News:

10/11/08

Jeremy and I lost pretty much all of the recorded data from the Rust Belt tour due to a shitty hard drive. Therefore, we are leaving Thursday the 16th on another tour to record this album. Planned itinerary is: 16th - Lakawanna, Erie, Pittsburgh; 17th - Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, Dan's house WV; 18th - Baltimore, Philidephia; 19th - Scranton, Home.

09/12/08

I learned a valuable lesson recently. I have not ever considered myself the prototype of ideal human morality, but I would like to think that I have some decency. In addition to that, I have always thought that I have been one not to judge a person based on appearance or stereotype. I have come to recognize, however, that my lazy mind works much like everyone elses. It is a mind that is sensative to the ease of reasoning that comes from using heuristics. By heuristics I meen mental short-cuts or rules of thumb that we use to make decisions easier by reducing thinking and cognitive load. I met this guy recently at truck stop in Toledo, OH. He called himself the Detroit Cowboy. This, because his claim to fame was being the only person from detroit who rides bulls. My first glimpse of this man came as he walked out of the truck stop carrying a 40 oz. at 11 am. He had brillo pad hair cause he hadn't taken a shower in a week (at least) and he wreaked of alcohol. As I got to know him more he revealed to me a tattoo on his left arm that read something like "Peggy... I will love you forever... my one and only". He went on to explain to me that Peggy was a lot lizard in Florida with whom he dated for 2 weeks. He said his favorite music was Skynard. When he asked why we had a plug going into our car, we said we were charging our hybrid. He believed us. It was really plugged into recording equipment. On the face of it, this guy was the biggest moron who couldn't have anything in common with me... right? Probably the dumbest thing I heard him say from the viewpoint of that time went like this:

DC: Where ya from?

Me: Syracuse.

DC: Syracuse! I's been to Syracuse. I hit on a girl in Burger King in Syracuse. She liked me too, but it wouldn't have worked cause ita been a long distance relationship.

This sounds pretty stupid right? That's what I thought at the time. I had forgotton that 12 hours before that moment I hit on a girl at the Hampton Inn and Suites. In Toledo Ohio... and she liked me too... but it wouldn't have worked... cause it would have been a long distance relationship. What I had judged to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard wasn't dumb at all. I did the exact same thing. I was caught in a confirmation bias. I had this hypothesis in my head that Detroit Cowboy was an idiot. As a result of of this hypothesis I was looking for things that confirmed it. I saw the stupid in everything and none of the normal. The thing is... we do this all the time. Stereotypes are like this. If you have the hypothesis that all black people love grape soda... you'll probably remember more of the times that you saw a black person drinking grape soda. Certainly more than the times you saw a black person drinking root beer. Since these memories stick out more in your head, it strenthens your hypothesis even more. We can't really avoid using heuristics like this. Everyone is going to get caught up in them. In fact, most of the time they probably work and save a great deal of time and effort in decision making. I'm just disapointed that one cause me to be judgmental and miss out on the intelligant and informative things that Detroit Cowboy had to say.

08/15/08

Carnindyle Rust belt tour.

07/28/08

This is the brand new Carnindyle site. Please take a look around. We have some downloads. Live pics and our gig schedule. Just like all other bands.