They is We

People are not ready for the society we have. Somehow, we have built it on progressive and intelligent ideas when, to be honest, most people don't have all that much intelligence or foresight. While there are a lot of very foresightfull ideas in the United States Constitution and other democratic ideals about the world, one that they are all lacking is the vision to know that we are not ready. Perhaps we were more ready in the past. I sometimes think that we have been spoiled (as a people) beyond our ability to cope with something so weighty as 'freedom'.

The problem is: how does one choose a good, honest, benevolent dictator? King Arthur is a work of fiction.

It was a long time ago when I was talking to a group of people about the some somewhat important issue when they said, "they won't let that happen."

"They? Who is they?" The government? The Illuminati? What 'they' could possibly make sure we don't do something stupid?

Us.

We are the keepers of power, but we are always looking to someone else for guidance and a place to put blame. We use too much coal? Well, someone better figure out how to solve that... but I'm not going to think about the coal it takes to run my computer, keep my phone charging all day long... There are some researcher who believe that if we cut out all our unnecessary drains on the electrical system, we could shut down several coal powerplants throughout the nation. All we have to do is be more conservative.

But how could anyone expect their own actions to count? There must be some leader, first, who outlines what to do, right?

Only if you aren't adapted to the freedoms that we possess. Which, more and more often, I am sure we have too much. Too much freedom and not enough responsibility. How can we achieve energy independence, for example? Well, we could just use a little less energy. Who says we need as much as we use?

Phantom power is not a very widely used term. Every electronic gizmo in your house draws some phantom power just by being plugged in. Some more than others, some have standby features that range from a running light to scanning for updates. This all takes electricity that we aren't really using. How many power plants could we decommission if we would just be a little more conscious. Being alive, you would think that we would relish being conscious more than being asleep, but sadly it seems the opposite.

Splentastic

I was working at a concessions stand when someone concerned about eating healthy tried to buy something. It happens occasionally. Some poor soul doomed to fail in his goal. For there is nothing I sell that I would actually buy myself. And as the stellar salesman that I am, I often tell people this.

Just trying to be helpful.

There was one man who decided to get a {insert name here} Zero because there are less calories.

But I am not sure that ingesting a chemistry lab project is really all that healthy. True there are a load of people in this country with diabetes, and the over-consumption of sugar (in all of its forms: cane, corn, and all). But really.... is a fake sugar better?

From all the nutritional information I have been reading lately (like the god-awfully dense Good Calories Bad Calories - great book: I recommend it. But I also agree with Laura Vanderkam's opinion on the book) the signs point to no. You might as well eat sugar.

If you are concerned about diabetes, don't eat that either.

The Fast Runner (2001)

I like movies that are not out of Hollywood. I think part of it is just unrecognizable actors who look a lot more real. The people in Atanarjuat look like Inuit, not like southern California models. Because they are. Atanarjuat is the first film from Canada written, directed, and acted by the Inuit people.

It is also pretty fascinating to watch movies that are outside of one's own culture. I learned a little about how igloos are made, and how the Inuit ate and dressed. I learned that their women had (perhaps they even still have) blue tattoo marks on their faces. And that they treat their dogs absolutely wretchedly.

That was the worst part of the movie. It is obvious that these dogs are not happy campers in real life and pretty much hate their handlers. Apparently no one ever told them about clicker training.

The movie is Anthropological in its cultural intensity, but has Cool (cold? ha ha. I'll stop) story telling. Some weird camera angle choices and some little 'continuity' errors (I think I saw a scene where someone was wearing modern boots), but if you can overlook the lack of special effects, it is a good movie. And if you can stand to see a little Inuit penis, because that's in there if that stuff gives you an aneurysms.

Drought

January 27th, Gunnison Colorado. A place that is renown for its cold. And this is the first time it has snowed on top of snow. Not because it has been too cold, but because every small snowfall we have had has melted before anything else comes.

It's a little scary. Not only because of what we could say about global warming (only to be refuted by someone saying, it's only one year. These things happen) but because of the snowpack. If last summer was dry for some people (Texas, cough), this summer is shaping up to be worse.

Hope people are ready to tighten the belt a little farther.

Planting Chocolate Bars

StudentsFirst will take umbrage with what I am about to say:

Most of the time, I assume that people are generally equal. Some very smart people have the unfortunate fate of being smart in something that isn't respected. Such as drawing or music or soccer. These people are not called our geniuses. But the other day I was talking to a group of girls who were at least in 7th grade. Probably at least 11, I guess they could have been 10, but I would guess them at 12 or 13 (see how good I am with guessing ages; that's another skill that is generally not considered important enough for one to be considered 'intelligent'.)

Somehow these girls got me to talk about my favorite topic: evil corporate behavior and boycotting. I sell Coka-Cola at my job, and Nestle Chocolate, and Mars and everything that is bad for you, our economy, and the planet. It doesn't fill me with a great amount of pride. Somehow they got me to casually mention the slavery and murder committed by these corporations against under-privileged people.

They were surprised. But it didn't stop them from drinking a coke and eating a Crunch bar. As most people. Sigh. The more surprising part came later.

"Which is Worse!" one demanded, "the coke or the poweraid?"

"Oh.... They are pretty much the same. The worse one is probably that chocolate. Chocolate growers aren't treated very well."

"Growers... You can grow chocolate...?" they asked, a little nervously. I wasn't sure why.

"Well. Yeah."

She started to spit it out. "Almost everything you eat you grow."

"So if I plat this, will it grow a chocolate tree!?" asked one.

"...No. Chocolate is a process..." but at this point, I think 'process' was way too big a word for these poor girls. And I began to think, this is not a problem with our educational system in this country, it is more a problem with the value we put on education. No single teacher is going to teach the stupid out out of that.

It was amazing to me. I cannot remember being so nieve in my life; granted I have a somewhat poor memory. This was appalling. How distanced have we gotten from our basic needs as living beings to understand so little? No, you can't plant a casserole and get a casserole plant out of it. How did you come to think such a thing? It was more surprising than the boy who couldn't tie his shoe. Also in middle school.

It is sad. And all the more so because I began to see them as sheep. I began to think that maybe (only maybe) I am in fact intrinsically superior to them. These girls who seem to be naught but mostly-mindless filler in the human race, but really no one of consequence and probably never will be. Taking up land, air, food, resources and never having the potential to quite understand what 'resources' even are. Do these girls have a hope of ever growing up? Do they have a hope of learning how to think? Our educational system can do more to help people think (rather than know) than it does. Alright, I agree on that point. But this is a greater societal problem, I think. What in their lives (or missing from their lives) enables this to even be possible?

How can the human race simultaneously produce Leonardo da Vinci and and the faceless and unambitious? Who can't even take the energy to spare a thought?

Is this all that is left of Circle Vs. Square?

A Difference

Take a pen, or a tennis ball and toss it in the air at a friend.

I have noticed that most women will flinch and cover their head or try to move out of the way. Men generally put their hands up to catch, even if they aren't very good at catching. Some people on both sides do it skillfully, most just flail.

There are of course, exceptions: women who will try for the catch and men who will flinch. But it is surprising to me how often the dichotomy exists.

One could prescribe it to some hunter-gatherer explanation if they choose to. I prefer to wonder what in our society has created this split.

The Greatness of Time Banking - an hour as currency

One of the best ideas I have heard of in a long time is called "Time Banking". There are many places that people can go to get involved in Time Banking options that may (or may not) be active in their communities. There is the center: TimeBanks.org, and from there people can find local efforts.

Time Banking is a lot like doing favors from friends, but making your pool of friends a little larger and easier to coerce. You can keep track of your hours and bill people for them like dollars. Apparently, I am not the only person to think this is a great idea because it is getting more popular.

There are other places people can go for an overview of Time Banking, or stories about it. I am more interested in whistful thinking right now.

I was talking to a man a few weeks ago about our economy. For not being an "official" economist (and liking the topic about as much as I like politics...), I sure have a lot of conversations about it.

My friends opinion was that there is nothing in this world that has enough value to be used as a standard for our monetary system. He said it like fact, and I didn't question it too much at the time. But he is patently wrong: if we set the value of a pound of gold (a horrible standard: I don't recommend using gold as our standard again but it would be better than Limbo, as it is now) as worth a billion dollars, then we have enough gold to back the economy. It is all a matter of standardizing it. It might be hard to go that way now, but hell we went into Limbo money.

Ah: But imagine if we set our basis on time? Every individual has the same budget: 24 hours a day. Then you company would be as valuable as the people it employees. The more employees, the higher the budget.

Every job is a job that 'needs' doing, in one sense or another. And by that logic, they are as valuable. We shouldn't have one person getting a billion dollars per hour they play golf and another person get paid five for cleaning puke off of the floor.

I hate cleaning puke off the floor.

The 'better' jobs (the ones you don't despise doing) are paid more in respect and self-worth as well as in money. It is hardly fair. I would rather do a job that I like doing for room and board than janitorial duty for 150K a year. The better jobs would, in the end, go to the better worker: everyone makes an hour for an hour of work, but some people you would rather pay that hour to. The better Geologist is going to keep his job, the quicker Computer Nerd will keep writing programs, the more skilled surgeons will operate. Those less skilled will end up in the unwanted jobs.

There would still be economic factors. And I suppose there would still be companies that charged a hundred hours for something it only took them 1 hour to make: negative reciprocity just like our current economy. And in the end, that is what Time Banking now is seeking to avoid, in part.

Being Positive

Ah, in the end I'm not all that different from very many people. Though, to admit, I have always tried to be a little. "Normal" people do not impress me in any positive ways.

But, as being different for the sake of being different is just as pointless as being the same for the sake of being the same, I have to admit that I have a lot in common with the rest of the human race. Laziness, Bipedalism, Glasses... and I find it hard to remain positive very often.

In fact, I might be more negative than just about anyone else I know. As I am trying to get my philosophy published in an online way, and brainstorming what it is I have to write about, I find that most of it is critical of some horrendous stupidity that I see.

I'm like Captain Hindsight from South Park.

So in an effort to be a more agreeable human being, I am going to make an effort to extol the virtues in the world I see. What people do that is positive and deserves emulation rather than what should be avoided and my short logical (evidence-less) conclusion on why that is so.

Working Together

Listening is a very important skill and it goes rather undervalued in our world. I am not sure why; perhaps it is because the more forceful you are with your own opinion, the more chance you have of convincing someone that you are right. And being forceful is the opposite of listening.

I think there is a little ego that motivates it. I have been trying to find a way to get my ol' Alma Matter (Western State College) to improve the efficiency of their vehicle fleet. And though a million conversations, I have come to the conclusion that the best thing to do (so far) is to simply get departments to work together. If there are two departments that are going the same basic direction, perhaps they can plan and go together. If they share the trip, together they might cut down on a whole van. Maybe.

The fear that already exists (before we even begin) is that there will be resistance to the idea. Working together is hard and different departments don't want to work with the hassle. It will be harder, I see that. But there are many times when it might still be pretty easy.

Sidewalks

Besides their awful carbon footprint (though it can be a carbon sink...), cement is great for things like Roller Blades, Bikes, Skateboards, Cars, and anything else with wheels. It makes travel easier, quick, smooth. That is it's use.

It's not really good for feet, though. There is a reason that there is no animal evolved to locomote with wheels: this sort of surface didn't exist before us. It's kind of a marvel that we make all of our "sidewalks" out of it.

Where I live, it seems that every place that people do walk, someone thinks we need concrete there. "Oh! People are walking there... well, let's make it an official path! Make it easy." I think that this is the thought: make it easy.

But there are some people, of whom I number one, who avoid the sidewalks. I walk beside the sidewalk because I understand how horrible it is for me and I rather like my legs. I am one of those people who cut across and line out where a new sidewalk will go. But it is not because I want a new sidewalk; it is because I want less.

I was wondering how many knee problems would go away if we didn't have sidewalks? Or if our sidewalks were packed earth or something softer? But I suppose after a million people trampled it down, a dirt path would be almost as hard. I am not sure if the research has been done, because it would be difficult to do. Are there any places that have replaced cement sidewalks with softer paths? Cement is so hard that your knees, bones, and joints take all the brunt of your step. I wouldn't be too surprised if some lower-back problems are the fault of walking on such hard surfaces. They aren't good for your ankle, either. With such a flat surface, your ankle gets weaker and weaker as your supporting muscles atrophy. Or simply fail to grow in the first place. Making it easier to twist and injure the joint.

Yet another place a simple change could have great impact. But it would require a re-tooling of our current system.

A little on lifestyles and locomotion

In a world that worships the automobile (yet another contraption I regard as a corruption; a satanic trap), those who know me are forced to forego it.

It really is a corrupted satanic trap, though. It is an up-front cost of between $1,000 and $100,000! And then, it traps you. It costs a monthly in-sewer-ants to even be allowed to use it (and with good reason: they are dangerous! If anything, I think the monthly cost should be more. Drivers should also know a lot more about driving and their cars, at the minimum, to be allowed to drive. Perhaps with re-evaluation every year... but I could digress in that direction for a long, long time.) The more one uses a car, the more maintenance it costs. And (of course) it runs on a fuel that, while costly, does not have a price that comes anywhere near representing the damage it extols from plants, animals, people an their societies, the air, climate, future, and just about everything.

And if you don't buy this fuel, the in-sewer-ants, the maintenance, et cetera, then it will decay. Cars must be exercised or they will fall into disrepair.

They require loving care--Demand that you Love the Fucking Things!--a lot of attention, make your life stressful and expensive....

Then there is the death toll they exact just on people. 42,636 people in 2005. While that is not as horrible as, say, heart-disease, that is just the direct accidents. Ignoring the factor they play in heart disease (no exercise), and other chronic illness.

And yet, if you spurn these things, you are not an acceptable human being. You are shunned. People think that you are stupid. People don't understand.

I push people into abandoning their cars. With poor success most of the time. At least when they are not in my company. But I wont even take a ride in one. And yet, despite the evils of using the car, it makes me feel bad to ask people not to use them.

And thus: I am just as stupid and crazy as everyone else!

Why I am an Environmentalist.

My post yesterday was pretty fatalistic. It is something of the reason I am an "environmentalist", but not the real reason.

I keep hearing that there is no point. That, eventually, our moon will sling out of orbit and the earth will be pulled into the sun. That, eventually, the sun will supernova and the earth will disintegrate.

Well yes. How foresightful. Eventually the entire universe might collapse. Or entropy will pull every quark an infinite distance apart from every other quark. So what?

I guess it comes down to what you believe the purpose of life is? Do we have some grand Purpose of some unimaginable kind? If so, I cannot begin to understand what could be greater than... just living. Living and being happy and fulfilled.

I mean, what could be a greater purpose than to live? Right here and right now?

Life is not a destination. Our destinations are all the same. The universe will not last forever. All records will eventually cease to be. But right now, you are alive. And that is pretty miraculous.

So I am not an environmentalist to preserve the state of our planet forever.

I am an environmentalists to protect those homes, those lives, and that happiness that is happening right now. Those lives that deserve a chance to enjoy themselves because they are here. It matters not, really, if polar bears go extinct. It matters that they are starving right now and that bloody sucks!

I am an optimist.

I am an optimist:

I believe that when The Famine hits, the human race will have an epiphany.

I have that argument with a lot of people. Most disagree with me. But I think we will have an epiphany for the good. The 'richest' people in the world might just be among the first to starve. For, though they can Pay their private militaries to go and steal food for them, they wont be able to do much else. The militia might steal the food, buy why would they bring it back to their employer? Food is food. It's more valuable than paper or marks in your credit card. They'll just keep the food for themselves and never bring it back. Perhaps they will even join the communities they were deployed to when it becomes clear what is of Real value:

Food
  Water
    Friends

And then money, our current standard for measuring everything and the best definition for "stupid" in our world right now, will finally mean what it really is: Toilet Paper.

Rest assured and comfortable that The Famine is coming. When it does, all the world will truly understand what it has meant to be African for the last hundred years or so. For most of the people on that poor attacked continent. People have been predicting Armageddon for a million years, they have been predicting this one since the industrial revolution. While it hasn't happened yet, we are getting closer to it: nothing lasts forever. Though everyone's been wrong so far, that will not always be the truth.

Some prophecies are more reliable than others. Here's mine:

When The Famine comes, a billion or so will go just from starvation. A billion or two more from in-fighting, anarchy, general stupidity, and the like. And perhaps the rest of us from all out War. If (and this part is a big if) we cannot work together.
   However, The Famine is avoidable! If we can concentrate on that tiny little all-important IF. It should be avoidable just up until it actually happens. Maybe. But it is getting harder and harder the closer we come to that point.

I am not the first to issue this prophecy in some form. It was issued before I was born and hasn't happened yet. Some people take this as a sign that it will never happen. If you want a date on my prediction, you will have noticed that it is not present and I don't intend it to be. There are a lot of gray areas, I'm not going to pretend to be mystical. I am just logical. So far, The Famine the dates are always wrong. But everything else was right and it is still happening. We use all of our resources faster than they can replenish. Oil, coal, gas, forests, soil, water...

Land...

Each one will put a strain on a system already quite stressed. We are currently using so many fossil fuels to just grow food that once oil and such really are on the decline, we will hit Peak Food.

The Famine.

And all the while, our population grows. Peak Land or Peak Space. We've got a long way to go before the whole world looks like Tokyo. But we will not be able to support ourselves long before that happens. For the last 2000 years or so, we have put off The Famine. but that is no reason to expect that we can put it off forever. Forever is a very, very, very long time. But we wont even put it of until our sun goes out. We can't escape it. It is coming for us just like it does for every other species on this planet.

Told you I am an optimist....

A quick thought on science.

There are a lot of "scientists" I have known with a vehement hatred of religion. Unaware that most of these individuals are actually very religious. For science can be followed as a religion.

But how dare those Anti-Religion Science-Nuts say that the worst thing is Religion? (those that do) Sure it's got its crimes: crusades, terrorism, nationalism to some extent, and willful ignorance pretty commonly; but what about the crimes of science?

• Nazism
• A-bombs
• Bombs in general
• Guns too
• Cars
• Oil
• Mining
• GMOs
• Agriculture
• Computers
• Television
• Airplanes
• Chemical Warfare
• Electricity
• And after a lot of this, as a side note, entitlement
• Industry
• Soot
• Smaug
• Cities
• Corn Syrup
• White bread
• Eugenics
• I'm sure there are more

The list is positively endless.

What in the Hell?

The People for the American Way sent me an email recently:

"After years of learning about the details of an American decision-making system centered on exploitation and extraction, MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan lost his temper on-air. Instead of just being angry, Dylan wrote GREEDY BASTARDS: How We Can Stop Corporate Communists, Banksters, and Other Vampires from Sucking America Dry. In the book, Dylan, who is emerging as a leading voice and dedicated ally against out-of-control corporate influence in government, reveals the details of this broken system, and more importantly, what we can do today to fix it." They said.


I thought: "Hm. Yep. Greedy Bastards, all right. They are everywhere. We do reward the most satanic behaviour best."


Then at the end of the email they encouraged me to pre-order a copy at Barns & Noble or Amazon.


Now... That's not doing a God Damned thing to stop the greedy bastards. I'll admit, I don't know as much about Barns and Noble's business, but I do know about Amazon and everything that I have heard about them is bad. They use monopolistic pricing (joining Walmart in selling Harry Potter 7 for cost - something a small bookstore could never achieve), they push out competition and reduce competitiveness with their little ebook thingy. And though I don't know too much about Barns and Noble, I know that they are big business, not real business, and just for that my assumption is that they don't do much to foster competition in their market.


If you want to Stop the Greedy Bastards, going there is not the way to do it. Buy from a local bookstore instead! That might but a stutter in the step of all those Greedy Bastards.

A new format for me.

Since I obviously don't have the attention span, and I have too much perfection, and I can't decide which way to take them, I decided not to do full-argument essays. Instead, I'll do essay vignettes.

Besides, according to some research (I was told... I don't know where it is, sadly), short arguments are more powerful. It makes sense: Who has the attention span to read an article in Time or National Geographic nowadays, anyway?

Using the power of computer's (mug), I'll link articles that have something to do with each other and in that way I can have more complete arguments.

And I can say what I have to say.

Hopefully there are some people who care. Not to be too arrogant, but I think that my thoughts would be good for a lot of people to have.