Saturday, February 27, 2010

Thursday, February 25, 2010

OH YEAH....SORENKERK

I just always wondered where the inspiration for the name of the website came from. And the symbol..?

I dont know why but I sure would like to know if you don't mind sharing :-)

HEALTH CARE REFORM

The health care reform was actually pretty interesting. I thought watching those things would be incredibly difficult since I do not keep up with current events and politics as I maybe should but it was pretty easy to pick up. The language was rather easy to understand.

Just might tune in more often.

human movement predictable

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/02/cell-phones-show-human-movement-predictable-93-of-the-time.ars

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

True love

"You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection." -Buddha

Monday, February 22, 2010

Settle Down Age v Sex

All input is valuable especially MEN please don't leave me hanging :)  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JZ67CL7

Simmel and economics

Simmel argues that value arises from exchange. In fact, Marx, too, argued the origin of value. This is the famous labor theory of value (This theory was later discredited). In today's economics, value arises from marginal utility (Explanation is here). Do you think Simmel's argument on value is with flaw? Or can we make new economic theory based on Simmel's argument?

Simmel and Buddhism

I think Simmel's sociology is in contrast with Durkheimian sociology. For instance, Durkheim argues the existence of "social facts" which are solid existence independent from each individual. However, Simmel places emphasis on interactions of each individual. In Buddhism, there is no solid existence in the world. Therefore, Buddhism argues against Durkheimian idea of solid social facts. According to Buddhism, even "self" does not exist: Everything in the world is "emptiness." This concept is called "sunyata." You should read this article from wikipedia here . As this article says, "sunyata" is not perfectly equal to the Western concept of "emptiness." Rather, this is the perspective that everything in the world (even self) consists of interactions and/or simultaneous causality. Thus, according to Buddhism, society of Durkheimian perspective does not exist. Rather, Buddhism sees that society is the interactions of each individual. I think this perspective is parallel to Simmel's perspective.

One of the students writes in his or her Simmel's paper that "A room is only as dark as how much light is present or absent, and conversely, the room is only as bright as how little or a lot of darkness is available." I think this is the essence of sunyata - the simultaneous causality.

Some people may think that sunyata is Occult Eastern philosophy, so it is nothing to do with modern social sciences. But I know a Japanese sociologist who explains Weber's Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism from this Buddhism perspective. Moreover, the premise of Keynesian economics can be easily understood from sunyata's perspective. In Keynesian economics, the GDP is determined from the national consumption. But various economic data suggest that the national consumption is dependent on the GDP. So, this is more like the egg or chicken argument: Which comes first? But the reality is that GDP and national consumption act each other simultaneously and create the national economy. So, there is simultaneous interaction between the GDP and national consumption, and this is at the essence of sunyata.

Lastly, as I write above, Buddhism does not believe the existence of self. But Buddhism believes in reincarnation. It seems Buddhism is contradicting: If self does not exist, there should be no reincarnation. But actually, there is no contradiction. Self does not reincarnate because it does not exist. Then what does reincarnate? It may be interesting for you to think about it.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Curve reality

here is the whole curve link - beware if you are at the bottom of it - that curve was a gift.  Also beware of if you are the bottom of any section, e.g., an A- might better be considered an A-/B+ and a B at the bottom is veering to a B/B-   etc.
I was generous with the curve - even the As got many wrong - so we will go over all the questions before the final and you will be prepared for the kind of final it will be.
Also, keep up your presence and participation, your alertness and interest:  it counts to keep you as an A- if you are at the low end of the As, a B if you are at the low end of the Bs, etc.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Question!

For the Gilman section on Madness, do I quote from the "The Yellow Wallpaper" text itself or do I quote from Gilman's theory?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Ecstatic!

just saw my score...totally just made my night!!! :D

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woooooooooooo hoooooooooo!!! Man I can not believe my grade, friggin sweeeeeeet :)

Man I was hoping for atleast a "D"!!! I was not confident at all!! That totally made my week


GOD IS GOOD!!!


Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Just Plain Confused

The only way to describe it. I want the take home portion of the Midterm because I have a strong feeling I will do horrible tomorrow.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Simmel - exchange

If you have the Exchange section of Simmel, read the last page first. It summarizes and makes the remainder, which is somewhat long and redundant, more clear.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Gilman - section assignments

If you have Yellow Wallpaper assigned, consider renting a movie called "The Hours". It is based on Virginia Woolf, and pertinent to Yellow Wallpaper.  Also, you are to read section V of "Economic Conditions,"  pp 264-266.  For people assigned Gilman on Economics, see website for specific section.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Confused

Is anybody else as confused and stressing on the mid term?

Friday, February 12, 2010

Sequence of next papers

The book puts Gilman first, but I wish to put Simmel first. Hence, as stated in class, Simmel papers are due on Thursday, Feb 18. The Gilman papers, then, are due on Tues the 23rd. CLICK here, Gilman people, to see your section

money and religion

http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/millionaires-generosity-frowned-upon-by-clergyman/ a case.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Weber - religion

I have only read one so far - and it was very good! We'll talk about Weber and religion on Tuesday. Come prepared - remember everyone is to read the intro sections by our contemporary editors.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Sara Kruzan: Sentenced to Life Without Parole at Age 16

After briefly discussing Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Susan Kruzan crossed my mind. Not an individual who committed a crime instead a victim of society Susan is incarcerated with a sentence of Life without parole for killing her pimp at the age of 16. I am a firm believer in second chances especially for Juveniles. For many reasons 1. They are just children and cannot possess the ability to make the right choices 2. They are still developing mentally and physically and that within itself is opportunity for growth. Those are two reasons of many for which I feel that Juveniles do not deserve to be sentenced as adults in our justice system. In this video you can clearly see that she is truly remorseful for her actions and she was just a child. She had no idea what was being expressed to her with the term "moral scruples" and she had to do the research and teach herself. This within itself shows the growth from a child into an adult. Anywho enough of my jibber jabber check out this clip and tell me what you think.

Sacred and Profane

OK - to help you understand what Durkheim meant by the sacred and the profane:   everyone knows that The Bloods' color is red and The Crips' color is blue.  How do we understand what is sacred and what is profane for both the Crips and for the Bloods?  When you think of your answer, what, then, is, say, green?

Well-known suicides today

Altruistic Egoic Fatalistic Anomic:  what type of suicide is the Columbine type (who kill and know they will be killed) or the VA Tech type?  - what type of suicide are they?  
Next question: are those student type suicides the same type of the Texas Fort Hood guy who didn't actually end up getting himself killed, but sure was likely to.  Is he the same or different from the students as a suicide type?