Mathematical Politics

I just finished watching the BBC Documentary called "Dangerous Knowledge" on the work of Cantor, Boltzmann, Godel, and Turing on the concepts of infinity and irrationality in mathematics and physics. First of all, I highly reccomend that everyone do some research into these guys, even if you don't watch the documentary.
At the end of the documentary, the host leaves us with the thought of whether we as humans have matured enough to live with uncertainties, or whether we are destined to repeat the mistakes of the 20th century and pledge blind allegiance to yet another certainty. He alludes earlier in the video to the difficulty Godel encountered by determining that there would always be problems that exist outside of human logic while living in Austria as Hitler came to power as a leader who declared such certainties that people blindly followed him.
I ask you to take those thoughts to heart as our own elections come. Please don't judge a potential leader on their answers or how certain of them they are--there is not enough certainty in this world in which we live to levee the sorts of blind judgements our political system traps the candidates into making. Instead, if you can, judge them on their critical thinking abilities and their abilities to adapt to both work in depth on issues and also take a step back and look at the world-view ramifications of any actions--a skill that I believe can only be displayed by someone who has a multitude of life experiences outside of politics and govnernment.
I fear we have become so comfortable in our system of looking for easy answers in our politics and policies that we have become succeptable as a country. It's a pattern that has repeated throughout history--if we don't use our brains more effectively, we will fall victim to the blind power of another entity (if not our own, if we aren't cautious in our checks and balances).

Top Albums of 2007

Yes, here it is: the obligatory "Best Albums of the Year" list. I mention the EPs because those four are fantastic albums in their own right and are better in my mind than most of the LPs this year. Is that the way of the future? Or are those bands just on the verge of breaking out strong?
Also, as a special treat this year, enjoy the media player with a track or two from each of the albums listed below.


SeeqPod Music beta - Playable Search

LPs:
1. Kaddisfly- Set Sail The Prarie: A clear winner in my book. These guys simply get music and get life. As with any "progressive" rock, you have to have a taste for the sound before you can dive deeper, but I highly encourage everyone to pick up this album and give it a chance. And if you needed any more reason to purchase it, a goodly chunk of the profits (trust me, they don't make much as is) is donated by the band to the Mr Holland's Opus Foundation, supporting music education in schools.

2. Against Me!- New Wave: Most accesible and yet deepest punk rock album to come out in quite a while. I'm not usually a fan of shouting every line, but these guys pull it off with grace. Their nonstop energy carries over to their live sets, too, which they play without pause for banter or tuning--just plain rock.

3. House of Fools- Live and Learn: I'm not really sure why more people aren't huge fans of these guys. They have some pop sensibilities coupled with a folk-rock feel and ripping guitar solos. What more can you ask from a few North Carolina dudes?

4. Modest Mouse- We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank: Modest Mouse is simply the best thing the major labels have going for them these days--despite "selling out," they continue to spew brilliance and reinvent themselves with every song, just like they have for a decade.

5. Of Montreal- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?: Man, these guys are out there. But man, do they ever pull off some beautiful songs. On this album, they embrace their own quirkiness to put personality into twelve delicious pop tracks.

6. Say Anything- In Defense of the Genre (sorry, no mp3s): I, like many folks, put this epic double-disc album as an early favorite for album of the year, simply based on 2004's ...Is A Real Boy. While Max Bemis and the gang may have fallen just shy of their target (thanks in large part to the relative inaccessibility of much of the album, which is long and works best when listened to straight through--not something a lot of people have time for), they did manage to create one of the most lyrically brilliant personal journeys in recent memory.

7. Iron & Wine- The Shepherd's Dog: I hadn't been an Iron & Wine fan until this album--I had left him to the swooning coeds who went ga-ga over his previous efforts. But WOW what a display of musicianship in every sense of the word. He definitely made a believer out of me.

8. Limbeck- Limbeck: With new drummer Jonny P in tow (formerly of Milwaukee favorites The Benjamins), Limbeck bounces back strong from a mediocre sophomore effort. This is what life on the road sounds like.

9. Sage Francis- Human The Death Dance: In his most personal album in recent memory, activist/rapper Sage Francis plays with many musical and lyrical concepts that hadn't seen light on his previous albums.

10. Anberlin- Cities: One of the most passionate rock bands around, these guys are poised for a serious breakout. Cities takes their force up yet another notch from Never Take Friendship Personal. Can their major-label debut match that?

11. Steel Train- Trampoline: A reinvented sound (much more upbeat and uptempo) brings these jam-band-turned-pop-rockers up a level, and hopefully people will take notice.

12. Radiohead- In Rainbows: Did you think I was gonna leave it off the list? Nah. This is definitely one of the best albums of the year, even looking beyond all the hype of the pay-what-you-want release. I'd put it higher, but as much as I respect Radiohead, I'm so rarely in the mood to listen to them that I just haven't spent the time with it.

13. Aesop Rock- None Shall Pass: Some absolutely fantastic tracks on this alt-rapper's latest effort. See especially "None Shall Pass," "Five Fingers," and "Coffee."

14. They Might Be Giants- The Else: Gotta show these veterans some love for their best effort since Factory Showroom. While it lacks a bit of the absurdist energy of their earliest stuff, John and John get back to what they do best: writing quirky pop songs laced with ingenious metaphors.

EPs (in no order--they're all too good to compare)

1. The Reign of Kindo- EP: This is what happens when a talented emo band loses its lead singer and decides to jam out for a while, only picking up a lead singer at the last minute. The result is an alt-jazz-jam EP that maintains the overall sound of This Day and Age but pushes their own musical boundaries into completely new waters.

2. Edison Glass- Let Go: Christian rock gone horribly right. While A Burn or A Shiver was a solid LP with 5 or 6 really worthwhile tracks, Let Go is a quick and gloriously appealing peak at what these guys have planned for the future--complex, catchy riffs coupled with a few extra Red Bulls. This is what you love to see: a band really taking what they do best to a new level.

3. Days Away- Ear Candy For the Headphone Trippers: Fueled By Ramen made a horrible mistake dropping these dudes, though there's no doubt they don't fit with the Fall Out Boys, Panic! at the Discos, and Gym Class Heroes that comprise that label. These jam-rockers have recouped incredibly well from their being dropped, and continue to play one of the most entrancing live shows around.

4. Ben Karis-Nix- We Are Giants Now: At the low cost of free, this is far and away the deal of the century. After the disbandment of Jupiter Sunrise earlier this year, Ben has ventured out on his own. Please please please do yourself a favor and go to http://www.myspace.com/benkarisnix and download the tracks (and maybe even buy yourself a poster or shirt or something).

The best things in life aren't things to a fugitive

As I sat a week or two ago in a small church in suburban Dallas, listening to a Japanese virtuoso flying over notes on a Stradivarius, I could help but think how lucky I've been in my life. Not only that, but all of the things I've been priviledged enough to experience have been through the generosity of others. A few short highlights of my fortune, just in the past year or two:

• Played Augusta National (every golfer's dream), and a handful of other Top 100 courses
• Traveled Scandanavia
• Got to be on stage (and back stage) at Warped Tour, watching a sea of people screaming lyrics back at the bands on stage
• Visited (at least) 13 different states in one year
• Sat 5th row at an NHL game
• Graduated from a top 10 liberal arts college

And the list goes on. Now, as I work to make TechJam 2007 a success, I find myself dependent on other people more than ever--but not for physical generosity; rather, for their stories and brains. In many ways, I think that's even more valuable. What we can learn from people and their experiences can often trump what experiences they can give us--not only do we get the lessons of the experience, but we learn more about that person as well. In that sense, I'm extremely excited to hear from the wide variety of folks participating in the forum--to facilitate their telling of their own tales, and subsequently creating an amalgam of ideas from those diverse experiences and opinions with an eye towards the future.

I can't offer them much in return, other than the opportunity to hear each other's tales and ideas and grow themselves from that. If I ever do have the opportunity to offer more (the forum's purpose is to create a concept for the future of music that will benefit both artists and listeners), however, I absolutely will do so. In the meantime, I can only ask that you check out some of their music, and if you like it, please support them in any way you can:

Ben Karis-Nix: http://www.myspace.com/benkarisnix

Feable Weiner: http://www.myspace.com/feableweiner

Limbeck: http://www.limbeck.net

Kaddisfly: http://www.myspace.com/kaddisfly

Manchester Orchestra: http://www.themanchesterorchestra.com

Ludo: http://www.ludorock.com

If God is Love, then does that make John Lennon Jesus? (or, Worshiping cheese colored underwater vessels)

To say that The Beatles' Yellow Submarine deeply affected me would be a profound understatement. Walking into Blockbuster that overcast Saturday, I would have never guessed a few hours later I would not only be supremely happy, but also living with a new view of life, and whatever might be beyond life.

At that point in time, my friends and I were still in deep mourning for our good friend Jay Chitty's death, Jared and I fretted over job prospects (or lack thereof) while Spencer and Scags nervously awaited responses from med schools, and I was strongly considering quitting the golf team.

Spencer had been telling us about the glory of Yellow Submarine for months, unable (or unwanting) to quite give an idea of the plot: "You guys just have to see it." I snubbed him, thinking "I'm over the oldies stage of my life, thanks." Little did I know I was in for a revelation.

I'll give you all the same treatment Spencer gave me (trust me, go see it), but suffice it to say that the moral of the story is "All You Need Is Love."

That got me thinking--isn't it rather amazing how ubiquitous the term "love" is, and yet there isn't really a solid definition (although my personal favorite is "a neurochemical con job"). Isn't that awfully similar to God? I mean, traditionally almost everyone believes in God (of one kind or another), yet there are no certain definitions of this greater being.

Then I started to think, well, what do people really want out of this God character? A trip to heaven? Well perhaps that's it, but for how many people and what percentage of the time are they thinking in those terms? How many prayers are simply "Please God, just let me into heaven"?

Instead, people turn to God in times of need or want or hardship (note that the poorest have also traditionally been the most religious). What they seek from him is a little help (as a friend would) and unconditional love. Well, would that be much different if it were just unconditional love returned? I know that would help me through almost any hard times.

I also find in my experience that people who worship God often put their faith more into other people, too. But really, in both cases they're just seeking love. They deeply believe it exists, so they try to find it on earth as well (not to say the rest of us don't, just in different ways and to a lesser extent). They treat love as devine when they can't find it in another being.

The Bible even goes so far as to say that "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:8). Does that not end the argument right there? Oh, perhaps they don't quite mean that literally...

Yet, they need absolutes in their lives, and if they can't find them immediately on earth, they need to believe there is an absolute beyond life. I believe the more absolutes you accept, the more obstacles you put between yourself and others. I've recently had multiple jewish friends dumped by significant others because the parents didn't want their children marrying people who were inevitably going to hell.

In my mind, there are so many different definitions of the afterlife throughout time, there is nothing certain enough to stop me from deriving pleasure from this life--which, interestingly enough, comes from love, be it friendly, marital, or material.

Now, this is not to say there isn't a God. I am not so atheistic to deny his (or her) existence, but if he or she does, I think people significantly misrepresent his or her role in their everyday lives. I'd also like to think that if this God is so great and loving, why can't he accept me for who I am? Why must I grovel to win his affection? Can't he be everyone's homie? And how could (and why would) he create a world where some people believe in him and others don't?

I think there was a lot to be said for the counterculture movement of the late 60s. Idealistically, they had it right--all you need is love. Unfortunately, they let that thought consume them and failed to do much productively (other than artistically).

After watching Yellow Submarine, my roommates and I, who were already very close, became inseparable. You would rarely catch one of us without another, and you'd rarely catch two of us without smiles on our faces. We love each other deeply, and we aren't afraid to say so and put faith in that love. Yet we still got our shit done. Jared and I are gainfully empoyed in our fields of choice, and Spencer and Scags are very happily working in research labs.

Am I so cracked out to adopt this theory? As our Finnish friend Eija posited on a trip to Estonia, "What do you all think is at the end of the universe? I think sand. Prove me wrong." Well? Have at it...

Davidson Basketball in the news

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/southern/2007-10-30-Davidson_N.htm
I know I've gotten this link from multiple alums already today, but perhaps the rest of y'all are generally above reading the USA Today (can't say I blame you after the pathetic excuse for writing displayed in this article). Nice to see the boys getting some more great press--they've been getting a lot over the offseason, and I like to think it's all well-deserved.
Oh, and if you want to download all or parts of the Davidson Men's Basketball Schedule using Click2Remember, click here: http://www.click2remember.com/elephant.asp?schedid=200710237911

"I paid $160,000 for WHAT?!?!?!"

There's a lot of controversy lately about the US News' annual College Rankings--are they trustworthy? Can colleges really be boiled down to a series of categories and evaluated and weighed to determine overall quality? Isn't the most important factor in finding a college making sure it's a good fit for that individual, regardless of what anyone else can say?
Well, yes, sorta, and yes. And I'll tackle those issues in reverse order.

The most important factor is definitely fit. And that can't necessarily be determined even by endless visits, let alone college rankings. Things change. It's college. The whole point is not to be spat out the same person you went in. For some, they change early and they need to transfer to somewhere that fits them better. For others, it's a longer process of development, of shaping and being shaped by all things they are exposed to at their college home. I was lucky enough to be part of the latter.
Davidson was definitely, without a doubt, the perfect place for me. That doesn't mean I liked it at all times, by any stretch. But I know I do best when I'm pushed really really hard--harder than I want to be pushed at times. I learn best when I'm given a challenge I've never seen before and very little context or instruction. Davidson gave me the best of both of those things. The arguably most important thing I learned from college was that no matter how smart I thought I was or how good I thought I was at something, there was always someone better; but the only way to get better is to emulate those people. Sure, it was frustrating--grade deflation, trying to earn respect from a walk-on spot on the golf team, balancing sports, social life and school work--but ultimately I think it taught me more (though not necessarily in the classroom--I know I learned far more from people and about life in general than anything that can be taught) than anywhere else could have.
What you take away from college can't be written in a textbook. Nor a rankings list, for that matter. But those ranking systems are there for the people who care about such things. 99.9% of the time, if you go to State School X-City Branch Y, you inherently care less about where some people rate your school--it has what you want, be it a certain major, or a sports team, or a certain social lifestyle. I mean, from how many people do you hear, "Man, I hated college. It was the most miserable time of my life." And for the one person you run into in a lifetime who might say that, you have to respond "Why on earth did you fork over a fortune to go, then? And why didn't you transfer?"
For those people who do care about rankings, I don't think there's any disputing that the rankings are relatively accurate. Obviously they aren't perfect determinations of who should go where--for that we'd all have to be judged on some life scale a whole lot deeper than the SAT--but they do good research and generally report facts. As I mentioned earlier, it's up to the student and his or her family to determine whether or not to care about those facts. People don't always bother to follow the rankings (my roommate is much smarter than me on paper, yet goes to the 67th ranked university vs my 9th ranked college). The reviewers also don't bother to even try to rank, say, liberal arts schools on the same scale as large universities--they're so inherently different that it's rare for people to look at both.
All in all, college comes down to who you are and what you care about. To some, that's arbitrary rankings of what reviewers deem worthwhile statistics about schools. To others, it's any number of things. That doesn't mean the rankings are any more right or wrong than football rankings. It's merely a measure of certain priorities that many people share. In football, it's winning against other highly ranked teams. In colleges, it's high test scores, solid retention, and alumni giving. In both, there are other factors that enter into preference. In football, it's your home team or alma mater. In colleges, it's social life, location, cost, programs, and so on. Despite sharing it with so many others, college is the most personal experience one can go through--and no exterior rankings can affect that.

you can never go home again

as many of you know, 10 of my closest college friends (including "the deuce"--my 3 senior year roommates and i) and i spent last weekend in the charlotte/davidson area, both to see each other (my main objective) and to go to oktoberfest (aka beer orgy). reflecting back on it, very little excitement happened, there are no good (crazy) stories to tell (and yes, mom and dad, i'm old enough to tell them if there were), and yet it was the best thing that's happened to me in a very long time.
and the worst. no, i'm not talking about the extra $300 i had to spend to get there, nor the 1.5 hr airport delay because the pilot needed more sleep, nor the fact that i spent 2 nights on a floor with a couch pillow under my head; rather, i speak of the realization that it gave my bretherin and i on our return to our own cities: the realization that our time together will be relegated to these occasional weekends (at best) together, an alottment time that will likely dwindle as the years progress. that, to each of us, is painful.
i say that with a degree of certainty because by the time my afternoon bathroom break at work rolled around, i had already talked to both spencer and jared about it.
my parents, relatives, and friends who know the deuce and have seen us together have all told me that i must do everything in my power to stay in touch with these boys. i must admit, my first reaction was "duh." after the four of us spent a year sleeping within 50 feet of each other (on the rare occasion that we'd go to bed if someone else was still up and hanging out), i couldn't fathom a world without these boys. even the tragic passing of our good friend jay chitty on new years' eve couldn't force my mind to function in a world apart from my best roommates and best friends.
graduation happened (producing what i believe the longest-held smile of my lifetime--from the moment i finished my final exam to the minute i boarded a plane, nobody could burn that smile off my face with acid), then i went abroad (scags and jared went on cruisies--not horrifically different from any other vacation), then i saw jared in chicago and milwaukee for a few weeks at least once a week, and two days after i last saw him, i saw spencer for a night and a morning in birmingham. then a week or two later spencer visited me (bringing the remainder of my belongings) in dallas. so what was so different about this trip? did a solid month away from all deuce members really make the difference to us all?
no, i don't think that was it. though i suppose it probably contributed. instead, i think that when we were in davidson, we acted exactly like we did when we were in school. and it was awesome. well worth every penny of the plane ticket. but then when we recovered from our oktoberfest hangovers (which aren't that bad--when the fest ends at 7pm, you generally sleep enough to be okay), there was nobody around to play with. everyone just kinda disappeared. right when we had everything as it had always been and we were supremely happy again, it was all taken away.
as i spoke with jared and spencer earlier, we all agreed on one thing: being apart from each other sucks. sure, we're all pretty happy with our lives (they both have awesome significant others from davidson, and spencer is near many others of our friends), but there's a huge void when any one of us is missing (yes, spencer makes the same sized void as scags).
that being said, we're pretty smart dudes and will learn to adapt, i'm sure. we are already pretty outstanding (by every accord i know) at keeping in touch--there are husbands who don't talk to their wives for longer than we go without a conversation. i'd die without having jared's e-mail, spencer's google chat, and scags' aim addresses all available at work (no it doesn't distract from our productivity; we don't use it that often--it's just a lifeline). i think any of us would pick up the phone for one another at any hour in any situation. i send out cds monthly so we all live to a similar soundtrack (as we did at school), and we keep a private blog to have another mode of contact. i'll even admit that i'm glad i played fantasy football with them--i don't even care who wins or loses, i just don't want to miss any opportunity to talk (shit) with my boys.
but despite all the talk, nothing can replace being together. i hope against hope that there comes a time in our lives when we can all take a week vacation together (at least every other year). whether we be in our home states of wisconsin, west virginia, new york, and alabama, or the furthest reaches of the world, i sincerely dream that we can find a way to get together as often as humanly possible. i want to do better than all those roommates who think they're close because they post on each others' facebook walls once a month, or drunk dial each other every few weeks. i know we can, because i know we all want to.
we may never be home in davidson or ryburn002 again, but i'll be damned if i ever let anything come between us.
oh, and if you want one more example of how close we've become? i told jared this morning that i had randomly picked up a copy of jack kerouac's on the road in the airport last night and was on page 100. his response? "i'm on page 175."