George Tinari

I didn’t get any sleep whatsoever. For some reason, my body didn’t have the urge to fall asleep tonight. So now, as the east coast wakes up little by little to begin the day, I have an urge to sit here in my dark room and write as if this public blog is a mere journal.

I get really pissed off when I can’t fall asleep. This has happened before; it’s become an annual ritual for me to have one night in which I simply can not doze off. I get pissed because I want sleep. I always feel tired during these nights — like right now my eyelids feel like they are lifting weights. But every time I close my laptop to make another attempt at entering a REM cycle I fail. Plus I’d also like sleep for regular reasons: I want to be able to focus for work the next day, I don’t want to fall asleep too late and then sleep in too late and kill the day, etc. Oh, and how could I forget the fact that not falling asleep means I’m forced to lay alone and suddenly become a philosopher, rethinking every decision I’ve ever made in life as well as questioning what I’ll never have answers for.

There are some benefits to these odd nights. On the smaller side of things, I suppose if I had gotten sleep tonight I’d have one less blog post published. On the larger side, watching the world go to sleep and wake up again all while I’m still conscious is a weird but fascinating feeling. It’s like I’m watching other people naturally live from an outside perspective. The normal break we all experience between saying “goodnight” and “good morning” to someone is totally removed and in its place is simply a transitional period of time. The Late Show somehow slowly becomes Good Morning America.

Now it’s 6:56. Fourteen minutes have gone by since I started typing this. Thousands of other people have woken up, some have spilled their first cup of coffee, the sun is a tad higher in the sky, and I’ve grown more tired and irritated. This entire experience is just very intriguing and annoying.

I’ve been meaning to write this up for a few months, but never got around to it. It has to be said though because it seems like very few other people are saying it, and I’ve never been one to blend in with the crowd if I thought the crowd’s views didn’t make any sense.

Let’s talk about arguably the most controversial topic known to man: religion. Specifically, let’s address why the vast majority of people suck at their own beliefs. Trust me, it’s possible.

Religion has been around for a very, very long time. This may come as a shock to people deeply rooted in their own religious beliefs, but there are actually other religions outside of your own. Who would have known?! But yes, it’s true. There’s Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism — just to name a few. Then there’s multiple subdivisions of religions as well; for instance, Roman Catholicism is a branch of Christianity. All Catholics are Christians but not all Christians are Catholics.

Theism is the overall belief that at least one deity exists, which is what almost all religions can categorize themselves under. Atheism is the belief that no deities exist. Then there’s other types of concepts that are somewhat variants of these two like deism, pantheism, polytheism, so on and so forth. Lastly, agnosticism is the belief that the existence or non-existence of a deity or deities is not and will never be knowable. For the sake of this argument, let’s stick mainly to theism and atheism because these are the two groups constantly making the most noise.

Let’s just get straight to the point: there are way too many people either in a religion or identifying as atheist who feel that because of their beliefs, they are better or smarter than everybody else. A lot of people who are deeply religious tend to receive a lot of public hate nowadays because they try to impose their religion on others, often in an ignorant fashion. This does happen quite frequently. There are theists who refuse to associate with or even be around an atheist because they think non-believers are doomed for all eternity. Many theists often take their religion a tad too seriously, as you can see.

I’m going to use Christianity as an example because it’s the most popular religion in the world and probably the one we’re all most familiar with. The most dedicated of Christians get into the annoying habit of thinking they’re smarter than every other religion, based on absolutely no merits. They just think what they believe is the right way and that everyone else should follow. Also, the Bible is treated as fact to them. The Bible is not fact. Neither is any other holy scripture for any other religion. Almost nothing in any religion should be considered fact, including the religions themselves. Religions are based entirely on faith. You are more than welcome to believe every single thing written in the Bible, but don’t try to use the Bible as proof for anything outside of your own religion. Don’t pick and choose what to follow in the Bible, either. The Bible does not prove God exists. If you believe that God exists because of the Bible, again, that’s your belief and you are completely entitled to it. Not everyone follows the Bible like you do. And if you say they should, don’t you think telling billions of people that their beliefs are wrong and yours are right is a pretty ballsy thing to say?

Any atheists reading this probably think I’m on their side by now. Nope, sorry. Atheists more than ever I’ve noticed tend to get pretty bold in their claims as well. Many mock people of religion and claim they are too dumb to realize there is simply no proof of a god, therefore there is no god. The atheists who mock religion are just as ignorant as the religious folks who mock atheists and other religions. You’re right, we can’t prove that there’s a god at this moment in time. But tell me, atheists, how exactly you plan on proving that there isn’t one. Blah blah the Bible was just made up, blah blah science can’t explain its existence, blah blah no one in our time has ever witnessed a god. Those are all bullshit excuses, and the fact of the matter remains you can’t prove there is not a god. You’re right that the Bible has plenty of faults in it which science has proven wrong over time, but science never proved that believing in the existence of a deity is wrong. Just because no one in our time has witnessed a deity, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And maybe, just maybe, science can not explain everything. If you say it can, prove it. Ah once again we’ve reached an impasse because you can’t prove science can explain everything.

Atheists are no smarter than theists and theists are no smarter than atheists. The fact remains that as of right now, in 2013, no one can prove or disprove the existence of a deity. I’m not saying it won’t ever be possible, but in this very moment everyone in every religion should be able to acknowledge this. If you’re a deeply religious person and you can say “I understand that other people hold other beliefs and that mine aren’t necessarily proven accurate from a factual standpoint, but this is what I personally choose to and deeply believe.” then I have a lot of respect for you. The exact same respect applies to an atheist who can say the same.

It’s true that many religions have caused a lot of problems over the course of history. Thousands of people have died in the name of their beliefs, wars have broken out, people’s rights (even today) are stripped away from them, the advancement of science has been greatly restricted due to conflicting religious beliefs, etc. These are often cited by atheists as reasons why organized religion sucks, and usually they are very fair points. But many wonderful things have come out of religion: family-oriented and gift-giving holidays, encouragement to serve people in need, promotion of kindness, high intent to instill moral values, and harmless love and devotion to a power greater than we could ever fathom. Far more religious people carry these values than the extremists who question scientific advancements and organize war.

The point is, we desperately just need to let everyone believe what they choose to believe and call it a day. No one is wiser than anyone else for their religious or non-religious beliefs. Stop all the fighting, the name-calling, the boasting, the imposing, and the discrimination. There’s never a winner because when it comes to proof, both sides are lacking any. Let everybody be who they are and individually believe what they want. And shut the hell up about it.

I attended somewhat of a seminar last week called “The Religion of Existentialism” by Professor Noreen Khawaja of Yale University at my own university as part of my Religious Dimension of Human Existence philosophy class. She talked for about an hour on her theory of how religion plays a role in existentialism and then opened up for discussion. I didn’t ask any questions because I honestly had no idea what the hell she was talking about the entire time. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about, that’s all I know. I was clueless partly because all the philosophical terms and references being thrown at me made my brain bounce around in my head. The other part is because I had drifted off thinking about the entire college experience in general, starting with Khawaja’s speech.

In high school, this type of thing was almost unheard of. You never sat in a small meeting room around a table with a guest speaker clearly far beyond your own intelligence level. I was on the second floor of the academic building and there was a stunning view of the lake and parts of the campus to the left. That never happened in high school either.

Then it hit me just how incredible of a place college really is. The amount of resources you have access to on a university campus for nearly any topic you’re interested in is absolutely unparalleled: from guest speakers to intelligent professors to an extensive library to simply a wide range of course offerings. That got me thinking about my other experiences.

One of the other amazing aspects of university life is the amount of diversity in people. I went to private elementary school and private high school so I was never exposed to this, but I love it now. There’s nice people, there’s rude people, there’s annoying people, there’s tolerable people, there’s party people, there’s study people, there’s drinkers, there’s pot smokers, there’s sober people, there’s computer science majors, there’s journalism majors, there’s music majors, there’s nursing majors. No two people have the exact same set of interests.

There’s whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, theists, atheists, gays, straights, males, females, and everything in between. And no one really ever judges anyone for being different in any way. People just get along. If you do openly have something negative to say about someone’s background or beliefs, you’re considered a bigoted asshole by the majority, and chances are you probably won’t say it again.

The first time I had a legitimate older adult in my class I was totally amazed in a weird way. There was always a certain barrier, at least for me, between 18-year-olds and people in their 40s, 50s, or older. They were always the authority figures and should automatically get respect privileges. But when there’s an older man sitting next to you taking the same class you’re taking and doing the same homework you are, you realize it’s now level playing field. That older man is almost like a colleague.

I’m a commuter for now so I can’t comment too much on night life at college. I do know that there’s a good amount of get-togethers like hanging out in dorms or having a movie night, there’s a good amount of larger parties with a higher level of drunkenness, there’s a fair amount of frat parties with loud, sweaty people who won’t shut the fuck up, and then there’s a slightly smaller amount of people who sit around in a cramped dorm and for some reason prefer to smoke the night away. Oh yeah, and every once in a while someone living in a dorm will hear loud moaning in the room next to them.

Campus activities and clubs bring everyone together in a fun way as well during the day time. On nice days there’s information booths, occasional performers, or charity events. Then there’s also just people hanging out with friends on the grass or casually playing some sports. You can grab a few people and get some food in the dining hall or in the student center. While you’re in the student center, you could buy a few things from the bookstore or exercise in the gym for a bit.

The whole system of college has this way of giving one a liberating feeling of total independence in many regards, many of which are detailed above. Even when it comes down to classes, you have to design your own schedule (a royal pain in the ass). You can show up to classes 5 or 10 minutes late and most professors don’t care. Why should they? You’re the one missing out on material. It’s not their problem. Hell in some classes, depending on the professor, you can eat food or openly tap away at your smartphone.

What sucks about college is that people you’ve known throughout high school or longer will suddenly change, and it might not always be for the better. They’ll fall weak under peer pressure, hang out with people they once despised, or perhaps they’ll just get too stressed out from intense classes and their overall mood will shift to an unpleasant one. Your closest friend from high school may move away and forget all about you. It’s unfortunate and can even be depressing, but it’s a reality for many people.

The work load isn’t anything to brag about either, but at least it’s mostly within your own field of interest. It sure beats the hell out of high school work forced upon you that you’ll probably never use later on in life. I can tell you where you might as well shove those trigonometric functions.

At the end of my first year, I’ve made a lot of new incredible friends, lost a couple of my old ones, learned more about myself and the people around me, ate a lot of food, and got a lot of work done. I’m not much of a wild child, but I did have plenty of fun just getting together with friends in their dorms or going out on the town. But what I enjoyed most this year was just the whole atmosphere of seeing all these people from all different backgrounds coming together, getting along, and having the time of their lives before entering the next chapter and starting their careers. And there’s still a few more years ahead.

This isn’t quite the way I wanted to kick off the revamping of this blog but there’s too much shit on Facebook and Twitter right now for me to simply dismiss.

As you probably know by now, the second suspect in the Boston bombing is in custody. That’s great. In custody is exactly where he deserves to be, and ultimately he should be locked away for a very long time for the terrible act he committed. We should all be very happy that this asshole has been captured and justice has been served.

Here’s where the problem comes in: we’re already sensationalizing the hell out of this story. I’m seeing all over Facebook and Twitter people posting “USA pride!” “God bless America!” “Don’t mess with America!” Stop. How does pride in a country have any correlation with the capturing of a criminal? I’ll answer that question: it has absolutely no place.  It’s stupid.

The only reason why people — and in particular, people my age who are in college — are saying that is because they have this false, undeserved sense of pride in their country for the sole reason that they think America should look awesome, badass, and tough for being the country in which a criminal was captured. It has absolutely nothing to do with the actual morality behind capturing a criminal and it has everything to do with sensationalizing the story for personal gain and excitement.

The people who should be feeling proud right about now are the law enforcement officials involved in capturing the suspect and the families and friends of victims in the bombing. And my guess is that they’re proud of the justice served tonight. Posting images of the American flag with a caption of “American pride!” or “Drinks up!” changes the entire situation from a criminal justice story into an entertainment story. That’s bullshit sensationalism.

Be happy that the suspect is in custody as you should be and convey that happiness in a respectful manner.

I decided to change this blog drastically. I noticed I hadn’t really been posting links as much and instead I would just share them on Twitter. Reblogs were tedious to me and also were often formatted poorly on the old theme. And lastly, the “GT Daily” title felt too cliched and perhaps a bit too formal for a personal blog.

Starting today, gtdaily.net redirects to this blog’s new url: blog.georgetinari.com. It’s now a subdomain to my main portfolio website georgetinari.com. The blog itself also has a new, simple focus on longform articles. I will try my best to exclusively write articles based on my opinions on a variety of topics. Many will be related to technology, but not all. Seeing that this is my personal blog that I choose not to monetize, I felt I should be giving myself more freedom. As always, you can still see my news stories and mobile-centric opinion pieces on IntoMobile as well.

I have no idea how often I’ll write here. More than likely I won’t get into a pattern, I’ll just write pieces whenever inspiration strikes. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.

bryan:

Um, mission accomplished.

Apple:

What makes an iPhone unlike anything else? Maybe it’s that it lets you do so many things. Or that it lets you do so many things so easily. Those are two reasons iPhone owners say they love their iPhone. But there are many others as well.

Seems like the folks in Cupertino are feeling a little intimidated.

petervidani:

• You are an employee at Opera
• You are a developer testing a website in Opera
• You are a grandmother using the laptop your grandson setup 9 years ago and I love you

thisistheverge:

Watch this: Samsung’s complete, and completely weird, Galaxy S4 announcement

When Samsung brands one of their gadget announcements with “Unpacked,” you can usually tell you’re in for something weird. Samsung weird. The Galaxy S4 announcement didn’t disappoint, but it was strangely effective in showcasing the gigantic list of features Samsung introduced. If you missed it (or if you want to relive it), Samsung has posted the event in its entirely on YouTube. Check out the video below for the tap-dancing-est, sideways-car-iest, slightly misogynist-iest, and S-feature-ist phone announcement you’ve ever experienced.

shortformblog:

chartier:

Finer Things in Web:

Yaaayyyyy Tumblr!

OMG FINALLY.

Jun Dong-soo, the president of Samsung’s memory chip division, as relayed by John Paczkowski of AllThingsD.

Asus, Acer, Fujitsu, and now Samsung all singing the same tune about Windows 8. And it’s being sung in the key of shitshow.

[via The Loop]

thenextweb:

Facebook has just sent out an invite to press with the text ‘Come see a new look for News Feed’. The event will be held at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters on Thursday March 7th, 2013 at 10am PST and we’ll be on site. (via Facebook holding an event to show off a ‘new look for News Feed’ on March 7th - The Next Web)

Grab your pitchforks.

This post is a necessity now that I’m in college. I previously wrote about my thoughts on marijuana, probably a few months ago. Many of my opinions on that still stand and in fact are probably stronger now than before. Certain parts have evolved a bit though. I want to touch on that as well as get into my beliefs on drinking and some other things.

The reason I say this post is a necessity now that I’m in college is because of everything I’m being exposed to for the first time. A good amount of kids drink, some smoke pot, a smaller amount do other more dangerous drugs. A lot of the friends I had that were once so totally against any type of drugs and alcohol have either experimented with it — which I have no problem with — or do it regularly. The latter gets to me sometimes because I never like when people go back on their word, but I do understand given the circumstances.

Then there’s the group of people in college who don’t drink, smoke, or do any of that. I’m in that group. Everybody has their own reasons. Some are so totally opposed to that stuff that they refuse to even be around people who do it. That type of rejection is a bit over the top if you ask me. Others, like myself, don’t do it for more rational reasons. Allow me to explain.

Let’s start with the alcohol, which I’m much more forgiving of. To be honest, the main reason why I’ve never had more than a cup or two of alcohol is because 1) I don’t hang around with many people who drink regularly — not by choice, it just happens that’s who my friends are — and 2) as a commuter, I rarely have the opportunity to. I’m not a part of the weekend scene on campus.

If given the chance to have a casual drink, would I? Absolutely. I don’t see anything wrong with that. It’s just a single drink, a glass of wine for example, and it barely if at all impairs your judgment. In fact, I don’t think it should be illegal for people under the age of 21 to have a drink of alcohol. It should just be illegal for them to have too much.

Now, if given the right opportunity to get drunk, would I? Probably. I’d prefer to not get drunk to the point that I’m vomiting and I can’t remember what happened the next day. I don’t see why anyone on Earth would want to get that drunk and I have yet to hear a good explanation from anyone who has. But I have no problem with people getting casually tipsy or drunk. Usually.

The problem with getting drunk is it redefines the definition of “fun” for people who do get drunk. I’m not an idiot, I know getting drunk is fun. However, there are far too many people particularly in college who feel like the only way to have fun on the weekends is to get drunk. That’s utterly absurd. If you want proof, read a fantastic article I stumbled upon last year entitled “I haven’t been drunk in 3 years… and I’ve been partying way more than you.“ To me, getting drunk all the time is just a sign of laziness. Think about it, honestly. If you ever did a survey of the people who refuse to drink asking how many of them have had fun, incredible lives, I guarantee a lot of them would say so. I know people who don’t drink and have an absolute blast. So really, getting drunk is the easy way to have some fun. People my age get into the habit of looking forward to the weekend so they can immediately take some shots and let loose without even thinking twice or looking for another way to enjoy themselves, perhaps even more than if they were drunk. Side note: if you aren’t the type of person who gets into that habit, I most likely don’t have an issue.

Is that really a proper way to live? It’s just being lazy. I recently had to read an article online for a class called “The End of Solitude” by William Deresiewicz. He writes about technology and how it removes our ability to be quiet and alone, but in the article is one of the best quotes I’ve ever encountered. “Television, by obviating the need to learn how to make use of one’s lack of occupation, precludes one from ever discovering how to enjoy it,” Deresiewicz wrote. It’s so true and applies here so well. Since alcohol is the easy way to keep yourself occupied or temporarily “happy”, it removes one’s ability or motivation to seek out true happiness and fun. Everyone has their own definition, but I think most of us can agree that one can achieve true fun and happiness when they are fully in control of their actions, unlike when a person is drunk.

I do realize that a lot of us do get lazy from time to time and take shortcuts for plenty of things in life. That’s why I don’t have a problem with people getting drunk every so often. But if you get drunk on a weekly basis, whenever you have nothing to do (with or without friends present), or if you feel like the only way you can be happy or have fun is to become incoherent, you seriously need to reevaluate the choices you are making with your life.

Marijuana, on the other hand, I don’t see any need for. I’m not talking about marijuana for medicinal purposes. I’m saying I don’t see a need for the casual use. First of all, I laugh in the face of anyone who says “marijuana is good for you because it’s natural” or “marijuana is better than cigarettes because it’s not addictive” — so on and so forth. People who say that are so utterly misinformed and unfortunately a lot of people my age do. Go do some searches on the Internet. And no, don’t get your facts from potisfuckingawesome.org, get them from a legitimate educational resource. One joint of marijuana does well over double the harm to your lungs than a single cigarette. Studies have shown long term use lowers IQ scores and a new one says men who smoke as much as one joint per week are at an increased risk of testicular cancer. Plus, while alcohol is generally removed from the body within 24 hours of consumption, THC, the main chemical in marijuana (there’s hundreds in marijuana, by the way) stays in the body for days or even weeks. The only benefit marijuana has over cigarettes is that it’s not nearly as addictive, however there are some cases in which people get addicted to it, or more commonly simply get addicted to getting high. That’s even worse because they tend to seek out more dangerous drugs to get high when marijuana won’t cut it. Plus, marijuana is dangerous enough to obtain. I’ve heard stories from people who have stayed with a dealer for so long and one time ended up getting a pack laced with something and they got horribly sick. That, however is less of a marijuana problem and more of a legalization problem. More on that later.

I’m not saying marijuana is all bad, because it obviously has its positives like temporary relief of pain and depression. Plus, alcohol obviously has its own significant downsides as well. There’s a great article here comparing the positives and negatives. There’s still plenty we don’t know about it either, since the fact that it’s illegal limits the number of tests that can be performed. Just using my own common sense based on what we’ve seen with both cigarette use and alcohol use, let’s ask the question: does inhaling smoke into your lungs that releases chemicals into your brain and bloodstream causing a distortion of reality sound like something that’s healthy? I don’t think so.

Speaking for my own generation, the majority of people who smoke weed once again hinder their ability to have real fun. Instead of putting in the effort to go out with friends, see the world, and have a blast, they gather around in a dorm room and light up. I can’t for the life of me see how that’s living life to the fullest. At least when you’re drinking you’re more likely to be social or partying. And not to mention it hurts me even more to see people I know and care about who have such profound potential wasting it on a plant.

Do I think marijuana should be legalized? Yep. As opposed as I am toward the drug, I can’t control the stupid things people do, as much as I’d love to. If they want to sit around in their homes and get high for a few hours without being in public or causing harm to anyone, I think they should be allowed to. But as with alcohol, there should be severe restrictions on public use, including driving while high.

My point is this: everyone’s goal in life should be to seek ultimate happiness. It requires some effort, but it should pay off. People need to put in some time to go out and find amazing things to do with their time using whatever talents they have in order to gain a state of complete and total happiness. Throughout history, any type of frequent — and that’s emphasized for a reason — drug or alcohol use has never, ever led to total happiness. More often than not it leads to a path in the opposite direction.

Particularly kids my age need to mature up and stop lazily drinking or smoking for quick bits of fun every damn week. As I said before, we all get lazy sometimes and that’s fine, personally and preferably with drinking rather than smoking. But overall, put in some effort to go out and find some genuine, coherent, beneficial fun. With every moral fiber in my body, I believe that is living life to the fullest.

parislemon:

Everyone now has a camera in their pocket at all times. That camera is connected to the internet at all times. That camera is capable of being utilized by hundreds of thousands of apps. Those apps all have social graphs that allow you to connect with other internet-connected camera-carrying friends. It’s almost inexplicable that there isn’t a killer social photo album service yet.

And yet, despite many (many, many, many, many) failed attempts, there isn’t. So perhaps I’ll sound foolish thinking that Albumatic is going to be the one. But I’ll be damned if it doesn’t feel like it is.

We all remember Color. Yes, that Color. Yes, I probably just jinxed Albumatic by mentioning Color. Anyway, I remember Color better than most because I actually really liked the service. Insane hype, funding, and antics aside, it seemed like something that should exist. Mobile photos automatically grouped together based on location. Yes, the random person element was weird. But if you happened to be around only friends, Color was actually pretty awesome.

Albumatic taps into what was good about Color and leaves behind all the bullshit. I’ve been testing it for a few weeks and I’m hooked.

Again, this feels like the app that should have existed from day one on the iPhone. Sometimes such inevitable apps don’t catch on at first due to timing. Sometimes it’s more about execution. My sense is that it’s a combination here as usual.

The iPhone camera is now really great and people are using it as their main or only camera. The newest iPhones have LTE connectivity ensuring many pictures can be uploaded quickly. Location services on the devices are finally reaching mainstream appeal. And other services like Instagram have turned everyone into a picture-taker.

Albumatic takes all of those factors and adds a simple, yet intuitive way make social photo albums appealing. Well, hopefully, this time.

 You can find Albumatic in the App Store here.

Downloaded this and I love the concept. It’s actually a lot like shared photo streams on iOS 6. It just needs users and, I can’t believe I’m saying this, an Android app.

David Chartier quickly and effortlessly nails it.

finermac:

If you plug your iPhone or iPad into iTunes and mouse over the colored storage bar at the bottom of the device details page, you’ll see more information about what and how much stuff is on your device.

I literally just figured this out five minutes ago when syncing my iPhone and iPad. Funny timing that I spotted it here now.

shortformblog:

jaredbkeller:

taylorlorenz:

A hero amongst men

via @jaredbkeller

Just a reminder that heroes live forever, but legends never die

Friends don’t let friends register parody accounts.

shortformblog:

In honor of Herman Cain getting hired as a Fox News talking head, here’s a picture of a pizza. (photo by Bitman/Flickr)