To Idealism, from Apathy

Dear Idealism,

I know it’s been a long time, and I know you tried, or maybe you didn’t necessarily try, but were compelled to be who you were. Life has a way of wearing out even the most ardent.  I know because I was there a long, long time ago myself.

Politics, private agendas, money-hungry corporations beholden to the money-hungry stock holders; it can all be a daunting.  Starting out, you hope you can make a difference; you believe that if enough people like yourself band together, you can change the world, but reality eventually comes crashing down like so much weather-worn lumber of a structure that couldn’t be maintained because of the constant storms.

Then you begin to realize that nothing you say, nothing you do, will change things infected by so much evil.  All you can do is withdraw and protect what little you have and let others take up the banner of hopefulness.  Wishing that bright minds are numerous enough to outweigh the tragically misguided, or deceptively righteous.

Finding out that every single advertisement you see, that pervade nearly every waking minute, and some even that are not waking, are filled with so many lies they cannot be singled out; that so many utterances of so many people are tainted by self-interest; that even news shows are filled with bias and an ultimate goal of profit can drive anyone to the brink.  I think this has more effect on someone like yourself who actually believed in altruism and the power of pure ideas held by a critical mass of individuals.

So don’t be hard on yourself, don’t become bitter. Hold the light because eventually it can still serve you, if in a much smaller, personal way.  This can still change things for the better, but from the inside out, rather than the outside in.

Please come home again.  Your room is just as you left it.  We can live out our days in a smaller, less frustrating world.

Love,

Apathy

Jacko

OK, I’ve heard enough ppl QQing about a dead Michael Jackson.  This world is a better place without that freak.  He was so jacked up that he didn’t even know it was wrong to abuse little boys, and the only reason he wasn’t jailed is because he bought some of them off, and he was famous.  I’m tired of people acting like he was some sort of tortured artist — he thought he could do anything he wanted and get away with it.  Laughs on you, Jacko — nobody cheats Fate.  Hope your Karma brings you back as a conscious grub — over and over — to be torn to shreds by a blind mole.

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Universal Health Care

Ya know, one of the reasons I didn’t want to vote for Hilary Clinton was that her solution to Universal Health Care was to simply make it a law that individuals without healthcare go ahead and purchase some.  Now here is Obama proposing the same stupid solution.

Why can’t we have the same health care as Canada, Britain, & France?  I recently found out more info about those countries’ health care systems by watching Sicko, by Michael Moore.  Yeah, yeah, some people don’t like Moore and claim he makes stuff up, but there has to be at least some truth to what’s in this movie, and even if just some of it is true, it’s still better than what we have.

I don’t know how we can achieve what those countries are doing, but I’m embarrassed that we’re not already doing it.  Apparently there was a bill in Congress, but the last action on H.R. 676 was in 2006.  I’ll write my Congressman and ask.  I’m sure the response will be amusing.

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Animals in my yard

So I was getting ready to cut the grass (aka “mow the lawn” to some /shrug) and was cleaning up the dog poop, and just as I’m putting the full bag away, I noticed the dog pushing desperately to drop a deuce.  What the??  Now I suspect there’s some rational explanation as to why she always does this, like insisting that her territory is marked or some such, but it’s possible she’s just messin’ with me — showing me who’s really the boss.

After the grass was cut, I was sitting, smoking, and saw a robin land and peck at the ground a bit, then turned around, spread its wings, settled its butt into the grass and laid its outstretched wings on the grass beside it.  It stayed like this several minutes, then preened and flew off.  Very strange (to me).  It was a red-breasted robin, so I guess it was a male.  It did this odd thing in a sunny patch, so we’re thinking that maybe he was drying out his wings or something.

Animals are just weird.

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Biden refuses to cross picket line

Maybe there’s stories of Bushies crossing lines — or maybe not — either way, this is good on Biden and Obama:

http://blog.aflcio.org/2009/06/08/biden-refuses-to-cross-fire-fighters-picket-line/

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Hero Pushes Suicide Jumper

Passer-by pushes suicide jumper in south China – Yahoo! News.

Chen Fuchao, a man heavily in debt, had been contemplating suicide on a bridge in southern China for hours when a passer-by came up, shook his hand — and pushed him off the ledge.

SAUDI BEAUTY CONTEST « Graney and The Pig’s Blog

Interesting post over at Graney and the Pig.

I’m sure the Saudi contest will be a scorcher  =)

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Around the Do Not Call list

I believe that a few credit card companies have been positioning themselves to get around the Federal Do Not Call list.  We recently received a gift card from WalMart that was actually a prepaid Visa, but to activate the card we had to call the number and provide the receipt number, our full name, our address, our phone number, and our social security number.  We declined.  On reading the details of the agreement that comes with the card, there’s fees all over the place, including a yearly fee.

Daily Reflection

Thought I’d share one of my personal fave quotes that I’ve referred to often over the last several years.  It’s from the AA “Big Book,” but don’t let that put you off:

Daily Reflections    1990 AA

May 1        Healing Heart and Mind

Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact
nature of our wrongs.
- Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions p.55

Since it is true that God comes to me through people, I can see that by keeping people at a distance I also keep God at a distance. God is nearer to me than I think and I can experience Him by loving people and allowing people to love me. But I can neither love nor be loved if I allow my secrets to get in the way.
It’s the side of myself that I refuse to look at that rules me. I must be willing to look at the dark side in order to heal my mind and heart because that is the road to freedom. I must walk into darkness to find the light and walk into fear to find peace.
By revealing my secrets — and thereby ridding myself of guilt — I can actually change my thinking; by altering my thinking, I can change myself. My thoughts create my future. What I will be tomorrow is determined by what I think today.

What is . . .

3G network?

3rd generation network that allows internet access and video transmission used by cell phones and the like.  Different than WiFi because that’s only for short-range use.

Wikipedia: 3G

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Tommy John surgery?

Elbow surgery, named after Tommy John of the Los Angeles Dodgers because he was the first professional sportsman to have the surgery in 1974.

Wikipedia: Tommy John surgery

Panther’s News: Delhomme’s Surgery

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Cellphone Voice Privacy setting?

Basically worthless setting to encrypt your voice communication on your cellphone.  Verizon does not support it, but rumor is that NE Ohio has a carrier that does support it.  The reason it’s worthless is that someone would have to try really really hard to intercept your calls, and if they were trying that hard, they’d probably be able to decode it (probably law enforcement, who could legally have access to your calls).

Cellphone forums

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EVDO?

Evolution Data Optimized. Also abbreviated as EVDO, EV-DO, EvDO, 1xEV-DO or 1xEvDO. Allows access to the 3G network (see above) using various devices including cellphones and laptops. Can you tell I recently got a cellphone?

EVDOinfo.com

Wikipedia: EVDO

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a bunch of cell phone answers here:

Mobiledia

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