tonyswish

[tonyswish]

Test Pressing of J Dilla’s First Solo Release Found!

I rarely have record stories to go into this much detail about anymore but this one blows me away so I have to share. 

One of my good friends Brad was in Atlanta and we wanted to go buy records in Little 5 Points, my main goals were the Deftones B-Sides & Rarities (didn't get) and J Dilla's The Diary. After visiting two of the three record stores in Little 5 and buying a bunch of other stuff, we stopped in Beatlab, a little known store above a costume shop that caters to DJs and sells almost exculsively hip hop. Brad went crazy and loved the store.

I found something that I was familiar with, but some things didn't add up. As a huge Dilla fan, I was familiar with the very first J Dilla (known as Jay Dee at the time) release from 1996. The record was pressed on blue and green wax by DJ House Shoes. It was only a vague memory so I made sure to text some pics of the record to my good friend Kelly "KFresh" Frazer, the person who knows more about J Dilla's Discography than anyone I know.

Shortly after that, he sent confirmation from House Shoes that it indeed a test pressing.

When I got home, I asked Kelly some questions and sent House Shoes a tweet. I basically learned that it is the first “known” test pressing of Dilla’s first solo record!

it only recently sunk in that here in Atlanta, I found the first known test pressing of Dilla’s first solo release! As someone from Detroit I was fortunate enough to be a fan of Dilla’s during his life and even to see him perform live! There’s just something poetic to the fact that the day his “lost” album is released that this album made 20 years ago is unearthed, I’m just beyond belief that I found it!

[tonyswish]

Masquerade Games & Fire Pro Wrestling

Finding retro and import video games in Metro-Detroit was no easy task in the mid to late 1990s. The first store I discovered holds strong memories for me, it was called Masquerade Games and video games were responsible for maybe 20% of what the store sold. The store's speciality was anime, Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon CCG and RPGs. Masquerade was on an intersection of Hayes and Stephens roads in Eastpointe, a residential neighborhood very close to my house.

This store was special to me, it holds a place in my heart similar to Record Time as it played a pivotal role in things that I would care about for the rest of my life. I distinctively remember my first import video game purchase was Dragon Ball Z Legends for the Sega Saturn, along with a Pro Action Replay 4M Plus Cartridge that allows you to play imports on the Saturn! I still have the game to this day, but unfortunately I do not have it with me in Atlanta. Fortunately I have another one that has cast a much larger shadow.

I was 14 years old and it was January 23rd of 1999. My mom and grandmother took me to Masquerade Games before we all three went to dinner, after dinner my good friend Nick was going to come over to spend the night playing video games as it was a Saturday. I had money to spend (I believe it was leftover from Christmas) and genuinely had no idea what they would have. As soon as I walked in Bettina, one half of the couple that owned the store, immediately told me that she had something special for me that I would love.

At this point I had been a regular at Masquerade for at least 2 to 3 years, the owners knew I didn't care much for most anime (DBZ and Pokemeon were exceptions) nor most CCG/RPG type stuff. They knew I liked video games and loved professional wrestling. Much to my shock she had an import professional wrestling game from Japan and boy did it look weird.

I saw the cover from behind the glass, the game was shrink-wrapped and was $49.99, a hefty sum for a 14 year old who had yet to enter into the lucrative bootlegging business. She knew that I wanted to see the back as that is where SCREENSHOTS always lurked! So she made it a point to immediately grab the game, take it out of the showcase and hand it to me. I turned the jewel case over and much to my shock I saw this:

The in-game screenshots floored me, and not for the right reasons. This was 1999, the same year Gran Turismo 2, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver and the immortal Dreamcast were released. The graphics I was looking at just didn’t cut it, plus it was all in Japanese and I knew absolutely nothing about Japanese wrestling. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

Fortunately, I had guilt as she had made it sound like it was something they ordered for me as a kind gesture, so I felt obligated to make the purchase and I did so. I had never played a Japanese Pro Wrestling game and figured at the very least it would be a weird experience.

That day in 1999 started my love of both Puroresu (a nickname for Japanese Pro Wrestling) and more specifically my love of the Fire Pro Wrestling series of games. The name of this game is Fire Pro Wrestling S: 6Men Scramble and when I started playing it I was immediately fascinated, frustrated and generally awe-struck in what was available in this game. The roster had about 160 wrestlers, about 10 times more than other games at the time! It not only featured almost exact versions of wrestlers from All Japan, New Japan, FMW and many other of the multitude of Japanese Federations....but it even featured North American Wrestlers! I was floored to see Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley, Chris Jericho, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Undertaker, Vader, Bam Bam Bigelow, Sting, Road Warriors, Steiner Brothers, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Goldust, Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, Konnan, Rey Mysterio Jr. and even MMA guys like Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock. Add to this legends (something US games didn’t do at the time) like Terry Funk, Bruiser Brody, Andre The Giant, Lou Thesz and The British Bulldogs.

It’s fitting I kept the receipt for something that ended up having a permanent influence on two of my favorite interests. Since that day I have slowly become a bigger and bigger fan of Japanese Wrestling, additionally that day instantly made me a gigantic fan of the entire Fire Pro Wrestling series.

Later in 1999, I was thrilled to see that a new game in the series was coming out for Sony Playstation called Fire Pro Wrestling G! Masquerade made sure to have it in stock and I purchased it immediately, it did not disappoint (it’s the game on the top in the picture below).

In the next two years, my interest in gaming mirrored the health of the Sega Dreamcast, it began to decline as my interest in music and girls took up my free time. Masquerade Games moved to a new location that was much bigger and more successful, unfortunately my trips became fewer and far between. In January of 2001, Sega announced the end of the Dreamcast at the end of March. The console lived on a bit longer in Japan and on March 1st, Fire Pro Wrestling D was released for the Dreamcast, exclusively in Japan (pictured as the lower game in the above picture).

Fire Pro Wrestling D was the last purchase I made at the relocated Masquerade Games. It had only been two years since I purchased 6Men Scramble but in my memories they seem like different worlds to me. It was around this time my interest in Professional Wrestling would dwindle and I would stop watching until Winter of 2005.

Since then I have been able to get some of the other Fire Pro games at flea markets and on ebay, two were released on the Game Boy Advance in America and the final game of the series “Fire Pro Wrestling Returns” actually was released as a budget title in America for the PS2! I’ve seen dug deeper into other Japanese Wrestling Games and it’s fun to revisit something that existed half a world away.

This picture of the relocated Masquerade Games (this one on 10 Mile & I-94) is the only one I could find on the Internet. I believe the store closed around 2008 but I am unsure of the exact date. 

[tonyswish]

Controversial Opinions

In my last post, I mentioned that I am not afraid to hold some controversial opinions. I wanted to share a couple that are on the top of my mind right now.

1. The NFL/NCAA/Football concussion problem would mostly disappear if players no longer wore helmets.

This is the one that confound people the most, as almost everyone I met immediately cries bullshit. It’s a position I’ve had for a few years and only this year did I see a reputable sports outlet mention this. The reasoning is pretty common sense, with a helmet players are much more reckless as they believe their heads are fully protected from any injury. The helmet causes them to ram head first and protect the football over protecting their head.

Flashback to before 1943, Football wasn’t nearly as exciting as it is now, but players suffered much fewer head injuries and the concussion problem wasn’t as pronounced. I should also add that this “we only recently found out about CTE and the problems of repeat concussions” is absolute, 100% steaming bullshit. Boxing fans have used the term “punch drunk” for fighters with similar symptoms for decades and people have known for a long, long time that multiple head traumas can lead to problems with the brain.

For anyone reading this outside of America I would like to reiterate something about our culture. We may be portrayed as worshiping guns, god and freedom around the world....but the truth is, the only thing we worship is Pro Football (even right now I’m watching my Detroit Lions play). Our love of Football is so strong that High School and Collegiate Football are seen to be as big as the NFL by many fans. To prove this, the top 10 most watched cable programs in history are football games (list here).

2. The Internet has made it significantly better for musicians.

I was born in 1984 and didn’t get my first computer until 1998, meaning I existed for 14 years without immediate access to almost all of the world’s knowledge. Exposure to new music depending on a very few who served as gatekeepers as what would get played on corporate owned radio and MTV. Getting signed by a major label was seen as an artist’s “ticket”, resulting in major label contracts being so ridiculously one-sided that the majority of artists signing them would end up in significant debt.

The mp3 format’s popularity was the first step, Napster was the second, BitTorrent was the third and iTunes served as the point of change for everything. The immediate reaction by most uber-successful musicians (see Metallica) was outrage as they lived in a world where they had leverage over labels and made insane amounts of money. The music industry obviously hated this and even went so far as to sue fans who downloaded a few songs.

This era was awesome for a music fan. I remember downloading Deftones’ White Pony and Radiohead’s Kid A weeks before they were released (no small feat on my then 56K connection).

Since this happened, the music industry has come to embrace the Internet to some degree and great platforms like Spotify have emerged. Uber-rich artists still fight this (see Taylor Swift), but she's seen as an outlier as many artists from this era became successful because of the Internet.

Radiohead’s release of In Rainbows and Nine Inch Nails’ Ghosts release essentially gave their albums away for free. They were both successful, but were both established bands with very large fanbases. It took a few years, but artists that followed this model are becoming some of the most popular in music. In 2011, The Weekend released 3 mixtapes for free, they were outstanding and are still some of my favorite releases of the modern era. This is hardly an isolated case as many others have similarly “blown up” off Internet exposure alone.

I recently had a great conversation with music engineer Steve Albini where he brought up this exact point, that for musicians themselves...today’s environment is far better than the past. Steve is probably the only musician/engineer/producer who has made this statement in public, most likely because he’s one of the few with the business sense and analysis skills to come to this conclusion.

One of Steve’s arguments for this case is that it’s also easier to have direct communication with your fanbase than ever before. Why waste thousands on posters and advertisements when a social media account can immediately alert everyone who follows an artist? Yes the value of a recorded track is now nothing, but recording costs, manufacturing costs and distribution costs are drastically reduced and/or eliminated. 

My favorite recent example of the “old school” major-label mentality in action would be the insane “Legion of Doom” like announcement of the Tidal streaming platform. A group of what I would deem “mega-stars” gathered to announce this new streaming service that was “created and ran by artists”. The names involved were Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk, Jack White, Madonna, Arcade Fire, Alicia Keys, Usher and Chris Martin. All of these artists are sitting comfortably on top of the pyramid, and while I’m a huge fan of a few of them (specifically Kanye West and Jack White), none of them are starving.

The Tidal announcement was something from a different era, an era where star power guaranteed hype and press, even if the product did nothing to stand out from it’s competition. What I found most interesting was the involvement and endorsement of a few artists who seem to be doing just fine embracing a more modern and innovative model. The most glaring example is Jack White’s Third Man Records, which focused exclusively on the relatively small music listeners that prefer vinyl. This audience turned out to be a cash cow and through creativity and grass roots efforts, the label has become something very special.

3. The world is extremely safe, but our constant access to information not directly involving us makes it seem as if we are always in danger.

How many times have you heard someone say the words “times being as hard as they are”, “with all the crazies in the world..” or some similar statement?

Constant bombardment of every single tragedy, violent act, terrorist attack and act of warfare has scared people shitless, even when those same people live in a community where crime is rare and they face much more danger driving a car than walking around alone at night.

The recent hullabaloo over “safe spaces” is a great example of just how far this has went. People now are scared over words and think that it is important they are “protected” from someone who says something they didn’t like. Parents are getting arrested for trusting their children to play outside alone and everyone thinks they need a gun for protection.

This one is hard to wrap my head around as the world has never been safer, but people living in this safe world have never been so paranoid and scared shitless by the things they see in the media.

4. The biggest issue facing both America and the world’s population isn’t global warming, it’s the unacknowledged fact that technology is killing significantly more jobs than ever before, creating what I believe to be a tipping point. 

Arguments to this always are that the technology improvements always result in the creation of new jobs to replace the old ones. Historically this was mostly true, but recently it has proven to be the exact opposite. Add to this the growing population and it makes me believe that much of the economic turmoil the world is being caused by this problem.

One way humanity has attempted to mitigate this problem is through the invention of both useless and meaningless work that ensures the “8 hour workday” stays intact (think about it, how much real work do you do during that day?). People are encouraged to work harder than ever, doing more and more meaningless tasks, all while making less money.

What confuses me the most is why so few are identifying this as a major problem? Politicians proclaim solutions that are band-aids at best, while not even realizing or acknowledging this problem.

5. GMOs are a very good thing, one we should all be supporting as it’s saving countless lives and improving even more.

As a white 31 year old, I’m surrounded by people who will only eat organic food and profess their hatred for GMO foods. I find this attitude to be arrogant, elitist and just plain wrong.

GMO foods are responsible for feeding 842 million malnourished people on a global basis.

While the above fact speaks volumes, I do have to say that those who are skeptical of the effects on humans and the environment do have valid points. I’m not one to quickly trust any corporation or the regulators that are supposed to oversee them, which is why I am open to this skepticism. I will follow that with the fact that there has been scant evidence that GMOs have caused harm to humans or the environment.

Outro: What led me to some of these beliefs?

One of my favorite sights in the world is skylines. I prefer them to natural views in almost every way. My reasoning for liking them is that they serve as a grand monument to humanity’s understanding and attempts to control/manipulate nature. Skyscrapers and bridges were built utilizing things like tuned mass dampers to reduce the risk of wind, seismic activity and other structural shifts, that alone is something I find incredible and fascinating.

What I find even more interesting is just how few were ultimately responsible for the creation of these structures. The same can be said for almost all innovations that have improved life around the world. It helped to cement my belief that decision-making and idea-generation by consensus will never outperform a well tested singular vision that has a proper backing. Sure, many amazing innovations came from government-funded programs, but the funding was often dispersed by a very small group of people that believed in whatever the project creator’s intentions were.

[tonyswish]

Everyone Thinks I’m Libertarian and It’s Annoying

Libertarians get a lot of heat on the Internet, some unjustified and some very justified. I have no problem taking unpopular positions, but I do have a problem with being labeled as something that I am actually against. 

I hate political parties, that means Democrats, Republicans, The Green Party and yes, the Libertarian Party. They all are based on a rigid set of worldviews that are thoughtlessly preached about from every soapbox in the country. This is something I believe comes from the human desire to fit in with a certain group with shared ideals and goals, rather than finding the best possible solution to improve a certain situation. 

This doesn't mean that I don't agree with some views of Libertarians, as I think they hit the nail on the head of many issues. The same can be said for the Republicans and Democrats. What they all have in common is I think they are all making things much worse and have historically done very little to improve humanity. For those who don't know, I don't vote and I'm very proud of it. My favorite quote about politics is: "politics is the mindkiller", it's a quote that has been proven again and again. 

 For clarity, here are things I believe Libertarians are wrong on: 

- Their entire "privitize everything" mantra. A good example of how this is a terrible idea is our prison system. 

- Their vehement hatred of "socialized medicine" 

- The undying love and admiration of Ayn Rand, who seemed to be a terrible, bitter person. 

- Pretty much everything they say about "gun rights". I'm not for making guns illegal, but I never understood why they care so much in an era where fighting the government with firearms is a laughable thought. 

These and other idealist notions are what happens when people don't live in the real world. 

I guess the biggest problem of being catagorized as a Libertarian always comes back to the fact they are a political party with a rigid set of beliefs and worldview. 

Politics exist for a small group to gain power by getting support from marks. Study history and it becomes quite clear how little political action has created permanent, lasting change. I wonder when more people wake up to the fact that every presidential election really is between a giant douche and a turd sandwich, causing them to effectively "step out" of the process and disengage from that system. 

I used to get mad that so many were apathetic, then i got energized to win hearts and minds to whatever I believed in at the time, then I got preachy and changed no one's attitude while creating a ton of useless arguments, then I became cynical and jaded but still cared about the entire process, finally I realized that spinning my wheels was doing nothing and to seek solutions elsewhere. 

I'm nowhere near convinced any of these solutions will work, but it seems to be a much better way to spend my time than preaching to marks about how great some guy is who just wants power.

[tonyswish]

Students are Unhappy, Insecure and Unable To Stand Up For Themselves

The past few months have been full of the media covering young people publicly displaying outrage for stupid reasons. There is nothing the media loves to do more than force irrelvant bullshit down our throats that results in OUTRAGE! 

This Tumblr exsits exclusively for editorial comments that are outside of professional life and purely exist as an opinion. This is an opinion I've grown to have over the past few years and it continues to cement itself as truthful as time goes on. I hae no real solution, but the fact that my opinion is apparently so controversial, it's a good sign that even the perfect solution would be moot as many are not intellectually/socially prepared for the debate itself. 

 "It’s so hard for kids growing up nowadays.”

That is something I hear from so many people my age and older, it’s a quote I agree with, but what I don’t agree with is what seems to follow that quote in 99% of the instances in which It is said. My reasoning for believing that it’s so difficult for kids has nothing to do with crime, violence, peer pressure or much of the nonsense you hear parents whine about on poorly produced local TV news pieces. My reasoning is that both society and easily influenced parents have lost all ability to think for themselves, which leaves them to almost exclusively trust other’s advice when making parental decisions.

How often does everyone see a news piece about some parent getting arrested for letting their kids play outside alone or travel to a store alone? My favorite example is this one from July of 2015, where an 11 year old played in the backyard alone for 90 minutes and the parents were charged with neglect.

If anyone wonders why college kids are being such pussies and words/phrases like “cisgender”, “microaggression”, “Trigger Warning” and “Safe Space” have entered our lexicon, it’s not because of the whole everybody gets a trophy mentality, it’s because society continues to treat kids like morons and so many aren’t able to put the pieces together. This isn’t just parenting, it’s just as much the fault of the relevant government agencies, media and schools.

I’ve often said that if I ever have children (which I most likely won’t), I would never send them to a traditional school and would most likely pursue something similar to unschooling, but with a tiny bit more structure. I’ve explained this at length in previous posts.

What I did want to share some of the things that both school rules are instilling in young people. 

Some statistics and basic information:

- According to this, 23% of public & private schools mandate uniforms, which means 23% of schools are saying that kids aren’t responsible enough decision-makers to choose what to put on their bodies.

- Roughly 25% of male students have been in a fight within the past year according to this. Consider that with the fact that 79% of schools have a zero-tolerance policy towards violence school (essentially meaning you fight, you get kicked out, even if there was no weapon involved and it was a one-on-one fight).

- The same zero-tolerance policies that were created for drug, alcohol and smoking along with weapons-based violence have been used to punish schoolchildren for tardiness, uniform violations, “disruptive behavior”, “insubordination” and apparently even singing.

- The average student does 3.1 hours of homework a night, with 56% of students saying it’s a primary cause of stress in their lives (here for more).

A few weeks ago I was visiting Detroit to speak at my college (such a cool honor) when I had the chance to get dinner with some of my family, including my high school aged cousin who we will call $M% because she’s really smart and will be making (M)oney up the ass when she gets older (also $M$ is 16). She was telling me how much she hates memorizing useless information in school and that it stresses her out and no one has given her a good reason why she needs to do this (I’m paraphrasing here, but this was pretty much her point). Her mom was dining with us, so I couldn’t give her my honest answer but I wanted to sugar-coat the honest answer enough so that I could properly respond. 

My response was that I agreed it was useless, and after high school life gets much better, so it’s super important she never loses the part of her that questions bullshit like this, because it will be invaluable in the future.

I’m sure that answer is one that many educators hate, if you are one of the educators who would hate that response I want to say that you are part of the problem and that you are actively telling kids to not think critically when presented with a task. You either fall on the side of educators who are too beaten down and worn out to fight the good fight, or you actually believe the goal of complete conformity and eliminating those who question authority when it appears that the authority isn’t valid. Kids go into the system wide-eyed with sponge-like brains, then they are told what to wear, how to think and what to study.

The part of this that bothers me the most is that this process has been unchanged for decades.... The flaws and obvious problems go either ignored or those in power realize that those flaws remaining unchanged is what allows them to stay in power. Here’s a song from John Lennon that was written 45 years ago, the lyrics show how little has changed.

Back to $M$, she’s quite brilliant and I wish both that she was 18 and that I was in a more self-sufficient position in my career because I would love to hire her to help me in marketing decentralized tech projects. Whatever path she chooses, I’m so confident she is going to crush it and be a massive success. This predicted success will have very little to do with her formal education, it will be in spite of that.

$M$ isn’t the type that concerns me. It’s the majority of kids who have no passion, few interests and even less drive by the time an institution sucks it all out of them. These are also the ones who are most likely to not have anyone around them to help them pursue whatever interest they may have, so their interest lies dormant and they end up being less happy than they should be.

There are people who are well-suited to the public schooling system, they are the same people who enjoy doing what they are told and are happy with this, they have no desire to ever be radical in any way and that is absolutely fine. The system exists for them, it’s the ones who fall through the cracks. The ones who maybe can’t find anything to relate to because their classmates and teachers share a different ethnic background, or the kids who are brilliant but lack interest in anything that is taught in the classes they can take.

The most sad are the ones who have aggression issues and get into fights....they are kicked out after one fight. An entire institution consisting of both kids AND GROWN UPS tell a kid that he isn’t welcome in that environment anymore because one mistake the kid made.

If that isn’t bullying, then I don’t know what is

Oh and this doesn’t even touch that kids are still required to be in school during farmers hours, have an additional 3 to 4 hours of homework that mostly consists of mindlessly filling out worksheets and that all of this work is for a high school diploma which most view as “useless” without also getting a 4-year college degree. I wish more kids would realize how they are being scammed and fight back, but the passion just seems sucked out of so many of them :(

Additional Items:

“School Pushout Problem” Fact Sheet - Great for distribution to other parents, teachers or anyone who is concerned about the toxicity of the modern schooling system. (here)

“Unschooling Subreddit” - A place to discuss unschooling with minimal participation of the religious fundie crazies that frequent the homeschooling forums. If you are skeptical of public schooling but aren’t in a cult, this is a great place to start. (here)

“Youth Rights Subreddit” - Tons of kids face much bigger problems than public schools, one being the recognition of their rights, here’s a great place to talk about it. (here) “Troubled Teen Subreddit” - Some of the saddest stories I’ve heard have been from kids who get locked up in these for-profit kiddie prisons for minor things like coming out as gay, declaring atheism or even minor school infractions. This is so incredibly fucked up and it’s something that most outlets don’t cover, please subscribe to this and help to get these evil places shut down! (here)

[tonyswish]

You see it's leaders and it's followers....

[tonyswish]

This Week’s Events Prove Need For Decentralization To Protect Free Speech & Kill Politics

The biggest problem with people are that people can be easily manipulated in a variety of ways, the easiest is through emotion. Emotion is what caused the anger on every side of the events happening at Mizzou and what happened at Yale. Emotion is also what causes people to act out violently, say hateful things to others and act in ways that are uncivilized to other human beings. It’s obvious that this week, millions were manipulated (including myself) through the massive security hole that is emotion.

A fact is that the world is constantly improving, it’s better to be a human at this point in time than any point in history. What lead to this truth is that humanity has consistently improved how it distributes, verifies and accesses information. From Gutenberg’s Printing Press to the Telegraph to Radio to TV and to the Internet, each improvement has created increased understanding of other cultures and an improved ability to communicate with anyone around the world.

These societal changes are viewed by most people as the cause of political activism and involvement, this misunderstanding is the biggest problem. Politics were, at one point, the best method humans had to organize and ideas that were then carried out for the benefit of society. We are reaching the point where technology will make politics obsolete, this will be one of humanity’s greatest achievements when it happens.

The ability to freely communicate this information is integral for this improvement. The necessity of journalists to have financial and social incentive to report on these stories, along with stories that require much more digging is higher now than ever. The value of those guardians of information who wish to rebel and free the information to the world is higher now than ever. Building and improving a method to ensure these events can occur freely, with no individual or group of individuals having the ability or power to stop them from happening is the key to true freedom.

Something I think about quite a bit is the slow demise of real journalism, the kind that requires lengthy periods of weeks, months or years of digging to expose an abuse of power or corruption. It’s something that rarely happens anymore as there is little financial incentive. The next step in the obsolescence process of politics is the creation of something to both incentivize and decentralize both journalism and the freeing of acquired information by friendly gatekeepers. The tools exist right now to make this possible, the resources and interest are both slowly increasing....

I make posts like these in hopes that just one person will understand what I’m talking about and find some sort of validity in what I’m saying. I hope they will take the next step and research historical change in Technology/Information Distribution as well as change in society. I hope they connect those dots to inefficient human tasks that were made obsolete, by something that improves things exponentially. I hope they realize that this country has spent centuries making heroes out of politicians, posting their pictures in classrooms and putting their faces on currency that we use to do absolutely everything necessary to exist. I hope they discover that every human has bias, very few realize they themselves have this bias and that there is no way to completely eliminate this bias. 

I hope they begin to see how and why the information they receive is manipulated, then understand how to determine the likelihood that said information is not manipulated. I hope that they realize how little they know, how little I know and how almost every human thinks that their viewpoint is the right one. 

Finally, I hope they come to a realization that I did a few years ago but more importantly I hope that they also understand that they likely could be wrong about this realization and legimately seek out ways to prove it wrong. I hope that this ends with someone I care about coming to me and telling me that they understand the importance of information and ask what they can do to help to cause this type of change.

I guess the first step is understanding that the answer isn’t really what’s important, the important thing is understanding what questions to ask.

[tonyswish]

Realized I Got Worked Into Caring

My last post was a clear example that self-awareness is flawed and it happened to me. I participated in a useless argument with a passionate response, thereby allowing them to win. We all have faults and I won't delete mine, but caring about that nonsense brings me no happiness so back to what's important and not manufactured outrage.

[tonyswish]

The Revolution Won’t Be Televised, It Will Be Periscoped & Will Consist Of Annoying People Yelling About Nonsense Like “Safe Spaces”

I get the irony of posting this on Tumblr, so part of this is really egging on the hate I'm sure to get, but it's the Internet so who cares. A few minutes ago I watched this video of same Yale Protest that is going down. I really couldn’t understand anything the girl said, but she sounded pissed off and passionate so I assumed it was something serious and very important to her.

Apparently what this was about was who gets to judge potentially offensive costumes, and how (according to a summary I read because the girls shrieking was incomprehensible). This is not going to be some piece dogging young people because I’m 31 and I am fairly certain those who are younger than me are amazing people who are brilliant and have access to tools that I was the cut off on (many my age aren’t that Internet savvy, believe it or not). This is more illustrating my beliefs and perspectives, along with the shock of how real this apparently is.

Until a few weeks ago, I thought this whole PC thing about triggers, micro-aggressions and other bullshit was 95% hype by click-bait writers who want controversial topics to pit young vs. old. Since then, I’ve seen that I was mistaken and there are young people who take this shit very seriously. Of course the usual parties come out, the people who say things are “too politically correct” and the others who rant on and on about why I should have no opinion because of a white male. Usually, I ignore all of this because it’s just bullshit on the Internet that doesn't effect my life, but this hit a nerve.

The thing about this that bothered me so much is that it happened at Yale, FUCKING YALE! The student who ranted about this comes from the place with the most privileged young people in the world, who will have the world served to them on a silver platter when they graduate.

The freak out wasn’t about a cop shooting an unarmed kid in the hood, no that doesn’t really happen at Yale, but rather the outrage is toward potentially offensive Halloween costumes. Cops are still killing poor black kids, the City of Detroit still has an 80% African American population and one of the worst schooling systems in the world, where graduating into poverty is considered a given. So seeing this bitch at Yale complain this passionately about potentially offensive halloween costumes really does grind my gears.

The typical response I expect is “who are you to tell me what I can be outraged about?” and technically that is a correct response, but the people who make that response aren’t actually interested in anything other than directing attention to themselves. This is the point where many would rant about young people and political correctness, but that is just stirring the shit on a subject that really doesn’t matter. The only way their age is relevant is that they are young and in an environment where they aren’t watched 24/7 by “authority figures” and not allowed to make their own decisions of what’s right and wrong and what is worthy of outrage and what really doesn’t matter.

Another big story that happened today occurred at my girlfriend’s former college, The University of Missouri and it was a bunch of students freaking out about a photographer taking photos in an outdoor public space. Here’s a video of the students losing their shit at reporters. The response on reddit to this has mostly been on the side of sanity, but everyone knows that sanity doesn’t win when a bunch of young people gather to either prove a point or do anything really (see Woodstock 99).

The shocking part of this story is how clueless the students are to someone that can help their cause. Add to this the fact that for some reason they differentiate between “the media” which is clearly evil and “some dude with an iPhone” who are clearly there for good (until they are asked if they are media or not). These people are fighting a war when they have no idea what strategy even is!!!

Somewhere at the end of this will be the talking point of “do young people not care about free speech?” or something else about young people not getting what’s important and what tools they have. Truthfully, most older adults are clueless to the same topics so focusing on young people is hypocritical and really serves nothing. That’s what this whole thing really means, absolutely nothing, it’s outrage for the sole purpose of outrage and the fact that more people aren’t seeing through it is what bums me out the most.

The Missouri students rightfully noticed and pointed out racist bullshit happening on their college, the problem is that they think even bigger bullshit like diversity training and opening a “Multicultural Center” is the solution to eliminating this problem. They feel so passionately that these are solutions that they are willing to make complete asses of themselves in public to prove this point...

Why aren’t the football players and students protesting the lack of pay for NCAA athletes that generate millions for schools like Missouri while not doing anything to lower tuition? I’m confused why minor racist bullshit (yes I called it minor, lynchings are major, this shit is minor) causes this level of outrage but much more visible issues (many also being racial) go ignored or barely acknowledged. Maybe it’s because almost everyone has a black/arabic/(insert minority here) friend who has been the target of racism and they want to fight back at that injustice. That is a line of reasoning I can actually understand.

The point that keeps popping back up for me is that this is happening at places like Yale (so notoriously exclusive that producing stats on it is unnecessary) and Mizzou where tuition is between $16K and $23K a year. The people participating in these protests, even those who are discriminated against (not that it’s right, obviously) are fortunate enough to go to a top school that the people most discriminated against will never even have a chance of a chance to attend. 

The above point in bold is my point of outrage.

Whenever I try to explain my position that racism is an insanely major problem but people focus on the wrong issues, the immediate response is “who am I to tell them what to get mad about?” which is maybe the least productive response in conversation history. 

When the Ferguson protests happened, I felt legitimate anger and I cheered for every protestor and booed every white officer who killed an innocent person. That was a cause worth fighting over and getting outraged about, because people were dying and it was clearly because of racism. On this topic, not much has changed as police still remain in the position of complete power over targeted minorities in poor neighborhoods. These are neighborhoods where students don’t get to go to Yale, or Mizzou....they most likely don’t get into college at all. The poor individuals murdered by police started the Black Lives Matter movement and that is a great thing, because this is a dangerous problem and it needs to be stopped. 

Here’s the final point where I’m sure to get shit: Racist Halloween costumes are not a problem, in fact they are isolated incidents where the immense public shaming of those who wear a costume deemed to be racist is overwhelmingly huge. So let’s just move this along and I will go against my beliefs and concede my point, what I do know FOR SURE is that discussing the policy against POTENTIALLY racist Halloween costumes is for sure not a problem.

I guess I feel bad for the guy from Yale trying to explain his position to the outraged masses, because there is no way he can win in that conversation. If you are a white dude who talks about race or gender issues, your opinion is deemed moot, even if you are trying to fight on the side of those who are passionate about equality. This is why so many of us don’t say a word when injustice happens, and this why I’m going to stay outraged about police killings and systematic racism that no one is even trying to fix, and try to continue ignoring this bullshit.

Some of those students in these videos did come from poor backgrounds and most likely all of them have experienced real racism that negatively impacted their life. At the end of the day, they are all in top colleges that will open incredible doors for them and it’s really hard for anyone at home to feel bad for them, which is why most people seeing these videos are mocking the students....stop making asses out of yourself and realize what the real problems are in society.

Or just ignore this, because I’m just a white dude and my opinion doesn’t matter.

[tonyswish]

Record Time: Memories of Eminem, Queens Of The Stone Age & My Second Home

In my last post I talked a lot about working in the Dance Room at Record Time in Roseville, Michigan. My relationship with Record Time goes back much further than that and it’s role in what would become my primary interest for over a decade is pretty huge. I was able to be a part of some cool things at the store both as a customer and as an employee, so I wanted to share some of them and even give a glimpse of some of the cool things that happened well before I even knew about the store (I would have been about 6 years old).

While Mike (the store’s owner) had a passion for Techno that he definitely prioritized, he made it a point to support ALL local music and it would just so happen that a few of those artists he supported in the past would turn out to become massively successful.

In 1990, Detroit rapper Kid Rock released the album Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast on Jive, a Major Label. The album sounds absolutely nothing like the Kid Rock that became famous about a decade later, but it was mildly successful and where else would Kid Rock do his first instore autograph signing but Record Time? 

Seeing these photos from 1990 shows the older location as well as store owner Mike Himes rocking a Magnum PI-level mustache that I’m sure got him all the chicks back then. At this instore signing, a Detroit rapper who would go on to become legendary in the region named Esham appeared with Kid Rock. Esham is one of my favorite rappers of all time and he was only 16 and already immensely popular at the time these photos were taken. Esham would go on to have an amazing run in the first half of the decade, releasing classic album after classic album while also doing dates with Dr. Dre on The Chronic Tour. Unfortunately his style changed toward the latter part of the decade and I was never as big of a fan of his stylistic change.

My favorite thing about these photos is seeing Harry Bunner, someone who was the other “rap guy” that worked in the Dance Room with myself. In the caption I mention how much Harry knew about music and in addition to that, he was one of the coolest and nicest people I had the fortune of working with. Harry is thanked in the liner notes on Kid Rock’s Devil Without A Cause and Eminem’s Slim Shady LP. Harry even appeared in a few of those low budget documentaries that were made about Eminem. These documentaries are notorious as they cannot use licensed music and often get many facts wrong. Here’s an interview of Harry talking about Eminem trying to battle Kid Rock during an autograph signing. This video also features some awesome footage of Record Time that was shot when I worked there as well as a bit from DJ Rec, the real life “Cheddar Bob” from 8 Mile.

Harry Bunner is someone who has flown completely under the radar, but was one of the important individuals in Detroit Hip-Hop in the 1990s. Artists like J Dilla, Slum Village, Twiztid and many more had developed relationships with Harry over the years and he made it a point to recommend and hype up Detroit rap that he was into. My favorite thing about Harry was his lifelong hatred of Radiohead, which matched my hatred of Journey and Motley Crue.

The store had many other instore appearances from ODB who charged everyone $2 and urinated on the building to having “midget wrestling” inside the store. One instore appearance stands out from the pack as it occurred at a special time and it was one I was fortunate enough to attend.

In February of 1999, Eminem’s Slim Shady LP was released and debuted at #2 on the Billboard Album Chart. Shortly after this, Eminem would do an instore autograph signing at Record Time that drew what I estimated at the time to be over 1200 people (since then, Mike stated his estimate was closer to 500). At the time I was 14 years old and had spent the previous year getting into Detroit rap like ICP, House Of Krazees, Kid Rock and of course Eminem, so getting to meet him was a big deal at the time.

I was able to get a pretty awesome quote from Mike about the instore signing that I wanted to share here:

“I remember we had approx 500 people, Interscope hired a security guard which I thought was weird, I never looked at Em as a superstar at that point just an average guy who was starting to do well. All the entourage was there, Hush sat behind him, I think Proof also. His attorney and manager were there. It went so fast I didn't really document it too well, never really knew the importance of the signing until later. He had just bought a new car, a used Ford Explorer and was very proud of it, if I recall he dented it in the parking lot and was pissed. Wish I remembered more, he signed a CD for me and a few flats for my kids. Always had a good relationship with him and always treated him the same even when he blew up, I think he respected that. It was a great time and all involved were happy how it went. I think the first girl in line had her breast signed, at least that was what I was told, there was a loud cheer coming from the signing table, can't remember much more.”

Record Time Owner, Mike Himes

Years later, while working with Harry, he told me a fascinating story that I would love to share here. When the picture seen below was taken, Proof and Eminem had a long chat with Harry and Proof made it a point to say something similar to (I’m paraphrasing) “Without you Harry, Eminem wouldn’t be where he is today, we both realize that and we want you to know that”. When Harry told me this, he seemed very touched that they went out of their way to say that and was super appreciative as not many artists would go out of their way to do something like that.

The 1999 signing wasn’t the last time Eminem would do something with Record Time. I remember him coming into the store to shop one time while I was working. He had someone call ahead to let us know he was coming in as he wanted to be left alone as much as he possibly could. When he came in the store with an assistant, he went through the rap section and basically handed anything he wanted to her so that it could be put in piles up by the register. Eminem almost exclusively stayed in the rap section and just wore regular clothes and a hat, not one single person recognized him or bothered him. He spent over $1000 in music and made it a point to be very thankful and polite (he was always like this, including when I worked for his record label Web Entertainment).

As big as the 1999 event was, it was nothing compared to the next time we collaborated with Eminem in 2009. On an episode of Family Guy that aired on Sunday, May 17th, 2009, an announcement was made that Eminem would be doing a “Secret Show” at the Motor City Casino’s Soundboard venue on Tuesday, May 19th which was the day his album Relapse was released. Tickets were free, but they were only distributed at Record Time the day before the show at 5PM. Needless to say people started lining up for a chance to get a ticket shortly after the announcement was made, and by morning the line was ridiculously long.

The ticket distribution and show both made national press and it was probably the most exposure Record Time had ever received. Oddly enough, this still wasn’t my fondest and most vivid memory of Record Time, that one goes to one of the most unique concerts I have ever seen...

July 2000 was a time when nu-metal was at it’s peak and Limp Bizkit happened to be doing their “guerrilla tour” in which they played smaller venues and gave away free tickets. Their Detroit date happened to occur the same weekend as the also nu-metal-riffic Ozzfest was happening. The Ozzfest lineup had one massive oddity though and that was Queens of the Stone Age. They were a band I was starting to get into and I thought Rated R was an extremely fun album. Almost all of my friends hated them because they didn’t say “jump jump jump” and have moronic lyrics, my ears at the time thought they were very different and interesting which is always a plus. I didn’t attend Ozzfest that year but I heard they received a lukewarm response from the crowd who wanted to see Jncos and spikey dyed hair.... that doesn’t mean I didn’t get a chance to see them however.

Somehow, Record Time was able to cut through the ridiculously stupid red tape that the city of Roseville, Michigan had to get Queens Of The Stone Age to play a free full concert in their rear parking lot! On July 11th, myself and Alan, one of my oldest friends, went to see Queens of the Stone Age at Record Time and it was fantastic and very memorable. There was a grill cooking up free hot dogs for people who came, drinks (of the non-alcoholic sort) were given away for free as well and there were tons of giveaways throughout the day. 

The band played a full set of tracks from Rated R and their self-titled debut album, which meant the set was made up of the best material the band ever recorded. 

Right before the band played Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret, Josh Homme noticed the giant Costco store that was next to Record Time and made it a point to say:

“This one’s for Costco”

For some reason that line is so vividly ingrained in my memory that to this day I can’t think about QOTSA without then thinking of Costco.

After the set, I got to meet the band and get things signed. Both Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri were very cool and I’m fairly certain that my girlfriend is extremely jealous that I was able to meet Josh as he is one of her biggest celebrity crushes. It was also the first time I was able to get a setlist from the band, which I then got signed and scanned it in to share with the largest QOTSA fanzine at the time (I believe it was The Fade). That setlist is somewhere in Detroit at my mom’s house, I wish I had it here to share with everyone but that is impossible.

Something happened in 2011 that shocked me, a video of their performance of Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret (along with the immortal Costco dedication) showed up on YouTube! To this day it only has 107 hits and I’m fairly certain that I am responsible for at least half of them. This is a great video that I want to encourage everyone to check out, especially for those who are QOTSA fans or grew up in Metro-Detroit with Record Time being a major part of their life.

Some of the events I talked about in this post happened over 15 years ago, but they all were a huge part of what brought me to where I am now. In 2010 I stopped working at Record Time but maintained a great relationship with the owner and everyone that worked at the store. Although i didn’t work there, one more memorable moment happened that sort of brought everything full circle in my mind.

In 2011, Insane Clown Posse shot their first “Psypher” video at Record Time after the store had closed for the day. I had no idea that this filming was happening, but that very day I stopped by the store after I presented at a work event to see some friends and look around. As soon as I walked in I was shocked to see Violent J in full makeup browsing the rap section. 

I am fully aware that many reading this loathe ICP but please understand that my fandom originated in an era where Juggalos didn’t exist, instead ICP were just a rap group that was absolutely huge locally and were known for having intense shows and very unique music. I’m a fan of theirs to this day and the community of old school ICP fans has created so many lifelong friendships with some of the coolest, smartest and most interesting people I’ve had the pleasure to know. 

Walking in to my former employer’s establishment to see ICP there in full makeup was something that excited me quite a bit. I had no idea why they were there, but I knew that I didn’t want to bother them while they were shopping so I  asked Mike if it would be okay to ask for a picture with Violent J. Mike not only said “sure” but he walked me over there to introduce me and take the picture himself. This resulted in a 30 minute conversation about pro wrestling and old school Detroit hip-hop that was fascinating and fun as hell. A lot of people think ICP are stupid, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth as Violent J is a very sharp guy who knows more about business than anyone gives him credit for.

It’s fitting that getting to chat with Violent J in Record Time was one of my final memories of a place that meant a lot to me for over 15 years. Here is the video they shot that night in the store:

In March of 2011, Record Time in Roseville shut it’s doors for good. Local press in the Metro Detroit area covered the closure rather extensively, as it has been over four years and many of the news reports are still active online. The mainstream press coverage had nothing on what blogs were writing about and the discussions on surprisingly high profile forums.

It’s now 2015 and I feel enough time has passed to make a post like this interesting and worthwhile to those who came in the store, bought new music and chatted with the employees and fellow shoppers. Mike has ensured the spirit of Record Time will live on as he consistently updates the store’s Facebook Page and there is also a Facebook Group for the Dance Room that has many influential Detroit artists joining in on the discussion. Stores like UHF and Found Sound are staffed with former Record Time employees and almost every time I make my way back up to Detroit and get to visit one, I run into a former customer that now shops there.

In 2011, WDIV, Detroit’s NBC affiliate did a piece on the closure during their evening news. As I was aware that many of these pieces were posted on the net, only to disappear in the ether after a short period of time, I made it a point to rip the video and put it on my YouTube Channel. I’m closing this with that video and a reminder that nothing is forever, but good memories will always be fun to talk about and share with others.

[tonyswish]

Detroit Rock (Techno & Hip-Hop) City

For six years I worked at Record Time in Roseville, Michigan. Record Time was the largest independent record store in Metro-Detroit and has been instrumental in being the earliest supporter of Detroit artists like Eminem, Kid Rock, J Dilla and Danny Brown. These artists have left quite an imprint, but they aren’t Record Time’s true claim to fame.

The store served as the first home of Techno, from the “store within a store” concept of the Dance Room that catered exclusively to DJs, to also serving as the headquarters of techno innovator Richie Hawtin’s Plus 8 record label. Throughout the 90s I would shop at Record Time but didn’t venture into the Dance Room very much as I had absolutely zero interest in Electronic music at the time.

In 2004 I was hired by Record Time to work in the Dance Room due to my knowledge of hip-hop (specifically the local Detroit scene, past and present). In what may be the most chaotic first week ever, my first day of employment was accompanied by a store-wide flood that we had to close down for. My first weekend was the DEMF, Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival that has had a multitude of names. 2004 may have been the lowest point for the popularity of EDM in America, which meant that DEMF was the largest electronic music festival in the world. People flew in from around the world and of course they made it a point to stop in Record Time and spend ridiculous amounts of money on vinyl. This was a completely different era from today’s massive EDM festivals, as illustrated by the oft-quoted Eminem lyric “Nobody listens to Techno” that reflected the era.

I still had little knowledge of Electronic music and I was suddenly put in the position of being “the expert” when dealing with people who would travel from Japan, London, South Africa and all across the world because of their love of this genre. Needless to say I learned a lot quick and grew to appreciate certain EDM subgenres more than others (loved Electro, 80’s Detroit Techno and GhettoTech the most).

In my time there, I learned that some of the most famous and influential DJs in Detroit preceded me in working the dance room. From DJ HouseShoes to Mike Huckaby to many more that are escaping me now, the Dance Room had a historic staff.

In 2006, the Dance Room was closed, something that altered the Techno and Hip Hop scene in the area. The closure was not told to any of the employees, but a manager who I was good friends with clued me in that it was happening the next day. Myself and Harry had expertise with pretty much every genre of music, so we were the only Dance Room employees that stayed on staff, the rest were unfortunately laid off. Truthfully, there just wasn’t enough product being sold to justify having a “store within a store” when the product could just easily be moved out on the main floor. To this day I mention to others that I was the person who worked the last shift in the Dance Room, I took a picture that day with my crappy flip phone camera because I had information no one else did. The following day, that era of Detroit music was over.

Record Time’s owner Mike Himes always stayed loyal to Techno and continued to support the scene by having DJs perform in the store and trying to carry as much local product as possible.

There is now an awesome Facebook Group dedicated to the Dance Room that I absolutely adore. Two years ago, Mike Himes made a heartfelt post expressing his regret of how the Dance Room closure went down. Here’s what he said:

“This is a post a long time in the making…… Many have noticed that one of the most if not THE most essential and legendary dance room employees ever Mike Huckaby is not a part of this page.

I feel I am the reason he is not here.

I was away from the Roseville store and was primarily at the Ferndale store during my breakup and eventual divorce from Diane. I took a store and she took another (in a way) and the room was not as busy due to the industry at the time and the fact that Ferndale was taking a lot of Roseville’s customers due to it’s location and dance focus. I was always hearing that the room was no longer making money which was true but my heart just didn’t want to hear that. I kept telling them that it was essential for it to stay open even if it wasn’t a good business decision at the time. Huck was doing the best he could with what limited budget we gave him, he always kept his chin up and forged through all the BS we gave him, he was a class act and kept the ship on course.

Well, I finally gave in one day and decided to close the room. Honestly it was scary because it was such a huge part of Record Time’s history.

I basically rushed into action not thinking about anything but shutting it down and moving on, especially not thinking enough about Huck and how this would effect him. So without even telling him we put the rooms inventory onto the sales floor, took down the sign and the room was closed by the time he came to work the next day.

This is a decision I regret to this day! Wanting to wash my hands of the whole situation I basically cowardly did this without his knowledge. I’m not trying to justify what I did but please know that I had a lot of personal issues at the time and I feel it played into my callas actions.

Huck obviously was hurt deeply, all he cared for and worked so hard for was boarded up in an instant and was gone. I tried to explain but who would want to hear anything from a boss and someone he thought was a friend who just pulled the rug out from underneath him??

The years have passed and I’ve tried to contact Huck on a few occasions and apologize but I guess the wounds went pretty deep. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the time and service Huck gave the Dance Room and Record Time, we had some amazing times and he was a huge part of that and I will be eternally grateful for all he did. Huck was the Dance Room for many years and nothing can take that away from him. Mike”

Looking back on it, it’s fairly obvious that the model the Dance Room was using needed to change or be abanonded as business just couldn’t justify it’s existence. It’s hard to express just how unpopular electronic music was in that era.

Not only was the music generally unpopular, but pretty much every Record Time employee that worked on the store’s floor absolutely loathed both Techno and Hip-Hop. I distinctly remember telling people I liked Kyuss, The Stooges, Eminem, J Dilla, Esham and Insane Clown Posse when I started. It’s funny to think about how back then this was such an oddity as younger music fans think nothing of such eclectic tastes, but back then I was met with distrust as some just couldn’t understand that someone would like stoner metal and hip hop. This same eclectic taste and knowledge base ended up being what saved my job when the room closed as management wanted me to stay on as a floor employee.

I’m planning on writing another post going into more detail about working on the floor and the interesting things I was fortunate to be a part of, but I felt that it would be better to start out with what got me started at Record Time. I also want to share some of my awesome experiences going to the store before I worked there as it was a giant part of my life and ended up influencing me in a positive way.

The Dance Room postiion gave me the opportunity to be the resident Detroit Hip-Hop expert at the most well-known and influential record store in Detroit.

[tonyswish]

Why speaking at TEDxOakland was so important to me

About one week before the Augur crowdsale began, I applied to speak at both TEDxOakland and TEDxDetroit. I realized from the start my chances to speak at either were slim, but I felt that the Oakland University TEDx was something where I would be a good choice and could potentially bring some much needed innovation and attention to both OU and the Metro-Detroit area. This is only the second year Oakland University is hosting a TED event, but I definitely believed that they would have interest in having someone who actually graduated from OU speak about a ridiculously innovative field that they have found a lot of success in. I didn’t really expect to be selected, but the degree it’s actually bothering me is way higher than I thought and I think I finally realized why.

First of all, the speakers for TEDxOakland are listed here and there’s no doubt that many of them are significantly better choices than myself. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that in a lot of other ways that I’m a much better choice than any of them. Seeing speakers who represent a modern dance troupe, self-help authors, interior design photographers, Armenian music, a cappella choirs, CEOs, OU professors, “digital nutrition” experts, attorneys, Zoo CEOs and yes even a programmer really helped me to understand that the topic of decentralization is definitely not something too “out there” for this event, in fact it’s significantly more relevant to the business and tech worlds than almost any other topic that is being covered.

When I saw the choices of topics and speakers is when it really hit me and I kept questioning why those who made the selection decided against having my speak. There are plenty of valid and great reasons they may have had this opinion, but for every one of those I can think of an equally good reason of why I would be the absolute perfect speaker for this event. 

Then three important items dawned upon me:

1. The technology I wanted to talk about is still insanely new to almost everyone, even those with years of tech experience.

2. No one on the selection committee knew my motivation and what made me desire to speak so badly.

3. The submission happened days before the beginning of the Augur crowdsale, which means I was unable to show the huge momentum this field truly has, my success in the field or what role I serve in the whole thing. One month after the submission and Augur has raised $4.8 million dollars which made us one of the 25 highest funded crowdfunding projects EVER, with still a month to go in the campaign.

Why I Wanted To Speak So Badly: My motivation for this has nothing to do with personal glory or boosting my ego/visibility. I was someone who had to move to Atlanta in order to fully pursue my interest in a field that was even more niche two years ago than it is now. No one in Detroit knew or cared about Blockchain Tech and I remember asking around, with a reception that consisted of crickets. I picked up my life and moved to Atlanta to follow this as I knew how important and groundbreaking it was as well as the fact that very few people would be able to market this thing as well as I was able to. 

Less than two years later I do believe that both of those points have been made, I am responsible for many firsts and unprecedented successes within the industry (First national prime time TV commercial, an enormously successful social media campaign with ESPN that actually gave away money via Twitter, announcing Microsoft’s involvement and interest in bitcoin, creating record breaking videos and finally the crowdsale success which defied almost every expectation and succeeded in a bear market that despises crowdsales). 

Something close to $500 million dollars have been invested by VC firms in Blockchain Tech in 2015, this is following a similarly successful 2014. The person who has arguably had the most success in marketing in this space just so happens to be and Oakland University graduate who even had a piece written about him in OU Magazine earlier this year, written as I was joining Augur. I want Oakland University to be seen in the same light as MIT and Princeton as schools that have shown early support for this field.

Most importantly, I wanted there to be opportunities for those who are interested in this space in the Metro-Detroit area. It’s very rare that a city or an educational institution has an opportunity to be right at the ground floor of a technology at it’s embryonic stage. The window of time is short but it’s still open and I am trying to do everything I can from 700 miles away...and I knew that a speaking slot at TEDxOakland would be able to begin to do great things. Especially as it would be featuring an Oakland University Business School graduate who has had more success with Augur than any other startup involving an OU alum. 

What’s happening with Augur is special and these sorts of special things don’t often happen in or near Detroit. Detroit is the city that much of Silicon Valley laughs at for having dinosaur business practices and essentially representing everything that kills innovation. I felt that OU had an opportunity here to show some guts and really showcase someone who went through their University and wants to bring everything he has learned and the connections he made to bring opportunity to both OU and Detroit. This is something I wish I would have made more clear in my application, I regret it deeply and I am someone who tends to not have a ton of regrets.

So to the people who say “well there’s always next year”, my reply to that is that there most likely isn’t a next year here. My goal had little to do with me (I would seriously be just as happy if they selected ANYONE to represent the Blockchain/Decentralized tech field) so next year is something that will most likely be too late and the window for Detroit will close yet again. 

My previous attempts to get attention in the area from business leaders and influencers were quite obviously not successful as the reception was quite often one of confusion and last year’s viewpoint of bitcoin tech as being a “scam” or “only for drugs”, and that represents the people who at least knew what bitcoin was. Right now there is so much money being poured in that the space has reached credibility, the involvement of NASDAQ and Wall Street have changed a lot of perspectives. Augur being the first app on Ethereum means we join other developers on the platform that include IBM and Citibank. The TED events are by no means the only opportunity for Detroit, but they were two of the most promising and it ended up being very demoralizing as I feel like I keep hitting brick walls.

I wrote this in hopes that someone affiliated with the college sees this and understands my motivation in all of this. My passion for decentralized technology is ridiculous and my love of my hometown remains huge. What I wanted was an opportunity to bring more opportunity here, and maybe even show off that OU can produce individuals that can be very influential in bleeding-edge tech. Since this didn’t happen, I want any opportunity I can get to introduce this school, it’s faculty and administrators, it’s students and it’s alumni to a field that is absolutely foreign to them, but one in which an alum has already been very successful in. 

So please, if you are someone who can help me work with Oakland University, get in contact with me and let me try to get in while this window is still open!

[tonyswish]

We need a Ben Franklin to free humanity’s imprisoned information

My previous post went into some detail about how the political process is subtly reenforced by the faces that are on the items we covet the most. There is one person who is on US Currency that actually created real change and not superficial and forced political change....that person is:

Benjamin Franklin, someone who not only was a great inventor, but actually created the innovation-friendly environment that helped America succeed in it’s early years. The list of inventions and innovations that Franklin was involved in is very extensive but really is not the main point I wanted to make here. Why is it that he is never even mentioned as the person who quite literally invented the “pro and con” list in regards to decision-making?

The reason Franklin was responsible for MUCH more improvement to humanity than anyone else featured on US Currency is because of his improvements to information access and distribution. Franklin owned an influential Philadelphia newspaper and even created the US Postal Service, something that enabled technology to grow much faster within the continental United States. He created the Poor Richard’s Almanac, seen as inaccurate now, but at the time of publication was considered a very unique and useful information source.

Franklin was even responsible for a unique idea called the Junto. The Junto was a club modeled after coffeehouses in the UK where people gathered to discuss ideas and such. Franklin described it as a group of friends who gathered to discuss mutual improvement. The only requirements to join the Junto was to be curious about the world and to improve oneself to be a better person (additionally requirements were made regarding the level of input into the group, but no credentials were ever necessary to join). Another great example of Franklin’s understanding regarding the importance of access to information is that the Junto maintained a subscription library that was even responsible for appointing the very first librarian in US history. What started out as a club of 12 members from very different industries evolved into becoming The Library Company of Philadelphia.

I cannot speak to the level of bias that The Pennsylvania Gazette had at the time, but the fact that this wasn’t his only action that involved accessing information is why I am fairly clear that is motivations were based on observation and understanding of the world. What I admire most about the Junto club is that it required no credentials or minimum level of education to participate, it was truly open. Franklin’s publications and questions asked during club meetings are definitely a reflection of the era, but that is to be expected and it’s more the focus on his role in the evolution of information distribution that is the important point. This quite often gets overlooked as Franklin’s other contributions and innovations are perceived as more important, when in reality none of them even come close in terms of real importance.

Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac is also a weird case that is glossed over too often as well. In an odd way, the goal of the almanac seems similar to Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog, something I and many others hold in very high regard. The modern perspective of the almanac seems to focus on the quality of the content and Franklin’s sayings that became famous. Franklin’s almanac was not the first or even the most successful almanac in early America, it only became so well known because of Franklin’s association over time. One thing unique to one edition of Franklin’s almanac and something it is credited with starting is the study of demography. It’s hard to try to understand the mindset and reality of the time, but it seems that an almanac would be an ideal format for publication of population studies. It’s another field that Franklin is hardly associated with but one in which he is a pioneer who was far ahead of others in regards to knowledge and published works.

So there is one person who was responsible for one of America’s first Libraries, one of America’s first newspapers, one of America’s first Almanacs and America’s Post Office. I would dare anyone to name another American who did nearly as much to improve access to information as Franklin did....taking into account that all of my examples aren’t including electricity which enabled far more.

When people ask me what some of my “dream projects” would be to be a part of.....the top of my list has consisted of Project Gutenberg, The Internet Archive, Wikipedia, Cryptome and WikiLeaks for quite some time. Admittedly I use Cryptome, Project Gutenberg and Wikileaks on a sporadic basis at best, but that really isn’t what draws me to be so inspired by them. If I were to ever get an offer to be employed by Archive.org, it would excite me in a way that most average 25 year olds would feel about getting a position at Google. They are continuing the spirit of Ben Franklin and so many others that have consistently improved how people see the world, and the best example of those I just shared is Wikipedia. Every part of me wants to see similar projects spawn and for others who are younger to be as excited and motivated by those and similar projects as I am.

Talking about how great and important Wikipedia is really is beating a dead horse at this point, but something like Archive.org has become an important part of the Internet that is essential. These platforms are what destroys corruption, destroys injustice and destroys inequality. They also have inspired an idea that I felt it would be a great idea to share as it’s not something I will be able to build in the near future and if I could inspire someone else it would make me overjoyed.

Much of the most important scientific and mathematical information is in Academic Journals and Papers, stuck behind paywalls and required University enrollment to access. This is a cause made famous by Aaron Swartz, who leaked almost 20,000 documents that were only accessible through MIT. After Aaron freed this data, the veracity that the United States Government went on the attack to prosecute him illustrated how dangerous those in power feel that free access to this information is. Before he unfortunately killed himself, Aaron was facing 35 years in prison for making this information gathered by humanity open and free for everyone to use. The story is heartbreaking but the lack of action to follow up this tragedy has become even more heartbreaking.

The idea I mentioned, is simply a decentralized hosting platform for academic documents that would be free to access for anyone around the world. A feature is needed within the platform that would create an economic incentive for highly coveted documents that could exist in a decentralized way as well. The restricted ability to access these documents based on economic well-being is really one of the biggest examples of inequality that goes relatively ignored. After how hard the powers that be went after Aaron, it’s easy to see why few are lining up to be the ones that leak this knowledge, which is why a platform is needed to host and incentivize this while protecting those who share this knowledge with the community. 

At Ben Franklin’s Junto meetings, everyone was welcome from Mathematicians to Bartenders... If there is anything that could be defined as “The American Spirit”, I would hope it’s this pursuit of knowledge, self improvement and collective improvement. I hope that someone smarter and more fearless than myself is inspired to do something to allow this information to be accessed by all of humanity, regardless of wealth or geographic location. Unfortunately with the power and influence that Universities have in 2015, it’s clearly something that is in the existing power structure’s best interest to keep from happening. This project would be significantly more important and earth-changing than Wikileaks could ever hope to be.

I wish we had Ben Franklin here to help us, fortunately history proves that someone will accomplish this task and they will be the catalyst for real change, not someone you vote for.

[tonyswish]

Getting older and how learning politics & voting were a waste of time improved my life

I consider myself really lucky because I spent the first 12/13 years of my life without a computer and lived an Internet free life. When i finally did get it, I was significantly more obsessed than anyone I knew and I think that’s at least part of the reason i relate more to 18 year olds than most people my age.

When I was about 14 or 15, mainstream TV news would constantly run reports on “the dangers of the internet” and I’ll be damned if it’s not 15 years later and the same fucking pieces are still being published on a routine basis! What I find even more surprising is that many of the people who I find sharing these pieces are people that I grew up with...aged within 1 to 4 years of myself. 

The older I get, the more I feel like I live on a completely different planet from the people I grew up with. Hell, a lot of my friends still have never used Netflix or Spotify....I am often bewildered by this and how I seem to be a consistent outlier.

These same people love to talk on Facebook about how doomed the youngest generation is. Complaints about spending too much time on a smartphone, playing too many video games and a decrease in human interaction apparently terrify many people I’m close with. (protip: they are actually already way ahead of our generation, and are doing just fine)

What I would think they should be worried about is how much shittier the Internet is now vs. “back in our day” as the experience has dramatically worsened in ways that aren’t immediately apparent, but are there nonetheless. In 2015 “The Internet” consists of centralized services and walled gardens that really have made the everyday internet experience dependent on far too few services. There are a large group of people my age and older who think that Facebook is “The Internet” and the experience starts and ends on Facebook....  Interestingly enough, that doesn’t seem to matter to pretty much everyone I know that is my age. What does seem to matter a whole lot to the group I grew up with are political positions, holy fuck do these matter a lot to these people. I’ve been divorced from caring about politics for a few years now so I guess the level of increased involvement from my age group is just another thing I can’t relate to. Every post reflects the user’s ABSOLUTE 100% POSITIVE VIEWPOINT THAT THEY ARE RIGHT NO MATTER WHAT! This self-assurance of being correct is often joined by the belief that these are the things that really matter and outrage when people say that they don’t matter.

One of my best and oldest friends by the name of Bryan has had the best attitude throughout the whole process, he cares the same amount about political viewpoints as he did when he was 25, when he was 20 and he was 15....he barely cares (still more than me though). In my early 20′s when I cared a great deal, I was always under the impression that he was just really really Republican and didn’t want to argue so he said that he didn’t care. Now that I’m older, it’s pretty obvious to me that he really didn’t care much and his life was much better off because of it.

Since everyone seems to want to get people to see the world the way they see it, I feel obliged to jump on this bandwagon and scream to the rooftops the advantages of literally dropping out and refusing to care about these things. In the last presidential election I remember expressing that I didn’t vote and why I didn’t vote, HOLY SHIT the hate was unlike any other hate I received in my life. When I explained my reasoning, the response I quite often received was “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard” without anyone really addressing the points I made.... So now it’s election season I want to say a few more things.

Voting is still a gigantic waste of time, effort and mental energy that could be spent in much more enjoyable or productive ways. I’m not sure why everyone has always expressed how important it is to vote, but it’s not important at all and your vote actually doesn’t matter. I do have a habit of feeling that most people are marks, but this is the issue where I think people are being worked the most and don’t even begin to see how badly they have been had. These are the same people who think that their support of Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump or whoever is going to make “America a better place”....that thought alone means they are basically ignoring most of American history and SEVERELY ignoring the past 20 to 30 years when it comes to what has actually caused change and what has claimed to cause change.

I’m making this post in hopes that I can help someone’s life, yes it’s self-important and really no better than all the political posts I complained about, but I can’t express enough how many positive things my attitude shift has done for me. When I cut politics and voting out of my life, I also cut out TV news and made it a point to take a step back and analyze every Internet news source that I used to base my opinion/decisions on. It’s no surprise to me that every single outlet is biased (duh), but when I mention it to other people I quite often get remarks about how they didn’t even notice there was a political bias in whatever news source they used. They usually notice that Fox News has this bias and a smaller (but still large) amount see the bias in MSNBC, but when I mention the bias in CNN, WSJ, Al Jazeera and even /r/politics they consistently claim to not notice it and not believe that it exists. This lead me to realize that the people who believe that everyone should be as informed and aware of political matters are completely unaware of how the information they are getting is manipulated (and more importantly, how much it’s being manipulated).

That realization is when the lightbulb went off for me. It was suddenly crystal clear that political ideology and world-views are something being sold by ridiculously well-funded organizations. The difference between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump is quite small, only it seems really big because when those are the only options presented, the differences seem more apparent. It did come down to one ultimate lesson:

Politics and government don’t run things, money does.

There is a giant caveat/addition to this, that is the effect that access to accurate information can create significantly more change than any political activism could hope to. Access to information is what improves the world, not elected officials that are literally “working the marks” to keep power and money. Access to accurate information is what keeps these powers in check and I cannot implore my friends and family enough to understand that EVERY SINGLE SOURCE HAS BIAS! The only winning move is to not play.

Personally, I think that deep down most people are completely aware of how rigged the system is but they feel powerless to change it. Add to this how the most used sources of information have the most bias and you have a recipe for apathy disguised as empowerment through the political system. It’s why people celebrated like crazy when gay marriage was made “legal” yet so few questioned why that is even something the government is involved in. It’s why people continue to believe that the current institutions in place are “the best” and actually changing them is seen as dangerous. As an example, try to simply propose changing the public school system to a four hour day that only meets four times a week, then gauge the reaction. That reaction is what America is actually all about, not some democratic ideal that has been the company line for centuries. There is absolutely no way that the political process would have any ability to improve this situation, so why are people still bothering?

The other cool discovery I had around this time that went along with this is that the access to information part also works hand-in-hand with technology. Technology improvements created in the private sector are what improves information access. Gutenberg’s Printing Press, the Telegraph, Radio, Television, Satellites and the Internet have all been the greatest catalysts for change. 

Improving access to information is the one single thing that a single person can do to cause real change. Thankfully, when I did realize this is probably the first time in my adult life where I actually felt empowered. I’m empowered to express how these realizations improved my life and why I want all of the loved ones in my life to completely understand why this is the case, as I truly believe it could improve most people’s lives like it improved mine. Asking people to listen why I think it would improve their lives to not vote and to stop caring about politics sounds quite ridiculous to most people, unfortunately it sounds ridiculous for the wrong reasons. The reason it IS ridiculous is WHO THE FUCK AM I? Yet the reason most feel it’s ridiculous is because it goes against years and decades of being told that this process is important and does create improvement. 

The “who the fuck am I?” part is very important. I’m a person writing on Tumblr and the fact I can positively state that I have bias and it should be taken into account by anyone who seriously thinks about the topics I go on at length about. When this lone person on Tumblr espouses a viewpoint that is so completely opposite of an opinion that the educational system has tried to hammer home in every single person since birth, it’s very common for people to immediately dismiss the opinion and myself. I do hope to influence a few friends and maybe change a mind or two, but I’m also very realistic in my ability to judge this statement and prefer to let the great amount of examples of evidence speak louder than my own arguments. 

The reason you don’t hear people recognize their own biases in news reporting is for both business reasons and human nature. A sad fact is that if someone ran for president who was very open about his ability to be wrong, he would be skewered for lacking confidence and leadership skills. Most people who contribute to this messaging and very unaware that the best leaders often go far under the radar and recognize their biases and information sources before making any important decision. These leaders don’t come from politics because that is a process that punishes this kind of thinking, which is another reason why it’s a poor way to create positive change.

On a note of personal reflection, I find it funny that my own viewpoints really shifted from leaning Libertarian to flat out Apathy. The decisions made by congress and the president have no actual visible effect on my life and my friends and family.

My own goals in life are to first and foremost be happy, second is to help myself, my friends and family and humanity in that order of priority. This sounds insanely selfish but a great quote my dad always said was “you can’t help #2 unless you take care of #1 first” and it’s very true. When I thought about how voting and trusting the political process was helping me to achieve any of those goals, the answer of NO NO NO rang out crystal clear. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that my actions in dedicating my professional life to ideals like open source creation and projects like bitcoin, ethereum and augur will necessarily accomplish those goals either. What I do know is that technology that improves access to information has historically created great improvements in humanity, whereas political affiliation and activism creates talking points but almost zero actual change.

One of these methods actively tries to empower individuals, the other actively tries (and succeeds) in rendering individuals powerless. 

To wrap this lengthy diatribe up, I completely understand why this entire topic and my perspective sounds insane to so many people. My final point is to attempt to at the very least, make everyone aware of how Americans have been conditioned to trust the political system. Earlier I mentioned that money is what runs the world....but when you think of money, who represents the branding of physical money in America? Every single paper bill has a dead president on it, those presidents are treated and perceived more as deities than government employees who used political means to achieve power. Can anyone think of a better way to instill trust in a system than to canonize those who have succeeded within that system in the past? So here’s a few of the gods Americans have worshipped and continue to worship:

Andrew Jackson, the politician who signed the Indian Removal Act that used Government Force to force American Indians to accept rule of the United States Government and eliminate any last thoughts of property rights.

Alexander Hamilton, a self-professed abolitionist who also was quick to abandon those views once his even stronger views of property rights came into play.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, someone who is praised ad-naseum in textbooks, the same books that fail to mention that FDR imprisoned Japanese-Americans in Internment camps during WW2. Thankfully the textbooks usually do mention FDR’s ability to extend his power far beyond the “2 term” limit.

There was one American who caused great change and is represented on US Currency......

[tonyswish]

School Makes Kids Miserable, So Why Encourage It?

My last post talked about how the four years working at a community college in the employment services department made me absolutely miserable and how administrators are the major problem which continues to get worse. This post is going to go into detail of what I feel creates the toxic attitude of college administrators, this is obviously just an opinion, but seeing how many absolutely miserable 17 or 18 year old new students would see me, I feel it’s happening more than anyone admits.

My experience with this was when I mentally checked out in 3rd grade and put as little effort in as possible as I knew it was useless. Every time I questioned my teacher, the response would almost always consist of non-answers like “because I said so”, “it just is” or “stop trying to be disruptive and just pay attention/do as you’re told”. My third grade year was something that had a huge profound effect on me, I remember it so vividly and truly remember becoming a different person after this experience. It was the moment I realized I couldn’t trust adults and that I wasn’t sure why they were like they were, but positive that they didn’t give a shit about me. Additionally, I realized that school didn’t matter and until someone could give me a good and logical answer to my questions, it would remain useless in my mind.

Thankfully I grew up in a time where I eventually gained access to a tool that widened my perspectives and provided an opportunity to educate myself outside of the system that made me hate learning. I was 12 when I got my first computer as my parents struggled to even get me that, what they didn’t know is that when my real education began.

It took until my late 20s to put all these pieces together and start to use this as motivation. My time working at the college sped up the process and put me in a position to see how many young people were completely miserable, lacking passion, direction and in the same position I was from 3rd grade until recently. I’m sure they had different stories, but I truly feel that the defeated vibe they gave off stems from being in an environment where they were taught that learning is not only not fun, but a horrible miserable chore.

The greatest act of subversion that I took part in while working there was telling new students how things really are. I made it a point to say that a degree doesn’t guarantee them a job. I actively discouraged many students from attending the school as I questioned what many of the “respected elders” have told them in the past. 

Seeing brilliant young developers come in for resume help resulted in many of my favorite moments while at the college. These didn’t happen all the time, but happened much more than one would imagine:

An 18 year old kid comes in and needs help with his resume because his mom told him that he needs to get a job, once in a while the parent would even come in with the kid! (These were much more fun). I would often look at what they had done and notice they are proficient in multiple programming languages but would only list experience from their other fast food-type part time job or what they did in another class. These resumes almost always were a product of the parent helping the teen, which usually explained everything. I would dig, ask questions and find out that the majority of them had contributed to open source projects but didn’t realize that was something they could put on their resume. Some had managed impressive projects that they had a personal interest in, but didn’t list them or the open source contributions because those advising them previously told them that wasn’t employers were looking for.

These were the exact type of individuals that would make $100,000+ immediately on the job market, their parents were unaware and high school counselors would only push college and then tell them their grades were too weak to go anywhere but a community college. I adored telling them the truth, it made so many of them so happy and so much more self-confident that it was immediately noticeable. One or two would come back in to tell me they found a job, it was like a completely different person was there and it reinforced the theory that our educational system is causing this. At the end of our appointments, I would often openly ask them why they were taking classes in school? The responses were almost always “Because I need a degree to get a good job” or “My parents/teachers/guidance counselor/adult mentor said that a degree is necessary to succeed in life”. I would then reply with the truth, produce data proving what I was telling them was true and then recommend they consider dedicate less time to school and realize they could earn a lot of money right now and that it was the better options for a multitude of reasons.

For their entire life, they were told that a college degree was a necessity and that school was the most important thing for their future as education is the key to money, happiness and success. The entire time they were told this and forced to spend 8+ hours a day at a school, they were using their other time to learn a skill for no other reason than because they loved it. Ask almost anyone in tech who does hiring and they will tell you that the individuals who pursued development at a young age and outside of the educational system, are almost always the absolute best developers at an organization, far outperforming those who had exclusively academic taught skills. This is something that most involved with the schooling system absolutely do not want most people to know.

Software Developers are the ones illustrating that the current system is making young people miserable. They also are proving that those who are passionate about something, learn it much faster, better and end up much higher skilled than those who just took a class. The feeling I had when telling a bright young person that school was probably not in their best interest was immensely rewarding. I immediately took the weight of continued misery off their shoulders and more importantly, created someone who would resist the status quo in the future.

I’m fairly certain the administrators and even my fellow lower level staff colleagues would be horrified if they heard the opinions I was telling these young people, I would argue that I was probably the first person who had that perspective that they had ever met so it was important for them to hear the other side. The truth is that software development is one of the only fields where I would recommend that someone stop going to school and instead start working. I say this not because I feel that a college degree is important, I say this because the majority of employers bury their heads in the sand and refuse to admit the obvious. It’s not just employers but the perceived importance of credentialism is everywhere, from Reddit to the local evening news, it’s creating major problems and few seem willing to speak on it.

Although I just stated that software developers were one of the few fields where this doesn’t matter, I’ve read quite a bit that state Yahoo is not one of them (which explains why they are Yahoo). There is a really funny story where Yahoo CEO Melissa Mayer found out that Gwyneth Paltrow was hired to write a food blog and didn’t have a college degree! Mayer attempted to require all administrative-assistants to take a modified version of the law-school admissions test, because you know secretaries who are already good enough to remain employed need that. Everything I hear about Melissa Mayer is pretty horrible and the fact she apparently cares deeply about what school her employees graduate from really does explain a lot about Yahoo right??

To be completely fair, many other large tech companies that young people for some reason are dying to work at do require degrees for many of their positions. (Post on hiring practices coming SOON).

[tonyswish]

Working in Higher-Ed Made Me Hate Academia

Since I have started working at the age of 19, I have been both dedicated and fortunate enough to intentionally refuse to work for a corporate entity. My first jobs were with an independent but well funded record label and an indie record store, both businesses that operated as a business should operate.

In 2010 that changed when I began to work for a college, it ended up being a horrible experience that taught me more about the problems in both business operations and academia than anything else could have. I haven’t really went into detail on it until now as I did happen to work with some incredible people who often shared the same perspective as myself, now that I’m very much out of that environment, I wanted to share my dreadful experience with others.

One of the very true things you hear from many who work at a college is how little almost everyone is paid. Most faculty is part-time and staff for student services are almost all part-time and the pay isn’t the worst, but it’s damn near the bottom. This is in contrast to the administrators who are the absolute root of this problem.

Administrators range from well-meaning and hardworking to sociopathic and heartless, the one thing they all share is power and the fact that they are all overpaid. They exist in a world where many have primary goals of protecting their jobs, ensuring they are viewed at in a positive light and ensuring that no significant changes are made to the cash cow they are personally milking. Obviously this doesn’t mean all administrators share these traits, but they are such a problem that mainstream media has picked up on this but it’s really done nothing to solve the problem. Quite often they are reported on when the subject of college tuition increases come up, yet nothing really has seemed to change.

The place I worked at was a community college so I went in with a perspective that they existed to teach skills that will help students find local employment at a relatively low cost. This perspective may have been true 20 years ago, but now it’s ran like a traditional 4 year university. It ended up being heartbreaking as students would come in to learn something to earn more money, only to learn that few decision-makers actually cared about educating the students.

The $100K+ administrators had no interaction, contact or even sympathy for the average out-of-work, former autoworker that was their customer-base. The same administrators also actively resented those who worked in departments like counseling, advising, career counseling, financial aid or registration (all who made SIGNIFICANTLY less money and worked much harder).

Administrators would try to run the school as a “business” which to them meant cutting every corner, paying your employees the least amount possible and trying to sell as much as you can with as little effort. This is the part that I want to explain more of.

Operating a college like a business in principle is a good idea as it ensures efficiency and financial stability, the problem is that these administrators have no idea about running a business and are the type who spent years studying and absolutely no time DOING. Any successful entrepreneur will tell you how important knowing your product and knowing your customer is, it’s actually what I would consider to be the most important aspect of business. In my situation, administrators had little practical knowledge and were mostly the type who would do anything to not challenge the system, regardless of how bad it was performing.

Here’s a few examples of administrator ineptitude:

Students were treated as customers but the aspect of customer service was completely thrown out

Months and thousands were spent on hiring agencies and “experts” to create a new school tagline

Employees continually lost the few benefits that existed removed (employee parking, discounts on classes and a few others)

Refusal to hire those under 40 in any decision-making position (a fail considering the average student age was 27)

Spending tens of thousands on technology and building renovations while neglecting to change anything causing real issues

Changing enrollment processes to alienate and actively anger new students

The last one is the one that made me realize how toxic of an environment I was in. Registration processes were changed so that on-campus orientation was completely eliminated and all students were forced to utilize an online orientation process. They made this decision while failing to recognize that new students often had absolutely zero computer skills, to the degree that they would be afraid to touch a mouse or even type something. Add to this that students took the online orientation in a room with 30 other students and one person on staff to help answer questions (needless to say, by luck of the draw I was one of these people on more than a few occasions).

Seeing these very unfortunate older students who were often jobless but still excited about learning and starting a new phase of their life become immediately dejected, frustrated, sad and upset was one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever experienced. When they would ask for help, the only adequate response I could give is that the local library offered computer skills seminars for free.... I had to recommend new students to the local library to learn a skill that is required for the ORIENTATION at this school. I can’t begin to tell you how sick this made me feel as I  had no answer for them or a way to help with their frustration. It’s important to note that by this point, I stopped giving a fuck, which is why I would then give them an honest response. A typical response was to share with them that i also worked in the employment services department, explain how badly fucked up everything was, tell them a loophole that gave them access to employment services staff and then tell them that there were probably better ways to get a job than coming back to school.

The only part of the job that made me happy was helping people find a job, something I ended up being quite good at (so was our whole staff, amazingly good and treated like shit). I was by far the youngest and most tech savvy career services employee, which gave me the unique position of knowing loopholes and other strategies that many others weren’t aware of (To be clear, I was nowhere near the best career services advisor as everyone I worked with was incredible, I just had a different perspective and attitude due to a generational difference). Seeing someone who was out of work for two years come in and sincerely thank me for helping them find a position was the only part of what I did that felt rewarding, I realized that and figured out that I should focus on that rather than abiding by the college’s rules to make the college more successful, it was the best decision I ever made while working there.

I do realize that it’s very easy to write something like this and identify/complain about problems in an organization. What I also did was attempt to change this, I did so multiple times in a variety of ways, obviously none were successful. When I would point things out and provided clear and easy to implement solutions, the administrators would balk at me, give me sideways looks and patronizing answers. I would write to the school’s president and would be given lip service responses that resulted in nothing. I applied for different positions with about equal pay that I was more than qualified for, I was continually turned down and someone much older was chosen. I would speak out at large staff gatherings, many would come to me afterwards and thank me for saying something they wanted to, the administrators would be polite but then label me as a troublemaker to each other.

I had been stuck in Detroit for years with seemingly no way to get out. After learning so many essential things in regards to getting hired, my attempts to break into the tech-world never were successful, mostly due to the credentialist viewpoint that permeates all aspects of business in Metro-Detroit. The fact that I had failed at this and even failed to move up the ladder at the school was one of the worst feelings in my life, I thought I had no way out and it showed in my performance, attitude and demeanor.

About two years ago I was contacted by a recruiter who noticed my interest in cryptography, cryptocurrencies and open source software along with my experience in Marketing. When I was contacted I was shocked, when I found out the company she contacted me on behalf of, I was even more shocked. The job would require relocation but it would be doing something I was insanely passionate about and I would be in an environment that encouraged and nurtured success. I was bursting full of ideas and created two detailed presentations that went into my proposed strategies and why they would work. This is something very similar to what I did when I was interviewing for a marketing position within the college, only this time I was more confident that the audience would be more sophisticated and understanding (I was right). My interviews went great and I ended up being the very first person hired by this company without being flown in for a personal interview. After I was at the company for a few months one of the interviewers told me how impressive my interview was, saying it was one of (if not THE) most impressive he had ever conducted.

In hindsight, I think the reason I did so well is because there weren’t many marketers who had an interest in a niche topic like cryptocurrencies at the time. The fact my background was in entertainment and academia wasn’t nearly as important as my energy, passion and enthusiasm...as well as my understanding and grasp of the technology. To this day I basically felt like I slipped in, it’s something that changed my life, making me much happier and giving me opportunities to do some incredibly successful things.

In my four years at the college, my biggest accomplishments were:

Co-authoring a poorly layed-out “resume writing guide”

Helping a few dozen students find jobs (the only rewarding thing)

In the just-under two years since I started in crypto here are just a few things I have accomplished that have made me personally satisfied.

Building the Augur brand from scratch, winning awards, industry praise and creating the most successful video about our industry in the history of the internet.

Creating the most successful (and cheapest) social media campaign in the history of cryptocurrency, one that ESPN touted due to it’s improvement over the previous year’s bowl game social media engagement.

Managing the first two cryptofinance commercials to air on prime-time, nationwide television.

Partnering with major brands like Microsoft, ESPN, PayPal and Warner Bros. for massively successful press campaigns.

Was named as “best practices” regarding the brand interaction on communities like Reddit and bitcointalk

Started a podcast that has built a steady audience and resulted in at least one project receiving VC funding!

I will say that one positive thing that happened during my time there was that it gave me a first hand look into how an institution like academia works, which led to learning more about learning how government works. The lightbulb went off and I realized that both had a bunch of people in decision-making positions that were both stupid and ineffective. What really mattered was money and politics is exclusively pandering to those who were taught fundamental lies about government, economics and many other things from birth.

One of the primary roles of public schooling is to indoctrinate children and perpetuate the illusion that everyone is “free” because of democracy. I see what our educational system is doing to the passion of young people and it’s really heartbreaking. I hated learning until i was almost 25 and it then became fairly apparent that being forced to learn things I had no interest in was responsible for this. My schooling was pretty average, but the negative effects it had on my life are pretty huge. My parents and teachers all had the best intentions and truly believed in the system, but unfortunately their loyalty to that system is what led to so much pain and personal unhappiness.

Kids in America spend 14+ years where they are sponges for information forced to sit in desks, follow rules and study what they are told is important. It creates people who are happy to cash a check, do as little work as possible and fail to actually improve any aspect of what their work involves in. It’s fitting that college administrators leech off the system and were created by a separate but related broken system that rewards the failure of critical thinking.

Oddly enough, in many ways the educational system did prepare me well for the job at the college. It taught me that whatever I do in the daytime during the week would be something I absolutely hate, that challenging the status quo is dangerous and shouldn’t be done, that whatever system or process is in place now is obviously the best one and we shouldn’t try to change it and that how your peers and supervisors view you is more important than the quality of what you do. The most glaring similarity is that both going to school and working a traditional job are things that are required to live a “normal” life.

I’m continuing this in my next post, when I go into some detail about how I tried to plant seeds that will hopefully result in further subversion of this system in the future!

[tonyswish]

Why I’m A Part of Augur

When Augur announced our crowdsale last week, some of the reaction was extremely negative which actually bothered me much more than I felt it would. In the cryptocurrency space, I understand and encourage all skepticism for crowdsales so I definitely expected some negative response with the announcement. The negative feedback was significantly larger than I expected and it had a much larger effect on me than I ever anticipated. People that I knew personally accused Augur of being nothing more than another cryptocurrency scam, which hit me very hard.

Since then, I wrote a blog post to clearly explain why the crowdsale was absolutely necessary for the decentralized oracle system within Augur to work. For those smart and patient enough to read the blog post, I feel they may still be skeptical but will understand why the crowdsale option for token distribution was necessary. I still felt the need to talk a little bit more about this topic and I felt my personal blog was the best place for this.

I started out in the decentralized technology space almost two years ago when I was hired by BitPay to handle digital marketing. In my time there, I did many firsts for this space, had some successes and had some failures. In general I learned a lot and used a lot of that with my next project with turned out to be Augur.

In January of this year, I joined Augur and immediately received further criticism for joining a project using Ethereum which at the time was completely unproven and had a negative reputation in this space. In the past 6 months, I have been very successful in raising awareness of Augur and using simple, grass-roots methods to ensure integrity and credibility in regards to everything we are creating. We were named a “Breakthrough Technology Finalist” at the most exclusive and influential FinTech conference in America (CNBC & Singularity University’s Exponential Finance), we released the most viewed prediction market video in YouTube history and were named as one of the most exciting projects of 2015 by the market leaders in the cryptocurrency space (Coinbase). To say we’ve been successful would be an understatement.

When I started in January, I only knew one person on the Augur team and spent time getting to know everyone who was working on this ambitious and far out project. The person who I wanted to talk about most is one of the two lead developers, his name is Joey Krug and I really feel fortunate to be able to have worked with him during this process. In my entire life I have never worked with anyone like Joey, who is one of the most all around impressive and brilliant people I’ve ever had the chance to meet. I first got to meet him when I flew out to San Francisco for the O’Reilly Blockchain Conference in January, he was 19 at the time and is 20 now. After meeting Joey, I had complete faith in Augur and explaining a little bit about Joey will help to explain why I felt this way.

A few weeks ago in a conversation I told Joey that at some point in the future, he will rule the world. What i meant by this is that I’ve worked with a lot of developers who are brilliant at creating software but lack understanding of other essential business functions, Joey is the exact opposite. Joey understood what I do in marketing, finance, business development and every single aspect of running a business to a ridiculous degree. Joey is so intelligent and mature at everything involving business that it would be easy to hate his guts if he weren’t so genuine and nice....thankfully he is and I’ve had the fortune to be on the same team as him.

Another amazing person joined our team late and his name is Peronet Despeignes. He’s a Harvard graduate who wrote for all kinds of magazines that people talk about on golf courses and in high end waiting rooms. Talking with him about Economics for five minutes is like sitting under a learning tree with anyone else for hours. The killer part is how well spoken and easy to understand he is, someone so well spoken that it would be easy to hate them if they weren’t so awesome to interact with. I wanted to mention him here because it’s such a unique situation we are all in and there’s so few of us doing something truly big. 

I’m not saying all these positive things about Joey and Perry to try to instill confidence in others to invest in the Augur crowdsale, in fact I am putting this on my personal blog so that it’s clear that is not the intention. I’m saying these things because of how rare in my lifetime it has been to meet (let alone work with) someone like either of them. They are only 2/7th of Augur and I went on this long about them, so imagine how I feel about everyone else who is working on this small but brilliant team...

About two years ago I changed my life and started dedicating it toward working on things like Augur and it’s opened amazing doors and improved my life in many ways. I want to scream this from the rooftops so that maybe one of the people that I know in real life don’t bust out the jump to conclusions mat and are accusatory at things I’m involved with. The person who made that statement isn’t someone who knows me well, but he’s someone who should know that I wouldn’t put TONS of work and my name behind something that purely exists to scam others.

Will Augur do what everyone in SV wants to do and change the world? I have absolutely no idea. What I do know is that myself and the people working on the project have selflessly dedicated everything to making sure it’s a success and that’s something I feel is important for everyone to know. By choosing to work on Augur, we have made commitments to not become wealthy on this technology and that commitment was part of what made me jump to join this team. Regardless of what happens, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life and I couldn’t be prouder to be a tiny part of it with such brilliant and awesome people.

Those who know me well, both within the bitcoin/blockchain/decentralized tech space and those who know me from other areas of life, they are fully aware that I may have a ton of faults but in general I have integrity and would not be a part of something that would exist to harm others in any way. I hope that this blog post may reach out to the others who make rash decisions based on Internet groupthink instead of reading, asking questions and learning.

Please check out Augur.net and also check out the following video titled “How Augur Works” that my great friend Shooter Jennings narrated and my other amazing friend Jonathan-Mayo Buttry animated.