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  • Aeden 9:17 pm on August 5, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Quick Thoughts on the S&P’s Downgrade of US Debt 

    A little under an hour ago, the S&P downgraded its rating of US sovereign debt, from AAA to AA+. The Wall Street Journal’s got the press release here.

    The thing about downgrading a nation’s sovereign debt right when the economy appears to be teetering on the edge of a double-dip recession (as if claiming the Dow returning from 6,000 to 12,000, while unemployment basically stays constant, amounts to a comeback for everyday Americans, but, I digress) is that it amounts to an indirect tax hike on all Americans, with interest rates rising across the board.

    The world trusts S&P, Moody’s and Fitch—agencies that all contributed, in no small part, to the subprime fiasco, as they knowingly rated securities much better than they actually were, because they stood to benefit—to give them a sense about whom to trust and whom not to. And, as a result, the S&P wields the power to exact indirect austerity measures on an American public (and any other country, for that matter) that, at the end of the day, could have an awesome impact on so many things.

    I’m not saying I don’t understand the S&P’s rationale; the things it cites are entirely true. But, if ever you questioned the fickle nature of financial markets vis-a-vis confidence, this latest fiasco is painfully putting that relationship on display for all to see.

     

  • Aeden 12:25 am on May 14, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , politics   

    The Consequentialist: Obama’s Foreign Policy Analyzed 

    photos by Pete Souza/White House and Ahmad.Hammoud/flickr

    The New Yorker has a great article by Ryan Lizza about Obama’s foreign policy approach, and how the Arab spring of 2011 has given the world a great deal of insight into the evolutionary nature of that calculus.

    The article serves as yet another reminder that no policy, no matter how sound and reasoned, exists in a vacuum—context and events far outside one’s control, especially on the global stage, often end up dictating how one responds. It’s only thereafter that we can attempt to tease out a sense of principles and precedent, much as we might want to have them hashed out before hand.

    Specifically, Lizza frames the administration’s fitful and, at times, confusing actions, as the product of struggles between idealists and realists. It’s a debate that certainly has to be held in the context of specific nations, yet is just as imperative across regions and hemispheres. Juggling priorities across these contexts, while trying to maintain the same semblance of continuity within that idealist-realist debate is a monumental task, to put it lightly. With a President adamant about not being pinned to particular labels, the “consequentialist” label seems rather apt.

    A few notable excerpts:

    Despite the realist tilt, Obama has argued from the start that he was anti-ideological, that he defied traditional categories and ideologies. In Oslo, in December of 2009, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Obama said, “Within America, there has long been a tension between those who describe themselves as realists or idealists—a tension that suggests a stark choice between the narrow pursuit of interests or an endless campaign to impose our values around the world.” The speech echoed Obama’s 2002 address to an antiwar demonstration in Chicago’s Federal Plaza. In Chicago, he had confounded his leftist audience by emphasizing the need to fight some wars, but not “dumb” ones, like the one in Iraq. In Oslo, he surprised a largely left-leaning audience by talking about the martial imperatives of a Commander-in-Chief overseeing two wars. Obama’s aides often insist that he is an anti-ideological politician interested only in what actually works. He is, one says, a “consequentialist.”

    Clinton insisted that the U.S. had to have regional support before it took action, and emphasized that it was crucial that U.N. action had been supported by the Arab League. “So now we’re going to see whether the Security Council will support the Arab League. Not support the United States—support the Arab League. That is a significant difference. And for those who want to see the United States always acting unilaterally, it’s not satisfying. But, for the world we’re trying to build, where we have a lot of responsible actors who are willing to step up and lead, it is exactly what we should be doing.”

    It was the first time in its sixty-six years that the United Nations authorized military action to preëmpt an “imminent massacre.” Tom Malinowski, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch, wrote, “It was, by any objective standard, the most rapid multinational military response to an impending human rights crisis in history.”

    The Consequentialist – New Yorker

     

     

  • Aeden 9:00 am on April 19, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: ,   

    More Jazz Recommendations 

    For the past two months or so, I’ve been listening to a decent helping of jazz numbers and derivatives. The bulk of my exposure has come from various compilation CDs under the moniker “Saint-Germain des Pres Cafe” (link is a Google search—I can’t seem to find any concrete information on who actually produces these CDs, if they have a website, etc), which I originally discovered in trying to locate an obscure track on one of my CDs for my World Music class here at Tufts. Generally the stuff is billed as “nu jazz”, which, if you remember my earlier post about Mr. Scruff, is kind of a nebulous genre but, if you do need some adjectives to describe it, electronic, house, and ambient are just a few of the words I’d ascribe to it.

     

    Anyway, that out of the way, I thought I’d share a few of the latest tracks that are simply spectacular, in my opinion. These tracks are particularly great for enjoying while doing work in the background, as they’re really not all that heavy in a lyrical sense. Yet, don’t be fooled by the lack of lyrics: There’s no shortage of ornamentation and sheer variety in these seemingly basic, at times drone-like tracks, that will sufficently appease the more discerning music aficionado as well.

    First one’s Valley of the Sausages, another Mr. Scruff number. This one has a very ethnic, rural-y feel to it—take that as you will, I mean no disrespect; I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not necessarily as canned as you might find some other stuff.

    (More …)

     

    • applecider 8:47 am on July 14, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      You appear to have discerning taste in music; please share some of your collection when visiting M’sia next month. Thanks! :)

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  • Aeden 11:26 am on April 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    200+ Bloggers Over at TRCommons.org! 

     

    I’ve been itching to pen a few blog posts in the past two or so weeks, but I’ve felt bogged down by the prospect of penning something truly worthwhile and longer than say, 500 words.

    That being said, I did write something rather noteworthy for the online community of Tufts student, faculty and alumni bloggers I’m webmaster of, TRCommons.org: We recently saw our number of bloggers & users surpass the big 200 number, in addition to seeing slow-but-steady growth in overall traffic. It’s been a long process since we first launched our second major redesign in October of 2010, and in the long run, I think the community is going to continue to get better. In any case, I could wax poetic about this project I’ve invested a significant amount of time in over the past two years, but I’ll link you up to the blog post (which, I might add, is rather concise—I was proud!) instead.

     

  • Aeden 9:12 pm on March 29, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    The “Discerning” Tea Drinker 

    Earlier today I was picking up a few groceries at my neighborhood Shaws (I say neighborhood, but it’s really in Porter Square while I’m here in Medford—so I took a leisurely walk there.) I spent the most time in the tea aisle, deciding whether to try a new type or stick to what I’ve grown used to. While I was busy working this out, a woman came along and wanted to get at the boxes I was in front of. What followed was an exchange something like this:

     

     

    “Yeah they’re always out of this stuff, I don’t know why”

    casually shoves a few boxes into her cart

    “Haha what is it about it that you like?”

    “Oh well I just have to get the one with caffeine. They always seem to just have the decaf”

    pause—I have a somewhat confused look on my face

    “Well, ’cause it’s not really worth it without the caffeine, right?”

    At the time, I didn’t really have much of a response, and she carried on her merry way down the aisle. Looking back, it was one of many reminders that different things truly do have different levels of salience and interest to others.

    In the past year I’ve taken up drinking tea. I’d heard of the wonderful experiences others have had, and figured I’d try it out on a whim. I won’t tell you that I’m getting the leaves and brewing my own particular brand. Nor am I trading in teas that cost more than a few dollars for a box of eighteen tea bags—my staple thus far has been Celestial Seasonings, since I’ve had some limited experience with their chamomile before.

    (More …)

     

  • Aeden 8:00 am on March 25, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised 

    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

    I was busy flicking through twitter on my iPhone when the phrase “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, made famous by Gil-Scot Heron, came to my mind.

    Obviously people have been discussing the seemingly organic nature of the protests and uprisings in various Middle Eastern states, with Malcolm Gladwell’s article in the New Yorker arguing that it’s the strong ties—while social media websites allow someone like me, all the way in Boston, to focus on the weak ties I can build by following those “on the ground”—that will make or break a social movement.

    It’s true that, whether it was the failed Iranian attempt in 2009, Egypt last month, or Libya today, the media has overplayed the impact of social media. But, I think that shouldn’t detract from the reality the use of these tools underscores: People are always looking for avenues for expression, and if twitter, Facebook and broadly available technologies allow people a faster, quicker way to get their opinions across to a multitude of people, that’s something we have to step back and be both in awe but also profoundly proud of.

    Yes, there will be people like me who talk a big game but ultimately have little impact in the actual events—but, talking heads have been around for ever. Even if things have a tendency to get overstated at times, it seems to me that these progressive movements only stand to win.

    That being said, if everyone overstates a particular issue, it gains its salience at the cost of other, possibly equally-relevant issues. As the media lurched from Libya to Japan and, presently, back to Libya and NATO’s decision vis-a-vis taking up command and operations of the No-Fly Zone, we see an acute—but hardly rare—example of this.

    Oh, to be at once  a part of and an observer of the media. It’s rather sobering.

     

  • Aeden 9:51 pm on March 24, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: information,   

    NPR: We’re Just Not Digging the Whole Anymore 

    iPhone 4.0

    Robert Scoble/flickr

    A little over a week ago, I came across this curiously titled article on NPR. Intrigued, I clicked through to find a fascinating discussion about the pros and cons about how, as a society, we’re dealing with the information deluge that our very much defines what it means to be part of “our” generation.

    The problem is: We just don’t do whole things anymore. We don’t read complete books — just excerpts. We don’t listen to whole CDs — just samplings. We don’t sit through whole baseball games — just a few innings. Don’t even write whole sentences. Or read whole stories like this one.

    Rather than me rehashing the the argument, I’ll just link you through: We are Just not Digging the Whole Anymore, by Linton Weeks. I will say that this echoes some of the concerns I’ve brought up in a number of posts before, particularly I am Not My Possessions, Finding My Solitude.

     

  • Aeden 6:13 pm on March 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    All of the… Horrible Attempts at Artful Music Videos. 

    Generally speaking, I’m a fan of Kanye West. Yes, he’s horrible at controlling his own public image, as evidenced by his outburst at the Grammy Awards some time back. Yes, he made a pretty terrible album filled with autotuned crap immediately following his mother’s passing that, in retrospect, was probably a bad idea. Still, I continue to listen to Kanye because, generally speaking, his new stuff appeals on a simple level: Good, catchy hooks and deep base lines that make exercising and getting pumped up to his music a wonderful experience. These days, he hardly exhibits the strong lyricism that one found on The College Dropout (I’m thinking of “Family Business” in particular here), but it’s not as though he’s trying to hide that.

    Now, given that context, let’s examine his new song “All of the Lights”. My first few listens of the track made me think he had another winner on his hands. Without a doubt, if I’m looking for a song with strong horns stringing the main melody along, with a catchy hook—that Rihanna loves belting out, I might add—I’m likely to return to this track time and time again. Heck, the track has vocals from a plethora of artists beyond this duo, as Wikipedia notes:

    John Legend, The-Dream, Elly Jackson, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Kid Cudi, Elton John

     

    My beef isn’t really with the nature of this track as much as it is with the music video. Lately, Kanye seems to have the (false) conception that he needs to go all-out when creating his music videos. His video for “Power” particularly comes to mind.

    So what’s “All of the Lights” like? Here’s the link to the video for your own watching, my thoughts are below.

    The video opens with video of a young African-American child walking along with her backpack…so this is going to have a serious tone to the video, you’re thinking.

    Next up we have…neon text spelling out the song’s lyrics. I guess that’s…flashy and interesting? So much for being classy.

    And here’s Kanye. Singing about “all of the lights”. I get that he’s talking about cops, the “man”, etc. But I think the idea of him standing on top of a cop car, which is something he does throughout the video, gets old—fast. And it makes him look insanely stupid, just crouching there and lamenting the fact that the lights are extra bright. Seriously, what happened to that child you were opening the video with? Is her story even relevant? Or do you just want to make sure people see you grabbing your head and being emotive…on top of a cop car. Whatever.

    (More …)

     

  • Aeden 11:04 pm on February 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

    Hummingbirds? 

    When I first heard the Goo Goo Dolls’ first single from their latest album, “Home”, I knew it was a great song. Having said that, I haven’t really listened to them in a while, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, between late July and now, they got around to releasing a music video for the song, which I’ve embedded below.

    In some ways, the video seems like it’s almost trying too hard to convey the sense of just what the song is discussing, given the plethora of images that are thrown at the viewer. That being said, given the sheer mass of angles and objects, it would be hard to ignore some of the very interesting, compelling cinematography employed to get this final product. I’m especially a big fan of the recurring clouds, as well as the hummingbird. Speaking of hummingbirds, I did a quick, cursory search of Google images, and I think I’ve decided that if ever I needed to answer the question, “What’s your favorite bird?”, it’d definitely be the hummingbird. Something about the sheer speed of their tiny wins flapping back and forth in such rapid motion…I don’t know, they’re just really beautiful looking in my opinion.

    Rufous Hummingbird - All fired up to impress the ladies!

     

  • Aeden 11:00 pm on February 10, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Immersion – Pendulum 

    If you’re a fan of electronic music with a heavy emphasis on beats, Pendulum’s stuff is great. Their latest album, Immersion, was released at the end of January and I just came across it and I’m really digging it.

     

    • Donna 3:46 pm on February 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply

      Ooh, I really like it. Especially Witchcraft. Debating whether I can afford it at the moment. Thanks for the link.

      • Aeden 10:56 pm on February 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply

        Glad to hear =)

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