Cognitive Dissonance

Monday, October 06, 2008

David Lynch on the Iphone

David Lynch on watching movies on your cell phone. Pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject.

Agree?

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Watching the Money Burn

Call me sick, but as I sit here on my couch watching the banks and economic powerhouses implode, I can't help but feel a little bit of smug satisfaction. I seem to be enjoying this whole thing way too much, and I'm not fully sure why. Perhaps I simply enjoy a little chaos.

That may be the case, but I think that what I am feeling is a sense of justice being served, and of vindication of my own ideas. I have said for years, to my friends and acquaintances, and occasionally on this blog or others, that our economic system is corrupt. Our system is flawed, folks, and this is a symptom. The debt culture that was foisted upon us, spread to envelop every aspect of business, and combined with greed wrought the destruction that currently faces us; that culture still exists and will continue to do so even after the smoke from this crash clears.

And that is why I think this bail-out is a bad idea.

I think those banks need to fail. I don't say this out of a sort of misguided anger at the Wall St. wealthy (I have plenty of that, but...), I truly believe it is in the best interest of our nation to let that collapse happen. I know it will be painful if it does happen, I know that the shock of that collapse would resonate throughout the whole country. I know it is going to hurt, but sometimes pain is necessary for growth. Sometimes, pain is the only thing that will spur an apathetic populace into action.

It is my hope that this crisis will foster discussion among citizens and legislators. It is my hope that it will prompt a harsh re-examination of our underlying economic structure. Our debt-centric economy, plus an unrealistic valuation of property, plus the narrow-minded and short-sighted greed of the corporate institutions charged with the care and management of our collective wealth, all combined to bring this situation about. If we are to fix the problem, and prevent it from happening again in the future, we need to look past the band-aid solution and correct the underlying problem.

The conservative capitalist mantra, "Let the free market decide," is no longer valid. The free market has failed us, as it was destined to do. It is time to find another answer.

Any suggestions?

Labels: enonomics, politics, us

Friday, September 12, 2008

Awesome LHC webcam

Check this out: a real time webcam of the interior of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland!

Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime view!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Heretical Thought for the Day #1

September 11, 2001 should not be memorialized.

Okay, now before I get flamed to death, please allow me to explain what I mean:

The attacks on 9-11 were perpetrated by terrorists

The primary goal of terrorism is to inspire fear

It worked.

When we continually re-live the events of that day, we perpetuate the fear

By perpetuating the fear, we allow the terrorizing to continue.

In order to find relief from fear, we must recognize our fear, and deny it power over our daily lives and actions

And thus I ask: In the orgy of patriotism that we experience at this time each year; In the continuous soft-and-quiet toned media coverage; in the endless senatorial speechifying, are we re-opening old wounds?

And are we hurting ourselves by doing so?

Should we not honor those who died on that day? Of course we should. But what honor do we give their deaths if we allow the memory of that day to continue to drive the course of the nation? Yes, there will be a year when that day has been forgotten. Faded into obscurity like so many before it. My fervent hope this 11th of September is that we can put that day to rest, in our collective hearts and heads, and prove to ourselves and the world that we can rise above!

And kick some sand into the face of those who would profit from our fear.

Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?

Labels: heretical thought for the day, politics

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

The Economic Crunch Affects All of Us

~~Talentless hack~~ Former rapper-turned-actor P. Diddy shows us both his broad grasp of world geography and politics, and that high gas prices affect us all.

Because in a country where some of us can barely afford groceries, it breaks my heart to see such ~~talentless hacks~~ poor inconvenienced artistes have to pay for checked baggage and fly with the rest of the proles.

Come fly with me?

Now This is Religious Warfare!

This is the kind of sectarian violence that I could get behind!

glumbert - The Greek Are Pyros

Labels: fire, fun, humor, religion

Monday, September 08, 2008

Me me me me me!

Well, at first I was going to post Ode to Joy, as that has floated to the top of the blago-blag recently, but then I found this one:

And I could resist no further! Enjoy!

Regaining the Horse

Or, the top 6 reasons why I'll get it right this time.

So here's the deal:

I'm gonna give this thing one more shot. I'm feeling that it is time, and I feel good about this one. Now, I know I've tried to reboot my blogging experience a time or two before, but I feel good about this.

Here's why:

I'm not going to push too hard. If I make writing this thing feel too much like work, then I will naturally want to avoid doing it. It's that whole Gen-X slacker thing, it's in the blood.

I need to write occasionally. I need a different creative outlet besides work. Hopefully I can fill a bit of that need here.

I'm not going to try to recapture my youth. I simply don't have the time to research and publish page-long rants and treatises on the foibles of our political system, or question the deeper meanings of the universe, or similar fare. Now, that doesn't mean you aren't going to get any of that here, but I'm not going to try to stretch every post into a page-and-a-half, socially significant work intended for international readership. Those days are gone.

I've given up cable. Seriously. Now I turn to the internet to distract me from the pressures of daily life (ha!)

I need to prove to myself that I can (against my apparent nature) begin a project and actually keep it up.

I'll depend heavily on Facebook's link post feature, and maybe attract the occasional reader from my friends and acquaintances there, but I'm not shooting for much in the way of public recognition. If I can develop this into something cool, then maybe I will, but for now I'm not going to labor under any specific delusion of internet notoriety. I fully accept that this is JAFB.

So: Here goes! Wish me luck and hopefully you'll come along for the ride!

Here. We. Go!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Should I close these doors?

I can't believe I haven't updated this blog in 3 months.

Signs that it should close? Perhaps.

I have had grand plans and ideas for this blog, but simply haven't had the time to do the research required for the quality of writing that I want to pursue. Is this a simple fact of getting older: more responsibility, more requirements, less time for things that don't affect my immediate future?

I haven't even taken time to meditate in weeks!

However, as my father once said: "Saying you don't have time to do something simply means you don't consider it a high enough priority."
Perhaps my life needs prioritizing. Perhaps I'm working too much. Perhaps 60 hour work weeks with no days off gets a little old. Perhaps it is time for a change.

Or, perhaps I'm just tired and grumpy.

Is anyone still there?