jorge.cortell.net

After posting graphs and cold data (quite ilustrative, I believe), and the discussion it has generated (people, why don’t you use the “comment” instead all the other unstructured methods you are using?), please let me write a caveat about graphs and cold data.

In my high-tech gym, you have the option to have a lot of data collected, for your own, private and personal use. It seems like a great idea at first. For example, I can access via a secure web site real time stats of my workouts, such as the “fitness balance” (which shows my emphasis in weight lifting, and then swimming -some data greyed out for privacy purposes-):

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Not that fast.

The following graph (Workout Log) allows me to see how many times I have worked out. Since I tend to go to the gym everyday (but it is not always possible), an average of 4 times per week sounds reasonable, but what is that max. 8 times per week number? Why is there such a dip in mid February?

Data often needs to be contextualized, otherwise we might end up with the wrong conclussion (those 8 workouts per week happened to be visits to the gym to do a personal assesment and training routine design, added to my regular workouts; and the dip… just a long trip!).

But even worse things can happen:

In this case, an obviously strange abherration is showing in the graph. Somehting to be concerned about? Not at all: the scale of the axis make a slight variation (less than 1%, less than a pound) seem like a huge shift. And variables such as measurement thresholds, electronic glitches, etc must be taken into account when considering the validity and presentation of that data.

Let’s just keep in mind: however great quantification and visualization tools are (and I do like them a lot, and believe they can be very beneficial to the way we make decissions and understand the world and ourselves) they must be used with care. After all, this following map might show all the places I have traveled to… but it can not tell you about the experiences lived there…

Play with data, discover, learn the hard truth…

Government debt does not explain it all:

Unemployment is, indeed, quite inapelable:

And minimum wage:

So, perhaps, taking all those (and the last “devastating evidence” one) graphs into account, French and German governments have tricked, via manipulative markets and rating agencies, ignorant technocrat Spain’s PP government into cutting social spending (like education and health, which in turn becomes productivity, and minimum wage and job stability, which promotes spending and growth) so we go deeper into the hole, and they take advantage of our excellent engineers at a low rate, while speculating with debt and making sure Spain does not become a strong competitor…

Don’t they realise that with a monarchy that “shoots itself in the foot trying to hunt elephants and hiding corruption and scandalous ties”, a media that is so self complacent and ass kissing that feels more like brothels, politicians so entrenched in the corrupt game that with two degrees of separation you could not find an honest Spaniard anymore, a starch church mingling in public affairs, and a population so absorbed by soccer, celebrities and fear, they do not need to do that? Spaniards doom themselves! We always have, damn religious guilt, envy, fear, pride and inferiority complex!

In Spain, the conservative PP government is planning to make “passive resistance” a crime (as well as organizing demonstrations using internet technologies).

I have these 4 criminals’ magnetic puppets on my fridge. 2 were outlawed (and had to flee) by German Nazis. 1 had to flee Spanish dictatorship because he was a Communist. And the other one was thrown in jail by British occupation forces for “passive resistance”.

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

Mahatma Gandhi

On September 28, 2011, Hou Hanru, Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs at the San Francisco Art Institute said on a lecture (Curator’s Perspective) in New York:

I think the worst exhibition in the world is the exhibition that is organized like a book. We see this a lot, an exhibition that takes the artwork as an illustration of a concept. I think an exhibition is not necessary for this: frankly, it’s too expensive. Through exhibition making we must spend the money, time and energy to produce a language that can not be replaced by other forms.

Interested by this argument, I watched the recordings of The Critical Edge of Curating conference held at the Guggenheim Museum November 3-4, 2011. Here are some more thought provoking quotes:

For many curators and artist working today, the exhibition no longer serves as the culminating manifestation of their work. For some, it is a mere step along a trajectory of research and planning. For others it has become an entirely dispensable model.

Anton Vidokle  (e-flux) said:

I see the artist as someone who sees art as an integral part of human social life and who can discover or renounce a social identity in his or her encounter with art.

I think that in the future, the art of our time may very well become incomprehensible because of how incredibly historically contingent contemporary art seems to be. In order to understand today’s art in the future you may have to reproduce the very specific context of our time in minutia. TV shows, fashion magazines, Hollywood movies, popular music, comic, supermarket circulars, and so forth, which is something far beyond what a didactic museum wall text does for the Renaissance paintings, for example.

There is a lot of debate and analysis on why is the US healthcare system so freakingly expensive (basic answer: greedy inhuman and short sighted powerful economic interest added to puppet politicians and sheepish voters). Here is one real life example: a friend in Atlanta told me that he went to the hospital ER after feeling intense chest pain. He knew it was most likely a strong episode of acid reflux (he had been suffering from that for some time), but it was so severe, he got scared and wanted to check.

After the preliminary doctor’s visit, it seemed to be just acid reflux, but just in case (out fear of malpractice rather than extra care for the patient, as admitted by the doctor), an extensive battery of test was ordered. After those, he was sent home. BUT…

Although he has full insurance (which in this country, as I am finding out, is not at all cheap), he still had to pay a bill of $12,000 (and assumes his insurance has covered around $80,000). WTF!!!!

Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport has been having one of those useless scanners that show passengers naked for a while now. But the last time I was there, they were being tested, and most passengers did not go through them. 

Today, though, as I approached the security line, I saw that next to every metal detector, there was one of those scanners. “Wow, this is getting worse”, I thought, while seeing how almost everybody was going through the scanners. 

When my turn came, I stepped in front of the metal detector, and the female TSA agent in front of the scanner told me: 

– Sir, you need to go through here.

– No, I don’t. –I replied– I prefer to go through the metal detector.

– Everybody has to go through here – she replied while a very large woman, a child, and an old man were being told by another (male) TSA agent to go through the metal detector.

– Obviously that is not true – I reply, looking at the line being formed in front of the metal detector.

Sensing a growing discomfort in my interlocutor, and not feeling like the situation called for a confrontation, I decided to explain further:

– I have medical, political, and personal objections to the use of those scanners, particularly on me.

– This sign shows there is no need for concern, sir – she stubbornly tells me, turning a sign that was not readily visible by passengers towards me.

The misleading sign basically said (too bad she would not let me take a picture) something along the lines that the scanner was safe, and it software allowed TSA agents to guarantee our safety. No mention of political, privacy, misuse, or medical concerns.

– Still, I refuse to go through the scanner, and since the metal detector is right here, and working, I prefer to go through the metal detector like those people.

– You then will have to be patted down by a male TSA agent. Is that OK? –She says.

– I don’t see those people who have gone through the metal detector before me being patted down.

– Sir, those are the regulations: if you opt-out you need to go through the metal detector and you need to be patted down.

I decided there was no use in arguing with her regarding the correct use and meaning of the word “need”. I also decided that the accuracy of her claims could be checked later, because going through the trouble of doing it on the spot could make me loose my flight, so I agreed, and went through the metal detector.

The TSA male agent standing by the metal detector told me as soon as I went through (without a “beep” or issue):

– Sir, you need to stand here –right next to him and the detector; there goes the “need” again.

I obediently stand where he points.

– ”Male opt-out on line 14-15!” –he calls for through his intercom.

And I wait there.

And wait some more.

And he calls again.

And I wait. 

And in the meantime, several people go through the metal detector without pat-downs. All kinds of ages, races, genders…

And wait some more.

I move about 3 inches to check my carryon luggage, shoes, laptop, phone, watch and wallet, waiting for me at the end of the object x-ray scanner, to make sure nobody takes anything “by mistake” (since the people that are “taking care of our security” do not seem to care about our property).

– Sir, I asked you to stand right here –he reminds me, pointing to what seem to be directly my feet.

I don’t know if my look conveyed the “WTF” correctly. I wish I could have typed it on my phone’s LED screen app.

He calls again.

I wait.

And wait.

Some 30 minutes later (one thing one learns after decades of air travel and security checkpoints is that there is no point in worrying about missing the flight once you are “on your way”) a female TSA agent comes and says “you pat him down, I got the line”.

So the male TSA agent, very professionally explains to me the whole procedure (his explaining took about double the time the procedure itself), and asks me several times if I understand and if I am OK with that, adding that we can go to a private screening room if I feel uncomfortable going through that in public.

I do feel uncomfortable in public, pat down or not, so the private screening room does not offer me any relief.

Then my luggage gets “screened” and a particle sample taken from my clothes is run through the explosives detector.

All that because I dared to choose? to exercise my rights? to speak up and stand up for what I believe?

I don’t care how difficult fascism (yes, I understand the severity of the word, know its history, and chose it accordingly) makes my life. I will fight, take it, or flee. But I am NOT jumping through their loop. And I will not keep quiet.

[Note: I am writing this while I wait to board my plane. On the TV screen, the news of yet another school shooting. And the CNN anchor woman asks "time for students to carry guns in campus to protect themselves?" WTF!! Yet, no word about the annoying uselessness of outrageously expensive airport security, who by the way NEVER stopped any "terrorist attempt"]

To top it off, I have missed the CUNY Graduate Center talk “The Brain” by Richard Axel and Lawrence F. Abbott.

On Saturday morning, as I was walking towards the gym on Park Avenue, I saw waves of young adults (although acting like teenagers or frat boys) wearing green (some just a t-shirt or sweater, some a full leprechaun costume) on a procession towards their favorite Irish watering hole to “celebrate” St. Patricks Day in the only way that they seem to believe to be appropriate, besides a 5th Ave. official parade: drink until you pass out.

This oversimplification is getting out of hand.

Simplistically but efficiently explained in Zeitgeist the movie (watch here), agricultural-astronomical events were usurped by religious (mostly Christian, as I will explain later why) holy-days, which in turn are being usurped by consumer days, and in order to do so, icons and symbols have been used.

Christmas is believed by many people to be a holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus. But Jesus (if at all) would have been born in spring, not winter. Christians decided to take a pagan agricultural celebration, and turn it into “their” celebration. Modern versions of this include such non-sense as the German Christmas tree tradition, Santa Claus, etc. All this symbolized by the colors green (the tree), red and mainly white (snow). The same can be explained for Valentine’s day (appropriating the color red and heart symbol thanks to the greeting card industry), the Astarte fertility celebration and Spring Equinox turned Easter (multicolored and chocolate coated by the food industry), or the harvest pagan festivity and All Saints turned into Halloween (a funky mix of orange, pumpkins and horror).

Why and how did that happen? As Kira explains:

When Christianity sought to stamp out Paganism because it threatened its sovereignty, they took on a lot of their customs in order to make Pagans feel more comfortable converting. The issue was never spirituality, it was power. They wanted as many converts as possible. Constantine saw the benefit of making Christianity the national religion because he saw how their numbers were ever increasing. He saw if he didn’t convert, and didn’t make Christianity acceptable to his people, there would be riots. Riots mean soldiers, and soldiers cost money. Not to mention the amount he would lose in the lives of his people, which meant decrease in tribute and taxes. 

Constantine followed the line many conquerors and kings have taken before him: the Greeks, Macedonians, etc. He saw the importance of holy days and festivals for Paganism, and knew that would lock in new believers to this new national religion. To this day Christians celebrate Pagan holidays, though they choose only to see their religious importance. These holidays have been around for so long, no one wants to change anything, and to do so would even be considered inappropriate, even though it would also be accurate.

But when we take that into the next level (consumerism), we end up with an absurd line of source-result, and even worst: oversimplification.

So, Spring Equinox becomes Astarte, which becomes Easter, which becomes colored chocolate eggs.

As at the end of the day I look at the young men and (mostly, due to their usually lower endurance of alcohol) women on the side walk, wasted, throwing up, or worse, in bed with a stranger, I wonder how easy it is to be manipulated by power and money (which usually go hand in hand) short-sighted interests, by the simple formula: natural significant event turned into religious holiday, turned into consumer holiday, turned into expected (even if irrationally damaging) grupal behavior.

I say:

embrace ancient wisdom if you wish, but fuck ignorant tradition.

On Friday morning I had a meeting, so I took the 1 Subway line to 168th St. 

Given, the station was not the coolest in NY, but what shocked me was that at the other end of the platform, there was a man on the floor, and people just passed by as if nobody was there.

So I crossed to the other side, and asked him if he needed help. No response. I went to look for help, and finally found an MTA employee. I described the situation, and his response was “Oh, don’t worry, he sort of lives there“. That’s it. [Sic(k)].

Peter sends me this (thanks!):

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