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What we expect

by MAÔ, posted in Thoughts

Expectations are funny things. They’re little predictions, and may or may not be accurate for any number of reasons.

When we predict correctly, we get to assert just how smart we are. An incorrect guess may cause as little as temporary denial, or full-blown depression.

When you let go of expectations, you free yourself up to live in the moment. To be honest and understanding, and not dependent on your rightness or wrongness, alleviates that moment when the expectation is either realized or proved incorrect.

Digital tolerance

by MAÔ, posted in Technology

Oh, internet. The bastion of great thoughts and petty skirmishes. An open forum of unique ideas and rehashed biases.

How we interact with each other online, if only viewed through that lens, would indicate we aren’t a very hospitable race. Twitter, Facebook, and even the ‘gram can sometimes reveal the vilest and despicable thoughts that we, the engaged, can express.

People say, or type, things online that they would never say in person. Others express opinions that they may have shared with like-minded individuals, maybe two or three in their community, but now they enjoy a world-spanning platform. The like-minded respond to their opinions, reinforcing behavior that, again, would not be socially acceptable in person.

At the same time, we actively engage in digital fisticuffs, trying our best to pivot and outmaneuver our networked opponents. Because they have become our opponents. No opinion but ours is valid online, and we defend our little nook with extreme prejudice, with failure never an option.

And thus we devolve into warlike attitudes with those who would otherwise be someone we could actually connect with.

The internet was, and remains, a great idea. It is its execution that has been stymied somewhat by us, the users.

Trying to remain tolerant of others with different opinions is usually a difficult task. At the best of times, it makes us somewhat uncomfortable to have our opinions challenged. At the worst… Well, wars have been fought for less.

Remember that behind each screen is a living person, little different from you or me. Attacking with verbal violence and vitriol shouldn’t be your go-to response. And rather than a preemptive trolling, why not engage in preemptive understanding?

A sensitive issue

by MAÔ, posted in Thoughts

Another week that just didn’t seem to make sense. 2020 will be the year of incongruities. Pandemic sweeping the world, forcing the US to shut businesses down. Some scared to leave their homes, others adamantly arguing everything should open.

Race relations once again coming to a head, with the question of fairness, inequality, and ethical behaviors at the forefront. How do we respond to our countrymen?

Derisiveness and partisan-pandering; vehemence and bile; hurt, pain, and agony. And with protests, riots, disease, and race, everyone has an opinion, but there is no consensus.

Holding out hope is the best we can do. Saying what we believe is important, but listening is even more so. If all we do is puff our chests until they collide with someone else’s, then the resolution never comes. Just more suffering.

 

Recent Items 5

by MAÔ, posted in Social

If you like camping, The Dyrt is trying to provide updated information on open and closed campsites around the nation.

Or maybe looking for a new podcast?

If you like to journal, and you’re female, the National Women’s History Museum is interested in your CORONAVIRUS journals.

Saying “No” more, from a 2014 article in the Huffington Post.

Paris, books, c’est l’amour. Used book shopping along the Seine.

And, to soothe the weary soul, the orchestral stylings of composer John Williams, streaming for free until the end of June.

To infinity, and beyond

by MAÔ, posted in Science

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine suggested on Saturday that the SpaceX launch carrying astronauts to the International Space Station, from US soil no less, would encourage kids to want to become ‘the next Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Richard Branson’. Jenny List, writing on Hackaday, felt something was amiss.

“I was slightly shocked and saddened to hear this from the NASA administrator, because to my mind the careers of Musk, Bezos, or Branson should not be the ones first brought to mind by a space launch. This isn’t a comment on those three in themselves; although they have many critics it is undeniable that they have each through their respective space companies brought much to the world of space flight. Instead it’s a comment on what a NASA administrator should be trying to inspire in kids.

Ask yourself how many billionaire masters-of-the-universe it takes for a successful space race compared to the number of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, technicians, physicists, et al. From the anecdote of the NASA administrator it takes about three, but if he is to make good on his goal of returning to the Moon in 2024 and then eventually taking humanity to Mars it will take a generation packed full of those other roles.”

I wasn’t born when Armstrong first stepped on the moon. But I’ve seen the video. I’d wager that the majority of humankind has seen that footage. And behind that walk was a technological feat like no other before it. In the July 21st, 1969 edition of the New York Times, Glenn Seaborg, then Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, is quoted:

“Even as a scientist who has spent a good deal of his life involved in large-scale technological projects, I find the moon landing an amazing scientific and engineering feat. It personally reinforces my feeling about the great power and potential of science and technology and my belief that through cooperation and concerted efforts man is capable of solving almost any problem, of meeting almost any challenge. I hope the moon landing will have such an uplifting effect on people all over the world and help united us toward meeting some of our goals here on earth.”

Actively seeking disruption

by MAÔ, posted in Thoughts

I’ve spent the past four years seeking a disruptive way of doing things. That includes biohacking, career shifts, travel, focusing on writing, among other things. We live in an age of disruptive technology, and there’s no telling where the next paradigm shift will come from.

Being prepared for it doesn’t mean knowing what it is. Rather, it is expecting it to happen, and merely being prepared.

I think it’s telling that the pandemic sent us into a panic spiral in the way that it did. As a nation, and maybe as a global community, we weren’t prepared for the response required in such a situation.

Anticipation is key for the positive, and negative, adjustments to come.

Ephemeral Internet

by MAÔ, posted in Thoughts

The internet gives us an unrivaled tool for accessing information. It has no equivalent. It is a library, forum, school, and community. However, its prevalence is also its disadvantage.

How easy is it to become distracted while browsing the internet. To let our minds, inclined to wander through a biological imperative, just flit from item to item. The vastness of what can be found through mere keystrokes is boundless.

We rely on those who cultivate the internet for us. Give our attention to the screen through which we access this information.

But at the end of the day, it’s still a screen. It’s nothing more a windowpane through which we’re choosing to experience the world. Its content is ephemeral, not tangible.

Sure, getting outside is hard right now. We’ve all been cooped up. But it’s important to still try and have meaningful, real-world interactions. Not just the online ones.

Be you. Be weird.

by MAÔ, posted in Advice

One of my first shows out of college, I was backstage on Sundays with a handheld UHF/VHF television, probably a Sony Watchman, watching football games. At the time I followed the Miami Dolphins with a religious fervor.

I was new to the theatre. I worked in a sports venue and I grew up a fan of Miami. So, it was just something I did.

In the theatre, there are a number of types. The sports fan is among the rarities. Admittedly I don’t follow sports all that much now. Still own a good deal of Dolphins swag, but I couldn’t even tell you who they got in the Draft.

But the thing is, sports or no, theatre or no, it doesn’t matter what you’re in to. You just need to be you. No one else. Be weird. Be yourself.

HBO to the max…

by MAÔ, posted in Film

HBO Max had a lackluster beginning when only about 90,000 people downloaded the new streaming service’s mobile app. By comparison, 4 million users opted for Disney’s Disney+ service when it debuted back in November.

Three HBO streaming options are available: Now, Go, and Max. I can at least differentiate Max from the other two, but differences between Go and Now are beyond my understanding.

When the streaming wars become such that all content is only available through a number of individual services, each with a $7 price tag or above, there will be push back. That market can’t handle that kind of saturation.

Not to mention the changing face of television and film production…

The joy of hobbying

by MAÔ, posted in Thoughts

I was twenty-five or twenty-six when I transitioned from hobbyist to amateur professional working in theater and film/television. Otherwise known as the time I first got paid for it. (There’s a book with that title, about the tales of Hollywood writers, which I always think of.)

The overlap from hobbyist to paid was such that it’s really all I was doing. Which is the way it’s supposed to be done I think. I had a part-time job in a gym, with a lot of flexibility, and I was auditioning and acting.

Skip ahead many years, and I don’t have a consistent hobby anymore. Well, I suppose this blog qualifies. I write nearly every day, post, and move on. So, yeah. I guess it is!

All that to say, a hobby is this wonderful expression of what interests us. An activity that we can lose ourselves in, even if only temporarily.

We don’t have to do it unless we make ourselves. But most hobbies are such that we want to do them – we don’t have to force ourselves to get up and go work on whatever it is.

Building that model airplane or adding sensors to your drone kit. Constructing Batman’s Batarang out of legos, laying down your own beats in GarageBand, or playing frisbee golf. Unfortunately, if your hobby is group-related (a sports league, or drinking around the world at Disney’s Epcot, for example) you’re sort of stuck for the time being.

But in a hobby you get to focus on your passion, mostly ignoring the outside world. And, right now, who doesn’t want a little distraction?