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August 31 I feel older than the dead angel on my shoulderI was mentioning this earlier to someone, I feel old. Friends are getting married, starting careers, a friends death, it's as if all this shit is finally adding up.
Responsibility. That's like the true measure of adulthood. The more shit you're responsible for the more adult you are. First it normally starts with a job, then a car, then a girl, the a place, then kids, and the list is endless... and with each of these "steps" or "phases" of adulthood are plagued with even more minute responsibilities, like you just can't own a place, you need to pay rent, hydro, gas, take out garbage, groceries, ect, ect.
I dunno man, I've never thought my of age, I've always hated birthdays, especialy mine. I dunno why. Most likely it's either because as a kid growing up poor I didn't have as good gifts or elaborate parties as other kids I knew or now as I'm older and reflect back... it's just another year, closer to the end. It's like what? we celebrate the day we were born? I used to often say, "But I never asked to be born at all"
Back to the point. Feeling old.
So yeah, often many of us try to measure up to the others in our lives.
Like... you know how you have like you're group of friends and often you'll talk about life in general and sometimes it gets to kind of like a game where you're trying to one up or size each others life and compare it to your own. It's like a rabid sickness.
Now usually it's only for the moment. You get caught in a envious state of mind but then you return home or to the arms of your lover and it all melts away. It doesn't matter your friend has a sweet ass job making way more money than you because you have "X" or "Y" that they don't and that's worth it to you.
Then some people like to play the average game.
average life span is this
which means i've lived this much
which means i've wasted "x" amount of time
which means i only have "x" years to make something happen
oh man but the next "X" will be the prime of my life wait... i'm a smoker so really i have even less time to make something happen.
You know that dude who just does the math? lol, I know plenty of people like this
I guess time will eventually kill you which must be the reason why so many people try and fight it... trying not to age, looking for the fountain of youth or some shit.
Again I digress.. basically, most the people I know are finally getting really, I mean really started with their lives and me... well I feel like I haven't moved in years.
And I just wonder how this strange and twisted tale will end up... and yet in a way I know one day I'll just be that dude sleeping on the couch or that dude who used to go to high school with you... you know what's his name....
Not that there's anything wrong with that. I mean we each take our own steps to becoming more than human, whether we know it or not.
It's like as if everything we do in the life will play a part of what's to come...
It's time for the rise of the Superman... a higher man... Nietzsche's Superman, a human who has battled modern values and overcome the flaws of humanity.
That's what it's really time for...
Sigh, I digress again... I must be getting old.... August 29 Heaven is a state of mind....Just finished reading "What dreams may come" by Richard Matheson. Great read. Very wonderful indeed, touching, creepy, strange, insightful... everything a good... no... everything a Great book should be. Even more interesting is the fact he included a bibliography of books in which he used as sources to base his novel off.
Those of you whom are interested in... how shall I put this... "the other side" should really read this book.
I also want to mention how bad "I am Legend" the movie was compared to "The last man on Earth" and "Omega man" and the book also titled "I am Legend"
I don't want to go into how aweful "I am legend" the movie with Will smith is, except that it's really fucking aweful. It ruined the bloody book completly.
It's really surprising... the first movie was brilliant... the second not as good as the first but still on track... then the third remake was just aweful.
Moving on... Obama, Obama, Obama.... as we near the up coming presidential elections, there's more and more talk about Obama.
Now I'm personally all for Obama... a black president? about time?
the problem is when running for a position of power, all the skeletons come out of the closet.
And Obama signing the FISA bill is a big fucking skeleton. That single handedly makes me very weary of backing Obama now.
And to be honest with McCain taking on Palin as his running mate.... well that was a shocker which I think will turn some heads in McCains favor.
I know Obamas campaign team is hitting Palin with a "zero" experience in foreign policy but what the fuck.... Wasn't Clintons campaign doing the same to Obama and his less than adequate experience in the political arena?
And if Obamas whole fucking campaign revolves around McCain = Bush... well then that's just some ignorant fucking bullshit.
I really really want to be with you 100% on this Obama but frankly... you're starting to screw with me... and I don't like it.
And of course the collapse of another BANK! Integrity Bank became the 10th bank to fail as of this year.
What the hell is going on with the economy? I said it a few posts ago but this surly has all the makings for an up coming depression. August 28 Favourite CNN momentMy favourite CNN moment involves a Mr. Jon Stewart who maybe the most trusted man in America... with Colbert right behind his foot steps.
Aside from that I have nothing else to say.... it's been a slow few days... I really don't know who I like more... Stewart or Colbert... They're both good just different ends of the spectrum yet not really.... August 22 Some people know the science but don't do the math....
US bank 'to fail within months' Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac slumpOK, so let me bring you up to speed with what's really going on...
It all starts with the FED! not the Federal governement but the Federal Reserve, that's a completly self sustaining entity that has nothing to actually do with the Federal government.
The magic of the Federal reserve is done in 4 steps.
1. The federal open market committee approves the purchase of US bonds.
2. Bonds are purchased by the fed
3. The fed pays for the bonds with electronic credits to the sellers bank, those credits are based on NOTHING.
4. Banks use these deposits as reserves. They can loan out 10x the amount of their reserves to new borrowers at interest.
So when the fed buys $1 million worth of bonds $10 million is injected into the economy.
The fed can also create debt AT WILL by selling bonds to the public, money is taken away from the economy.
Why are we in debt?
No it's not the Iraq war, well yes it helps but even before the war in Iraq, our only economic system was flawed.
We're enslaved in a debt money system designed and controlled by private bankers. The fed is capable of running independant from the government.
Politicians cannot control the debt because our money is created out of debt! It's all thanks to Fractional reserve lending.
Issuing our own currency is not a new radical idea, it's been advocated by Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, Vanburen and even Lincoln.
Which brings us now to 2008 and the collapse of Bear Sterns. Once the biggest investment bank on Wall Street. It's now been aquired by J.P Morgan and Chase which was made possible by a massive bail out by the Federal reserve. Now a little more history... J.P Morgan was one of the men who helped create and bring to power the Federal Reserve.
Now the Fed wants more power. The treasury department is allowed to borrow more money than the government needs and then place the surplus on the Feds balance sheet. This would provide the Fed with leverage if the bank has to take more illiquid assets to help the credit crunch.
Also the Fed is toying with issuing its own DEBT and using proceeds to purchase more assets or make loans.
The Bear Sterns take over puts $30 billion in debt to the tax payers so that market chaos would not ensue.
Which brings us up to speed, with the new looming threat of one or two (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) of the biggest providers of US housing finance, which own or back more than HALF of all US mortgages.
This is no doubt due to the current US housing slump, foreclosure rates and mortgage rates and the rest of the factors involved with the housing crisis.
Now the Fed is predicting an even higher inflation rate! combine that with the credit crunch and the housing slump and it seems we got all the makings of a recession.
If the downfall of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac does happen then the Fed will have no choice but to bail them out, perhaps sell them out to another bigger bank and cause a great debt for the tax payer in the name of stability. Throw in the idea that GM is destined for bankruptcy as well, which will sky rocket the unemployment rate and pretty much destory the entire economy of Detroit and we've now got the makings of a depression. Hell Detoroit's economy is barely staying afloat now,
Also throw in the wild fact that China and Japan combine to hold almost 50% of the entire America debt...
So what does this all mean? I'm not sure, I'm no economist but I can guess that the American economy is too tied to the world economy to let it die. So the Fed would have to rally and bail out who ever needs it, be it Fannie Mae or GM or Freddie Mac... actually they'll probably let GM die.. anyways it could lead to a depression to the likes which haven't been seen since the great depression, maybe hyperinflation could insue, or even a more deadful economic shock which would be the worst thing yet and lead to the possibly total unified creation of the NAU.
"See in normal circumstances economic decisions are made based on the push and pull of competing interests. However if an economic crisis hits and its severe enough, it blows everything else out of the water, and leaders are liberated to do whatever necessary or said to be necessary in the name of responding to a national emergency. Crisis are, in a way, democratic-free zones. Gaps in politics as usual when the need for consent and consensus do not apply." -shock doctorine August 19 I hate the OlympicsYou know what kills me about the olympics? It's not the fact that it's completly pointless but rather the fact it's complete bullshit.
When the fuck did they change the rules to allow Pro atheletes compete? Wasn't it always ametuers only?
It's really not fair.
Now you got people complaining that the athelets aren't old enough (in the gymnastics case) but what makes a a 14 year old girl better than a 16 year old one? Does not that extra 2 years of experience over shadow the ability of the younger athelete?
When the fuck did they let Kobe, Bosh and the rest of the best NBA players compete in the Olympics? That's bullshit that certified NBA superstars are competing against guys... kids even who have never even set foot on an NBA court let alone even seen one in person?
Even Hockey, letting all those Canadian legends play against kids whom barely even have ice to skate on?
Fuck, why don't they just let Mike Tyson beat some ametuers in the ring?
Even now with Phelps, He should no longer be allowed to compete after taking various amounts of "sponsorship" amount to around $5 million dollars.
The Olympics is supposed to be for AMETUERS! not bloody fucking professionals. How the hell is the new generation of atheletes supposed to compete with certified pros?
honestly if there's a major league for your particular sport and you happen to be in that major league, then you shouldn't be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
Wasn't the Olympics part of becoming a pro? Being able to represent your country before going off into the Big leagues making million dollar salaries?
Like most boxers went to the Olympics first starving for a chance to prove themselves before going to the MGM grand, know what I mean?
fuck man.... talk about taking the spirit out of the bloody games.... I'm not even going to get started on the pointlessness of the games...
As if canadian's really care about how many medals we have and who to blame for not having more... Get a fucking grip on reality people, there's still people starving and homelss on the corner of Spidina and Queen and all you have to worry about is not having enough gold fucking medals? August 18 Coffee and CigarettesCoffee and Cigarettes... there's something profoundly calming about coffee and cigarettes, it's like bread and butter made for each other.
It's cathardic, like a morning prayer these coffee and cigarettes are... mix in a warm summer day and it's practically orgasmic.
What makes coffee and cigarettes so compatible?
It's as if they were made to complement each other like two soul mates caught in a lovers embrace.
Some would say it's an overload of pleasure centers in the brain, all that nicotine and caffiene trying to ram themselves into the pleasure recepticals in the mind and yes, for the most part it's probably true but I choose to differ. Like some things on this Earth, in this reality are not ment for science to solve.
There's something completly spiritual in regards to coffee and cigarettes. Ask any coffee drinker/cigarette smoker what's their favourite smoke of the day?
Most will say either the first of the day, after work or before bed.
Ask them again about the first cup of coffee with a cigarette and watch their face closely as you might see them actually shed a tear as to how good that particular cigarette is.
If I were to start a religion, it'd solely be based around coffee and cigarettes.
What would Jesus do? Smoke em if he had em...
August 17 Talking TrashNow i've constantly mentioned and asked, "Where are the real intellectuals of our day?" our philosopher kings if you will.
But is philosophy even still alive? Has philosophy died and if so who or what killed it?
Many people will say philosophy died with Nietzsche, and of course being a big Nietzscheian, I can buy that point of view but is it the truth?
It seems to me that the truth of the matter is science has killed philosophy. It's science that's considered an absolute truth, proved by theories and series of mathematic formulas. At the same time it's opened up brand new branchs of philosophy like "string theory" which can be considered the be all and end all of philosophy.
But really how much stock can we put into this new era of philosophy?
Doesn't mathmatic proofs limit or stagnate the ideal of philosophy? Or do the mathmatic proofs open more doors?
Isn't philosophy just an idea, a thought, a concept? in which cause could it really be dead if we still think? Are we in some kind of post or neo philosophical era?
Even the Matrix wasn't a "new" idea, although many believe the matrix has it's own "philosophical" endeavours, even though it's just a rehashed version of Rousseau's "how do we know what reality is?".... wait... or was that Descartes? ahhh, the point is there's no new ideas left under the sun.
Philosophy used to be about trying to ponder the truth of reality, now philosophy seems only to be about the "theory of everything" which is in essence trying to find the truth of our reality but using mathematic proofs and theories. Now a days it seems like truths are only true if the mathematics supports the theory, which seems kind of stupid... I mean where's the equation to prove or disprove God? Yes, in that one episode of the Simpsons where Homer gets smart by taking the crayon out of his nose he does find the mathematic proof that God does not exist... but could there really be such a proof?
Math does prove many things but at the same time doesn't. Math is like an objective truth, it only works because we made it work not becuase it IS the proof for truth. Think of the novel 1984 where BB issues that 2+2=5. Does it really? no, but if enough people believe it does, say 51% of the world population then well... 2+2 really is 5 isn't it? Hell there are barely any new political philosophies which don't include a "neo". all we have left now is philosophies on Quantum theories, human genomes, the mind and space as those are the only things left to prove as they're some what tangible unlike God... until that is we get some better technology.... like a really big fucking telescope.... shit, I mean we can put robots on Mars but can't find Osama? We can map the entire human Gnome but can't get to the bottom of the ocean? Thanks.... August 16 oh nothing...another minute, another hour, another day, another year...
time really goes by when you don't pay no attention.
Hell, it's been like what 6, 7 years since 9/11? unbelieveable, it feels like just yesterday I was watching it on tv... oh wait, I was...
there's a wonderfully brilliant author by the name of Chuck Palahniuk, he wrote the now infamous book "Fight club" and a series of other fantastic works. My other favourite being a novel called "Survivor". Now "Survivor" is basically about the last surviving member of a suicide cult whom hi-jacks a plane and plans on crashing it all the while reciting his life story to the black box. "Survivor" is a wonderful book that was scheduled to become a movie... that is until 9/11. Because the story involves a hi-jacked plane and the crashing of said plane, they (whoever they are) decided they can't make the movie. Ain't that some shit? Give it a bloody rest! 7 years is 6 years too long to be mourning 9/11 still. the Iraq war has lasted longer than World War fucking 2! Now that's insane! and that's all I wanted to say... August 09 ComicsThere used to be a time when comics were just "for kids" and in many ways they still are just for kids, depending on the type of comic.
But more so now a days comics have slowly begun to break furthur into the main stream and are slowly becoming recognized as literature... and really it's about bloody time. There has been far too many great comics written that are comparable to any other great work of literature.
If you're one of those people who believe that comics are still "just for kids" then you my friend haven't been reading the right comics.
The most horrid thing in my mind is the fact that comics are only now gaining this new found attention because of the movies... because of shitty ass movies that hardly do the original comic any justice what so ever. That's my beef. I truly hope that when people watch those comics movies, something clicks in their head and makes them think,
"hey maybe I should pick up a copy of sin city, the movie was pretty good"
instead of
"oh well i've seen the movie now so I don't need to read the book"
As far as comics go, yes there are many comics out there for kids but at the same time there are just as many for adults, with swearing, nudity, blood, guts and glory. Those are the comics that are constantly over looked by the average non-comic reading person.
And finally with Batman breaking just about every box office record... it seems comic movies are still big business.
Now the only thing left to really watch out for is the Watchmen.... which i'm sure you all saw if you saw Batman in the theaters.
In any which case Watchmen by Alan Moore, one of the greatest writers in the history of writing.
If you've never heard or read or seen Watchmen, I really advise you to read the graphic novel first as it's even on Time's top 100 novels of all time.
August 08 Devil's Advocatewell fuck, with the olympics near, I thought I'd bring this up one more time.
Fuck Tibet!
I mean.... Free tibet!
I mean... Seventeen point agreement?
People are still bitching about the whole Tibet thing, and again to be honest they signed the deal, if they really didn't want to do it then they really shouldn't have done it.
I mean what really is the difference of having thousands of them die now or later?
Anyways this yeas olympics is a complete farce. Pointless.
So much talk about China being incredibly inhumane yet everyone still showing up.
I think they only two countries I heard that were on a full boycott were France and Iraq.... although don't quote me on that.
So guess what? The olympics will come and go but China will still remain the badest ma fucking country in the world.
Granted the US has quite the military and all that but I mean come on China is the king of all kings when it comes down to keeping their shit together.
Either which way 1 week after the olympics are over, then everyone will forget about China again and they can continue to abuse their own people in peace.... what a country.... and what a world for letting a country like that continue to do what it does August 04 Hack the Planet!
Canadian ISPs Plan Net Censorship So I've been thinking about it a little more and I've come to the conclusion that it's not about the money. As much as it'll be a multi-billion dollar deal, it's really not about the money at all. It's simply about control. This has been a long time coming. Since the first file was shared on the internet, some people particularly high up people in the chain of command knew that this new thing called "the internet" needs to be regulated, needs to be watch and controlled. Now they've figure out the perfect system. For years people have been bitching from both the movie and record industry about how file sharing was going to be the death of the entire industry. How the illegal spread of pirated material has risen to unfathomable heights during the peek of this internet era, but soon it all comes to a halting crash. It's all about control, that's it. Imagine if you got to dictate what's on the internet. Just like the media moguls of the western world have dominated the entire industry of news reporting, movie making and radio stations. It was only a matter of time before those fucking corporate conglomerates got their dirty little hand on our wonderfully free internet. It's all about control, which brings up right back to Bernay's! Obviously! "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country." So if this internet shit goes down the way "they" want it to, then I can only imagine we'd all have to say good bye to all our pirated software for the most part. Obviously the hacker elites will still have their own shit around but for the average man looking for the newest copies of say batman will have to dig far deeper than just say Isohunt or some other bit torrent site. Same with music, and porn and software... imagine paying upwards of $500 for adobe instead of downloading it for free? that's the kind of world I would not like to live in. No independant media, news or radio, no fan sites, no child porn, no school essay's to copy and paste from, no free videos except those sponsored links, no more cyber bullies, cyber sex, internet dating, snuff films, 2girls1cup, BME pain olympics, cute animal videos, Nothing man... all under the guise that the internet is running out of room, not enough servers in the world, not enough bandwidth or whatever techno babble they wanna throw out to the public to confuse and misinform. And most people will be angry but really it won't matter. It's not like they're stopping you from using the internet, they just want you to pay for everytime you do. Suddenly the internet wil become a pure "luxury" item. It'll cost $50 an hour to sit at an internet cafe to browser the net or you'll have to make a decision weather to use the internet today or take the bus to work instead of driving cause you sure as hell can't afford both gas and the internet. but ofcourse by 2010 or 2012, fuck even now in 2008 the majority of society is so tied and geared into the internet they'll never let it go. The idea of telling a heroin addict to drop the syringe will run parallel with the notion of asking a kid from the "iGeneration" to drop the mouse, futile. So I mean it'll just boil back down to the class war, are you rich or poor? the middle class I assume will be wiped out and eaten by the poor. It's about control. If you can control the internet then you got control of the world. Perhaps this is a good thing. Perhaps the death of the internet is a Very good thing, get people back into reading books, remember what a real encyclopedia looks like? no, there's not a hard copy of Wiki... sorry... and no you can't add your entry in our encyclopedia... August 02 10 minutesAhem...
I here to just shoot the breeze awhile.... I've got 10 minutes so here goes nothing.
I've been thinking of something, something I'm not quite sure about. It's been on my mind for a rather long period of time, what it is I really can't say because I'm not sure of what it is. Strange? I know, it's more than strange it's kind of fucked up to be honest. Have you ever been walking in a kinky part of town and the worst time of night? It's such a bizzare feeling to experience, and by kinky I don't mean like sexual but rather... freaky, out of the norm that you're used to experiencing. I've spent half my life in places like that, that when I enter a place that other people normally call their "home" i feel odd, slightly out of place. I never had a "home" per say. I had a place where I could sleep at night with family and all that but I never really considered it my "home" home. Why? Probably cause it was a broken one, regardless I feel kind of bad because I should call it home, that's where my family is but it's not and never will be.
I've been trying to stir something up, something I'm not quite sure about. I've been stirring it up for a rather long period of time, what it is I really can't say because I'm not sure of what it is. Strange? I know, it's more than strange it's kind of fucked up to be honest. Once I was sitting in a park at night with a friend drinking bottles of OE (if you don't know then I don't really wanna say because frankly you should know... unless you're classy and have money) anyways back the 40s of OE, so we're sitting there just drinking, when suddenly my friend drops his bottle. I look over at him and he's asleep, he's actually snooring. I began to laugh and call his name but he didn't even flinch so I figure... well fuck I gotta do something to him but what? So then as I thought about what to do it dawned on me that I probably wouldn't come up with anything brilliant being kinda of drunk as I was so I just did the only thing I could think of at the moment in time. I finished my drink then got up onto the bench beside my friend and slowly put my foot on his shoulder and just kicked him right off the bench onto his ass. I started laughing my ass off and my friend was acting as if he were in a lot of pain. I called him a bitch and told him to stop crying. Then he lifted up his hands and his palms were cut to shit as I had forgotten that when my friend fell asleep he had dropped and smashed his bottle of OE on the ground and I just kicked him right onto all the broken shards... I laughed twice as hard after that.
Have you ever heard of Hemmingway's six word story challenge?
Hemmingway was once challenged to write a story with only six words, a complete story. His answer to that challenge was simply,
"For sale: baby shoes, never used"
That's fucking genius. Since then there has been a million six word stories all trying to be that next Hemmingway.
I say, " loved her, lost her, died alone"
But that's so cliche, oh well maybe I just dropped the ball on that one, fuck it i'll change mine to "4000 miles, 5000 years, still slaves"
That's kind of shitty but I mean you can't be creative every fucking minute of every day now can you? Let me hear your better story
And that's 10 minutes.
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