The Grace Kelly Proportion

Below is an excerpt from a conversation that may or may not have taken place:

Guy A: "I swear. You know that young woman I was telling you about that visits my work that was a distraction for me? I feel like Grace Kelly is in the break room right now preparing breakfast. Now how on earth am I supposed to concentrate on drafting red lines with that going on?"

Guy B: "haha...are you going to be her archibald leach?"

Guy A: "No. Her Prince Rainier--minus the speed boat accident....This reminds me of our talks on proportion and beauty. I value someone for who they are, not what they simply look like and yet I’m speechless when confronted by an extremely beautiful woman. I’d probably give her 50 dollars if she asked me for it. So why is that? Simple mathematics. Instinct and genetics override my rational though process and I am drawn to this person not for who she is but how proportionate her features are. We should come up with a new phase to describe women like this so we keep our cool and are reminded that it’s not our fault we’re drooling over them—it’s our biology. When we see a beautiful woman, we’ll say, “she’s Phi”—meaning that her features come closer to approaching the proportion of 1:1.6180339 than other women. There. Problem solved."

Guy B:"haha...thats good. But then again there are golden ratios within the non typical beauties out there too...so a chubby girl may have a beautifully proportionate face, but because of her weight people will call her fatty!!"

Guy A: "I hate to sound like an ass her but a cubby girl and fit girl probably have different proportions in the face. So there is a beautify girl waiting to be discovered in every cubby girl because the proportions are there but not perceivable. You bring up an interesting point though—that it’s not the fat or the weight that is the problem, it just that the fat hides the proportion. Our evolutionary history doesn’t know the value of a larger person because so few existed over time. When food is scarce and labor is hard and manual, extra weight is almost non-existent. Of course, analyzing of these concepts leads to a new understanding of traditional beauty and the acceptance of a “new” standard."

Guy B: "A-hole!!! haha. But face wise; eyes, nose and mouth stay in the same place. so the chubby girl can still be pretty and proportional...it's when the 3rd 4rth and 5th chin start to form that proportion flies right out the window! It's like little face in dick tracy...kinda weird!"

Guy A: "I see what you mean. Yes, most of the face can still be pretty because fat does not influence the size or shape of a person’s skull…I think I’ll post this conversation (maybe edited) on my blog page. I need more entries to get conversations started."

Guy B: "It is a good topic of discussion!!! To see if the golden ratio applies in cultures where the larger you are the more beautiful, or if then societal impact and conditioning take over..."

Guy A: "Good Point. I thought of a title for an essay to be written on this topic. It’s called: ‘Fat Faces and the Divine Proportion: The Connection Between Societal Prejudice and Evolutionary Biology...What do you think?"

Guy B: "haha...that's really good! That could get you a masters or a nobel peace prize...I'm serious!"

*Endnote (added 01/09/08): I just wanted to add that after having this discussion, we both came to the conclusion that we as society don't treat people with weight issues very well and we were hoping to find out why that is so. I personally feel like I have a better understanding of why these prejudices exist and how to be aware of them in order to not let myself get wrapped up in the apparent superficiality of society.

MacBook Skull

MacBook Skull

I was doing some writing on my laptop at the coffee house last night and I looked around and realized that everyone there had a mac laptop that they were using. There was a time when Apple Computers was the underdog, and it meant something to have and use one. I think those times are gone. Apple has shifted their focus away from computer innovation and education and instead had decided to focus on what else?!...Movies and music. Don't get me wrong, I have an iPod and loved it when iTunes first came out but I feel that there is too much emphasis on using consumer electronics for entertainment purposes, when they can be used for so many more creative purposes.

So with that being said, I thought I'd mark my MacBook Pro with a symbol that represents its death: the skull. Below are a couple images of how I decided to alter my laptop so the next time I'm at the coffee shop with 20 other Macs, mine will stand out...and who knows, maybe it will will generate an actual face-to-face conversation. Remember what talking to actual live people was like?

Turn It Off

Turn Off the TV Week

April 21 - 27

A challenge! Unplug your tv this week and don't plug it back in until next monday (if at all). Now I know it's not easy quit cold turkey. You're addicted...and like any drug, quitting just like that is not easy. So maybe start with one day...and then if you can do one day, try two...and then three, etc. Once the cold sweats and shakes dissipate, you'll be able to keep going without tv like you've been doing it all your life.

Now cutting the power to the tube seems like the easy part but! What do we do with that all that time that has recently opened up? Something different works for everyone. I canceled my cable back in sept and it wasn't easy at first. I ended up watching 'The Office' online instead (not a huge difference from the television). But I didn't like the ads and it got old real quick. I turned to reading and writing as a way to fill time in the evening...with an occasional chat with friends that live out of state. I've even done sketches and water colors! Now if art or reading isn't your thing, the sure fire way to beat boredom is conversation. Tell of story or ask someone to tell you one. Invite a friend or co-worker over for wine or desert. Just talk to someone...about anything. That human connection, no matter how trivial the dialog, is so important to have in our lives and to contribute to. Let's not forget that real human interaction is something that we seem to have less and less of in our lives and no matter what the tv commercials, cell phone providers and blog posts are saying, they will never suffice as a replacement for one-on-one interpersonal relationships.

More Info: www.unplugyourkids.com/2008/

Thoughts on Corporations

Let's talk about corporations, economists, and psychopaths for a for a moment shall we? What do these three groups have in common? A quote I just heard helps put things into perspective. It goes, "...only two groups in society only behave in a rational, self interested way...one is economists...the other is psychopaths."

This quote links economists to psychopaths but how do psychopaths relate to corporations you ask? To assess the "personality" of the corporate "person," a checklist is employed, using diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization and the standard diagnostic tool of psychiatrists and psychologists. The operational principles of the corporation give it a highly anti-social "personality": it is self-interested, inherently amoral, callous and deceitful; it breaches social and legal standards to get its way; it does not suffer from guilt, yet it can mimic the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism. This point-by-point analysis delivers a disturbing diagnosis: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a "psychopath."

Now given that corporations have the rights and protections of legal citizens and exhibit traits of a psychopath, it's interesting to know that corporations are: "required by law to elevate their own interests above others." And where do these corporations get their inspirations from?

So I gather from all this that a corporation has legal protection under the law to act like a psychopath and legally put it's pyschopathic needs and desires ahead of the interests of others. And our current economy and political intsitution that installs and protects the economy are based around these ideas. Hmmm.

The Corporation

The Trap - Part 1

The Trap - Part 2

The Trap - Part 3

Test Blog

Ok, so I've never used one of these blog programs but thought maybe it would be easier to link to this page instead of creating an individual page for every little thought and idea I have. Some of them aren't worth that much time and energy....and and comments might come more frequently this way. Or not.