Jordan Sneakers

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/crowds-waiting-to-buy-nike-shoes-turn-unruly-2052564.html

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/nike-decries-violence-over-air-jordan-shoes/story-e6frf7lf-1226229978791

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aVDFbtc4FY

It happened all over the country.  People arrested, trampled, pepper sprayed, stabbed, in sum, general mayhem at malls all across America all because black people have an irrational addiction to Jordan sneakers.  Of course none of the articles specifically reference the race of the Jordan seekers, but it doesn't take a genius to figure it out.  Why doesn't this happen at Apple stores?

Why don't ghetto black people understand that they are the victims of an elaborate value-transference scheme created by Nike that sucks wealth out of the black community?

All this senseless violence for the privilege of paying $180 for a pair of sneakers.  I just don't get it.

Infinite Jest

100 pages in and I am still confused.  I am putting it to rest for a while and focusing on reading the rest of Haruki Murakami's books which are in the mail and should be arriving tomorrow.  I can't wait.

SWPLing, The Art of Living Local, Thinking Global

The day started out innocently enough.  I consumed a package of Quaker oatmeal that I had purchased from Costco along with a small Dole banana (the banana was smaller than my fully erect penis).  I washed this healthy breakfast down with a glass of fortified 100% store branded grape juice and burped.

I left my cell phone and computer at home since I did not want to be distracted by technology.  Is our constant need to stay connected a disease that can be cured?

My recently bought blue Korean car needed gas so I drove to the nearby Shell station to fill up.  It only cost $26 and I was pretty low on gas.  I love new car.  I had to drive downtown to take care of some work related business but other than that I had no other obligations for the day.  I decided that I would forfeit my personal sense of agency for the day and instead let myself become the subject.  I would let adventure act upon me rather than seek it.

I cruised down the highway, windshield wipers steadily wiping away the steady fall of rain,  more than occasionally checking my instrument panel to make sure that I was conserving gas.   A recent obsession that I can't seem to shake.  I would constantly check the average MPG and get a rush of joy whenever it soared to 40 MPG and feel glum when it plummeted below 35 MPG.  Korean cars are quite efficient.  I am a person who cares about the environment.

I finished my business and felt strangely free.  I decided to go to the public library as I had to return a borrowed copy of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, a fine novel that I had finished in one day.  I dropped off the book and thought about staying in the library to read and people watch, but decided against it.  The homeless people  didn't smell so great today.  Besides, I was in a spending mood.

I had been ordering two books a week from Amazon and checking one book out from the library for the last month or so as part of a project to satisfy my literary hunger.  But today, I decided that I would support a local business and not give my money to the soulless corporation enslaving Chinese and Indian programmers known as Amazon (which ironically enough, I own stock in).  Reflecting back on my recent book buying binge, I experienced a twinge of hypocritical guilt.  My paycheck is dependent on people who have made the commitment to shop local yet I was taking their money and not doing the same.  So I decided to go to the last independent book store (and one of the only ones remaining in the US) in town to purchase a book that I had been eyeing on Amazon.  It was available for the low price of  $11.76 with free two day shipping, but I knew I would have to pay much more at the book store.  I drove to the book store, parked, and walked in.

There were a lot more people in there than I expected.  I presumed the unexpected flurry of activity was caused by the holiday season.  I was on a mission to find a book so I headed straight towards fiction W and found a bright display of the book I was looking for complete with a miniature handwritten review from one of the store employees.  Oh, the joys of independent book stores.

I quickly scanned through the pages and then proceeded to the registers, where I was promptly helped by a smartly dressed white girl manager who I will bet voted for Obama and supports socialism.  People who work in bookstores, especially independent ones, are like that.  She was friendly and charged me $17.99 plus tax for the book.  I  was very satisfied with paying that premium amount as I knew part of that money would go towards helping the nice liberal employees there pay for their weekly organic groceries.  Go Local!

I walked out shielding my new book from the rain and sidled back into my Korean car.  What to do next?  I drove out of the parking lot and went to search for a good coffee shop where I could finish reading Haruki Murakami's The Wind Up Bird Chronicles.  I've been on a Murakami tear lately, if you can't tell already.

The first independent coffee shop I hit up didn't have any parking spaces so I decided to venture out to another one of my favorites by the lake.  Who would ever buy stuff from the evil corporation Starbucks in this town when there are so many superior INDEPENDENT LOCAL options?  I parked my car and walked into the coffee shop.  I was instantly hit by the romantic scent of roasting coffee beans. A fat girl with pink hair took my order after fumbling around with the espresso machine.  She apologized for the wait and I told her it was OK (it was not OK that she was very fat, however).  I exchanged $6.00 for a bottomless cup of coffee, a cookie, and $.76 in change, which I promptly deposited in the tips jar, out of pity for the fat pink haired girl.

Mug in hand, I wandered over to the coffee containers to select a flavor.  I decided on a bold blend that had both Colombian and African beans which meant that I was helping both poor Campesinos and Negroes.

Inside or outside?  It was raining but the temperature was mild so I decided on outside.  There, I could take in the view of the lake and the expensive houses on the hill.  I whipped out my book and started reading all while keeping an eye out for lonely attractive Asian gals (Unfortunately I am a ethnocentric racist and am not sexually interested in non-yellow women).  I figured I looked pretty sophisticated and attractive reading Murakami while sipping ethical coffee.

It's a good book, you should read it.  I read for four hours and covered two hundred and fifty seven pages.  There was one Chinese girl wearing a strange rectangular shaped backpack that caught my attention.  She was meeting her Chinese girlfriend who was not surprisingly enough dating a white guy.  At least, that was my impression.  She looked decent from a distance, but as I got a better glimpse of her face and body, I became disappointed.  Her face was too big and her ass flat and wide.  A 4 at best.  Damn.  I returned to my book which was far more sexually intriguing.

I left the coffee shop at around 8 and headed for Whole Foods Market.  It's one of the best places to people watch and good or bad, I always run into people I know there.  I drove to Whole Foods and parked in the basement.  There were a lot of people.

I aimlessly walked around the store checking out items and people.  I didn't need anything in particular.  Jeans and dress shoes seem to be a growing trend here in Austin.  There was one thickly built bald man who wore a long leather coat who I liked.  He was an interesting character.

Then I found what I was looking for.  A display of $14.99 (originally $24.99) Threads 4 Thought hoodies made of recyclable material.  How cool.  Of course they were unisexually sized, the only gender-proper way of doing things.  Did you know that physical separation of apparel items into gender categories is part of a violently oppressive scheme by non-progressives to socially construct an gender inelastic world?  In essence, by designating a garment "For men", a company is submitting to an oppressive gender construct and being sexist.  Moreover, the article of clothing itself may begin to harbor sexist intentions.  Scary, I know, but it's happening at retail stores all across the globe.  This is why you should buy stock in American Apparel and women should stop buying stuff from Victoria's Secret.  In the future, males will wear dresses and women will wear ties.  Look where progress has taken us so far.  Women, being liberated from the gender-constraining meta-narrative imbued in the dress, now wear jeans and pants.  Women have made significant progress towards equality in the realm of apparel.   When will men be liberated into the allure of Victoria's Secret and start wearing panties?  I'd say it is only a matter of time before that happens (there are actually weird men on the internet who do this...shudder).

I bought this on-sale!  It's a large and fits pretty well on me.

This is my first article clothing that is "sustainable".  I have no idea what "sustainable" actually means but it sounds cool and hip, so I am guessing it must be good.  Clever trick with the "New York City" and "Los Angeles" since that's where all the cool chic people live and work.  I don't get the U.S of A part.  What does it mean?  It's made in Pakistan.  

I feel very socially responsible.  I get to save the environment and help third-world people at the same time!  It doesn't get any better than this.  This is excellent marketing that will be super-effective on white people who shop at Whole Foods.  It worked on me!

I ended up just buying the hoodie and a box of organic vegetarian lentil soup.  It was a good day at Whole Foods.  I am sure John Mackey, the Randian CEO of Whole Foods, was smiling at me from his office.  I like Ayn Rand too. Too bad I didn't see any cute Asian girls during my time there.  

I spent around $50 today living local.  You should try it sometime.  It's actually a fairly enjoyable experience.  Later guys.

Check out the Threads for Thought Website.  http://www.threadsforthought.com/default.html
They are marketing geniuses.  Notice the "support our troops" on the right and the peace sign on the left.  The irony is complete.

If I Were A Poor Black Kid

Gene Marks is a fucking blind and stupid white guy.  He's currently being branded as an evil racist for his article, "If I Were A Poor Black Kid".  For some odd reason, the anti-racist blogger BigWowo is defending Marks.

If I was a poor black kid I would first and most importantly work to make sure I got the best grades possible. I would make it my #1 priority to be able to read sufficiently.   I wouldn’t care if I was a student at the worst public middle school in the worst inner city.  Even the worst have their best.  And the very best students, even at the worst schools, have more opportunities.  Getting good grades is the key to having more options.  With good grades you can choose different, better paths.  If you do poorly in school, particularly in a lousy school, you’re severely limiting the limited opportunities you have.

And I would use the technology available to me as a student.  I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays.  That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home than on the streets.  And libraries and schools have computers available too.  Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet.  Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

If I was a poor black kid I’d use the free technology available to help me study.  I’d become expert at Google Scholar.   I’d visit study sites like SparkNotes andCliffsNotes to help me understand books.  I’d watch relevant teachings onAcademic Earth, TED and the Khan Academy.  (I say relevant because some of these lectures may not be related to my work or too advanced for my age. But there are plenty of videos on these sites that are suitable to my studies and would help me stand out.)  I would also, when possible, get my books for free at Project Gutenberg and learn how to do research at the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia to help me with my studies.

I would use homework tools like Backpack, and Diigo to help me store and share my work with other classmates.  I would use Skype to study with other students who also want to do well in my school.  I would take advantage of study websites like Evernote, Study Rails, Flashcard Machine, Quizlet, and free online calculators.

 Gene Marks just doesn't get it.  Poor black kids have low average IQ and are unlikely to be capable of or interested in the tasks that Marks suggests.  Even black kids (or kids of any race, for that matter) of average and above-average IQ are unlikely to utilize technology in such a way.  What Gene Marks proposes is that poor black kids become autodidacts, which unfortunately, typically requires a superior IQ, something that is not common even among white/Asian populations, much less black ones.  A more appropriate title for the article would be, "If I Were A Poor Black Genius Kid".  Gene Marks is a RACIST because he practices the soft bigotry of unreasonable expectations.

Every I time I go to the public library (which is a lot) I never see homeless and poor people doing anything productive on the computers or reading books.  Most of the time they are watching Youtube videos and playing games.  Even at college libraries, people are on Facebook 80% of the time.  For most people, technology is not used as a learning tool or for value creation, it is simply a mode of entertainment.

Does Gene Marks actually think that kids use Sparknotes to help them "understand" books?  Kids use Sparknotes because they are too lazy to read the book in the first place (or too stupid).  It is amazing how many kids in this generation simply REFUSE TO READ.  Reading is one of the greatest pleasures in life and it is disappointing to meet people who boastfully claim that they hate reading.  They don't know what they are missing out on.

The insane out-of-wedlock birthrate among blacks needs to be curtailed.  Reestablishing the structure of black families is crucial to reinvigorating the black community and promoting social change (change to the past).  I am in favor of stricter of divorce laws and incentives or mandates that would allow more kids to grow up with both a mother and a father.

If I were a poor black kid, I would either join a gang or spend 4 hours a day practicing basketball.

SAT scores!

Steve Hsu has some interesting data on the SAT and first year GPA with regards to Asians.

A few of my thoughts on the SAT.  The ceiling on the math SAT is too low, especially for the East-Asian demographic.  It is interesting to note that an 800 score is 96th percentile for Asians (including inferior Asians) which suggests that a perfect score would be...what 90th percentile or something like that for superior Asians East Asians.  I had the same (or similar) score on the math SAT as some of my peers who possessed much superior mathematical ability.  If you were to judge our quantitative skills solely on the basis of the SAT, you would think we were equally superior.  But when we took the AMC exams, they could answer twice the number of questions that I could.  I always died somewhere around the 10th question.

I think the ETS should make the math SAT harder.

I also think that college GPA is complicated.  Many students will simply search for the easiest classes to maximize GPA, hence the development of companies like MyEdu.  Your GPA might be higher simply because you were lucky enough to get into the biology class with the awesome Professor Gay and not be stuck with Professor Wang.


College is vastly overrated.

HBD and the Intelligence of Jeremy Lin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VR7p-vmFp24

Jeremy's parents are short and he is tall.  This is atypical, genetically speaking.  I don't know too many tall people who have short parents.  Maybe Jeremy had ancestors who were tall or his parents are short because they were malnourished. 

Jeremy went to Harvard because he was smart and going to Harvard made him a lot smarter.  But is this actually true?  To me, Jeremy doesn't seem very smart at all in his interviews.  He sounds like your typical dumb black basketball player.  Maybe he just spends too much time with dumb basketball players and has adopted their manners of speech.  Kobe Bryant sounds smart (and I think he is pretty smart too, probably in the top 0.1% of NBA players) while Jeremy Lin sounds stupid.  

Jeremy Lin is also an evangelical Christian and believes Jesus came back from the dead.  Some folks would claim that this is more evidence that supports Jeremy's non-smartness, but I don't think much can be made of his religious beliefs in relation to his intelligence.  One of the smartest people I know who actually went to college with Jeremy is an evangelical Christian.  

Jeremy's dad has a PhD in computer engineering from Purdue and worked in Silicon Valley, so Jeremy obviously has some smart genes.  But my suspicion is that Jeremy is not quite as smart as his father.  Regression to the mean.  

Jeremy only had a 3.1 GPA at Harvard and he majored in an easy subject, economics.  The average GPA at Harvard is around 3.5 so Jeremy was well below the mean.  But then again most Harvard students don't practice basketball three hours a day and also travel around the country to play games.  Perhaps his lack of academic success can be attributed to his commitment to basketball.  Or maybe he just wasn't very smart compared to the average Harvard student.  It's probably some of both, if you ask me.  

In conclusion, I estimate Jeremy Lin's IQ at around 115.  He probably scored around 1300 on the SAT.  I find it highly unlikely that he would have been admitted to Harvard without his basketball playing abilities.  In terms of intelligence, I think that Jeremy probably falls in the bottom 15% at Harvard.   

****

I like Jeremy Lin so don't take this assessment of him as evidence of me being against him somehow.  I just think that too many reporters and bloggers are falling all over themselves to worship Jeremy's Harvard smartness when in reality Jeremy only got into Harvard because he was good at basketball and is not that smart.  

People need to understand that going to Harvard (or any college, for that matter) does not make you smarter.