Week 16

Fast Company articleEven before students set foot in a classroom, most schools still are built like factories: long hallways, lined with metal lockers, transport students to identical, self-contained classrooms. School designers call these hallways "double-loaded corridors." The factory model of control and direct instruction still pervades most new schools. If we are to have thorough-going school reform, we must change the design model, too, starting with the place students first enter the school.

When it comes to dieting, De Vany got part of the picture right although he is describing is a diet suitable for blood type O. This blood type is the oldest type, therefore has hunter gatherer roots. The fact that you guys talked about sports for half an hour before covering this topic is no coincidence because O is the only blood type who is into competitive sports (the others have no interest in it, whatsoever). De Vany talks about milk; again, "Type O" cannot digest milk, they have problem dairy products. But other types AB, B have no problem digesting dairy.

De Vany is on the right 'track' in so many ways, he just misses the final and crucial point somehow. When hunter gatherers settled down and started organized farming, yes this was different and in many ways, unsuitable for type O. However, this is when evolution shifted gears, and some O's evolved into type A. Type A is the 'farmer' blood type and naturally, they have no problems eating grains.

But I benefited from this talk, especially the parts on insulin, heart having to be at irregular rythm forth, only the dieting part needs a little work. For more details on Blood Type Diet, you can search Peter D'Adamo on the Web.

You want proof on 24's anti-bureucracy stance? OK. Before we start though, this word actually does not do 24 justice... There is more at work than meets the eye, 24 is anti-bureucracy, when it doesn't work, but also anti-establishment, when it doesn't work. And let's be honest, most of the time, both of these constructs fail to deliver the kinds of results needed for 21st century.Take 8th Season. President Taylor tries to cover-up the fact Russian government was involved in a terorist attack in order to save some piece deal in Middle East. (Leaving aside that US is portrayed naively as the powerful hegamon, "the one to broker a deal") we see a president who tries to keep a secret from people, going as far as trying to lock away Jack Bauer because Bauer wants people to know Russians were involved in the plot. The moment the president decides to cover this up, even according to her own chief of staff she is on grounds for impeachement. Also for Jack Bauer, the issue is very clear-cut. After the said decision president Taylor is not fit for office. We said Bauer represents "the people" right? Well, there you go; people "see" this decision sucks. Can you lock away "the people"?No you can't. So Bauer escapes, and soon is on the move again. This time, against his own government.

Oh, while we are on the subject: People, "the crowd" being part of the "show" is not a new development in art. This is essentally what the judges in American Idol represent - they are the people. But we've been doing this in our homes for ages, aren't we? You sit in front of TV and make comments on the show.. I've watched some movies with my friends whose ramblings on a movie were actually funnier than the movie itself. Remember Beavis and Butt-head. Not the "Cornolio" type adventures obviously, the parts when they sit down and watch music videos and poke fun, belittle, mock. Aren't we doing that for years? Boy George.. Huhhh..huuhhh.. he doesn't look like "boy".. uhhh..On Web-tech front: Isn't Web 2.0 all about crowdsourcing, power of the people, etc? Clay Shirky's book "Here Comes Everybody" comes to mind, as well as the cast of popular show Lost. This particular group of people are, literally, everyone. People from all walks of life, corner of the planet, type, age, gender and race.Moving on:24 also plays around another concept present in Western World. Our theory is the main cultural tug of war in Western world is between Jesus / Middle Ages vs. Rome.Well, according to this theory, Jack Bauer is a (post)modern day knight.This is all to clear. Besides, the concept of a knight shows up again and again in American art. Iron Man is one example, down to his body armor, but this analysis can be extended to any superhero movie made lately; who are knights; They are autonamous, have "fiefdoms" (a city, batcave, fortress of solitude, etc), and are either in trouble with authorities, but always, seperate from them.On the other side, there is Rome.This the the central despot, the king, the ruler. Byziantum (II. Rome). The Ottomans (III. Rome).Pay attention to the scene in 24 when Taylor presidency takes a turn for the worst. The new "advisor" makes his case with these words from Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar.There is a tide in the affairs of men,Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortunewhich essentially means the ends justify the means. Do whatever f..k you want, if it is for something better.But in 3rd Wave world, where people are "wired" and "informed"; this just does not cut it.And the knight, will not take it.

Any show that runs for more than 5 seasons deserves attention, and 24, which has blown through this limit some time ago certainly qualifies. Yes, it is known as a Republican show; we know Dick "Fuck You, Big Time" Cheney watched it religiously -ahem-, and we know radical radio show host Rush Limbaugh gave Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O'Brian) a full mouth kiss at some kind of Republican tribal gathering once; Fine. We get it. Conservatives drink this shit like the Kool-Aid.But as the TIME magazine piece here suggests; 24 isn't all about gung-ho violence, torture - just another TV conservative circle-jerk. Sure, it is a show that appeals to a certain crowd, it asserts, plays with, dances around certain set of culture codes. As the main cultural tug of war in US is between prohibition and freedom (as in letting it go), the main character in 24, Jack Bauer lets it go a lot. He does not "contain himself", does what is necessary, et cetera, et cetera. In this way, 24 episodes feel a lot like Tom Clancy novels, you get the same sort of animosity against press (which surely has to do with their irrelevance as of late but we'll leave that aside for the moment), and at the same time skirting along another culture code for sex, VIOLENCE - making an operator like Bauer so sexy man! All of this is for emotional, second-level fuck brains obviously (I don't know karate, but I know ka-raze! You know what I sayin'?). So, the man (Bauer) both lets go and does violence, breaks the law .. er, to protect it? OK: What's not to like? Or to criticise?

But, 24 actually manages to say more than this idiotic Clancy McLiterature McNonsense. Let's ask ourselves: What is another theme that occurs over and over in 24?You guessed right:Absolute, utter institutional / bureucratic collapse.Jack Bauer actually is a pretty fair representation of a fantasy operator who just does the optimal; ignores the red tape, penetrates buruecratic silos, steps on toes, crosses boundaries, kicks ass, takes names, and.. just.. does.. not stop. Mind you, in today's modern, factory style, silo oriented bureucracies, what he manages to do is no an easy feat: By 8th season, Bauer knows so many people in all government departments that he is a government onto himself. There is an attack to CTU (his homebase)? No problem: He just calls NSA (another agency, silo) to close off some road to stop a terrorist. FBI, CIA, any three letter agency you can think of? Been there. Know them. The President? We are buddies! I'll just call her. Say hello and ask some other thing. Or, I'll ignore her, if she is getting in my way. As teenagers say nowadays: What-ever.I am sure everyone watching the show instinctively know in the back of their minds, that somone like Bauer cannot ever exist. Not really. Someone like him would have been jailed, killed, neutralized long ago (er - season one) for any his adventures to ever take place. No, he is a fantasy, but more than that, Jack Bauer is actually us. Us, in a first person (shooter?),. video game sense of the word. Bauer is us, the viewer. The watcher. Through Jack Bauer, we get to reach across the gap between us and the screen and meddle in the neferious plots of terrorists, world leaders, as though we are in control of this huge game. Because actions Bauer takes are absolutely the same actions an average adult person would take, if s/he were presented with the information in 24.