Yin Yang

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids But They're Dead!

2020-02-26T21:57:00.002-06:00

Have you ever seen the movie, Honey I Shrunk the Kids? If you have, you know I'm about to ruin the magic for you!

I was thinking on it some time ago and the thought of how terrifying that experience really would be. Imagine being that size and confronting the terrors that are microbes and parasites! The reality to which you would be subjected would render you catatonic.

Imagine wrestling with a mite or some such! You, a fleshy, soft bag of water, fighting for your life against multitudes of arthropods with their missing spines and spiky, sharp exoskeletons!

I think maybe I should write a short story on it, but Miyazaki adapted the Borrowers in The Secret World of Arietty and beat me to the punch.

Is nothing original anymore?

P.S. Happy over-a-decade-since-my-last-post!

Close Finish

2014-12-16T06:47:00.001-06:00

Read this first:

http://allthingsd.com/20130102/court-says-negative-yelp-reviews-shouldnt-be-censored/

Here's the problem that this article presents: people are stupid. Not necessarily the one in this article, but the general populous. If that makes me sound pompous and arrogant, then I'll take it.

For your consideration: the worker stuck in a rut. Their boss sucks, they don't feel motivated to work, blah blah, whine, etc. This person has probably never considered to look inside at themselves and consider for one moment that the problems in their work life could be self-induced. The same goes for some negative reviewers of businesses online. Sometimes these people aren't looking outside themselves. Sure they're paying their hard-earned money (and I've heard enough bitching from many anonymous sources for how many people barely lift a finger for their "hard earned money") for some service, but that doesn't mean that they can't have an empathetic ear to what's going on at the business. Maybe the business is swamped, maybe short staffed. These problems may not be under their control. I've read reviews that give one star to a restaurant because they had to wait a little bit for their food. That's it! Now maybe you're opinion about various services from a business are weighted differently than me, I can understand that, I can accept that, but a one star rating based on one aspect of service does not a complete review make.

I'll leave you with this one, from my days in the serving industry:

Me: Thank you for calling Simulated Italian Cuisine Dough Disk with Tomato Sauce & Various Toppings Shanty, how may I help you?
Customer: I'd like to order a pizza for delivery, how long is your wait?
Me: Delivery time is about an hour.
Customer: Ok, well, I have a flight (emphasis added) that leaves in an hour and a half and I want some pizza.
Me: Well, I would highly suggest you find someplace else to go, we cannot guarantee you that the pizza will get there in an hour and you don't want to be late for your flight.

At this point, the customer orders a pizza anyways, calls back 30 minutes later and starts screaming. I tell them they should have taken my suggestion, and that the pizza wasn't guaranteed free because it hadn't even been an hour yet.

In this situation, this idiot would probably have left a scathing review about our business. Was it our fault? No? Will they skew their review in a way that makes them the victim, assuming they could manage to use a computer? Most likely. Who's the real loser here?

I'm not advocating censorship, I'm merely stating that most reviews will be heavily biased, even the good ones, so I'm simply going to ignore the damned things.

Ugh, the masses.

P.S. One sentence reviews are terrible too. "I love this!" <5 rating="" star=""> adds absolutely no value to the rating system. So much of reviews are watered down by these abominations too!

Teh Life

2014-05-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

Since I only manage a post a year, something I hopefully will change at some point in my life, I figure I could at least list all the things going on that's kept me from blogging. Isn't that half this blog anyways - posts about why I don't post?

I'm getting married this year, so that's a big time killer in most aspects of my life. It's not a bad thing, but I'm hoping I can get a little more time in doing other things after the wedding's over. Some of you may know her as the non-g/f. It's going on 13 years - time to knot it up.

My fiancée and I have been practicing yoga for about 6 months now. We love it! We were going almost every day for many months, but now it's more of a weekend thing with workload and wedding planning getting in the way.

I've been pushing closer to my dream of becoming a musician as well. Mil (guitar player/coworker/friend) and I have been rehearsing much more. We have some pretty good music making chemistry, with probably about 20 songs in various stages of completion under our belt. I feel as soon as we get some lyrics down, we can maybe start performing them to actual people!

I have lost my two girl piggies as of now, Libby and Linny. They are very much missed.

I have gained 3 fur sons, all guinea pigs, each with his own distinct personality. Henry, the big cantaloupe of a pig, a.k.a. Mr. Butterscotch Ripple, or King Pig is the friendliest. He comes up to you in his cage, which is extremely rare in guinea pigs. He's a cuddler.

Kip, who I truly love as a guinea pig, would be someone I would hate were he a human being. He sets up situations with the other pigs like he's defenseless and pathetic, but then tries to bully them and snap at them when they're least expecting it. I'm pretty sure he's on the bottom rung of the pecking order, but he strives to be first. It will never happen. Ever. Henry is about twice his size, and even though Kip has fattened himself up enough to almost weigh as much as Henry, he just doesn't have what it takes for alpha pig.

Emile is our youngest. He's cute/ridiculous/energetic/punk all rolled into one. He's very squirrel-like, zipping about the cage, always curious to explore new areas. I call him punk and ridiculous because of his fur. All the boys are some part Abyssian, but Emile has some long haired pig in him. It's on his back end and makes him look like he's wearing a grass skirt. This fluffy spiked out hair also gives him a punk rock look from the front.

Definitely an anomalous group. We've had Henry and Kip for about a year, and Emile for couple of months and they've kept us busy.

So besides working my 40+ hours a week, this is what I've been up to.

Sensibility In the Time of the Internet

2014-05-09T16:35:00.001-05:00

What is real and what is worth it in this age of the internet? Most articles I see (and admittedly, I don't always go far out of my range to read good articles) are so completely polarized or garner such polarizing viewpoints, it's a waste of time and breath to grace them with opinion. Worse, is that many people actually waste their time spouting uninformed garbage in the comments just to rile each other up.

As we move forward in this age, I'm becoming more withdrawn of my opinion; holding my cards close. Why should I even put my thoughts out there when someone is most likely going to attack me? How many of these conversations are repeated in different areas only to find the same types of people talking about it? How does one do anything about this? I'd like to think people put their opinions out there to be heard, however none of them seem to take any action on the matter and just opinionate. The hard truth is that there's probably sensibility in the middle. Both sides of the argument must be examined and the best parts must be ferreted out. At any rate, any change seen to a particular area will most likely result from collaboration or ceding lines from both sides.

Delta

2013-05-08T17:08:00.001-05:00

How does one encourage true change in America? Lately, I've been sending many petitions via facebook/twitter for people to sign for various causes to affect change. I read about environmentalism, or lack thereof, I read about the corporate stranglehold on our country, I read about human rights, internet rights, and agriculture. But mostly, I read about many people's disappointment with the state of things, whether informed or not. I was reading an article about additives in our food supply. Many people make snide or sarcastic comments, some make encouraging ones, but the fact is nothing is getting done. We can all sit around and sign petitions all day day "pressuring" governing bodies and representatives, but if they don't do what we ask, there are no consequences. We simply just shrug and blame the other and joke of our plight. These are our lives that are affected. If we cannot stand up and fight for this, our life, what are we doing? I feel like many members of this country are simply complacent. I think the turning point will be revolution. The situation in America is going to get much worse before it gets better, and to change things in this country, lives will probably be lost. And that's why I think there's no real action right now. There are no consequences for those who turn a blind eye on the overall good and instead opt for personal gain. I'm not one for violent conflict, but these "pressures" we put on the governing bodies aren't working. They just keep getting paid by a corporation and do its bidding rather than listen to the common man. I realize the United States government was designed specifically such that change would be slow, but the most glaring fact is that change is occurring in the opposite direction - it's changing to the benefit of the corporation, the money. Greed in America has been covertly hiding here, overtly showing there, but it's the lifeblood of the current state of things. I'm truly at a loss for what to do, since I feel the complacency is abound here. Even I don't have time to truly affect change, I feel, at least not in every way I want to. That's the other issue. Many of us are so incapacitated by our choices in life that we lose the time and ability to make evolutionary change for our species. But to do that takes great sacrifice. Would you rather free yourself from what holds you and do what you want, or sacrifice your life in service to humanity? I guess that's a question every person must ask him or her self. I've been considering blogging about steps I think will "fix" America, which I think would be fun. Let's do this. Let's try to really make a difference. I'll stand by you. For those interested, here was the article I was reading. Take a gander through the comments section.

Lost and Amusing

2012-01-17T20:08:00.000-06:00

The saying, "It's always the last place you look," is amusing. Of course it's the last place you look, because you find it. Although it implies that the search was long and difficult, but fruitful. Let's hope I wonder back here this year more than I have in the past.

May luck shine on you all.

Meditation

2011-07-31T00:00:00.033-05:00

How long has it been that you've gone without a distraction? When was the last time you sat in silence with a blank mind or just with your own mind? I find myself asking this question more and more often these days.

Years ago, I bought a book called, "Awakening Your Psychic Powers". Usually, I regard psychics with a mixed opinion. Some of them are hokey, some are credible, and some of what they do can be described similarly. I've always had a fascination with psychics, so I bought this book knowing I would pick it up and read it eventually. The author bases his teachings (I may be saying this wrong, the teachings may be Edgar Cayce's reiterated) on those of famous psychic Edgar Cayce.

It's completely not how I imagined it would be in terms of writing and what it teaches. I guess I expected something that would have a mix of outright incredulous promises with some realistic practices, but surprisingly, it had been most of the latter. Some of the conclusions the author drew seemed abrupt and not well reasoned, but he always sighted studies. However, the guidelines it gave for building basic intuition (i.e. psychic powers) are great. It's been a few years now since I've read the book, and unfortunately, haven't given the time to develop anything. It is at the forefront of things I want to do, but I have difficulty in unplugging myself from technology, though you wouldn't be able to tell with how often I post on this blog.

Others who know me well, may be somewhat shocked that a scientific mind, if I may be so bold to call myself such, would consider something like this credible at all. If I can say nothing else, it's that I have an open mind and I think you should to, whether or not it's for psychics or for trying a new food. Though I haven't developed my intuitive powers, I have delved further in the world of spirituality and other new age practices since reading this book and I'll probably share things as they come up.

At any rate, give yourself some time in the next few days to just turn off every distraction around you and tune into the world around you, even if it's just sitting on your couch. If you have family, try it with them. Truly try to feel yourself in the present when you do. Maybe nothing will happen, maybe something will. Talk with someone about your experience. You could even post about it in the comments if you please. You may be surprised.

My Mind is Open Spaces

2011-07-24T17:29:00.000-05:00

This is some serious shit right here. I mean, as soon as you read this, spread the word immediately - no hesitating! Family, friends, work-related acquaintances, perhaps even enemies, depending on their ability to spread the good word.

I learned late last year, or maybe it was earlier this year that one should only use one space after a sentence. I thought it was fallacy, but I learned otherwise. It took some time to correct the anomaly, but I was vigilant about the change and was eventually successful, and it was far less painful than I anticipated.

I was enlightened at a friend's party about this corrupt aberration of the typing process. What's more, it's persisted for so long and it's still being taught in schools - after all, yours truly was learned in this manner.

This disgusting crime against the typed word can be researched here. I feel it my duty to inform you, the reader of this, but do not hesitate! Think of all the extra space on the web you can conserve without all of those extra spaces! Conserve people, conserve! Leave room for our children, and our childrens' children. Please, won't somebody think of the kids!

Mold Point Match

2010-09-12T00:00:00.000-05:00

Does your brand X of sealable bag cheese mold quickly after opening it, or well before it's expiration date? Then take your hands out of there! The bacteria on even clean hands is enough to overcome the sterile pasteurization process used to make the cheese. Pour the cheese out, so that you don't have the chance to contaminate it, and if you pour too much, save what remains in another container.

I suppose I don't even have to mention what happens when you drink out of the carton of milk? If you think your clean hands are dirty, then think of what's in your mouth! I know people have been doing this since antiquity, but yuck! Even if your milk doesn't spoil from your oral bacteria, it's going to fester in there!

Next up - cottage cheese! Are you like me and just eat it right out of the container? Your oral bacteria gets in there and makes it a fun lil' playground!

I'm sure there are many other examples you can think of, so post away in the comments!

Humans and our food! What a disgusting, delicious smorgasbord!

Minnesota Pissed!

2010-09-05T08:58:00.000-05:00

Check out this video of moods of the U.S. based off of Tweets:

I think we are angrier than New York! We seem to be happiest around 6-7 AM and around 10 PM. Considering we live in the Midwest and are usually behind on the techy stuff, I don't know how much stock to put into this - maybe all the hipsters are angry, who knows.

I thought it was interesting though.

Insection

2010-08-03T21:33:00.002-05:00

I have a weakness for non-human living things. It's not that I think any human's life isn't special or important, I just feel there's just too many of us on Earth right now. With my weakness for non-human living things, I go out of my way to save them. Any of you out there save spiders, centipedes, moths, etc. (Uncle Rob, you don't count, as you probably have to kill scorpions or be killed by them), or do you merely mash them into oblivion because of their many legs, manic movements or stinging bites? On a side note, I actually despise moths, but I don't kill them, I just don't like their strange dust, furry, soft bodies, and erratic movements. You will literally see me run screaming like a little girl from a moth, though I did actually save one the other day from the back of my car. It took me about 10 minutes to stop jumping whenever the blasted thing moved to get away from me, but I finally got him out; made my girlfriend late for work and everything. It wanted to tuck away in a remote part of my rear window and roast to death during the 90 degree Minnesota summer - an untimely end it would have been for him. Luckily, fate put him up against me and he lived. Moving on, then.

Often times I consider three choices when encountering a bug. Do I kill them, leave them be, or gingerly capture them and release them outside? Let's go over the options, shall we? After all, this is my writing outlet :).

Killing them usually involves the least amount of work, unless doing so results in bodily juices and/or blood (sometimes from another human being, like from a mosquito, for example) to smear on your walls, carpeting, or arm; then you've got a fine mess to tend after. If you choose this route, keep that in mind. In our always-on, 24/7 society, this is the most favored route - it's easy (there are millions of the buggers out there anyways, what's one less, right?), if you are the male or male role in your relationship, and your girlfriend/wife/husband/partner/significant other dislikes them, and you deal with it, you become the big strong hero/ine - and possibly get some lovin' as a result - and finally, if not most importantly, it allows you to execute your primal violent need to kill stuff. I don't like to kill them, because I don't see it as logical. I would only kill something for sustenance, so I'm not going to kill a bug, and they probably serve a useful biological function that benefits me anyways. Most insects, arachnids and around-the-house crawly things eat others like it that usually prey on we, humans. Did you know there is approximately one species of wasp that preys on every other species of insect out there?

This brings us to option numero dos: leave them be. Now, I happen to spend my life with someone who is not afraid of squash a friendly invertebrate, so if I decide to leave one be, I have to consider this. Most of the time, she will ask me to perform option 3 (sounds kinky, ey?), since she knows I will always do it anyways, but still, if I'm not around, she gives the bug a few minutes to disappear or meet its end. I find this absolutely adorable, because she will actually tell the poor thing, "You have 10 minutes to leave! I don't want to kill you, but I will!" Usually this isn't the best option either, since a house is a desolate desert when it comes to insect food (the exception is for those wood eaters). Most houses are equipped to stop insects from entering (although they always find a way, don't they?) and if they happen to get in, the owners of said house put out horrible chemicals designed to destroy them. (Have kids? Want them getting into this chemical and accidentally digesting it? I vote no!) So it's a painful death either way - starve or die of poison.

This brings me to option 3. This is my favorite option, because it generally saves a life (I'll explain in a moment), makes me feel good, and allows the insect to return to follow its biological urges. I say generally, because there is always a catch. Once outside, you could be placing it in the midst of its predators. I generally don't look around and say, "Oh, yes, a ravenous wasp is awaiting you mere feet away, my arachnid fellow, I'll find a different spot for you." I just set them in the grass or flowers and let that be that. You could consider its life span as well - most insects don't have the longest life spans. Keeping all these things in mind, is it more human to smear an insects life blood all over your shoe, or to let it have a chance to survive in the dangerous unfair world we all live in? I'll leave it up to you to decide. Just remember, if you kill the spider that makes Spiderman who he is, the world's end will be nigh!

Can I say too, that I didn't fathom this post being this long. I need to write more, apparently, because this must have been pent up for some time. I also imagined that I had a British accent while writing this. Thus the words "blasted", "bugger" and the phrase, "moving on, then." I should have thrown a bullocks in there or two...

No Apologies

2009-11-23T15:11:00.006-06:00

I've read numerous blogs now, that from time to time, apologize for having text heaving posts. WTF? Are we so ingrained in the instantaneous, flashy, 24 hour a day culture, that if we don't have youtube videos and pictorals adorning our web posts, there's a need for apologies? Fuck that! You, my dear readers, will always receive text heavy posts, I'll even try to moisten them properly, so as to prevent dry socket. If you aren't squirming now, look at this:

Dreamscapes XIII

2009-11-16T16:56:00.000-06:00

12/25/07
These next couple are really foggy. I only slightly remember the second one.

I was Jimmy Chamberlain of the Smashing Pumpkins; I could play just like him (in reality, I'm not that good [he says with much humility...]). We had a show, but it was a poor performance and everyone disliked us. We were kicked off stage during a song break.

Dream shift.

I was investigating an eastern European woman at a beach, because she broke the law and was a target of a top secret U.S. government faction to which I was employed. She knew I was following her, and quickly entered a luxury hotel to evade me. I followed her in and lost her trail for a short while. I was terrified of my faction, and I didn't agree with their tactics, and was weary of this mission. When I caught up to her, we struggled briefly and I ended up telling her that she was a target and that the government was going to torture her and two of her friends if she didn't escape.

Dream shift.

There was a strange food drive with work, and we were cleaning out a section of a school. The halls had removable walls that acted like doors (somewhat like the Japanese shoji, but without a screen, the walls just moved), and behind each was some stuff. I faintly remember going into a few different rooms. We found some tables in one of the rooms, and set them up in the hallway. I think we were handing out the food (not collecting it) and the leftovers were to be given to Conan O'Brien.

Dream shift.

Some dude at my college (not the college I actually attended) wanted to beat me up because I had done something weird or socially awkward. The college was like a large child's play world, similar to those at McDonald's. The students ran around in it and it was built for child sized people, so it was pretty ridiculous seeing adults running through it.

12/24/07
This one was very exciting and cool, if only I could remember more details!

There were two griffins flying around town and my dad and I were trying to get to a safe haven. The rule was, as long as the griffins didn't notice you, you were fine, but once they noticed you, you had to flee or kill them, because they would relentlessly pursue and attack you until you were dead. We both went unnoticed for a small part of the dream, although we were a bit on edge, trying to dodge the griffins. I was eventually noticed by a griffin after crossing the street through a part of town. It wasted no time in attacking me. I have a note about a giant (buffalo sized) guinea pig, but I forget the role it had. My dad risked being seen by the griffin to help me out - once the griffin saw its first victim, it wouldn't focus on anyone else unless something got in its way, so the griffin attacked him with a saw and spears. He escaped unharmed, and I was able to flee to a liquor store, which turned out to be the safe haven. My dad met with me soon after.

12/17/07
MDT, CAS and I were going up north to see 311. I drove myself up to Pierz, MN. MDT and CAS were to meet up with me. I discovered 311 made a quick stop in town on their way to the venue and met them outside of a house on Main Street. I remember walking up and down Main Street, smoking cigarettes. I ended up meeting two other guys and they offered me a ride, so I jumped in their car to drive the rest of the way up. After about a half hour, I remembered that MDT and CAS needed a ride from me from Pierz, so I told my new friends that I needed to go back. They didn't want to drive all the way back, so I had them drop me off in middle of nowhere, and told them that I'd walk back. I looked around at a few of the houses in the area and I noticed a Buddhist house of worship that seemed intriguing, so I wandered over. I entered and looked about the place. At one point, I was healed by some spiritual person using Rhea (says GBC, when I asked her about it in reality). After my healing, laying on the same table, a kid started to walk on me. After a short while, the leader of the house asked the kid to leave, so she could walk on me. As this is all going down, my limbs feel like they are aflame. Whatever was happening, was affecting my aura - a truth I realized in the dream.

12/10/07
This one's a bit foggy. A scarecrow spirit was possessing people and changing them into scarecrows. He jumped from person to person, a very nasty, evil spirit that was somewhat difficult to detect once he had possessed someone. From what I recall, the moment he jumped to a new person, the previous person morphed into a lifeless scarecrow. I ended up tricking the scarecrow spirit into destroying his tomato heart, releasing those he possessed. I don't remember how I tricked him, but I do vividly remember the beating tomato heart on the outside of his vest right before I tricked him.

Dream shift.

I don't know what his fate was in the dream, but spirits were showing me a key in CAS's parents' house to a small music box. It was hidden in the walls somewhere.
I told him about the dream the other day, and he said that there was a box hidden.

12/7/07
There were murders outside the house at my parents', although the dream was not scary. My uncle Tom was there investigating and he said something about gypsu guards and knife bandits. The gypsu guards comment caused me to awake laughing hysterically.

Dream shift.

I was at the cabin excitedly collecting multicolored mushrooms visually similar to the wax psychedelic ones you can find at Spencers/Down In The Valley, etc. There were tons of them everywhere and they were vivid in color. The mushrooms were all growing in the grass in the area around and behind the guest cabin, which had been cleared out and leveled so that it appeared as a steep valley. In reality, there are many trees and flora around the guest cabin and the driveway inclines up to the road about 100 feet back, the land nearby which owns the guest cabin, sloping up with it. The little cabin had been remodeled and refurbished and was really nice. The g/f was playing in the water, but I don't remember if I joined her, or if I was just watching from the top of the boathouse above the lake. At one point, gargantuan loons were in the lake. My family and I were watching them for a while before they rose from the water slightly and we could tell they were disguised military vehicles.

Dream shift.

I was in the basement of a building and I noticed a door that I knew had a huge amount of water building up behind it and about to break through. As I assessed the situation, I grew manic and desperate. I knew that if I didn't think of something quick to escape or hold the door back, I would not live to see another 10 minutes. I noticed a set of dilapidated stairs that didn't even touch down to the floor that led up and out of the room, and had barely enough time to take them, but I miraculously managed to escape. I emerged onto a level between sets of steps of a on old university-style building, with lots gilded interior work, marble floors, and pillars set in the walls. At this point, the dream becomes blurred, and I think I still had to keep climbing to escape the water that was rushing up to meet me once again.
This dream sort of reminds me of a level on Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Dream shift

My g/f and I were at a department store drinking water from fountain that shoots up from the floor into your mouth when standing upright. There was a store with mittens and gloves, where some weird dude was asking Heather questions and then touched her face.

11/26/07
I was by the Brookdale mall. I climbed the guard fences by the highway to cross over to my parents' house. After that, I went to my Grandma's house, which is a few blocks away. It was haunted. When I arrived my uncle Tom (dad's side) and Todd (mom's side, same as my grandma) were there. There was a little boy's spirit in the house and outside, a tree that had two of its three main branches cut off started moving of its own accord. My uncle Tom stood in front of it and it grew taller and formed a face. Suddenly, it started writhing around wildly. I awoke terrified in the very early morning from this one.

11/25/07
I dreamt the story behind the Death Eaters and how they came to be. My old dog, Shadow, was eating tongues out of people while they were still alive and they were the ones who became the Death Eaters. I awoke screaming Shadow's name.

All You Have To Do Is Decide What To Do With The Time You Are Given

2009-09-05T15:11:00.000-05:00

What do you do with your free time? Hell, what do you do with any of your time?

With the internet always beckoning, the rise in social media sites such as facebook, twitter, and now Socialbrowse, it's getting harder and harder just to have time at all.

Here is what I do, and what's on my list to do:

I have roughly 700 mog articles to read through, most of them, I won't spend much time on (I hope - *gulp*).
Other emails.
I love reading my friends' blogs, because it's a great window into their lives. Each person's unique writing style adds depth to their character, especially the friends I don't know very well, and it's absolutely fascinating to me.
I just discovered Google Reader, which basically organizes my online madness and reminds me how far behind I grow everyday with this stuff.
Webcomics - I have many I could read, but really only keep up with QC. I really miss Penny Arcade. I'm a year behind in that.
Then there's the non web stuff. Playing guitar, drums, dance, friends, g/f, other interests, reading, blogging.

Then there's graduate school. I keep thinking about it, and I want to go back, but then there's a whole other ball of yarn. What would I go back for? Music, biology, environmental studies, materials science?

Argh!

This small list of things is what keeps me busy. That leads me to the Gandalf the Gray quote in the title. Usually I just do, there isn't much deciding. Life will pass you by if you just sit there. Go out and experience it!

True Activism

2009-08-28T15:11:00.000-05:00

I thought what these two guys are doing is just Jim Dandy.

If you click on the title link, you'll be taken to Democracy Now, which showcases an interview with the Yes Men. The Yes Men are political activists who mask themselves as legitimate corporate spokespeople and make announcements that they believe these companies should be doing.

In the clip above, one of the Yes Men poses as a spokesman for Dow Chemical and apologizes to the people of Bhopal, India for the mess their subsidy, Union Carbide made years ago. He goes on to say how the people will be compensated for their disabilities and for the pollution of their homes caused by Union Carbide.

Happy 8th & 5th

2009-08-27T20:59:00.003-05:00

As of the 22nd, my blog is 5 years old ! Yahoo! I haven't done a whole lot with it, but I'm satisfied with what I have.

In a few days, I will have been with my g/f for 8 years! Woot~

We will be visiting Chi-town to mark our anniversary and actually be taking in the city. We've been there many times for concerts, but with the exception of one visit to a museum, we haven't actually experienced it. Stops include the Shedd Aquarium, Natural History Museum, the Science Museum - really only for the Harry Potter exhibit, and many different food joints, including one that serves one her favorites - phở, a type of Vietnamese noodle soup. During the Top Chef Masters competition, we were rooting for Rick Bayless and he won! We had already planned a visit to one of his Chicago area restaurants, but now we're worried we may not get in, because I'm sure he'll be packed for a long time now! The particular restaurant we are going to doesn't take reservations, though, so we have a change, and won't mind waiting for this chef's awesome eats! Try the Frontera brand salsas - they are so awesomely tasty!

Politcal Rant

2009-08-27T20:37:00.004-05:00

Don't read it. Unless of course....

We live in a country of the free, yet we are all chained whether or not we like to admit it; chained into complacency. The state of America is deteriorating. Close minded fools are getting their wish of "keep these immigrants away from my land and my job" as fewer and fewer internationals are coming here to start new businesses to help build our economy. They would deny these people searching for the same freedom their ancestors came here for because of fear, hate, and greed.

Hedonism and selfishness rules the American mind. We live in one of the richest countries in the world, yet we have homeless and children without health care! What of our health care system? Blocks abound! We can't afford universal health care because we just gave all of our money to the same people who put us in this predicament - the same people who are still making record profits, the same people who are swaying government law making and policy. When is our revolution going to come? When is enough going to be enough? It's going to be the common man against the elite and big business. If so many of us weren't obsessed with money, we wouldn't be where we are today. "Why should I pay for someone who doesn't want to work?" Do you honestly think there many who would take advantage of the system like that? Ask yourself! Doesn't everyone you know, even the unemployed in this cold economic climate, search for work? Yes! I don't know one person, unless they are working towards graduate school. There are few who would, I'm not naive, but not enough to truly affect everything the way these fools think.

Bah! I'm done with this!

Molar-ity - A Small Lesson in Chemistry

2009-08-22T15:11:00.000-05:00

I don't know if this has been studied in any peer review journals, but drawing from my knowledge of science, it seems that this would work.

After you drink a soda/pop/high fructose corn syrup infused carbonated phosphoric acid beverage, whatever your chosen vernacular, swish your mouth with water a couple of times - hell, drink a full glass of water, swishing as you go.

Why, you ask? Well, my friend, read on! I'll try not to make this too complex - you have my apologies if I do. I don't know the scientific knowledge of my readership either, so if I sound condescending, than I am sorry.

Phosphoric acid, which is the main acid in most dark pops, is highly acidic; we're talking a pH of 1-2.5 - think battery acid. Yes, you may not consider it when you drink it, pop is acid - that in and of itself is hard to wrap your mind around sometimes - millions of people drink highly sugared acid as a treat.

Now, acid is present as free radical hydrogen molecules in an aqueous solution - the more hydrogens, the more acidic the solution (the chemical equation for phosphoric acid is H3PO4, although the amount of oxidation [loss of hydrogen] varies in solution, you can see that the chemical has 3 potential acid hydrogens). Molarity in a chemical solution is the concentration of molecules of a given chemical in that solution. High molarity of phosphoric acid means that there's fewer water molecules and more chemical molecules, in our case with pop, we have high concentration of phosphoric acid molecules relative to the amount of water and other constituents of saliva.

I don't have a can of pop in front of me, but I know that the main ingredient is water, so one, maybe two, of those hydrogens per phosphoric acid molecule are floating around in there. When you drink pop, however, the higher molarity of acid in pop changes the pH of your saliva, effectively turning your mouth acidic (more so). If you drink some water after you finish the pop (dentist tip: every time you sip, it takes 20 minutes for your body to bring your oral pH to equilibrium - thanks, Dr. Wintheiser), the molarity of your newly acidic mouth, I postulate, should drop dramatically, and while the pH of your mouth will still be low, your body can more easily tune the pH back to its normal level.

Unfortunately, I can't think of what to do about the sugar. Sugar is also the big enemy in tooth decay. The bacteria in your mouth use it to make acid to dissolve your enamel, leading to cavities. You may suggest drinking sugar free pop to get around it, and that's fine, but I prefer to veer away from aspartame and other man-made chemicals as much as possible.

So there you have it a somewhat quick lesson in chemistry. Hope it didn't read like a Ben Stein lecture.

Electrified

2009-08-13T08:23:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, for the first time in years, I rocked out. I mean, really rocked out.

I organized a jam session for yesterday with a buddy from work a few weeks back. I was a bit nervous not only because I never really jammed with anyone outside of my close friends and that was years ago, but also because I'm a nerdy unconfident man. Over the years I honed my skills as a drummer, and I've been sort of writing music on guitar, but I'm much less adept at the stringed instrument than the skinned instrument. My buddy rents a house and has roomates so that further added to my nervousness - I'm very much the perfectionist and was wondering how badly I might suck or how their opinions of my skills would form.

At first, it was just my friend and I. I played a little guitar and he was on the drums. After about 5-10 minutes, we switched as my knowledge of the guitar was a little lacking. That's when the magic happened. We played a few things and one of his roomates, who also happens to play guitar stepped in, and we really went to town. I tend to get too excited and optimistic about things in general, but the whole experience was very cool. The two guys have written quite a few tunes, and I improved drum parts to all of them. The general concensus was that it was fun and we plan on doing it again. Perhaps we will form a band?

Freedom & Humane vs. Corporal Punishment

2009-07-18T03:11:00.000-05:00

This justice system of ours needs a reevaluation. There should be punishment or consequences to acts of crime, not these slaps on the wrist that we have now - something that makes you not want to commit such acts.

1.) Serve 'em bread n' water in prison w/ vitamins for heinous criminals, so that criminals have time to learn from their mistakes. "Why do they force us to eat this shit? Oh, it's because I'm being punished, had I not commited I wouldn't be here. Man, I'm glad I only stole someone's car and totalled it, not knowing the effects on their life and whether or not they can afford a new one, considering maybe they don't have insurance, and not something worse." If you are there for life in prison, you get a new meal every Friday that is special. Prison shouldn't be all fucking rainbows and sunshine. This would cut down on costs as well.

2.) A three strikes rule for some of the more serious crimes, at which point you lose something dear like a finger or hand (eye for an eye) for things like murder - removal of a leg with no chance for a prosthetic one, and castration for repeat offenders for child sexual molestation. Hell, you could just cut off their pinky toe, so they have balance issues, this way it would be trying to attempt another attack. This way, you are also marked for your crimes. Unfortunately, people tend to not forgive for those things, but then that's just more punishment for those actions.

3.) Basically shown and known consequences for your actions. If you steal, not petty stealing, like millions of dollars, you lose a hand or two.

4.) Dissolve laws that fill prisons for minor things like possession of marijuana.

5.) No more cable in prison, or workout rooms so criminals can get physically stronger and programs for rehabilitation so there are fewer people who recommit crimes.

People only continue to commit crimes because they know they can get away with it. I know I don't know what prison is really like, but I think that this would help the out of prison world much. As far as revamping the inside of prison world, I don't know. Then there's always the mantra that what is lawful and what isn't is wrong. I regress.

Blessed & Cursed, Yet Covered With Sprinkles!

2009-07-10T03:11:00.003-05:00

I've discovered a problem with the internet and it's a deep pimple that you just can't *POP*. While the information out there is easy and accessible, when the majority of the writers don't have a solid understanding of what they are talking about (personal understanding/perspective) you begin to have legitimate sounding material that isn't quite correct. Having a scientific background myself, I have to tell you that even people with a solid science/math background don't always fully understand what the hell is going on, present writer included. This is why critical thinking is a must for education, and I fear it is going away. Nowadays I feel there are people who side step math and science because it is "difficult". This is a side effect of our technologically advanced society, that we are brought what we want on a silver platter. I think once you have the necessary critical thinking skills, math and science comes much easier to learn and understand. I have found that many subjects are much easier to grasp with good critical thinking skills, and I find that I become more and more skeptical of scientific studies that are published, or at least reiterated by the press. When I was in college, I recall hearing pleas for more scientific writers that can digest the information of the study they are reporting, understand it and repackage into a pill that can be taken with a bit of water instead of an anus splitting suppository with devastating side affects.

I've found a few articles out there written with a bias. People asserting their opinion in their writing, when they should just be reporting the facts. Then there's the associated press. Don't even waste your time reading any of their articles. I have numerous friends who have read their articles and they have been wrong with the facts. The point it, don't believe everything that you read - put a grain or two of salt on that internet article, book or newspaper. Then, when you read it, you'll have a bit of a reminder that it could've been trumped up. If you easily swallow everything you read, it's going to give you indigestion. Fact check, think about it to see if it makes sense, do the math, don't just see numbers and assume it works. Remember everyone uses "facts" to support their argument and these are often warped to their advantage. I always thought a good debater can bring up the opposition and at least try to diffuse it, and if not, recognize that their "one way" isn't perfect.

There is also a coming boon of free education on the web. Schools like Harvard and MIT put their professors lectures online for free. These, my friends, are the sprinkles.

It Begins

2009-07-03T11:18:00.000-05:00

I don't really know how to begin writing this one, as it's what I would call a spiral post - it will be the beginning of a series of blog posts, maybe two or more. I guess it depends on how much content I cram into each post. On that note, I find that I blog even less than I used to on account that I can think I reach more people via facebook link sharing. Although, who knows how many of my friends actually click on my content, if many do, they don't comment on them. Really, I prefer blogging, because it allows for a forum-like venue; again, it's not something I experience because I don't get very many comments, probably on account of the fact that I'm not a consistent blogger.

Anyway...

If you have a moment, actually, about 20 of them, all one minute in length, watch The Story of Stuff. It's a little documentary on the cycle of the shit we waste our money - our stuff - and how we are and why we were brainwashed into wanting it. Basically it explains our consumer driven society.

While I enjoy this film on a few different levels, there are a few things I don't like about it. The narrator blames the government, "the people who are supposed to take care of us", as it is said in the video, as one of the sources of the problem, as well as the large corporations who are dedicated to their never-ending thirst for the dollar (my embellishment). While this is true, I think she needs to emphasis that it we, the people/consumers, who have the biggest blame in all of this. While we can claim we were brainwashed and that we had little power, I think everyone knows deep down that this has been happening and we've done nothing to stop it. You can't blame the government if you put those people in that position. If you don't like the way things are run in our country, pull those fuckers out and put in the right people! The corporations, I suppose, wouldn't get away with what they do if the right people were in the government regulating things. I know what I just said. Yes! "Regulating". I personally don't like the government to have to regulate the shit out of our country, but the filth heading these corporations will find any string, hole or what have you to weasel their way through and profit from it all. After all, that's one of the things America is all about. The ability to build a company up from the ground and profit. Many folks nowadays consider this, "the pursuit of happiness". We are taught in business school to profit, the myriad of ways it works and how to change it if you aren't. Someone told me at work that if you aren't profiting year after year, your company isn't successful. How does that even make sense? There is only so much money in the world and if every company is profiting, where is the money coming from?

You know, I should just stop there because, this could go on forever: Money is imaginary to money is backed by hard wealth, or whatever it's called, i.e. valuable metals or materials to the earth only contains X amount of those materials, so governments make up more of it. This is a topic I'm not well versed in and, taken how fired up I get about it, it shows. Someone, please enlighten my foolishness.

One last thing about corporations. I know not every one of them is greedy, I don't want to group or generalize all of them together, because there are companies making a difference out there. If you are one of them, thank you!

This post "series" brings up one other thing. I have sort of a ghost post I've been saving since I first started this blog about advertising. I think this post is what will finally make me write about it. It will be the second in the series.

Dreamscapes XII

2009-05-21T16:33:00.000-05:00

11/11/07
As a child, my mother left me some mythical paint brushes and pipes, in a room on a shelf, as she was going to abandon/leave me. The house was designed South American style - walls of clay or stone and sat inside a complex of other buildings made of similar construct all inside a walled city; the house had open, glassless windows. As she was leaving me behind, I witnessed something kill her.
Years later, I was defending these brushes and pipes from thieves but I had to use them and recharge them on the window sill in sunlight to do it. There was a small button of light that shone from above the sill that the brush bristles had to touch before they could be recharged. Villains were pouring in and I had to defeat them as quickly as possible, so I had time to recharge before the next gang rushed in. Fortunately, I had a small party of friends to help me along the way. I could use the brushes - each had a special power, like healing or flame summoning or something - but only for a while. Then the bushes had to be put back on the sill to be recharged in the sunlight. I remember droves of enemies coming in and being able to defeat them easily, until the creature who killed my mother years ago appeared. A long, difficult battle with my friends ensued. Eventually the thing that killed my mother, which was revealed as a black cougar who took the form of a man during battle, stood atop one of the buildings. I was able to sneak up behind him and whack him in the back of the head three times, before he fell off of the building and was finally defeated. After we recouped from our battle and recharged all of the brushes, all of the people from where I work showed up. I was giving them all hugs because the beast was finally defeated.

11/6/07
Chris B. came back/escaped from jail. He showed up at CAS's house and then I felt compelled to take him to my parent's house, so he wouldn't get caught by police. I was able to avoid letting my parents know that Chris was hiding in their basement. He had brought one or two prison mates with him.

To understand this dream, you should read this.

What does this dream mean? Do I really believe Chris is innocent? I struggle with this. He was a dear childhood friend of mine, but he had a troubled family life. I don't know how he got caught up with Carpenter. His life seemed to be turning around right before this all went down.

11/2/07
I was driving through the 35W bridge area (before it had been rebuilt); it was very space age. I got out of the car after driving up to a building/garage where the road ended. I went inside the building and up some stairs which opened up to a platform which was like a gas station. A clerk asked me about the weather and I told him that it was still cloudy, but it wasn't raining, and it was cold. He was upset about the clouds. A customer approached a female attendant and asked how to get out on the road that was behind the building and on with her trip. She was told to take the car elevators back around. Suddenly I was with some scientists and we were climbing another flight of stairs that lead to a platform above the one I was just standing on. This platform had beach sand on it and included a small pool but it was somehow outside and the sky was sunny. Something had landed on earth and the scientists and I were investigating these strange new creatures. One of them looked like a shoe, but when frightened, it morphed into a scorpion like arthropod that would run after your feet. I was trying to get pics of it on my camera, but it moved too fast, morphing into a shoe again once it ceased moving. I kept scaring it to try to capture the creature in it's true form. It started chasing me across the beach until finally it latched onto my foot. I awoke from this dream by slamming my leg down on the bed in reality attempting to get it off in the dream. It's pretty funny remembering how I woke up!

10/14/07
In the amazon rain forest, I stood on a canopy that topped cliffs and gorges all around. The landscape was very vivid with striking colors. From high atop huge cliffs, CAS, MDT and I jumped, falling thousands of feet. Tree branches would catch us at the bottom and fling us up again, like a super trampoline, one that propelled you leagues into the air. I had the ability to glide a little bit. After bouncing around the jungle a bit, we decided to try to get to the forest floor. It took a while to change the upward propulsion to forward propulsion, to try to fall lower to the ground. I loose the dream a little bit here. Eventually, I think we dropped into an old shack and were being watched/followed. I remember something about climbing through ductwork.

Dream shift. I was sitting somewhere and I remember having a loose tooth. I wiggled it a little and it just fell out of my mouth! It started with one then, slowly they came out in large numbers. This dream had something to do with teeth grinding. I had an orthodontist referral check last year, and he said that I grind my teeth, which at the time, I had no idea I did. I had this dream before I had the orthodontist check, which is very intriguing! I'm not I was able to record them, but I've had numerous dreams of losing my teeth in the past.

The Envelope

2009-05-21T05:51:00.002-05:00

My chaotic mind has really done it this time. I've decided to try and half-ass vegetarianize myself. Not only am I trying to chose more vegetarian options for meals, but when it comes to meat, I will strive to choose cage free/free range and humanly treated animals' meats. Right now, my g/f and I have decided to have at least one day a week devoted to vegetarian meals, and slowly try and work up from there.

Some of you may roll your eyes - either at my attempt to be vegetarian, or the fact that I think it's difficult to eat healthy, but this is coming from a man, who, as a teen, drank at least 2 pops a day and washed it down with a bag of Chex Mix, every day. This is a difficult goal for me, and I find myself struggling already. As a born snacker, I am used to coming home and indulging in a deep fried or salted snack. What I realized, after reading a few articles from Experience Life Magazine, and looking at the ingredients list of many of my favorite snacks, is most of that stuff is even more terrible for my body (mentally & physically) than even I knew. As my crappy snack food supply diminishes, I've become anxious. When I automatically get up to get a snack, my brain is realizing that those delicious irresistible crap foods are near gone, and I fret for a moment. My God, it's like getting over an addiction! My mind immediately commands me to go to the store to replenish the supply, but I hold myself in check. This time, I'm going to do this right. No, I'm not going to cut myself off and never eat those types of snacks again, but at home, I'm going to refrain. There are plenty of opportunities throughout the year to indulge in crap foods and most of those are celebratory, so I'll have a good reason to indulge.

I've also decided to use help myself along by exercising more regularly again. For years I've neglected running, one of my favorite things to do, but no more! Right now, I've been walking a few miles everyday with the g/f, and I find that it's much easier to convince myself to get up and walk, rather than to run. Eventually, I will start running a few times a week, or playing tennis with Bizzle. Now, I know I've talked about dancing, and I still do that, but this type of exercise is free, versus paying for a multitude of expensive dance classes. My hip hop class is only one day a week, and I've been drumming in African, which helps to work up a sweat, but delivers no real physical health benefits, so that is not nearly enough. I would love to get back into Tae Kwon Do, but I think that will have to wait a while until more debt is paid off, as that is probably the most expensive thing I could do.

What do you do to stay healthy and keep in shape?

Dance As A Means to Meet Hot Chicks

2009-04-28T22:18:00.001-05:00

For all you hetero fellows out there who are lonely, want to find someone special and have adequate social skills, I've got a bit of advice for you - take a dance class and learn to dance.

A drummer friend of mine said this to me the other night in conversation (we'll he said specifically to learn to Salsa) and it's true! I've been going to hip hop, afro modern, and african dance classes for years now, and I won't lie, there are chicks galore in these classes. I can't speak for other areas, but in MN, we have a diverse culture, so there women of all walks of life in these classes. And let's not forget, these are dance classes so the chicks are...how can I put this...HOT!

Not only are you presented with an opportunity to meet lots of different women, but you also get to have fun and tone that flabby, couch potato, Halo-playing-ass as well! I'm speaking to a specific demographic, here. So guys, get out there, learn to groove/move it and say hello.

Of course, there's always the alternative...you'll find some hottie gamer chick one of these days online.