugh at them. The truth is that, we guarantee that if these were undergoing changes we will experience a tough time while the markets adapt to the new rules. However, after that we are positive that we experience much balanced business cycles.
In summary, the global economy is always undergoing invention, innovation and diffusion which depending of their individual magnitudes will impact the general productivity and more specifically the economic growth. Tools such as the four quadrants developed by Ken Wilber and more recent research by Kevin Bowman are essential not only to analyze these changes in history, but also to give us an idea of how the future will be. In addition, it is also fundamental to add to the integral view of Wilber the need to address the democratic deficit that is devastating the US. That along with truly radical reforms to the economic system could well send this country to be truly the first potency in the world. Not only militaristic, but also in its standards of living and economic equality. It is all about overcoming the chasm between our current state and a more sustainable one.

THE IMF

2009-03-20T12:35:00.001-07:00

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The IMF is an international organization which has over 185 member countries. The IMF was funded by John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter in 1944, and its basic objective is to stabilize exchange rates and oversee the reconstruction of the international payment system. In addition the IMF promotes international monetary cooperation, and orderly exchange arrangements in order to develop economic growth and high levels of employment. One of the biggest missions of the IMF is to provide temporary financial assistance to countries to help them ease their external debt. The basic purposes for what the IMF was created remain the same, however, the IMF has adjust the way it carries out it operations to meet the changing needs of the member countries. The three main operations of the IMF are: surveillance, lending, and technical assistance. The first one deals with the monitoring of economic and financial developments. Furthermore, it provides policy advice aimed especially to prevent crisis. The second major task of the IMF is lending to countries with problems paying their external debt. Finally the IFM provides technical assistance to countries in its areas of expertise. The IMF is able to do such things Supporting all three of these activities is IMF work in statistical and economic research. Ever since the IMF has been around world trade has tripled from 1960 to 2005. There are people who have negative criticism against organizations such as the IFM and the World Bank. People like John Perkins author of the book “confessions of an economic hit man” claims from experience that “the U.S. [and allies] use globalization to cheat poor countries out of Trillions.” His main point is that the so mentioned and worshiped economic growth of the past decades has just helped the upper level classes, and made the poor even poorer. Moreover EHM’s through out the world have manipulated such economic data to encourage poor countries to borrow and then have IFM bailed them out once they can meet their payments. In My opinion is really hard to tell whether organizations like the IMF really help poor countries or it just helps the world’s top corpocracy to keep them down.

Oh Yeah!

2009-03-20T07:49:00.000-07:00

see more Funny Graphs

Today

2009-03-20T07:27:00.001-07:00

see more Funny Graphs

Today

2009-03-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

Ha haha Spring Break in MSP

2009-03-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

see more Funny Graphs

Graph Jam of the hour

2009-03-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

My general theory of everything

2009-03-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

Again looking back in to the history of this world... I am going to make a rather outrageous comment despite the fact that I have trained myself to reject any generalization... This is MY GENERAL THEORY:

Men and Women kind will never reach harmony. The fundamental reason for this is the innate human nature which pushes the vast majority of us to want to be better, to stand out, to want more.
You might ask yourself: Innit that what makes this civilization to progress?

And you are right, it is! However, the survival of the fittest has gotten so out of hand that the very goal of the evolutionary process has been compromised by humanity's irrational and impulsive behavior. If we could for instance remember that a point in time we were seconds away from nuclear disaster, then it comes clear that the battle of humans to become better than others, or the simply the best can only end up in disaster. I firmly believe that if an effort is not made to truly become globalized in the humanitarian sense, then we are doomed.

I hate to even think about the idea that another war can result from the shaky economic environment...

This is Interesting!

2009-03-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

For anyone who would like to inquire more about history and economics!

< href="http://therealnews.com/t/">

Keep up!

2009-03-18T10:54:00.001-07:00

Another way to put the bailout

2009-03-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

The economy

2009-03-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking that in general people show a rather insufferable fake concern about the state of the economy. Why do I say that? Well just be honest with yourself. You can be worried about the market but to a large extend you'll keep to do as you please (if you got fired as a result of the crisis THIS IS NOT FOR YOU). You'll complain "blah this, blah that, Obama is going to save us." Then you will go back to your normal and also insufferable systematic way of living. What happens next? Well everything is being put on the shoulders of a few that before addressing the critical situation have to get over the long debate between CONS and DEMS... So in the end they do whatever they want and YOU take it because the president uses words and phrases like Hope and The American Families... If the only reason the Gov is intervening in Wall Street is to avoid further catastrophe in the economy, then I don't have any other alternative. The truth is that the problem is that economy is inflated by everyone who thinks that more is better.

Free style

2009-03-10T13:54:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to write something, but I really don't know what. My ideas seem to escape me lately. It is like nothing I have came up with has materialized on the wall of this blog. My days as a college student are counted and I can help but to be in a very Kierkegaardian state of thought. "...Summa summarum, I do not care[I want to graduate]"
It is beautiful! It fucking rhymes!

A little Philosophical

2009-03-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday in a casual talk the the follow question came up: where the time goes? We all know that time ain't tangible, but if it was... Where would it be? I guess that question just pushes the limits of the human understanding. The truth is that time is a perceptual experience to the human body. That is time actually goes by slow, but our memories can not recreate the feeling of time because our perceptions move through time itself...

Going through old files

2009-02-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

I was just making a cybertrip through time and I saw some new comments on past posts. One that caught my attention in specific was some anonymous person complaining about artist like Dan Perjovski because they make (abu)use of current jokes to make simple and according to the him/her unskilled art. I disagree with this view because as I pointed out back then, it is not the ultimately technique or skill of the piece that matters. It is its idea and the concept is delivering. Many times being overly complex and abundant is not the answer. Sometime keeping it simple is far more effective.
On top of that Artist criticize and analyze the contemporaneous society which is a fundamental part of the way intelligentsia is capturing any given point in time.

People are inherently stupid

2009-02-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

I could not avoid to comment about a post that I saw in Ali's blog, which points out the inconsistent view that some people have about economic policy. I think that time and time again this problem keeps pointing back at the fact that double standards are widely use to keep down and sabotage any type of progress directed to the general public. The fact that we call it bail out when is about corporations and socialism when is about normal day to day people, only adds to the long lasting fight to keep capitalism alive in a way that benefits certain people and NOT ALL THE SOCIETY! Yeah all the technological benefits of capitalism are great, but who is there to ask if it is worth it to come up with all this new goods every year at the expense of inflating the pace of economic growth and thus accelerating human decay by damaging the natural resources in irreversible ways?(maybe that last sentence is the biggest run on ever)... as Ron White would joke about "you can't fix stupid" and I think we all are for believing that capitalism and free markets would always be better than having some sort of control.

A good fit

2009-02-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

Well I think that it is evident that many people are not happy to see what happened to Mary Olson. It is also true, that no one really knows why it happened. The phrase "she was not a good fit" seems to be the only information available to asses the issue. I did not personally knew Mary, but every time I saw her, she was really nice to me. So I am not really sure what the problem was. However, I also think that comparing the administration with Hussein's or Bush's is kinda absurd. I had the chance to work in the president's office for a year and I did notice some tension among the executive committee, and I have to say that Mary was way more relax than the person who preceded her. In any case, I think that people should give the president's office time to offer a legitimate answer before we want to burn them down.

Continuation of what has not been finished

2009-02-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

It took me a long time to come back. I have to say that the main reason I have not been writing is because lack of motivation. I think I am being subject to that pre-graduation syndrome. In any case, today I direct myself to my beloved public (namely Joe Finstrom who is posted as fan #1) to give an explanation to the long expected continuation of the metaphysical view of the world I was elaborating on. In short, I have not formulated the continuation because I have been reviewing as much information of the development of economic schools and how that impacted the behavioral trends in society. As you might know, it took Adam Smith ten years to come up with the wealth of the nations. It took Ayn Rand several years to develop her philosophy of objectivism. Therefore, we can conclude that is going to take me 20 years to develop my treatise on the history of economics... that's if I ever overcome the commercialization of the world and actually get to write it... ha haha
So that's all I have to say about that. I would like to discuss the topic face to face with anyone interested, just drop a note on my wall.

Change

2009-02-15T12:13:00.001-08:00

For all this time!

Last Game

2009-02-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

Auggie United tonight we dine in hell!
... well maybe not, but definitely try to get this one!
It is the last game of regular season soccer intramurals. I know... I know I get to excited about a simple game... but it is really the only place i get to play... and it is the last year I play at Augsburg. So come support us @ 9:30we are the maroon team!

...and it keeps going down

2009-02-05T20:46:00.000-08:00

What if you don't have what it takes to keep on going anymore? You used to be quite good or decent but now you try and try and try harder, but is not working. So what now? I guess I'll fight until the end and then move on.

Spanish Lesson #1

2009-02-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

Everything that goes up...

2009-01-29T23:34:00.001-08:00

I was analyzing the historical line of my college Experience, and I found out that there are always some imbalances. Perhaps this is because the way things evolved in my particular case. I guess... that I really miss my glorious days of Sophomore year. I wish that (almost) everything was the way it was back then.

Il Meme: Shhhhh... Mismo.... Back to reality go get a job

Mismo: Porco Dio, Dio Santo... just a minute...

Types of liars

2009-01-29T23:23:00.000-08:00

I was just remembering a conversation that I had with my friend while we were on the streets of Paris. We talked about liars and the different kinds of them.
The first one is the myth kind of liar. They usually make everything extraordinarily exaggerated. They paint themselves as the ultimate hero. Those ones are not bas, actually is entertaining to hear what they have say.
Then we have the liars that lie not to hurt. Those ones are I guess ok. But we also have the liars that lie to hurt people and that to tap their lies keep on lying. Now those ones are the ones that you have to be aware of. Now, it is also true that we all lie. To our partner, our friends, our family, our co workers, our classmates, and specially to ourselves. That last one is the one we should be concerned about. Lying to yourself might you to actually believe your lies. And that shit is whacked! It can destroy any kind of relationship you have.
Remember, KEEP IT REAL!!!

A metaphysical view of the world

2009-01-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

In the midst of what seems to be a long lasting global recession, I cannot help to wonder why and how we got to be in such situation?
At the beginning I tried to tackle the issue in question, by thinking what everyone thinks. Some of those repeated words could be:
1. Greed
2. Bad decisions by management
3. Complex engineered financial instruments who no one seemed to understand
4. Disproportionate bonuses to top people
5. you name it!

After a while I realized that all these problems are really concerning. It also became evident the root of all of them when I analyzed the human civilization historic purpose.

If we go back all the way to the Homo Habilis(HH), is easy to see that the way the lived was precarious, but still one of the main concerns was to look for efficiency and effectiveness in performing basic daily basis activities.It took several years for tools to become developed and improved but they eventually did. These people learned how to create fire, etc. Then the ancient civilizations came and started to develop and inquire new knowledge. The "standard of living of the ancient Greeks was way better than the one of the HH population... And so is ours compared to the ancient Greeks. The fundamental purpose of the human civilization has been to improve its standard of living. All that is great, BUT I think that the current events are suggesting something so simple that is being overlooked...

more soon.

Obama

2009-01-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to comment on Obama's inauguration. All I really have to say is: people you really have to listen up to Obama's word and follow it. Avoid putting the load on his shoulders only. Just remember that he said YES WE CAN not YES I CAN.
Otherwise there's nothing he can really do to ameliorate the depressing situation we are in.

Comfortable

2009-01-26T14:22:00.001-08:00

I am sitting at the CCHP front desk and some one that was stepping out and made a pretty thoughtful comment. This enigmatic person pointed out to how comfortable this winter has been, because of the constant beyond low temperatures. That made me think that maybe life in MN or anywhere cold does not suck. Rather, nature might be telling us to slow down by making it harder to go out... maybe maybe not...

Global Influence

2009-01-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

After coming back from my trip I discovered that we can discover some aspects of others cultures from the comfort of our homes. For example, while I was in France, I suddenly became curious of getting some music from the country. I wanted to hear what people In Paris are listening to. However, it was ind of hard to figure that out over there since my French is less than basic. So when I came home I googled for French music. SO the moral of the story is that we can discover more own our own, maybe we just need a little push to do it. Perhaps remembering the words of Phil Gardner are helpful in this case too. YOU FIGURE IT OUT!!!

Phil Gardner

2009-01-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

Last night I shared the privilege with other Augsburg community members to listen to the word of Phil Gardner. Phil spoke about job trends and the current situation in the labor market. He has being doing research on the transitioning period from college to "the real world." Therefore, Phil was able to speak with authority about some approaches students like you and I can take to coast the financial crisis.
One thing I enjoyed a lot of his lecture was the fact that I share a lot of his Ideas about the evolution of the economy in the overall.

Phil strongly suggested the audience, specially student looking for a job, to get acquainted with the new set of requirements that employers are looking for in employees. I think he specially highlighted the fact that in our time is essential for us to be prepared to hear "you figure it out" and actually do it.(that actually has other ties which I will like to discuss in the future). So in short we cannot just sit there and wait for the answers to be given to us. Paraphrasing Phil, once we are out of college there is not syllabus to guide us through; we are responsible to write the syllabus and find the readings and resources.
Another big point that he made was that failure is not a bad thing as long as it is the result of trying to succeed. The key to success is never to take your eyes of the price.
To finish this post I just want to thank the people that made possible for Phil to speak here. Nice Work!!!

A link to Phil's Website
http://www.ceri.msu.edu/staff/p-gardner.html

Probably the most impressing thing I have seen so far.

2009-01-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

There it stands proud! The Eiffel tower represents everything I like and want to do in this life. Glorious! Clever! And yet simple!

I am back!!!

2009-01-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

This has been the longest time without me writing. I really wanted to document my recent voyage through the land of Europe, but I realize how difficult it was to find a computer and spend time writing. In this period I came up with good gags for this blog. Unfortunately 12 airplanes, 11 or 12 trains, and 50+ beers later I don't really remember anything. SO to start up the year I want to commemorate all those lost thoughts that we let go into the darkness to never see them again. I hope everyone had a good start of the semester, because I did not...

far away

2008-12-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

I guess that one of the perks of beingd on the other side of the pond is thtat you get to party twice.

FELIZ NAVIDAD mates!!!

-From MADRID iL Meme

Holidays

2008-12-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

I was chating with a good friend before taking off for my trip. To be honest I am not sure what her religious background is, but is defenitely nothing to do with Christ or Jesus. I was just wondering how annoying it has to be to deal with all the Christmas crap when you do not celebrate it...

Music

2008-12-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today I just realized that different musical styles communicate about the same message. Whether it is joy, sadness, deception, courage, drama, etc. music is always that one could relate to. However, there is crapy music... so in the end I am in the same place...

The other side of the weekend

2008-12-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

Now for the public that is more interested in exciting stories I have a good one for you. Like every year I threw a end of the year party. However, this time it was not as crowded, we did engaged in heavy drekke drekke drekke. It was a night of playing chandelier and 48 were completely gone within hour and a half. Now, I am not so proud of this because the night did not turned out well for me. After gaming, my party and I went to old dinky town to keep it up. As we were switching from bar to bar I tripped and sprain my ankle. I have to say it was very painful, so much that even though I was plastered I had to retrieve form the area. Anyway, that's what I get for not being responsible right. So listen up and learn from my mistakes and remember to always watch your step... like Johnnie Walker.

The weekend

2008-12-15T09:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend was probably the most unproductive weekend I had the entire semester. After a 9 week rally of studying and going to bed at 2am on average, this semester is semi-officially over. That is because I still have plenty to do in only two days. How's that going to happen? I honestly do not know. I have to make use of my brutal honesty and accept that I did not prepare well fro the closing of the semester. I seriously have little energy and I have half of my body in a different time zone already. That is my exiting end of the semester story. how's yours? I hope you are doing well my friends.

Ohhh Yeah!!!

2008-12-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

That is a little strange

2008-12-10T08:34:00.000-08:00

I think that it is kind of suspicious that the bookstore does not allow anyone in the textbook section. I think if textbook companies offered better prices they would not have to engage in such anti free market behavior. That in itself is a perfect example of how people like free markets only at their convenient discretion.

Seriously

2008-12-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

What the Fuck happened?
Like... for real no comments at all?

Ok I get it... I really do. It has been garbage. Since no one criticize me I'll take on that task too. In order to do that let me make use of the self interview mechanism.

Lewis: Hi il Meme! Thanks for joining us tonight.
il Meme: My pleasure to be here with you Luis... sorry Lewis... it is my accent.
Lewis: No problem! Could you please tell us what went wrong this semester?
il Meme: have I said that the wild duck has dove(abrupt interruption)
Lewis: Yes! Yes! Like a million times, but could you translate that to plain englis?
il Meme: Sure, my definition is as follows: The wild duck represents the world morals and ethics which have plunged like a mother fucker this year. Furthermore, the general public have their eyes on matters that are important, but which solution will not have an impact on the well being of the society.
Lewis: Remarkable, please continue elaborating.
il Meme: The current democratic deficit is not being address and every year it becomes harder to unionize the majority to strongly opposed to all the crap going in the power circles of this world. In fact I believe that from all times in history we are in an era where tyrants have us in their hands, because thought the commercialization of the world they have attained to idiotise the masses while keeping in check by means of fears, such as terrorism, financial crises, and violence in general. The way the have many of YOU idiotised is simple,they have made you believe your life is good. They have made a competitive conformist society which thinks despite of not believing in free markets still engages in its practice. As Noam Chomsky says it is bot about socialism or communism, it is about true democracy. The world is not going to be changed by Obamas or a likes. WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS IS FIRST AN INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION AN THEN A POPULAR REVOLUTION. Capitalism can be replaced by a better economic system. The real issue is that, rich people are afraid that their wealth will be reduced from multibillionaires to millionaires. Therefore, any objection to capitalism has been challenged.
Lewis: What do you propose?
il Meme: it has to start with intellectual centralization. One where intellectuals actually work together and not against each other.

Good Choices

2008-12-08T08:12:00.000-08:00

In his paper The Tyranny of Choice, Schwartz provides insightful reference the results of well being assessments by David G. Myers and Robert E. Lane. In which “increased choice and increased affluence have, in fact been accompanied by decreased well being in the U.S… as the GDP more than doubled in the past 30 years, the proportion of the population describing [themselves] as ‘very happy’ declined about 5%, or 14 million [roughly].” Moving on Schwartz starts to elaborate his thesis by explaining why more choices are not necessarily better. He recalls the economic principle of opportunity cost, and makes clear that “the quality of a given option cannot be assessed in isolation from its alternatives.”
Moreover, if we take for granted the fact that such opportunity costs decrease by large the attractiveness of the “best” choice, then the number of alternatives goes up. As a consequence, Schwartz argues many of us experience a state of paralysis that at the same time make the sense of loss bigger. The ultimate result of the exhausting decision process is less satisfaction from the final decision. Schwartz continues by adding more explanatory variables to his thesis. With items such as regret, adaptation, and high expectations being part of the formula of the consequences of having too much to choose from.
The conclusion of the paper is that even though having many options to choose from is a good thing, it is also truth that there is a threshold where more options actually turn into a negative thing. Although, Schwartz does not have an idea as where that threshold is, he suggests that we have long passed it.

Bourne, Jason Bourne

2008-12-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

What can I say... EXTREME WAYS ARE BACK AGAIN!
ENJOY THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE otherwise known as THE WEEK BEFORE FINALS !!!

Art Sale

2008-12-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

Anyone interested in buying some good presents for your family at incredible discounted prices, please stop by the Art Sale in Christensen center this coming week. Have in mind that you are helping the Art club to fund raise to go to New York next semester.

Bittersweet

2008-12-07T09:35:00.001-08:00

Yeah that's right! This semester has been bittersweet for me. It is my last fall semester and it has been the worse in terms of workloads. As a consequence I have not been able to fully enjoy my last steps in this academic sanctuary. As a matter of fact lately I just move my mere inertia. The true is that I have been trying to do many things at the same time and that did not work well at all. So my recommendation for Sophomores and Juniors is to start thinking about internships and other activities you want to do in the future now. That way if you want to go to grad school or whatever it is you will have time to prepare and won't have to crunch it all up in one semester. That's what I did and I gotta admit I have failed at pretty much everything this semester.

Where is education heading?

2008-12-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

I think is interesting reflecting on that. I believe that schools at the university level that is, and maybe high schools too, focus a lot in preparing students to be the perfect droids of the future system. The youth is regarded as the future of the world, because we are going to be filling out those work place spots in the upcoming decades. Anyway, back to the theme of education I think that no one is teaching people meaningful things regarding the development of humanity as a whole. It is also truth that no one really cares when they hear theories about it. I would argue person would have given up to the systematic workings of or globalized world when he or she is at the stage where changing the world does not sound appealing or it seems more like an impossible dream. AND that's what the people who control the world want. They want you to feel comfortable with your misery or with your success helping to alleviative some one else's misery. I guess the major problem in our society is that the fundamental problem that makes us miserable is not being discussed directly. It is rather broken down into several issues that if they were solved, which is highly unlikely, we will still be miserable. That problem is easy insatiable economic growth...

Inequality continued

2008-12-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

The economic importance of studying, analyzing and taking action in the issue of income inequality is that statistics show that the US has performed better when inequality levels have been at low levels. However, I think that as part of addressing the issue of inequality it is also important to get a little bit ahead of ourselves and look at the consequences of such growth. That is, we have to know if growing that much is sustainable. As a matter of fact that is a question that we can ask right now. Is economic growth worth the trouble? Are more choices and higher GDP levels making us better off in an aggregate picture? Unfortunately not, of course free markets will also heat up competition thus bringing several different kinds of products and services. How wasteful is competition? Is it worth to have completely free competitive markets at the expense of fundamental human needs like free health care, decent education, clean air, and sufficient water among others?

It is evident that the income inequality paradox does not have an easy solution, or maybe is so easy that no one actually pays attention to it. For instance, the income inequality problem in the US and elsewhere will not be eradicated without a popular struggle pushing for a more equal distribution of wealth. The ideas to reach an appropriate economic reform are out there. The problem lies in that many people argue that with all its flaws capitalism and the free markets is as best as it gets in terms of economic structure. Fundamental flaws in the system like the ridiculously disproportionate acquisition of wealth by a single individual, and the arbitrariness in corporate world practices are only commented on but never addressed. That is, I believe due to the decentralization of intellectual power combined with a media intoxicated mentality of the general public. As Noam Chomsky remarks, it is true that living standards have risen in the overall as a result of capitalistic policies. However, rising living standards were also material from the 1800s to the 1900s within slave societies. “Is that an argument for slavery?” –Chomsky
Is rising living standards within capitalistic nations a good argument for income inequality and ecosystem destruction?

Income Inequality

2008-12-01T13:29:00.000-08:00

It is very interesting to analyze this topic and this semester I have been able to actually look at it from different angles and points of view. Different angels because I am studying the impact of the increasing income inequality on health outcomes, and also writing a paper with a conservative view on income inequality. The most revealing of all this studies has been the connection with some of the ideas of intellectuals that I have been following. Most importantly Noam Chomsky, Stephen Bezruchka, Carlos Carlos Monsiváis, and Jean Paul Sartre. In addition I got recently referred to the ideas of Ken Wilber by one of my economics professors(That I mention, because I think I agree with Wilber's idea of integration, but I have to add that it is also about centralization). In any case, my posture in regards to the issue of income inequality do indeed agree with the radical position. However, I will like to be modest in arguing that my view, granted of amateur, actually transcends the what I call the mainstream radical position.
For Example the radical view to combat income inequality puts a lot of weight in enforcing a more equal and just income tax system. Despite the fact that radical thought thus suggest that a more unionized majority will have a greater impact on the policy toward more equal income distribution, they pay little attention to how to attain that unionization. Or rather fail to explain in more detail why is that the unionization has weakened since the last severe popular struggle. This is were I diverge from them, because I think that the most important single factor causing the present socioeconomic struggle in the US has to do with the passive manipulation of the media on the minds of the general public. I do have to make clear that it is more than likely that several other individuals might have ideas closely related to mine or perhaps about the same as mine...

Out of ideas

2008-12-01T08:50:00.000-08:00

It has been really hard to come up with topics to share in this wall. I guess I could used the day to day narration technique. Although my days are boring lately. I don't do more than studying and working. It was nice to have a longer weekend... still did tons of homework. At least I got to sleep in. Well like my dearest ex boss in the institutional advancement will sing: Back to work, back to work, back to work (of course a gag that only people that have worked as callers would get)... yeah right!

HS

2008-11-27T09:03:00.001-08:00

Some times in the Fall fall fall

2008-11-27T08:54:00.000-08:00

I have been bad about posting some pics of the international education week. I have been involved with this event year-over-year and it was pretty much the bes IEW I ever had.

pics and more stories to tell soon.

Flashbacks

2008-11-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

I was at the orchestra hall last night and I had good flashbacks of my Auggie experience. I am glad I got to come here and now I am getting ready to leave. Where? When? I really have no clue. Plan A is no longer active and plan B seems a little more complicated, but I'll try. I guess that's all I have for now. Happy thanks giving!

Arrogantly poetic

2008-11-24T16:21:00.001-08:00

Perfection is only a face of life, and I already moved on.

-il Meme (2008)

On the go!

2008-11-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

Well it is been indeed a long time since I last threw some lines on the wall of this lovely space. The reason? Well lately I have no life. everything revolves around books and computers that most of the times don't work. It is been the craziest semester I ever had. Working to subsist, working for experience, writing for pleasure, and of course studying are not very friendly when you put them together. Although, hard times can only mean one thing only. The future is going to be promising and full of devotion ... I can taste that black label. I guess CW is right, this is the true Augsburg experience and I think I love it.

Technology Fee

2008-11-19T13:40:00.000-08:00

Could some one tell me why do we get charged $200 for technology fee?
I mean it! So far this semester every time one of my professors attempts to use the technology in the classroom to illustrate something related to class, either the computer or the projector fail to work. Furthermore, there's been more than a couple times that I have not been able do use some of the programs on the computer lab PCs because the license has not been updated. What kind of joke is to increase the technology fee when it is breaking down all over campus. One also can realize that the computer terminals in Sverdrup Hall suck! They should be replacing those instead of spending money buying licenses for stupid windows vista which does not even work because the computers are not well suited to run it appropriately. Next time we found ourselves in a school deficit dilemma we should pay attention at how efficiently are our resources being used because at least the technology money is not being well spent.

FTW

2008-11-17T13:53:00.001-08:00

St Thomas is't any better...

2008-11-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

The past week I shared my interest in applying for the UST MBA and everything was going great until today. For some strange reason UST MBA admissions wants me to prove funding for the program before even admitting me. That, they say is because they cannot issue me an I-20 before I prove sufficient money to cover the expenses of the program. But that is so IRRATIONAL. Why in the name would I have to worry about all of that before even getting any admissions info from them? How am I supposed to plan my financial stuff without knowing any information about possible scholarships? In my opinion their process is highly unfriendly and puts in disadvantage international applicants. In any case I am absolutely pissed at the fact that I tried to turn all my materials of the true application on time only to be bumped back to the next dead line(well tried because I got let down by other people). The reason? Materials that should not be part of this face of the admission process. What can I expect from the program if the very first steps make no sense? Maybe they should revise their strategic and operational planning because this one is fundamentally bias. Augsburg may not be that great in comparison to other ACTC schools, but one thing is damn sure. They got their international admissions process straight!

What happened to human civilization?

2008-11-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

There has always been some sort of hierarchy that puts down the majority of people though. However, back in those days it was really easy to point fingers towards the tyrants. Since then humans have evolved a lot in terms of the way they think and the knowledge they produce. Slavery was for the most part abolished and in words of Thomas Friedman the world has become flatter in terms of equal opportunities of commercial competition for most of the countries (Of course almost 90% of Africa is out of that game, maybe we should say the the world is somewhat flat). In any case, the point I am trying to make today is that nowadays we have far more tyrants than in the ancient times. However, this times it not so easy to point our fingers at them. Of course there are many that we can identify very quick. But for the most part I think we do not even know who are our worse enemies... perhaps it is ourselves that like to live a comfortable crappy systematic life...

The auggie book 2008?

2008-11-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

I have to say that I am deeply upset with the Auggie book 2008. It lacks so many features of the Augsburg community. It reflects an arbitrary process in choosing the content of the book. Furthermore, it also reflects the lack of organization and diffusion of the designing of the book. One can and must see that there are only a few pages with the pictures of students currently attending Augsburg. Moreover, the student organization section is unpopulated with just few appearing in it.
This is not a good sign.

Auggie Soccer !!!

2008-11-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

Good job boys! You made it farther in the league than ever before. My only hope is that Auggie Soccer keeps getting better. Maybe next year top 4 nationwide.

The current situation?

2008-11-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

"At this point we are in deep water; the wild duck has dived down to the bottom as deep as she can get and bitten fast whole of the weed and all the rubbish that is down there, and it will need an extraordinarily clever dog to dive down and fish her up again."
-Satire of a Q&A to John Maynard Keynes

I Graduated now what?

2008-11-12T12:39:00.000-08:00

I wish there was a trifold on the racks around campus addressing that question.
Since I am anxious about it I got this tips from http://www.search-this.com/2007/04/18/just-graduated-now-what

"It’s hard to believe that I graduated college nearly two years ago and have been working at an Insurance Company as a programmer since. I would like to tell you that college completely prepared me for a job in the real world, but I would be lying if I did.

During the time I spent searching for a job, being interviewed, and now having been in my job for some time, I have learned some valuable lessons that I’d like to share.

First we’ll look at some suggestions of what you can do while you’re interviewing for a job and then I’ll talk about ways to make you more successful at the job you land. Let’s begin.

1. Research the company before contacting them.

This is absolutely vital. Research the company, looking at both their past and the future they have planned. Make it your business to know their history, how many employees they have, and their corporate earnings for the year prior. The more you know, the more you can impress them during the phone, or in-person interview.

During several of my own interviews, it was fun to see the expressions on everyone’s face as I ran off their earnings for the prior year, or that I already knew what areas they had regional offices in, etc. By doing this research, you prove that they are of interest to you and that raises your chances considerably.
2. Bring a notebook of questions.

Come up with a full list of questions you want to ask about the company. For example: What software do they use for web development? What is the process of moving an application to production/making it live? What technologies do they use, and are they open to implementing ones you have worked with?

Have at least 10 questions, one per page in your notebook, and write down their answers. You are likely to meet with several people, so track each person’s individual answer. Again, we are going for showing interest in the company, by actively asking questions and writing their response, you will prove your interest.
3. Write a follow-up letter.

After the in-person interview, write a letter thanking them for the interview. Also include what you learned during your visit and that you look forward to their response. I have read countless times that companies are willing to give an applicant a second look if they send a follow-up letter.
4. Mind your p’s and q’s.

Be polite, say thank you, shake hands, and by all means, if they take you out to lunch, do not tell stories about the stupid crap you did in college! Keep that to yourself and highlight the good no matter what setting you are in. Believe me, they will tempt you to say something stupid. During one of my interviews, two of the people interviewing me brought up a conversation over logging their child’s car habits using a device that plugs under the dash board. The parent can remove the device and see what speeds their child was traveling along with other data.

During that time I kept my mouth shut no matter what my thoughts were on the subject. Obviously it was not any of my business and so I did not make it any of my business. When they asked me what I thought of such technology I simply stated, “In this day and age, the only thing that holds us back is ourselves. If we think anything is possible, than we can achieve it.” It was short and precise and allowed me to switch topics while answering their question. It also gave them insight on my thought process and that I felt anything could be accomplished given the right attitude.

Now that you made it through the job process and landed that developer job let’s look at a few skills that you will need while in the job.

1. Be willing to admit your mistakes.

Take it from me, you will make mistakes. Managers and Supervisors know this and so should you. Admit to your mistakes. If it was lack of testing, admit it, and go beyond it by recommending ways this can be avoided in the future (as that is the next question you will get from a Manager or Supervisor). If you had too many projects to work on and that was the reason, say so. Your manager will understand, and hopefully he/she will adequately adjust your schedule so you can generate a better product.
2. Learn to manage time.

30% of my job is managing my time, identifying the high priority projects and giving them adequate time to complete them by their due date. This isn’t something you can just do right out of the box; it takes a lot of guess work at the beginning but once you have done it for a few weeks, you should have a good idea if your method is working. For me, I like to analyze everything necessary to complete each project. Once that is done, I will estimate the number of hours it will take to complete each step. Then I will determine what days I will work on each step.

When I first started out, I was amazed at how quickly time goes by while programming. It would seem as though I had only been writing code for 30 minutes, but in fact 3 hours had passed. Expect your initial estimates to be wrong, then adjust your estimates appropriately as your experience increases.
3. Invest in books.

I can’t re-iterate this enough. Buy book after book after book. Your job is extremely demanding, and your company will likely pay for a good number of the books you want.

Now you do not need to read every book cover to cover. I have several that I use as references (ie, The Bible series, such as the PHP Bible). Some of the books I own I just skimmed for topics of which I was interested in, and others I have used so extensively they are starting to fall apart.
4. Be prepared to learn.

One thing you need to realize right now is that you will be asked to continue to learn. Yes, you graduated, you think you will never have to read another book, or take any tests. You are WRONG. Every year, I am asked what I plan on learning in the upcoming year to improve my day to day work. Be it a new technology, or something related to insurance that may help me with my job. Then I have to find a way to quantify that I truly did learn the material by finding an exam I can take or adequately using the technology through my development.
5. Learn your standards.

Understand that HTML, XHTML, .NET, etc all have standards specified by either the W3C or Microsoft themselves and many companies try or want to try to follow them. Our company follows the Microsoft .NET coding standards fairly closely, when to use pascal case versus camel casing, good OO (object oriented) design, etc. I suggest learning these and mentioning your knowledge of them during any interview process.
6. Be willing to help, but know when to say ‘no’.

This is one I am still working on. I get asked a dozen questions a day. Unfortunately, I haven’t been too successful at telling people I don’t have the time to help them with their problem. I still drop what I am doing and give them my full attention. So far this hasn’t affected my time management, but I am certain that it is just a matter of time before it does.

So be willing to help others solve their problems and answer their questions, but if you are extremely busy find a way to let them know you will have to help them later.

Hopefully these tips will help you as you venture into the real world to fill your role as a Web Developer, Programmer, or another position as well. Be sure to leave your tips for those who just graduated, tips for interviews, or even your experiences."

Where have you been? Question #1

2008-11-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

I know... I know that everyone missed me this past weekend...(at the bar and at this space).

The reason of my lately absence is because I have been working on my essays for grad school. I thought, I would share them in here because they are are reflection of how I have changed during my College experience at Augsburg.

1. Why have you decided to pursue an MBA? Provide detail on objectives you will establish for your MBA experience and contributions you will make to the UST MBA community.

In the last few months, a number of people have challenged my decision to pursue an MBA immediately after college. Many have told me that I should get a job and wait until my employer offers to pay for my graduate degree. However, as an international student in the US, there are additional pressures that make it hard to find an employer who will not only sponsor my work visa but will also pay for my graduate education. Therefore, I cannot and do not wish to rely on some future possibility which, at this point in time, seems rather unlikely. With that in mind, I have decided to apply to the full-time MBA program at UST and have set out certain objectives that I would like to accomplish while earning my graduate degree.
First of all, I would like to solidify my understanding of the major concepts in business and develop skills that will allow me to transform the theoretical knowledge gained in class into practical solutions. While at Augsburg, I was not able to concentrate on my classes as much as I would have liked, mostly because I had to balance my time between school and 3-4 jobs in any given semester. Often times I worked virtually full-time since that was the only way I could afford to live in the United States. As an MBA student at UST, I would like to concentrate my time on expanding my knowledge of business and acquiring skills that are essential to this profession. I plan to become a professional who will be confident and ready to enter the job market after graduation. I would like my future employer to feel comfortable and to rely on my work. In order to achieve that goal, I anticipate to work hard and to increase my confidence by gaining as much practical experience as possible during my attendance at UST. I have chosen the University of St. Thomas because of its strong connections to the business community in the Twin Cities. As an MBA student, I would like to have an opportunity to meet other UST alumni and to learn what their experience has been in their respective fields. Lastly, I would like to improve my written and oral communication skills, which, I believe, are fundamental to the business profession.
I am aware that unlike many other applicants, I will not have full-time work experience by the time the program starts in the fall of 2009. I am also aware that generally, work experience is preferred because those who have been employed full-time bring a wider variety of views into the classroom which ultimately makes the program experience more valuable for all participants. However, I believe that despite my lack of work experience, I will still be able to contribute to the UST MBA community in a number of ways.
In today’s global society, it has become an absolute necessity for a business professional to understand and be respectful of cultural differences. I believe that with my international background and experience I can add certain value to the UST MBA program. After graduation from High School I worked for a law firm in Mexico City which exposed me to the business culture in Mexico. Today, having lived in the United States for almost 4 years, I can identify some of the cultural differences that influence the way business is conducted in the US and in Mexico. Further, I believe that I have strong leadership skills that will positively impact my participation and contribution to the UST MBA community. At Augsburg I have chaired two student organizations and have been employed by the department of residence life where I lead a staff of resident advisers and managed the facility issues in one of the residence halls.
I believe that my objectives and characteristics make me a strong candidate for the full-time UST MBA program and it is my hope that I will have an opportunity to join the class of 2011.

Come play ping-pong at Augsburg

2008-11-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

Yes! That's right! Come and enjoy a beautiful 4 year match, where you get to be the ball. While this might be a phenomena that occurs in many other places, I have been played like a pin-pong ball a number of times this semester. At the beginning of the year I had some confrontation with the department of Res-Life... Anyway that's long gone. What is present is my hardship to register for my last Finance class. I logged in on Monday @ 5pm to register for my classes. It got to register for 3 of them, but one displayed a meesage that read something like this:
"you cannot register to this class online. You have to come to the enrollment center to get it done."
I thought, ok I'll do it WEDNESDAY, because Tuesday I work downtown all day. So I step in the building (looking like Paul Fucking Newman by the way) and asked them to register me to the class. I got turn down, because I was outside registration time, so I needed to wait until 8am to do it on my own... (PING) So wait I cannot do it on my own, (PONG)and when I come here you tell me to wait until tomorrow and do it myself. Well thanks so much for being so resourceful. I cannot believe that they are so inconsiderate with a senior student whose graduation depends on a class. Yes I am angry, frustrated, and ready to go...

Para conocedores!

2008-11-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE-Aghrd2b0

Personal Development

2008-11-07T07:12:00.000-08:00

I was thinking the other day that maybe a good way of evaluating our lives is by paying attention to how easily we have adapted to the next (or new stages). I mean seriously, you could be 36 and still sit down in front of a tv and play video games for 8 hours straight. So what's the point Mismo? Well, I what I am arguing that maybe a good way to live life is by understanding that there are things that you simply have to let go. That is, the extend to which you are prepared to move on and engage your new life style is a very good determinant of how you live your life. Although, it is sometimes hard to see it right when the change is new. In any case, if you are in College you should move on from the high school mentality, and if you are a senior or even a junior you should move on from the college mentality... and so on... maybe later are changes that you have to adapt as a direct result of your choices, and that is a completely different arena for discussion.

More on the 95 theses

2008-11-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

It amuses me the things people wrote down in our "student manifesto" otherwise known as the 95 theses. In a ripoff the original idea of Martin Luther, Augsburg Student body has come up with a list of things that reflect what is on our minds (well some). I could not help to notice that many of the complains were clearly written by green people. They are getting really ridiculous. "We as a community are overemphasizing the green culture on campus." We must put a stop to this nonsense and reach a moderate level of environmentally friendly policies. More importantly, we should be worrying about other things as well. For example, we could be talking more about how to create a society that will hold accountable people behind financial crisis such as the one we are experiencing. Maybe, after analyzing the whole mess, we can reach the conclusion that if we could have avoid to disburse $700 billion+ to bail out the rich, maybe we could of use some of that money to really make an impact in green policy in the entire nation...

YES WE CAN!

2008-11-05T08:41:00.001-08:00

YES WE CAN!

95 Theses... also more of the same

2008-11-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

With this being my fourth year of exposure to Augsburg students' 95 theses, I have to say that much of it sound like and old song to me.
People keep complaining about the food service (even with the advent of the new company). While this might be because of Aviand's is implementing a trial and error strategy to stabilize their business here, it seems that many of the complains are about overpricing and poor customer service. In the past I have openly attacked Aviand's because I really do not like their business. I want to make clear this time that it is the management who I don't like. The workers are really nice and I have nothing against them at all. It is management that is crashing the boat. As Donnie said in "The Echo" the food is not that much greater than Suckdexo, but it is indeed way more expensive. I actually loved my food to taste good and to fill me up at the price of a little more grease on it. Actually, I was thinking that it was our own fault that Aviand's took over. We let our student government to decide what was good for us. All because they want to be more sustainable and healthy. Bullocks! I do not like green extremists at school... I think that their intentions are cool, but that Augsburg is not really going to start a domino effect in Greener policy in other campuses. Actually, I think green people here have failed to address a bigger source of pollution which is not separating recyclables in Mort. At least not as much as in other buildings, because Mort does not have recycling containers in each floor and with only one elevator working it is highly unlikely that people up there are willing to make a trip to the bottom just to toss their trash appropriately... but who am I to critic, right?

Elections

2008-11-03T12:40:00.000-08:00

I am very happy because of the elections tomorrow. However, my happiness is not due to the fact that Obama will smash Dickhead (John M.). it is because, I will finally be able to rest from all those stupid hate commercials from crook to crook. It is so stupid that people can actually tolerate such a level of hypocrisy and cynicism in the US politics. All I learned form those commercials is that both of the main stream parties are crook, corrupt, but more importantly way to STUPID. Although, I think is even more stupid an irrational that people actually sup[ports one or the other when they both are more of the same.

Ok this is waaaaaaaaaaaaay funny

2008-10-31T08:48:00.001-07:00

Halloween

2008-10-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

I think everyone loves Halloween. Even if you don't dress up you can get a kick from looking at other people's costumes. Furthermore, it is an awesome time for guys, because for some strange reason girls like to under-dress. It is even a good time for green people; they can recycle their old uncle's hippier (or rock star) clothes. Some go as far as using a Santa Claus outfit, that way they kill two birds with one stone. i have to confess that I lost the interest in Halloween since I was 15. SO I sit on the sidelines watching and analyzing people's behavior. I was a t a Halloween party last night and I concluded that Halloween allows people to get out the dumb ass inside them without being seriously judge. This because everyone acts retarded, that even clinical retarded people laughs at them. Ahhhhh haha hahaha Halloween is indeed fun.

I have nothing

2008-10-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

Reality Check...checa la realidad

2008-10-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

Life is so great until it hits us with a REALITY CHECK (CHECA LA REALIDAD). But what exactly is a reality check? How do I know I am experiencing a REALITY CHECK? In response to the first, a reality check is when you realize that your life experience is far below from expectations. Furthermore, it is obvious that you needed to do something ,but did not really know until the reality check hit you. One of the most common reality checks is when you realize you have been procrastinating and you have 2 papers and three tests coming up next week. You need to read 15 chapters and there is no way you can get that done in such few days. That is REALITY, you can only do so much and excel at it. At the time you experience a reality check it is only helpful to pray, tighten your belt and try your best. In the end that's what life its all about. Learning from contrasting our actions with their results. You can always do better, but it also true that it could be worse. Therefore, one is always in the middle striving to take the next step.

To start the week

2008-10-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

That was a good one

2008-10-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

I was particularly happy this afternoon when I opened my e-mail and saw my editor's e-mail (aka Ali R.). I followed the advice of Ali and checked the Inside Augsburg Story. I read the portion that referred to this space and I am feel satisfied with the work I am doing for the Homemade team. I guess we all try our best to appeal to students considering to attend school here. I was reflecting on the broad picture of the college and I concluded one important thing. Augsburg is a great place to learn and experience the inner workings of an institution. That is that Augsburg gives every single one of us the chance to engage in anything we want. From radical alternative hippie to be part of the student senate, not forgetting going through green advocate. In addition of working with different professional staff and professors.

So if we really look at the Augsburg experience, it could lead you to be a well rounded person in the realm of dealing with a variety of people from many disciplines and that's what the world needs. So if you want to make a change in this world, you can start your training at this noble institution. Then you can bring it with you wherever you may go.

PS The football team is going to bring it back!!! Auggiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiies! goooo! fightttt! Wiiiiin!

Finally us Pointing to the city

2008-10-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

The truth is...

2008-10-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

I am glad to say that I have material to work on the pursue of a more broad analysis and critic of issues posted in "The Echo." I guess more than material I had finally time to read what's been discussed in the Augsburg paper.

The Burning Gas and Burning Bridges article caught my attention because the essence of the debate. In my opinion Phillip Kaup's argument that DPS will drive away the efficiency of a hybrid car is rather dramatic. If the car is supposed to be fuel efficient, then no matter what less gas would be consumed, wasted, purchased, or whatever. Unless they decided to start driving more.
The truth is that, the wasteful driving will continue to go on, but it won't be as bad as it would be if they had purchased the Tahoe.

I admire Krohn's incentive to work with the administration of the school to get student issues addressed. What I find ridiculous is that the Green Vehicle Initiative puts that much effort in pushing for a green alternative for just one car. Ok pushing for a greener campus by having one car being hybrid is not going to do much for the overall emissions. I think is time that all the green people all over the place, here and elsewhere stop making themselves feel better for mediocre changes.

What we need is some activists that attack the big polluters more consistently. To track the public servers that are being bought by polluter companies. Ultimately they are the ones that account for the majority of the pollution. Furthermore, if green people really want a change they should push for a law that bans certain cars to circulate one day a week. In Mexico we have that law... well at least we used to now its been weakened by arguing new car's emissions are not as bad. Anyway that's a whole different arena. The main point is that the world is not better because we got one green vehicle. If you can work things out with the school administration, can you do it so with the state and federal administration? Now that's the million dollar question.

Trapped

2008-10-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

I was working Downtown the other day and when it was time to drop mail in the Investors building I decided to explore the Skyway system a little bit. I was by the Gaviidae commons and I decided that I needed to shake hands with my tool... if you know what I mean.

I knew exactly where the bathroom was, but that specific day the escalator was broken so I headed to the elevator. In a desperate and rather anxious reaction I decided to take the stairway. What could happen is just one floor. I got to the double stairway and made my way up. SURPRISE MISMO!!! There is not access to any of the other floors. I panicked and started to try several floors jumping back and forward from stairway A to B. I was sweeting. I loosen my Ferragamo tie and I pull out my cell phone. Who can I call to get me out of this situation? I mean I am supposed to be working and now I am trapped. How am I going to explain this to my supervisor. Hey Ahmed, I wanted to take a leak and got trapped in the Gaviidae commons stairway. Ahmmm could you send Dan to let me in... No that does not make sense. I know call 911, Hi my name is Luis Monterrubio and I am trapped... No I don' even know how to describe well how to get here... Bollocks!!! If only this god damn place had signs warning the lack of accessibility to other floors through the stairway. A moment of enlightenment toll me to that I could either try all the way down or all the way up. Since I was already experiencing some claustrophobia I headed to the bottom. I ran like the wind with cell phone on hand and 911 on the display. I could not believe it! I was out and I had never felt so free in my life before.

Moral of the story: You can have adventures at work...