Never Look Directly Into The Google

Here's a set of video's I think are hilarious. They really make you question the limitations (or lack there of) of Google. The first and last are my favorites.

To Grad or Not to Grad?

As hard as it is for me to believe, I am finally a senior in college. As a senior, I stand excitedly on the brink of that which all students, kindergarten to college, dream of. Having a real job?...eh, Self sufficiency?...nah, Being a contributing member of society?...I'm still not sure what that means. We are talking of course about the big one here...NO HOMEWORK!!!

Since childhood we have dreamt of a homeworkless future. What will we do with such boundless free time? Travel the world? Learn a new language? Watch ALL THE POWER RANGERS WE WANT!? The possibilities seem endless. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but as it turns out there is a such thing as extra school, and everyone is doing it.

The recent financial downturn has prompted a frenzy for graduate degrees. For recent grads looking at one of the toughest job markets in decades, graduate school is a great way to get an edge over the competition while waiting for the market to improve. An MBA is an effective way for candidates to distinguish themselves from the field but as more and more young professionals catch graduate fever what is the result?



Graduate students are traditionally professionals who already have a few years experience in their respective fields. In the past the number of degrees available was limited and degrees were looked upon as prestigious marks of professional excellence. The problem now is we are seeing a dramatic increase in the percentage of MBA applicants going for it right out of college but top 40 schools aren't going to just open more spots. The increase in demand for MBAs amongst college graduates has lead them to consider programs outside the traditional top 40 bracket. Although these programs may be less recognized than the top 40, they still allow students to earn those MBAs they desire for a competitive edge. Students not making the cut for top 40 programs face the dilemma of pursuing a less prestigious program or trying to cut it in the job market for a few years. My question is how much of an advantage do these less recognized MBAs give students?

More graduate students now means a few years down the road there are going to be a lot more professionals with Graduate Degrees. As a soon to be college graduate looking at both the job market and graduate programs, my main concern is what does this increase in MBAs do for their own value? Many say this increase is making graduate degrees the professional standard of the future. The question I pose to the business students of my generation is this: By flooding the future job market with MBAs are we setting a new educational standard or devaluing our own educations?

In the future it is unlikely that an MBA will mean what it does today. Top 40 programs may still hold the prestige of selectivity but what of the rest of us? The distinction of the MBA is that it thins the herd and guarantees employers with a purchase of top shelf talent. As a larger percentage of applicants have MBAs, that guarantee of top tier quality decreases and thus so does the value of a non top 40 MBA.

India has also seen a dramatic increase in the amount of graduate programs and graduate students in the job market. As a result the All India Management Association has created an exam that will "determine whether business school graduates in India are qualified for jobs." Could we be on our way to a bar exam equivalent in the business world?


Are we making MBAs an absolute must or just a blip on our resumes?

Bro on Bro Crime

A trend has arisen lately that I've been divided on until now. Most of you have already heard of or experienced "Icing" but I will briefly explain it for the culturally numb. Icing refers to a new drinking game that has taken the country by storm where one player "ices" another by surprising him or her (by which I mean him but lets keep it PC) with a Smirnoff Ice. The player presented with the Smirnoff Ice must then get down on one knee and chug it regardless of setting. The only way to avoid being iced is to carry a Smirnoff Ice on you at all times so that upon being iced you can reverse it back onto the other player, forcing them to immediately chug both. Whats new or interesting about a game that involves chugging alcohol? Well we are talking about Smirnoff Ice here, the most universally frowned upon beverage in existence. Originally tagged as a "girly drink", Smirnoff Ice quickly developed into a full blown serving of shame in every bottle. Too girly even for most girls, Smirnoff Ice makes Miller Chill and Mike's Hard Lemonade look like diesel fuel and motor oil. The fun of the game is humiliating whoever the Ice is presented to. I for one would hate having to consume such a drink in public (or private for self esteem reasons).

As much as I enjoy public humiliation. I also love telling myself that I am individual who does not blindly follow trends. After giving this some relatively objective thought I've come out still loving icing. The tipping point for me was a friends facebook status saying "Just saw some kid get iced in penn station..what's better is that he then got id'ed by a cop and got a citation for being under age..I love this game". I can't help but admire the tenacity with which this game is played. Here's an unsuspecting bro being iced in a Las Vegas airport.



The real question is what do the people at Smirnoff think of this? The company denies any involvement in the spreading of the game and I for one believe them. Although they must be excited that the drink is being consumed by somebody, it can't be a great feeling knowing it was your inability to make it cool that lead to its success. Maybe other companies could achieve such success with their own inside out marketing tactics. Perhaps if Buick made even lamer cars hipsters would start buying them and spark a revolution. Maybe fast food thats even worse for you? Oh wait, KFC nailed it

How I Defecate

The luxury market has tanked, luckily the high end diaper market is going strong.

Wanna Hate on Glenn Beck For a Bit? I Thought So

Its that time of the semester. Finals have returned again and I, like most college students am feeling stressed out and anxious about exams. During times like these I like to take a second to curl up on my futon with a hot cup of tea and do something I really love, hate on Glenn Beck. If you've never hated on Glenn Beck before you are really missing out on a rewarding, multifaceted experience. As of late hating on Glenn Beck has become extremely popular amongst the college crowd as well as anyone that has ever seen or heard of Glenn Beck.

For those unfamiliar with Glenn Beck, he hosts his own show on Fox News as well as his own radio show. Glenn is known for his outrageous conservative rhetoric and hysteric rants pertaining mainly to socialism. He makes for a great substitute for those who prefer patriotism to boring stuff like facts and analytic thought.

Back in high school my friends and I used to hang out and hate on Bill O'Reilly all the time. It wasn't hard to get into. He went to our high school, was extremely arrogant, and quite the blow-hard. I know now that this is a gateway hatred that can lead to hating on more ignorant and over the top conservative pundits such as Sean Hannity or, dare I say it, Glenn Beck. Now I could easily hate on Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity right now but lets face it, why ride the tea cups when there's a seat on the roller coaster?

If you are a first time hater I would definitely advise you to hate on Glenn Beck with a group of friends you know you can trust with some content that isn't too strong. Here would be a good place to start.



I know what you are thinking "But Mark hating on Glenn Beck sounds so awesome I just wanna jump in with both feet!" This is a typical first timer mistake. Over-hating on Glenn Beck can lead to deeply sad revelations about modern society and life in general. If you realize while hating on Glenn Beck that there are millions of people out there simultainiously nodding their heads and taking him seriously you may plunge into an immediate and potentially irreversible loss of hope for humanity. This is why its good for first timers to hate amongst friends. If group members feel the sentiment behind the jokes becoming too morbid they can usually turn it around with a comment like "ha, what a bunch of hicks". This brings me to another potential danger of hating on Glenn Beck, classism.

Hating on Glenn Beck inevitably begs the question "Who the hell could take this asshole seriously?" One of the reasons this can be so upsetting is because he projects his act upon a very precise demographic (or stereotype) of people, mainly the type who might have bumper stickers that involve some mix of guns, freedom and our lord and savior. I won't go further into the details of this danger but I beg you to be wary of it. A great way to help divert yourself from such impulses is to focus more on what a douchebag he is. This video does a great job.



Sometimes hating on Glenn Beck is best left up to the professionals. Comedic news sources such as The Daily Show or The Onion are great because they have a team of brilliant writers who are much funnier than your lame ass friends. In addition to phenominal writing these programs also have the resources to pay people to filter through the excessive amounts of Glenn Beck material so you only get 100% pure conservative rhetoric.


Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

John Stuart hating like a champ

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Conservative Libertarian
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The Glenn Beck hating takes place towards the end of the skit but I couldn't rob you guys of this whole thing.

Dropping Out of College

Thats it. It's all done. I'm selling out and finally retiring. Today I registered for Google Adsense, which means any day now adds will pop up on this site and the money will come rolling in. Mark since you'll be rich will you buy me a sports car? Relax, I'm sure I'll buy several. Last year Google pulled in $6.78 billion in revenue so I assume I'll make around that much.

Google Adsense is essentially what makes Google Google. Once this site is approved some small adds will be put on the page and for every time they are clicked I will get paid and Google will get paid. Because I directly stand to benefit I'm not legally allowed to ask people to click the links. Click fraud has actually become a huge problem in the e-commerce marketplace. Massive amounts of people have been hired before for the soul purpose of clicking up competitor costs. What makes click fraud so hopelessly unsolvable is that those who are supposed to police it (Google) are the ones who stand to benefit. Thats like the police making 50% on every bank robbery. Believe it or not Google has also noticed this and has coincidentally been involved in multiple multi-million dollar click fraud lawsuits.

Its Not That Original

This is one of my favorite commercials ever. A lot of companies try to play the same products off as being new or different. Here Burger King admits upfront that they blatantly stole the idea.

Some Inspiring Bicycles

Google Autocomplete, A Query's Worth A Thousand Words

Although autocomplete only produces a handful of words it still speaks volumes.

Here's what Americans are trying to get away with.



Is

^ Notice the query "Is Santa Claus real?" What can be said about a generation that can Google-away its own innocence?

Does



Spying on the enemy

Why do women


Why do men


Good old fashioned racism


Some more "current" racism


HAHA

Incredible 3D Sidewalk Chalk Art

This is completely off topic but mandates a post. If you use Stumble you may have already seen these but they are unbelievable. Below are 3D drawings done with sidewalk chalk by Julian Beever.









I can't help but wonder if he got paid for any product placement on these last two.

New Hawtness

If you don't know about Fratmusic.com you should. Just another way social media makes our lives awesome.

I just uploaded a playlist Genesee Steez. You can go check it out here. Don't forget to click "Hot"

I'm going to see if I can embed it on this blog to make it even more awesome (I know I didn't think it was possible either)

To Skip or Not To Skip: The Timeless College Dilemma

Welcome to college. You now must independently maximize utility through rational decision making...aka Whoohoo no parents!
As an economics enthusiast, I love trying to comprehend the marginal costs and marginal benefits of everyday life. One major quandary of MCs and MBs students analyze on a daily basis (whether or not they realize it or not) is a timeless center piece of every college experience.

Should I skip class or not?

If attendance is taken daily, you don't really understand the subject matter and there's and exam next week, odds are you should probably go to class.

Sometimes the decision to skip is a no brainer. For instance, last semester I took a class at Geneseo with a professor who will remain nameless, although anyone who goes to Geneseo probably already knows who I'm talking about. The midterm and final exams were each 20 True or False questions based on about 30 pages of reading (anyone with half a brain could easily narrow it down to the ten pages questions would be based on). The only other graded material was written work based on text examples. Not only was attendance not taken, but students were actively encouraged by the professor not to go to class. The first day of class he opened with

"Everyone in this class gets a B. A handful of you will get A's, another handful will get C's, but almost everyone gets a B. In the history of this class nobody has ever failed. I see that all of you have come today, although its a beautiful day so I have no idea why. If I were you I certainly wouldn't be here".

He went on to explain that students didn't need to go to class and that there was no reason to brown nose because he didn't plan on learning anyones names anyway. "If you see me on campus and say hi, I will be happy to wave and say hi back, just be aware I have no idea, nor do I care, who you are."

The reason he didn't care about student attendance or involvement was because in order to complete the writing assignments you had to write them in the text book and hand in the whole book at the end of the year. The catch? He wrote the textbooks which cost about $175 each! The class was essentially a scam where students could buy an easy B for $175. I however still attended a fair amount of classes because this guy has clearly figured out something the rest of us haven't. Not to mention 2/3 of the classes consisted of him telling hilarious stories about his fraternity days at Geneseo.

There are times however where the "to skip or not to skip" dilemma is more of a gray area. So many factors contribute to this momentous, yet sometimes trivial decision. Luckily, fellow college student Jim Filbert has made a true contribution to the academic community, the "Should I Skip Class Calculator". The way the calculator works is you answer about ten questions about the class and it then generates an answer telling you whether or not you should go.
The calculator essentially determines the marginal costs of skipping class that day. It takes into account the potential factors that contribute to the overall costs such as:

-How often the class meets
-How many weeks of class are in a semester
-How many times you have already skipped
-Your current standing in the class
-When your next major quiz or test is
-If you would miss some kind of small daily quiz
-Whether or not there is an attendance policy and if so what kind.
-How much exam material you would miss by not going
-Whether or not important announcements are frequently made in class.
-Whether or not you can get important lecture notes/information before next class

Although the calculator does a great job of quantifying marginal costs it doesn't offer any insight regarding marginal benefits. For instance when I used to attend the University of Vermont there would be a lot less kids in class on days when the mountains got a foot of snow or more. On an average day the marginal costs outweighed the marginal benefits, however when it dumped the marginal benefit of an epic powder day outweighed the marginal costs of skipping.


(talk about an awesome marketing campaign)

While surfing the internet I also came across this really cool thing called scanR. ScanR allows students to take pictures of class notes,overheads or whiteboards with a camera phone. It then uploads clean PDF versions of the notes to Facebook so you can share notes with friends. All you need to use it is a camera phone and an account. Here's a video of how it works.



While behavioral and nonmonetary economics (decision making not involving money) can be insightful it doesn't always account for emotional or personal factors. In the book "Freakonomics" the author examines a company that provided bagels to corporate offices. The bagels would be dropped off each morning and a box would be placed next to the bagels with a sign asking employees to pay for however many they took. From a purely monetary/logical standpoint the company shouldn't have made any money. Yet, the amount left in the box at the end of the day was always right on target for what the bagels should have cost. Would stealing a bagel really result in a free bagel? Obviously not since people still paid for them. Apparently stolen bagels are more expensive than free bagels because they have a greater cost, guilt.

Guilt is a major factor of skipping class that neither of the tools mentioned in this post address. Growing up in America, we are instilled with what many refer to as "The Protestant Work Ethic". If you are not being productive, then you are somehow doing something wrong. Often times this leads to unnecessary productivity (if you can really call unnecessary productivity productivity) that is triggered by guilt instead of logic. When most students skip class on some level they feel like they have let somebody down, even if they haven't. I remember once me and a friend were walking to a class we both knew was unnecessary but felt obliged to go to (the same one previously mentioned). When we got there there was a sign on the door saying class was cancelled that day. Walking back, we realized this was the best scenario possible. Even though we weren't going to get anything out of going to class that day we were still relieved of the guilt we would have felt had we skipped without knowing it had been cancelled. Maybe an additional question the "Should I Skip Class Calculator" should ask is "How guilty would you feel about skipping this class?"

"You Don't Work, You Don't Eat" - Jesus

(another blogosphere snipe from mis Maggie Gray)

Here's a Stephen Colbert interview with conservative strategist Mary Matalin. There is something about this woman that sends chills down my spine. Her "Give a man a fish, teach a man to fish" reference bothers me in so many ways I'm not sure where to start.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Mary Matalin
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

First off, Jesus never said that nor is it in the bible. The quote she was trying to incorrectly apply was actually said 400 years before Jesus by Lao Tzu (thanks comment section of video).
Second, if that quote was to be used by anyone as manipulative rhetoric it should be liberals. When you say teach a man to fish that implies sacrificing your own resources to help someone else better themselves. I would consider that quote more supportive of better public schools than free market economics. Maybe she should have said "Catch as many fish as you can, sell them, invest in some boats and nets then catch all the fish and under sell your competitors. Now that your fellow fishermen have no lively-hood, pay them the lowest wage possible to catch more fish for you than that wage is worth. Now give somebody a fish so you look charitable."

I was initially excited to hear he was interviewing a well respected conservative strategist. Unfortunately, as Colbert points out, she does a great job of saying absolutely nothing throughout the entire interview. His lead in to the interview says it all "I'll be interviewing conservative strategist...I'll ask her if she came up with "NO"."
No seems to be the official stance of the conservative party these days. I've always been more of a free market guy myself but at this point I find myself so alienated by their hysteric rhetoric that supporting them seems laughable.

Bro-mographics

Last semester the essay question on my final exam for marketing was "How will Tiger Woods' recent scandal affect the Tiger Woods brand?" The answer was that it wouldn't have any significant effect in the long run because the demographic his brand is marketed towards is young men. What that really means is that Bros don't give a shit! Other than doling out a few spontaneous high fives and sexist comments, his core demographic, aka Bros, has remained unaffected, if not encouraged. Despite this, Tiger Woods has still lost a few sponsors that reach beyond the bromographic such as Gatorade and Accenture because "slam pieces" also get thirsty and desire financial stability. CEO of Tag Heuer Jean-Christophe Babin says Tiger's brodultary has actually encouraged them to increase bromotions featuring Tiger Woods. According to Babin

"In China conversely you have Tag Heuer with Tiger Woods everywhere because [with] the Chinese it rather increases their esteem," he said. "In China, by tradition, your success is measured by your number of mistresses."

I hate contributing to meaningless brosteria and wasn't planning on making a post about the scandal but after reading a post on BrosLikeThisSite.com I couldn't resist. The entire post is basically a hilarious explanation of why my essay answer is correct. I highly recommend reading the whole thing These two excerpts pretty much say it all.

"November 27, 2009 bros hit the fucking jackpot. It was on this day that one of our favorite athletes, video games, and Gatorade flavors became so much more. It was on this day that Tiger Woods became the fucking man. As news emerged about the porn stars, reality TV sluts, and waitresses from shitty restaurants that Tiger had banged, bro-haters across the world decided to judge him by spewing brocial slurs such as “sinner,” “sexual deviant,” “liar,” “creep,” or “pervert.” While all these hateful words emerged across the country, there were only two words that came to any true bro’s mind: “Bro. King.” Bros fucking love Tiger Woods."

"Bros have always supported Tiger Woods, but it took a late night Ambien and Vicodin fueled car crash to truly open every bros’ eyes. This weekend as he makes a comeback against all odds with society constantly judging his every move, bro everywhere will be there to support their fallen Bro King. For years, only the Token Black Bro wearing the Nike hat and red shirt on Halloween for the sixth straight year were able to make the claim. But now, thanks to his sacrifice for the rights of his fellow bros everywhere, we are all now able to honestly declare: “I am Tiger Woods.” Your throne awaits, Tiger. Fire away."

Price Gouging!

I realize I've been pretty lame as far as posting original content goes lately. Once midterms are over I can hopefully have thoughts of my own.

This is one of my favorite political cartoons ever. I saw it in a New Yorker in a waiting a few years ago and it never really left me. The fact that I found it in under 15 seconds on Google is one of those staggering things I know my damn future kids won't appreciate.

The reason I like this so much is because it points out the moral double standard we have for businesses. Everything people do (with maybe a few exceptions) throughout their day is done to maximize their personal benefit. If you are one of the people I know who love to rant about "evil price gouging companies" then take an extra few dollars out of your pay check for no reason.

How The Stock Market Works

"Can you say Ramadan on Fox News?"

This is a great unedited interview with Jon Stuart and Bill O'Reilly. Stuart demonstrates his true brilliance as he walks the tight rope that is an O'Reilly interview. Throughout the interview O'Reilly tries to trap Jon Stuart by making sweeping generalizations and cutting down straw men while Stuart tactfully avoids them all while making excellent points and still being hilarious (although only one person somewhere on the set was actually laughing at his jokes).

I remember when I used to watch Bill O'Reilly with my mom and would marvel at how they could let someone like him on television. Now, as the interview points out, Bill O'Reilly is one of the more boring, middle of the road guys on Fox. He actually graduated from my high school and came to speak at career day. You wouldn't think it possible but he is a way bigger asshole in person. During his speech he managed to shoot down both women and the underclass before answering pre-screened questions from students (the year before some kid asked him about his sex scandal and it did not go well).

Socialism!

I'm not sure who wrote this but I stole it off Jake's Facebook feed, interesting point.

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US department of energy. I took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the national weather service of the national oceanographic and atmospheric administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the national aeronautics and space administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US department of agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the food and drug administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the US congress and kept accurate by the national institute of standards and technology and the US naval observatory, I get into my national highway traffic safety administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads built by local, state, and federal departments of transportation., possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the environmental protection agency, using legal tender issued by the federal reserve bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sound out via the US postal service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After work, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to a house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal’s inspection, and which has not been plundered of all it’s valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log onto the internet which was developed by the defense advanced research projects administration and post on freepublic.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can’t do anything right.

Crazy Violinist At Penn Station

Michael Shulman  by  md9

I was walking through Penn Station yesterday and came across this guy who's name is apparently Michael Shulman. At first I just thought he was a crazy street performer. He was drawing a huge crowd so I took a closer look and realized he is, well, a crazy street performer but an incredibly talented one none the less. He was absolutely shredding this electric violin while playing samples and dancing as well as playing some covers of everything from Britney Spears to Michael Jackson. He would put his violin riffs on loop and they play on top of them. The crowd was going crazy for him.
More Michael Shulman  by  md9

It turns out he has a website and everything. His bio is unbelievable. He came here from Russia when he was 17 without knowing one person here or a word of English. He also doesn't practice songs and just improvs everything he does. I bought a CD from him an uploaded the tracks.

Free The Grapes!

Enough is enough, it is time to free the grapes. As I mentioned in The Long Tail, Making Your Life Awesome Since 2004 we are shifting away from an economy of high sales of a few items to low sales of LOTS of items. Everywhere you look choices are becoming more numerous and products increasingly customized. However, if you happen to be a wine lover in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky,Tennessee,Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Utah, Montana or South Dakota I'm afraid you are out of luck. There, state law prohibits direct shipping of alcohol, meaning if you are a wine drinker in one of these states you must do something unthinkable to most Americans, get it yourself! Still, the real issue here isn't so much that you have to haul yourself down to Bottle Buy but the severe limitations that puts on your freedom of selection. Going to a store means having to pick from only the wines they offer as opposed to EVERY WINE AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET.

The nature of enjoying wine makes these laws particularly disenfranchising. When it comes to drinking wine each individual has a myriad of their own specific likes and dislikes. The extensive information and selection offered online lets you find wines that you personally will enjoy instead of rolling the dice with the suggestion of the shaggy 19 year old behind the counter of your local liquor store.
Internet wine companies also help support small businesses that lack the necessary brand recognition or access to distribution channels to get their quality wines to the people who would enjoy them. My Wines Direct for example screens thousands of wines from small vineyards all over the world to come up with savory gems for your enjoyment.
Free The Grapes! is a national, grassroots coalition of consumers, wineries and retailers who seek to remove restrictions on wine direct shipping. Maryland and New Jersey are two particular battlegrounds that are on the fence.
While politicians and economists scramble to find remedies to this recession, they fail to realize there are economic impediments right under their noses that benefit no one. If you would like to help overturn such laws check out the Free the Grapes! website. Until then, Pennsylvania wine lovers, maybe you can talk your New York neighbors into trading for some fireworks.

Awesome Chat Roulette Video

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Marx Dougherty

I've been thinking a lot lately about the philosophical Jacob Black to Milton Friedman's Edward Cullen (Twilight reference, and yes, I saw it), Karl Marx. I am always frustrated by people who write off Karl Marx with the faint hearted logic that since communism "failed" he has no insight to offer. Worse are those who dismiss him based purely on the negative connotations of his name in the context of our capitalist society. I think some of Marx' ideas have particularly relevant applications to our world today especially as we are seeing a rapid increase in the exploitation of the lower class by the upper class.

Before you get all excited and start throwing around words that start with "S" and "C"(no, not shit or cunt, those words are far more acceptable in America)I would like to point out that I am not a man of distinct political or ideological orientation so much as one who simply enjoys the intellectual exercise of looking at ideas form different perspectives.

Karl Marx wore a lot of hats; philosopher, sociologist, revolutionary, economist..etc. but as of late I have found his sociological insights particularly interesting.

According to Marx there are two groups in the capitalist system, the capitalists (upper class) and the proletariat (lower class). The capitalists have the majority of the wealth and therefore possess the majority of the influence. They use this influence to maintain their dominance over the proletariat. Two important factors that allow this occur are the relationship between the capitalists and the state and the relationship between the capitalists and the proletariat. According to Marx it is the primary function of the state to promote the interests of the capitalists. Since the capitalists control the wealth they can influence the state to act on their behalf. As for the relationship between the capitalists and the proletariat, the capitalists extract their wealth from the proletariat through what is called surplus value extraction (explained later). The most important part of this relationship is that the proletariat are unaware of the nature of their relationship to the capitalists. The state has no real interest in the well being of the proletariat because the proletariat has nothing to offer or persuade them with.

Now lets see how this compares with the present day...

In recent years the stratification between the rich and poor has grown at a devastating pace. In 1980, on average, CEOs at 365 of the largest publicly traded U.S. companies earned 42 times more than their average worker. By 1990 the ratio had increased to 85. Thats nothing compared to 2000 when the same CEOs made 531 times more than their average worker. I know what you Friedman(or Glen Beck for those who prefer patriotism over reading)fans out there are thinking. "The reason they make so much is because they are the most skilled and therefore require higher pay". I wouldn't argue against this for a second if the level of compensation was an accurate reflection of ability. According to advocacy group UFE, U.S. CEOs pay rose 313% from 1990 to 2003 while corporate profits gained only 128%. Its hard to argue that we don't have severe class stratification when the top 10% wealthiest Americans control 90% of the wealth.

The relationship between the capitalists and the state is always the one I find most personally upsetting. Almost every aspect of government in the U.S. is heavily influenced by its corresponding corporate sector. In my post Normal Food I talked about how judges and higher ups of the FDA have "close" relationships with major food producing corporations such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas previously heading up the legal team of Montesano. Even more disturbing is that FDA Deputy Commissioner on Policy Michael Taylor represented Montesano in the lawsuit over whether they should have to label genetically modified food (they won). On the international level the U.S. government forces third wold countries trapped in debt to sign massive contracts with U.S. corporations such as Haliburton (sound familiar?) and Bethel. These countries are also forced into privatizing government assets which extracts common wealth from the native people and sends it back to those corporations (ex people of Ecuador losing their oil reserves to Texcao).

The relationship between the Capitalists and Proletariat is subtle yet at the same time paraded around for all to see. In Marx' theory he talks about surplus value extraction. Surplus value extraction in a nutshell: Value is created through labor...workers create a certain amount of value throughout the day...instead of keeping the value they create they are given a small fraction of that in their wage...the capitalist extracts that surplus value that worker just created in exchange for a low wage and keeps the majority of the value. The most curios part of this relationship is the Proletariat's lack of awareness of the relationship. After a long hard day working for a proportionately miniscule wage what does the worker do with it? Gives that money right back to the capitalists. Its amazing in todays society how enamored we have become with material goods. This frenzied consumerism has stemmed from corporate demand for growth. In America we live in a fully saturated market. Everyone (except those who can't afford it) has everything they need. Therefore the only way for corporations to grow is to create wants so we can continue spending. The point of Walmart is that since everything costs less you can get more stuff. Their official slogan is "Save Money, Live Better". Nobody can deny that when you walk out of Walmart after finding an incredibly great deal you feel like you have somehow won. You have more "stuff" and you got it at Walmarts expense. In reality you have siphoned money out of your community and sent it back to Walmart headquarters so you can enjoy the cheap thrill of a short term gain at the expense of your community in the long run.




I realize all these points beg deeper explanation but I'm also aware that nobody wants to read a ten page paper (or maybe even brief blog post) about the modern applications of Karl Marx.

One of my favorite (and true) anecdotes regarding capitalists:
In his last dying days Andrew Carnegie sought rapprochement with his former business partner Henry Clay Flick. Upon being asked to make up Frick responded "Carnegie, we are both going to hell and I will see you there!"

Did you bring it?

I have no idea what this commercial could be implying

Affirmative Action

"I don't think I should get a job I don't deserve over a white man, but if its tie...fuck em." Chris Rock

First I'd like to thank all you high school and college students for breaking the mold. The link I posted on Facebook with the caption "post about marijuana" led to The Business Behind Getting High being the most popular post yet.





This pretty much says it all


Right now I'm writing a paper for my business ethics class on affirmative action. I'm supposed to determine whether it is morally right in certain situations for a company to set a quota for how many minorities they hire. At first glance this sounds outrageously immoral but upon logically analyzing the situation it seems to make perfect sense in some cases, specifically in those pertaining to larger societal discriminations that limit the opportunity for minorities to educate themselves to the point where they can join the skilled labor force. I've always believed in reparations but writing a check to the disadvantaged doesn't do anything to correct the broken system in place. Instead I think reparations should be provided through educational opportunities where people have an actual chance to better themselves. At this point I am putting off this paper so fervently that I've resorted to still writing about affirmative action but in a different medium.
I realize people hate engaging in almost any internet activity that doesn't increase their immediate social capital but I'd love to hear people's opinions on this. If you don't know what I mean by social capital read my post The Whopper Sacrifice

The Business Behind Getting High

I just finished watching a documentary about marijuana called "The Union: The Business Behind Getting High" and I thought it was excellent. It raised too many interesting points for me to cover in one blog post so I figured I would just put up the video itself. Let's be honest, you aren't doing anything important right now anyway.

"Friends Don't Let Friends Plead Guilty"

Where there's a demand there's a supply



I got this off the Freakonomics blog linked to the right of this page.

12 Biggest Ripoffs in America

An interesting blog post from billshrink.com

http://www.billshrink.com/blog/7636/the-12-biggest-ripoffs-in-america/

According to them the 12 biggest ripoffs in America are as follows

Movie Theater Popcorn
Text Messages
College Text Books
Brand Painkillers
"Free" Credit Reports
Wine Service at Restaurants
Hotel Mini-Bars
All You Can Eat Buffets
Premium Gasoline
Actively Managed Investments
In-Room Movies
Health Club Memberships
Ink Cartridges

New Official U.S. Emblem

Just Throw It In The Bank

I'll admit that in typical honky fashion I misunderstood the words to this song the first time I heard it on the radio. Instead of saying "bag" I initially thought he was saying "bank", which made sense to me since he starts by saying "I got that black amex aka that throw it in the bag (or bank) card". Although I now know the real lyrics I still enjoy listening to the song while assuming he is instead saying "bank" and talking about shamelessly acquiring copious amounts of credit card debt (give it a try). In this assumption of mine, Fabulous understands that he has no choice but to maintain a certain standard of living in the present regardless of what that equates to in the future. It doesn't matter that he is making disastrous long run decisions because HAS TO remain fly in the present.

Like most Americans, this song always makes me think about bank bailouts and where all those toxic assets really went. Everyone would agree that the recession we are theoretically coming out of has been an uncomfortable burden to bare but shouldn't it have been a lot worse? We aren't just talking about the dot-com bubble bursting or a housing market slump but the collapse of our entire banking system. As aggravated as all the populist rhetoric about bank bailouts is, they are what has allowed us to maintain this relatively stable, comfortable standard of living. Although we averted disaster via the government buying up bank's toxic assets that doesn't mean the problem just went away. It's not like there was some massive surplus in a glass case labeled "IN CASE OF RECESSION BREAK GLASS". So where did those toxic assets go? They got added on to the already enormous US debt, debt that we as a country have to pay interest on. Instead of dealing with the real recession we were supposed to face we have essentially thrown it on a credit card (call it China Express) to maintain the standard of living that has become ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to America. Saying some banks are too big to fail is like saying Fabulous is too famous to be broke. I personally do not know enough to argue whether or not we should have bailed out the banks. However, I can say that I'm happy to be blogging on my laptop at college instead of standing on a bread line on Long Island.



Although those were all assumptions that I was making about Fabulous I can't help but suspect he needed to make some extra money on the side. Case and point, when I googled his name to find a picture for this post I discovered he was recently arrested for having 500lbs of marijuana on his tour bus en route from the NBA All Star Game in Phoenix to Boston where he claims to have been going to "pick up someone who's name he could not remember". I told myself I wasn't going to make a bailout joke here and I'm sticking to that.

Support YOUR Shirtless Dancing Guy

Here's a hilarious and surprisingly insightful video about leadership.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

The Golden Corral

It was six o'clock on a Sunday evening, three hours down and four remaining in our long drive home from the Mardi Gras Parade in Burlington, VT to Geneseo, NY. Broke, tired and hungry, we were not quite ready to succumb to the dismal quality of Mickey D's and pressed onward by mandate of a higher calling. Applebee's, TGI Friday's, Friendly's, all reasonably priced establishments of respectably higher quality. In the midst of discussing which one we should stop at we came across a Golden Corral. While The Golden Corral may sound like somewhere Abraham might have sacrificed his best ram in the Old Testament, it is actually an all you can eat BBQ and grill franchise. We had never seen one before but I personally had always found their commercials to be generic, failed imitations of the adds of their competitors. However, they must have done something right because the second we stumbled across it excitement washed over us like a Mardi Gras crowd catching a glimpse of the first float. We knew where we were eating that evening.

Hastily parking the car, we shuffled in amongst the flood of anxious Sunday night diners. We stood at the end of a long line leading up to the cash register where you were granted entry to the buffet. We'd never seen anything like this. The electricity in the air spoke more of a highly anticipated playoff game than the waiting lounge of a T.G.I. Friday's. Shocked by the droves of outwardly excited dinners, we chatted apprehensively about what it must be like inside. A rather corpulent woman behind Harrison, Gavin and I overheard that it was our fist time and chimed in about how excited she was for us as if we were children experiencing our first Christmas. During the wait we got in our fair share of people watching and quickly realized the extent to which we stood out, what with our lack of obesity and tattoos. After much anticipation we finally made it to the front of the line. Cost of admission is ten dollars, the exact amount of cash I had left, this place is a godsend. All rung up and ready for the dinning experience of a lifetime, we were handed our trays and unleashed upon the Golden Corral.

We were met by a spread of steak cooked any way you could want it and chicken prepared in every manner imaginable, not to mention a myriad of fish and shrimp. Plates heaving, we settled into our designated table and got down to business. The steak was a little tough, thats alright there's still chicken. Eh, the chicken's greasier than expected. How many years has this seafood been frozen and where does the breading end and fish begin? Well it is all you can eat for ten dollars and thats still a great deal, we settled, and continued plowing through the spread. We made numerous rounds to and from the buffet acquiring an army of plates yielding dishes with only one or two bites taken out of each. After what only felt like five or ten minutes we began to slow down, and I don't just mean rate of consumption. A grogginess we had never experienced before was suddenly cast upon us. Feeling more under the influence of cough syrup than tryptophan, our conversations began to space out more and more with each bite. We sat there surveying our surroundings in silence. Our once delectable, yet frugal oasis was quickly fading into a temple of gluttony before our eyes. "Where the hell are we?" I asked. After a few moments of numb silence my friend Harrison simply replied "We're in a college dinning hall." Looking around us we all burst out in uncontrollable fits of laughter realizing we had just paid ten dollars for five dollar meals in order to subsidize the 25 dollar meal of the 300 lb. woman behind us in line. Woozy and downtrodden, we returned to the car to spend the next four hours thinking about how many years of our lives we had just taken off. As we got settled and buckled our seat belts we looked at the clock. We had just lost a full hour in the wormhole of American gluttony that is The Golden Corral.

Boys, Girls and Perverts

While reading my friend Maggie's Blog I came across this video on a new channel of social media I hadn't heard of called chat roulette. The general idea is that you are randomly connected to a stranger with a web cam who you can talk with. If one of you doesn't want to talk to the other you can click next and are then immediately connected to a new stranger. The video does a great (and funny) job of explaining this additional reason for parents to be neurotic about their children's internet access.

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

Here is yet another gem from Maggie's blog that I love. Sure she's just a pretty 19 year old girl blogging about nothing specific, but according to chat roulette that mean's she is 90% more interesting than I am.

Ugh

Get Verizon wireless so you can become ignorant of art, nature and loved ones.

Go On, Be a Man

I love these Old Spice commercials because they mock the traditional male stereotypes portrayed by most companies.

Let's Rock

The Long Tail, Making Your Life Awesome Since 2004

Pretty Lights: Finally Moving  by  md9

Actually the long tail has been progressively making all our lives a little more awesome each year in varying degrees for the past ten or so years, but that wouldn't have made for nearly as bitchin' a title. (alright, maybe not bitchin' but at least moderately more catchy) I went with the year 2004 because that's when it was first defined by editor and chief of Wired magazine Chris Anderson in his appropriately titled book "The Long Tail". The long tail lets businesses please more people and make more money while allowing us, the consumers, to celebrate our individuality at little to no additional cost. It accounts for innumerable positive aspects of our day to day lives and yet we seldom even stop to thank it. At this point I know what you are thinking "Mark, enough with the foreplay, just tell us what it is already!" Fine, but there is no need to hypothetically yell at me on my own blog.

The long tail refers to the theory that our culture and economy is shifting away from a system of high sales of a few items to low sales of LOTS of items. High sales of a few items means customers have a limited amount of choices. Low sales of lots of items means companies can target/satisfy a plethora of niche (small, specific) markets. Serving a specific market is traditionally very expensive. It requires storing and distributing its own set of goods. Over the past few years the internet has made distributing products exponentially cheaper, therefore allowing companies to reach more niche markets.




A classic example of the long tail model is Netflix. Netflix, simply known to Blockbuster as "the grim reaper", has taken the movie rental market by storm. Because Netflix doesn't have to fill thousands of storefronts with every title it carries it can offer a much wider range of titles at no cost to them from one place. Now instead of running the risk that nobody will want to rent "All Dogs Go to Heaven 2", and buying a couple thousand copies of it, Netflix can purchase one copy and make it available to every customer via the internet. Since the marginal cost of renting another movie is practically nothing, Netflix can allow its users to watch as many movies as they want and only have to charge a small monthly fee to pay the nerds who run the website. In 2007 Netflix announced that it has 85,000 available titles. I don't know how many you can find at your local Blockbuster (if you can still find a local Blockbuster) but I'm sure its a very small fraction of that.

The internet has been continuously making distribution so cheap that anyone can get their product out there if there is a corresponding niche market that might like it. My two favorite examples of this are the artist Pretty Lights and comedian Bo Burnham. Both produce excellent products that lack mass appeal but have found their niche markets by using the internet's cheap distribution. Pretty Lights has achieved fame by charging everyone's favorite price for his music, free. At PrettyLightsMusic.com you can download the entire Pretty Lights discography for absolutely nothing. Since his product only appeals to a small niche market he is making sure he reaches as many people within that market as possible. Even though he might make a few bucks of some people willing pay for his music, he makes more money through all the additional live shows his increased market presence demands. Enough said? Fine, here's more Pretty Lights

Pretty Lights: Let Em Know It's Time To Go  by  md9

Comedian Bo Burnham has also benefited from the cheap (aka free) distribution of the internet. He started out posting YouTube videos of his songs in high school that went viral and got him tons of exposure. Unlike most YouTube stars, Bo has actually made a career of it, staring in his own Comedy Central Presents special and having an album in stores. Here's him singing about the site that made him who he is.




One of those Youtube songs that created the buzz.

Game Theory With Balls

The prisoner's dilemma is a classic game theory conundrum. The best net benefit for both players is to cooperate with one another. However, if one player cooperates and the other betrays them, the one doing the betraying receives a higher payout while the one being betrayed is worse off. If both players betray each other the end result is dismal for both.




Here's a great example of the prisoner's dilemma on the hit British game show Golden Balls

Normal Food

After three years of continuously consuming highly processed campus dinning hall meals I have found myself thinking more and more "I wish I could just have some normal food". Upon further thinking the matter through however, I've discovered I have no idea what "normal food" is. It certainly isn't the dinning hall chicken breast that looks like it was squeezed out of a tube labeled "Chicken". Does that mean normal food is the food the majority of Americans eat on a daily basis? Chickens that can't even walk because hormones and genetics make them grow too fast for their bones to support? Factory raised beef so rampant with e-coli that it's washed in ammonia before it's shipped to you to eat? That doesn't sound "normal" to me. I'm starting to think organic is the answer. I've always felt it got a bad rap as being some type of delusional hipster diet. Cows raised on farms that eat grass? What a bunch of nut jobs.


With this on my mind I decided to watch the 2008 documentary "Food Inc." and have to say I was pretty surprised by it. I wasn't shocked by how mistreated the animals were, or by all the unnatural stuff that gets pumped into them. Those are all things I, like most Americans, was already aware of but tried not to think about. The thing that really shook me was how such a hideous industry is so seamlessly veiled from the public. When you walk through the grocery store most of the packages and names imply that the products came from a small farm. Lets be honest, nobody would buy kielbasa from Hillshire Mass Production Slaughter Factory.



Over the past thirty years a select few companies have grown and put he rest out of business. In the 1970's the top 5 meat packing companies accounted for about 20% of the market share. Today the top 4 make up over 80%. These massive companies furiously work to find ways to lower their prices because thats what we, the consumers demand. Each step these companies take to increase their efficiency results in making the food they produce less safe. For instance, feeding cows corn instead of grass is cheaper and makes them grow much faster in addition to causing their e-coli to skyrocket. If they were to feed them grass for even five days before they were slaughtered it would get rid of almost all the e-coli but still they don't. Why is it that we as consumers don't demand safer, more expensive food? I believe it's because of this small farm veil companies create through marketing. Nobody would walk into a car dealership and say "An extra $20 for airbags? No thanks". This is because safety is at the forefront of your mind when you buy a new car, but why not your food?

Another reason people don't stop to think about the safety or quality of their food is the false sense of security the FDA gives them. After Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" and the creation of the FDA "dangerous" food feels like a thing of the past. Everyone thinks its just big oil companies pulling strings within the government but large food production companies are just as involved. Just as Condoleezza Rice served on the Chevron's board of directors and Dick Chenney was CEO of Halliburton, there are similar love stories to be told within the FDA and food industries. Here's a few:

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas--> Former Attorney of Montesano
This is especially significant because he was the Judge who decided that a company can "own" the genetic code of a seed which essentially allowed Montesano to own the entire soy bean industry and exploit any farmer who wants to grow them.

Donald Rumsfeld--> CEO of SEARLE Pharmaceuticals (owned by Montesano)

John Ashcroft--> Recieved record donations from Montesano

North Carolina State Senator Wendell Murphy--> CEO of Smithfield (one of those 4 largest meat packing corporations)

FDA Branch Chief Margaret Miller--> Former Montesano Chemical Lab Supervisor

FDA Deputy Commissioner on Policy Michael Taylor--> Represented Montesano in lawsuit about whether they should have to label genetically modified food (they won)



My favorite part of the documentary was how they essentially summed up my previous post "Get Out and Vote (with your money)" For those of who you might be interested in watching "Food Inc." Here it is below.
I realize the videos I post on here usually get cutoff (if anyone knows how to fix this please tell me) so here's where you can watch it in full... Food Inc.