The 1st Meeting of the AGS, Melbourne Chapter

Last night marked the first informal gathering of the Australian General Semantics Society in Melbourne, led by Chairman Laurie Cox (celebrating his 91st birthday!) and President Robert James. Although we only numbered six, I found it to be an inspiring and enlightening discussion of GS concepts and philosophies from both the academic and practical sides of the discipline. What follows is a brief summary of our talks.

Towards Time-Binding Ethics
An element of GS that I have neglected in my own studies is that of time-binding, or "the transmission of knowledge and abstractions through time which are accreted in cultures" as Korzybski defined it. More simply, when must one "time-bind", as in pass facts over to others and how can it be achieved? Laurie described his "mission" to time-bind as effectively as possible, although in some cases it may not be prudent to do so. (i.e., trying to surprise someone for a birthday - as we did with Laurie with a special cupcake for him) We also discussed how time-binding is expanded by blogging and social media as it prevents time-binding in isolation; diaries and personal writings usually cast aside and forgotten.

Revising the Structural Differential
Laurie showed great delight in revealing that he had simplified his own understanding of the Structural Differential to be able to explain it to a French girl a few nights prior. Going through the reversal of order and the ability for one versed in GS to be conscious of abstracting on multiple levels at once - something I tried once the meeting concluded myself. He emphasized the "sensory impact" level and the "unknowable" (or rather, indescribable) "Reality" of the outside world, mediated by our senses. We also discussed differences between descriptions, inferences and abstractions and how we could also apply this simple informal GS training to children of a primary school age and to emphasize that GS can be learned and applied by all; that a process must begin to make learning GS appealing to all people.

GS and Personal Relationships
Following abstracting, we were then told a story of how GS improves mental well-being and communication between people; Robert and Phil (?) who was also in attendance would sometimes get into disagreements, but using the Null-A principle of "non-allness" made arguments more workable - moving away from absolutist blaming and shaming ("You are always such an idiot") to expressing (semantic) reactions about immediate situations ("I feel angry at what you have done since I don't think it was appropriate, etc.") to find a workable solution. The importance of "etc." to remind oneself that not everything about an external event can be completely described.

Non-Aristotelian Orientation and Heisenberg
Towards the end of the discussion we hit upon the "World of Null-A" (also the title of the A. E. van Vogt novels), the works of science fiction that fellow member Earl found GS through. We talked briefly about replacing "absolutisms" with probabilities in our every day life and language - "this will always" to "this will most likely", etc. similar to the "sombunall" (some but not all) term coined by Robert Anton Wilson. Laurie also hit upon an often overlooked similarity of GS with the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (as GS approaches are usually compared to the classical scientific method; observe-hypothesize-test-revise) - that its premise of "properties that are not known with precision must be described by probabilities" applied to our approach to life.

I found the discussions highly stimulating and I hope to attend similar gatherings, either in Australia or overseas. Thanks to all that attended and for organizing the meeting!

Crushtor's Guide to Boring Everyone You Know on Facebook

Pasta: Good to eat, terrible to watch as a static image

Crushtor's Guide to Boring Everyone You Know on Facebook

Good afternoon Blogosphere, Twitterverse and Facebooktopia: here I am, back from the dead (no, not literally) ready to blog about more inane topics rather inanely. During my stint at a never to be disclosed technology based "firm", I probably buggerized around on Facebook more than ever before in such a compressed amount of time. Pouring through lists of websites and other boring shit made marginally less boring shit more appealing to indulge around in. (It probably explains my strange and larger than should be following on Twitter.) But some of this slightly less boring shit actually exceeded the boringness of the shit I was trying to avoid - (que pasa?); hence the rationale behind this post.

Taking Photos of Inanimate Objects at Parties and then Posting them
You've all seen them. Hell, some of you are culprits to this heinous crime. Most of them are just ridiculous over-reportage of the mundane; the pasta someone half-ate, a balloon that looks slightly askew to one in a bunch, an unattended DJ desk; all wastes of people's precious time. You do realize we all die at some point, right?

Groups Started in the Aid of Three Dudes Going Overseas for No Apparent Reason
Yeah, Facebook is sort of like Twitter, LiveJournal and Flickr; but not. In the event all three websites merged all of their servers in some kind of T-1000 absorbancy process which would look fucking awesome if filmed, they unfortunately shall never be.

What's shit about having a group for these things is that if you join it one of the nerdier dudes that comprise the traveling triumvirate who manages to stumble into the downstairs Internet Cafe of their backpacker hostel after another night on the piss can write up a lame and elongated post littered with bad spelling and the liberal use of the word "awesome" to describe the ridiculous and the sublime encountered on their trip.

The kicker is they then force you to read their mangled prose, because you'd feel like an arsehole if you didn't and it'd be awkward once they came back and asked "so dude, did you read my Facebook post?" and all you could produce is a half-hearted "Ahh, yeah man, it was cool" even though both of you know you're lying.

Re-Posting of Internet Memes Well Past their Use-By
Some people take some adjusting to the "new" way of the world and the immediacy of the Internet; because that's how it works; Zeno's Arrow is wherever you see it as at that particular moment; the past on the internet is meant to be forgotten. Like Strong Bad says - the internet is a place where absolutely nothing happens. Why ruin it by wasting time with time wasters everyone has already wasted their time watching? Benny Lava, I'm On A Boat, Beached Kiwi Whale; they are dead. To everyone. FOREVER. Let them rest in peace. Please. (Signed, the internet.)

There you have it fan(s), another worthless rant in an overcrowded world of worthless ranting. If only I could condense this to 140 characters...

Anti-Flag - Pat Thetic Interview

Had a pleasant conversation with Pat Thetic of Anti-Flag - Be sure to read Buzz Magazine next month for more Anti-Flag news!

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Anger. Violence. Revolution. All adjectives that could invariably be applied to punk rock legends Anti-Flag. Not words that can describe their reasonably chipper and easy-going drummer, Pat Thetic, however.

“Hi,” he greets me cheerily. “How are you today?” I reply that I’m very well. Cool and calm, Pat tells me where he is. “I’m sitting on my back porch in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I just got home from Sweden yesterday. I slept all day and now I’m ready to chat.” At this point, I was fired up for a great conversation too.

The People or the Gun, the title of Anti-Flag’s ninth studio record will, as Pat says, “rock your ass off.” Recording in their home state of Pennsylvania was a figurative and literal return to their beginnings, as Pat explains.

“Well, we hadn’t recorded in Pittsburgh for a long time,” he continues. “We set up a studio in our practice room and it was good because we haven’t recorded that way since the first four or five records that we’ve done without a producer; just us and some rented recording equipment. There wasn’t any other band in the house or a warehouse…it was very refreshing having the four of us writing music and recording music dirtily and aggressively and just making it happen.”

“I think we captured something really special on this record that we haven’t been capturing on some of the other records.”

As a punk band, they are one of the few bands that steadfastly rock out against the establishment, consistently speaking out against injustice, misuse of power and highlighting, sometimes controversially, issues they feel go unaddressed by others – they even pledged to donate a portion of the record sales of The People or the Gun to Amnesty International, the human rights advocacy group. With the U.S. Presidential Election looming and a world economy in turmoil, the band resolved to, as Pat tells us, to “record quickly.”

“There was a lot going on in our world and we wanted to comment on it. The world was sort of collapsing and we wanted to say something about it.

“We bring up issues in our music and we want people to be aware of them; but it doesn’t necessarily mean people are going to stay angry about them. I want people to think about these issues. I want there to be other points of view [besides the mainstream media] and that’s why we create this music; so we can have another point of view – another set of ideas that are being thrown out there when people are hearing about militarism and the government bailing out bankers.”

Anti-Flag’s activism is built on the same straightforward premise; that giving people ideas about what is happening around them through music can bring change to the world, although their first goal is simply to “be a rock band” as Pat breaks it down for us.

“If you’re not doing something creative or interesting musically, no-one’s going to care. Now that we’re a rock band, what can we do that’s more interesting than just play rock shows. How can [Anti-Flag] get our ideas into the world where we feel these ideas aren’t present? Our activism and being a rock band isn’t a separate thing.

"I mean, for example when we went to Canada this year – a lot of kids in Canada don’t have coats. The kids that come to our rock shows have extra coats. Then let’s try to get the kids who have extra coats to give them to the kids who don’t have any. Then it’s not a rock show, it’s a rock show that’s building a community and building something better than just a rock show; that’s sort of how the process goes.”

Pat says they had a lot of challenges with being signed to a major label before moving on to independent punk label SideOneDummy which also includes Flogging Molly and the Casualties on their roster. However the switch was more to do with the perception others had more than their desire to shy away from the mainstream music industry.

“Being signed to a major label made us more resilient and even angrier,” Pat explains to us simply. “If we had mainstream success from the outside, it would probably be detrimental.”

“If you gave the four of us as an entity a bullhorn that big? You wouldn’t be able to get us to go to sleep because we’d be trying to figure out ways to push people’s buttons and make them uncomfortable. It would just make us unsuccessful again and put us back into the world we know.”

Jokingly, I liken their hypothetical situation to that of the late author and philosopher Robert Anton Wilson when asked what the first thing he would do if he was elected President – “Resign!”

Pat laughs it off. “Yeah, sort of like that. But we wouldn’t intentionally resign. Through our actions, we would make ourselves resign…because we’d have to. (laughs)”

Anti-Flag are eager to return to Australian shores, but it just a matter of finding time in their busy schedule.

“We have a tour schedule set up until January 2010,” Pat laments with a strain in his voice, “It would probably be soon after that. It would be the spring of … ‘Ten.’ What are we going to call that? 2010.”

I tell Pat he could call it the ‘Tour in Ten.’

“That’s a great name for it! ‘Tour in Ten!’ (laughs) “Now when we call it that you can point at us and say, ‘That was my idea! Damn them, damn them to hell!’”

Joking aside, Pat and the band can’t wait to return.

“We love to play Australia. We love the Australian people and playing shows there are always a lot of fun. It’s definitely on our list to get there soon.”

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© Tom Valcanis / Crushtor Media Services, All Rights Reserved. Posted with permission.

Shut A Gate on It

Dear Australian politicians,

I'm merely a humble observer of your craft; the way you sit in that green chamber and thrust arguments with iron will into the air almost brings a tear to my eye; but your political scandals kind of suck.

Mr. Rudd and Mr. Swan, surely you could embezzle a large sum of money or steal the crown Liberal Party jewel which they have stashed away underneath Joe Hockey's seat. But this crap about sending emails to some car dealer just doesn't make your government any more interesting than it already is(n't.) I think Malcolm is barking up the wrong tree when he demands a copy of the email for all to see - I doubt that either one of you could figure out the print function on Microsoft Outlook. Better call up your "tech support" guy quick smart a (It's the button marked "Delete" guys.)

Until you come up with a scandal that doesn't suck, I will force Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser out of retirement so we can re-enact the 1975 Constitutional Crisis. I mean, ACA would be forced to sort of pay attention to it. Imagine all the creepy music and grainy, black and white montages they could play in slow-motion? Don't deny them this golden opportunity to devolve Australian public affairs further into frivolous muckracking!

Yours,

Crushtor

Tom Valcanis, BA (Melb)

Finally. Thank. Fucking. God.

That means I won't get to keep my shiny "tav@unimelb.edu.au" email address, but you can take that mailbox...and reassign it.

In actual news: Got my ticket to LAX finally. Holla at all my American (seppo) peeps on the 13th of July!

I also got my hell of awesome Facebook vanity name. Guess what it is?

Crushtor: Brand Entrepreneur Marketing Guru Ichiban?

There's about fifty billion websites and twenty hundred trillion people on Twitter that "tweet" about internet marketing, branding, social media and whatever. Some of these arseholes expect you to pay for their "expertise" in generating leads, followers and whatever. Of course most of it appears to be spam, but a curious experiment I conducted today yielded some intriguing and disturbing results.

First off, it was supposed to be a parody of said "social media" marketers who think they can make exorbitant amounts of money from their tweeting. Who knows; bloggers with plenty of traffic probably can live off their advertising revenue once they hit a certain level of clout and credibility. Chris Onstad, creator of the hell of incisive and darkly funny Achewood comics says his advertising and merchandise sales allow him and his young family to live "comfortably" as a full-time comic writer.

Once I posted this:

After about two weeks on twitter, I think my two most hated words are currently "network" and "marketing."

I got 2 followers. After getting some tips from other friends:

@lindsayevans Oh yeah! Good call! Welcome to Crushtor: social media affiliate marketing entrepreneur and SEO guru for hire and pizza parties

What High Priestess @goatlady says about #hailsatan: "Before #hailsatan my brand marketing ROI was 2%. Now it's like 66.6%!"

I was up to about 17. Within 4 hours I got 73 new followers. At the start of the day I was on about 220, now I'm up to 310 as I write this. Completely ludicrous. Most websites scamming you out of your cash promise you that amount of rapid "growth" - I just threw up some buzzwords and got the same effect. Its hard to tell if its marketers looking for genuine signal amongst torrents of noise or if they're trying to validate their own scam; "Hey boys, looks like someone's bought into the program, better make it look nice!" so I can invariably sign up more chumps. Because seriously; these people are just repeating one another without even pointing to anything that actually exists.

Sure; advertising products or services with empty abstractions isn't anything we haven't seen before. But they have to refer back to something at the end of the day. If someone re-tweets "Top 5 tips for Brand Marketing on Social Media" and can't point to a real world, extensional definition they might as well be saying "Top 5 tips for blab blab on blab blab." (With apologies to Stuart Chase.)

Democracy of One

I love the Australian Parliament. No really. I mean, how great is it when the entire future of environmental political economy in Australia comes down to one man who hates pubs and lesbians - I mean, what would Jesus do when the fundament of the Australian economy is put into his sweaty hands? Say G'day to Obama and co., of course! From The Australian:

[Fielding] told The Australian he came to Washington to hear both sides of the climate change debate -- today's conference was just one in a series of meetings he was holding with advocates on both sides of the issue. "I've paid for this out of my own money," Senator Fielding said. "This issue is too important to Australians not to look at the debate first-hand in Washington. In the end I will draw my own conclusions."

Senator Fielding says tomorrow he is scheduled to meet Obama administration environmental specialists in the White House. President Barack Obama campaigned on green jobs and greenhouse gas emission cuts.

"To get to the bottom of it I have to talk to both sides," Senator Fielding said.

Umm, OK, cool. I guess being there makes it extra-scientific for him. I mean, a copy of the Skeptical Environmentalist and An Inconvenient Truth and some half-decent reasoning skills wouldn't have been good enough to improve/fuck up the entire Australian nation. Hey, neither one of them are right! You just have to choose who you think is more wrong. But hey, what would Jesus do? Probably block my website at an ISP level.

But in Australia, the government has to reason with just one person at times since they hold the balance of power in the Senate. They do have the power to force their own agenda and play the hero. If they don't, they'd risk sending everyone back to the polls (and I mean everyone - voting is compulsory in Australia at all levels) and piss the electorate off even more. Kinda makes me wish we had a filibuster.