2009 February | Cynics Unlimited

Archive for February, 2009

Feb

Online Poker Joker – The Psychology of Gambling Addiction

By NewsJunkie 3 Comments

Categories: Society

It’s barely into the New Year and I’ve managed to keep at least one of my resolutions. Unfortunately, the other day I was compelled to dabble into the old Online Poker habit once again. New site, new disappointment, and one resolution broken…

“just one more hit…man, one more f*cking hit….”
- very vegas famous last words of the double entendre variety.

What is it that attracts people to online poker? I have had several years now to reflect upon this very question, and after much deep introspection, I honestly believe the answer is: fluoridation.

Ok, that random reference was an homage to Stanley Kubrick – an inspiring figure whose mentally delicate patterns have enhanced our collective pallet of movie colourfulness for ever…fluoridation. Continuing with the Kubrick motif, if ‘A Clockwork Orange’ were done today, I think there would have to be a scene, a vice, a redemption related to an All-In moment…Viddy well medium pocket pairs…viddy well.

Poker is the tip of a larger iceberg – one which is rooted in hope and commercialism.
Of all the gmabling choices available today, it is the one where ’skill’ is a significant factor. This post will not outline the various skills involved (some of which – such as deception – are not exactly admirable). There is a sense of satisfaction – competitive success “singing in the rain” feeling when one wins. In my ramshackle case, delusion of skill-over-luck did not get smashed after the ignominious ‘river’ stole many a pot from my humble possession.

“We humans are the victims of an asymmetry in the perception of random events. We attribute our successes to our skills, and our failures to external events outside our control, namely to randomness. We feel responsible for the good stuff, but not for the bad. This causes us to think that we are better than others at whatever we do for a living. Nine-four percent of Swedes believe that their driving skills put them in the top 50 percent of Swedish drivers; 84 percent of Frenchmen feel that their lovemaking abilities put them in the top half of French lovers.”
-Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “The Black Swan”

Poker plays our egoes like a violin. It tempts us like a mermaid, and delivers us slowly into the depths of infernal Hell. Our man-wiring pretty much dictates a good percentage of us will try the game at least a couple of times…and some of us will continuously return for the proverbial beating. Sometimes it feels good to bleed…it’s a feeling…and I suppose that’s something. Besides, it’s in our wiring to get ‘em back. Man, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this Online Poker thing is pure money making machine….hmmmm I wonder if the stock market works the same way.

Feb

The Toronto Star vs Dissenting Opinion

By Cynapse 4 Comments

Categories: Media

Second to the loss of revenue, nothing about the internet seems to irritate the old media establishment more than the public’s expectation to participate in discussions about the merits of published work. Thanks to free services like Wordpress.com and free publishing packages like Movable Type, open commenting and debate has been a de-facto standard in blogs for many years. Only recently have traditional media sources like the New York Post and the Globe and Mail expanded their online editions to include interactive comment sections with only minimal editing. Traditional columnists, perhaps more used to the lecture format than the open mic, are having trouble getting used to this. The Toronto Star’s Kathy English recently wrote a piece called “Online Comments Lose Civility” that attacks the boorishness found in the Star’s comment section:

In accord with the values set forth by long-time Star publisher Joseph Atkinson, this newspaper has consistently fought for social and economic justice and better lives for those less advantaged.
As a long-time activist for the poor and marginalized of our community, Pat Capponi well understands the Star’s values. So why, she asked me in an email this week, does the Star allow online comments that degrade, stigmatize and add to the burden of the poor?
…
I agree that it’s time to re-evaluate the Star’s online comments function, launched last July with the worthy goal of “promoting freedom of expression in a respectful and constructive atmosphere.”
Capponi’s question speaks to the heart of a matter I’ve given much thought to since the Star began allowing online comments. How far should the Star go in allowing ill-informed, mean-spirited, uncivil, anonymous “conversation” to be published in the name of “freedom of expression”?

It would be fairly easy to concur that some discussion board participants on the Star and elsewhere need to improve their communication skills and show a little more respect for their fellow readers. However, English goes beyond to suggest that mere dissention of opinion should also be censored:

What impact does publishing commentary that is so misaligned with the Star’s values have on the Star’s mission to be a progressive voice in our country?

One can almost see the lot of prim Star columnists, assured by their professors and cultured latte buddies that their overt concern for the disadvantaged and unyielding desire to force a redistribution of the wealth away from the middle class is beyond reproach, going into simultaneous cardiac arrest. People actually don’t place welfare cases on a pedestal! Even worse, they don’t want to unquestioningly surrender their earnings to the lady with 4 children by 4 men and no job that still manages to fill her subsidized home with an HDTV and leather sofas.

As usual, the well-entrenched and entitled in the media are missing an opportunity to connect with their audience. So-called ignorant and extremist comments can be very useful in gauging how the crowd feels about opposing or fringe ideas. On the Toronto Star website, one would expect a negative comment about single mothers to inspire angry responses tenfold (the Toronto Star also has an anonymous agree/disagree counter which should indicate how dissatisfied other readers are with the offending comment). Frequently this doesn’t happen– the occasional comment assailing single mothers for being irresponsible or declaring that Ontario’s problems aren’t ALL due to Mike Harris gets more agrees than disagrees. Sometimes the Star is to the left of its own readers and they should treat this as occurrence as market research. I’ve found all kinds of interesting implied group opinions by attacking supposed extremists on some of the sites I host.

The bottom line is that once a news organization has committed to pushing an agenda along with reporting basic news, they have committed to pushing people’s buttons and evoking reaction. The rise of the internet has given the public an avenue to express their approval or disapproval with any agenda, no matter how lofty or well-intentioned. Any opinion that can be produced will find dissention and any “holy cow” of politics will be attacked. If journalists in the mainstream media feel they need to be shielded from any criticism of their ideas, then perhaps they have truly lost touch with the people they wish to help.

Feb

The Staniszewski Affair: The Freedom to Discriminate?

By Emilia Liz 0 Comments

Categories: Canadian Politics and Society

My hometown of Windsor , Ontario is not a particularly happening place. Overshadowed by the American metropolis of Detroit across the river, Windsor has little crime but not much excitement either. In the past few days, though, the city has found itself in a firestorm of controversy after a retired judge there by the name of Paul Staniszewski ordered that several scholarships he established at the University of Windsor and York University (his alma mater) not be given to Muslim students. This stipulation is, in his own words, a “tit for tat” for the beheading of a Polish engineer in Pakistan by the Taliban. Staniszewski’s statements have raised a wave of public commentary, with some supporting the judge, others condemning him, and still more expressing decidedly mixed feelings. The two universities themselves have refused to comply with his request, calling it discriminatory and even illegal.

The judge’s logic does seem somewhat warped. The average Muslim student on a Canadian college campus is probably far removed from the people who killed the engineer in Pakistan . A fair number of these students might actually be embarrassed by the Taliban’s actions. If I were a Muslim myself, I would almost certainly be offended by Staniszewski’s decision. By the same token, I would be upset if my daughter, as a Christian, were denied a bursary on account of people like Fred Phelps, the American Baptist minister who pickets funerals of gay men with signs reading “God Hate Fags.” (By the way, I find Phelps disgusting and harmful to the reputation of Christianity as a whole). One wonders who would qualify, or disqualify, as a Muslim in Staniszewski’s eyes. Could a student who was raised in the Islamic faith but later fell away from it or, better yet, embraced another religion – in particular Staniszewski’s religion, which I presume is Roman Catholicism – access his scholarships? Would a former Muslim who had since become an atheist or agnostic be required to openly denounce his or her faith of upbringing in order to apply for one or more of these bursaries?

The point has been made that many existing scholarships by their very nature discriminate against certain classes of individuals. For example, scholarships set up specifically for girls or Native Canadians automatically exclude male and/or Black/White/Asian students. On the other hand, there is the issue of motivation. Most people who earmark bursaries for female or Native students do so out of concern that women and Aboriginals are being short-changed by the Canadian educational system, not out of hostility to men or non-Natives. Judge Staniszewski’s acts appear to be spurred solely by anger towards Muslims. (It must be said that as a member of a profession that prides itself on its impartiality and rationalism, Staniszewski’s emotionalism does not strike me as especially judge-like.) It is the explicitness rather than implicitness of Staniszewski’s exclusion to which many, including the above-mentioned universities, object.

In the end, I would agree with a number of observers that Judge Staniszewski has the right to do what he wants with his own money, regardless of his reasoning. I would add that the universities also have every right not to go along with his request. At this point the best course of action would be for Staniszewski to withdraw his scholarships from the institutions in question and, if he wishes, set up a similar bursary on his own. While this solution might not make everybody happy, it would be the most effective way to preserve both Staniszewski’s individual freedom to act according to his own conscience and the universities’ obligation not to engage in discrimination against any particular category of students.

Feb

Album Review: The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die

By Cynapse 2 Comments

Categories: Music Reviews and Reviews

Artist: The Prodigy
Album: Invaders Must Die
Genre: Electronic / Dance
Label: R.E.D. Distribution
Year: 2009
Rating: 70%

To understand the significance of Invaders Must Die, one must first consider The Prodigy’s relationship with its many imitators. The UK act’s first three albums literally changed the landscape of electronic music and did so in completely different ways. Prodigy’s debut album, Experience, was a funky collection of rave anthems while the sophomore LP, Music for the Jilted Generation, provided a more mature and diverse collection of electronic tracks unafraid to draw on cinematic and rock influences. Fat of the Land broke with the underground to appeal to American audiences through the techno-punk styling of tracks like “Firestarter” and “Breathe” while keeping funky with tracks like “Diesel Power”.

Each of Prodigy’s first LP’s spawned copy-cat acts who thought they could recreate or better composer Liam Howlett’s magic by stringing together a few repetitive female vocals over some crunchy, saturated beats and fat sliding analog bass lines. Sure, all the sonic elements of Experience/Jilted/Fat were present but the outcomes were typically mechanical and uninspired, typically aspiring to no better than being background music on b-grade action movies geared to teenage boys.

So, ignoring the catastrophe that was Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, Prodigy are back to show the rest of the boys how it’s done right? Somewhat. In a strange twist of fate, the imitators seem to have become The Prodigy’s inspiration, as the majority of the tracks on Invaders Must Die are structurally indistinguishable from the electronic generica that emerged in Howlett’s shadow during the 1990’s.

Each track essentially consists of the following: kick ass buzzing bass line, rah-rah vocal samples, a standard dance drum beat popularized at least a decade ago and a one signature old school stab/sample. The latter, so legend has it, was an attempt to recreate the anthem-rave vibe from Experience that first put Prodigy on the map. All the earmarks are present, for sure: the opening title track starts with a fuzzed guitar over a building bass line then hits hard with an aggressive electro-guitar wall of club-friendly energy. “Omen” keeps the energy high by superimposing Keith’s foreboding chants onto xylophone-accented analog breaks, while “Thunder” initially lulls the listener with a dub-influenced intro that quickly gives way to what is essentially the same high octane breakbeats as the last two tracks (albeit with ragga vocals).

The album highlight is “Warrior’s Dance” which easily lives up to its online buzz by recreating the 1992 rave breakbeat vibe with hardcore stabs and infectious female vocals.
The closing track, “Stand-Up” is a distinguishingly down-tempo track written in the style of “Molotov Bitch”. It is also the only track where Howlett truly takes a risk by sampling an R&B horn section for the head-nodding hook.

As expected, the production is top notch – neatly sampled, immaculately mixed and without any sharp diversions in its sequencing. Paradoxically, Invaders Must Die suffers from its mechanical perfection and predictability. Apart from Warrior’s Dance and Stand-Up, there is very little separating these tracks sonically from each other, though elements from Prodigy’s ground-breaking work can be found randomly distributed in all of them. Coming from the standard Myspace sensation producer with a copy of FL Studio, this album would be an A- effort. Coming from the creator of “Poison” and “Weather Experience”, Invaders Must Die sounds recycled and overly conservative. Worth your money for the nostalgia, but don’t expect to be blown away.

Track Listing:

1. Invaders Must Die
2. Omen
3. Thunder
4. Colours
5. Take Me To The Hospital
6. Warrior’s Dance
7. Run With The Wolves
8. Omen Reprise
9. World’s On Fire
10. Piranha
11. Stand Up