How we doin', freaks? Miss me?
Sorry for the recent absence of posts. Thanks to Hurricane Irene, I have been out of power since pretty much right after my last post. The juice hasn't been turned back on yet, and according to the local power authorities we will be waiting until Friday at the earliest, if not some time next week.
But with that in mind, combined with the fact that I will be leaving for an actual planned absence tomorrow that will go through the weekend, I felt that I absolutely had to get something up here for you kids today. And what better topic to discuss during an extended power outage than alternative energy sources?
From CNN: Budget cuts trigger early end to solar energy credits
In case you ever thought of installing a solar energy system in your home, the time is now. Thanks to wide-spread budget cuts in the face of the current economic crisis, many of the incentives made available to citizens looking into alternative energy are going to end early. A 30% cash rebate from the Treasury will no longer be available at the end of this year, and the 30% tax-credit program from the federal government will be over by 2016. Many of the incentives put in place at the state level will also be coming to an end in short order.
As I have said many times on these pages, my understanding of economics could likely be trumped by a 5th grader (though I'm pretty sure I've still got Jeff Foxworthy beat). I understand that it is important to make necessary budget cuts. But why handicap something that is so essential to our societal evolution? As I can say from personal experience, our dated electric grid needs to go through a serious face lift, and removing our dependance on archaic power plants would be a great step in the right direction. If we really need to make some serious budget cuts, make them where they will make a difference: the military. We're constantly so up in arms about our need to defend ourselves from any and every possible source of attack. But has anyone ever considered that our need for concern over the possibility of attack wouldn't have to be such a prevailing issue if we weren't such assholes all the time?? Or, better yet, how about we stop handing out tax credits to the oil companies that we're all so hopelessly entrenched with. Maybe these industrial scum-fucks should start picking up their portion of the bill for the damage their doing to the planet rather than putting the hurt on the individual that is trying to make a difference.
Stop goose-stepping around the globe pretending to be the world police. If we stopped pushing our noses into everyone else's business all the time, maybe there wouldn't be so many pissed off militants itching to take us down a few pegs.
It all comes down to a simple choice between fear and love, as Bill Hicks so sagely said. Let's try and strive to make the world a better place for the world, rather than just a better place for American investment interests.
And with that said, thanks for tuning in kids. I'll be back next week. Try not to start the revolution without me.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Looks Like Rain...
Enjoy this storm. Hopefully the power will stay on so you poor folks don't have to suffer an absence of my wisdom.
Buckle up, Bitches. Looks like The Ride is gonna get a little bumpy.
Buckle up, Bitches. Looks like The Ride is gonna get a little bumpy.
I don't want to go home soon;
I just want to go home now.
If this doesn't tickle your spine, you don't have a pulse
Thursday, August 25, 2011
To the Top of the World
Don't really feel like getting into the whole current events thing today. But I've still gotta give you something to work those cranial muscles with, so check this out.
Ozymandias
"Ooh, baby, please don't let it rain"
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
--Percy Bysshe Shelley
"Ooh, baby, please don't let it rain"
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Jesus loves me, This I know
For the Bible tells me soooo!
I've got a good one for you today, kids. Strap in.
From UTNE.com: Look God, No Hands: Dirty Girls Ministries is on a crusade against the evils of female masturbation.
Boy. I hardly know where to begin with this one.
Just in case you didn't read the whole five page article, let me toss you a quick abridged synopsis. Crystal Renaud of Lenexa, Kansas has started an online group called Dirty Girl Ministries, and no, this isn't a sister group of those luscious beauties over at Suicide Girls, but rather a gaggle of dirty and confused young women that want the purity back in their lives. Renaud, a 26 year old bridge troll who stands 7 feet tall with a wart on her nose the size of Cincinnati (OK, I'm taking a little artistic license here, the story doesn't provide a photo so I'm just guessing), has created a community where girls and young women can come together and galvanize in their fight to avoid impious acts such as viewing pornography, masturbation, and even reading romance novels.
Now, as a normal warm-blooded human being, you're probably thinking that anyone signing up with a masturbation addiction group is so savagely entrenched that their hands have permanently locked to the shape of gnarled talons from constantly digging at their pleasure pipes. But no! Dirty Girls defines their ideal candidate for membership as someone viewing pornography or masturbating as infrequently as two times a week or less! Likening the severity of their "addictions" to that of drug and alcohol dependency, Dirty Girls members are mostly in their 20s and 30s, with a rising number of teenage and preteen girls joining.
Beyond simply trying to curb the sinful activities of idle hands, Dirty Girls is really about an attempt to eliminate all sexual thought that goes outside the marital bedroom. Many members are also combating a confused sexual identity, using these Christian 12-step programs to not only stop masturbating, but also to stop feelings of homosexuality. Members of Dirty Girls also frequent programs like Where Grace Bounds, which specializes in dealing with “sexual brokenness and homosexuality.”
The more you read, the more you feel sorry for these poor confused girls who have been so subjected to the church's propaganda promoting abstinence and the sinful nature of sexuality. While self gratification is steadily gaining mainstream acceptance in the secular world, these girls are being pushed back into the dark ages. One comment provided in the article that was taken from the Dirty Girls message board reads, "Once I’ve actually committed the sin (of porn and masturbation), I find myself feeling such sadness, frustration, disappointment, anger, shame", while another commenter says, "It makes me feel sick and unworthy." Many of the young girls on the site describe feelings of impurity and undesirability due to their freakish masturbation habits, despite the fact that many of them are still virgins.
Let me get this straight. Nubile porn-watching virgins are feeling undesired because of their masturbation habits?? Sounds like the pinnacle of desire to me. But then again, according to these people I probably have been smitten by the angry judgment of the Lord years ago for my perverse nature.
Even more tragic are the stories of girls who rushed into marriage in the hopes that it would stop their impure urges. One girl married at the woeful age of 19 thinking that once she was able to slack her hunger in the piety of the marriage bed that she would be free of her impurities. Unfortunately the girl found that her unclean fantasies persisted, even during sex with her husband. “I cannot cleanse my mind of these images,” she says. “I try so hard to focus on my husband only, but my thoughts are so warped.”
Sounds pretty hot to me. Am I the only one picturing a Catholic school-girl outfit here?
Here's the deal people. We need to get over these preoccupations of guilt and self-loathing in regards to sex. It's really not that big of a deal. All of these efforts to sweep sexuality under the rug have done nothing but blow the entire issue out of proportion. When you tell someone not to do something, all they do is dwell on it to the point of distraction until all their being is consumed by a simple trivial matter. Treat sex as what it is: free entertainment. And markedly improved by narcotics. It's time to stop being ashamed of our natural urges and embrace our humanity. If God truly made us in his image, then enjoying the full majesty of his creation can't be a bad thing.
It's Just A Ride, kids. Free yourselves of these foolish shackles of religious oppression and just try and enjoy it for Christ's sake.
I've got a good one for you today, kids. Strap in.
From UTNE.com: Look God, No Hands: Dirty Girls Ministries is on a crusade against the evils of female masturbation.
Boy. I hardly know where to begin with this one.
Just in case you didn't read the whole five page article, let me toss you a quick abridged synopsis. Crystal Renaud of Lenexa, Kansas has started an online group called Dirty Girl Ministries, and no, this isn't a sister group of those luscious beauties over at Suicide Girls, but rather a gaggle of dirty and confused young women that want the purity back in their lives. Renaud, a 26 year old bridge troll who stands 7 feet tall with a wart on her nose the size of Cincinnati (OK, I'm taking a little artistic license here, the story doesn't provide a photo so I'm just guessing), has created a community where girls and young women can come together and galvanize in their fight to avoid impious acts such as viewing pornography, masturbation, and even reading romance novels.
Now, as a normal warm-blooded human being, you're probably thinking that anyone signing up with a masturbation addiction group is so savagely entrenched that their hands have permanently locked to the shape of gnarled talons from constantly digging at their pleasure pipes. But no! Dirty Girls defines their ideal candidate for membership as someone viewing pornography or masturbating as infrequently as two times a week or less! Likening the severity of their "addictions" to that of drug and alcohol dependency, Dirty Girls members are mostly in their 20s and 30s, with a rising number of teenage and preteen girls joining.
Beyond simply trying to curb the sinful activities of idle hands, Dirty Girls is really about an attempt to eliminate all sexual thought that goes outside the marital bedroom. Many members are also combating a confused sexual identity, using these Christian 12-step programs to not only stop masturbating, but also to stop feelings of homosexuality. Members of Dirty Girls also frequent programs like Where Grace Bounds, which specializes in dealing with “sexual brokenness and homosexuality.”
The more you read, the more you feel sorry for these poor confused girls who have been so subjected to the church's propaganda promoting abstinence and the sinful nature of sexuality. While self gratification is steadily gaining mainstream acceptance in the secular world, these girls are being pushed back into the dark ages. One comment provided in the article that was taken from the Dirty Girls message board reads, "Once I’ve actually committed the sin (of porn and masturbation), I find myself feeling such sadness, frustration, disappointment, anger, shame", while another commenter says, "It makes me feel sick and unworthy." Many of the young girls on the site describe feelings of impurity and undesirability due to their freakish masturbation habits, despite the fact that many of them are still virgins.
Let me get this straight. Nubile porn-watching virgins are feeling undesired because of their masturbation habits?? Sounds like the pinnacle of desire to me. But then again, according to these people I probably have been smitten by the angry judgment of the Lord years ago for my perverse nature.
Even more tragic are the stories of girls who rushed into marriage in the hopes that it would stop their impure urges. One girl married at the woeful age of 19 thinking that once she was able to slack her hunger in the piety of the marriage bed that she would be free of her impurities. Unfortunately the girl found that her unclean fantasies persisted, even during sex with her husband. “I cannot cleanse my mind of these images,” she says. “I try so hard to focus on my husband only, but my thoughts are so warped.”
Sounds pretty hot to me. Am I the only one picturing a Catholic school-girl outfit here?
Here's the deal people. We need to get over these preoccupations of guilt and self-loathing in regards to sex. It's really not that big of a deal. All of these efforts to sweep sexuality under the rug have done nothing but blow the entire issue out of proportion. When you tell someone not to do something, all they do is dwell on it to the point of distraction until all their being is consumed by a simple trivial matter. Treat sex as what it is: free entertainment. And markedly improved by narcotics. It's time to stop being ashamed of our natural urges and embrace our humanity. If God truly made us in his image, then enjoying the full majesty of his creation can't be a bad thing.
It's Just A Ride, kids. Free yourselves of these foolish shackles of religious oppression and just try and enjoy it for Christ's sake.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
The way to a man's heart
...really is through his stomach! Who knew??
From ScienceDaily: Gut Bacteria Linked to Behavior: That Anxiety May Be in Your Gut, Not in Your Head
So it looks like researchers have proven that the delicate balance of bacteria that resides in the stomach of each and every person on earth has a lot to do with how that person feels. Through experimenting on lab mice, scientists have shown that it is possible to control how active and adventurous, or passive and quiet, a mouse's behavior is by tampering with levels of orally administered antibiotics.
What this means for people? Apparently, a change in diet or vitamin regimen can have a more powerful and profound effect on treating behavioral disorders than tampering with mood enhancers or other drugs that effect brain chemistry. Through their experimentation on lab mice, researchers were able to show that not only could they change the behavior patterns on mice with simple antibiotic regimens, but that by discontinuing the administration of the drugs they were able to have the mice return to their regular patterns of behavior. This may one day lead to therapy options for emotional and psychological disorders that are far more safe, with fewer side-effects, than many drugs offered today.
So be careful what you throw down that pie-hole. You never know how it might be affecting your mood.
From ScienceDaily: Gut Bacteria Linked to Behavior: That Anxiety May Be in Your Gut, Not in Your Head
So it looks like researchers have proven that the delicate balance of bacteria that resides in the stomach of each and every person on earth has a lot to do with how that person feels. Through experimenting on lab mice, scientists have shown that it is possible to control how active and adventurous, or passive and quiet, a mouse's behavior is by tampering with levels of orally administered antibiotics.
What this means for people? Apparently, a change in diet or vitamin regimen can have a more powerful and profound effect on treating behavioral disorders than tampering with mood enhancers or other drugs that effect brain chemistry. Through their experimentation on lab mice, researchers were able to show that not only could they change the behavior patterns on mice with simple antibiotic regimens, but that by discontinuing the administration of the drugs they were able to have the mice return to their regular patterns of behavior. This may one day lead to therapy options for emotional and psychological disorders that are far more safe, with fewer side-effects, than many drugs offered today.
So be careful what you throw down that pie-hole. You never know how it might be affecting your mood.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Take me to the Promised Land
Happy Monday Freaks and Freak-ettes!
For anyone who has ever spent a decent amount of time in the water wondering what it might be like to live in a community completely established in international waters, free of the chains of established government and society, your dreaming may be coming to an end.
From Inhabitat.com: Paypal Founder Peter Thiel Invests $1.25 Million to Create Floating Micro-Countries
Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal, is working closely with Seasteading Institute to create the worlds first floating sovereign nations. These floating countries will basically be giant movable oil rigs with full cities built upon them, with all the amenities of home. These diesel powered, 12,000 ton structures will be able to house over 250 residents, with plans for each separate city to be able to link together into a massive grid.
One incredible thing is the rate at which this project seems to be advancing. Thiel claims that the first city will be launched by the end of next year, an office park planned to be based off the coast of San Francisco, and plans to be fully inhabited by 2019. If that's not ambitious enough, Thiel and Seasteading are aiming to have over 10 million floating residents by 2050.
Thiel, a self-proclaimed Libertarian, has said that the goal for these floating independent nations is to be able to experiment with new types of government, without the restrictions already put in place by land based societies. Basically he's just removing the revolution step from the equation and embarking on settling the last true frontier left on the planet - the open ocean. Without having to contend with laws and regulations of already existent governments, Thiel and his aquatic citizens will be able to not only build a "test-run" government from the ground up, but there is no limit to the number of "trial-and-error" tests he can run. One island can be libertarian, while another across the ocean can give a theocratic ruling party a shot, and still another can give the reins of control to a corporation who has paid for the construction. One proposed island that will run off a familiar capitalist approach will be called Appletopia, a corporate run island where the real-estate value will increase with the fiscal success of the island.
Who knows? Maybe one of them will actually give democracy an honest shot. Lord knows this hijacked Congress paying lip-service to the people while their pockets are stuffed full with checks of nefarious origin isn't doing the ideal a proper service.
The truly interesting prospect to all of this in my mind is the possibility of a return to community values. We could give our evolutionary clock a chance to catch up with ourselves. We were designed to excel as a tribal people, existing in close-knit groups of around 500, not entire nations that spread from coast to coast and number in the hundreds of millions. It will be fascinating to see how morality might evolve if people were forced to give up with masks of anonymity in this technological age and go back to being in a small village-like community where everyone knows everyone again.
Either way, wonder how long it's going to take until "Island City Maintenance" is a path of study offered at engineering universities? Sign me up.
For anyone who has ever spent a decent amount of time in the water wondering what it might be like to live in a community completely established in international waters, free of the chains of established government and society, your dreaming may be coming to an end.
From Inhabitat.com: Paypal Founder Peter Thiel Invests $1.25 Million to Create Floating Micro-Countries
Peter Thiel, founder of Paypal, is working closely with Seasteading Institute to create the worlds first floating sovereign nations. These floating countries will basically be giant movable oil rigs with full cities built upon them, with all the amenities of home. These diesel powered, 12,000 ton structures will be able to house over 250 residents, with plans for each separate city to be able to link together into a massive grid.
One incredible thing is the rate at which this project seems to be advancing. Thiel claims that the first city will be launched by the end of next year, an office park planned to be based off the coast of San Francisco, and plans to be fully inhabited by 2019. If that's not ambitious enough, Thiel and Seasteading are aiming to have over 10 million floating residents by 2050.
Thiel, a self-proclaimed Libertarian, has said that the goal for these floating independent nations is to be able to experiment with new types of government, without the restrictions already put in place by land based societies. Basically he's just removing the revolution step from the equation and embarking on settling the last true frontier left on the planet - the open ocean. Without having to contend with laws and regulations of already existent governments, Thiel and his aquatic citizens will be able to not only build a "test-run" government from the ground up, but there is no limit to the number of "trial-and-error" tests he can run. One island can be libertarian, while another across the ocean can give a theocratic ruling party a shot, and still another can give the reins of control to a corporation who has paid for the construction. One proposed island that will run off a familiar capitalist approach will be called Appletopia, a corporate run island where the real-estate value will increase with the fiscal success of the island.
Who knows? Maybe one of them will actually give democracy an honest shot. Lord knows this hijacked Congress paying lip-service to the people while their pockets are stuffed full with checks of nefarious origin isn't doing the ideal a proper service.
The truly interesting prospect to all of this in my mind is the possibility of a return to community values. We could give our evolutionary clock a chance to catch up with ourselves. We were designed to excel as a tribal people, existing in close-knit groups of around 500, not entire nations that spread from coast to coast and number in the hundreds of millions. It will be fascinating to see how morality might evolve if people were forced to give up with masks of anonymity in this technological age and go back to being in a small village-like community where everyone knows everyone again.
Either way, wonder how long it's going to take until "Island City Maintenance" is a path of study offered at engineering universities? Sign me up.
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