So I like to keep up with offbeat news, you know conspiracy theories, aliens and Bigfoot kind of stuff. I’m fascinated by how they’re started, how they’re perpetuated and by those who don’t just believe them, but actually treat them like a religion. For them facts, common sense and Occam’s Razor mean nothing. Instead, it’s all about faith.
There are two big areas being mined for conspiracy theories these days: the approach of the year 2012, when many people believe the Mayan calendar predicts the world will end; and the election of President Barak Obama, who many people believe is the pawn of a secret group of world leaders often referred to as the New World Order.
The 2012 theory varies from conspiracy to conspiracy. Some see the end of the Mayan calendar, which is in and of itself debatable, as the Catholic Apocalypse. Others see a catastrophic event like a meteor hitting the earth, and some believe that it won’t be just a meteor but an entire planet colliding with us. It is said that astronomers are either silenced by the government or they can’t see the meteor/planet because it is behind our sun.
Conspiracy’s concerning President Obama revolve mostly around him being a pawn of the NWO and using his cult of personality to create a totalitarian state in much the same way Hitler did in Nazi Germany. Apparently with Obama in power, citizens will be stripped of their right to bear arms, a civilian police force will be created, martial law will be declared and our evil alien overlords will be allowed to feast on us like cattle. Okay, that last part is a bit of a joke…or is it?
Mr. David Icke, a one time footballer now rabid conspiracy theorist, believes that many of the world’s leaders, including Britain ’s late Queen Mother and George Bush are actually Reptoids. For those not in the know, Reptoids are reptilian beings from another galaxy that eat human flesh. On the subject of Icke, he’s sure that Obama and his “controllers” are pulling a fast one over on the world and that we’ll be goose-stepping and having our brains eaten by our Reptoid masters even before the 2012 comet reduces us to space dust.
Icke isn’t the only one convinced were heading towards certain doom. Well known warrior against the New World Order, Alex Jones is so sure he’s releasing a movie on the coming Obama nightmare. His thoughts mirror Icke’s, minus the carnivorous Reptoids, and end with rebellious citizens being imprisoned in concentration camps in Colorado . According to Jones, the children of our country are already being indoctrinated in ways similar to the Nazi youth movement.
Facts, theories and logic aside I’m left with two questions: “towards what end? and “why now?”
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
California Dreaming
Well, we have a new president. It’s all pretty exciting, but I’ll spare you the echoes of my jubilation as the event has been covered extensively. I’ll only say, congratulations and good luck President Obama. You have your work cut out for you, but you have the hope and dreams of an entire world behind you.
I am however still going to drop a note on politics, but on those that aren’t happening in the state. Yes, aren’t. The California legislature, the governor, the state controller, the attorney general, pretty much every elected state official currently in office has been unable to pass an emergency budget needed to keep the state fiscally solvent. Still, they’ve been huddled over a mediation table feverishly trying to hammer out an agreement that will save California …or have they.
Of course, they took off for at least a few weeks for the holidays. No big deal right. I mean firefighters would do the same if a raging wildfire fell over Christmas. Oh, and the main players, including the governor and the speaker, recently left for a week to visit DC. They took in the sites, attended the inauguration and hit up a few of the parties. Good for them, when I was in the military and I was confronted with a crisis but someone was throwing a really good party, I’d often hit up the party (especially if I thought the attendees might be people that could further my career).
But I’m going to be careful about blaming just our elected officials. I think they’re totally inept, selfish and lazy but our citizens aren’t that much better. State employees are getting ready to take a 10 percent pay cut, schools are looking at cutting their hours, colleges have sliced enrollment, and on and on. Still, in my department, we really haven’t been asked to find anyway to cut our costs. Instead, managers are angling to keep their perks like the student assistants that answer their phones and file their papers. We just had four brand new flatscreen televisions put up in our office. (We use them for work, but we already had regular televisions.) People on public assistance are marching around the state capital decrying possible cuts to their respective programs and then going home and watching premium cable that costs them $100 bucks a month.
So not only are we doing very little to help ourselves currently, I’m sure will continue to do the same when we, the citizens of California, vote these politicians that have been working so hard on our behalf, back into office.
Clickity: http://www.iousathemovie.com/
I just saw this movie tonight. Maybe one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen!
I am however still going to drop a note on politics, but on those that aren’t happening in the state. Yes, aren’t. The California legislature, the governor, the state controller, the attorney general, pretty much every elected state official currently in office has been unable to pass an emergency budget needed to keep the state fiscally solvent. Still, they’ve been huddled over a mediation table feverishly trying to hammer out an agreement that will save California …or have they.
Of course, they took off for at least a few weeks for the holidays. No big deal right. I mean firefighters would do the same if a raging wildfire fell over Christmas. Oh, and the main players, including the governor and the speaker, recently left for a week to visit DC. They took in the sites, attended the inauguration and hit up a few of the parties. Good for them, when I was in the military and I was confronted with a crisis but someone was throwing a really good party, I’d often hit up the party (especially if I thought the attendees might be people that could further my career).
But I’m going to be careful about blaming just our elected officials. I think they’re totally inept, selfish and lazy but our citizens aren’t that much better. State employees are getting ready to take a 10 percent pay cut, schools are looking at cutting their hours, colleges have sliced enrollment, and on and on. Still, in my department, we really haven’t been asked to find anyway to cut our costs. Instead, managers are angling to keep their perks like the student assistants that answer their phones and file their papers. We just had four brand new flatscreen televisions put up in our office. (We use them for work, but we already had regular televisions.) People on public assistance are marching around the state capital decrying possible cuts to their respective programs and then going home and watching premium cable that costs them $100 bucks a month.
So not only are we doing very little to help ourselves currently, I’m sure will continue to do the same when we, the citizens of California, vote these politicians that have been working so hard on our behalf, back into office.
Clickity: http://www.iousathemovie.com/
I just saw this movie tonight. Maybe one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Return of the FLY: Part II
I killed it. Then there was another. I killed that one to.
I attempted to see where they were coming from but their entry point remained a mystery. It was as if they were appearing out of midair, a kind of Amityville Horror scenario in Sacramento.
I turned off the computer and chased flies for the rest of the night until I went to sleep around 9:30. In all I probably killed over 20 flies. Before hitting the sack, I turned the heat way down and all the lights off in the hopes that whatever they were attracted to in the room would no longer entice them.
It seemed to work, as I was able to sleep through the night and when I got up there were no flies.
That was true, until I got home from work the next day. Walking into my room I found about 6 of the fat bastards, sluggish from the cold, sitting on the walls and the ceiling. I was able to take tissues and kill them with a satisfying “Pop” and then I did another sweep of the house. Still no strange smells, bad food, dead things or open windows.
I killed another 10 flies before going to bed, again turning off all the lights and lowering the heat.
So I woke up this morning to a fly free room. I went to work like normal and when I came home there were another 5 of the fat bastards sluggishly sitting on the walls. I killed them and for a few minutes I sat here in peace. I was going to write that all was clear, but I just looked up and lo and behold there are another 5 flies on the ceiling around the light!!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!!! DIE BASTARDS!!!!!
I attempted to see where they were coming from but their entry point remained a mystery. It was as if they were appearing out of midair, a kind of Amityville Horror scenario in Sacramento.
I turned off the computer and chased flies for the rest of the night until I went to sleep around 9:30. In all I probably killed over 20 flies. Before hitting the sack, I turned the heat way down and all the lights off in the hopes that whatever they were attracted to in the room would no longer entice them.
It seemed to work, as I was able to sleep through the night and when I got up there were no flies.
That was true, until I got home from work the next day. Walking into my room I found about 6 of the fat bastards, sluggish from the cold, sitting on the walls and the ceiling. I was able to take tissues and kill them with a satisfying “Pop” and then I did another sweep of the house. Still no strange smells, bad food, dead things or open windows.
I killed another 10 flies before going to bed, again turning off all the lights and lowering the heat.
So I woke up this morning to a fly free room. I went to work like normal and when I came home there were another 5 of the fat bastards sluggishly sitting on the walls. I killed them and for a few minutes I sat here in peace. I was going to write that all was clear, but I just looked up and lo and behold there are another 5 flies on the ceiling around the light!!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!!! DIE BASTARDS!!!!!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Return of the Fly: Part I
I was going to write a movie review concerning “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (it’s pretty good, but not great) but instead the freakish, haunted house kind of thing that happened last night demands attention.
Yesterday evening I got home about 4:30 or so and did a few chores till around 7 when I decided to jump on the computer for a little World of Warcraft. Almost immediately a big, fat, black, fly flew by my head. He was all slow, I’m guessing from the cold, and was heading towards my ceiling lamp, I’m guessing to warm up.
Now, I haven’t seen a fly in my house for months and I was curious as to where this fat little bastard came from. Winter and a cold and fairly clean house don’t really add up to the optimal fly environment, but I didn’t think about it much, figuring that it had flown in from outside somehow.
Anyway, he flew towards the light (Not today bro!) and I jumped up and smacked him dead with a rolled up “Men’s Health” magazine. I then went back to the computer.
Not but a few minutes later I noticed another fat, black fly flying around being annoying and another already sitting on the ceiling near the lamp. Now I was beginning to think that something was wrong. I chased around the flies, killed them and then went and checked to see that all the windows were closed in the house and that there was nothing rotting somewhere. I mean, I’m a pretty clean guy but every once in a while I might leave something in the sink for too long. I’ve never left anything out long enough to get that disgusting, but I wanted to make sure, you know, just in case.
Well, the house was clean, the windows were closed and everything was looking pretty normal, but when I came back into my room there was another fly!
Yesterday evening I got home about 4:30 or so and did a few chores till around 7 when I decided to jump on the computer for a little World of Warcraft. Almost immediately a big, fat, black, fly flew by my head. He was all slow, I’m guessing from the cold, and was heading towards my ceiling lamp, I’m guessing to warm up.
Now, I haven’t seen a fly in my house for months and I was curious as to where this fat little bastard came from. Winter and a cold and fairly clean house don’t really add up to the optimal fly environment, but I didn’t think about it much, figuring that it had flown in from outside somehow.
Anyway, he flew towards the light (Not today bro!) and I jumped up and smacked him dead with a rolled up “Men’s Health” magazine. I then went back to the computer.
Not but a few minutes later I noticed another fat, black fly flying around being annoying and another already sitting on the ceiling near the lamp. Now I was beginning to think that something was wrong. I chased around the flies, killed them and then went and checked to see that all the windows were closed in the house and that there was nothing rotting somewhere. I mean, I’m a pretty clean guy but every once in a while I might leave something in the sink for too long. I’ve never left anything out long enough to get that disgusting, but I wanted to make sure, you know, just in case.
Well, the house was clean, the windows were closed and everything was looking pretty normal, but when I came back into my room there was another fly!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
When real is too real Part II
One of the entries on the Google search page led to another description of the video and this one did have a link. Again, I followed it.
Why?
That’s a tough question. For one thing, I was 99 percent sure it was a hoax for the reasons I cite above. On the off chance that it was real, well, I guess I’m just as curious about death as the next person. What is it? What does it look like? Does it hurt? Is it scary? It’s a morbid curiosity, but one I’m willing to bet hits a very large percent of the American population.
The link sent me to an underground extreme pornography/gore site. I know these kinds of things are out there and had stumbled across them in my Web travels. From what little I have seen it looks like they contain a lot of military video of casualties, pictures of gruesome deaths that have found their way out of news agencies and police stations, bloody injuries and extreme sexual content. What I’ve seen in the real world and in the news is enough for me, so this voyeuristic second hand take holds little interest.
Still, I was on the site where the typical start movie graphic was playing, a kind of evil YouTube page as it were. I hit the play button and angled my cursor to be ready to close the screen if need be. At most, I saw 5 seconds of the video before getting the hell out of there. I’m 99 percent sure the video is real.
I didn’t see much and what I did see wasn’t particularly brutal or nasty but it was convincing. Its non-film feel and its simplicity tell me that it’s indeed what people are saying it is.
This thing hit me like a truck. It has nothing to do with what I did or didn’t see. Instead, it’s just knowing that this thing is out there that has floored me. My feelings mirror what I experienced after a few other events. It’s an emotional confusion…a crushing sorrow…a raging anger…a struggle to grasp at reality and lots of fear. Fear for the world, my friends, my family, myself.
Why?
That’s a tough question. For one thing, I was 99 percent sure it was a hoax for the reasons I cite above. On the off chance that it was real, well, I guess I’m just as curious about death as the next person. What is it? What does it look like? Does it hurt? Is it scary? It’s a morbid curiosity, but one I’m willing to bet hits a very large percent of the American population.
The link sent me to an underground extreme pornography/gore site. I know these kinds of things are out there and had stumbled across them in my Web travels. From what little I have seen it looks like they contain a lot of military video of casualties, pictures of gruesome deaths that have found their way out of news agencies and police stations, bloody injuries and extreme sexual content. What I’ve seen in the real world and in the news is enough for me, so this voyeuristic second hand take holds little interest.
Still, I was on the site where the typical start movie graphic was playing, a kind of evil YouTube page as it were. I hit the play button and angled my cursor to be ready to close the screen if need be. At most, I saw 5 seconds of the video before getting the hell out of there. I’m 99 percent sure the video is real.
I didn’t see much and what I did see wasn’t particularly brutal or nasty but it was convincing. Its non-film feel and its simplicity tell me that it’s indeed what people are saying it is.
This thing hit me like a truck. It has nothing to do with what I did or didn’t see. Instead, it’s just knowing that this thing is out there that has floored me. My feelings mirror what I experienced after a few other events. It’s an emotional confusion…a crushing sorrow…a raging anger…a struggle to grasp at reality and lots of fear. Fear for the world, my friends, my family, myself.
Monday, December 22, 2008
When real is too real Part I
I was feeling sick to my stomach Sunday morning but I didn’t have the flu or some kind of intestinal bug. Either of those would have been preferable to the emotional turbulence that gripped me.
Saturday night after spending a leisurely day reading the paper, having a few beers and enjoying Sactown’s Santa Parade I found myself at my computer trying to track down a live broadcast of Sactown’s own Grant High School playing Long Beach Poly for the state’s football title. Grant won, congrats to them, and as it was 11 PM I decided to stay in and do a bit of Web surfing before turning in. I went to my usual virtual hangouts: Google News, Anomalist.com. Fark.com, LA Times and so on and read a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
I also checked in at BoingBoing.com, an off-the-wall technology blog that is informative and often good for a laugh. Featured was a story about a viral video that was making its rounds on the Internet. The cell phone video was supposedly taken by a group of Ukrainian youths as they were in the act of murdering a man. The story goes that these 3 rich kids had killed 21 people and documented their acts with numerous photographs and a few cell phone videos. One or possibly more of these videos had, of course, made its way on to the internet.
As I had never heard anything about this on any news site and there has never, ever been a documented snuff film (a video where someone is killed just for the sake of recording it) discovered, I was highly skeptical. No, that’s not the right word…I was sure it was a hoax and was instead a viral video for a gruesome new movie or some college kids testing out their special effects knowhow.
I read the entry and although the poster hadn’t actually watched the video he warned that he was led to believe that it was highly disturbing, vile and cruel. He highly suggested that the video be avoided but he did include a link, not to the video, but to a Google search of what the supposed killers called themselves. He did this to show that very little information on the video, killings and killers was available on English language Internet sites. I followed it.
Saturday night after spending a leisurely day reading the paper, having a few beers and enjoying Sactown’s Santa Parade I found myself at my computer trying to track down a live broadcast of Sactown’s own Grant High School playing Long Beach Poly for the state’s football title. Grant won, congrats to them, and as it was 11 PM I decided to stay in and do a bit of Web surfing before turning in. I went to my usual virtual hangouts: Google News, Anomalist.com. Fark.com, LA Times and so on and read a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
I also checked in at BoingBoing.com, an off-the-wall technology blog that is informative and often good for a laugh. Featured was a story about a viral video that was making its rounds on the Internet. The cell phone video was supposedly taken by a group of Ukrainian youths as they were in the act of murdering a man. The story goes that these 3 rich kids had killed 21 people and documented their acts with numerous photographs and a few cell phone videos. One or possibly more of these videos had, of course, made its way on to the internet.
As I had never heard anything about this on any news site and there has never, ever been a documented snuff film (a video where someone is killed just for the sake of recording it) discovered, I was highly skeptical. No, that’s not the right word…I was sure it was a hoax and was instead a viral video for a gruesome new movie or some college kids testing out their special effects knowhow.
I read the entry and although the poster hadn’t actually watched the video he warned that he was led to believe that it was highly disturbing, vile and cruel. He highly suggested that the video be avoided but he did include a link, not to the video, but to a Google search of what the supposed killers called themselves. He did this to show that very little information on the video, killings and killers was available on English language Internet sites. I followed it.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
homeless
It’s been busy at work and at home with the holidays and all, but overall it’s been a good time. At work we’re moving to another office on another floor and there have been lots of holiday photographs to shoot and things to write.
Thanksgiving was awesome. The Scotland crew came into town and my brother visited with his wife and new daughter. We had almost a week to spend together and I honestly enjoyed every moment of it. Thanks all.
Broadening the focus a bit, the Sacramento Bee ran an article last Wednesday about the area’s homeless and the ridiculous dance they do with local police. It seems that every few weeks the police rouse the homeless from illegal Homeless Camp A. The unwashed masses pack their things and move a few miles away to Homeless Camp B. Fast forward a few weeks: local police rouse the homeless from illegal Homeless Camp B. The unwashed masses pack their things and move a few miles back to Homeless Camp A…and repeat ad nauseam.
The Bee estimates that about 2,500 homeless call Sacramento their home, with 700 hundred of these having been on the streets for a year or more. There’s no estimate on how much money or time city services, to include police and health, spend on them or the cost of the blight that trails them.
I understand that many of the homeless are there by choice and that the vast majority have drug and alcohol problems and are afflicted by any number of mental illnesses. In the Bee article they focused on one homeless lady, an admitted bipolar meth-head, who said she would like to get clean and live in an apartment. However, she also expressed an appreciation for the freedom being homeless offered. Another homeless person interviewed was downright hostile to the idea of living a “normal” life.
I can’t say that living the homeless lifestyle is right or wrong, but I really lean to it being wrong and here is why, it has a negative effect on other people. I’m not talking just about how uncomfortable homeless people make others feel, but the crime, blight, pollution and resources they destroy.
In Sacramento, the homeless have taken over large swaths of land that run along one of our nearby rivers. The human waste and pollution have devastated the area, stripped it of its recreational properties and left it in shambles. The area of the town near our homeless shelter is nothing but warehouses, recycling yards and a porn shop. It really can’t be improved or made habitable.
The Obama administration has expressed interest in pumping money into rebuilding our country’s failing infrastructure. Keeping in mind that some of these homeless want to get clean, straight and live a more “regular” life, I’d like to suggest that part of this budget stimulus being considered focus on building a humanitarian infrastructure. Let’s get many more drug counselors, mental health and social service specialists out to schools, police stations and homeless shelters. Let’s offer scholarships to students studying in these areas or pay for their educations outright for which they’ll be required to serve the public good for four or five years. This will help pump money into the economy by creating more consumers, in this case former homeless and students who now have degrees/certificates and greater income. Hopefully, with more of these specialists in schools and the community in general we can lower future crime rates, move many of the homeless of the streets and create, in general, a better world for all people.
Click: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/12/twilight.html
The trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine!!!
Thanksgiving was awesome. The Scotland crew came into town and my brother visited with his wife and new daughter. We had almost a week to spend together and I honestly enjoyed every moment of it. Thanks all.
Broadening the focus a bit, the Sacramento Bee ran an article last Wednesday about the area’s homeless and the ridiculous dance they do with local police. It seems that every few weeks the police rouse the homeless from illegal Homeless Camp A. The unwashed masses pack their things and move a few miles away to Homeless Camp B. Fast forward a few weeks: local police rouse the homeless from illegal Homeless Camp B. The unwashed masses pack their things and move a few miles back to Homeless Camp A…and repeat ad nauseam.
The Bee estimates that about 2,500 homeless call Sacramento their home, with 700 hundred of these having been on the streets for a year or more. There’s no estimate on how much money or time city services, to include police and health, spend on them or the cost of the blight that trails them.
I understand that many of the homeless are there by choice and that the vast majority have drug and alcohol problems and are afflicted by any number of mental illnesses. In the Bee article they focused on one homeless lady, an admitted bipolar meth-head, who said she would like to get clean and live in an apartment. However, she also expressed an appreciation for the freedom being homeless offered. Another homeless person interviewed was downright hostile to the idea of living a “normal” life.
I can’t say that living the homeless lifestyle is right or wrong, but I really lean to it being wrong and here is why, it has a negative effect on other people. I’m not talking just about how uncomfortable homeless people make others feel, but the crime, blight, pollution and resources they destroy.
In Sacramento, the homeless have taken over large swaths of land that run along one of our nearby rivers. The human waste and pollution have devastated the area, stripped it of its recreational properties and left it in shambles. The area of the town near our homeless shelter is nothing but warehouses, recycling yards and a porn shop. It really can’t be improved or made habitable.
The Obama administration has expressed interest in pumping money into rebuilding our country’s failing infrastructure. Keeping in mind that some of these homeless want to get clean, straight and live a more “regular” life, I’d like to suggest that part of this budget stimulus being considered focus on building a humanitarian infrastructure. Let’s get many more drug counselors, mental health and social service specialists out to schools, police stations and homeless shelters. Let’s offer scholarships to students studying in these areas or pay for their educations outright for which they’ll be required to serve the public good for four or five years. This will help pump money into the economy by creating more consumers, in this case former homeless and students who now have degrees/certificates and greater income. Hopefully, with more of these specialists in schools and the community in general we can lower future crime rates, move many of the homeless of the streets and create, in general, a better world for all people.
Click: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/12/twilight.html
The trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine!!!
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