A weakness of sorts

There is a destructive cycle within my psyche that runs endlessly and contributes to the general chaos surrounding me.

There are two separate values which are both linked in an unstable direct relation system, the first of which is my inability to throw things away. Let me state differently: the inability to throw away anything that can still function in some useful capacity. In other words, I cannot stand the fact that I may be disposing of a still effective tool of any sort. It makes me feel like a rich pig. It makes me feel like I'm contributing to the degradation of society. It makes me feel like I am non-resourceful to go about with the idea of, Eh, I'll just buy another one. This problem is especially pronounced when it comes to clothing. The fact that A: it costs a lot of money, B: they can be used outside of their normal sense (e.g. as rags, patches, etc.) and C: I feel like a dirt bag throwing clothing away when I know that there are people who would fight over what I intend to toss out.

This brings to light my second infirmity: I hate clothes. They are absurd manifestations of modern upper class societal motivational factors, almost all of which deviate towards impracticality and ornamentation, as history proves. I'd just as much rather wear a toga as anything else. Just so long as I put it on in the morning and change it out the next day. In other words, I don't find pre-ripped jeans fashionable, nor do I find them practical, nor do I care.

The net result of all of this is that I end up with a gigantic stack of clothing in my closet, some of which were given to me and some of which are just running themselves down. And still, I end up looking the same as I always do. They sit there taking up a ton of space and driving me nuts, but I am powerless to do anything about it.

Unite for Pluto!

If you have been paying any attention at all to recent galactic politics, you would have heard the stunning news that Pluto has been kicked out of the solar system. And why? Because of nothing but cold hard scientific facts and the pressures of subjective galactic social acceptability standards that dictate that Pluto is just a rock with a moon. Just a rock with a moon without an atmosphere.

And what of bald midgets? Are they not people also? Are we to segrogate them into separate groups and give them numerical names for cataloging purposes? Do we endlessly debate the "humanness" of these individuals? Nay! For the answer is obvious to all.

Maybe Pluto is small, maybe it is cold and maybe it does lack an atmosphere, but is it so hard to keep Pluto as a planet for posterity's sake? After all, it has been one since the 1930s. It must be remembered, though, that nostalgia is not the problem. It is the underlying power that is the problem. First Pluto as a planet. What next? The tooth fairy? We are living in troubled times, my friends, and troubled times call for desperate measures.




Read about and follow the epic campaign for pluto here.

Recently I had occasion to bring a flat tire to a garage for work. There happens to be a sunoco gas station and garage in relative proximity to the office, so that is where he gets all his work done. After all of the preaching against stereotyping and broad generalizations of people, you cannot change the fact that this station is run solely by Indians, all of whom are probably related to each other.

I often swap vehicles for oil changes there, but I never really have to talk to them for anything other than to let them know my intentions. He inspected the flat tire, filled it up, twirled it around and around, got some water and poured it on the loud spot. He pulled out a colored pencil and marked a line and said, "Ohhh, see, the rim is cracked", then with a most somber and sorrowful disposition said, "So sorry the bad new". I stifled a laugh.

Eh, yeah they have broken English, and they treat their employees funny and they forget prepositions, but they get the job done and are nice. It is a far cry from the American garage that I had to take a tire to one time. The tire had suffered a blowout on the highway, and when the guy at the garage examined it he smartly informed me that, "D***, this rim is f****** hammered!". They got the job done too, but somehow it wasn't the same as the Indian place.

What news from Sweden?

Sweden always seems like it has something interesting going on in the cultural or political department. This manifests itself even more so with news that I am only now getting a hold of.

It seems that the secret supressed dreams of every person alive are coming true in the Swedish political realm since January first of this year when the Pirate Party was founded. It is the largest organized political party outside of parlament. No, they are not a bunch of peg legged, eye patched buckaneers running for office unfortunately, but they aim to get into parlament for the only three goals on their agenda: shared culture, free knowledge, and protected privacy (Which basically means that you can't have your house taken away for downloading the latest boy-band pre-teen girl hit album). And they have a cool pirate flag logo too.

Quoted from Wikipedia,
"The May 31, 2006 Swedish police raid of the facility hosting The Pirate Bay (and Piratbyrån, along with over 200 other independent site owners, hosted at the same facility) meant a breakthrough for the party in the public eye. From before the raid the party was steadily growing with some ten new members every day, but the aforementioned raid by the police led to more than 500 new members by the end of the day, with a membership count of 2680. The next day had another 930 people register membership, for a total of 3611 members."

Love you, Jimi

Was driving the other day and saw a bumper sticker on the bumper of a car. It said, "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace" -Jimi Hendrix. I laughed and laughed and laughed. The windows were rolled down too.

First off, that notion has been pretty much false for all of world history. Second, who quotes Jimi in a non musical context? He can play the guitar pretty flippin' well. That's about it. Third, I was under the notion that quoting someone who is in a constant state of "high" is bad form. Or maybe it's just me.

Of current events

I am a patriot. I love America. It is a great and wonderful country that I would gladly stand and fight for. The ideals that the forefathers put forward were an efficient and beautiful series of baselines designed only for the good of its citizens. I therefore don't mean to imply that I would undermine it or its leaders in any way. Not that any of the following would be true, but were someone intending it to be, it would be possible.

Though I cannot help but observe that, were I intending to undermine an advanced capitalist nation in order to proceed to a communist order, I would be exceptionally proud of myself for coming up with a plan consisting of the series of events that follow. The mishmash of events that have occurred in the past fifteen years can be wrapped up, if one wishes to have the final goal in mind, into four stages.

Firstly, excepting small skirmishes, the United States had a ten year period of quite since the first Gulf War. In this time, people have had a long opportunity to settle down and be lulled into a sense of peace and security. Between the absolute military supremacy over any other force in the world and the vast seas in the middle, seeing the US as an untouchable entity is a very easy thing to do.

Secondly, some of the absolute worst things that any single person could imagine happening to our homeland become reality. The targets, being of such a high profile, not only affect the local population, but affects millions upon millions, across the entire country, within and without its borders. Each person, in some way shape or form, is affected on a local and personal level. This act shakes the confidence that was had with the security of their nation, reducing each individual to a state of feeling small, insignificant and helpless in regards to the threat.

Thirdly, the executors of this heinous crime are claimed to be of a terrorist organization which happens to already absolutely hate America. This organization would not deny responsibility because A: it is the excuse that they are looking for to fight; B: it is to their advantage that they would be able to claim "bragging rights" of such a sophisticated and coordinated attack on a foreign and common enemy; C: were they to deny affiliation with the attack, who would believe them? They are terrorists after all...

Fourthly, the government maintains and escalates the public's feeling of being targeted and of helplessness by means of continued thwarting of "plots" and arrests of terrorists and continual military contact with the "enemy", thereby making the public realize how much they "need" the government and how much they are helpless without it and how overwhelming the whole problem is. Thus, as dependence grows, liberties vanish in the continued struggle to keep its public "safe" from the impending threat.


Not that I am claiming that any of this is happening. Surely this situation can come about from good intentions, but it is also very capable of coming out of bad intentions. No absolute reform takes place over night. With the robust and redundant systems of the US government, it would take many many years to reform without violence, but unfortunately it is the trend with this system to continue in that direction. It has happened many many times in the past, so what makes it impossible to happen now? People in general are no smarter than they were five hundred years ago. Molecules and the contents of tree bark do not dictate who rules a country. Thus, I don't propose for people to be skeptical or suspicious, but rather to be watchful and conscious of the world.

Farewell Castro

Due to our friend Castro's illness and, most probable, death (no dictator in his right mind would let news of their death spread around the country the moment it happens, or disappearfrom public view for more than a week. That's just the way it works), I decided that it is time to swap out the picture of young Castro with Lenin. Seeing as I just finished Lenin's biography, I figured that this was appropriate. Yes he was a bald dictator, but you wouldn't tell him that or you would end up a headless working class carcase.

There are many different types of personalities that people of this world possess. Certainly it is impossible to boil them down into two distinct categories, but to some extent it is possible, for it is true that not everybody is a leader. Some people feel that they must take the helm, even if they are not in the least bit qualified for the position, and some people are content to be driven wherever their leader listeth. There is also a wide range of intensity that each will pursue their desire, from absolute passiveness to being utterly relentless in their pursuit of their personalities desire. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this diverse range of people, for without leaders, people would be in a state of confusion and disharmony, and without followers nothing would ever get accomplished.

In the 2004 elections, out a two-hundred million voting eligible population, some eighty million people (and some change) decided that they were so indifferent that they did not need to vote. Thus, by the numbers, only 60% of the population seems to care enough about the representation of the masses to the governing class that they get up and vote. That also means that about 40% of the population's greatest concern is when happy hour begins (which they probably cannot remember on a day to day basis). The not so small 40% minority of the country could care less if they were ruled by a dictator. In fact, they may welcome the regime since less prime time tv slots would be taken up by election ads.

If they don't care about broader affairs, what do they care about? As seems consistent with history, so long as they have food, water, beer and a place to sleep, and in this modern society, a tv, they seem to get along well enough to be content.

Every country has a need to possess a certain resource within its borders to sell or export to others in order to be a profitable country. Whether it is the various tea exports of Sri Lanka, the oils of the middle eastern countries, the coffee of Columbia, the cheap products of China or the sunny beaches of Honolulu, a country needs to be able to, to some extent, hold other countries hostage to their affordable and economic exports. A country can only be profitable if it can tap into the world market.

I began envisioning a country where all of society is government centric. That is to say, all production, all work, all efforts go into achieving the final goal that the government has put into place. This country, having no natural resources or agricultural resources of its own, would be driven with the primary purpose and function of furthering the understanding and the depths of knowledge of the sciences and arts. And like China with production, would sell this product at cheaper prices than would be economically viable in any other setting.

While people would be free to come and go as they please, the conditions of remaining in that country would be to either become an educated researcher in the system or to become a working class person who works with the inevitable logistical difficulties in maintaining facilities for millions of people. While the intellectuals and scholars enjoy forging a new pathway for mankind, the remaining are content to carve a pathway for themselves and do what work is allotted to them. Failure to meet minimum requirements for the lowest positions or dereliction of duty would result in the voiding their citizenship. In much the same way a business would handle its employees, so would this country handle its citizens.

While workers are fully compensated for their work, the government provides the stores and food markets and such. In this way a citizen has full independent choice of purchase and also has options abroad in other countries, while also maintaining the strict logistic discipline required to focus energies and manpower on research.



Thinking a little more on this subject, it reminded me very much of Japan. Lacking in natural resources and excelling in the technical sector. They got the right idea, but not the right follow through. How interesting it would be to have a country full of thinkers.