What the heck, man? - Linsanity Ice Cream

Oh, Linsanity.  It just won't go away.  Here's the background article for what I'll be talking about today:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/27/ben-jerrys-apologizes-linsanity_n_1303691.html

Yes, indeed.  Ben and Jerry's attempted to capitalize on the sensation that is Linsanity by introducing a flavor called "Taste the Linsanity" in the Boston area (since Lin is a Harvard grad), featuring vanilla frozen yogurt, lychee honey swirls, and fortune cookie pieces.  After some pretty quick uproar, Ben and Jerry's pulled the ice cream flavor, ending with a overly wordy apology on Twitter.  Maybe it's just me, but this whole situation screams "What the heck, man?".

Let me make this clear: I think Ben and Jerry's made a brilliant move in introducing this ice cream.  Fortune cookies have been replaced with pieces of waffle cone, which is really a godsend for ice cream fans anyway, as fortune cookies taste pretty awful to begin with.  However, I wish fortune cookies could've stayed in the mix.  Maybe this is insensitive of me, but I don't understand why some people (and really, it was probably like two or three outspoken people) are offended by this.  Jeremy Lin is a Taiwanese-American.  Fact.  Fortune cookies (and Lychee, which is getting ignored here simply because people don't know what it is) are associated with Southeastern Asia.  Fact.  Why should the inclusion of these items, to vaguely represent the heritage of Jeremy Lin (while still attempting to make a good dessert), be considered offensive?

This obviously isn't the first issue of race that has come up since Linsanity hit.  It's well documented now that sportswriters have been reprimanded and fired for racially-charged comments about Jeremy Lin.  I see these instances as acceptable: I did not see or hear these comments, but I assume that they implied that Lin's popularity is solely based on race, which is false.  But to ignore that Lin's meteoric rise to fame is partially based on his background is foolish. 

This is why I don't find fault in what Ben and Jerry's did.  What, would these bickering folk have been more happy if the Linsanity ice cream included little pieces of leather basketball and sweat?  Jeremy Lin is famous because he's an Asian-American who has played excellent basketball for one of the largest markets in basketball, New York.  There's no reason to get offended that an ice cream created to honor him would include foods of Asian heritage that would go well with vanilla frozen yogurt.  In fact, getting offended almost sends a signal of insecurity, to where these people are worried that Lin's popularity is only about his race.  Sorry, folks, but you're wrong.  We love Lin because he's a good guy who got a chance and made the most of it.

Incidentally, Ben and Jerry's has come out and said that the reason that they changed to waffle cones was that the fortune cookies would get soggy while sitting in the ice cream.  But to those who got offended about the original mix of toppings, I can only shake my head and ask... what the heck, man?

The Curious Case of Jeremy Lin

Ah, the curious case of Jeremy Lin.   I don't think I need to say much about him, as the media has gone beyond saturating what they can extract from this man.  Don't get me wrong; I was certainly not on board at first, but now I am.  I can't ignore the fact that Jeremy Lin has revived the New York Knicks, taking them from a bottom-feeding team in the Eastern Conference to, once again, a playoff contender.  To think, in the last couple of years, the Knicks have devoted a lot of their resources to two superstars (Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony), and their best player (right now) is a kid they scraped off of waivers.  Beyond basketball, Lin has helped bring more Asian fans back to the game, much like Yao Ming did about a decade ago.  Now that the insane media hoopla has died down, I am happy to celebrate Jeremy Lin and what he's done so far.

But what is ahead?  The Knicks are in a bind when it comes to Jeremy Lin.  Under the supposition that he keeps this up, Lin will certainly command big money on the free agent market as either a starting point guard or an impactful sixth man.  Lin becomes a restricted free agent after this season, meaning that other teams are allowed to make offers to him, but the Knicks are afforded the opportunity to match those offers and keep him.  The Knicks are already dangerously close to their hard salary cap due to the big contracts that Amare and Carmelo command, and they also have to consider re-signing one of their favorite young pieces, shooting guard Landry Fields.  It is possible for the Knicks to retain both Lin and Fields, which would solidify one of the best starting lineups in basketball in New York.  However, retention would require moving some other pieces around, and Lin and Fields possibly both sacrificing some money to stay with the franchise.

All indications are that Lin will keep this up through the season.  Carmelo Anthony returns to the lineup soon and we need to see how that will unfold, but I don't think Anthony will have a large negative effect on Lin and the Knicks, and Lin will remain the hottest prospective free agent in the NBA. 

As a side note, if Carmelo brings a negative effect to the Knicks and curbs Jeremy Lin's success, Carmelo can say goodbye to New York, just as quickly as he got there.  Carmelo was supposed to arrive and bring the franchise back to glory, but Jeremy Lin is now the hero, and Carmelo will potentially be the goat.  If the New York Knicks cannot be competitive through the rest of this season, the franchise will certainly fire coach Mike D'Antoni, as well as considering unloading Carmelo, supposing that it's his style of play that doesn't seem to fit the rest of the team.

I'm not sure what route I'd like to see the Knicks take.  I'll reserve my judgment til after we see a healthy Carmelo play with Lin and the crew, but my initial opinion is that the pieces won't quite fit together, and some changes will need to be made.  I think Lin, not only for his basketball prowess but also his cultural impact, needs to stay in New York.  He should now be the franchise's top priority.  I think keeping Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler are a priority after that, as they provide the low post presence on offense and defense (respectively) that a good perimeter player like Lin needs.  I think that keeping good peripheral supporting pieces, like Landry Fields and now J.R. Smith, will help Lin to succeed further. 

So, as you notice, that leaves out Carmelo Anthony.  As I've been hinting, if this experiment doesn't work out in the next couple of years, I think Carmelo will be forced to take the blame and thus, the Knicks fans will run him out of town.  By keeping him for too long, the Knicks will run the risk of losing value if they try to trade Carmelo, so it will be interesting to see how long this experiment in New York will last before something changes (again, if it appears to be going downhill).

At the very least, Jeremy Lin has given basketball fans reason to be paying attention to New York again.  Good for him, and good luck to him as his career carries on.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aw, look, it's a puppy.

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!  I hope that you get the opportunity to share this day with your loved ones, whether through a simple phone call or a nice dinner together.  As much as I've expressed my distaste for this holiday, I do want to celebrate it while it's here.  My problem is simple: we shouldn't reserve one day of the year to tell someone that we love them.  For that matter, with Valentine's Day as a day to celebrate love, we shouldn't limit it to just our significant other: there are certainly others in our life who we love.  That said, today is a day worth celebrating.  Humans are faulty, and with everything else we try to do, it's hard to take a step back and remember those we love everyday.  Thus, God gives us days like today, where we can take a moment to reflect and celebrate.

Thus, given my seemingly more gentle mood today, this entry won't be quite the rant you may have expected.  However, I do want to get the facts and the points across, so here we go.

Despite the concerns with finances that nearly everyone seems to experience these days, Valentine's Day spending seems like a necessity in our culture.  The National Retail Federation predicts that the average person will shell out $126.04 for Valentine's Day, a more than 8.5% increase from last year's average amount.  Men will spend the higher average at $168.74, whereas women will spend roughly $85.76 on average.  There are other surveys out as well that curb some of those lofty numbers, such as PriceGrabber's survey, suggesting that most people responded they would spend between $25 and $50 this year.

The first few numbers are a bit outrageous, but I'm not going to bicker about them.  Life can be expensive and let's face it: in today's culture, when we want to do something for someone we love, spending money is the easiest and most efficient way to do it.  As long as we remember that spending money is not a necessity for showing someone that we love them, America runs and gets a boost from days like today, so go ahead and spend wisely on that special someone.

However, the point here is simple: never forget about what love is.  Love is patient, love is kind, and everything else packed into that beautiful set of verses.  I do wanna point out one verse specifically, though. 

1 Corinthians 13:7 says "[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."  In the scope of one day, you can show someone you love them with dinner, flowers, or whatever else it may be, but love is more about the other 364 days of the year.  You don't need to shower someone with gifts and attention for one day out of the year to prove you love them.  You just need to be there for every other day.  Always protect and trust; always hope and persevere.  Today isn't our one day of the year to show love; it's the one day we get off to remind ourselves to (try to) do it for the other 364 days.

Lastly, it's always hard for me to hear the complaints people have on Valentine's Day, usually borne from a combination of bitterness and loneliness.  You think nobody out there loves you?  Stop it.  You're blessed with so much, and so many people who love and care about you.  Take today to remember that.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday and remember: let your love be about more than just today!

What the Heck, Man?: Google's Screenwise

As this entry will show, "What the heck, man?" is a versatile phrase.  While in previous entries, I mostly used the phrase to signify a combination of surprise, frustration, and/or confusion, I bring it back to its most basic form for this entry.  Today, I am simply confused, trying to figure out what to make of this news:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/08/google-screenwise-project_n_1263128.html

Many internet users are aware of Google's privacy policy consolidation that has occurred in the last couple of weeks.  While the consolidation hasn't particularly affected my internet experience, there has certainly been some uproar from those who've read into the policy further who believe that Google is attempting to find a way to grasp more information from its users.  I'm not going to pretend to understand the policy fully, but the project in this article, Screenwise, does seem like an attempt to dodge the criticisms.

In short, it seems that Google's Screenwise is offering to pay internet users $5 in Amazon money (and up to $25, depending on how long you participate) to allow Google to access all of the data from users on Google's Chrome browser.  The fine print apparently also states that after a year (where you've presumably earned $20 through the program), payment methods will change.  All of this sets off an alarm in my head.

Maybe it's just a PR move.  More people are becoming aware of just how much of their information floats around on the internet now, and how much of that can be attributed to sites like Google and Facebook.  With the criticism fired toward their new policy, Google could be looking to boost their image once again as a "company for the people" with this idea.

Any time a website offers to give away something for free, I become skeptical.  OK, that's not completely accurate, but when it's in the nature of free money (and particularly, Amazon money), that's when I start to wonder what Google is attempting to gain from this.

Thus, as I try to figure this out, all I can say is... What the heck, man?

Super Bowl Thoughts

As has been said by many, the Super Bowl is more than just the game.  The Super Bowl has become the biggest day of the year that isn't a national holiday (or is it?).  When the game finally begins, it's not just about the game: commercials and the halftime show certainly play a part.  Let's break it down:


The game:
Once again, the Giants and Patriots put on a spectacular show.  Sure, it's not the shootout we may have seen had the Saints or Packers made it instead of the Giants, but the Giants have been the best team in football for the last two months and cemented that status with another win against Brady, Belichick, and the Pats.  You can ask everyone that watched the game with me: when there were less than four minutes left, Giants with the ball, needing a score, you couldn't help but think that this would be another repeat of the Giants' game-winning drive four years ago.  They even gave Tom Brady roughly the same amount of time (about a minute) to try and bring his team back.  There's really not much to say or criticize about this game: it was a fun, hard-nosed game with big moments and, luckily, no egregiously bad calls to mull over.

The commercials:
Maybe it's just me, but for the most part, I wasn't that impressed with the commercials.  All of the usual elements were there: cheap laughs, cheap attempts to sell sex, and the serious commercials here and there.  That said, save for a few standouts, I didn't feel that this year's commercials were that memorable.  I hope, for the sake of the companies, that their advertisements yielded enough to cover the $3.5 million cost for each 30-second spot.

The halftime show:
Guest stars galore and high production value were the highlights of the show featuring Madonna.  I was not a fan of this halftime show, as at the very least, I would've preferred if she was actually singing those things live, rather than the lip-synching I thought we saw.  Given my own personal bias, I was saddened to see LMFAO make an appearance.  Once again, I have respect for what LMFAO does, as they really make music into entertainment, but that's just the catch for me: I want music to at least have some artfulness to it, but there's nothing about what LMFAO does that I could call "artful".  That said, and maybe this is partially due to age, but Madonna could not replicate what makes her Madonna during this halftime show, and that's why I was not a fan of this show.  The recent halftime show featuring Prince is still one of the best shows I can remember.  If he can pull that off at his age, Madonna should be able to at least come close to it.

What'd you think of Super Bowl Sunday?  I love the comments, so keep them flowing!

Our Ability to Forget

Today I'd like to present you with a simple theory.  This is the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve:

It theorizes that our forgetfulness is exponential, with a much larger rate of forgetting in the first hour than the rest of the first day.  As far as I know, this research was conducted by asking subjects to remember as many nonsense syllables as they could, and the graph shows the average rate of forgetting those nonsense syllables over a period of a month.

There are a few things to note here:
1) It is much easier to remember organized information than it is to remember nonsense syllables.

2) Every human is different and thus, this graph is merely an estimation of an average and not necessarily representative of every person.

That said, we can still make some generalizations according to this graph.  First, the graph shows that cramming can, in fact, be effective.  Discarding sleep as a factor for now, it seems that cramming up until 20 minutes before a test can yield a roughly 58% retention rate.  If you happen to cram the night before, it looks like you can still retain roughly 35% of what you studied.  Better than nothing, right?

Further research shows that a higher degree of original learning yields a lower degree of forgetting.  This supports exactly what your teachers and parents and tutors have all told you: starting to study several days before an exam is more effective.  Though you tend to forget more over time, the repetition of learning (e.g. studying days before a test) is like the generation of a new graph each time, and if you're already remembering 20-25% coming in, the amount that you have to learn gets smaller each time.

So let this research be further support as to why you should start studying days ahead of your exams.  As a side, I've also heard (and experienced) that studying for short bursts of time is more effective than continuous hours of work.  Thus, it's recommended that we attempt to have focused study for 30 minutes, take a 10-15 minute break, and repeat.  Our brains can experience information overload, which is why a 6-hour marathon study session can be ineffective and inefficient.

All of that said... I'm off to start studying for my exam that's tomorrow.  Oops.