Moral Conflicts in the Party of Family and Moral Values

I know I've taken a recent hiatus from blogging, mostly due to getting complacent after losing internet in my house for over a week. But I feel like recent events deserve some more attention. Not to mention, is there a better way to spend the last couple of minutes of my internship writing a post that no one will read?

In less than two weeks, John Ensign, a G.O.P. senator, and Mark Sanford, a G.O.P republican, have admitted to committing adultery. Has Social Conservatism hit rock bottom, and if so, what does that mean for a political party that has largely tied its successes to that very idea? Infidelity transcends the divides of political parties but Republicans should expect more criticism because they portray themselves as the party protecting family values and marriage.

Lucky for Mr. Sanford, the death of Michael Jackson has taken up all the space of every major network and with the recess of Congress for July 4th next weekend, will the recent affairs lose the limelight that they should be getting?

The Asian Fro?

I was looking up some hair conditioners this morning as I woke up at 6 in the morning and I had nothing better to do. While reading some posts in a forum I came across this little gold mine. Apparently the "Afro Perm" (please click on this link as it brings you to a salon that performs this treatment and shows a lot a lot of pictures of Asians with goofy-ass afros, the other hair styles are good too) is a popular hair style among Asian people in which Asian men and women chemically process their hair so that they can have a hair texture similar to those with curly, kinky, nappy hair, generally those of African descent.

This blog post I found shows a bunch of pictures of men and women with their new hair and there are a lot of comments, particularly on the huge presence of Chinese and Taiwanese people in the Caribbean (something I discovered when my dad came back with Chinese take out on a trip to Jamaica). Here is a post on a forum where African Americans discuss this phenomenon.

I won't lie. I got excited when I read this thinking, "I won't be the only one in China with a fro." But apparently while the "Afro Perm" is hugely popular in Japan and Korea, this is one disease that has not spread to China. So I guess I'll just have a lot of Chinese people putting their hands into my hair asking me "how do you get your hair like this?" while all the Japanese and Korean exchange students saying "well I can make my hair do that too..." What is this world coming to?

Asian Poses

One of my friends found this website that outlines the most definitive of the Asian poses. (still too lazy to make a real post.)

The Internet Crisis Ends

I have internet again. But I'm too lazy to do a real post. Here are some links I've been perusing for the last hour if any of you are interested or just bored.

Adam Lambert is Gay (?)

Luis Castillo, the "Amazin' Disgrace" - Dropped Ball Loses the Game

A Study on The Perfect Running Pace for Men and Women

Common Myths about the Female Body

Top-10 Sex Statistics

Fittest Cities in America (D.C. is #1! Twin Cities are #2!)

Different Brain Types Determine How Social You Are

Oh and apparently 1 in 5 Americans admitted to peeing in a swimming pool. Have a nice summer.

Internet Crisis Continues

Hey all, I know it's been a while since my last post. While the Recession is rearing it's ugly head all over the place (look at the unemployment numbers for May) we're experiencing the Great Depression in my household. OK, maybe I'm being a little melodramatic but if you had NO INTERNET for a week I think you would be pretty upset as well. So to all my faithful readers (I know there are a couple out there), just hold tight. I'll be sure to do a blog post every time I'm at work, Dunkin Donuts or Atlanta Bread Company as those are the only places right now that I can get internet access for free.

In other news, I've started running again. Sophomore year of high school I got really into running with my friend, Fan, but after a change of priorities I never got to build on what I had started. Currently, I've been doing 2-3 miles a day, 3 days a week. This week I'm planning on up-ing that number to 4 days a week and hopefully be doing 5-6 runs by the end of the month and maybe doing a longer run, 4+ miles, and some interval training (something I enjoyed from conditioning in other sports) once a week. My summer has been pretty boring rather unstimulating, so rather than sulk I figured I would take up running as a way to stay in shape and destress a little bit. I'm hoping to find a race to do toward the end of the summer (preferably a 5K but I'd be up to a longer distance), just so I could feel more like I'm working toward something tangible. But even more than that I think it's just another thing in my life that I can feel in control about as I try to figure everything else out.

BTW: It's 10:05 AM and I'm still the only one in the office...

20 Years Ago Today...

Democracy and Communism at a crossroads in the People's Republic

Pictures in Slate Magazine from the Tiananmen Square Protest and Massacre

Overview of the Tiananmen Square Protests

China's Growing Cage: The Legacy of Tiananmen

Thoughts on the First Week of June, Twenty Years Ago...

What Freedom in a Chinese City Looks Like...

A 6/4 Reader

It's National Running Day...and what?

Today, June 3, 2009, is National Running Day. So what does that mean to you? It means that the second you finish reading this post you should get outside and get the exercise your body is craving (yes, your body is craving exercise and it is wrong to deny it).

The goal of this joyous, and sweaty, occasion is to encourage people to give up a rather sedentary lifestyle that characterizes the lives of most Americans and promote running as a healthy, easy and accessible form of exercise.
Here are the seven reasons to run according to the National Running Day website.

Because of changes in diet and lifestyle, Americans are increasingly at risk for diseases that can significantly diminish the quality, productivity, and length of their lives. The time to act is now.

1. Nationwide, the annual medical expense for juvenile obesity is more than $127 million annually.

2. Health-care expenses and productivity losses related to obesity problems cost Americans more than $100 billion annually.

3. Currently, obesity-related illnesses cause some 300,000 deaths a year. Inactivity and poor diet will soon overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

4. Overweight youth ages 10 to 15 have an 80% chance of becoming obese adults by age 25.

5. Only one in four kids gets at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Kids and teens obesity rates have doubled in the past 20 years.

6. According to the American Sports Data 2007 Superstudy of Sports Participation, 39.5 million people in the United States ran or jogged at least once, and 11.7 million ran more than 100 days/year.

7. In 2008, according to Running USA, there were 9.2 million finishers in road races (ranging in distance from the 5K to the Marathon), a 4 percent increase from the 8.8 million finishers in 2007.

It's not necessary to register at the website or join any running clubs for a run today. It might even be better if you go out on your own and try out running. Even if you can't go out and run for 30 minutes straight, try breaking up the run by walking for a minute or two then running anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes, depending on your level of fitness. The point is to motivate people to start running and initiate an active and healthier lifestyle.

By the way, if anyone wants to run a 5K in August, I believe Jonathan Jacobs would be interested in throwing goo on us at the halfway point. Any takers?

Obama's Challenge for Us All

While doing my research on US, UK, Nigerian and Jamaican trade mark processes and conventions I stumbled across The President's Challenge website. I'm sure you all remember the presidential fitness tests that were given to us in physical education classes in grade school. Well it looks like the Obama adminstration has remixed that and created the Presidential Challenge, a way to promote activity in the daily lives of Americans. The National President's Challenge began on May 1st and continues until July 24 and I think it is a great way to provide some motivation for people who are looking to begin a healthier lifestyle by providing support at the federal level as well as connecting people at the grassroots with local groups and communities.
According to the standings right now New Jersey is in 49th place (not out of 50 as the list includes D.C., The U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Is. and Guam). So I'll be registering just to ensure that we place ahead of Connecticut, currently in 38th place.

Classical + Jazz + Hip-Hop = Black Violin

(Jonathan, you will probably be interested in this)

As a Black violinist, this is something that strikes me as interesting because African-American musicians who were classically trained are few and far between. I feel like this group, Black Violin, is on the verge of another classical music revolution led by Black classically-trained musicians, similar to the one almost a decade ago led by Regina Carter, where she travelled to Italy to play jazz violin on an instrument formerly owned by Niccolo Paganini. I'm just going to copy the biography from their website, because it speaks volumes for this group and the types of musical genres that they have shifted and molded to create this new sound.

Biography:
To most people, jazz, hip-hop, funk, and classical are musical genres. But to revolutionary music group Black Violin, they're nothing but ingredients.

Combining a daunting array of musical styles and influences to produce a signature sound that is not quite maestro, not quite emcee, this group of two classically trained violinists and their DJ is redefining the music world-one string at a time. With influences ranging from Shostakovich and Bach to Nas and Jay-Z, Black Violin breaks all the rules, blending the classical with the modern to create something rare-a sound that nobody has ever heard, but that everybody wants to feel.

When the members of Black Violin first learned to play their signature instruments-Wil B at the viola 14 years old and Kev Marcus the violin at the tender age of 9-neither could have foreseen that it would become their livelihood, though it was already becoming their passion. The two Florida natives first met while attending the Dillard High School of Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, a school whose exceptional music programs served to nurture their already budding talents.

But it was not until the two were exposed to the work of legendary violinist Stuff Smith that the seeds that would one day become Black Violin were truly planted. Smith, born in Portsmouth, Ohio in 1909, was one of preeminent jazz violinists of the swing era, who went onto perform with names like Alphonse Trent, Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Sun Ra throughout a long and storied career. His final album and most soulful, entitled "Black Violin," so inspired and influenced the young Kev Marcus and Wil B that they would eventually name their band in honor of the man who had shown them that there were no limits to what the violin could do.

After graduating from high school, both Wil and Kev were granted full music scholarships to college, Florida State and Florida International University respectively. It was at FIU that Kev first encountered the group's future manager, Sam G, with whom he and Wil soon formed a production company: DKNEX. Now they had a platform for their dream, and the talent and inspiration to back it up. Black Violin was born.

Once formed, the group wasted no time in making a name for itself, starting with the rigorous touring that would become a trademark of the group. Black Violin was making ripples in the music industry, but it wasn't long before these ripples became waves. In 2004, the group joined superstar Alicia Keys on stage at the Billboard Music awards, delivering a performance that made the tastemakers and music enthusiasts of America sit up and take notice. Not long after, in 2005, the group was awarded the coveted title of Apollo Legend by the esteemed Apollo theatre in Harlem, effectively confirming what many were beginning to suspect-Black Violin was on its way to the top.

The next step in BV's journey came in the form of Mike Shinoda, lead singer of legendary rock act Linkin Park, who had had his eye on the two virtuosos for a while. Impressed by their imaginative composition and finely tuned musicianship, he invited them along on a world tour with his hip-hop side project, Fort Minor. Finally granted the worldwide platform their talents deserved, the members of Black Violin now introduced their own brand of genius to audiences across the globe. In addition to Shinoda, BV has worked with musicians as diverse as P.Diddy, Kanye West, Fifty Cent, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, Aretha Franklin and the Eagles-among many others.

But Black Violin is only getting started. The group recently released its eponymous debut album-a record whose top notch production and musical cohesion make it feel like the work of seasoned veterans rather than industry upstarts, as many patrons of the iTunes store and Amazon.com are discovering for themselves. The group continues to tour far and wide, opening for hip hop mainstays like Fat Joe, Akon, and the Wu-Tang Clan in locations as diverse, as Prague, Dubai, and South Africa. The group's rising fame has also made it a highly desired act for celebrity events-Black Violin just recently provided the music at both Minister Lois Farrakhan's 75th birthday and at NFL star Santana Moss's wedding.

But beyond all the glitz and glamour, the members of Black Violin just want to give children the same opportunities that they had. With school music programs being culled all across the country, Kev and Wil are concerned that urban youth will not have the benefit of music as a positive alternative to other, more destructive pursuits. With this in mind, they have embarked upon a campaign of social change-using youth orchestras and reinvigorated music programs to show children and teens that they are capable of expressing themselves in ways they have never dreamed.

In an age where music is coming to be more and more defined by the labels given to it, Black Violin shows that music does not exist within a box, but rather exists in another space-one as open and unrestrained as the minds that produce it.

School over the Summer?

While cleaning out my bookmarks I rediscovered Academic Earth, a website that provides lectures from world renowned professors covering diverse subject matter, ranging from Astronomy to Entrepreneurship to Religion. So if any of you are feeling a little lost in your summers now that you don't have those 75 minute lectures to look forward to everyday, this maybe a good way to pass an hour or two of your time.

Some Interesting Lectures:

Mixed Strategies in Baseball, Dating and Paying Your Taxes - Benjamin Polak


Shaping China's Choices - Thomas Christensen


The World is Flat 3.0 - Thomas Friedman