Fear, Loathing and Global Warming – The Harsh Realities of Being an Eco-Warrior

Following a nasty head injury a couple of years ago, I became concerned about global warming. Whether one was a direct result of the other I have never understood, but I was so concerned that I felt compelled to do my bit, make a difference and start to recycle. To be honest I really enjoyed it, at times it left me feeling quite smug with myself, a kind of vigilante super hero saving the world, one diligently sorted sack of plastics and one of metals at a time.

All was going well, the eco-warrior that had laid dormant within for so long had been roused. Not only was I recycling at home, but I would catch myself casting a beady eye over any pile of refuse, and have to resist a strong urge to sort it into its constituent recyclable groups. I knew I was hooked on recycling.

I also started to admire the bin men, not in a homosexual sense (at least I think not), but I admired the countless opportunities they had to sort through rubbish and save the world. The scale of rubbish they handled made my attempts look impotent. I envied how they would handle  the trash, no disgust and no fear, they were at one with the rubbish, in a zen like state. This is a mindset I can only ever have dreamed of  attaining.

Do not underestimate me though, I had by now lost nearly all my squeamishness to garbage, indeed sometimes I find its pungent aroma to be exhilarating, arousing. But I still do not have the level of comfort, nor could I channel the energy contained within the garbage like the binmen could.

The binman, the closest thing society has to a superhero.

Do not, under any circumstances consider the previous paragraph to be a sarcastic one. We need binmen, this is a truism. One week they did not come to where I live, by the time they came the following week my housing estate resembled a grimey, apocalyptic landscape. The sort of wasteland that not even the Maddest Maxs would consider to be a habitable environment. Without binmen to take away our rubbish, diseases would increase rapidly, a greater prevalence of vermin would facilitate the spread of those diseases. In short, life as we know it would quickly come to a very dirty and smelly end. Now I am a teacher, and in comparison to a binman I am superfluous to the needs of society. Ask any logical human being who they would rather do away with first, teachers or binmen? They should always answer teachers.

Then something shook my recycling values to their very core.

Record hot August adds to world’s warm spell

Sydney Morning Herald, September 16, 2014   

Peter Hannam

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/record-hot-august-adds-to-worlds-warm-spell-20140916-10hnup.html#ixzz3Dwtrw9Q0

I would very much doubt that many of you, know who Peter Hannam is. Peter Hannam happens to be the Environment Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald, a well educated hack having graduated from Harvard. To me though, for reasons I will go on to explain,  he is a swine.

Hannam’s article “Record hot August adds to world’s warm spell“. hit right at the heart of my recycling psyche. In fact it could not have been more insulting if Hannam himself had urinated over every pile of rubbish I had sorted through. But Hannam does not stop there, the swine gets personal. Not only is he stating that the world is still getting hotter despite my efforts, but he goes on to say:

 For the two years to July 2014, mean temperatures were a full one degree above the 1961-90 average used by the Bureau of Meteorology for its baseline.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/record-hot-august-adds-to-worlds-warm-spell-20140916-10hnup.html#ixzz3Dwwoa5sq

The two year period to which Hannam refers coincides precisely with two years I have been recycling. In essence Hannam has provided me with precise data detailing the impact of my recycling efforts.

For Hannam makes it explicitly clear, the world has got hotter since I started recycling. My actions have not just failed to help the planet, but according to Hannam I have gone and made it worse. For me this is no random coincidence, but a case of cause and effect. If I were to carry on with my recycling we will all perish. In some ways I must thank Hannam for bringing the situation to my attention, I would however have preferred it if he had spoken to me directly and not through the medium of the Sydney Morning Herald. Hannam had driven his dagger of carbon dioxide through the fragile, chlorophyll heart of my inner eco-warrior. I knew there was no point arguing with Hannam, those Harvard types would be ready, prepared for any counter claim with streams of data for rebuttal. I knew I was beat, I knew my days as an eco-warrior had run their course.

For all of you out there that may be recycling; I  urge that you do some research, because it is just might be possible  that you are screwing things up as well. I thought recycling would be easy, and I nearly caused irreparable damage to the world. Recycle responsibly, and if you are unsure do not recycle at all.

Searching for the Edges of the Internet – Fear upon the Final Frontier of the Weird

Tell me the internet is not the greatest invention of the last 50 years. It has opened   channels of communication enabling us to exchange vast quantities of information to pretty much anywhere in the world nigh instantaneously. 50 years ago such feats were the stuff of science fiction. As a tool it can be used to educate and empower the masses, a tool that can shape societies and develop mankind. Today the internet represents as complete a reflection of the human consciousness that has ever been amassed.  

It is also home to nearly an infinite amount of porn, a fact I can attest to, there really is no need to watch the same porn twice. Do not under estimate the value of pornography in deciding the success of media. It was the porn industry that backed VHS beating off their rival Sony’s Beta Max. A similar stand off occurred with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, although this time there came a less decisive climax, as the porn industry were just happy to keep pumping their wares and stretching the bandwidth, through the easy to access channels of the wanton and accommodating internet.

Ever since I have been able to lock my door and have access to the internet I have I have been involved in rigorous research, looking for the edges of decency and fondling mankind’s perverse creations with out stretched, needful arms. I have seen much in this life time and I am about to pass on the fruits of this research to you.

 shayesaintjohn.net

The complex person that is Shaye Saint John.

This site is just plain weird. It is more than just a website, it is a fictitious internet person. Complete with a back story the disturbing Shaye has her own website, Facebook page and numerous YouTube clips. As far as I can tell there is no more purpose to Shaye’s existence as there is to our own, it’s simply mindlessly weird and there is lots of it.

Weird rating 10/10

Here’s a link to one of her YouTube videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUxjG4VBTag

 http://www.boohbah.tv/zone.html

It is believed by some that Boohbah TV is home to the soul of Nicholas Cage.

Do you miss the days when we used to do LSD and stare at our hands for hours? If so boohbah.tv will have you experiencing acid flash backs. A hallucinogenic, psychedelic, meaningless mishmash of colours and sounds that you can manipulate. There is no score to get and nothing to be achieved. Like the internet it is just a waste of time, but it pretends to be nothing else.

It’s weird, but it’s no Shaye: 8.5/10 

http://zoomquilt.org/

You fall into a piece of collaborative art created by Salvador Dali and Hieronymus Bosch. That’s it, really. After a few minutes it starts to repeat itself, but they’re a good few minutes none the less.

Short lived weird value 5/10

 http://www.fearthegaychicken.org/

In the same style as Zoomquilt, it is hyper repetitive, for a while this is what makes it so brilliant. It’s madness and I dare you not to laugh, I would however be very afraid if you were entertained for an evening by it. What adds to the weirdness is that once you go beyond the introduction they try selling you shirts and clocks.

A short lived buzz of disturbing and weird 7/10

http://www.puppetryofthepenis.com/

I just don’t want to know. It’s wrong, it’s so wrong. Do we really live in such a world? Say it aint so.

To be honest I just feel too uncomfortable to get beyond the home page. From what little research I have been willing to do, I am led to believe it is a comedy act from western Australia, which makes sense as I was recommended it by an individual of that area. An excerpt from their website offers this insight and frankly that’s enough.

Puppetry of the Penis was born when Simon Morley teamed up with fellow puppeteer David “Friendy” Friend. Their first show at the 1998 Melbourne International Comedy Festival was received as the “Outright Best Show”.

For those of you who need to know more look at their website or their are plenty of videos on YouTube.

Weird rating: N/A There’s no way I’m going to watch this.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbuluDBHpfQ

This YouTube clip is only three minutes long, when it finishes the frustration is immense . When I die I want to be watching this, I have no idea what it is but I don’t think that is what is important.

I can’t decide whether it insults people that use crutches, or if it raises crutch awareness.

Maybe the weirdest thing on YouTube: 9.5/10

http://larrycarlson.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPSb_d1I2AI

Congratulations for making it this far, Larry Carlson is perhaps best described as a surreal, psychedelic artist. He has quite a collection on YouTube and his website shows plenty of his work. Whilst his work might be, let’s say trippy at best, it is not weird because you get the impression that he has a purpose to what he does, thus completely undermining its weirdness.

We end with a weirdness rating: 1/10

The Cloven States of America

  Introducing The Great United Democratic Republic of My Pants

You have to be careful not to take the names of countries at face value. Take The Peoples Republic of China. It requires a ballsy marketing executive to slip ‘republic’ into that title. Indeed China seems to pay scant regard to the ideals of republicanism as first laid out by Aristotle and then Plato. Perhaps my favourite is Great Britain, this does not require a ballsy marketing executive, as much as one who is suffering from a chronic mental illness. Only boxers and wrestlers name themselves things like Great, Marvelous, but that is what Britain has become symbolically, an over weight middle aged man in a Lycra leotard, both unappealing to look at, and even more unpleasant to be around.

Always be wary of countries that contain united in their name, for it is almost a certainty that they are not. In the same way that China is not a republic, and Britain is not great; America is not united. Is it even reasonable to expect a country of over 300 million people of every race and creed to live in harmony? If the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri are anything to go by then the answer is a resounding no.

The Ferguson riots have understandably generated much debate as to what lays at the heart of the problems. Personally I thought it was the brutal execution of an unarmed African American teenager by a policeman, after watching the news however, I realized my initial deduction to be too simplistic. Rather than apportion all the blame on one red neck, trigger happy cop, who probably only became a policeman after finding shelf stacking at Walmart to be too stressful. The riots have become the inspiration for national reflection. Topics up for discussion have included the militarization of the police, the appropriateness of the 2nd amendment and of course race.

Militarization of the police and the 2nd amendment have a causal, symbiotic relationship. The 2nd amendment gives citizens the right to arm themselves, this in turn necessitates the police to arm themselves. Citizens see the police are armed and get nervous, they run down to their local gun shop for more firepower. The police become concerned when helping an old woman across the road she pulls out an AK47. 9/11 has been the scapegoat for the reason of police militarization, but the reality is that there has effectively been an arms race between U.S citizens and U.S law enforcement. And anyway neither of these were the main causes of the Ferguson Riots.

The cause of the riots is racial tension fueled by extreme disparity in the distribution of wealth. The demographics of Ferguson Ferguson shows that it has a population of 21,000 people, 67% black and 30% white. 20 years ago these figures were reversed however the Ferguson Police force and Government haves remained almost exclusively white.

Some Economic Statistics for Ferguson

1. 25% of blacks in the Ferguson area live below the poverty line, compared to 11% of whites (the first time I saw this I was shocked at that many white people struggling).
2. The average income for black people is 60% of what it is for white people $32,000 compared to $53,000.
3. Unemployment for black people in the Ferguson area is 20% (double the national average) compared to 6.7% for white people.

House ownership is the main means that an American can accrue wealth, the diagram below shows the disparity between blacks and whites.

Housing often represents an Americans’ greatest asset and a major component of their overall wealth. This graphic shows an enormous racial disparity.

This money then gets fed down via inheritances, making whites ever wealthier and blacks ever more resentful. In his speech on 18 August 2014 President Obama identified that disparities of this nature between ethnic groups will inevitably lead to tensions.

As with the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, America sits uncomfortably on a knife edge. And I believe the economic disparities between white and blacks is a problem, I’m still left asking myself, wasn’t this just caused by one dumb, poorly trained, ignorant cop? Is it right to go tearing up a town because of the idiocy of one man?

I simply don’t know. Once again Uncle Sam has pitched me a curve ball. striking me out and leaving me with nothing to do but scratch my crotch.

The best way of pondering this situation.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the whole earth.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the whole earth.
Mathew 5:5

Doesn’t look like they’re inheriting the earth.

The Bible can at times appear confusing when looked at through objective eyes. If however you wear the rose tinted spectacles (otherwise known as the Holy Spirit) to read the Bible, then it is easy to draw on a litany of preprepared excuses for doctrinal irregularity. After all “God’s will is beyond our comprehension” the caveat of all Christian caveats.

The opening passage spoken by Jesus himself is liberating and offers hope, but it is completely unrealistic and fails to acknowledge the intrinsically vile nature of man.

If there is one thing that has been continually repeated throughout history, it is that those with power and who use violence have inherited the earth and will retain the ownership until someone more powerful and more violent comes along.

The ruling establishment of any country has attained its position through war and violence. Ruling monarchies replaced one another through conflict. Monarchies were replaced by democracy, through civil wars, wars of independence. Settlers colonizing new lands partook in the systematic genocide of the indigenous ethnic groups. For the indigenous people who were fortunate enough not be slaughtered  by the settlers, they would in all probability have become slaves. These processes are how human societies are founded, through appalling acts of violence and our societies shall continue to be shaped in this manner. One thing we can be certain about, the meek have never fared well and have no reason to expect things to change.

I’m guessing he’s not inheriting the whole earth.

Essentially it is simple Darwinism:

“In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.”

The term fittest is easily confused when applying this to the species homo-sapiens. This is because fittest today means most technologically advanced, more specifically weapons technology. The term ‘rivals’ means meek.

We can see this no where better than the current situation in Gaza. A well trained, well armed force, fighting a local militia. Anyone with the technological superiority enjoyed by the Israelis would take the opportunity to use it indiscriminately in a densely populated area. What is Israel’s soldiers supposed to do, throw away their weapons and pick up slings and peashooters?

This is humanity in its rawest form. The scenes from Gaza are shocking, but the death and destruction itself is not news, it’s what we humans do. The strong, the more violent, the more advanced species progress and survive. The meek will get nowhere, there is no room for meekness in nature nor when it comes to keeping genes alive.

It is not nice, but I believe it is true. Throughout history mankind has perpetrated scores of vile atrocities, why should this stop? In mankind’s societies people take power through violence, I see no reason for this to change. Throughout history the meek have been slaughtered by the millions, and will continue to be so.

I’m sorry Jesus but to me your words seem to offer a false hope, so if you’re listening, if you could come through on that whole meek thing sooner rather than later, most of us would really appreciate it.

This is who we are. Is this who we are?

Criticizing Criticism Critically

Criticism is tough to take and in some situations difficult to make, but people must have been doing so since at least the 1670’s when the word first appeared. Originally criticism was the art of estimating literary worth, today however everyone and everything can give and receive criticism.

To even write about it is awkward. I know I am quick to criticize and poor at accepting criticism. I imagine I am not alone and that many people deal with criticism similarly. But when did criticism become so bad, frowned upon, a social taboo?

Criticism is an essential ingredient of a healthy, progressive society, it can allow us to address problems that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Criticism forms a necessary element of debate, without it we would struggle to communicate or come to any meaningful conclusions. The criticism I refer to here is constructive criticism and will be encouraged within any progressive organization. In many dysfunctional organizations constructive criticism gets labelled as complaining and is resented by authority. This resentment to constructive criticism is then resented by those who made the constructive criticism and leads to what Cockwench (1978) called “The downward spiral of resentment and despair”.

Unfortunately criticism is all too often confused as being an insult for two reasons; firstly the person making the criticism is actually being insulting, or secondly the person receiving the criticism is too insecure and is left feeling insulted. The first situation is an example of rudeness and can be of a benefit to no one, the second is an example of someone who can not develop as they can not accept their weaknesses. Unfortunately it is these two scenarios that have given criticism a bad name. I do both of these things and therefore I am confusing criticism. Often my criticism is just veiled rudeness which won’t be well received by the focus of my attention and is unlikely to encourage the change I desire.

Postmodern society has seen humor shift away from the use of irony to the use of sarcasm. Today it is easy to appear humorous by ranting and sarcastically criticizing something. Shows like South Park have been doing this for 20 years, disrespectfully and sarcastically highlighting the faults of an individual, situation or institution (I love South Park). As a result of this mentality, few people in postmodern society have respect for authority, and whilst in may cases that can be warranted, it has made constructive criticism nigh on extinct.

I am afraid that constructive criticism will not be seen again in my life time, I and others have confused criticism too much, instead it has been replaced by non sequitur, sarcastic comments. Talking of driving, in Thailand the driving is so good, that you never see a learner driver.

I finish with a criticism made by the man who perhaps best symbolizes our modern society:

“It was like orderin a hamburger and getting only the buns”

Who made this comment? Clue he was recently beatified by the Vatican in recognition of his efforts to molest children.

 

 

 

Airlines to Start Fat Tax?

Speechless.

Is someone being overweight my fault? Should I be made to pay extra to ensure that there is enough fuel in the plane to transport such people to our destination?

The other day I was at the airport in Bangkok, checking in my luggage for a short domestic flight north to Chiang Rai. After handling my piece, the pleasant, pretty lady smiled and informed me it was too big for her, and she would not put it in for me. I was reeling and stunned; I had never had this problem before I told her. Her grin broadened, revealing perfect teeth stained with red lipstick.’Your luggage weighs 50 ponds sir and the limit is 44 pounds.’ (That’s 6 pounds, remember this as it is a pivotal fact in what I will go on to say). I pulled every face I could at her in order to communicate my shock and displeasure. She returned my facial contortions with an ever expanding grin and eye lashes that fluttered so frantically they might have flown off with her face.

In short the grinning eyelashes out lasted me and taxed me 1,000 baht ($30 USD approx). As I turned to leave the checking in booth everything went black. Momentarily thinking that I had passed out, I was brought back to reality as an enormous individual plowed past me to check in. The individual placed their bag on the scales and happily for them it weighed 40 pounds. (My bag 50 pounds their bag 40 pounds, 10 pound difference, you’ve probably guessed where I’m going with this).

This person would have to have weighed 300 lbs and add on their baggage, a cumulative 340 lbs. My luggage and I came to 250 lbs, yet I had to pay the excess. In effect what I was being asked to do was to subsidize this persons poor diet and eating habits. How can an airline be such pedants about my extra 6 lbs and let a person who clearly weighs more than 100 lbs more than me on the plane at no extra cost? Ironically if I’d had the time to have eaten my luggage I would have not had to pay anything, even though the flight would have to carry the weight, because it was a part of my own physical mass it would have been fine.

In short I got back home and some quick research has uncovered that there are airlines considering charging extra for overweight people. Is this fair?

http://www.businessinsider.com/will-big-airlines-charge-fat-passengers-extra-2013-4

Pistols, Prozac, Rifles and Ritalin

Pistols, Prozac, Rifles and Ritalin

It appears to me that America is a country of great contradictions. A peace loving nation that wages war (77 in just over 200 years), the country that boasts the highest standard of living yet suffers from the greatest obesity and heart disease. The OECD rates U.S education at 36^th in the world just above Lithuania but trailing the Slovak Republic, Russia, Latvia and Viet Nam.

By far the greatest and most dangerous contradiction that currently exists in the United States is that they are the biggest consumers and producers of psychiatric medication in the world and at the same time have some of the most liberal laws in the world pertaining to gun ownership. Any fool can work out that a high number of mentally ill people in a society that proliferate fire arms like baseball cards and bubble gum, will be prone to the odd massacre. So I am left wondering, how can a country so blessed with resources and wealth have got it so wrong?

America is a sensible country? Surely they are getting a grip on the problem? Statistics would imply the contrary.  Between 1990 and 2000 (the time in which the Columbine tragedy occurred) there were 32 reported shootings in U.S schools. One would believe the Columbine massacre must have been enough to inspire legislation limiting the chances of such an event recurring. 2001 – 2010, 50 gun related incidents in U.S schools. So it must be  a multifaceted, complex, nebulous problem that it will take time, but while school children wait for Washington to deal with the problem it’s worth noting that from 2011 to date there have been 70 gun related incidents at schools leaving 93 people dead and 96 injured. While America respects the right every child has to an education, it also seems to think they will learn better under the very real fear of being gunned down whilst they’re handing in their homework.

As I stated earlier the United States are the biggest producers and consumers of psychiatric pharmaceuticals making it an incredibly lucrative industry, the sector of society that has seen greatest growth in the use of anti-depressants are people aged between 16 and 24.  According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)11% of all Americans over the age of 12 are on anti depressants, how many of these do you want armed? Mentally ill students, easy access to guns, school shootings, I still don’t get it, what’s the connection?

Eli Lilly the pharmaceutical company most well known for producing Prozac has spent more than $35,000,000 dollars in lobbying during the period 2010 -2014. To put that in perspective that compares to the NRA’s slightly less than $12,000,000 for the same period. But surely that is the question how can these two industries co-exist in lobbying a government. I would imagine Eli Lilly try to convince senators that everyone’s mad and needs medication, meanwhile the NRA state the importance that everyone has at least one firearm. These two opinions cannot co exist, they simply contradict one another, one has to be right and the other wrong, you cannot allow the two such diametrically opposed issues to exist at the same time. A responsible government cannot accept its population having a greater dependency on psychiatric drugs and the listen to a group of people pursuing greater liberty to own firearms. The fact that these two arguments get given consideration has lead to the two agendas coalescing into the situation allowing mentally ill people to be armed.

Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, Seung –Hui Cho, Adam Lanza and Elliot Rodger, responsible for the deaths 78 people and then themselves. Prior to their actions each one of them had received support for mental illness. How can young mentally ill men gain access to firearms, you wouldn’t allow a blind person to drive. The acts of these 5 men were abominable but society failed to protect them and their victims. With the memory of Isla Vista still fresh in our minds, I ask myself when will this once great nation acknowledge this problem, get serious and deal with it?

 

If you feel angry, or misrepresented do something about it. When Benjamin Franklin left Independence Hall just after the second drafting he was approached by a woman on the street, the woman said ‘Mr. Franklin what manner of government have you bequeathed us?’ And Franklin said ‘a Republic mam; if you can keep it.’ The responsibility of a country is not in the hands of a privileged few. We are strong and we are free of tyranny, as long as each one of us remembers his or her duty as a citizen. Whether it’s to report a pothole at the top of your street, or lies in a State of the Union address, speak out, ask questions. Democracy is not a free ride. Constitutionally each American is empowered with the right and due process to change their country. As long as you stay sitting there, turning a blind eye, doing nothing you become complicit in the next Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Columbine or Isla Vista.

How many more candle lit vigils before you think enough is enough?

Below is the link to the video Elliot Rodger made just prior to him killing 6 people then himself:

Pistols, Prozac, Rifles and Ritalin