I hate bringing work home.

I HATE TRANSLATING KOREAN PEOPLE'S GODDAMN GRADUATE ABSTRACTS. IT'S ALWAYS A LONG ASS DOCUMENT RIFE WITH CRAZY KOREAN WORDS THAT THEY MADE UP FROM THE FAR REACHES OF THEIR IMAGINATIONS AND POOR SENTENCE STRUCTURES POORER THAN MY SOPHOMORE YEAR IN COLLEGE AND CRAZY CULTURE-SPECIFIC KP 4 LYF KOREANNESS THAT IS JUST TOO AMAZINGLY HORRID TO TRANSLATE. BUT OF COURSE, I DO MY BEST AND ALWAYS PRODUCE QUALITY SHIT BUT APPARENTLY THE INCLUSION OF THIS ENGLISH VERSION OF THE ABSTRACT IS JUST A PART OF SOME STUPID PROCEDURAL SHIT AND IT DOESN'T EVEN GET READ. IT JUST GETS STUCK IN THERE BEHIND THE KOREAN VERSION AS SOME RETARDED ASS SYMBOL OF AMERICAN IMPERIALISM. IT'S NOT LIKE THE OLD KOREAN PERSON WHO GRADES THE KOREAN VERSION WOULD EVER GLANCE AT THE BACK PAGES AND BE ABLE TO APPRECIATE THE BEAUTIFUL PROSE THAT IS MY WRITING. AND AS FOR THE GRADUATE STUDENTS THEMSELVES I COULD SERIOUSLY STICK SOME PROFANE SENTENCES UP IN THEIR SHIT AND THEY'D HAVE PAID TOP DOLLAR FOR IT AND NOT EVEN REALIZE IT.

I hate bringing work home.

ive been kept inside for too long now

im begging you to break me out

theyve medicated me for days

im living in a foreign place

ive been wasting away

but i figured out that healing starts

when i can see your face

Fractals: The Mandelbrot Set

The following is taken from Lynne McTaggart's blog:
The Intention Experiment E-news. 14 May 2010

When 10-3 = 13

Recently, an American researcher from the University of California was conducting research on the Suya Indians of Mato Grosso, Brazil, attempting to determine how they count. This group of Amazonian Indians are largely famous for their music; Anthony Seeger, a Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has produced a book called Why Suya Sing, says that their singing is used to create community, establish relationships and social identity and also formulate ideas about time and space.

Singing, to a Suya, is hard and soft science.

Math lesson
This particular researcher was investigating the level of sophistication of the Suya concerning mathematics. Many scientists examining cultural differences over number systems operate on the assumption that many native cultures basically don’t have language to describe quantities of things; for instance, the Piraha people use the same word ‘hoi’ to describe ‘about one’ and ‘about two’; the only difference is a subtle alteration in inflection of pronunciation. The much-studied Munduruku in the Amazon have words for numbers only up to 5.

This has led many scientists to examine whether human beings have innate numerical skills or whether it is simply a part of cultural conditioning. Is it possible to operate entirely without numbers?

So this particular researcher asked a member of the Suya tribe what was the correct answer to the following numerical problems: If you had 10 fish and gave away three fish, how many would you have?

The Suya answered without hesitation and as though the researcher were a bit dull-witted to have even asked the question.

As anybody in the village could tell you, the answer, of course, is 13.

Minus equals plus
This was how he worked it out. In the Suya tradition, whenever you give something away to someone else, the recipient pays you back double. So if he gave three fish to his brother, he said, his brother would have to give him back two times three fish, or six. So added to his 10 original fish he would first have 16 fish.

Once he deducted the three fish he originally gave his brother, he would have a net increase of three, or 13.

So, 10-3 = 7 in Western mathematics transforms into 10 + (2×3) – 3 = 13 in Suya mathematics.

In fact, the native was dismayed at the American version of the equation. He does not view giving away as equivalent to subtraction. He finds the entire notion of it abhorrent.

“Why is it that ‘giving’ is always seen as a ‘minus’ for white people?’ another member of the tribe asked. “I know that you want me to use the minus sign instead of the plus sign, but I don’t understand why.”

This was a little shocking to Alex Bellos, the author of the recently published Alex’s Adventures in Numberland (Bloomsbury, 2010), a study of cultural differences in mathematics. He began the study of his fascinating book with the belief that numbers are a universal language – the way in which we could, say, communicate with extra terrestrials — only to find that our basic understanding of arithmetical relationships depends upon cultural context.

Relationships in the numbers
I find the story delightful for several reasons.

It reveals something very profound not simply about mathematics but about how different cultures view relationships in general, particularly how we view ourselves in relation to other things.

Our sense of mathematics very much depends upon how we define our world, and whether we view ourselves and all the things around us as individual entities separate from each other or inherently intertwined.

Many non-Western societies — pre-literate cultures such as the Aborigines, the ancient Greeks and the Egyptians, the adherents of Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Zen and Taoism, and a number of modern indigenous cultures — conceive of the universe as inseparable, connected by some universal energy ‘life force’. The beliefs of many tribal societies about this central energy force have many similarities, suggesting that an intuitive understanding of the interconnectedness of all things is fundamental to human experience.

This central belief breeds an extraordinarily different way of seeing and interacting with the world. These traditional cultures believe that we are in relationship with all of life – even with the earth itself. They hold a very different notion of time and space as one vast continuum of ‘now’ and ‘here’.

They even perceive the world out there very differently. We see the thing; they see the totality, the relationship between the things. To an indigenous native, math and the song are equivalent — all about the plus sign, the connection, in this instance, between the man with the fish and his brother.

We would do well to take a few math lessons from the Amazon.

With Roots Above

what should we ask for
who should we look to if all we know is burning branches
don't speak to me like i'm a stranger
turn your thoughts to the roots
as we've all been caught up in the branches
with roots above and branches below

don't run if you don't know your walk

Moolguns

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/267056/march-09-2010/annie-leonard

STUFF.... stuff.

I just may be living in the most materialistic little country in the world.

Finding Reasons to be Heppy

The Bird and the Bee - Preparedness , all up in my ear (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCAqoMT_mts)

A cup of coffee, perfect temperature & unlimited refills

Fake non-prescription glasses.. so I feel intelligent as I translate the pages of a book yet unreleased in Korea (Dear Undercover Economist)

Boss repeating "50 Cent" over and over again in the background noise to eager Korean listeners as he lectures about the new book he's translated (The 50th Law: Strategy Expert Robert Greene and the Hustler's Mind ...)

And here's a look at the new website I've pretty much finished: (www.intrans.co.kr/main.asp, looks wrong on Macs b/c Koreans are like 99.9% PC/IE users)


Ok I'm satisfied with myself.... for the moment.

The Professional Life

Interview today...

and another one Monday.

I'm up for a potential $1000~2000 monthly increase just from working 9 or 15 hours a week.

UNLIKE my current job (which I am still going to keep) where I work 40 hours a week and still get paid way less than that 15 hour job.

I tried to quit, but I got offered to be paid the same @ my 40-hour job even as I'm allowed to leave work early to go work another part-time job teaching English. So basically I'm using work time to go and work at another part time job... and getting paid to do it. Damn my company needs me bad if my boss is willing to do that. And damn I am impressed at myself for not being a lazy fucker like I was back in the States...

But oh how I miss being a lazy fucker.... and chillen doing nothing all day with my best friends.


Anyways, working two jobs, especially b/c they're an hour's subway ride apart, will be pretty tiring...

But the DONS I NEED....!! Come to me~~