time and time again/Time Out/what time is it?

It's time to straighten up
time to fly right
time to stop falling with grace
time to start missing the ground
time to fly when having fun
time to take my head from out the clouds
time to put your feets on the ground
time to stop
It's time to look
time, now, to leap
It's time, Miller time
time to hold 'em
time to know when to fold 'em
time to come to your senses
time to come back from those fences
time to save in a bottle
time for parsley, sage, rosemary
thyme, too, at the fair
time to buy!
time: two o'clock
It's time to eat lunch


-Marcus

A study

So I wanna test some theories...

Basically, in a recent class of mine, psych 280, the professor mentioned one of his studies. In brief, that study indicated that persons surveyed who used Facebook frequently had a relatively high dissatisfaction of life. This stuck with me. There is also strong evidence that suggests a person's satisfaction of life is affected by the comparisons they make. Specifically, by comparing your success to more successful person, you'll survey as having higher dissatsifaction then if  you compare your success to persons less successful. Armed with this information, I'm planning on starting an experiment. as follows

Hypothesis: Because Facebook promotes high social monitoring in it's users there is a disproportionate representation of 'positive' status updates on Facebook. This results in frequent users' having a relatively low satisfaction of life.
Thesis: Increasing the frequency of 'negative' or depressive status updates should correlate positively to satisfaction of life in Facebook friends relative to the frequency of Facebook use. Therefore, if all my future status updates of my Facebook profile reflect negative events, the attitudes of Facebook friends should trend upwards in satisfaction of life.

However, I'm lost in coming up with an method to accurately measure the feelings and attitudes pre-experiment and post-experiment of Facebook friends. First thought is by survey, but I lack much of the authority required to get reliable survey results from people (at lest so i think). The alternative is to subjectively record the number and rate the degree of positive/negative posts on Facebook. the obvious problem is that I start with the assumption that people, more often then otherwise, display themselves in a positive light on Facebook. So that Facebook is an inaccurate reflection of actual feelings/attitudes. Maybe I could ask a select group of people to engage reflectively each week and record the number of times and duration they use Facebook and their mood at those times and weigh that against the number and popularity and mood of posts I record daily on Facebook.

...this all seems like something I should ask the Psych department at ISU about.

anyway, stay well, love, Marcus Miranti

Image and Valetines Day

Post under contrustion.
Sorry

Dear American

Real quick...

watching John Stewart I learn about the media in my country.
working at NPR at WOI I learn about the happenings of my world.
reading News Feeds I learn opinions of people who are a part of both.

It is my thought that the events in Egypt was accomplished by the people of Egypt was no small influance by the people of the United States of American.

Through the display of our society, not through poltics we, as a people, can inspire. Through politics, the people build a representation of their society.

I commend Obama for his actions on the matter.
It was not him, nor The Armed Forces of America,
our spear. Our culture, Egyptian culture
Effected great actions. Affected great new responsibility

The sun and the moon and clouds and stars

Lastly, the sun languishes.
Lately, the horizon of a grey sky.
smoke hot and sweet
smolders from red bitter light
in my palm. Thrown shadows like shards.
over the raised letters
Of my books once through
Did Escape they’d provide?
No more do words I find enthrall in
Tangle tales and adventures.
All have ended, all have gone

Lastly, the words falling
Lately, closed tome in my lap
Soft, stitched-by-hand
in quilted reds with pine
and hugging burgundy hues
Not sex nor booze nor food
Tastes pleasing on these lips
What was Siddhārtha’s choice?
Too tired to wake, too wakeful to slumber
Upon my side to lay
And consign to fitless dream
My Beautiful Annabel Lee

hear now, as I write:
I seek not pity, nor sympathy nor advice.
Only you, dear reader, your ears
or rather your eyes to listen
through finger tips tapping tick tick tacking
Only to say you, I, a pal - a cohort
like you, I, adrift - a question

An intreging discussion

While populating a forum, I came across a curious hypothetical quandary. It is a follows: 

Both are identical in EVERY conceivable way, strength,intelligence, paint job, etc. So how would the fight end and which one would be victorious?
Edit: Ok, even the environmental conditions are the same, even the space between the two robots facing each other are the same, even the two grandmothers in the crowd cheering them on are the same, all conditions are equal for both sides of the conflict. And both robots are fighting because they both think of the other as a copy. And...

this image was used by the OP

 

Think about your answer. I encourage you to take a moment to scrawl it down before reading on.

Ok
The most notable opinions made by most fellow commenters was this: in the world of reality, no two systems can be truly identical. More over, some brought on a little chaos theory stating, "that two systems with initial starting conditions will begin to deviate in small ways that will eventually lead to them operating differently." I think the leaning towards logical proofs is a curious reflection of this forum. Most illustrated the pointlessness of such a hypothetical. Because the two robots are the same, it doesn't matter which is the win because which ever automaton is victorious the same as the robot that entered the battle. Still other preferred a direct view: the one the strikes first, or the one on the left, or the one that strikes last.

I approached this problem from the learned consul of my classes. Assume the Robots are, indeed functionally identical from stats to subatomics and given identical environmental conditions (assuming their not fighting in a void) at the start of the battle. The motion and activity of the brawl would still affect the environment. The dirt and dust and discarded robot parts would begin to cluster the field and introduce inequality to the setting by randomized placement of the litter.  Is this train of thought is unhelpful in reaching a conclusion? What of methods introduced to maintain the environment's near-perfect homogeneity?  Well, nothing occurs in stasis. Only the perspectives of the Robots can alter significantly from beginning to end. Eventually, an event outside the arena but within the Robots' range of detection would introduce a non-shared experience (presumably, the robots are not synchronizing data). It would be first noticed by one robot sooner then the other.We'll call this one Observer Robot. Even if the other robot, Oblivious Robot, sees the event too, the delay in observation time results in the two no longer being identical. Observer Robot, in a battle for individuality, would begin to calculations to determine an advantage from this event. It may even favor a strategy favoring knowledge supremacy for this event. Now Observer Robot is redirecting part of it's processing power towards these new calculations, effectively reducing processing capabilities for it's combat routines. Now Oblivious Robot has the advantage of singular goal at the cost of situational awareness. The robots are no longer equal. The outcome is dependent on the nature of the event. Should the event prove advantageous to Observer Robot, will deliver a death stroke to it's counterpart and leave the battle field secure in it's identity. However, driven by a singular goal and higher task specific processing aim towards the fruition of that goal, Oblivious Robot will defeat Observer Robot. In victory it will wonder why it's Once-was-twin changed battle tactics. It will search to attribute its own personal characteristics to the other's behavior. It will find none. Oblivious Robot will begin to see it as distinct from itself and become tormented by the final moments of Observer Robot, the fight and question it's own identity. It will seek enlightenment and answers. In doing so, Oblivious Robot will construct two Identical Robots and force them to fight.

What do you think? Comment below.
Thanks for reading.
-Mr. Wordy