Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Twitter Got Me

Well that's just an excuse. But really, soon as I opened a Twitter account I forgot all about this blog.

And I found a local magazine. Finally to incorporate scenary, interaction, persons, etc. into writing. It's the kind of stuff I've wanted to do.

And I'm looking at local lit mags. Better for personal essays. Feels like those things can be put to better use there.

Will still be doing interviews for a few web sites. Maybe a little commentary or something approaching an essay.

Will post up whatever is published. Otherwise, on hiatus for now.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Red Eye

I'm doing some research for pitches to a local magazine, and started looking for topics akin to the kind of nature and science stuff Orion and National Geographic would cover, but in New Jersey and the east coast. In light of Hurricane Sandy, a few articles I stumbled across both surprised and disheartened me.

It seems scientists were strongly and specifically giving warnings about current and future increases in environmental warming, storms, and sea levels (all related to the global warming concept, with localized and worldwide factors considered) for some time now. More specifically, they were as geographically specific as New York and the East Coast since 2007, as far as I can tell. I haven't read in depth, but a few quotes caught my eye:

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Finally

Finally got a local outlet. It's been a long time since I've been able to incorporate place, person, and theme into a long-form article. This will be fun.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Clarity

(609)-759-1126. It's a Google Voice number so it will ask for your name and such before it transfers. If it does not pick up leave a message. That goes for anyone looking to reach me. I don't automatically put my full faith in what I see on the internet, so i think its only fair that you don't have to.

Set...

Will be a good holiday....

For Peace Sake: You Might Need To Call Me

I happened to visit a page I hadn't seen in a while and came across a post that looked like it directly (and not so happily) addressed one of my posts. I'm mostly surprised because, if I'm right, I contacted you directly when I had an issue (albeit, it was years ago). There was obviously a misconception here, so if you need to contact me directly at nknightwriter@gmail.com. I might even do a phone call.
 
I'll address what was said but I'm not going on an angry rant here, because I don't believe in Internet wars. They take a lot of time and energy and build a lot of blind anger that can be fixed in a five minute phone conversation (which I am more than open to participate in). If anything here makes you upset, just email to clarify. It may very well be a misinterpretation. But it's good in its own way because you can learn a lot when things like these happen.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Joke's On Me

Just saw a few clips of this comedian. Makes me feel like I put a tad too much effort into being politically correct. His gift is my dumb face.

Flashback

Just digging through my old stuff. The most interesting things come through interviews. And a lot of times you don't use all if the quotes from articles. I've posted a couple transcripts on this blog before. But I think there's a lot of recorded stuff I didn't get to use all of. Will find some to repost shortly. Maybe even get the audio up.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Teach Yourself: Math For Slow People Like Me

I am by no means and never have been a math head. But I took interest in the topic by happenstance. And, as someone who does not have a stratospheric IQ, found it to be a bit more digestible than I remembered from high school.  If you are an Average Joe like me, the hope is, for those who are no genius, but are truly interested in learning the material for its own sake (that's key), this can get you started and help you move a little faster than I was able to:

Friday, November 9, 2012

Twitter

@nknightwriter

It was strongly suggested. Will see how this works.

Ugh

Getting sucked back into the social media void. Let's see how this works out....

Face Time

I've learned long ago. Unless the reason or person is important, you need to take the time to consider whether you ought to put your efforts into trying to convince those who have long ago convinced themselves. Do it if it's worth it. But know it will never be easy.

They have to step outside of their own world, their own motives and sense of reasoning, first. They have to be willing to see, and they have to see it. But it's hardest when their biggest concern is not understanding, but saving face.

Logic isn't the problem. They'll never say it, but they want a parachute too. And they want you to take the time to prove to them that it has no holes. And only if they are certain the rest of the world will never catch them looking.

Socio-Cultural Inward Ramble

Dad: My father attended three Ivy League schools: two in undergrad and an MBA. He also was accepted for, but declined enrollment into, an Ivy-league PhD economics program.  He never emphasized these things, rarely spoke of them, so I had no inkling of all this until I was almost finished with college. And he never seemed to judge people - for better or worse - who defined themselves by those merits. He never seemed to judge those who lacked them either. On the surface, he seemed indifferent.

In the same token, when someone lives and breathes their credentials, I become far more interested in their personal experience at said school, institution, slice of society, etc. than their place in life. At a fundamental, one on one level, I have no personal interest in the credentials of their own right. I'm interested in the experience, the person, behind them.

Sean Cackles Universe

"How you got baby mama drama? You ain't even got you no baby."

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Barry

A lot quicker than I expected. Let's make these next four count.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Projected Wins

So how are projected wins in a state decided when only 2-8% of the votes are in?

Eh

Watching the election coverage lets me know I still have a lot to learn about politics in general. Started going over some diagrams that show how generators work. Let's see if I can wrap my head around it.

Vote

Tall
On your small change
Greater
Than your ego
Large and wide
As the country
One
In and of all

Monday, November 5, 2012

House of Mirrors

Don't work so hard to become accepted that you neglect to accept yourself.

The Way I Figure

If I mostly or completely agree or disagree with everyone in my circle, I'm probably not learning much, and I need to expand my circle (and if agree or disagree are the only two reactions I can think of, I'm reallly not learning much). And, as odd as it sounds, I'd probably learn more spending time with people I disagree with on some things than I would in circles in which I completely agree with everyone all the time.

I like... No, I love, room for doubt. I like to think things through. Wrinkles in my brain and brow are my badges of honor.

If I can simply and confidently nod my head yes or no all the time without thinking about it at least a little, it just feels wrong to me. Not because it's forced, and not simply for sake of argument or confrontation or for show. But because it gives me a better grasp of whether I'm involved in something worth thinking about.

In any case, I just prefer that everyday be an education, not just a confirmation. That's my thing.

It doesn't hold for everybody. But, at least in aggregate, everyone's life ought to have more meaning, and broader perspective, than a checklist.

Gather

Did not completely finish the book. It's a dense 440 pages. Got about three-fourths through. But it gave me some more to learn.

1) The history of conquerors gets pretty ugly at times. 2) Apparently, mobsters were more brutal in real life than in the movies. 3) And it sounds like the 1960's are to cultural revolution as the internet was (and is) to modern media. It was a game changer. If that's the case, was there any other time period in America during the last 20 or 30 years that has had as much cultural significance?

Going to find out about this $10,000 natural gas-powered, privately-owned generator concept. I almost don't believe it. Well, if and when I get to it. Got a handful of other books sitting at home to get through.

My Mind Is Hungry, Restless

I'm going hunting.

Sandy U Ramblings

I learned a few things from this storm. Some I already knew. Some that were reiterated. An extremely unedited post off the top of my head:

Local Infrastructure Contributes Perspective: My cousin down south says people down there don't understand the big deal about Sandy because they have gone through these kind of storms frequently enough. Shortly after he talks about how a mutual acquaintances in Brooklyn sees neighborhood locals scrapping to board on a row of 20 buses, and sends me a picture of a scuba diver swimming through the subway tunnels (the main, if not only, means of transportation for many in New York City).

I think, when you get into locations that are as condensed as the Northeast, the whole concept of self-sufficiency takes on a different meaning. It's not a bunch of open space and land to roam and make your way on. It reminds me of when I found myself wandering the back roads outside of a Michigan college town.  I was surprised at how many people in what obviously was not a high-income area had so much space in their backyards, and how many had horses in the backyards with nothing but one or two strings of barbed wire separating the horses from the roads. If I sat down and had a discussion with any heads of the households there, and we planned on switching places taking care of each other's families for a month or so, I'm sure there would be plenty of room for disconnect regarding what skill sets and priorities matter most. 

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Shades

There is plenty of space, time, and variance between hate and love. But if you ask around you'd swear the world was 2-D.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Clergy, Celibacy, & Economic Incentive: Teach Yourself


Found something else that caught my interest. Again, there’s no real point to it. But it’s interesting. 

Mistresses: The History of the Other Woman is an interesting read. It mainly covers largely committed affairs (as opposed to fly-by-night relationships) between men of influence and women seeking to maintain or gain ground in class structure in Western and Asian superpower societies.  The book is almost unbelievably non-judgmental, always considering class structure, socioeconomic mobility, and shared or conflicting human motivations. The author, an academic research associate who has written various books on the history of sugar, celibacy, and Haiti, remains very aware of the larger picture throughout.


At one point, the book provides some perspective regarding celibacy and marriage in church leadership. The original intent behind encouraging abstinence and vilifying intimacy, says the author, was more a matter of controlling, conserving, and growing the economic wealth of the church, and maintaining an image that would allow it to do so. Actual religion or Christian doctrine had little to do with the practice.

Friday, November 2, 2012

So.. Someone Spammed With My E-mail Address??


I received four spam emails in my junk mail today that were supposedly from my e-mail address. Of course I didn't send them. I still have the time stamps for the date sent and I suppose I can tell what time someone logged into my account by that (if that's the way it's done).

For my IT savvy friends, I'll keep these and show it to you. I'd like to know how one might trace these e-mails. It isn't the first time I've seen something like this. But I'm thinking maybe a few hardcopies might lead me somewhere.

The various e-mails said it was sent "via" "amx.com," "bernina.co.il ," and "clickz.com" (I don't know how that works or what that means) and were supposedly sent to a  the same other email addresses (repeated e-mails included in the sent to), but still has my e-mail address under "sent from."

If anyone knows how this works let me know. It should be a learning experience, in the least.

Walk

Slim Diva
I can see it
In her Any
She owns her Only
Any other couldn't own me
The same

Thursday, November 1, 2012

New Old Club Nostalgia

"Fire a-way, fire a-way-ay...."

Riding The Wave

The night Sandy came, I barely noticed. I slept through what sounded like a light storm.

The next morning felt a bit surreal. The things you saw on TV happened. It looks like the set of a disaster movie.  It seems every few miles, a tree was uprooted or the base of a telephone pole was cracked.

Anything tall, heavy, and made of wood is a potential hazard. Giant beams lay on top of houses, garages, and in the middle of roads.  Some of the uprooted trees have uprooted big mounds of grass or entire chunks of concrete sidewalk.  And you really have to watch out for stray live wires.